In which year UNO adopted a definition of absolute poverty?

The answer is B) 1995. The UN's widely cited definition of absolute poverty was adopted at the World Summit for Social Development in Copenhagen in March 1995. It describes absolute poverty as a condition of severe deprivation of basic human needs, including food, safe drinking water, sanitation, health, shelter, education and information. The key point is that poverty depends not only on income but also on access to services.

Why the others are wrong:

• 1994: This was the International Year of the Family. It has no link to this definition.
• 1996: Habitat II was held in Istanbul that year and dealt with human settlements, not the poverty definition.
• 1997: No such UN definition was adopted that year.

The core concept is the shift from income-only measures to a multidimensional view of deprivation. This thinking sits behind the UNDP's Human Development Index and the Multidimensional Poverty Index, and it is useful for Mains GS-I and GS-II answers on welfare schemes and inclusive growth. SDG 1 of the 2030 Agenda, to end poverty in all its forms, builds on the same idea.

Trap: Candidates confuse the 1995 Copenhagen Summit with Habitat II (1996) or with the World Bank's income-based $1-a-day line, which is a different measure from the UN's definition.