Swachh Swasth Sarvatra

To strengthen health centres in open defecation-free (ODF) blocks Union Govenment has launched Swachh Swasth Sarvatra. The objective of this initiative is to strengthen community health centres in 708 ODF blocks across the country to enable them to achieve higher levels of cleanliness and hygiene. It is a part of the Union Government’s flagship Swachh Bharat Mission and is focused on the twin objectives of constructing toilets and enabling behavioral change. It is joint initiative of Ministry of Health and Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation to achieve better health outcomes through improved sanitation and increase awareness on healthy lifestyles. Apart from launching Swachh Swasth Sarvatra initative, J P Nadda,Union Health Minister and Prakash Javadekar,Union Minister of Human Resource Development also releasd the Operational Guidelines of Swachh Swasth Sarvatra along with the Swasth Bacche Swasth Bharat Booklet. The Booklet is prepared by Central Health Education Bureau(CHEB). It aims at educating the children and youth about healthy living habits and activities.

Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana

The government  met the 1.5 crore target for LPG connections to be added in this financial year under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) and so has increased LPG coverage across the country to 70 per cent as of December 1. Since the launch of the PMUY, the LPG coverage across the country has increased to 70% as of December 1, 2016 from earlier 61% as of January 1, 2016. Top five States with highest number of LPG connections are: Uttar Pradesh (46 lakh), West Bengal (19 lakh), Bihar (19 lakh), Madhya Pradesh (17 lakh) and Rajasthan (14 lakh). These states constitute nearly 75% of the total connections released.The households belonging to SC/ST constitute the large chunk of beneficiaries of this scheme with 35% of the connections being released to them.

About Pradhan Manthri Ujjwala Yojana(PMUY):

The Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana is a welfare program of the government of India, launched by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2016. The stated objective of the program is providing 50,000,000 LPG connections to women from families below the poverty line. As of 3 April 2017, twenty million LPG connections had been completed. It is guided by a strong commitment to bring in changes in lives of poor women. The tagline of scheme is Swachh Indhan, Behtar Jeevan. It seeks to empower women and protect their health by shifting them from traditional cooking based on unclean cooking fuels or fossil fuels to clean cooking gas.

Pradhan Mantri Yuva Yojana

To boost up an ecosystem of entrepreneurship for youngsters,Union Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship has launched of Pradhan Mantri Yuva Yojana (PMYY).

Highlights:

The scheme was launched for the time period of 5 years(2016-17 to 2020-21) with a project cost of 499.94 crore rupees.

It will offer entrepreneurship and training to  7 lakhs students in 5 years through 3050 institutes.

It will also offer easy access to information and mentor network,credit and advocacy to built a     way-out for the youngsters

Institutes will carry out the training through Massive Open Online Courses(MOOCs).

Pradhan Mantri Surakshit Matritva Abhiyan (PMSMA)

Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare J P Nadda has launched Pradhan Mantri Surakshit Matritva Abhiyan (PMSMA) to provide free health check-ups to pregnant women at government health centres and hospitals. The national programme aims to provide pregnant ladies free ante-natal services (ANC) and required treatment for free on 9th of every month. The scheme is applicable only for the pregnant women in their pregnancy period of 3 to 6 months. It will provide all kinds of medical checkups completely free to pregnant women.

Objectives of the scheme are (i) Provide healthy life to the pregnant women. (ii) Lowering the maternity mortality rate. (iii) Making pregnant women aware of their health issues and diseases. (iv) Making sure safe delivery and healthy life of the baby.

Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana

Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana – Gramin (PMAY-G) has finally been launched by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi in Agra on 20th November 2016. Under PMAY-G Government aims to provide affordable, environmentally safe and secure house to every rural household living below the poverty line by 2022. The beneficiaries for this scheme will be selected through a completely transparent process using the Socio Economic Census 2011 data and validating it through the Gram Sabha. It uses ICT and space technology to further confirm correct selection of beneficiaries and progress of work. The unit cost for houses has been increased with convergence of a minimum support of nearly Rs. 1.5 lakh to Rs. 1.6 lakh to a household is available. If the beneficiary desires, then there is also a provision of Bank loan upto Rs. 70,000. PMAY-G will be also serve as a major step forward in bringing together Skill India, Make In India, IT/DBT Aadhaar platform, Digital India and Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana.

