UPSC Prelims Practice Questions — Playing hide and seek on employment guarantee
Q1. Under which section of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005 is every rural household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work guaranteed not less than one hundred days of such work in a financial year?
- A. Section 3
- B. Section 4
- C. Section 5
- D. Section 6
Q2. With reference to the Viksit Bharat – Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Act, 2025 (VB-G RAM G Act), consider the following:
1. It increases the statutory guarantee of wage employment from 100 days to 125 days per rural household per financial year.
2. For general category States, the Centre-State funding share is 60:40.
3. The Centre bears 100% of the cost in all States and Union Territories.
4. It mandates biometric authentication for attendance and GPS tracking of worksites.
Which of the above is/are correctly identified as features of the Act?
- It increases the statutory guarantee of wage employment from 100 days to 125 days per rural household per financial year.
- For general category States, the Centre-State funding share is 60:40.
- The Centre bears 100% of the cost in all States and Union Territories.
- It mandates biometric authentication for attendance and GPS tracking of worksites.
- A. 1, 2 and 4
- B. 1, 2 and 3
- C. 2 and 3 only
- D. 1, 3 and 4
Q3. Which one of the following is the principal statutory instrument that, upon coming into force, replaces the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005 as the primary legal basis for the rural wage employment guarantee in India?
- A. The Viksit Bharat – Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Act, 2025
- B. The Deen Dayal Antyodaya Yojana – National Rural Livelihoods Mission Act, 2024
- C. The National Food for Work Programme Act, 2024
- D. The Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (Amendment) Act, 2025
Q4. In the context of the rural employment guarantee architecture in India, the term 'Centrally Sponsored Scheme', under which the VB-G RAM G Act, 2025 is to operate, refers to:
- A. A scheme that is fully funded by the Union Government but implemented by State Governments under Union supervision
- B. A scheme funded jointly by the Union and State Governments in a prescribed ratio and implemented by the States
- C. A scheme funded and implemented entirely by State Governments with the Union Government acting only as policy adviser
- D. A scheme funded by an inter-State Council fund and implemented through district-level autonomous bodies
Q5. Consider the following statements comparing the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005 with the Viksit Bharat – Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Act, 2025:
1. The statutory entitlement of guaranteed wage employment per rural household has been increased from 100 days to 125 days in a financial year.
2. Both Acts confine the wage employment guarantee to adult members of rural households willing to do unskilled manual work.
3. Unlike MGNREGA, the VB-G RAM G Act, 2025 prescribes a uniform 50:50 Centre-State funding ratio across all States.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
- The statutory entitlement of guaranteed wage employment per rural household has been increased from 100 days to 125 days in a financial year.
- Both Acts confine the wage employment guarantee to adult members of rural households willing to do unskilled manual work.
- Unlike MGNREGA, the VB-G RAM G Act, 2025 prescribes a uniform 50:50 Centre-State funding ratio across all States.
- A. 1 only
- B. 1 and 2 only
- C. 2 and 3 only
- D. 1, 2 and 3