mentor 20th law commission submitted report on ... affair national.pdfand wards (amendment) bill,...

MENTOR

Mentor SCO: 40-41, 1st FLOOR, LEELA BHAWAN, PATIALA. # 9780505391; mentorstudypoint.in Page no1

20th Law Commission submitted report on Guardianship and Custody Laws to the Union Law Ministry The 20th Law Commission of India on 22 May 2015 submitted the 257th report titled Reforms in Guardianship

and Custody Laws in India to DV Sadananda Gowda, the Union Minister of Law and Justice.

The report reviewed the current laws dealing with custody and guardianship and came up with draft legislative

amendments in the form of the Hindu Minority and Guardianship (Amendment) Bill, 2015 and the Guardians

and Wards (Amendment) Bill, 2015 to the Hindu Minority and Guardianship Act, 1956 and the Guardians and

Wards Act, 1890 respectively.

Major amendments deal with the Guardians and Wards Act, 1890 by introducing a new chapter (Chapter IIA)

on custody and visitation arrangements including the concept of joint custody.

Key Aspects of the Draft Legislation

Welfare principle: The welfare principle in the Guardians and Wards Act, 1890 was strengthened with a

continuous emphasis on its relevance in each aspect of guardianship and custody related decision-making.

Abolition of preference: Preference for the father as the natural guardian under Hindu law was removed and

both parents are granted equal legal status with respect to guardianship and custody.

Joint custody: Courts are empowered to award joint custody to both parents in circumstances conducive to the

welfare of the child or award sole custody to one parent with visitation rights to the other.

Mediation: Parties to a custody matter must ordinarily consider expert-led and time-bound mediation, which can

not only promote better outcomes for parents and children, but also reduce the strain on the overburdened court

system.

Child support: Courts are empowered to fix an amount specifically for child support, to meet basic living

expenses of the child.

Financial resources of parents and the standard of living of the child must be considered when fixing such

amounts. Child support must continue till the child turns 18, but may be extended till 25; or longer, in case of a

child with mental or physical disability.

Guidelines: Detailed guidelines were evolved to help courts, parents and other stakeholders arrive at the best

arrangement to serve the welfare of the child. Several new concepts in this regard, including parenting plans,

grand parenting time, visitation rights, and relocation of parents were also mentioned in the report.

Comment

The revision of the Hindu Minority and Guardianship Act, 1956 and the Guardians and Wards Act, 1890 has

become necessary to ensure these laws are in tune with changes in the social considerations. As per an estimate,

divorce rate increased to 13 per 1000 in 2014 as compared to that of 1 in 1000 in 2004.

Additionally, in most of the proceedings of divorce and family breakdowns parents use children as pawns to

strike their own bargains without considering the emotional, social and mental upheavals that the children may

face.

Hence, in order to protect interest of the children, the commission has recommended amendments to laws by

giving substantial powers to courts in dealing with such cases.

Union finance Ministry constituted Shah Committee to look into the issue of MAT on FIIs

Union finance Ministry on 20 May 2015 constituted Shah Committee to look into the issue of Minimum

Alternate Tax (MAT) on Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs). Further, the committee would examine the

matter relating to levy of MAT on FIIs for the period prior to 1 April 2015.

Union Finance Ministry had announced the decision to set up the committee on 7 May 2015. The committee

was appointed to resolve the contentious issue of MAT between the tax authorities and the foreign investors.

As per the Finance Act, 2015 the 20 percent MAT on Capital Gains made by FIIs is waived off from the

financial year 2015-16. However, the issue of imposing MAT for past years (till 2014-15) has become

controversial as the FIIs raised objections to 68 notices (in lieu of 602 crores rupees) issued by the International

Taxation Wing of the Income Tax Department in lieu of MAT.

MAT is a way of making companies pay minimum amount of tax. It is applicable to all companies except those

engaged in infrastructure and power sectors. Income arising from free trade zones, charitable activities,

investments by venture capital companies are also excluded from the purview of MAT. However, foreign

companies with income sources in India are liable under MAT.

MENTOR


Union Government launched Road Asset Management System for National Highways Union Minister of Road Transport, Highways and Shipping on 15 May 2015 launched Road Asset Management

System (RAMS) for National Highways. The system will compile information on road assets, condition of the

pavements and traffic through use of laser technology.

The outcome of this integrated data collection system will assist in developing an accurate and scientific

maintenance planning mechanism, finalizing road safety measures and development of the National Highways

network in India.

The data collected will be stored and managed through a web based application, which will be hosted in the

public domain. The application, when fully developed, can also be accessed by smart phones.

Information collected from this project will be useful for Transport Ministry, Finance Ministry, NHAI, State

PWDs, Police departments, funding agencies, developers and citizens.

The software will be equipped to interface with the indigenous Bhuvan satellite images. The survey vehicle is

equipped with three cameras including pavement view, 15 advanced Lasers and GPS connected to Gagan

satellite.

The development of Road Asset Management System (RAMS) is a part of the Prime Minister’s Digital India

initiative.

Union Government decided to implement NERS for women in distress

Union Home Ministry on 15 May 2015 decided to implement the NERS (Nationwide Emergency Response

System) to save women in distress. In this regard, the Ministry invited proposals from IT service providers to

implement it.

The NERS seeks to make the police immediately respond to any call by a woman in distress anywhere in India.

It will revolutionalise the existing Police Response systems which are limited to a city and different cities use

different systems and only a handful of cities use technology in any form.

How it will operate?

NERS resembling the 911 number system of the United States (US) is designed to have at least one Public

Safety Answering Point (PSAP) in each state. The PSAP basically is a call center where all calls originating in

that state will land and will be answered.

The Call Taker with access to case management software and a GIS map of the state will first mark the location

of the caller. It will then evaluate the emergency situation and forward the case to a Call Dispatcher.

The Call Dispatcher will then identify all the available police vehicles close to the incident with the aid of the

GIS based Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) software and dispatch the nearest available Police Personnel.

Further, the IT enabler system will automatically detect caller's location if call is coming from landline, mobile

apps and sensors.

To make the system more robust, even the police vehicles will have a GPS based Mobile Data Tablet (MDT)

installed that will continuously broadcast their location to a central data server.

Union Government launched kayakalp Award Scheme to improve cleanliness in Public Health

Facilities

The Union Health and Family Welfare Minister J P Nadda on 15 May 2015 launched kayakalp Award Scheme.

The scheme is intended to encourage and incentivize Public Health Facilities (PHFs) in the country for

maintaining the facilities clean and hygienic.

Features of Kayakalp Award Scheme

The objectives of the award scheme are

• To promote cleanliness, hygiene and infection control practices in public health care facilities

MENTOR


• To incentivize and recognize such public healthcare facilities that show exemplary performance in adhering to

standard protocols of cleanliness and infection control

• To inculcate a culture of ongoing assessment and peer review of performance related to hygiene, cleanliness

and sanitation

• To create and share sustainable practices related to improved cleanliness in public health facilities linked to

positive health outcomes

Cleanliness does not apply only to physical cleanliness, but to develop and put in place systems and procedures

for activities such as bio-waste disposal or protocols etc.

Five awards will be given under this scheme viz., best two District Hospitals (DH) in each state (only one best

district hospital in small states), best two Community Health Centres (CHC) or Sub District Hospitals (SDH)

(limited to one in small states) and one Primary Health Centre (PHC) in every district.

Award winners will receive a cash award with a citation. First rank and second rank awardees at DHs will get

50 lakh rupees and 20 lakh rupees respectively. While 15 lakh rupees and 10 lakh rupees are proposed for CHC

or SDH, the winner in the PHC category will get 2 lakh rupees under this scheme.

Certificate of Commendation plus cash award would also be given to such facilities that score over 70

percent but do not make it to the list of top two or one in a particular year, which is proposed as 3 lakh rupees

for DH, 1 lakh rupees for CHC or SDH and 50000 for PHC.

The awards would be distributed based on the performance parameters including sanitation and hygiene,

infection control, hospital upkeep, waste management, community participation.

Assessment of the performance would be done sequentially through a three tier system - internal assessment

followed by peer assessment and then external assessment.

Union Ministry of Minority Affairs launched USTAAD Scheme for Traditional Artisans

The Union Minister of State for Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on 14 May 2015 launched USTAAD

(Upgrading the Skills and Training in Traditional Arts/Crafts for Development) Scheme in Varanasi, Uttar

Pradesh.

Features of USTAAD Scheme

• The objective of the scheme is to preserve rich heritage of traditional arts and crafts of minorities and build

capacity of traditional artisans and craftsmen.

Its purpose is to establish linkages of traditional arts and crafts with the national and international market and

ensure dignity of labour to artisans and provide employment opportunities and a better future to the youths

belonging to the minority community.

• It will be funded by the Central Government and will prepare skilled and unskilled artisans and craftsmen to

compete with major companies in terms of quality of products.

• It will be administered by the Union Ministry of Minority Affairs across the country.

The scheme was launched in Varanasi to improve sordid conditions of weavers of world famous Banaras Saree,

belonging to minority communities.

Policy for Welfare of Minorities

The present Government has accelerated the pace of welfare of six notified minorities including the

implementation of the existing schemes. The thrust area of the present Government is skilling of minority youth

and their placement and also preservation of Heritage of Minorities including promotion of their traditional Arts

MENTOR


and Crafts. These programmes/schemes are being reviewed and restructured in accordance with the policies of

the present Government.

The details of the steps being taken by the present Government for the welfare of the Minorities are-

USTAAD:- The Scheme aims at upgrading Skills and Training in preservation of traditional Ancestral

Arts/Crafts of minorities.

Hamari Darohar:- The Scheme aims to preserve rich heritage of minority communities in context of Indian

culture.

Khwaza Garib Nawaz Senior Secondary School will be established at Ajmer by Maulana Azad Education

Foundation (MAEF) to give a fillip to minority education.

Nai Manzil: A bridge course to bridge the academic and skill development gaps of the deeni Madrasa passouts

with their mainstream counterparts.

Strengthening of State Wakf Boards: The scheme envisages to provide assistance for meeting the training and

administrative cost of State Wakf Boards, removal of encroachment from Waqf Properties and also

strengthening of Zonal/Regional offices of Waqf Boards.

The details of steps taken by the previous Government for minority welfare and achievements made thereof

include

Multi Sectoral Development Programme (MsDP): - This is an area development scheme which aims to

improve the quality of life of the people and reduce imbalances in the Minority Concentration Districts

(MCDs). Identified development deficits are addressed through a district specific plan with provision of

infrastructure creation for schools, sanitation, pucca housing, drinking water and electricity supply, besides

beneficiary oriented schemes. The focus of this programme is on rural and semi-rural areas of the identified 90

Minority Concentration Districts. The scheme has been restructured for implementation during 12th Five Year

Plan. Block has been made the unit of planning in place of district, the programme has been expanded to

minority concentration towns/cities and cluster of minority concentration villages. The restructured programme

covers 710 Minority Concentration Bocks (MCBs) & 66 Minority Concentration Towns (MCTs) covering 196

districts of 26 States in the country. This would sharpen the focus on minority concentration areas.Since

inception, projects of Rs. 6310.61 Crore have been approved under MsDP and Rs. 4534.25 Crore has been

released for its implementation. 1092 Schools building, 20,756 additional Class rooms, 645 hostels, 3645

Health Centers, 34,533 Anganwadi Centers, 117 ITIs, 44 Polytechnic Institutes, 40,799 Drinking Water supply,

3,35743 houses on Indra Awas Yojana pattern have been approved under MsDP till 31st March,2014.

Pre-matric Scholarship Scheme:- Under this Scheme, scholarships are awarded to minority students up to

class X, who have secured not less than 50% marks in the previous final examination and the annual income of

their parents/ guardian from all sources does not exceed Rs. 1.00 lakh. 30% of the scholarships are earmarked

for girl students. During the year 2013-14 total achievement is 7794190 and the amount released of Rs. 963.79

Crore.

Post-matric Scholarship Scheme:- Under this Scheme, scholarships are awarded to minority students from

class XI onwards who have secured not less than 50% marks or equivalent grade in the previous final

examination and the annual income of whose parents/ guardian from all sources does not exceed Rs.2.00 lakh.

30% of the scholarships are earmarked for girl students. During the year 2013-14 total achievement is 890467

and the amount release of Rs. 515.76 Crore.

Maulana Azad National Fellowship For Minority Students: - The objective of the Fellowship is to provide

integrated five year fellowships in the form of financial assistance to minority students to pursue higher studies

such as M.Phil and Ph.D. The Fellowship covers all Universities/Institutions recognized by the University

Grants Commission (UGC). 30% of the Scholarships are earmarked for the girl students. During the year 2013-

14 total Fellowship sanctioned 3776 under the scheme and the amount release of Rs. 50 Crore.

Merit-cum Means based Scholarship: - The Merit-cum means based Scholarship Scheme provides financial

assistance to the poor and meritorious minority students pursuing professional studies at graduate and post-

graduate levels. 30% of the scholarships are earmarked for girl students.

Free Coaching and Allied Scheme: - Under this scheme, candidates belonging to the minority community

are provided financial assistance for coaching in Government and the private sector institutes for imparting

MENTOR


coaching/training for Competitive Exams, Information Technology and other employment oriented courses.

