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SchemesSchemeDepartment/ MinistryFeaturesIRRIGATION/ AGRICULTURESoil Health Card SchemeThe Soil Health Card is a printed report that will be given to farmers once in three years for each of his/her land holding. It will contain crucial information on macro nutrients in the soil, secondary nutrients, micro nutrients, and physical parameters. The card will be accompanied by an advisory on the corrective measures that a farmer should take to improve soil health and obtain a better yield. The Central Government provides assistance to State Governments for setting up Soil Testing Laboratories for issuing Soil Health Cards to farmers. The state governments will prepare yearly action plan on the issue and the cost will be shared in the ratio of 75:25 between the Centre and statesPM Krishi Sinchai YojanaAgriculture (State Agriculture Departments to be nodal agencies)Provide convergence to existing schemes of water management, thus bringing efficiency to the use of water* Providng soil health cards to identify suitablity of soil for production capability of soil* Identify best nearby water resources to the area* Interlinking of rivers* Satellite imagery and 3D photography could be used to guide villages to best possible sources of irrigation* Decentralised state-level planning and execution, in order to allow States to draw up a District Irrigation Plan (DIP) and a State Irrigation Plan (SIP)Plans will integrate three components namely, water sources, distribution network and water use application of the district. All structures created under the schemes will be geotaggedThe state agriculture department would be the nodal agency for implementation of PMKSY projectsA state will become eligible to access PMKSY funds only if it has prepared the district irrigation plans and state irrigation plans and sustained an increasing expenditure trend in irrigation sector in state planPMKSY funds would be given to states as 75% grant by the central government and the remaining 25% share is to be borne by the state government. For northeastern region and hilly states, the funding pattern would be 90:10Paramparagat Krishi Vikas YojnaPromote organic farmingPM Gram Sinchai YojanaAimed at irrigating the field of every farmer and improving water use efficiently to provide ‘Per Drop More Crop’Accelerated Irrigation Benefit ProgrammeMinistry of Water ResourcesGives loan assistance to the States to help them complete some of the incomplete major/medium irrigation projects which are at an advanced stage of completionRashtriya Krishi Vikas YojanaState Plan Scheme of additional central assistance; Department of Agriculture and Cooperation, Ministry of AgricultureSeeks to achieve 4% annual growth in agriculture Was initially launched to incentivize the states that increase their investment in AgricultureA state is eligible for funding under the RKVY if it maintains or increases the percentage of its expenditure on Agriculture and its Allied Sectors with respect to the total State Plan Expenditure yoyPrice Stabilization FundDepartment of Agriculture and Cooperation, Ministry of AgricultureCentral Sector Scheme, with a corpus of Rs.500 crores, to support market interventions for?price?control of perishable agri-horticultural commoditiesStates will set up a revolving fund to which the Centre and State will contribute equally. The ratio of Centre-State contribution to the State-level corpus in respect of northeast States will, however, be 75:25KisanTo fasten payment of crop insurance claims to farmers, the Centre has launched a pilot programme?Kisan, which will use satellite and drone-based imaging and other geospatial technology to get timely and accurate data on crop yieldsCurrently, the crop insurance claim is calculated on the basis of crop cutting experiments. However, there has always been a problem in getting timely and accurate data, due to which payment of claims to farmers were getting delayed and the government is concerned over the delays in settlements. To address this issue Kisan programme is being launched on pilot basisGIRL CHILD WELFAREBeti Bachao, Beti Padhao SchemeWCD (nodal)Aims to promote early registration of pregnancy and institutional deliveryWill hold panchayats responsible for child marriagesEach panchayat will have to display ‘gudda-guddi boards’Conjoined with Sukanya Samriddhi Scheme (see below)A 100 critical low CSR districts in all States and UTs have been identified for focused and convergent action by the MinistriesThe?Ministry of WCD is the nodal Ministry?for this initiative and will carry out training to stakeholders, community mobilization and sensitization. It will also embark upon a range of advocacy measures and activities, not limited to the 100 low CSR districts but all across the countryAll forms of media and social media platforms would be used for thisThe key to the success of the initiatives would lie with the communities, States, Panchayats and the local self-GovernmentSukanya Samriddhi SchemePart of the ‘Beti Bachao Beti Padhao’ campaignSmall deposit scheme for girl childAims to ensure equitable share to a girl child in resources and savings of a family‘Sukanya Samridhi Account’ can be opened at any time from the birth of a girl child till she attains the age of 10 years, with a minimum deposit of Rs 1000. A maximum of Rs 1.5 lakh can be deposited during the financial yearThe deposit will fetch an interest rate of 9.1 per cent and provide income tax rebateThe account will remain operative for 21 years from the date of opening of the account or marriage of the girl child after attaining 18 years of age. The provision of not allowing withdrawal from the account till the age of 18 has been kept to prevent early marriage of girlsTo meet the requirement of higher education expenses, partial withdrawal of 50 per cent of the balance would be allowed after the girl child has attended 18 years of ageDigitial Gudda Guddi BoardUnder BBBP schemeAn initiative under the BBBP scheme (Ministry of Women and Child Development), that will show disaggregated statistics for gender-wise births in various districts (introduced in Maharashtra) FINANCIAL INCLUSIONPM Jan Dhan YojanaDepartment of Financial Services, Ministry of Finance3 Pillars:Universal access to banking facilitiesFinancial Literacy Programme Providing Basic Banking Accounts with overdraft facility of Rs.5000 after six months and RuPay Debit card with inbuilt accident insurance cover of Rs 1 lakhAccount holders is entitled to Rs. 1 lakh accidental death cover and Rs. 30,000 life insurance coverConnectivity is very important as the money is transferred from the government on online basis. Poor internet connectivity and cumbersome process are acting as impediments. There are about 50,000 villages in the country which do not have internet connectivity or have poor connectivityOnly 58.7% of households have access to banking servicesPMJJBYOffered / administered through LIC or other Life Insurance companiesOffered / administered through LIC or other Life Insurance companies willing to offer the product on similar terms on the choice of the Bank / RRB / Cooperative Bank concernedAnnual life insurance of Rs. 2 lakh would be available on the payment of premium of Rs. 330 per annum by the subscribersPMJJBY will be made available to people in the age group of 18 to 50 years having a bank account from where the premium would be collected through auto-debitPMSBYOffered / administered through Public Sector General Insurance Companies (PSGICs)Offered / administered through Public Sector General Insurance Companies (PSGICs) or other General Insurance companies willing to offer the product on similar terms on the choice of the Bank / RRB / Cooperative Bank concernedRisk coverage will be Rs. 2 lakh for accidental death and full disability and Rs. 1 lakh for partial disabilityAvailable to people in the age group 18 to 70 years with a bank account (auto debit)Atal Pension YojanaFocus on the unorganised sector and provide subscribers a fixed minimum pension of Rs. 1000, 2000, 3000, 4000 or Rs. 5000 per month starting at the age of 60 years, depending on the contribution option exercised on entering at an age between 18 and 40 yearsPeriod of contribution by any subscriber under APY would be 20 years or moreHEALTHNational Deworming MissionHealth and Family Welfare (HFW)Get rid of intestinal worms (large multicellular organisms, which when mature can generally be seen with the naked eye. They are also known as?Helminths). Albendazole tablets given as part of schemePharma Jan Samadhan SchemeNational Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) –under Department of Pharmaceuticals, Ministry of Chemicals and FertilizersA web enabled system for redressal of consumers’ grievances relating to pricing and availability of medicinesJan Aushadhi SchemeDepartment of Pharmaceuticals, Ministry of Chemicals and FertilizersLess priced, but good quality, unbranded generic medicines will be made available through Jan Aushadhi stores which inherently are less priced but are of same and equivalent quality, efficacy and safety as compared to branded generic medicinesState Government to provide space in Government Hospital premises for the running of the outlets (JAS) Government hospitals, NGOs, Charitable Organisations and public societies like Red Cross Society, Rogi Kalyan Samiti typically constituted for the purpose can be operating agencies for the JASThe operating agency for JAS is nominated on the basis of the recommendations of the State government. Operational expenditure is met from trade margins admissible for the medicinesThe Jan Aushadhi Programme is accordingly a self sustaining business model not dependent on government subsidies or assistance. It is run on the principle of ‘Not for Profits but with Minimal Profits’Mission IndradhanushMinistry of Health and Family WelfareWill focus on unvaccinated and partially vaccinated children below the age of two yearsProvides immunization against 7 life-threatening diseases: diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, polio, tuberculosis, measles, and Hepatitis B RSBYMinistry of Health and family welfare?