The complete reference list of central government schemes — flagship, social welfare, agriculture, finance, women & child, health, education — with ministry, launch date, beneficiaries and 2026 status.
Government schemes are central to UPSC GS-2, GS-3 and Essay papers, banking exam GA sections, and state-PSC General Studies. The challenge isn't volume — it's keeping schemes straight when their abbreviations and acronyms blur. This hub fixes that: each card shows the official name, year of launch, ministry, target beneficiaries, key benefit and 2026 status (active, restructured, ended).
For deeper coverage of any scheme, click through to the dedicated page; for daily updates on new schemes and budget announcements, visit our Current Affairs hub.
The defining welfare and infrastructure schemes of post-2014 India.
Schemes launched or significantly restructured in the last 18 months — high-priority for current affairs.
The major active government schemes (2026) include PM-Kisan (₹6,000/year to 11+ crore farmers), Ayushman Bharat PM-JAY (health cover up to ₹5 lakh for 55 crore poor), MGNREGA (100 days guaranteed rural employment), PMGKAY (5 kg free foodgrains to 81 crore, permanent from 2024), Jal Jeevan Mission, PMAY-Urban and Rural, PM Mudra, PM SVANidhi, PMJDY (52+ crore Jan Dhan accounts), Stand Up India, PM Vishwakarma and PM Surya Ghar.
Sampoornata Abhiyan is a campaign launched by NITI Aayog on 4 July 2024 under the Aspirational Districts and Aspirational Blocks Programmes. The campaign aims to achieve "saturation" in 6 critical indicators each across 112 Aspirational Districts and 500 Aspirational Blocks within 3 months. Indicators span health, nutrition, education, agriculture and basic infrastructure, focusing on the most marginalised areas of India.
The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005 (MGNREGA) is implemented by the Ministry of Rural Development. It guarantees 100 days of wage employment per financial year to every rural household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work. The 2024-25 budget allocation was approximately ₹86,000 crore. As of 2025, ~5.5 crore households have demanded work each year.
Under PM-Kisan Samman Nidhi (launched 24 February 2019), eligible small and marginal farmer families receive ₹6,000 per year directly into their bank accounts in three equal instalments of ₹2,000 every four months via Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT). As of the 19th instalment (Feb 2025), over 11 crore farmers have benefited, with cumulative transfers exceeding ₹3.46 lakh crore. Aadhaar linkage and land record verification are mandatory.