Government Committees, Schemes & Bills - Current Affairs for February, 2017

A massive percentage of deaths due to heart attacks is a cause for concern. Health department of Rajasthan has opened non communicable disease clinics in different districts. Adding further to this is RAHAT or Rajasthan Heart Attack Treatment Programme aiming to reduce death percentage due to heart attack.

The project was launched by Rajasthan CM V. Raje. RAHAT is a STEMI (Heart Attack) management Telemedicine platform.

It captures and transmits the patient's EKG (electrocardiogram) along with clinical history from remote geographical locations to the Heart Command Centre HCC Hub.

RAHAT Founder Dr. Sameer Mehta has said the project will cover towns and villages 100 km of Jaipur city.

This project will aid poor and middle level persons in the state.

The project is running in 32 countries where the death percentage due to heart attack is 5 percent.

It is currently 15 percent in India.

Ministry of Urban Development has approved development of 6 km long Bet Dwarka Darshan Circuit in Gujarat at a cost of INR.16.27 cr under the Central Scheme HRIDAY.

Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana or HRIDAY national empowered committee chaired by Shri Rajiv Gauba, Secretary (UD) has approved the circuit.

This circuit is connecting the famous Dwarkadish Haveli and Hanuman Dandi, the only temple housing Hanumanji and his son Makardhwaj, in Dwarka district of Gujarat.

There are two important water bodies along the circuit namely, Ranchod Talav and Shankhudhar Lake.

Dwarka: Know More

• Dwarka is a municipality of Devbhoomi Dwarka district.
• This is in the state of Gujarat in northwestern India.
• It is located on the western shore of the Okhamandal Peninsula on the right bank of the Gomti River.
• In 2011, it had a population of 38,873

The Kerala government will launch a registry of sex offenders.

It will be the first of its kind registry in the country. It will contain all identification details of sex offenders and will be kept in public domain.

Besides, Government will also set up a comprehensive victim relief fund to provide interim relief for victims of sex crimes, both children and adults.

The aim is check atrocities against women in the state. The Kerala government will also set up a comprehensive relief fund for victims of sex crimes.

The announcements come days after an actress was abducted and sexually assaulted in a moving car while returning from a shooting site in Kochi.

Though the Nirbhaya Cell under the Department of Social Justice has been functioning commendably in the state, Kerala lacked a comprehensive victim relief fund.

Government will set up a comprehensive victim relief fund to provide interim relief for victims of sex crimes, both children and adults.

Increasing impunity of sexual offences due to lack of social deterrence is a growing concern all over the country.

To address the issues of women, the LDF government has decided to create a separate department for women, which is in the final stage of operationalisation.

It will set up all women police stations at the taluk levels.

The government also plans to make the visit of a lady police officer to every panchayat mandatory on a per-announced date and time.

The first women's battalion commenced this year and is committed to increase the women's share in the force by 15 per cent and believe that it should be at least 50 per cent.

The LDF government also intends to undertake a 'vulnerability mapping' exercise through a detailed survey to identify children living in difficult circumstances.

Another significant measure would be to declare Kerala a 'child begging free state' within the next one year, he said.

In a positive move for the transgender community, he said a skill and employment programme would be launched for them.

The Kerala State Women's Development Corporation plans to launch a helpline for women to ensure their safety and promote gender sensitisation, he added.

On the tribal welfare front, he said the LDF government's policy is 'Live with Freedom'.

Kerala: Know More

• Land area: 38,863 km^²
• Founded: October 31, 1956, 3:00 PM GMT-8
• Capital: Thiruvananthapuram
• Population: 34.8 million (2012)

The Union Government has allowed Tamil Nadu Government to increase the number of workdays under the Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee (MGNREGA) scheme in Tamil Nadu from existing 100 to 150 days.

The rise in workdays aims at helping rural labourers, who are staring at job loss due to severe drought in the state.

Due to enhancement of the work days, 3 crore more man-days are to be generated.

