TO DOWNLOAD PDF FILE CLICK HERE

 

Union Budget 2020-21 SCHEMES/ Terms

 

1.Ayushman Bharat:

Ø  Ayushman Bharat, a flagship scheme of Government of India was launched as recommended by the National Health Policy 2017, to achieve the vision of Universal Health Coverage (UHC).

Ø  Ayushman Bharat is an attempt to move from sectoral and segmented approach of health service delivery to a comprehensive need-based health care service.

Ø  Ayushman Bharat aims to undertake path breaking interventions to holistically address health (covering prevention, promotion and ambulatory care), at primary, secondary and tertiary level.

Ø  Ayushman Bharat adopts a continuum of care approach, comprising of two inter-related components, which are –

ü  Health and Wellness Centres (HWCs): Health and Wellness Centers, are envisaged to deliver an expanded range of services to address the primary health care needs of the entire population in their area, expanding access, universality and equity close to the community. The emphasis of health promotion and prevention is designed to bring focus on keeping people healthy by engaging and empowering individuals and communities to choose healthy behaviours and make changes that reduce the risk of developing chronic diseases and morbidities.

ü  Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY): The second component under Ayushman Bharat is PM-JAY, which aims at providing health insurance cover of Rs. 5 lakhs per family per year for secondary and tertiary care hospitalization to over 10.74 crores poor and vulnerable families (approximately 50 crore beneficiaries). There is no cap on the family size under the scheme. This scheme was earlier known as National Health Protection Scheme (NHPS) before it was rechristened to PM-JAY.

ü  This scheme was launched on 23rd September 2018 by the Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi in Ranchi, Jharkhand. PM-JAY has been rolled out for the bottom 40% of poor and vulnerable population. The households included are based on the deprivation and occupational criteria of Socio-Economic Caste Census 2011 (SECC 2011) for rural and urban areas respectively. The scheme subsumed then existing Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY), launched in 2008. Therefore, the coverage mentioned under PM-JAY also includes families that were covered in RSBY but were not present in the SECC 2011 database. PM-JAY is completely funded by the Government, and cost of implementation is shared between Central and State Governments.’

 

KEY FEATURES

·         PM-JAY is the world’s largest health insurance/ assurance scheme fully financed by the government.

·         PM-JAY provides cover of Rs. 5 lakhs per family per year, for secondary and tertiary care hospitalization across public and private empaneled hospitals in India.

·         Over 10.74 crore poor and vulnerable entitled families (approximately 50 crore beneficiaries) are eligible for these benefits.

·         PM-JAY provides cashless access to health care services for the beneficiary at the point of service, that is, the hospital.

·         PM-JAY will help reduce catastrophic expenditure for hospitalizations, which pushes 6 crore people into poverty each year, and will help mitigate the financial risk arising out of catastrophic health episodes.

·         No restrictions on family size, age or gender.

·         All pre–existing conditions are covered from day one.

·         Covers up to 3 days of pre-hospitalization and 15 days post-hospitalization expenses such as diagnostics and medicines

·         Benefits of the scheme are portable across the country i.e. a beneficiary can visit any empanelled public or private hospital for cashless treatment.

·         Services include approximately 1,393 procedures covering all the costs related to treatment, including but not limited to drugs, supplies, diagnostic services, physician’s fees, room charges, surgeon charges, OT and ICU charges etc.

·         Public hospitals are reimbursed for the healthcare services at par with the private hospitals.

 

2. KUSUM (annadata” can be “urjadata” too)

• Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has launched the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Urja Suraksha evem Utthan Mahabhiyan (PM KUSUM) Scheme for farmers for installation of solar pumps and grid connected solar and other renewable power plants in the country. The scheme aims to add solar and other renewable capacity of 25,750 MW by 2022 with total central financial support of Rs. 34,422 Crore including service charges to the implementing agencies.
• The Scheme consists of three components:
• Component A: 10,000 MW of Decentralized Ground Mounted Grid Connected Renewable Power Plants of individual plant size up to 2 MW.
• Component B: Installation of 17.50 lakh standalone Solar Powered Agriculture Pumps of individual pump capacity up to 7.5 HP.
• Component C: Solarisation of 10 Lakh Grid-connected Agriculture Pumps of individual pump capacity up to 7.5 HP.

BENEFIT:

• The scheme will open a stable and continuous source of income to the rural land owners for a period of 25 years by utilisation of their dry/uncultivable land. Further, in case cultivated fields are chosen for setting up solar power project, the farmers could continue to grow crops as the solar panels are to be set up above a minimum height.
• The proposed scheme would ensure that sufficient local solar/ other renewable energy based power is available for feeding rural load centres and agriculture pump-set loads, which require power mostly during the day time. As these power plants will be located closer to the agriculture loads or to electrical substations in a decentralized manner, it will result in reduced Transmission losses for STUs and Discoms. Moreover, the scheme will also help the Discoms to achieve the RPO target
• The solar pumps will save the expenditure incurred on diesel for running diesel pump and provide the farmers a reliable source of irrigation through solar pump apart from preventing harmful pollution from running diesel pump. In light of the long waiting list for electric grid connection, this scheme will benefit 17.5 lakh farmers over a period of four years, without adding to the grid load.

 

3.UPI: Unified Payments Interface (UPI) is a system that powers multiple bank accounts into a single mobile application (of any participating bank), merging several banking features, seamless fund routing & merchant payments into one hood. It also caters to the “Peer to Peer” collect request which can be scheduled and paid as per requirement and convenience.

Uniqueness of UPI:

• Immediate money transfer through mobile device round the clock 24*7 and 365 days.
• Single mobile application for accessing different bank accounts.
• Single Click 2 Factor Authentication – Aligned with the Regulatory guidelines, yet provides for a very strong feature of seamless single click payment.
• Virtual address of the customer for Pull & Push provides for incremental security with the customer not required to enter the details such as Card no, Account number; IFSC etc.
• Bill Sharing with friends.
• Best answer to Cash on Delivery hassle, running to an ATM or rendering exact amount.
• Merchant Payment with Single Application or In-App Payments.
• Utility Bill Payments, Over the Counter Payments, Barcode (Scan and Pay) based payments.
• Donations, Collections, Disbursements Scalable.
• Raising Complaint from Mobile App directly.

 

4. Affordable Housing for all through PMAY:

• Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban) Mission launched on 25th June 2015 which intends to provide housing for all in urban areas by year 2022.
• The Mission provides Central Assistance to the implementing agencies through States/Union Territories (UTs) and Central Nodal Agencies (CNAs) for providing houses to all eligible families/ beneficiaries against the validated demand for houses for about 1.12 cr. As per PMAY(U) guidelines, the size of a house for Economically Weaker Section (EWS) could be upto 30 sq. mt. carpet area, however States/UTs have the flexibility to enhance the size of houses in consultation and approval of the Ministry.
• A basket of options is adopted to ensure more number of people depending on their income, finance and availability of land through following four options.
• “In-situ” Slum Redevelopment (ISSR)
• Credit Linked Subsidy Scheme (CLSS)
• Affordable Housing in Partnership (AHP)
• Beneficiary-led individual house construction/enhancements (BLC)

CLSS nodel Agencis: NHB, HUDCO and SBI have been identified as Central Nodal Agencies (CNAs) to channelize this subsidy to the lending institutions and for monitoring the progress of this component. Ministry may notify other Institutions as CNA in future.

 

5. Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojan: “Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojna (PKVY)” a sub-component of Soil Health Management(SHM) scheme under National Mission of Sustainable Agriculture(NMSA) aims at development of sustainable models of organic farming through a mix of traditional wisdom and modern science to ensure long term soil fertility buildup, resource conservation and helps in climate change adapatation and mitigation. It primarily aims to increase soil fertility and thereby helps in production of healthy food through organic practices without the use of agro-chemicals.

