PRIORITY

BOOKS
A Comprehensive Profile of Recent Socio-Economic Welfare Programmes

I.C. Dhingra
Ex-faculty at the University of Delhi and a very lovely grandfather, I. C. Dhingra lives an earthy life with
his family in New Delhi. He feels spirituality can be realised at home and relentlessly tries to achieve that
by writing and thinking economics.
Sanjay Kataria
A writer by heart, a graduate in Economics from the University of Delhi and a tech-freak cybernaut, Sanjay
Kataria was born and educated in New Delhi. He has done his Masters in Sociology and Public
Administration and now manages his family business.

 Also by I.C. Dhingra
March of the Indian Economy (1947 to 2014)[1]
Indian Economy[2]
Indian Economic Development[3]
And many more…

Also by Sanjay Kataria

Infinity – A Teenager’s Cup of Tea
Umeed: Krishna’s With You
By the duo
Economic Regulation in India[4]
Freedom at Dawn: Stuff That Dreams are made of

 A Comprehensive Profile of Recent Socio-economic
Welfare Programmes

I. C. Dhingra
Sanjay Kataria









PRIORITY BOOKS

PRIORITY BOOKS
Published by Priority Publishers
J– 13, Lajpat Nagar – II, New Delhi – 110024

First Published in India

Copyright © Sanjay Kataria 2015
Copyright © I.C. Dhingra 2015
All Rights Reserved

ISBN 978-81-926375-2-5


This is a partially a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the
author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and any resemblance to the any actual person, living or dead,
events or locales is entirely coincidental.

Designed by Sanjay Kataria

Printed at India
For sale in the Indian Subcontinent only



This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired
out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior written consent in any form of binding or cover
other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being
imposed on the subsequent purchaser and without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no
part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in
any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior
written permission of both the copyright owner and the above-mentioned publisher of this book.
TO MY GRANDDAUGHTER
Aarna Dhingra

 TO MY PARENTS
Poonam Kataria & Inder Kumar Kataria
 Contents
PREFACE

DIGITAL INDIA PROGRAMME

SKILL INDIA INITIATIVE

ATAL PENSION YOJANA (APY)

PRADHAN MANTRI SURAKSHA BIMA YOJANA (PMSBY)

PRADHAN MANTRI JEEVAN JYOTI BIMA YOJANA (PMJJBY)

PRADHAN MANTRI KRISHI SINCHAI YOJANA (PMKSY)

MICRO UNITS DEVELOPMENT & REFINANCE AGENCY (MUDRA) BANK

SMART CITY YOJANA

ATAL MISSION FOR REJUVENATION AND URBAN TRANSFORMATION (AMRUT)

SWACHH BHARAT ABHIYAN: MAKING INDIA CLEAN & MORE

JAN DHAN YOJANA (JDY)

MAHATMA GANDHI NATIONAL RURAL EMPLOYMENT GUARANTEE ACT (MGNREGA)

SUKANYA SAMRIDDHI ACCOUNT

ONE RANK ONE PENSION (OROP)

SEVENTH PAY COMMISSION (7PC)

PRADHAN MANTRI GARIB KALYAN YOJNA

‘BETI BACHAO, BETI PADHAO’ SCHEME

SAGARMALA INITIATIVE FOR DEVELOPMENT OF COASTAL AND PORT CITIES

PRADHAN MANTRI NAI MANZIL SCHEME YOJANA

JAN AUSHADHI YOJANA

SCHOOL NURSERY YOJANA

DEENDAYAL UPADHYAY SHRAMEV JAYATE KARYAKRAM

APPENDIX

 Preface
India’s 16th parliamentary election results have infused much-needed enthusiasm
into the national population and have raised expectations for the nation’s
legislative and executive machinery. Businesses and consumers are excited about
the growth possibilities presented by a single-party government. But they now
want the Prime Minister and his team to deliver speedy reforms, build
mechanisms to promote good governance and nurture a business-friendly
environment. Within the first year after assuming power, it has already initiated
labour reforms, took steps toward ensuring transparent allocation of natural
resources such as coal and launched changes to further improve ease of doing
business in the country.
As India’s economy and consumer confidence show signs of revival, “India Inc.”
is taking action to capitalise on growth opportunities profitably. Companies in
various sectors expect to drive growth by expanding their product and
geographic footprint, and they are counting on increased investment in India’s
domestic sectors and positive changes in government policy to further fuel
growth.
The new Indian government has shouldered the task of overhauling the defunct
policies governing the nation’s businesses today. The aim is to de-clutter India’s
policy framework. While some reforms will focus on encouraging new
investment, other more strategic initiatives will seek to simplify doing business
in India.
All new policy initiatives share a central characteristic: the introduction of digital
technologies and channels to enable efficient delivery. Some of the big-ticket
policy initiatives that could help put India on a stronger growth trajectory
include:
1. Digital India Programme
2. Skill India Initiative
3. Atal Pension Yojana (APY)
4. Jan Dhan Yojana
5. Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY)
6. Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY)
7. Swachh Bharat Abhiyan
8. MUDRA (Micro Units Development and Refinance Agency) Bank
9. Sukanya Samriddhi Account (SSA)
 10. Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana (PMKSY)
11. Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY)
12. One Rank One Pension (OROP)
13. Seventh Pay Commission
14. Garib Kalyan Yojna (GKY)
15. MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural
Employment Guarantee Act)
16. Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban
Transformation (AMRUT)
17. ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’ Scheme
18. Sagarmala Initiative for Development of Coastal and
Port Cities
19. Pradhan Mantri Nai Manzil Scheme Yojana
20. Jan Aushadhi Yojana
21. Smart City Yojana
22. School Nursery Yojana
23. Deendayal Upadhyay Shramev Jayate Karyakram
We present below a side-view of the major programmes.
 1. Digital India Programme

The Digital India programme is a flagship programme of the Government of
India with a vision to transform India into a digitally empowered society and
knowledge economy.
The journey of e-Governance initiatives in India took a broader
dimension in mid-90s for wider sectoral applications with emphasis on
citizen-centric services. Later on, many States/UTs started various e-
Governance projects. Though these e-Governance projects were citizen-
centric, they could make lesser than the desired impact. Government of
India launched National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) in 2006. 31 Mission
Mode Projects covering various domains were initiated. Despite the
successful implementation of many e-Governance projects across the
country, e-Governance as a whole has not been able to make the desired
impact and fulfil all its objectives.
It has been felt that a lot more thrust is required to ensure e-Governance
in the country promote inclusive growth that covers electronic services,
products, devices and job opportunities. Moreover, electronic
manufacturing in the country needs to be strengthened.
In order to transform the entire ecosystem of public services through the
use of information technology, the Government of India has launched the
Digital India programme with the vision to transform India into a
digitally empowered society and knowledge economy.
Digital Infrastructure as a Utility to Every Citizen
Availability of high speed internet as a core utility for delivery of
services to citizens
Information and communication technologies (ICTs) have
the potential of not only bridging the great digital divide in
the country (in terms of easy and effective access to ICTs)
but also of positively contributing to the growth of the
economy, employment and productivity.
The emphasis is on
providing high speed
internet connectivity
across the length and
breadth of the country
by deploying ICT
infrastructure, optical
fibre, and last-mile
connectivity options
offered by wireless
technologies in a
manner that is
affordable, reliable and
competitive.
Cradle to grave digital
identity that is unique,
lifelong, online and
authenticable to every
citizen
The ideal identity is
one that is unique,
singularly sufficient,
robust enough to
disallow duplicate and
fake records, easily
and digitally
authenticable in an
inexpensive manner, and lifelong.
 Aadhaar, a 12-digit individual identification number issued
by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) on
behalf of the Government of India, meets these
requirements. It is essentially a paperless online anytime-
anywhere identity assigned to a resident to cover his/her
entire lifetime. The verification of identity is done online
with the help of authentication devices which connect to
UIDAI’s Central Identity Repository and return a ‘yes’ or
‘no’ response to the basic query, “Is the person who he/she
claims to be?”, based on the demographic and biometric
data available with UIDAI. Aadhaar can be used by any
application which needs to establish the identity of a
resident and/or provide secure access for the resident to
services/benefits/entitlements offered by the application.
For usage of mobile as an instrument of digital identity,
three possible mobile identity solutions have emerged: (1)
mobile number linked with Aadhaar; (2) mobile with
digital signatures; and (3) mobile with voice biometrics
(either standalone, or linked to mobile number). Work is
underway to implement the most efficient and effective
solution to enable citizens to enjoy the benefits of a mobile-
linked cradle-to-grave Digital Identity.
Mobile phone & bank account enabling citizen participation in digital
& financial space
Indian telecom sector is the world’s fastest growing
telecom sector. The massive and growing penetration of
mobile phones in India, especially in rural areas, provides a
ready and widespread base for access to and delivery of
public services electronically. Data access through mobiles
continues to gain popularity, and as on date, around 80 per
cent of internet users in India access internet through
mobile devices. This holds great promise and potential for
e-governance in general and digital-cum-financial inclusion
in particular.
In the mobile space, DeitY has launched Mobile Seva, a
revolutionary whole-of-government mobile governance
initiative, enabling government departments and agencies
 across the nation to deliver public services to citizens and
businesses through mobile devices across various mobile-
based channels such as SMS, USSD, mobile apps, and
voice/ IVRS.
In the financial space, DeitY has collaborated with NSDL
Database Management Limited (NDML) for providing
PayGov, a centralized platform for facilitating all
government departments and services to collect online
payments from citizens for public services. PayGov offers
an end-to-end transactional experience for citizens who can
opt from various payment options such as Net Banking
(65+ banks), debit cards, credit cards, cash cards/ prepaid
cards/ wallets, and NEFT/ RTGS, etc.
The 'Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana' has been launched
as a national mission encompassing an integrated approach
to bring about comprehensive financial inclusion of all the
households in the country. The plan envisages universal
access to banking facilities with at least one basic banking
account per household, financial literacy, access to credit,
insurance and pension facility. It also envisages channelling
all government benefits to the beneficiaries’ bank accounts.
A special track on “mobile as an instrument of financial
inclusion” was organized during the mobile identity
brainstorming consultation workshop conducted at DeitY
in October 2014. The workshop and further deliberations
brought to fore that the extensive distribution networks of
telecom service providers as well as the actual coverage
and connectivity provided by them have the potential of
addressing the challenges facing smooth functioning of
banking services in rural areas, such as availability of
power, cash management, security and adequacy of cash-
in/cash-out points. Mobiles can serve as a viable and
effective complementary channel for financial inclusion.
Easy access to a Common Service Centre
CSCs are ICT-enabled front-end service delivery points
(kiosks) at the village level for delivery of government,
financial, social and private sector services in the areas of
agriculture, health, education, entertainment, banking,
insurance, pension, utility payments, etc.
CSCs operate within a public-private-partnership (PPP)
model and a 3-tier structure consisting of the CSC operator
(known as the Village Level Entrepreneur or VLE), the
Service Centre Agency (SCA) for establishing CSCs in a
zone consisting of a few districts, and a State Designated
Agency (SDA) for managing the implementation in the
State. CSCs enable government, private and social sector
organizations to align their social and commercial goals for
the benefit of the rural population in the remotest corners of
the country through a combination of IT-based as well as
non-IT-based services.
The initial target was to establish 1,00,000 CSCs in
6,00,000 villages in the ratio of one CSC for every 6
villages. As on date, more than 1,37,000 CSCs are
operational across the country. Under the proposed CSC
2.0 programme, it is planned to increase the number of
CSCs to 2,50,000 (covering all panchayats) to facilitate
easier access to CSCs for the citizens.
 Nine Pillars of Digital India
1. Broadband Highways
2. Universal Access to Mobile Connectivity
3. Public Internet Access Programme
4. E-Governance: Reforming Government through Technology
5. E-Kranti: Electronic Delivery of Services
6. Information for All
7. Electronics Manufacturing
8. IT for Jobs and
9. Early Harvest Programmes
Shareable private space on a public cloud
Easy and authentication-based access to a digital locker, i.e.
a shareable private space on a public cloud, can greatly
facilitate paperless transactions. Citizens can digitally store
Government-issued digital documents and certificates and
share them with various agencies without having to submit
or send physical documents or copies.
The digital locker would have a collection of repositories
(digital repository) for issuing authorities (issuer) to upload
their documents (electronic document) in a standard
format. Personal locker provided to citizens would also act
as a platform for storing the links (termed as Document
URI) for accessing the documents directly from these
repositories. This platform would enable the citizens to
securely share their documents with the service providers
who can also directly access public documents from the
issuing authority through an authenticated route.
To accelerate the delivery of cloud-based services MeghRaj
Cloud initiative would comprise several central and state
clouds built on existing or new (augmented) infrastructure,
following a set of common protocols, guidelines and
standards issued by Government of India.
Safe and secure cyber-space
Cyberspace is where all online digital assets, protocols,
identities etc. reside and interact and transact. It is
imperative that cyberspace be made safe and secure for all
organizations and users.
The National Information Security Policy has been put in
place to protect information and information-infrastructure
in cyber space, build capabilities to prevent and respond to
cyber threats, reduce vulnerabilities and minimize damage
from cyber incidents through a combination of institutional
structures, people, processes, technology and cooperation.
Governance & Services on Demand
Seamlessly integrated services across departments or jurisdictions
Access to some services often also involves documents,
approvals and clearances from authorities outside the
department/ jurisdiction providing the service. Today, the
focus is on providing single-window access to such
services so that the citizens and businesses save time and
effort across multiple departments or jurisdictions
concerned.
This is exemplified by the e-Biz and e-Trade projects under
the NeGP. In order to provide integrated services,
Open API and Open Source policies are also being
finalized by DeitY. The API policy sets out the
Government’s approach on the use of open APIs to
promote software interoperability for all e-governance
applications and systems and provide access to data &
services for promoting participation of citizens and other
stakeholders.
Also, common platforms like MeghRaj Cloud Platform,
Mobile Seva, PayGov and eSangam have been established
for the purposes of interoperable and integrated services.
Availability of services in real time from online & mobile platforms
The focus today is on designing e-Governance applications
in such a way that the related information, services and
grievance-handling mechanism are accessible online on a
real time basis and across all types of access devices such
as desktop computers, laptops, tablets, mobiles, etc.
To ensure provisioning of high speed broadband
connectivity at panchayat level, the National Optical Fibre
Network (NOFN) project is being implemented by the
Department of Telecommunications (DoT). This aims to
resolve the connectivity issues by taking gigabit fibre to all
the panchayats in the country.
The Mobile Seva project of DeitY is a highly successful
project that provides a common national platform to all
 Government departments and agencies at the central, state
and local levels for providing mobile based services and
mobile apps. Over 1900 government departments and
agencies across the country are using the mobile platform
for mobile enabled services.

This initiative has won the 2014 United Nations Public Service Award.
Mobile Seva is a winner at United Nations Public Service Awards
(2014) under the category “Promoting Whole-of-Government
Approaches in the Information Age”. It is the only winner from India
in 2014.
All citizen entitlements to be portable and available on the cloud
The flexibility, agility, cost effectiveness and transparency
offered by the cloud technologies should be considered
while designing and hosting of applications. In order to
utilize and harness the benefits of Cloud Computing,
Government of India has embarked upon an ambitious
initiative – “GI Cloud” which has been named as
‘MeghRaj’. The focus of this initiative is to accelerate
delivery of e-services in the country while optimizing ICT
spending of the Government.
The cloud platform can host online repositories for all
possible entitlements thereby providing a single source of
truth. This includes areas like Public Distribution System,
BPL entitlements, social sector benefits, LPG and other
subsidies, etc.
A major milestone was achieved in October 2014 with the
launch of provident fund portability through the Universal
Account Number (UAN). Employees now need not worry
about transferring the funds lying in their provident fund
accounts when they change their locations.
PayGov India National Payment Service Platform
Over the past decade, there have been a large number of e-Governance
initiatives in the country at the National, State, District and even Block
level. Government of India (GoI) perceived that if e-Governance was to be
speeded up across the various arms of government at the National, State
and local government level, a programme-approach would need to be
adopted, which must be guided by a common vision, strategy and approach
to objectives. With a view to make all Government services accessible to
the common man in his locality, through common service delivery outlets
and ensure efficiency, transparency & reliability of such services at
affordable costs to realize the basic needs of the common man, the
National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) was formulated by the GoI, for
implementation across the country. NeGP envisages web-enabled anytime,
anywhere access to information and services across the country, especially
in rural and remote parts of India. Department of Electronics and
Information Technology (DeitY) has envisaged common e-Governance
infrastructure that will offer end-to-end transactional experience for a
citizen which includes accessing various services through internet with
payment gateway interface for online payments.