Works like maintenance of other rural assets and de-silting of waterbodies in rural areas will be undertaken under the scheme.

In Tamil Nadu, MGNREGA scheme is being implemented in 12,524 villages.

MGNREGA Awards: Know More

• Rozgar Jagrookta Puraskar (Employment Awareness Award): to recognize the excellent participation by Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) for advertising efficient execution of NREG Act in the different States of the nation.
• Quality in NREGA Management in districts is to recognize the excellent participation by Region NREGA Groups for advertising efficient execution of NREG Act in the nation.
• The central Govt of India has created the decision to present yearly prizes to be known as Quality in NREGA scheme Management (Financial Inclusion) excellent participation by officer for advertising efficient execution of NREG Act in the nation.

Government has announced to bring high-speed broadband connectivity to every village by 2018.

Department of Telecom is working to achieve this target under the Universal Services Obligation fund (USOF).

In 2017-18 Union Budget speech, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had announced that Government will allocate INR. 10,000 crore to expand the Bharat Net project in 2017-18 for high-speed broadband.

Bharat Net aims to cover a total of 2.5 lakh village panchayats and is funded under the USOF.

It was rebranded from the earlier National Optic Fibre Network (NOFN) project in April 2015.

USOF was set up in 2012 to execute various digital infrastructure projects for providing telecom services in rural areas at subsidised rates.

The finance for this fund comes through a Universal Access Levy charged from the telecom operators as a percentage of various licenses fees paid by them.

USOF Funding: Know More

• The New Telecom Policy - 1999 (NTP'99) provided that the resources for meeting the Universal Service Obligation (USO) would be funded through a 'Universal Access Levy (UAL).
• This would be a percentage of the revenue obtained by the operators under various licenses.
• The Universal Service Support Policy came into operation from 01.04.2002.
• The Indian Telegraph (Amendment) Act, 2003 giving statutory status to the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) was assented by both Houses of Parliament in December 2003.
• The Rules for administration of the Fund called as Indian Telegraph (Amendment) Rules, 2004 were notified on 26.03.2004.
• According to the Indian Telegraph Act 1885 (as amended in 2003, 2006 and 2008), the Fund is to be utilized exclusively for meeting the Universal Service Obligation.

Shri C K Mishra, Secretary, Health and Family Welfare launched the SAATHIYA Resource Kit including ‘Saathiya Salah’ Mobile App for adolescents, on 20th Feb 2017, 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 Saathyas in doing so, the Health Ministry has launched the Saathiya Resource Kit (including ‘Saathiya Salah’ Mobile App).

India has 253 million adolescents which is largest in the world in terms of absolute numbers and when RMNCH programs were launched globally, India was the first country to add the ‘+A’ i.e. adolescent component to the RMNCH, making it today’s RMNCH+A program’.

RKSK identifies six strategic priorities for adolescents i.e. nutrition, sexual and reproductive health (SRH), non-communicable diseases (NCDs), substance misuse, injuries and violence (including gender-based violence) and mental health.

The most important component and driving force of RKSK program are its Peer Educators and this resource kit has been launched to enable them to communicate with the adolescents of their community, specially designed to help the Peer Educator to be recognized and respected as ‘saathiya’, a good friend for the adolescents.

This Resource Kit comprises i) Activity Book, ii) Bhranti-Kranti Game iii) Question-Answer Book and iv) Peer Educator Diary.

The ‘Mile Banche Madhya Pradesh’ programme has been getting an overwhelming response with over 1.26 lakh volunteers including MP Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan besides pensioners, media persons, homemakers and other professionals.

They are getting registered to play the role of a ‘teacher’ for a day in government-run schools.

Over 31,000 people have volunteered, including chief minister and several of his ministerial colleagues for Madhya Pradesh government’s novel project on a participatory learning to be held in the state on February 18.

The registered persons include 2500 housewives, 575 media persons, 550 engineers, 535 doctors, 502 lawyers and 171 sports persons and a group of pensioners among others.

