💥Mains Ready By December. Smash Mains & Smash PYQ Admissions Open
Talk to Mentor

Civilsdaily

Login

GS Paper: Government Scheme/Policies

  • Water management needs a hydro-social approach

    Context

    The Global Water System Project, which was launched in 2003 as a joint initiative of the Earth System Science Partnership (ESSP) and Global Environmental Change (GEC) programme, epitomises global concern about the human-induced transformation of fresh water and its impact on the earth system and society.

    Valuation of water

    • It is globally estimated that the gap between demand for and supply of fresh water may reach up to 40% by 2030 if present practices continue.
    • SDG 6: The formation of the 2030 Water Resource Group in 2008, at the instance of the World Economic Forum, and the World Bank’s promotion of the group’s activity since 2018, is in recognition of this problem and to help achieve the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) on water availability and sanitation for all by 2030 (SDG 6).
    • The latest UN World Water Development Report, 2021, titled ‘Valuing Water’, has laid stress on the proper valuation of water by considering five interrelated perspectives: water sources; water infrastructure; water services; water as an input to production and socio-economic development, and socio-cultural values of water.

    Need for hydro-social cycle approach

    • Designing a comprehensive mix of divergent views about water along with ecological and environmental issues held by stakeholder groups is necessary.
    • In this context, a hydro-social cycle approach provides an appropriate framework.
    • It repositions the natural hydrological cycle in a human-nature interactive structure and considers water and society as part of a historical and relational-dialectical process.
    • The anthropogenic factors directly influencing a freshwater system are the engineering of river channels, irrigation and other consumptive use of water, widespread land use/land cover change, change in an aquatic habitat, and point and non-point source pollution affecting water quality.

    The intra- and inter-basin transfer (IBT) of water

    • IBT is a major hydrological intervention to rectify the imbalance in water availability due to naturally prevailing unequal distribution of water resources within a given territory.
    • There are several IBT initiatives across the world.
    • The National River Linking Project of India is one of those under construction.
    • Based on a multi-country case study analysis, the World Wildlife Fund/World Wide Fund for Nature (2009) has suggested a cautious approach and the necessity to adhere to sustainability principles set out by the World Commission on Dams while taking up IBT projects.

    Issues with assumptions, use and management of freshwater resources in India

    1] Contestation on concept of the surplus and deficit basin

    • The basic premise of IBT is to export water from the surplus basin to a deficit basin.
    • However, there is contestation on the concept of the surplus and deficit basin itself as the exercise is substantially hydrological.
    • Besides this, rainfall in many surplus basins has been reported as declining.
    • The status of the surplus basin may alter if these issues are considered.

    2] Low capacity utilisation

    • There is concern about the present capacity utilisation of water resources created in the country.
    • By 2016, India created an irrigation potential for 112 million hectares, but the gross irrigated area was 93 million hectares.
    • There is a 19% gap, which is more in the case of canal irrigation.
    • In 1950-51, canal irrigation used to contribute 40% of net irrigated area, but by 2014-15, the net irrigated area under canal irrigation came down to less than 24%.
    • Groundwater irrigation now covers 62.8% of net irrigated area.
    • Low efficiency of irrigation projects: The average water use efficiency of irrigation projects in India is only 38% against 50%-60% in the case of developed countries.
    • More water consumption for crops: Even at the crop level we consume more water than the global average.
    • Rice and wheat, the two principal crops accounting for more than 75% of agricultural production use 2,850 m 3/tonnes and 1,654 m 3/tonnes of water, respectively, against the global average of 2,291m 3/tonnes and 1,334m 3/ tonnes in the same order.
    • The agriculture sector uses a little over 90% of total water use in India.
    • And in industrial plants, consumption is 2 times to 3.5 times higher per unit of production of similar plants in other countries.
    • Similarly, the domestic sector experiences a 30% to 40% loss of water due to leakage.

