When did the Government of India establish the independent Ministry for 'Women and Child Development’?

The correct answer is D (2006). In January 2006, the Government of India carved out an independent Ministry of Women and Child Development from the Ministry of Human Resource Development, where the women and child welfare work had been housed as a Department.

Why the others are wrong:

• A (1985): This is the year the Department of Women and Child Development was set up, under the HRD ministry. It was a department, not an independent ministry.
• B (1986) and C (1987): No ministry or department milestone for women and child welfare falls in these years. The National Policy for Empowerment of Women came only in 2001, so these dates have no basis here.

The core concept is the difference between a department and a ministry: a department sits inside a ministry, while a ministry has its own minister and Cabinet status. For Mains, this shift links to the institutional design of women and child welfare, the convergence of schemes such as Mission Shakti and Saksham Anganwadi, and the debate on gender budgeting.

Trap: Aspirants pick 1985 because they remember the department's creation. Read the question carefully: it asks for the independent ministry, which came later, in 2006.