In this regard, DeitY along with NSDL Database Management Ltd

(NDML) has created a common infrastructure that can be used by
Centre/States/Departments to offer various services through their National
/ State portals with a facility to make online payment using net banking,
credit cards and debit cards. PayGov India offers a range of payment
options through which a payment can be made by the citizen to avail a
service. The different options available to a citizen are:
Net banking (approx. 65+ banks)
Debit card
Credit card
IMPS
Cash Cards/ Wallets
NEFT/ RTGS
The charges levied for a citizen/department are approved by DeitY. Any
revision of charges will be automatically applied to all Government
Departments on board PayGov India and the same is advised through a
DeitY advisory to the Central and State Governments.
1. Advantages in Process
One Platform for Payments and Settlement – PayGov India is used for Payments
(Citizen debiting its bank/ card account for Payment to Govt. Dept.) and Settlements
(monies getting settled in relevant tax head – major/minor head into government
treasury with challan – including BSR+CIN of Agency Bank or Bank Account of
Department/ PSU/ Local Bodies – Municipals). In case of treasury payments, the
monies as per RBI guidelines will be settled into treasury at T+1
Unified process across all channels (Net banking/ Cards – Debit+ Credit cards/ IMPS/
Wallets/ Cash Cards) – no different treatment of NEFT/ RTGS or any other channel.
Managed MIS& Reports – MIS is generated as per the requirement and format
prescribed by the Govt. Portal.
Treatment of Broken Transactions – As per the policy, the Govt. Dept. portals can
auto-settle or auto-cancel or settle as per advice of the Govt. Dept. through an
automated processes.
2. Advantages of Operations
Experienced in managing all day-to-day process, which includes
Daily Settlements process — the settlement process runs post End of Day (EOD) with
all the Govt. departments for its settlements and depending upon the policies broken
transactions are also addressed.
Daily Payments process – The payments process runs 24/7 for the Citizen to make the
payments on the payment platform and at EOD it remits all the payments received
into a Govt. treasury/ Bank Account.
Daily Exceptions handling – Exception handling process runs as-and-when required,
if any exceptions arise in the system and requires a special treatment for those
transactions.
Daily Reconciliations Process – The reconciliation process runs with the banks daily
to ensure no transaction is missed and all transactions are settled or refunded back to
the customers’ account.
Daily Refunds executions – Depending upon the Govt. Dept. one may or may-not
have refunds; however PayGov India provides an interface for the refunds.
3. Aggregation of all payment channels
The largest aggregated platform that is available in India, with all payment
channels with all payment options. All 100+ entities that a citizen can pay
from are managed by Paygov India as a day-to-day activity.
Net Banking (65+ Banks)
Debit card (Visa/ MasterCard/ Maestro/ RuPay/ ATM Cards)
Credit Cards (Visa/ MasterCard/ Amex/ Dinners)
IMPS (Via NPCI)
Cash cards/ Wallets
NEFT/RTGS
4. Other Benefits
Single Point of technical integrations – Integrate only once
No need to integrate with various banks.
No regular maintenance, as all maintenance with respect to banks and
Cards is done by PayGov India. Eg. Any new security/ audit directives
from statuary bodies (RBI) are met by PayGov India.
No Statuary compliance – as PayGov complies with banks/ cards
network compliance requirements.
No audits from partner’s banks/ card networks – as the audit
requirements are met by PayGov India.
24/7 data centric MIS are reports both for real time and End of Day (EOD) for Govt.
Departments as and when they want in their formats.
No change at Govt. portal– No change is required at when a new channel is added --
Egs. NEFT/ RTGS adding as an additional channel.
Standardization of MIS and operations– Standardized operations teams at the Govt.
Portals end. No need to maintain and coordinate with internal teams of various banks.
Eg. NEFT/ RTGS no different from Net banking transactions.
Query Support– PayGov India system allows to be queried for a status of a
transaction and returns the status. Govt. portal can synchronize itself with PayGov
India for the transaction status in real-time.
Technology Agnostic– PayGov is agnostic to the technology platform used at the
Govt. Portals end.
 FAQs on PayGov
Q1) What is PayGov?
Dept. Of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY), Govt. Of India
has collaborated with NSDL Database Management Limited (NDML) for
providing a centralized platform for facilitating all Govt. departments and
services to collect online payments from Citizens for Govt. services. This
platform is titled as “PayGov”. PayGov is a ready infrastructure with
approved transaction costs which can be used to provide online payment
services to citizens. For more details on NDML please refer to
http://www.ndml.in/
Q2) Which Govt. Departments and Services can avail PayGov facility.
DeitY has created the PayGov platform to facilitate widespread use of e-
Governance in India. Intent is to facilitate online provision of all possible
types of Government to Citizen Services. These services could be provided
by Central Government Departments or by State Government
Departments, Govt. Agencies / bodies, Municipalities, Public Utilities, Tax
payments etc. Departments can also use PayGov services for online
tenders, procurements. Universities, Medical institutes can use the services
for admissions. The services can be used even for conference participation,
relief fund donations etc.
Q3) What is the infrastructure and readiness required at the end of
the Govt. Department to connect with PayGov?
Online service portal of the department should be ready which should be
able to track each transaction and communicate messages through internet
with PayGov. PayGov has a standard set of documents, procedures and
system protocols to facilitate the integration. If department is using NSDG
/ SSDG components as developed and provided by DeitY, PayGov has
developed connectivity for the same as well. Department would need to
provide details of the services and also execute a payment gateway service
agreement.
Q4) What modes of payment are available on PayGov?
PayGov has following comprehensive range of payment modes to facilitate e payment :
a. Credit Cards
b. Debit Cards
c. Net Banking ( Approximately 70 banks enabled)
d. IMPS (Immediate Payment Services)
e. Cash-card / Prepaid Card/ Wallets
f. NEFT/RTGS
Q5) What is the security measures that are followed?
PayGov adopts stringent security measures to ensure that critically
sensitive information, such as your customer's personal information and
their credit card details, are well protected. Customers enter all their
personal information and credit card details on secure server and the same
is encrypted before it is transmitted over the Internet.
Q6) How will PayGov communicate status of the transaction?
Paygov will provide the return response with STATUS to the designated
Portal Return URL received in the initial transaction request.
Q7) How does the money get settled into our account?
Money will get settled at T+2. (For treasury payments money will be
settled at T+1) There are 3 kinds of settlement processes that can be
followed.
1. Manual Settlement :
Portal to pick up all the records for the previous day where transaction
status was SUCCESS. Create a file in the standard format and upload into
PayGov Interface
In this process the department would also need to upload a refund file for
cases which were not received as “Success”.
All transactions where PayGov does not receive a response from the bank
during the transaction session will be auto refunded
2. Auto Settlement
Department need not prepare and upload settlement and refund files.
All transactions where the transaction status is received as successful
(during the transaction session) from banks will be settled and transactions
where PayGov does not receive a response from bank during the
transaction session will be auto refunded.
3. Recon Settlement
PayGov will settle all transaction which are received as Success at its end; during
transaction session or as late confirmations/reporting from the bank.
Q8) Can PayGov handle treasury payments?
Yes, PayGov can handle payments that can be directly settled into the
treasury a/c.
Q9) Can the transactions amount be split between separate banks
A/c?
Yes, if required this can be done.
Q10) Can the money be transferred to multiple bank accounts
depending on the services?
Yes as per the service defined, amount can be settled in multiple bank
accounts.
Q11) Can the department request for a refund in case the service is not
rendered?
Yes, refund is possible. The money is transferred back into the source
account.
Q12) What is the process of refunds?
Department needs to email / upload the files that needs to be refunded, as
guided by PayGov.
Q13) Is there a possibility of charge back? How will charge back be
handled?
As per the card associations [Visa/ MasterCard] guidelines, cardholders
can dispute a charge [generally within 180 days of the transaction date] on
grounds that he/she did not do the transaction; or that the Portal has not
rendered the services for the specific charge.
The portal can either furnish evidence confirming that the service was
provided or confirm that the transaction can be reversed.
For any charge backs that are received and debited, PayGov would
intimate and pass on these chargeback’s to Portal; and this amount will be
deducted in the Merchant report.
Q14) Can the payment be integrated with SSDG/ NSDG?
Yes
Q15) Can PayGov enable payments through a mobile app?
Yes
Q16) What is needed from department end to integrate with PayGov?
PayGov team will share the following to enable payment integration
Agreement to be signed
Integration document
· Payment Gateway Registration Form – to be filled and submitted
· Payment Gateway Registration Form – to be filled and submitted
Bank Details form, attested by the merchant’s bank.
· Parameter sheet is required to start the technical integration process after
which PayGov will issue a URL to you for testing.
Merchant details form to be filled
Also below details need to be updated on merchant portal as a part of Visa
and Master guidelines. These details are compulsory for PayGov to enable
debit/credit card option on the portal.
a. Terms & Conditions
b. Privacy Policy
c. Refund / Cancellation Policy
d. Contact Us
e. List of Products sold and their Pricing
Q17) How much time is needed to integrate with Pay Gov?
Post submitting all documents and completing the testing; PayGov would
need 2 weeks to enable live set up
Making financial transactions electronic & cashless
Electronic payments and fund transfers have the advantage
of targeted and direct delivery to the intended beneficiaries
without the involvement of middlemen who may otherwise
subvert the system. Similarly, online mechanisms for
payment of fees for certain public services offer a
transparent, friendly and expeditious channel to citizens for
payments. All financial transactions above a threshold shall
be made electronic & cashless.
DeitY has created PayGov India as a centralized payment
gateway for all Government Departments and agencies in
the country. It is operated and maintained by NSDL
Database Management Ltd (NDML), a wholly owned
subsidiary of National Securities Depository Limited
(NSDL).
PayGov India is securely integrated with National and State
Service Delivery Gateways (NSDG and SSDG) to enable
sharing of information across databases for efficient service
delivery, and also with the Mobile Services Delivery
 Gateway (MSDG) under Mobile Seva. The citizens can
choose from a host of e-payment options such as Net
banking, credit card, debit card, prepaid/ cash card/ wallet,
Immediate Payment Service (IMPS) and mobile wallet.
Leveraging Geospatial Information Systems (GIS) for decision
support systems & development
Various government services can be offered in a better way
by proper use of GIS technology in the e-governance
applications. National Geospatial Information System
(NGIS) is being implemented to integrate geo-spatial data
available with a number of organizations such as Survey of
India, National Informatics Centre (NIC), NRSA and
Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) to develop a GIS
platform for e-Governance applications.
This GIS platform will be leveraged as a service for the
benefit of various mission mode projects and other e-
governance initiatives. NGIS can also be leveraged for
monitoring the physical progress of projects, disaster
management and specialized needs of public safety
agencies.
Digital Empowerment of Citizens
Universal digital literacy
Digital resources are truly universally accessible when they
are easily available and navigable everywhere and by
everyone. Open resources have the advantage of being
widely and inexpensively available and also being widely
usable and customizable. Digital resources created or
implemented along these lines can be accessed everywhere
compared to resources developed from proprietary systems.
Owner departments and agencies have the responsibility of
ensuring that their digital resources are of high quality so
that access and customization are not problematic.
The National Data Sharing and Accessibility Policy
(NDSAP) require government organizations to proactively
release their datasets in an open format. Implementation of
NDSAP in India is being done by NIC, an agency of DeitY,
through the Open Government Platform for India which
provides a single point access to all the open-format
datasets published by different government departments.
DeitY is also formulating a policy on open APIs to make
all the data and information provided by government
organizations open and machine readable, which can then
be consumed by other e-governance applications/ systems
and the public. DeitY is responsible for setting up the API
standards and designing a gateway for seamless sharing of
information amongst the various government agencies.
Digital resources are as useful as the manner in which they
are rendered on the users’ devices, which may be mobile
phones, tablets, computers, or other devices. These devices
while all able to access sites where digital resources are
available, may be based on varying support standards and
also may or may not support differentiated styles of content
presentation and layout. In such cases, the content may not
be rendered correctly on all devices. Conformance to
DeitY-notified standards for government data and
application of the necessary style sheets and other server
 side solutions can help owner departments and agencies
achieve this aspect of universal accessibility of their digital
resources.
Under the Digital India programme, the government is also
committed to providing access to digital resources for
citizens with special needs, such as those with visual or
hearing impairments (which may be partial or complete),
learning or cognitive disabilities, physical disabilities
which hinder operation of ubiquitous access devices such
as phones, tablets and computers.
Universally accessible digital resources
Citizens should not be asked to provide government
documents or certificates, which are already available with
some department/institution of the government, in physical
form. Portability of all electronic documents should also be
ensured. As an example, educational institutions should
ensure that all their degrees and certificates are digitized
and kept in online repositories with appropriate access
protocols. The citizen, while filling some application form,
should not be asked to submit the certified copies of his/her
educational certificates but should provide details of these
certificates available in an online repository which can be
seen by the agency concerned using the pointer provided
by the citizen.
All these repositories of all government issued
documents/certificates should be hosted on a cloud
platform to provide a single source of truth for these
documents/certificates. The data may include categories
such as digitally signed educational certificates, land
records, driving licenses, permits, etc. Requesting
departments or users may be provided authenticated access
to the digital repository available over the cloud.
Availability of digital resources / services in Indian languages
India has a remarkable diversity in terms of languages
written and spoken in different parts of the country. There
are 22 official languages and 12 scripts. Knowledge of
English is limited to a very small section of the population
in the country. The rest often cannot access or comprehend
digital resources which are available mainly in English.
DeitY has
initiated
the
Technology

Development for Indian Languages (TDIL) programme for

developing information processing tools and techniques to
facilitate human-machine interaction without language
barriers, creating and accessing multilingual knowledge
resources, and integrating them to develop innovative user
products and services. The programme also promotes
language technology standardization through active
participation in international and national standardization
bodies such as ISO, UNICODE, World-wide-Web
consortium (W3C) and Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS)
to ensure adequate representation of Indian languages in
existing and future language technology standards.
DeitY has also initiated the Localization Projects
Management Framework (LPMF) to help localize
applications under the MMPs and other government
applications. DeitY is also formulating a new mission mode
 project named as e-Bhasha to help develop and disseminate
digital content in local languages to India's largely non-
English speaking population. The disabled friendly content
and systems are being developed as per accessibility
standards.
Collaborative digital platforms for participative governance
Traditionally, digital platforms have been used for
dissemination of information and provision of services to
the users. Through these platforms, Government could
establish communication with the citizens though it was
mostly one-way. Digital platforms, with necessary thrust
from developments on technology front, have come of age
and can now facilitate government departments to have
effective two-way communication and interaction with
citizens. Platforms that are more collaborative facilitate
greater participation from the users. Instead of reaching out
to citizens every now and then, government can be in touch
with them round the clock through digital platforms which
would facilitate participative governance.
The platform would provide a mechanism to discuss
various issues to arrive at innovative solutions, make
suggestions to the government, provide feedback on
governance, rate the government
actions/policies/initiatives, and actively participate with the
government to achieve the desired outcomes.
DeitY has recently launched a nationwide digital platform
named as “MyGov” to facilitate collaborative and
participative governance. DeitY also maintains a social
media page highlighting e-governance services being
provided through NeGP at which has over 1 lakh fans and
followers as on date.
Approach and Methodology for Digital India Programme are:
1. Ministries / Departments / States would fully leverage the Common
and Support ICT Infrastructure established by GoI. DeitY would also
evolve/ lay down standards and policy guidelines, provide technical
and handholding support, undertake capacity building, R&D, etc.
2. The existing/ ongoing e-Governance initiatives would be suitably
revamped to align them with the principles of Digital India. Scope
enhancement, Process Reengineering, use of integrated &
interoperable systems and deployment of emerging technologies like
cloud & mobile would be undertaken to enhance the delivery of
Government services to citizens.

3. States would be given flexibility to identify for inclusion additional

state-specific projects, which are relevant for their socio-economic
needs.
4. E-Governance would be promoted through a centralised initiative to
the extent necessary, to ensure citizen centric service orientation,
interoperability of various e-Governance applications and optimal
utilisation of ICT infrastructure/ resources, while adopting a
decentralised implementation model.
5. Successes would be identified and their replication promoted
proactively with the required production and customisation wherever
 needed.
6. Public Private Partnerships would be preferred wherever feasible to
implement e-Governance projects with adequate management and
strategic control.
7. Adoption of Unique ID would be promoted to facilitate identification,
authentication and delivery of benefits.
8. Restructuring of NIC would be undertaken to strengthen the IT
support to all government departments at Centre and State levels.
9. The positions of Chief Information Officers (CIO) would be created
in at least 10 key Ministries so that various e-Governance projects
could be designed, developed and implemented faster. CIO positions
will be at Additional Secretary/Joint Secretary level with over-riding
powers on IT in the respective Ministry.
Review of Digital India
Among the initiatives launched with much fanfare by the NDA government is the one titled “Digital India”,
which is slated to use high speed internet as a core utility and provide citizens entitlements, documents and
a host of services on the cloud. While digital literacy is crucial for the success of such an initiative, a more
fundamental requirement is access to and use of the Internet. How far does the government have to go to
ensure access and use to be successful with this digital mission?
Why Digital India?
According to recently released survey results from India’s official
National Sample Survey (NSS) Organisation (71st Round with reference
period January to June 2014), the proportion of Indian households in
which at least one member had access to the Internet was 16.1 per cent
in rural areas, 48.7 per cent in urban areas and 26.7 per cent in rural and
urban areas combined. Needless to say, this is far short of the near
universal connectivity envisaged by the Digital India mission.
According to a recently released Boston Consulting Group report, at 190
million, India had the third largest population of internet users in the
world in 2014, coming in after China (620 million) and the US (275
million). Besides that absolute number, the pace of expansion of the
Internet user population is what is striking.
Internet and Mobile Association of India (and IMRB International)
places the Internet user base at 300 million at the end of 2014.
According to that set of estimates, a decade after the introduction of the
internet the user base was estimated at 10 million. That figure rose to
100 million a decade later.
The oft-quoted website (www.internetworldstats.com) reports that the
number of Internet users in India rose from around 5 million in 2000 to
243 million in June 2014, which makes the 300 million December 2014
figure quite plausible.
Digital India is a transformational programme for the country. It means
strengthening the youth and future of the country.
 DigiLocker
DigiLocker is yet another Digital India initiative launched by the
Government of India in February 2015. Released by the Department of
Electronics & Information Technology (DEITY), Ministry of
Communications & IT, DigiLocker is actually an e-locker to save your
official and other documents.
What is DigiLocker?
This is a secured personal online storage space where you can store your
documents. The service is open to all Indian citizens with Aadhaar cards.
Each citizen, when registered with DigiLocker, will be allotted a storage
space of 1 GB linked with his or her Aadhaar number. You can not only
store your official documents like mark sheets, Pan cards, Passports,
certificates, voter id cards, etc. but also store Uniform Resource Identifier
(URI) link of the e-documents issued by various departments. You can
digitally sign e-documents with the e-sign facility provided by this system.
Sections within the Digital Locker
My Certificates:
(a) Digital Documents: This contains the URIs of the documents issued to
the user by the various government departments or other agencies.
(b) Uploaded Documents: This subsection contains all the documents
uploaded by the user. Each file should not be more than 1 MB in size. Only
pdf, jpg, jpeg, bmp, gif, png file types can be uploaded.
My Profile: The user’s complete profile is seen here.
My Issuer: The issuers’ names and the documents issued to the user are
available here.
My Requester: The requesters’ names and the documents requested by the
requesters are available here.
Directories: Complete list of registered issuers and requesters along with
their URIs are available here.
Signing Up Process: How does it Work?
Log on to the official site of the DigiLocker (https://digitallocker.gov.in/).
Click on Sign-in.
In the text box “Enter Aadhaar Number”, type your Aadhaar number.
For user authentication, there are two options to choose: “Use OTP (One Time
Password)” and “Use Fingerprint”.
OTP
If you choose OTP, the password will be sent to the mobile number and
email-id registered with your Aadhaar.
Once the OTP is entered, click on ‘Validate OTP’ button.
Once the OTP is validated, the user can complete sign up by setting his
username and password.
Fingerprint
If you choose fingerprint, you will have to put the thumb print on the finger
print device.
If it is valid, your identification is authenticated and you can set your own
username and password to complete the sign up.
Using Social Media
You can also sign in using your Gmail ID or Facebook ID.
Advantages of DigiLocker System
Empowers the citizens digitally.
Ensures easy availability of documents online.
Reduces the use of physical documents and fake documents.
Offers authenticity of the e-documents.
Provides a secured access to documents issued by the
government.
Reduces administrative costs of government departments and
agencies.
Provides fast access to documents anytime and from anywhere.
Enables easy sharing of documents across departments and
agencies.
Ensures complete privacy of residents’ data.
Caution
These high and rising absolute figures conceal the fact that in relation to
India’s population Internet penetration is still low. If we go by figures
from Internet World Stats, Internet penetration within the population in
India amounted to 19.7 per cent at the end of June 2014, as compared
with 86.9 per cent in the U. S., 86.2 per cent in Japan, and 47.4 per cent
in China.
The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) also estimates that
around 18 per cent of individuals in India were using the Internet in
2014, as compared with 49.3 per cent in China, 90 per cent in Japan and
87.4 per cent in the US.
Still, a quarter of households are a long way from the near universal
access to cloud-based services that the government is hoping to ensure.
One problem is, of course, that of providing access to the hardware
through which individuals get access to the Internet. Options here have
increased hugely in recent years. But few seem to be willing to pay for
access. Thus, the ITU estimates that only 3.1 per cent of Indian
households had access to the Internet at home in 2011, whereas that
figure for China in 2012 was 23.7 per cent.
The government has promised to put in place in rural India a hundred
thousand Common Service Centres (CSCs) – broadband-enabled
computer kiosks that will offer a range of government-to-citizen and
business-to-customer services, besides providing sheer access to the
Internet. The CSCs were expected to begin servicing all of India’s 600,
000 villages by mid-2008. However successful the government has been,
it does not seem to have helped universalise access.
The NSS survey suggests that there is an unusual relationship between
internet access, computer access and literacy. As is to be expected the
extent of literacy across the states of India is higher than the extent of
access to the Internet through at least a single member of the household.
That suggests there is still some slack in terms of getting literate people
to take to the Internet.
While one survey may be inadequate to arrival at any causal suggestions
let alone conclusions, if this relationship proves robust it could imply
that increasing internet access is predicated on increasing hardware
access to a far greater degree than the CSC programme envisaged. That
makes the Digital India challenge not just more difficult, but more
expensive.
The government needs to assure us that while the administration uses
digital technology to aid those of us who are connected and interested in
it, it does not close the door on the less privileged or ends up stamping a
de jure exclusion on those already de facto excluded. While public
services are already grossly discriminatory and exclusionary, the move
by the government to invite the private sector in advancing the digital
mission is only likely to add further to their democratic deficit. We need
a legal framework which guarantees full, non-coercive and privacy-
protected participation to all persons irrespective of their digital
connectivity before reposing confidence in the government’s moves.
eBasta: New Portal for Students to Download School Books
Digital India programme was launched by the government with a focus on
digital empowerment of citizens and creation of digital infrastructure as a
utility to every citizen for governance and services on demand. Under this
initiative, the NDA government is trying to transform every possible sector.
EBasta
The Government of India has now extended a helping hand to the students of India in the form of the
eBasta platform.

This is a collaborative platform where students, teachers and book retailers
can come together and help each other.
How it Works?
The stakeholders of eBasta are the students, teachers, eBasta app, and the publishers.
1. The eBasta app has to be installed to get access to the portal.
2. The school/teachers customise the contents of the eBasta for the
students.
3. The publishers upload the content as per the requirement of the
eBastas.
4. The students, with the help of the app, can access the portal and
download content of interest.
Features of eBasta
‘Basta’ in Hindi means a school bag. As the name suggests, eBasta is
literally a digital schoolbag with the digital version of school books and
study material. The various features of eBasta are as follows:
1. This programme will make all school books available in the
digital format and can be accessed on laptops and tablets.
2. Web based applications will be available to access and navigate
the framework of eBasta.
3. Teachers or the school can log on to the portal and customise the
eBasta contents according to the requirement, standard, and
syllabus of their students.
4. Students can access the content included by the teachers or the
school on the same portal. They can use eBasta application by
downloading them on their computers or android phones.
5. The android app is like an eBook reader. Once the student has
access he/she will have the content as required by the teachers.
6. The content is easily transferable.
7. eBasta is also beneficial for the publishers. It will be easier for
them to penetrate into schools and students in every nook and
corner of India and sell books in the digital format. All they need
to do is register on to the eBasta portal.
Benefits of eBasta for Students and Publishers
1. The publishers and the students both benefit because feedback on
the online material available online comes directly and thus, any
action required concerning the content will also be more prompt.
2. Thanks to DRM (Digital Rights Management), the publishers do
not have to worry about piracy of the content that they upload.

 Even though this platform has been newly launched, there are many eBooks
available on the portal. With an increase in demand and popularity, this
initiation of the Government is surely going to achieve success, and thus
benefit the future generation of India.

