Government Schemes: Atmanirbhar, Digital India, Startup India

BHASKAR stands for Bharat Startup Knowledge Access Registry. DPIIT launched it on 16 September 2024 as a centralised digital platform for the start-up ecosystem. It brings together start-ups, investors, mentors, service providers and government bodies in one place so that they can find each other, share knowledge and collaborate, instead of searching across many separate portals. Each stakeholder gets a personalised BHASKAR ID, which helps with discovery and tailored recommendations. It is thus an information and networking tool, not a source of money or recognition. Start-up funding comes through the Fund of Funds, SISFS and CGSS; State policies are assessed in the States' Startup Ranking; and National Startup Awards recognise outstanding firms. MAARG, by contrast, is the dedicated mentorship platform. BHASKAR complements both by acting as the registry layer that links these actors.

G.S.R. 108(E) of 4 February 2026 sets three numerical tests for an ordinary start- up: it must be within ten years of incorporation or registration, and its turnover in every financial year since then must not exceed ₹200 crore; the third test is qualitative (innovation or a scalable model with high employment or wealth potential). The Explanation adds that an entity ceases to be a start-up once it completes ten years or its turnover for any year exceeds ₹200 crore. The previous limit, set in 2019, was ₹100 crore; the 2016 original was ₹25 crore. The ₹300 crore figure applies only to entities recognised as Deep Tech Startups, which also get twenty years. PIB announced the change on 5 February 2026. Turnover takes its meaning from section 2(91) of the Companies Act, 2013.

The Fund of Funds for Startups was an Action Plan promise approved by the Union Cabinet in 2016 with a corpus of ₹10,000 crore to be built up over the 14th and 15th Finance Commission cycles, not in a single year; budget support was released in tranches, for example ₹500 crore in 2015-16 and ₹600 crore in 2016-17. SIDBI manages it as operating agency and DPIIT is the monitoring agency. It is a fund of funds: it commits capital to SEBI- registered Category I and II AIFs, the daughter funds, and never picks start-ups itself. Each daughter fund must invest at least twice the FFS commitment in start-ups, so every rupee of public money mobilises private money. Statement 4 therefore fails, while statements 1 to 3 describe the design accurately.

The definition has been widened in stages. G.S.R. 180(E) of 17 February 2016, issued a month after Startup India was launched, covered entities up to five years old with turnover up to ₹25 crore that worked on technology- or IP-driven innovation. A 2017 amendment raised the age to seven years (ten for biotechnology), and an April 2018 notification was replaced by G.S.R. 127(E) of 19 February 2019, which set ten years and ₹100 crore and accepted a scalable model with high potential for employment or wealth creation as an alternative to innovation. G.S.R. 108(E) of 4 February 2026 kept ten years for ordinary start-ups and raised turnover to ₹200 crore; the twenty-year period is only for recognised Deep Tech Startups. So statement 3 overgeneralises.

G20 work runs on two tracks, the Sherpa and Finance tracks of governments, plus engagement groups that bring in non-government voices, such as Business20, Labour20 and Youth20. Until 2023 start-ups had no dedicated group. Under India's G20 Presidency in 2023, a new engagement group, Startup20, was started; its inception meeting was held in Hyderabad at the end of January 2023, as PIB reported on 31 January 2023. India's G20 Sherpa called it India's innovation in the G20 process. Its aim was to create a global narrative for supporting start-ups and enabling synergy among start-ups, corporates, investors, innovation agencies and other ecosystem stakeholders, through three task forces: Foundation and Alliances, Finance, and Inclusion and Sustainability. Domestically, AIM 2.0 lists anchoring Startup20 as part of its international collaborations.

Startup India was launched on 16 January 2016 with a 19-point Action Plan, listed in a PIB reply of 28 June 2019. Its simplification measures included self-certification under labour and environment laws, a Startup India Hub, an online portal and app, fast-tracked and cheaper patent filing, relaxed norms of public procurement and faster exit. Its funding measures were a Fund of Funds of ₹10,000 crore, a credit guarantee fund, a capital-gains exemption, a three-year income-tax exemption and relief on investment above fair market value. Its incubation measures included the Atal Innovation Mission, research parks and the incubator grand challenge. The procurement promise was a relaxation of prior-experience and turnover norms, not a quota. The 25 per cent procurement target belongs to the 2012 public procurement policy for micro and small enterprises.

G.S.R. 108(E) of 4 February 2026 introduced the Deep Tech Startup for firms whose products need long research cycles. Its relaxations are an age limit of twenty years (against ten) and a turnover ceiling of ₹300 crore (against ₹200 crore). But age and turnover alone do not confer the label. The entity must also show four attributes: it works on a solution based on new scientific or engineering knowledge that is yet to be developed; it spends a high share of revenue or funding on R&D; it owns or is creating significant novel intellectual property and is moving to commercialise it; and it faces long gestation, high capital and infrastructure needs and large technical uncertainty. Whether these are met is decided under a framework issued by DPIIT, using documents the applicant submits. So statement 3 is false.

Annexure-I of the FoF 2.0 operational guidelines (April 2026) sets a minimum investment multiplier for each segment: 1.5x for deep-tech AIFs, 2x for smaller AIFs (micro VCs with corpus up to ₹400 crore), 1.75x for AIFs backing technology-driven innovative manufacturing in manufacturing-oriented champion sectors, and 2.5x for sector- and stage- agnostic AIFs. The logic is risk-graded leverage: where private capital is scarce and gestation is long, as in deep tech and manufacturing, the government asks for less private matching; where the market is deeper, as in generalist funds, it demands more. The same table caps the government's share of a single AIF at 40, 30, 30 and 25 per cent respectively. Pairs 1 and 2 are correct; pairs 3 and 4 have their multipliers swapped.

All three statements are correct (d). Statement 1 is right: the Digital India Land Records Modernisation Programme (DILRMP) has been a Central Sector scheme with 100% central funding since 2016. Statement 2 is right: it digitises cadastral maps and links them to the computerised Records of Rights. Statement 3 is right: Records of Rights are being transliterated into any of the 22 Eighth Schedule languages, so people can read them in their own language.

Notice the ULPIN, a 14-digit unique land parcel number, called "Bhu-Aadhaar", and NGDRS, a single system for registering property. The aim is conclusive titling, fewer land disputes and easier loans. The SVAMITVA scheme maps village homes using drones.

Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.

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