Previous Year Question
“Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana” launched under Social Security Act 2008 covers:
only organized sector workers
only rural workers
only unorganized sector workers
all category of workers
Correct Answer: C
Detailed Solution
The Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) was primarily intended to provide health insurance protection to BPL families in the unorganised sector. The scheme was launched on 1 October 2007 and became operational from 1 April 2008.
Initially, it provided a ₹30,000 per family per year smart-card-based cashless health insurance cover to a BPL family of five. Its coverage was subsequently extended to specified categories of unorganised workers such as building and construction workers, street vendors, MGNREGA workers, beedi workers, domestic workers, sanitation workers, mine workers, rickshaw pullers, rag pickers and auto/taxi drivers.
An important point is that option (c) does not mean that every unorganised worker in the country automatically became an RSBY beneficiary. Eligibility was based on BPL families and specified categories of unorganised workers added from time to time. However, among the given options, the sector covered by the scheme was the unorganised sector.
Current Status (2026): RSBY no longer operates as a separate scheme. Following the launch of Ayushman Bharat–Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY) on 23 September 2018, RSBY was subsumed into it. Eligible RSBY families were also brought under PM-JAY coverage.