 2. Skill India Initiative

Skill India is a development mission launched by the Indian government in 2015
that has set a target to skill 24 lakh workers this year and 40.2 crore workers by
2022. It will be led by a governing council which will be chaired by the PM and
include ministers for finance, skill development and entrepreneurship, human
resource development, rural development, labour and employment, overseas
affairs, information technology, deputy chairman of NITI Aayog and three chief
ministers as members.
Objectives of ‘Skill India’
The main goal is to create opportunities, space and scope for the
development of the talents of the Indian youth and to develop more of
those sectors which have already been put under skill development for
the last so many years and also to identify new sectors for skill
development.
The new programme aims at providing training and skill development to
500 million youth of our country by 2020, covering each and every
village. Various schemes are also proposed to achieve this objective.
Features of ‘Skill India ‘
The emphasis is to skill the youths in such a way so that they get
employment and also improve entrepreneurship.
Provides training, support and guidance for all occupations that were
of traditional type like carpenters, cobblers, welders, blacksmiths,
masons, nurses, tailors, weavers etc.
More emphasis will be given on new areas like real estate,
construction, transportation, textile, gem industry, jewellery
designing, banking, tourism and various other sectors, where skill
development is inadequate or nil.
The training programmes would be on the lines of international level
so that the youths of our country can not only meet the domestic
demands but also of other countries like the US, Japan, China,
Germany, Russia and those in the West Asia.
Another remarkable feature of the ‘Skill India’ programme would be
to create a hallmark called ‘Rural India Skill’, so as to standardise and
certify the training process.
Tailor-made, need-based programmes would be initiated for specific
age groups which can be like language and communication skills, life
and positive thinking skills, personality development skills,
management skills, behavioural skills, including job and
employability skills.
The course methodology of ‘Skill India’ would be innovative, which
would include games, group discussions, brainstorming sessions,
practical experiences, case studies etc.
How is it different from the previous skill development policies?
It’s not that we do not have any skill development programme already. The
Government of India has always considered skill development as a national
priority. It is just that since the ministry is new, the approach taken for skill
development is also new. Earlier, the emphasis was on traditional jobs. But this
time, all kinds of jobs will be given equal emphasis. Earlier, the responsibility
was divided among various ministries, but this time, these are being clubbed
together. The ministry of skill development and entrepreneurship will be the
principal ministry which is going to coordinate with other ministries and
organisations.
According to government sources, Skill India won’t be just a programme but a
movement. Here, youth who are jobless, college and school dropouts, along with
the educated ones, from rural and urban areas, all will be given value addition.
The new ministry will be the certifying agency. Certificates will be issued to
those who complete a particular skill or programme and this certificate has to be
recognized by all public and private agencies and entities, including overseas
organisations. Skill India is a programme for the entire nation.
Advantages of Skill India
The idea is to raise confidence, improve productivity and give direction
through proper skill development.
Skill development will enable the youths to get blue-collar jobs.
Development of skills, at a young age, right at the school level, is very
essential to channelize them for proper job opportunities. There should
be a balanced growth in all the sectors and all jobs should be given equal
importance.
Every job aspirant would be given training in soft skills to lead a proper
and decent life. Skill development would reach the rural and remote
areas also.
Corporate educational institutions, non-government organizations,
Government, academic institutions, and society would help in the
development of skills of the youths so that better results are achieved in
the shortest time possible.
Review of Skill India
What shape ‘Skill India’ will take and what it will do only time can tell. But no
doubt it seems to be a good initiative – providing skills to people, especially
because India is one of the few countries all across the world whose working age
population will be very high, few years down the line, going by its ever-
increasing growth of population, as per the World Bank.
It is also high time now measures are taken to improve the physical and mental
development of the youths of the country so that none of them remains
unemployed and the country’s unemployment problem also gets reduced. It is
time to open up avenues by which the youth accepts responsibility and no one
remains idle because an idle youth is a burden to the economy. The economy
should concentrate on job creation and social security schemes. With this new
approach towards skill development, India can definitely move forward towards
its targeted results.























Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojna (PMKVY)
PMKVY is a skill certification and monetary reward scheme initiated by the
Government of India that aims to offer 24 lakh Indian youth meaningful,
industry relevant, skill based training. Under this scheme, the trainees will be
offered a financial reward and a government certification on successful
completion of training and assessment, which will help them in securing a job
for a better future.
The objective of this Scheme is to encourage skill development for youth by
providing monetary rewards for successful completion of approved training
programs. Specifically, the Scheme aims to:
Encourage standardization in the certification process and initiate a
process of creating a registry of skills
Enable and mobilize a large number of Indian youth to take up skill
training and become employable and earn their livelihood. Increase
productivity of the existing workforce and align the training and
certification to the needs of the country.
Provide Monetary Awards for Skill Certification to boost
employability and productivity of youth by incentivizing them for
skill trainings
Reward candidates undergoing skill training by authorized
institutions at an average monetary reward of Rs. 8,000 (Rupees
Eight Thousand) per candidate.
Benefit 24 lakh youth at an approximate total cost of Rs. 1,500 crores
Upon successful assessment, the trainee will be given a certificate as well as a
monetary reward of an average of Rs 8,000 per trainee.
Monetary reward for various job roles within a sector varies for different as
per job role levels. Higher incentives are being given to training in
manufacturing, construction and plumbing sectors.
The monetary reward will be wholly funded by the Ministry of Skill
Development and Entrepreneurship, India, and will be affected through direct
bank transfer to the beneficiary’s account.
For Skills Training For Recognition of Prior
Learning (RPL)
NSQF Manufacturing, Other Manufacturing, Other
 Levels Plumbing & sectors Plumbing & sectors
Construction Construction sectors
sectors
Level 7,500 5,000 2,500 2,000
1 & 2
Level 10,000 7,500
3 & 4
Level 12,500 10,000
5 & 6

Review of PMKVY
The Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) was thus envisaged as a
key measure to impart skills-based training to young men and women, making
them capable of earning and supporting the nation’s anti-poverty endeavours.
The scheme becomes all the more important in the Indian society which has the
world’s largest youth population that requires employable skills (356 million
populations between 10 and 24 years of age – The Hindu, Nov 2014).
On 20 March 2015, the Government of India gave the Ministry of Skill
Development and Entrepreneurship a formal go-ahead to formulate and
implement the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) through the
National Skill Development Corporation. With a total outlay of about INR 1,500
crore, the PMKVY is likely to impart skills training to 24 lakh youth of the
country, focusing on the Class X/XII dropouts and lower income groups. The
scheme was developed over a period of almost three months and its
implementation started in select states (primarily Bihar) by early June 2015. The
scheme will be launched in all states of the country on 15 July – National Skills
Day. India’s unemployment rate averaged about 4.9 percent by early 2014. This
scheme should bring that number down by a reasonable measure.
Skills Needs Assessment
According to the PMKVY plan published by the Ministry of Skill Development
and Entrepreneurship in March 2015, one of the key objectives of the scheme
was to cover the skills training of about 24 lakh people. The specific skills
imparted would be decided based on the National Skill Qualification Framework
(NSQF) and on the basis of feedback from the various industries that would
potentially employ the trainees.
The specific skills trainings to be imparted have been assessed by the National
Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) on the basis of demand in recent skills
gap by a study for 2013-17 periods. Central ministries and state governments
departments were consulted and the inputs of various industry and business
heads were also considered. Skills needed to implement various other flagship
schemes such as Digital India were also assessed. Currently, about 428 job roles
are being catered to by the skills training imparted under the scheme.
Enrolment Process
The government has partnered with various telecom operators to create
awareness about the PMKVY. After the nationwide launch telecom operators are
likely to send out mass SMS about the scheme and will provide potential
candidates a number to call. Candidates need to give a missed call to this toll
free number, following which they shall receive an automated call back
connecting them to an IVR. The potential candidate will, at this stage, need to
input his/her details into the system. These details will be recorded, and
screened. Candidates eligible to enrol for the training programmes will be
provided details of the nearest training centre and will be asked to report on the
training dates.
Implementation of the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana
In keeping with the draft plan, the scheme was launched (in Bihar) and the
NSDC partnered with about 24 sector skill councils. As of 1 July 2015, about
1,17,564 people from all parts of the country have already enrolled for skills
training. Training has commenced for some 1,07,080 trainees already. The
scheme’s implementation is being undertaken by NSDC’s training partners. The
NSDC has some 187 listed training partners with 2300 training centres spread
out in almost all the states of India. While the scheme is on a pilot mode in select
states, a nation-wide launch is expected by mid-July.
The total outlay planned for the scheme is over INR 1,500 crore, of which INR
1120 crore is likely to be allocated towards the skill training of some 14 lakh
youth. Additionally, INR 220 crore will be spent towards the “recognition of
prior learning”. The scheme budget includes INR 67 crore that shall be spent on
spreading awareness and encouraging enrolment.
This includes implementation of the website and running awareness campaigns.
In this effort to create awareness about the PMKVY, the NSDC will partner with
state governments and municipal organisations and use the administrative
machinery extensively to mobilise candidates from the grassroots level. The
NSDC has also partnered with various business houses and corporate in an effort
to garner mentorship for the candidates and to secure placements once their
training is completed. The government has allocated INR 67 crore towards this.
The scheme has the youth of the North Eastern region of India in special focus.
This region has been traditionally neglected and hence a separate allocation of
INR 150 crore has been made towards the training of youth in this region.
Apart from training, the candidates shall also go through an assessment at the
end of the training schedule. A certificate of merit shall also be issued to
candidates at the end of this training period based on the assessment. ‘Third
party assessment bodies’ have been roped in by the NSDC to assess the
candidates on the skills acquired and a monetary incentive or reward is given to
exemplary candidates. The average monetary reward that each successful
candidate is likely to get is about INR 8000.
The scheme has placed much focus on the training partners. These partner
institutions have been studied and assessed before enrolment. Digital training
facilities and able instructors are highly valued by the NSDC for the training
sessions. The curriculum developed is highly relevant and efficient in practical
employability. Training sessions and the training institutes will be constantly
monitored by state government agencies and by the sector skill councils.
Feedback from the candidates themselves will also be sought.
 3. Atal Pension Yojana (APY)

The Government of India has announced a new scheme called Atal Pension
Yojana (APY). APY is a guaranteed pension scheme and is administered by the
Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA).
In Atal Pension Yojana, for every contribution made to the pension fund, the government will
contribute an equal amount to his/her fund. Depending on the contribution made between 18 and
40, at the age of 60 a sum of ₹1,000, ₹2,000, ₹3,000, ₹4,000, or ₹5,000 will be paid monthly.
This scheme will be linked to the bank accounts opened under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan
Yojana scheme and the contributions will be deducted automatically. Most of these accounts had
zero balance initially. The government aims to reduce the number of such zero balance accounts
by using this and related schemes.
Eligibility for Atal Pension Yojana
Any Indian national within the age group of 18 to 40 years is eligible to contribute under Atal
Pension Yojana. However, any member of a statutory social security scheme is not eligible to get
the governments contribution for this pension scheme. But he will get all normal benefits of Atal
Pension Yojana.
Government Contribution in Atal Pension Yojana
If you would enrol in Atal Pension Yojana on or before 31st December 2015 then you would be
getting a government contribution. Government will contribute maximum of Rs 1000 per year
for first 5 years. Your yearly contribution should be more then Rs 2000 to get this amount. If
your yearly contribution (X Rs) is less then Rs 2000 then you will get Rs X/2 as government
contribution.
These subscribers will not get governments contribution
If you are an income tax payer.
If you are any state or government employee.
If you work in a private company and have EPF or EPS account.
Premium Payable under Atal Pension Yojana
There is also a policy under the scheme, wherein if the pension account holder dies, the
contributions would go to the family or the nominee of the account. The premiums to the
pension account would be paid through your bank account and it would be auto-debited from the
bank account that is linked to Aadhaar card.
Atal Pension Yojana is custom made for workers employed with the unorganized sector. These
workers live an insecure life since banking and pension products do not reach them from the
employers and thus Atal Pension Yojana would at least ensure them of the basic requirement for
life.
How to Enrol?
To sign up for the Atal Pension Yojana, an account holder must fill in an
authorisation form and submit it to his/her bank. The form will require complete
details including account number, spouse and nominee details, and authorisation
for auto debit of contribution amount. Account holders signing up for the
scheme need to ensure that sufficient balance is maintained in the account every
month, failing to do so will attract a monthly fine of –
INR 1 for monthly contribution up to INR 100
INR 2 for monthly contribution between INR 101 and INR 500
INR 5 for monthly contribution between INR 501 and INR 1,000
INR 10 for monthly contribution beyond INR 1,001
If no payment is made towards the scheme
for six months, the holder’s account will be frozen
for 12 months, the holder’s account will be deactivated
for 24 months, the holder’s account will be closed
For Those Who Do Not Have A Bank Account
A person needs to open a bank account first by submitting the KYC document
and Aadhaar card. He/she is also required to submit the APY proposal form.
Exiting the Scheme
Under ordinary circumstances, an account holder who has enrolled for the Atal
Pension Yojana will not be able to exit the scheme before the age of 60. Exiting
the scheme is only possible in special circumstance such as in the event of the
death of the beneficiary.
Review of APY
The first step towards achievement of social security was the rollout of
the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY). With Phase I being
declared a major success and 1.8 crore accounts having been opened
across the country, the government has flagged off three new schemes on
9 May 2015 – two insurance schemes (Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti
Bima Yojana, and Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana), and a
pension scheme (Atal Pension Yojana). This is called Phase II of the
PMJDY, since it was important to get people into mainstream banking
before any benefits can be extended to them.
The Atal Pension Scheme will bring security to ageing Indians while at
the same time promote a culture of savings and investment among the
lower and lower middle class sections of society. One of the greatest
benefits of the scheme may be enjoyed by the poorer sections of society.
The government of India has decided to contribute 50 percent of the
user’s contribution or INR 1,000 a year (whichever is lower) for a period
of five years. This contribution will, however, be enjoyed only by those
who are not income tax payers and those who join the scheme before 31
December 2015.
People who work in the private sector or employed in occupations that
do not give them the benefit of pension can apply for the scheme. They
can opt for a fixed pension of INR 1,000 or 2,000 or 3,000 or 4,000 or
5,000 on attaining the age of 60. The amount of contribution and the
individual’s age will determine the pension. Upon the contributor’s
death, the spouse of the contributor can claim the pension and after the
spouse’s death the nominee will be returned the corpus accrued.
The amount collected under the scheme is to be managed by Pension
Funds as per the investment pattern specified by the Government.
Individual applicants will have no choice of pension funds or investment
allocation.
Government will extend the benefit of the APY via Post Offices all over
the country so as to bring more people under its ambit. The
implementation of the scheme through post offices is expected to be
more helpful for the people in rural areas.
 4. Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana
(PMSBY)

Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY) is an accidental Death and
Disability insurance scheme.
Need for the Scheme
A large part of the Indian population lives in rural areas and most of them are not covered under
any kind of social security scheme. A large section of this population has not even gained the
benefits of the banking system and most are still unaware of various governmental schemes that
are launched from time to time.
To correct this serious anomaly in the lives of ordinary and poor people, the Pradhan Mantri of
India has launched the PMSBY scheme in Kolkata on 9 May 2015, along with two other
insurance- and pension-related schemes. Such is the seriousness of the government to make these
schemes a success that almost the entire senior Cabinet has fanned out to various state capitals
and major towns to simultaneously launch the scheme and ensure its successful implementation.
There are two aspects of PMSBY that make it different in offering and approach. Firstly, it is the
sheer size and depth of inclusion to bring and get covered the maximum number of people under
this scheme, which kind of makes it very ambitious and challenging.
Today, if an earning member of a family becomes permanently disabled or dies an accidental
death; his or her family faces a life in penury and hardship, with no protection or support from
any institution or group. By joining the PMSBY scheme and by paying a nominal premium
of Rs. 12/- per person per year, he or she will get an insurance cover for a sum of Rs.
2,00,000/- (two lakh) in case of accidental death or permanent full disability or a sum of Rs.
1,00,000/- (one lakh) in case of partial but permanent disability. The scheme will be valid for a
year and it can be renewed every year.
A lot of government social security schemes have not had a very positive response from people
due to lack of financial system infrastructure at a nearby location and moreover, the paperwork
involved in opening accounts or making claims was too much for them to handle. Even the
leakages in the system resulted in large sections remaining excluded from the benefits of these
schemes. This has now been largely addressed by the present government that has made
extensive use of technology to augment its social scheme delivery and monitor mechanisms. All
the payments will be directly credited to the beneficiary’s account with no scope for leakages.
Eligibility Criterion
Any person between the age of 18 and 70 with a savings bank account and Aadhaar Card can
join the scheme.
A person will need to fill out a simple form, mentioning the name of the nominee and linking the
Aadhaar Card to the bank account. The person will need to submit the form each year before 1st
June to continue the scheme.
With this, the account can be easily activated and the entire premium due will be auto-
debited from his or her account. In other words, all a person has to do is to open a bank account
and then ensure the availability of at least Rs. 12/- before 1st June of each year to ensure
automatic renewal of the scheme. A person has the option to go in for a long-term inclusion
under the scheme by instructing the bank to auto-renew the scheme every year.
 5. Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti
Bima Yojana (PMJJBY)







Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana is a government-backed Life
Insurance scheme originally mentioned in the 2015 Budget speech and formally
launched in May 2015 in Kolkata. As of May 2015, only 20% of India's
population has any kind of insurance, this scheme aims to increase the number.
Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana is available to people between 18 and
50 years of age with bank accounts. It has an annual premium of ₹330 excluding
service tax, which is above 14% of the premium. The amount will be
automatically debited from the account. In case of death due to any cause, the
payment to the nominee will be ₹200,000.
This scheme will be linked to the bank accounts opened under the Pradhan
Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana scheme. Most of these account had zero balance
initially. The government aims to reduce the number of such zero balance
accounts by using this and related schemes.[3]
It is basically a term life insurance policy that can be renewed either on a yearly
basis or for a longer period of time. It will provide life insurance coverage on the
death of the policyholder.
Who is Eligible?
The Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana will be made available to anyone
between the age group of 18 to 50 years. The concerned person should also have
a bank account. People, who avail this policy before they are 50 years old, will
be allowed to enjoy the risk of life cover till the age of 55 years. However, they
will need to pay the premium on a consistent basis in order to be provided that
benefit.
What is the Premium?
The policyholders will need to pay INR 330 per year. The amount will be
deducted each year from their bank account in a single instalment. This will be
done by the bank from where the policy is being opened.
What is the Risk Coverage?
The risk coverage being provided in the Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima
Yojana is INR 2 lakh. In case the policy has been availed for a longer term
period than just a year, the amount will be deducted for each year of the agreed
term period from their respective bank accounts.
Who will Offer the Programme?
Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) will be offering the plan. However,
other life insurers, who are eager to take part in the programme, can join it
through tie-ups with specific banks. The banks, whose clients join the
programme, will be deemed as the master account holders in case of the PMJJS.
The LIC or the other insurers will finalise the claims settlement and
administration procedures, which are expected to be simple and friendly towards
the subscribers. This will be done in consultation with the banks.
How can One Enrol?
The plan is being launched initially from 1 June 2015 till 31 May 2016. The
subscribers will need to enrol as well as provide the option for auto debiting their
premium on or before 31 May 2015. This date will be extended to 31 August
2015. If someone wishes to enrol after this date they will need to submit a self-
certificate, where they state that they are in good health and will also pay the
entire annual premium. In case someone wants to continue beyond the first year
then they will have to agree to auto debiting by 31 May that year. For anyone
who renews the policy after this, he or she will need to furnish a self-certificate
of good health as well as the entire yearly premium. In case someone did not join
in the first year, he or she can provide a good health self-certificate and the entire
yearly premium. The procedure is the same for people who had joined the policy
once and then left it, only to come back later and re-join the same.
Termination of Policy
The assurance on the life of the member shall terminate on any of the following
events and no benefit will become payable there under:
1) On attaining age 55 years (age near birth day) subject to annual renewal up to
that date (entry, however, will not be possible beyond the age of 50 years).
2) Closure of account with the Bank or insufficiency of balance to keep the
insurance in force.
3) A person can join PMJJBY with one Insurance company with one bank
account only.






































