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

A new draft of a New Energy Policy (NEP) prepared by Union Government’s policy think-tank, NITI Aayog, says that India should split the seven units of state-controlled Coal India Limited (CIL) into independent companies.

This action will help the firm to be more competitive.

About 70 percent of India’s power generation is fired by coal.

The country is the world’s third-largest producer and third-biggest importer of coal, which the government wants to change by boosting local coal production.

Fresh coal production should come from private sector mines, the government think-tank NITI Aayog said, adding that the move called for reforms in allocating coal blocks to independent companies specialised in coal mining.

Attempts to break up the world’s biggest coal miner could expect resistance from powerful unions representing the firm’s more than 350000 employees.

The government backed down from a similar proposal in the face of union protests in 2014. One of the unions, which is close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party, is against the move and says it, has the support of about half of Coal India’s workers.

CIL: Know More

• Coal India, the country’s second-biggest employer, is often criticised for being bloated and inefficient. Its output-per-man shift is estimated at one-eighth of Peabody Energy, the world’s largest private coal producer.
• The policy states that Coal India Ltd (CIL) is expected to remain the principal vehicle of coal production in the country in the immediate future.
• But it says that it will have to strive hard to achieve the target of 1 billion tonne production by 2019. However, with subdued demand for coal, we may not require the production level envisaged above.
• A careful assessment of demand for coal-based power is needed so that the over $1 billion annual investment being made by CIL, in raising its production capacity is not left stranded.

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has come out with draft regulations for organic food products to ensure the authenticity of organic foods.

FSSAI’s guidelines have been prepared in view of rising demand for organic food products.

Organic foods will have to comply with the government’s provisions under the National Programme for Organic Production (NPOP) or the Participatory Guarantee System for India (PGS-India) run by the Agriculture Ministry or any other standards notified by FSSAI.

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has invited comments from the public regarding the provisions of the draft regulations.

At present, the consumers do not have any method to check the authenticity of the organic food products due to the absence of a regulatory framework.

Organic foods are defined as those food products that are produced in accordance with specified standards for organic production.

Organic farm produce means the product obtained from organic agriculture, while organic food means food products that have been produced in accordance with specified standards for organic production.

Other features FSSAI’s regulation mandates that labelling of organic foods should provide full and accurate information regarding the organic status of the organic foods.

Organic food products must carry a certification mark or a quality assurance mark provided by the notified certification bodies. FSSAI’s regulations have exempted organic food marketed by the original producer or producer organisation through a direct sale from verification compliance.

However, this exemption will not be applicable to processed organic products.

Piyush Goyal, the Union Minister of State (IC) for Power, Coal, New & Renewable Energy and Mines launched a weather portal for Power sector on 23 June 2017 that will help all the electricity distribution companies of India in managing power distribution.

The Ministry launched the portal in association with the Power System Operation Corporation Limited (POSOCO) and the India Meteorological Department (IMD) at the meeting of the Forum of Regulators in New Delhi.

The information available in the Portal regarding weather forecast shall help State Discoms to take pro-active steps regarding short term and medium term management processes and supply planning requirements.

It would also enable better planning for infrastructure availability to ensure cost effective and reliable supply. It will also promote use of green and clean power more transparently and competition for lower costs as information will be available to all stakeholders including generators and utilities for more efficient procurement.

The transparency in the information sharing would also create pressure on utilities for continued efficiency.

Besides this, Power Minister Piyush Goyal also launched another portal called ‘MERIT’ (Merit Order Despatch of Electricity for Rejuvenation of Income and Transparency).

The portal is developed by the Ministry of Power in association with POSOCO and Central Electricity Authority.

It displays extensive array of information regarding the merit order of Electricity procured by states such as daily state-wise marginal variable costs of all generators, daily source-wise power purchases of respective states/UTs with source-wise fixed and variable costs, energy volumes and purchase prices.

Regional Weather Summary

• This provides Weather Outlook for the Region for the current day and upto next 7 days. Weather stations of Meteorological department have been mapped to the nearest important Power Stations in each State.
• The Meteogram at Web-Portal provides plots for meteorological variables such as rainfall, cloud cover, temperature, humidity, wind, speed, sea level pressure and indices for thunderstorm for 10 days with a resolution time of three hours.
• Each Meteogram provides information for 10 km radius. Region Specific Forecast – Fog Forecast, Metar, Bay Bulletin, Coastal Area Bulletin, Cyclone, Port Warning etc.
  Day to day weather variations have an impact on load demand and energy production, transport and distribution management, as well as energy prices.
• Extreme events such as heat waves or cold waves, wind storms or floods can have dramatic consequences on the production means or the electrical grid of a country including physical damage to the infrastructure.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has allowed consumers to lodge complaints against banks for non-adherence to norms related to electronic banking services, including those provided on mobile phones, under the banking ombudsman scheme, its cost-free dispute resolution mechanism.