 

PGS-India (Participatory Guarantee System of India) is a quality assurance initiative that is locally relevant, emphasize the participation of stakeholders, including producers and consumers and operate outside the frame of third party certification. A decentralised Organic farming certification system under the Ministry of Agriculture

• PKVY also aims at empowering farmers through institutional development through clusters approch not only in farm practice management,input production,quality assurance but also in value addition and direct marketing through innovative means.
• Participatory Gurantee System under PGS-India programme will be the key approach for quality assurances under the PKVY. The farmers will have option to adopt any form of organic farming in complince of PGS-India standards. While adopting a system it must be ensured that the system adopted is compatible to the area and crop and assures optimum yield and provides adequate measures to manage nutrients,pests and diseases.Farmers will have the flexibility to use appropriate package of practice(s) best suited to their situations.
• Launched in 2015
• Central sponsored scheme (60:40)
• Adopting organic farming free from pesticide
• Certification by PGS-India

 

6. PMFBY:

Objective

• To provide insurance coverage and financial support to the farmers in the event of failure of any of the notified crop as a result of natural calamities, pests & diseases.
• To stabilise the income of farmers to ensure their continuance in farming.
• To encourage farmers to adopt innovative and modern agricultural practices.
• To ensure flow of credit to the agriculture sector.

Highlight of Scheme:

• There will be a uniform premium of only 2% to be paid by farmers for all Kharif crops and 1.5% for all Rabi crops. In case of annual commercial and horticultural crops, the premium to be paid by farmers will be only 5%. The premium rates to be paid by farmers are very low and balance premium will be paid by the Government to provide full insured amount to the farmers against crop loss on account of natural calamities.
• There is no upper limit on Government subsidy. Even if balance premium is 90%, it will be borne by the Government.
• Earlier, there was a provision of capping the premium rate which resulted in low claims being paid to farmers. This capping was done to limit Government outgo on the premium subsidy. This capping has now been removed and farmers will get claim against full sum insured without any reduction.
• The use of technology will be encouraged to a great extent. Smart phones will be used to capture and upload data of crop cutting to reduce the delays in claim payment to farmers. Remote sensing will be used to reduce the number of crop cutting experiments.
• PMFBY is a replacement scheme of  NAIS / MNAIS, there will be exemption from Service Tax liability of all the services involved in the implementation of the scheme. It is estimated that the new scheme will ensure about 75-80 per cent of subsidy for the farmers in insurance premium.
• The Scheme shall be implemented on an ‘Area Approach basis’ i.e., Defined Areas for each notified crop for widespread calamities with the assumption that all the insured farmers, in a Unit of Insurance, to be defined as “Notified Area‟ for a crop, face similar risk exposures, incur to a large extent, identical cost of production per hectare, earn comparable farm income per hectare, and experience similar extent of crop loss due to the operation of an insured peril, in the notified area.

Risk Covered:

• Yield Losses (standing crops, on notified area basis). Comprehensive risk insurance is provided to cover yield losses due to non-preventable risks, such as Natural Fire and Lightning, Storm, Hailstorm, Cyclone, Typhoon, Tempest, Hurricane, Tornado. Risks due to Flood, Inundation and Landslide, Drought, Dry spells, Pests/ Diseases also will be covered.
• In cases where majority of the insured farmers of a notified area, having intent to sow/plant and incurred expenditure for the purpose, are prevented from sowing/planting the insured crop due to adverse weather conditions, shall be eligible for indemnity claims upto a maximum of 25 per cent of the sum-insured.
• In post-harvest losses, coverage will be available up to a maximum period of 14 days from harvesting for those crops which are kept in “cut & spread” condition to dry in the field.
• For certain localized problems, Loss / damage resulting from occurrence of identified localized risks like hailstorm, landslide, and Inundation affecting isolated farms in the notified area would also be covered.

 

7. Krishi Sinchayee Yojana:

• 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.
• PMKSY has been conceived amalgamating ongoing schemes viz. Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme (AIBP) of the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation (MoWR,RD&GR), Integrated Watershed Management Programme (IWMP) of Department of Land Resources (DoLR) and the On Farm Water Management (OFWM) of Department of Agriculture and Cooperation (DAC). The scheme will be implemented by Ministries of Agriculture, Water Resources and Rural Development. Ministry of Rural Development is to mainly undertake rain water conservation, construction of farm pond, water harvesting structures, small check dams and contour bunding etc. MoWR, RD &GR, is to undertake various measures for creation of assured irrigation source, construction of diversion canals, field channels, water diversion/lift irrigation, including development of water distribution systems. Ministry of Agriculture will promote efficient water conveyance and precision water application devices like drips, sprinklers, pivots, rain-guns in the farm “(Jal Sinchan)”, construction of micro-irrigation structures to supplement source creation activities, extension activities for promotion of scientific moisture conservation and agronomic measures
• Programme architecture of PMKSY will be to adopt a ‘decentralized State level planning and projectised execution’ structure that will allow States to draw up their own irrigation development plans based on District Irrigation Plan (DIP) and State Irrigation Plan (SIP). It will be operative as convergence platform for all water sector activities including drinking water & sanitation, MGNREGA, application of science & technology etc. through comprehensive plan. State Level Sanctioning Committee (SLSC) chaired by the Chief Secretary of the State will be vested with the authority to oversee its implementation and sanction projects.

 

8. ZBNF:

• Zero Budget Natural Farming (ZBNF) is a set of farming methods, and also a grassroots peasant movement, which has spread to various states in India. It has attained wide success in southern India, especially the southern Indian state of Karnataka where it first evolved.  The movement in Karnataka state was born out of collaboration between Mr Subhash Palekar, who put together the ZBNF practices, and the state farmers association Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha (KRRS), a member of La Via Campesina (LVC).
• Zero-Budget Natural Farming (ZBNF) is a holistic alternative to the present paradigm of high-cost chemical inputs-based agriculture. It is very effective in addressing the uncertainties of climate change. ZBNF principles are in harmony with the principles of Agroecology. Its uniqueness is that it is based on the latest scientific discoveries in Agriculture, and, at the same time it is rooted in Indian tradition
• The word ‘budget’ refers to credit and expenses, thus the phrase ‘Zero Budget’ means without using any credit, and without spending any money on purchased inputs. ‘Natural farming’ means farming with Nature and without chemicals.
• Instead of commercially produced chemical inputs, the ZBNF promotes the application ofjeevamrutha — a mixture of fresh desi cow dung and aged desi cow urine, jaggery, pulse flour, water and soil — on farmland. This is a fermented microbial culture that adds nutrients to the soil, and acts as a catalytic agent to promote the activity of microorganisms and earthworms in the soil. About 200 litres of jeevamrutha should be sprayed twice a month per acre of land; after three years, the system is supposed to become self-sustaining. Only one cow is needed for 30 acres of land, according to Mr. Palekar, with the caveat that it must be a local Indian breed — not an imported Jersey or Holstein.
• A similar mixture, called bijamrita, is used to treat seeds, while concoctions using neem leaves and pulp, tobacco and green chillis are prepared for insect and pest management.
• The ZBNF method also promotes soil aeration, minimal watering, intercropping, bunds and topsoil mulching and discourages intensive irrigation and deep ploughing. Mr. Palekar is against vermicomposting, which is the mainstay of typical organic farming, as it introduces the the most common composting worm, the European red wiggler (Eisenia fetida) to Indian soils. He claims these worms absorb toxic metals and poison groundwater and soil.

 

9. Jal Jeevan Mission:

• Government of India has restructured and subsumed the ongoing National Rural Drinking Water Programme(NRDWP) into Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) to provide Functional Household Tap Connection (FHTC) to every rural household i.e., Har Ghar Nal Se Jal (HGNSJ) by 2024.
• The goal of JJM is to provide functional household tap connection to every household with service level at the rate of 55 litres per capita per day

 

10. Jan Aushadhi Kendra Scheme:

• The Jan Aushadhi Scheme (Public Medicine Scheme) is a direct market intervention scheme launched by the Department of Pharmaceuticals, Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers, Govt. of India, to make available quality generic medicines at affordable prices to all citizens through a special outlet known as Jan Aushadhi Store (JAS) opened in each district of the States.
• Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Janaushadhi Pariyojana (PMBJP) is a campaign launched by the Department of Pharmaceuticals to provide quality medicines at affordable prices to the masses. PMBJP stores have been set up to provide generic drugs, which are available at lesser prices but are equivalent in quality and efficacy as expensive branded drugs. It was launched by the Department of Pharmaceuticals in November 2008 under the name Jan Aushadi Campaign. Bureau of Pharma PSUs of India (BPPI) is the implementation agency for PMBJP.

