. PATH of UPSC: CURRENT AFFAIRS

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GOVT SCHEMES******** Imp Notes **

2.EDUCATION
3.EMPLOYMENT
4.Promoting Inclusive Growth
6.HEALTH
7.WOMEN_&_Child
8.Agri and RURAL DEVELOPMENT
9.DIGITAL CONNECTIVITY
10.REGIONAL
11.INDIA’s International Relations
12.Construction

Flagship schemes of GOI : Declared so by the union cabinet or the Development Evaluation Advisory Committee (DEAC) of Planning Commission. The list of flagship programmes can be modified by the DEAC or the Government from time to time. Hence Any programme which is the symbolic of the main thrust of the nation's developmental policy & so declared from time to time known as Flagship schemes.

ECONOMIC Development

TReDS Trade Receivables Discounting System is an Electronic Plateform for Financing of Trade Receivables of MSMEs from corporate and other buyers, through multiple financiers to improve the liquidity in the MSME sector significantly.

On TRedDs (aka bills discounting) digital platform where small businesses (MSMEs) can get access to capital by auctioning their trade receivables.

By the TReDS guidelines, only MSMEs may participate as sellers, while banks and non-bank finance corporation (NBFC) factoring companies are permitted as financiers.

Raisina Dialogue

annual geo-political event, organised by Ministry of External Affairs(MEA) and Observer Research Foundation (ORF) started in 2016.
designed to explore prospects and opportunities for Asian integration as well as Asia’s integration with the larger world.
predicated on India’s vital role in the Indian Ocean Region and how India along with its partners can build a stable regional and world order.

Participants: The conference is a multi-stakeholder, cross-sectoral meeting involving policy and decision-makers, including but not limited to Foreign, Defence and Finance Ministers of different countries, high-level government officials and policy practitioners, leading personalities from business and industry, and members of the strategic community, media and academia.

It was rather about the engagement of global actors with Asia and of Asia with the world. So this dialogue took birth as a platform, where the old and the new could work together, to discover their connections, their inter-dependence. It has today become a crucible for conversations and ideas that while located in India can be owned by the world.

This year in New delhi with 2018 Theme: ‘Managing Disruptive Transitions: Ideas, Institutions & Idioms’

SMART CITY MISSION :

Around 100 cities will be selected based on the scores cities get for carrying out urban reforms in areas including sanitation and governance.
With Bottom-up approach as planning principles, each city will get Rs 500 crore from the Centre for implementing various projects.
An equal amount, on matching basis, will have to be contributed by the state or urban local bodies.
The mission will provide central funding of Rs 48,000 crore to the selected cities.
The implementation of the Mission at the City level will be done by a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) created for the purpose.
Each smart city will have a SPV which will be headed by a full time CEO and have nominees of Central Govt, State govt. and ULB on its Board.

National Urban Housing Fund (NUHF):

NUHF will facilitate raising requisite funds in next 4 years so that flow of Central Assistance under different BELOW verticals sustained and construction of houses to address the gap in Urban Sector progresses smoothly.

Beneficiary Linked Construction (BLC),
Affordable Housing in Partnership (AHP),
In-Situ Slum Redevelopment (ISSR) and
Credit Linked Subsidy Scheme (CLSS)

This fund will be situated in Building Materials and Technology Promotion Council (BMTPC), an autonomous body registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 under MoHUA Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.

RITES : a Public Sector Enterprise under Ministry of Railways It is the export arm of the railways undertaking various projects worldwide. RITES has engaged in the supply of Railway rolling stock (locomotives, coaches, wagons, permanent way maintenance vehicles), maintenance of railway infrastructure, technical studies, training of Myanmar Railway officials.

Nirman Samvaad : one-day Mega Conclave, a first ever interaction held recently in New Delhi between Ministry of Railways and the Construction Industry organized by Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd. (RVNL), a dedicated arm of Ministry of Railways for fast track implementation of railway projects. It aims to streamline procedures and remove bottlenecks to ensure the fast track implementation of projects on the railways.

CReDI Common Rail Electronic Direct Injection Fuel System

is a 2-stage fuel distribution system which offers greater flexibility than a normal engine.
It is electronically controlled through an electronic engine management System.
It reduces particulate/soot and gaseous emissions (e.g. (NOx emission) because the efficacy of the catalytic converter (device that filter pollutants) is increased under this method.
Hence it has less cost with fuel savings, less noise , lower emissions.

NABH Nirman : The government propose to expand airport capacity more than five times to handle a billion trips a year under a new initiative NABH Nirman. Balance sheet of AAI shall be leveraged to raise more resources for funding this expansion.

I – Metros : launched by an association of all Indian Metro Rail companies proposed to be a platform to provide a forum for exchange of ideas, pooling of knowledge and sharing of experience, best practices, innovations etc. among Indian Metro rail companies to nurture excellence in performance. Registered under Society Registration Act, 1860 , It is objective of forming this association to provide a common platform for all Metro rail companies for sharing experience, information, best practices, innovations etc.

It will undertake and promote techno-economic studies and research, also safeguard the interest and rights of metro rail companies and will be resource tank of information for decision making.

Ind AS or Indian Accounting Standards by MCA

It governs the accounting and recording of financial transactions as well as the presentation of statements such as profit and loss account and balance sheet of a company.
It has been evolved as a compromise formula that tries to harmonise Indian accounting rules with IFRS(International Financial Reporting Standards).
It was adopted by companies in India and issued under supervision and control of Accounting Standards Board (ASB), which was constituted as a body in year 1977 as a committee under Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) which consists of representatives from government department, academicians, other professional bodies viz. ICAI, representatives from ASSOCHAM, CII, FICCI, etc
The implementation of IndAS for public sector banks requires an amendment to the Banking Regulation Act. The schedule in BR Act relating to financial statement disclosures needs to be changed to the IndAS format. Section 29 of the BR Act deals with the accounts and balance sheets of public sector banks.
Private sector banks are covered by the Companies Act, which is based on the new accounting standards.

Banks and NBFCs non-banking financial companies currently follow Indian generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) standards. They are due to switch to Indian Accounting Standards (IndAS) from 1 April 2018.

Consequently, Advance pricing agreements (APAs) are also likely to be impacted as Ind AS may impact the underlying TP TRANSFER PRICING methodologies and critical assumption.
Companies shall follow Ind AS either Voluntarily or Mandatorily. Once a company follows Indian AS, either mandatorily or voluntarily, it can't revert to old method of Accounting.
The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) issues GAAP. The international alternative to GAAP is the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).

IFRS International Financial Reporting Standards, usually called the IFRS Standards, are a set of accounting standards issued by the IFRS Foundation and the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) to provide a common global language for business affairs so that company accounts are understandable and comparable across international boundaries.

It is becoming the global standard for the preparation of public company financial statements.
The IASB is an independent accounting standards body, based in London

National Small Savings Fund (NSSF) :

Set up on 1 April, 1999 with an objective to account all the monetary transactions under small savings schemes of Union Government under one umbrella. It was set up in Public Account of India.
Cabinet meeting approved one-time loan of Rs. 45000 crore from NSSF to Food Corporation of India (FCI) to meet its food subsidy requirements.
It invested in the special securities of various States/UTs (with legislature)/Central Governments.
States can borrow upto 80% of NSSF.

Sovereign Gold Bond Scheme :

was introduced by GOI in 2015 these bonds to help reduce India’s over dependence on gold imports, the move was also aimed at changing the habits of Indians from saving in physical form of gold to a paper form with Sovereign backing.
Eligibility: restricted for sale to resident Indian entities, including individuals, HUFs, trusts, universities and charitable institutions.
Denomination : denominated in multiples of gram(s) of gold with a basic unit of 1 gram.
Tenor will be for a period of 8 years with exit option from the 5th year to be exercised on the interest payment dates.
Minimum permissible investment limit = 1 gram of gold
Maximum limit = 4 kg for individual, 4 kg for HUF and 20 kg for trusts and similar entities PER FISCAL (April-March) notified by GOI from time to time.
For joint holding, the investment limit of 4 kg will be applied to the first applicant only.
It can be used as collateral for loans as per loan-to-value (LTV) mandated by RBI time to time.

PDS Public Distribution System :

Central govt is responsible for procurement, storage, transportation, and bulk allocation of food grains, state govts. distributes the same through the FPSs.
Under the PDS, presently the commodities namely wheat, rice, sugar and kerosene are being allocated to the States/UTs for distribution.
State governments are also responsible for operational responsibilities including allocation and identification of families below poverty line, issue of ration cards etc.

FCI (Food Corporation of India) :

The org. created, owned and run by GOI as set up on 14 January 1965 having its first District Office at Thanjavur – rice bowl of Tamil Nadu and headquarters at Chennai (The Headquarters later shifted to Delhi) under Food Corporations Act 1964 to implement the following objectives of the National Food Policy :

Effective price support operations for safeguarding the interests of the farmers
Distribution of food grains throughout the country for PDS Public Distribution System
Maintaining satisfactory level of operational and buffer stocks of food grains to ensure National Food Security
Regulate market price to provide food grains to consumers at a reliable price

Credit/Loan provided by the nationalised banks to the FCI (Food Corporation of India) is known as Food credit. It is used for procurement of food grains by FCI and is a part of the Gross Bank Credit.

E-Grains : It is IISFM (Integrated Information System for Foodgrains Management for FCI).

It provides the online Stock Position of buffer and procurement by FCI.
The FCI purchases wheat and rice from the farmers in states where there is surplus production to ensure food security.
E-grains improves accountability and transparency in this operation.

Strategy on Resource efficiency

NITI Aayog will facilitate Resource efficiency strategy implementation. However It will be the responsibility of the line ministries/depts.
One pilot study on Ease of Doing RE Business in collaboration with DIPP could be considered.
Generating wealth from waste, Measures for promoting effective recycling of scrap generated
NITI Aayog in collaboration with the European Union delegation to India have released the Strategy on Resource Efficiency.
It has emphasis on Sustainable Public Procurement (SSP) as an action agenda which will be the market transformation tool to transform to a resource efficient economy
It is developed with recommendations from the Indian Resource Efficiency Programme (IREP), launched by MoEFCC and Indian Resource Panel (InRP) in April 2017 to make resource use economically and environmentally sustainable.

New Indian Resource Panel (InRP) officially unveiled in 2016, making India one of the first emerging economies to set up a national advisory body on resource efficiency. The InRP was created with support from the International Climate Initiative as part of the project ‘Resource efficiency and secondary raw materials management as a contribution to climate change mitigation’. The InRP will issue recommendations to Indian businesses and policy-makers on improving the general conditions for resource efficiency.

InRP was formed with an aim to promote sustainable development of the country by utilizing secondary resources to meet developmental needs.

IRP International Resource Panel : Established by UNEP in 2007 as a central institution to provide independent scientific assessments on sustainable use of natural resources and their environmental impacts and policy approaches.

LRS Liberalised Remittance Scheme :

It provides all resident individuals to freely remit $250,000 (Rs. 1.5 crore) overseas every financial year for a permissible set of current or capital account transactions.
Under the LRS, Indians can open, maintain and hold foreign currency accounts with banks outside India for carrying out transactions, without permission from RBI.

RECENTLY RBI has tightened reporting norms for the Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS). Now banks will be required to upload daily transaction-wise information undertaken by them under LRS.

LoU Letter of Understandings :

Line of Credit :

is basically a flexible loan from a bank or financial institution to an individual or business.
As a loan, a line of credit will charge interest as soon as money is borrowed, and borrowers must be approved by the bank (and such approval is a byproduct of the borrower's credit rating and/or relationship with the bank).
A line of credit addresses the fact that institutions are not very interested in underwriting one-time personal loans, particularly unsecured loans, for most clients.

Mercedes unveils India’s first, locally made BS-VI car more than two years ahead of the government deadline of April 2020 for switching to new emission norms.

80:20 gold scheme:

Introduced in August 2013 with the aim of curbing gold imports.
Under the scheme, up to 80% of gold imports could be sold in the country and while at least 20% of imports had to be exported before bringing in new consignments of the yellow metal.
The permission to import the next lot given only upon fulfilment of the export mandate. The policy was aimed at tackling the widening fiscal deficit.
After relaxation by rules of RBI, private firms were allowed to import gold under the scheme.

May 2014, the RBI had allowed certain premier export houses to import the gold subject to some restrictions. Under the earlier scheme, only state-owned entities were allowed to initially import the yellow metal. Later, the scheme was scrapped.

Chit Funds (Amendment) Bill, 2018

based on the recommendations of Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance and the Advisory Groups on Chit Funds set up by GOI.
aims to streamline and strengthen the chit fund sector.
provides for allowing the mandatory presence of two subscribers, as required either in person or through video conferencing duly recorded by the foreman, while the bids are being opened.

The Chit Funds Act, 1982 was enacted to provide for the regulation of chit funds which are indigenous business in India and have conventionally satisfied the financial needs of low income households.

Chit fund is a kind of savings scheme practiced in India.

A chit fund company is a company that manages, conducts, or supervises such a chit fund, as defined in Chit Funds Act, 1982.
Chit funds in India are governed by various state or central laws. Organised chit fund schemes are required to register with the Registrar or Firms, Societies and Chits.
Chit fund businesses can be registered and regulated only by the respective State Governments.
Chit Fund also provides direct and indirect employment to the people.
It accepts savings at interest and lends money for house and other purchases.

REITs are similar to mutual funds. While mutual funds provide for an opportunity to invest in equity stocks, REITs allow one to invest in income-generating real estate assets.

SEBI has amended REITs and InvITs regulations to facilitate the growth of such trusts. As per the amendments, REITs and InvITs will now have to provide a mechanism for resolution of disputes with their shareholders and partners in the holding firm.

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All Asset Management Companies (AMCs) are regulated by SEBI and/or the RBI (in case the AMC is promoted by a bank). In addition, every mutual fund has a board of directors that represents the unit holders interests in the mutual fund.

Sunrise Project aimed at developing printed photovoltaic cells and new manufacturing processes which can be used to make solar energy products in India.

A consortium of 12 Indian and British universities, including Oxford and Cambridge, has received a £7 million grant from the U.K. government to build self-sufficient solar-powered buildings in remote Indian villages.

EDUCATION

GIAN Global Initiative of Academic Networks : of MHRD

is in Higher Education was launched in 2015 aims at tapping the talent pool of scientists and entrepreneurs to engage with the institutes of higher education in India to augment the country’s existing academic resources, accelerate the pace of quality reforms, and further strengthen India’s scientific and technological capabilities.
is expected to contribute significantly to build trained manpower for the Smart Cities Mission launched by the Government on 25th June 2015 with an objective to promote sustainable and inclusive cities that provide core infrastructure and give a decent quality of life to its citizens, a clean and sustainable environment and application of ‘Smart’ Solutions.

INTACH Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage : an autonomous non-governmental Indian NGO non-profit society that seeks to preserve Indian culture and heritage. It was founded in 1984.

It launched a programme for documentation of the tangible and intangible heritage sites along both sides of Mahanadi river ( born in Chhattisgarh and downstream to Odisha and has largest earthen dam in the world, Hirakud Dam).

RISE Revitalising Infrastructure and Systems in Education by 2022

All centrally funded institutes (CFIs), including central universities, IITs, IIMs, NITs and IISERs, can borrow from Rs 1,00,000 crore corpus over the next four years to expand and build new infrastructure.

The initiative aims to step up investments in research and related infrastructure in premier educational institutions, including health institutions funded by HEFA.

Higher Education Financing Agency (HEFA) would be suitably structured for funding this initiative.
HEFA in September 2016 as a Special Purpose Vehicle with a public sector bank (Canara Bank). It would be jointly funded by the promoter/bank and the MHRD with an authorised capital of ₹2,000 crore.
HEFA will leverage the equity to raise up to ₹20,000 crore for funding of world-class infrastructure at the IITs, IIMs,NITs.
It will mobilise Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funds from public sector units (PSUs) and corporates.
Funding from HEFA is expected to boost infrastructure, especially state-of-the-art laboratories institution.

Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA)

Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS), launched in 2013 aims at providing strategic funding to eligible state higher educational institutions.
Objectives are to improve access, equity and quality in higher education through planned development of higher education at the state level. Also include creating new academic institutions, expanding and upgrading the existing ones, developing institutions that are self-reliant in terms of quality education, professionally managed, and characterized by greater inclination towards research and provide students with education that is relevant to them as well the nation as a whole.
Will create new universities and provide infrastructural support through upgradation of existing autonomous colleges and conversion of colleges in a cluster.
Faculty recruitment support, faculty improvements programmes and leadership development of educational administrators
In order to enhance skill development the existing central scheme of Polytechnics has been subsumed within RUSA.
It has a separate component to synergise vocational education with higher education.
Funding:

The central funding (in the ratio of 60:40 for general category States, 90:10 for special category states and 100% for union territories) would be norm based and outcome dependent.
The funding would flow from the central ministry through the state governments/union territories to the State Higher Education Councils before reaching the identified institutions.
The funding to states would be made on the basis of critical appraisal of State Higher Education Plans, which would describe each state’s strategy to address issues of equity, access and excellence in higher education.

Institutes of Eminence :

Under HRD Ministry aims to Project Indian institutes to global recognition
Would select 20 institutes, and these selected institutes will enjoy complete academic and administrative autonomy.
The government will run 10 of these and they will receive special funding.
The selection shall be made through challenge method mode by the Empowered Expert Committee constituted for the purpose.
Only higher education institutions currently placed in the top 500 of global rankings OR top 50 of the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) are eligible to apply for the eminence tag.
The private Institutions of Eminence can also come up as greenfield ventures provided the sponsoring organisation submits a convincing perspective plan for 15 years.

NIRF National Institutional Ranking Framework

A methodology adopted by Ministry of HRD, GOI , to rank institutions of higher education in India, started since Sep 2015
Parameters are :

Teaching, learning and resources (TLR)
Research, productivity, impact and IPR (RPII)
Graduation outcome (GO)
Outreach and inclusivity (OI)
Perception (PR)

In 2018, Best Institute is IISC Bangalore and College is Miranda House.

Jigyasa A Student - Scientist Connect programme : by CSIR and KVS( Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan ) to enable the students and teachers to practically live the theoretical concepts taught in science by visiting CSIR laboratories and by participating in mini-science projects. The model of engagement includes:

Student Residential Programmes;
Scientists as Teachers and Teachers as Scientists;
Lab specific activities / Onsite Experiments;

The focus is on connecting school students and scientists so as to extend student’s classroom learning with that of a very well-planned research laboratory based learning.

NRTU - Ministry of Railways’ transformative initiative to set up the first ever National Rail and Transport University (NRTU) in Vadodara to skill its human resources and build capability.

The University will be set up as a Deemed to Be University under de novo category as per the UGC [Institutions Deemed to be Universities] Regulations, 2016.
A not-for-profit Company under Section 8 of the Companies Act, 2013 will be created by the Ministry of Railways which shall be the Managing Company of the proposed university.
The company will provide financial and infrastructural support to the university, and appoint Chancellor and Pro-Chancellor of the university.
Board of Management, comprising professionals and academics, shall be independent of the Managing Company with full autonomy to perform its academic and administrative responsibilities.
The funding of the new University/Institute is to entirely come from Ministry of Railways.

The university plans to use latest pedagogy(method of teaching) and technology applications (satellite based tracking, Radio Frequency Identification and Artificial Intelligence) to improve on-the-job performance and productivity

Maitreyi Yatra - b/w J&k and MHRD as Student exchange Prog organised by MHRD.

TEQIP is an initiative of NPIU(national project implement unit) which implements World Bank assisted projects in technical education to improve the quality of engineering students.
GeM portal for procurement of goods & services are developed by DGS&D and NeGD of MEITY.

N Gopalaswami committee : constituted to select 20 institutes (10 each from public and private)of higher education in India that will be developed into “world-class” institutes with a mandate, and supported, to achieve the world-class status over a period of 10 years.

These institutes will be provided with greater autonomy to admit up to 30% foreign students, to recruit up to 25% foreign faculty, to offer online courses up to 20% of its programmes and to enter into academic collaboration with top 500 in the world ranking institutions without UGC permission.

MHRD invited institutes through UGC for this prog.

Ramalingaswami Re-entry Fellowship was conceived in the year 2006-07 with the idea of encouraging scientists (Indian Nationals) working outside the country and would like to return to the home country to pursue their research interests in Modern Biology, Biotechnology, Life Sciences and other related areas. The principal aim of the scheme is to improve the country’s human resource capacity in life sciences, modern biology and biotechnology research – both in terms of development, translation and diffusion by means of attracting young scientists settled abroad.

International data science summit : 5th version held in New Delhi organised by Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), the National Standards Body of India, in association with Data Science Foundation organized the summit.

BIS Bureau of Indian Standards

The national Standards Body of India working under aegis of Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution MoCAFPD
It is established by the Bureau of Indian Standards Act, 1986.
The Minister in charge of the Ministry or Department having administrative control of the BIS is the ex-officio President of the BIS.
As a corporate body, it has 25 members drawn from Central or State Governments, industry, scientific and research institutions, and consumer organisations.
It also works as WTO-TBT enquiry point for India.

Bureau of Indian standards (BIS) Act 2016 will replace Bureau of Indian standards (BIS) Act 1986 with following provisions.

Compulsory certification of any goods or article of any scheduled industry, process, system or service
Making hallmarking of the precious metal articles mandatory
Allows multiple type of simplified conformity assessment schemes including self-declaration of conformity.
To verify the conformity of products and services to a standard and issue certificate of conformity.
Provision for repair or recall, including product liability of the products bearing Standard Mark but not conforming to the relevant Indian Standard.

Samavesh : As a part of this initiative, NITI Aayog seeks to deepen and extend its institutional capacity through networking and partnerships with reputed knowledge & research institutions to create an ecosystem of evidence based policy research.

This network will enable efficient knowledge sharing and information exchange among all partners to fulfil their role in transformative policy reform so as to achieve sustainable and more inclusive development in line with Sustainable Development Goals as well as the 15 year Vision, 7 year strategy and 3 year action plan being developed by the NITI Aayog.

India was ranked 13 in 2017 by Nature Index, which publishes tables based on counts of high-quality research outputs based on natural sciences in the previous year.

SERB Science and Engineering Research Board :

A statutory body under DST Department of Science and Technology,GOI established by an Act of the Parliament of India in 2009.
The Board is chaired by the Secretary to DST in GOI and shall have other senior government officials and eminent scientists as members.
The Board was set up for promoting basic research in science and engineering and to provide financial assistance to scientists, academic institutions, R&D laboratories, industrial concerns and other agencies for such research.

‘Visiting Advanced Joint Research (VAJRA) Faculty Scheme’ :

The Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB), a Statutory body of Department of Science and Technology (DST) has recently launched VAJRA to connect the Indian academic and R&D systems to the best of global science and scientists for a sustained international collaborative research.
The scheme offers adjunct / visiting faculty assignments to overseas scientists, faculty members and R&D professionals including NRI and OCI to undertake high quality collaborative research in cutting edge areas of science and technology.
This will include interdisciplinary areas of priority such as energy, water, health, security, nutrition, materials and manufacturing, etc. with one or more Indian collaborators of public funded academic and research institutions of India.
The VAJRA Faculty should be an active researcher working in an overseas leading academic / research / industrial organization with significant accomplishments in R&D.

GOI announced 4 schemes by DST and SERB to promote young scientists and researchers in the country.

Teacher Associateship for Research Excellence (TARE) Scheme: aims to tap the latent potential of faculty working in state universities, colleges and private academic institutions who are well trained but have difficulty in pursuing their research due to varied reasons including lack of facilities, funding and guidance.
Overseas Visiting Doctoral Fellowship: for enhancing the international mobility of Indian research students which has the potential to create a talented pool of globally trained manpower, also provides an opportunity for research students to gain exposure and access to top class research facilities in academia and labs across the world.
Distinguished Investigator Award (DIA): to recognize and reward Principal Investigators (PIs) of SERB/DST projects who have performed remarkably well, aims not only to reward the best PIs of completed projects but also to motivate the ongoing PIs to perform exceedingly well.
AWSAR (Augmenting Writing Skills for Articulating Research): to encourage, empower and endow popular science writing through newspapers, magazines, blogs, social media, etc. by young PhD Scholars and Post-Doctoral Fellows during the course of their higher studies and research pursuits.

SPA School of Planning and Architecture

A higher education institute located in New Delhi, India specializing in education and research in the field of Planning and Architecture.
There are 3 SPAs in India at New Delhi, Bhopal, Vijayawada

ISSE Integrated Scheme for School Education or Samagra Siksha Abhiyan :

CCEA approved the proposal of Department of School Education and Literacy to formulate an Integrated Scheme on School Education.
It subsumes Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) and Teacher Education (TE).
Aims for education from nursery to senior secondary stage in accordance with the Sustainable Development Goal for Education.

Promoting vocationalization of education
Support States in implementation of Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009.
Strengthening and up-gradation of State Councils for Educational Research and Training (SCERTs)/State Institutes of Education and District Institutes for Education and Training (DIET) as nodal agencies for teacher training.

Sub-Programmes under SSA 2014

Padhe Bharat Badhe Bharat (PBBB), a sub-programme of the SSA, in classes I and II is focusing on foundational learning in early grades with an emphasis on reading, writing and comprehension and mathematics.

As a follow up to the above foundational programme, in 2015-16 a programme called the National Reading Initiative was launched to develop and promote the habit of reading among students in elementary schools, thereby extending the programme up to class 8.

Rashtriya Aavishkar Abhiyan (RAA), also under the SSA, aims to motivate and engage children of the age group 6-18 years, in science, mathematics and technology by observation, experimentation, inference drawing and model building, through both inside and outside classroom activities.
Vidyanjali, another sub-programme under SSA, was launched to enhance community and private sector involvement in Government run elementary schools across the country.
ShaGun portal – an Initiative to monitor the implementation of SSA, developed by MHRD. (Shagun = words Shaala and Gunvatta)

As a part of the Digital India Campaign, the MHRD has launched ‘e- pathshala’ which is a single point repository of e-resources containing, NCERT text-books and various other learning resources.

Saransh is an online self-review tool for schools affiliated to Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE)

INSPIRE Award - MANAK (Million Minds Augmenting National Aspiration and Knowledge) is being revamped and executed by Department of Science & Technology and National Innovation Foundation-India to align it with the action plan for "Start-up India" initiative launched by the Hon'ble Prime Minister of India.