The central bank has also allowed customers to file complaints against banks for deficiencies arising out of sale of third party products such as insurance policies and mutual fund schemes sold by banks.

The scope of the scheme, introduced in 1995, has been expanded.
The banking ombudsman has now been powered to pass an award of INR 20 lakh, as against the earlier threshold of INR 10 lakh.

The ombudsman can also give a consumer up to INR 1 lakh as compensation for loss of time, expenses incurred and mental anguish suffered during fighting the case.

According to the annual report on the banking ombudsman scheme for 2015-16 (July-June), 15 offices of banking ombudsman received 102,894 cases, a jump of 21% over the 2016-17 fiscal year.

Currently, there are 20 offices of banking ombudsman, according to the information available on central bank’s website.

The West Bengal Government’s Kanyashree Prakalpa on 23 June 2017 was awarded the first prize in United Nations Public Service Award for Asia Pacific.

Out of 552 initiatives from 62 different countries, West Bengal Government’s initiative was chosen the best. The award was presented at The Hague, Netherlands.

Kanyashree Prakalpa is a targeted conditional cash transfer scheme aimed at retaining girls in schools and other educational and skill development institutions and preventing child marriage.

The scheme has already enrolled more than four million adolescent girls and the State Government has till date transferred about USD 500 million directly to the beneficiaries’ bank account.

The scheme is being implemented through 16000 institutes and schools.

UN Public Service Awards

• The United Nations Public Service Awards are given by the world body to institutions from across the world for their innovation and excellence in providing public services.
• It is the most prestigious international recognition of excellence in public service.
• The overall purpose of the award is to recognize the institutional contribution made by public servants to enhance the role, professionalism, image and visibility of the public service.
• The award highlights the pivotal role of public services in the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Under the Swachh Bharat Mission Gramin (SBM-G), rural Uttarakhand and rural Haryana have declared themselves as the 4th and 5th Open Defecation Free (ODF) States of India.

The two on 22nd June 2017 joined the league of Sikkim, Himachal Pradesh and Kerala, which were the first three states to be declared ODF.

Nationally, the sanitation coverage has increased from 42% to over 64% in just two and a half years since the launch of SBM.

Uttarakhand has 13 districts, 95 blocks, 7256 gram panchayats and 15751 villages while Haryana has 21 districts, 124 blocks, and 6083 gram panchayats - all of which have declared themselves as ODF.

With the total number of ODF States now rising to 5, more than 2 Lakh villages and 147 districts have also been declared ODF across the country.

Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao announced that the state will shield the proposed 12 percent reservation for poor Muslim communities even in the highest office of the Central Government.

The Minister made the announcement during a government-sponsored Iftar that was held in Hyderabad on 18 June 2017.

The Minister stated that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had been apprised of the reservation bill during his last visit and Modi had assured that he will study the bill.

The Minister also added that he had conveyed to the Prime Minister that the reservation bill was in keeping with the election promise that his Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) party had made in 2014.

The reservation bill, which has been passed by the Telangana Legislature, proposes to increase reservations in jobs and education for backward sections of the poor Muslim community from 4 percent to 12 percent.

Besides this, the Chief Minister laid the foundation stone of Anees-ul-Gurbha Complex in Nampally area, a shelter house that aims to provide education and shelter to Muslim orphan children.

The total estimated cost of the complex is about INR 20 Cr.

Till now, the state government has set up 204 residential schools for underprivileged children from the Muslim community, which is expected to benefit almost 1.33 lakh students.

Minister for Science & Technology Dr. Harshvardhan launched a Mobile App "Celebrating Yoga" developed by Department of Science & Technology, Ministry of Science & Technology in New Delhi on 19th June 2017.

The Mobile App has been developed by DST on the occasion of International Yoga Day 2017. The purpose of the APP is to popularise Yoga and encourage people to participate in it for a scientifically healthy living.

Healthy life of citizens improves productivity and economy of the country as a whole. Practicing Yoga is a means of maintaining a healthy society in harmony with nature and fulfil developmental aspirations.

This aspect of quality of life is aligned with the National Mission "Swasth Bharat" of the Government of India.

The Department of Science & Technology has launched a research programme "Science and Technology of Yoga and Meditation (SATYAM)" under its Cognitive Science Research Initiative (CSRI).

As Yoga and Meditation are interdisciplinary endeavors that interface with Neuroscience, Medicine, Psychology, Engineering, Philosophy etc., yoga can contribute in a holistic way to derive integrated benefits.

Celebrating Yoga provides a platform to share information and insights about peoples’ participation in Yoga activities on the occasion of the International Yoga Day 2017; create awareness and encourage a scientifically healthy living.