 

11.Deen Dayal Antyodaya Yojana

• Aided in part through investment support by the World Bank, the Mission aims at creating efficient and effective institutional platforms of the rural poor, enabling them to increase household income through sustainable livelihood enhancements and improved access to financial services. 
• NRLM set out with an agenda to cover 7 Crore rural poor households, across 600 districts, 6000 blocks, 2.5 lakh Gram Panchayats and 6 lakh villages in the country through self-managed Self Help Groups (SHGs) and federated institutions and support them for livelihoods collectives in a period of 8-10 years.
• In addition, the poor would be facilitated to achieve increased access to rights, entitlements and public services, diversified risk and better social indicators of empowerment. DAY-NRLM believes in harnessing the innate capabilities of the poor and complements them with capacities (information, knowledge, skills, tools, finance and collectivization) to participate in the growing economy of the country.
• NRLM was renamed as Deen Dayal Antyodaya Yojana-(DAY-NULM) in 2015
• Government of India has provisioned Rs.500 crore for the scheme. The scheme is integration of the National Urban Livelihoods Mission (NULM) and National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM). National Urban Livelihoods Mission (NULM) is renamed as Deen Dayal Antyodaya Yojana-(DAY-NULM) and in Hindi as – Rashtriya Shahri Aajeevika Mission.
• Under the scheme urban areas extends the coverage to all the 4041 statutory cities and towns, there by covering almost the entire urban population. Currently, all the urban poverty alleviating programmes covered only 790 towns and cities.

 

COMPONENT OF DAY-NULM

The scheme has two component one for urban India and other for rural India.

• The Urban component named as Deen Dayal Antyodaya Yojana will be implemented by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation.
• The rural component named as Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojanawill be implemented by the Ministry of Rural Development.

 

12. ICDS:  Launched on 2nd October, 1975, the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) Scheme is one of the flagship programmes of the Government of India and represents one of the world’s largest and unique programmes for early childhood care and development. It is the foremost symbol of country’s commitment to its children and nursing mothers, as a response to the challenge of providing pre-school non-formal education on one hand and breaking the vicious cycle of malnutrition, morbidity, reduced learning capacity and mortality on the other. The beneficiaries under the Scheme are children in the age group of 0-6 years, pregnant women and lactating mothers. Objectives of the Scheme are:

• to improve the nutritional and health status of children in the age-group 0-6 years;
• to lay the foundation for proper psychological, physical and social development of the child;
• to reduce the incidence of mortality, morbidity, malnutrition and school dropout;
• to achieve effective co-ordination of policy and implementation amongst the various departments to promote child development; and
• to enhance the capability of the mother to look after the normal health and nutritional needs of the child through proper nutrition and health education.

The ICDS Scheme offers a package of six services, viz.

• Supplementary Nutrition
• Pre-school non-formal education
• Nutrition & health education
• Immunization
• Health check-up and
• Referral services

 The last three services are related to health and are provided by Ministry/Department of Health and Family Welfare through NRHM & Health system. The perception of providing a package of services is based primarily on the consideration that the overall impact will be much larger if the different services develop in an integrated manner as the efficacy of a particular service depends upon the support it receives from the related services.

 

13.ODF Plus

ODF + & ODF ++

• Under new norms, cities and towns wanting to be declared ODF+ (Open Defecation Free Plus) must also be free of public urination and not just open defecation.
• This is the first time that the Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban) is officially including the elimination of open urination in its agenda.
• The rural division of SBM had previously said preventing public urination was not on their agenda.
• The Mission is focussed on infrastructure and regulatory changes, on the assumption that this will lead to behaviour change.
• Cities are different from rural areas.
• In the case of urban areas, the problem is not one of usage, but of availability.In cities, if toilets are available, accessible and clean, people will automatically use them rather than using the road.
• The ODF+ and ODF++ protocols, which were released by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, are the next step for the SBM-U and aim to ensure sustainability in sanitation outcomes.
• The original ODF protocol, issued in March 2016, said,
• A city/ward is notified as ODF city/ward if, at any point of the day, not a single person is found defecating in the open.
• So far, 2,741 cities have been certified as ODF, based mostly on third-party verification of toilet construction.
• The new ODF+ protocol, issued last week, says that a city, ward or work circle could be declared ODF+ if, at any point of the day, not a single person is found defecating and/or urinating in the open, and all community and public toilets are functional and well-maintained.”
• The ODF++ protocol adds the condition that faecal sludge/septage and sewage is safely managed and treated, with no discharging and/or dumping of untreated faecal sludge/septage and sewage in drains, water bodies or open areas.
• Urination has always been implied as part of the ODF agenda. That’s why there is a subsidy for urinals, not just toilets.

 

Swachh Survekshan 2019

• Swachh Survekshan 2019 will be conducted across all cities and towns across the country between 4th – 31st January 2019.
• The distinctive features of the survey are  geared towards encouraging large scale citizen participation, ensuring sustainability of initiatives taken towards garbage free and open defecation free cities, providing credible outcomes which would be validated by third party certification, institutionalizing existing systems through online processes and creating awareness amongst all sections of society about the importance of working together towards making towns and cities a better place to live in. Further, this year’s Swachh Survekshan will focus separately on sanitation and garbage-free certifications by independent third party, while parallelly accelerating citizens’ engagement in the Mission. Additionally, the survey also intends to foster a spirit of healthy competition among towns and cities to improve their service delivery to citizens, towards creating cleaner cities.

 The key highlights of Swachh Survekshan 2019 are as follows:

• Fully digitized survey through online MIS
• The survey indicators/questionnaire will carry a total of 5000 marks as compared to 4000 marks in Swachh Survekshan 2018.
• Data will be collected from 4 broad sources – ‘Service Level Progress’, Direct Observation, Citizens Feedback and Certification – as shown below.
•  

 

 

• Revised weightage for the components under ‘Service Level Progress’, adding a new component ‘By-Laws’ (refer diagram below).

 

 

 

14. Zero Defect-Zero Effect

• The Government has launched a new scheme namely “Financial Support to MSMEs in ZED Certification Scheme”. The objective of the scheme for promotion of Zero Defect and Zero Effect (ZED) manufacturing amongst micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and ZED Assessment for their certification.
• There are 50 parameters for ZED rating and additional 25 parameters for ZED Defence rating under ZED Maturity Assessment Model.
• The MSMEs are provided financial assistance for the activities to be carried out for ZED certification i.e., Assessment / Rating, Additional rating for Defence angle, Gap Analysis, Handholding, Consultancy for improving the rating of MSMEs by Consultants and Re-Assessment / Re-Rating. Quality Council of India (QCI) has been appointed as the National Monitoring & Implementing Unit (NMIU) for implementation of ZED.
• To enable the advancement of Indian industry to a position of eminence in the global marketplace and leverage India’s emergence as the world’s supplier through the ‘Made in India’ mark
• Launched 2017

 

Zero Defect (focus on customer)

• Zero non-conformance/non-compliance
• Zero waste

 

Zero Effect (focus on society)

• Zero air pollution/liquid discharge (ZLD)/solid waste
• Zero wastage of natural resources

 

15. NIRVIK:

• Ministry of Commerce & Industry through Export Credit Guarantee Corporation (ECGC) has introduced a new Export Credit Insurance Scheme (ECIS) called NIRVIK to enhance loan availability and ease the lending process.
• Pre & post shipment credit
• To achieve higher export credit disbursement, a new scheme, NIRVIK is being launched, which provides for higher insurance coverage, reduction in premium for small exporters and simplified procedure for claim settlements.
• Launched 2019

Export Credit Guarantee Corporation (ECGC)

• Established in 1957
• Ministry of Commerce

 

16. Jal Vikas Marg on National Waterway:

• The Jal Marg Vikas Project was initially announced in the Budget Speech of July 2014 by the Finance Minister of India.
• This project is being implemented by the Inland Waterways Authority of India under the Ministry of Shipping, Government of India.
• The Jal Marg Vikas Project (JMVP) is financially supported by the World Bank and is expected to be completed by the year 2023.