Under the INSPIRE AWARDS - MANAK Scheme, students will be invited from all government or private schools throughout the country, irrespective of their educational boards (national and state) to send original and creative technological ideas/innovations focusing on common problems and come up with solutions on their own.,

The GOI has setup the Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) at NITI Aayog. Realizing the need to create scientific temper and cultivate the spirit of curiosity and innovation among young minds, AIM proposes to support the establishment of a network of Atal Tinkering Laboratories (ATL). ATL is a workspace where young minds can give shape to their ideas through hands-on do-it-yourself mode and learn innovation skills.

Under RMSA

Shaala Siddhi: School Standards and Evaluation Framework and its web portal was launched in 2015. It is a comprehensive instrument for school evaluation leading to school improvement. Developed by the National University of Educational Planning and Administration (NUEPA), it aims to enable schools to evaluate their performance in a more focused and strategic manner and facilitate them to make professional judgments for improvement. The programme’s objective is to establish an agreed set of standards and benchmarks for each school, by focussing on key performance domains and their core standards.

Shala Darpan: The “Shaala Darpan Project” to cover all the 1099 Kendriya Vidyalayas was launched in June, 2015. The objective of this project is to provide services based on school management systems to students, parents and communities. Under school information services, the following list of services will be enabled i.e., school profile management, student profile management, employee information, student attendance, leave management, report cards, curriculum tracking custom, SMS alerts for parents / administrators on student and teacher attendance.

Digital Gender Atlas for Advancing Girls’ Education:

is prepared by Department of School Education and Literacy in the country on its website.
The tool, which has been developed with the support of UNICEF, will help identify low performing geographic pockets for girls, particularly from marginalized groups such as scheduled castes, schedule tribes and Muslims, on specific gender related education indicators.
In order to plan and execute educational interventions, the purpose of the Gender Atlas is to help identify and ensure equitable education with a focus on vulnerable girls, including girls with disabilities.

Higher Education for North East India

Ishan Uday – The UGC has launched a special scholarship scheme for students of north east region, Ishan Uday from the academic session 2014-15. The Scheme envisages grant of 10,000 scholarships to students from the region whose parental income is below 4.5 lakh per annum and would be provided scholarship ranging from ₹ 3,500 to ₹ 5,000 per month for studying at under graduate level in colleges/universities of the country.
Ishan Vikas – Academic Exposure for North Eastern Students The programme has been launched with a plan to bring selected college and school students from the north eastern states into close contact with IITs, NITs and IISERs during their vacation periods for academic exposure.

Prime Minister’s Research Fellowship Scheme :

a public-private partnership (PPP) between Science & Engineering Research Board (SERB), which is an autonomous body under the Department of Science and Technology (DST) and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII)
Around 1000 students who have completed B.Tech or integrated M.Tech or M.sc in Science and technology streams will be offered direct admission in PhD programme in the IITs/IISc with a fixed amount of fellowship

i3 Innovate in India 2017

Towards strengthening the emerging biotechnology enterprise in India, Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Ministry of Science & Technology has initiated it with entitled: Industry-Academia Collaborative Mission for Accelerating Discovery Research to Early Development for Biopharmaceuticals – “Innovate in India (i3) Empowering biotech entrepreneurs & accelerating inclusive innovation”.
This Mission of the Department was approved and formally launched in 2017.
The Mission has been approved at a total cost of US$250 million for five years with 50% funding through World Bank Loan, with an aim to make India a hub for design and development of novel, affordable and effective biopharmaceutical products such as vaccines, biologics and medical devices for combating public health concerns.
This Programme of DBT would strengthen translational capability of academic researchers; empower bio-entrepreneurs and SMEs by decreasing the cost and risk during early stages of product development and also elevate the innovation quotient of the industry.
The global experience of World Bank would be instrumental in building sustained global linkages, technical assistance and knowledge flow between public private partners for business promotion in biotech sector.

The mission will be implemented by Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC), a PSU of DBT.
Besides, it will also work on establishment of shared infrastructure and facilities and at the same time creating and enhancing technology transfer capabilities in public and private sector.

NCS-TCP National Certification System for Tissue Culture Raised Plants is implemented by Department of Biotechnology (DBT), GOI to

Builds capacities of the tissue culture companies for producing quality planting material
Enhances the market reach of tissue culture companies through a certification process by NCS-TCP

3.EMPLOYMENT

NCS National Career Service :

Implemented by Ministry of Labour as a mission mode project for transformation of the National Employment Service to provide a variety of employment related services like career counselling, vocational guidance, information on skill development courses, apprenticeship, internships.
It has a rich repository of career content of over 3000 occupations.
The NCS project has also been enhanced to interlink all employment exchanges with the NCS Portal so that services can be delivered online.
The scheme provides for part funding to states for IT upgradation and minor refurbishing of employment exchanges and for organising job fairs.

PM YUVA Yojana Pradhan Mantri Yuva Udyamita Vikas Abhiyan :

Launched in 2016 with aims to creating an enabling ecosystem for entrepreneurship promotion among youth through entrepreneurship education and training, advocacy, easy access to entrepreneurship support network and promotion of social entrepreneurship.

iCreate : independent centre created with the objective of facilitating entrepreneurship through a blend of creativity, innovation, engineering, product design and leveraging emerging technologies to deal with major issues such as food security, water, connectivity, cybersecurity, IT and electronics, energy, bio-medical equipment and devices etc. With the help of Israel, iCreate aims to develop an ecosystem in India to generate quality entrepreneurs.

STRIVE Skill Strengthening for Industrial Value Enhancement project : to improve access to quality and market-driven vocational training provided in it is and apprenticeships. being financed for IDA Credit of USD 125 million by WORLD BANK.

CCEA has approved two new World Bank supported schemes of Rs. 6,655 crore – Skills Acquisition and Knowledge Awareness for Livelihood Promotion (SANKALP) (3,300 crore loan support from World Bank) and Skill Strengthening for Industrial Value Enhancement (STRIVE)(half of the scheme outlay as World bank loan)

PMEGP Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Prog

major credit-linked subsidy programme being implemented by Ministry of MSME since 2008-09 , aimed at generating self-employment opportunities through establishment of micro-enterprises in the non-farm sector by helping traditional artisans and unemployed youth in rural as well as urban areas.
will create sustainable estimated employment opportunities for 15 lakh persons in three financial years.
Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) is nodal implementation agency for PMEGP at national level.
At the state/district level, state offices of KVIC, Khadi and Village Industries Boards (KVIBs) and District Industry Centres (DIC) are the implementing agencies.

PMJVK Pradhan Mantri Jan Vikas Karyakram

It aims to address development deficits in the identified minority concentration areas.
The identification of minority concentration areas is done on basis of presence of substantial population of notified Minority Communities based on Census 2011.
The restructured programme would provide better socio economic infrastructure facilities to the minority communities particularly in the field of education, health & skill development as compared to the present situation, which would further lead to lessening of the gap between the national average and the minority communities with regard to backwardness parameters.
PMJVK will be implemented in MCDs Minority Concentration District HQs, Minority Concentration Block(MCBs), Minority Concentration Towns(MCTs) falling in 308 districts of 32 States/UTs.
Moreover, the scheme will also be implemented in Backward Clusters of Minority Concentration Villages(CoMCV). These CoMCV will be identified on the proposal of States/UTs as per criteria of PMJVK.

PMVJK was renamed from Multi-sectoral Development Programme (MsDP) which was launched in 2008 in 90 identified Minority Concentration Districts (MCDs) having at least 25% minority population and below national average with respect to one or both of the backwardness parameters with the objective of developing assets for socio-economic and basic amenities.
MsDP is identified as one of Core Schemes under National Development Agenda in the Report of the Sub-Group of Chief Ministers on Rationalization of Centrally Sponsored Schemes, which was constituted by NITI AAYOG.
MsDP is designed primarily to address the developmental gaps/deficits in identified backward minority concentration areas by topping up of existing Centrally Sponsored Schemes of various Central ministries/departments without any change in the norms, guidelines and the funding pattern.

Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY) Micro Unit Development Refinance Agency

was launched in April, 2015 with objective to refinance collateral-free loans given by the lenders to small borrowers.
Banks and MFIs( non-profit micro financing institutes) can draw refinance under MUDRA Scheme after becoming member-lending institutions of MUDRA.
Mudra Loans are available for non-agricultural activities upto Rs. 10 lakh and activities allied to agriculture such as Dairy, Poultry, Bee Keeping etc, are also covered.
Mudra’s unique features include a Mudra Card which permits access to Working Capital through ATMs and Card Machines.
There are three types of loans under PMMY:

Shishu (up to Rs.50,000)
Kishore (from Rs.50,001 to Rs.5 lac)
Tarun (from Rs.500,001 to Rs. 10 lac)

MSMED Act 2006 classifies the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) on the basis of investment in plant and machinery for manufacturing units and investment in equipment for service enterprises.

It defines units producing goods and rendering services in terms of annual turnover as follows:

A micro enterprise will be defined as a unit where the annual turnover does not exceed 5 crore rupees;
A small enterprise will be defined as a unit where the annual turnover is more than 5 crore rupees but does not exceed Rs 75 crore;
A medium enterprise will be defined as a unit where the annual turnover is more than 75 crore rupees but does not exceed Rs 250 crore.
Additionally, the Central Government may, by notification, vary turnover limits, which shall not exceed thrice the limits specified in Section 7 of the MSMED Act.

Action Plan for Champion Sectors in Services :

Cabinet has approved the proposal of the Department of Commerce to give focused attention to 12 identified Champion Services Sectors for promoting their development, and realizing their potential.
The respective line Ministries/Departments shall finalize the Action Plans under the overall guidance of the Committee of Secretaries (CoS) under Cabinet Secretary.
A dedicated fund of Rs. 5000 crores has been proposed to be established to support initiatives for sectoral Action Plans of the Champion Sectors.
This initiative will enhance the competitiveness of India's service sectors
12 identified Champion Services Sectors for promoting their development, and realizing their potential.

Information Technology & Information Technology enabled Services (IT & ITeS),
Tourism and Hospitality Services,
Medical Value Travel,
Transport and Logistics Services,
Accounting and Finance Services,
Audio Visual Services,
Legal Services,
Communication Services,
Construction and Related Engineering Services,
Environmental Services,
Financial Services
Education Services

KIP Know India Programme : by MEA

An initiative of the Ministry of External Affairs for the Persons of Indian Origin (PIO) i.e. for Indian Diaspora (Excluding NRIs) between the age group of 18 to 30 years to provide them an exposure to the country of their origin (India).
The KIP offers a platform for the young PIOs to visit India share their views, expectations and experiences and forge closer bonds with the India of present times in a three-week orientation programme.
External Affairs Minister has recently launched a portal for the Know India Programme (KIP).

MEA launches SAMEEP aim to bring foreign policy to the masses by MEA External Affairs Ministry. Under this programme, all the ministry officers – under-secretary and above – will be asked to go to their hometowns, particularly their alma maters to interact with the students about the way the MEA works, basic elements of its policies, how diplomacy is conducted, and generally give students an idea of what a career in the MEA would look like.

Project Saksham country’s largest time-bound “up skilling” exercise for government employees launched by the Indian Railways.

Project SAKSHAM is a New Indirect Tax Network (Systems Integration) of Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC). It seeks to bolster the information technology network for the new Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime.

IPrism’ : Intellectual Property (IP) Competition for college and university students launched by CIPAM, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), in collaboration with ASSOCHAM and ERICSSON India.

Accessible India Campaign (AIC)

The nationwide flagship campaign of the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (DEPwD), Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.
It aims to make a barrier free and conducive environment for Divyangjans all over the country. The campaign has the vision to build an inclusive society in which equal opportunities are provided for the growth and development of Persons with Disabilities (PwDs) so that they can lead productive, safe and dignified lives.
The govt. launched Inclusiveness & Accessibility Index helps the industries and corporates to participate in the campaign.
It is in line with Article 9 of UNCRPD(UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities) to which India is signatory since 2007.
It is divided into 3 verticals: Built Environment; Transport and Information & Communication Technology (ICT) ecosystem.

The Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (Divyangjan) initiated a “Website Accessibility Project” for State Government/Union Territories under Accessible India Campaign through ERNET India, an autonomous scientific society under the Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY), to make total 917 websites accessible and providing funds for the same.

Udyam Sakhi Portal : launched by Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises(MSME) for women entrepreneurs of India.

Don't Confuse !!

-- Udyam Sakhi Portal by Ministry of MSME

-- Women Entrepreneurship Platform by NITI AAYOG

-- Women Entrepreneurship Council by MoWCD Ministry of Women and Child Empowerment

Udyami Mitra : Loan Portal for MSMEs set up by SIDBI

Integrated Scheme for Development of Silk Industry

The Central Sector Scheme is implemented through Central Silk Board (CSB).
aims to achieve self-sufficiency in silk production by 2022. To achieve this, production of high grade silk in India will reach 20,650 MTs by 2022 from the current level of 11,326 MTs thereby reducing imports to Zero.

The core objective of the scheme is to improve the productivity and quality of silk through R&D intervention.

The scheme will promote Women Empowerment and livelihood opportunities to SC/ST and other weaker sections of the society. The scheme will help to increase productive employment from 85 lakhs to 1 crore persons by 2020.

FINE Festival Of Innovation And Entrepreneurship : is inaugurated by President Ram Nath Kovind & organised by Rashtrapati Bhavan in association with the Department of Science and Technology and the National Innovation Foundation-India. It is an initiative to recognise, respect, showcase, reward innovations and to foster a supportive ecosystem for innovators.

Pradhan Mantri Rojgar Protsahan Yojana

Approved by CCEA , announced in the Budget for 2016-17.
The objective of the scheme is to promote employment generation.
The scheme is being implemented by the Ministry of Labour and Employment.
Under the scheme employers would be provided an incentive for enhancing employment by reimbursement of the 8.33% EPS contribution made by the employer in respect of new employment.
The PMRPY scheme is targeted for workers earning wages upto Rs. 15,000/-per month.

Backward Regions Grant Fund : was launched at Barpeta, Assam on 19 February 2007, designed to "address regional imbalances in development."

NITI Aayog’s Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) :

flagship initiative to promote a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship in the country.
AIM is mandated to create an umbrella structure to oversee innovation ecosystem of the country and revolutionizing the innovation eco-system – touching upon the entire innovation life cycle through various programs.
Atal Tinkering Laboratories (ATLs) create innovators, Atal Incubation Centre and support to Established Incubation Centre will take the innovations to the market and a network of Incubators shall help create enterprises around these innovations.

ATLs are innovation play workspaces for students between Class 6 to 12, stimulating innovations combining science and technology.

Transformation of Aspirational Districts Programme :

Started by SIDBI & tied up with Common Service Centre (CSC) to promote micro enterprises in 115 aspirational districts across the country to contribute in their development.
It aims to quickly and effectively transform some of the most underdeveloped districts in the country.
It has Convergence (of Central & State Schemes), Collaboration (of Central, State level ‘Prabhari’ Officers & District Collectors), and Competition among districts driven by a mass Movement.
The 115 districts, including 35 affected by left-wing extremism, were selected on parameters like deprivation (extent of landless households), health & nutrition (institutional delivery, stunting of children and wasting in children), education (elementary dropout rate and adverse pupil-teacher ratio) and infrastructure (un-electrified homes, lack of toilets, villages not connected by road and lack of drinking water).

7th edition of three day ‘Kathakar: International Storytellers Festival’ was recently inaugurated at the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA), New Delhi. The partners for this year’s festival are the IGNCA of Union Ministry of Culture in Delhi, Heritage Transport Museum in Gurugram and the NCPA in Mumbai.

Kathakar is the only oral storytelling festival in India and is a part of Ghummakkad Narain - the Travelling Literature Festival which was started under the aegis of UNESCO in 2010.

4.Promoting Inclusive Growth

PM Jan Dhan Yojana - Financial Inclusion

Rupay Cards — Digital and cashless Transaction

Nai Roshni - Leadership Development of Minority Women

Padho Pradesh - Interest subsidies on educational loans for overseas studies for Minority community students

Seekho aur Kamao - Skills development for Minority community

USTAAD - Upgrading the Skills and Training in Traditional Arts/Crafts for Development (USTTAD) Scheme was launched by Union Minister of Minority Affairs and fully funded by GOI in order to improve degrading conditions of world famous Banaras Saree weavers who belong to minority communities.

Nai Manzil - have Financing Agreement of 50 million dollars with World Bank for Education and Skills Training for Minorities.

It aims to provide educational intervention by giving the bridge courses to the trainees and getting them Certificates for Class XII and X from distance medium educational system.
It seeks to provide trade basis skill training in 4 courses at the same time of formal education, in field of (i) Manufacturing (ii) Engineering (iii) Services (iv) Soft skills.
It intends to cover people in between 17 to 35 age group from all minority communities as well as Madrasa students.
This scheme will provide new avenues for minorities for continuing higher education and also open up employment opportunities in the organised sector.

Adopt a Heritage Project :

On World Tourism Day i.e. 27th Sep 2017, a key initiative of Ministry of Tourism in close collaboration with Ministry of Culture & Archeological Survey of India (ASI), to develop the heritage sites / monuments and making them tourist-friendly to enhance the tourism potential and their cultural importance in a planned and phased manner.

Under the scheme, RED FORT New Delhi is adopted by Dalmia Bharat group in Rs. 25 Cr. for 5 Yrs beating Indigo , GMR sports.

e-Sampark : introduced by GOI to establish Proactive communication between people and government.

April 5 celebrated as the National Maritime Day : on this day 99 years ago in 1919 when the country’s navigation history set sail with SS Loyalty, the first ship of the Scindia Steam Navigation Company Ltd started for the United Kingdom from Mumbai (then British Bombay).

In 2018, the theme : ‘Indian Shipping – An Ocean of opportunity’

Bharat ke Veer : an initiative with a corpus fund to help the families of paramilitary troopers killed in the line of duty. To ensure maximum coverage, a cap of 15 lakh rupees is imposed. “Bharat Ke Veer” corpus would be managed by a committee made up of eminent persons of repute and senior Government officials, who would decide to disburse the fund equitably to the brave heart’s family on need basis.

Himalayan Research Fellowship Scheme :

Launched by MoE&F aims scheme’ to create a young pool of trained environmental managers, ecologists and socio-economists.
This pool will help generate information on physical, biological, managerial and human aspects of Himalayan environment and development.
The financial support will be provided under the National Mission on Himalayan Studies (NMHS).
The research will be undertaken in any of the identified broad thematic areas (BTAs) of the NMHS.
Some of the broad thematic areas that are being focused on for research under the NMHS are water resource management including rejuvenation of springs and catchments, hydropower development, assessment and prediction of water-induced hazards, livelihood options including ecotourism opportunities, biodiversity management including recovery of threatened species and skill development.

5th South Asia Region Public Procurement Conference

Held at New Delhi hosted by GOI, through the Public Procurement Division (PPD) of Ministry of Finance and All India Management Association (AIMA) with theme : “Public Procurement and Service Delivery” and objective to enable the Heads of Public Procurement and other key stakeholders in the eight South Asian countries to meet and learn from one another and from experts in the field of public procurement.
The Conference is held under the auspices of the South Asia Region Public Procurement Network (SARPPN), which is sponsored and facilitated by the World Bank, Asian Development Bank(ADB) and Islamic Development Bank.
The First Conference was held in Kathmandu in 2010, the second in Islamabad in 2014, the third in Dhaka 2015 and the fourth in Sri Lanka 2017.

FAME India scheme :

aim to promote eco-friendly vehicles, the government launched the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid &) Electric Vehicles in India (FAME-India) scheme in 2015.
It is a part of the National Electric Mobility Mission Plan NEMMP.
It is being administered by Heavy Industries Ministry.
It aimed at incentivising all vehicle segments, including two-wheelers, three wheeler auto, passenger four-wheeler vehicle, light commercial vehicles and buses. The scheme covers hybrid and electric technologies like a strong hybrid, plug-in hybrid and battery electric vehicles.

Mild hybrid technology is different from plug-in or conventional hybrid vehicles. Mild hybrid vehicles use the energy generated while applying the brakes and turns it into electric energy that is then stored in a battery.

DGFT Directorate General of Foreign Trade :

DGFT with IIFT Launches “ Niryat Bandhu@Your Desktop” An Online Certificate Programme in Export Import

As per World steel Association an NGO based in Brussels, India is world's 3rd largest steel producer in its “World Crude oil production ranking”. China, Japan, India, USA, Russia are top on the list.

National Legislators Conference : inaugurated at the Central Hall of Parliament House, headed by LS Speaker and being attended by Members of Parliament and state Assemblies to bring MPs and MLAs on a single platform where ideas and plans for development can be exchanged.

Development Impact Bond:

the latest fund raising initiative by the British Asian Trust (BAT), set up by the royal 10 years ago to fight poverty in South Asia.
This will be the largest bond of its type in the region intended to improve literacy and numeracy learning levels for primary school students from marginalised communities in the country.
The new bond has been launched by the trust with the support of the UK government’s Department for International Development (DfID), Comic Relief, the Mittal Foundation and the UBS Optimus Foundation.
The concept of DIB is intended as a result-oriented way to attract new capital into development projects, with a strong emphasis on data and evidence. Under the initiative, the DIB will provide funding to local not-for-profit delivery partners in India over four years, delivering a range of operational models including principal and teacher training, direct school management, and supplementary programmes.

Rashtriya Vayoshri Yojana

is scheme for providing Physical Aids and Assisted-living Devices for Senior citizens belonging to BPL category.
This is a Central Sector Scheme, fully funded by the Central Government.
The expenditure for implementation of the scheme will be met from the “Senior Citizens’ Welfare Fund”.
will be implemented through the sole implementing agency – Artificial Limbs Manufacturing Corporation (ALIMCO), a PSU under the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.
The Scheme duration is for period of the 3 years ie. upto 2019-20.
Senior Citizens, belonging to BPL category and suffering from any of the age related disability/infirmity viz. Low vision, Hearing impairment, Loss of teeth and Locomotor disability will be provided with such assisted-living devices which can restore near normalcy in their bodily functions, overcoming the disability/infirmity manifested.
As far as possible, 30% of the beneficiaries in each district shall be women.

PMVVY Pradhan Mantri Vaya Vandan Yojana

Pension Scheme exclusively for senior citizens aged 60 years and above for financial inclusion and social security.
can be purchased offline & online through LIC of India which is given the sole privilege to operate this Scheme.
provides an assured return of 8% p.a. payable monthly (equivalent to 8.30% p.a. effective) for 10 years.
The scheme is exempted from Service Tax/GST.
Loan upto 75% of Purchase Price shall be allowed after 3 policy yrs
allows for premature exit for the treatment of any critical terminal illness

RECENTLY Extended investment limit from Rs 7.5 lakhs to Rs 15 lakhs as well as extension till 31st march 2020

DAY - Deen Dayal Antyodaya Yojana : DAY-NRLM

It aims to uplift the urban poor folks by enhancing sustainable livelihood opportunities through skill development.
Keeping in view the objective of Make in India, Skill Development is essential for socio economic betterment.
It was launched under MoHUPA Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation (HUPA).
The scheme is integration of NULM & NRLM ( National Urban Livelihoods Mission & National Rural Livelihoods Mission ).
NULM is renamed as DAY-NULM and in Hindi as - Rashtriya Shahri Aajeevika Mission.
Under the scheme urban areas extends the coverage to all the 4041 statutory cities and towns, there by covering almost the entire urban population.

AGEY Aajeevika Grameen Express Yojana :

Launched by Ministry of RURAL development a sub-scheme under DAY-NRLM.
AGEY aims to provide an alternative source of livelihood to members of Self Help Groups (SHGs) by facilitating them to operate public transport services in backward rural areas.
It provide safe, affordable and community monitored rural transport services like e-rickshaws, 3-4 wheeler motorised transport vehicles to connect remote villages.
These transport vehicles will connect villages with key services and amenities including access to markets, education and health for the overall economic development of the area.
The scheme will be implemented in 250 blocks in the country on a pilot basis for a period of 3 years from 2017-18 to 2019-20.
Under it, Community Based Organisation (CBO) is proposed to provide interest free loan from its own corpus to SHG member for purchase of the vehicle.

DAY-NRLM is a poverty alleviation scheme implemented by Union Ministry of Rural Development. It was launched as NRLM in 2011 but was succeeded by Deen Dayal Antyodaya Yojana in 2016. The scheme aims at promoting self-employment and organization of rural poor. The basic idea behind this programme is to organize the poor into SHG (Self Help Groups) groups and make them capable for self employment.

Nyaya Mitra Scheme :

Minister of Law and Justice launched Nyaya Mitra scheme in 2017 which is aimed at reducing pendency of cases across selected districts, with special focus on those pending for more than 10 years.
Nyaya Mitra scheme would be functionalized through a retired judicial or executive officer (with legal experience) designated as the 'Nyaya Mitra'.
This project would be operated out of District Facilitation Centres, housed in CSCs.
Nyaya Mitra's responsibilities would include among others assistance to litigants who are suffering due to delay in investigations or trial, by actively identifying such cases through the National Judicial Data Grid, providing legal advice and connecting litigants to DLSA, CSC Tele Law, other government agencies and civil society organisations.
He/she shall also refer the marginalized applicants to Lok Adalats for dispute resolution and render assistance towards prison reforms within the district, in coordination with the district judiciary and Other stakeholders.

Tele Law :

Union Ministry of Law & Justice in association with National Legal Service Authority (NALSA) launched ‘Tele-Law’ scheme in Bihar.
It aims at providing legal aid services to marginalised communities and citizens living in rural areas through digital technology.
It is continuation to the Access to Justice Project to Marginalised Persons implemented by United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in 2008.
It is initiative of the Union Law Ministry and MeITY Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.
It launched Tele law portal which is available across the Common Service Centre (CSC) network at panchyat levels.

LIMBS

Ministry of Law and Justice envisaged a vision of digitizing court cases, interoperability of data among various applications and promoting ease of government business through LIMBS.
LIMBS is simple, innovative and web based application having unified database to digitalize all court cases where GOI is one of the respondents.
LIMBS provides complete solution to litigation cases from the prospective of ministries of GOI.
LIMBS is unique site which allows to enter court case details of all types of courts viz. Supreme Court, High Court, Tribunals, District and Session Courts etc. to easily access all information from one unified database.

