PM-AJAY: 18,093 Villages Declared Adarsh Gram by September 2026

The correct answer is the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. PM-AJAY is the umbrella scheme for the Scheduled Castes and it is carried out by that ministry, which handles the welfare of Scheduled Castes, backward classes, senior citizens and persons with disabilities. The scheme is fully funded by the Centre, began in FY 2021-22, and works through the Adarsh Gram component, grants-in-aid for state and district projects, and hostels for Scheduled Caste students. The Ministry of Rural Development is wrong: it runs rural roads, employment and housing programmes, not this scheme, although Adarsh Gram work happens in villages. The Ministry of Tribal Affairs is wrong because it looks after Scheduled Tribes, a separate group, while PM-AJAY is meant for Scheduled Castes, who make up 16.6% of the population. The Ministry of Panchayati Raj is wrong as well; it strengthens panchayats as institutions and does not implement PM-AJAY. Aspirants should also remember that the scheme merged three earlier schemes, PMAGY, SCA to SCSP and BJRCY.

The correct answer is 18,093. The PIB backgrounder of 28 September 2026 states that this many villages had been declared Adarsh Grams as on 8 September 2026, a mark of how far the component has gone in lifting basic services in Scheduled Caste majority villages. The other choices are all real figures from the same scheme, which is why the question is worth care. 47,243 is the number of villages taken up under the Adarsh Gram component, benefiting more than 47.79 lakh citizens, and not the number declared. 46,944 is the count of development works completed under the component, a count of works and not of villages. 27,032 is the number of Village Development Plans prepared, the planning step that comes before the works are built. Only 18,093 answers what was asked, and a village is declared an Adarsh Gram once its residents have access to the basic services the scheme lists.

The correct answer is 40%. For the infrastructure development side of PM-AJAY, a village qualifies for a grant when its Scheduled Caste population is 40% or more and its total population is 500 or above, so both a share test and a size test have to be met. The figure of 25% is wrong; no such threshold is used by the scheme, and setting the bar that low would spread the money too thin to turn a village into an Adarsh Gram. 50% is wrong, though it is a tempting answer because the component is described as working in Scheduled Caste majority villages; the written eligibility mark is 40%, not a simple majority. 60% is wrong as well and is higher than anything the guidelines lay down. Remember alongside this that under grants-in-aid, households earning up to Rs 2.50 lakh a year get priority, and that up to 50% of the outlay goes to gap filling in selected Adarsh Gram villages.