The Jal Marg Vikas Project was implemented with the following goals:

• To provide an alternate mode of transport that is environment-friendly and cost-effective.
• To bring down the logistics cost in the country.
• Development of Mammoth Infrastructure which includes the multi-modal and inter-modal terminals, ferry services, navigation aids and Roll on – Roll off (Ro-Ro) facilities.
• To develop the Socio-economic condition of India for huge employment generation.

 

17.Udaan scheme:

• UDAN is a regional connectivity scheme spearheaded by the Government of India (GoI). The full form of UDAN is ‘Ude Desh ka Aam Nagarik’ and aims to develop smaller regional airports to allow common citizens easier access to aviation services.
• Launched:2017
• Regional Airport Development
• Ministry of civil aviation
• New Port development & Viability of routes

 

18. Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP)

• Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP) gives an option to a company looking for exploring hydrocarbons to select the exploration blocks on its own, without waiting for the formal bid round from the Government. Under Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP), a bidder intending to explore hydrocarbons like oil and gas, coal bed methane, gas hydrate etc., may apply to the Government seeking exploration of any new block (not already covered by exploration). The Government will examine the Expression of Interest and justification. If it is suitable for award, Govt. will call for competitive bids after obtaining necessary environmental and other clearances.
• OALP was introduced vide a Cabinet decision of the Government dated 10.03.2016, as part of the new fiscal regime in exploration sector called HELP or Hydrocarbon Exploration and Licensing Policy, so as to enable a faster survey and coverage of the available geographical area which has potential for oil and gas discovery
• What distinguishes OALP from New Exploration and Licensing Policy (NELP) of 1997 is that under OALP, oil and gas acreages will be available round the year instead of cyclic bidding rounds as in NELP. Potential investors need not have to wait for the bidding rounds to claim acreages.

19. Beti Bachao Beti Padhao

• Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP) on 22nd January, 2015 at Panipat in Haryana. It is a tri-ministerial effort of Ministries of Women and Child Development, Health & Family Welfare and Human Resource Development.
• The objectives of the Scheme are as under:
• To prevent gender biased sex selective elimination
• To ensure survival and protection of the girl child
• To ensure education and participation of the girl child
• Target group
• Primary : Young and newly married couples; Pregnant and Lactating mothers; parents
• Secondary : Youth, adolescents (girls and boys), in-laws, medical doctors/ practitioners, private hospitals, nursing homes and diagnostic centres
• Tertiary : Officials, PRIs; frontline workers, women SHGs/Collectives, religious leaders, voluntary organizations, media, medical associations, industry associations, general public as a whole .

 

20. Poshan Abhiyan” in 2017-18

• POSHAN Abhiyaan or National Nutrition Mission, is Government of India’s flagship programme to improve nutritional outcomes for children, pregnant women and lactating mothers. Launched by the Prime Minister on the occasion of the International Women’s Day on 8 March, 2018 from Jhunjhunu in Rajasthan, the POSHAN (Prime Minister’s Overarching Scheme for Holistic Nutrition) Abhiyaan directs the attention of the country towards the problem of malnutrition and address it in a mission-mode.

For implementation of  POSHAN Abhiyaan the four point strategy/pillars of the mission are:

• Inter-sectoral convergence for better service delivery
• Use of technology (ICT) for real time growth monitoring and tracking of women and     children
• Intensified health and nutrition services for the first 1000 days
• Jan Andolan

 

21. Bharatnet programme

• BharatNet is a project of national importance to establish a highly scalable network infrastructure accessible on a non-discriminatory basis, to provide on demand, affordable broadband connectivity of 2 Mbps to 20 Mbps for all households and on demand capacity to all institutions, to realise the vision of Digital India, in partnership with States and the private sector.
• The entire project is being funded by Universal service Obligation Fund (USOF), which was set up for improving telecom services in rural and remote areas of the country. The objective is to facilitate the delivery of e-governance, e-health, e-education, e-banking, Internet and other services to the rural India.

 

22. Study in India

India should be a preferred destination for higher education. Hence, under its “Study in India” programme, Ind-SAT is proposed to be held in Asian and African countries. It shall be used for benchmarking foreign candidates who receive scholarships for studying in Indian higher education centres.

 

Study in India’ programme with, inter-alia, the following objectives:

• To improve the soft power of India with focus on the neighbouring countries and use it as a tool in diplomacy.
• To boost the number of inbound International students in India.
• To double India’s market share of global education exports from less than 1 percent to 2 percent.
• Increase in contribution of international student in the form of direct spends, indirect spends, spillover effects.
• Improvement in overall quality of higher education.
• Increase in global ranking of India as educational destination.
• To reduce the export – Import imbalance in the number of International students.
• Growth of India’s global market share of International students

 

23. Five archaeological sites would be developed as iconic sites with on-site Museums.

They are:

1. Rakhigarhi (Haryana),
2. Hastinapur (Uttar Pradesh)
3. Shivsagar (Assam),
4. Dholavira (Gujarat)
5. and Adichanallur (Tamil Nadu).

 

• Rakhigarhi: The ancient Harappan site of Rakhigarhi in Haryana, India, now makes it the largest known site of the Harappan (Indus Valley) civilisation, even outdoing the well-known site of Mohenjo-daro in Pakistan The site, which consists of seven mounds, was discovered by the Archeological Survey of India in 1963.  Excavations in Rakhigarhi have traced this civilisation to as early as 5,500 BC. The site gained prominence last year when a study of DNA samples of the skeletons found there showed that there are no traces of the R1a1 gene or Central Asian ‘steppe’ genes, loosely termed as the ‘Aryan gene’.
• Hastinapur: Hastinapur is located in Meerut and is considered to be the capital of the ‘Kuru Kingdom’. The site is part of the ASI’s list of ‘Mahabharata sites,’ which are places that are believed to have been featured in the epic. Hastinapur is believed to have been the capital of the kingdom of the Pandavas and Kauravas. It has also found mention in ancient Jain texts.  Even though archaeologists claim to have found deposits of a layer associated with the Mahabharata time-period, they have failed to find it in a stratified form. Excavations at the Mahabharata sites — including Hastinapura — seek to find this link.
• Shivasagar: Sivasagar is named after a lake in the city of Sivasagar in Assam, which was the epicentre of the Ahom kingdom that existed in the Brahmaputra Valley between the 13th and 19th century CE.  Assam history has a special reference to the Ahom regime. The site hosts burial mounds of the kings who ruled the Ahom kingdom for 600 years, and they were made a part of the world heritage sites in 2014. There are several prominent tourism sites — the Rang Ghar, Talatal Ghar, Namdang Stone Bridge — built by Ahom rulers. Rang Ghar used to be a site for buffalo fights and other sports for the Ahom rulers. The Talatal Ghar was initially an army base camp for the Ahom kings, used during wars, while the Namdang Stone Bridge was a connecting bridge between Assam and the rest of India.
• Dholavira: Like Rakhigari, Dholavira, which is located in the Kutch district of Gujarat, is also a site of Harappan civilisation. It was discovered by the ASI in 1967. Artefacts found in Dholavira included terracotta pottery, beads, gold and copper ornaments, tools, urns and some imported vessels that indicate trade links with lands as far away as Mesopotamia. Dholavira was a thriving metropolis during the 3,000 BCE-1,800 BCE period. According to the UNSECO, “Globally, Dholavira can be compared to the cities of Ancient River Valley Civilization, the urban metropolises of Egyptian, Chinese and Mesopotamian.”
• Adichanallur: This is a site located in Thoothukudi district, Tamil Nadu, and is believed to be dating backing to 696-905 BC, making it the oldest site in the state so far. Adichanallur is an urn-burial site, first discovered in 1876. In 2005, around 169 clay urns containing human skeletons, nearly 3,800 years old, were unearthed.

Apart from the skeletons, several gold diadems with a hole on each end for tying them around the forehead were also found, along with a number of bronze figurines of buffalos, goats tigers, and elephants.

 

24. 24. Maritime museum would be set up at Lothal – the Harrapan age maritime site near Ahmedabad, by Ministry of Shipping.