Critical Overview
The banks have complained that revenue received will be very low.
Some bankers have claimed that amount they are receiving is not
sufficient to cover the service costs.
Since, this a group insurance scheme, banks have not received
instruction regarding cases where excessive claims are in a year. Insurers
have also pointed out that no health certificate or information of pre-
existing disease is required for joining.
 6. Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana
(PMKSY)

Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayi Yojana (PMKSY) has been formulated
amalgamating ongoing schemes viz. Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme
(AIBP) of Ministry of Water Resources, River Development & Ganga
Rejuvenation; Integrated Watershed Management Programme (IWMP) of
Department of Land Resources; and On Farm Water Management (OFWM)
component of National Mission on Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA) of
Department of Agriculture and Cooperation. PMKSY is to be implemented in an
area development approach, adopting decentralized state level planning and
projectised execution, allowing the states to draw their irrigation development
plans based on district/blocks plans with a horizon of 5 to 7 years. States can
take up projects based on the District/State Irrigation Plan. All the States and
Union Territories including North Eastern States are covered under the
programme.
The National Steering Committee (NSC) of PMKSY under the chairmanship of
Hon’ble Prime Minister will provide policy direction to programme framework
and a National Executive Committee (NEC) under the chairmanship of Vice
Chairman of NITI Aayog will oversee the programme implementation at
national level.
Provision has been made under PMKSY during 2015-16 for carrying out
extension activities in the field with special focus on water harvesting, water
management and crop alignment for farmers and grass root level field
functionaries.
Need for PMKSY
Though fifty percent of agricultural land is nourished by rain water,
water supply is highly essential for farmers. This is a 1000 crore
irrigation scheme in India that aims to bring irrigation water to each and
every village by consolidating all the ongoing schemes that were
implemented by several ministries. This scheme also considers about
following a dynamic annual fund allocation methodology thereby
mandating all state government to allot maximum funds to their
irrigation sectors in order to become eligible to grab funds from this
scheme. This scheme has been implemented in the form of a ‘Project
mode’ enabling decentralized state level planning and execution.
The Indian economy is highly dependent on the agricultural sector. A
huge population essentially translates into a need to address the growing
food demands each year. This dependency is best seen in a year when a
below-normal monsoon sends prices of food items racketing up.
Over the past years, fears of the El Nino phenomenon have kept farmers
and economists worried. A number of farmer deaths have also been
recorded across the country. Most of these are linked to crop failure
followed by lack of rainfall and inadequate irrigation. Food and retail
inflation are natural corollaries to the situation and this hurts the
economy. In 2014-15, food grain production in the country dropped by
about 5.3 per cent.
In an attempt to improve the agricultural productivity, the government of
India has come up with a new scheme, the Pradhan Mantri Krishi
Sinchai Yojana (PMKSY). According to news reports, the Cabinet
Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), which is chaired by Prime
Minister Narendra Modi, finalised the details of the scheme.
If the scheme turns out to be a success, economists and rural managers believe
that the crop production could witness a manifold growth.
Details of the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana
The major focus is to deliver top to bottom solution in the irrigation supply by providing more
flexibility to state government to plan and execute their own irrigation projects. The Pradhan
Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana projects will be subjected to scrutiny by individual State Level
Project Screening Committee (SLPSC) and later on sanctioned by State Level Sanctioning
Committee. There will be National Steering Committee (NSC) to review them periodically. The
states are considered as eligible to access this fund only if they are ready with their district
irrigation plan along with state irrigation plan with an increased expenditure strategy in the
state’s irrigation plan. Under this scheme, the state can avail 75% of the grant from central
government whereas the remaining 25% should be borne by state government.
According to current estimates, out of the 142 million hectares of agricultural land in India, only
about 45 per cent has any arrangement for artificial irrigation. The rest of the agricultural farm is
dependent solely on rainfall for its water needs. A delay in rainfall or a failure spells disaster for
the farmers and shortfall in crop is the subsequent worry faced by the people. The government of
India estimates that by spending about INR 5300 crore this fiscal, an additional 6 lakh hectares of
agricultural land can be brought under irrigation. Apart from this, 5 lakh hectares of land will
also receive the benefits of drip irrigation as a result. Micro-irrigation projects (“Har Khet Ko
Pani”) and end-to-end irrigation solutions will be the key focus of this scheme.
The scheme shall also assume responsibility for various irrigation projects that were poorly
implemented by previous governments despite adequacy of funds. These projects shall be
improved based on strict quality guidelines. About 1,300 watershed projects that have remained
in limbo shall now be completed.
Apart from the irrigation projects, INR 200 crore from this scheme will be earmarked as Agri-
Tech Infrastructure Fund (ATIF) – the corpus required to promote the National Agricultural
Market (NAM). This will give farmers easy access to the markets for sale of their produce. The
FM also said that the budgetary allocation for this scheme may tie into the material component of
the MNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act).
Irrigation and Water Conservation
Water conservation and cutting down on wastage is key to bringing irrigation
facilities to every farm in the country. This makes introduction of sustainable
water preservation practices and optimisation of water resources (More Crop per
Drop) just as important as introduction of new irrigation facilities. The PMKSY
shall also explore a number of methods to treat and re-use municipal water for
these irrigation projects. Water recycling shall hold much importance in the
success of the scheme, said the FM. Private Investments in these plans shall also
be solicited by the government.



Programme Structure
The planning and implementation of the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana
has been decentralised and the states shall now draw district-level plans for its
successful execution.
The long-term adherence to these District Irrigation Plans (DIP) and State
Irrigation Plans (SIP) will be supervised by a National Steering Committee
(NSC) with representation from the various ministries involved and shall be
monitored by the Union Ministers. The Prime Minister himself shall chair the
committee.
The implementation of the scheme shall be overseen by a National Executive
Committee (NEC), which shall be chaired by the Vice-Chairman of the NITI
Aayog.
PMKSY and Pro-farmer Schemes
The Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana is part of a group of pro-farmer
measures that the NDA government endeavours to implement. Earlier, the
Cabinet led by Modi agreed on various amendments to the Land Acquisition Act
of 2013, which are likely to benefit those farmers whose lands are acquired by
the central government for implementation of various projects. Apart from these,
the NDA government has launched a number of social security schemes
(pension, insurance schemes etc.) targeted at improving the lot of the poor
masses in the country, with specific emphasis on the rural poor. Earlier this year,
the government had launched the Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana – a scheme
to support organic farming endeavours.
 7. Micro Units Development & Refinance Agency
(MUDRA) Bank

MUDRA, which stands for Micro Units Development & Refinance Agency Ltd.,
is a new institution being setup by the Government of India for developing and
refinancing activities relating to micro units. It was announced by the Hon’ble
Finance Minister while presenting the Union Budget FY 2016. The purpose of
MUDRA is to provide funding to the non-corporate small business sector.
The biggest bottleneck to the growth of entrepreneurship in the Non-Corporate Small Business
Sector (NCSBS) is lack of financial support to this sector. Majority of this sector does not have
access to formal sources of finance. GoI is setting up MUDRA Bank through statutory enactment
for catering to the needs of the NCSBS segment or the informal sector for bringing them in the
mainstream. To begin with, it is being set up as a subsidiary of Small Industries Development
Bank of India (SIDBI).
MUDRA will be responsible for refinancing all Last Mile Financiers such as Non-Banking
Finance Companies of various types engaged in financing of small businesses, Societies, Trusts,
Section 8 companies (formally Section 25), Co-operative Societies, Small Banks, Scheduled
Commercial Banks, and Regional Rural Banks, which are in the business of lending to
Micro/Small business entities engaged in manufacturing, trading and services activities. The
bank would partner with State/Regional level financial intermediaries to provide finance to Last
Mile Financier of Small/Micro business enterprises.
Under the aegis of Pradhan Mantri MUDRA Yojana, MUDRA has already created its initial
products / schemes. The interventions have been named 'Shishu', 'Kishor' and 'Tarun' to signify
the stage of growth / development and funding needs of the beneficiary micro unit / entrepreneur
and also provide a reference point for the next phase of graduation / growth to look forward to :
 Shishu : covering loans up to 50,000/-
Kishor : covering loans above 50,000/- and up to 5 lakh
Tarun : covering loans above 5 lakh and up to 10 lakh
It would be ensured that at least 60% of the credit flows to Shishu Category
Units and the balance to Kishor and Tarun Categories.

Within the framework and overall objective of development and growth of
Shishu, Kishor and Tarun Units, the products being offered by MUDRA at the
rollout stage have been designed to meet requirements of different sectors /
business activities as well as business / entrepreneur segments. Brief particulars
are as under:
Sector / activity specific schemes
Micro Credit Scheme (MCS)
Refinance Scheme for Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) / Scheduled Co-
operative Banks
Mahila Uddyami Scheme
Business Loan for Traders & Shopkeepers
Missing Middle Credit Scheme
Equipment Finance for Micro Units
Micro Finance is an economic development tool whose objective is to provide
income generating opportunities to the people at the bottom of the pyramid. It
covers a range of services which include, in addition to the provision of credit,
many other credit plus services such as savings, pensions, insurance, money
transfers, counselling, financial literacy and other social support services.
The players in the Micro Finance sector can be qualified as falling into 3 main
groups:
The SHG-Bank (Self Help Group) linkage model through
Commercial Banks and Regional Rural Banking channels,
The Non-Banking Finance Company and
Others including Section 8 (formerly Section 25)
Companies, Trusts, Societies, etc.
Objectives of the MUDRA Bank
Principal objectives of MUDRA bank are:-
1. Regulate the lender and the borrower of microfinance and bring
stability to the microfinance system through regulation and inclusive
participation.
2. Extend finance and credit support to Microfinance Institutions (MFI)
and agencies that lend money to small businesses, retailers, self-help
groups and individuals.
3. Register all MFIs and introduce a system of performance rating and
accreditation for the first time. This will help last-mile borrowers of
finance to evaluate and approach the MFI that meets their
requirement best and whose past record is most satisfactory. This will
also introduce an element of competitiveness among the MFIs. The
ultimate beneficiary will be the borrower.
4. Provide structured guidelines for the borrowers to follow to avoid
failure of business or take corrective steps in time. MUDRA will help
in laying down guidelines or acceptable procedures to be followed by
the lenders to recover money in cases of default.
5. Develop the standardised covenants that will form the backbone of
the last-mile business in future.
6. Offer a Credit Guarantee scheme for providing guarantees to loans
being offered to micro businesses.
7. Introduce appropriate technologies to assist in the process of efficient
lending, borrowing and monitoring of distributed capital.
8. Build a suitable framework under the Pradhan Mantri MUDRA
Yojana for developing an efficient last-mile credit delivery system to
small and micro businesses.
Features of MUDRA Bank
The salient features of the schemes and innovative products, being worked upon,
which will be offered by MUDRA going forward, are as below:
1. Sector / Activity Focussed Schemes
To maximize coverage of beneficiaries and tailor products to meet
requirements of specific business activities, sector / activity focused
schemes would be rolled out. To begin with, based on higher
concentration of businesses in certain activities / sectors, schemes are
being proposed for:
2. Micro Credit Scheme
Financial support to MFIs for on lending to individuals/ groups of
individuals /JLGs/ SHGs for creation of qualifying assets as per RBI
guidelines towards setting up / running micro enterprises as per MSMED
Act and non-farm income generating activities.
Mahila Udyam Nidhi Scheme
This scheme aims to provide soft loan (Quasi equity) assistance to women
entrepreneurs besides usual term loans for setting up industrial units in the
small scale and tiny sector, as also for undertaking service activities eligible
for assistance under the SIDBI refinance scheme.
Eligibility
New projects in tiny and small-scale sectors for manufacture, preservation or
processing of goods (Tiny enterprises would include all industrial units and
services industries (except Road Transport Operators) satisfying the
investment ceiling.
Existing tiny and small scale industrial units and service enterprises as
mentioned above (including those which have availed of this loan earlier) for
undertaking expansion, modernisation, technology up gradation and
diversification.

Sick units in the tiny and small-scale sectors including service enterprises as
mentioned above, which are considered potentially viable.
All industrial activities and service activities (except Road Transport
Operators) in the SSI sector.
Projects which avail of any margin money or seed/special capital assistance
under the schemes of Central/State Governments, State Financial
Corporation and other state level institutions or banks (except State
investment subsidy) are not eligible for assistance under the scheme.
Project Outlay
Project cost (including margin money for working capital) should not exceed
Rs.10.00 lakh in case of new projects. In the case of existing units and
service enterprises, the outlay on expansion/modernisation/technology up
gradation, or diversification or rehabilitation should not exceed Rs.10.00
lakh per project.
Amount of Soft Loan
Soft loan up to 25% of the project cost with a ceiling of Rs.2.50 lakh per
project to meet the gap in equity as per prescribed Debt Equity Ratio (DER)
of 1.857:1 (excluding State subsidy which may be retained for meeting
working capital) after taking into account the promoters' own contribution
equivalent to 10% of the project cost. In addition, term loan may be
sanctioned as per usual norms under Refinance Scheme of SIDBI.
Security
Hypothecation of the articles purchased. 3rd party guarantee acceptable to
the bank. No security including collateral security will be insisted upon from
borrowers in respect of soft loan.
Rate of Interest
1. Soft loan: Only service charge @ 1% p.a. is payable,
which may be retained by lending office.
2. Term Loan: As per interest rates advised from time to
time or structure under Refinance Scheme as fixed by
SIDBI from time to time, in case refinance has been
availed. For such prevailing rates, the concerned branch
may be contacted.
Repayment
Soft loan is repayable within 10 years (inclusive of initial moratorium period
of not more than five years). However, the period of repayment of soft loan
will be co-terminus with that of term loan.
Extent of Refinance/Reimbursement of the Soft Loan
Term Loan: As provided under the Refinance Scheme.
Soft Loan: Soft Loan is reimbursed to the extent of 100%.
Disbursement
Soft loan is to be released in accordance with terms and conditions of
sanction thereof and after the promoter(s) has (have) brought in her (their)
own contribution in full.
Bank has to act as agent of SIDBI for sanction, disbursement and recovery
of soft loan.
3. Missing Middle Credit Scheme
Financial support to financial intermediaries for on lending to individuals
for setting up / running micro enterprises as per MSMED Act and non-
farm income generating activities with beneficiary loan size of 50,000 to
10 lakh per enterprise / borrower.
4. Refinance Scheme for RRBs / Co-operative Banks
Enhancing liquidity of RRBs / Scheduled Co-operative Banks by
refinancing loan extended to micro enterprises as per MSMED Act with
beneficiary loan size up to 10 lakh per enterprise / borrower for
manufacturing and service sector enterprises.
5. Mahila Uddyami Scheme
Timely and adequate financial support to the MFIs, for on lending to
women / group of women / JLGs/ SHGs for creation of qualifying assets
as per RBI guidelines towards setting up / running micro enterprises as per
MSMED Act and non-farm income generating activities.
6. Business loans for Traders and Shopkeepers
Timely and adequate
financial support for on
lending to individuals for
running their shops / trading
& business activities /
service enterprises and non-
farm income generating
activities with beneficiary
loan size of up to 10 lakh per
enterprise / borrower.
7. Equipment Finance Scheme for Micro Units
Timely and adequate financial support for on lending to individuals for
setting up micro enterprises by purchasing necessary machinery /
equipment with per beneficiary loan size of up to Rs 10 lakh.
8. Innovative Offerings
1. MUDRA Card
Going forward, MUDRA would look at improving the
offerings basket by looking at innovative ideas like a pre-
loaded MUDRA Card, say with an assessed value.
The card offering will help provide pre-approved credit line
to the members by providing a card that can be utilized to
purchase raw materials and components, from registered
producers on an online platform. The card could be linked
with Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana Savings Account of
the borrower and the drawls could also be enabled through
the Bank’s ATM network for meeting the immediate
liquidity problems of the micro enterprise.
The latest design of the MUDRA card as approved by DFS,
GoI is attached for ready reference. For the convenience of
Banks, the latest design approved by DFS, GoI in CDR
format is also attached.
III) Portfolio Credit Guarantee
Traditional financing in Indian context adopts an Asset
Based lending approach with emphasis on collaterals. Micro
units, most of the times, are unable to provide the comfort of
collaterals.
To mitigate the issue of collaterals, MUDRA will be offering
a Credit Guarantee Product.
Further, given the context of the industry / segment, since
the individual loan sizes would expectedly be small and
number of loans will be large, the option of a Portfolio
Guarantee Product will be explored. Under this option,
Credit Guarantee or Risk Sharing would be provided for a
portfolio of homogenous loans instead of a Scheme for
individual loan - by - loan guarantee. This is expected to
create administrative efficiencies and increase receptiveness
for the Credit Guarantee product. The Guarantee product
would be one of the key interventions proposed with the
objective of bringing down the cost of funds for the end
beneficiary to improve its creditworthiness.
Further, the time has come when there is a need to move
 away from the asset based lending approach to other
innovative approaches, say Business Idea funding Approach
or cash flow based lending schemes, where there may not be
underlying tangible primary assets. The comfort of primary
lenders for lending to such segment would increase if credit
guarantee instrument is available.
IV) Creation of Resources for Credit Enhancement /
Guarantee Facility
The corpus proposed for the Credit Guarantee Scheme
would be regularly augmented with a charge on the
outstanding loans under refinance. The same would be
utilized for providing first loss guarantee / credit
enhancement for securitized portfolio loans.
V) Underwriting for Intermediaries
As MUDRA evolves, it will have to look for newer
innovative offerings based on the cardinal principle of
'problem solving.' It is necessary that the intermediaries and
last mile financiers which have the real expertise in funding
the NCSB sector have access to a steady flow of long term
debt capital at a reasonable cost to smoothly continue their
on lending activities as also scale up sustainably. As of now,
these intermediaries face significant difficulties in raising
debt. There is also a need to widen the investor / lender base
for such intermediaries.
Securitization would be a useful tool for such long term
capital flow. However, as the market for securitization deals
from the asset class of NCSB is nascent, it would first need
to be nurtured and developed. MUDRA proposes to step in
through interventions such as :
Providing credit enhancements: Credit enhancements by
way of first loss guarantee / collateral would be provided by
MUDRA for securitization pools from the NCSBS asset
class to be originated by MFIs and other intermediaries.
MUDRA’s support to such transactions will facilitate
improvement in credit rating of such asset pools and hence
securitization deal flow in the sector.
Adopting Co/ Multiple Originator Models: There would be a
need to bring about cost and administrative efficiencies in
securitization transactions. Further, as the loan sizes are
small, many smaller intermediaries may not be able to
provide by themselves a threshold size of assets for
securitization. To address such issues, the multiple originator
models would be encouraged whereby asset pools of more
than one originator / intermediary could be bundled for
securitization.
MUDRA will build on experiences of some of the existing
players who have demonstrated ability to cater to the NCSB
segment. Models developed in the industry would be looked
at for adaptation. Being an apex agency with whom
intermediaries would be registered / availing refinance from,
MUDRA would be well placed to play an effective role in
helping crystallize such securitization deals under multiple
originator models.
Similar other interventions for market making and creation
of the right ecosystem would be taken up by MUDRA.
VI) Business / Banking Correspondent Model
To capitalise on expertise in lending and collections [which
is often segment / region specific developed by
intermediaries / last mile financiers in the small / informal
business segment as also to meet their capital requirements,
a product for lending through the Business / Banking
Correspondent Model is envisaged.

MUDRA Offerings- Addressing the Non-Credit Gaps
Besides the credit constraints, the NCSBs face many non-credit challenges, like,
Skill Development Gaps
Knowledge Gaps
Information Asymmetry
Financial Literacy
Lack of growth orientation
To address these constraints, MUDRA will have to adopt a credit- plus approach
and offer Developmental and Support services to the target audience. It will have
to act as a market maker and build –up an ecosystem with capacities to deliver
value in an efficient and sustainable manner.
Supporting Financial Literacy
Financial literacy or financial education can broadly be defined as
'providing familiarity with and understanding of financial market
products, especially rewards and risks, in order to make informed
choices.'
Financial Inclusion and Financial Literacy are twin pillars. While
Financial Inclusion acts from supply side providing the financial
market / services that people demand, Financial Literacy stimulates
the demand side – making people aware of what they can demand.
Supporting the financial literacy drive will contribute substantially
from the demand side to the national agenda of financial inclusion.

 FAQs on MUDRA BANK

Q1) What is MUDRA?
MUDRA, which stands for Micro Units Development & Refinance Agency
Ltd., is a new institution being setup by the Government of India for
developing and refinancing activities relating to micro units. It was
announced by the Hon’ble Finance Minister while presenting the Union
Budget FY 2016. The purpose of MUDRA is to provide funding to the non-
corporate small business sector.

Q2) Why MUDRA has been set up?
The biggest bottleneck to the growth of entrepreneurship in the Non-
Corporate Small Business Sector (NCSBS) is lack of financial support to
this sector. Majority of this sector does not have access to formal sources of
finance. GoI is setting up MUDRA Bank through statutory enactment for
catering to the needs of the NCSBS segment or the informal sector for
bringing them in the mainstream. To begin with, it is being set up as a
subsidiary of Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI).

Q3) What will be roles and responsibilities of MUDRA?
MUDRA will be responsible for refinancing all Last Mile Financiers such
as Non-Banking Finance Companies of various types engaged in financing
of small businesses, Societies, Trusts, Section 8 companies (formally
Section 25), Co-operative Societies, Small Banks, Scheduled Commercial
Banks, and Regional Rural Banks, which are in the business of lending to
Micro/Small business entities engaged in manufacturing, trading and
services activities. The bank would partner with State/Regional level
financial intermediaries to provide finance to Last Mile Financier of
Small/Micro business enterprises.