30% of the scholarships are earmarked for girl students. During the year 2013-14 total 9997 no. of students

benefited under the fund released of Rs. 236642000.

National Minorities Development & Finance Corporation (NMDFC): - Government contributes equity

capital to NMDFC for implementation of its schemes at concessional rates of interest which are viz. micro

financing scheme, term loan, educational loans, skill development and Mahila Samridhi Yojana etc. During

11th Five Year Plan and two years of 12th Five Year Plan, NMDFC has disbursed total loans worth Rs. 1673.76

Crore covering 6.46 Lakh minority beneficiaries.

Grant-in-aid to Maulana Azad Education Foundation (MAEF): - Grants-in-aid are released to MAEF

towards its Corpus Fund. MAEF provides Grant-in-aid to the minority institutions for infrastructure

development and distribution of scholarships to the minority girl students studying in classes XI and XII. The

expenditure on these schemes is met out of the interest earned on the Corpus Fund. Till date, amount of Rs.910

crore has been released towards the corpus fund of MAEF.

Maulana Azad Sehat Scheme: The Scheme aims to provide annual health check-up of students studying in

institutions aided by Maulana Azad Education Foundation and also provides financial assistance upto Rs.2

lakhs for minority students for serious illnesses studying in institutions aided by Maulana Azad Education

Foundation.

Computerization of records of State Wakf Boards: In order to streamline record keeping of the Waqf lands,

introduce transparency & social audit, computerize the various functions/processes of the Waqf Boards and

develop a single web based centralized application, computerization of the records of the State Waqf Boards is

carried out with the help of Central financial assistance. An amount of Rs. 16.18 Crore has been release to the

State Waqf Boards (SWB), Central Waqf council and National Informatics Center (NIC) till date. The

Centerlized Computing facility has been setup in 27 SWBs and data entry in Waqf Management System of

India (WAMSI) Modules is in progress as on date, 3, 08,443 no. of waqf properties have been entered in

registration Modules, 11,588 no. of Waqf properties entered in return number, 2,725 no. of Waqf properties

entered in leasing module and 5,062 no. of Waqf properties entered in litigation module.

Nai Roshni:- A scheme for Leadership Development of Minority Women has been launched from 2012-13

with the objective to empower and instill confidence in women, by providing knowledge, tools and techniques

to interact with Government systems, banks, and intermediaries at all levels so that they are emboldened to

move out of the confines of home and assume leadership roles. The scheme is implemented through Non-

Governmental Organizations (NGOs). During 2012-13, Ministry has sanctioned Rs. 10.45 Crore and supported

training of 36950 women in 12 States. During 2013-14, Ministry has sanctioned Rs. 11.96 Crore for training of

60,875 women in 24 States.

Seekho Aur Kamao: - The Ministry has launched “Seekho Aur Kamao (Learn and Earn)” a new 100%

Central Sector Scheme for Skill Development of minorities in September 2013. The scheme is implemented by

private professional skill development organizations/companies. The scheme ensures employment of minimum

75% trained candidates, and out of them 50% in organized sector. The scheme reserves minimum 33% seats for

minority women. During 2013-14 under the scheme, Rs. 17.00 Crore were released for skill training of 20,164

minority youths.

Jiyo Parsi:- Jiyo Parsi is a new scheme for containing population decline of Parsis in India, that has been

launched during the current year 2013-14 with the objective to reverse the declining trend of Parsi population

by adopting a scientific protocol and structured interventions to stabilize their population and increase the

population of Parsis in India. Ministry extends financial assistance for outreach programme/ advocacy and

fertility treatment as per scheme guidelines. The scheme is implemented with assistance from Parzor

Foundation with the help of Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP). Financial outlay for 12th Plan is Rs. 10.00 Crore

under the scheme. During 2013-14, Rs. 0.41 Crore were released under Advocacy component.

“Nalanda Project” is a Pilot Project for Development of Faculties of Minority Universities/ Minority Managed

Degree Colleges (MMDCs) and higher educational institutions located in minority concentration areas,

launched on 3rd March 2014 at Aligarh Muslim University, the Nodal Staff College of University Grants

Commission.

MENTOR


“Minority Cyber Gram” was launched for Digital literacy of Minorities in collaboration with Digital

Empowerment Foundation in PPP Mode at village Chandauli, District Alwar, Rajasthan on 19.02.2014. Total

2,600 villagers have been targeted under this pilot project.

Magazine “Minority Today”: - To improve public interface, generate awareness and develop dialogue

with target communities, Ministry has launched a quarterly tri-lingual (Hindi, English and Urdu) Magazine

“Minority” Today in January, 2014.

Support for Minority students clearing Prelims conducted by Union Public Service Commissions, Staff

Selection Commission, State Public Service Commissions. The objective of the scheme is to provide financial

support to the minority candidates clearing prelims conducted by Union Public Service Commissions, Staff

Selection Commission, State Public Service Commissions to adequately equip them to compete for appointment

to Civil Services in the Union and the State Governments and to increase the representation of the minorities in

the Civil Services by giving direct financial support to candidates clearing Preliminary Examination. There is no

State/UT wise allocation under this scheme. This scheme was launched in 2013-14, an amount of Rs. 95.25 lakh

have been released to award Financial Assistance to 274 candidates under this Scheme in the current year.

Benami Transactions (Prohibition) (Amendment) Bill, 2015 introduced in Lok Sabha The Benami Transactions (Prohibition) (Amendment) Bill, 2015 was on 13 May 2015 introduced in Lok Sabha

after Union Cabinet gave its approval to amend the Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Act, 1988. The Bill seeks

to amend the Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Act, 1988 by adding additional provisions that provides for

stringent measures against violators in order to curb and check the generation of black money in the country.

It adds provisions for attachment and confiscation of benami properties and imposes fine with imprisonment. It

has provision for prosecution and aims to act as a major avenue for blocking benami property, which leads to

generation and holding of black money especially in real estate.

Background The Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Act was earlier enacted in 1988, but the rules under that Act could not

be formulated due to inherent infirmities in it. Following this, in 2011 the government introduced a Benami

Transactions (Prohibition) Bill in Parliament.

The Bill was referred to the Standing Committee on Finance for examination, which submitted its report in June

2012. However, the Bill lapsed with the dissolution of 15th Lok Sabha.

Lok Sabha passed Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets (Imposition of Tax) Bill 2015 Highlights of the Bill are as follow

Scope: The Act will apply to all persons resident in India. Provisions of the Act will apply to both undisclosed

foreign income and assets (including financial interest in any entity).

Rate of tax: Undisclosed foreign income or assets shall be taxed at the flat rate of 30 percent. No exemption or

deduction or set off of any carried forward losses which may be admissible under the existing Income-tax Act,

1961, shall be allowed.

Penalties: Violation of the provisions of the proposed new legislation will entail stringent penalties.

The penalty for non-disclosure of income or an asset located outside India will be equal to three times the

amount of tax payable thereon, i.e., 90 percent of the undisclosed income or the value of the undisclosed asset.

This is in addition to tax payable at 30%.

Failure to furnish return in respect of foreign income or assets shall attract a penalty of 10 lakh rupees. The

same amount of penalty is prescribed for cases where although assesses have filed a return of income, but he

has not disclosed the foreign income and asset or has furnished inaccurate particulars of the same.

MENTOR


Prosecutions: The punishment for willful attempt to evade tax in relation to a foreign income or an asset

located outside India will be rigorous imprisonment from three years to ten years. In addition, it will also entail

a fine. Failure to furnish a return in respect of foreign assets and bank accounts or income will be punishable

with rigorous imprisonment for a term of six months to seven years. The same term of punishment is prescribed

for cases where although the assessee has filed a return of income, but has not disclosed the foreign asset or has

furnished inaccurate particulars of the same.

The above provisions will also apply to beneficial owners or beneficiaries of such illegal foreign assets.

Abetment or inducement of another person to make a false return or a false account or statement or declaration

under the Act will be punishable with rigorous imprisonment from six months to seven years. This provision

will also apply to banks and financial institutions aiding in concealment of foreign income or assets of resident

Indians or falsification of documents.

Safeguards: The principles of natural justice and due process of law have been embedded in the Act by laying

down the requirement of mandatory issue of notices to the person against whom proceedings are being initiated,

grant of opportunity of being heard, necessity of taking the evidence produced by him into account, recording of

reasons, passing of orders in writing, limitation of time for various actions of the tax authority, etc.

Further, the right of appeal has been protected by providing for appeals to the Income-tax Appellate Tribunal,

and to the jurisdictional High Court and the Supreme Court on substantial questions of law.

To protect persons holding foreign accounts with minor balances which may not have been reported out of

oversight or ignorance, it has been provided that failure to report bank accounts with a maximum balance of up

to 5 lakh rupees at any time during the year will not entail penalty or prosecution.

Other safeguards and internal control mechanisms will be prescribed in the Rules.

One time compliance opportunity: The Bill also provides a one-time compliance opportunity for a limited

period to persons who have any undisclosed foreign assets which have hitherto not been disclosed for the

purposes of Income-tax.

Such persons may file a declaration before the specified tax authority within a specified period, followed by

payment of tax at the rate of 30 percent and an equal amount by way of penalty. Also, such persons will not be

prosecuted under the stringent provisions of the new Act.

Lok Sabha passed Repealing and Amending Bill, 2015 Lok Sabha on 7 May 2015 gave its nod for the Repealing and Amending Bill, 2015 which seeks to repeal 36

archaic laws either partially or entirely as they have ceased to be in force or have become obsolete.

With this, the bill has been passed by both the houses of Parliament as Rajya Sabha passed the bill on 5 May

2015.

Out of the 36 acts, four acts will be repealed entirely. These include The Indian Fisheries Act, 1897, The

Foreign Jurisdiction Act, 1947 and The Sugar Undertakings (Taking over of Management) Act, 1978.

The remaining 32 Acts that are being repealed are amendments to principal Acts. These include amendments to

the Representation of the People Act, 1951, Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, Anand Marriage Act, 1909 the Indian

Evidence Act, 1872 among others.

A similar bill, the Repealing and Amending (Second) Bill, 2014 was passed by the Lok Sabha on 8 December

2014 and is lying with the Rajya Sabha. It is sought to repeal 90 laws and pass amendments to two laws. Out of

90 laws, 88 laws will be repealed completely.

MENTOR


Comment The passage of The Repealing and Amending Bill, 2015 by the Parliament is in tune with the Union

government’s objective of repealing the obsolete laws as they have outlived their utility.

Around 1741 laws in the country have become redundant but still they are in existence. In this regard the BJP-

led NDA government had identified certain Appropriation Acts that needs to be repealed. These Acts pertain to

the domain of Union Finance Ministry and Railway Ministry.

In lieu of this, the Appropriation Acts (Repeal) Bill, 2015 was introduced in the Lok Sabha on 24 April 2015

which intended to repeal 758 Acts passed by the Parliament including Appropriation Acts [including also,

Appropriation (Railways) Acts] enacted between 1950 and 2012 and 111 State Appropriation Acts enacted by

the Parliament between 1950 and 1976.

Rajya Sabha passed 119th Constitutional Amendment Bill on LBA between India and

Bangladesh Rajya Sabha on 6 May 2015 passed 119th Constitutional Amendment Bill on Land Boundary Bill (LBA). The

Bill is to operationalise the Land Boundary Agreement with India and Bangladesh, and the exchange of certain

enclaves of land between the two countries.

The Bill was earlier passed by the Union Cabinet and now includes territories in Assam along with those in

West Bengal, Tripura and Meghalaya.

Now, the Bill will be introduced in the Lok Sabha and it will then be sent for President's signature.

As it is the Constitutional Amendment Bill, It would require ratification of at least 50 per cent of the state

legislatures before it comes into effect.

The bill’s passage will lead to an amendment in the first schedule of the Constitution and give effect to a May

1974 agreement between India and Bangladesh on acquisition and transfer of territories.

Background

The exchange will see Bangladesh take over 111 enclaves (17160 acres) from India’s possession and India, in

turn, receive 51 enclaves (7110 acres) from Bangladesh.

In Assam, India will get 470 acres of land from Bangladesh, while 268 acres will go to Bangladesh. Enclaves

are tiny landlocked territories that each country has within the borders of the other nation. The enclaves in

Assam, West Bengal, Tripura and Meghalaya come under the bill’s ambit.

The 119th Constitution Amendment) Bill, 2013 was unanimously passed by the upper house, with 180 votes in

favour and zero against it.