    3] Low use of greywater

    • Grey water is hardly used in our country.
    • It is estimated that 55% to 75% of domestic water use turns into greywater depending on its nature of use, people’s habits, climatic conditions, etc.
    • At present, the average water consumption in the domestic sector in urban areas is 135 litres to 196 litres a head a day.
    • If grey water production in the rural areas is considered it will be a huge amount.
    • The discharge of untreated grey water and industrial effluents into freshwater bodies is cause for concern.
    • The situation will be further complicated if groundwater is affected.

    4] Other issues

    • Apart from the inefficient use of water in all sectors, there is also a reduction in natural storage capacity and deterioration in catchment efficiency.

    Way forward

    • The issues are source sustainability, renovation and maintenance of traditional water harvesting structures, grey water management infrastructure, groundwater recharge, increasing water use efficiency, and reuse of water.
    • The axiom that today’s water system is co-evolving and the challenges are mainly management and governance has been globally well accepted.
    • It is important to include less predictable variables, revise binary ways of thinking of ‘either or’, and involve non-state actors in decision-making processes.

    Conclusion

    A hybrid water management system is necessary, where along with professionals and policy makers the individual, a community and society have definite roles in the value chain. The challenge is not to be techno-centric but anthropogenic.

    UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)

  • Women and Politics

    Context

    For a proper appraisal of the relations between gender and democracy, we ought to examine the links between violence, representation, and the political participation of women.

    Role of women in South Asian democracy

    • Historically, one of the peculiar paradoxes of South Asian democracy has been the continued presence of strong women leaders at the executive centre coupled with a generally appalling condition of women in society at large.
    • South Asia has had the largest number of women heads of state — including Sirimavo Bandaranaike, Chandrika Kumaratunga, Indira Gandhi, Khaleda Zia, Sheikh Hasina, and Benazir Bhutto — of any region in the world till recently.
    • Under-represented: While women have played very visible and important roles at the higher echelons of power and at the grassroots level in social movements, they have been under-represented in political parties as officials and as members of key decision-making bodies.

    Electoral representation of women in India

    • In India, women currently make up 14.6 per cent of MPs (78 MPs) in the Lok Sabha, which is a historic high.
    • Although the percentage is modest, it is remarkable because women barely made up 9 per cent of the overall candidates in 2019.
    • In electoral representation, has fallen several places in the Inter-Parliamentary Union’s global ranking of women’s parliamentary presence, from 117 after the 2014 election to 143 as of January 2020. 
    • In terms of electoral quotas, there were two outstanding exceptions in the 2019 general elections.
    • Voluntary parliamentary quota: West Bengal under Mamata Banerjee and Odisha under Naveen Patnaik opted for voluntary parliamentary quotas, fielding 40 per cent and 33 per cent women candidates, respectively.

    Growing turnout of women voters and its implications

    • Assertion of citizenship rights: In 1962, the male voter turnout in India was 16 percentage points higher than for women. Six decades later, in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, women’s participation exceeded that of men for the first time.
    • This suggests an increasing assertion of citizenship rights among women.
    • The growing turnout of women voters could influence political parties’ programmatic priorities and improve their responsiveness to women voters’ interests, preferences, and concerns, including sexual harassment and gender-based violence.
    • Women-centric schemes: The state government in Bengal ran and highlighted many women-centric schemes that potentially played a central role in their victory.
    • The central government must be commended for its achievements in two areas in particular: Its DBT schemes such as the Pradhan Mantri Vaya Vandana Yojana and the Pradhan Mantri Surakshit Matritva Abhiyan.
    • As a result, maternal mortality rate has reduced from 167 (2011-13) to 113 (2016-18).
    • The Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Bill, 2017 is another landmark achievement that extended the paid maternal leave to 26 weeks from the existing 12 weeks.

    Way forward

    • Government must use its parliamentary majority to finally pass the Women’s Reservation Bill, as was promised in their 2014 election manifesto.
    • Until that happens, the initiative taken by the governments of Banerjee and Patnaik to increase women’s parliamentary presence must serve as an inspiration to other Indian states.

