Important Government Schemes – March 2019

Important Government Schemes – March 2019

1. MoS Dr Jitendra Singh dedicates two Inter-State Road Projects in the North-East

• The Union Minister of State Development of North Eastern Region, Dr Jitendra Singh dedicated two Inter-State road projects in the North-Eastern Region.

• The two Inter-State road projects inaugurated are 17.47 kms long Doimukh-Harmuti Road links Assam and Arunachal Pradesh while the 1.66 km Tura-Mankachar Road provides connectivity between Assam and Meghalaya.

• The construction work for both the roads inaugurated had been implemented by the National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL).

• The Doimukh-Harmuti Inter-State Road had been constructed under the North East Road Sector Development Scheme (NERSDS) at a cost of Rs. 58.25 Crores. The length of road in Assam is 7.87 Km and remaining 9.60 Kms in Arunachal

Pradesh.

• Tura-Mankachar Road has also been funded by NEC at a cost of Rs. 4.71 Crores.

2. Textiles Minister Launched Scheme for Development of Knitting and Knitwear Sector

• Union Minister of Textiles, Smriti Zubin Irani, launched a comprehensive scheme for the Development of Knitting and Knitwear Sector under the PowerTex India in New Delhi.

• The Union Minister said that the knitting and knitwear sector is MSME in size and generates major employment in the decentralised sector. Minister further added that knitted fabrics contribute to 27% of the total fabric production in India and 15% of knitted fabric is being exported.

• The main components of the scheme are:

i. Creation of new service centers on Public Private Partnership (PPP) model by industry and association in the knitting and knitwear clusters.

ii. Modernization and upgradation of existing power loom service Centers (PSCs) and institution run by Textile Research Associations (TRAs) and Export Promotion Councils (EPCs) Association in knitting and knitwear clusters.

iii. Group work shed scheme.

iv. Yarn bank scheme.

v. Common facility center scheme.

vi. Pradhan mantra Credit Scheme.

vii. Solar Energy Scheme.

viii. Facilitation, IT, awareness, studies, surveys, market development and publicity for knitting and knitwear units.

3. 7 Crore LPG Connections Disbursed in 34 Months after the Launch of PMUY.

• The Centre has disbursed over seven crore LPG connections under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) within 34 months of the scheme’s launch.

• Top Five States under the Ujjwala Scheme are:

Uttar Pradesh - 1,26,40,088

West Bengal - 78,47,110

Bihar - 77,51,825

Madhya Pradesh - 63,31,815

Rajasthan - 55,34,808

• Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana is a scheme by Ministry of Petroleum &

Natural Gas for providing LPG connections to women from Below Poverty Line (BPL) households.

• The Scheme provides a financial support of Rs 1600 for each LPG connection to the BPL households, interest free loan to purchase stove and refill by Oil Marketing Companies.

• The administrative cost of Rs. 1600 per connection, which includes a cylinder, pressure regulator, booklet, safety hose, etc. would be borne by the Government.

• The release of LPG connection under this Scheme shall be in the name of the women belonging to the BPL family.

• The Government has also decided to cover the following categories under the Scheme:

(i) All SC/STs households’ beneficiaries of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY)(Gramin)

(ii) Antyoday Anna Yojana (AAY)

(iii) Forest dwellers

(iv) Most Backward Classes (MBC)

(v) Tea & Ex-Tea Garden Tribes

(vi) People residing in Islands

(vii) People residing in river islands.

4. RBI notifies 2% Interest Subsidy Scheme for short-term crop loans

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) notified the norms for banks with regards to 2% interest subvention or subsidy for short-term crop loans during 2018-19 and 2019-20.

• RBI has decided to offer interest subvention of 2% per annum to lending institutions who provide short-term crop loans up to Rs 3 lakh to farmers at an interest rate of 7%.

• This interest subvention of 2% will be calculated on the crop loan amount from the date of its disbursement/drawal up to the date of actual repayment of the crop loan by the farmer or up to the due date of the loan fixed by the banks whichever is earlier, subject to a maximum period of 1 year.

• Under the scheme, an additional 2 per cent interest subvention is provided to farmers repaying loans promptly. For such farmers, the effective rate of short-term crop loans works out to be 4 per cent per annum.