Q4) What are the offerings of MUDRA? How will MUDRA function?
Under the aegis of Pradhan Mantri MUDRA Yojana, MUDRA has already
created its initial products / schemes. The interventions have been named
'Shishu', 'Kishor' and 'Tarun' to signify the stage of growth / development
and funding needs of the beneficiary micro unit / entrepreneur and also
provide a reference point for the next phase of graduation / growth to look
forward to :
a. Shishu : covering loans up to 50,000/-
b. Kishor : covering loans above 50,000/- and up to 5 lakh
c. Tarun : covering loans above 5 lakh to 10 lakh
MUDRA will be operating as a refinancing institution through State /
Regional level intermediaries. MUDRA's delivery channel is conceived to
be through the route of refinance primarily to NBFCs / MFIs, besides other
intermediaries including Banks, Primary Lending Institutions etc.
At the same time, there is a need to develop and expand the delivery
channel at the ground level. In this context, there is already in existence, a
large number of 'Last Mile Financiers' in the form of companies, trusts,
societies, associations and other networks which are providing informal
finance to small businesses.
Q4) Who are the target clients of MUDRA / What kind of borrowers
are eligible for assistance from MUDRA?
Non –Corporate Small Business Segment (NCSBS) comprising of millions
of proprietorship / partnership firms running as small manufacturing units,
service sector units, shopkeepers, fruits / vegetable vendors, truck
operators, food-service units, repair shops, machine operators, small
industries, artisans, food processors and others, in rural and urban areas.
Q5) Are Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) eligible for assistance from
MUDRA?
Yes, MUDRA will be extending refinance support to RRBs for enhancing
their liquidity.
Q6) What is the rate of interest charged by MUDRA?
MUDRA will be a refinancing agency which will extend its funds to Last
Mile Financiers to enable them to reach out to the sector. Access to finance
in conjunction with rational price is going to be the unique customer value
proposition of MUDRA. It will use a variety of innovative financing means
to bring down the cost of funding for the ultimate borrower.
Q7) I have graduated recently. I want to start my own business. Can
MUDRA help me?
MUDRA offers smaller loans up to 50,000/ under the 'Shishu' category and
beyond 50,000 and up to 5 lakh under the 'Kishor' category. It also offers
loans beyond 5lakh and up to 10 lakh under the Tarun category. Depending
on your nature of business project requirement you can access finance from
one of the intermediaries of MUDRA as per the norms.
Q8) What is the eligibility of persons for availing MUDRA loans?
Any Indian Citizen who has a business plan for a non-farm sector income
generating activity such as manufacturing, processing, trading or service
sector and whose credit need is less than 10 lakh can approach Bank, MFI,
or NBFC for availing of MUDRA loans under Pradhan Mantri Mudra
Yojana (PMMY). The usual terms and conditions of the lending agency
may have to be followed for availing of loans under PMMY. The lending
rates are as per the RBI guidelines issued in this regard from time to time.
Q9) Is there any subsidy under Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana
(PMMY). If so details thereof?
There is no subsidy for the loan given under PMMY. However, if the loan
proposal is linked some Government scheme, wherein the Government is
providing capital subsidy, it will be eligible under PMMY also.
Q10) Kindly provide brief Profile of MUDRA.
MUDRA which stands for Micro Units Development and Refinance
Agency Ltd. is a refinance agency and not a direct lending institution.
MUDRA provides refinance support to its intermediary’s viz. Banks /
Micro Finance Institutions / Non-Banking Finance Companies, who are in
the business of lending for income generating activities in the non-farm
sector in manufacturing, trading and services sector and who in turn will
finance the beneficiaries.
Q11) Can you provide information on MUDRA Card?
MUDRA Card is an innovative credit product wherein the borrower can
avail of credit in a hassle free and flexible manner It will provide a facility
of working capital arrangement in the form of CC/OD to the borrower.
Since MUDRA Card will be a RuPay Debit Card, it can be used for
drawing cash from ATM or Business Correspondent or make purchase
using Point of Sale machine. Facility is also there to repay the amount as
and when surplus is available, thereby reducing the interest burden.
Q12) Are opening of a school, carpentry and RO water plant
installation eligible for the loan, If So, what is the maximum and
minimum amount of loan?
Carpentry, RO water plant installation, on a business mode, and educational
institution are eligible activities under MUDRA loan, if the loan amount is
below 10 lakh. The primary requirement for being a MUDRA loan is to be
an income generating activity under manufacturing, processing, trading and
service sector and the loan amount is below 10 lakh.
Q13) Is there any scheme in Central/State Govt., which is applicable all
over India, in which loan without guarantee is granted / the guarantors
identity is checked?
Pradhan Mantri MUDRA Yojana (PMMY) is a Govt. of India Scheme,
which enables a small borrower to borrow from banks, MFIs, NBFCs for
loans up to 10 lakh for non-farm income generating activities. Generally,
loans up to 10 lakh issued by banks under Micro Small Enterprises is given
without collaterals.
Q14) Who will monitor the implementation of PMMY?
Monitoring of PMMY will be done at the State level through SLBC forum
and at national level by MUDRA / Department of Financial Services, Govt.
of India. For this purpose, MUDRA has developed a portal, wherein the
banks and other lending institutions directly feed their achievement details
which are consolidated by the system and reports are generated for review.
Promotion and Support of Grass Root Institutions
One of the major focus areas will be to formalize and institutionalize the last
mile financiers / grass root institutions so that a new category of financial
institutions viz. Small Business Finance Companies can be created and
ecosystem developed for their growth.
Rural innovations at micro enterprise / unit level would also be one of the key
areas for intervention and support. Support to Micro units by way of the facility
of incubators would be taken up. This would ensure that at the most grass root
levels in the country, there is climate for promotion of innovation as well as
incubation of ideas from educated rural youths which would germinate in viable
micro enterprises.
Creation of Framework for "Small Business Finance Entities"
An enabling framework for support to "Small Business Finance Entities" would
be created leading to formalization of the economy which is presently included
in the informal sector.
Synergies with National Rural Livelihoods Mission
NRLM implementation is in a Mission Mode. This enables (a)
shift from the present allocation based strategy to a demand driven
strategy enabling the States to formulate their own livelihoods-
based poverty reduction action plans, (b) focus on targets,
outcomes and time bound delivery, (c) continuous capacity
building, imparting requisite skills and creating linkages with
livelihood opportunities for the poor, including those emerging in
the organized sector, and (d) monitoring against targets of poverty
outcomes. As NRLM follows a demand driven strategy, the States
have the flexibility to develop their livelihoods-based perspective
plans and annual action plans for poverty reduction. The overall
plans would be within the allocation for the State based on inter-se
poverty ratios.
NRLM Mission: "To reduce poverty by enabling the poor
households to access gainful self-employment and skilled wage
employment opportunities, resulting in appreciable improvement
in their livelihoods on a sustainable basis, through building strong
grassroots institutions of the poor."
Efforts would be made to draw synergies between NRLM and
MUDRA interventions for greater public good.
Synergies with National Skill Development Corporation
NSDC is already engaged in the process of skill development at a National scale.
Synergizing with NSDC will help MUDRA in augmenting the skill sets of the
sectoral players.
Working with Credit Bureaus
With the growth of responsible lending practices, Credit Bureaus (CB) have
gained increasing level of acceptability in the micro finance sector. The CB
culture will help in creating credit history over a period of time which will
facilitate faster credit dispensation as the system evolves.
Working with Rating Agencies
Accreditation / rating of MFI entities are one of the roles earmarked for
MUDRA. Further, a segment of financial intermediaries for the non-corporate
small business sector is envisaged to emerge in the financing architecture.
MUDRA would work in coordination with Rating Agencies so that appropriate
rating framework(s) which take into account sector specific features are devised
for various sector participants. In the longer run, availability of rating for sector
participants would facilitate formalization and further flow of capital to the
sector.
The MUDRA Pricing
Access to finance is critical and equally critical is the cost of finance to the
NCSB/ultimate beneficiary. The funds mobilized by micro units from the
informal sources are at high cost. There is scope for cost rationalization.
However, the rationalization is intricately linked with the cost of funds for the
last mile MFIs.
The NBFC-MFIs are presently regulated by Reserve Bank of India and RBI has
already prescribed detailed guidelines for margin cap in respect of MFIs. The
margin cap has been pegged at 10% for MFIs having loan portfolio of more than
100 crore and 12% for smaller MFIs having loan portfolio of less than 100 crore.
In the backdrop of these guidelines and the fact that MFI sector has been
constantly trying to reduce its costs, MUDRA would also help MFIs reduce their
cost to bring down the overall cost to the end beneficiaries. Further, at the time
of appraisal, MUDRA would be studying / assessing individual MFIs on this as
well as other related parameters and suitably price its assistance based on such
assessment.
Working on the premise that the cost to the ultimate beneficiary should be
reasonable and affordable, the cost of funds of MUDRA should be 150 bps to
200 bps below the benchmark repo rates. This seems to be very much feasible as
GoI is willing to support MUDRA in mobilizing low cost funds through
refinance support from RBI/multilateral institutions. MUDRA will have to adopt
a cost plus approach for pricing its offerings.
MUDRA will thus be a refinancing agency which will need funding below
market rates through State interventions which in turn will help it channelize the
assistance to the last mile financiers as well as the ultimate beneficiary micro
units at reasonable rates. Access to finance in conjunction with rational price is
going to be the unique customer value proposition of MUDRA.
MUDRA would primarily be responsible for:
1. Laying down policy guidelines for micro enterprise financing business
2. Registration of MFI entities
3. Supervision of MFI entities
4. Accreditation /rating of MFI entities
5. Laying down responsible financing practices to ward off over
indebtedness and ensure proper client protection principles and methods
of recovery
6. Development of standardised set of covenants governing last mile
lending to micro enterprises
7. Promoting right technology solutions for the last mile
8. Formulating and running a Credit Guarantee scheme for providing
guarantees to the loans/portfolios which are being extended to micro
enterprises
9. Supporting development & promotional activities in the sector
10. Creating a good architecture of Last Mile Credit Delivery to
micro businesses under the scheme of Pradhan Mantri MUDRA Yojana
How Can MUDRA Bank Make a Difference to the Economy?
Most individuals, especially those living in rural and interior parts of India, have
been excluded from the benefits of formal banking system. Therefore, they never
had access to insurance, credit, loans and other financial instruments to help
them establish and grow their micro businesses. So, most individuals depend on
local money lenders for credit. The loan comes at high interest and often with
unbearable conditions, which make these poor unsuspecting people fall in a
debt-trap for generations. When businesses fail, the borrowers become
vulnerable to the lender’s strong-arm tactics and other forms of humiliation.
As per NSSO Survey of 2013, there are close to 5.77 crore small-scale business
units, mostly sole proprietorships, which undertake trading, manufacturing, retail
and other small-scale activities. Compare this with the organised sector and
larger companies that employ 1.25 crore individuals. Clearly, the potential to
harness and nurture these micro businesses is vast and the government
recognises this. Today, this segment is unregulated and without financial support
or cover from the organised financial banking system.
Can MUDRA Really Be a Game Changer for India?
Majority of Indians are poor and live in rural and interior parts of
India. Most are excluded from getting facilities that would be
termed very basic, even by Indian standards.
Most people do not have access to farmland and in the
absence of jobs, are left to their own creativity to feed themselves
and survive. They figure out ways to do odd jobs in exchange of
money or barter their services. Most of these people belong to
scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and other backward classes. It is
to be noted that most of the micro enterprises, retail or trading
activity, are initiated and controlled by women, with no exposure
to education, formal training or access to any form of banking
support.
Now visualise this. If India could harness this free spirit of
enterprise and offer some guidance, support, training and financial
assistance, the potential to get an immediate jump in GDP is there
for the asking. Narendra Modi recognises this and was clear of the
potential of this low-hanging fruit.
If MUDRA can continue to retain focus on the
underprivileged and extend its reach to the interiors, it can
well emerge as a bigger success story than what Grameen
Bank of Bangladesh ever was or will be.
There is an old saying that goes like this: “Give a man a fish you
feed him for a day, teach him how to fish and he will never go
hungry”. MUDRA Bank is a step by the government that can be a
game changer in giving birth to a new set of entrepreneurs, some
of whom may scale heights not imagined today. This is far better
than giving subsidy, which may seem welcoming at first, but does
little to help an individual strive for a better life. MUDRA is the
way to go.
The modalities of functioning of MUDRA Bank are in place and it
has been decided that the funding activity will be carried out by
microfinance institutions. However, the small businesses have to
wait to get full information on Mudra Bank and have a clarity on
who all are eligible for loans and how to get the benefits of this
scheme.
Recent Developments
Hasmukh Adhia, Union Financial Service Secretary said that Mudra
Bank will be first set up as a subsidiary of the Small Industries
Development Bank of India and later will be converted to a full-
fledged bank through an Act of Parliament. Adhia made this
announcement during a ‘roundtable on financing of innovations’
which was attended by chiefs of banks and financial institutions, and
also the President of India. Although Adhia did not disclose the
details about the setup of Mudra Bank, he said that the Prime Minister
will launch it soon.
MUDRA bank has join hands with 19 state and regional level
coordinators so as to reach the small entrepreneurs who have limited
branch presence and are cut off from the general banking system. The
initiative taken by the government is expected to be helpful for the
small and micro businesses. It is also expected that these businesses
will generate 10 times more number of jobs which are normally
generated by the big business firms/companies at present.
 8. Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY)

Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana has been launched by the Indian Government that
envisages the vision of Housing for All by the year 2022. The government of
India had earlier launched ‘Housing for All’ scheme, which has now been
reformed as Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana. The Scheme has been launched by
the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi on 25th June 2015.
The scheme comes with an aim of constructing more than two crore houses
across the length and breadth of the nation within a span of next seven years.
This means the scheme which is started in year 2015 would conclude
successfully in the year 2022. The target beneficiaries of the scheme would be
poor and people living under EWS and LIG categories in urban establishments
of the country.
Need for PMAY
According to current estimates, the urban population of the country, which has already
seen a sharp increase over the past decade, is set to see a phenomenal growth in the years
to come. By the year 2050, the country’s urban population is set to reach a population of
more than 814 million people. This is an increase of about 400 million from current
levels. One of the biggest challenges faced by the country will be providing affordable
housing, sanitation and development, and a safe environment to the city dwellers.
Currently, the development of a city is led by the real estate developers who decide the
areas which shall be developed. Real estate prices have also skyrocketed over the past
couple of decades leaving the common man with only dreams of owning a house. It is to
address these issues that Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Housing for All by
2022 scheme, also known as the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) on 25 June 2015
at a launch ceremony in Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi.
Two other schemes were also launched as complementary to the affordable housing
scheme, a scheme for development of Smart Cities across the country and the Atal
Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) that allows for urban
renewal and up gradation of infrastructure in the major urban tracts of the country.
The Prime Minister of India launched the PMAY and the two other schemes in the
presence of mayors, municipal commissioners, and state-government officials from all
parts of the country.
Implementation of the Programme
The PM Awas Yojana started in the year 2015 and would be spread for
implementation till the year 2022 and would be carried out in three sustainable
phases:
Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana Phase 1: The Phase 1 of PM Awas Yojana would span
from April 2015 to March 2017 and a total of 100 cities would see the developmental
work started and completed during this phase.
Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana Phase 2: The Phase 2 of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana
would span from April 2017 to March 2019 and during this phase, a total of 200 more
cities would be covered and developed.
Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana Phase 3: The Phase 3 of PMAY would span from April
2019 to March 2022 and during this phase the left over cities would be covered and
developed.
The Beneficiaries of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana
Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana would target specific groups from the society,
which are:
1. Women, irrespective of caste and religion
2. Economically Weaker Section of Society (EWS)
3. Scheduled Tribes (ST)
4. Scheduled Casts (SC)
The Government of India would be granting a subsidy to people from these
categories so that they buy a home for themselves and their families. The
subsidy amount may range from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 2.30 lakh.
Features of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana
The features of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana are as following:
The government would provide an interest subsidy of 6.5% on
housing loans availed by the beneficiaries for a period of 15 years
from the start of loan.
The houses under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana would be allotted to
preferably the female member of the family. Along with this,
preference would be given to the female applicants, in general. This
scheme could well be termed as a pro-women scheme.
While allotting ground floors in any housing scheme under the
PMAY, preference would be given to differently-abled and older
people.
The construction of houses under PMAY would be carried out
through technology that is eco-friendly.
Interest Rates, EMI Calculation and Subsidy in PM Awas Yojana
The niche of the scheme lies in the fact that the EMI paid by the home owners
under the scheme would be reduced significantly. The current rate of housing
loan in India is at 10.50 per cent. If someone buys a property currently on a loan
of Rs 6 lakh for tenure of 15 years today, he/she would have to pay an EMI of Rs
6,632 per month currently. However, with 6.5 per cent subsidy under the
scheme, the beneficiary would have to pay just Rs 4,050 per month as EMI.
Thus, there is a significant reduction of Rs 2,000 in the EMI itself.
Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana Components (Housing for All 2022)
1. An average of Rs 1 lakh would be granted by the Government of
India to all the beneficiaries under the scheme.
2. Through Credit Lined Subsidy Scheme, a subsidy of 6.5% would be
given to each beneficiary belong from EWS and Lower Income
Group categories.
3. A central government assistance of Rs 1.5 lakh would go to every
beneficiary for promoting housing stock and thus 35% of the units
under the project would be earmarked for the Economically Weaker
Section category.
4. In addition to the above, an Rs 1.5 lakh would be provided to all
eligible urban poor who want to construct their own house in urban
areas or wish to make necessary renovations in their existing houses.
Scheme Details
According to the terms of the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, the government of
India will undertake to construct about two crore houses by the year 2022. Each
house provided under the scheme will involve a central grant of about INR 1
lakh which may go up to INR 2.3 lakhs. This will come as part of a 6.5 percent
interest rate subsidy scheme (previous schemes had an interest rate subsidy of
about 1 percent). This means that the applicants from lower income groups who
avail of the housing scheme may apply for a housing loan with interest subsidy
of 6.5 percent. The tenure or term for these housing loans may go up to 15 years
and the total benefit received by such loan subsidy will add up to INR 1 to 2.3
lakh each. Currently housing loan interest rates are estimated at about 10.5
percent. The subsidy should, therefore be a major relief to applicants. The
‘Housing for All’ scheme will replace all previous government housing schemes
such as the Rajiv Awas Yojana.
According to preliminary estimates, the Housing for All by 2022 will cost the
central government about INR three lakh crore spread over the next seven years.
The operational guidelines for the schemes launched have been finalised after a
year-long round of negotiations with states and Union Territories, say news
reports.
Apart from the PMAY itself, the government has come up with a number of
incentives and subsidies for the development of housing in urban areas. One of
these is the grant of INR 1 lakh per beneficiary to state governments for the
development of housing projects in slum areas.
Affordable rental housing, an INR 6,000 crore initiative, which was initially to
be part of the Housing for All scheme was missing from the NDA government
flagship scheme. The measure, meant to combat the proliferation of slums in
urban regions may be released as a separate scheme at a later date.
Benefits to Women, SC/ST
While the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana is clear about its goals – affordable
housing for all by 2022, it does ensure that the benefits of the scheme are
enjoyed by women, economically backward groups of Indian society and the
Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. In an unprecedented move, the
government has decided to protect the interests of neglected groups in the
country. Transgender and widows, members of the lower income groups and
urban poor, and the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes shall be granted
preference when they try to avail the affordable housing scheme. Apart from
these groups members of society who often find themselves out of a home,
seniors and differently-abled people shall also gain preference in allotment of
houses. They shall also be able to choose a ground-floor house if need be. Apart
from this, it is also mandatory that while registering to avail the benefits of the
scheme, the beneficiaries must necessarily mention their mother or wife’s name.
According to news reports, these details were revealed by a Housing and Urban
Poverty Alleviation Ministry official before the launch of the scheme. The
scheme is one-of-its-kind in India in terms of the protection and benefits that it
extends to previously neglected groups such as transgender and widows.
 9. Smart City Yojana

Smart Cities Mission of the Government is a bold, new initiative. It is meant to
set examples that can be replicated both within and outside the Smart City,
catalysing the creation of similar Smart Cities in various regions and parts of the
country.
In the imagination of any city dweller in India, the picture of a smart city
contains a wish list of infrastructure and services that describes his or her level
of aspiration. To provide for the aspirations and needs of the citizens, urban
planners ideally aim at developing the entire urban eco-system, which is
represented by the four pillars of comprehensive development-institutional,
physical, social and economic infrastructure.
The core infrastructure elements in a smart city would include:
1. Adequate water supply,
2. Assured electricity supply,
3. Sanitation, including solid waste management. Efficient urban
mobility and public transport,
4. Affordable housing, especially for the poor, robust IT connectivity
and digitalization,
5. Good governance, especially e-Governance and citizen participation,
viii. sustainable environment,
6. Safety and security of citizens, particularly women, children and the
elderly, and
7. Health and education.
Features
Some typical features of comprehensive development in Smart Cities are
described below.
1. Promoting mixed land use in area based developments
Planning for ‘unplanned areas’ containing a range of compatible activities
and land uses close to one another in order to make land use more
efficient. The States will enable some flexibility in land use and building
bye-laws to adapt to change;
2. Housing and inclusiveness
It entails for expanding housing opportunities for all.
3. Creating walk able localities helping in reduce congestion, air
pollution and resource depletion, boosting local economy, promoting
interactions and ensuring security. The road network is created or
refurbished not only for vehicles and public transport, but also for
pedestrians and cyclists, and necessary administrative services are
offered within walking or cycling distance;
4. Preserving and developing open spaces
Development of parks, playgrounds, and recreational spaces in order to
enhance the quality of life of citizens, reduce the urban heat effects in
Areas and generally promote eco-balance;
5. Promoting a variety of transport options
Transit Oriented Development (TOD), public transport and last mile Para-
transport connectivity;
6. Making governance citizen-friendly and cost effective
Increasingly rely on online services to bring about accountability and
transparency, especially using mobiles to reduce cost of services and
providing services without having to go to municipal offices. Forming e-
groups to listen to people and obtain feedback and use online monitoring
of programs and activities with the aid of cyber tour of worksites;
7. Giving an identity to the city
Based on its main economic activity, such as local cuisine, health,
education, arts and craft, culture, sports goods, furniture, hosiery, textile,
dairy, etc.;
8. Applying Smart Solutions
Applying smart solution infrastructure and services in area-based
development in order to make them better. For example, making Areas
less vulnerable to disasters, using fewer resources, and providing cheaper
 services.