Social Security Scheme :

largely funded from Building and Construction Worker Cess and funds allocated to other scattered schemes through National Stabilisation Fund set up for the purpose.
regulated by National Social Security Council to be chaired by PRIME MINISTER with Finance minister, Health minister and CMs of ALL states along with workers and employers as its members.

SAUBHAGYA Scheme :

Launched in Sep 2017, all willing households in rural areas and poor families in urban areas are given free electricity connections.
There are around 4 Cr. un-electrified households and they are targeted for providing electricity connections by Dec 2018.
Rural Electrification Corporation Limited (REC) is Nodal Agency for operationalization of the scheme throughout the country.

All DISCOMs including Private Sector DISCOMs, State Power Departments and RE Cooperative Societies shall be eligible for financial assistance under the scheme in line with DDUGJY.

DDUGJY Gram Jyoti Yojana :

India is the world's third largest producer and consumer of power. But poor distribution has been one of the biggest challenges. The government had allocated Rs 75,893 crore for Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana with the aim of providing electricity access to all villages.
A village is considered electrified if 10% of its homes and all public buildings are connected to the grid.
All villages in India now have access to electricity. This was achieved recently when a remote village in the north-eastern state of Manipur became the last to be connected to the grid.
But, World Bank figures show around 200 million people in India still lack access to electricity.

SC seeks details from NALSA on over-crowded prisons

SC will hear the issues under Trial Review Committees (UTRCs) and responses received from States and UTs on open jails.
Under Trial Review Committees — set up in every district, deliberates and recommends the release of undertrial prisoners and convicts who have completed their sentences or are entitled to be released from jail due to bail or remission granted to them.

Prisons :

The management of prisons falls exclusively under state government, as per 7th schedule State List of constitution. In every state, the prison administrative machinery works under the chief of prisons who is a senior ranking IPS officer.

SRIJAN’ (Station Rejuvenation Initiative through Joint ActioN) is an idea competition for 635 Station Development on Indian Railways. It has been launched at MyGov portal.

NTCPWC National Technology Centre for Ports, Waterways and Coasts :

Envisioned as a world class state-of-the – art centre being set up under Shipping Ministry’s flagship programme Sagarmala
will be a hub for latest technology tools and reduce our dependence on foreign institutions.
It will act as a technology arm of Ministry of Shipping for providing engineering and technological inputs and support for Ports, Inland Waterways Authority of India and other institutions

International Conference on Sustainable Biofuels

2 days con. jointly organized by Dept. of Biotechnology, GOI on behalf of Mission Innovation and Biofuture Platform at New Delhi.
one of 7 Mission Innovation Challenges and India Co-leads this along with other countries Brazil, Canada and China.
aims to accelerate research, development and deployment of low cost, high GHG impacting advanced biofuels.
Provide a platform to Government policy makers, investors, industry and research community to exchange experiences and challenges related to development and scaling up of advanced biofuels.
Exchange best practices in developing projects, performance breakthroughs and in cost reduction.

\\\\ Mission Innovation (MI) is a global initiative of 22 countries and European Union to dramatically accelerate global clean energy innovation. As part of the initiative, participating countries have committed to double Clean Energy Research and Development investments over 5 years. DBT is nodal for this in India.

\\\\ Biofuture Platform (BP) aims to be an action-oriented, 20 countries-led, multi stakeholder mechanism for policy dialogue and collaboration among leading countries, organizations, academia and the private sector conscious of the need to accelerate development and scale up deployment of modern sustainable low carbon alternatives to fossil based solutions in transport, chemicals, plastics and other sectors.

Biofuels are produced through contemporary biological processes, such as agriculture and anaerobic digestion, rather than a fuel produced by geological processes such as those involved in the formation of fossil fuels, such as coal and petroleum, from prehistoric biological matter( plant or animal ). Moreover, bio-fuels can be based on both aerobic and anaerobic digestion.

The two most common types of biofuels in use today are ethanol and biodiesel.
Cars are a major source of atmospheric CO2, the main greenhouse gas that causes global warming. But since plants absorb CO2 as they grow, crops grown for biofuels should suck up about as much carbon dioxide as comes out of the tailpipes of cars that burn these fuels.
And unlike underground oil reserves, biofuels are a renewable resource since we can always grow more crops to turn into fuel.
Ethanol (ethyl alcohol) produced from cellulose (the stringy fiber of a plant) rather than from the plant's seeds or fruit
It is a biofuel produced from grasses, wood, algae, or other plants. The fibrous parts of the plants are mostly inedible to animals, including humans, except for ruminants (grazing, cud-chewing animals such as cows or sheep).

CELLULOSIC ETHANOL reduces greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) by 85% over reformulated gasoline. By contrast, starch ethanol (e.g., from corn), which most frequently uses natural gas to provide energy for the process, may not reduce GHG emissions at all depending on how the starch-based feedstock is produced.

Renewable biofuels generally involve contemporary carbon fixation, such as those that occur in plants or micro-algae through the process of photosynthesis.

Carbon fixation : is conversion process of inorganic carbon (CO2) to organic compounds by living organisms.

The most prominent example is photosynthesis, although chemosynthesis( take place in the absence of sunlight).
Organisms that grow by fixing carbon are called autotrophs. The Autotrophs include

Photoautotrophs, which synthesize organic compounds using the energy of sunlight
Lithoautotrophs, which synthesize organic compounds using the energy of inorganic oxidation.
Heterotrophs are organisms that grow using the carbon fixed by autotrophs.

Type of Bio-fuels

First-generation biofuels are biofuels made from food crops grown on arable land (able to be plowed). With this biofuel production generation, food crops are thus explicitly grown for fuel production, and not anything else. The sugar, starch, or vegetable oil obtained from the crops is converted into biodiesel or ethanol, using trans-esterification( process of exchanging the organic group R″ of an ester with organic group R′ of an alcohol ) or yeast fermentation.

Second generation biofuels are fuels manufactured from various types of biomass. Biomass is a wide-ranging term meaning any source of organic carbon that is renewed rapidly as part of the carbon cycle. Biomass is derived from plant materials, but can also include animal materials. The feedstock used to generate second-generation bio-fuels should grow on lands which cannot be used to effectively grow food and their growing should not consume lots of water or fertilizer. The feedstock sources include grasses, Jatropha and other seed crops, waste vegetable oil, municipal solid waste and so forth. The advantage is that, unlike with regular food crops, no arable land is used solely for the production of fuel. Hence It will involve marginal croplands unsuitable for food production or non-food crop.

Third-generation biofuels are based on Algaculture and specially engineered energy crops like algae fuel which can grown on water.

Fourth-generation biofuels are made using non-arable land. It aims to produce sustainable energy and also capturing and storing carbon dioxide. More research is going in this area.

—————> Recently the India’s first 2G Ethanol plant has been setup in Uttarakhand.

Biofuels Policy – 2018 or National Policy on Biofuels – 2018 :

The Policy categorises biofuels as “Basic Biofuels” viz. First Generation (1G) bioethanol & biodiesel and “Advanced Biofuels” – Second Generation (2G) ethanol, Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) to drop-in fuels, Third Generation (3G) biofuels, bio-CNG etc. to enable extension of appropriate financial and fiscal incentives under each category.
The Policy expands the scope of raw material for ethanol production by allowing use of Sugarcane Juice, Sugar containing materials like Sugar Beet, Sweet Sorghum, Starch containing materials like Corn, Cassava, Damaged food grains like wheat, broken rice, Rotten Potatoes, unfit for human consumption for ethanol production.
Farmers are at a risk of not getting appropriate price for their produce during the surplus production phase. Taking this into account, the Policy allows use of surplus food grains for production of ethanol for blending with petrol with the approval of National Biofuel Coordination Committee headed by Prime Minister.
With a thrust on Advanced Biofuels, the Policy indicates a viability gap funding scheme for 2G ethanol Bio refineries of Rs.5000 crore in 6 years in addition to additional tax incentives, higher purchase price as compared to 1G biofuels.
The Policy encourages setting up of supply chain mechanisms for biodiesel production from non-edible oilseeds, Used Cooking Oil, short gestation crops.
Roles and responsibilities of all the concerned Ministries/Departments with respect to biofuels has been captured in the Policy document to synergise efforts.

NBCC National Biofuel Coordination Committee: headed by the Prime Minister, will be set up to provide policy guidance and coordination.

• A Biofuel Steering Committee, chaired by Cabinet Secretary, will be set up to oversee implementation of the Policy.

• The MNRE has been designated as the coordinating Ministry for biofuel development and utilization.

AIRTF ASEAN India Research Training Fellowship

implemented and executed by FICCI partnered with DST, GOI to promote scientific cooperation between India and ASEAN member countries.
The objective is to support and facilitate mobility of young talented researchers from ASEAN member countries to India to conduct short term research and training under the guidance of Indian host scientists.
provides opportunities to researchers from ASEAN member countries to undertake research and training for a period of 6 months at Academic and Research Institutions in India.

Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Poject : Telangana

An off-shoot of the original Pranahitha-Chevella Lift Irrigation Scheme taken up by the Congress government in 2007 when Andhra Pradesh AP was not divided.
After the formation of Telangana in 2014, the TRS government redesigned the project on the ground that the original plan had too many environmental obstacles and had very low water storage provision — only about 16.5 tmc ft.
After conducting a highly advanced Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) survey for a couple of months, the government separated the original component serving the Adilabad area as the Pranahitha project and renamed the rest as Kaleshwaram by redesigning the head works, storage capacity and the canal system based on the data of availability of water at different locations along the course of the Godavari and its tributaries.
The project is designed to irrigate 7,38,851 hectares (over 18.47 lakh acres) uplands in the erstwhile districts of Karimnagar, Nizamabad, Warangal, Medak, Nalgonda and Ranga Reddy of Telangana.
Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project [KLIP] is a multi-purpose irrigation project on the confluence of Godavari River and Prahnita river in Kaleshwaram, Bhoopalpally, Telangana, India.
This is world's largest multi-stage lift irrigation project with the cost of Rs. 80,000 Crore.
It starts at the confluence point of Pranahita River and Godavari River i.e, at Kaleshwaram village in Telangana.
Till date, the biggest lift schemes in the world were the Colorado lift scheme in America and the Great Manmade River in Egypt.

Pranahita river is a confluence of various other smaller tributaries like Wardha, Penganga & Wainganga Rivers.

IMPRINT India Programme:

Impacting Research Innovation and Technology (IMPRINT) India Programme is joint initiative of Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and Indian Institute of Science (IISc).
It seeks to develop road map for research to solve major engineering and technology challenges in 10 technology domains relevant for country that include health care, information and communication technology, energy, sustainable habitat, nano‐technology hardware, water resources and river systems, advanced materials, manufacturing, security and defence, and environment and climate.
Its objectives are to Identify areas of immediate relevance that requires innovation in the society , to ensure support and higher funding for research for identified areas, to measure outcomes of innovation and research efforts and its impact on people’s standard of living.
Under the IMPRINT-II, a fund of 1000 Cr Rs. is being created by Department of Science and Technology (DST) and HRD Ministry together, in which participation will come from industry and other interested Ministries.

IDF-OI India Development Foundation of Overseas Indians :

was set up by GOI with the approval of Cabinet in 2008 as an autonomous not-for-profit Trust, to facilitate Overseas Indian philanthropy into social and development projects in India.
IDF-OI is chaired by External Affairs Minister.
Later, promotion of GOI’s Flagship programmes – National Mission for Clean Ganga NMCG and Swachh Bharat Mission SBM; and Social and Development projects identified by State Governments – was added to the mandate of IDF-OI.
IDF-OI receives a Grant-in-Aid from GOI for meeting its operational expenses and administrative costs for its activities and outreach. Therefore, IDF-OI does not deduct any operational or administrative charges from the contributions it receives from Overseas Indians.
The Trust is exempt from provisions of Foreign Contributions Regulation Act (FCRA), 2010 of Ministry of Home Affairs which enables IDF-OI to receive foreign contributions.

FCRA Foreign Contributions Regulation Act 2010 : is an act of the Parliament of India, by the 42nd Act of 2010. It is a consolidating act whose scope is to regulate the acceptance and utilisation of foreign contribution or foreign hospitality by certain individuals or associations or companies and to prohibit acceptance and utilisation of foreign contribution or foreign hospitality for any activities detrimental to the national interest and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.

Transformation of Aspirational Districts’ programme

Launched in January with an aim to quickly and effectively transform some of the most underdeveloped districts in the country.
Launched by NITI Aayog included All the states — except West Bengal and Kerala
they will be ranked based on progress made (delta ranking) on a real-time basis.

The broad contours of the programme are Convergence (of Central & State Schemes), Collaboration (of Central, State level ‘Prabhari’ Officers & District Collectors), and Competition among districts driven by a mass Movement.

Aspirational District Programme was launched by the Prime Minister on January 5, 2018.

It aims to rapidly transform the districts that have shown relatively lesser progress in key social areas and have emerged as pockets of under-development, thereby posing a challenge to ensure balanced regional development.

The first Delta ranking for the Aspirational Districts was released in June 2018.

It ranked the Aspirational Districts on improved performance across 5 developmental areas of

Health and Nutrition,
Education,
Agriculture and Water Resources,
Financial Inclusion and Skill Development,
and Basic Infrastructure,

over the months of April and May 2018, on the basis of self-reported data.

Out of 115 aspirational districts, UP has 8 aspirational districts - BBCCFSSS

Balrampur,Bahraich,
Chitrakoot, Chandauli,
Fatehpur
Sonbhadra, Shravasti, Siddharthnagar

SAATHI (Sustainable and Accelerated Adoption of efficient Textile technologies to Help small Industries)

new initiative by Ministries of Power and Textiles jointly
EESL, under the administrative control of Ministry of Power, would procure energy efficient Powerlooms, motors and Rapier kits in bulk and provide them to the small and medium Powerloom units at no upfront cost.
The SAATHI initiative of the Government will be jointly implemented by EESL and the office of the Textile Commissioner on a pan-India basis.
To kick start the implementation, cluster wise demonstration projects and workshops will be organized in key clusters such as Erode, Surat, Ichalkaranji, etc.
The use of these efficient equipment would result in energy savings and cost savings to the unit owner and he would repay in installments to EESL over a 4 to 5 year period.
This is the aggregation, bulk procurement and financing model that EESL has successfully deployed in several sectors like LED bulbs, Smart Meters and Electric Vehicles.
The unit owner neither has to allocate any upfront capital cost to procure these equipment nor does it have to allocate additional expenditure for repayment as the repayments to EESL are made from the savings that accrue as a result of higher efficiency equipments and cost savings.
The aggregation of demand and bulk procurement will also lead to reduction in capital cost, benefits of which will be passed on to the Powerloom units so that their repayment amount and period would reduce.

The Powerloom sector in India is predominantly an unorganized sector and has a large number of micro and small units which produce 57 % of the total cloth in the country. There are 24.86 lakhs Powerloom units in this country, most of whom use obsolete technology.

With a view to upgrading the technology, GOI has been implementing the INSITU upgradation of plain Powerlooms as part of Power Tex India under which plain Powerlooms are attached with process control equipment leading to higher productivity, better quality and more than 50 percent additional value realisation. So far 1.70 lakhs plain Powerlooms have been upgraded under the scheme, with a total Government of India subsidy of Rs. 186 crores.

POWER TEX INDIA scheme for POWERLOOMS :

Launched by Textiles ministry & will be active for a period of three years until March 2020.
This scheme would give great relief to all the states of India, especially Maharastra & Tamil Nadu that accounts over 75 % of power loom of the country.
The main Objective of In-Situ Up-Gradation component is to benefit the economically weaker low-end power loom units by providing them financial assistance.

Ex-Servicemen

Department of Ex-Servicemen Welfare (DESW) formulates various policies and programmes for the welfare and resettlement of Ex-Servicemen (ESM) in the country.
The Department has two Divisions viz. Resettlement and Pension and 3 Attached Offices namely

Kendriya Sainik Board Sectt (KSB Sectt)
Directorate General (Resettlement) (DGR)
Central Organisation, ExServicemen Contributory Health Scheme (CO, ECHS)

6.HEALTH

National Family Health Survey - NFHS-5 (2018-19) :

Streamlining certain numbers of targeted Population groups with Sustainable development goals this survey includes

Diabetes with ageing
High Blood Pressure
Physical Disablity
Malaria
HbA1C
storage of DBS for testing Vitamin D
measurement of waist
Pre-school education
Death Registration

After acceptance with NACO , the HIV test was excluded from NFHS-5.
NFHS-5 is prepared on basis of NFHS-4 and includes 707 Districts across country.
Four NFHS are already prepared in past

1992-93 (NFHS 1)
1998-99 (NFHS 2)
2005-06 (NFHS-3)
2015-16 (NFHS-4)
2018-19 (NFHS-5)

NFHS-1,2,3 did not include Delhi , because these were made for states only.

IDSP Integrated Disease Surveillance Program is a disease surveillance scheme under the Ministry of Health and Family Affairs in India, assisted by the World Bank aims to strengthen disease surveillance for infectious diseases to detect and respond to outbreaks quickly. The Project was undertaken to meet the WHO Guidelines for South East Asian countries on disease surveillance to track the outbreak of diseases and its potential trans boundary threats.

NPOP National Programme for Organic Production & Participatory Guarantee System for India (PGS-India) :

Organic foods will have to comply with the government’s provisions under NPOP or PGS-India run by the Agriculture Ministry or any other standards notified by FSSAI.
The standards of Organic Crop Production have been described in NPOP document. The production standards include crop production plan, conversion requirement, nutrient management, disease management etc for agricultural crops.
The PGS is an internationally applicable organic quality assurance system [like ISO 9000] implemented and controlled by the committed organic farmer-producers through active participation, along with the consumers, in the process based on verifiable trust.

Zero Hunger Programme :

This ambitious Programme focuses on agriculture, nutrition and health , is initiated by Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) in association with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), the M S Swaminathan Research Foundation and the Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC).
The programme consists of organisations of farming system for nutrition, setting up genetic gardens for bio-fortified plants and initiation of ‘Zero Hunger’ training.
The Programme initially was launched in 3 districts – Gorakhpur (Uttar Pradesh), Koraput (Odisha) and Thane (Maharashtra). More districts will be covered in future.
These three districts will act as model of integrated approach to deal with hunger and malnutrition by adopting suitable agricultural or horticultural practices.

Project Sunrise aims at bringing the people living with HIV/AIDS into the national mainstream and create more awareness about the disease in these N-E states. It will be implemented in the North East in addition to the existing projects of the National AIDS Control Organization (NACO). The project has been sponsored by US based Centre for Disease Control and would be implemented by Family Health International 360. It will cover one lakh people living with HIV/AIDS by giving them treatment and care facilities free of cost.
Other initiatives to be covered it include enhancing capacity of state-level institutions in high burden areas, community mobilization, intervention among females injecting drugs. The project is a five-year programme (2015-2020) aimed at complementing the ongoing National AIDS Control Programme (NACP)

SAATHIYA Resource Kit including ‘Saathiya Salah’ Mobile App for adolescents as part of the Rashtriya Kishor Swasthya Karyakram (RKSK) program. One of the key interventions under the programme is introduction of the Peer Educators (Saathiyas) who act as a catalyst for generating demand for the adolescent health services and imparting age appropriate knowledge on key adolescent health issues to their peer groups. In order to equip the Saathiyas in doing so, the Health Ministry has launched the Saathiya Resource Kit (including ‘Saathiya Salah’ Mobile App).

PMSSY Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Surakhsa Yojna or PMSSK Karyakram :

Announced in 2003 with objectives of correcting regional imbalances in the availability of Affordable/Reliable Tertiary healthcare services and also to augment facilities for quality medical education in the country.

The scheme has two components: Setting up of new AIIMS and upgradation of government medical colleges.
Under this scheme, AIIMS have been established in Bhubaneshwar, Bhopal, Raipur, Jodhpur, Rishikesh and Patna while work of AIIMS Rae Bareli is in progress. Also, 3 AIIMS in Nagpur (Maharashtra), Kalyani (West Bengal) and Mangalagiri in Guntur (Andhra Pradesh) have been sanctioned in 2015 and 2 AIIMS have been sanctioned at Bathinda and GKP in 2016.

PMSMA Pradhan Mantri Surakshit Matritva Abhiyan

launched by Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MoHFW) aims to provide assured, comprehensive and quality antenatal care, free of cost, universally to all pregnant women on 9th of every month.
PMSMA guarantees a minimum package of antenatal care services to women in their 2nd/3rd trimesters of pregnancy at designated government health facilities.
follows a systematic approach for engagement with private sector which includes motivating private practitioners to volunteer for the campaign; developing strategies for generating awareness and appealing to the private sector to participate in the Abhiyan at government health facilities.

PM Jan Aushadhi Yojana or Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Janaushadhi Pariyojana (PMBJP)

launched by Department of Pharmaceuticals in 2008 to provide quality medicines at affordable prices to the masses.
Bureau of Pharma PSUs of India (BPPI) is implementation agency for PMBJP.
The affordable sanitary napkin will be available for Rs. 2.50 per padat over 3200 Janaushadhi Kendras across India.
It would ensure ‘Swachhta, Swasthya and Suvidha’ for the underprivileged Women of India.
It’s objective To bring down healthcare budget of every citizen of India through providing Quality generic Medicines at Affordable Prices.
launched ‘Suvidha’ portal for 100% Oxo -biodegradable Sanitary Napkin under the scheme.

The Jan Aushadhi Scheme is a direct market intervention scheme of the Department of Pharmaceuticals, Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers. Its aim is to make available quality generic medicines to all at affordable prices through Jan Aushadhi Store (JAS) opened in each district of the states. to provide quality medicines at affordable prices to the economically weaker sections of the society.

AMRIT scheme aims to reduce expenditure incurred by patients on treatment of cancer and cardio vascular (heart) diseases to make health care affordable for poor. Its intended beneficiaries are patients suffering from cancer and heart disease.retail outlets in the name of AMRIT pharmacy are opened to sell drugs for cancer and heart diseases at highly discounted rates on market rates.

PM national Dialisis scheme : as part of the National Health Mission(NHM) for provision of free dialysis services to the poor in PPP (Public Private Partnership) mode.

RAN Rashtriya Aarogya Nidhi :

Set up by a resolution and registered as a society under Societies Registration Act, 1860.
The financial assistance to such patients is released in the form of ‘one-time grant’, which is released to the Medical Superintendent of the Hospital in which the treatment has been/is being received.
Under RAN Revolving Funds have been set up in 13 Central Government Hospitals/Institutions located all over India for providing financial assistance for treatment up to Rs. 2 lakh.
In addition financial assistance is provided for individual cases referred by Government hospitals/institutions, which do not have a Revolving Fund and for cases referred by 13 Government hospitals/institutions with Revolving Funds for assistance exceeding Rs. 2 lakh.

RSBY Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana for Unorganised sectors to cover health insurance and social security with maternity benefits.

The scheme is getting subsumed along with SCHIS(Senior Citizen Health Insurance Scheme ) into Ayushman Bharat.

Ayushman Bharat Scheme or ModiCare is a proposed scheme of GOI , which is to be implemented all over India on April 1, 2018. The budget session of 2018, Finance Minister announced the scheme. The objective of this scheme is to provide health insurance to economically weaker people (BPL holders). It will provide cashless health insurance up to 5 lakhs to each family coming under it as per 2011 Socio Economic and Caste Census. 10 million BPL holders will be able to avail this direct benefit. Apart from this, there is a plan to bring the remaining population under this scheme. Indu Bhushan is CEO of AB scheme.

Project Dhoop launched by Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) to address rising incidence of Vitamin D deficiencies (VDD), particularly amongst the young people. The project aims to encourage schools to shift their morning assembly to around noon-time, mainly between 11 am to 1 pm to ensure maximum absorption of Vitamin D in students through natural sunlight.

FSSAI has launched a unique initiative, ‘Project Dhoop’ in association with NCERT, NDMC and North MCD Schools.

National Health Mission (NHM)

It was launched by the government of India in 2013 subsuming NRHM National Rural Health Mission and NUHM National Urban Health Mission. It was further extended in March 2018, to continue till March 2020.
It envisages achievement of universal access to equitable, affordable & quality health care services that are accountable and responsive to people's needs.
The main programmatic components include

Health System Strengthening in rural and urban areas
Reproductive-Maternal- Neonatal-Child and Adolescent Health (RMNCH+A)
Communicable and Non-Communicable Diseases

Some of the major initiatives under National Health Mission (NHM) are as follows :

Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHA) :At present, there are around 8.96 lakh Accredited Social Health Activists in India to serve as facilitators, mobilizers and providers of community level care. An ASHA is the first port of call in the community especially for marginalized sections of the population, with a focus on women and children.
Rogi Kalyan Samit : A Rogi Kalyan Samiti is a registered society whose members act as trustees to manage the affairs of the hospital and is responsible for upkeep of the facilities and ensure provision of better facilities to the patients in the hospital. The Government provides financial assistance to these committees. Currently, there are more than 30,000 Rogi Kalyan Samitis (RKS) in India.
Janani Suraksha Yojana : Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY) was launched with objective of reducing maternal and neo-natal mortality by promoting institutional delivery among the poor pregnant women. This scheme is currently being implemented in all states. Under the scheme, cash assistance is provided to eligible pregnant women for giving institutional birth in a Government health facility. Since the inception of NRHM, 7.33 crore women have been benefited under this scheme.
Janani Shishu Suraksha Karyakram (JSSK) : This scheme was launched in 2011 and entitles all pregnant women delivering in public health institutions to absolutely free and no expense delivery, including caesarean section. This scheme marks entitlement based approach in health schemes includes free drugs and consumables, free diagnostics, free diet during stay in the health institutions, free provision of blood, free transport from home to health institution, between health institutions in case of referrals and drop back home and exemption from all kinds of user charges. Similar entitlements are available for all sick infants (upto 1 year of age) accessing public health institutions. All states and union territories are implementing this scheme.
National Ambulance Services : This initiative includes ambulance services by dialling 108 or 102 telephone numbers. Dial 108 is a emergency response system to attend to patients of critical care, trauma and accident victims etc. Dial 102 services are for basic patient transport aimed to cater the needs of pregnant women and children though other categories are also taking benefit and are not excluded.
India Newborn Action Plan : The current NDA Government had launched India Newborn Action Plan (INAP) in September 2014 as a response to the Global Every Newborn Action Plan (ENAP), which was launched in June 2014 at 67th World Health Assembly.
This action plan focuses on preventable newborn deaths and stillbirths. The objective is to achieve Single Digit NMR by 2030 and Single Digit SBR by 2030. Implementation has to be done under RMNCH+A framework. {Details}
Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram (RBSK) : This initiative was launched in February, 2013 and provides for Child Health Screening and Early Intervention Services through early detection and management of the four Ds i.e Defects at birth, Diseases, Deficiencies, Development delays including disability.
Rashtriya Kishore Swasthya Karyakram : This initiative was launched in January, 2014 to reach out to 253 million adolescents with focus on the adolescent health programme beyond reproductive and sexual health and brings in focus on life skills, nutrition, injuries and violence (including gender based violence), non-communicable diseases, mental health and substance misuse.
Child Death Review : Child Death Review (CDR) is a strategy to understand the geographical variation in causes of child deaths and thereby initiating specific child health interventions. Analysis of child deaths provides information about the medical causes of death, helps to identify the gaps in health service delivery and social factors that contribute to child deaths. This information can be used to adopt corrective measures and fill the gaps in community and facility level service delivery. With uniform CDR process and formats across the states, information can be compared over a period of time and common factors identified and addressed through the national programme. This contributes to overall improvement in quality of care and reducing child mortality.