5. India and World Bank Sign $250 Million Agreement to Boost Rural Incomes

• The Government of India and the World Bank have signed a $250 Million Agreement for the National Rural Economic Transformation Project (NRETP) which will help women in rural households shift to a new generation of economic initiatives by developing viable enterprise for farm and non-farm products.

• A Key Focus of the project will be to promote women-owned and women-led farm and non-farm enterprises across value chains; enable them to build businesses that help them access finance, markets and networks; and generate

employment.

• The National Rural Economic Transformation Project (NRETP) is an additional financing to the $500 million National Rural Livelihoods Project (NRLP) approved by the World Bank in July 2011.

• The NRLP which is currently being implemented across 13 states, 162 districts and 575 blocks, has so far mobilized more than 8.8 million women from poor rural households into 750,000 self-help groups (SHGs).

• These SHGs have been further federated into 48,700 Village Organizations and 2900 Cluster/Gram Panchayat-level Federations.

• While these 13 states will continue to be supported under the new project signed, 125 new districts will be added from within these states.

• The $250-million loan from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) has a 5-year grace period, and a final maturity of 20 years.

6. National Annual Rural Sanitation Survey 2018-19

• The National Annual Rural Sanitation Survey (NARSS) 2018-19, conducted by an Independent Verification Agency (IVA) under the World Bank support project to the Swachh Bharat Mission Grameen (SBM-G), has found that 96.5% of the households in rural India who have access to a toilet use it.

• The NARSS also reconfirmed the Open Defecation Free (ODF) status of 90.7% of villages which were previously declared and verified as ODF by various districts/States.

• The key findings of NARSS 2018-19 are as follows:

• 93.1% of households were found to have access to toilets during the survey period.

• 96.5% of the people who had access to toilets used them.

• 90.7% of villages which were previously declared and verified as ODF were confirmed to be ODF. The remaining villages also had sanitation coverage of about 93%.

• 95.4% of the villages surveyed found to have minimal litter and minimal stagnant water.

7. CCEA approved Pradhan Mantri JI-VAN Yojana March 2, 2019

• The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs chaired by Prime Minister has approved the Pradhan Mantri JI-VAN (Jaiv Indhan- Vatavaran Anukool fasal awashesh Nivaran) Yojana for providing financial support to Integrated Bioethanol Projects using lignocellulosic biomass and other renewable feedstock.

• The JI-VAN Yojana will be supported with total financial outlay of Rs.1969.50 crore for the period from 2018-19 to 2023-24. Out of scheme fund of Rs.1969.50 crore, Rs.1800 crore has been allocated for supporting 12 Commercial projects, Rs.150 crore has been allocated for supporting 10 demonstration Projects and remaining Rs.9.50 crore will be provided to Centre for High Technology (CHT) as administrative charges.

• Under this Yojana, 12 Commercial Scale and 10 demonstration scale Second Generation (2G) ethanol Projects will be provided a Viability Gap Funding (VGF) support in two phases:

a) Phase-I (2018-19 to 2022-23): wherein six commercial projects and five demonstration projects will be supported.

b) Phase-II (2020-21 to 2023-24): wherein remaining six commercial projects and five demonstration projects will be supported.

• The scheme will also have the following benefits:

a) Meeting Government of India vision of reducing import dependence by way of substituting fossil fuels with Biofuels.

b) Achieving the GHG emissions reduction targets through progressive blending/ substitution of fossil fuels.

c) Addressing environment concerns caused due to burning of biomass/ crop residues & improve health of citizens.

d) Improving farmer income by providing them remunerative income for their otherwise waste agriculture residues.

e) Creating rural & urban employment opportunities in 2G Ethanol projects and Biomass supply chain.

f) Contributing to Swacch Bharat Mission by supporting the aggregation of non-food biofuel feedstocks such as waste biomass and urban waste.

g) Indigenizing of Second-Generation Biomass to Ethanol technologies.

8. Ministry of Tribal Affairs launched schemes of Minimum Support Price for Minor Forest Products to cover 50 items

• Union Minister of Tribal Affairs, Shri Jual Oram launched the ambitious scheme of the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Van Dhan, the scheme for Minimum Support Price (MSP) for Minor Forest Produce Scheme (MFP) and Development of Value Chain of MFPs at a National Workshop organized by TRIFED under Ministry of Tribal Affairs.

• The Scheme will offer remunerative Minimum Support Price for 50 commercially viable items to the Tribals.