The App will enable in capturing both mass events being organized in public places, schools and office complexes across the country and individual enthusiasts who are performing yoga to promote the celebration of the day and yoga performances.

The App will be connected with Google Map where shared information can been seen by the users. Subsequently the information posted will also be visible on DST website through a social wall.

The App Celebrating Yoga (DST) can be downloaded from Google Play Store

The information gathered through this app will be shared subsequently with the Ministry of AYUSH to complement their efforts.

Shri Piyush Goyal, Minister of State (IC) for Power, Coal, New and Renewable Energy and Mines launched the Energy Conservation Building Code 2017 (ECBC 2017) on 19th June 2017.

Developed by Ministry of Power and Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE), ECBC 2017 prescribes the energy performance standards for new commercial buildings to be constructed across India.

The updated version of ECBC provides current as well as futuristic advancements in building technology to further reduce building energy consumption and promote low-carbon growth.

ECBC 2017 sets parameters for builders, designers and architects to integrate renewable energy sources in building design with the inclusion of passive design strategies.

The code aims to optimise energy savings with the comfort levels for occupants, and prefers life-cycle cost effectiveness to achieve energy neutrality in commercial buildings.

ECBC 2017 will give clear direction and have criteria for new buildings to be Super ECBC

In order for a building to be considered ECBC-compliant, it would need to demonstrate minimum energy savings of 25%.

Additional improvements in energy efficiency performance would enable the new buildings to achieve higher grades like ECBC Plus or Super ECBC status leading to further energy savings of 35% and 50%, respectively.

With the adoption of ECBC 2017 for new commercial building construction throughout the country, it is estimated to achieve a 50% reduction in energy use by 2030.

This will translate to energy savings of about 300 Billion Units by 2030 and peak demand reduction of over 15 GW in a year.

This will be equivalent to expenditure savings of Rs 35,000 crore and 250 million tonnes of CO2 reduction.

ECBC 2017 was developed by BEE with technical support from United States Agency for International Development (USAID) under the U.S.-India bilateral Partnership to Advance Clean Energy – Deployment Technical Assistance (PACE-D TA) Program.

The Commerce & Industry Minister Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman on 19th June 2017 launched theStartup India Virtual Hub, an online platform for all stakeholders of the entrepreneurial ecosystem in India to discover, connect and engage with each other.

Startup India Virtual Hub is an effort to create a marketplace where all the stakeholders can interact, exchange knowledge, and enable each other to grow.

It will streamline the lifecycle of existing and potential startups, helping them access the right resources at the right time.

All entrepreneurs in India will utilize this portal and all enabling stakeholders will contribute to the platform as much as possible.

The Minister also announced a new initiative, wherein a Startup exchange program amongst the SAARC nations would be organized.

The portal will host startups, investors, funds, mentors, academia, incubators, accelerators, corporates, Government bodies and more.

The Hub attempts to solve the problem of information asymmetry and lack of access to knowledge, tools, &experts, especially in the nascent ecosystems across Tier II and III towns.

The Virtual Hub is a dynamic & interactive platform that will facilitate learning & development, networking, mentorship, funding, etc. for startups.

The basic principle behind developing this platform is to aggregate different offerings of the ecosystem and enable discovery by the right audience.

Startup India Hub has partnered with various organizations to on-board entrepreneurs & investors, as well as build knowledge modules.

To ensure accessibility across various platforms, dedicated Apps are also available on both Android and iOS.

India is the third largest startup ecosystem around the globe, with 3-4 startups commencing every day.

Startup Hub: Know More

• The Hub will act as a nodal platform and will enable users to connect with ecosystem stakeholders, access free learning resources, tools & templates on legal, HR, accounting & regulatory issues and discussion forums.
• The Hub has also aggregated over 50 relevant Govt schemes/programs.
• In the next phase, the platform will also aggregate schemes available across various state governments. To provide a better user experience, the platform has been enabled to build smart intelligence along with Chatbots to automatically collate, update information and respond to queries.
• The launch event of the Hub was kick-started by a panel discussion on ‘Navigating the Startup Landscape’ with a representative from each of the startup, investor, incubator, accelerator, and mentor communities.

Dr Mahesh Sharma, Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Culture & Tourism on 17 June 2017 launched the implementation of the National Mission on Cultural Mapping of India at Goverdhan Block, Mathura District of Uttar Pradesh.

The national mission on cultural mapping was launched in a day long, Block level mega talent hunt programme (Sanskritik Pratibha Khoj Samaroh).

This Mission is part of the ‘Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat’ umbrella.

Ministry of Culture launched it in the year of commemoration of the birth centenary of Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyay, who hailed from Mathura.

