To crowd source ideas for some of the pressing problems related to Sanitation and Hygiene

To transform India into a digitally empowered society and
knowledge economy

To create a safe and secure workplace for women free from sexual harassment.

To achieve holistic empowerment of women through
convergence of schemes/programmes of different Ministries/
Department of Government of India as well as State
Governments

The laboratories performing only basic routine tests like blood glucose, blood counts, and rapid tests for common infections, liver & kidney function tests and routine tests of urine will be eligible to apply under this scheme.
These changes have been made in the Clinical Establishments (Central Government) Rules, 2012.
The scheme requires minimal documentation and a nominal fee has been prescribed for availing the scheme.

The scheme will help to bring quality at the grass root level of India’s health system where laboratories follow the imperatives of quality in all their processes.
Through this scheme, patients availing services of small labs in primary health centers, community health centers, doctor’s clinic etc. will also have access to quality lab results.
This scheme will enhance the intent of AB-NHPM of universal access to quality healthcare for majority of citizens especially those residing in villages and small towns by providing them access to quality diagnostics.
This will ensure end-to-end sample integrity leading to reliable test results and help laboratories to gain patient’s trust and satisfaction.

Once the beneficiary joins the scheme at the entry age of 18-40 years, the beneficiary has to contribute till 60 years of age.
On attaining the age of 60 years, the subscriber will get the assured monthly pension of Rs.3000/- with benefit of family pension, as the case may be.

The unorganised workers mostly engaged as home based workers, street vendors, mid-day meal workers, head loaders, brick kiln workers, cobblers, rag pickers, domestic workers, washer men, rickshaw pullers, landless labourers, etc. whose monthly income is Rs 15,000/ per month or less and belong to the entry age group of 18-40 years are eligible for the scheme.
They should not be covered under New Pension Scheme (NPS), Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) scheme or Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO).
Further, he/she should not be an income tax payer.

The second phase of the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (hybrid) Electric vehicles (FAME) scheme will come into force from April 1, 2019 with the Union Cabinet nod.
The scheme will be in effect for a period of three years at a proposed budget of Rs 10,000 crore.

The scheme is the expanded version of the present scheme titled ‘FAME India 1’ which was launched in April 2015.
The phase two of the scheme plans to support ten lakhs electric two-wheelers, five lakhs electric three-wheelers, 55 thousands four-wheelers and 7,000 buses.
The main objective is to encourage faster adoption of EVs by way of offering upfront incentive on the purchase and also by way of establishing a necessary charging Infrastructure.
The largely increased allocation for the new phase is a sign of the critical importance that India’s policy makers are currently placing on shifting to an all-electric Indian mobility sector.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has approved the Pradhan Mantri JI-VAN (Jaiv Indhan- Vatavaran Anukool fasal awashesh Nivaran) Yojana.
It aims for providing financial support to Integrated Bio-ethanol Projects using lignocellulosic biomass and other renewable feedstock.

Features of the Scheme

The scheme focuses to incentivise 2G Ethanol sector and support this nascent industry by creating a suitable ecosystem for setting up commercial projects and increasing Research & Development in this area.
The ethanol produced by the scheme beneficiaries will be mandatorily supplied to Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) to further enhance the blending percentage under EBP Programme.
Apart from supplementing the targets envisaged by the Government under EBP programme, the scheme will also have the following benefits:

Meeting Government of India vision of reducing import dependence by way of substituting fossil fuels with Biofuels.
Achieving the GHG emissions reduction targets through progressive blending/ substitution of fossil fuels.
Addressing environment concerns caused due to burning of biomass/ crop residues & improve health of citizens.
Improving farmer income by providing them remunerative income for their otherwise waste agriculture residues.
Creating rural & urban employment opportunities in 2G Ethanol projects and Biomass supply chain.
Contributing to Swacch Bharat Mission by supporting the aggregation of non­food biofuel feedstocks such as waste biomass and urban waste.
Indigenizing of Second Generation Biomass to Ethanol technologies.

To improve employability of students by introducing employment relevance into the learning process of the higher education system
To forge a close functional link between education and industry/service sectors on a sustainable basis
To provide skills which are in demand, to the students in a dynamic manner
To establish an ‘earn while you learn’ system into higher education
To help business/industry in securing good quality manpower
To link student community with employment facilitating efforts of the Government

It is a programme conceived for students in degree courses, primarily non-technical, with a view to introduce employable skills into their learning, promote apprenticeship and also amalgamate employment facilitating.
SHREYAS portal will enable educational institutions and industry to log in and provide their respective demand and supply of apprenticeship.
The matching of students with apprenticeship avenues will take place as per pre-specified eligibility criteria.

To cater to the needs and aspirations of the youth, the National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC) has come up with a youth-friendly this scheme for attracting them to cooperative business ventures.
The newly launched scheme would encourage cooperatives to venture into new and innovative areas.
The scheme will be linked to Rs 1000 crore ‘Cooperative Start-up and Innovation Fund (CSIF)’ created by the NCDC.

Funding

The funding for the project will be up to 80% of the project cost for these special categories as against 70% for others.
The scheme envisages 2% less than the applicable rate of interest on term loan for the project cost up to Rs 3 crore including 2 years moratorium on payment of principal.

Eligibility

It would have more incentives for cooperatives of North Eastern region, Aspirational Districts and cooperatives with women or SC or ST or PwD members.
All types of cooperatives in operation for at least one year are eligible.

The scheme would provide extra income to farmers, by giving them an option to sell additional power to the grid through solar power projects set up on their barren lands.
It was announced in the Union Budget 2018-19.