POSHAN (Prime Minister’s Overarching Scheme for Holistic Nutrition) Abhiyaan :

launched on International Women’s day (March 8) in 2018 to boost nutrition among children and women.
It targets to reduce stunting, under-nutrition, Anemia (among young children, women and adolescent girls) and reduce low birth weight by 2%, 2%, 3% and 2% per annum respectively.
The target of the mission is to bring down stunting among children in the age group 0-6 years from 38.4% to 25% by 2022.
Inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Jhunjhunu, Rajasthan in March 2018.

IPV Injectable Inactivated Polio Vaccine was introduced by India govt. first in the World. IPV provides all three type of polio virus in protection against paralytic poliomyelitis.

Jiyo Parsi scheme : to address the Parsi Zoroastrian community’s declining population in the country, will be implemented by The Parzor Foundation along with the Union minority affairs ministry. The scheme comprises of three components: Advocacy Component, Health of the Community Component and Medical Component.

India Health Fund (IHF), an initiative by Tata Trusts, in collaboration with the Global Fund has come forward to financially support innovations and technologies designed to combat tuberculosis and malaria.

The IHF aims to support individuals and organisations with already germinated innovative strategies, services, products, such that they become sustainable and scalable solutions in addressing TB and malaria.

Union government has banned imports of the hormone oxytocin to stop its misuse in the livestock industry, where activists say it causes hormonal imbalances and shortens the lives of milch animals.

National Deworming Day : In a bid to tackle the countrywide public health threat of intestinal worm infections in children and related morbidity, all states and Union territories conducted the National Deworming Day on February 10^th, as mandated by the Union ministry of health and family welfare.

Uttar Pradesh Government under CM Yogi Adityanath has launched massive door to door “DASTAK campaign against Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) and Japanese Encephalitis (JE)” to eradicate deadly diseases from the state. It was launched in association with UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Fund). DASTAK campaign is part of the comprehensive Social and Behaviour Change Communication (SBCC) strategy embraced by state government to beat encephalitis.

Japanese encephalitis (JE) is a mosquito-borne flavivirus. It belongs to the same genus as dengue, yellow fever and West Nile viruses.

India Pharma 2018 and India Medical Device 2018:

India’s biggest Annual Conference on Pharma Industry and Medical Devices – India Pharma 2018 and India Medical Device 2018 – has begun at Bengaluru , organized by Department of Pharmaceuticals (DoP), Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers, in collaboration with Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).

VIRAL LOAD is used to monitor the effectiveness of Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) over time. It measures the amount (viral load) of HIV genetic material (RNA) in the blood and reports how many copies of the virus are present. The main target of HIV is CD4 cells, which are a type of white blood cell that fights infections.

Adolescent Friendly Health Clinics (AFHCs) : As part of NHM, It provides counselling and curative services at primary, secondary and tertiary levels of care on fixed days and fixed time with due referral linkages. Commodities available at AFHC

Weekly Iron & Folic Acid Supplementation & Albendazole
Sanitary napkins
Contraceptives
Medicines

Poverty Line in India :

While determining the poverty line in India, a minimum level of food requirement, clothing, footwear, fuel and light, educational and medical requirement etc are determined for subsistence. These physical quantities are multiplied by their prices in rupees.

A person is not declared poor if he does not possess land. However, if he has land, he will be automatically excluded from the poverty line.

SECC Socio Economic and Caste Census 2011 :

Conducted in all States and UTs of India and the first findings were revealed on 3 July 2015 by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.
Also the first paperless census in India conducted on hand-held electronic devices by the government in 640 districts. The military and the para-military were kept out of the SECC.
The rural development ministry has taken a decision to use the SECC data in all its programmes such as MGNREGA, National Food Security Act, and Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana.
SECC 2011 was the first-ever caste-based census since 1931 Census of India, and it was launched on 29 June 2011 from the Sankhola village of Hazemara block in West Tripura district.
SECC 2011 has 3 census components which were conducted by 3 separate authorities, but under the overall coordination of Department of Rural Development :

Census in Rural Area has been conducted by Department of Rural Development.
Census in Urban areas is under the administrative jurisdiction of Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation.
Caste Census is under administrative control of Ministry of Home Affairs: Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India.

Four Important Facts :

a) Kerala tops in the number of people with mental ailments in India.
b) 1% of rural households own a landline phone without a mobile phone, while 68.35% rural households have mobile phones as their only phone(s).
c) Objective: To identify the households living BPL below the poverty line in rural and urban areas of the country.
d) The methodology for conducting the Census in Rural areas is based upon suggestion of Expert Group chaired by Dr NC Saxena (for the Identification of BPL (below poverty line) Households in Rural Areas ) and a Pilot Study carried out in 29 States/UTs.

Census 2011 — was done under Home Ministry

Conducted every 10 years. First conducted in 1871 (fragmented and not synchronous)
First complete census in 1881. Conducted 15 times till now.
After Independence conducted by the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India under Ministry of Home Affairs
All the census since 1951 are conducted under Census of India Act,1948
Mr. C. Chandramouli is the Commissioner & Registrar General of the Indian 2011 Census
Census 2011 was done in 2 phases - house listing and population. It covered all the 28 states of the country and 7 UTs including 640 districts, 497 cities, 5767 tehsils & over 6 lakh villages. It was 7th Census post Independence.

Census 2011 Facts:

India’s Decadal growth rate = 17.64% (From 2001 to 2011)
Overall Literacy rate in India = 74.04 % and Sex Ratio = 940/1000 (while 933 in 2001 Census)
Female literacy = 65.46% where Male literacy rate = 82%
Mumbai is the most populated metro with over 1.83 crore people (2011) followed by New Delhi > Kolkata > Chennai > Bangalore
Most literate state is Kerala (94% ) > Lakshadweep > Mizoram > Goa > Tripura
Best sex ratio : Kerala (1084) > Puducherry > TN > Andhra Pradesh > Chattisgarh
Most populated state : UP > Maharashtra > Bihar > West Bengal > Andhra Pradesh
Least populated state in the country is Sikkim with a population of 60, 7688
Bihar is the least literate state with a literacy rate of 63.82%.
Highest density State/UT : Delhi followed by Chandigarh > Puducherry
Thane district of Maharashtra is the most populated district of India. (Because It near to Mumbai)
Dibang Valley of Arunachal Pradesh is the Least populated.
Kurung Kumey of Arunachal Pradesh registered highest population growth rate of 111.01 percent.
Longleng district of Nagaland registered negative population growth rate of (-)58.39.
Mahe district of Puducherry has highest sex ratio of 1176 females per 1000 males.
Daman district has lowest sex ratio of 533 females per 1000 males.
Serchhip district of Mizoram has highest literacy rate of 98.76 percent.
Alirajpur of MP is the least literate district of India with figure of 37.22 percent only.
North East Delhi has the highest density with figure of 37346 person per square km.
Dibang Valley has the least density of 1 person per sq. km.

—> India has third highest Muslim Population after Indonesia and Pakistan.

—> World Population Day was first started on 11 July in 1987, the day world population reached 5 billion people.

National Conference on Down Syndrome

Held in New Delhi to provide excellent opportunities to the parents to obtain information about latest development in education and skilling and inclusive living of persons with Down Syndrome.
Organized by National Trust for the welfare of persons with Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Mental Retardation and Multiple Disabilities under M/o SJ&E in collaboration with Muskaan, a registered organisation of the National Trust.
On 19th Dec 2011, UNGA declared to observe 21st March as World Down Syndrome Day (WDSD)

National Trust started Samaveshi bharat pahal to involve differentially abled people in mainstream work life.

7.WOMEN_&_Child

IAP(Indian Academy of Pediatrics) HealthPhone initiative — By UNICEF in partnership with MoWCD supported by Vodafone India tackle the challenge of malnutrition in mothers and children across India.

Online portal ‘NARI’ launched by Ministry of Women & Child Development to empower women aims to provide women citizens with easy access to information on government schemes and initiatives for women.

both on same day

e- Samvad: launched by the Ministry of Women & Child Development, an online platform for NGOs and Civil Societies to interact with the MoWCD.

Maharashtra government announced 1% reservation in the open category for orphans in the state as the first in India to bring such a policy.

Sex ratio at birth (SRB) : is number of girls born for every 1,000 boys

Securing Rights of Women Farmers: Developing a Roadmap for Action” event, organized at the Constitution Club, New Delhi, by the National Women Commission in association with UN Women and Mahila Kisan Adhikaar Manch (MAKAAM).

Women Entrepreneurship Platform

launched by NITI Aayog on the occasion of International Women’s Day aimed at building an ecosystem for women across India to realize their entrepreneurial aspirations, scale-up innovative initiatives and chalk-out sustainable, long-term strategies for their businesses
provide services such as credit evaluation of women-led startups by CRISIL and potential equity investments through an INR 10 crore fund established by DICE Districts, the WEP opens up avenues of growth and opportunity for women entrepreneurs

BBBP Beti Bachao Beti Padhao :

launched in Jan 2015 aimed at promoting gender equality and the significance of educating girls.
targeted at improving Child Sex Ratio through multi sectoral interventions including prevention of gender biased sex selection and promoting girls’ education and her holistic empowerment.
It is a tri-ministerial effort of Ministries of Women and Child Development, Health & Family Welfare and HRD.

Mahila Shakti Kendra:

Envisioned as a one-stop convergence support service for empowering rural women with opportunities for skill development, employment, digital literacy, health and nutrition.
aims to improve declining child sex ratio, ensure survival and protection of the girl child, ensuring her education and empowering her to fulfil her potential.
It will provide an interface for rural women to approach the government for getting their entitlements and for empowering them through training and capacity building.

At the national level, the Mahila Shakti Kendra will provide domain-based knowledge support while at the state level, it will cater to the State Resource Centre for Women that will provide technical support to the respective government on issues related to women, the district and block level centres, and will provide support to the PMMSK and also give a foothold to Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao in 640 districts.

Mahila E-Haat

An initiative for meeting aspirations and needs of women entrepreneurs.
It is an online marketing platform for women, where participants can display their products.
It is an initiative for women across the country as a part of ‘Digital India’ and ‘Stand Up India’ initiatives.
The platform has been set up by MOWCD Ministry of Women and Child Development, GOI under Rashtriya Mahila Kosh (RMK).
All the sellers are required to show the Mahila e-Haat logo on their products. However, this does not mean they will have to do away with their own brand logos; both can be used at the same time.

Nirbhaya Fund : Keeping in mind the need to have schematic interventions and proper mechanism for handholding of women in distress, 3 schemes i.e. ‘ One Stop Centre’, ‘Universalisation of Women Helpline’ and ‘Mahila Police Volunteer’ were initiated by MoWCD Ministry of Women and Child Development from the Nirbhaya Fund.

Swachh Shakti 2018 : celebrated in Lucknow with 15000 Women Swachh Bharat champions resolving to usher in clean India on International Women’s Day. It was organised by Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation, in association with UP Govt. Women sarpanches, women Swachhagrahis and women champions from other walks of life from across the country will be recognised for their outstanding contribution towards making a Swachch Bharat.

RBS India in association with prominent technology corporates, Academia and government participation has setup an exclusive ‘By Invite Only’ platform ‘Women In Tech’ with the agenda of working towards encouraging more women to take up careers in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) as a key career choice.

PMNCH Partnership for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health :

An alliance of more than 1000 organizations in 77 countries from the sexual, reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health communities, as well as health influencing sectors.
Governed by a Board, and administered by a Secretariat hosted at WHO World Health Organization in Geneva, Switzerland.
It provides a platform for organizations to align objectives, strategies and resources, and agree on interventions to improve maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health.

PMMVY Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana

A maternity benefit rechristened from erstwhile Indira Gandhi Matritva Sahyog Yojana (IGMSY launched in 2010).
It provides a conditional cash transfer scheme for pregnant and lactating women of 19 years of age or above for first 2 live births.
It is available to all Pregnant Women & Lactating Mothers (PW&LM) except those in regular employment with the Central Government or State Government or Public Sector Undertaking or those who are in receipt of similar benefits under any law for the time being in force.
The Centrally Sponsored Scheme under which cost sharing ratio between the Centre and the States & UTs with Legislature is 60:40 while for North-Eastern States & three Himalayan States; it is 90:10.
It is 100% Central assistance for UTs without Legislature.

RECENTLY Ministry of Women and Child Development has made total payment of Rs. 271.66 crores to beneficiaries under PMMVY. The payment has been made to 1147386 beneficiaries across the country.

Pragati (Scholarship for Girl Students)

Pragati is a scheme of AICTE aimed at providing assistance for advancement of girls participation in technical education.
Keeping Swami Vivekananda’s ideas of women education and to promote girls education, UGC has introduced Swami Vivekananda Scholarship for Single Girl Child for research in social sciences with an aim to compensate direct costs of higher education especially for such girls who happen to be the only girl child in their family.

Swadhar Greh Scheme : now under DBT compliant

launched by MoWCD Union Ministry of Women and Child Development in 2002 for rehabilitation of women in difficult circumstances.
provides shelter, food, clothing and care to the marginalized women/girls who are in need.
The beneficiaries include widows deserted by their families and relatives, women prisoners released from jail and without family support, women survivors of natural disasters, women victims of terrorist/extremist violence etc.

The State Governments/UT Administration invite applications from eligible organizations and the proposals which fulfil the norms are placed before a Project Sanctioning Committee (PSC) chaired by Secretary(WCD) of the State/UT concerned.

MAA - Mother’s Absolute Affection

Initiated by Health Ministry MoHFW nationwide to intensify the efforts further for promotion of breastfeeding, to bring undiluted focus on promotion of breastfeeding and provision of services towards supporting breastfeeding, along with ongoing efforts of routine health systems.
ASHA has been incentivized for reaching out to pregnant and lactating mothers and provide information on benefits and techniques of successful breastfeeding during interpersonal communication.
ANMs at all sub-centres and health personnel at all delivery points are being trained for providing skilled support to mothers referred with issues related to breastfeeding.
Under NHM National Health Mission, funding support has been recommended for all States and UTs for successful implementation of the MAA programme.

POCSO e-Box :

An online complaint management system for easy and direct reporting of sexual offences against children and timely action against the offenders under the POCSO Act, 2012.
This act mandates to protect the children from offences of sexual assault, sexual harassment and pornography, while safeguarding the interest of the child at every stage of the judicial process.
E-Box is very simple to operate and will help to maintain the confidentiality of the complaint.
Any human being up to the age of 18 years is recognised as a child under the POCSO Act.
The Act further makes provisions for avoiding the re-victimisation of the child at the hands of the judicial system.
It provides for special courts that conduct the trial in-camera and without revealing the identity of the child, in a manner that is as child-friendly as possible.
Hence, the child may have a parent or other trusted person present at the time of testifying and can call for assistance from an interpreter, special educator, or other professional while giving evidence.
Above all, the Act stipulates that a case of child sexual abuse must be disposed of within one year from the date the offence is reported.
The Act also provides for mandatory reporting of sexual offences. This casts a legal duty upon a person who has knowledge that a child has been sexually abused to report the offence; if he fails to do so, he may be punished with six months’ imprisonment and/or a fine.
It defines different forms of sexual abuse, including penetrative and non-penetrative assault, as well as sexual harassment and pornography.
It deems a sexual assault to be “aggravated” (means Worsen) under certain circumstances, such as when the abused child is mentally ill or when the abuse is committed by a person in a position of trust or authority like a family member, police officer, teacher, or doctor.

RECENTLY in NEWS To equip the children with the information regarding the possible modes of protection/complaints, NCERT has published the information regarding Childline (1098) 24×7 Helpline for children and POCSO e-box on the back side of the front cover of all course books from Class 6 to Class 12.

MCP Card or Mother and Child Protection card :

is developed jointly by MoHFW & MoWCD Ministry of Health & Family Welfare and Ministry of Women and Child Development
This cadr is mandatory only in public health facilities.
It is for documenting and monitoring services for antenatal, intra natal and post-natal care to Pregnant women.
It includes information on free transport facility to hospital, institutional delivery, preparation in case of home delivery for the pregnant women, new born care, immunization and, stages of child development and growth monitoring of child till 3 year of age.
Funds for printing of MCP card are provided to all the states/UTs in the annual Programme Implementation Plan.

PENCIL Portal Platform for Effective Enforcement for No Child Labour Portal

Launched by Home Minister Shri Rajnath Singh at the National Conference on Child Labour organised by Ministry of Labour and Employment.
PENCIL is an electronic platform that aims at involving Centre, State, District, Governments, civil society and the general public in achieving the target of child labour free society.
will launch the Standing Operating Procedures (SOPs) for the enforcement of legal framework against child labour.
The SOP is aimed at creating a ready reckoner for trainers, practitioners and monitoring agencies to ensure complete prohibition of child labour and protection of adolescents from hazardous labour ultimately leading to Child Labour Free India.

NCLP National Child Labour Project

GOI had initiated the Scheme in 1988 to rehabilitate working children in 12 child labour endemic districts of the country.
entire funding is done by the Central Government (Ministry of Labour & Employment) for the rehabilitation of child labour
It will focus on rehabilitation of children working in hazardous occupations & processes in the first instance.
Under this Scheme, survey is conducted on regular basis by the District Project Societies headed by District Magistrate/Collector to identify child labour including children working as domestic helps.
Children in the age group of 9-14 years, rescued/withdrawn from work are enrolled in the NCLP Special Training Centres, where they are provided with bridge education, vocational training, mid day meal, stipend, health care, etc. before being mainstreamed into formal education system.
Children in the age group of 5-8 years are directly linked to the formal education system through a close coordination with Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA). The Scheme also envisages awareness activities against the evil of child labour and enforcement of Child & Adolescent Labour (Prohibition & Regulation) Act, 1986.
Consequent upon strengthening the legislative framework for complete prohibition of employment of children below 14 years through amendment in the Child Labour (Prohibition & Regulation) Act, 1986, Government has provided robust enforcement mechanism in the form of an online portal PENCIL (Platform for Effective Enforcement of No Child Labour).

8.Agri , Tribal and RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Agri-Market Infrastructure Fund (AMIF) in Feb 2019 :

approved by CCEA for the creation of a corpus of Rs. 2000 crore for to be created with NABARD for development and up-gradation of agricultural marketing infrastructure in Gramin Agricultural Markets (GrAMs) and Regulated Wholesale Markets.

AMIF will provide the State/UT Govts subsidized loan for their proposal for developing marketing infrastructure in 585 APMCs and 10,000 Grameen Agricultural Markets (GrAMs).

States may also access AMIF for innovative integrated market infrastructure projects including Hub and Spoke mode and in Public Private Partnership mode.

In these GrAMs, physical and basic infrastructure will be strengthened using MGNREGA and other Government Schemes.

LRS Limited procurement scheme : under which the government will procure the “excess” produce until market prices reach MSP level.

Central Rural Sanitation Programme (CRSP) was launched in 1986 primarily with the objective of improving the quality of life of the rural people and also to provide privacy and dignity to women.

Country’s First Agri-commodity Options Contracts in Guar Seed launched by Finance minister.

Pesticide Management Bill, 2008 :

establishes a Central Pesticides Board to advise the government on matters related to pesticide regulation, manufacture, use and disposal.
It establishes a registration committee to register pesticides specified under FSSAI 2006 the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006.
establishes a procedure to licence manufacturers, distributors and retailers of pesticides, to be administered by state governments.

E-KRISHI SAMVAD : An online interface for farmers and other stakeholders in the agricultural sector through which farmers and other stakeholders can directly approach ICAR (Indian Council of Agricultural Research) with their problems for effective solutions. Appropriate solutions from specialists will be provided via SMS.

e-RaKam : A joint initiative of MSTC Ltd. ( MiniRatna of Ministry of Steel ) and Central Railside Warehousing Company in order to help farmers get reasonable price for the produce and not fall prey to middlemen. This digital initiative bringing together the farmers, FPOs, PSUs, civil supplies and buyers on a single platform to ease the selling and buying process of agricultural products.

Hence It leverages technology to connect farmers of the smallest villages to the biggest markets of the world.

“AGRI UDAAN”- Food and Agribusiness Accelerator 2.0” :

Launched by ICAR-NAARM & IIMA as food and Agriculture Accelerator which focuses on catalyzing scale-up Food & Agribusiness start-ups through rigorous mentoring, industry networking and Investor pitching. It will attract rural youth and train them to add value to agriculture and farmer’s produce.

Pusa Krishi App : developed by ICAR’s Indian Agricultural Research Institute which gives information about

The varieties of products available to farmers
Technology that can be used to yield better crops
Information about produce and the region it is best suited
Information about animal feed and bio - fertilizers

Agricultural Technology Management Agency (ATMA) Scheme

was launched during 2005-06.
aims at making extension system farmer driven and farmer accountable by way of new institutional arrangements for technology dissemination in the form of an Agricultural Technology Management Agency (ATMA) at district level to operationalize the extension reforms.

National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC)

has played a crucial role in promoting cooperative development in the country by progressively shaping its financial schemes and programmes for benefitting farmers through cooperatives.
NCDC has been proactive in delivering innovative solutions for the cooperative sector.
NCDC’s new scheme ‘Yuva Sahakar’ was launched in November 2018 for giving wings to young entrepreneurs in cooperatives.

Pradhan Mantri Annadata Aay SanraksHan Abhiyan PM-AASHA

is aimed towards ensuring remunerative prices to farmers for their produce as announced in the Union Budget for 2018.

Components of PM-AASHA ensuring remunerative prices to the farmers and is comprised of

Price Support Scheme (PSS) : physical procurement of pulses, oilseeds and Copra will be done by Central Nodal Agencies with proactive role of State governments. It is also decided that in addition to NAFED, FCI will take up PSS operations in states /districts. The procurement expenditure and losses due to procurement will be borne by Central Government as per norms.
Price Deficiency Payment Scheme (PDPS) : proposed to cover all oilseeds for which MSP is notified. In this direct payment of the difference between the MSP and the selling/modal price will be made to pre-registered farmers selling his produce in the notified market yard through a transparent auction process. All payment will be done directly into registered bank account of the farmer. Farmers are paid the difference between the MSP price and Sale/modal price on disposal in notified market.
Pilot of Private Procurement & Stockist Scheme (PPPS) : for oilseeds, states on pilot basis in selected district/APMC(s) of district involving the participation of private stock players.

Department of Food and Public Distribution (DFPD) for procurement of paddy, wheat and nutri-cereals/coarse grains and of Ministry of Textile for cotton and jute will be continued for providing MSP to farmers for these crops.

ARYA: The GOI launched ARYA – “Attaining and Retaining Youth in Agriculture” in 2015 with the objective for entrepreneurial development of Youth in Rural Areas to take up various Agriculture, allied and service sector enterprises for sustainable income and gainful employment.

Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay Unnat Krishi Shiksha Scheme : launched in 2016 under which 100 new centres were opened up for agricultural education.

NICRA National Innovations on Climate Resilient Agriculture

A network project of Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) launched in Feb 2011 aims to enhance resilience of Indian agriculture to climate change and climate vulnerability through strategic research and technology demonstration.
The research on adaptation and mitigation covers crops, livestock, fisheries and natural resource management.
The project consists of four components viz.

Strategic Research,
Technology Demonstration,
Capacity Building
Sponsored/Competitive Grants.

Its objectives are

To enhance the resilience of Indian agriculture covering crops, livestock and fisheries to climatic variability and climate change through development and application of improved production and risk management technologies
To demonstrate site specific technology packages on farmers’ fields for adapting to current climate risks
To enhance the capacity building of scientists and other stakeholders in climate resilient agricultural research and its application.

Gram Swaraj Abhiyan :

was started on April 14, 2018 - Ambedkar Jayanti & ended on May 5, 2018 - Aajeevika & Kaushal Vikas Mela
Under the name of "Sabka Sath, Sabka Gaon, Sabka Vikas" with objective of the campaign is to promote social harmony, spread awareness about pro-poor initiatives of government, reach out to poor households to enroll them as also to obtain their feedback on various welfare programmes.
As a special endeavour during the Gram Swaraj Abhiyan, saturation of eligible households/persons would be made under seven flagship pro-poor programmes in 21,058 identified villages covering 530 districts (except Karnataka, West Bengal where Election Code of Conduct is in place)
The identified schemes are as follows.

Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana
Saubhagya
Ujala scheme
Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana
Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana
Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana and
Mission Indradhanush.

An important aspect of the campaign would also be the public disclosure to the Gram Panchayats (GP) regarding funds made available under various schemes of the line departments and activities to be taken up in each GP area.

CHAMAN, or Coordinated Horticulture Assessment and Management using geoinformatics, implemented by the Delhi-based Mahalanobis National Crop Forecast Centre

In a bid to develop India’s horticulture sector and help states identify suitable areas and crop types, the agriculture ministry is working on a project which uses satellites and remote sensing technology to integrate information on weather, soil, land-use, and crop mapping to prepare horticulture development plans to help in accurate forecasting of area and production of seven major crops in about 185 districts across India. These crops are banana, mango, citrus, potato, onion, tomato and chilli.