• The archaeological remains of the Harappa port-town of Lothal is located along the Bhogava river, a tributary of Sabarmati, in the Gulf of Khambat. Measuring about 7 HA, Lothals thick (12-21 meter) peripheral walls were designed to withstand the repeated tidal flood, which probably resulted in the bringing the city to an end.
• Within the quadrangular fortified layout, Lothal has two primary zones – the upper and the lower town. The citadel or the upper town is located in the south eastern corner and is demarcated by platforms of mud-brick of 4 meters in height instead of a fortification wall. Within the citadel are wide streets, drains and rows of bathing platforms, suggested a planned layout. In this enclosure is a large structure, identified as a warehouse with a square platform and whose partly charred walls retains the impression of sealings, which were probably tied together, awaiting export.
• The remains of the lower town suggest that the area had a bead-making factory. In close proximity to the enclosure identified as a warehouse, along the eastern side where a wharf-like platform, is a basin measuring 217 m long and 26 meters in width, identified as a tidal dock-yard. At the north and southern end of the basis are identified an inlet and an outlet which would have aided in maintaining the adequate water level to facilitate sailing. Stone anchors, marine shells and seals possibly belonging to the Persian Gulf corroborate the use of this basin as a dockyard where boats would have been sailed upstream from the Gulf of Cambay during high tide.

 

25. Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI) :

• with its Secretariat in Delhi. This global partnership is the second such international initiative after the launch of International Solar Alliance in 2015.
• This Global Partnership will help in addressing a number of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as also the aims of Sendai framework. It will enhance climate change adaptation with a focus on disaster resilient infrastructure 2019
• CDRI’s mission is to rapidly expand the development of resilient infrastructure and retrofit existing infrastructure for resilience, and to enable a measurable reduction in infrastructure losses. Its mission statement notes that, in recent weather and climate-related disasters, up to 66% of public sector losses were related to infrastructure damage. The partnership will be working in the areas of governance and policy, emerging technology, risk identification and estimation, recovery and reconstruction, resilience standards and certification, finance, and capacity development.
• SDG target 9.1 commits to developing sustainable and resilient infrastructure, while target 9.a seeks to facilitate its development in developing States through enhanced financial, technological and technical support to African countries, least developed countries (LDCs), landlocked developing countries (LLDCs) and small island developing States (SIDS). UNDRR estimates that around USD 94 trillion will be needed for infrastructure investment in the next 20 years and that 60% of this investment will take place in developing countries.

 

26. India submitted its Nationally Determined Contribution, under the Paris Agreement in 2015 on a “best effort” basis, keeping in mind the development imperative of the country. Its implementation effectively begins on 1st January 2021. Our commitments as action will be executed in various sectors by the Departments/Ministries concerned through the normal budgeting process.

What are NDC?

• Nationally determined contributions (NDCs) are at the heart of the Paris Agreement and the achievement of these long-term goals. NDCs embody efforts by each country to reduce national emissions and adapt to the impacts of climate change. The Paris Agreement (Article 4, paragraph 2) requires each Party to prepare, communicate and maintain successive nationally determined contributions (NDCs) that it intends to achieve. Parties shall pursue domestic mitigation measures, with the aim of achieving the objectives of such contributions.
• The Paris Agreement requests each country to outline and communicate their post-2020 climate actions, known as their NDCs. 
• Together, these climate actions determine whether the world achieves the long-term goals of the Paris Agreement and to reach global peaking of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions as soon as possible and to undertake rapid reductions thereafter in accordance with best available science, so as to achieve a balance between anthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by sinks of GHGs in the second half of this century. It is understood that the peaking of emissions will take longer for developing country Parties, and that emission reductions are undertaken on the basis of equity, and in the context of sustainable development and efforts to eradicate poverty, which are critical development priorities for many developing countries. 
• Each climate plan reflects the country’s ambition for reducing emissions, taking into account its domestic circumstances and capabilities. Guidance on NDCs are currently being negotiated under the Ad Hoc Working Group on the Paris Agreement (APA), agenda item 3.

INDIA’s NDC

• Pursue Zero Effect, Zero Defect policy
• Produce 40 per cent of electricity from non-fossil fuel based energy resources by 2030
• Install 175 GW of solar, wind and biomass electricity by 2022
• Achieve the target of 63 GW of installed nuclear power capacity by 2032
• Create an additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent by 2030 through additional forest and tree cover.
• Soil Health Card
• INDC outlines the post-2020 climate actions they intend to take under a new international agreemen

27. Blue Economy

• The ‘Blue Economy’ is an emerging concept which encourages better stewardship of our ocean or ‘blue’ resources. It underpins the thinking behind the Commonwealth Blue Charter, highlighting in particular the close linkages between the ocean, climate change, and the wellbeing of the people of the Commonwealth.
• At its heart, it reaffirms the values of the Commonwealth, including equity and public participation in marine and coastal decision-making. It supports all of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially SDG14 ‘life below water’, and recognises that this will require ambitious, co-ordinated actions to sustainably manage, protect and preserve our ocean now, for the sake of present and future generations.

 

28. India will host G 20 presidency in the year 2022 – the year of 75th anniversary of independence of Indian Nation

What is G20?

• ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​The G20 is the premier forum for international economic cooperation. It gathers the ​leaders of the largest economies of the world to discuss financial and socioeconomic issues.
• ​​The presidency of the G20 rotates between member countries every year. The presidency plays a leading role in setting the agenda and organizing the Leaders’ Summit, which is attended by the G20 Heads of State or Government. At the Summit, the leaders issue a declaration, or communiqué, based on policy discussions at meetings held throughout the year.​​​

 

29. Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation (DICGC) has been permitted to increase Deposit Insurance Coverage for a depositor, which is now ` one lakh to ` five lakh per depositor.

• The concept of insuring deposits kept with banks received attention for the first time in the year 1948 after the banking crises in Bengal. The question came up for reconsideration in the year 1949, but it was decided to hold it in abeyance till the Reserve Bank of India ensured adequate arrangements for inspection of banks. Subsequently, in the year 1950, the Rural Banking Enquiry Committee also supported the concept. Serious thought to the concept was, however, given by the Reserve Bank of India and the Central Government after the crash of the Palai Central Bank Ltd., and the Laxmi Bank Ltd. in 1960. The Deposit Insurance Corporation (DIC) Bill was introduced in the Parliament on August 21, 1961. After it was passed by the Parliament, the Bill got the assent of the President on December 7, 1961 and the Deposit Insurance Act, 1961 came into force on January 1, 1962. 
• The Deposit Insurance Scheme was initially extended to functioning commercial banks only. This included the State Bank of India and its subsidiaries, other commercial banks and the branches of the foreign banks operating in India. 
• Since 1968, with the enactment of the Deposit Insurance Corporation (Amendment) Act, 1968, the Corporation was required to register the ‘eligible co-operative banks’ as insured banks under the provisions of Section 13 A of the Act. An eligible co-operative bank means a co-operative bank (whether it is a State co-operative bank, a Central co-operative bank or a Primary co-operative bank) in a State which has passed the enabling legislation amending its Co-operative Societies Act, requiring the State Government to vest power in the Reserve Bank to order the Registrar of Co-operative Societies of a State to wind up a co-operative bank or to supersede its Committee of Management and to require the Registrar not to take any action for winding up, amalgamation or reconstruction of a co-operative bank without prior sanction in writing from the Reserve Bank of India. 
• Further, the Government of India, in consultation with the Reserve Bank of India, introduced a Credit Guarantee Scheme in July 1960. The Reserve Bank of India was entrusted with the administration of the Scheme, as an agent of the Central Government, under Section 17 (11 A)(a) of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934 and was designated as the Credit Guarantee Organization (CGO) for guaranteeing the advances granted by banks and other Credit Institutions to small scale industries. The Reserve Bank of India operated the scheme up to March 31, 1981. 
• The Reserve Bank of India also promoted a public limited company on January 14, 1971, named the Credit Guarantee Corporation of India Ltd. (CGCI). The main thrust of the Credit Guarantee Schemes, introduced by the Credit Guarantee Corporation of India Ltd., was aimed at encouraging the commercial banks to cater to the credit needs of the hitherto neglected sectors, particularly the weaker sections of the society engaged in non-industrial activities, by providing guarantee cover to the loans and advances granted by the credit institutions to small and needy borrowers covered under the priority sector. 
• With a view to integrating the functions of deposit insurance and credit guarantee, the above two organizations (DIC & CGCI) were merged and the present Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation (DICGC) came into existence on July 15, 1978. Consequently, the title of Deposit Insurance Act, 1961 was changed to ‘The Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation Act, 1961 ‘. 
• Effective from April 1, 1981, the Corporation extended its guarantee support to credit granted to small scale industries also, after the cancellation of the Government of India’s credit guarantee scheme. With effect from April 1, 1989, guarantee cover was extended to the entire priority sector advances, as per the definition of the Reserve Bank of India. However, effective from April 1, 1995, all housing loans have been excluded from the purview of guarantee cover by the Corporation.