Lok Sabha passed Juvenile Justice Amendment Bill 2014 Lok Sabha on 7 May 2015 passed Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Bill 2014. The Bill clearly

defines and classifies offences as petty, serious and heinous, and defines differentiated processes for each

category. The amendment bill has introduced a new provision that disallows the protection from disqualification

in cases where a juvenile is tried and convicted under the adult system. The bill will allow children in the 16-18

age group to be tried as adults if they commit heinous crimes. The bill will replace the existing Juvenile Justice

Act, 2000. The bill states that in case a heinous crime has been committed by a person in the age group of 16-18

years it will be examined by a Juvenile Justice Board to assess if the crime was committed as a child or as an

adult. The trial of the case will take place accordingly by the board which will consist of psychologists and

social experts. The bill also proposed to streamline adoption procedures for orphaned, abandoned and

surrendered children by making mandatory registration of all institutions engaged in providing child care. The

bill proposes several rehabilitation and social integration measures for institutional and non- institutional

children. It provides for sponsorship and foster care as completely new measures. According to data from

National Crime Records Bureau, crimes by juveniles in the age group of 16-18 years have increased, especially

in certain categories of heinous crimes. The number of murder cases against juveniles rose from 531 in 2002 to

1,007 in 2013. Similarly, cases of rape and assault with intent to outrage the modesty of women have gone up

MENTOR


from 485 and 522 in 2002 to 1884 and 1424 in 2013 respectively. In 2013, 933 cases of kidnapping and

abduction were registered against juveniles, which was 704 in 2012. According to Women and Child

Development Ministry, more than 250 civil society organisations, individuals and experts had given their

comments on the draft Bill which were taken into consideration before giving it a final shape.

Union Government launched Credit Enhancement Guarantee Scheme for Scheduled

Castes The Union Ministry for Social Justice & Empowerment on 6 May 2015 launched the Credit Enhancement

Guarantee Scheme for Scheduled Castes. The scheme is being implemented by Industrial Finance Corporation

of India (IFCI) Ltd.

A sum of 200 crore rupees was allocated towards Credit Enhancement Guarantee scheme for young and start-up

entrepreneurs belonging to Scheduled Castes (SC) to avail financial assistance. This allocation was made under

Social Sector Initiatives to promote entrepreneurship among SCs.

The main objective of this scheme is to encourage entrepreneurship in the lower strata of the Society resulting

in job creation besides creating confidence in Scheduled Castes.

Other Programmes Moreover, the Ministry also inaugurated the Commercial Motor Driving Training Programme with Self

Defense Skills for 250 women organized by National Safai Karamcharis Finance & Development Corporation

(NSKFDC).

This training was launched with an objective to ensure women social & economic empowerment by creating job

or self employment opportunities for these women, belonging to the families of Safai Karamcharis.

World’s largest solar photovoltaic plant of 750 MW to be built in Rewa district of Madhya

Pradesh The Madhya Pradesh Cabinet in the last week of April 2015 gave its approval to build 750 megawatt (MW)

solar photovoltaic (SPV) plant atGurh tehsil in Rewa district. The plant, to be developed in three phases of

250 MW, once completed will become the world’s largest solar power plant. At present, the largest SPV plant is

the Topaz Solar Farm (550 MW) in California’s San Luis Obispo county, US, which was commissioned in 2014

Characteristic Feature of SPV plant

The plant will use photovoltaic (PV) technology to generate electricity from the sun and is estimated to

be completed by March 2017 at an estimated cost of 4500 crore rupees.

The loan for it will be provided by World Bank and New and Renewable Energy Department of Madhya

Pradesh government will provide land for the project. The state government is also on the lookout for private

land.

The plant will provide power at a price as low as 5.50 rupees per unit as against the 6.86 rupees per unit,

which is the benchmark for levelised tariff (tariff realised over the span of the project) of SPV for 2015-16

announced by Central Electricity Regulatory Commission.

The project is being set up under the scheme for development of solar parks and ultra mega solar power

projects. The PV modules for the plant would be sourced from the domestic market which is not mandatory.

The Power Grid Corporation of India Limited will construct the grid connections and transmission lines

of the solar plant.

Once commissioned, Jabalpur-based Madhya Pradesh Power Management Company Limited will buy

40 per cent of power.

MENTOR


The solar project in Rewa would be one of the first of the 25 solar parks planned in the country. There is a

proposal to set up another 750 MW plant in Rewa.

Union Ministry of Tourism released Draft National Tourism Policy 2015

The Union Ministry of Tourism on 1 May 2015 released the Draft National Tourism Policy 2015 after re-

visiting National Tourism Policy 2002. The policy is aimed at boosting tourism sector in the country.

Its objective is to increase India’s share in world tourist arrivals from the present 0.68% to 1% by 2020 and

increase to 2% by 2025 and position tourism as a priority on the National political and economic agenda.

Key Features of the Draft National Tourism Policy 2015

• It enshrines the vision of developing and positioning India as a MUST EXPERIENCE and MUST RE-VISIT

destination encompassing the aspects of Swachhta (cleanliness), Suraksha (safety) and Swagat (welcome).

• It seeks to evolve a framework for tourism development, which is Government-led, private sector driven and

community welfare oriented.

• Its focus is on Employment Generation and Community Participation in the development of tourism industry

in a sustainable manner.

• The emphasis of the policy will be on skill development across all segments including setting up of a

dedicated university for tourism and hospitality education and deployment of technology in promotion of

tourism.

• National Tourism Advisory Board (NTAB) will be set up under chairmanship of Union Tourism Minister and

having tourism ministers of States / Union Territories (UTs) and domain experts as its members to monitor the

implementation of the policy.

• National Tourism Authority will be established with representation from the trade and industry and

interconnected departments or agencies to execute the policy.

• Core infrastructure (airways, railways, roadways, waterways, etc.) as well as Tourism Infrastructure (Swadesh

Darshan, PRASAD, Buddhist Circuit, etc) will be developed.

• Focus on domestic tourism as a major driver of tourism growth and on development and promotion of the

North East Region and the state of Jammu & Kashmir.

• To attract foreign tourists the government will play a more pro-active and decisive role at multilateral tourism

fora such as the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), the Association of Southeast

Asian Nations (ASEAN), India-Brazil-South Africa (IBSA) and Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa

(BRICS) on themes that link the countries such as the Buddhist Circuit, Ramayana Circuit, Himalayan Circuit,

Heritage Circuit, etc.

The new tourism policy will be finalised after receiving inputs and suggestions from the general public. The

suggestions have been invited by the ministry till 10 May 2015.

Union Cabinet approved Smart Cities Mission with an outlay of 48000 crore rupees

The Union Cabinet on 29 April 2015 gave its nod for Smart Cities Mission with an outlay of 48000 crore rupees

over the next five years (2015-16 to 2019-20).

MENTOR


Besides, the Cabinet also approved the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation

(AMRUT) of 500 cities with an outlay of 50000 crore rupees over the next five years.

The aim of these two missions is to make urban areas more livable and inclusive besides driving the economic

growth.

Features of Smart Cities Mission Purpose: To build 100 smart cities across the country by promoting smart solutions for efficient use of

available assets, resources and infrastructure with the objective of enhancing the quality of urban life and

providing a clean and sustainable environment.

Focus: The focus of the mission will be on core infrastructure services like Adequate and clean Water supply,

Sanitation and Solid Waste Management, Efficient Urban Mobility and Public Transportation, Affordable

housing for the poor, power supply, robust IT connectivity, Governance, especially e-governance and citizen

participation, safety and security of citizens, health and education and sustainable urban environment.

Selection Criteria: Smart City aspirants will be selected through a City Challenge Competition intended to test

the ability of the cities to achieve the mission objectives. Each state will shortlist a certain number of smart city

aspirants as per the norms to be indicated by the Union Government and they will prepare smart city proposals

for further evaluation for extending Central support.

Funding: While, each selected city would get central assistance of 100 crore rupees per year for five years a

cumulative amount of 48000 crore rupees allocated for the mission

Implementation: Smart City Action Plans will be implemented by Special Purpose Vehicles (SPV) to be

created for each city and state governments will ensure steady stream of resources for SPVs.

Approach: The mission adopts area based approach consisting of retrofitting, redevelopment, pan-city

initiatives and development of new cities. Under Retrofitting, deficiencies in an identified area will be

addressed through necessary interventions as in the case of Local Area Plan for downtown

Ahmedabad. Redevelopment enables reconstruction of already built-up area that is not amenable for any

interventions, to make it smart, as in the case of Bhendi Bazar of Mumbai and West Kidwai Nagar in New

Delhi. Pan-city initiatives could be interventions like Intelligent Transport Solutions which benefit residents by

reducing commuting time.

Rajya Sabha passed Regional Rural Banks (Amendment) Bill, 2014 Rajya Sabha on 28 April 2015 passed the Regional Rural Banks (Amendment) Bill, 2014. With this, the bill has

been passed by both houses of the Parliament. It was passed by the Lok Sabha on 18 December 2014.

The Regional Rural Banks (Amendment) Bill, 2014 that seeks to amend the Regional Rural Banks (RRB) Act,

1976 was introduced by the Union Minister of Finance, Arun Jaitley.

Main highlights of the Bill • It seeks to amend the RRB Act, 1976 which mainly provides for the incorporation, regulation and winding up

of Regional Rural Banks (RRBs).

• It removes the five year limit cap that was put on the sponsor banks to assist the upcoming RRBs under the

RRB Act, 1976. As per the Act, sponsor banks were liable to train personnel and provide managerial and

financial assistance for the first five years.

• It raises the amount of authorized capital to 2000 crore rupees and it is not to be reduced below one crore

rupees. In the 1976 Act the authorised capital of each RRB was five crore rupees which was not permitted to be

reduced below 25 lakh rupees.

• It allows Union government to specify that the capital issued by a RRB should be at least one crore rupees.

Under the Act, a RRB was to issue capital between 25 lakh rupees and one crore rupees.

• The bill allows RRBs to raise their capital from sources other than the central and state governments, and

MENTOR


sponsor banks as was mandated under the RRB Act. As per the Act, 50% of capital issued was held by Union

government, 15% by concerned state government and 35% by the sponsor banks.

• It also provides that in case of raising of capital from other sources by a RRB, the combined shareholding of

the central government and the sponsor bank cannot be less than 51%.

• Further, if the shareholding of the state government in a RRB is reduced below 15%, the Union government

would have to consult the concerned state government.

• It provides that the Union government may by notification raise or reduce the limit of shareholding of the

central government, state government or the sponsor bank in a RRB. In doing so, the central government may

consult the state government and the sponsor bank.

• It provides that any person who is a director of a RRB is not eligible to be on the Board of Directors of another

RRB, while the Act specified that the composition of the Board of Directors of the RRB to include a Chairman

and directors to be appointed through the central government, NABARD, sponsor bank, Reserve Bank of India,

etc.

• It provides that directors of a RRB Board shall be elected by shareholders based on the total amount of equity

share capital issued to such shareholders.

a) If the equity share capital issued to shareholders is 10% or less, one director shall be elected by such

shareholders.

b) Two directors shall be elected by shareholders where the equity share capital issued to them is from 10% to

25%.

c) Three directors shall be elected in case of equity share capital issued being 25% or above.

d) If required, the central government can also appoint an officer to the board of directors to ensure effective

functioning of the RRB.

• It raises the tenure of a director (excluding the Chairman) to three years and says that no director can hold

office for a total period exceeding six years. The Act specified that the term of office of a director (excluding

the Chairman) should not more than two years.

• It also changes the date of closure and balancing of books to 31 March to bring the Act in uniformity with the

financial year. While the Act of 1976 said that the books of a RRB should be closed and balanced as on 31

December every year.

Union Cabinet approved Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation

(AMRUT) of 500 cities Union Cabinet on 29 April 2015 approved the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation

(AMRUT) of 500 cities with an outlay of 50000 crore rupees over the next five years (2015-16 to 2019-20).

Besides, the Cabinet also approved the Smart Cities Mission with an outlay of 48000 crore rupees.

The two missions have twin objectives of meeting the challenges of growing urbanization in the country in a

sustainable manner as well as ensuring the benefits of urban development to the poor through increased access

to urban spaces and enhanced employment opportunities.

Main Features of AMRUT Purpose: To develop civic infrastructure in 500 cities and towns having population of one lakh and above. The

mission also includes some cities situated on stems of main rivers, a few capital cities, important cities located

in hilly areas, islands and tourist areas.

Implementation: Implementation is linked to promotion of urban reforms such as e-governance, constitution of

professional municipal cadre, credit rating of urban local bodies, energy and water audit and citizen-centric

urban planning among others.

In this regard, a reform matrix with timelines would be circulated by the Union Government to States in the

Guidelines of the mission.

Approach: The mission adopts a project based approach to ensure basic infrastructure services relating to water

supply, sewerage, transport and development of green spaces among others.

MENTOR


States given more freedom: Under this Mission, States get the flexibility of designing schemes based on the

needs of identified cities and in their execution and monitoring.Further in a significant departure from

Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), now the states will only submit State Annual

Action Plans (SAAPs) to the Union for broad concurrence based on which funds will be released. Under

JNNURM, Union Government used to appraise even individual projects.

Funding: 50000 crore rupees will be spent under the mission over next five years. Central assistance will be to

the extent of 50 percent of project cost for cities and towns with a population of up to 10 lakh and one-third of

the project cost for those with a population of above 10 lakh.

Central assistance will be released in three installments in the ratio of 20:40:40 based on achievement of

milestones indicated in SAAPs.

10 percent of budget allocation will be given to States/Union Territories (UTs) as an incentive based on

achievement of reforms during the previous year.

