Type: Schemes

At a time when MPs have been asking for an increase in the MP Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS) fund, the Union Finance Ministry has ordered revised rules, under which the interest that the fund accrues will be deposited in the Consolidated Fund of India.

What is the MPLAD scheme?

• The Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS) is a program first launched during the Narasimha Rao Government in 1993.
• It was aimed towards providing funds for developmental works recommended by individual MPs.

Funds available

• The MPs then were entitled to recommend works to the tune of Rs 1 crore annually between 1994-95 and 1997-98, after which the annual entitlement was enhanced to Rs 2 crore.
• The UPA government in 2011-12 raised the annual entitlement to Rs 5 crore per MP.

Implementation

• To implement their plans in an area, MPs have to recommend them to the District Authority of the respective Nodal District.
• The District Authorities then identify Implementing Agencies that execute the projects.
• The respective District Authority is supposed to oversee the implementation and has to submit monthly reports, audit reports, and work completion reports to the Nodal District Authority.
• The MPLADS funds can be merged with other schemes such as MGNREGA and Khelo India.

Guidelines for MPLADS implementation

• The document ‘Guidelines on MPLADS’ was published by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation in June 2016 in this regard.
• It stated the objective of the scheme to enable MPs to recommend works of developmental nature with emphasis on the creation of durable community assets based on the locally felt needs in their Constituencies.
• Right from the inception of the Scheme, durable assets of national priorities viz. drinking water, primary education, public health, sanitation, and roads, etc. should be created.
• It recommended MPs to works costing at least 15 percent of their entitlement for the year for areas inhabited by Scheduled Caste population and 7.5 percent for areas inhabited by ST population.
• It lays down a number of development works including construction of railway halt stations, providing financial assistance to recognized bodies, cooperative societies, installing CCTV cameras etc.

Answer this PYQ in the comment box:

With reference to the funds under the Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS), which of the following statements are correct? (CSP 2020)

1. MPLADS funds must be used to create durable assets like physical infrastructure for health, education, etc.
2. A specified portion of each MP’s fund must benefit SC/ST populations.
3. MPLADS funds are sanctioned on a yearly basis and the unused funds cannot be carried forward to the next year.
4. The district authority must inspect at least 10% of all works under implementation every year.

Select the correct answer using the code given below:

(a) 1 and 2 only

(b) 3 and 4 only

(c) 1, 2 and 3 only

(d) 1, 2 and 4 only

 

Post your answers here.

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The Ministry of Civil Aviation’s flagship Regional Connectivity Scheme UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik) has been awarded Prime Minister’s Award for Excellence in Public Administration this year.

What is UDAN Scheme?

• The Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik (UDAN) scheme is a low-cost flying scheme launched with the aim of taking flying to the masses.
• The first flight under UDAN was launched by the PM in April 2017.
• It is also known as the regional connectivity scheme (RCS) as it seeks to improve air connectivity to tier-2 and tier-3 cities through revival of unused and underused airports.

Working of the Scheme

• Airlines are awarded routes under the programme through a bidding process and are required to offer airfares at the rate of ₹2,500 per hour of flight.
• At least 50% of the total seats on an aircraft have to be offered at cheaper rates.
• In order to enable airlines to offer affordable fares they are given a subsidy from the govt. for a period of three years.

Success of the scheme

• In a short span of 5 years, today 419 UDAN routes connect 67 underserved/unserved airports, including heliports and water aerodromes, and over 92 lakh people have benefited from it.
• More than 1 lakh 79 thousand flights have flown under this scheme.
• UDAN scheme has immensely benefitted several sectors pan-India including Hilly States, North-Eastern region, and Islands.
• The scheme also led to development of new Greenfield Airports such as Pakyong near Gangtok in Sikkim, Tezu in Arunachal Pradesh, and Kurnool in Andhra Pradesh.
• Krishi UDAN Scheme launched in August 2020, on international and national routes has assisted farmers in transporting agricultural products.

Issues with the working

• Discontinuance: In reality, some of the routes launched have been discontinued as most of the routes awarded under UDAN are not active.
• On-paper Ambitions: UDAN was expanded to provide improved connectivity to hilly regions and islands through helicopters and seaplanes. However, they mostly remain on paper.
• The reasons include:

1. Failure to set up airports or heliports due to lack of availability of land
2. Airlines unable to start flights on routes awarded to them or finding the routes difficult to sustain
3. Adverse impact of the COVID-19 pandemic

Various challenges

• Lack of funds: Many small airlines await infusion of funds, to be able to undertake maintenance of aircraft, pay rentals to lessors, give salaries to its staff, etc.
• Maintenance issue: Many players don’t have more than one or two planes and they are often poorly maintained. New planes are too expensive for these smaller players.
• Availability of pilots: Often, they also have problems with the availability of pilots and are forced to hire foreign pilots which costs them a lot of money and makes the business unviable.
• Competition: Only those routes that have been bagged by bigger domestic players such as IndiGo and SpiceJet have seen a better success rate.

Way forward

• The govt offers subsidies for a route for a period of three years and expects the airline to develop the route during this time so that it becomes self-sufficient.
• Airlines need an extension of the subsidy period for their operational continuity.
• Due to the rise in COVID cases, travel restrictions and passenger safety too needs to be taken into consideration in the loss-making of such airlines.