Component of KUSUM Scheme

The proposed scheme consists of three components:

Component-A

Renewable power plants of capacity 500 KW to 2 MW will be setup by individual farmers/ cooperatives/panchayats /farmer producer organisations (FPO) on their barren or cultivable lands.
The power generated will be purchased by the DISCOMs at Feed in tariffs determined by respective SERC.

Component-B

Installation of 17.50 lakh standalone Solar Powered Agriculture Pumps.
Individual farmers will be supported to install standalone solar pumps of capacity up to 7.5 HP. Solar PV capacity in kW equal to the pump capacity in HP is allowed under the scheme.

Component-C

Solarization of 10 Lakh Grid-connected Solar Powered Agriculture Pumps is included in this component,
Individual farmers will be supported to solarise pumps of capacity up to 7.5 HP.
Solar PV capacity up to two times of pump capacity in kW is allowed under the scheme.
The excess available energy will be sold to DISCOM.

To create an enabling environment to ensure equal opportunities, equity, social justice and empowerment of persons with disabilities.
To encourage voluntary action for ensuring effective implementation of the People with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities and Protection of Rights) Act of 1995.

The umbrella Central Sector Scheme called the “Scheme to Promote Voluntary Action for Persons with Disabilities” was revised in 2003 and was renamed as the DDRS.
The approach of this Scheme is to provide financial assistance to voluntary organizations to make available the whole range of services necessary for rehabilitation of PwD.
The recommendation from the District Social Welfare Officer and State Government is required in release of grant-in-aid to NGOs.
The list of model projects which have been optimized, includes, Pre-Schools, Early Intervention and Training; Special Schools for:

Persons with Intellectual Disabilities
Hearing and Speech Disabilities
Visual Disabilities
Project for Cerebral Palsied children
Rehabilitation of Leprosy cured persons
Half Way Home for psycho-Social Rehabilitation of treated and controlled mentally ill persons
Home based Rehabilitation and Home Management etc.

Salient Features of PM-SYM

Pension Pay out

Once the beneficiary joins the scheme at the entry age of 18-40 years, the beneficiary has to contribute till 60 years of age.
On attaining the age of 60 years, the subscriber will get the assured monthly pension of Rs.3000/- with benefit of family pension, as the case may be.

Family Pension

During the receipt of pension, if the subscriber dies, the spouse of the beneficiary shall be entitled to receive 50% of the pension received by the beneficiary as family pension.
Family pension is applicable only to spouse.

Contribution by the Subscriber

The subscriber’s contributions to PM-SYM shall be made through ‘auto-debit’ facility from his/ her savings bank account/ Jan- Dhan account.
The subscriber is required to contribute the prescribed contribution amount from the age of joining PM-SYM till the age of 60 years.

Matching contribution by the Central Government

PM-SYM is a voluntary and contributory pension scheme on a 50:50 basis where prescribed age-specific contribution shall be made by the beneficiary and the matching contribution by the Central Government.
For example, if a person enters the scheme at an age of 29 years, he is required to contribute Rs 100/ – per month till the age of 60 years.
An equal amount of Rs 100/- will be contributed by the Central Government.

Enrolment Process

The enrolment will be carried out by all the Community Service Centers (CSCs).
The subscriber will be required to have a mobile phone, savings bank account and Aadhaar number.
The eligible subscriber may visit the nearest CSCs and get enrolled for PM-SYM using Aadhaar number and savings bank account/ Jan-Dhan account number on self-certification basis.

Facilitation Centres

All the branch offices of LIC, the offices of ESIC/EPFO and all Labour offices of Central and State Governments will facilitate the unorganised workers about the Scheme.

The Madhya Pradesh government has announced the launch of a scheme to ensure temporary employment to the youths from the economically weaker sections (EWS) in the urban areas.

The Scheme would guarantee 100 days of employment every year to the EWS youths.
During their employment, youths would be given skills training of their choice, so that they can take benefits of the available job opportunities.
While those in rural areas get employment under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA), the urban poor youth are left out.
This scheme will effectively cover them.

Hon’ble PM has launched the scheme under which a group of Indian diaspora will be taken on a government-sponsored tour of religious places in India twice a year.

The first batch of 40 Indian-origin people at the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas will begin their tour.
They will be taken to religious places of all major religions in India and the government will bear all the expenses including the airfare from their country of residence.
All people of Indian-origin aged 45 to 65 can apply and a group will be selected out of them with first preference given to people from ‘Girmitiya countries’ such as Mauritius, Fiji, Suriname, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, and Jamaica.

To encourage farmers to use solar agriculture pumps, the Maharashtra government has decided to give two LED bulbs, a DC fan and a mobile charging socket as freebies.

Maharashtra govt. has launched ASKP scheme for farmers to provide subsidy of upto 95% on solar agriculture pumpsets.
Farmers with less than 5 acres of land just need to day 5% i.e. Rs. 12,000 and get three horse power pump
Farmers with more than 5 acres of land just need to pay Rs. 30,000 and get five horse power solar powered pump

To provide interest free corpus fund to Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) / Consortium to enable them to purchase yarn at wholesale rate and give the yarn at reasonable price to the small weavers.
To avoid middle man/ local supplier’s brokerage charge on sales of yarn.

To avoid fluctuation in yarn price, government has launched a Yarn Bank Scheme as one of the component of PowerTex India with effect from 01.04.2017 to 31.03.2020.
The Scheme provides interest free corpus fund up to Rs.2.00 crore to the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV)/Consortium formed by powerloom weavers to enable them to purchase yarn at wholesale rate and give the yarn at reasonable price to the small weavers
It aims to avoid middleman and local supplier’s brokerage charge on sales of yarn.