(earlier used to be underMinistry of Labour and Employment)Cashless insurance for hospitalisation in public as well as private hospitalsModi government has decided to ban private insurers from RSBY now; only public sector insurers will be allowed under the schemeEvery BPL family holding a yellow?ration card?pays Rs.?30 registration fee to get abiometric-enabled?smart card?containing their fingerprints and photographs.This enables them to receive inpatient medical care of up to?Rs. 30,000 per family per year in any of the empanelled hospitals. Pre-existing illnesses are covered from day one, for head of household, spouse and up to three dependent children or parentsRSBY was launched by the Ministry of Labour and Employment, Government of India to provide health insurance coverage for Below Poverty Line (BPL) families.Despite high enrolment in RSBY, catastrophic health expenditures (when medical expenses push a family into poverty), hospitalization expenditure and the percentage of total household outgo on out-of-pocket (OOP) expenses - medicines and other consumables that are not reimbursed by insurance - have steadily increased, for both in-patients and outpatients, over the last two decades. These findings indicate that RSBY and other state run insurance programmes have failed to provide financial risk protectionA major design flaw in RSBY and other such state health insurance programmes is their narrow focus on secondary and tertiary care hospitalizationThe study also says that RSBY was being used mostly by those who already had better access (to healthcare services) and the most marginalized sections were being excluded furtherIn theory, difference between RSBY and older schemes:Empowering the beneficiary – RSBY provides the participating BPL household with freedom of choice between public and private hospitals and makes him a potential client worth attracting on account of the significant revenues that hospitals stand to earn through the scheme.Business Model for all Stakeholders – The scheme has been designed as a business model for a social sector scheme with incentives built for each stakeholder.Hospitals – A hospital has the incentive to provide treatment to large number of beneficiaries as it is paid per beneficiary treated.Intermediaries – The inclusion of intermediaries such as NGOs and MFIs which have a greater stake in assisting BPL rmation Technology (IT) Intensive – For the first time IT applications are being used for social sector scheme on such a large scale. Every beneficiary family is issued a biometric enabled smart card containing their fingerprints and photographs. All the hospitals empanelled under RSBY are IT enabled and connected to the server at the district level. This will ensure a smooth data flow regarding service utilization periodically.Safe and foolproof – The use of biometric enabled smart card and a key management system makes this scheme safe and foolproof. The key management system of RSBY ensures that the card reaches the correct beneficiary and there remains accountability in terms of issuance of the smart card and its usage. The biometric enabled smart card ensures that only the real beneficiary can use the smart card.Portability – The key feature of RSBY is that a beneficiary who has been enrolled in a particular district will be able to use his/ her smart card in any RSBY empanelled hospital across India. This makes the scheme truly unique and beneficial to the poor families that migrate from one place to the other. Cards can also be split for migrant workers to carry a share of the coverage with them separately.Cash less and Paperless transactions – A beneficiary of RSBY gets cashless benefit in any of the empanelled hospitals. He/ she only needs to carry his/ her smart card and provideJeevan DharaRajasthanRajasthan has started a mother’s milk bank called Jeevan DharaFlorence Nightingale AwardsMinistry of Health and Family WelfareGiven to outstanding nursing personnel employed by centre, states, and UTsKayakalp AwardsMinistry of Health and Family WelfareThe Ministry of Health & Family Welfare has instated the Kayakalp Awards under the Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan. Focuses on promoting cleanliness in public health facilitiesNational Urban Health Mission (NUHM)A sub-mission of National Health Mission (NHM). The scheme will be implemented by the Ministries of Urban Development, Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation, Human Resource Development and Women & Child Development (NO HEALTH MINISTRY)Sabar Sauchagar (Toilets for All)West Bengal (Nadia district)DM of Nadia district in South Bengal was recently lauded by the UN with the UN Public Service Award for completely eradicating open defecation, under the programme Sabar Sauchagar (Toilets for All)Rashtriya Arogya Nidhi (RAN)Ministry of Health & Family WelfareProvides for financial assistance to patients, living below poverty line who is suffering from major life threatening diseases, to receive medical treatment at any of the super specialty hospitals/institutes or other Govt. hospitalsE-GOVERNANCEKhoya-Paya web portalMinistry of Women and Child Development +Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY), Ministry of CommunicationGovernment of India initiative to exchange information on missing and found children; citizens can report lost and found childrenDifferent from pre-existing Track Child system of MHA, which can only be used by policeCCTNS- Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and SystemsNational e-Gov PlanAims at creating a comprehensive and integrated system for enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of policing at the Police Station level through adoption of principles of e-Governance, and creation of a nationwide networked infrastructure for evolution of IT-enabled state-of-the-art tracking system around “investigation of crime and detection of criminals”.It is a Mission Mode Project (MMP) under the National e-Governance Plan of Govt. of India.It will not only automate Police functions at Police station and higher levels but will also create facilities and mechanism to provide public services like registration of online complaints, ascertaining the status of case registered at the police station, verification of persons etc.e-bizDepartment of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), Ministry of Commerce & Industry?(under NeGP)With the integration of the 11 services on eBiz portal, a business user can avail all these 11 services 24*7 online end-to-end i.e., online submission of forms, attachments, payments, tracking of status and also obtain the license/permit from eBiz portal.The eBiz platform enables a transformational shift in the Governments’ service delivery approach from being department-centric to customer-centric as a single window portalE-samikshaOnline scrutiny of various proposals related to railwaysPRAGATI-ProActive Governance and Timely ImplementationAn ICT-based, multi-modal platform for interaction between state and central governments (PMO, Union Government Secretaries, Chief SecretariesDigital India SchemeIt is coordinated by DeitY (Ministry of Communication), implemented by the entire governmentUnlike predecessor National E-Governance Plan (NEGP), Digital India initiative looks much beyond public service delivery system. It places equal stress on digital infrastructure, governance and service delivery and digital empowerment of citizens. Without such comprehensive plan NEGP had very little relevance in rural and backward areasIt is an Umbrella Programme – covering many departmentsSakaarDepartment of SpaceAn Augmented Reality application to highlight the achievements of Department of Space during one year in officeDigiLocker SchemeMinistry of Communications and ITA secure dedicated personal electronic space for storing the documents of resident Indian citizens. The storage space (maximum 1GB) is linked to theAadhar?number of the user. The space can be utilized for storing personal documents like University certificates,?PAN cards, voter id cards, etc., and the?URI's of the e-documents issued by various issuer departments. There is also an associated facility for?e-signing?documentsNowcastUnion GovernmentA free-SMS service by Union Government to provide alerts on extreme weather conditions to registered families eCourts Mission Mode ProjectAimed at providing necessary hardware and software applications to enable courts to deliver e-services to citizens, and to enable the judiciary to better monitor and manage the functioning of courtsIn Phase I