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The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) has launched ‘SVANidhi se Samriddhi’ program in additional 126 cities across 14 States/ UTs.

About PM SVANidhi Scheme

• The Pradhan Mantri Street Vendor’s Atmanirbhar Nidhi Scheme is aimed at benefiting over 50 lakh vendors who had their businesses operational on or before March 24 2020.
• It is a Central Sector Scheme.
• The scheme was announced by Finance Minister as a part of the economic package for those affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown.
• The loans are meant to help kick-start activity for vendors who have been left without any income since the lockdown was implemented on March 25.
• The scheme was valid until March 2022.

What is SVANidhi se Samriddhi Program?

• SVANidhi se Samriddhi program was started to provide social security benefits to street vendors for their holistic development and socio-economic upliftment.
• Quality Council of India (QCI) is the implementing partner for the programme.
• Under the program, socio-economic profiling of PMSVANidhi beneficiaries and their families is conducted to assess their eligibility for 8 Government of India’s welfare schemes and facilitate sanctions of eligible schemes.

These schemes include:

1. Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana,
2. PM Suraksha Bima Yojana,
3. Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana,
4. Registration under Building and other Constructions Workers (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act (BOCW),
5. Pradhan Mantri Shram Yogi Maandhan Yojana,
6. National Food Security Act (NFSA) portability benefit – One Nation One Ration Card (ONORC),
7. Janani Suraksha Yojana, and
8. Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY).

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The Supreme Court has upheld the Centre’s one rank, one pension (OROP) scheme for the armed forces.

What is the news?

• The Supreme Court has ruled that there was “no constitutional infirmity” in the way the government had introduced ‘one rank, one pension’ (OROP) among ex-service personnel.
• The scheme, notified by the Defence Ministry on November 7, 2015, was challenged by Indian Ex-Service Movement, an association of retired defence personnel.

What is OROP Scheme?

• OROP means that any two military personnel retiring at the same rank, with the same years of service, must get an equal pension.
• While this might appear almost obvious, there are several reasons why two military personnel who may have retired at the same rank with the same years of service, may get different pensions.

Need for the scheme

Military personnel across the three services fall under two categories, the officers and the other ranks.

• Early age of retirement: The other ranks, which are soldiers, usually retire at age 35.
• No benefits from pay commissions: Unlike government employees who retire close to 60, soldiers can thus miss out on the benefits from subsequent pay commissions.
• Salary based pension: And since pensions are based on the last drawn salary, pensions too are impacted adversely.
• Ranks based discrimination: The age when officers in the military retire depends upon their ranks. The lower the rank, the earlier they superannuate.
• Liability against the sacrifice: It was argued that early retirement should not become an adverse element for what a soldier earns as pension, compared with those who retire later.

Earlier pension mechanism

• From 1950 to 1973, there was a concept known as the Standard Rate of Pension, which was similar to OROP.
• In 1974, when the 3rd Pay Commission came into force, certain changes were effected in terms of weightage, additional years of notion service, etc., with regard to pensions.
• In 1986, the 4th Pay Commission’s report brought further changes.
• What ultimately happened was that the benefits of the successive pay commissions were not passed to servicemen who had retired earlier.
• Pensions differed for those who had retired at the same rank, with the same years of service, but years apart.

Demand for OROP

• Ex-servicemen demanded OROP to correct the discrepancy.
• Over the decades, several committees looked into it.
• The Brig K P Singh Deo committee in 1983 recommended a system similar to Standard Rate of Pension, as did Parliament’s standing committees on defence.
• The Narendra Modi government notified the current OROP scheme in November 2015, and it was made applicable from July 1, 2014.

Issues with OROP

• During the OROP protests of 2013-15, it was argued repeatedly that meeting the demand would be financially unsustainable.
• Because soldiers retire early and remain eligible for pension for much longer than other employees, the Defence Ministry’s pension budget is very large, impacting capital expenditure.
• The total defence pensioners are 32.9 lakh, but that includes 6.14 lakh defence civilian pensioners.
• The actual expenditure of the Defence Ministry on pensions was Rs 1.18 lakh crore in 2019-2020.
• The Defence Ministry’s pension-to-budget ratio is the highest among all ministries, and pensions are more than one-fifth of the total defence budget.
• When the late Manohar Parrikar was Defence Minister, it was estimated that a one-time payout of Rs 83,000 crore would be needed to clear all past issues.

Challenge to OROP

• The petitioners contended that the principle of OROP had been replaced by ‘one rank multiple pensions’ for persons with the same length of service.
• They submitted that the government had altered the initial definition of OROP and, instead of an automatic revision of the rates of pension.
• Under this, any future raising of pension rates would be passed on to past pensioners — the revision would now take place at periodic intervals.
• According to the petitioners, this was arbitrary and unconstitutional under Articles 14 and 21.

What has the SC ruled now?

• The court did not agree with the argument that the government’s 2015 policy communication contradicted the original decision to implement OROP.
• It said that “while a decision to implement OROP was taken in principle, the modalities for implementation were yet to be chalked out.
• The court also said that while the Koshyari Committee report furnishes the historical background of the demand, and its own view on it, it cannot be construed as embodying a statement of governmental policy.
• It held that the OROP policy “may only be challenged on the ground that it is manifestly arbitrary or capricious”.

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