Pehchan

Union textile Minister Smriti Irani launched a scheme of ‘Pehchan’ identity cards to artisans in Ahmedabad.‘Pehchan’ identity cards distributed to artisans from five clusters of Gujarat namely Jamnagar, Naroda, Surendranagar, Amreli and Kalol.The cards will give national identity to the artisans who will be covered under a database.The artisans can avail benefit of anyt government scheme through these cards.Besides, minister also announced that to give tool kits and safety equipment women and BPL artisans for metal craft for free of cost in a bid to encourage women.

Pehchan cards scheme was launched as part of the Pehchan’ initiative of Union Textile ministry to register and provide Identity (ID) cards to handicraft artisans and link them to a national database. It is a new upgraded ID card for artisans that will be linked with their Aadhar numbers and bank accounts so that they can receive direct cash transfer benefit.

NWDA gets funding

National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) sanctioned Rs 19,702 crore loan to National Water Development Agency (NWDA) for 50 irrigation projects from 11 states which was announced during the Budget 2016-17 under Long Term Irrigation Fund (LTIF).

The loan funds for these irrigation projects will help to create additional irrigation potential of 39.14 lakh hectares in 11 States. Thus, it will support government’s vision to double the farmers’ income by 2022 as providing assured irrigation to farmers is one of the important prerequisites to achieve that target.

This loan will be part of the Central share of assistance to State Governments.

It will ensure front loading of resources so that the identified incomplete irrigation projects under Pradhan Mandtri Krishi Sinchai Yojna (PMKSY) are executed in time.

Loan released by NABARD to NWDA would be disbursed to the respective State Governments as Central Share in the projects sanctioned.

Union Budget 2016-17 Summary for Competitive Exams

The highlights of union budget 2016 are

• Growth of Economy accelerated to 7.6% in 2015-16.
• Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana(Prime Minister Crop Insurance Scheme) in which the premium rates to be paid by the farmers have been brought down substantially so as to enable more farmers avail insurance cover against crop loss on account of natural calamities. The scheme will come into effect from the upcoming Kharif season. Allocation under Prime Minister Fasal Bima Yojana Rs. 5,500 crore.
• Allocation for Agriculture and Farmers’ welfare is Rs. 35,984 crore
• ‘Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana’ to be implemented in mission mode. 28.5 lakh hectares will be brought under irrigation.
• Implementation of 89 irrigation projects under Accelerated Irrigation Benefits Programme (AIBP), which are languishing for a long time, will be fast tracked
• A dedicated Long Term Irrigation Fund will be created in NABARD with an initial corpus of about Rs. 20,000 crore
• Programme for sustainable management of ground water resources with an estimated cost of Rs. 6,000 crore will be implemented through multilateral funding
• Promote organic farming through ‘Parmparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana’ and 'Organic Value Chain Development in North East Region'.
• Allocation under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana increased to Rs.19,000 crore. Will connect remaining 65,000 eligible habitations by 2019.
• Rs. 850 crore for four dairying projects - ‘Pashudhan Sanjivani’, ‘Nakul Swasthya Patra’, ‘E-Pashudhan Haat’ and National Genomic Centre for indigenous breeds
• A sum of Rs. 38,500 crore allocated for MGNREGS.
• 300 Rurban Clusters will be developed under the Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Rurban Mission
• 100% village electrification by 1st May, 2018.
• Rashtriya Gram Swaraj Abhiyan  with an allocation of  RS. 655 crore to be launched to strengthen the Panchayati Raj Institutions
• Allocation for social sector including education and health care Rs.1,51,581 crore.
• Rs. 2,000 crore allocated for initial cost of providing LPG connections to BPL families.
• New health protection scheme will provide health cover up to Rs. Onelakh per family. For senior citizens an additional top-up package up to Rs. 30,000 will be provided.
• 3,000 Stores under Prime Minister’s Jan Aushadhi Yojana will be opened during 2016-17.
• ‘National Dialysis Services Programme’ to be started under National Health Mission through PPP mode
• “Stand Up India Scheme” to facilitate at least two projects per bank branch. This will benefit at least 2.5 lakh entrepreneurs.
• Digital Depository for School Leaving Certificates, College Degrees, Academic Awards and Mark sheets to be set-up.
• Allocation for skill development – Rs. 1804. crore. 
• National Board for Skill Development Certification to be setup in partnership with the industry and academia
• 100 Model Career Centres to operational by the end of 2016-17 under National Career Service.
• Total investment in the road sector, including PMGSY allocation, would be Rs. 97,000 crore during 2016-17.
• India’s highest ever kilometres of new highways were awarded in 2015. To approve nearly 10,000 kms of National Highways in 2016-17.
• Allocation of Rs. 55,000 crore in the Budget for Roads. Additional Rs. 15,000 crore to be raised by NHAI through bonds
• Total outlay for infrastructure - Rs. 2,21,246 crore.
• 100% FDI to be allowed through FIPB route in marketing of food products produced and manufactured in India.
• Allocation of Rs. 25,000 crore towards recapitalisation of Public Sector Banks.
• Target of amount sanctioned under Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana increased to Rs 1,80,000 crore.
• Price Stabilisation Fund with a corpus of Rs. 900 crore to help maintain stable prices of Pulses. 
• “Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat” programme will be launched to link States and Districts in an annual programme that connects people through exchanges in areas of language, trade, culture, travel and tourism.
• Fiscal deficit in RE 2015-16 and BE 2016-17 retained at 3.9% and 3.5%.
• Revenue Deficit target from 2.8% to 2.5% in RE 2015-16
• Total expenditure projected at Rs. 19.78 lakh crore
• Plan expenditure pegged at Rs. 5.50 lakh crore under Plan, increase of 15.3%
• Non-Plan expenditure kept at Rs. 14.28 lakh crores
• Mobilisation of additional finances to the extent of Rs. 31,300 crore by NHAI, PFC, REC, IREDA, NABARD and Inland Water Authority by raising Bonds. 
• Committee to review the implementation of the FRBM Act.
• Raise the ceiling of tax rebate under section 87A from Rs.2000 to Rs.5000 to lessen tax burden on individuals with income upto Rs.5 laks. 
• Increase the limit of deduction of rent paid under section 80GG from Rs.24000 per annum to Rs.60000, to provide relief to those who live in rented houses.
• New manufacturing companies incorporated on or after 1.3.2016 to be given an option to be taxed at 25% + surcharge and cess provided they do not claim profit linked or investment linked deductions and do not avail of investment allowance and accelerated depreciation.
• Lower the corporate tax rate for the next financial year for relatively small enterprises i.e companies with turnover not exceeding Rs. 5 crore (in the financial year ending March 2015), to 29% plus surcharge and cess.
• 100% deduction of profits for 3 out of 5 years for startups setup during April, 2016 to March, 2019. MAT will apply in such cases. 
• Commitment to implement General Anti Avoidance Rules (GAAR) from 1.4.2017.
• Withdrawal up to 40% of the corpus at the time of retirement to be tax exempt in the case of National Pension Scheme (NPS). Annuity fund which goes to legal heir will not be taxable.
• Krishi Kalyan Cess, @ 0.5% on all taxable services, w.e.f. 1 June 2016. Proceeds would be exclusively used for financing initiatives for improvement of agriculture and welfare of farmers. Input tax credit of this cess will be available for payment of this cess. 