Uncompleted projects under JNNURM: Central assistance will be extended under AMRUT to the projects

sanctioned under JNNURM but not completed. JNNURM projects relating to urban development sanctioned

during 2005 -2012 and achieved physical progress of 50 percent availing 50 percent of central assistance

released and those sanctioned during 2012-2014 will be supported till March 2017. Accordingly, 102 and 296

projects respectively will get Central support for balance funding to complete these projects.

How AMRUT differs from Smart Cities Mission? Though the two missions are interrelated in the sense that AMRUT seeks to lay a foundation to enable smaller

cities and towns to eventually grow into smart cities, they differ in the following ways:

While Smart Cities Mission focuses on a select larger urban areas, the AMRUT mission is intended to improve

infrastructure in small cities having population of one lakh and above and towns of special importance only.

While Smart Cities Mission adopts area based approach focusing on improving amenities in a specific area of a

larger city, the AMRUT mission adopts functional based approach focusing on improving the delivery of

services in the designated towns and smaller cities.

INS Tarangini departed for Lokayan-2015

INS Tarangini, the Sail Training Ship of Indian Navy, on 27 April 2015 left Kochi for Lokayan 2015. The

theme for Lokayan -15 is Taking for a Broader Reach. The Ship was flagged off by Vice Admiral Sunil Lanba,

PVSM, AVSM, the flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Southern naval Command in a departure ceremony

conducted at the naval base, Kochi.

As part of Lokayan-15, Tarangini will be on an eight month voyage through Europe and will participate in the

annual Tall Ship Races and other events organised under the aegis of Sail Training International. During these

eight months the ship will travel approximately 17 thousand miles under sails.

This year’s Tall Ship Races will be conducted primarily off the coast of United Kingdom, Norway, Denmark,

Germany and Netherlands. About 300 Sail ships of various sizes from all over the world are expected to

participate in this year’s events.

Tarangini forms a part of Class A Sail Ships, the largest of the sailing fleet. During this voyage, the Indian

trainees would also get an opportunity to sail on foreign vessels as part of exchange of trainees.

INS Tarangini is a three masted barque built in Goa Shipyard Ltd and commissioned on 11 November 1997, is

manned by 6 officers, 40 sailors and 30 trainees.

MENTOR


Indian Railways launched E-Samiksha to monitor rail projects online

Indian Railways on 21 April 2015 launched online monitoring mechanism E-Samiksha to monitor rail projects.

It aims at monitoring implementation of various ongoing projects of Indian Railways on real-time basis

including Rail Budget proposals.

Highlights about E-Samiksha

• It was designed by National Informatics Centre (NIC).

• It has been developed to make it a highly interactive web-based, user-friendly and customised system.

• It will be used to monitor budget-related projects and also for monitoring the infrastructure target and board

meeting follow-up.

• It will be used by Cabinet Secretariat, Prime Minister’s Office and other Ministries for monitoring progress

implementation of various programmes and follow-up of meetings.

Union Government notified National Judicial Appointments Commission Act, 2014

The Union Government on 13 April 2015 notified the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC)

Act, 2014 and the Constitution (Ninety-ninth Amendment) Act, 2014.

The NJAC Act and 99th Amendment Act were notified in exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (2)

of section 1 of the Act.

With this, the existing Collegium system of appointing judges of higher judiciary, viz., Supreme Court and High

Courts comes to an end.

Main Features of the NJAC Act, 2014

• It gives NJAC a Constitutional status for appointment of judges to the Supreme Court and the High Courts.

• It also gives the executive an equal role in the appointment of judges to the highest judiciary, as a

constitutional body.

• It specifies amendments to Articles 124 (2) and 217 (1) that deals with the appointment of judges in the

Supreme Court and the High Courts, respectively.

• Now the judges in the Supreme Court and the High Courts will be appointed by the President in consultation

with the NJAC.

• Once the NJAC is in place then Union government has to intimate NJAC within 30 day about the vacancies in

the Supreme Court and the High Courts. Vacancies to come up within the next six months should also be

intimated to the commission in advance.

Composition of NJAC

The NJAC will have the Chief Justice of India as Chairperson and two senior-most judges of the Supreme Court

as members, apart from the Union Law Minister and two eminent personalities, one of whom would be

nominated from among the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes, minorities, the Other Backward Classes or

women.

MENTOR


The two eminent persons will be nominated by a committee of the Prime Minister of India, the Chief Justice of

India, and the Leader of the Opposition in the House of the People, or if there is no Leader of the Opposition,

then the Leader of the single largest Opposition Party in the House of the People.

The NJAC will frame its own regulations.

Comment

The notification to National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) Act, 2014 came few days after the

Supreme Court referred the Act to the Constitutional bench on a basis of a batch of petitions that challenged the

constitutionality of the Act. The Constitution bench of the apex court will hear the plea on 15 April 2015.

However, the notification was made possible by the Supreme Court itself which on 7 April 2015 refused to pass

a stay order on the law coming into force while referring the petition to the Constitution bench.

Background The NJAC Bill and the Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty First Amendment) Bill, 2014 were passed

unanimously by the Lok Sabha on 13 August 2014 and Rajya Sabha on 14 August 2014, respectively.

Subsequently these Bills were ratified by the required number of State legislatures before getting the President’s

assent.

The Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty First Amendment) Bill, 2014 enacted as the Constitution (Ninety

Ninth Amendment) Act and the National Judicial Appointments Commission Act, 2014 were published in

Gazette of India on 31 December 2014.

TRAI recommended establishment of Integrated Emergency Communication

& Response System

Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on 7 April 2015 recommended the establishment of Integrated

Emergency Communication and Response System (IECRS) in the country.

This system can be accessed through a single emergency number 112 from a landline or mobile phone/device

for all emergency phone-calls across the country.

The recommendation with respect to setting up of IECRS was made in exercise of its power conferred under

section 11 (1)(a)(ii) and (vii) of the TRAI Act, 1997 which empowers TRAI to make recommendations, either

suo motu or on a request from the licensor.

Main recommendations of TRAI on setting up of IECRS • Adoption of number 112 as the single emergency number for India which may be popularised extensively

through a public awareness campaign by the Government

• The existing emergency numbers 100,101,102 and 108 can be retained as secondary numbers. The calls made

to the secondary numbers should be re-routed to the new single emergency number for termination of calls on

the IECRS. The DoT may amend the National Numbering Plan-2003 accordingly.

• Access to IECRS should be permitted from the SIMs of those mobile phones/devices and from

landline/mobile telephones where the outgoing call facility has been debarred or the service is temporarily

suspended; however, such access to emergency facility should not be allowed from mobile handsets/devices

which do not have a SIM.

• SMS based access to IECRS should be provided and Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) may be asked to

provide location information in the case of SMS based access to IECRS also.

• PSAP (Public Safety Answering Point) operators should be able to handle calls in Hindi, English and the local

language.

• Four regional databases, one each in metro city, containing subscriber details of TSPs should be set up in the

MENTOR


country. These regional databases will be interconnected.

• Access to the regional databases will be provided free of charge, so that all the TSPs and PSAPs connect their

respective systems to these databases.

• The number of PSAPs in a State/UT should be decided by the respective State Governments/UTs; however

there should be at least one PSAP in a State/UT

• There should be one independent PSAP for every city with a population of more than two million as per

Census-2011.

• Wherever there is more than one PSAP in a State/UT, they should act as primary and secondary PSAPs to

each other so that overflow traffic of one PSAP can be handled by another in the State/UT.

• There should be a multi-sectoral agency which can coordinate and help in setting up of IECRS in the country.

• The multi-sectoral agency will have representations from Ministry of Home Affairs, Department of

Telecommunications (DoT), Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DEITY), Ministry of

Health and Family Welfare, Ministry of Women and Child Development and other concerned Centre and State

agencies.

What is an emergency number? India, in the Cellular Mobile Telecom Services (CMTS) and Unified Access Services License (UASL) and

Unified Licence (UL), has defined emergency services as, “Emergency service means an emergency of any

kind, including any circumstances whatever resulting from major accidents, natural disasters and incidents

involving toxic or radio-active materials and emergency services in respect of any locality means the relevant

public, police, fire, ambulance and coast guard services for that locality”.

Why the need for a unified emergency response system in India? In India, presently different emergency communication and response systems are in place for police,

ambulance, fire brigade, civil defence, disaster management etc. For instance, some of the existing emergency

numbers that exists in India, as per National Numbering Plan-2003, are 100 (Police), 101 (Fire), 102

(Ambulance) and 108 (Emergency Disaster Management).

Just opposite to this, most developed countries have put in place an IECRS under which emergency services are

accessed nation-wide through a single number either 112 or 999.

The numbers used by developed countries is in line with the recommendations of the International

Telecommunications Union (ITU) made in 2008 in its report Guidelines to select Emergency Number for Public

Telecommunications Networks

Also, to fulfill the vision of the National Telecom Policy 2012 (NTP-2012) one of the strategies envisaged was

to facilitate an institutional framework to establish Nationwide Unified Emergency Response Mechanism by

providing a nationwide single access number for emergency services.

Even the Justice JS Verma Committee Report on amendment to Criminal Laws on 23 January 2013 also

had stressed the need to have a public emergency response system.

Thus, TRAI recommended the use of single emergency number 112 across the country.

President promulgated Land Acquisition (Amendment) Ordinance 2015

President of India Pranab Mukherjee on 3 April 2015 promulgated the Right to Fair Compensation and

Transparency in Land Acquisition Rehabilitation and Resettlement (LARR) (Amendment) Ordinance, 2015.

The Ordinance was being issued in place of the LARR (Amendment) Bill, 2015 and will replace the LARR

(Amendment) Ordinance, 2014.

The (LARR) (Amendment) Ordinance, 2015 incorporates nine amendments as approved by the Lok Sabha on

MENTOR


10 March 2015.

Apart from the nine amendments, it provides for mandatory employment to one member of family of farm

labour affected by land acquisition. This provision did not exist in either the bill approved by the Lok Sabha or

the LARR (Amendment) Ordinance, 2014.

Why re-promulgation of ordinance on land acquisition?

The re-promulgation had become necessary since the validity of the LARR (Amendment) Ordinance, 2014

promulgated on 31 December 2014 expired on 5 April 2015. As per Article 123(2)(a) of the Constitution, an

ordinance shall cease to operate at the expiration of six weeks from the reassemble of Parliament.

However, during the first leg of the session ended on 21 March 2015 the ordinance was approved only by the

Lok Sabha by incorporating nine amendments to the bill and could not get the assent of the Rajya Sabha within

the six weeks period from the reassemble of the Parliament for Budget session on 23 February 2015.

Also, an ordinance can be promulgated by the President only when at least one houses of Parliament is not in

session. In this case the Rajya Sabha was prorogued on 28 March 2015.

Hence, in order to provide for continuity, the President re-promulgated the Ordinance on the recommendations

of Union Cabinet that on 31 March 2015 recommended for promulgation of fresh ordinance on land acquisition.

Comment

The LARR (Amendment) Ordinance, 2015 which came into effect on 5 April 2015 is the eleventh ordinance

promulgated by the President since the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government came into power in

May 2014.

Though the Constitution does not explicitly bar re-promulgation of Ordinances, the Supreme Court (SC) of

India in DC Wadhwa vs State of Bihar case of 1986 declared Ordinance is essentially a power to be used to

meet an extraordinary situation and they cannot be re-promulgated on a massive scale in a routine manner.

The SC also declared in the judgment that it has the power to adjudicate if the re-promulgation takes place to

serve political ends of the ruling party and subverts the democratic process by not being introduced in the

legislature for approval.

Union Government extended National Food Security Act deadline by 6 months The Union Government on 3 April 2015 extended the deadline for implementation of the National Food

Security Act (NFSA) deadline by six months in the states.

The deadline has already been extended twice for implementing the food law, was ending on April 4. The

deadline was extended for the third time so that the remaining states adopt and implement the law within six

months.

Since passage by Parliament in September 2013, the NFSA has been implemented in 11 states and Union

Territories (UTs). The rest 25 states/UTs have not implemented it yet.

At present, the Union Government allocates foograins to 11 states/UTs as per the new food law, while the rest

are getting foodgrains quota as per earlier PDS norms.

11 states/UTs where the NFSA has been implemented includes Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh,

Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Delhi and Chandigarh, some of them fully and

others partially.

MENTOR


National Food Security Act (NFSA) The National Food Security Act (NFSA) was launched with an objective to provide food and nutritional

security to people of the country. It aims at providing legal entitlement to 5 kg of subsidised foodgrains per

person per month at 1 rupee to 3 rupees per kilogram to two-thirds (67 percent) of the country’s population.

Union Minister of Commerce & Industry unveiled Foreign Trade Policy 2015-2020 Union Minister of Commerce & Industry on 2 April 2015 unveiled Foreign Trade Policy (FTP) 2015-2020. The

policy was unveiled by Minister of State for Ministry of Commerce & Industry Nirmala Sitharaman at Vigyan

Bhawan, Delhi.

The new five year Foreign Trade Policy, 2015-20 provides a framework for increasing exports of goods and

services as well as generation of employment and increasing value addition in the country, in keeping with the

Make in India vision of Prime Minister.

The focus of the new policy is to support both the manufacturing and services sectors, with a special emphasis

on improving the ease of doing business.