 

30. To strengthen the Cooperative Banks, amendments to the Banking Regulation Act are proposed for increasing professionalism, enabling access to capital and improving governance and oversight fnor sound banking through the RBI.

• The banking and regulations act was enacted to safeguard the interest of the depositors and to control the abuse of powers by controlling the banks by any means necessary and to the interest of Indian economy in general. There are many provisions of banking regulation act 1949 and we are going to the topic about business of banking companies.

 

31. The Debt-based Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) recently floated by the government was a big success. Government proposes to expand this by floating a new Debt-ETF consisting primarily of government securities.

• Bharat Bond ETF, India’s first bond exchange-traded fund, opened for investment. The ETF will invest in a portfolio of AAA-rated bonds of public sector entities in two investment options for fixed maturity periods of three years and 10 years (2023 series and 2030 series)
• Any resident (including NRIs) individual and non-individual can invest in BHARAT Bond ETF. If you already have a demat account, you can apply through your trading & demat account. 
• It is a target-maturity bond ETF, which will invest in underlying of similar maturities and track the newly-introduced Nifty Bharat Bond
• The bond ETF will be taxed as the same rate like debt mutual funds (20 per cent with indexation benefits, if held for more than three years), leading to an after-tax yield of around 6.3 per cent and 7 per cent for three years and 10 years, respectively. “Bharat Bond ETF would be a tax-efficient long-term investment option for conservative debt fund investors,” ICICIdirect.com said in a report.

 

32.GIFT IFSC

• GIFT IFSC will be a deemed foreign territory dealing in foreign currency. The units in IFSC will be recognised as non-resident entity under the FEMA regulations of Reserve Bank of India.
• The aim is to develop a worldclass smart city that becomes a global financial hub with the development of an International Financial Services Centre. The government is also trying to bring back the financial services and transactions that are currently carried out in offshore financial centres by local corporate entities and overseas branches or subsidiaries of financial institutions (FIs) to India.
• Entities regulated by RBI, Securities & Exchange Board of India, and the Insurance Regulatory & Development Authority of India can set up offices in IFSC. For instance, banks, insurance companies, stock broking firms, alternate investment funds and investment advisors, among others, can be part of it. The key aim of GIFT City is to bring global financial services on-shore which are currently being rendered from other overseas jurisdictions.
• GIFT City has two zones –domestic and special economic zone (SEZ). All rupee-denominated transactions can be undertaken from GIFT domestic area.
• It has an approved Free Trade zone for housing It already has 19 insurance entities, 40 banking entities.
• It has also provided for setting up of precious metals testing laboratories and refining facilities. With the approval of the regulator, GIFT City would set up an International Bullion exchange(s) in GIFT-IFSC as an additional option for trade by global market participants. This will enable India to enhance its position worldwide, create jobs in India and will lead to better price discovery of gold. 

 

33. Vivad SeVishwas’Scheme:

• A taxpayer would be required to pay only the amount of the disputed taxes and will get complete waiver of interest and penalty provided he pays by 31st March, 2020.
• Those who avail this scheme after 31st March, 2020 will have to pay some additional amount. The scheme will remain open till 30th June, 2020.

 

34. “Jaivikkheti” – online national organic products market will also be strengthened.

 

• Jaivikkheti portal is a one stop solution for facilitating organic farmers to sell their organic produce and promoting organic farming and its benefits. This portal caters various stakeholders like local groups, individual farmers, buyers and input suppliers.
• Jaivikkheti portal is an E-commerce as well as a knowledge platform. Knowledge repository section of the portal includes case studies, videos, and best farming practices, success stories and other material related to organic farming to facilitate and promote organic farming. . E-commerce section of the portal provides the whole bouquet of organic products ranging from grains, pulses, fruits and vegetables.

 

36. Technical Textiles

• It is a high technology sunrise sector which is steadily gaining ground in India. Technical textiles are functional fabrics that have applications across various industries including automobiles, civil engineering and construction, agriculture, healthcare, industrial safety, personal protection etc.
• Based on usage, there are 12 technical textile segments; Agrotech, Meditech, Buildtech, Mobiltech, Clothtech, Oekotech, Geotech, Packtech, Hometech, Protech, Indutech and Sportech.

37.According to her, all eligible beneficiaries of PM-Kisan will be covered under the Kisan Credit Card (KCC).

(a) PM-Kisan 

• Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) is a Central Sector scheme with 100% funding from Government of India.
• Under the Scheme an income support of Rs.6000/- per year is provided to all farmer families across the country in three equal installments of Rs.2000/- each every four months.
• The entire responsibility of identification of beneficiary farmer families rests with the State / UT Governments.
• PM-KISAN scheme aims to supplement the financial needs of the SMFs in procuring various inputs to ensure proper crop health and appropriate yields, commensurate with the anticipated farm income at the end of the each crop cycle.
• The SMFs landholder farmer family is defined as “a family comprising of husband, wife and minor children who collectively own cultivable land upto 2 hectare as per land records of the concerned State/UT”.

(b) KCC

• Kisan Credit Card is a pioneering credit delivery innovation for providing adequate and timely credit to farmers under single window. It is a flexible and simplified procedure, adopting whole farm approach, including short-term, medium-term and long-term credit needs of borrowers for agriculture and allied activities and a reasonable component for consumption needs.
• Kisan Credit Card (KCC) Scheme, which enables the farmers to purchase agricultural inputs such as seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, etc. and to draw cash to satisfy their consumption needs has since been simplified and converted into an ATM enabled debit card

 

38. One-Product One-District introduced in order to improve better marketing and export in the Horticulture sector.

 

39, TB Harega Desh Jeetega campaign launched – commitment to end Tuberculosis by 2025.

• Tuberculosis (TB) is a disease caused by bacteria called Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The bacteria usually attack the lungs, but they can also damage other parts of the body. TB spreads through the air when a person with TB of the lungs or throat coughs, sneezes, or talks

40. Smart Meter

TECHNOLOGY

• Machine learning
• Robotics
• Bio-informatics
• Bioinformatics is the science of storing, retrieving and analysing large amounts of biological information. It is a highly interdisciplinary field involving many different types of specialists, including biologists, molecular life scientists, computer scientists and mathematicians.
• The term bioinformatics was coined by Paulien Hogeweg and Ben Hesper to describe “the study of informatic processes in biotic systems” and it found early use when the first biological sequence data began to be shared. Whilst the initial analysis methods are still fundamental to many large-scale experiments in the molecular life sciences, nowadays bioinformatics is considered to be a much broader discipline, encompassing modelling and image analysis in addition to the classical methods used for comparison of linear sequences or three-dimensional structures
• Artificial Intelligence
• Internet-of-Things (IoT):
• In the broadest sense, the term IoT encompasses everything connected to the internet, but it is increasingly being used to define objects that “talk” to each other. “Simply, the Internet of Things is made up of devices – from simple sensors to smartphones and wearables – connected together
• IoT allows devices on closed private internet connections to communicate with others and “the Internet of Things brings those networks together. It gives the opportunity for devices to communicate not only within close silos but across different networking types and creates a much more connected world
• 3D printing
• 3D printing or additive manufacturing is a process of making three dimensional solid objects from a digital file.
• The creation of a 3D printed object is achieved using additive processes. In an additive process an object is created by laying down successive layers of material until the object is created. Each of these layers can be seen as a thinly sliced horizontal cross-section of the eventual object.
• 3D printing is the opposite of subtractive manufacturing which is cutting out / hollowing out a piece of metal or plastic with for instance a milling machine.
• 3D printing enables you to produce complex shapes using less material than traditional manufacturing methods.

