1. Centre unveils ‘Agnipath’ scheme for recruitment of youth in the Armed Forces
Tags: Government Schemes
India unveiled a new scheme called "Agnipath" on 14 June for the recruitment of soldiers in the Army, the Navy and the Air Force, on a short-term contractual basis.
About ‘Agnipath’ scheme
Under this scheme, to reduce the rising salary and pension expenses, short-term soldiers will be recruited on contract basis, which will be called 'Agniveer'.
Under the scheme the soldiers will be recruited initially for a period of four years and some of them would be retained.
Indian youth will be provided an opportunity to serve in the Armed Forces as 'Agniveer'.
Women will also be recruited into armed forces under the scheme.
This will help in ensuring optimum balance between youth and experience in the Army.
The "Agneepath" scheme, earlier named as "Tour of Duty", was initiated in the presence of the Chiefs of the three Services.
At present, the Army recruits youth under Short Service Commission for an initial tenure of 10 years, which can be extended up to 14 years.
Salary of Agniveers
Agniveers will get a salary of Rs 30,000 to Rs 40,000 per month plus applicable allowance.
The Seva Nidhi will be exempt from Income Tax.
No one will be entitled to gratuity and pensionary benefits.
Agniveers will be provided a non-contributory life insurance cover of Rs 48 lakh.
Aim of the scheme
Reducing the salary and pension expenses of the three services.
To bring a paradigm shift in recruitment in the armed forces.
To ensure a wider talent pool for recruitment in the armed forces.
2. PM Gati Shakti to help achieve India's aim of USD 5 Trillion economy
Tags: Government Schemes National News
Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Som Prakash has said that PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan will help in achieving India's goal of a five trillion dollar economy.
About PM Gati Shakti Master Plan
In October 2021, the government announced the PM Gati Shakti programme.
It will bring 16 Ministries together for integrated planning and implementation of infrastructure connectivity projects.
It is multi-modal connectivity and will help in improving global competitiveness, boost manufacturing and modernise infrastructure in the country.
Its targets are to cut logistic costs, increase cargo handling capacity and reduce the turnaround time.
Economic zones like Textile Clusters, Pharmaceutical Clusters, Defence Corridor, Electronic Park, Industrial Corridor, Fishing Clusters, Agri Zone will be covered under this program to improve connectivity.
Significance
It will give a boost to the overall infrastructure of the country.
It will strive to build next generation infrastructure that improves ease of living as well as ease of doing business.
It will provide integrated and seamless connectivity for movement of people, goods and services as a mode of transport.
It will create many employment opportunities and boost the economy.
It will improve the global competitiveness of local products by cutting logistics costs and improving the supply chain.
3. Union Minister of social Justice and Empowerment launched the Scheme “SHRESHTA”
Tags: Government Schemes
The Union Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment, Dr. Virendra Kumar has launched “SHRESHTA” scheme for residential education for high school students in targeted areas.
Through the Shreshtha scheme, poor meritorious students of scheduled castes will be given quality education in reputed private schools.
Under this scheme, those poor students of scheduled caste will get free residential education from class 9th to class 12th, whose parents' annual income is up to Rs 2.5 lakh.
Under the scheme, about 3000 students belonging to Scheduled Castes will be selected in the States and Union Territories every year through the National Entrance Test (NETS) by the National Testing Agency (NTA).
Selected students can get admission in class 9th and 11th in any of the best private residential schools affiliated to CBSE.
The entire cost of Meal Fee, School Fee and Hostel Fee will be borne by the Government of India.
The maximum limits for school fee (including tuition fee) and hostel fee (including mess fee) for students are as follows
Class | Scholarship per student annually |
9th | 1,00,000 |
10th | 1,10,000 |
11th | 125,000 |
12th | 1,35,000 |
4. PM Employment Generation Programme extended till 2025-26
Tags: Government Schemes
Recently, the Prime Minister's Employment Generation Program has been approved to continue till 2025-26 with a total outlay of Rs 13,554.42 crore.
This scheme will create permanent employment opportunities for about 40 lakh persons in five financial years.
Along with increasing the time limit of this scheme, some more amendments have also been made in it.
Maximum project cost for manufacturing units increased from Rs 25 lakh to Rs 50 lakh
Project cost increased from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 20 lakh for service units
The definition of village industries and rural areas has also been changed in PMEGP.
Areas falling under Panchayati Raj Institutions will be considered as rural areas.
Areas under Municipal Corporation will be considered as urban areas.
Aspirational districts and 'transgender' applicants will be kept in a special category. they will get more subsidy
About Prime Minister's Employment Generation Program
The Prime Minister's Employment Generation Program was announced on 15 August 2008 in place of the Rural Employment Generation Program.
It is implemented by the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises.
5. NHA launches public dashboard for Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission
Tags: National Government Schemes
The National Health Authority has launched a public dashboard for real-time information under Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM).
The public dashboard will be a one-stop solution to track the progress of the mission at the state level.
According to the dashboard, the total number of Ayushman Bharat health account numbers is more than 22 crore and more than 16.6 thousand healthcare professionals have registered in the health care professional registry.
The dashboard will display the following detailed information -
Ayushman Bharat Health Account (ABHA) numbers
Healthcare Professionals Registry (HPR)
Health Facility Registry (HFR)
About Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission
Launched - By PM Narendra modi on 27th September 2021
It will connect the digital health solutions of hospitals across the country.
This will not only simplify the procedures of hospitals but will also enhance the ease of living.
The digital ecosystem will also enable many other features such as digital consultation, patient consent for physicians to access their records, etc.
With the implementation of this scheme old medical records cannot be destroyed as every record will be stored digitally.
The project has been implemented in pilot phase in six states and union territories.