The release of Foreign Trade Policy was also accompanied by a FTP Statement explaining the vision, goals and

objectives underpinning India's Foreign Trade Policy, laying down a road map for India’s global trade

engagement in the coming years.

The FTP Statement describes the market and product strategy and measures required for trade promotion,

infrastructure development and overall enhancement of the trade eco system. It seeks to enable India to respond

to the challenges of the external environment, keeping in step with a rapidly evolving international trading

architecture and make trade a major contributor to the country’s economic growth and development.

Highlights of the FTP 2015-20

• In the new policy FTP2015-20, two new schemes Merchandise Exports From India Scheme (MEIS) and

Services Exports From India Scheme (SEIS) were introduced.

• MEIS is for export of specified goods to specified markets and SEIS is for increasing exports of notified

services. Duty credit scrips issued under MEIS and SEIS and the goods imported against these scrips are fully

transferable. For grant of rewards under MEIS, the countries have been categorized into 3 Groups, whereas the

rates of rewards under MEIS range from 2% to 5%. Under SEIS the selected Services would be rewarded at the

rates of 3% and 5%.

• Measures have been adopted to nudge procurement of capital goods from indigenous manufacturers under the

EPCG scheme by reducing specific export obligation to 75% of the normal export obligation. This will promote

the domestic capital goods manufacturing industry.

• Such flexibilities will help exporters to develop their productive capacities for both local and global

consumption. Measures have been taken to give a boost to exports of defense and hi-tech items.

MENTOR


• At the same time e-Commerce exports of handloom products, books/periodicals, leather footwear, toys and

customized fashion garments through courier or foreign post office would also be able to get benefit of MEIS.

• These measures would not only capitalize on India's strength in these areas and increase exports but also

provide employment.

• In order to give a boost to exports from Special Economic Zones (SEZs), Government has now decided to

extend benefits of both the reward schemes (MEIS and SEIS) to units located in SEZs. It is hoped that this

measure will give a new impetus to development and growth of SEZs in the country.

• Trade facilitation and enhancing the ease of doing business are the other major focus areas in this new FTP.

• One of the major objectives of new FTP is to move towards paperless working in 24x7 Environment.

• Recently, the government has reduced the number of mandatory documents required for exports and imports

to three, which is comparable with international benchmarks. Now, a facility has been created to upload

documents in exporter/importer profile and the exporters will not be required to submit documents repeatedly.

• Government has also simplified various Aayat Niryat Forms, bringing in clarity in different provisions,

removing ambiguities and enhancing electronic governance.

• Manufacturers will now be enabled to self certify their manufactured goods in phases, as originating from

India with a view to qualifying for preferential treatment under various forms of bilateral and regional trade

agreements.

• This Approved Exporter System will help these manufacturer exporters considerably in getting fast access to

international markets.

• A number of steps have been introduced for encouraging manufacturing and exports. The steps include a fast

track clearance facility for these units, permitting them to share infrastructure facilities, permitting inter unit

transfer of goods and services, permitting them to set up warehouses near the port of export and to use duty free

equipment for training purposes.

Union Government issued Guidelines for administration and operationalisation of

Nirbhaya Fund

Union Government on 1 April 2015 issued Guidelines for utilization of the Nirbhaya Fund with a corpus of

3000 crore rupees. The fund has been approved by the Union Finance Ministry.

The Nirbhaya Fund was set up by Union Government under which various departments can seek money from

the Union Ministry of Women and Child Development (WCD) for schemes to improve safety and security of

women in the country.

The Guidelines are as follows:

Ministry of WCD is the nodal authority which can be approached by various Ministries/Departments

with the proposals/schemes, to be funded from Nirbhaya Fund targeted to strengthen the safety and security of

women in the country.

MENTOR


Ministry of WCD would appraise these schemes to decide their suitability to qualify for getting funds

from the Nirbhaya Fund.

Ministry of WCD shall forward the suitable proposals to Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) for

necessary budgetary allocations in the respective Demands.

DEA shall appraise the proposal on financial and other aspects to avoid any duplicity of

schemes/Government efforts to strengthen safety and security of women in the country.

Budget Division of DEA would approve the funding of schemes from the fund and would also be the

nodal Ministry for any accretion into and withdrawal from the fund.

About Nirbhaya Fund

The setting up of Nirbhaya Fund was announced by the Union Finance Minister in the Union Budget 2013-14

with Government contribution of 1000 crores rupees for empowerment, safety and security of women and girl

children. The Fund is administered by Department of Economic Affairs of the Union Finance Ministry.

In the Union Budget 2014-15, two schemes were announced by the Finance Minister for funding through

Nirbhaya Fund. These were:

150 crore rupees allocated to the scheme on backend integration of distress signal from victims with

mobile vans and control rooms administered by Union Ministry of Home Affair

50 crore rupees allocated to scheme on Women Safety on Public Road Transport administered by Union

Ministry of Road Transport and Highways.

Union Cabinet gave its approval for the Approach and Key Components of e-Kranti The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 25 March 2015 gave its approval for the

Approach and Key Components of e-Kranti: National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) 2.0.

e-Kranti is an important pillar of the Digital India programme and the programme has been envisaged by the

Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY).

Objectives of e-Kranti

• To redefine NeGP with transformational and outcome oriented e-Governance initiatives.

• To enhance the portfolio of citizen centric services.

• To ensure optimum usage of core Information & Communication Technology (ICT).

• To promote rapid replication and integration of eGov applications.

• To leverage emerging technologies.

• To make use of more agile implementation models.

Key principles of e-Kranti

• Transformation and not Translation

• Integrated Services and not Individual Services

• Government Process Reengineering (GPR) to be mandatory in every Mission Mode Projects (MMPs)

• ICT Infrastructure on Demand

• Cloud by Default

• Mobile First

• Fast Tracking Approvals

• Mandating Standards and Protocols

• Language Localization

• National GIS (Geo-Spatial Information System)

• Security and Electronic Data Preservation

MENTOR


The e-Kranti Mission is to ensure a Government wide transformation by delivering all Government services

electronically to citizens through integrated and interoperable systems via multiple modes, while ensuring

efficiency, transparency and reliability of such services at affordable costs.

Key components of the management structure would consist of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs

(CCEA) for according approval to projects according to the financial provisions, a Monitoring Committee on

Digital India headed by the Prime Minister, Digital India Advisory Group chaired by the Minister of

Communications and IT, an Apex Committee chaired by the Cabinet Secretary and the Expenditure Finance

Committee (EFC) / Committee on Non Plan Expenditure (CNE).

The Apex Committee headed by the Cabinet Secretary would undertake addition / deletion of MMPs which are

considered to be appropriate and resolve inter-Ministerial issues.

Department of Agriculture and Cooperation approved the creation of Price

Stabilisation Fund Scheme

The Department of Agriculture and Cooperation (DAC) under the Union Ministry of Agriculture on 26 March

2015 approved the creation of Price Stabilisation Fund (PSF) as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS).

The purpose of the scheme is to provide interest free advances towards working capital to the government

agencies which are involved in procurement and distribution of perishable agri-horticultural commodities.

The hassle-free flow of funds will enable the agencies to regulate volatile prices of commodities in an effective

manner.

Objectives of PSF Scheme • To promote direct purchase by the government agencies from farmers or farmers’ associations at farm gate.

• To maintain a strategic buffer stock that would discourage hoarding and unscrupulous speculation.

• To protect consumers by supplying such commodities at reasonable prices through calibrated release of

stock.

Main Highlights of the Scheme • The scheme envisages creation of a 500 crore rupees corpus fund with the name Corpus Fund for

Procurement and Distribution of Identified agri-horticulture commodities.

• To operationalise the fund a savings account Corpus Fund for Procurement and Distribution of perishable

agri-horticulture commodities will be opened by the Small Farmers Agri-Business Consortium (SFAC) in a

nationalized bank with flexi-deposit facility. The amount made available by the government will be kept in this

account.

• The SFAC will act as the fund manager and will maintain an account of receipts and expenditure from the

corpus fund and report to the Member-Secretary, Price Stabilisation Fund Management Committee (PSFMC).

• The funds from the Corpus Fund would be provided in two streams, viz., Stream A and Stream B. Stream A

account is for State government whereas Stream B account is for Central Government agencies.

• Under Stream A, States would be given as a onetime interest free advance which will only be released into a

revolving fund account set up for the purpose by the State. The contribution to the state level fund by the

Central Government and State Governments would be in the ratio 50:50 but for North-East States, the

contribution ratio would be 75:25.

Under Stream B, the funds from the Corpus fund would be provided to Central Government agencies as an

interest free advance based on their proposal for market intervention for price control. This will be set up as a

revolving fund.

• The proposal from the state agencies should be approved by a state level committee formed at the state level

akin to the PSFMC by the respective state governments.

• Advances received cannot be utilized for any other purpose by the recipient agency, viz., Central Agencies

and State Governments.

MENTOR


• Losses incurred, if any, by the Central Government agencies during the operation of the scheme will be met

from Central Corpus fund.

• Losses incurred by the States during the operation of the scheme will be shared between the Centre and the

States in the ratio 50:50.

• In case of North-East States, the losses incurred by these states will be shared between Centre and these

states in the ration 75:50.

• At the time of closure of accounts, profits earned on interventions will be ploughed back into the Central

Corpus Fund to extent of 100 percent in case of Central Government agencies and 50 percent in case of State

Government.

• Under the fund, the government agencies will procure notified agri-horticultural commodities directly from

farmers or farmers’ organizations at farm gate.

• The commodities will be made available at a more reasonable price to the consumers when the prices are not

affordable.

• Initially the fund is proposed to be used for onion and potato only.

• The fund will be implemented during 2015-16 and 2016-17. The Fund may be allowed to roll on to future

years also.

• The accounts will be audited by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India.

• The scheme envisages the creation of Price Stabilisation Fund Management Committee (PSFMC).

Price Stabilisation Fund Management Committee (PSFMC)

The PSFMC is the administrative agency responsible for implementing the scheme. The objectives of the

PSFMC are

• PSFMC will invite, appraise, approve proposals received from state governments and central agencies.

PSFMC will approve the amount of advance.

• PSFMC will take decisions regarding investing surplus available in the Central Corpus Fund in other bank

instruments like fixed deposits, etc for better returns. While doing so, itwill be guided by extant guidelines on

this subject.

• PSFMC will monitor the progress of implementation of the Price Stabilization Operations by the

implementing agency. PSFMC will advise suitable measures and corrective actions, if any, during the course of

implementation, keeping in view the overall aim and objectives of the scheme

• PSFMC will meet regularly to review the wholesale and retail prices of essential agri-horticulture

• Commodities and will guide or propose required interventions.

The PSFMC will be headed by the Secretary to the Department of Agriculture and Cooperation and includes

additional secretaries and joint secretaries from the department as members. Joint Secretary, DAC (Marketing)

would be the Member-Secretary.

Union Cabinet gave approval for the concept and institutional framework of Sagarmala

Project

The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 25 March 2015 gave in-principle approval

for the concept and institutional framework of Sagarmala Project.

MENTOR


Sagarmala Project’s main objective is to promote port-led direct and indirect development and to provide

infrastructure to transport goods to and from ports quickly, efficiently and cost-effectively.

It aims at developing access to new development regions with intermodal solutions and promotion of the

optimum modal split, enhanced connectivity with main economic centres and beyond through expansion of rail,

inland water, coastal and road services.

Three Pillars of Sagarmala Project

Supporting and enabling Port-led Development through appropriate policy and institutional

interventions and providing for an institutional framework for ensuring inter-agency and

ministries/departments/states’ collaboration for integrated development

Port Infrastructure Enhancement, including modernization and setting up of new ports

Efficient Evacuation to and from hinterland

For a comprehensive and integrated planning for Sagarmala Project

A National Perspective Plan (NPP) for the entire coastline will be prepared within six months which will

identify potential geographical regions to be called Coastal Economic Zones (CEZs).

The State Governments to set up State Sagarmala Committee to be headed by Chief Minister/Minister in

Charge of Ports with members from relevant Departments and agencies.

Sagarmala Coordination and Steering Committee (SCSC) will be constituted under the chairmanship of

the Cabinet Secretary.

National Sagarmala Apex Committee (NSAC)

A National Sagarmala Apex Committee (NSAC) is envisaged for overall policy guidance and high level

coordination, and to review various aspects of planning and implementation of the plan and projects.

The NSAC will be chaired by the Union Minister of Shipping, with Cabinet Ministers from stakeholder

Ministries and Chief Ministers/Ministers in charge of ports of maritime states as members.

This committee, while providing policy direction and guidance for the initiative’s implementation, shall approve

the overall National Perspective Plan (NPP) and review the progress of implementation of these plans.

Sagarmala Development Company (SDC)

The Sagarmala Development Company (SDC) at the Union Government level will be set up under the

Companies Act, 1956. It will assist the state level/zone level Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs), as well as SPVs

to be set up by the ports, with equity support for implementation of projects to be undertaken by them.