    Conclusion

    The extent to which parties represent women and take up their interests is closely tied to the health and vitality of democratic processes.

    UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)

  • Labour Ministry launches ‘Donate a Pension’ Scheme 

    The Union Labour and Employment Ministry has launched the “donate a pension” scheme.

    ‘Donate a Pension’ Scheme

    • This scheme allows any citizen to pay the premium amount on behalf of an unorganized worker under the Pradhan Mantri Shram Yogi Maan-Dhan
    • Maan-Dhan scheme is a government scheme meant for old age protection and social security of unorganized workers.

    Eligibility criteria and benefits

    • The scheme was launched in 2019, allows unorganized sector workers between 18 and 40 years who earn up to ₹15,000 a month to enroll by paying a premium amount between ₹55 and ₹200, depending on the age, that would be matched by the government.
    • On reaching the age of 60, the beneficiaries would get a ₹3,000 monthly pension.

    Features of the scheme

    • The scheme allows a citizen to “donate the premium contribution of their immediate support staff such as domestic workers, drivers, helpers, caregivers, nurses in their household or establishment.
    • The donor can pay the contribution for a minimum of one year, with the amount ranging from ₹660 to ₹2,400 a year depending on the age of the beneficiary, by paying through maandhan.in or visiting a Common Service Centre.

     

    UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)

  • Need for integrated approach to power sector

    Context

    Electricity and development sectors need a more integrated approach to achieve the vision set forth in instruments such as the Union Budget that guide policy implementation at other administrative levels.

    Reduction in allocation

    • While the health sector witnessed a 16% increase in estimated Budget allocations from last year, medical and public health spending was reduced by 45% for 2022-23.
    • Budget estimates demonstrate intent, but the proof of the pudding lies in the actual expenditure which reiterates the need for greater attention to be paid to our health and education sectors.
    •  While the health sector was allocated ₹74,602 crore in 2021-22, the Government exceeded its spending by over ₹5,000 crore more (₹80,026 crore) on health, signalling a spike in demand, likely propelled by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
    • Given this scenario, a less than ₹1,000 crore increase in the Budget Estimate (₹86,606 crore) in 2022-23 when compared with last year’s Revised Estimates (₹85,915 crore) appears incongruent with the Government’s aim of providing quality public health care at scale.

    Role of reliable energy

    • It is widely recognised that the availability of reliable electricity supply can improve the delivery of health and education services.
    •  74% of the targets of the Sustainable Development Goals are interlinked with universal access to reliable energy.
    •  Its reliability in terms of the number of hours that electricity is available steadily without any voltage fluctuations also plays a significant role in delivering services.
    •  Sometimes, multiple policies can complement each other to achieve the larger sectoral objectives.
    • For example, in Assam, the Energy Vision document that lays out the electricity and development outcomes is to be applied in tandem with the Solar Energy Policy 2017 that operationalises this vision via an action plan.

    Reasons for lack of integration of electrification in the development sector

    • The lack of integration of electrification requirements in development sector policy documents may be partly due to lack of information about electricity and development linkages, poor coordination mechanisms between the sectors and departments, and poor access to appropriate finance.
    • Even while electricity is considered, it is to the limited extent of being a one-time civil infrastructure activity rather than a continuous feature necessary for the day-to-day operations of these services.

    Way forward

    •  To successfully integrate electricity provisioning and maintenance, policy frameworks should include innovative coordination and financing mechanisms.
    • These mechanisms, while developing clear compliance mandates, must also allow sufficient room for flexibility to respond to local contexts.
    • Providing reliable electricity for health centres and schools should be the responsibility of centralised decision-making entities at the State or national level.
    • As India has witnessed with other cross-sectoral and centralised statistical, planning, and implementation data governance, diverse contexts must support oversight mechanisms that ensure data credibility.
    • Finance is largely unavailable to ensure reliable electricity supply to schools and health facilities.
    • Some directives, such as those governing the use of untied funds, need to be more flexible in allowing these facilities to prioritise providing reliable and sustainable electricity.

