Social Sector: Health, Education, Human Resources, Poverty and Hunger

What the official syllabus says

HCS Main Written Examination, Paper IV: General Studies-II:

• Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources.
• Issues relating to poverty and hunger.

Topics in detail

Health

• Constitutional basis: Article 21 (right to life), Article 47 (public health and nutrition); health as a State subject
• Structure of public health care: sub-centres, primary and community health centres, district hospitals
• National Health Mission (rural and urban); National Health Policy, 2017
• Ayushman Bharat: health and wellness centres (Ayushman Arogya Mandirs) and PM-JAY insurance
• Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission; National Medical Commission Act, 2019
• Issues: low public spending, out-of-pocket expenditure, shortage of doctors and nurses, rural–urban gap
• Disease burden: communicable diseases (tuberculosis, vector-borne) and non-communicable diseases
• Maternal and child health indicators: IMR, MMR, institutional deliveries, immunisation

Education

• Article 21A and the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009; Article 45
• National Education Policy, 2020: 5+3+3+4 structure, foundational literacy and numeracy, multidisciplinary higher education
• Samagra Shiksha; PM POSHAN (school meals); NIPUN Bharat
• Learning outcomes: national achievement surveys and independent surveys
• Issues: dropouts, teacher vacancies, quality, digital divide, cost of higher education
• Higher education regulation and research funding

Human resources

• Demographic dividend and its conditions
• Skill development: Skill India, PM Kaushal Vikas Yojana, apprenticeships, ITIs
• Labour codes on wages, industrial relations, social security and occupational safety
• Women's labour force participation
• Human Development Index and India's position

Poverty

• Measuring poverty: Lakdawala, Tendulkar and Rangarajan methods
• Multidimensional poverty: NITI Aayog's National MPI and the global MPI (UNDP and OPHI)
• Causes: low productivity, unemployment, inequality, social exclusion, shocks of illness
• Approaches: growth, wage employment, self-employment, social protection, asset creation
• Rural wage-employment guarantee: design and implementation issues
• Urban poverty: housing, informal work, street vendors

Hunger and nutrition

• National Food Security Act, 2013: coverage, entitlements, Antyodaya Anna Yojana
• Free food grains for NFSA beneficiaries (PM Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana)
• Integrated Child Development Services, POSHAN Abhiyaan, Anaemia Mukt Bharat
• Malnutrition indicators from the National Family Health Survey: stunting, wasting, underweight, anaemia
• Hidden hunger and fortification; the debate on global hunger rankings
• Sustainable Development Goals 1 (no poverty) and 2 (zero hunger)

Management of social services

• Front-line workers: ASHAs, anganwadi workers, teachers; their pay and workload
• Regulation of private hospitals and schools; the Clinical Establishments (Registration and Regulation) Act, 2010
• Public–private partnership in health and education
• Data systems for monitoring: health management information systems, UDISE+
• Centre–State roles in social sector financing

Overlaps

The public distribution system and food security are also in General Studies III.