Activities to be undertaken under Sagarmala project

Port-led industrialization

Port based urbanization

Port based and coastal tourism and recreational activities

Short-sea shipping coastal shipping and Inland Waterways Transportation

Ship building, ship repair and ship recycling

Logistics parks, warehousing, maritime zones/services

Integration with hinterland hubs

Offshore storage, drilling platforms

MENTOR


Specialization of ports in certain economic activities such as energy, containers, chemicals, coal, agro

products, etc

Offshore Renewable Energy Projects with base ports for installations

Modernizing the existing ports and development of new ports

Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched PRAGATI platform for redressal of grievances

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 25 March 2015 launched Pro-Active Governance and Timely Implementation

(PRAGATI) platform. PRAGATI is a multi-purpose and multi-modal platform aimed at addressing grievances

of common man.

PRAGATI aims at simultaneously monitoring and reviewing Union Government programmes and projects as

well as projects flagged by State Governments.

Features of PRAGATI

• It is a three-tier system (PMO, Union Government Secretaries, and Chief Secretaries of the States).

• Prime Minister will hold a monthly programme where he will interact with the Government of India

Secretaries, and Chief Secretaries through Video-conferencing enabled by data and geo-informatics visuals.

• Issues to be flagged before the PM will be picked up from the available database regarding Public Grievances,

on-going Programmes and pending Projects

• The system will ride on, strengthen and re-engineer the data bases of the CPGRAMS for grievances, Project

Monitoring Group (PMG) and the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation. PRAGATI provides

an interface and platform for all these three aspects.

• It will also take into consideration various correspondences to PM’s office by the common people or from

high dignitaries of States and/or developers of public projects.

• These issues flagged can be viewed by the Union Government Secretaries and Chief Secretaries after entering

into the application.

• Union Government Secretaries and Chief Secretaries will be able to see the issues pertaining to their

Department /State.

• Union Government Secretaries and Chief Secretaries have to put their comments and updates about the

flagged issues within three days.

• One day will be available to the PMO team to review the data entered by the Union Government Secretaries

and Chief Secretaries.

• The design is such, that when PM reviews the issue he should have on his screen the issue as well as the latest

updates and visuals regarding the same.

The system has been designed in-house by the PMO team with the help of National Informatics Center (NIC).

The name suggests that it is aimed at starting a culture of Pro-Active Governance and Timely Implementation.

PRAGATI is a robust system that will help in for bringing e-transparency and e-accountability with real-time

presence and exchange among the key stakeholders.

Union Ministry of Food Processing Industries sanctioned 17 Mega Food Parks

MENTOR


Union Ministry of Food Processing Industries on 24 March 2015 sanctioned 17 Mega Food Parks (MFPs).

These parks are aimed at creating state-of-the-art infrastructure facilities to reduce food wastage and create

value addition.

Details of the 17 MFPs

• The 17 MFPs will be spread across 11 States. While Kerala, Telangana, Haryana, Punjab, Maharashtra and

Tamil Nadu were sanctioned two MFPs each whereas Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and

Bihar were sanctioned one MFP each.

• These food parks will attract around 2000 crore rupees in modern food processing infrastructure including 850

crore rupees grant-in-aid provided by the government to these establishments.

• An additional collective investment of 4000 crore rupees is also expected to be invested in 500 food

processing units to be set up in these parks.

• The annual turnover of the food processing units in these MFPs would be more than 8000 crore rupees.

• These parks will generate direct or indirect employment for 80000 people.

• It is estimated to benefit around 5 lakh farmers once they become operational.

• Out of the 17 MFPs six have been sanctioned for various state government agencies and eleven to private

sector.

• For the first time, under the changed eligibility criteria public authorities are also allowed to establish MFPs.

Union Ministry of Food Processing Industries is implementing the MFP Scheme since 2008. So far 42 MFPs

have been sanctioned (including newly sanctioned 17 MFPs). Currently, 25 projects are under implementation

and two have become operational and three more are expected to be operationalised by June 2015.

About Mega Food Parks Scheme (MFPS)

The Scheme was launched in 2008 by UPA Government. Its focus is to overcome the bottlenecks in the food

supply chain due to which around 33 percent food is wasted in India making it the largest food waster in the

world.

A Mega Food Park entails an area of a minimum of 50 acres and works in a cluster based approach based on a

hub and spokes model. Union government provides a financial assistance of up to 50 crore rupees to set up a

MFP.

Union Ministry of Health and Welfare launched Media Campaign for Mission

Indradhanush Union Ministry of Health and Welfare on 23 March 2015 launched Media Campaign for Mission Indradhanush.

The media campaign includes a song composed by Bollywood lyricist and scriptwriter Javed Akhtar.

The campaign was launched for creating awareness regarding the importance to fully immunize every child

against all vaccine preventable diseases in the country.

The week-long drive will start on World Health Day on 7 April 2015 and will be repeated on the 7th day of

each of the following four months. It will cover all children less than two years of age and pregnant women.

About Mission Indradhanush

MENTOR


Mission Indradhanush depicting seven colours of the rainbow, aims to cover all those children by 2020 who are

either unvaccinated or are partially vaccinated against seven vaccine preventable diseases which include

diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, polio, tuberculosis, measles and hepatitis B.

The mission will be implemented in multi phase. In the first phase, 201 high-focus districts will be taken up for

implementation of the mission. Of these, 82 districts are in just four states of UP, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and

Rajasthan and nearly 25% of the unvaccinated or partially vaccinated children of India are in these 82 districts

of four states.

In the second phase, mission will cover 297 focus districts.

To make the mission mode successful, Health Ministry developed micro plans on the basis of the lessons

learned from the Polio eradication towards systems strengthening, vaccine cold chain management, regular

surveillance and monitoring of the plans to reach each and every left out and uncovered child.

In India, only 65% children, out of 2.7 crore, receive all necessary vaccine during their first year and this

coverage grows by a mere one percent every year. Of those children who have remained unvaccinated, 40% are

because of lack of information, 32% because of apprehension among their parents arising from a lack of

awareness and 28% because their parents do not see the need for it. The government wants to increase the

percentage of immunization to 4-5% with this mission.

National Action Plan for Skill Training of Persons with Disabilities launched in New Delhi National Action Plan for Skill Training of Persons with Disabilities was launched in New Delhi on 21 March

2015.

The National Action Plan is a partnership between the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship

(MSDE) and Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disability for skilling 2.5 million Persons with

Disability (PwD) over seven years between 2015 and 2022.

The Plan was jointly launched by the Minister of State (IC), Ministry of Skill Development and

Entrepreneurship Rajiv Pratap Rudy and the Union Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment Thaawar

Chand Gehlot.

The National Action Plan (NAP) seeks to provide a synergistic framework for people with disability, for

improving vocational training and employment opportunities for them with the eventual goal of providing them

with livelihoods and independence. The plan envisages use of Information Technology for content, training

delivery and employer connect.

The plan is of significant importance for overall development of PwDs since according to census 2011, there are

2.68 Crore PwDs in India. Among them about 1.34 crore persons are in the employable age of 15 to 59 years.

According to a United Nations (UN) report unemployment rate among PwDS is usually double that of the

general population and often as high as 80% in Asia-Pacific region.

Union Cabinet approved Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) to impart

skill training to youth

The Union Cabinet approved the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) on 19 March 2015 with an

outlay of 1500 crore rupees. The programme aims to impart skill training to youth with focus on first time

entrants to the labour market and class 10 and class 12 drop outs.

Key characteristics of the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKY)

• The programme aims to impart skill training to youth with focus on first time entrants to the labour market and

MENTOR


class 10 and class 12 drop outs.

• The scheme will cover 24 lakh persons and skill training would be based on the National Skill Qualification

Framework (NSQF) and industry led standards.

• The programme will be implemented by the Union Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship

through the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) training partners.

• In addition, Central and State Government affiliated training providers would also be used for training

purposes.

• Skill training would be on the basis of skill gap studies conducted by the NSDC for the period 2013-17.

• Focus of the training would be on improved curricula, better pedagogy and better trained instructors.

• Training would include soft skills, personal grooming, behavioral change for cleanliness, good work ethics.

• A monetary reward will be given to trainees on assessment and certification by third party assessment bodies.

The average monetary reward would be around 8000 rupees per trainee.

Funds Allocation

• Out of the total outlay of 1120 crore rupees to be spent on skill training of 14 lakh youths, 220 crore rupees

has been allocated for recognition of prior learning.

• 67 crore rupees has been allocated for awareness building and mobilization efforts. Mobilization would be

done through skill melas organized at the local level with participation of the State Governments, Municipal

Bodies, Pachayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) and community based organizations.

• 67 crore rupees has been allocated for mentorship support and placement facilitation for trainees.

• 150 crore rupees has been allocated for training of youth from the North-East region.

Monitoring of the programme • Sector Skill Councils and the State Governments would closely monitor skill training that will happen under

the PMKVY.

• Skill Development Management System (SDMS) would be put in place to verify and record details of all

training centres a certain quality of training locations and courses.

• Biometric system and video recording of the training process would be put in place where feasible.

• All persons undergoing training would be required to give feed back at the time of assessment and this would

become the key element of the evaluation framework to assess the effectiveness of the PMKVY scheme.

• A robust grievance redressal system would be put in place to address grievances relating to implementation of

the scheme.

Union Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilizers launched Pharma Jan Samadhan scheme

The Union Minister of Chemicals & Fertilizers Ananth Kumar on 12 March 2015 launched the Pharma Jan

Samadhan scheme. It is a web enabled system for redressal of consumers’ grievances relating to pricing and

availability of medicines.

The system was created by National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA). The ministry also released

Compendium of Ceiling Prices of Essential Medicines 2015 prepared by NPPA.

Pharma Jan Samadhan scheme • The Pharma Jan Samadhan scheme will put in place a speedy and effective complaint redressal system with

respect to availability and pricing of medicines.

• It will serve as a robust e-governance tool for protection of consumers’ interests through effective

implementation of the Drugs (Price Control) Order, 2013.

• It will provide consumers with an on-line facility to redress their complaints relating to over-pricing of

MENTOR


medicines, non-availability or shortage of medicines, sale of new medicines without prior price approval of

NPPA, and refusal of supply for sale of any medicine without good and sufficient reason.

• Once the complaint is redressed, NPPA will initiate action on the complaint within 48 hrs of its receipt.

Prime Minister launched India’s first indigenously developed rotavirus vaccine

Rotavac Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 9 March 2015 launched the first indigenously developed Rotavirus vaccine

named Rotavac. This is the third such vaccine, besides GSK Rotarix and Merck’s RotaTeq available globally

against Rotavirus.

The vaccine will boost India’s efforts to combat infant mortality due to diarrhea. The vaccine will be available

at a price of 1 US dollar per dose making it the cheapest vaccine available for rotavirus globally.

Rotavac vaccine was developed under the public-private partnership (PPP) model that involved Union Ministry

of Science and Technology, US’s National Institute of Health (NIH), NGOs in India supported by the Bill and

Melinda Gates Foundation and Bharat Biotech India Limited (BBIL).

Union Government along with NIH of the US funded the basic research while the Bharat Biotech India Limited

(BBIL) and the Gates Foundation contributed towards vaccine development and testing.

The vaccine was the result of an extraordinary effort spread over the last 25 years. The BBIL that was involved

in the development and production of the vaccine was selected in 1997-1998 by the India-U.S. Vaccine Action

Programme to develop the vaccine.

About Rotavirus It is a most common causative agent of moderate-to-severe diarrhoea (MSD) among infants below 11 months

age group in India. It spreads from person to person due to bacterial agents that are primarily transmitted

through contaminated food or water.

In India, diarrhoea caused by rotavirus kills nearly 80 thousand children under the age of 5 years and lead to 10

lakh hospitalizations every year. India accounts for 22 percent of the global deaths that occurs due to diarrhoea-

causing rotavirus.

Rotavirus vaccines are administered orally to infants in three dose course at ages of six, ten and fourteen weeks

and are part of Universal Immunisation Programme (UIP).

Lok Sabha passed Insurance Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2015 Lok Sabha on 4 March 2015 passed the Insurance Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2015 by voice vote. The Bill will

replace the Insurance Laws (Amendment) Ordinance, 2014. The Ordinance amends the Insurance Act, 1938

(the Act), the General Insurance Business (Nationalisation) Act, 1972 and the Insurance Regulatory and

Development Authority (IRDA) Act, 1999. The Bill was introduced in Lok Sabha on 3 March 2015.

Provisions of the Bill • It seeks to remove archaic provisions and incorporate modern day practices emerging in a changing dynamic

environment, which includes private participation.

• It hikes Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) cap in the insurance sector to 49 percent from present 26 percent.

• It calls for establishment of Life Insurance Council and the General Insurance Council. They will act as self-

regulating bodies for the insurance sector.

• It allows PSU general insurers to raise funds from the capital market.

• It also provides for increased penalty for those who deter multilevel marketing of insurance products like

imprisonment of up to 10 years for selling policies without registration with the insurance regulator.

• It prohibits an insurer from challenging the life insurance policy on any ground after a period of three years of

selling it.

MENTOR


Lok Sabha passed Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Bill, 2015 Lok Sabha on 4 March 2015 passed the Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Bill, 2015 by voice vote. This bill will

replace the Coal Mines (Special Provisions) second ordinance, 2014.

Provisions of the Bill • It has provisions for allocation of coal mines through a transparent bidding process like e-auction that will

ensure the continuity in coal mining operations.

