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UPSC Prelims 2025, Question 70

The concept being tested: Solar rooftop deployment schemes and renewable energy capacity building.

Consider the following statements about 'PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana': I. It targets installation of one crore solar rooftop panels in the residential sector. II. The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy aims to impart training on installation, operation, maintenance and repairs of solar rooftop systems at grassroot levels. III. It aims to create more than three lakhs skilled manpower through fresh skilling, and up-skilling, under scheme component of capacity building. Which of the statements given above are correct?

Options

  1. AI and II only
  2. BI and III only
  3. CII and III only
  4. DI, II and IIICorrect answer

The answer: I, II and III

PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana, launched in February 2024 and implemented by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, rests on three pillars that make all three statements accurate. Its flagship target is rooftop solar installation across one crore households in the residential sector, which powers the scheme's promise of free electricity up to 300 units a month. Alongside subsidy disbursal, the scheme carries a dedicated capacity building component under which MNRE has committed to training installers, vendors and technicians at the grassroot level in installation, operation, maintenance and repair of rooftop systems, so the supply of skilled labour keeps pace with demand. This same component sets a concrete employment target of more than three lakh persons through fresh skilling and up-skilling, spanning manufacturing, logistics and installation work. Because all three claims describe genuine, documented components of the scheme, only the option accepting all three is complete.

What UPSC was testing

This question rewards knowing the scheme beyond its headline free-electricity pitch; aspirants who recall only the one-crore rooftop target and are unaware of the capacity-building and skilling numbers tend to under-select and miss the all-three-correct answer.

How often this comes up

This concept has appeared 9 times in UPSC Prelims General Studies Paper I between 2015 and 2025 — in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2020, 2022, 2024 and 2025.

The option-by-option autopsy for this question — why each of the other three is wrong, and which neighbouring concept each one was built from — is in the app.