43,000 government employees will also visit government schools to participate in this programme.

Others who have got registered for this programme include 2300 representatives of voluntary organisations, 3301 retired officers-employees, 15000 persons working in 15 different private sectors, 16834 businessmen and 18,157 public representatives.

The volunteers will read a portion of any Hindi book for the students.

They will also encourage children to read out aloud a portion of any book of their interest.

The exercise will be followed by an educational dialogue between the volunteers and the children.

The exercise is expected to inspire children in primary and middle schools to inculcate a habit of reading various books other than the textbooks.

The online registration for ‘Mil Banche Madhya Pradesh’ programme would be open till February 10 through website ‘www.schoolchalehum.gov.in, he added.

India will host the first meeting of national security advisers (NSAs) of BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) countries to coordinate action against terrorism, extremism and radicalisation.

It was offered by India at the BIMSTEC senior officials meeting held in Kathmandu, Nepal.

India’s offer comes as concerns about the growth of radicalisation of ethnic Rohingyas of Myanmar by Pakistani terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) in recent months.

This issue was part of the conversation between Indian leadership and NSA Ajit Doval and the Myanmar NSA U Thaung Tun, who visited India recently.

BIMSTEC: Know More

• The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) is an international organisation involving a group of countries.
• These are in South Asia and South East Asia.
• These are: Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bhutan and Nepal.
• BIMSTEC was initially founded in 1997

The Indian Institutes of Management can now set up campuses abroad.

After advocating more autonomy to the premier management institutes and giving them the power to grants degrees, HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar introduced the IIM Bill 2017 in the Lok Sabha on 9th Feb 2017.

This would confer statutory powers on them.

As per the bill, IIMs will be allowed “to set-up centres of management studies and allied areas outside India in accordance with guidelines laid down by the Central Government and in accordance with the provisions of the laws in force in such foreign country”.

IIMs would be declared as “institutions of national importance” with Board of Governors (BOG) as the principal executive body of each of them.

The bill also empowers IIMs to appoint their own chairperson.

The BOG will appoint the director (now termed Chief Executive Officer) of IIMs, who has so far been appointed by Centre.

The search-cum-selection committee to be constituted by the board will consist of chairperson and three members chosen from eminent administrators, industrialists, educationists, scientists, technocrats and management specialists.

The BOG of each institute shall consist of a chairperson, one nominee each of Centre and state government, four eminent persons (including a woman) distinguished in fields of education, industry, commerce, social service or public administration.

Two faculty members, one member from SC or ST and up to five persons co-opted from the alumni or who are members of the society of the existing institute would also be members of the Board.

It will have at least three women members.

An earlier draft of the Bill had the provision of the President being the Visitor and choosing the director.

The HRD ministry removed the provision to grant more autonomy to the institutes.

IIMs till now had been registered as societies and unable to grant degrees, including PhD, to their students.

Reservation in admissions will be provided as per Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Act, 2006.

The Governing Board of IIMs will evaluate and review the performance of the institute within first three years of establishment and thereafter at least once in every three years.

The bill also lays down that there would be a Coordination Forum, with an eminent person as its chairman. This forum would discuss issues which are of common interest to all the IIMs.

IIMs: Know More

• The Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) are a group of 20 public, autonomous institutes of management education and research in India.
• They primarily offer postgraduate, doctoral and executive education programmes.
• The establishment of IIMs was initiated by Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India.
• This was based on the recommendation of the Planning Commission.

Parliament passed a bill seeking for Centre and state governments to specify industrial units paying wages through cheques or transferring into bank accounts.

LS passed the bill on 7th Feb 2017. This bill will improve the compliance of labour laws.

Workers will now get their wages in a transparent manner.

The bill was introduced in the LS on Dec 15, 2016.

The bill replaces Payment of Wages (Amendment) Bill 2016 and repeals the Payment of Wages (Amendment) Ordinance 2016.

