PIB – 20 July 2021

Contents

1. Indigenous Production of Defence Equipment
2. Schemes for School Children and girls’ education

Indigenous Production of Defence Equipment

Context:

Raksha Rajya Mantri in his reply in the Rajya Sabha said that the ‘Make in India’ scheme is implemented in defence sector to promote indigenous design, development and manufacture of defence items. 

Relevance:

Prelims, GS-III: Internal Security Challenges

Dimensions of the Article:

1. Progress under the Make in India Scheme
2. Initiatives under the AatmaNirbhar Bharat Scheme in defence

Progress under the Make in India Scheme

• Many significant projects including 155mm Artillery Gun system ‘Dhanush’, Bridge Laying Tank, Thermal Imaging Sight Mark-II for T-72 tank, Light Combat Aircraft ‘Tejas’, ‘Akash’ Surface to Air Missile system, Submarine ‘INS Kalvari’, ‘INS Chennai’, Anti-Submarine Warfare Corvette (ASWC), Arjun Armoured Repair and Recovery Vehicle, Landing craft utility, etc. have been produced in the country under ‘Make in India’ initiative of the Government in last few years.
• As per Defence Acquisition Procedure (DAP), priority has been accorded to capital acquisition through ‘Buy (Indian-IDDM)’, ‘Buy (Indian)’, ‘Buy and Make (Indian)’, ‘Buy and Make’ ‘Strategic Partnership Model’ or ‘Make’ categories over Buy (Global) category. 

Initiatives under the AatmaNirbhar Bharat Scheme in defence

• The Government has taken several policy initiatives and brought in reforms to promote indigenisation and self-reliance in defence manufacturing, under AatmaNirbhar Bharat Mission in the defence sector.
• Ministry of Defence has notified a ‘First Positive Indigenisation list’ and ‘2nd Positive Indigenisation list’ of more than 100 items each in 2021, for which there would be an embargo on the import beyond the timelines indicated against them. This offers a great opportunity to the Indian defence industry to manufacture these items using their own design and development capabilities to meet the requirements of the Indian Armed Forces.
• SRIJAN portal to promote indigenisation was launched in 2020 listing over 10 thousand items (which were earlier imported) displayed on the portal for indigenization.
• More than 1500 components & spares have been indigenised in the year 2020-21 as a result of efforts of indigenisation by DPSUs, OFB & SHQs through their own process of indigenisation (In-house, Make-II & Other than Make-II).
• Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP) 2016 has been revised as Defence Acquisition Procedure (DAP)-2020, which is driven by the tenets of Defence Reforms announced as part of ‘AatmaNirbhar Bharat Abhiyan’.
• In order to promote indigenous design and development of defence equipment ‘Buy (Indian-IDDM (Indigenously Designed, Developed and Manufactured))’ category has been accorded top most priority for procurement of capital equipment. The ‘Make’ Procedure of capital procurement has been simplified. There is a provision for funding up to 70% of development cost by the Government to Indian industry under Make-I category. In addition, there are specific reservations for MSMEs under the ‘Make’ procedure.
• The Government of India has enhanced FDI in Defence Sector up to 74% through the Automatic Route for companies seeking new defence industrial license and up to 100% by Government Route.
• An innovation ecosystem for Defence titled ‘Innovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX)’ has been launched in 2018 aimed at creation of an ecosystem to foster innovation and technology development in Defence and Aerospace. iDEX engages Industries including MSMEs, startups, individual innovators, R&D institutes and academia and provide them grants/funding and other support to carry out R&D which has potential for future adoption for Indian defence and aerospace needs.
• Government has notified the ‘Strategic Partnership (SP)’ Model in May, 2017, which envisages establishment of long-term strategic partnerships with Indian entities through a transparent and competitive process, wherein they would tie up with global Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) to seek technology transfers to set up domestic manufacturing infrastructure and supply chains.
• An Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) on ‘Mutual Cooperation in Joint Manufacturing of Spares, Components, Aggregates and other material related to Russian/Soviet Origin Arms and Defence Equipment’ was signed in 2019 to enhance the After Sales Support and operational availability of Russian origin equipment currently in service in Indian Armed Forces.

-Source: PIB

Schemes for School Children and girls’ education

Context:

Union Minister of Education in his reply in the Lok Sabha said that the Department of School Education and Literacy (DoSEL), Ministry of Education is implementing various welfare schemes for incentives for girls education.

Relevance:

GS-II: Social Justice (Government Policies and Interventions, Welfare Schemes, Issues regarding Education)

Dimensions of the Article:

1. Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya (KGBV) scheme
2. Samagra Shiksha
3. National Means Cum-Merit Scholarship Scheme

Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya (KGBV) scheme

• The Department of School Education & Literacy, Ministry of Human Resource Development implement the Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya (KGBV) scheme under which residential upper primary schools for girls from SC,ST, OBC, Minority and BPL girls in the educationally backward blocks are set up all over India under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA).
• KGBV schools aim at giving rural girls who had dropped out of school, before ending the primary stage, a second chance.
• Free boarding / lodging, books, stationary and uniforms are being provided to the children in these schools.
• Instead going through the primary stage again, Kasturba schools offer a full-time residential opportunity to start at grade 6 level and finish grade 8 when everyone else does.
• Kasturba schools have made notable success and progress in achieving this goal, despite extremely modest financial support.
• KGBVs specifically retained the girls they admit from marginalised sections. These include the Schedule Castes, Scheduled Tribes, the minorities and upper castes below the poverty line.

Samagra Shiksha

• Samagra Shiksha is an integrated scheme for school education extending from pre-school to class XII to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education at all levels of school education.
• It subsumes the three Schemes of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) and Teacher Education (TE).
• The main emphasis of the Scheme is on improving the quality of school education by focussing on the two T’s – Teacher and Technology.
• The Scheme is being implemented as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme. The fund sharing pattern for the scheme between Centre and States is at present in the ratio of 90:10 for the North-Eastern States and the Himalayan States and 60:40 for all other States and Union Territories with Legislature. It is 100% centrally sponsored for Union Territories without Legislature.
• The vision of the Scheme is to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education from pre-school to senior secondary stage in accordance with the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) for Education.
• SDG-4.1: Aims to ensure that all boys and girls complete free, equitable and quality primary and secondary education leading to relevant and effective learning outcomes. SDG 4.5: Aims to eliminate gender disparities in education and ensure equal access to all levels of education.

National Means Cum-Merit Scholarship Scheme

• National Means Cum-Merit Scholarship Scheme (NMMSS) awards scholarships to meritorious students of economically weaker sections to reduce drop-outs in class VIII. It also intends to encourage students to continue the study at a secondary stage.
• It is the Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS) which was launched in 2008.
• Students whose parental income from all sources is not more than Rs. 1,50,000/- per annum are eligible to avail the scholarships.
• The students studying in Kendriya Vidyalaya, Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas, Residential Schools run by the State Government Institutions and private schools are not eligible for the scholarship under this scheme.
• An evaluation study conducted by the National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration (NIEPA) in 2017 states that more than 70% beneficiary students would have been unable to continue their studies without this scholarship.

-Source: PIB