General Awareness
General awareness tests Indian polity, geography, history, economy, current affairs and health schemes. For ESIC, questions often link national health programmes to eligibility, benefits and implementing agencies.
Core rules
- The Constitution provides Fundamental Rights under Articles 12–35 and Directive Principles under Articles 36–51. Public health is mainly a state subject, while national programmes are coordinated centrally.
- Ayushman Bharat has two components: Health and Wellness Centres for comprehensive primary care and PM-JAY, which gives ₹5 lakh per family per year for secondary and tertiary hospitalisation.
- The National Health Mission supports maternal, child and disease-control programmes. ESI provides cash and medical benefits to insured workers and dependants.
- International bodies: WHO sets health norms and monitors outbreaks; UNICEF works for child survival and development; ILO standards influenced social security.
Worked example
A question asks the annual PM-JAY cover per family. The answer is ₹5 lakh, not ₹50,000 or unlimited. Reasoning: PM-JAY is an entitlement-based scheme; recalling the exact figure separates it from state-specific schemes and private insurance.
Traps
Confusing ESI with PM-JAY; mixing WHO and UNICEF mandates; using outdated names such as NRHM after its merger into NHM; assuming all government schemes cover the same population.