Section 20 of the bill "provides for six months imprisonment for violation of the Act. Moreover the inspector can initiate appropriate action under the Factories Act 1948.

Demonetisation: Know More

• In the first demonetisation in January 1946, banknotes of 1000 and 10000 rupee were withdrawn.
• New notes of 1000, 5000 and 10000 rupee were introduced in 1954.
• The Janata Party coalition government had again demonetized banknotes of 1000, 5000 and 10000 rupee on 16 January 1978 as a means to curb counterfeit money and black money.
• In 2012, the Central Board of Direct Taxes had recommended against demonetization.
• On 28 October 2016 the total banknotes in circulation in India was ₹17.77 lakh crore (US$260 billion).
• In terms of value, the annual report of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) of 31 March 2016 stated that total bank notes in circulation valued to ₹16.42 lakh crore (US$240 billion)
• Nearly 86% (around ₹14.18 lakh crore (US$210 billion)) was ₹500 and ₹1000 banknotes.
• In terms of volume, the report stated that 24% (around 22.03 billion) of the total 90,266 million banknotes were in circulation.
Indian demonetisation by the NDA government was announced on Nov 8, 2016.

Chief Minister Samagra Gramya Unnayan Yojana is a mega mission with a financial outlay INR 30,000 crore.

It will be implemented in all the villages in Assam in the next five years culminating in 2021-22.

The main aim of the scheme is to bring revolutionary changes by doubling the farm income and a move to bring about the paradigm shift towards holistic development of villages in Assam.

It implemented through the saturation model’ by covering each revenue village and through the focused interventions in:

• Direct economic activities,
• Logistic support including market linkages, and
• Community support.

Scheme has the potential to usher in a new horizon of development. Through this farm income of Assam becomes double by 2021-22.

Five teams will be established in each block to work and proper implementation of different missions of the programme.

As the scheme, these team will prepare development plans for them and that will be implemented in each village.

Under the scheme, a Village Knowledge Centre will be set up in each village to bring proper balance in the scheme and MGNREGA playground will be developed in each village of the state.

According to the plan, the average investment of the scheme is around INR 1.20 crore per revenue village.

While the total required amount of the mission is INR 30,000 crore over a period of five years.

An amount of INR 500 crore was provided in the current financial year 2016-17 which has been handed over by the finance minister to the chief minister.

As per Situation Assessment Survey during the period from 2002-03 to 2012-13, the farm income in Assam was recorded only 0.88 percent as against national average of 5.2 per cent.

Government has decided to launch CMSGUY to put in concerted efforts in a time bound manner by facilitating massive investments in rural areas for complete rural transformation in a period of 5 years to stimulate rural productivity. .

He also said that one of the basic components of the scheme is to strengthen the rural economy as he said that without infusing life to the village economy, Assam cannot progress.

2021-22 which will also happen to be the 75 anniversary of India's Independence.

Moreover, INR 1000 crore is proposed in the Supplementary Demand. At the end of the financial year, the CMSGUY will have INR 1500 crore in its coffer.

Missions of CMSGUY: Know More

CMSGUY will have nine Missions which are:

• Fishery Mission,
• Milk Mission,
• Agriculture Mission,
• Land Management and
• Conservation Mission,
• Sericulture,
• Khadi and Cottage Industry Mission,
• Road and broadband connectivity,
• Semi-processing, processing and market linkages,
• Youth-Yoga-Sports Mission and
• e-gram Mission by developing Village Knowledge Centers by strengthening traditional Namghar and other community institutions.

The GoI has formed a six-member committee to give a report on ways to improve India’s Haj policy and also look into issue of subsidy to the pilgrimage.

This is in light of 2012 Supreme Court order on gradually reducing and abolishing it by 2022.

Former Consul General of India (CGI), Jeddah, Afzal Amanullah has been appointed as convener of the high-level panel,

The panel will examine implications of various directions of the apex court with regard to the existing Haj policy, and suitable amendments in it.

