Important Government Schemes of India: Complete Exam Guide

1. PM Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY)

28 Aug 2014 · Finance

PMJDY is India's national mission for financial inclusion, launched to bring every unbanked household into the formal banking system. It opens a basic savings account for anyone without one, bundled with insurance and credit. Linking these accounts with Aadhaar and mobile created the pipeline for almost all government subsidies today.

• Zero-balance account + free RuPay debit card
• Accident insurance ₹1 lakh (₹2 lakh for accounts opened after 28 Aug 2018)
• Overdraft facility up to ₹10,000
• Guinness World Record for most accounts opened in a week
• Base of the JAM trinity (Jan Dhan–Aadhaar–Mobile) → powers DBT

2. Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM)

2 Oct 2014 · Jal Shakti / Housing & Urban Affairs

Swachh Bharat is a nationwide sanitation campaign launched on Gandhi Jayanti to end open defecation. It drove the mass construction of household and community toilets across rural and urban India. Its second phase now focuses on sustaining that progress through scientific waste management.

• Launched from Rajghat, New Delhi
• Two arms: SBM-Gramin (Jal Shakti) & SBM-Urban (Housing & Urban Affairs)
• Target was ODF India by 2 Oct 2019 (Gandhi's 150th birth anniversary)
• SBM 2.0 (2021) → 'ODF Plus' (solid & liquid waste management)

3. Ayushman Bharat – PM-JAY

23 Sep 2018 · Health & Family Welfare

Ayushman Bharat is the world's largest publicly funded health-assurance scheme, protecting poor families from catastrophic medical costs. It offers cashless hospital treatment up to a fixed annual cover at empanelled hospitals. Alongside insurance, it runs wellness centres for primary healthcare.

• Launched from Ranchi, Jharkhand
• Cover ₹5 lakh per family per year; no cap on family size or age
• Beneficiaries identified via SECC 2011
• Two arms: Ayushman Arogya Mandirs (primary care) + PM-JAY (insurance)
• Latest: extended to all citizens aged 70+ → 'Ayushman Vay Vandana' (2024)

4. PM Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY)

1 May 2016 · Petroleum & Natural Gas

Ujjwala provides free cooking-gas connections to women from poor households, replacing smoky chulhas with clean LPG. It targets women's health, less indoor air pollution and empowerment, since the connection is issued in the woman's name. A second phase widened access to migrant families.

• Launched from Ballia, Uttar Pradesh
• Free/deposit-free LPG connection in the woman's name (BPL households)
• Target raised from 5 crore → 8 crore connections
• Ujjwala 2.0 (Aug 2021, from Mahoba, UP) added migrant families

5. PM Awas Yojana (PMAY)

2015 · Rural Development & Housing/Urban Affairs

PMAY is the flagship 'Housing for All' mission to give every eligible family a pucca house with basic amenities. It runs as two separate programmes for rural and urban areas under different ministries. Support comes as direct construction assistance in villages and interest subsidy on home loans in cities.

• PMAY-Urban (25 Jun 2015) & PMAY-Gramin (2016, renamed from Indira Awas Yojana)
• Ministries: Gramin → Rural Development; Urban → Housing & Urban Affairs
• PMAY-G assistance: ₹1.20 lakh (plains), ₹1.30 lakh (hilly/difficult areas)
• PMAY-U: interest subsidy via Credit Linked Subsidy Scheme (CLSS)

6. PM-KISAN

24 Feb 2019 · Agriculture & Farmers' Welfare

PM-KISAN is an income-support scheme that puts money directly into farmers' bank accounts to supplement their needs. It is fully funded by the Centre and delivered through Direct Benefit Transfer. Originally limited to small farmers, it now covers all landholding farmer families.

• Type: 100% Central Sector Scheme (effective from 1 Dec 2018)
• ₹6,000/year in 3 instalments of ₹2,000 (every 4 months) via DBT
• Covers all landholding farmers (earlier 2-hectare cap removed)
• Approved to continue from 2026-27 to 2030-31

7. Jal Jeevan Mission (Har Ghar Jal)

15 Aug 2019 · Jal Shakti

The Jal Jeevan Mission aims to deliver safe piped drinking water to every rural household through a functional tap connection. It stresses community participation, source sustainability and greywater management. Its 'Har Ghar Jal' goal is one of the government's biggest rural infrastructure targets.

• Functional Household Tap Connection (FHTC) to every rural household
• Service norm: 55 litres per capita per day (lpcd)
• Tagline: 'Har Ghar Jal'
• Announced from the Red Fort on Independence Day 2019

8. PM Mudra Yojana (PMMY)

8 Apr 2015 · Finance

Mudra Yojana provides collateral-free institutional credit to small and micro non-farm businesses earlier shut out of formal lending. Loans are given through banks and NBFCs in categories that match a business's growth stage. It is a key driver of self-employment and small entrepreneurship.

• MUDRA = Micro Units Development & Refinance Agency
• Shishu → up to ₹50,000
• Kishore → ₹50,000 to ₹5 lakh
• Tarun → ₹5 lakh to ₹10 lakh
• Tarun Plus → ₹10 lakh to ₹20 lakh (new category, 2024)

9. Startup India

16 Jan 2016 · Commerce & Industry (DPIIT)

Startup India is a flagship initiative to build a strong ecosystem for innovation and new enterprises. It eases regulation for recognised startups and offers tax breaks, funding support and faster processes. The aim is to make India a global hub for entrepreneurship and jobs.

