April 2019: Developments, Schemes and Issues Concerning Society, Environment, Technology.

Tribal Welfare/Forest Dwellers:

1. Forced Eviction of tribals. The SC ordered forced eviction of tribals and forest dwellers from forest lands of 16 states, after their claim as forest dwellers under Forest Rights Act, 2006 were rejected.

Agriculture/ farmers.

1. Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN): a Central Sector scheme with 100% funding from Government of India to augment the income of the farmers by providing income support to all landholding farmers’ families across the country, to enable them to take care of expenses related to agriculture and allied activities as well as domestic needs. 
2. Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Utthaan Mahabhiyan (KUSUM) Scheme to provide extra income to farmers, by giving them an option to sell additional power to the grid through solar power projects set up on their barren lands.
3. A new rainfed agriculture atlas has been released by Revitalising Rainfed Agriculture (RRA) Network. It reveals:
1. There has been “negligence” toward rainfed areas which is leading to lower incomes for farmers in these areas.
2. Flagship government schemes, such as seed and fertiliser subsidies and soil health cards, are designed for irrigated areas and simply extended to rainfed farmers without taking their needs into consideration.
4. Agri-Market Infrastructure Fund (AMIF) for developing marketing infrastructure in Agriculture Produce Market Committees (APMCs) and Grameen Agricultural Markets (GrAMs). 
5. Transport and Marketing Assistance (TMA) for specified agriculture products to provide assistance for the international component of freight and marketing of agricultural produce.

Labour/workers.

1. The Pradhan Mantri Shram Yogi Maan-dhan Yojana (PM-SYM), a mega pension scheme for unorganised sector.
2. Seven centenary initiatives as part of the 100th Anniversary of ILO. Major initiatives are:
1. The end to poverty initiative 
2. The women at work initiative 
3. The green initiative

Consumer protection.

1. Parliament has passed the Banning of Unregulated Deposit Schemes Bill, 2019 to ban unregulated deposit schemes and protect the interests of depositors.

Unemployed.

1. Jan Shikshan Sansthans (JSS) to provide vocational training to non-literate, neo-literate, as well as school dropouts by identifying skills as would have a market in the region of their establishment.
2. Industry 4.0, also the fourth industrial revolution, it is a name given to the current trend of automation, interconnectivity and data exchange in manufacturing technologies to increase productivity.
3. Credit linked Capital Subsidy Scheme (CLCSS) facilitates technology upgradation of small scale industries.

Education 

1. Operation Digital Board to leverage technology in order to boost quality education in the country
2. Rajasthan Assembly passed Bills which seek to end the minimum education criterion for panchayat and civic poll candidates.

Environment.

1. Atal Bhujal Yojana (ATAL JAL) for sustainable management of groundwater with community participation in seven States, viz. Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.
2. Super-Efficient Air Conditioning Programme for promoting energy efficiency, energy security and sustainability.
3. Circular economy. In this process almost everything is reused, remanufactured, recycled back into a raw material or used as a source of energy. It is restorative or regenerative by intention and design.

Poors.

1. Global Housing Technology Challenge. The challenge is undertaken under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana Urban (PMAY-U) to fast-track the construction of affordable housing and meet the target of constructing 1.2 crore houses by 2022.

Gender Equality/ Gender Issues.

1. Women’s livelihood bond. The World Bank, UN Women and Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) launched it to help rural women in the country’s poorest States to set up or scale up their own enterprises.

General Studies for Exams: Pradhan Mantri KisanSamman Nidhi (PM-KISAN)

Points to remember:

1. Scheme to provide direct income support at the rate of Rs. 6,000 per year.
• Amount  to transferred directly into the bank accounts of beneficiary farmers, in three equal installments of Rs. 2,000 each.
• Transfer to be made in Aadhar linked-bank accounts of farmers.
2. Totally Centrally funded Scheme to benefit around 14.5 crore beneficiaries.
3. Launched by Prime Minister in February 2019, in Gorakhpur.
4. All land holding eligible farmer families (subject to the prevalent exclusion criteria) would avail of the benefits under this scheme. It excludes:
• Former or present holders of any constitutional posts;
• Former or Present (Ministers, State Ministers, MPs of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, State Legislative Councils or Assemblies, Mayors of Municipal Corporations and Chairpersons of district panchayat).
• Income Tax payers. 
5. State/UT Governments will be responsible for identification of beneficiaries.

Source

General Studies for Exams: PM Kisan Maan Dhan Yojana (PM-KMY).

Points to remember.

