Economy - Prelims Topics
MS Swaminathan- National Commission on Farmers (NCF)
NCF Commission made several goals for ensuring sustainable agriculture and food security and submitted the report in 2006. During 2014-19, several decisions have been taken to fulfil the objectives mentioned in the report.
Some of them are: Designating the Ministry of Agriculture as Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Issuing Soil Health Cards to all farmers to promote the adoption of balanced nutrition.
Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana allocating budgetary and non-budgetary resources for micro irrigation
Creation of Gramin Agriculture Markets provide scope of direct sales to consumer (retail and bulk)
Introduction of Agricultural Produce and Livestock Marketing Act 2017 and Agricultural Produce and Livestock Contract Farming Services Act 2018 supported by Negotiable Warehouse Receipt system for increased institutional credit to farm sector.
From Kharif 2018 onwards, MSP of notified crops would be minimum of 150% of the cost of production.
First International Congress took place in New Delhi in 2016
Rahstriya Gokul Mission contributing in conservation and sustainable use of indigenous breed of cattle
Temple Tree
Recognising the critical role of mangroves in the conservation of coastal ecosystem that “Chidamabaram Temple” chose mangrove plant (Excoecaria agallocha) as the “Temple Tree” A “Charter for Mangroves” was prepared and with the help of Government of Japan and IITO, an International Society for Mangrove Ecosystem(ISME) was formed in 1990.
ElectroNic SUbmission of REturns- ENSURE
A portal ENSURE- National Livestock Mission-EDEG developed by NABARD and operated under the Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying & Fisheries was launched for Direct Benefit Transfer.
“ENSURE” (https://ensure.nabard.org) so that the information related to beneficiary and processing of application can be made readily available.
ENSURE Portal for DBT India’s Heaviest Communication Satellite GSAT- 11 Launched
GSAT-11 is India's heaviest satellite which weighs 5854 kg.
It was launched on December 5, 2018.
It will boost the broadband connectivity to the rural and inaccessible Gram Panchayats in the country coming under Bharat Net Project, a part of Digital India Programme.
Bharat Net Project aims to enhance the public welfare schemes like e-banking, e-health and e-governance.NANO Mission
The Government of India, in May 2007, has approved the launch of a Mission on Nano Science and Technology (Nano Mission) with an allocation of Rs. 1000 crore for 5 years.
The Department of Science and Technology is the nodal agency for implementing the Nano Mission.
Atal Innovation Mission
Set up by: NITI Ayog Includes: Self-Employment and Talent Utilization (SETU)
Focus to create and promote world class innovation and entrepreneurial ecosystem Atal Tinkering Laboratories under the Atal Innovation Mission aims to create innovators and the Atal Incubation Centres would provide support to these innovations to scale up to market and helps to create enterprises around these innovations.
AIM intends to support the establishment of new incubation centres called Atal Incubation Centres (AICs) that would nurture innovative start-up businesses in their pursuit to become scalable and sustainable enterprises. AIM will provide a grant-in-aid of upto Rs. 10 crore for a maximum period of 5 years to cover the capital and operational expenditures to establish the AIC. Atal Innovation Mission AIM has partnered with Ministries of Housing and Urban Affairs, Road Transport and Highways, Agriculture and Family Welfare, Drinking Water & Sanitation and Railway Board. Under this challenge, AIM will invite prospective innovators, MSMEs and start-ups to design market-ready products using cutting edge technologies or prototypes across pre-identified 17 focus areas.
National Challenge for Youth-“Ideate for India- Creative Solutions using Technology”
Ministery for Electronics & IT, Law & Justice launched a National Challenge for Youths, “Ideate for India - Creative Solutions using Technology”, at New Delhi in December 2018.
The aim of this National Challenge is to give school students across the country a platform and opportunity to become solution creators for the problems they see around them and their communities.
The National Challenge is open to students of classes 6 - 12 all across the country
U K Sinha Committee
RBI has set up an expert committee under former Sebi chairman U K Sinha to suggest long-term solutions for the economic and financial sustainability of the MSME sector.
They will identify the ‘structural problems’ affecting the growth of the small-scale sector.
The eight-member committee will also examine the factors impacting credit flow to MSMEs and propose measures for leveraging technology in accelerating the growth of the sector.
Such a high-level committee has been assigned to examine MSMEs because these enterprises contribute about 40% to India’s export and 45% in the manufacturing sector.The report will be submitted by the end of June 2019.
