THE PRIEST

The Government has replaced Planning Commission with a new institution named NITI Aayog (National Institution for Transforming India). The institution will serve as ‘Think Tank’ of the Government-a directional and policy dynamo. NITI Aayog will provide Governments at the central and state levels with relevant strategic and technical advice across the spectrum of key elements of policy, this includes matters of national and international import on the economic front, dissemination of best practices from within the country as well as from other nations, the infusion of new policy ideas and specific issue-based support. The NITI Aayog will work towards the following objectives: To evolve a shared vision of national development priorities, sectors and strategies with the active involvement of States in the light of national objectives. The vision of the NITI Aayog will then provide a framework ‘national agenda’ for the Prime Minister and the Chief Ministers to provide impetus to. ...

The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister, on 20th march,2015,  gave its approval for the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) with an outlay of Rs.1500 crore. This will be the flagship scheme for skill training of youth to be implemented by the new Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship through the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC). The scheme will cover 24 lakh persons. Skill training would be done based on the National Skill Qualification Framework (NSQF) and industry led standards. Under the scheme, a monetary reward is given to trainees on assessment and certification by third party assessment bodies. The average monetary reward would be around Rs.8000 per trainee. Out of the total outlay of Rs.1120 crore to be spent on skill training of 14 lakh youth, special emphasis has been given to recognition of prior learning for which an amount of Rs.220 crore has been provided. Awareness building and mobilization efforts would be focused for ...

Government of India in the Union Budget 2014-2015, announced the revival of Varishtha Pension Bima Yojana (VPBY) for a limited period from 15th August 2014 to 14th August 2015 for the benefit of citizens aged 60 years and above.Varishtha Pension Bima Yojana (VPBY) will benefit the vulnerable section of society with limited resources as it will provide monthly pension ranging from Rs 500/ to Rs 5,000/ per month to senior citizens of the country. VPBY is like reverse of a normal insurance policy as in case of VPBY, the beneficiary gets an income at the overall rate of 9.38 % per annum on their deposits as they are being paid on monthly basis.The subscription to the scheme is likely to create a corpus of more than Rs. 10,000 crore, and would thus also be a significant source of resource mobilization for the development of the country. Under this revived Varishtha Pension Bima Yojana (VPBY), the senior citizens would get pension on fixed basis either on yearly or monthly basis which wi...

National Safai Karamcharis Finance and Development Corporation (NSKFDC), an Apex Corporation of the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, has launched “Swachhta Udyami Yojana” on 2.10.2014. The objective of the Scheme is to provide concessional loan for viable community toilet projects and sanitation related vehicles to collect the garbage, to consolidate the ongoing efforts for realising the objectives of the ‘Swachh Bharat Abhiyan’ launched by Prime Minister on 2nd October, 2014. Under the Scheme, entrepreneurs among safai karmacharis and identified manual scavengers can avail loan upto defined ceiling at concessional rate of interest @ 4% per annum. In case of women beneficiaries, there is a rebate of 1% in the rate of interest charged. No State/ Union Territory wise budget allocations are made under the Scheme as funds are to be provide to the channelizing agencies on the basis of the proposals received from them.

The PMJDY has been conceived as a national mission on financial inclusion with the objective of covering all households in the country with banking facilities and having a bank account for each household. Financial inclusion or inclusive financing is the delivery of financial services at affordable costs to sections of disadvantaged and low-income segments of society, in contrast to financial exclusion where those services are not available or affordable.  It is said that since banking services are in the nature of public product, the availability of banking and payment services to the entire population without discrimination is the prime objective of financial inclusion in public policy. With a bank account, every household gains access to banking and credit facilities. This will enable them to come out of the grip of moneylenders, manage to keep away from financial crises caused by emergent needs, and most importantly, benefit from a range of financial products/benefits. Th...

The National Drug Policy for Malaria (2013) has been formulated with following objectives: Reducing morbidity by prompt and complete treatment of suspected/confirmed malaria cases Prevention of progression of uncomplicated malaria into severe malaria and thereby reduce malaria mortality Prevention of relapses by administration of radical treatment Preventing transmission of malaria by use of gametocytocidal drugs Preventing development of drug resistance by rational treatment of malaria cases Salient features of National Drug Policy for malaria are as under: Treatment of uncomplicated P. falciparum cases: Complete course of three days Artemisinin based Combination Therapy (ACT) along with single dose of primaquine 0.75 mg/kg body weight on day 2. Treatment of uncomplicated P. vivaxcases: Chloroquine – 10 mg/kg body weight on day 1 and day 2 and 5 mg/kg body weight on day Primaquine- 0.25 mg/kg body weight for 14 days. For severe malaria cases (both Pv and Pf) injectableartemi...