After launching the National Mission on Cultural Mapping of India, the cultural minister informed that his ministry will be organising similar Block level events in other States.

The exercise will help the government to kick start the process of scaling up the efforts to cover all the Blocks of the Country. The current round includes Shimoga Block in Shimoga District, Karnataka, Thanesar Block in Kurukshetra District, Haryana, Chauri - Chaura Block in Gorakhpur District in Uttar Pradesh & Saraikela Block in Saraikela - Kharsawan District in Jharkhand.

Ministry of Culture has planned to hold talent hunt competitions with various rounds from Block level to National level. The scheme is set to cover all the Blocks of the Country, involving a total of 6.40 Lakh villages over the span of next 3 years.

National cultural mapping mission: Know More

• The mission aims at converting the vast and widespread cultural canvas of India into an objective cultural map, designing a mechanism to fulfil the aspirations of the whole artist community of the nation and preserving the rich cultural heritage of this country in the form of a cultural repository of artists and art forms.
• This Mission encompasses data mapping, demography building formalising the processes and bringing all the cultural activities under one web-based umbrella for better results.
• The Mission also seeks to open a direct channel of communication for artists with the Government and peer to peer communication among artists for talent honing and handholding of each other.
• The Cultural Mapping of India portal will serve as a repository/consolidated database of information about cultural assets and resources i.e. a cultural inventory at one place for essential planning, sustainable economic development and for preserving the scattered and near extinct art forms. Artist/Organisations also may register online at www.culturalmapping.nic.in.

Academy to Promote Braj Bhasha

• Also on the anvil is an academy to promote Braj Bhasha, a dialect of Hindi which is spoken by people primarily in Braj region including Agra, Mathura, Etah and Aligarh.
• Braj Sahitya Academy most likely will be set up in Mathura.
• Braj language descended from Shauraseni Prakrit and commonly viewed as a western dialect of Hindi. It is spoken by some 575000 people, primarily in India.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj inaugurated Know India Programme, KIP, for young overseas Indians at a function in New Delhi on 18^th June 2017.

It aims at promoting awareness on different facets of life in India and the progress made by the country in various fields such as economic and education.

The Know India Programme is a three-week orientation programme for the Indian diaspora.

It provides a unique forum for students and young professionals of Indian origin to visit India, share their views, expectations and experiences and develop closer bonds with the contemporary India.

On the occasion, the External Affairs Minister announced opening of new 149 post office passport seva kendras in the country soon.

Mrs Swaraj announced will take the total number of such Kendras to 251.

MEA also said that government is making all out efforts that a person should not travel more than 50 kilometres to get his/her passport.

The European Union (EU) delegation to India on 13 June 2017 announced its decision to release the final tranche of Euro 25 million of its euro 80 million grant to the Indian government’s Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA).

An official statement from EU read "This brings to a conclusion the EU’s sector support to school education in India, to which it has contributed over euro 520 million (currently valued at INR 3,700 crore) in grant funding."

The EU grants have contributed in setting up new schools, improving existing ones, bridging gender and social gaps, providing toilets especially for girls, training teachers, and enrolling nearly all children in the primary school years.

EU was the Indian government’s first development partner in education through its participation in the 155 districts initially selected under District Primary Education Programme in 1994.

The Department for International Development (DFID) of the UK and the World Bank joined subsequently as partners.

The EU has also provided euro 32 million to the Chhattisgarh from 2006-2015 for improving elementary education.

These programmes anticipated and then supported the implementation of the Right to Education Act of 2009, which made elementary education compulsory.

Education in India: Know More

• India has more than 1.5 million schools in the public and private sectors, with over 227 million children enrolled.
• Around 1.29 million or 84.7 per cent are in rural areas.
• The reduction of dropout rates and the improvement of education outcomes as measured by various surveys are the main challenge for school policy makers and public authorities, going forward.

In the year of commemoration of the birth centenary of Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyay, who hailed from Mathura district in Uttar Pradesh, the Ministry of Culture, Government of India is launching the implementation of the ‘‘National Mission on Cultural Mapping of India.’

This is at Goverdhan Block, Mathura District, Uttar Pradesh.

It will be a day long, Block level mega talent hunt programme (Sanskritik Pratibha Khoj Samaroh) on 17th June, 2017 from 10 am to 5 pm at Radheshyam Sewa Sadan (in front of Gaudiya Math), Radha Kund Road, Gowardhan.

This Mission is part of the ‘Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat’ umbrella.

Around 1-2 thousand artists are expected to take part in this Block level event where artists can also register themselves following which a registration certificate/slip/code will be provided to all the artists who register.

A stage will be provided to the registered artists for performance and displaying their talent.

A panel of renowned artists has also been invited for judging the participants in different art forms. Registration can also be done directly on the portal culturalmappingofindia.nic.in.