• It facilitates e-auction of coal blocks for private companies for captive use and allots mines directly to state

and central Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs).

• It provides for vesting of the right, title and interest in and over the land and mine infrastructure together with

mining leases to successful bidders.

• It proposes strong measures for rehabilitation and compensation for farmers who are displaced.

ECI launched National Electoral Roll Purification and Authentication Programme

The Election Commission of India (ECI) on 3 March 2015 launched National Electoral Roll Purification and

Authentication Programme (NERPAP) throughout India. The programme was launched with the prime

objective to bring a total error-free and authenticated electoral roll.

About NERPAP • NERPAP will focus on improving image quality of electors along with sorting issues like corrections of errors

etc.

• During the NERPAP, Electronic Privacy Information Centre (EPIC) data of electors will be linked with

Aadhar data of UIDAI for the purpose of authentication.

• Electors was provided with the facility where they can feed their respective Aadhar number through sms,

email, mobile application and National Voters Service Portal (NVSP) by using web services through election

commission website.

• Electors can also feed Aadhar number by making a call at 1950 to state call centres or by submitting the

details of Aadhar number and EPIC number in a hard copy of duly filled up Form along with photocopy of both

the documents, namely EPIC and Aadhar card.

• The collection and feeding of Aadhar will also be done by Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) by organizing

Special Camp, Voter Facilitation Centres, e-Seva centres and Citizen Service Centres authorised by the DEOs

(District Magistrate).

• Booth Level Officers (BLOs) will also collect the details of electors during door to door survey.

• Nationwide special camps will be organized by the Electoral Registration Officer on 12 April 2015 to ensure

maximum public participation.

• The NERPAP has been provided a facility for voluntarily Disclosure of Multiple Entries by the Voters. The

electors with multiple registrations in electoral rolls are advised to fill Form-7 for deletion of their names from

the places except where they ordinarily reside.

• The electors may submit Form through Web Portal of NVSP or at EROs Facilitation Centres or Special

Camps or Other Centres such as E-Seva, CSC and so on.

Lok Sabha passed Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2015 The Lok Sabha on 2 March 2015 passed the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2015 by voice vote. The Bill seeks

to amend the Citizenship Act, 1955 which regulates the acquisition and determination of citizenship and details

registration of Overseas Citizens of India and their rights.

The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2015 was introduced in Lok Sabha on 27 February 2015. The Bill, if

enacted, will be considered to have come into force on 6 January 2015.

Provisions of the Bill It allows the Union Government to relax the requirement of 12 months stay or service if special circumstances

exist in cases related to citizenship by registration and naturalization. Relaxation up to 30 days may be

permitted by the government.

MENTOR


It provides additional grounds for registering an Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) card such as Minor children

whose parent(s) are Indian citizens, spouse of an Indian citizen or OCI/ PIO cardholder subjected to certain

conditions, great-grandchild of a person who is a citizen of another country, but meets one of several conditions

of Citizenship Act, 1955.

It introduces a new provision which allows the union government to register a person as an OCI cardholder

even if he does not satisfy any of the listed qualifications.

It provides that union government may notify that PIO cardholders shall be considered to be OCI cardholders

from a specified date. It merges Persons of Indian Origin and Overseas Citizen of India cardholders.

It allows the union government to cancel the OCI card where it is obtained by the spouse of an Indian citizen or

Overseas Citizen of India cardholder, if the marriage is dissolved by a court, or the spouse enters into another

marriage.

Defence Acquisition Council approved buying of 38 Pilatus trainer aircraft for Indian Air

Force

Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) on 28 February 2015 approved buying of 38 more Pilatus trainer aircraft

from Switzerland at a cost of 1500 crore rupees. These trainer aircraft will train Indian Air Force (IAF) fighter

pilots.

Besides, DAC appointed Goa Shipyard Limited (GSL) as the lead agency to build 12 Mine Counter Measure

Vessel (MCMV) for the Navy. The decision was taken by DAC meeting chaired by Union Defence Minister

Manohar Parrikar.

MCMV project is aimed at building specialized vessels for the Indian Navy as per Make in India Initiative. GSL

will build the ships under transfer of technology with the foreign vendor in a deal worth about 32000 crore

rupees.

DAC also gave approval for buying one C-130J medium transport aircraft for the Indian Air Force (IAF) at a

cost of 530 crore rupees. This aircraft will replace a C-130 J which crashed in 2014 near Gwalior.

Other deals cleared include 21 low level light weight radars for the Air Force and a repeat order of rockets for

the Indian Army.

DAC is the apex body for clearing defence procurement proposals forwarded by the Indian Army, Indian Navy

and Air Force.

Union Government accepted 14th Finance Commission recommendations Union Government in the third week of February 2015 accepted the recommendations of the 14th Finance

Commission. The commission headed by former Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Dr. YV Reddy seeks to

provide more power to the states for their progress.

This devolution of more share of revenue to states through tax revenue is an indicator of Union Government’s

commitment to move away from One Size Fits All approach.

Recommendations of the 14th Finance Commission

• Tax devolution should be the primary route for transfer of resources to the states

• The increased devolution of the divisible pool of taxes is a compositional shift in transfers – from grants to tax

devolution

MENTOR


• The panel recommended horizontal distribution by using broad parameters like population (1971) and changes

in population since then, income distance, forest cover and area among others

• Distribution of grants to States and local body was recommended by using 2011 population data with weight

of 90 percent and area with weight of 10 percent

• Grants to States should be divided into two and they are

a) Grant to duly constituted Gram Panchayats

b) Grant to duly constituted municipal bodies

• Grants should be divided into two parts and they include, basic grants – depending upon the performance of

the gram panchayats and municipal bodies. The ration of basic to performance grant is 90:10 for Panchayats and

80:20 for municipalities

• It recommended a total grant of 287436 core rupees for a five-year period. Of this fund, 200292 crore rupees

will go for panchayats while the remainder will go to the municipalities

• It views there is a need to change the sharing pattern in respect to various Centrally-sponsored schemes. It

wants the stats to share a greater fiscal responsibility for the implementation of such schemes.

The 14th Finance Commission

The 14th Finance Commission (FFC) was constituted by the orders of President on 2 January 2013 in

accordance to the Article 280 of the Constitution of India. The commission submitted its report with

recommendations to the President Pranab Mukherjee on 15 December 2014.

The commission was formed to suggest recommendations for the period from 1 April 2015 to 31 March 2020.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched Soil Health Card Scheme Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 19 February 2015 launched the nationwide Soil Health Card Scheme in

Suratgarh town of Sriganganagar district, Rajasthan. The nationwide scheme will help farmers to scientifically

analyse the soil of farms in the country.

The scheme aims at helping farmers in improving productivity by appropriate use of nutrients or fertilisers.

Under the plan, 14 crore Soil Health Cards will be issued to farmer of the country in a span of 3 years. Around 3

crore farmers will be covered under the project in financial year 2014-15.

Feature of the Soil Health Card • It would contain all basic information and crop-wise recommendations of nutrients or fertilizers required for

farms of different soil types.

• It will carry crop-wise recommendation of fertilizers required for farm lands and other inputs to increase the

productivity of individual farmer.

Government's step to issue soil health cards to farmers will ensure that they are aware of the quality of soil and

use right fertilisers. Also, the scheme will help in keeping a check on overuse of fertilisers on farm land and will

be provided to over 14 crore farmers.

Apart from this, the Prime Minister also gave a slogan Swasth Dharaa Khet Haraa (Healthy Earth Green Farm).

He also asked states to set up high-powered expert committees on agriculture and asked farmers to take

agricultural decisions after getting their soil tested under the Soil Health Card scheme.

Background

MENTOR


The Soil Health Card scheme was announced in the first budget presented by Union Finance Minister Arun

Jaitley in July 2014. The finance minister allotted a budget of 100 crore rupees for issuing cards and an

additional 56 crore rupees to set up 100 mobile soil testing laboratories across India.

Union Government approved revised Guidelines for Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana Union Government on 12 February 2015 approved revised Guidelines for Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana

(PMGSY).

The guidelines were revised to accord priority in the selection of roads for new connectivity as well as

upgradation, leading to the eligible habitations in the Gram Panchayats identified by the Members of Parliament

(MP) under Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana (SAGY).

The decision was taken in a meeting chaired by Union Minister for Rural Development. This is in accordance

with the Cabinet decision wherein all Ministries/Departments of the Central Government have been asked to

take necessary action to make suitable changes in the guidelines of their respective Central sector and Centrally

Sponsored schemes/programmes to enable priority to be given to the Gram Panchayats selected under Saansad

Adarsh Gram Yojana.

Highlights of the guidelines

The model villages adopted by the MP under the SAGY will now get rural roads under PMGSY on

priority basis. Similarly, in these model villages, rural roads constructed or upgraded under PMGSY would have

to be maintained by the State Governments up to prescribed standards and even beyond the built in period of

first five years.

As per the amended Guidelines, the State Governments shall give priority to all roads leading to the

Gram Panchayats identified under SAGY irrespective of Comprehensive New Connectivity Priority List

(CNCPL) to include all eligible unconnected habitations in the selected Gram Panchayats.

In case of upgradation of roads, priority shall be given to the roads which have Pavement Condition

Index (PCI) Value-I & II in the Gram Panchayats identified under SAGY.

However, the length required for upgradation of these roads should be within the overall target allocated

to various States under PMGSY-I and PMGSY-II.

Moreover, in case of roads already built under PMGSY, in the Gram Panchayats identified under

SAGY, State should carry out maintenance as per the activities suggested in the Operations Manuals and Rural

Roads Manual, even if the maintenance period of 5 years is over.

The State Governments must ensure PCI of not less than four for all such roads at all times. Adequate

funds for this purpose will be provided by State Governments.

PM Narendra Modi launched Sukanya Samridhi Yojana under BBBP campaign Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 22 January 2015 launched a small deposit scheme Sukanya Samridhi Yojana

for girl child under the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP) campaign. The scheme will ensure equitable share to a

girl child in resources and savings of a family in which she is generally discriminated against a male child.

Sukanya Samridhi Yojana will enable parents to open bank accounts of girls who are under 10 years of age.

About the Sukanya Samridhi Account • Sukanya Samridhi Account will fetch an interest rate of 9.1 percent and provide income tax rebate.

• Sukanya Samridhi Account can be opened at any time from the birth of a girl child till she attains the age of 10

years with a minimum deposit of 1000 rupees.

MENTOR


• A maximum of 1.5 lakh rupees can be deposited during the financial year. The account can be opened in any

post office or authorised branches of commercial banks.

• The account will remain operative for 21 years from the date of opening of the account or marriage of the girl

child after attaining 18 years of age.

• To meet the requirement of higher education expenses, partial withdrawal of 50 percent of the balance amount

will be allowed after the girl child has attended 18 years of age.

Union Government launched National Heritage Development and Augmentation Yojana

(HRIDAY)

The Union Ministry of Urban Development on 21 January 2015 launched the National Heritage Development

and Augmentation Yojana (HRIDAY) that seeks to preserve and rejuvenate the rich cultural heritage of the

country.

Highlights of HRIDAY

• HRIDAY seeks to promote an integrated, inclusive and sustainable development of heritage sites, focusing on

maintenance of monuments and on advancement of the entire ecosystem.

• In the initial phase of HRIDAY, 12 heritage cities have been identified which will be rejuvenated and

developed. Union Government will provide 500 crore rupees to these 12 cities.

• The scheme will be completely funded by union Government to create infrastructure and provide facilities

around the heritage sites to attract more tourists.

Union Government launched two schemes to support Scheduled Castes Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment on 16 January 2015 launched two schemes to support the

Scheduled Castes (SC). These schemes are Venture Capital Fund for Scheduled Castes and Green Business

scheme.

Venture Capital Fund for Scheduled Castes The Venture Capital Fund for Scheduled Castes scheme was launched with an initial capital of 200 crore

rupees. Under the scheme, financial assistance of 15 Crore rupees for a period of 6 years will be provided to 30

SC entrepreneurs in a year.

IFCI Limited will be the Sponsor, Settler and Asset Management Company or Nodal Agency to operate the

scheme. It will contribute 50 crore rupees which would comprise 5 crore rupees as sponsor and 45 crore rupees

as investor.

The objectives of the Venture Capital Fund scheme are: • To promote entrepreneurship amongst the Scheduled castes who are oriented towards innovation and growth

technologies.

• To provide concessional finance to the Scheduled Caste (SC) entrepreneurs, who will create wealth and value

for society and at the same time will promote profitable businesses.

• To develop SC entrepreneurs economically.

• To enhance direct and indirect employment generation for SC population in India.

Green Business Scheme Under this Scheme, loan for unit cost up to 1 lakh rupees at concessional rate of interest will be provided to

Scheduled Castes for activities such as e-rickshaw, Solar Pump and Solar energy powered implements, poly

house etc.

Green Business Scheme for providing financial assistance has been launched keeping in focus climate change.

MENTOR


Ministry of Railways inaugurated India’s first CNG powered train

Union Minister for Railways Suresh Prabhu on 13 January 2015 inaugurated India’s first compressed natural

gas (CNG)-powered train on the Rewari – Rohtak link of Northern Zone.