The National Skill Development Agency (NSDA) was notified on 6 June 2013 and has been functional ever since. The NSDA is an autonomous body, with functions which inter alia include taking all possible steps to meet skilling targets as envisaged in the 12th Five Year Plan and beyond; coordinating and harmonizing the approach to skill development in the country; anchoring and operationalizing the National Skills Qualification Framework to ensure that quality and standards meet sector specific requirements; being the nodal agency for State Skill Development Missions; evaluating existing skill development schemes with a view to assessing their efficacy and suggesting corrective action to make them more effective; creating and maintaining a national database relating to skill development including development of a dynamic labour market information system; and ensuring that the skilling needs of the disadvantaged and the marginalized groups like SCs, STs, OBCs, minorities, women and differe...

The National Mission on Agricultural Extension and Technology (NMAET) which encompasses extension, Information Communication Technology (ICT), Seeds, Agricultural Mechanization and Plant Protection aims to restructure & strengthen agricultural extension to enable delivery of appropriate technology and improved agronomic practices to the farmers through interactive methods of information dissemination, use of ICT, capacity building & institution strengthening; to improve reach of farm mechanization to small and marginal farmers by various means including promotion of custom hiring centers; to make available quality seeds and increase Seed Replacement Ratio and to promote Integrated Pest Management and plant protection measures. Methods of Implementation: Most components of the Mission are implemented through State Governments. However, some regulatory and administrative components like pesticide registration & quarantine regulation; national institutes, Mass Media, Kisan...

Government have taken several initiatives for engaging the Indian Diaspora around the world. The major initiative is the Pravasi Bhartiya Divas, which is one of the largest diaspora engagements in the world. The Ministry of OIA does not organise programmes based on region, caste or creed. Besides Pravasi Bhartiya Divas, this Ministry organizes various other engagement programmes namely Regional Pravasi Bhartiya Divas, Know India Programme, Study India Programme, Scholarship Programme for Diaspora Children, Tracing the Roots and issues Overseas Citizen of India(OCI) cards for eligible applicants from the Indian diaspora abroad irrespective of their region, caste or creed. In addition Pravasi Bhartiya Samman Awards are also given to distinguished NRIs/PIOs for excellence in various fields. New programmes for the Indian Diaspora abroad are formulated by the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs from time to time taking into account the various needs for engaging the Indian Diaspora. The M...

For the Educational Empowerment of the minority communities, the Ministry of Minority Affairs is implementing Pre-matric, Post-matric and Merit-cum-Means based scholarship schemes. Under Post-matric scholarship scheme, students are encouraged to pursue Technical and Vocational Courses in Industrial Training Institutes/ Industrial Training Centres by granting higher amount of scholarships. Under Merit-cum-Means based scholarship scheme, students are encouraged to pursue Professional and Technical courses. Under this scheme, students getting admissions in reputed listed institutes are re-imbursed full course fee. Fellowship is provided to minority scholars to pursue higher and professional courses at M.Phil and Ph.D levels through the Maulana Azad National Fellowship. Under Multi-Sectoral Development Programme (MsDP), necessary infrastructure for education and skill development are created in the identified minority concentration areas. So far 117 ITIs, 44 Polytechnics, 645 Hostels, 1092...

A draft National Policy on Electronics has been announced on 3 October, 2011 and is available on www.mit.gov.in . A Round Table Conference on Electronic Policy 2011 was held in June 2011 by the Minister of Communications and Information Technology, representatives from Ministries/Department, industry associations, manufacturing units etc participated in the Round Table Conference.  

The National Mineral Policy, 2008, seeks to address areas of serious concern in mining sector relating inter-alia to: (i) making the regulatory mechanism more conducive to technology and investment flows by ensuring greater transparency in allocation of mineral concessions, seamlessness and security of tenure in the concession processes, (ii) strengthening the role of Geological Survey of India, Indian Bureau of Mines, and State Directorates of Mining and Geology, (iii) developing and enforcing a Sustainable Development Framework ensuring stakeholder rights to the indigenous population and that the mining activity takes place along with suitable measures for restoration of the ecological balance, (iv) discourage and prevent sub-optimal and unscientific mining by promoting zero-waste mining, (v) developing new concession instruments to attract high technology for incentivizing exploration of large areas, and ...

Cruise tourism has the potential to attract both domestic as well as foreign tourists in the country. The Ministry of Tourism in association with the Ministry of Shipping promotes cruise tourism. Ministry of Tourism provides Central Financial Assistance (CFA) to the State Governments/UT Administration/Central Government Agencies under the following schemes for development of tourism including cruise tourism: 1. Product/Infrastructure Development for Destinations and Circuits. 2. Assistance for Large Revenue Generating Projects. 3. Assistance to Central Agencies for Infrastructure Development. No project relating to development of cruise tourism has been sanctioned during the last two years and the current year. Initially, five ports namely Mumbai, Goa, Chennai, Mangalore and Kochi have been identified for cruise tourism including development of cruise terminal. The Government of India has approved the Cruise Shipping Policy in June 2008. Some salient features of this pol...