 The Process of Selection of Smart Cities

Each aspiring city competes for selection as a smart city in what is called a
‘City Challenge’. There are two stages in the selection process. After the
number has been indicated to the respective Chief Secretaries, as outlined in
Para 8 above, the State/UT will undertake the following steps:-

Stage 1 of the competition: Short listing of cities by States

The State/UT begins with short listing the potential smart cities on the basis
of conditions precedent and scoring criteria and in accordance with the total
number allocated to it. The first stage of the competition will be intra-state,
in which cities in the State will compete on the conditions precedent and the
scoring criteria lay out. These conditions precedent have to be met by the
potential cities to succeed in the first round of competition and the highest
scoring potential smart cities will be shortlisted and recommended to
participate in Stage 2 of the Challenge. The conditions precedent and the
forms are given in Annexure 4 of the Guidelines. The information sent by
the ULBs in


The forms have to be evaluated by the State Mission Director and the
evaluation placed before the State-level High Powered Steering Committee
(HPSC) for approval. The composition of the State HPSC is given in Para 13
of the Guidelines.
The cities emerging successful in the first round of competition will be sent
by the State/UT as the recommended shortlist of smart cities to MoUD by
the stipulated date (to be indicated in the letter to Chief Secretaries). The
State Government has to fill the form (given in Annexure 3) and send with
the recommended list. The MoUD will thereafter announce the list of 100
smart cities.
Stage 2 of the competition: The Challenge round for selection

In the second stage of the competition, each of the potential 100 smart cities
prepares their proposals for participation in the ‘City Challenge’. This is a
crucial stage as each city’s Smart City Proposal (SCP) is expected to contain
the model chosen, whether retrofitting or redevelopment or Greenfield
development or a mix thereof, and additionally include a Pan-City
dimension with Smart Solutions. The SCP will also outline the consultations
held with the city residents and other stakeholders, how the aspirations are
matched with the vision contained in the SCP and importantly, what is the
proposal for financing of the smart city plan including the revenue model to
attract private participation. An evaluation criterion for the SCPs has been
worked out by MoUD based on professional advice and this should act as
guidance to the cities for preparing their proposal. The criteria and the
documents to be sent with the application are given in Annexure-4 of the
Guidelines.
By a stipulated date, to be indicated by MoUD to the States/UTs, proposals
will be submitted to MoUD for all these 100 cities. These will be evaluated
by a Committee involving a panel of national and international experts,
organizations and institutions. The winners of the first round of Challenge
will be announced by MoUD. Thereafter, while the winning cities start
taking action on making their city smart, those who do not get selected will
start work on improving their SCPs for consideration in the second round.
Depending on the nature of the SCPs and outcomes of the first round of the
Challenge, the MoUD may decide to provide handholding assistance to the
potential Smart Cities to upgrade their proposals before starting the second
round.


Strategy

The strategic components of area-based development in the Smart Cities Mission
are city improvement (retrofitting), city renewal (redevelopment) and city
extension (Greenfield development) plus a Pan-city initiative in which Smart
Solutions are applied covering larger parts of the city. Below are given the
descriptions of the three models of Area-based smart city development:
1. Retrofitting will introduce planning in an existing built-up area to
achieve smart city objectives, along with other objectives, to make
the existing area more efficient and liveable. In retrofitting, an area
consisting of more than 500 acres will be identified by the city in
consultation with citizens. Depending on the existing level of
infrastructure services in the identified area and the vision of the
residents, the cities will prepare a strategy to become smart. Since
existing structures are largely to remain intact in this model, it is
expected that more intensive infrastructure service levels and a large
number of smart applications will be packed into the retrofitted smart
city. This strategy may also be completed in a shorter time frame,
leading to its replication in another part of the city.
2. Redevelopment will effect a replacement of the existing built-up
environment and enable co-creation of a new layout with enhanced
infrastructure using mixed land use and increased density.
Redevelopment envisages an area of more than 50 acres, identified by
Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) in consultation with citizens. For
instance, a new layout plan of the identified area will be prepared
with mixed land-use, higher FSI and high ground coverage. Two
examples of the redevelopment model are the Saifee Burhani
Upliftment Project in Mumbai (also called the Bhendi Bazaar Project)
and the redevelopment of East Kidwai Nagar in New Delhi being
undertaken by the National Building Construction Corporation.
3. Greenfield development will introduce most of the Smart Solutions in
a previously vacant area (more than 250 acres) using innovative
planning, plan financing and plan implementation tools (e.g. land
pooling/ land reconstitution) with provision for affordable housing,
especially for the poor. Greenfield developments are required around
cities in order to address the needs of the expanding population. One
 well known example is the GIFT City in Gujarat. Unlike retrofitting
and redevelopment, Greenfield developments could be located either
within the limits of the ULB or within the limits of the local Urban
Development Authority (UDA).
4. Pan-city development envisages application of selected Smart
Solutions to the existing city-wide infrastructure. Application of
Smart Solutions will involve the use of technology, information and
data to make infrastructure and services better. For example, applying
Smart Solutions in the transport sector (intelligent traffic management
system) and reducing average commute time or cost of citizens will
have positive effects on productivity and quality of life of citizens.
Another example can be waste water recycling and smart metering
which can make a huge contribution to better water management in
the city.
5. The smart city proposal of each shortlisted city is expected to
encapsulate either a retrofitting or redevelopment or Greenfield
development model, or a mix thereof and a Pan-city feature with
Smart Solution(s). It is important to note that pan-city is an additional
feature to be provided. Since smart city is taking a compact area
approach, it is necessary that all the city residents feel there is
something in it for them also. Therefore, the additional requirement
of some (at least one) city-wide smart solution has been put in the
scheme to make it inclusive.
6. For North Eastern and Himalayan States, the area proposed to be
developed will be one-half of what is prescribed for any of the
alternative models - retrofitting, redevelopment or Greenfield
development.
Challenges
This is the first time, a programme is using the ‘Challenge’ or
competition method to select cities for funding and using a strategy of
area-based development. This captures the spirit of ‘competitive and
cooperative federalism’.
States and ULBs will play a key supportive role in the development of
Smart Cities. Smart leadership and vision at this level and ability to act
decisively will be important factors determining the success of the
Mission.
Understanding the concepts of retrofitting, redevelopment and
Greenfield development by the policy makers, implementers and other
stakeholders at different levels will require capacity assistance.
Major investments in time and resources will have to be made during the
planning phase prior to participation in the Challenge. This is different
from the conventional DPR-driven approach.
The Smart Cities Mission requires smart people who actively participate
in governance and reforms. Citizen involvement is much more than a
ceremonial participation in governance. Smart people involve
themselves in the definition of the Smart City, decisions on deploying
Smart Solutions, implementing reforms, doing more with less and
oversight during implementing and designing post-project structures in
order to make the Smart City developments sustainable. The
participation of smart people will be enabled by the SPV through
increasing use of ICT, especially mobile-based tools.

Smart City Yojana is one of the favourite and most ambitious projects of
Government of India. This, if implemented, may change the face of entire India
on global platform. Currently, there are not many cities in India which could
stand at par in terms of modern infrastructure and compared with best cities of
the world.
Implementation
The implementation of the Mission at the City level will be done by a Special
Purpose Vehicle (SPV) created for the purpose.

How Many Smart Cities in Each State/UT?
The total number of 100 smart cities has been distributed among the States
and UTs on the basis of equitable criteria. The formula gives equal weight
age (50:50) to urban population of the State/UT and the number of statutory
towns in the State/UT. Based on this formula, each State/UT will, therefore,
have a certain number of potential smart cities, with each State/UT having at
least one. This distribution is given below. The number of potential Smart
Cities from each State/UT will be capped at the indicated number. (This
distribution formula has also been used for allocation of funds under Atal
Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation - AMRUT).
The distribution of smart cities will be reviewed after two years of the
implementation of the Mission. Based on an assessment of the performance
of States/ULBs in the Challenge, some re-allocation of the remaining
potential smart cities among States may be required to be done by MoUD.
Number of cities allocated to States based on No. of cities
urban population and number of statutory towns
State/ UT
A & N Islands 1
Andhra Pradesh 3
Arunachal Pradesh 1
Assam 1
Bihar 3
Chandigarh 1
Chhattisgarh 2
Daman & Diu 1
Dadra & Nagar Haveli 1
Delhi 1
Goa 1
Gujarat 6
Haryana 2
Himachal Pradesh 1
Jammu & Kashmir 1
Jharkhand 1
Karnataka 6
Kerala 1
The SPV will plan, appraise, approve, release funds, implement,
manage, operate, monitor and evaluate the Smart City development
projects.
Each smart city will have a SPV which will be headed by a full time
CEO and have nominees of Central Government, State Government and
ULB on its Board. The States/ULBs shall ensure that, (a) a dedicated
and substantial revenue stream is made available to the SPV so as to
make it self-sustainable and could evolve its own credit worthiness for
raising additional resources from the market and (b) Government
contribution for Smart City is used only to create infrastructure that has
public benefit outcomes.
The execution of projects may be done through joint ventures,
subsidiaries, public-private partnership (PPP), turnkey contracts, etc.
suitably dovetailed with revenue streams.
 FAQs on Smart City
Q1) What is the estimated cost of Smart City Projects?
The initial cost of the project is said to be around 7,000 crores. At the same
time, the project cost may go up to Rs 700,000 crores in later phases and by
the time it gets completed. The amount and estimate of the project has been
worked out by experts under guidance of the ministry of finance and finance
minister, Arun Jaitley.
Q2) What is the entire duration of Smart City Yojana?
The exact duration of the scheme has not yet been mentioned, however, as
we know that the project would take place in phases and the final phase
should be completed within next two decades.
Q3) How many cities and which areas would be covered under this
project?
Within a span of 20 years, a total of 100 cities and towns would be covered
and built on international standards. The major metros of the country are
already at some par, therefore, in the first phase the project would target the
B grade towns and cities and bring them up in terms of infrastructure and
facilities.
Q4) How is the project going to be implemented?
The motive of Smart City Yojana is not just to build multi storied buildings
but to develop a city in which people have easier lifestyle and have to put
lesser effort to avail basic facilities along with having sanitation and other
services at bay. The project would ensure that cities and towns of India are
made better in all the spheres. Certain core issues of the cities and towns like
transport, energy resources, security of people, health and hygiene, etc. are
taken care of with modern technology. The idea is to build system of
improvement in each city. To cater to high technological requirements of the
implementation of the project, government would call for foreign direct
investment in various segments of the development.

The SPV will be a limited company incorporated under the Companies
Act, 2013 at the city-level, in which the State/UT and the ULB will be
the promoters having 50:50 equity shareholdings. The private sector or
financial institutions could be considered for taking equity stake in the
SPV, provided the shareholding pattern of 50:50 of the State/UT and the
ULB is maintained and the State/UT and the ULB together have
majority shareholding and control of the SPV.
Funds provided by the Government of India in the Smart Cities Mission
to the SPV will be in the form of tied grant and kept in a separate Grant
Fund. These funds will be utilized only for the purposes for which the
grants have been given and subject to the conditions laid down by the
MoUD.
 Special Purpose Vehicle
The SPV is usually a subsidiary company with an asset/liability structure
and legal status that makes its obligations secure even if the parent company
goes bankrupt. It can also refer to a subsidiary corporation designed to serve
as counterparty for swaps and other credit sensitive derivative instruments.

The State Government and the ULB will determine the paid up capital
requirements of the SPV commensurate with the size of the project,
commercial financing required and the financing modalities. To enable
the building up of the equity base of the SPV and to enable ULBs to
contribute their share of the equity capital, GoI grants will be permitted
to be utilized as ULBs share of equity capital in the SPV, subject to the
conditions given in Annexure 5 of the guidelines.
Initially, to ensure a minimum capital base for the SPV, the paid up
capital of the SPV should be such that the ULB’s share is at least equal
to Rs.100 crore with an option to increase it to the full amount of the
first instalment of Funds provided by GoI (Rs.194 crore). With a
matching equity contribution by State/ULB, the initial paid up capital of
the SPV will thus be Rs. 200 crore (Rs. 100 crore of GoI contribution
and Rs. 100 crore of State/UT share). Since the initial GoI contribution
is Rs.194 crore, along with the matching contribution of the State
Government, the initial paid up capital can go up to Rs.384 crore at the
option of the SPV. The paid up capital may be enhanced in the
subsequent years as per project requirements, with the provision
mentioned above ensuring that ULB is enabled to match its shareholding
in the SPV with that of the State/UT.
After selection of the cities in Stage II of the Challenge, the process of
implementation will start with the setting up of the SPV. As already
stated, it is proposed to give complete flexibility to the SPV to
implement and manage the smart city project and the State/ULB will
undertake measures as detailed in Annexure 5 of the guidelines for this
purpose. The SPV may appoint Project Management Consultants (PMC)
for designing, developing, managing and implementing area-based
projects. SPVs may take assistance from any of the empanelled
consulting firms in the list prepared by MoUD and the handholding
agencies. For procurement of goods and services, transparent and fair
procedures as prescribed under the State/ULB financial rules may be
followed. Model frameworks as developed by MoUD may also be used
for Smart City projects.
Structure and Functions of SPV
Structure of the SPV
The City level SPV will be established as a Limited Company under the
Companies Act, 2013 and will be promoted by the State/UT and the
ULB jointly, both having 50:50 equity shareholding. This shareholding
pattern has to be maintained at all times. The private sector or financial
institutions could be considered for taking equity stake in the SPV,
provided the State/UT and the ULB share are equal to each other, and
together the State/UT and ULB have majority shareholding and control
of the SPV (e.g. State/UT:ULB:Private sector shareholding can be in the
ratio 40:40:20 or 30:30:40. Ratios such as 35:45:20 or 40:30:30 are not
permitted since State/UT and ULB shares are not equal. Ratios such as
20:20:60 are also not permitted since the State/UT and the ULB together
do not have majority shareholding). In addition to equity, the State/UT
can provide its contribution to the Smart Cities Mission as grant to fulfil
the State Government responsibility for ensuring availability of funds for
the mission and for ensuring the financial sustainability of the SPV.
Raising and utilization of funds by the Company (SPV)
The funds given by the Central Government to the SPV will be in the
shape of tied grants and kept in a separate Grant Fund. These funds will
be utilized only for the purposes given in the Mission Statement and
Guidelines and subject to the conditions laid down by the Central
Government. The ULBs may, through the State Government, request
MoUD to permit utilization of GoI grants as ULB’s equity contribution
to the SPV, subject to the following conditions:
i. The State Government has made adequate contribution to the SPV out
of their own funds.
ii. The approval will be limited to the GoI grants that have already been
released. Since future instalments of Smart City funds are subject to
performance and are not guaranteed, the ULB will not be permitted to
earmark future instalments to meet its equity contribution.
iii. The utilization of GoI grants as equity contributions will not alter the
relative shareholding of the State Government and the ULB, which will
remain equal as per Mission guidelines.
iv. It is clarified that the Government of India contribution to Smart Cities
is strictly in the form of grant and the ULB is exercising its own discretion
in utilizing these funds as its equity contribution to the SPV.
The SPV will also access funds from other sources such as debt, loans,
user charges, taxes, surcharges, etc.
Board of Directors
The Board of Directors will have representatives of Central Government,
State Government, ULB and Independent Directors, in addition to the
CEO and Functional Directors. Additional Directors (such as
representative of parastatal) may be taken on the Board, as considered
necessary. The Company and shareholders will voluntarily comply with
the provision of the Companies Act 2013 with respect to induction of
independent directors. Below, are given the broad terms of appointment
and role of the SPV Board.
The Chairperson of the SPV will be the Divisional
Commissioner/Collector/Municipal Commissioner/ Chief Executive of
the Urban Development Authority as decided by the State Government.
The representative of the Central Government will be a Director on the
Board of the SPV and will be appointed by the MoUD.
The CEO of the SPV will be appointed with the approval of the MoUD.
The CEO will be appointed for a fixed term of three years and will be
removed only with the prior approval of MoUD. The functions of the
CEO include:
a. Overseeing and managing the general conduct of the day-to-day
operations of the SPV subject to the supervision and control of the Board.
b. Entering into contracts or arrangements for and on behalf of the
Company in all matters within the ordinary course of the Company’s
business.
c. To formulate and submit to the Board of Directors for approval a
Human Resource Policy that will lay down procedures for creation of staff
positions, qualifications of staff, recruitment procedures, compensation
and termination procedures.
d. Recruitment and removal of the senior management of the Company
and the creation of new positions in accordance with the Company’s
approved budget and the recruitment or increase of employees in
accordance with the Human Resource Policy lay down by the Board.
e. Supervising the work of all employees and managers of the Company
and the determination of their duties, responsibilities and authority;
The Independent Directors will be selected from the data bank(s)
maintained by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs and preference will be
given to those who have served as independent directors in the Board of
Companies fulfilling Clause 49 of the listing agreement of Securities and
Exchange Board of India (SEBI).
Delegation of powers to the SPV
One of the primary reasons for the creation of an SPV for the Smart City
Mission is to ensure operational independence and autonomy in decision
making and mission implementation. The Smart City Mission
encourages the State Government and the ULB to adopt the following
best practices to create empowered SPVs to the extent and as provided
under the municipal act.
1. Delegating the rights and obligations of the municipal council with
respect to the smart city project to the SPV.
2. Delegating the decision making powers available to the ULB under
the municipal act/ Government rules to the Chief Executive Officer of
the SPV.
3. Delegating the approval or decision making powers available to the
Urban Development Department / Local Self Government department
/ Municipal Administration department to the Board of Directors of
the SPV in which the State and ULB are represented.
4. Delegating the matters that require the approval of the State
Government to the State Level High Powered Steering Committee
(HPSC) for Smart Cities.

Functions of SPV
The key functions and responsibilities of the SPV are to:
Approve and sanction the projects including their technical appraisal.
Execute the Smart City Proposal with complete operational freedom.
Take measures to comply with the requirements of MoUD with
respect to the implementation of the Smart Cities programme.
Mobilize resources within timelines and take measures necessary for
the mobilisation of resources.
Approve and act upon the reports of a third party Review and
Monitoring Agency.
Overview Capacity Building activities.
Develop and benefit from inter-linkages of academic institutions and
organizations.
Ensure timely completion of projects according to set timelines.
Undertake review of activities of the Mission including budget,
implementation of projects, and preparation of SCP and co-ordination
with other missions / schemes and activities of various ministries.
Monitor and review quality control related matters and act upon
issues arising thereof.
Incorporate joint ventures and subsidiaries and enter into Public
Private Partnerships as may be required for the implementation of the
smart cities programme
Enter into contracts, partnerships and service delivery arrangements
as may be required for the implementation of the Smart Cities
Mission.
Determine and collect user charges as authorised by the ULB.
Collect taxes, surcharges etc. as authorised by the ULB.
 10. Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban
Transformation (AMRUT)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has finally launched his dream project of
building 100 Smart Cities on 29 April 2015, when the Cabinet chaired by him
approved of Rs 48,000 crore outlays to be spent on the project over the next five
years.
The Cabinet also approved the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban
Transformation (AMRUT), a mission aimed at transforming 500 cities and
towns into efficient urban living spaces, with special focus on a healthy and
green environment for children. The Cabinet approved Rs 50,000 crore for this
mission which is to be spent over the next five years.
Both projects are interlinked, however, each has a special focus on urban
infrastructure development that India needs if it has to emerge as a strong
contender for a developed nation status, in times ahead.
Mission
Therefore, the purpose of Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban
Transformation (AMRUT) is to
1. Ensure that every household has access to a tap with assured supply
of water and a sewerage connection;
2. Increase the amenity value of cities by developing greenery and well
maintained open spaces (e.g. parks); and
3. Reduce pollution by switching to public transport or constructing
facilities for non-motorized transport (e.g. walking and cycling). All
these outcomes are valued by citizens, particularly women, and
indicators and standards have been prescribed by the Ministry of
Urban Development (MoUD) in the form of Service Level
Benchmarks (SLBs).
Thrust Areas
The Mission will focus on the following Thrust Areas:
i. Water Supply,
ii. Sewerage facilities and septage management,
iii. Storm Water drains to reduce flooding,
iv. Pedestrian, non-motorized and public transport facilities, parking
spaces, and
v. Enhancing amenity value of cities by creating and upgrading green
spaces, parks and recreation centres, especially for children.
Coverage
Five hundred cities will be taken up under AMRUT. The list of cities will be
notified at the appropriate time. The category of cities that will be covered in the
AMRUT is given below:
i. All Cities and Towns with a population of over one lakh with notified
Municipalities, including Cantonment Boards (Civilian areas),
ii. All Capital Cities/Towns of States/ UTs, not covered in above,
iii. All Cities/ Towns classified as Heritage Cities by MoUD under the
HRIDAY Scheme,
iv. Thirteen Cities and Towns on the stem of the main rivers with a
population above 75,000 and less than 1 lakh, and
v. Ten Cities from hill states, islands and tourist destinations (not more
than one from each State).
Components
Mission Components
The components of the AMRUT consist of capacity building, reform
implementation, water supply, sewerage and septage management, storm water
drainage, urban transport and development of green spaces and parks. During the
process of planning, the Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) will strive to include some
smart features in the physical infrastructure components. The details of the
Mission components are given below.
Water Supply
i. Water supply systems including augmentation of existing water supply,
water treatment plants and universal metering.
ii. Rehabilitation of old water supply systems, including treatment plants.
iii. Rejuvenation of water bodies specifically for drinking water supply
and recharging of ground water.
iv. Special water supply arrangement for difficult areas, hill and coastal
cities, including those having water quality problems (e.g. arsenic,
fluoride).
Sewerage
i.) Decentralised, networked underground sewerage systems, including
augmentation of existing sewerage systems and sewage treatment plants.
ii.) Rehabilitation of old sewerage system and treatment plants.
iii.)Recycling of water for beneficial purposes and reuse of wastewater.

