Contents
- Tribal Health & Nutrition Portal – ‘Swasthya’
- Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana
- Partial Credit Guarantee Scheme (PCGS) 2.0
- MoEFCC at States Forest Minister’s Conference
TRIBAL HEALTH & NUTRITION PORTAL – ‘SWASTHYA’
Focus: GS-II Social Justice
Why in news?
A series of initiatives were announced by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs which included the Tribal Health and Nutrition Portal ‘Swasthya’ and e-newsletter on health and nutrition ALEKH; opening of National Overseas Portal and National Tribal Fellowship Portal.
Details of Initiatives
‘Swasthya’
- The e-portal ‘Swasthya’ is a first of its kind providing all health and nutrition related information of the tribal population of India in a single platform.
- Swasthya will also curate innovative practices, research briefs, case studies, and best practices collected from different parts of India to facilitate the exchange of evidence, expertise and experiences.
- The Ministry of Tribal Affairs has recognized Piramal Swasthya as the Centre of Excellence for Knowledge Management (CoE for KM) for Health and Nutrition.
- The CoE will constantly engage with the Ministry and provide inputs to drive evidence-based policy and decision-making pertaining to health and nutrition of the tribal population of India.
Going Online as Leaders (GOAL)
- The GOAL programme is a Facebook program aimed at guiding and encouraging tribal girls from across India to become village-level digital young leaders for their communities.
- The programme launched by Ministry of Tribal Affairs (MoTA) in partnership with Facebook India, will help to connect underprivileged young tribal youth with senior expert mentors in the areas of business, fashion and arts to learn digital and life skills.
- It aims to digitally skill and empower 5000 youth from tribal communities to become leaders of tomorrow by leveraging the power of digital technology.
- The core areas of mentorship program are Digital Literacy, life Skills and Leadership & Entrepreneurship.
- GOAL Project is aimed at identifying and mobilizing 2500 renowned people from industry (policy makers and influencers), teachers, artists, entrepreneurs, social workers etc., known for their achievements in their domain areas, to personally mentor tribal youths across India.
- In the second phase of the program, the Ministry of Tribal Affairs and Facebook together will digitally mentor 5000 young women in India’s tribal dominated districts, and will help to close the digital gender gap by enabling more women to get online and access digital services.
Other initiatives
- Ministry of Tribal Affairs has been recently awarded the 66th SKOCH Gold Award for “Empowerment of Tribals through IT enabled Scholarship Schemes” under guidance of DBT Mission.
- The national evaluation of Centrally Sponsored Schemes focused on social inclusion by KPMG has recognised the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) Portal of Ministry of Tribal Affairs as a best practice in e-governance; leading to greater transparency, accountability and radical improvement in service delivery to Scheduled Tribe students.
- National Fellowship and Overseas Scholarship Portal will bring greater transparency and easy information to the ST students.
PRADHAN MANTRI GRAM SADAK YOJANA
Focus: GS-II Social Justice
Why in news?
More than 1800 roads of length greater than 11,000 kilometres and 84 bridges have been completed in Jammu & Kashmir under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana.
Benefits cited:
- With construction of such all weather roads, the socio-economic condition of the inhabitants of the stated villages will certainly improve and the habitants will have better access to schools, health centres and markets.
- There are some tourist spots near these roads and during summer, thousands of tourists go to tourist destinations such as Panchari, Stok Kangri, Stok Monastery which are surrounded with meadows of forest and mountains and during winters, snow-clad mountains and a picturesque landscape with the most scenic views reflects the nature’s beauty at its best.
- The road from supply more to Kainthgali also provides all weather road to a well-known pilgrimage centre where lacs of tourists visit every year.
- With construction of these roads, the inflow of tourists will certainly increase thereby improving the living standards of the inhabitants of the rural/far-flung areas.
Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY)
- The Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) is a nationwide plan in India to provide good all-weather road connectivity to unconnected villages.
- This Centrally Sponsored Scheme was introduced in 2000.
- The PMGSY is under the authority of the Ministry of Rural Development.
PMGSY – Phase I
PMGSY – Phase I was launched in 2000 as a 100 % centrally sponsored scheme with an objective to provide single all-weather road connectivity to eligible unconnected habitation of designated population size for overall socio-economic development of the areas.
PMGSY – Phase II
- The Phase II of PMGSY was approved in 2013, and while the ongoing PMGSY – I continued – under PMGSY phase II, the roads already built for village connectivity was to be upgraded to enhance rural infrastructure.
- For the 12th Five Year Plan period a target of 50,000 Km length under PMGSY-II. 75 per cent of the cost of the upgradation was by the Centre and 25 per cent by the state.
- For hill states, desert areas, Schedule V areas and Naxal-affected districts, 90 per cent of cost was borne by the Centre.
PMGSY – Phase III
- The Phase III was approved by the Cabinet in 2019.
- It involves consolidation of Through Routes and Major Rural Links connecting habitations to Gramin Agricultural Markets (GrAMs), Higher Secondary Schools and Hospitals.
- Under the PMGSY-III Scheme, it is proposed to consolidate 1,25,000 Km road length in the States, and the duration of the scheme is 2019-20 to 2024-25.
- The funds would be shared in the ratio of 60:40 between the Centre and State for all States except for 8 North Eastern and 3 Himalayan States (Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh & Uttarakhand) for which it is 90:10.
PARTIAL CREDIT GUARANTEE SCHEME (PCGS) 2.0
Focus: GS-III Indian Economy
Why in news?
Partial Credit Guarantee Scheme (PCGS) 2.0 is extended with greater flexibility to respond to emerging demands.
Partial Credit Guarantee Scheme (PCGS) 2.0
- As part of Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan, announced by the Government, Partial Credit Guarantee Scheme (PCGS) 2.0 was launched.
- Under the scheme, provide Portfolio Guarantee for purchase of Bonds or Commercial Papers (CPs) with a rating of AA and below issued by NBFCs/HFCs/ MFIs by Public Sector Banks (PSBs) i.e., Under the scheme – any PSB can purchase securities (minimum rating of ‘AA’) of financially-sound non-banking finance companies.
- The objective is to address temporary asset-liability mismatches of otherwise solvent NBFCs/Housing finance companies (HFCs) without having to resort to distress sale of their assets to meet their commitments.
- The government will provide a one-time, six months’ partial credit guarantee to public sector banks for first loss of up to 10%.
- Also, these NBFCs/HFCs are mandated that the CRAR (Capital to Risk-Weighted Assets Ratio) shall not go below the regulatory minimum while exercising of the option to buy back the assets.
MOEFCC AT STATES FOREST MINISTER’S CONFERENCE
Focus: GS-II Environment and Ecology
Why in news?
At the States Forest Minister’s Conference, the Union Environment Minister said that “Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) is focused on enhancing forest quality and increasing tree cover for maximizing carbon stock”.
Initiatives highlighted
- Promoting urban forestry through Nagar Van Scheme with the objective of creating forested area in cities with Municipal Corporation, which will act as lungs of the cities
- LiDAR based survey of degraded forest areas for soil moisture conservation projects
- National Transit Portal to facilitate smooth movement of Forest produce
- The government will launch a holistic Project Dolphin for the conservation and protection of dolphins and the aquatic habitat through use of modern technology specially in enumeration and anti-poaching activities
- The government is working towards the Project Lion, which involves conservation of the Asiatic Lion and its landscape in a holistic manner while also addressing Human-wildlife conflict
- School Nursery scheme which aims at involving school students from the young age in nursery and plantation operations
- Landscape based catchment treatment of 13 major rivers