of the project more than 13,000 District and Subordinate courts have been computerised and case information linked to the respective District court websitesThese courts are now providing online eServices such as cause lists, case status and judgments, to litigants and public through the eCourts portalLitigants and lawyers are also provided services through Judicial Service Centre at the court complexesPhase 2 has now got the nodPashu PoshanNational Dairy Development BoardPashu Poshan is a mobile app launched by the National Dairy Development Board that will recommend a balanced diet for cows and buffaloes to boost dairy farmers’ incomes by raising milk yields and cutting feed coste-SahyogReduce compliance cost for small taxpayers; trying to eliminate the need for assesses whose IT returns have been selected for scrutiny from appearing in front of IT office physicallyINFRASTRUCTURENational Investment FundIn January 2005, the Government decided to constitute a ‘National Investment Fund’ (NIF) into which the realization from sale of minority shareholding of the Government in profitable CPSEs would be channelizedIncome from the fund is used in investment in various social projects, capital investment in some selected profitable and revivable enterprises. This is based upon the idea that disinvestment does not affect the social objectives of the governmentAMRUTMinistry of Urban DevelopmentIn a significant departure from JNNRUM, the Centre will not appraise individual projectsAMRUT adopts a project approach to ensure basic infrastructure services relating to water supply, sewerage, storm-water drains, transportation and development of green spaces and parks with special provision for meeting the needs of childrenUnder this mission, 10% of the budget allocation will be given to states and union territories as incentive based on the achievement of reforms during the previous yearWill be implemented in 500 locations with a population of one lakh and aboveStates get the flexibility of designing schemes based on the needs of identified cities and in their execution and monitoringStates will only submit state annual action Plans to the centre for broad concurrence based on which funds will be releasedCentral assistance will be to the extent of 50% of project cost for cities and towns with a population of up to 10 lakhsand one-third of the project cost for those with a population of above 10 lakhsUnder the mission, states will transfer funds to urban local bodies within 7 days of transfer by central government and no diversion of funds to be made failing which penal interest would be charged besides taking other adverse action by the centreUnder the JNNURM, the State governments had established Reform and Performance Management Cells (RPMCs). RPMC was a body of experts to guide municipal bodies in urban planning. Their main job was to conduct research, understand shortcomings of cities and help mayors and commissioners in planning and raise funds from private investors. The Urban Development Ministry has asked the States to terminate their research and capacity-building measures under JNNURM, citing not enough work and wasteful expenditure‘123’ agreementRefers to the Indo-US nuclear dealDeendayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti YojanaMinistry of PowerAim: to augment power supply to the rural areas and to strengthen sub-transmission and distribution systemsTo separate agriculture and non agriculture feeders facilitating judicious rostering of supply to agricultural and non-agricultural consumers in rural areasThe scheme would help in improvement in hours of power supply in rural areasHousing for All by 2022CCSFlexibility to States for choosing best options to meet the demand of housing in their statesThe scheme will be implemented as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme except the credit linked subsidy component, which will be implemented as a Central Sector SchemeAffordable housing in partnership with Public & Private sectors Subsidy for beneficiary-led individual house construction or enhancementCentral grant of Rs. one lakh per house, on an average, will be available under the slum rehabilitation programmeTechnology Sub-Mission (environment, disaster management) Ownership of houses will be in the name of woman or jointly with husband‘Maitri’ projectDRDOCo-development of short-range surface-to-air missile by DRDO, in collaboration with FranceNational Optical Fibre Network (NOFN)Bharat Broadband Network Limited (BBNL): special purpose vehicle created as a?PSU for executionProvide broadband connectivity to over two lakh Gram panchayats. Connectivity gap between Gram Panchayats and Blocks will be filledThe project provides internet access using existing optical fiber and extending it to the Gram panchayatsThe project was intended to enable the government of India to provide e-services and e-applications nationallyAll the Service Providers like Telecom Service Providers (TSPs), ISPs, Cable TV operators etc. will be given non-discriminatory access to the National Optic Fibre Network and can launch various services in rural areas. Various categories of applications like e-health, e-education and e-governance etc. can also be provided by these operatorsSagarmala schemeNational Sagarmala Apex Committee (NSAC)envisaged; will be chaired by Minister of Shipping + CMs and CSs of relevant statesPort-led development: develop a string of ports around India’s coast, Supporting and enabling Port-led Development through appropriate policy and institutional interventions Efficient Evacuation to and from hinterlandProject MausamMinistry of CultureUnder this, the Government of India has proposed to establish cross-cultural linkages and to revive historic maritime cultural and economic ties with 39 Indian Ocean countries. Primarily, this is a cultural connections initiativeNational Offshore Wind Energy PolicyIndia has just developed a National Offshore Wind Energy Policy. While alleviating the need for land acquisition, the cost of the offshore wind energy plants is nonetheless likely to be double that of on-ground similar projects. However, given India’s push towards renewable energy, this is a good step. Plant Load Factor for offshore plants will also be greater‘Swiss Challenge Method’‘Swiss Challenge Method’ in Infrastructure: Swiss challenge method is a process of giving contracts. Any person with credentials can submit a development proposal to the government. That proposal will be made online and a second person can give suggestions to improve and beat that proposal.It is a method where third parties make offers (challenges) for a project within a designated period to avoid exaggerated project costsMISCELLANEOUSHRIDAY (National Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana)Ministry of Urban Development Wants to promote an integrated, inclusive, and sustainable development of heritage sitesRs. 500 crore would be provided to 12 cities selected in the first phaseIshan Uday Scholarships for undergraduates from northeast; instituted after Bezbaruah committee recommendationsIshan VikasSelect students from northeast to be taken to IITs, NITs etc. For internships/ exposureRight to ClearanceTelanganaA Telangana government policy where the government employees will have to pay fines if they can’t grant clearances to industrial units within a specified timeframePrakash PathScheme for LED bulb distribution under the Domestic Efficient Lighting Programme in Delhi. LED bulbs have 50 times more life expectancy than ordinary bulbs, and 8-10 times more than CFLs, and thus provide both energy and cost savings in the medium termBezbaruah CommitteeMHANew sections 153C and 509A in IPC?The proposed Section153-C makes acts causing or likely to cause fear or feeling of insecurity among the northeastern community punishable with up to five years’ imprisonmentThe proposed Section 509-A provides up to three years’ imprisonment for words, gesture or act intended to insult a member of anyraceThe Delhi Government will also be providing compensation and monetary assistance to the NE people under Delhi Victim Compensation Scheme 2011Delhi police will recruit 20 police personnel, (10 male – 10 female) each from North East States; Police exchange programme North East Special Unit at New Delhi Nai Roshni SchemeMinistry of Minority AffairsAims to provide knowledge, tools, and techniques to minorities for interacting with government systems, banks, and other institutionsDevelopment of Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs)Ministry of Tribal AffairsMinistry of Tribal Affairs has revised the Central Sector Scheme known as ‘Development of Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs)’The Ministry will provide 100% financial assistance through State Governments for activities including housing, land distribution and land development, agricultural development, animal husbandry, construction of link roads, installation of non-conventional sources of energy or other innovative activityThe financial assistance will be for the comprehensive socio-economic development of Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs)Under the Scheme, priority is accorded for their protection and improvement in terms of the social indicators like livelihood, health, nutrition and education, so as to decrease their vulnerabilityVanbandhu Kalyan YojnaMinistry of Tribal AffairsCentral Sector Scheme in the Annual Plan of Ministry of Tribal AffairsAims at overall development of tribal people with an outcome-based approach, which would ensure that all the intended benefits goods and services to the tribal people through various programmes/schemes of Central and State Governments covered under the respective Tribal Sub-Plans actually reach them by way of appropriate convergenceThrough VKY, it is envisaged to develop the backward blocks in the Schedule V States as model Blocks with visible infrastructural facilities to further the mission developmentPAHAL (DBTL)Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas‘Pratyaksha Hastantarit Labh’- give up your LPG subsidy voluntarilyTechnology Upgradation Fund SchemeMinistry of TextilesA reimbursement of 5% on the interest charged by the lending agency on a project of technology upgradation in conformity with the SchemePilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spirituality Augmentation Drive (PRASAD) schemeMinistry of TourismThe Union Ministry of Tourism would initiate steps to include Sabarimala in the national pilgrim tourism circuit by bringing it under the?Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spirituality Augmentation Drive (PRASAD) scheme(it’s just funny; no need to see more about the scheme in detail)Shyama Prasad Mukherji Rurban Mission:State Governments would identify ‘clusters’ (geographically contiguous Gram Panchayats with a population of about 25000 to 50000 in plain and coastal areas and a population of 5000 to 15000 in desert, hilly or tribal areas). The scheme will function with 14 mandatory components to ensure an optimum level of development of a cluster, which include skill development training linked to economic activities, digital literacy, fully equipped mobile health unit and inter-village road connectivityPradhan Mantri Khanij Kshetra Kalyan Yojana?(PMKKKY)Meant to provide for the?welfare of areas and people affected by mining related operations, using the funds generated by?District Mineral Foundations (DMFs): High priority areas like drinking water supply, health care, sanitation, education, skill development, women and child care, welfare of aged and disabled people, skill development and environment conservation will get at least 60 % share of the fundsRest of the funds will be spent on making roads, bridges, railways, waterways projects, irrigation and alternative energy sourcesDMF sidenote:In case of all mining leases executed before the Amendment Act, miners will have to contribute an amount equal to 30% of the royalty payable by them to the DMFs. For mining leases granted after the Act, the rate of contribution would be 10% of the royalty payableKerala, under its Integrated Dairy Development Project, has recently introduced a scheme to produce?hydroponic green?fodder.‘Hydroponics’ means the?technique of growing plants without soil or solid growing medium, but?using water or nutrient-rich solution only, for a?short duration. Given increasing pressure on agricultural land, and spiralling prices of cattle feed, this might be helpful to some extentLABOUR/ SKILLSU-WIN (Unorganized Workers’ Identification Number)Gujarat launched a pilot scheme for providing a smartcard with a unique identification number to every worker in the unorganized sectorIt is meant to be a pilot for a national level schemeProposal is to provide health insurance, pension, and disability assistance to all workersLaunched under the Unorganized Workers Social Security Act, 2008Pradhanmantri Kaushal Vikas YojanaNational Skill Development Corporation (NSDC); Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship * Skill training would be done based on the National Skill Qualification Framework (NSQF) and industry led standards* Monetary reward is given to trainees on assessment and certification by third party assessment bodies* Focus on improved curricula, better pedagogy and better trained instructorsATAL Innovation MissionIt will be an Innovation Promotion Platform involving academics, entrepreneurs and researchers and draw upon national and international experiences to foster a culture of innovation, R&D and scientific research in India. The platform will also promote a network of world-class innovation hubs Self-Employment & Talent Utilisation (SETU)NITI AayogIt will be a Techno-Financial, Incubation and Facilitation Programme to support all aspects of start up businesses, and other self-employment activities, particularly in technology-driven areas. An amount of Rs.1000 crore is being set up initially in NITI AayogNational Skill Development MissionMinistry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE)Ensure implementation, coordination and convergence of skilling activities across Central Ministries/Departments and State GovernmentsThe National Skill Development Agency (NSDA), the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) and the Directorate of Training will function under the overall guidance of the MissionNational Policy for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship 2015India’s first integrated National Policy for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship 2015:Bridging existing skill gaps, promoting industry engagement, operationalising a quality assurance framework, leverage technology and promoting greater opportunities for apprenticeship trainingEquity is also a focus of the Policy, which targets skilling opportunities for socially/geographically marginalised and disadvantaged groupsSkill development and entrepreneurship programmes for women are a specific focus In the entrepreneurship domain, the Policy seeks to educate and equip potential entrepreneurs, both within and outside the formal education systemIt also seeks to connect entrepreneurs to mentors, incubators and credit markets, foster innovation and entrepreneurial culture, improve ease of doing business and promote a focus on social entrepreneurshipSkilling India Challenges:The launch of the skill india mission assumes significance as India currently faces a severe shortage of well-trained, skilled workers. It is estimated that only 2.3% of the workforce in India has undergone formal skill training as compared to 68% in the UK, 75% in Germany, 52% in USA, 80% in Japan and 96% in South Korea. Large sections of the educated workforce have little or no job skills, making them largely unemployableAmong people aged 15 and above only 2.4% had technical degrees, diplomas or certificates in fields like medicine, engineering or agricultureMore than 54% of the country’s population is below the age of 25 allowing it with an opportunity to provide a skilled workforce to fill the expected shortfall in the ageing developed worldSmart Cities-key benefits and challengesThe core infrastructure elements in the Smart City context have been identified as adequate water supply, assured electricity supply, sanitation including solid waste management, efficient urban mobility and public transport, affordable housing, especially for the poor.Robust IT connectivity and digitization, good governance, especially e-governance and citizen participation, sustainable environment, safety and security of citizens and health and education are also core infrastructure elements.Aside from central government funding, States/UTs and Urban Local Bodies have to make an equal matching contribution. Additional funding can be mobilized from the private sector/ international donors on a case by case basisTotalization agreements?are a means of protecting the benefit rights of workers who divide their working career between two or more countries. They also help to eliminate situations in which workers or employers are required to pay Social Security taxes to two countries on the same earnings (India-USA are talking about this, but hasn’t happened yet)Central government schemes for social security for unorganized sector: Disaster Relief Fund: The state executive committee headed by the Chief Secretary is authorized to decide on all matters relating to the financing of the relief expenditure from the SDRFGram Nyayalayas: since 2009, set up at the Panchyat level; allowed to try both civil and criminal casesPM relief fund- relies solely on private donations, doesn’t get any budgetary support, has not been constituted by the ParliamentThe Cabinet recently approved a proposal to pool or average out prices of domestic natural gas and imported LNG used by fertilizer plantsOnly about 65% of India’s population is immunizedOn what date is the ‘Beating Retreat ceremony’ traditionally held?The Beating Retreat ceremony officially denotes the end of Republic Day festivities. It is conducted on the evening of?29 January,?the third day after the Republic Day. It is performed by the bands of the three wings of the military, the Indian Army, Indian Navy and Indian Air ForceWhat is the ‘Sanitary and Phytosanitary Agreement’?An international treaty of the WTO. It was negotiated during the Uruguay Round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and TradeUnder the SPS agreement, the WTO sets constraints on member-states’ policies relating to food safety (bacterial contaminants, pesticides, inspection and labelling) as well as animal and plant health (phytosanitation) with respect to imported pests and diseasesGives the WTO the power to override a country’s use of the