    Conclusion

    A successful policy outcome might be dependent on several invisible aspects that do not get the attention and funding necessary to aid in successful policy delivery. Electricity is one of them.

    UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)

  • IT Ministry pitches for Data Monetization Policy

    The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology’s proposal to monetise data collected at the central level has data policy and other experts divided.

    Backgrounder to this policy

    • The idea of monetising citizens’ data for greater public good was first floated by the government in the Economic Survey of 2018-19.
    • It had noted that since such data is generated and belongs to the people, it should be used for the people.
    • The survey had also noted that private sector could be granted access to “select databases” for commercial use.

    India Data Accessibility and Use Policy, 2022

    Key Propositions:

    • Sale of Public Data: The data, which has been collected by the central government and undergone some value addition be allowed to be sold for some price.
    • Identifying value data: The draft of the policy suggests new framework for identifying “high value data-set” on the basis of the data’s degree of importance in the market.
    • Establishment of India Data Office: The draft has also suggested setting up of a central India Data Office will be created under MeitY.
    1. Chief Data Officer: All the central government’s line ministries will have to form their respective Data Management Unit, which will be headed by a Chief Data Officer.
    2. India Data Council: These chief data officers along with the India Data Officer will together form the IDC, which will decide on the policy matters of data accessibility and its usage.
    • Data sharing toolkit: It will be the broad umbrella to help respective central or state government ministries and departments “assess and optimally manage” the risks associated with the release and sharing of such data.

    Significance of the move

    • Non-personal data as national resource: The thought process to consider non personal data as community or national resource, in itself is commendable.
    • Revenue generation: The core problem with the government selling citizens’ data is the revenue generation.
    • Boosting investments: The new policy will encourage data sharing among government departments and potentially help the investor ecosystem.

    Issues flagged with the Policy

    • Individual privacy: Data monetization may happen at cost of individual privacy. The most sought-after datasets are those that contain sensitive personal data of individuals, ex. medical history, financial data.
    • Absence of Data Protection Law: The new draft policy has been announced at a time when the country is yet to finalise the countours of a data protection law.
    • State interference: The policy could also face pushback from big tech companies whose business model is based on the monetisation of large-scale data collection model.
    • Political risks: When the govt starts selling citizen data, even if anonymised, the government gets into business its making money.
    • Un-regulation: Once the govt starts making money, its very hard to reduce that activity or to regulate it in a manner where it is impartial to the public.
    • Anonymisation of data: There is a lack of proper standard and framework on data anonymisation leading to a possible that such data may be “reverse-engineered”.

    Way forward

    • This policy is a good intent in which the government can monetise the wide range of data it currently holds.
    • However it remains to be seen how the pricing mechanism would work.
    • It is important to understand that datasets cannot be priced uniformly, and the value of a particular dataset varies depending on the context in which it is solved.

     

    UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)

  • A case for specialists

    Context

    Given the fact that political input in economic policymaking is becoming dominant as regional and state-level issues assume overriding significance, it’s perhaps time to consider sheltering economics from politics and vice versa.

    Continuity in policy

    • The sudden withdrawal of farm laws last year and the repeal of the land acquisition ordinance in 2015 are two examples of policy backsliding in an otherwise decent record of policy continuity since 1991.
    • The overall trajectory of tariffs has been downward and average tariffs are now below 10 percent compared to over 400 percent before 1991.
    • As a favored rule, domestic policy priorities should not be held hostage to external pressures, but they can and ought to be used to push through difficult and desirable domestic reform.

    Challenges in achieving high growth

    • Challenges in reforms: Relying on chance events to drive reform might work in rare circumstances, but not when the aspiration is to become a $10 trillion economy by 2030.
    •  Realizing this target or even coming close to it will require sustained growth of over 15 percent per annum in nominal GDP — that’s no mean task.
    • The golden period of India’s growth fetched an 8.1 percent increase in real GDP between 2004 and 2009.
    • Even during this period, the growth story was cut short by the global financial crisis and devilled intermittently by institutional weaknesses.
    • Failure of institutions: The coal scam and the 2G scam are examples of the inability of institutions to keep pace with rapid growth.
    • As growth occurs, institutions also require sophistication, knowledge, and some (not complete) protection from political interference.