For those artists who, for some reason, are not able to register themselves and their art forms, enumeration teams have been sent to all the 47 villages of Gowardhan Block for geo mapping of artists and their art forms.

Any person who claims to be an artist can register at the initial level.

Cultural Mapping Mission: Know More

• Paving the way for the ‘Ek Bharat, Shreshtha Bharat’ programme, the mission aims at converting the vast and widespread cultural canvas of India into an objective cultural map.
• It is designing a mechanism to fulfil the aspirations of the whole artist community of the nation and preserving the rich cultural heritage of this country in the form of a cultural repository of artists and art forms.
• This Mission encompasses data mapping, demography building formalising the processes and bringing all the cultural activities under one web based umbrella for better results.
• The Mission also seeks to open a direct channel of communication of artists with the Government and peer to peer communication among artists for talent honing and handholding of each other.
• The scheme is set to cover all the Blocks of the Country, involving a total of 6.40 Lakh villages over the span of next 3 years
• The Artist/Organisations also may register online at www.culturalmapping.nic.in.
• The Cultural Mapping of India portal will serve as a repository/consolidated database of information about cultural assets and resources i.e. a cultural inventory at one place for essential planning, sustainable economic development and for preserving the scattered and near extinct art forms.
• Ministry of Culture will be organising similar Block level events in other States too so as to kick start the process of scaling up the efforts to cover all the Blocks of the Country.
• The current round includes Shimoga Block in Shimoga District, Karnataka, Thanesar Block in Kurukshetra District, Haryana, Chauri – Chaura Block in Gorakhpur District in Uttar Pradesh & Saraikela Block in Saraikela - Kharsawan District in Jharkhand.

India has ratified two key global conventions for combating child labour as a step towards creating full respect for fundamental rights at work.

India has deposited the instruments of ratification of the two fundamental ILO Conventions with the International Labour Office (ILO). The two key conventions are related to the elimination of child labour- the Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (No 138) and the Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182).

India has become the 170th member of ILO to ratify the Convention No. 138, which requires the member parties to set a minimum age under which no one should be employed in any occupation, except for light work and artistic performances.

India has become the 181st member of ILO to ratify Convention No 182 which requires state parties to prohibit and eliminate worst forms of child labour, including slavery, forced labour and trafficking; the use of children in armed conflict; the use of a child for prostitution, pornography and in illicit activities such as drug trafficking; and hazardous work.

The elimination of Child Labour from the country is also essential to achieve Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.

The ratification of these conventions will help in achieving Goal 8 of the sustainable development goals which aims at complete eradication of child labour by 2025 and calls for prohibition and elimination of its worst forms.

The government has recently amended the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986 which came into effect in September 2016. This amendment prohibits employment of children below 14 years in any occupation or process.

It also prohibits the employment of adolescents (14 to 18 years) in hazardous occupations and processes. The government has also strengthened the National Child Labour Project.

It is a rehabilitative scheme that provides bridge education and vocational training to adolescents.

The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved the Interest Subvention Scheme (ISS) for farmers for the year 2017-18.

This will help farmers getting short term crop loan up to Rs. 3 lakh payable within one year at only 4% per annum.

The Government has earmarked a sum of INR 20,339 crore for this purpose.

The interest subvention will be given to Public Sector Banks (PSBs), Private Sector Banks, Cooperative Banks and Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) on use of own funds.

It will also be provided to NABARD for refinance to RRBs and Cooperative Banks.

The Interest Subvention Scheme will continue for one year and it will be implemented by NABARD and RBI.

The objective of the scheme is to make available at ground level, agricultural credit for Short Term crop loans at an affordable rate to give a boost to agricultural productivity and production in the country.

Scheme Features: Know More

The salient features of the scheme are as follows:

The Central Government will provide interest subvention of 5 per cent per annum to all prompt payee farmers for short term crop loan upto one year for loan upto INR 3 lakhs borrowed by them during the year 2017-18. Farmers will thus have to effectively pay only 4% as interest. In case farmers do not repay the short term crop loan in time they would be eligible for interest subvention of 2% as against 5% available above. The Central Government will provide approximately INR 20,339 crore as interest subvention for 2017-18. In order to give relief to small and marginal farmers who would have to borrow at 9% for the post harvest storage of their produce, the Central Government has approved an interest subvention of 2% i.e. an effective interest rate of 7% for loans upto 6 months. To provide relief to the farmers affected by natural calamities, the interest subvention of 2% will be provided to Banks for the first year on the restructured amount. In case farmers do not repay the short term crop loan in time they would be eligible for interest subvention of 2% as against available above.

Source: PIB

Impact:

Credit is a critical input in achieving high productivity and overall production in the agricultural sector.