Mera Gaon – Mera Gaurav

Launched by ICAR to provide farmers with required information, knowledge and advisories on regular basis.
Under this scheme, groups of scientists will select villages and will remain in touch with that village and provide information to farmers on technical and other related aspects through personal visits or through telecommunication.
The scheme enables 20,000 scientists of National Agricultural Research and Education System (NARES) to work directly in villages.

GOBAR-Dhan Yojana Galvanizing Organic Bio-Agro Resources Dhan

will focus on managing and converting cattle dung and solid waste in farms to compost, biogas and bio-CNG.
will help in keeping the village clean while increasing the income of farmers and cattle herders.
to create an online platform for trading cow dung and agricultural waste

‘HISAR GOURAV’ : produced by scientists at the ICAR-Central Institute for Research on Buffaloes (CIRB)

With this achievement CIRB becomes world’s third and India’s second institute to produce cloned buffalo.
The first successful cloning was achieved by the National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal in 2010.
Samrupa is the world’s first Murrah buffalo calf cloned using a simple “Hand guided cloning technique”.

NAHEP National Agricultural Higher Education Project :

ICAR has recently launched Rs 1100 crore ambitious NAHEP to attract talent and strengthen higher agricultural education in the country.
This project will be funded by World Bank and Indian Government on a 50:50 basis.
In addition, a 4 year degree in Agriculture, Horticulture, Fisheries and Forestry has been declared a professional degree.

National Programme for Bovine Breeding and Dairy Development (NPBBDD) has the following three components.

National Programme for Bovine Breeding (NPBB)
National Programme for Dairy Development (NPDD)
Rashtriya Gokul Mission.

NMBP National Mission on Bovine Productivity

Launched in Nov 2016 with aim of enhancing milk production and productivity and thereby making dairying more remunerative to farmers.
It is being implemented with following components.

(i) Pashu Sanjivni : It includes identification of animals in milk using UID, issuing health cards to all animals in milk and uploading data on INAPH data base.

(ii) Advance reproductive Technique : Under it, sex sorted semen production facility is being created at 10 A graded semen stations and 50 EET Labs with IVF facilities.

(iii) Creation of E Pashu Haat Portal : It is for linking farmers and breeders of indigenous breeds

(iv) Establishment of National Bovine Genomic Centre for Indigenous Breeds (NBGC-IB) : It is established for enhancing milk production and productivity through genomic selection among indigenous breeds.

Rashtriya Gokul Mission

To undertake breed improvement programme for indigenous cattle breeds so as to improve the genetic makeup and increase the stock.

To enhance milk production and productivity of indigenous bovines.

To upgrade nondescript cattle using elite indigenous breeds like Gir, Sahiwal, Rathi, Deoni, Tharparkar, Red Sindhi.

To distribute disease free high genetic merit bulls of indigenous breeds for natural service.

RGM Rashtriya Gokul Mission :

was launched in Dec 2014 for development and conservation of indigenous bovine breeds for enhancing milk production and productivity through induction of high genetic merit bulls for semen production, field performance recording, strengthening of bulls mother farms, setting up of Gokul Grams etc.
Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying & Fisheries under ministry of agriculture has been implementing Rashtriya Gokul Mission with the aim of development and conservation of indigenous bovine breeds.

ETT Embryo transfer technology :

one of the most important reproductive biotechnologies where male and female genetic material can be utilized for faster improvement of livestock.
It has revolutionized breeding strategies in Bovines as tool to optimize genetic improvement in cattle.
Using it, embryos of higher genetic merit indigenous bovines such as Sahiwal, Gir, Red Sindhi, Ongole, Deoni and Vechur are being transferred in to surrogate cows.
Government is taking this technology to doorstep of farmers for rapid propagation of high genetic merit indigenous cattle.
Benefits of using ETT :

(i) Farmer can get 5-6 fold increase in number of offsprings.
(ii) So born calves will be of high genetic merit
(iii) Offsprings born will be free from diseases.
(iv) Transgenesis

Transgenesis is the process of introducing an exogenous gene, called a transgene, into a living organism so that the organism will exhibit a new property and transmit that property to its offspring.

Mega Food Park Scheme : Launched in 2008

To give a major boost to food processing sector by adding value and reducing food wastage at each stage of the supply chain with particular focus on perishables
Ministry of Food Processing Industries is implementing Mega Food Park Scheme in the country.
Acquiring the 50 acres of land, which is mandatory under MFPS.
The project is implemented by SPV which is a Body Corporate registered under the Companies Act. However, State Government, State Government entities and Cooperatives are not required to form a separate SPV for implementation of Mega Food Park project.
Under the Scheme, Government of India provides financial assistance upto Rs. 50.00 Crore per Mega Food Park project.
Its purpose was to increase processing of perishables from 6% to 20% and to increase India's Share in global food trade by at least 3% up to year 2015.

A sanction of 42 food parks has been planned, out of which 25 in various states have already been sanctioned.

First Mega Food Park in India at Satara , the state of Maharashtra
First Mega food park in Rajasthan at Ajmer.
Uttarakhand’s second Mega food park located —— Mahuakhera Ganj village, Kashipur of Udham Singh nagar (1st in Uttarakhand at Haridwar )

Scheme for Creation of Backward and Forward Linkages under the Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI) :

The objective of the scheme is to provide effective and seamless backward and forward integration for processed food industry by plugging the gaps in supply chain in terms of availability of raw material and linkages with the market.
Under the scheme, financial assistance is provided for setting up of primary processing centers/ collection centers at farm gate and modern retail outlets at the front end along with connectivity through insulated/ refrigerated transport.
The Scheme is applicable to perishable horticulture and non-horticulture produce such as fruits, vegetables, dairy products, meat, poultry, fish, Ready to Cook Food Products, Honey, Coconut, Spices, Mushroom, Retails Shops for Perishable Food Products etc.
The Scheme would enable linking of farmers to processors and the market for ensuring remunerative prices for agri produce based on such an infrastructure.
The scheme is implemented by agencies/organizations such as Govt./ PSUs/ Joint Ventures/ NGOs/ Cooperatives/ SHGs / FPOs / Private Sector / individuals etc.
MoFPI Ministry has engaged Technical Agencies (TAs) for assisting farmer/ producer groups including Farmer Producer Companies, Farmer Producer Organization, Self Help Groups to facilitate their participation under the Scheme.
The TAs are responsible for preparation of Business Plan, Detail Project Report, Capacity Building, Trainee and other related support services.

only database on the effectiveness of RLGs in providing goods and services is the National Council of Applied Economic Research’s (NCAER) Rural Economic and Demographic Database (REDS), which has not been updated since 2006-07

Atal Bhoojal Yojana:

aimed at efficient management of available water resources and strengthening of recharge mechanism through community participation.
has emphasis on recharge of ground water sources and efficient use of water by involving people at the local level.
Rs 6,000 crore for this out of which half of total cost of this central scheme will be by World Bank as loan while remaining half by government through budgetary support.
50% of money to states, including gram panchayats, as incentives for achieving targets in groundwater management
remaining 50% to states for strengthening institutional arrangements such as scientific approach to sustainable management of groundwater.

Swajal Yojana

a community owned drinking water programme for sustained drinking water supply launched at Village Bhikampura, Karauli, Rajasthan.

90% of the project cost will be taken care by the Government and the remaining 10% of the project cost will be contributed by the community.

The Operations and management of the project will be taken care by the local villagers.

Besides ensuring the availability of clean drinking water to every household round the year, the project would also generate employment.

PMFBY Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana : launched on 18th Feb 2016

aims at supporting sustainable production in agriculture sector by following ways:
Providing financial support to farmers suffering crop loss/damage arising out of unforeseen events
stabilizing the income of farmers to ensure their continuance in farming
encouraging farmers to adopt innovative and modern agricultural practices
Ensuring flow of credit to the agriculture sector which contributes to food security, crop diversification and enhancing growth and competitiveness of agriculture sector besides protecting farmers from production risks.

This scheme covers following crops:

Food crops (Cereals, Millets and Pulses)
Oilseeds
Annual Commercial / Annual Horticultural crops

The scheme is mandatory for farmers who have taken institutional loans from banks. It’s optional for farmers who have not taken institutional credit.

The rate of Insurance Charges payable by the farmer are as follows:

For Kharif crops, the farmer’s part of premium is 2% of sum assured.
For Rabi crops, the farmer’s part of premium is 1.5% of the sum assured.
For annual commercial and horticultural crops, the farmer’s part of premium is 5%.

The remaining part of premium is paid equally by the Central and respective state governments

All funds for this scheme come from Krishi Kalyan Kosh.
The government under this system has migrated from claim-based insurance scheme to an upfront subsidy for premium based system.
Both Private and Public Sector Insurance Companies provide Fasal Bima.
The scheme covers yield loss, post-harvest loss and localized calamities.
The scheme proposes mandatory use of remote sensing, smart phones and drones for quick estimation of crop loss
The scheme rolled back previous schemes National Agriculture Insurance Scheme (NAIS), Weather-based Crop Insurance scheme and Modified National Agricultural Insurance Scheme (MNAIS).

Main conditions of Sum Insured /Coverage Limit :

Sum Insured per hectare for both loanee and non-loanee farmers is same and equal to the Scale of Finance as decided by the District Level Technical Committee, and is pre-declared by SLCCCI and notified. No other calculation of Scale of Finance is applicable.
Sum Insured for individual farmer is equal to the Scale of Finance per hectare multiplied by area of the notified crop proposed by the farmer for insurance. ‘Area under cultivation’ shall always be expressed in ‘hectare’.
Sum insured for irrigated and un-irrigated areas may be separate.

ICRISAT International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics : An international non-profit organization that undertakes scientific research for development.

Geo-Tagging of Agricultural places :Ministry of Agriculture under RKVY scheme signed an agreement with NRSC National Remote Sensing Center so that the agriculture assets in the country can be geo-tagged easily and effectively. This agreement will see that all the assets such as ponds, fields etc. are taken care of properly and no manual intervention is going to be there as is the case now.

PMKSY Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana

Amalgamating ongoing schemes like

Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme (AIBP) of Ministry of Water Resources,
River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation (MoWR,RD&GR),
Integrated Watershed Management Programme (IWMP) of Department of Land Resources (DoLR)
On Farm Water Management (OFWM) of Department of Agriculture and Cooperation (DAC)

The scheme will be implemented by MoA, MoWR , MORD i.e. Ministries of Agriculture, Water Resources and Rural Development.
Ministry of Rural Development is to mainly undertake rain water conservation, construction of farm pond, water harvesting structures, small check dams and contour bunding.
Tagline for PMKSY is "more crop per drop" as It intends to ensure access to some means of protective irrigation to all agricultural farms in the country in order to produce ‘per drop more crop’ to bring desired rural prosperity.
Flexibility and autonomy to states in the process of planning and executing irrigation projects in order to ensure water to every farm.
Funding Pattern between centre- states will be 75 : 25 . In case of north-eastern region and hilly states it will be 90:10.

AIBP Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme was launched during 1996 - 1997 to give loan assistance to the States to help them complete some of the incomplete major/medium irrigation projects which were at an advanced stage of completion and to create additional irrigation potential in the country. Grant component has been introduced in the programme from April 2004 like other Central Sector Schemes.

IWMP is a continuous adaptive process of managing human activities and ecosystems at the watershed scale that integrates multiple concepts and methods, including water and land use planning and management (e.g., protected areas, source water protection, etc.), and evaluates and manages cumulative effects from multiple environmental stressors. IWM is intended to bring together many aspects of governance such as policy, planning and legislation on the basis of a geographic area (a watershed) and it also brings together people and their activities to build relationships among actors. Some community approaches are :

Planting trees to meet the demands of fibre and fodder
Controlling soil degradation through salinity and water logging
Protection of Water bodies
Managing and stabilising hill slopes and terraces
Cultivation of less water consuming crop varieties

OFWM

National Institute of Agricultural Extension Management, known as MANAGE, formerly National Centre for Management of Agricultural Extension at Hyderabad, is an autonomous agricultural education institute located in Hyderabad, Telangana, India.

PKVY Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana is an elaborated component of Soil Health Management (SHM) of major project National Mission of Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA).

Under PKVY Organic farming is promoted through the adoption of the organic village by cluster approach and PGS certification.
Fifty or more farmers will form a cluster having 50-acre land to take up the organic farming under the scheme.
The produce will be pesticide residue free and will contribute to improving the health of the consumer.

Eligibility of PKVY : According to the revised guidelines, farmers practising traditional methods of organic farming like yogik farming, gou mata kheti, Vedic farming, Vaishnav kheti, Ahinsa farming, Adhvoot Shivanand farming, and rishi krishi will be eligible for financial assistance, in addition to those adopting standard organic farming practices like zero-budget natural farming and permaculture.

Yogik farming — a system where it is believed that farmers can channelize cosmic energy to their fields by performing yoga.

Rishi krishi — based on pre-Vedic, Vedic and medieval texts like Vishvavallava, Kashyapiyakrishisukti and Surapala’s Vrikshayurveda.

Gou mata kheti — a system of farming which uses cow dung and urine from indigenous breeds of lactating cows.

India has 4 million hectares of land certified as organic wildculture, which is 3rd in the world (after Finland and Zambia). We are yet to realize the full potential of organic culture. North-eastern states, especially Sikkim, have covered it up well. In fact, Sikkim has become India's first fully organic state

Zero Budget Natural Farming

It is method of farming where the cost of growing and harvesting plants is zero.
Farmers need not purchase fertilizers and pesticides in order to ensure the healthy growth of crops.
A natural farming technique that uses biological pesticides instead of chemical-based fertilizers.
Farmers use earthworms, cow dung, urine, plants, human excreta and such biological fertilizers for crop protection. It reduces farmers’ investment. It also protects the soil from degradation.

Contract farming

A system in which companies enter into a contract with farmers to purchase a specific quantity of agricultural commodities at a pre-agreed price and quality.
The rationale of contract farming was envisaged to ensure mutual benefits to the farmers as well as the companies on price risk and supply risk respectively.
Under such type of farming, the farmers are given seeds, fertilizers, technical knowhow etc. so as to get a desired quality of agricultural produce.
In turn it helps farmers in getting better price for their produce especially perishable commodities, avoid price volatility problems as well as reduce post-harvest losses.
In turn the companies will get the desired quality of produce and reduces the risk of non-availability of raw material.
Thus, there can be at least 2 models of contract farming.

The company just provides the input and takes the produce according to the clauses of the agreement.
The company besides providing input gets more involved in the agricultural practices by giving schedules of planting, monitoring the growth of crops etc.

The main key issues faced in contract farming currently are as follows:

No homogeneity in act : no uniform law in India for contract farming, Since agriculture is a state subject, each state has its own provisions regarding agricultural produce and conditions with respect to contract farming. There has been a need to streamline the provisions and make them uniform across the States.

Small & marginal farmers are left out : Due to their small landholdings, small and marginal farmers are not roped in by the companies as they do not give them economies of scale on small land holdings.

Exploitation : Small farmers being poor and semi-literate have little bargaining power. They have little chance to get fair price of their produce. Sometimes, the companies set very high standards of quality required which often farmers are not able to meet. This forces them to sell the produce at low price.

Monoculture : Sometimes the farmers are forced to produce a single type of crop year after year which leads to monoculture and hence depletion of the land.
Single Buyer – Multiple Sellers (Monopsony)

Breach of contract : Many a times, farmer or company go back on the contract due to volatility in the prices. Generally, it is the farmer who suffers.

MCFA Model Contract Farming Act 2018

It ensures buying of entire pre-agreed quantity of contract farming produce.
It guides the contracting parties to fix pre-agreed price
It makes provisions to decide sale-purchase price in case of violent movement (upswing / downswing) of market price with pre-agreed price as a win-win framework
It provides for a contract farming facilitation group at village level to take quick and need based decision.
It provides to keep contract farming outside the ambit of APMC act
It creates a dispute settlement mechanism at the lowest possible level for quick disposal of disputes.
It sets up Contract Farming (Development and Promotion) Authority.
The produce will be insured under the existing agriculture insurance schemes.
The modal act also make provisions for making FPOs farmer producer organisations under which a sort of cooperatives of small and marginal farmers will be formed.

Specific provisions for Contract Agreement : The model act lays down a framework for determining the pre-agreed quantity, quality and price of farm produce between farmers and sponsoring companies. The Act also provides that inputs required for farming, technology and pre- and post-harvest infrastructure and services has to be provided by the sponsor of the contract, according to mutually agreed terms. If any of the either party tries to breach the contract then the act provides for damages. It also mentioned that companies CANNOT call for the transfer of ownership of the land of the farmer to itself in ANY circumstances.

Various bodies to be set up under MCFA law : All contract farming agreements in respective States should be registered with a State-level agency called Contract Farming (Development & Promotion) Authority. Besides there will be local-level recording committees to register these contracts and implement them effectively. The Act allows the authority to collect a fee from the sponsor of up to 0.3 per cent ad valorem on the contracted produce. Dispute relating to breach of contract, it will be settled at the local level.

Significance of the Model Act : The act clearly make adequate provisions like penalty etc. to secure farmers from the risk of price volatility and any post harvest market unpredictability on the sponsor companies. The making of FPOs will consolidate the small & marginal farmers and offset the disadvantages faced by them in terms of less negotiation capacity vis-à-vis companies.

Amendment in States’ APMC Act : To apply this agreement, It will require an amendment in state’s APMC acts. So, it will be a challenge that the states do all this. In fact, APMC act is also pending to be implemented in many states. Further, farmers might be reluctant to sell the produce at the contracted price if prices rise sharply compared to the contracted price. Thirdly, it is a challenging task to ensure that the companies will get the quality standards they expect. Lastly, formulating of FPOs was also there in earlier model Act, however little or no progress is witnessed on this front because of the apprehensions faced in making cooperatives with other farmers.

Benefits to Small Farmers : It makes small scale farming competitive - small farmers can access technology, credit, marketing channels and information while lowering transaction costs. It gives assured market for their produce at their doorsteps, reducing marketing and transaction costs. It reduces the risk of production, price and marketing costs. Contract farming can open up new markets which would otherwise be unavailable to small farmers because the corporate or contracting party might otherwise not purchase from those farms.

Small Farmers Agribusiness Consortium (SFAC)

is an Autonomous Society promoted by Ministry of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers’ Welfare, GOI.
It was registered under Societies Registration Act XXI of 1860 on 18th January, 1994.
The Society is governed by Board of Management which is chaired, ex-officio, by Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare as the President and the Secretary, Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare, Government of India, is the ex-officio Vice-President.
SFAC is implementing the central schemes of Government of India namely VCA, EGCGS for economic inclusion of small and marginal farmers in agribusiness activities.

FPOs FARMER PRODUCER ORGANISATIONS :

Department of Agriculture and Cooperation, Ministry of Agriculture, Govt. of India has identified farmer producer organisation registered under the special provisions of the Companies Act, 1956 as the most appropriate institutional form around which to mobilize farmers and build their capacity to collectively leverage their production and marketing strength.
Department of Agriculture and Cooperation (DAC), Ministry of Agriculture, Govt. of India will act as the nodal agency for the development and growth of FPOs.
(SFAC), a Society under DAC, will be the designated agency of DAC to act as a single-window for technical support, training needs, research and knowledge management and to create linkages to investments, technology and markets

Green Revolution – Krishonnati Yojana

CCEA approved for the Umbrella Scheme in agriculture sector beyond 12th Five Year Plan from 2017-18 to 2019-20 which includes 11 schemes

Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH)
National Food Security Mission (NFSM)
National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA)
Submission on Agriculture Extension (SMAE)
Sub-Mission on Seeds and Planting Material (SMSP)
Sub-Mission on Agricultural Mechanisation (SMAM)
Sub Mission on Plant Protection and Plan Quarantine (SMPPQ)
Integrated Scheme on Agriculture Census, Economics and Statistics (ISACES)
Integrated Scheme on Agricultural Cooperation (ISAC)
Integrated Scheme on Agricultural Marketing (ISAM)
National e-Governance Plan (NeGP-A)

The objectives of the mentioned umbrella scheme are

Betterment of agricultural base
Doubling of farmers’ earnings
Development of appropriate agriculture infrastructure
Adequate market for sale of produce

UBA Unnat Bharat Abhiyan : Connecting institutions of higher education with local communities to address development challenges through appropriate technologies

A MHRD Ministry of Human Resource Development, GOI programme to uplift rural India.
The programme is being launched in collaboration with IITs , NITs , National Institute of Technical Teachers' Training and Research (NITTTRs) and other leading Government Engineering Institutes like College of Engineering, Pune across the country.
Unnat Bharat Abhiyan is being coordinated and steered by IIT Delhi.
The programme involve engaging with neighbouring communities and using technologies for their upliftment.

Recently an article has been published outlining a roadmap for rural India. This could supplement the strategies to be adopted in program.

KUSUM ‘Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Utthaan Mahabhiyan’ :

Nodal agency for the scheme is MNRE Ministry of New and Renewable Energy.
Aims to enhance use of Solar Energy in Rural areas
Announced in Budget 2018-19
It will lead to increase the decentralised solar energy and to reduce the transmission loss of DISCOMs
will enhance Energy efficiency and water conservation
will use the barren lands

(i) installation of grid-connected solar power plants each of capacity up to 2 MW in the rural areas;

(ii) installation of standalone off-grid solar water pumps to fulfill irrigation needs of farmers not connected to grid;

(iii) solarization of existing grid-connected agriculture pumps to make farmers independent of grid supply and also enable them to sell surplus solar power generated to DISCOM and get extra income; and

(iv) solarization of tube-wells and lift irrigation projects of Government sector.

(v) Installation of 10000 MW Solar plant at barren lands

Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana :

Aims to provide LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) connections to poor households identified through Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC).
As a deposit-free LPG connection with financial assistance of Rs 1,600 per connection by the Centre.
The scheme is being implemented by Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas.
Eligible households will be identified in consultation with state governments and UTs.

PMGSY PM Gram Sadak Yojana under the authority of Ministry of Rural Development

Launched on 25th December 2000 as a fully funded Centrally Sponsored Scheme to provide all weather road connectivity in rural areas of the country.
The present government has set an accelerated goal of achieving this target by 2019, ahead of the initial timeline of 2022.
For most intensive Integrated Action Plan (IAP) blocks as identified by Ministry of Home Affairs the unconnected habitations with population of 100 and above (as per 2001 Census) are eligible to be covered under PMGSY.
PMGSY is managed by National Rural Roads Development Agency (NRRDA), headed by a Director-General.

Phase-III of PMGSY is planned to be launched to connect hospitals and schools with major link routes in the interiors of villages.

NRDWP National rural drinking Water prog

was launched with support of WORLD BANK to provide 24*7 piped drinking water supply to four low income states - Assam, UP, Bihar, Jharkhand
Centrally Sponsored Scheme with major emphasis on ensuring sustainability (source) of water availability in terms of portability, adequacy, convenience, affordability and equity. It was launched in 2009.
Provision of 50: 50 fund sharing between Centre and the States. It covers all-the Rural Population across the country.
The aim is to provide every rural person with adequate safe water for drinking, cooking and other basic domestic needs on sustainable basis.

eNAM electronic National Agriculture Market Portal :

an online platform with a physical market or mandi at the backend. It is an instrument to create a national network of physical mandis which can be accessed online.
It seeks to leverage the physical infrastructure of mandis through an online trading portal, enabling buyers situated even outside the state to participate in trading at the local level.

It is a pan-India electronic trading (e-trading) portal which seeks to network the existing physical regulated wholesale market (known as APMC market) through a virtual platform to create a unified national market for agricultural commodities.
The e-NAM portal provides single window services for all APMC related information and services. This includes commodity arrivals, quality & prices, buy & sell offers & e-payment settlement directly into farmers’ account, among other services.

GeM Government e-Market Place :

Based on recommendations of the Group of Secretaries It was created to facilitate online procurement of common use Goods & Services required by various Government Departments/Organizations/PSUs

GeM aims to enhance transparency, efficiency and speed in public procurement and provides the tools of e-bidding, reverse e-auction and demand aggregation to facilitate the government users, achieve the best value for their money

GeM provides an end-to-end online Marketplace for Central and State Government Ministries/Departments to the Government, Sellers and the Indian industry and economy
GeM is a completely paperless, cashless and system driven e-market place that enables procurement of common use goods and services with minimal human interface
It is a very bold step of the Government with the aim to transform the way in which procurement of goods and services is done by the Government Ministries/Departments, PSUs, autonomous bodies etc

GeM’s Benefits are :
Transparency : GeM eliminates human interface in vendor registration, order placement and payment processing, to a great extent. Being an open platform, GeM offers no entry barriers to bonafide suppliers who wish to do business with the Government.
Efficiency : Direct purchase on GeM can be done in a matter of minutes and the entire process in online, end to end integrated and with online tools for assessing price reasonability
Secure and safe : GeM is a completely secure platform and all the documents on GeM are e-Signed at various stages by the buyers and sellers
Potential to support Make in India : On GeM, the filters for selecting goods which are Preferential Market Access (PMA) compliant and those manufactured by Small Scale Industries(SSI), enables the Government buyers to procure Make in India and SSI goods very easily.
Savings to the Government: The transparency, efficiency and ease of use of the GeM portal has resulted in a substantial reduction in prices on GeM, in comparison to the tender, Rate Contract and direct purchase rates.

Operation Greens Mission :

Launched by Ministry of Food Processing Industries with an outlay of Rs.500 crore aims to promote farmer producers organisations FPOs, agri-logistics, processing facilities and professional management.
Also aims to aid farmers and help control and limit the erratic fluctuations in the prices of onions, potatoes and tomatoes starting with three basic vegetables—tomatoes, onions and potatoes (TOP). It is replica of Operation Flood.
The main objective of OG is to reduce price volatility in these commodities, and thereby helping farmers augment incomes on a sustainable basis, as also provide these basic vegetables to consumers at affordable prices.
NAFED will be Nodal Agency to implement price stabilisation measures.

Operation Flood, launched in 1966, was a project of India's National Dairy Development Board(NDDB), which was the world's biggest dairy development program. It transformed India from a milk-deficient nation into the world's largest milk producer.