    Need for the fiscal council for budget-making process

    • The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) in 2016, replaced RBI’s internal decision-making driven by the central bank governor to include three external experts to strengthen and bring transparency into monetary policy decisions. 
    • This can be extended to other important government functions, such as the budgetary process
    • Successive finance commissions and the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Review Committee have recommended the creation of a fiscal council that, like the MPC, will bring transparency in the budget-making process.
    • The idea is simple, moderate the influence of the political agenda and powerful interest groups that could, and often do, capture the process.

    Suggestions on policymaking

    • It is art and science: Policymaking is nothing if not art that invokes science when expedient.
    • Domain experts should be an integral part of the formulation process.
    • Implementation, of course, can be left to the executive.
    • When the TRAI was first set up, it had a healthy combination of domain experts and public policy professionals, resembling a specialized regulatory agency that reflected a serious intent to strengthen capacity.
    • Importance of domain experts: Instead of going down the chosen path, TRAI has reversed gear and today resembles a government department.
    • In fact, this is the same affliction with almost all regulatory and policy institutions that are now a feature of India’s increasingly market-based economy.
    • As more sectors (for example, the Gati Shakti initiative) engage the private sector, lessons from the last quarter-century should not be wasted — domain expertise is conspicuous by its absence in regulatory and policy institutions.

    Way forward

    • Create a cadre of professionals: Commissions tend to be made up of retired civil servants or retired judges.
    • This is worrying and, therefore, it is vital to create a cadre of professionals with technical expertise for the complex tasks of managing the policy processes.
    • Distancing politics from the policy: The net needs to be cast wider so that politics and policy are distanced, not completely but certainly more than it is today.

    Consider the question “Politicians and economists have a love-hate relationship; they can’t do without each other. In context of this examine the issues with policymaking in India and why role of the domain expert is important in policymaking today?”

    Conclusion

    India should not be in a situation in which it is in perpetual hostage to vested interests of politics and business.

    UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)

  • Why do we need a refugee and asylum law

    Context

    A Private Member’s Bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha proposing the enactment of a Refugee and Asylum law.

    Why does India need a Refugee and Asylum law?

    •  The principle of non-refoulement: The international legal principle of non-refoulement — the cornerstone of refugee law, which states that no country should send a person to a place where he or she may face persecution.
    •  The principle of non-refoulement is clearly affirmed, with no exceptions, though reasons have been specified for exclusion, expulsion, and revocation of refugee status, to respect the Government’s sovereign authority but limit its discretion.
    • India is not signatory to Refugee Convention: India has been, and continues to be, a generous host to several persecuted communities, doing more than many countries, but is neither a signatory to the 1951 UN Refugee Convention, nor does it have a domestic asylum framework.
    • The tradition of asylum: It will be in line with India’s millennial traditions of asylum and hospitality to strangers.
    • Because India has neither subscribed to international conventions on the topic nor set up a domestic legislative framework to deal with refugees, their problems are dealt with in an ad hoc manner, and like other foreigners they always face the possibility of being deported.
    •  It will finally recognise India’s long-standing and continuing commitment to humanitarian and democratic values while dealing with refugees.

    Multiple laws

    • In the absence of a uniform and comprehensive law to deal with asylum seekers, we lack a clear vision or policy on refugee management.
    • We have a cocktail of laws such as:
    • the Foreigners Act, 1946,
    • the Registration of Foreigners Act, 1939,
    • the Passports Act (1967),
    • the Extradition Act, 1962,
    • the Citizenship Act, 1955 and
    • the Foreigners Order, 1948 — all of which club all foreign individuals together as “aliens”.