precautionary principle – a principle which allows them to act on the side of caution if there is no scientific certainty about potential threats to human health and the environmentUnder SPS rules, the burden of proof is on countries to demonstrate scientifically that something is dangerous before it can be regulatedOperation RaahatThe 2015 military intervention in Yemen began in March, 2015 when the Royal Saudi Air Force led a coalition of Arab states in attacking Shiite Houthi rebels. This was preceded by weeks of turmoil during which Houthi guerrillas toppled the government of President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi and took over the large parts of the countryYemen is lurching closer to civil war as the Houthi militants who rule its capital try to consolidate their control over the rest of the country and challenge the embattled president, Abed Rabbo Mansour HadiTurning into a proxy war between Iran (supporting the Shia Houthis) and Saudi Arabia (supporting the Sunni government)Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu (in that order) lead the country in filing patent applicationsICICI Digital village- Akodara in GujaratDraft National Health Policy 2015- Key FeaturesAims to achieve universal health coverage by advocating health as a fundamental right, whose denial will be ‘justiciable’Aims to increase expenditure on health from the current 1% of GDP to 2.5% over the next 5 yearsProblems: Currently, national programmes provide coverage only with respect to certain interventions such as maternal ailments, which account for less than 10% of all mortalities. Over 75% of communicable diseases are outside their purview and only a limited number of non-communicable diseases are coveredEven if ratified by the parliament, since health is a state subject, adoption by the different states will be voluntary. Thus, adoption might not be uniform across the country, and that sort of defeats the purpose Read: Sector (including family planning, National Health Policy 2015, National Health Assurance Mission, National Tuberculosis Programme, Routine Immunization Programme)(See: )Public spending on health in India is 1% of GDP; total spending is 4% of GDPDM of Nadia district in South Bengal was recently lauded by the UN with the UN Public Service Award for completely eradicating open defecation, under the programme Sabar Sauchagar (Toilets for All)FATCA Act, USA: India recently signed an agreement to become a party to this. Banks from both countries will be obliged to share information about bank accounts of the other country’s citizens (India also joined the MCCA, but that’s a consortium of 50-odd countrie, doing broadly the same thing)Rashtriya Avishkar Abhiyan proposed by Kalam has been operationalized by MHRD. Aims to encourage schoolchildren to learn beyond the classroomPACESetter Fund: Indo-US collaborative effort to provide clean energy to the underserved; will provide grants to companies that sell small-scale clean energy systems to individuals and communities without access to the gridRIMES: Regional Integrated Multi-Hazard Early Warning System is an international institution managed by 12 member states, chaired by India right now Ottapallam in Kerala will have the country’s first ever Defence industrial park soonManipur Regulation of Visitors, Tenants and Migrant Workers Bill, 2015 has been withdrawn; was passed by the State Legislature, aimed to check influx of immigrants by introduction of the Inner Line Permit (ILP) in Manipur that will regulate the entry of non-domicile citizens into restricted regions,like in some other northeastern statesCommand Exit Promotion policy- gives preferential treatment to officers who have served in infantry and artillery, by allocating them an unfairly large number of promotion vacancies at the ‘commanding officer’ rank of colonel DoT’s Net neutrality panel’s reportRecommended that apps offering domestic calling be brought under the regulatory framework prescribed for telecom operators, but those providing messaging and international calling services over the Internet be kept free from licensing requirementsIt suggests that?controversial plans such as Airtel Zero be allowed with prior clearance from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India,?but opposes platforms such as of Facebook(because its not run by a service provider, but by a content provider)Airtel Zero and are similar as they offer customers a specific set of services or applications that are free to use without paying data charges. But on , the committee says it is of the “firm opinion that content and application providers cannot be permitted to act as gatekeepers and use network operations to extract value, even if it is for an ostensible public purpose”The report says?over-the-top applications, which use the Internet to deliver services, enhance consumer welfare and increase productivity. Therefore, such services should be actively encouraged and any impediments in expansion and growth of OTT application services (such as e-commerce, radio taxis and YouTube) should be removedAgainst the move, telecom operators called for a level-playing field to run a “viable” business and demanded that same rule apply for same services, even VoIPThere are no laws enforcing net neutrality in India. Although TRAI guidelines for the Unified Access Service license promote net neutrality, it does not enforce it. The Information Technology Act 2000 also does not prohibit companies from throttling their service in accordance with their business interestsIn accordance with the?New Domestic Natural Gas Pricing Guidelines, 2014, issued by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, the price of natural gas is to be revised every six months on the basis of a weighted average of rates in countries such as the U.S., Mexico, Canada and Russia, all gas-surplus economiesThe Supreme Court has ruled that the Aadhaar Card may be used to avail *some* government schemes including employment guarantee, pension and bank accounts. Previously, as per the court’s order, the card could have been used only voluntarily for availing subsidies under the public distribution system and purchasing kerosene and cooking gas. This ruling is being seen as a relief to the government which has been trying to persuade the Supreme Court to extend Aadhaar’s uses after a slew of blows to the unique identity or UID programme following privacy petitionsInstitutions (Ministries and Departments)AgencyMinistryFeaturesCBIDoPT (Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions)Director is appointed by (PM + LoP + CJI)(Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013)The central government may extend to any area (except Union Territories) the powers and jurisdiction of the CBI for investigation, subject to the consent of the government of the concerned state; however, High Courts?and the?Supreme Court?have the jurisdiction to order a CBI investigation into an offense alleged to have been committed in a state without the state's consentPolice is a state subject, so usually CBI deals with high-level crime, central government officers, etc.Normally, cases assigned to the CBI are sensitive and of national importance. It is standard practice for state police departments to register cases under its?jurisdiction; if necessary, the central government may transfer a case to the CBICBI is exempt from RTI provisionsIBIB is used to garner intelligence from within India and also execute counter-intelligence and counter-terrorism tasks. The Bureau comprises employees from law enforcement agencies, mostly from the?Indian Police Service?(IPS) or the Indian Revenue Service (IRS) and the militaryThe IB was trained by the Soviet?KGB?from the 1950s on wards until the collapse of the Soviet UnionDirectorate of Revenue IntelligenceCentral Board of Excise and Customs; Department of Revenue, Ministry of FinanceDeals exclusively with the work relating to the collection and study of information on smuggling activities and the deployment of all anti-smuggling resources at the all India levelAnti-dumping duty?is levied on distrustfully low-priced imports, so as to protect the domestic manufacturers. Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) issued a show-cause cum demand notice to telecom major Vodafone and its two subsidiaries for evading this anti-dumping duty of around Rs. 330 croresFSSAIMinistry of Health & Family WelfareCreated for laying down science-based standards for articles of food and to regulate their manufacture, storage, distribution, sale and import to ensure availability of safe and wholesome food for human consumptionThe Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has been established under Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 which consolidates various acts & orders that have hitherto handled food related issues in various Ministries and DepartFSSAI has put up draft guidelines on its website intended to monitor the consumption of junk food by school children.Under the draft guidelines, junk food high in fat, salt or sugar will not be sold within 50 metres of a school’s premises. FSSAI in under Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, and was created for laying down science based standards for articles of food and to regulate their manufacture, storage, distribution, sale and import to ensure availability of safe and wholesome food for human consumptionAICTEDepartment of Higher Education,?Ministry of Human Resource DevelopmentAICTE is the statutory body and a national-level council for technical educationResponsible for proper planning and coordinated development of the?technical education?and?management education system in?India The AICTE?accredits?postgraduate and graduate programs under specific categories at Indian institutions as per its charterAll the Engineering, MBA and Pharmacy colleges are affiliated with the All India Council for Technical Education"as per provisions of the AICTE Act and?University Grants Commission (UGC) Act, the council has no authority which empowers it to issue or enforce any sanctions on colleges affiliated with the universities as its role is to provide guidance and recommendations”UGCGrants recognition to universities, and disburses funds to such recognized universitiesMain difference between UGC and AICTE is that the latter deals only with technical educationUGC, it is the apex body that approves universities in the country. UGC provide funds for affiliated universities and colleges, and also conducts exams, known as NET, for appointing teachers in?collegesUGC’s prime function is to look into the financial needs of universities. It then allocates and disburses grants to these universities. Other academic functions come only after these functionsOn the other hand, the AICTE act gives priority to undertaking surveys in various fields of technical education at all levels. Fund allocation and disbursement comes second to thisIn its 25 April 2013 judgment the Honorable Supreme Court said "as per provisions of the AICTE Act and?University Grants Commission (UGC) Act, the council has no authority which empowers it to issue or enforce any sanctions on colleges affiliated with the universities as its role is to provide guidance and recommendations”EDDepartment of Revenue, Ministry of FinanceAdministers FEMA and PMLASurvey of India?Survey of India?is the authority which sanctions names to a mountain which fall under the Indian Territory. Generally, the team which conquers a virgin peak is granted the honour to name it. Till today, many teams that have conquered new peaks have named them after their favourite gods, local deities and villages. Recently, Mount Nalini was named after mountaineer Nalini SenguptaCentral Water CommissionMinistry of Water Resources, River Development, and Ganga RejuvenationNSGMHACombat terrorist activities with a view to protect States against internal disturbancesNational Human Rights CommissionChairman (an ex-CJI) + 8 members (a present or ex judge of SC, a present or ex CJ of an HC, 4 ex-officio members who are chairpersons of National Commission (of minorities, SC, ST, Women), 2 with experience in human rights) Appointed by 7:PM + Home Minister + Leaders of Opposition in LS and RS + Lok Sabha speaker + Deputy Chairman of RSFormed as per the ‘Paris Principles’, which provide that such an institution should provide a broad mandate, representative composition, wide accessibility, effectiveness SuccessesSucceeded in persuading the central government to sign the UN Convention against Torture Number of complaints received has been rising over the years, showing greater awarenessFailuresHowever, about 60% of the cases come from just 4 states, indicating that not many people know about the charter of the commissionNumber of pending cases has also been rising sharplyThe commission is completely dependent on the government for manpower and financesCannot investigate any actions of the armed forcesCannot enforce it’s own findingsState Human Rights CommissionAutonomousCan inquire into violation of human rights only in respect of subjects mentioned in the State List (List-II) and the Concurrent List (List-III) Composition (3): Chairperson (retired HC CJ) and two members (retired or serving HC judge, or 7 year- District Judges + Eminent person)Appointed by the Governor on the recommendations of (4: CM + Assembly Speaker + State Home Minister + LoP)The chairperson and members hold office for a term of five years or until they attain the age of 70 years, whichever is earlierAfter their tenure, the chairperson and members are not eligible for further employment under a state government or the Central governmentAlthough the chairperson and members of a State Human Rights Commission are appointed by the governor, they can be removed only by the President (and not by the governor)The President can remove them on the same grounds and in the same manner as he can remove the chairperson or a member of the National Human Rights CommissionNCBCMinistry of Social Justice and EmpowermentChairman (ex- or current judge of SC) + one social scientist + 2 persons with special knowledge of backward classes + one member secretary, who has been an officer of central government in the rank of a secretary to the Government of IndiaSETU- Self Employment and Talent UtilizationNITI AayogNGTNot bound by the procedure laid down under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, but shall be guided by principles of natural justiceDedicated jurisdiction in environmental matters shall provide speedy environmental justice and help reduce the burden of litigation in the higher courtsSanctioned strength: 10 expert members and 10 judicial members although the act allows for up to 20 of eachChairman: administrative head; also serves as a judicial member. Must be a serving or retired Chief Justice of a High Court or a judge of the Supreme Court of IndiaEvery bench of the tribunal must consist of at least one expert member and one judicial memberMembers are chosen by a selection committee (headed by a sitting judge of the Supreme Court of India)- not by GoIJudicial members chosen from applicants who are serving or retired judges of High CourtsExpert members are chosen from applicants who are either serving or retired bureaucrats, or have a doctorate in a related fieldNPPA- National Pharma Pricing AuthorityMinistry of ChemicalsEnforces Drug Pricing Control Order; administers Jan Aushadhi Scheme NSSDepartment of Youth Affairs and SportsPromote social service in school studentsCBDTDepartment of Revenue, Ministry of FinanceCICDoPTCIC was set up under the RTI Act of 2005Aims to provide redressal mechanism for the citizens who have not been able to submit information requests to a Central/ State Public Information Officer due to such a person not being appointed, or refusing to accept the queryIncludes one Chief Information Commissioner and up to 10 Information Commissioners, all appointed by the PresidentThe nomination committee includes PM, LoP in Lok Sabha, and one Union Cabinet Minister nominated by the President (so essentially the PM has two votes) (for states, CM, LoP in Vidhan Sabha, plus one Cabinet Minister appointed by CM)Removal is by President, after an SC enquiry5 year terms, no reappointment, retirement at 65MPs/ MLAs cannot be CICsCVCDoPTSet up to address government corruptionIs a statutory bodyComposed of one CVC plus two Vigilance CommissionersAppointments are made by 3: the PM, A cabinet minister nominated by the PM, and the Leader of Opposition in Lok SabhaRemoval is by President, after an SC enquiryAutonomous body, free of control from any executive authority, charged with monitoring all?vigilance?activity under the Central?Government of IndiaWeaknesses: Its jurisdiction extends only over officers of All India Services, and not over the judiciary and the executiveIt is not an investigative body itself, but recommends investigation by CBI, Departmental Chief Vigilance Officers etc.CVC is only an advisory body. Central Government Departments are free to either accept or reject CVC's advice in corruption casesCVC does not have adequate resources compared with number of complaints that it receives. It is a very small set up with a sanctioned staff strength of 299, and it is supposed to check corruption in more than 1500 central government departments and ministriesCVC cannot direct?CBI?to initiate inquiries against any officer of the level of Joint Secretary and above on its own. Such permission has to be obtained from the concerned departmentCVC does not have powers to register criminal case. It deals only with vigilance or disciplinary casesCVC has supervisory powers over?CBI. However, CVC does not have the power to call for any file from?CBI?or to direct CBI to investigate any case in a particular mannerAppointments to CVC are indirectly under the control of?Government of India, though the leader of the Opposition (in?Lok Sabha) is a member of the Committee to select CVC and VCs. But the Committee considers candidates put up before it. These candidates are decided by the GovernmentCECThe?President of India?