Government Committees, Schemes & Bills - Current Affairs for September, 2016

The Pradhan Mantri Jan Aushadhi Yojana was initiated by Pharma Dept in association with Central Pharma PSUs.

• Key PMAK centres were opened where high quality generic medicines are sold at low prices
• The Bureau of Pharma PSUs of India/BPPI is implementing the scheme
• Since 20th Sept,
• 437 Pradhan Mantri Jan Aushadhi Kendras spread over 26 States/UTs are operational across the country. The Government is committed to open 3000 PMJAK by March 2017 across India.
• Agreements have been signed with many national NGOs/Trusts/Societies like CSC, PCI, CNRI, Shree Tapovan vikas Trust, Indian Red Cross Society, Lions Club, CISSIL, CMAI, IMA, Vignan Bharathi, Bharat Sevak Samaj etc. for setting up of Pradhan Mantri Jan Aushadhi Kendras in different States.

Following incentives are provided to open PMJAK:


• Free space provided by State Govt./MCD/PSU etc.
• An amount of INR 2.5 lakhs to be given to NGOs / agency running JAS in government hospital premises:

i. INR 1 Lakh reimbursement of furniture and fixtures
ii. INR 1 Lakh by way of free medicines in the beginning
iii. 0.5 Lakh as reimbursement for computer and other miscellaneous items.


• PMJAK run by private entrepreneurs / pharmacists / NGOs / charitable institutions that are linked through internet are also entitled for sales incentive of 15% of monthly sales subject to ceiling of INR 10000/- per month up to INR 2.50 lakhs. In North east states the incentive is 15% and subject to monthly ceiling of INR 15000 and total limit of INR 2.50 lakhs.

CBDT on 8th September 2016 launched the electronic resolution facility or e-nivaran facility for online redressal of taxpayer’s grievances.

• Grievances can be related to refunds, Income tax returns, Tax Deducted at Source and Permanent Account Number among others.
• The scheme/facility has been started with the aim to reduce instances of harassment of the public for filing IT department complaints
• It will be available on the e-filing portal (http://incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in) of the department.
• It will help taxpayers in registering complaints through the computer and receive special PIN number on their registered mobile number and email which keeps track on latest issues
• Complainant also tracks the progress of complaint through this
• People can lodge complaints and upload documents in the form of PDF file clubbed as ZIP file
• People who lack a PAN card can access the e-nivaran facility and lodge their complaints in connection with IT case
• The form for e-nivaran will also be available in physical form at the Aaykar Sampark Kendras (ASK) (tax facilitation centre), located in over 300 cities.
• Later, the form will be fed into the system by tax officials.

President Pranab Mukherjee on 8th September 2016 provided assent to the Constitution 122nd Amendment GST bill 2014 as per Article 111 of the Constitution of India.

• Following this assent, the bill was changed into a law and permits rolling out a new indirect tax regime
• Following the Presidential assent, bill will be notified to the GST Council that will decide the tax rate, cess and surcharges
• Council is to be headed by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and comprised State Finance Ministers
• Union and state governments will have to draft the Central GST, state and Integrated GST laws for being passed in the winter session of the Parliament.
• CGST and IGST will be drafted on the basis of model GST law
• States will also draw their respective SGST laws with minor variation incorporating State based exemptions. IGST law will deal with inter state movement of goods and services
• GST is a single, indirect tax that will subsume most of the Central and State taxes such as Value Added Tax, excise and service tax, central sales tax, additional customs duty and special additional duty of customs
• Bill was passed by both houses of the Parliament in August 2016 and ratified by 19 states
• The bill needed ratification by legislative assemblies of at least 50 percent of the states.
• The first state to ratify the Bill was Assam. Other states which followed included Bihar, Jharkhand, Chattisgarh, HP, Gujarat, MP, Delhi, Nagaland, Maharashtra, Haryana, Sikkim, Mizoram, Telangana, Goa, Odisha, Rajasthan, Arunachal Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh

Union Government on 6th September 2016 launched the program called National Initiative for Developing and Harnessing Innovations

• Initiative aims at nurturing ideas and innovation into successful startups
• NIDHI is an umbrella programme of DST
• The programme focuses on innovation by channelising youth and bring socio economic development to the nation
• It also strengthen links of innovation
• 8 components of NIDHI are there with PRAYAS being the first component and Seed Support System being the final
• PRAYAS stands for Promoting and Accelerating Young and Aspiring Innovators and Startups
• Key stakeholders of NIDHI include mentors, institutions, VC, angle investors, industry champions, private sector, government bodies, state and central government

Union Minister of State (IC) for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Shri Dharmendra Pradhan launched the #Gas4India campaign aimed at promoting the use of gas in the country.