• ₹10,000 crore Fund of Funds for Startups (FFS) — managed by SIDBI
• 3-year income-tax exemption for eligible startups
• 'Startup' = entity up to 10 years old, turnover under ₹100 crore
• Nodal body: DPIIT

10. Skill India Mission & PMKVY

15 Jul 2015 · Skill Development & Entrepreneurship

Skill India is the umbrella mission to train crores of youth in industry-relevant, employable skills. Its flagship component, PMKVY, offers short-term training, certification and recognition of skills learnt informally. The goal is to convert India's youth into a skilled workforce.

• Launched on World Youth Skills Day (15 July)
• PMKVY implemented by NSDC; includes Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL)
• Currently in PMKVY 4.0
• Skill India = mission; PMKVY = scheme (don't confuse)

11. Digital India

1 Jul 2015 · Electronics & IT (MeitY)

Digital India is a programme to transform the country into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy. It expands digital infrastructure, delivers government services online and improves digital literacy. It underpins platforms and payment systems millions now use daily.

• Built on three vision areas / nine pillars
• BharatNet → rural broadband connectivity
• Platforms: DigiLocker, UMANG
• Base for the UPI-led digital-payments revolution

12. Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP)

22 Jan 2015 · Women & Child Development

BBBP is a national campaign to address the declining child sex ratio and promote the survival, protection and education of the girl child. It works mainly through awareness, advocacy and inter-ministry coordination rather than direct payments. It was launched from Panipat, Haryana.

• Convergence of WCD + Health + Education ministries
• Targets the declining Child Sex Ratio (CSR) / Sex Ratio at Birth
• It is an awareness campaign, NOT a cash-transfer scheme
• Linked savings scheme: Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana

13. PM Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY)

Apr 2020 · Consumer Affairs, Food & PD

PMGKAY is a food-security scheme launched during COVID-19 to give free foodgrain to the poor. It became the world's largest food-distribution programme, covering most of the population under the food-security law. It has since been extended as a long-term free-ration guarantee.

• Free foodgrain (5 kg per person per month) to NFSA beneficiaries
• Covers about 81 crore people
• Extended for 5 years from 1 January 2024 (till 2028)
• Linked to the National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013

14. PM-SVANidhi

1 Jun 2020 · Housing & Urban Affairs

PM-SVANidhi is a micro-credit scheme to help urban street vendors restart their businesses after the pandemic. It provides small, collateral-free working-capital loans that increase with each timely repayment. It also nudges vendors toward digital payments through cashback incentives.

• Collateral-free loans in tranches: ₹10,000 → ₹20,000 → ₹50,000
• 7% interest subsidy on timely repayment
• Cashback incentives for digital transactions
• Target beneficiary: urban street vendors

15. Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme

2020 · Commerce & Industry

The PLI scheme rewards companies for manufacturing more within India by giving incentives linked to incremental production. It aims to cut import dependence, boost exports and integrate India into global supply chains. It is a central pillar of the Atmanirbhar Bharat vision.

• Started with 3 sectors → now 14 sectors
• Covers mobiles/electronics, pharma, autos, textiles, semiconductors, etc.
• Incentive paid on incremental sales/production (not existing output)
• Core plank of Atmanirbhar Bharat / Make in India

16. PM Gati Shakti – National Master Plan

13 Oct 2021 · Commerce & Industry (DPIIT)

PM Gati Shakti is a national master plan for building infrastructure in a coordinated, multi-modal way. It puts more than a dozen ministries on one digital map so roads, railways, ports and utilities are planned together. The aim is to end silo planning and cut India's high logistics costs.

• GIS-based digital platform integrating 16 ministries
• Goal: reduce India's logistics cost as a share of GDP
• Theme: 'multi-modal connectivity'
• Backbone for the National Logistics Policy

17. PM Vishwakarma Yojana

17 Sep 2023 · MSME

PM Vishwakarma supports traditional artisans and craftspeople who work with their hands and tools — carpenters, blacksmiths, potters and more. It gives them formal recognition, modern skill training, better tools and easy credit. The scheme aims to strengthen India's traditional trades.

• Launched on Vishwakarma Jayanti (PM's birthday)
• Covers 18 traditional trades (carpenter, blacksmith, potter, tailor, etc.)
• Certificate + ID card; training stipend ₹500/day; toolkit incentive ₹15,000
• Collateral-free loan: ₹1 lakh, then ₹2 lakh, at 5% interest

18. PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana

15 Feb 2024 · New & Renewable Energy

PM Surya Ghar is a rooftop-solar scheme that helps households generate their own electricity and cut power bills. Beneficiaries get a government subsidy to install solar panels and a set amount of free power each month. Surplus electricity can be sold to the grid — the newest flagship scheme.

• Target: 1 crore households (by March 2027)
• Up to 300 units of free electricity per month
• Central subsidy up to ₹78,000 per household
• Surplus power can be sold back to the grid