The Cabinet’s approval of a sum of INR 20,339 crore to meet various obligations arising from interest subvention being provided to the farmers on short term crop loans, as also loans on post harvest storages meets an important input requirement of the farmers in the country.

This institutional credit will help in delinking the farmers from non-institutional sources of credit, where they are compelled to borrow at usurious rates of interest.

Since the crop insurance under Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) is linked to availing of crop loans, the farmers would stand to benefit from both farmer oriented initiatives of the Government, by accessing the crop loans.

An important initiative of the government is market reforms, with a view to ensuring that the farmers benefit from remunerative prices for their produce in the market.

The electronic National Agriculture Market (e-NAM) that was launched by Government on April, 2016 aims at integrating the dispersed APMCs through an electronic platform and enable price discovery in a competitive manner, to the advantage of the farmers.

While the farmers are advised to undertake on-line trade, it is also important that they avail themselves of post-harvest loans by storing their produce in the accredited warehouses.

The loans are available to Kisan Credit Card (KCC) holding small and marginal farmers at interest subvention of 2 per cent on such storages for a period of upto six months.

This will help the farmers to sell when they find the market is buoyant, and avoid distress sale. It is, therefore, needful for the small and marginal farmers to keep their KCCs alive.

The Government is keen in improving income of the farmers, for which it has launched several new initiatives that encompass activities from seed to marketing.

The credit from institutional sources will complement all such government initiatives like Soil Health Card, Input Management, Per Drop More Crop in Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sichai Yojana (PMKSY), PMFBY, e-NAM, etc.

Interest Subvention Scheme: Know More

• The scheme has been running since 2006-07. Under this, the farmers can avail concessional crop loans of upto INR 3 lakh at 7% rate of interest.
  It also provides for an additional subvention of 3%.
• Prompt Repayment within a period of one year from the date of advance. As a measure to check distress sale, post-harvest loans for storage in accredited warehouses against Negotiable Warehouse Receipts (NWRs) are available for upto 6 months for KCC holding small & marginal farmers.
• During the year 2016-17, the volume of short term crop loan lent stood at INR 6,22,685 crore, surpassing the target of INR 6,15,000 crore
• Government provides Interest subvention to different banks and cooperatives for short term crop loan extended by them to farmers at concessional rate of 7% and in case of timely repayment, an additional subvention of 3%.
• In effect, crop loans are available to farmers at 4% rate of interest. The scheme also envisages other benefits including interest at concessional rate of 7% for storage in ware houses accredited by Warehousing Development Regulatory Authority (WDRA) for upto 6 months post harvest for avoiding distress sale.
• This provides institutional credit to the farmers and disengages them from non-institutional sources of credit, where they are prone to exploitation by private money lenders.
• All short term crop loan accounts will be Aadhaar linked from current year.

The Maharashtra government on 11 June 2017 announced a loan waiver for farmers.

It decided to form a committee to decide the criteria for debt relief, after which cultivators called off their protests.

The move is expected to benefit 1.07 crore farmers in the state, who have land holdings of less than five acres.

A discussion between the government of Maharashtra and representatives of farmers have reached a consensus and farmers have called off the strike.

With this, Maharashtra became the first state to offer loan waiver to farmers. The loans of the small and marginal farmers were waived with immediate effect.

The decision was made that the benefits of the waiver will be provided only to those farmers who are dependent only on farm produce.

The benefits of the loan waiver will not apply for political leaders, businessman and salaried person.

On the real farmers will be benefitted from the scheme of waiving the farm loans.

A separate committee will be formed to fix criteria based on which further waiver will be sanctioned.

Besides, the ministers’ group has decided to restart fresh loan disbursal to farmers from 12 June 2017.

The state government has also accepted the demand of farmers to increase the milk prices.

The milk societies will have to agree with 70:30 formula (70 per cent of selling amount to farmers, 30 per cent to the distribution chain) of profit sharing on the lines of the sugar industry.

Devendra Fadnavis, CM of Maharashtra had earlier formed a six-member high power committee led by senior BJP minister Chandrakant Patil to look into various demands of farmers, including a loan waiver. The panel was asked to submit its report to the state government after holding discussions with farmers’ leaders.

With an aim to make legal aid easily accessible to the marginalized communities and citizens living in rural areas, the government on 11th June 2017 has launched the Tele Law initiative.

For this, the Ministry of Law and Justice partnered with the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology in an initiative that anchors the Digital India programme, to provide legal aid services through its Common Service Centres (CSC) at the panchayat level, spread across the country.

According to the Law Ministry, in the first phase, the ‘Tele-Law’ scheme will be tested as a pilot across 500 such CSCs in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar to understand the challenges and make necessary corrections to the scheme before it is scaled up and rolled out across the country in a phased manner.