Innovation Oriented Initiatives in Higher Education
Higher Education Department of the Ministry of Human Resource and Development has launched several new and innovative programs to make higher education persuasive and effective.
MIC and ARIIA MHRD Innovation Cell (MIC) and Atal Ranking of Institutions on Innovation Achievements (ARIIA) are launched to foster the culture of innovation in all higher education institutes across the countries.
It aims at creating 1000 Institutes Innovation Centres (IIC) GIAN: Global Initiative for Academic Network It aims to connect the Indian academia with the international pool of scientists and entrepreneurs by inviting them to teach and participate in research in Indian HEIs.
Innovation Oriented Initiatives in Higher Education
SPARC: Scheme for Academic Research and Promotion by Collaboration Under this, 600 joint research proposals will be funded for 2 years to facilitate strong international research collaboration with leading foreign universities.
Digital India e-learning It is a virtual classroom initiative to enable youth outside the campus to access best quality teachers and courses without paying hefty fees.
Uchhatar Avishkar Yojana (UAY)
It promotes industry sponsored outcome-oriented research project with an outlay of Rs. 475 cr. For 2 years starting from 2016-17 Funding Pattern: MHRD-50%, 25% by Industry and 25% Host institute.
Research and Innovation Under this initiative, 20 new Design Innovation Centres(DIC), one Open Design School and a National Design Innovation Network are to be setup
Innovation Oriented Initiatives in Higher Education
IMPRINT: Impacting Research Innovation and Technology It is the first of its kind MHRD supported Pan-IIT + IISc joint initiative to address the major science and engineering challenges that India must address and champion to enable, empower and embolden the the nation for inclusive growth and self-reliance.
Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyan (PMGDISHA) programme: Another six crore adults are to be made digitally literate in the next two years. Rural BPO scheme is another initiative to take the IT industry to smaller towns and cities. More than 19,000 BPO seats have been allocated in 64 towns across 23 states/Union Territories, including four in the Northeast. This will not only uplift the employment ecosystem in small towns but will also help in reducing migration to cities.
Digital Payments: India’s unique innovations in the field of digital payments such as BHIM, UPI (Unified Payments Interface), USSD (Unstructured Supplementary Service Data) and Aadhaar Pay have offered affordable digital payment solutions to people. Steep growth has been registered in digital transactions in the last six months.
UPI/BHIM transactions have increased to 3.31 lakh transactions per day from near zero. Digital wallet transactions have doubled, and debit card payments (Rupay) have increased four-fold. Hundreds of villages and townships across the country have become completely digital payment enabled in a very short span of time. The government is targeting 2,500 crore digital payment transactions this year.
According to a Boston Consultancy Group-Google study, India is poised to become a 500 billion-dollar digital payments market by 2020.
Adding More Meaning to Money
Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana Launched on: August 28, 2014 Aim: access to financial services to the excluded sections Target: to cover 6 crore uncovered rural and 1.5 crore urban household.
Recent Updates:
Overdraft Limit extended from 5000 to 10,000 INR
No conditions for overdraft upto 2,000
Age limit for overdraft: 18-65
Accidental insurance cover for new RuPay card holders raised to 2 lakh.
Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana
Launched on: May 9, 2015
Coverage of Rs. 2 lakh for death due to accident Coverage of Rs. 1 lakh for permanent disability Age group: 18-70 years • Premium: Rs. 12 per year
Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Yojana
Launched on: May 9, 2015
Coverage of Rs. 2 lakh for death due any reason
Age group: 18-50 years With effect from September 1, 2018, Ministry of Finance has revised the premium payment structure on quarterly basis depending on the request date of the Account holder into the scheme
The revised structure is as follows:
June, July and August – Annual Premium of Rs 330 is payable
September, October and November – Premium of Rs 258 is payable
December, January and February – Premium of Rs 172 is payable
March, April and May – Premium of Rs 86 is payable.
Atal Pension Yojana
Launched on: May 9, 2015
The Central Government would also co-contribute 50% of the total contribution or Rs. 1,000 (US$14) per annum, whichever is lower, to each eligible subscriber account, for a period of 5 years.
The minimum age of joining APY is 18 years and maximum age is 40 years.
The age of exit and the start of pension would be 60 years. Therefore, a minimum period of contribution by the subscriber under APY would be 20 years or more.
Monthly contribution ranges between 210 to 1454 Rs.
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