Septage
i. Faecal Sludge Management- cleaning, transportation and treatment in a
cost-effective manner.
ii. Mechanical and Biological cleaning of sewers and septic tanks and
recovery of operational cost in full.

Storm Water Drainage
Construction and improvement of drains and storm water drains in order
to reduce and eliminate flooding.
Urban Transport
i. Ferry vessels for inland waterways (excluding port/bay infrastructure)
and buses.
ii. Footpaths/ walkways, sidewalks, foot over-bridges and facilities for
non-motorised transport (e.g. bicycles).
iii. Multi-level parking.
iv. Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS).
Green Space and Parks
i. Development of green space and parks with special provision for child-
friendly components.
Reforms Management &Support
i. Support structures, activities and funding support for reform
implementation.
ii. Independent Reform monitoring agencies.
Capacity Building
i. This has two components- individual and institutional capacity building.
ii. The capacity building will not be limited to the Mission Cities, but will
be extended to other ULBs as well.
iii. Continuation of the Comprehensive Capacity Building Programme
(CCBP) after its realignment towards the new Missions.
Indicative (not exhaustive) list of inadmissible components
i. Purchase of land for projects or project related works,
ii. Staff salaries of both the States/ULBs,
iii. Power,
iv. Telecom,
v. Health,
vi. Education, and
vii. Wage employment programme and staff component.
How AMRUT is Different from Smart City Yojna?
Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) has a wider
reach in terms of the number of cities covered and therefore the funds available
for each city would be proportionately less. The mission takes a project approach
in working towards improving existing basic infrastructure services like
extending clean drinking water supply, improving sewerage networks,
developing septage management, laying of storm water drains, improving public
transport services and creating green public spaces like parks etc, with special
focus on creating healthy open spaces for children.
500 cities and towns will be selected on the basis of population i.e. one lakh and
above, while the other criteria of selection will apply for certain locations like
tourist popularity, cities located at the stems of main rivers, certain popular hill
towns and some select islands. The centre is laying out guidelines on the basis of
which states will be free to suggest cities that they wish to bring under AMRUT.
AMRUT is actually a new avatar of the existing JNNURM and will extend
support to till 2017 to those projects that are at least 50% complete under the
earlier JNNURM. Over 400 existing projects are likely to benefit from this.
The Smart Cities Mission will focus on developing 100 select Smart cities by
focusing on optimising efficiencies in urban services and infrastructure
management, with proactive use of technology and people participation. The
Mission will support each selected city with Rs 100 crore per year, for a period
of five years.
Given the fact that each city and town is unique and has its own priorities for
development, the Centre proposes an ‘area based’ approach to development that
will cover retrofitting or redevelopment as per Local Area Plan. While
retrofitting will focus on removing deficiencies in existing local infrastructure,
redevelopment will focus on re-building those areas where existing
infrastructure cannot be converted or improved further due to limitations of
space.
The Smart Cities Mission will also look at optimizing basic core infrastructure
services like clean drinking water supply, optimized power distribution,
introducing efficient solid waste management, affordable housing to cater to
various sections, efficient and intelligent public transportation systems and
active use of IT infrastructure to improve service delivery and management.
New cities planned will incorporate all aspects of urban infrastructure and ensure
green and sustainable living.
Centre Walks the Talk on Giving More Power to the States
Through both these missions, the Centre has taken a fresh approach by involving
active participation by the states and giving the control to ‘shortlist’ cities and
towns to be brought under the respective missions and take responsibility for
their implementation and fund allocation. In addition, the state will undertake
supervision and monitoring of project milestones, as per agreed guidelines.
Unlike earlier practice, the Centre will not appraise project performance and will
leave that to the respective states. Central contribution of funds release will be
linked to broad mission objectives being met.
The states will be free to ‘suggest’ cities as per selection matrix laid out by the
centre. For instance, for the Smart Cities Project, a ‘Smart City Challenge’
competition will be launched for cities that wish to come under the mission plan.
The Centre plans to link financing to the ability of each city to meet the mission
objectives.
Special Purpose Vehicles (SPV) will be created for each selected city and the
respective states will be responsible to ensure that adequate resources are made
available to the SPVs. The Centre will extend funding support to the extent of
50% for cities with a population of up to 10 lakh and a third of the project cost
for cities with a population above 10 lakh.
Central funding to the states for each city will be released in three instalments in
the ratio of 20:40:40 and would be linked to milestones being achieved, as per
State Annual Action Plan.
To promote early implementation by the states, the centre will incentivise the
states by offering to release 10% of the budget allocation, based on reforms
implementation in the previous year.
Through implementation of these missions, the Central government hopes to
catalyze transformation of approach and functioning of the existing municipal
corporations into professionally run efficient bodies. For mission success, it is
imperative to introduce professional staff that can introduce e-governance,
transparency in project tendering and monitoring, reviewing existing Building
by-laws, transparent and efficient funds allocation and management, efficient tax
collection mechanisms, and most of all, inclusion of people participation and
focus on people-centric services.
If successful, this will indeed be a significant step for India to seriously build a
nationwide green and sustainable urban infrastructure.
Challenges Ahead
Till now central control over projects did not succeed in improving or incentivising state level
involvement. With the new approach of extending central funding support and leaving it to the
states to execute and monitor the projects as per their priorities and local needs, the centre has
shifted the challenge and responsibility to the states.
The problem is that municipal functioning at the state level is heavily politicized and corrupt.
The big question is – will the states be able to rise above petty politics and ensure corrupt free
and efficient implementation of mission objectives? There cannot be a successful urban mission
of transformation without establishing the requisite professionally run management structure,
with necessary checks and balances built-in, and one that has the ability to adopt technology and
deliver efficient services.
Do the states have the political will to undertake the necessary
transformation?
Will the missions succeed or will they end up as white elephants?
As with any large project, there will always be the naysayers. Both ‘AMRUT’ and the ‘Smart
Cities Mission’ have come under criticism for being too ambitious and offering too little by way
of funding.
That maybe partially true. While it is true that the cities will require significantly more than what
has been offered by the centre, however, it is also true that the states will be taking their own
initiatives in raising funds and resources to meet mission objectives. Between both missions, the
central funds allocated is around Rs 100,000 crore, but with states contributing their share, the
total allocation could well touch Rs 200,000 crore.
It must be seen in the context where most cities and towns in India have suffered years of
neglect, with minimal investment in improving existing infrastructure or building new ones. This
mission is a beginning towards initiating the much needed transformation. After all, urban
infrastructure development cannot stop with one government but must remain a part of an
ongoing process. The fact that this government has initiated steps with active participation from
the states, could well give much needed impetus to an overstressed and obsolete infrastructure.
It’s time for India to transform.
 11. Swachh Bharat Abhiyan: Making India
Clean & More

Mahatma Gandhi had rightly said, “Sanitation is more important than
Independence”. He was aware of the pathetic situation of Indian rural people at
that time and he dreamt of a clean India where he emphasised on cleanliness and
sanitation as an integral part of living. Unfortunately, after 67 years of
independence, we have only about 30% of the rural households with access to
toilets. President Pranab Mukherjee, in his address to Parliament in June 2014,
said, “For ensuring hygiene, waste management and sanitation across the nation
a “Swachh Bharat Mission” will be launched. This will be our tribute to
Mahatma Gandhi on his 150th birth anniversary to be celebrated in the year
2019”.
First Cleanliness Drive Started on 25 September 2014
A cleanliness drive, just before the formal launch of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan,
was carried out from 25 September till 23 October by all offices up to panchayat
level. As a part of the awareness campaign, the Delhi Government also covered
more than eight lakh ration card holders by sending SMS to their mobile
numbers.
Swachh Bharat Launched on 2 October 2014
The Narendra Modi Government launched the “Swachh Bharat” movement to
solve the sanitation problem and waste management in India by ensuring
hygiene across the country. Emphasising on “Clean India” in his 2014
Independence Day speech, PM Modi said that this movement is associated with
the economic activity of the country. The prime objective of the mission is to
create sanitation facilities for all. It aims to provide every rural family with a
toilet by 2019.
Objectives of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan
The objectives of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan include the following
1. Construct individual, cluster and community toilets.
2. Eliminate or reduce open defecation. Open defecation is one of the
main causes of deaths of thousands of children each year.
3. Construct latrines and work towards establishing an accountable
mechanism of monitoring latrine use.
4. Create Public awareness about the drawbacks of open defecation and
promotion of latrine use.
5. Recruit dedicated ground staff to bring about behavioural change and
promotion of latrine use.
6. Change people’s mind-set towards proper sanitation use.
7. Keep villages clean.
8. Ensure solid and liquid waste management through gram panchayats.
9. Lay water pipelines in all villages, ensuring water supply to all
households by 2019.
Funds Allocation
This project is expected to cost over Rs. 2 lakhs crore. Fund sharing between the
Central and State Governments and Urban Local Bodies is allocated in the ratio
of 75:25. It has been officially stated that for North Eastern and special category
states, the allocation of funds is in the ratio of 90:10. To give a boost to the
project, the government has sought financial and technical support from the
World Bank. Also, all big corporate and private organisations are asked to join
the movement as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative.
Measures Proposed in 2015-16 Union Budget
Describing Clean India campaign as a “programme for preventive healthcare,
and building awareness”, the Finance Minister Arun Jaitley proposed that the
donations made to the Swachh Bharat Mission and the Clean Ganga Fund will
be eligible for tax deductions under the Income Tax Act. The budget also
proposed Swachh Bharat cess on select services at the rate of up to 2 per cent.
The resources generated from this cess will be leveraged for funding initiatives
towards the campaign.
Construction of 31.83 lakhs Toilets till January 2015
According to government data, in January 2015, 7.1 lakh individual household
toilets have been built under this dream project. This number is considered the
highest for any month since its launch in October 2014. 31.83 lakhs individual
toilets have been built until January 2015. So far, Karnataka is the best performer
by achieving 61% of the target while Punjab is the worst performer by achieving
5% of the target.
The Pledge for All
PM Narendra Modi has urged each and every one of us to pledge the following
as a part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan:
“I will remain committed towards cleanliness and devote time for this. I will
devote 100 hours per year that is two hours per week, to voluntarily work for
cleanliness. I will neither litter not let others litter. I will initiate the quest for
cleanliness with myself, my family, my locality, my village and my work place”.
Let’s Make Swachh Bharat Abhiyan a Success
The PM has rightly asserted that Swachh Bharat Abhiyan should be a combined
effort of both the Government as well as the people. We hope that the Swachh
Bharat Mission does not become another Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan started by the
previous Government in 1999 with the same mission but was far from a success.
Swachh Bharat Abhiyan should not be a mere re-branding exercise. There is no
doubt about the fact that change begins at home. Every citizen of the country
should take it upon himself to make this campaign a success rather than waiting
for the government to do. Let us also hope that we can change the attitude of the
people towards hygiene and be the change we want to see.
Recent Developments
• Swachh Bharat mission head Vijaylakshmi Joshi had resigned from her post
in September 2015. Her resignation came even before the Swachh Bharat
mission has completed a year.
 12. Jan Dhan Yojana (JDY)

Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) is National Mission for Financial
Inclusion to ensure access to financial services, namely, Banking/ Savings &
Deposit Accounts, Remittance, Credit, Insurance, Pension in an affordable
manner. Account can be opened in any bank branch or Business Correspondent
(Bank Mitr) outlet. PMJDY accounts are being opened with Zero balance.
However, if the account-holder wishes to get cheque book, he/she will have to
fulfil minimum balance criteria.
Objective
Objective of "Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana (PMJDY)" is ensuring access to
various financial services like availability of basic savings bank account, access
to need based credit, remittances facility, insurance and pension to the excluded
sections i.e. weaker sections & low income groups. This deep penetration at
affordable cost is possible only with effective use of technology.
Documents required to open an account under Pradhan Mantri
Jan-Dhan Yojana
If Aadhaar Card/Aadhaar Number is available then no other documents
is required. If address has changed, then a self-certification of current
address is sufficient.
If Aadhaar Card is not available, then any one of the following Officially
Valid Documents (OVD) is required: Voter ID Card, Driving License,
PAN Card, and Passport& NREGA Card. If these documents also
contain your address, it can serve both as “Proof of Identity and
Address”.
If a person does not have any of the “officially valid documents”
mentioned above, but it is categorized as ‘low risk' by the banks, then
he/she can open a bank account by submitting any one of the following
documents:
Identity Card with applicant's photograph issued by Central/State
Government Departments, Statutory/Regulatory Authorities, Public
Sector Undertakings, Scheduled Commercial Banks and Public Financial
Institutions;
Letter issued by a gazette officer, with a duly attested photograph of the
person.
Special Benefits under PMJDY Scheme
Interest on deposit.
Accidental insurance cover of Rs.1.00 lack
No minimum balance required.
Life insurance cover of Rs.30,000/-
Easy Transfer of money across India
Beneficiaries of Government Schemes will get Direct Benefit Transfer in
these accounts.
After satisfactory operation of the account for 6 months, an overdraft
facility will be permitted
Access to Pension, insurance products.
Accidental Insurance Cover, RuPay Debit Card must be used at least
once in 45 days.
Overdraft facility up to Rs.5000/- is available in only one account per
household, preferably lady of the household.
Unprecedented success
According to official statements from the Finance Ministry, the Pradhan Mantri
Jan Dhan Yojana has met with unprecedented success. On the first day of the
launch over 1.5 crore accounts were opened in banks under the scheme – setting
a record of sorts. By October 22, 2014, reports suggest that 6.47 crore bank
accounts have been opened under the scheme. On an average about a lakh
accounts are still being opened every day. A total amount of INR 4,813.59 cr has
been mopped up from the market in the form of deposits by the scheme. Prior to
the launch of the scheme, this money would have remained out of the scope of
the mainstream banking sector.
Gearing up for Phase II
On January 26, 2015, Phase I of the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana is set to
come to an end and Phase II will be launched. In the run-up to this phase, the
Finance Ministry has asked the Life Insurance Corporation (LIC), India’s largest
life insurance provider, and all other State-owned general insurance companies
to finalise the details of the products to be sold to all the bank account holders
under the scheme. Anoop Wadhwa, Joint Secretary, Insurance, at the Ministry of
Finance, held a meeting in October to review the progress on the preparations for
the Phase II plans. About 15 micro-insurance products have been identified for
Phase II. These will be sold to the PMJDY account holders. Some of them like
crop insurance are targeted at the rural sector while life insurance may be
applicable to all account holders. While the rollout of Phase II is scheduled for
January, news reports say that a number of State insurance providers have
already started selling these micro-insurance products in small quantities to the
PMJDY account holders.
More Delays and Concerns
After a very successful launch, the PMJDY seems to have run into delays, and
concerns about the effective implementation of the scheme. By early October,
about 5.29 crore accounts had been opened while only 1.78 RuPay cards had
been issued. The RuPay debit card is a major highlight of the scheme and is key
to providing the account holders the promised life and accident insurance covers.
A lack of supply of debit cards has been blamed and authorities are trying to
hasten the process of issuing debit cards, say news reports. If supply constraints
persist, the problem could, however, spiral out of hand as estimates suggest that
the scheme will require about 10 crore debit cards by 2015.
Another major concern that has come up is that of duplication of accounts. The
lack of KYC regulations make it easy for account holders to open multiple
accounts in different banks to avail of multiple insurance policies. Provision of
overdraft facility without adequate documentation is another worry. These
concerns have not been addressed yet. Linking the accounts to Aadhaar cards
looks like the only feasible solution and banks are working in this direction.
 13. Mahatma Gandhi National Rural
Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA)

The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005 (NREGA) is a social
security scheme that attempts to provide employment and livelihood to rural
labourers in the country. In an effort to make inclusive and overall development
a reality, the NREGA was passed as a labour law and implemented across 200
districts in 2006. By 2008, it came to cover the entire country. The scheme was
designed to provide any adult who registers for rural employment a minimum
job guarantee of 100 days each financial year. This includes non-skilled work,
making it one-of-its-kind across the world. It was later renamed the Mahatma
Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). The
MGNREGA is an entitlement to work that every adult citizen holds. In case such
employment is not provided within 15 days of registration, the applicant
becomes eligible for an unemployment allowance.
The implementation of MGNREGA was left to the Gram Panchayats. According
to government sources, since the inception of the scheme, the government of
India has incurred a total expenditure of INR 289817.04 crores towards the
scheme, thereby employing 68,26,921 workers on 2,61,942 worksites (data as of
June 2015). The minimum wages initially determined were INR 100 a day but
later revised in keeping with the state labour employment conventions. The
minimum wages are now determined by the states and range between INR 163
in Bihar to INR 500 in Kerala. The MGNREGA has been at the receiving end of
much criticism over the years. From being criticised for encouraging corruption
to increasing inequality to being called an election card for the UPA – the
scheme has been picked apart for a variety of reasons. Apart from causing a
major financial drain on the country’s resources, the actual benefits of the
scheme do not reach the rural labourers, detractors claim.
Social Security and MGNREGA Scorecard
Indian PM Narendra Modi and the NDA government, in the past year, have
exhibited a great interest in social security. Numerous schemes aimed at
inclusive financial growth such as the Jan Dhan Yojana have been launched. The
low-cost Atal Pension Yojana and the life and accident insurance schemes
launched by the government are proof enough that the administration is indeed
looking at overall development and financial inclusion into the mainstream while
retaining an element of social security for the lower income groups. For the
MGNERA to flourish and achieve its objectives, however, it will need to be
linked with these schemes launched by the NDA government.
No such step has been initiated yet
Despite the opposition, the government has brought about initiatives and
changes to MGNREGA that have improved the payment mechanism to tackle
the issues pertaining to delayed payment of wages. The Mobile Monitoring
System was introduced towards the end of 2014. This system makes way for
real-time monitoring of the progress of projects that employ labour under the
scheme. This also regulates attendance and work environment in these work
sites. At the same time, the states were sanctioned INR 147 crore by the Centre
to strengthen the system of social audit used by the scheme. Social audit ensures
transparency by allowing public scrutiny of all records and accounts. This was
targeted at reducing corruption – one of the main challenges in successful
implementation of MGNREGA.
On the other hand, the year recorded the worst performance of MGNREGA
since its inception. There were huge delays in the time required for pay out of
wages and the number of days of work that each household received was also
reduced. Disbursement of funds was not comprehensive and structured, proving
that the scheme is not high on the NDA priority list.
Are Reforms on the Cards?
In 2015, PM Modi attempted to restrict the scope of MGNREGA and tried to
retain the scheme in only about 200 districts, which were the poorest in the
country. The attempt met with mass opposition and the PM received a letter from
leading economists of the nation criticising his move. The letter also urged the
Prime Minister to consider reforms to the scheme rather than running it aground.
The scheme is a well-defined security net for many families that would
otherwise perish in abject poverty. What remains to be seen is whether the NDA
government focuses on MGNREGA in its second year at the centre and enacts
adequate reforms or the scheme languishes as a forgotten UPA initiative.
 14. Sukanya Samriddhi Account