Under the scheme, a portal called ‘Tele-Law’ will be launched, which will be available across the CSC network.

This will connect the citizens to legal service providers with the help of technology-enabled platforms.

‘Tele-Law’ will enable people to seek legal advice from lawyers through video conferencing available at the CSC.

Additionally, law school clinics, District Legal Service Authorities, voluntary service providers and Non-Government Organisations working on legal aid and empowerment can also be connected through the CSCs anywhere and anytime, in order to strengthen access to justice for the marginalized communities.

A robust monitoring and evaluation system is also being designed which will help in assessing the quality of legal advice provided and the ensuing benefit to those accessing it.

NITI Aayog has launched SATH-‘Sustainable Action for Transforming Human capital’ with the State Governments for furthering the agenda of cooperative federalism.

NITI Aayog under the SATH initiative plans to identify and build three future ‘role model’ states for health systems.

After identification of three states, NITI Aayog will work in close collaboration with the state machinery of these three states.

It will help in designing a robust roadmap, develop a program governance structure, establish monitoring and tracking mechanisms, and provide support to the state institutions to achieve the end objectives.

SATH program will be implemented by NITI Aayog along with McKinsey & Company and IPE Global consortium.

How SATH Works: Know More

• For selecting three model states, NITI Aayog spelled out three-stage process, namely, expression of interest, presentations by the states and assessment of commitment to health sector reforms.
• Subsequently, 16 states expressed interest in the initiative out of which 14 states presented their project proposals-Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chandigarh, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Punjab, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh.
• From these four states, NITI Aayog has shortlisted 5 states.
  After subsequent screening and evaluations, three states will be selected.
• Parameters such as MMR, IMR, incidence of malaria will be considered for determining potential impact, and metrics such as density of doctors and nurses, compliance to IPHS norms will be used to determine likelihood of success.
• The program will be launched after signing of MoUs with these three selected states.

Niti Aayog: Know More

• NITI Aayog is essentially an advisory body that seeks to provide critical directional and strategic inputs across spectrum of key elements of policy to the centre as well as states.
• The Government of India has established Niti Ayog as a “Think Tank” which has no power to impose policies.
• By establishing Niti Aayog the government wants to be an “enabler” and leaves the impetus to provide a platform for cooperative and competitive federalism to the newly established body.

The Union Ministry of Law and Justice has cleared the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Karnataka Amendment) Bill 2017, and thus legalising kambala.

The bill will now be sent to the President for getting his assent.

In November 2016, the Karnataka high court had banned the kambala along with bull-cart race in the state while hearing a case filed by the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) citing animal cruelty.

The high court had stayed these traditional sports in view of the Supreme Court’s ban on jallikattu, a traditional bull taming sport of Tamil Nadu.

Following protests by people and kambala organisers, Karnataka Assembly had passed Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Karnataka Amendment) Bill, 2017 on February 13, 2017 to allow kambala, the traditional buffalo race and bullock-cart racing.

In April 2017, the Union Home Ministry asked the state government to modify or omit the phrase “subject to such other conditions as may be prescribed” in the sub-section 2 of section 3 of the Bill as this phrase would make it possible for the state government to include more sports involving animals through government notifications in the future.

The state government made the modifications and sent it back to the union government.

Kambala: Know More

• Kambala is the traditional slush track buffalo race that is held annually in coastal districts of Karnataka to entertain rural people of the area.
• Slushy/marshy paddy field track is used for Kambala.
• The sports season generally starts in November and lasts till March.
• The contest generally takes place between two pairs of buffaloes, each pair race in two separate wet rice fields tracks, controlled by a whip-lashing farmer.
  
• This is considered an organised rural sport.

Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare J P Nadda on 6 June 2017 launched the “Skill for Life, Save a Life” Initiative with an aim to promote skill development in the health sector.

Under this initiative, various courses will be initiated targeting specific competencies for healthcare professionals as well as for general public.

Skills for Life, Save a Life Initiative aims to upscale the quantity and quality of trained professionals in the healthcare system.

This initiative is a part of a larger plan and program for ensuring Universal Health Coverage.

The Ministry initiated the initiative by launching First Responder course for professionals as well as general public that will be conducted in Central and State government training institutes.

It will also empower every single citizen of the country to provide first aid and initial care in case of an emergency.

Through this initiative, trained and skilled personnel will be able to help save lives in the golden hour during an emergency situation.

Through such programs, government aims to create a mass of ‘first responder’ who complements the specialists to fill vacuum of adequate trained professionals.

The ministry also launched the logo of Skills for life, Save a life along with the Standardized Professional curriculum for Physiotherapy, Optometry, Dialysis therapy technology, imaging technology, Radiotherapy technology, Operation theatre technology and Medical laboratory training courses.

