Development and Social Sector Management: Health, Education and Human Resources

What the official syllabus says

GPSC Main Examination, Paper V: General Studies-II, (B) Governance and Social Justice:

• Development and Social Sector Management: Challenges in health, education, and human resource development, Role of governance and policy-making in strengthening social sectors.

Topics in detail

Social sector: concepts

• Human development: the UNDP Human Development Index (health, education, standard of living)
• Human capital and the demographic dividend
• Sustainable Development Goals 3 (health), 4 (education) and 5 (gender equality)
• Social sector spending by the Union and the States

Health

• Public health and hospitals as a State subject; Article 47
• Structure of public health care: sub-centres, primary health centres, community health centres, district hospitals
• National Health Mission (National Rural Health Mission, 2005, and National Urban Health Mission, 2013)
• National Health Policy, 2017
• Ayushman Bharat (2018): health insurance under Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana and Ayushman Arogya Mandirs (earlier Health and Wellness Centres)
• Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission
• Challenges: shortage of doctors and nurses, out-of-pocket spending, communicable and non-communicable diseases, maternal and infant health, malnutrition

Education

• Right to education (Article 21A) and the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009
• National Education Policy, 2020: structure of schooling, foundational literacy and numeracy, mother tongue, higher education reforms
• Samagra Shiksha; PM POSHAN (school meals)
• Challenges: learning outcomes, dropouts, teacher vacancies, gender and social gaps, quality of higher education

Human resource development

• Skill development: Skill India, Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana, Industrial Training Institutes
• Employability and the mismatch between education and jobs
• Women's participation in the workforce
• Research and innovation: Anusandhan National Research Foundation (Act of 2023)
• Early childhood care: Integrated Child Development Services and anganwadis

Financing and measurement

• National Health Policy, 2017 target of public health spending of 2.5 per cent of GDP
• National Education Policy, 2020 aim of public education spending of 6 per cent of GDP
• Data for planning: National Family Health Survey, UDISE+ (school data), Performance Grading Index for schools, National Institutional Ranking Framework

Vulnerable groups in the social sector

• Girls' education and child sex ratio: Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (2015)
• Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016: inclusive education and access to health
• Health and education of Scheduled Tribes in remote areas
• Immunisation: Universal Immunisation Programme and Mission Indradhanush (2014)
• Social security for workers: Code on Social Security, 2020

Role of governance and policy-making

• Evidence-based policy and outcome monitoring
• Convergence of departments and schemes
• Decentralised planning and community participation
• Public-private partnership in health and education
• Use of technology: telemedicine, digital learning, dashboards
• Regulation of private providers in health and education

Overlaps

Gujarat's own health, education and welfare schemes are on Gujarat: Social Sector, Poverty and Welfare. Women and marginalised sections as social issues are in General Studies-I.