1. Atal Pension Yojana total enrolments crossed 4 crore
Tags: Government Schemes
The total enrollments under APY Scheme have crossed 4.01 crore as on March 2022 out of which more than 99 lakh APY accounts were opened during FY 2021-22.
The scheme had seen this tremendous success due to the active participation of all categories of Banks.
Around 71% of the enrolments are done by Public-sector banks, 19% by Regional Rural Banks, 6% by Private Sector Banks, 3% by Payment and Small Finance Banks.
State Bank of India, Indian Bank, Bank of India, Bank of Baroda and Central Bank of India achieved annual targets in the Public-sector Bank category.
Out of the total enrolments under APY as on 31st March 2022, nearly 80% subscribers have opted for Rs 1000 pension plan and 13% for Rs 5000 pension plan.
Out of the total APY subscribers 44 % are female subscribers while 56% are male subscribers.
Further, out of the total APY subscribers, 45% are aged between 18 and 25 years.
About Atal Pension Yojana
—Atal Pension Yojana is the guaranteed pension scheme of Government of India administered by Pension Fund Regulatory & Development Authority (PFRDA).
—The scheme allows any Citizen of India between the age group of 18-40 years to join through the bank or post office branches where one has the savings bank account.
—Under the scheme, a subscriber would receive a minimum guaranteed pension of Rs1000 to Rs 5000 per month from the age of 60 years, depending upon his contribution.
—On the death of the subscriber, the spouse is guaranteed pension for life.
—In case of death of both the subscriber and his/her wife/husband, the entire pension amount is paid to the nominee.
2. PM Modi Announces Plan To Issue AYUSH Visas For Foreigners
Tags: Government Schemes Popular
Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that the Centre would soon introduce a special Ayush visa category for foreign nationals who want to come to India to take advantage of traditional medicine.
It will be a part of initiatives to promote medical tourism.
With this visa, it will be easier for foreigners to come to India for AYUSH treatment.
Ayush methods of treatment are Ayurveda, Yoga, Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy.
It aims to further promote medical tourism in the country with a special focus on treatment under traditional systems of medicine.
Just as traditional medicine has given a boost to tourism in Kerala, it has the same potential in every nook and corner of the country.
As the acceptance of traditional medicines is growing, the market for the Ayush products has grown multifold since 2014 from about Three Billion Dollars to about $18.2 Billion now.
Tedros announced holding an annual international meet for Traditional medicines in Gujarat.
The first meeting will be held next year, when WHO and India together celebrate 75 years.
Other important announcements by PM
—Special AYUSH hallmark for high quality AYUSH products
—Expansion of AYUSH e-marketplace to enable farmers involved in growing medicinal plants to easily connect with the market.
—India will set up a network of Ayush Parks in the country to popularise Ayush products, encourage manufacturing and R&D in the area.
3. “UDAN” scheme selected for Prime Minister’s Award for Excellence in Public Administration
Tags: National Government Schemes
The UDAN (UdeDeshkaAamNagrik) Scheme has been selected for Prime Minister’s Award for Excellence in Public Administration 2020 under the category “Innovation (General) – Central”.
Ministry of Civil Aviation will receive the award on 21st April i.e. Civil Services Day.
A special event has been organised by the Government of India at VigyanBhawan on the occasion of “Civil Service Day” where the representative of the ministry will be facilitated with the award.
Prime Minister’s Award for Excellence in Public Administration
–Government of India has instituted this scheme in 2006
–its purpose is to acknowledge, recognize and reward the extraordinary and innovative work done by Districts/ Organisations of the Central and State Governments.
–The Scheme was restructured in 2014 for recognizing the performance of District Collectors in Priority Programs, Innovations and Aspirational Districts.
–The Scheme was restructured again in 2020, to recognize the performance of District Collectors towards economic development of the District.
UDAN Scheme
–It was launched under the Ministry of Civil Aviation in 2016.
–its objective is to develop the regional aviation market.
–It is also known as the regional connectivity scheme (RCS)
–it seeks to improve air connectivity to tier-2 and tier-3 cities through revival of unused and underused airports.
–The scheme will be jointly funded by the central government and state governments.
–The scheme will run for 10 years and can be extended thereafter.
4. e-DAR portal - speed up accident compensation claims
Tags: Government Schemes
The Ministry of Roads, Transport and Highways (MoRTH) has developed the portal named ‘e-DAR’ (e-Detailed Accident Report).
The portal will provide instant information on road accidents with a few clicks and help accelerate accident compensation claims, bringing relief to victims’ families.
Digitalised Detailed Accident Reports (DAR) will be uploaded on the portal for easy access.
The web portal will be linked to the Integrated Road Accident Database (iRAD).
From iRAD, applications to more than 90% of the datasets would be pushed directly to the e-DAR.
Stakeholders like the police, road authorities, hospitals, etc., are required to enter very minimal information for the e-DAR forms.
Therefore, e-DAR would be an extension and e-version of iRAD.
The portal would be linked to other government portals like Vaahan.
For the benefit of investigating officers, the portal would provide geo tagging of the exact accident spot along with the site map.
Details like photos, video of the accident spot, damaged vehicles, injured victims, eye-witnesses, etc., would be uploaded immediately on the portal.
5. Cabinet approves continuation of RGSA from 1st April 2022 to 31st March 2026
Tags: National Government Schemes
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs 13 April 2022 has approved continuation of revamped Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Rashtriya Gram Swaraj Abhiyan (RGSA) for implementation during the period from 01.04.2022 to 31.03.2026 (co-terminus with XV Finance Commission period) to develop governance capabilities of Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs).
The total financial outlay of the scheme is Rs.5911 crore with the Central Share of Rs.3700 crore and that of State Share of Rs.2211 crore.
Rashtriya Gram Swaraj Abhiyan (RGSA):
Gram Swaraj Abhiyan was launched on 1st April, 2018. Targets villages where Dalit and tribal people are predominant.
Its goal is to increase social harmony, promote awareness about government programs being run for the poor and make them aware of these schemes. It contains the following provisions:
The extension of this scheme is to all the states and union territories of the country.
Both the central and state components have been included in the scheme.
The share of the Center and the State in the State Governments will be in the ratio of 60:40 respectively.
The Centre-State funding ratio will be 90:10 in the North Eastern and Hill States. The central share will be 10 per cent for all union territories.