 

• Drones
• DNA data storage

DNA has many advantages for storing digital data.

• It is ultracompact.
• It can last hundreds of thousands of years if kept in a cool, dry place.
• As long as human societies are reading and writing DNA, they will be able to decode it.
• DNA won’t degrade over time like cassette tapes and CDs, and it won’t become obsolete.

Disadvantages:

• High cost.
• DNA is significantly harder and slower to read than conventional computer transistors i.e., in terms of access speed it is actually less RAM-like than our average computer SSD or spinning magnetic hard-drive.
• Quantum computing:
• Quantum computers perform calculations based on the probability of an object’s state before it is measured – instead of just 1s or 0s – which means they have the potential to process exponentially more data compared to classical computers.
• Classical computers carry out logical operations using the definite position of a physical state. These are usually binary, meaning its operations are based on one of two positions. A single state – such as on or off, up or down, 1 or 0 – is called a bit.
• In quantum computing, operations instead use the quantum state of an object to produce what’s known as a qubit. These states are the undefined properties of an object before they’ve been detected, such as the spin of an electron or the polarisation of a photon.
• Rather than having a clear position, unmeasured quantum states occur in a mixed ‘superposition’, not unlike a coin spinning through the air before it lands in your hand.
• These superpositions can be entangled with those of other objects, meaning their final outcomes will be mathematically related even if we don’t know yet what they are.
• The complex mathematics behind these unsettled states of entangled ‘spinning coins’ can be plugged into special algorithms to make short work of problems that would take a classical computer a long time to work out… if they could ever calculate them at all.
•  

MAINS

• Model Agricultural Land Leasing Act, 2016
• Model Agricultural Produce and Livestock Marketing (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2017;, and
• Model Agricultural Produce and Livestock Contract Farming and Services (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2018

This budget is woven around three prominent themes:

• One: Aspirational India in which all sections of the society seek better standards of living, with access to health, education and better jobs.
• Two: Economic development for all, indicated in the Prime Minister’s exhortation of “SabkaSaath , SabkaVikas , SabkaVishwas”. This would entail reforms across swathes of the economy. Simultaneously, it would mean yielding more space for the private sector. Together, they would ensure higher productivity and greater efficiency.
• Three: Ours shall be a Caring Society that is both humane and compassionate. Antyodaya is an article of faith

 

MAINS PERSPECTIVE

• The turnaround time for trucks has witnessed a substantial reduction to the tune of 20% due to abolition of check posts in GST.
• SabkaSaath, SabkaVikas, SabkaVishwas
• Between 2006-16, India was able to raise 271 million people out of poverty, which we all should be proud of.
• the fifth largest economy of the world. India’s foreign direct investment got elevated to the level of US$ 284 billion during 2014-19 from US$ 190billioin that came in during the years 2009-14. The Central Government debt that has been the bane of our economy got reduced, in March 2019, to 48.7% of GDP from a level of 52.2%in March 2014
• India estimated capacity of 162 million MT of agri-warehousing, cold storage, reefer van facilities etc
• Women, SHGs shall regain their position as “Dhaanya Lakshmi”.
• To build a seamless national cold supply chain for perishables, inclusive of milk, meat and fish, the Indian Railways will set up a “Kisan Rail” – through PPP arrangements. There shall be refrigerated coaches in Express and Freight trains as well.
• Horticulture sector with its current produce of 311million MT exceeds production of food grains

 

 

 

 

UNION BUDGET 2020-21 Highlights

The first Union Budget of the third decade of 21st century was presented by the Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs, Ms Nirmala Sitharaman in the Parliament on February 1st, 2020.  The budget aimed at energizing the Indian economy through a combination of short-term, medium-term, and long-term measures.

The Key Highlights of Union Budget 2020-21 are as follows:

Ø  Aspirational India – better standards of living with access to health, education and better jobs for all sections of the society

Ø  Economic Development for all – “Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas”

Ø  Caring Society – both humane and compassionate; Antyodaya as an article of faith.

Ø  Three broad themes are held together by:

o   Corruption free, policy-driven Good Governance.

o   Clean and sound financial sector.

Ø  Ease of Living underlined by the three themes of Union Budget 2020-21.

Three components of Aspirational India

Agriculture, Irrigation, and Rural Development

Wellness, Water, and Sanitation

Education and Skills

Sixteen Action Points for Agriculture, Irrigation and Rural Development

Rs 2.83 lakh crore (US$ 40.06 billion) to be allocated for the following 16 Action Points:

Rs 1.60 lakh crore (US$ 22.64 billion) for Agriculture, Irrigation & allied activities.

Rs 1.23 lakh crore (US$ 17.40 billion) for Rural development & Panchayati Raj.

Agriculture credit:

Rs 15 lakh crore (US$ 212.31 billion) target set for the year 2020-21.

PM-KISAN beneficiaries to be covered under the KCC scheme.

NABARD Re-finance Scheme to be further expanded.

Blue Economy

Rs 1 lakh crore (US$ 14.15 billion) fisheries exports to be achieved by 2024-25.

200 lakh tonnes fish production targeted by 2022-23.

3477 Sagar Mitras and 500 Fish Farmer Producer Organisations to involve youth in fisheries extension.

Growing of algae, seaweed and cage culture to be promoted.

Kisan Rail to be setup by Indian Railways through PPP.

Krishi Udaan to be launched by the Ministry of Civil Aviation for both international and national routes.

One-Product One-District introduced in order to improve better marketing and export in the Horticulture sector.

PM-KUSUM to be expanded:

20 lakh farmers to be provided for setting up stand-alone solar pumps.

Another 15 lakh farmers to be helped to solarise their grid-connected pump sets.

Scheme to enable farmers to set up solar power generation capacity on their fallow/barren lands and to sell it to the grid.

• Livestock:
  • Doubling of milk processing capacity to 108 million MT from 53.5 million MT by 2025.
  • Artificial insemination to be increased to 70 per cent from the present 30 per cent.
  • MNREGS to be dovetailed to develop fodder farms.
  • Foot and Mouth Disease, Brucellosis in cattle and Peste Des Petits ruminants (PPR) in sheep and goat to be eliminated by 2025.

 

• Wellness, Water and Sanitation
  • Rs 69,000 crore (US$ 9.76 billion) allocated for overall Healthcare sector. 
  • Rs 6,400 crore (US$ 905.87 million) (out of Rs 69,000 crore[(US$ 9.76 billion)]) for PM Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY)
  • Jan Aushadhi Kendra Scheme to offer 2000 medicines and 300 surgicals in all districts by 2024.
  • TB Harega Desh Jeetega campaign launched – commitment to end Tuberculosis by 2025.
  • Rs 3.60 lakh crore (US$ 50.95 billion) approved for Jal Jeevan Mission
  • Rs 12,300 crore (US$ 1.74 billion) allocation for Swachh Bharat Mission in 2020-21

 

• Education and Skills
  • Rs 99,300 crore (US$ 14.05 billion) for education sector and Rs 3,000 crore (US$ 424.62 million) for skill development in 2020-21.
  • National Police University and National Forensic Science University proposed for policing science, forensic science, and cyber-forensics.
  • Degree level full-fledged online education program by Top-100 institutions in the National Institutional Ranking Framework.
  • 150 higher educational institutions to start apprenticeship embedded degree/diploma courses by March 2021.
  • Ind-SAT proposed for Asian and African countries as a part of Study in India program.

Economic Development

Industry, Commerce and Investment

• Rs 27,300 crore (US$ 3.86 billion) allocated for 2020-21 for development and promotion of Industry and Commerce.
• Five new smart cities proposed to be developed.
• National Technical Textiles Mission to be set up:
  • With four-year implementation period from 2020-21 to 2023-24.
  • At an estimated outlay of Rs 1,480 crore (US$ 209.48 million).
  • To position India as a global leader in Technical Textiles.