The Anand pattern experiment at Amul, a single, cooperative dairy, was the engine behind the success of the program. Verghese Kurien, the chairman and founder of Amul, was named the chairman of NDDB by the then Prime Minister of India Lal Bahadur Shastri.

Kurien gave the necessary thrust using his professional management skills to the program, and is recognized as its architect. Its objectives were —

Increase milk production ("a flood of milk")
Augment rural incomes
Fair prices for consumers

In-situ management of crop residue

a fund will be created which will be used to promote agricultural mechanisation for the next two years (2018-20). It will be primarily be used to subsidise machinery required for in-situ management of the crop residue.
Financial assistance of 80% of the project cost to set up ‘Farm Machinery Banks’ for custom hiring of in-situ crop residue mgmt. machinery will be provided to cooperative societies of the farmers, FPOs, SHGs, registered farmers societies/farmers group, private entrepreneurs and group of women farmers.
If an individual farmer would like to buy such machinery\equipment, the government will provide financial assistance of 50% of the cost of machinery for crop residue management.
At the state level, Dept. of Agriculture of concerned state government will be the nodal implementing agency.
State governments to identify various beneficiaries and location–specific agricultural equipment and identify, select beneficiaries for establishment of ‘Farm Machinery Bank’ for custom hiring and procurement of machines on individual ownership basis to avail the benefit in transparent and time-bound manner.
The state agencies may tie up with banks for credit requirements of the beneficiaries.
It will pave the way in tackling the air pollution issue as stubble burning is deemed as major cause in creating high Air pollution in Delhi.

Van Dhan Vikas Kendra

Planned by Ministry of Tribal Affairs to launch it’s first ever VDV Kendra at Bijapur, Chhattisgarh for value addition of Forest Produce in ensuring remunerative prices to the tribals in this approach.
It provides skill upgradation and capacity building training and setting up of primary processing and value addition facility.
The selection of the tribal beneficiaries and formation of the SHGs (Self help groups) under this has been undertaken by TRIFED.
The grass root level procurement is proposed to be undertaken through SHGs associated with implementing Agencies

Functioning of VDVK : These SHGs shall be appropriately trained on sustainable harvesting/collection, primary processing & value addition and be formed into clusters so as to aggregate their stock in tradable quantity and linking them with facility of primary processing in a Van Dhan Vikas Kendra.

The stock after primary processing shall be supplied by these SHGs to the State Implementing Agencies or direct tie up for supply to corporate secondary processor.
For creation of secondary level value addition facility at district level and tertiary level value addition facility at State level, Big Corporate shall be involved under PPP model.
This PPP model will be based on utilizing Private entrepreneur skills in undertaking processing as well as marketing of the produce and Central/ State Govt. support in terms of creating infrastructure and providing enabling environment for undertaking value addition of systematic scientific lines.

Minor Forest Produce (MFP)

A major source of livelihood for tribals living in forest areas.
The importance of MFPs for this section of the society can be gauged from the fact that around 100 million forest dwellers depend on MFPs for food, shelter, medicines and cash income.
It provides them critical subsistence during the lean seasons, particularly for primitive tribal groups such as hunter gatherers, and the landless.
Tribals derive 20-40% of their annual income from MFP on which they spend major portion of their time.
This activity has strong linkage to women’s financial empowerment as most of the MFPs are collected and used/sold by women.
MFP sector has the potential to create about 10 million workdays annually in the country.

AMSY Adivasi Mahila Sashaktikaran Yojana :

Implemented by NSTFDC National Scheduled Tribes Finance and Development Corporation, an apex organisation under Ministry of Tribal Affairs this exclusive scheme to provide loans at concessional rates for income generation activities to tribal women.
Loans upto 90% for scheme costing upto Rs.1 lakh are provided at a concessional rate of interest of 4% per annum.

KVK Krishi Vigyan Kendras :

Agricultural extension centres created by ICAR (Indian Council for Agricultural Research) and its affiliated institutions at district level to provide various types of farm support to the agricultural sector.
It would build models of technology uptake and farmers' empowerment leading to support GOI’s initiative of doubling farmers' income.
The first KVK was established during 1974 (Pondichery) and has grown as a largest network in the country.
The number of KVKs has risen to 669 , they are 100% financed from GOI.
The mandate of KVK is Technology Assessment & Demonstration for its Application and Capacity Development.
KVKs provide several farm support activities like providing technology dissemination to farmers, training, awareness etc.
To achieve the set objectives KVKs undertake following types of activities in the adopted villages:

(1) Farm Advisory Service using ICT

(2) Training programme for different categories of people.

(3) Training programme for the extension functionaries

(4) Front Line Demonstration (Fill)

(5) On Farm Testing (OFT)

In addition, KVKs produce quality technological products (seed, planting material, bio-agents, livestock) and make it available to farmers, organize frontline extension activities, identify and document selected farm innovations and converge with ongoing schemes and programs within the mandate of KVK.
KVK is integral part of the National Agricultural Research System (NARS), aims at assessment of location specific technology modules in agriculture and allied enterprises, through technology assessment, refinement and demonstrations.
KVKs have been functioning as Knowledge and Resource Centre of agricultural technology supporting initiatives of public, private and voluntary sector for improving the agricultural economy of the district and are linking the NARS with extension system and farmers.

RECENTLY Cabinet approves continuation, strengthening and establishment of Krishi Vigyan Kendras till 2019-20.

Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) Act 2003

is a statutory market committee constituted by a State Government in respect of trade in certain notified agricultural or horticultural or livestock products, under the Agricultural Produce Market Committee Act issued by that state government.
Under Constitution of India, agricultural marketing is a state (provincial) subject.
While intra-state trades fall under the jurisdiction of state governments, inter-state trading comes under Central or Federal Government (including intra-state trading in a few commodities like raw jute, cotton, etc.).
Thus, agricultural markets are established and regulated mostly under the various State APMC Acts.

Model Agriculture Produce and Livestock Marketing (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2017

was presented in April 2017 and seeks to replace APMC act 2003.
It is seen as a major agriculture marketing reform to help farmers directly connect with the different buyers and enable them to discover optimum price for their commodities.
The purpose is to create a single agriculture market with a single license wherein agriculture produce as well as livestock could be traded.

Some of the important provisions:

The new model law seeks to establish a regulated wholesale agri-market at a distance of every 80 km.
To enable this, it has proposed to issue licenses to new private players and traders who wish to set up a wholesale market.
Even private market yards, warehouses and cold storages will be allowed to act as regulated markets.
Unlike the current system, now only by paying unified single fees, farmer/trader will be able to transact in all such regulated agri-markets within the state.
There will be no separate fees for individual markets.
It caps market fee (including developmental and other charges) at not more than 1% for fruit and vegetables and 2% for food grain.
It caps commission agents’ fee at not more than 2% for non-perishables and 4% for perishables.
Besides, it stipulates a single license for trading within the state and at the national level.
All regulatory powers will lie with the office of the director of agricultural marketing in the state, who will also issue licenses to traders and new private players. As of now this power lies with the mandis managed by the Board of directors.
It also has the provision for promoting online or spot (e-national agriculture market) agriculture market platforms.

PMAGY Pradhan mantri adarsh gram yojana :

It is under ministry of social justice and empowerment
The principal objective of the Scheme is integrated development of SC Majority Villages: Primarily through convergent implementation of the relevant Central and State Schemes;
By providing these villages Central Assistance in form of gap-filling funds to the extent of Rs.20.00 lakh per village, to be increased by another 5 lakh if State make a matching contribution.
By providing gap-filling component to take up activities which do not get covered under the existing Central and State Government Schemes.

Private Entrepreneurs Guarantee (PEG) Scheme : for Warehousing capacity for food storage

Storage capacity is created by private parties, Central Warehousing Corporation (CWC) and State Agencies for guaranteed hiring by FCI.
This is because the state alone cannot provide such facilities at all locations. It makes economic sense for private players to finance the construction of these warehouses and then lease it out for rent.

9.DIGITAL CONNECTIVITY

Philately Scheme == study of postal stamps by Ministry of communication

DEEN SPARSH YOJANA

*Aim= to award annual scholarship of children of class 6-9 who have good academic record+ who is pursuing Philately (collecting stamps) as a hobby.

*Scholarship would be given thru competitive selection process in all postal circles.

*Selection criteria

: ✓student of recognised school w/i India + concerned school should have Philately club & student candidate must be a member of it.

✓student should have Philately Deposit A/c.

SFOORTI App: Smart Freight Operation Optimisation & Real Time Information : launched by RAILWAY Ministry To help plan the traffic flows and optimize freight operations for Freight Managers which provides features for monitoring and managing freight business using Geographic Information System (GIS) Views and Dashboard.

Minister for Communications recently launched the Sampoorna Bima Gram Yojana (SBGY) and an initiative for expansion of clientele base of Postal Life Insurance (PLI).

Biannual means "twice a year," as does semiannual, whereas biennial means "occurring every two years."

UMANG app — single platform for all Indian Citizens to access pan India e-Gov services ranging from Central to Local Government bodies and other citizen centric services. UMANG (Unified Mobile Application for New-age Governance) has been developed by Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and National e-Governance Division (NeGD) to drive Mobile Governance in India. UMANG service has been made available on multiple channels like mobile application, web, IVR and SMS(hence supports phones without internet connectivity) which can be accessed through smartphones, feature phones, tablets and desktops.

Aadhar App & Umang app was named winner of Best M-Government Service Award for Accessible Government category in World Govt Summit 2018 Dubai. The application provides users a unified platform that combines government departments and services, facilitating transactions for citizens.

UTTAM App for Coal Quality Monitoring

Unlocking Transparency by Third Party Assessment of Mined Coal UTTAM app is developed by Ministry of Coal and Coal India Limited (CIL)
It aims to provide an App for all citizens and coal consumers to monitor the process of Third Party Sampling of coal across CIL subsidiaries.
It ensures accountability, transparency, effectiveness and efficiency in coal ecosystem. It provides a platform for monitoring of sampling and coal dispatches.

TAMRA app to enhance Transparency and Accountability as a part of the Ease of Doing Business in the Mining sector

GARV app to monitoring the Villages and Households electrification in the country

TARANG app to monitoring the progress of Transmission System of POWER in the country

FASTAG is an electronic toll collection platform by NHAI.

DEEP Discovery of Efficient Electricity Price : e-Bidding and e-Reverse Auction portal for procurement of short term power by DISCOMs launched by Ministry of Power.

DARPAN – “Digital Advancement of Rural Post Office for A New India” Project launched by Ministry of Communications to improve the quality of service, add value to services and achieve “financial inclusion” of un-banked rural population.

43,171 Branch Post Offices have migrated under it.

e-Sansad and e-Vidhan in Parliament and State Legislatures to digitize and make their functioning paperless , will be implemented by Ministry of Parliamentary affairs.

Disha Monitoring Portal would enable Members of Parliament to track progress in implementation of various centrally sponsored schemes in their constituency. Gram Samvaad Mobile app allows a citizen to access information on and implementation of Rural Development schemes at Panchayat level.

Public cloud policy

First by any State, Maharashtra virtually mandating its departments to shift their data storage onto the cloud, which intends to make them available for free to the general public.
Under the framework, the government will make it mandatory for the data to be stored within the country.
The objective is to use public cloud in cases wherever the Right to Information Act is applicable, and then go in for enhanced security features for private and sensitive data, which will also be stored on the cloud.
compliant with the Union government’s National Data Sharing and Accessibility Policy, 2012, which mandates facilitation of access to government-owned shareable data in human readable and machine readable forms.

Cyber Surakshit Bharat :

Conceptualised with the mission to spread awareness about cybercrime and building capacity for safety measures for Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) and frontline IT staff across all government departments.
It will be operated on the three principles of Awareness, Education and Enablement.
The primary objective is to keep our data safe and protected.
It will include an awareness program on the importance of cybersecurity; a series of workshops on best practices and enablement of the officials with cybersecurity health tool kits to manage and mitigate cyber threats.
It is the first public-private partnership of its kind and will leverage the expertise of the IT industry in cybersecurity.

Assistance to States and UTs for Narcotics Control’ scheme

aims to combat illicit trafficking in drugs and psychotropic substance.
to assist state governments and Union Territories which are contributing in controlling the inter-state and cross border drug trafficking.
Financial assistance will be provided to all the anti- narcotics agencies for strengthening their enforcement capabilities to combat illicit trafficking in narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances.

Automated Moorings:

Automated ocean pollution observation system which will help keep a tab on ocean pollution levels apart from offering insights on how the marine system is changing. The system will do away with the present practice of collecting water samples from sea and studying their pollution levels thereafter. It will also provide data that will help scientists to understand how the marine system is changing.

Trafficking of Persons (Prevention, Protection and Rehabilitation) Bill, 2018 :

identifies various forms of trafficking, including for the purposes of bonded labour and begging

GOI has launched ‘Grahak Sadak Koyla Vitaran App’ benefitting customers of Coal India Limited (CIL) lifting coal through road mode.

Universal Product Code :

It consists of two parts – machine-readable barcode, which is a series of unique black bars, and unique 12-digit number beneath it.
The purpose of UPCs is to make it easy to identify product features, such as the brand name, item, size, and color, when an item is scanned at checkout. In fact, that’s why they were created in the first place – to speed up the checkout process at grocery stores.
UPCs are also helpful in tracking in tracking inventory within a store or warehouse.

TKDL Traditional Knowledge Digital Library

It is a pioneer initiative of India to prevent misappropriation of country’s traditional medicinal knowledge at International Patent Offices.
CSIR has created and is the custodian of TKDL.
TKDL contains Indian traditional medicine knowledge available in public domain and pertains to classical/ traditional books related to Ayurveda, Unani and Siddha in a digitized format and is available in five international languages (English, French, German, Spanish and Japanese).

‘Indo-HCM’, country’s first ever Highway Capacity Manual (HCM) developed by CSIR-CRRI on basis of an extensive, country-wide study of traffic characteristics on different categories of roads like single lane, two-lane, multi-lane urban roads, inter- urban highways and expressways and the associated intersections on these roads to guide road engineers and policy makers about road expansion.

C- DAC Centre for Development of Advanced Computing :

the premier R&D organization of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) for carrying out R&D in IT, Electronics and associated areas.

C-DAC Pune, has developed a software named “Jatan” and “Darshak” that are set to revolutionise museum experience.

Jatan : to make a digital imprint of all the objects preserved in museums.
Darshak : mobile-based application aimed at improving the museum visit experience among the differently-abled. Allows real-time all details about objects or artifacts simply by scanning a QR code placed near the object.

FINTECH : Financial Technology is industry known for championing software and technology in the financial sector. A very broad term, it includes anything from a bank ATM, to software used to help spot manipulation of securities markets.

The Centre has set up a steering committee(headed by SC Garg, Dept. of Economic affairs) to go into various issues relating to Fintech space in India.

Two key measures in telecom sector to facilitate investments, consolidation and enhancing ease of doing business. It includes

Restructuring of Deferred Payment Liabilities of telecom Service providers for spectrum: By giving one-time opportunity to opt for higher number of instalment (max. 16 instalment) apart from currently permitted 10 instalments. The increased instalment is based upon the principle that the Net Present Value (NPV) of the Payment Due is protected as per respective notice inviting application for auction of spectrum from 2012.
Revision of limits of cap for spectrum holding: The overall spectrum cap is revised, The current intra-band cap is removed, There will be no cap for individual or combined spectrum holding in above 1 GHz band, The revised spectrum caps limits may be revisited after Final Acts of World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC) 2019.

‘Print Biennale India 2018’: first International Exhibition of Graphic Prints held recently in New Delhi. Hosted by : Lalit Kala Akademi.

RBI imposed a penalty for non-compliance with the directions issued on direct sale of securities from its Held To Maturity (HTM) portfolio on ICICI Bank. Hence It imposed 58.9 Crore Rs. penalty.

Nilgiri Mountain Railways is India’s only Railways which works on Rack and Pinion Technology. It is also listed in UNESCO WHS.

Technotex : 7th edition of International Exhibition and conference on Technical Textiles 2018 is being organized jointly by Ministry of Textiles, GOI and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) from June 28-29, 2018 at Bombay Exhibition Centre, Goregaon, Mumbai -India. The event will serve as the right platform for interaction between the Indian and Foreign companies from technical textile value chain.

—> Golden Quadrilateral by NHAI & Diamond Quadrilateral by Indian Railways to connect all 4 Metro Cities in India.

IPTV Internet Protocol television

provides television content that, instead of being delivered through traditional format and cabling, is received by the viewer through the technologies used for computer network.
In case of IPTV, it requires either a computer and software media player or an IPTV set top box to decode the images in real time.
A series of IP packets encoded for the delivery of video streaming is broadcast in IPTV. In general, IPTV sends only the program requested by the viewer. A new stream is transmitted to the viewer when the channel is changed. Traditional TV, however, broadcasts all the channels simultaneously.
IPTV gives dynamic features to the user to improve the user experience compared to a traditional television transmission such as radio frequency broadcast, satellite broadcast and/or cable television.
IPTV services have 3 main features:

VOD: Video on demand (VOD) is an option available to the users of IPTV. Each user is given the option to choose from a catalog of videos and watch them as many times as required. This feature uses unicast transmission, whereas normal TV broadcasts use multicast transmission. Real Time Streaming Protocol is used for VOD.
DVR: Providers of IPTV allow users to watch recorded shows without DVR devices. There is a live DVR system at the provider’s end, making DVR more cost effective and efficient.
Users can watch replays or start a TV program over from an interactive menu.
Live Television: IPTV allows users to watch live transmissions with minimal latency. It provides live television broadcasts either with or without interactivity, without being just like traditional TV broadcasts. The protocol used for live television is Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP) version 2.

GREENE

An E-Waste awareness initiative supported by Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), GOI.
MeitY has initiated the project “Awareness Programme on Environmental Hazards of Electronic waste” on March 31, 2015.
This project is under the ‘Digital India’ initiative of GOI.
The project is expected to have far reaching and significant impact on the growth of the country as it focuses on reuse and recycling of e-waste, which has the potential to conserve natural resources.
The project has 3 components viz., Content Development, Inventory Assessment and Awareness Generation amongst different stakeholders.
The project will help in effective implementation of E-waste Management Rules, 2016.

10.REGIONAL- UPDATES

NORTH

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat launched the Mukhyamantri Anchal Amrit Yojana in Dehradun on March 7 , 2019 under which 2.5 lakh children at 20,000 Anganwadi kendras in the state will be given 100 ml milk twice a week for free.

32nd Surajkund International Crafts Mela held in Haryana :

held at Faridabad, Haryana & formally inaugurated by UP CM Yogi Adityanath in the presence of Haryana CM.
This year UP is theme state and Kyrgyzstan is the partner nation.

Haryana has become the first state in the country to launch High Risk Pregnancy (HRP) Portal, also implementing birth companion strategy under which one female attendant would be allowed during delivery in the labour room.

Gram Swaraj Abhiyan : by Haryana government as an outreach campaign, in the state on the birth anniversary of Dr B R Ambedkar on April 14, which will continue till May 5 under the name of “Sabka Sath, Sabka Gaon, Sabka Vikas”, is to promote social harmony, spread awareness about pro-poor initiatives of government, reach out to poor households to enroll them as also to obtain their feedback on various welfare programs. It covers Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana, Saubhagya, Ujala scheme, Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana and Mission Indradhanush.

‘Jal Mahotsav’: India’s biggest water carnival through is organised every year in Hanuwantiya Island ( located on the banks of the Indira Sagar dam ) in Madhya Pradesh.

26th World Book Fair held in New Delhi organised by National Book Trust, in association with ITPO.

Bhamashah Yojana is a scheme introduced by the Government of Rajasthan to transfer financial and non-financial benefits of governmental schemes directly to women recipients in a transparent way. The scheme was inaugurated by Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje on 15 August 2014. The scheme is named after the Bhamashah a famous minister, financier and general who helped Maharana Pratap.

Festival of Baisakhi is usually celebrated on April 13, but once in every 36 years the festival is celebrated on April 14. Sikhs follow a tradition named Aawat Pauni on Vaisakhi. The five ‘K’s are the five principles of life : Kesh , Kangha, Kara, Kacchera, Kirpan

In other parts of India at this time, Bengalis celebrate Poila Boishakh (Bengali New Year), Assamese celebrate Bohag Bihu (Assamese New Year) and Puthandu (Tamil New Year) is celebrated in Tamil Nadu– as New Year festivals such as Baisakhi.

In order to protect the rich aquatic biodiversity of river Ganga from escalating anthropogenic pressures , The first Turtle Sanctuary in India will be set up at Sangam near to Allahabad , Uttar Pradesh under Namami Gange programme.

Rivers Ganga and Yamuna at Allahabad are home to some of the most endangered fauna like turtles, the National Aquatic Animal – Gangetic dolphin, the Gharial and numerous migratory and resident birds.

Hindavi is a combination of Braj, Avadhi and Khari Boli.

WEST

The three villages of Shetbunder, Rajbunder and Morabunder of ELEPHANTA Island (10 km away from Mumbai) got first time electricity after 70 Yrs of Independence in Feb 2018.

Maharashtra government has decided to ban the use of plastic. The changes will be brought in with amendments to the Solid Waste Management Act 2016 and the Plastic Carry Bags (Manufacture and Usage) Rules 2006.

Ratnagiri Refinery & Petrochemicals Ltd. (RRPCL) : An Indian Consortium consisting of IOCL, BPCL and HPCL and Saudi Aramco signed a MoU here to jointly develop and build an integrated refinery and petrochemicals complex. It brings together crude supply, resources, technologies, experience and expertise of these multiple oil companies with an established commercial presence around the world.

The Criminal Laws (Rajasthan Amendment) Ordinance, 2017, seeks to protect serving and former judges, magistrates and public servants in the State from being investigated for on-duty action, without government sanction.

Rajasthan has passed Criminal Laws (Rajasthan Amendment) Bill, 2018 providing for deterrent punishment including death penalty, capital punishment or rigorous imprisonment ranging between 14 years and lifelong incarceration to those convicted of raping girls of 12 years and below after amend the Indian Penal Code with the insertion of new provision by voice vote.

Rajasthan has become the second State, after Madhya Pradesh, to pass a Bill providing for death penalty to those convicted of raping girls of 12 years and below. MP —> Rajasthan —> Haryana

Ministry of Culture recently organized the Madhavpur Mela in Madhavpur Ghed, District Porbandar in Gujarat. The Madhavpur Mela of Gujarat shares it‘s connection to the Mishmi Tribe of Arunachal Pradesh.

Bharat Parv: organised by GOI as part of the Republic Day Celebrations, The Ministry of Tourism designated as the nodal Ministry for the event showcasing the country’s diverse culture, cuisines, handicrafts and catch glimpses of a progressive India and popularise the idea of “Ek Bharat Shreshta Bharat”.

Diu becomes the first and only UT to be 100% solar energy efficient.

Matunga Railway Station in Mumbai Division of Central Railway has entered Limca Book of Records 2018 for posting all women staff on the station.

Goa Bird Festival held at Cotigao Wildlife Sanctuary established in 1968 as the second largest National Park in Goa.

EAST

OHEPEE Project : IBRD loan of US$ 119 million (equivalent) for the “Odisha Higher Education Programme for Excellence & Equity (OHEPEE) Project” was recently signed between India and the World Bank to improve the quality of ‘students’ equitable access to selected institutions and enhance governance of the higher education system in Odisha.

Nabakalebar festival : The Nabakalebara is an ancient ritual associated with most of the Jagannath Temples when the Idols of Lord Jagannath, Balabhadra, Subhadra and Sudarshan are replaced by a new set of Idols. The Deities are made from a special type of Neem wood known as Daru Bramha.

Odisha will become the India's first state to set up blood bank for cattle. The first of its kind blood bank would be established on the premises of Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology (OUAT) at an estimated cost of Rs. 3.25 crore. The project will have a 60:40 sharing between the Centre and the state government.

2018 Happy Cities Summit at Amaravati :

Hosted by Andhra Pradesh govt. the event partners are Dalberg, Confederation of Indian Industries, and Centre for Liveable Cities (Singapore).
Objective of the summit is to evolve a framework for thinking about and measuring ‘city happiness’ as well as a declaration and set of principles for guiding policy and action in the development of ‘happy cities’, especially relevant for cities in the developing world.

2 new languages - Walmiki and Malhar : are categorised `endangered’ , spoken in the forest and hilly areas in Andhra Pradesh and Odisha.

Walmiki is spoken in Koraput of Odisha and on the bordering districts of Andhra Pradesh as it does not belong to a family of languages. Malhar is spoken in a remote and isolated hamlet which is almost 165 km from Bhubaneswar. It belongs to the North Dravidian subgroup of the Dravidian family of languages. It has close affinities with the other North Dravidian languages like Malto and Kurux spoken in West Bengal, Jharkhand and Bihar.

JOHAR scheme : worth Rs 1,500 cr. launched by Ramnath Kovind on the occasion of State Establishment-Day in Ranchi, Jharkhand on November 15, 2017. The World Bank aided JOHAR (Jharkhand’s Opportunities For Harnessing Rural Growth) scheme is aimed at doubling the income of two lakh rural poor. On this day, in 2000, Bihar was bifurcated to give birth to Jharkhand.

SOUTH

Karnataka will be the second state in the country to have its own flag after Jammu and Kashmir, which is allowed the same under Article 370 of the Constitution. It has to be always below the national flag. The national flag code specifically authorises use of other flags subject to the regulation by the court. So, State flag is not unauthorised.
Karnataka government had promulgated Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Karnataka Amendment) Ordinance, 2017 on July 20 last year. The Bill seeks to exempt kambala and bullock-cart racing from the ambit of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (PCA) Act, 1960.

Karnataka bans sale of loose cigarettes as per Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act (COTPA) 2003.

Karnataka government inaugurated the world’s largest solar park, Shakti Sthala, located in Tumkur district, ties in with centre’s scheme to generate 100 gigawatts (GW) of solar power by 2020 & has a capacity of 2,000 MW. It is part of the “Karnataka Solar Policy 2014-2021” which aims to decrease dependence on traditional power sources and move to environmentally friendly ones to meet the growing power needs of the state.

India’s first insect museum with the state-of-the-art amenities was recently unveiled in Tamil Nadu.

Mysorean rockets were used by Hyder Ali and Tipu in Anglo Mysore wars. The technology of these rockets was used to advance European rocketry with the development of the Congreve rocket in 1805.