(based on a recommendation from incumbent?Govt of India) appoints the Chief Election Commissioner. Conventionally, senior-most Election Commissioner is appointed as CEC(no collegium like for CIC/ CVC)Removal is only by impeachment-like actionSEBISecurities include debt, equity, and derivatives such as forwards, futures, options, stocks etc. SEBI regulates the securities market in IndiaIt is now a statutory bodyComposition: Chairman (nominated by Union government), 2 officers from Finance Ministry, 1 from RBI, 5 other members nominated by Union governmentIt performs all 3 functions (quasi), legislative (drafts regulations), executive (investigates and enforces rules), and judicial (passes rulings), in matters related to securities To appeal its rulings, there exists a Securities Appellate Tribunal; second appeal lies directly to the SC (important- Rajan recently said that we don’t want an appellate raj)Forward Markets Commission (FMC)Chief regulator of commodities forwards markets in India; allows commodity exchange in 22 exchanges across India, of which 6 are nationalIt is now going to be merged with SEBI, since commodity trading has increasingly become a financial trading activityCommodity markets need to be regulated as trading in commodities leads to speculation, which can lead to spiraling food price inflationIt allows futures trading in 23 Fibres and Manufacturers, 15 spices, 44 edible oils, 6 pulses, 4 energy products, single vegetable, 20 metal futures, 33 others FuturesThe efforts to check harmful/ illegal commodities futures trading are likely to get a major boost with SEBI being given the jurisdiction to regulate commodity markets as well following FMC merger, as SEBI already enjoys greater powers including those to conduct search and seizure, impose penalties, order arrests and take other strict actions against wrongdoersMerger promotes better coordination, and is in line with FSLRC recommendationCould lead to better trust, and hence entry of strong institutional investors in the commodities spaceThe merger of SEBI and FMC means that all organised financial trading, government bonds, and commodities futures will be under the SEBI’s jurisdiction. This leaves the RBI with an odd collection of elements: corporate bonds with maturity below one year, credit derivatives, and currencies and their derivatives. It would have been much cleaner to do the full thing, instead of settling for such an awkward compromiseFMC’s merger with SEBI is aimed at streamlining the regulations and curb wild speculations in the commodities market, while facilitating further growth there. The commodities market has been known to be more prone to speculative activities compared to the better-regulated stock market. Besides, the high-profile NSEL scam has rocked this market in the recent past and the subsequent regulatory and government interventions in this case eventually led to the government announcing FMC’s merger with SEBISEBI and FMC were recently merged. With commodities derivatives regulation under its fold, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has notified 12 commodity bourses and associations as stock exchanges and has also created seven departments for effectively regulating this market.To fulfil its additional responsibility of regulating the commodity derivatives market, Sebi has created additional seven departments like legal affairs, surveillance investigations and enforcement divisions.It has also created departments for commodity derivatives market regulation, market intermediaries regulation and supervision and economic policy and analysisASIMinistry of CulturePravasi Bharatiya SammanMinistry of Overseas Affairs of IndiaIUCAW (Investigative Units on Crimes against Women)MHAMHA proposed setting up IUCAWsin 20% of the districts of each State on a?50:50 cost sharing basis with the states.Objectives:Augment the investigative machinery of the States in relation to the heinous crimes against women Improve the gender ratio in State Police forces The states will have full flexibility on whether to create new posts or to designate from the existing strength.IMDMinistry of Earth SciencesNDRFMHAThe only dedicated disaster response force in the worldNational Adaptation FundMoEFTackle climate changeThis fund will assist national and state level activities to meet the cost of adaptation measures in areas that are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate changeICAR- Indian Council for Agricultural ResearchCBFCMinistry of Information and BroadcastingCensorship and classification body It assigns certifications to films, television shows, television ads, and publications for exhibition, sale or hire in IndiaThe Board consist of non-official members and a Chairperson (all of whom are appointed by?Central Government)Grants 4 kinds of certificates to films:U –unrestricted exhibitionUA- unrestricted exhibition, with a word of caution to parents that some content might not be appropriate for children below 12 years of ageA- adults onlyS- restricted to special class of personsPublic Enterprise Selection BoardHigh powered body constituted by Government of India through a resolution in 1987It is entrusted with the selection and placement of chairman, managing director or chairman-cum-managing director and functional director in Central public sector enterprises, among othersNational Investigation Agency (NIA)It is a federal agency established by the Indian Government to combat terror in India. It acts as the Central Counter Terrorism Law Enforcement Agency. The agency is empowered to deal with terror related crimes?across states without special permission from the states.NIA has concurrent jurisdiction which empowers the Centre to probe terror attacks in any part of the country, covering offences, including challenge to the country’s sovereignty and integrity, bomb blasts, hijacking of aircraft and ships, and attacks on nuclear installations.Other than offenses of terrorism, it also deals with counterfeit currency, human trafficking, narcotics or drugs, organised crime (extortion mobs and gangs), plane hijacking and violations of atomic energy act and weapons of mass destruction act. See ‘Statutory bodies’ under notes for a few additional commissionsICDS- six functions, ministry etc.NITI Aayog v/s Planning Commission (revise key roles of planning commission, and how NITI is different; also, structure and composition)Recently released Census data show that India’s Muslim population is growing slower than it had in the previous decades, and its growth rate has slowed more sharply than that of the Hindu population.Muslim population still grows at a faster rate than the Hindu population, but the gap between the two growth rates is narrowing fast. Assam remains the State with the largest Muslim population as a proportion (34.22%)Sania Mirza’s Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award has hit a legal roadblock. The sports ministry’s decision to confer the prestigious national award to the world’s leading tennis doubles star has been challenged by Paralympian H.N Girisha in the Karnataka High Court. Allegation is that Girisha’s name was overlooked in favour of Sania, considering the?points system being implemented by the central government. Going by the ministry’s performance-based points system introduced to pick the award winner, Girisha is the top contender with 90 points, while Sania does not figure anywhere near the top.Sania has won Grand Slam titles but according to the ministry notification, only performances at the Olympics, Paralympics, Asiad, Commonwealth Games and World Championships from 2011 will be consideredUP and Tamil Nadu has got the maximum number of smart cities (13 and 12). These cities and towns were nominated by respective States and Union Territories at the end of first stage of ‘City Challenge’ competition in which all the urban local bodies in each State and UT were evaluated based on their financial and institutional capacities and past track recordThe Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) has issued a new set of guidelines: all insurers from the life, non-life and health segments operating for 10+ years should have at least five per cent of their total policies from the social sector)unorganised sector, informal sector, and economically vulnerable or backward classes both in rural and urban areas)After a huge public outcry, the union government (DeITY) has withdrawn the controversial draft encryption policy that proposed to make it mandatory for every citizen to save all digital communications, including emails and chats, for a period of 90 daysNational Health Profile 2015: Every government hospital serves an estimated 61,000 people in India, with one bed for every 1833 peopleEvery government allopathic doctor serves a population of over 11,000 peopleThe Centre’s share of total public expenditure on health has fallen over the last two years, and India spends less of its GDP on health than some of the world’s poorest countriesOut-of-pocket private expenditure on health has risen steadily over the years, with the cost of medicines, followed by that of hospitalisation accounting for the largest share of the household expenditureNon-communicable diseases are on the rise with cardiovascular diseases according for a quarter of deaths from non-communicable diseases and cancer accounting for six per cent (health facilities usually target communicable diseases)Green Highways Policy: Under the policy, bushes and trees will be grown along all the highways in a phased mannerThe purpose of this policy is to promote the greening of highway corridors with the participation of the local community, including local contractors and the local Forest Department. The latent objective was to generate employmentThe government has unveiled an indigenous ranking framework for higher educational institutions that it believes will give Indian institutions a competitive platform free of any international biasThe framework will evaluate institutions