Union Government launched SAHAJ Scheme

Union Government has launched SAHAJ scheme for online booking of new LPG connections for the consumers as parts of its consumer friendly initiative on 25 january 2016.It was launched by Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan at a function held in New Delhi.The booking can be done through the unified web portal www.mylpg.in which is available in 13 languages.

SAHAJ Scheme:

SAHAJ facility will enable the customers to post online request for a new connection by filing Know Your Customer (KYC) form by uploading bank account details and photographs. After submitting the details, customer will receive the registration number to know the new connection status. Later, customer can opt for offline or online mode of payment for the new connection. Once payment is done, electronic subscription voucher will be mailed to the new customer. Later distributor will do physical delivery of the Gas cylinder, regulator with hose pipe.Initially, the scheme has been launched in twelve cities.12 cities are Ahmedabad, Bhubaneswar, Bengaluru, Bhopal, Chennai, Chandigarh, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Lucknow, Patna, Mumbai and Pune.

Indian Government cleared the 1st batch of projects under AMRUT

Government clears first batch of AMRUT projects for 89 citiesworth Rs 2,786cr.The Ministry of Urban Development has approved the first batch of state level Action Plans under Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT).These plans were aimed at enabling water supply as per the norm and providing water supply and sewerage connections to all urban households.

Rameswaram, birthplace of Dr. Abdul Kalam, included as 498th town under AMRUT

Union Minister of Urban Development 

M Venkaiah Naidu on 15 October 2015 declared that former President Dr. Abdul Kalam’s birth place Rameswaram has been included in Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) for providing basic urban infrastructure.