This is a milestone in adoption of green fuel in Indian Railways which will help reduce greenhouse gas

emission and also the consumption of diesel.

Characteristic Feature of CNG-powered train

• The CNG Diesel Electric Multiple Unit (DEMU) is based on dual-fuel that is diesel and CNG.

• The train has been manufactured by Chennai-based Integral Coach Factory (ICF) through fumigation

technology.

• It will help in reducing the operating cost of locomotives by over 50 percent with an advantage of eco-friendly

operations.

• It will also helps cut carbon monoxide emissions by 90 percent, carbon dioxide by 25 percent, nitrogen oxide

by 35 percent and non-methane hydrocarbon emissions by 50 percent.

Union Railway Ministry also planned to run more such CNG trains in due course to reduce diesel consumption.

Once India has substantial reserves of natural gas in the form of conventional natural gas, shale gas and gas

hydrates then the new technology would come in handy in India.

PM launched National Programme for LED-based Home and Street Lighting Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi on 5 January 2015 launched a National Programme for LED-based Home

and Street Lighting in New Delhi to reduce energy consumption.

Other Launches • A scheme for Light Emitting Diode (LED) bulb distribution under the Domestic Efficient Lighting

Programme (DELP) was also launched.

• The Prime Minister also launched a web-based system to enable consumers in Delhi to register requests for

procuring LED bulbs under Domestic Efficient Lighting Programme (DELP). Consumers can register either

through the programme website (www.eeslindia.org/Delhi-Launch) or by sending an SMS to a designated

number.

Highlights of the programme • LED bulbs will be distributed in a phased manner from March 2015 onwards.

• The entire project of installing LED bulbs for domestic and street-lighting in 100 cities is targeted for

completion by March 2016.

• In Delhi, LED bulbs will be provided to all domestic consumers at an initial payment of 10 rupees each and

the balance amount of 120 rupees each will be recovered from their electricity bill.

• Therefore, the cost for an LED bulb to domestic consumer will be 130 rupees through this programme due to

bulk procurement, compared to the current open market retail price in the range of 350-600 rupees for LED

bulbs.

• The estimated annual savings for households in Delhi per LED bulb will be 162 rupees. The LED bulbs will

have a warranty of 3 years.

• It will result in annual saving of energy by about 24 crore units every year.

Background The initiatives are the part of the Government’s efforts to spread the message of energy efficiency in the

country. The LED based lights will help in reducing energy consumption by 88 percent compared to a normal

bulb.

MENTOR


LED bulbs have a very long life, almost 50 times more than ordinary bulbs, and 8-10 times that of CFLs. These

LEDs provide both energy and cost savings in the medium term.

Union Government formed NITI Aayog to replace Planning Commission Union Government on 1 January 2015 set up the National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog.

NITI Aayog that replaced the 65 year old Planning Commission will be headed by Prime Minister. It will have a

governing council comprising Chief Ministers of all the states and Lt. Governors of Union Territories.

Apart from this, the NITI Aayog will also have a Vice-Chairperson and a Chief Executive Officer (fixed tenure,

in the rank of Secretary to the Government of India), who will be appointed by the Prime Minister.

The NITI Aayog’s functions have been described as the Bharatiya approach to development. The Aayog has

been tasked with a role of formulating policies and direction for the government and serving as a think-tank, it

will provide a national agenda for Prime Minister and Chief Ministers. It will also provide relevant strategic and

technical advice across the spectrum of key elements of policy, like economic matters of national and

international importance.

Functions that will be undertaken by the NITI Aayog

• It will develop mechanisms for formulation of credible plans to the village level and aggregate these

progressively at higher levels of government

• Special attention will be given to the sections of the society that may be at risk of not benefitting adequately

from economic progress

• It will also create a knowledge, innovation and entrepreneurial support system through a collaborative

community of national and international experts, practitioners and partners

• It will offer a platform for resolution of inter-sectoral and inter-departmental issues in order to accelerate the

MENTOR


implementation of the development agenda

• It will also monitor and evaluate the implementation of programmes, and focus on technology upgradation and

capacity building.

Other members of the NITI Aayog will be

Experts, specialists and practitioners with relevant domain knowledge as special invitees nominated by the

Prime Minister

• Members - Full-time

• Part-time members: Maximum of 2 from leading universities research organizations and other relevant

institutions in an ex-officio capacity. Part time members will be on a rotational basis.

• Ex Officio members: Maximum of 4 members of the Union Council of Ministers to be nominated by the

Prime Minister.

• Secretariat as deemed necessary

Difference between the NITI Aayog and Planning Commission

Under the Planning Commission centre-to-state one-way flow of policy existed, whereas, the NITI Aayog has

planned a genuine and continuing partnership of states. Now, state governments can play an active role in

achieving national objectives, as they have been empowered to provide with strategic and technical advice

across the spectrum of policymaking.

Background

National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog has been created in accordance to the announcement

made by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 15 August 2014. On the Independence Day, he announced that

the government will replace the Planning Commission which was established on 15 March 1950 through a

Cabinet Resolution. Further to revamp the Planning Commission, the Prime Minister met with Chief Ministers

and Governors of various States on 7 December 2014 and discussed their opinions on the same to separate the

process of governance from the strategy of governance.

Comment

In case of Delhi and Puducherry, the elected chief ministers will not be members of the new NITI Aayog. The

Article 239 of the Constitution of India defines both Delhi and Puducherry as Union Territories and therefore,

their administrators, lieutenant governors will be members of the panel.

Union Government launched Madan Mohan Malviya National Mission on Teachers and

Teaching

Union Government launched Madan Mohan Malviya National Mission on Teachers and Teaching on 25

December 2014. Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the mission at Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi.

The mission was launched the mission with an outlay of 900 crores rupees during 12th five year plan. It

envisages to addressing comprehensively all issues related to teachers, teaching, teacher preparation,

professional development, Curriculum Design, Designing and Developing Assessment & Evaluation

methodology, Research in Pedagogy and developing effective Pedagogy.

On One hand, the mission will address current and urgent issues such as supply of qualified teachers, attracting

talent intoteaching profession and raising the quality of teaching in schools and colleges.

MENTOR


On another hand, the mission will pursue long term goals of building a strong professional cadre of teachers by

setting performance standards and creating top class institutional facilities for innovative teaching and

professional development of teachers.

The Mission will focus on both urgent issues and long term goals in a holistic manner dealing with the whole

sector of education without fragmenting the programmes based on levels and sectors as school, higher, technical

etc.

The mission is an umbrella scheme will create synergies among the various ongoing initiatives on Teachers and

Teaching under Union Ministry of Human Resources Development and other autonomous institutions.

The Mission will have the components such as Schools of Education (in Central Universities), Centres of

Excellence for Curriculum and Pedagogy,) Inter-University Centres for Teachers’ Education, National Resource

Centre for Education, Centres for Academic Leadership and Education Management, Innovations, Awards,

Teaching Resource Grant, including Workshop & Seminar and Subject Networks for Curricular Renewal and

Reforms.

Besides, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Campus Connect wi-fi of Banaras Hindu University by

remote control. He unveiled the plaque of the Inter-University Centre and also launched the Varanasi Mahotsav.

Union Ministry of Consumers Affairs announced to set up Grahak Suvidha Kendras

Union Ministry of Consumers Affairs on 25 December 2014 announced to set up Grahak Suvidha Kendras in

each zone of the country. The move is aimed to provide a number of services to the consumers.

The proposed zones where the Government decided to set up the Kendras are North, South, West, East, North

East, Central and the National Capital.

The Kendras will provide counseling to consumers in redressal of their grievances and assist them in registering

their complaints in the appropriate consumer forums. The government will also be authorized to take up

complaints with private companies and service providers on behalf of the government.

The Ministry has invited applications from registered and eligible Voluntary Consumer Organizations for

setting up the Kendras.

It has also drawn several other plans and programmes for empowerment of consumers and their welfare.

Initiative has been taken on mainstreaming consumer advocacy in the policy decisions of other seven sectors of

housing and health.

Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare launched Mission Indradhanush

Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on 25 December 2014 launched Mission Indradhanush to achieve

full immunization coverage for all children by 2020.

The Mission Indradhanush aims to cover all those children who are either unvaccinated or are partially

vaccinated against seven vaccine preventable diseases including diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, polio,

tuberculosis, measles and hepatitis B.

The Mission was launched on Good Governance Day that marks the birth anniversary of Bharat Ratna Madan

Mohan Malaviya and birthday of Bharat Ratna Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

MENTOR


Highlights of the Mission Indradhanush

• Under Mission Indradhanush, four special vaccination campaigns will be conducted between January and

June 2015 with intensive planning and monitoring of these campaigns.

• The ministry has identified 201 high focus districts that have nearly 50 percent of all unvaccinated or

partially vaccinated children. These districts will be targeted by intensive efforts to improve the routine

immunization coverage.

• Out of the 201 districts, 82 districts are in just four states of UP, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan and

nearly 25 percent of the unvaccinated or partially vaccinated children of India are in these 82 districts of 4

states.

• 201 districts will be covered in the first phase of the mission, 297 districts will be targeted for the second

phase in the year 2015.

• The Ministry will be technically supported by WHO, UNICEF, Rotary International and other donor

partners.

• Mass media, interpersonal communication, and sturdy mechanisms of monitoring and evaluating the scheme

are crucial components of Mission.

Background

Between 2009-2013, immunization coverage has increased from 61 to 65 percent, indicating only 1 percent

increase in coverage every year.

To accelerate the process of immunization by covering 5 percent and more children every year, the Mission

Mode has been adopted to achieve target of full coverage by 2020.

NSSO released Situation Assessment Survey of Agricultural Households

National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) on 19 December 2014 released Situation Assessment Survey of

Agricultural Households for the Crop Year 2012-13. The survey was conducted between January 2013 and

December 2013.

The survey focused on a common perception regarding agriculture — how it generates just 15 per cent of

India’s GDP (2012-13 data) despite rural areas houses 68.8 per cent of the total population (2011 Census).

The survey aimed at capturing the condition of agricultural households in the rural areas of the country in the

context of policies and programmes of Government of India.

A total number of 35200 households were surveyed in the first visit and 34907 of them were re-surveyed in

second visit.

Highlights of the survey

• The survey found that hardly 58 per cent of rural households in India are engaged in farming activity, which,

in turn, contributes not even 60 per cent to their average total monthly incomes.

• Only 9.02 crore (57.8 percent) out of the country’s estimated 15.61 crore rural households were agricultural.

Agricultural was defined as those having at least one member self-employed in farming, either in principal or

subsidiary status, during the last 365 days.

MENTOR


• Further, even within the 9.02 crore agricultural households, only 68.3 percent reported farming (i.e.

cultivation, livestock rearing and other agricultural activity) as their principal source of income.

• A mere 39.5 percent of rural households today are dependent on agriculture as the source yielding the

maximum share of income.

• Uttar Pradesh accounted for about 20 percent of all agricultural households in the country.

• Rajasthan had highest percentage of agricultural households (78.4 percent) among its rural households

• Kerala had the least percentage share of agricultural households (27.3 percent) in its rural households.

• Net receipts from cultivation and rearing of animals accounted for just 59.8 percent of the average Indian

farming family’s monthly income.

• The remaining was from wage/salaried employment, non-farm business and other sources such as remittances,

interest and dividends.

• Agricultural activities, comprising cultivation and livestock rearing, are reported to be the principal source of

income for majority of agricultural households in all the major states.

• Kerala is the only state where about 61per cent of the agricultural households reported to have received

maximum income from sources other than agricultural activities.

• More than half of marginal farmers (56 per cent), who possess less than 0.01 hectare plots, are not relying on

agriculture as principal source of income. They rely on other sources like wages or employment salary as

principal source of income.

• 13 per cent of the marginal farmers do not have ration cards.

• Out of total agri-households, 23 per cent of agricultural households depend on livestock as prime source of

income.

• The households which possess 0.4 ha of land claimed that agriculture is the principal source of income for

them.

• Forty-four per cent of total agricultural-households possess MGNREGA job cards.

Difference between 2003 Survey and 2012-13 Survey

Last survey on agricultural households was conducted in the 59th round in 2003. The only difference between

the 2003 Survey and 2012-13 Survey is that there has been change in definition.

In 2003 Survey, agricultural households were defined as those possessing some land and the members were

engaged in agricultural activities over a year. In 2012-13 Survey, agricultural households are defined as those

whose value of agricultural produce is more than 3000 rupees and at least one member of a family is engaged in

agricultural activities.

Birthday of Atal Bihari Vajpayee to be observed as National Good Governance Day

The birthday of the former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on the 25 December will be observed as

National Good Governance Day. The decision was announced on 2 December 2014 by Prime Minister

Narendra Modi at Bharatiya Janata Partry (BJP) Parliamentary Board meeting in New Delhi.

On that day, all BJP Member of Parliamentarians (MPs) and government officials will make the day symbolic

of good governance.

MENTOR


Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked all party MPs to highlight all BJP-run governments and bodies across the

country as models of good governance on the day. He also asked the BJP MPs to work for an hour in their

respective constituencies for the Clean India campaign.

mentor 20th law commission submitted report on ... affair national.pdfand wards (amendment) bill,...

Documents