Deccani is Urdu language being spoken in Hyderabad Region.

Jangalmahal Utsab was recently inaugurated at the Jhargam district in West Bengal. The festival is organised in the state to promote tribal art and culture. Different folk songs and dances such as Tusu, Bhadu, Ahira and Jhumur are performed by the locals of the Jangalmahal area during the festival.

Samakka Saralamma Jatara or Medaram’s Sammakka-Sarakka/Saralamma Jatara is biggest tribal festival in South Asia held biannually for 4 days by Koya tribe at Medaram(Telangana) as a remote place in Eturnagaram Wildlife Sanctuary, a part of Dandakaranya, the largest surviving forest belt in the Deccan.

Kuthiyottam ritual is usually performed every year during the Pongala festival at the Attukal Bhagavathy Temple in Thiruvananthapuram Kerala. Attukal Pongala festival is the largest congregation of women for a festival in world and can only be performed by women.

Flamingo festival held every year to promote tourism in Pulicat lake and Nellapattu Bird Sanctuary.

Pulicat lake: second largest brackish water lake or lagoon in India, after Chilika Lake.

share the border of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu states with over 96% of it in Andhra Pradesh.

encompasses the Pulicat Lake Bird Sanctuary.

The barrier island of Sriharikota separates the lake from Bay of Bengal and is home to Satish Dhawan Space Centre.

Two rivers which feed the lagoon are the Arani river at the southern tip and the Kalangi River from the northwest,

The Buckingham Canal, a navigation channel, is part of the lagoon on its western side.

Special Status To Andhra Pradesh

Special Category State (SCS) status from Centre is demanded since it was decided to carve out Telangana along with capital city Hyderabad. Following the bifurcation of A.P, Andhra lost a large volume of its revenue due to Hyderabad remaining capital of Telangana.

NORTH EAST

A regional centre for agriculture has been set up with Israeli collaboration in Mizoram — the first of its kind in the NE region. The centre has been set up to exclusively process citrus fruits. There are 22 such centres operational in India, including in Haryana, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Punjab. The first such centre was established in 2008 in Haryana.

Scientists from the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) have discovered a new species of water strider from Nagaland. The species is named Ptilomera nagalanda Jehamalar and Chandra.

NITI Forum for Northeast :

set up to identify constraints and recommend suitable interventions for speedy and sustainable growth in northeast region. It will also review the development status in the NER. The forum will be co-chaired by Vice-Chairman of NITI Aayog and Minister of State (I/C), Ministry of Development of Northeastern Region (DoNER).
Members of the Forum will include Secretaries of Ministries of Road Transport & Highways, Railways, Power, Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation, New & Renewable Energy, Health & Family Welfare, Human Resource Development, Environment, Forest & Climate Change.
Chief Secretaries of Northeastern states of Assam, Sikkim, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Manipur, Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram will also be members of the Forum. Secretary, North East Council (NEC), Shillong will be Member Secretary. Joint Secretary (NE), MHA, besides a number of experts from various fields will also be members of the Forum.

North-East Industrial Development Scheme (NEIDS) 2017

Central Capital Investment Incentive for Access to Credit (CCIIAC): 30% of the investment in Plant & Machinery with an upper limit of Rs.5 Crore on the incentive amount per unit.
Central Interest Incentive (Cll): 3% on working capital credit advanced by eligible Banks/Financial institutions for first 5 years from the date of commencement of commercial production by the unit.
Central Comprehensive Insurance Incentive (CCII) : Reimbursement of 100% insurance premium on insurance of building and Plant & Machinery for 5 years from the date of commencement of commercial production by the unit.
Goods and Service Tax (GST) Reimbursement: Reimbursement up to the extent of Central Govt. share of CGST and IGST for 5 Years from the date of commencement of commercial production by the unit.
Income-Tax (IT) Reimbursement: Reimbursement of Centre’s share of income tax for first 5 years including the year of commencement of commercial production by the unit.

Additionally, transport and employment incentives are also provided under the scheme.

‘Rice Knowledge Bank - Assam’, an agriculture web portal dedicated to enhancing knowledge on rice production techniques and technologies, best production practices and state agriculture facts, was launched as part of the World Bank funded project- Assam Agri-business and Rural Transformation (APART).

September 22 as Rhino Day: will be observed by Assam government for Rhinoceros of National Parks in Assam.

Jainsem is the traditional costume for women and is usually made of mulberry silk, a local specialty. Over the jainsem, they wear cotton shawls called tap-moh khlieh. The dress belongs to - Meghalaya

Comprehensive Telecom Development Plan for the North-Eastern Region

will provide 2G mobile coverage in identified uncovered areas of the NER, it will provide 2G seamless mobile coverage along National Highways in the NER and ensure reliability of the transmission network at State capitals and district headquarters in the NER. It will be funded by USOF Universal Service Obligation Fund.

CEA Co-operative Election Authority

Constitution (97th Amendment) Act 2011 relating to co-operatives is aimed to encourage economic activities of cooperatives which in turn help progress of rural India. It is expected to not only ensure autonomous and democratic functioning of cooperatives, but also the accountability of the management to the members and other stakeholders.

As per the amendment the changes done to constitution are:

In Part III of the constitution, after words “or unions” the words “Cooperative Societies” was added.
In Part IV a new Article 43B was inserted, which says: The state shall endeavour to promote voluntary formation, autonomous functioning, democratic control and professional management of the co-operative societies”.
After Part IXA of the constitution, a Part IXB was inserted to accommodate state vs centre roles.

Auroville (City of Dawn) is an experimental township in Villupuram district in Tamil Nadu with some parts in UT of Puducherry. Auroville is recognized as International living experiment in human unity, endorsed by the UNESCO and supported by the Government of India and was meant to be a universal town where men and women of all countries are able to live in peace and progressive harmony, above all creeds, all politics and all nationalities. The purpose of Auroville is to realize human unity. Auroville Foundation is a Statutory autonomous Body under Ministry of HRD.

Sri Aurobindo Ghosh, a nominee for Nobel Prize in Literature — main literary works are The Life Divine, which deals with theoretical aspects of Integral Yoga; Synthesis of Yoga, deals with practical guidance to Integral Yoga; and Savitri: A Legend and a Symbol, an epic poem.

He introduced his visions on human progress and spiritual evolution with founding the Auroville Ashram in Pondicherry.

Samta Diwas:

Brahmaputra Board is an autonomous statutory body which is responsible for preparation and implementation of plans related to flood management, erosion control, drainage management and water resource development in the Brahmaputra valley.

The board was set up under the Ministry of Irrigation (later renamed as Ministry of Water Resources) as per the Brahmaputra Board Act 1980. The Board started functioning from January 11, 1982 and it’s headquarters are located at Guwahati, Assam.

Received fund through grant-in-aid by the Central Government.

the jurisdiction of the Board includes both the Brahmaputra and Barak Valley and covers all the States of the N-E Region, Sikkim and part of WB falling under Brahmaputra river basin.

North Koel Reservoir Project :

Situated on North Koel river ( rises on Ranchi plateau )which is a tributary of Sone River finally joining river Ganga.
Located in the most backward tribal areas in Palamau and Garhwa districts of Jharkhand State.
It’s tributaries are the Auranga and the Amanat.
Started in the year 1972 and continued till 1993 when it was stopped by the Forest Department, Govt. of Bihar. Since then, the work on dam is at a standstill.
Funding for the project from LTIF of NABARD

Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation has inked Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Bihar and Jharkhand for completion of balance works of North Koel reservoir project.

Narmada and Sone have the Amarkantak region as their source :

Narmada, the largest west flowing river of the Peninsula, rises near Amarkantak range of mountains in Madhya Pradesh.
It is the fifth largest river in the country and the largest one in Gujarat.
It traverses Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra(touches) and Gujarat and meets the Gulf of Cambay.
It is one of only three major rivers in peninsular India that run from east to west (longest west flowing river), along with the Tapti River and the Mahi River.
It is one of the rivers in India that flows in a rift valley, flowing west between the Satpura and Vindhya ranges.
It passes through Jabalpur , Bhedaghat (have Marble rocks, Dhuandhar Falls, Chausath Yogini Temple), Omkareshwar, Maheshwar, Bharuch finally Gulf of Cambay )

Sone River of central India is the Second largest of the Ganges’ southern tributaries after Yamuna River. It originates near Amarkantak in Madhya Pradesh, just east of the headwater of the Narmada River, and flows north-northwest through Madhya Pradesh state before turning sharply eastward where it encounters the southwest-northeast-Kaimur Range. The Sone parallels the Kaimur hills, flowing east-northeast through Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and Bihar states to join the Ganges just west of Patna.

Mahadayi(Mandovi) row :

Karnataka seeks to divert water from tributaries of the river through the Kalasa-Bhanduri Nala project towards the parched Malaprabha river basin (a tributary of River Krishna), which is being strongly opposed by Goa.
The Mandovi and the Zuari are the two primary rivers in Goa.
The Mandovi originates from a cluster of 30 springs at Bhimgad in the Western Ghats in Belagavi district of Karnataka.
Mandovi joins with the Zuari at a common point at Cabo Aguada, forming the Mormugao harbour.
Panaji (the state capital) and Old Goa, (the former capital of Goa) are both situated on the left bank of the Mandovi.
The river Mapusa is a tributary of the Mandovi.

Tribunal to settle Mahanadi water dispute b/w Odisha & Chhatishgarh

Main tributaries of River Mahanadi include

Seonath, Hasdeo, Mand and Ib (which join from left)
Ong, Tel and Jonk (which join from right)

tribunal to be formed with a chairperson and two other members (all three would be nominated by CJI among judges of SC or HC) according to provisions of Inter-State River Water Disputes (ISRWD), 1956 on issue between Odisha and Chhattisgarh on sharing the waters of river Mahanadi.
As per provisions of ISRWD Act, 1956 the Tribunal is required to submit its report and decision within a period of 3 years which can be extended to a further period not exceeding 2 years due to unavoidable reasons.

Control Pollution of River Sal at Navelin, Goa

The project was sanctioned by Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change (MoEFCC) under National River Conservation Plan(NRCP).
cost of Rs. 61.74 cr. Both the Centre and State will share the cost on 60:40 basis.
help in reduction of pollution load in the river and improvement in its water quality, besides improving the environment and sanitation in the town
Sal River is based in South Goa, is third largest river in Goa and Being the only river that flows in a north-south direction prior to flowing in to the Arabian Sea at Betul, the Sal River is a geologically odd one because it runs parallel to the west of geological coast.

International Association of Marine Aids to Navigation and Lighthouse Authorities (IALA)

National e-Governance Awards :

recognise and promote excellence in implementation of e-Governance initiatives taken by various government departments and also initiatives of PSUs and Non- Government Institutions.
Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG) along with MEITY in association with Telangana Govt. have organized the 21st National Conference on e-Governance in Hyderabad, Telangana.
e-Governance is use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) at all the level of the Government in order to provide services to the citizens, interaction with business enterprises and communication and exchange of information between different agencies of the Government in a speedy, convenient efficient and transparent manner.

Meta-ideology is the study of the structure, form, and manifestation of ideologies. Meta-ideology posits that ideology is a coherent system of ideas, relying upon a few basic assumptions about reality that may or may not have any factual basis, but are subjective choices that serve as the seed around which further thought grows. According to this perspective, ideologies are neither right nor wrong, but only a relativistic intellectual strategy for categorising the world. The pluses and minuses of ideology range from the vigor and fervor of true believers to ideological infallibility. Excessive need for certitude lurks at fundamentalist levels in politics, religions, and elsewhere."

Liberalism is meta-ideology capable of embracing rival ideas and values.

Liberalisation - Process of Decreasing traits of state economy(Socialist) and increasing traits of market economy(capitalist).

retting (a process of washing raw jute to get better fibre).

Central Grounder Water Authority

The CGWA constituted by Government of India under Section 3(3) of the Environment (Protection) Act of 1986 has been regulating groundwater development and management in the country. The authority has been granting NOC for withdrawal of ground water by industries/infrastructure/mining projects.

Housing Price Index

In India, National Housing Bank completely owned by RBI Reserve Bank of India computes an index termed NHB RESIDEX. The index was formulated based on a pilot study covering 5 cities, Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore and Bhopal representing the five regions of the country. Actual transactions prices are used to compute an Index reflecting the market trends.

NHB RESIDEX, India’s first official housing price index, was an initiative of NHB undertaken at the behest of the Ministry of Finance, GOI.
NHB is not computing the composite all India housing price index as of now. Currently, NHB is publishing NHB RESIDEX for 50 cities on quarterly basis with FY 2012-13 as base year. Among 50 cities covered are 18 State/UT capitals and 37 Smart Cities.
The base year has been revised to FY 2012-13 to ensure capturing the latest information and accurately reflect the current economic situation in the country.

SUNREF(Sustainable Use of Natural Resources and Energy Finance) Housing India programme by NHB :

It aims to reduce the negative impact on environment & seeks to encourage the development of green residential buildings that demonstrate more efficiency in energy, water and building material use.
NHB has joined hands with the French Development Agency (FDA) and the European Union to launch the SUNREF Housing India programme as part of efforts aimed at scaling up green housing projects in India.
SUNREF Housing India will provide financing of €112 million to NHB, through a credit line of €100 million with AFD and a grant of €12 million financed by EU European Union.
The credit facility and grant agreements were signed with the NHB in July 2017. The €100-million credit line will be available for a 3-year time-period that began from July 2017. NHB hopes to do the disbursal between mid-2018 and 2020.

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) began compiling a house price index (HPI) in 2007 with a quarterly HPI for Mumbai city (Base 2002-03 =100). Since then, it has extended its coverage to 9 more cities, revised its base to 2010-11=100, and started publishing a composite All India HPI. RBI’s quarterly HPI is based on transactions data received from housing registration authorities in ten major cities.

Gini coefficient is intended to represent the income distribution of a nation's residents, and is the most commonly used measure of inequality. A nation with a Gini score of 0 has perfect income equality, and score of 100 has perfect inequality (i.e. all the wealth is owned by a single person). If Gini coefficient of a Nation is high, there is no guarantee that the Nation will be wealthy or poor.

Rashtriya Sanskriti Mahotsav-2018 is organised by Ministry of Culture under the Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat matrix which was launched to promote engagement amongst the people of different states/UTs so as to enhance mutual understanding and bonding between people of diverse cultures, thereby securing stronger unity and integrity of India.

11.INDIA’s International Relations

MDAs Marketing Development Assistance :

To stimulate and diversify the country's export trade, Marketing Development Assistance (MDA) Scheme is under operation through the Department of Commerce to support the under mentioned activities:

Assist exporters for export promotion activities abroad
Assist Export Promotion Councils(EPCs) to undertake export promotion activities for their product(s) and commodities;
Assist approved organization/trade bodies in undertaking exclusive nonrecurring innovative activities connected with export promotion efforts for their members;
Assist Focus export promotion programmes in specific regions abroad like FOCUS (Latin American Countries), Focus (Africa), Focus (CIS Commonwealth of Independent States ) & Focus (ASEAN 2) programmes;
Residual essential activities connected with marketing promotion efforts abroad.

Citizenship Amendment Act 2016 :

Amends the Citizenship Act, 1955 to make illegal migrants who are Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan , eligible for citizenship.

Under the Act, one of the requirements for citizenship by naturalisation is that the applicant must have resided in India during the last 12 months, and for 11 of the previous 14 years.

The Bill relaxes this 11 year requirement to 6 years for persons belonging to the same six religions and three countries.

The Bill provides that the registration of Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) cardholders may be cancelled if they violate any law.

India Bhutan Friendship Treaty 2007 :

Earlier Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation between India and Bhutan was signed on August 8, 1949.
Treaty of 2007 meant to respect the sensitivities of Bhutan regarding its sovereignty.
The new treaty of 2007 replaced the provision requiring Bhutan to take India’s guidance on foreign policy with broader sovereignty and NOT require Bhutan to obtain India’s permission over arms imports.
Neither Government will allow the use of its territory for activities harmful to the national security and interest of the other
Both governments allow free trade and commerce between the territories of Bhutan and India.
Bhutanese subjects residing in Indian territories shall have equal justice with Indian subjects.

Government of Bhutan shall be free to import, from or through India into Bhutan, whatever arms, ammunition etc as may be required for Bhutan, and that this arrangement shall hold good for all time as long as the GOI is satisfied that the intentions of the Government of Bhutan are friendly and that there is no danger to India from such importations. However, there shall be NO export of such arms, ammunition and materials outside Bhutan either by the Government of Bhutan or by private individuals.

The standoff between Indian and Chinese troops in Doklam (located at the tri-junction of India, China and Bhutan) had highlighted India’s very special relationship with Bhutan, including military responsibilities.
India allows 16 entry and exit points for Bhutanese trade with other countries with exception only being the PRC (CHINA), and has agreed to import a minimum of 5,000 megawatts of electricity from Bhutan by 2020.
India exports many items to bhutan as Indian vehicles dominate the automobile market and have captured more than 80% of the market in Bhutan.
Besides electricity, calcium carbide, gypsum, ferro-silicon, particle board and Portland cement are the main imports to India from Bhutan.
Project DANTAK of BRO Border Roads Organization under GOI funding in May, 1961 has constructed 1500 km of roads through very difficult mountainous terrain in Bhutan with major highways , Indo-Bhutan microwave link, Bhutan Broadcasting Station, India House Complex, several important buildings (including SAARC Convention Centre), infrastructure works for the Tala Hydro-electric project.

India-Canada ‘IMPACTS’ Innovation Multi-disciplinary Partnerships to Accelerate Community Transformation and Sustainability :

DBT-DST with Canada focusing on Clean Water technology
Technologies that are being developed under it are:

Bio-sensors for detection of toxins
Heavy metal detection and removal
Bio-recovery from waste water

IUSSTF Indo-U.S. Science and Technology Forum :

established in 2000 under an agreement between USA and India celebrate 18th Foundation on 21st March 2018.
it has four broad programms

Scientific Networks,
Innovation and Entrepreneurship,
Research and Development and
Visitation Programs.

It is bilateral collaboration in science, technology, engineering and biomedical research through substantive interaction amongst government, academia and industry.

As an autonomous, not-for-profit society, IUSSTF has the ability, agility and flexibility to engage and involve industry, private R&D labs; and non governmental entities in its evolving activity manifold.
This operational uniqueness allows the IUSSTF to receive grants and contributions from independent sources both in India and USA, besides the assured core funding from the two governments.

ITEC Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation Programme : includes the capacity building courses offered by India under the Special Commonwealth Assistance for Africa Programme (SCAAP) and the Technical Cooperation Scheme of the Colombo Plan (TCS-CP).

About ACU:

Asian Clearing Union (ACU) is a payment arrangement whereby the participants settle payments for intra-regional transactions among the participating central banks on a net multilateral basis. The main objectives of the clearing union are to facilitate payments among member countries for eligible transactions, thereby economizing on the use of foreign exchange reserves and transfer costs, as well as promoting trade and banking relations among the participating countries.

Headquarters: Tehran, Iran (Est. December, 1974)

Member States: Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Iran, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka

Eligible transactions

The monetary transactions eligible to be settled through the Asian Clearing Union includes the following:

Payments from the resident in the territory of one participant to a resident in the territory of another participant
Payment for current international transactions as defined by the Articles of Agreement of the International Monetary Fund.
Payment permitted by the country in which the payer resides.
Payment which are in compliance with FEMA 1999, rules, regulations, orders or directions issued there-under and the specific provisions of the Memorandum ACM.
Payment for exports and / or import transactions between ACU member countries on deferred payment terms.

Permanent Indus Commission : a bilateral commission of officials from India-Pakistan, created to implement and manage goals of Indus Waters Treaty. Under the treaty, it is required that India and Pakistan meet every financial year. The Indus Commission is the first step for conflict resolution. If an agreement cannot be reached at the Commission level, the dispute is to be referred to the two governments. If the governments too fail to reach an agreement, the Treaty provides an arbitration mechanism. The last meeting of the commission was held in July 2016.

This will be the 114th meeting of the Permanent Indus Commission (PIC), which should meet at least once a year as per the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT).
The meeting of the PIC is held alternately in India and Pakistan every year.
The PIC had last met in March 2017 in Islamabad.

Indus Waters Treaty is a water-distribution treaty between India and Pakistan, brokered by the World Bank. The treaty was signed in Karachi on September 19, 1960 by Prime Minister of India Jawaharlal Nehru and President of Pakistan Ayub Khan.

According to this treaty, waters of the three western rivers (the Jhelum, the Chenab, and the Indus itself) were allocated to Pakistan, and those of the three eastern rivers (the Ravi, the Beas, and the Sutlej) were allocated to India.
The Treaty also provides arbitration mechanism to solve disputes amicably. Though Indus originates from Tibet, China has been kept out of the Treaty.

3R Regional Forum: launched in 2009 in Tokyo, Japan.

Japan hosted the inaugural Regional 3R Forum in Tokyo in 2009, and has cosponsored subsequent Forums together with the governments of host countries & United Nations Centre for Regional Development (UNCRD)
It promotes the concept of Reduce, Reuse, Recycle in industry, service and agriculture sector. The overall objective is to establish sound material cycle society by adopting resource conservation, techniques and technologies.
It provides a strategic platform for addressing the needs and priorities of 3Rs (reduce, reuse and recycle) in Asian countries and sharing best practices from the region, including emerging concerns in waste management.
In the last seven years, the Forum has been organised in Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, Indonesia, Maldives, Japan and Australia and has been instrumental in providing innovative, effective and smart 3R based solutions.

THIS YEAR IN INDIA AS 8th edition of 3R Regional Forum in Asia and the Pacific to be host at INDORE.

co-organised by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) GOI , the Ministry of the Environment, Government of Japan (MOEJ), and United Nations Centre for Regional Development (UNCRD).
Theme: “Achieving Clean Water, Clean Land and Clean Air through 3R and Resource Efficiency - A 21st Century Vision for Asia-Pacific Communities”.

UNCRD United Nations Centre for Regional Development :

was founded in 1971 as an instrument to help achieve the strategy for the Second United Nations Development Decade.
Created by an agreement between the UN and the Government of Japan, its operations are supported by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN/DESA).
UNCRD’s vision is to achieve sustainable living environment for all. Its mission is to assist developing countries in their efforts to achieve sustainable development.
UNCRD’s interventions in developing countries are clustered under three main thematic interrelated and complementary areas of work – (a) Integrated Regional Development Planning; (b) Sustainable Urban Management; and (c) Knowledge Management.

Ha Noi 3R Declaration: The Fourth Regional 3R Forum – held in Ha Noi, Viet Nam, in March 2013 – adopted the Ha Noi 3R Declaration ‐ Sustainable 3R Goals for Asia and the Pacific for 2013‐2023. It is a legally non-binding and voluntary document which aims to provide a basic framework for Asia-Pacific countries to develop measures and programs to promote 3Rs including a set of 3R indicators for monitoring specific progress.

Department of Posts has launched Cool EMS Service between India and Japan Which is one-way service from Japan to India which allows customers in India to import Japanese food items for personal use which is allowed under Indian regulations. Initially, Cool EMS Service will be available in Delhi only.

KOREA PLUS :

It was operationalised in 2016 as a strategic initiative between the GOI and South Korea “to promote, facilitate and retain Korean investments in India”.
The mandate of Korea Plus covers the entire investment spectrum including:

Supporting Korean enterprises entering the Indian market for the first time
Looking into issues faced by Korean companies doing business in India and Policy advocacy to GOI on their behalf.
Korea Plus will act as a mediator in arranging meetings, assisting in public relations and research, evaluation and provide information and counselling in regard to Korean companies’ investing in India.

Korea Plus comprises of a representative each from the Korean ministry of industry, trade and energy, Korea Trade Investment and Promotion Agency as well as three representatives from Invest India — the national investment promotion and facilitation agency of India.

Mutual Recognition of Certificates of Competency of Seafarers : A Mou b/w India and South Korea will pave way for recognition of maritime education and training, certificates of competency, endorsements, training documentary evidence and medical fitness certificates for seafarers issued by the Government of the other country in accordance with the provisions of Regulation 1/10 of the Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping (STCW) Convention, and cooperation between the two countries in training and management of seafarers

International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers (or STCW), 1978

adopted in 1978 by conference at the International Maritime Organization (IMO) in London, and entered into force in 1984. The Convention was significantly amended in 1995.
sets qualification standards for masters, officers and watch personnel on seagoing merchant ships.
Was the first to establish basic requirements on training, certification and watchkeeping for seafarers on an international level.
It applies to ships of non-party States when visiting ports of States which are Parties to the Convention.

TCIL Telecommunications Consultants India Ltd

a leading IS/ISO 9001:2008 and ISO 14001:2004 certified Govt. of India Undertaking incorporated in 1978 under the Administrative control of Department of Telecommunications, Ministry of Communications, GOI.
It is a Miniratna company set up to give consultations in fields of Telecommunications to developing countries around the world.
TCIL has diversified its operation and has been executing turnkey projects of Power Transmission, Rural Roads and Civil Construction
TCIL is providing techno-commercial and logistic support for three Google projects (Google FIBER) for USA.

Google FIBER : part of the Access division of Alphabet Inc. provides Fiber-to-the-premises service in USA, providing broadband Internet and IPTV to a small and slowly increasing number of locations.

Google Fiber offers five options, depending on location: a free Internet option, a 100 Mbit/s option, a 1 Gbit/s Internet option, and an option including television service (in addition to the 1 Gbit/s Internet) and an option for home phone. The service was first introduced to the Kansas City metropolitan area.

Wiesbaden Conference 2018 held in India :

Participants are Representatives from the 39 countries, as well as experts from the UNSC 1540 Committee and UN Office for Disarmament Affairs in New York.
The conference provides an opportunity to participants to share experiences on their export control systems and to identify legal and technical assistance, action plans and challenges in the national implementation of UNSC 1540 (Explained in International pinned Note)
The title of the Conference is ‘Securing Global Supply Chains through Government-Industry Partnerships towards Effective Implementation of UNSC Resolution 1540’.
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in cooperation with Germany and the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) hosted the conference.
FICCI was the industry partner for the event.