These courses will train the individuals as First Responder, General Duty Assistant, Geriatric Care Assistant, Home Health Aide, Phlebotomist, Sanitary Health Inspector, Dietetic Aide, Diabetes Educator, Emergency Medical Technician- Basic and Medical Equipment Technology Assistant.

Chandigarh would become the first city in the country where all public parking lots would be managed by women.

A smart parking system would be launched in the second week of June under the joint initiative of the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation and Arya Toll Infra Ltd, the company allotted the parking contract. The women attendants will manage all 25 parking lots in markets in different sectors of the city as well as multi-level parking in Sector 17 from 7.30 am to 9 pm.

After 9 pm, men would manage the parking lots.

There would be designated “pink parking spots” in parking areas reserved for women drivers. Arya Toll Infra, which is a Mumbai-based company, was allotted the parking contract for INR 14.78 crore.

For the last one year, the all public parking lots have remained without contractors, causing losses to the civic body.

Chandigarh is the best city to start this pilot in the country because it is comparatively safer than other cities.

Over 200 women would be hired by the company. In addition, some employees would be provided by the Urban Poverty Alleviation and Livelihood cell of the municipal corporation. W

The motorists would be able to book parking space in advance through a mobile app which would be launched a day before the new smart parking system starts.

The details of all the parking lots and the space available would be available on the app.

If no parking space is available in the nearest lot, the details of other parking lots would automatically come on the app.

A senior officer of the municipal corporation said that before rolling out the new system, all the women attendants would be imparted training that would be held next week.

The women-manned public parking lots will have designated slots for senior citizens and disabled drivers.

There are plans to have a system where slips issued for parking would automatically be generated in the name of the vehicle owner.

The Telangana government was the only government in the country to launch welfare schemes such as pension for single women for the betterment of society.

The government was also proving pension to senior citizens, widows, disabled persons, and beedi workers.

Following petitions on the plight of single women deserted by their husbands and relatives, the government decided to distribute pension of INR 1,000 per month to such women on humanitarian grounds.

Stating that the earlier government had spent only INR 800 crore on pension to 29 lakh beneficiaries, he said the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) government was providing pension to 38 lakh persons spending INR 5,600 crore per annum.

The government had also increased the Kalyana Laxmi and Shaadi Mubarak scheme amount from INR 50,116 to INR 75,116.

Telangana Rashtra Samiti

• President: Kalvakuntla Chandrashekhar Rao
• Leader: Kalvakuntla Chandrashekhar Rao
• Headquarters: Banjara Hills, Hyderabad, Telangana, India
• Founder: Kalvakuntla Chandrashekhar Rao
• Founded: 27 April 2001
• Newspaper: Namasthe Telangana
• Ideology: Conservatism, Regionalism

The Minister of Road Transport & Highways and Shipping Shri Nitin Gadkari launched INAM-Pro + in New Delhi on June 1, 2017.

INAM-Pro+ is an upgraded version of INAM-Pro, the web portal designed by National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd (NHIDCL) and launched by the Ministry two years back as a common platform to bring cement buyers and sellers together.

More than 700 construction companies have used INAM-Pro during the last two years. With 37 Cement companies registered on it, the portal facilitated comparison of price, availability of materials etc. and made it very convenient for the prospective buyers to procure cement at reasonable rates in a transparent manner.

This reduced the time and effort in preparation of proposals and bid submissions, and helped increase efficiency in procurement of construction materials as one could place orders, obtain price quotes and track them in swift manner on this portal

The publicly visible prices have promoted transparency and enhanced ease of doing business. The companies registered on INAM-Pro have a committed supply of 27 million metric tons of cement at a price restricted by predefined ceiling values.

INAM-Pro has thus been successful in matching demand with supply, cutting down delays by timely supply of material and providing for online payments , mitigating cost overruns due to price hedging through ceiling price mechanism which allows maximum increment of 10% Year on Year basis and promoting transparency in the market due to publicly visible Prices.

INAM-Pro has been highly acclaimed by the construction industry and IT sector and has also been recognized and listed in the Book-on-Innovations “New Beginning” released by the PM on the Civil Services Day.

Portal Up gradation: Know More

• Following the success with cement, the portal has recently been upgraded as INAM-Pro+ to include the A to Z of construction materials.
• This includes equipments/machinery and services like purchase/hiring/lease of new/used products and services in the domains of Construction Materials viz., cement, steel, bitumen, stone aggregates, concrete, bricks, wood, sanitary items, paint etc.
• The portal allows stake holders to seek operational guidance, give their feedback and submit suggestions through Toll Free No. 1800 200 3399 (10.00 A.M. to 6.00 P.M, Monday to Friday) or www. www.inampromic.in.