on five parameters- teaching, learning and resources (TLR), research, professional practice and collaborative performance (RPC), graduation outcome (GO), outreach and inclusivity (OI), perception (PR) of end usersInternational ranking agencies only consider research work done in English, the body of work in regional languages is not considered.Social inclusion or the reservation system is often not considered by international ranking agencies.To deal with ongoing drought, the Maharashtra government has imposed a ‘drought tax’ on petrol and diesel, VAT on liquor, cigarettes and beverages, and surcharge on VAT for gold and diamond jewelleriesTRAI has stood by its proposal of a sunset date for making GPS mandatory in all handsets, which can help find out exact location of the caller in an emergency. It says feature phones are slowly being replaced, with users shifting to smartphones, and introducing a GPS chip in handsets should not be very costly once it is mandatedThe Union cabinet recently gave its nod for the formation of Indian Skill Development Service (ISDS). The cadre will be selected through the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) and have the same ranks and profile as other Group A services such as the Indian Revenue Service, Indian Audit and Accounts Service and Indian Railway ServiceGreen India Mission: It is one of the eight Missions outlined under National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC).It acknowledges the influence forests have on environmental amelioration through climate change mitigation, food security, water security, biodiversity conservation and livelihood security of forest-dependent communitiesIt hinges on decentralized participatory approach involving grass root level organizations and community in planning, decision making, implementation and monitoring. It espouses the landscape approach (which entails viewing and managing multiple land uses in an integrated manner, considering both the natural environment and the human systems that depend on it)Cyberdome is a hi-tech centre for cybersecurity being set up by the Kerala Police. As many as 500 ‘ethical hackers’ and cybersecurity experts would be involved in the project. It would also host an Anti-Cyber Terror Cell and a cybersecurity training unit.It would be equipped with an automated crime intelligence-gathering unit and a unit for anti-piracy on the Internet.It would work on prevention of hacking and defacement of websites and child pornography, and be overseen by IPS officers with tech competenceThe finance ministry has imposed anti-dumping duties on imported Chinese parts used in commercial vehicles for a period of five years and some other products imported from various other countriesThe government is thinking about creating a new All-India Service, for supporting ‘innovation’ Sedition Law- Section 124A of the IPC- has been in the news recently multiple timesHousing for All:Proposes to build 2 crore houses across the nation by 2022; components: Slum rehabilitation of Slum Dwellers with participation of private developers using land as a resourcePromotion of affordable housing for weaker section through credit linked subsidyAffordable housing in partnership with Public & Private sectorsSubsidy for beneficiary-led individual house construction or enhancementThe scheme prescribes certain mandatory reforms for easing up the urban land market for housing, to make adequate urban land available for affordable housingA Technology Sub-mission under the Mission would be set up to facilitate adoption of modern, innovative and green technologies and building material for faster and quality construction of housesIn the spirit of cooperative federalism, the Mission will provide flexibility to States for choosing best options to meet the demand of housing in their statesCrime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems (CCTNS) is a project initiated in June 2009 which aims at creating a comprehensive and integrated system for enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of policing at the Police Station level. CCTNS is a Mission Mode Project (MMP) under the National e-Governance Plan of Govt. of India. It will not only automate Police functions at Police station and higher levels but will also create facilities and mechanism to provide public services like registration of online complaints, ascertaining the status of case registered at the police station, verification of persons etc. This would lead to development of a national database of crimes and criminals and will lead to a Central citizen portal having linkages with State level citizen portals that will provide a number of citizen friendly services like Police Verification for various purposes including passport verification, reporting a crime including cyber-crime and online tracking of the case progress etc.Centrally Sponsored Scheme- funded by centre but implemented by states.?Central Sector Schemes- funded and implemented by centre.The union government has launched the?Technology Acquisition and Development Fund (TADF) under the National Manufacturing Policy. The Scheme facilitates acquisition of clean & green technologies by MSME units across sectors. Under the scheme financial support will be provided in acquiring of technology/Patent from across the Globe based on applications received from MSMEs.The Supreme Court has stayed the Delhi High Court order allowing women, serving as short service commission officers, to get permanent commission in the Indian Navy. While the Army and Air Force allow permanent commission for women, the Navy has limited women officers only to short service commission of 14 years. A governor of a state in India holds office for a period of five years, but it is subject to termination earlier if he resigns, or is dismissed by the President. There is no provision of impeachment. The Delhi Assembly recently passed the?Delhi (Right of Citizen to Time Bound Delivery of Services) Amendment Bill. The amendments seek to rectify the current Act which has put the “entire onus” of getting compensation, fixing the responsibility for delayed services on the citizen. This legislation will automatically deduct salaries of government officials in case there is a delay in delivering government services by them.Prime Minister Modi recently launched International Solar Alliance (ISA) in Paris on the sidelines of the climate change summit. This initiative highlights India’s leadership in clean energy. Among the tasks that the Alliance would pursue are, cooperation in training, building institutions, regulatory issues, common standards, and investment including joint ventures.President Pranab Mukherjee has given his assent to the contentious?Labour Laws Bill of Gujarat. ?The Gujarat government passed the Bill to “relax labour laws to give an impetus to industrialization in the State.” Article 25 asks for 'Free propagation and profession of religion'. Thus, some people interpret that a Uniform Civil Code will run counter to the sentiment of Article 25. However, Article 14 says equality of laws => contradictionArticle 124, 217: President should appoint SC judges, HC judges after consultation with such judges of SC/ HC as he may deem appropriate; CJI's advice has to be takenSC has ruled that NJAC is unconstitutional, because it impinges on 'independence of judiciary' and 'separation of powers', both of which are 'basic features' of the constitution, by encouraging the 'spoils system'Puncchi commission reportAntrix- Devas showdownCapital punishmentSection 124A: Sedition- requires 'incitement to violence'Despite two crucial laws to deal with crimes against Dalits – the Protection of Civil Rights Act, 1955, and the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 – the high incidence of violence against them is disturbingIf castration is added as a form of punishment as it may deter foreign courts from allowing the extradition of offenders to face trial in IndiaThe object of revisiting the collegium should be single-minded: to remove patronage from the system, and to ensure that judges are appointed according to rational and objective criteria, and nothing else Re-envisioning the collegium: 1993, in a case commonly referred to as the Second Judges Case, the Supreme Court, sitting as a nine-judge bench, interpreted the word “consultation,” used in Articles 124 and 217, to mean concurrence. In making appointments to the higher judiciary, the Court held, the executive was bound by the advise of the CJI — who acted in concert with a group that also comprised his two (later four) senior-most colleagues, a body that we today call the “collegium.”Whichever way one wants to look at this collegium — whether with contempt or with reverence — what’s indubitable is that the Constitution speaks of no such body. Articles 124 and 217, unlike some of our fundamental rights, are not couched in abstract terms that require an interpretive exercise. This anointed collegium, therefore, was nothing but a pure creation of the Second Judges CaseKesavananda v/s state of Kerala case introduced notion of basic structureCivil aviation policyCompensatory Afforestation Bill - the Hindu, Oct 01, 4th editorialSection 84a of it act, national encryption policy, need for right to privacyMaharashtra sedition circular ................
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