    Defining refugee

    • Well-founded fear of persecution: The internationally-accepted definition of the term, includes people who have fled their home countries and crossed an international border because of a well-founded fear of persecution in their home countries, on grounds of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion.
    • Who does not qualify as a refugee? This means that people who cross borders in quest of economic betterment, or because they are fleeing poverty, anarchy or environmental disaster, do not qualify as refugees.
    • Nor do those who flee from one part of their home country to another because of war, conflict or fear of persecution.

    Way forward

    • India must enact a National Asylum Law.
    • We need a proper framework to make sure that refugees can access basic public services, be able to legally seek jobs and livelihood opportunities for some source of income.
    • The absence of such a framework will make the refugees vulnerable to exploitation, especially human trafficking.
    • Our judiciary has already shown the way forward on this: in 1996, the Supreme Court of India ruled that the state has to protect all human beings living in India, irrespective of nationality, since they enjoy the rights guaranteed by Articles 14, 20 and 21 of the Constitution to all, not just Indian citizens.
    • The enactment and enumeration of refugee rights will reduce our dependence on judge-centric approaches — or even worse, the whims of Home Ministry bureaucrats, police officers and politicians.

    Consider the question “In the absence of a uniform and comprehensive law to deal with asylum seekers, we lack a clear vision or policy on refugee management. In the context of this, examine the need for law to deal with asylum seeker and suggest the various aspects the law should cover.” 

    Conclusion

    The problems of refugees worldwide are problems that demand global solidarity and international cooperation. India, as a pillar of the world community, as a significant pole in the emerging multipolar world, must play its own part, on its own soil as well as on the global stage, in this noble task.

    UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)

  • What is the REWARD Project?

    The GoI, the State Governments of Karnataka and Odisha, and the World Bank have signed a $115 million for the REWARD Project.

    What is REWARD Program?

    • REWARD stands for Rejuvenating Watersheds for Agricultural Resilience through Innovative Development.
    • The project aims to help national and state institutions adopt improved watershed management practices to help increase farmers’ resilience to climate change, promote higher productivity and better incomes.
    • REWARD is being implemented in three to four Indian States.
    • It is proposed as a 6 years Project.

    Objectives of the project

    • The outcomes are prevention of soil run-off, regeneration of natural vegetation, rainwater harvesting, and recharging of the groundwater table.
    • This enables multi-cropping and the introduction of diverse agro-based activities, which help to provide sustainable livelihoods to the people residing in the watershed area.

     

    UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)

  • [pib] Scheme for Economic Empowerment of DNTs (SEED)

    The Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment has launched the Scheme for Economic Empowerment of De-notified, Nomadic, and Semi Nomadic Communities (SEED).

    Who are the DNTs?

    • The term ‘De-notified Tribes’ stands for all those communities which were once notified under the Criminal Tribes Acts, enforced by the British Raj between l87l and I947.
    • These Acts were repealed after Independence in l952, and these communities were “De-Notified”.
    • The DNTs (of whom most are the medieval period Banjaras) are the most neglected, marginalized, and economically and socially deprived communities.
    • Most of them have been living a life of destitution for generations and still continue to do so with an uncertain and gloomy future.

    SEED Scheme

    • Under the scheme, the government seeks to provide free coaching to students for civil services examinations, competitive exams for admission to professional courses; health insurance; livelihood support and housing.
    • It has been formulated for families having income from all sources of Rs.2.50 lakh or less per annum and not availing any such benefits from similar Scheme of Centre Government or the State Government.
    • The Scheme will be implemented through a portal, developed by the Department of Social Justice & Empowerment.
    • Post verification, the funds will be transferred directly to the beneficiaries in their account.
    • The other implementing agencies are Ministry of Rural Development, National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM) and National Health Authority (NHA).

    Components of the scheme

    The Scheme will have the following four components:

    [I] Free Coaching

    • A component of free Coaching for DNT Students has been envisioned for the educational empowerment of these communities.
    • The objective of this component is to enable them to appear in competitive examinations/ admission to professional courses like medicine, engineering, MBA, etc for obtaining an appropriate job in the Public/Private Sector.
    • The selection of the candidates for each course will be based on system generated merit list through the portal.
    • Approximately, 6250 students will be provided free coaching under this component in five years. The total funds spent in the five years will be Rs.50 crore.