• Public and private sector companies have now joined hands to promote natural has sector
• #Gas4India is a unified, cross county, multimedia, multi event campaign to communicate benefits of natural gas as a fuel for choice.
• Campaign includes social engagement via Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn and the official blogsite as well as hyper local offline events
• Country is moving towards a gas based economy
• It is working to increase share of gas from present 6.5 percent
• Government will take steps to harness synthetic gas from CBM and promote Bio CNG and PNG.
• New LNG terminals in India are also coming up
• Issues of road cutting fee, uniform tax for PNG, provisioning of PNG infrastructure for upcoming smart cities was also part of the deliberations.

In line with the PM’s goal to eradicate leprosy from India, the National Leprosy Education Programme has a new component. The biggest Leprosy Case Detection Campaign has been launched in India on 5th September 2016 across 149 districts of 19 states and ITs.

• This campaign will cover 1656 blocks/urban areas of the district and screen around 32 crore people for leprosy
• 297604 teams will visit and screen family members for leprosy
• Districts with prevalence of more than 1 case per 10000 people in the past three years have been included in the campaign
• LCDC is the first initiative of its kind, where each and every member of the targeted population will be examined by a search team constituting one male and female volunteer at household levels
• Campaign aims at early detection of leprosy in affected persons so that they will be protected from physical deformity and disability through timely treatment
• The first LCDC was launched in March-April 2016 in 50 districts of 7 states namely Bihar, Jharkhand, Chattisgarh, MP, Maharashtra, Odisha and UP
• A population of 6.8 crores was covered during this campaign where 65427 suspected cases were found of which 4120 cases were confirmed

Odisha’s government on 3rd September 2016 signed a long term lease agreement with Falcon Marine Exports for the operation of Jagatiore Shrimp Project in coastal Kendrapara district.
Falcon Marine Exports has signed a lease for 15 years which will fetch revenue of INR 13 crore to the government.

• Project was first implemented in 19921993 in Mahakalapada Tehsil of Kendrapara District
• It was executed with the help of the World Bank and completed in 2000
• Odisha in 2015 was the first state to adopt a Comprehensive Fishery Policy with the aim to double fish production and receive export earnings of INR 10,000 within 5 years
• State also notified the Brackish Water Land Leasing Policy to make 24,000 ha of land in coastal areas available for aquaculture
• On this day, the state government also launched the Biju Kanya Ratna Yojana in Ganjam, Dhenkanal and Angul districts
• Objective of this BKRY scheme is to ensure development of girls and improve sex ratio at birth as well as child sex ratio
• CSR has fallen from 967 in 1991 to 941 in 2011 in 4 districts of AP including these three where BKRY is being implemented.
• BKRY will ensure enrolment of girls in elementary education and track dropout of girls from schools, creating a better environment for them.

Gujarat has signed an MoU with Aviation Ministry for regional connectivity. To boost regional air connectivity by developing small airports and airstrips attracting domestic airlines, Gujarat state government signed an MoU with the Ministry of Civil Aviation under the Regional Connectivity Scheme.

• With this Gujarat became the third state after Maharashtra and Jharkhand to have signed such an agreement with the Centre to boost regional connectivity.
• As per the agreement signed between both the parties, 11 airports in Gujarat will redeveloped as per the agreement and the RCS Scheme of the Ministry of Civil Aviation
• 11 airports include Bhavnagar, Bhuj, Jamnagar, Surat, Porbandar, Mehsana, Mandvi, Amreli, Kandla, Keshod and Deesa.
• MoU between the state and the centre will provide benefits such as regional air connectivity linked to economic development.
• Apart from developing infrastructure at these airports under the RCS scheme, certain subsidies will be provided to airline operators to commence operation here. Three to four such operators are in contact with us
• A key component of the subsidy is in the form of cheaper Aviation Turbine Fuel.
• Cost of ATF is a major issue for operators and state government will need to bring down the cost by reducing the VAT charged by them.
• Airports in Jamnagar, Bhavnagar and Porbandar are ready to commence operations.

The Ministry of Urban Development on 31st August 2016 signed an MoU with Amar Chitra Katha to publish and distribute a special edition of the comic book

• Comic book will focus on Swachh Bharat Mission
• 32 page comic book will carry messages pertaining to sanitation and solid waste management
• The book will cover series of inspirational stories for the mission, cleanliness rankings, public ambassadors and environmental impact
• There will also be a section on organising community cleanliness drives
• A special edition comic book will be created in English and also translated into Hindi
• Ministry of Urban Development will also distribute the comic book to national school boards such as CBSE, Navodaya Vidyalaya and Kendriya Vidyalaya