Rau’s IAS Prelims Compass 2025 Government Schemes PDF

What is inside

Few topics produce as many Prelims questions per page of reading as government schemes. A question may ask which ministry runs a programme, who the beneficiaries are, what the funding pattern is, or what a scheme’s main components are. This 82-page Compass volume from Rau’s IAS gathers schemes in the news during the 2025 cycle so that you can learn them together.

How to organise what you read

For each scheme, build a quick profile with five items. A card or spreadsheet row works well.

• Name and the ministry or department responsible.
• Objective in a single line.
• Target group or beneficiaries.
• Key features, such as financial support or the delivery mechanism.
• Any latest change reported in the news.

Memory aids

Group schemes by sector, for example agriculture, health, housing, skills, finance and rural development, so that similar names do not blur together. Look out for overlapping schemes; the exam likes to place a look-alike among the options. Also notice when a scheme is centrally sponsored and when it is a central sector scheme, because a question can turn on that difference.

Where it sits in the syllabus

The General Studies syllabus names government policies and interventions for development, along with welfare schemes for vulnerable sections. These headings cover most of what appears in the volume. Mains answers also draw on schemes, but need their strengths, gaps and outcomes, which the Prelims edition does not analyse deeply.

Weekly plan

1. Read about twenty pages a day.
2. Fill the profile cards the same evening.
3. On weekends, quiz yourself by covering the ministry column.

Spotting the traps

Common errors include confusing a scheme’s launch ministry with the one that now implements it, mixing up beneficiary groups and assuming a scheme is wholly central when states share the cost. As you finish each section, jot the look-alike schemes next to each other and write one differentiating line for each pair.

Caution and print

Scheme details change through amendments and relaunches, so confirm any critical number from an official source. If you prefer holding a book while building cards, Competer lists printed UPSC current affairs notes you can mark up.