    [II] Health Insurance

    • Members of these communities are likely to have little or no access to medical facilities and other benefits available under the mainstream health policies.
    • The primary objective of the scheme is to provide financial assistance to National Health Authority (NHA) in association with State Health Agencies (SHAs).
    • These agencies will provide a health insurance cover of Rs.5 lakhs per family per year for families as per norms of “Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana.

     [III] Livelihood Initiatives

    • The decline of traditional occupations of DNT/NT/SNT communities has exacerbated their poverty.
    • A focus to support livelihood generation for these communities is required.
    • The primary objective of the scheme is to provide financial assistance to National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM).
    • It would enhance productivity growth in key livelihood sectors for employment generation through investments in institutional support, technical assistance.

    [IV] Financial support for Housing

    • Considering the shortage of houses for DNTs, it has been proposed to earmark a separate outlay for PMAY to support specific importance in providing houses only for DNTs living in rural areas.
    • It is for those who have not taken benefit of the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana as SC, ST, OBC and are living below the poverty line.
    • The admissible support is Rs 1.20 lakhs in plains and 1.30 lakhs in hilly areas (per unit assistance).

    Why need such a scheme?

    • DNTs escaped the attention of our developmental framework and thus are deprived of the support unlike Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
    • Historically, these communities never had access to private land or homeownership.
    • These tribes used forests and grazing lands for their livelihood and residential use and had “strong ecological connections.
    • Many of them are dependent upon various types of natural resources and carve out intricate ecological niches for their survival.
    • The changes in ecology and environment seriously affect their livelihood options.

     

    UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)

  • [pib] New India Literacy Programme for Adult Education

    The Union Government approved a new scheme “New India Literacy Programme (नव भारत साक्षरता कार्यक्रम) for the period FYs 2022-2027 to cover all the aspects of Adult Education to align with National Education Policy 2020.

    New India Literacy Programme

    • The scheme will cover non-literates of the age of 15 years and above in all states/UTs in the country.
    • The target for Foundational Literacy and Numeracy for FYs 2022-27 is 5 (five) crore learners @ 1.00 crore per year by using “Online Teaching, Learning and Assessment System (OTLAS)”.
    • A learner may register him/herself with essential information like name, date of birth, gender, Aadhaar number, mobile number, etc.
    • The scheme will be implemented through volunteerism through online mode.
    • The training, orientation, workshops of volunteers, maybe organized through face-to-face mode.
    • All material and resources shall be provided digitally for easy access to registered volunteers.

    Objectives of the scheme

    The objectives of the scheme are:

    • To impart foundational literacy and numeracy
    • To cover other components which are necessary for a citizen of the 21st century such as critical life skills (including financial literacy, digital literacy, commercial skills, health care and awareness, child care and education, and family welfare)
    • Vocational skills development (with a view towards obtaining local employment)
    • Basic education (including preparatory, middle, and secondary stage equivalency)
    • Continuing education (including engaging holistic adult education courses in arts, sciences, technology, culture, sports, recreation, etc.)

    Salient features of the scheme

    • The school will be a Unit for implementation of the scheme
    • Schools to be used for conducting a survey of beneficiaries and Voluntary Teachers (VTs)
    • Foundational Literacy and Numeracy will be imparted through Critical Life Skills to all non-literates in the age group of 15 years and above
    • Performance Grading Index (PGI) for State/UT at the district level
    • CSR/Philanthropic Support may be received by hosting ICT support, providing volunteer support

    Need for this scheme

    • As per Census 2011, the absolute number of non-literates of the country in 15 years and above age group is 25.76 crore (Male 9.08 crore, Female 16.68 crore).
    • Even after the Saakshar Bharat program was implemented during 2009-10 to 2017-18, it is estimated that currently around 18.12 crore adults are still non-literate in India.

     

    UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)