TO —> The Theatre Olympics :

established in 1993 in Delphi, Greece, on the initiative of the famous Greek theatre director, Theodoros Terzopoulos
An international theatre festival presenting some of the achievements of the greatest theatre practitioners from around the world
It is a platform for theatrical exchange, a gathering place for students and masters, where a dialogue despite ideological, culture and language differences is encouraged.
International Committee of TO meets once a year, attracts new members, on the condition of gaining at least two-thirds of the votes and being recommended by one of the existing members.
The TO each time is held in a different country. So far there have been 5 festivals and, except from one, took place in the countries of the members of the International Committee of TO.
The 2018 Olympics are being held in India in 17 different cities, with opening ceremony in New Delhi and closing ceremony in Mumbai.

e-FRRO scheme or e-Foreigners Regional Registration office :

It is aimed at building a centralized, transparent online platform for the foreigners to avail visa related services and to provide Faceless, Cashless and Paperless services to the foreigners with user friendly experience.
It includes facilitation of legitimate foreigners through “Digital India” vision of the Government, foreigners need not visit FRRO/FRO office – “Services from the comfort of home”, convenient and Time saving, exclusive dashboard for User friendly experience and Uniform & Standardized Services across the Country.

Railway link between India and Nepal: India will build a strategic railway link between Raxaul in Bihar and Kathmandu in Nepal to facilitate people-to-people contact and bulk movement of goods.

International Kala Mela : organised by Lalit Kala Akademi (Autonomous body) in partnership with IGNCA of Ministry of Culture to focus on direct interaction between the artist and the connoisseur and also educating and raising awareness about art, which has been the mandate of Lalit Kala Akademi.

International Conference on, ‘Demetrios Galanos and His Legacy’ :

held in Delhi and Varanasi, under Bharat Vidya Prayojana, a long term academic program of the IGNCA in addition to organizing the exhibition and folk music of Greece.
It aims to focus on academic and cultural exchanges between India and Greece made by scholars and artists both Indian and Greek, in modern times since Demetrios Galanos.

Demetrios Galanos (1760–1833)

The European Indologists stayed in India for 47 years in which for first 7 years when he lived in Calcutta, for 40 years he lived in the city of Varanasi, mastering Sanskrit, Hindi and Persian, from local scholars.
He translated the Bhagvad Gita into Greek among many other Sanskrit texts.
His major contribution was the compilation of a Sanskrit-English-Greek lexicon of about 9000 words.

President has announced 5 NH in VARANASI.

4th International Dharma-Dhamma Conference on “State and Social Order in Dharma-Dhamma Traditions” was recently inaugurated at Rajgir in Nalanda district. The event is being organised as part of the commemorative events to celebrate the Silver Jubilee year of ASEAN-India Dialogue Partnership. it was organised by Nalanda University, in collaboration with the Centre for Study of Religion and Society, India Foundation, Ministry of External Affairs and the Vietnam Buddhist University

India by the Nile (IBN) festival

It’s 6th edition held in Cairo, Egypt.
The annual festival showcases a range of Indian cultural output, including contemporary and classical music, dance, puppet theatre, visual arts, food and yoga.
It is the biggest foreign festival in Egypt and encourages artistic collaborations between the two countries.
This year, the festival will also bring two new events, a fashion show and screening of the Indian movies.
The festival is organised by the Embassy of India in Egypt and the Maulana Azad Centre for Indian Culture in collaboration with entertainment company Teamwork Arts.

Franco-Indian Knowledge Summit is the First Franco-Indian Summit for university, scientific and technology cooperation with the broader objective to design a roadmap of Franco-India cooperation for the next five years, in collaboration with companies. It was organized by French Embassy in India and co-hosted by MHRD.

Franco-Indian Education Trust :

unveiled at the closing session of Indo-French Knowledge Summit WHICH will be funded by Indian industry and French Companies in India to offer educational scholarships and merit based financial support to Indian students.

Reciprocal logistics support deal

signed between the respective armed forces of India and France to facilitate the French and Indian armed forces to receive logistical support, supplies and services from each other during authorised port visits, joint exercises, joint training, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief efforts.

—> India has won the “Best Exhibitor Award ” at ITB – Berlin.

PRAGATI : monitoring of govt. schemes progress (including last 40 yrs)

Mountain Ranges in India :

five products which have received the GI tag this year include Pochampally Ikat of Telangana; Gobindobhog rice of West Bengal; Durgi stone carvings and Etikoppaka toys of Andhra Pradesh; and Chakshesang shawl of Nagaland, according to the Indian patent office website.

Phosphorus pentoxide:

GOI has imposed anti-dumping duty on import of Phosphorus pentoxide from China to protect the domestic manufacturers from cheap shipments.

Phosphorus Pentoxide is used as a powerful desiccant and dehydrating agent and is a useful building block and reagent in the chemical industry. Phosphorus pentoxide is not flammable.
It reacts vigorously with water and water-containing substances like wood or cotton, liberates much heat and may even cause fire.
It is corrosive to metal.

Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has launched the ‘Protocol for Star Rating of Garbage-Free Cities’ in Goa under star-rating initiative, developed by the Swachh Bharat Mission – Urban will be rating cities on a 7-star rating system based on multiple cleanliness indicators for solid waste management.

LOTUS HR (LOcal Treatment of Urban Sewage Streams for Healthy Reuse) : an Indo-Netherlands joint project funded by Department of Biotechnology (DBT), GOI and NWO/STW, The Govt of Netherlands aims to demonstrate a novel holistic waste-water management approach, that will produce clean water that can be reused for various proposes ( industry, agriculture, construction etc.).

Saksham (Sanrakshan Kshamta Mahotsav) is an annual flagship event of Petroleum Conservation Research Association (PCRA) under the aegis of Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas, with active involvement of the Oil & Gas PSUs along with other stakeholders like State Governments, for creating focused attention on fuel conservation through people centric activities and to sensitize the masses about the conservation and efficient use of petroleum products leading to better health and environment.

TAPI Gas pipeline Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India Natural Gas Pipeline (TAPI) Project :

a natural gas pipeline being developed by ADB will have a capacity to carry 90 million standard cubic metres a day (mscmd) gas for a 30-year period and be operational in 2018.
India and Pakistan would get 38 mscmd each, while 14 mscmd will be supplied to Afghanistan
In Pakistan, it will reach Multan via Quetta before ending at Fazilka (Punjab) in India.
Holding 4% of the gas reserves of the world, presently, Turkmenistan exports gas to only very few countries

For its security, an inter-government joint security task force (JSTF) has been recommended to serve as nucleus of safety provided by security consultants.

Crude Oil Exporters to INDIA by rank

Iraq
Saudi Arabia
Iran
Venezuela
Nigeria

With reference to GST, Revenue Neutral Rate (RNR) : A single rate of tax that would preserve revenue at pre-GST levels. The term revenue neutral rate (RNR) refers to that single rate, which preserves revenue at desired (current) levels. This was one of the major outcomes of the pre-GST negotiation between States and Centre, where the former were experiencing loss of revenue post-GST.

The RNR should be distinguished from the “standard” rate defined as that rate in a GST regime which is applied to all goods and services whose taxation is not explicitly specified. Typically, the majority of the base (i.e., majority of goods and services) will be taxed at the standard rate, although this is not always true.

Anti-Profiteering Rules and five-members anti-profiteering authority approved by GST Council to decide on levying the penalty if businesses do not pass on the benefit of price reduction to consumers under GST Council which announced the anti-profiteering rules on 18th June 2016. In cases where consumers cannot be identified, the amount would be credited to the consumer welfare fund. Section 171 of the Central GST Act provides that reduction in tax rate has to be passed on to the customers by way of commensurate reduction in prices.

The crux of the anti-profiteering rules is-

If there is reduction in rate of tax on the supply of goods or services or
Benefit of input tax credit is now available under GST Then a registered person must pass on the benefit by reduction in prices

Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI) is a statutory professional body in India with the objective of promoting, regulating and developing the profession of Company Secretaries in India. It is headquartered in New Delhi

WAPCOS as a techno-commercial organisation under the aegis of Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation has grown into a true Indian multinational with footprints across the globe in line with Government of India’s flagship programmes on “Skill India” and “Make in India”.

Minister of Communication Shri Manoj Sinha today announced DoT’s first ever Mobile, Internet and Technology event in India - India Mobile Congress 2017, which is beginning from 29th September 2017 at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi.

—> 2018 India Mobile Congress will be held at Aerocity, New Delhi and hosted by Department of telecommunications and the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) with theme “NEW DIGITAL HORIZONS: Connect. Create. Innovate”

Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has signed an MoU with Transport for London aimed at using the expertise of TFL to revamp the public transport architecture in the country. TFL is the agency that manages the transport system for Greater London.

Sukhad Yatra App:

Prepared by National Highways Authority of India, NHAI, to empower the Highway user.
Includes provision for the user to enter road quality-related information or to report any accident or pothole on the highway.
Also provides users with real-time data related to waiting time expected at Plazas and various facilities like points of interest, highway nest/nest mini, etc., available across the highway.
The app can also be used by the users to purchase the FASTag tag and further facilitate the highway user experience.

Toll Operate and Transfer (TOT) model — the right to collect user-fee or toll on selected national highway stretches built through public funding is proposed to be auctioned and assigned to a concessionaire for a period of 30 years against an upfront payment of a lump-sum amount to the government.

The concessionaire is also responsible for the operation and maintenance of the roads during the tenure.
The government can also increase the concession period in later stages, if the concessionaire wants it.
National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) invited bids for various highways, hopes to generate more than Rs 6,000 crore by TOT model.
CCEA had authorised to monetise 75 publicly funded national highways.

NHIPC (National Highways Investment Promotion Cell) created by NHAI( constituted by an act of Parliament, the National Highways Authority of India Act,1988) for attracting domestic and foreign investment from public and private sector for highways projects under ‘Bharatmala Pariyojana’.

Union Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution today launched the Web Portal of Warehousing Development and Regulatory Authority (WDRA) & “Electronic Negotiable Warehouse Receipt (e-NWR) System” in New Delhi, today. Addressing the gathering on the occasion Shri Paswan lauded the initiatives taken by the WDRA in simplifying the Warehouse Registration Rules, digitising the entire process of registration, monitoring and surveillance as well as creation and management of Negotiable Warehouse Receipts (NWRs) in electronic form through two repositories.

Electoral bonds:

It will allow donors to pay political parties using banks as an intermediary. Although called a bond, the banking instrument resembling promissory notes will not carry any interest. The electoral bond, which will be a bearer instrument, will not carry the name of the payee and can be bought for any value, in multiples of Rs 1,000, Rs 10,000, Rs 1 lakh, Rs 10 lakh or Rs 1 crore.

Eligibility: electoral bonds, can be given to a registered political party which has secured at least 1 per cent vote in the last Lok Sabha or state assembly elections. That party will be allotted a verified account by the Election Commission of India. Electoral bond transactions can be made only via this account and it will have to be encashed within 15 days.

Need: The electoral bonds are aimed at rooting out the current system of largely anonymous cash donations made to political parties which lead to the generation of black money in the economy.

Electoral bonds

can be purchased for political funding from SBI for 10 days in January, April, July and October and will be available in multiples of Rs1,000, Rs10,000, Rs1 lakh, Rs10 lakh and Rs1 crore.
The bonds will be issued by a notified bank(SBI) for specified denominations(as above).
One can buy these bonds by making payments digitally or through cheque and can free to gift the bond to a registered political party.
The bonds will likely be bearer bonds and the identity of the donor will not be known to the receiver.
The party can convert these bonds back into money via their bank accounts. The bank account used must be the one notified to the Election Commission and the bonds may have to be redeemed within a prescribed time period.
For the bonds, Donar will neither get tax exemption and nor any interest.
The sole purpose of issuing the bonds to curb the black money provided by corporation for use in political parties.

‘Rajyapal —Vikas Ke Rajdoot: Catalytic Role of Governors as Agents for Change in Society’:

report on best practices submitted recently to the President by the committee of governors.

NBCC National Buildings Construction Corporation Ltd

a blue-chip Government of India Navratna Enterprise under Ministry of Urban Development
It engages in the Real Estate Development & Construction business and also provides Project Management Consultancy.
It is the sole land authorised agency for central undertakings.
The Company has been notified as a Public Works Organization (PWO) explicitly, a construction agency, as per which Government Department(s)/ PSUs and Autonomous Bodies can award the works to NBCC on nomination basis.
NBCC is also designated as the implementing agency for executing projects under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna (PMGSY), Solid Waste Management (SWM) and developmental work in North Eastern Region.

NTPC National Thermal Power Corporation Limited, is an Indian Public Sector Undertaking, engaged in the business of generation of electricity and allied activities. It is a company incorporated under the Companies Act 1956 and a "Government Company" within the meaning of the act. The headquarters of the company is situated at New Delhi. NTPC's core business is generation and sale of electricity to state-owned power distribution companies and State Electricity Boards in India. The company also undertakes consultancy and turnkey project contracts that involve engineering, project management, construction management and operation and management of power plants.

The company has also ventured into oil and gas exploration and coal mining activities. It is the largest power company in India with an electric power generating capacity of 51,410 MW.Although the company has approx. 16% of the total national capacity it contributes to over 25% of total power generation due to its focus on operating its power plants at higher efficiency levels (approx. 80.2% against the national PLF rate of 64.5%).NTPC currently produces 25 billion units of electricity per month.

It was founded by Government of India in 1975, which now holds 64.74% of its equity shares on 30.06.2016 (after divestment of its stake in 2004, 2010, 2013, 2014, 2016, & 2017)
In May 2010, NTPC was conferred Maharatna status by the Union Government of India.It is ranked 300th in the Forbes Global 2000 for 2016. NTPC operates from 55 locations in India, one location in Sri Lanka and 2 locations in Bangladesh.

The equity shares of NTPC are listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange,where it is a constituent of the BSE SENSEX index,and the National Stock Exchange of India,where it is a constituent of the S&P CNX Nifty.

Good News: NTPC will now give the cheapest electricity made by Solar Energy.

India to help build nuclear plant in Bangladesh: MoU among BNG, IND, Russia for cooperation in the construction of Rooppur nuclear power plant in Bangladesh.

Round the year navigation of Sirajganj – Daikhowa stretch of Jamuna river

Agreed by India and Bangladesh for this navigation.
It has potential to facilitate critical connectivity between NW1 & NW2 National Waterway-1 (River Ganga) and National Waterway-2 (River Brahmaputra) and enable movement of larger vessels from Varanasi to Sadiya in Assam via Bangladesh.
Costs will be shared in the ratio of 80:20 between India and Bangladesh respectively.

First large scale CO2-injected project in Asia: : Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) plans to introduce carbon dioxide injection in its Gandhar field to recover an extra 20 million barrels of crude oil under the enhanced oil recovery (EOR) programme which is being undertaken to improve India’s energy security. While the technology is a proven concept in the West specially the US and Canada, ONGC’s project would be the first large scale CO2-injected project in Asia.

Global Diplomacy Index : Map showing India's diplomatic outposts around the globe in 2017: we're the 12th most represented country.

**************************** 12.CONSTRUCTION **************************

——> Setu Bharatam was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 4 March 2016 at a budget of ₹102 billion (US$1.6 billion), with an aim to make all national highways free of railway crossings by 2019. It was launched by Ministry of Road Transport & Highways in 2016 for building bridges for safe and seamless travel on National Highways

DMIC Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor :

a mega infrastructure project with an estimated investment of $100 billion, has attracted interest from companies based out of Canada, the U.S., Singapore and Taiwa.
mega infra-structure project of USD 90 billion with the financial & technical aids from Japan
will run through 6 states Delhi, Western Uttar Pradesh, Southern Haryana, Eastern Rajasthan, Eastern Gujarat, and Western Maharashtra.
aims to develop an environmentally sustainable, long lasting and technological advanced infrastructure utilizing cutting age Japanese technologies and to create world class manufacturing and investment destinations in this region.

Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor Project Implementation Trust Fund (DMIC-PITF Trust) is now re-designated as NICDIT with an expanded mandate of integrated development of Industrial Corridors. National Industrial Corridor Development and Implementation Trust (NICDIT) will channelize government funds as well as institutional funds for development of Industrial corridors.

This would be an Apex body under administrative control of DIPP for coordinated and unified development of all industrial corridors in the country as well as channelize funding.

NICDIT National Industrial Corridor Development and Implementation Trust :

In view of the success and importance of DMIC project, 4 more industrial corridors were assurance namely

Amritsar - Kolkata Industrial Corridor (AKIC)
Bengaluru - Mumbai Economic Corridor (BMEC),
Chennai - Bengaluru Industrial Corridor (CBIC)
East Coast Economic corridor with Vizag - Chennai industrial corridor (VCIC) as the initial phase of development.

It has been expanded and re-designated as National Industrial Corridor Development and Implementation Trust

Nathu La is a mountain pass in the Himalayas. It connects Sikkim with China’s Tibet Autonomous Region. It is also one of the four officially agreed BPM (Border Personnel Meeting) points between the Indian Army and People’s Liberation Army of China for regular consultations and interactions between the two armies, which helps in defusing stand-offs.

The four BPM are:

Chushul AND Daulat Beg Oldi in Ladakh,
Lipulekh Pass in Uttarakhand,
Nathu La in Sikkim,
Bum La Pass in Tawang district AND Kibithu of Arunachal Pradesh.

Sela Pass is a high-altitude mountain pass located on the border between Tawang and West Kameng districts of Arunachal Pradesh.

The Army’s presence in Arunachal Pradesh, specifically the western section leading to Tawang, had been scaled up since the Chinese aggression in 1962. This led to a land acquisition spree in Tawang and West Kameng districts.

It connects the Tibetan Buddhist town of Tawang to Dirang and Guwahati.
The pass carries the main road connecting Tawang with the rest of India.
While Sela Pass does get heavy snowfall in winters, it is usually open throughout the year unless landslides or snow require the pass to be shut down temporarily.
The Finance Minister announced the government’s plan to build a tunnel through the Sela Pass located at an elevation of 13,700 ft which will ensure faster movement of troops in Tawang, a strategically- located town in Arunachal Pradesh bordering China.
Sela Lake, near the summit of the pass, is one of approximately 101 lakes in the area that are sacred in Tibetan Buddhism.

Zojila pass tunnel

to be constructed as Asia’s longest bi-directional at an estimated cost of Rs 6,089 crore and will be implemented by the ministry of road transport and highways (MoRT&H) through the National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL).
The project is 14.2-km long tunnel in J&K to provide all-weather connectivity between Srinagar, Kargil and Leh.
Zojila pass is situated at an altitude of 11,578 feet on Srinagar-Kargil-Leh National Highway which remains closed during winters (December to April) due to heavy snowfall and avalanches cutting off Leh-Ladakh region from Kashmir.

Note : India–Myanmar border has the Free Movement Regime (FMR), which allows the tribes living along the border to travel 16 km across the boundary without visa restrictions.

Mon Dist of Nagaland international boundary line between India and Myanmar

It is the land of the captivating Konyak Nagas, whose culture and traditions are an attraction by themselves for the visitors.
The forefathers of the Konyak believed that they were direct descendants of Noah, for they have biblical names like Mosa, Kaisa Aron and so on.
It is also believed that they crossed the historic gate known as Alemkaphan which is interpreted in Konyak as the gate of the sun.
The rulers of the villages still use the word Wang (Angh) for themselves, meaning ‘the beginning of everything’. The Angh still enjoys considerable power over his people, acting as an autocrat and a democrat.
His house is a demonstration of tribal power and glory, flashing both human and animal skulls on the porch.
The Konyaks are known for their tattooed faces, blackened teeth and head hunting prowess, the last thankfully being in the past.

Bridge on Mechi river at Indo-Nepal border :

The estimated cost of construction of the bridge is over Rs. 150 crore funded by GOI through Asian Development Bank (ADB) loan.
The new bridge is part of up-gradation of the Kakarvitta (Nepal) to Panitanki Bypass (India) on NH 327B.
Mechi Bridge is the ending point of Asian Highway 02 in India leading to Nepal and provides critical connectivity to Nepal.
National Highway and Infrastructure Development Corporation (NHIDCL) under Ministry of Road Transport & Highways has been designated as the implementing agency for this project.
The construction of the bridge will improve regional connectivity and has potential to strengthen cross border trade between both the countries and cementing ties by strengthening industrial, social and cultural exchanges.

Initiatives help improve the connectivity of North-Eastern India with the rest of India and neighbouring countries are three:

BBIN Motor Vehicle Agreement

3 countries ratified it except Bhutan who has given consent but yet to ratified. ADB has been providing technical, advisory, and financial support to the BBIN MVA initiative as part of its assistance to the South Asia Subregional Economic Cooperation (SASEC) program, a projects-based economic cooperation initiative that brings together the BBIN countries, Maldives, Sri Lanka and more recently, Myanmar. ADB is the secretariat of SASEC.

Asian Trilateral Highway
BCIM Corridor

India-Myanmar-Thailand (IMT) Trilateral Highway

With 1000 KM length IMT run from Moreh in Manipur to Mae Sot in Thailand via Myanmar.
The highway will facilitate easy movement of goods and people among the three countries.
IMT project is NHAI’s first international project agreement.
NHAI with a joint-venture (JV) between Punj Lloyd and Varaha Infra to upgrade the Yagyi-Kalewa section of India-Myanmar Friendship Road in Myanmar.
It is funded by MEA Ministry of External Affairs, GOI and would be executed on EPC mode at a cost of Rs.1177 crores.

Kaladan Multi-modal project : connects the east India seaport of Kolkata with Sittwe seaport in Rakhine State, Myanmar by sea

bypassing N-E states.

Chardham Mahamarg Pariyojana

CCEA has approved Silkyara Bend-Barkot Tunnel in Uttarkhand as part of ‘Chardham Mahamarg Pariyojana’.
all weather connectivity to Yamunotri from Dharasu.
The construction of this tunnel will provide all weather connectivity to Yamunotri (and not all chardhams), one of the dham on Chardham Yatra, encouraging regional socio-economic development, trade and tourism within the country.
Project will be built under Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) Mode.
This is funded under NH (O) Scheme of Ministry of RT&H and forms part of ambitious Chardham Plan.
will make travel to the Char Dham (Gangotri, Yamunotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath) safer and more convenient.

*************Geographical Indications (GI)*************

Kerala’s Nilambur teak aka Malabar teak : golden brown teak is known for its log dimensions, desired wood figure and wide reputation in the world of trade. Its durability is attributed to the synergistic effect of total extensive components and the resistance to fungal decay to naphthoquinone and derivatives it contains. The hydrophobicity, anti-oxidant properties and oily nature are due to a caoutchouc compound.

Basmati Rice got GI tag

National Action on the SDGs in India :

NITI Aayog, the GOI’s premier think tank, has been entrusted with the task of coordinating the SDGs.
NITI Aayog has undertaken a mapping of schemes as they relate to the SDGs and their targets, and has identified lead and supporting ministries for each target.
They have adopted a government-wide approach to sustainable development, emphasising the interconnected nature of the SDGs across economic, social and environmental pillars.
States have been advised to undertake a similar mapping of their schemes, including centrally sponsored schemes.
In addition, the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) has been leading discussions for developing national indicators for the SDGs.
State governments are key to India’s progress on the SDG Agenda and several of them have already initiated action on implementing the SDGs.

17 SDGs to transform our world: हमारी दुनिया को बदलने के लिए 17 एसडीजी:

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GOAL 1: No Poverty ----> लक्ष्य 1: कोई गरीबी नहीं

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GOAL 2: Zero Hunger ----> लक्ष्य 2: शून्य भूख

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GOAL 3: Good Health and Well-being ----> लक्ष्य 3: अच्छा स्वास्थ्य और भलाई

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GOAL 4: Quality Education ----> लक्ष्य 4: गुणवत्ता शिक्षा

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GOAL 5: Gender Equality ----> लक्ष्य 5: लिंग समानता

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GOAL 6: Clean Water and Sanitation ----> लक्ष्य 6: स्वच्छ जल और स्वच्छता

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GOAL 7: Affordable and Clean Energy ----> लक्ष्य 7: वहन योग्य और स्वच्छ ऊर्जा

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GOAL 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth ----> लक्ष्य 8: सभ्य कार्य और आर्थिक विकास

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GOAL 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure ----> लक्ष्य 9: उद्योग, नवाचार और बुनियादी सुविधा

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GOAL 10: Reduced Inequality ----> लक्ष्य 10: कम असमानता

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GOAL 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities ----> लक्ष्य 11: सतत शहरों और समुदायों

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GOAL 12: Responsible Consumption and Production ----> लक्ष्य 12: जिम्मेदार उपभोग और उत्पादन

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GOAL 13: Climate Action ----> लक्ष्य 13: जलवायु लड़ाई

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GOAL 14: Life Below Water ----> लक्ष्य 14: जीवन नीचे पानी

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GOAL 15: Life on Land ----> लक्ष्य 15: जीवन पर भूमि

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GOAL 16: Peace and Justice Strong Institutions ----> 16 गोल: शांति और न्याय मजबूत संस्थाएं

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GOAL 17: Partnerships to achieve the Goal ----> भाग 17: लक्ष्य हासिल करने के लिए भागीदारी

Institution and Ministry

ITIs - Skill Ministry
National institute of design / Foot ware design / Diamond design - Commerce
National institute of fashion design - Textile
Architect - Urban ministry
Promotion board and Ministry
MSME - Coir , Khadi
Commerce - Tobacco, Coffee, Tea , Species and Rubber
Textile - Jute

. PATH of UPSC

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CURRENT AFFAIRS

2.EDUCATION
3.EMPLOYMENT
4.Promoting Inclusive Growth
6.HEALTH
7.WOMEN_&_Child
8.Agri and RURAL DEVELOPMENT
9.DIGITAL CONNECTIVITY
10.REGIONAL
11.INDIA’s International Relations
12.Construction

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CURRENT AFFAIRS

2.EDUCATION 3.EMPLOYMENT 4.Promoting Inclusive Growth 6.HEALTH 7.WOMEN_&_Child 8.Agri and RURAL DEVELOPMENT 9.DIGITAL CONNECTIVITY 10.REGIONAL 11.INDIA’s International Relations 12.Construction

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2.EDUCATION
3.EMPLOYMENT
4.Promoting Inclusive Growth
6.HEALTH
7.WOMEN_&_Child
8.Agri and RURAL DEVELOPMENT
9.DIGITAL CONNECTIVITY
10.REGIONAL
11.INDIA’s International Relations
12.Construction