1. Voluntary and contribution based Pension scheme for farmers.
2. Launched by Prime Minister at Ranchi in September 2019.
3. Beneficiaries: all landholding Small and Marginal Farmers (with land holdings are less than 2 hectares of land).
4. A fixed pension of Rs.3,000/- to beneficiaries.
5. Eligibility:  farmers of the age between 18 and 40 years.
6. The Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) shall be the Pension Fund Manager. 
7.  Farmers to make a monthly contribution of Rs.55 to Rs.200, depending on their age of entry, in the Pension Fund till they reach the retirement- 60 years.The Central Government will also make an equal contribution of the same amount.
8. Beneficiaries of PM-Kisan Scheme can allow their contribution debited from the benefit of that Scheme directly.

Integrated Watershed Management Programme (IWMP).

It was launched in 2009-10 by the integration of various area development programmes of the Department of Land Resources, including the Drought Prone Areas Programme (DPAP), the Desert Development Programme (DDP) and the Integrated Wastelands Development Programme (IWDP).

• Cost sharing ratio of Central Government: State Government  90 : 10

• 9% of the project cost is earmarked for development of livelihoods for asset-less people

• 10% of the project cost is for productivity enhancement and development of micro-enterprises for small & marginal farmers.

• An average size of project under the IWMP is about 5,000 ha which is cluster of micro-watersheds.

• A portion of institution &capacity building (5% of the total project cost) has been provided to set up institutional mechanism at State, District, Project and Village levels and to build capacities of stakeholders.

• In the IWMP, Gram Panchayat has been effectively involved to perform important function at Village/Watershed level to keep transparency and people’s participations.  

Har Khet ko Pani Prime Minister Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY).

PMKSY has been formulated with the vision of extending the coverage of irrigation ‘Har Khet ko pani’ and improving water use efficiency ‘More crop per drop' in a focused manner with end to end solution on source creation, distribution, management, field application and extension activities.

Objective: The major objective of PMKSY is to achieve convergence of investments in irrigation at the field level, expand cultivable area under assured irrigation, improve on-farm water use efficiency to reduce wastage of water, enhance the adoption of precision-irrigation and other water saving technologies (More crop per drop), enhance recharge of aquifers and introduce sustainable water conservation practices by exploring the feasibility of reusing treated municipal waste water for peri-urban agriculture and attract greater private investment in precision irrigation system.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approved Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY) in its meeting held in 2015.

PMKSY has been formulated amalgamating ongoing schemes:

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

Economics and Environment Special: Atal Jyoti Yojana (AJAY).

The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) launched the Atal Jyoti Yojana (AJAY) to illuminate dark regions across five states (Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand, and Odisha) through solar power.

• Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) has been entrusted to implement this path-breaking initiative in a mission mode by March 31, 2018.

• Objective: to illuminate rural, semi-urban, and urban areas that face less than 50% grid connectivity in above 5 states with solar LED street lights.

• MNRE will bear 75% of the cost of street lights and remaining 25% will come from Member of Parliament Local Area Development funds (MPLADS), Panchayat funds or Municipalities and other Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) Funds.

Economics Special: Export Promotion Capital Goods (EPCG) Scheme.

India had two variants of EPCG Scheme:

1.       Zero Duty EPCG for few sectors and

2.       3% Duty EPCG for all sectors.

In 2012, a new Post Export EPCG Scheme was also announced.

In 2013, the government has merged Zero Duty EPCG and 3% EPCG Scheme into one scheme which is now known as Zero Duty EPCG Scheme covering all sectors.

EPCG is a zero duty scheme which allows the import of capital goods such as machinery for preproduction, production and post production of export items.

But the duty free import by an exporter has to be paid back in the form of an export obligation equivalent to 6 times of duty saved on capital goods imported under EPCG scheme, to be fulfilled in 6 years reckoned from Authorization issue-date. This means that if an exporter imports a tool making machine and saves an import duty of Rs. 100, he will have make the tools and export tools worth minimum Rs. 600 within 6 years.

Swachh Iconic Places (SIP)

The Swachh Iconic Places (SIP) is an initiative of Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation under Swachh Bharat Mission has included following 10 sites in phase-I of SIP:

• Ajmer Sharif Dargah
• CST Mumbai
• Golden Temple, Amritsar
• Kamakhya Temple, Assam
• Maikarnika Ghat, Varanasi
• Meenakshi Temple, Madurai
• Shri Mata Vaishno Devi, Katra, J&K
• Shree Jagannath Temple, Puri
• The Taj Mahal, Agra
• Tirupati Temple, Tirumala. 

10 new Iconic places selected under the Phase II of Swachh Iconic Places are:

1. Gangotri,
2. Yamunotri.
3. Mahakaleshwar Temple, Ujjain,
4. Char Minar, Hyderabad,
5. Church and Convent of St. Francis of Assissi, Goa,
6. Adi Shankaracharya’s abode Kaladi in Ernakulam,
7. Gomateshwar in Shravanbelgola,
8. Baijnath Dham, Devghar,
9. Gaya Tirth in Bihar and
10. Somnath temple in Gujarat.