About National Health Authority (NHA)
It is the apex body which is responsible for implementing Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana.
It is entrusted with the role of strategy formulation, creation of technical infrastructure and implementation of "National Digital Health Mission" to create a national digital health ecosystem.
6. National Mission for Clean Ganga approves 11 projects worth Rs 660 crore
Tags: National Government Schemes
The Executive Committee of the National Mission for Clean Ganga has recently approved 11 projects with an estimated cost of about Rs.660 crore.
This decision was taken in the 42nd meeting of the Executive Committee chaired by Director General G Ashok Kumar.
Apart from this two projects of River Front Development in Badrinath were also given approval.
Two major septage management projects in Uttarakhand and West Bengal were also approved in the meeting.
National Mission for Clean Ganga(NMCG)
It was registered on 12 August 12, 2011 as a society under the Societies Registration Act 1860.
It serves as the implementing arm of the National Ganga River Basin Authority (NGRBA), which was constituted under the provisions of the Environment Protection Act (EPA), 1986.
It was established to address pollution challenges in the Ganga river.
The operational area of the project covers the Ganga basin and all the states through which the river flows, including Delhi.
The objective is to reduce pollution and ensure rejuvenation of the Ganga river.
7. Haryana launched 'Fodder-Sowing Scheme'
Tags: Government Schemes State News
The fodder sowing scheme has been started for the farmers of the state by Jai Prakash Dalal, Minister of Agriculture, Government of Haryana.
IMPORTANT FACTS -
This scheme has been launched with the objective of providing financial assistance of Rs.10,000 per acre to the farmers who provide and supply fodder to Gaushalas.
Under Direct Benefit Transfer the subsidy will be deposited directly into the account of the farmer.
The objective of this scheme is to cover the shortage of fodder and increasing stray cattle in the state.
Under the scheme -
Phosphate-rich organic manure (PROM) prepared from cow dung can be used as an alternative to synthetic fertilisers. PROM is also prepared from various Gaushalas in Pinjore, Hisar and Bhiwani districts of Haryana.
The state government is taking many steps in the interest of the farmers and the 'Four Seeding Scheme' is another step in the same direction. In April, Rs 13.44 crore was distributed to buy fodder in 569 gaushalas in the state.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION -
Haryana Capital- Chandigarh
Haryana Governor- Bandaru Dattatreya
Haryana Chief Minister- Manohar Lal Khattar.
8. Ujjwala scheme : 90 lakh beneficiaries did not refill the cylinder
Tags: Government Schemes National News
In the last financial year, 90 lakh beneficiaries of flagship welfare scheme Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana did not refill their cylinders.
Along with this, there are about 1 crore beneficiaries who have filled the cylinder only once in a year after taking LPG connection.
About the PM Ujjwala Yojana
It is a central government scheme launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2016.
The aim of the scheme was to provide Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) connections to five crore women of below poverty line (BPL) households in the first phase.
In the second phase, a target has been set to provide LPG connections to eight crore women by March 2020.
Under this scheme financial assistance of Rs 1600 is provided to BPL families for each LPG connection.
The scheme was expanded in April 2018 to include women beneficiaries from seven more categories (SC/ST, PMAY, AAY, Most backward classes, tea garden, forest dwellers, Islands).
Nodal Ministry - Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoPNG)
Ujjwala Scheme 2.0
It aims to provide maximum benefits to migrants who live in other states and find it difficult to furnish address proof.
They only have to give "Self Declaration" to get the benefit.
Under Ujjwala 2.0, an additional 10 million LPG connections will be provided to the beneficiaries.
9. Over 18 crore Ayushman Cards issued under AB-PMJAY so far
Tags: National Government Schemes
According to the Health Ministry under Ayushman Bharat - Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB- PMJAY), more than 18 crore Ayushman cards have been issued so far.
This scheme has been implemented to provide health cover to the people.
This scheme has proved to be a boon for the poor people.
More than 3 crore 20 lakh people have availed the hospital facilities under the scheme.
About Ayushman Bharat - Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana ( AB- PMJAY)
launched in 2018 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
It has two components Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY) and Health and Wellness Centres (HWCs).
Ayushman Bharat is the largest government funded healthcare program in the world.
It offers a sum insured of Rs5 lakh per family for secondary care as well as tertiary care.
Under the scheme cashless and paperless access to services are provided to the beneficiaries.
It is an entitlement-based scheme that targets the beneficiaries identified by the latest Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC) data.
Funds for the scheme are shared between the Center and the states in a 60:40 ratio for all states.
10. PM-WANI based public WiFi scheme launched at 100 railway stations
Tags: Government Schemes National News
RailTel, a Mini Ratna PSU, has launched Prime Minister Wi-Fi Access Network Interface (PM-WANI) scheme across 100 railway stations in the country.
This public-friendly service was launched by RailTel chairman and managing director Puneet Chawla on 9 May.
To access this WiFi network, Android users can download the mobile app 'Wi-Dot' available on Google Play Store.
This app is developed in collaboration with C-DOT.
This method is in addition to the existing method of accessing WiFi at these stations through the conventional method of selecting RailWire Service Set Identifier (SSID).
RailTel's WiFi network is now spread across 6,102 railway stations across the country and has 17,792 WiFi hotspots.
About PM-WANI Scheme
PM-WANI is an ambitious program of the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to connect all silo Wi-Fi networks for ease of use and increase broadband usage for the public.
The main objective of this scheme is to provide Wi-Fi facilities at all public places.
The government plans to extend PM-Vani-based reach of RailTel's public Wi-Fi services to all 6,102 railway stations in a phased manner by the end of June 2022.
Through this scheme now every citizen of the whole country can be connected to the internet.
It will also be easy to do business through this scheme.