The committee will also review the effectiveness of Haj Committee of India’s management of pilgrims’ accommodation and air travel.

It will also assess the aspects of transparency, consumer satisfaction and disclosure requirements for private tour operators to protect interest of the pilgrims with a view to make the policy of greater assistance to the pilgrims.

The Union Cabinet on 1 February 2017 approved the introduction of the Indian Institutes of Information Technology (Amendment) Bill, 2017 in the Parliament.

The amendment Bill provides for inclusion of Indian Institute of Information Technology Design and Manufacturing (IIITDM), Kurnool along with the other IIITs in the Indian Institutes of Information Technology Act, 2014.

Subsequently, IITDM Kurnool will be declared as an institute of National Importance with the power to award degrees to students.

The Indian Institute of Information Technology Design and Manufacturing Kurnool (IIITDMK) is an autonomous institute.

At present, the institute is operating from the campus of the Indian Institute of Information Technology, Design and Manufacturing (IIITDM) Kancheepuram. After the creation of the necessary infrastructure the IITDMK will be relocated to Kurnool in Andhra Pradesh.

It aims to set up IIITs to improve quality of human resources, at par with global standards, within the information technology sector.

It accords ‘Institute of National Importance’ status to four IIITs. They are -

1) Indian Institute of Information Technology and Management, Gwalior

2) Indian Institute of Information Technology, Allahabad

3) Indian Institute of Information Technology, Design and Manufacturing, Kancheepuram

4) Indian Institute of Information Technology, Design and Manufacturing, Jabalpur

The Union Ministry of Women & Child Development has clarified that Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP) Scheme has no provision for individual cash transfer component.

It has warned the unauthorised websites/organisations, NGOs, individuals that are distributing forms in the name of cash incentives under BBBP Scheme.

It also has mentioned that it is illegal and serious matter as there is no cash incentive associated in any form.

Government’s clarification came following reports that certain unauthorised sites, organisations, NGOs and individuals were found distributing forms in the name of cash incentive under the scheme.

About Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP) Scheme

• The BBP scheme was launched in January, 2015.
• It was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Panipat in Haryana.
• The scheme is aimed at promoting gender equality and the significance of educating girls.
• It is a social campaign that aims to generate awareness and improve the efficiency of welfare services meant for girls.
• It focuses on changing mindsets and deep rooted patriarchy in the societal system, advancing education of the girl child, strict enforcement of PC&PNDT Act and on issues of women empowerment.
• It is targeted at improving the Child Sex Ratio (CSR).
• This is through multi sectoral interventions including prevention of gender biased sex selection and promoting girls’ education and holistic empowerment.

Income Tax Department (ITD) has initiated Operation Clean Money, on 31^st Jan 2017.

Initial phase of the operation involves e-verification of large cash deposits made during 9th November to 30th December 2016.

Data analytics has been used for comparing the demonetisation data with information in ITD databases.

In the first batch, around 18 lakh persons have been identified in whose case, cash transactions do not appear to be in line with the tax payer’s profile.

ITD has enabled online verification of these transactions to reduce compliance cost for the taxpayers while optimising its resources.

The information in respect of these cases is being made available in the e-filing window of the PAN holder (after log in) at the portal https://incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in.

The PAN holder can view the information using the link “Cash Transactions 2016” under “Compliance” section of the portal.

The taxpayer will be able to submit online explanation without any need to visit Income Tax office.

Email and SMS will also be sent to the taxpayers for submitting online response on the e-filing portal.

Taxpayers who are not yet registered on the e-filing portal (at https://incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in) should register by clicking on the ‘Register Yourself’ link.

Registered taxpayers should verify and update their email address and mobile number on the e-filing portal to receive electronic communication.

Data analytics will be used to select cases for verification, based on approved risk criteria.

If the case is selected for verification, request for additional information and its response will also be communicated electronically.

The information on the online portal will be dynamic getting updated on receipt of new information, response and data analytics.

The response of taxpayer will be assessed against available information.