Social Sector: Health, Education, Human Resources, Poverty and Hunger · UPSC Civil Services

What the official syllabus says

Main Examination, Paper III: General Studies II (Governance, Constitution, Polity, Social Justice and International relations):

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: Articles 21 and 47; health as a State subject
National Health Policy, 2017; the National Health Mission (rural and urban)
Ayushman Bharat: health insurance (PM-JAY) and primary health centres (Health and Wellness Centres, now Ayushman Arogya Mandirs); Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission
Primary, secondary and tertiary care; public health spending and out-of-pocket expenditure
Human resources for health: doctors, nurses, community health workers (ASHAs); the National Medical Commission Act, 2019
Communicable and non-communicable diseases; maternal and child health; mental health (Mental Healthcare Act, 2017)
Immunisation (Mission Indradhanush, 2014); tuberculosis elimination; universal health coverage
Traditional systems of medicine (AYUSH); health insurance and its gaps for the “missing middle”
Drug pricing and access; regulation of private hospitals (Clinical Establishments Act, 2010); One Health and pandemic preparedness

Education

Articles 21A, 45 and 51A(k); Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009
National Education Policy, 2020: 5+3+3+4 structure, foundational literacy and numeracy, mother tongue in early years, multidisciplinary higher education
School education: Samagra Shiksha, PM POSHAN (mid-day meals), NIPUN Bharat (foundational learning), learning outcomes, dropouts, teacher shortages
Data on schools and learning: UDISE+ and national achievement surveys
Early childhood care and education through anganwadis
Higher education: regulation, quality, access, research funding, the National Institutional Ranking Framework
Equity: gender, social and regional gaps; digital education

Human resources

Demographic dividend and its conditions
Skill development: Skill India, PMKVY, the National Skill Development Corporation, apprenticeships
Employment and labour: the four labour codes (wages, industrial relations, social security, occupational safety), informal sector, women’s labour force participation
Unorganised workers: the e-Shram portal, social security for gig and platform workers; the Periodic Labour Force Survey as a data source
Human Development Index and related indices

Poverty

Concepts: absolute and relative poverty, multidimensional poverty, poverty line
Estimating poverty: Lakdawala (1993), Tendulkar (2009) and Rangarajan (2014) methods; the National Multidimensional Poverty Index (NITI Aayog)
Rural and urban poverty; causes: unemployment, low productivity, inequality, health shocks
Anti-poverty programmes: wage employment (MGNREGA, 2005), self-employment (NRLM), housing, social security
Inequality and poverty: Gini coefficient, regional and social disparities
Debates: universal basic income, direct cash transfers versus in-kind support

Hunger and nutrition

Food security: National Food Security Act, 2013 (coverage, entitlements, women as head of household for ration cards)
Targeted Public Distribution System; Antyodaya Anna Yojana; One Nation One Ration Card; free foodgrain under PM Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana
Malnutrition: stunting, wasting, underweight, anaemia; hidden hunger; the National Family Health Survey as a data source
Nutrition programmes: ICDS, POSHAN Abhiyaan, PM POSHAN, food fortification, millets
Sustainable Development Goal 2 (Zero Hunger) and global indices

Overlaps

General Studies I: “population and associated issues, poverty and developmental issues”.
General Studies III: “Public Distribution System”, “food security”, employment.