 The announcement was made on the occasion of 84th birth anniversary of Dr. Kalam at a programme organised at DRDO. Rameswaram is the 498th to be included in the Mission. With the addition of Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu would have 32 cities and towns under Atal Mission.Besides, a committee comprising of Union Ministers M Venkaiah Naidu, Manohar Parrikar, Pon Radhakrishnan and former Chief Election Commissioner N Gopalaswamy will work out the details of a Memorial for Dr. Kalam at Rameswaram. This Committee will consult all concerned before giving a final shape to the Memorial.Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) was approved by the Union Cabinet on 29 April 2015. The mission aims at providing basic infrastructure facilities in 500 cities with an outlay of 50000 crore rupees over the next five years (2015-16 to 2019-20).

Food Security Ordinance signed

President Pranab Mukherjee today signed Food Security Ordinance, paving way for implementation of the controversial Food Security Bill. Ordinance will give nation's two-third population the right to 5 kgs of foodgrain every month at highly subsidised rates of Rs 1-3 per kg.  At Rs 125,000 crore of government support, the food security programme will be the largest in the world.
"India is producing 214 million tonnes of food grain and what we need is 62 and we procure 30%. Last season we procured 82 million tonnes and as I speak now, storage is going to be 73-74 million, so we have enough food grains with us,"  Food minister K V Thomas said.
About 2.43 crore poorest of the poor families covered under the Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) scheme under PDS (Public Distribution System) would continue to get 35 kg of foodgrains per family per month but with legal entitlement.

What is SKEWPY?

Sher-e-Kashmir Employment and Welfare Programme for Youth (SKEWPY) is a initiative to address the unemployment problem in Jammu and Kashmir. A Collective, comprehensive and holistic endeavour is required to address this gigantic problem in a principled manner, Hence, the Government announces this State policy on Employment’ to simultaneously and comprehensively address all issues relating to the problem of unemployment in the State.

World Bank loan for RMSA

To support secondary education, World Bank has offered $500 million loan to India. This loan will be used to finance Rashtriya Madhyamic Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA), a government initiative to support secondary education in India. OnnoRuhl, country director, World Bank (India), and Prabodh Saxsena, joint secretary, finance ministry signed the loan agreement in New Delhi.

Banks told to give farmers smart cards

The Reserve Bank of India has asked commercial banks, regional rural banks and cooperative banks to issue smart cards/ debit cards to farmers under the revised Kisan Credit Card (KCC) scheme so that they can access credit with ease. 

The RBI has announced a new KCC scheme based on the recommendations of a working group headed by Mr T.M. Bhasin, Chairman and Managing Director, Indian Bank.
The Scheme aims at providing adequate and timely credit for the comprehensive credit requirements of farmers under single window, with flexible and simplified procedure, adopting whole farm approach, including the short-term credit needs and a reasonable component for consumption needs, through Kisan Credit Card.
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Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (NSM)

Under the Government’s Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (NSM) that started in January 2010, the country aims to have 2,000 MW of installed solar power generation capacity by 2013, which would be further increased to 10,000 MW by 2017 and to 20,000 MW by 2022. Reliance Power was one of the successful bidders to develop 470 MW of concentrating solar power capacity under the first phase of the NSM.

Mother and Child Tracking System(MCTS)

Mother and Child Tracking System(MCTS) was launched by the health and family welfare department with an objective to track pregnant women all over their pregnancy and delivering medical services to them as per the WHO guidelines and tracking children until they get full immunisation.

(ISHUP)-Interest Subsidy Scheme for Housing the Urban Poor

The Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation (MH &UPA), Government of India has designed an Interest Subsidy Scheme, (ISHUP)-Interest Subsidy Scheme for Housing the Urban Poor and launched it on December 26, 2008. This scheme is in accordance with Government of India's important policy agenda, "Affordable housing for all".

Financial inclusion

Financial inclusion is one of the main aims of the government. A large portion of India's population remains unbanked and without access to credit. In light of this, domestic banks have to lend at least 40% of their loan book to the priority sector. This includes sectors like agriculture, small scale industries, microfinance etc. If banks are unable to meet these steep targets, they have to invest in low yielding Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF) bonds. Or they can try and meet their targets by investing in securitized assets of their NBFC peers. But rather than just meeting targets, our hope is that banks will work harder on actually uplifting the weaker sections of our country. This will be more beneficial for the country in the long run.

Agents of banking correspondents (BCs) can now service customers of more than one bank

A retail outlet or an agent providing banking correspondent services can now provide services of more than one bank. The RBI has permitted interoperability at point of customer interface of BCs. The transaction and authentication at such retail outlets or subagents of BCs should be carried out on-line; the transaction should be carried out on the Core Banking Solution (CBS) platform and the bank should follow the standard operating procedures to be advised by the Indian Bank’s Association.