• New scheme NIRVIK to be launched to achieve higher export credit disbursement, which provides for:
  • Higher insurance coverage.
  • Reduction in premium for small exporters.
  • Simplified procedure for claim settlements.
• Turnover of Government e-Marketplace (GeM) proposed to be taken to Rs 3 lakh crore (US$ 42.46 billion).
• All Ministries to issue quality standard orders as per PM’s vision of “Zero Defect-Zero Effect” manufacturing.

Infrastructure

• Rs 100 lakh crore (US$ 1.41 trillion) to be invested on infrastructure over the next 5 years
• National Infrastructure Pipeline:
  • Rs 103 lakh crore (US$ 1.45 trillion) worth projects; launched on 31^st December 2019.
  • More than 6,500 projects across sectors, to be classified as per their size and stage of development.
• A National Logistics Policy to be released soon that will create a single window e-logistics market
• Rs 1.7 lakh crore (US$ 24.06 billion) proposed for transport infrastructure in 2020-21.

Highways

• Proposed to monetise at least 12 lots of highway bundles of over 6,000 Km before 2024.

Indian Railways

• Five measures:
  • Large solar power capacity to be set up alongside rail tracks, on land owned by railways.
  • Four station re-development projects and operation of 150 passenger trains through PPP.
  • More Tejas type trains to connect iconic tourist destinations.
  • High speed train between Mumbai and Ahmedabad to be actively pursued.
  • 148 km long Bengaluru Suburban transport project at a cost of Rs 18,600 crore (US$ 2.63 billion), to have fares on metro model. Central Government to provide 20 per cent of equity and facilitate external assistance up to 60 per cent of the project cost.

Ports & Waterways

• Economic activity along riverbanks to be energised as per Prime Minister’s Arth Ganga concept.

Airports

• 100 more airports to be developed by 2024 to support Udaan scheme. 
• Air fleet number expected to go up from present 600 to 1200 during this time.

Power

• Rs 22,000 crore (US$ 3.11 billion) proposed for power and renewable energy sector in 2020-21.
• Expansion of national gas grid from the present 16200 km to 27000 km proposed.

New Economy

To take advantage of new technologies:

• Policy to enable private sector to build Data Centre parks throughout the country to be launched soon.

• Fibre to the Home (FTTH) connections through Bharatnet to link 100,000 gram panchayats this year.
• Rs 6,000 crore (US$ 849.25 million) proposed for Bharatnet programme in 2020-21.

• Rs 8,000 crore (US$ 1.13 billion) proposed over five years for National Mission on Quantum Technologies and Applications.

Caring Society

·                     Allocation of Rs 35	·                     600 crore (US$ 5.03 billion) for nutrition-related programmes proposed for the FY2020-21.	·
·                     Rs 28	·                     600 crore (US$ 4.04 billion) proposed for women specific programs.	·
·                     Financial support for wider acceptance of technologies	·                     identified by Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs to ensure no manual cleaning of sewer systems or septic tanks	·                     to be provided.
·                     Rs 85	·                     000 crore (US$ 12.03 billion) proposed for 2020-21 for welfare of Scheduled Castes and Other Backward Classes	·
·                     Rs 53	·                     700 crore (US$ 7.60 billion) provided to further development and welfare of Scheduled Tribes.	·
·                     Enhanced allocation of Rs 9	·                     500 crore (US$ 1.34 billion) provided for 2020-21 for senior citizens and Divyang.	·

Culture & Tourism

• Allocation of Rs 2,500 crore (US$ 353.85 million) for 2020-21 for tourism promotion. 
• Rs 3,150 crore (US$ 445.85 million) proposed for Ministry of Culture for 2020-21.
• An Indian Institute of Heritage and Conservation under Ministry of Culture proposed, with the status of a deemed University.

Environment & Climate Change

• Allocation for this purpose to be Rs 4,400 crore (US$ 622.78 million) for 2020-21.
• PM launched Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI) with Secretariat in Delhi. Second such international initiative after International Solar Alliance.

Governance

• Clean, corruption-free, policy driven, well in intent and most importantly trusting in faith.
• Major reforms in recruitment to Non-Gazetted posts in Government and Public sector banks:
  • An independent, professional and specialist National Recruitment Agency (NRA) for conducting a computer-based online Common Eligibility Test for recruitment.
  •  A test-centre in every district, particularly in the Aspirational Districts.

• New National Policy on Official Statistics to:
  • Promote use of latest technologies including AI.
  • Lay down a road-map towards modernised data collection, integrated information portal and timely dissemination of information.
• A sum of Rs 100 crore (US$ 14.15 million) allocated to begin the preparations for G20 presidency to be hosted in India in the year 2022.
• Development of North East region:
  • Improved flow of funds using online portal by the Government.
  • Greater access to financial assistance of Multilateral and Bilateral funding agencies.

• Development of Union Territories of J&K and Ladakh:
  • An amount of Rs 30,757 crore (US$ 4.35 billion) provided for the financial year 2020-21.
  • The Union Territory of Ladakh has been provided with Rs 5,958 crore (US$ 843.31 million).

 Fiscal Management

• For FY 2019-20:
  • Revised Estimates of Expenditure: at Rs 26.99 lakh crore (US$ 382.02 billion).
  • Revised Estimates of Receipts: estimated at Rs 19.32 lakh crore (US$ 273.46 billion).
• For year 2020-21:
  • Nominal growth of GDP estimated at 10 per cent.
  • Receipts: estimated at Rs 22.46 lakh crore (US$ 317.90 billion)
  • Expenditure: at Rs 30.42 lakh crore (US$ 430.57 billion)

Direct Tax

• Personal Tax: around 70 of the existing exemptions and deductions out of more than 100 to be removed in the new simplified regime.
• New and simplified personal income tax regime proposed:

Taxable Income Slab (Rs)	Existing tax rates	New tax rates
0-2.5 Lakh	Exempt	Exempt
2.5-5 Lakh	5	5
5-7.5 Lakh	20	10
7.5-10 Lakh	20	15
10-12.5 Lakh	30	20
12.5-15 Lakh	30	25
Above 15 Lakh	30	30

• New regime to entail estimated revenue forgone of Rs 40,000 crore (US$ 5.66 billion) per year.
• Corporate Tax:  Tax rate of 15 per cent extended to new electricity generation companies.
• Dividend Distribution Tax (DDT):
  • DDT removed making India a more attractive investment destination.
  • Deduction to be allowed for dividend received by holding company from its subsidiary.
• Rs 25,000 crore (US$ 3.53 billion) estimated annual revenue forgone.

Start-ups:

• • Start-ups with turnover up to Rs 100 crore (US$ 14.15 million) to enjoy 100 per cent deduction for three consecutive assessment years out of 10 years
     
• MSMEs to boost less-cash economy:
  • Turnover threshold for audit increased to Rs 5 crore (US$ 0.70 million) from Rs 1 crore (US$ 0.14 million) for businesses carrying out less than five per cent business transactions in cash.
• Tax concession for foreign investments:

• 100 per cent tax exemption to the interest, dividend and capital gains income on investment made in infrastructure and priority sectors before 31^st March 2024 with a minimum lock-in period of three years by the Sovereign Wealth Fund of foreign governments.
   Affordable housing:
  • Additional deduction up to Rs 1.5 lakh (US$ 2,123) for interest paid on loans taken for an affordable house extended till 31^st March 2021.
  • Date of approval of affordable housing projects for availing tax holiday on profits earned by developers extended till 31^st March 2021.
     

• Tax Facilitation Measures
  • Instant PAN to be allotted online through Aadhaar.
  • ‘Vivad Se Vishwas’ scheme, with a deadline of 30^th June 2020, to redu     ce litigations in direct taxes.
  • Faceless appeals to be enabled by amending the Income Tax Act

Future Aim for sustaining India’s unique global leadership, driven by Digital Revolution 

• Seamless delivery of services through Digital Governance.
• Improvement in physical quality of life through National Infrastructure Pipeline.
• Risk mitigation through Disaster Resilience.
• Social security through Pension and Insurance penetration.