Sukanya Samriddhi Account New Saving Scheme is a savings scheme launched
on 22nd January 2015 under Beti Bachao Beti padhao campaign. This scheme is
targeted for the prosperity of girl child in our country by securing their major
future expenses like education & marriage.
Beti bachao Beti padhao campaign was launched with a noble cause of saving
the girl child in various part of the country. State like Haryana is struggling with
the lowest sex ratio due to gender bias mentality. Sukanya Samriddhi Account is
launched initially with the interest rate of 9.1% for the FY 2014-15. This interest
rate is revised to 9.2% for the FY 2015-16. One can get income tax exemption
for the deposited amount under section 80C of the Income Tax Act, 1961.
Objective
In India, a Girl child is considered as a Financial Burden especially in North
India. Being a father of a girl child I can say this with 100% conviction. It may
be because of dowry practice or outdated social norms. People show sympathy
towards father of Girl Child. Through Sukanya Samriddhi Account, government
is trying to give a social message that Girl Child is not a financial burden if
parents of a Girl child secure their future through proper financial planning. It is
quite evident from the scheme document. Be it a Girl Child or a Boy it’s the
responsibility of every parent to secure future of their child financially.
Unfortunate part is that to teach this basic lesson, a separate scheme for Girl
Child is required. Sukanya Samriddhi Account cannot be considered as an
investment option but a savings scheme to secure the future of Girl child. It is
not right to compare Sukanya Samriddhi Account with other investment options
/ savings scheme. There is a purpose behind this scheme and it is being launched
with an objective.
Benefits
Seven standalone benefits of Sukanya Samriddhi Account are as follows:-
1. Highest Interest Rate among all Small Savings Schemes
offered by Government of India
Sukanya Samriddhi Account will offered interest rate of 9.1% in FY 2014-15. It
is highest among all Small Savings Schemes. The rate of interest for this scheme
will be market linked. Rate of interest will be 75 bps or 0.75% more than
average 10 year G-Sec yield for the previous year. The Interest rate applicable
for the Financial Year will be declared every year by the Government of India.
Interest will be compounded yearly i.e. will be credited on yearly basis. It will be
accrued on monthly basis on the lowest balance between 5th and last day of the
month.
2. Tax Savings
In order to encourage people to open Sukanya Samriddhi Account, Government
has exempted contribution to this account u/s 80C of the Income Tax Act, 1961.
In all probability this scheme will be EEE i.e. exemption will also be available
on interest income and at the time of withdrawal. It is under consideration of
Department of Revenue (DOR). DOR will soon bring legislative amendment to
this effect. It will be most tax efficient scheme.
3. Lock-in Period
The maturity of account is 21 years from the date of opening of the account or
Marriage of the Girl Child, whichever is earlier. For Marriage, Girl should be of
18 years at the time of marriage. The operation of account is not permitted
beyond date of marriage.
One Premature withdrawal is allowed on attaining the age of 18 years by girl
child only if funds are required for Higher Education. Premature withdrawal is
restricted to 50% of the balance at the end of preceding financial year. The
deposits in the account can be made till completion of 14 years from the date of
opening of the account through maturity is 21 years from date of opening of the
account.
4. Purpose of Sukanya Samriddhi Account
Social Message is that Marriage or Education of a Girl Child is not a financial
burden if parents plan well in advance. With lock-in period as i explained in
point 3, the parents cannot withdraw the money for any other purpose except
marriage or for higher education of Girl Child. Because of this reason I
mentioned in the beginning of post that Sukanya Samriddhi Account cannot be
compared with any other financial instrument or small savings scheme. My
friends who are comparing this account with PPF forgot that in PPF, partial
withdrawals are allowed after 6 years. Moreover PPF is not linked to any end
purpose but just a tax saving instrument. They fail to understand the objective
behind this scheme.
5. Maturity Proceeds to be Paid to Girl Child
On maturity of Sukanya Samriddhi Account, the account balance along with
accrued interest will be paid directly to the account holder i.e. Girl Child. It
gives financial independence to Girl child which is currently missing in India.
6. Interest to be paid even after Maturity
Unlike other financial schemes where interest is not paid after maturity of the
deposit / investment scheme. Unique feature of Sukanya Samriddhi Account is
that even after maturity, if the account is not closed by the account holder,
Interest shall be payable in the account till final closure of the account.
7. Flexibility to operate Sukanya Samriddhi Account
Based on past experience, Government of India has given lot of flexibility in
terms of account operations. I am listing down few of them
(a) Account can be opened with initial deposit of Rs 1000 and thereafter any
amount in multiple of Rs 100 can be deposited subject to max limit of 1.5 lakh
during financial year. Every FY, a min sum of Rs 1000 should be deposited to
keep account operative.
(b) On attaining age of 10 years, a girl child can operate her account
(c) Account can be closed if it is proved that account is causing undue hardship
to the account holder
(d) Account can be transferred anywhere in India
Important Points
1. The scheme was notified on 2nd Dec, 2014 therefore as a one-time grace any
girl child who attained the age of 10 years, one year prior to the commencement
of this scheme, is eligible to open the SSA. What is implies is that Girl Child
born between 2nd Dec, 2003 and 1st Dec, 2004 are eligible to open the account.
2. This scheme is not available for NRI’s as it is small savings scheme.
3. Under this scheme, you can make deposit for 14 years from the date of
account opening. Account will mature only after 21 years. From 15th to 21st
year of account opening, you cannot make any deposit but will only receive
interest on the deposits under Sukanya Samriddhi Account. Another condition of
maturity is marriage. For example, if your daughter’s age is 8 years at the time of
opening Sukanya Samriddhi Account. Now you can make deposits only till she
turns 22 years. Account will mature after 21 years i.e. when she turns 29 years.
In case, she gets married between 18 years to 29 years of age then account will
mature automatically at the time of marriage.
4. If the money is not withdrawn from SSA after the maturity then also you will
continue to receive the interest till the account is closed voluntarily.
5. Variable contribution between Rs 1000 and Rs 1.5 Lakh is allowed. What it
implies is that you can deposit any amount of your choice in Sukanya Samriddhi
Account during FY. For example, 1st year you deposited Rs 1000 to open the
account. Now 2nd year you can deposit Rs 10,000, 3rd year Rs 90,000 and so
forth. Contribution is not fixed.
EEE Taxation Status for Sukanya Samriddhi Account
Sukanya Samriddhi Scheme is accorded EEE Tax status in Budget 2015. What it
means is that Tax Exemption is now available at all 3 stages i.e. Deposit, Growth
and Withdrawal under section 80C. In short, Scheme is 100% Tax Free.
Interest Rate of 9.2% for Financial Year 2015-16
Interest rate of 9.2% for FY 2015-16 for Sukanya Samriddhi Account. It shows
the commitment of Government towards the scheme. Even though interest rates
are declining but Government declared interest rate higher than FY 2014-15 for
FY 2015-16. Interest Rate is variable. For next Financial Year, Interest Rate will
be declared in April, 2016.
Review of SSA
Save for every girl child in India. Reinforcing this idea, Prime Minister Narendra
Modi launched ‘Sukanya Samriddhi Account Scheme’, a small savings scheme
as a part of the ‘Beti Bachao Beti Padhao’ campaign. It is also considered a part
of the government’s initiative to increase the percentage of domestic savings,
which has reduced from 38% of the GDP in 2008 to 30% in 2013. This scheme
will encourage parents to save for the education and future of their girl child.
More Information on Sukanya Samriddhi Account
1. Account Transferability: The account can be opened with an
amount of Rs. 1000. It can be transferred from the original location to
anywhere in India as the girl child relocates.
 FAQs on SSA
Q1) Who Can Open This Account?
An individual who is a legal guardian of the minor girl child can open this
account and deposit money. Now a guardian can be girl’s father or mother.
In case if both father & mother are not alive for the girl child, a person with
enough proof become a legal guardian and opens this account for the girl
child.
Q2) How Many Accounts can be Opened?
Only one Sukanya account can be opened for a girl child by the guardian. A
father and mother can’t open 2 accounts as depositor. It’s a one girl one
account rule.
Q3) No. of Account Per Family
A maximum of 2 accounts can be opened per family. But in case the first
birth results into 3 girl children or twin girls in 2nd birth then max 3 accounts
can be opened.

In such case one has to produce a medical certificate mentioning about the
twins or triplet birth.
Q4) Eligibility to open the SSA Account
Sukanya Samriddhi Account can be opened immediately after birth of the
girl child till she attains 10 years of age. But for this year 2015 there is a
special rule under which till December 2015 up to max age 11 years will be
considered. A grace period is also set for girl child who is born between
2.12.2003 & 1.12.2004 can open account up to 1.12.2015.
Q5) Documents Required for Opening Sukanya Samriddhi Account
The mandatory documents required to open this account are
Birth proof or Birth Certificate of girl child
Address proof of guardian
Identity proof of guardian or account opener
3 Photos of parents/legal guardian (if other than parents) and 3
photos of the child
Pan card and Aadhaar card copies of parents/legal guardian (if
 other than parents)
Q6) How to open Sukanya Samriddhi Account?
One can download the common Sukanya Samriddhi Account form released
by RBI. And then visit the nearest post office or authorized bank with all
necessary documents.
So far banks have not yet started providing facilities to open Sukanya
Samriddhi Account. As of now one can open only in Post office. But in
many post offices, they provide the old general post office account form
instead of the new account opening form.
Anyway, if they don’t have any issue, then you should not face any problem
in account opening.
Q7) What are the banks where one can open Sukanya Samriddhi
Account?
You can visit the presentation in which the names of the banks are clearly
mentioned where one can visit and apply for SSA. But as banks are not yet
offering this account, so this document is prepared based on assumption
only. We will update in case the real time process of opening SSA is
different than our assumption.
Q8) Passbook for Sukanya Samriddhi Account
On opening of SSA account one will get a passbook within few minutes of
application processing. This pass-book is almost similar to bank savings
account or post-office savings account. Every time one will deposit money,
this pass book will be updated by the bank or post office staffs.
Q9) Interest rate of SSA
When this scheme has been launched, the interest rate was kept as 9.1%
which is the maximum under small scale deposit scheme segments. In the
new financial year 2015-16 the interest rate of this Account has been revised
to 9.2%. Although this is just a 0.01 % hike in interest rate, but this will play
a big role to make this scheme a success.
Q10) Sukanya Samriddhi Account Deposit Rules
One can deposit maximum of Rs 1.5 lakh amount in a financial year. But the
minimum deposit amount is Rs 1000 only. In case someone fails to deposit
the minimum amount in a year then a penalty of Rs 50 will be applied.
As per Sukanya Samriddhi Account New Saving Scheme one can deposit in
any frequency for a financial year. E.g. you can deposit every month Rs
5000 or 7000 etc. but remember that maximum amount limit of Rs 1.5 lakh
should not be crossed. You can also deposit any amount in any month, e.g.
1st month Rs 2000, 2nd month Rs 3500, 3rd month 7000 etc. Simply keep the
min and max amount limits in mind and save as per your capacity.
The deposit period of SSA Account is up to 14 years from the date of
account opening.
E.g. if you open the account at the time of birth of the girl child, you can
deposit money till her 14th year of age. But if you open at an age of 10 years,
then you can deposit till 24th year of her age.
As there will be no deposit allowed from 14th to 21st year, the deposited
amount will earn compounded interest till maturity.
Q11) How to Deposit Money in SSA?
As the account can be opened so far in post office only, one can deposit
money by cash or cheque deposit or by demand draft only. As soon as the
banks will start offering this account we may find direct balance transfer or
can create standing instruction to deposit money automatically in Sukanya
Samriddhi Account. Similar to PPF account only.
Q12) Account Operation Rules?
As per standard rules, Sukanya Samriddhi Account can be opened by her
parents or legal guardian, if case of absence of parents. Till the girl child
attains 10 years age, guardian is the main operator of this account. After
reaching 10 years age, the girl child can operate the account herself till
maturity. But the deposit can be continued by the guardian only.
Q13) Account Transfer Rules?
In case your girl child is travelling to another city due to higher education or
shifting permanently, then SSA account can be transferred easily. Although
so far it is not clear that one can transfer the Account from post-office to
bank or not.
Q14) Pre-mature Closure Rules?
I found this question in many comments by people, “How to close Sukanya
Samriddhi Account before maturity”? Let’s check out the options available
for premature closing of this account.
In case of unfortunate death of the girl child, the account will be closed
immediately by producing the death certificate as proof. The amount
accumulated till the last month, will be paid back to the guardian with
interest.
In case of death of the depositor, if there is no further legal guardian to
continue the deposit the account can be closed by writing an application to
account opening authority.
In any other case, due to not able to manage cash for maintaining minimum
balance or some urgent cash requirement due to extreme health condition
etc. the account can be closed by submitting due application form.
In any other case, this Sukanya Samriddhi account can’t be closed before
maturity.
Q15) Pre-mature Withdrawal Rules?
The first withdrawal possible from SSA Account is when the girl child
reaches the age of 18 years. At that time, 50% of the amount accumulated
till date can be withdrawn to support the higher education expenses.
Q16) SSA Account Maturity Rules?
The account will be matured after 21 years of opening the account or on the
marriage date of the girl child whichever is earlier. Although this might
create much confusion based on various scenarios and we have answered
many such queries on many articles.
You can use Sukanya Samriddhi Account Calculator to check out how much
will be your investment. But these calculators are not exactly accurate as
interest rate for this account is not fixed.
Q17) Income Tax Exemptions rules?
At the launch, Sukanya Samriddhi Account New Saving Scheme was
announced as ETE scheme. But after budget 2015-16 this account has been
declared as 100% tax free. One can get exemptions for the amount deposited
in this account under section 80c.
The maturity value with the interest rate earned on maturity is also now tax
exempted. In simple words, there is no much difference in terms of tax rules
between PPF account and SSA account.
Q18) Sukanya Samriddhi Account for NRI?
As per the RBI guidelines, any NRI is not eligible to invest under any small
saving scheme. SSA being a small saving scheme, so far NRIs cannot open
this account.
Q19) Can I open Sukanya Samriddhi Account Online?
No. as of today online facility is not yet provided for this account. It will
take time to get these features, at least I believe banks have to come in to
picture to take this account forward with many attractive account handling
features.
2. Minimum Contribution: A minimum contribution of Rs. 1000 per
account has to be deposited per year. A maximum of Rs.1, 50,000 per
account can be deposited. There is no limit in the number of deposits
in a financial year. The money can be deposited through cash, cheque
or draft.
3. Penalty: A penalty of Rs.50 will be imposed if the account is not
credited with the minimum amount.
4. Rate of Interest: The scheme is offering an interest rate of 9.1% per
year. However, it will be revised in April every year and the change
will be communicated subsequently. The interest will be compounded
yearly and directly credited to the account.
5. Term Period: The guardian is expected to deposit amount in the
account only till the completion of 14 years. No deposits after that is
required till the maturity of the account.
6. Withdrawal: A premature withdrawal (at the end of the previous
financial year) of 50% of the accumulated amount is allowed after the
girl child turns 18.
7. Closure of Account: The account can be closed only after the child
turns 21. If the money is not withdrawn even after that, it will
continue to earn the interest.
8. Taxation: As per Section 80C of Income Tax Act, the investment (up
to Rs.1.5 lakhs) under the scheme, all the payments including the
interest payment and the total maturity amount will be fully exempted
from taxation.
 15. One Rank One Pension (OROP)

One Rank One Pension implies that uniform pension be paid to the Armed
Forces Personnel retiring in the same rank with the same length of service
irrespective of their date of retirement and any future enhancement in the rates of
pension to be automatically passed on to the past pensioners.

 One Rank, One Pension
OROP was the basis of determining pension and other benefit till 1973. An
all-party ten member Parliamentary Panel, known as the Koshyari
Committee after its Chairman, examined the issue of grant of OROP to
Armed Forces Personnel and submitted its report on 19 December 2011.[2]
The Koshyari Committee unanimously found merit in OROP and strongly
recommended that, "Government should implement OROP in the defence
forces across the board at the earliest and further that for future, the pay,
pension, family pension, etc. in respect of the defence personnel should be
determined by a separate commission so that their peculiar terms" are
properly taken into account.[2] The Koshyari Committee blamed
bureaucratic resistance and apathy for the failure to implement OROP.
In the run up to the Indian general election of 2014, OROP became a
politicised issue. [3] It was an integral part of the election manifesto of many
political parties including the INC and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Both Sonia Gandhi of INC, and Narendra Modi of BJP, at political rallies
made repeated commitments to implement OROP, if elected.
On 15 June 2015, despairing of the Government intent to implement OROP,
Ex-servicemen Organizations launched nationwide protests, including
hunger strikes.
On 5 September 2015, the Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar announced
that the government has accepted the concept of OROP and will implement
it. In a statement issued by Defence Minister, he said "Despite huge financial
burden, the government has taken a decision to implement the One Rank
One Pension. Benefit of OROP will be given with effect from July 1, 2014, a
date immediately after the present government assumed office". The
government has accepted all demands of veterans except annual revision of
Pension. The government has decided to revise the pension after every five
years. Also, OROP arrears are to be paid in four half-yearly instalments; all
widows, including war widows, to be paid arrears in one instalment. To
begin with, OROP would be fixed on the basis of calendar year 2013.
Pension will be re-fixed for all pensioners retiring in the same rank and same
length of services.
The Indian government has come up with the One Rank One Pension (OROP) in
what is being seen as a final effort to get the attention of the defence community
of the country – at the present moment there are 14 lakh soldiers and officers
serving in various capacities in different wings of the national armed forces.
There are also in excess of 25 lakh military officers in India who have retired.
Incidentally, this has been demanded for a long time now and has also been
promised but till now it had not been implemented. This is also being regarded
as an important step taken by the ruling government before the national
assembly elections come calling a few months later.
P Chidambaram, the Union Finance Minister, has stated that the OROP will be
implemented in a proactive manner and will come into play from the ongoing
financial year. The government will be transferring an amount of INR 500 crore
to the pension accounts of defence personnel. The main aim of this transfer is to
bring down the gap in the amounts being received by people who have retired
prior to 2006 and ones who have retired after that.
As per OROP, defence officers who have retired in the same rank and have
served for a similar period of time, they will be paid the same pension. It will not
take into consideration the year of their retirement. In the last 4-5 years many ex-
servicemen have become disillusioned with how the OROP issue has been
handled and have thus staged rallies and also given back their medals. During
one such rally organized at Rewari during September, VK Singh, an erstwhile
chief of the Indian Army and Narendra Modi had attended the proceedings. The
main issue was the fact that OROP was not being implemented. In fact, in some
circles this step of passing the OROP is being seen as eyewash of sorts.
A senior military official has termed the amount to be fairly low. As per the
official it is strange that even though the UPA has been at the centre they have
introduced the measure only a few months prior to the election. The amount has
also been termed as being an insufficient one. Previously an amount of INR
1730 crores had been calculated for the 2014-15 fiscal by the controller general,
defence accounts, and the ministry of defence. In some official sources, an
amount of INR 3 thousand crores was supposed to be set aside for OROP on a
yearly basis.
However, the ministry of defence has gauged the various aspects of this financial
benefit and the manner of its implementation is expected to be worked out in the
weeks to come. As per officials from the ministry the quoted figure is just a way
of showing that the government is committed towards extending the benefit.

 OROP Rolled Out, but Veterans Want More
Fulfilling one of its major election promises in the run up to the Lok Sabha
elections of the BJP, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on Saturday
announced the implementation of the long delayed One Rank One Pension
(OROP) for ex-servicemen.
The avowed aim of this announcement, to end the strike by veterans
demanding OROP was however hanging in fire with protesting veterans
rejecting the “unilateral” announcement as it “dilutes” several core issues
from the accepted definition. In an effort to get the veterans on board, Mr.
Parrikar met representatives of ex-servicemen later in the day and some
understanding has been reached.
“Despite the huge fiscal burden, given its commitment to the welfare of ex-
servicemen, the government has taken a decision to implement the OROP,”
Mr. Parrikar while announcing the plan, and said the ministry of defence
would soon issue a detailed government order.
Mr. Parrikar said 2013 would be taken as the base year for calculation and it
would be implemented from July 1, 2014 the earliest date after the
government assumed office. Equalisation of pensions would be done every
five years as against the usual practice of once a decade. As per definition
OROP implies uniform pension be paid to the armed forces personnel
retiring in the same rank and length of service regardless of their date of
retirement.


Another hitch
While OROP would be applicable for the disabled and war widows, those
opting for voluntary retirement and not complementing full service will be
out of its ambit. This has raised a new point of disagreement between the
veterans and the government. Mr. Parrikar said the government would give
details on the voluntary retirement in the government order. Asked if the
decision would be acceptable to the veterans, Mr. Parrikar said, “I want the
veterans on board on all issues”.
After meeting Mr. Parrikar, Major Gen Singh expressed satisfaction on the
explanation by the government on the issue of VRS. “Premature retirement
is the one point we wanted to discuss. Defence Minister confirmed that
Army doesn’t have VRS,” he said. On future course of action he said they
would take a decision on the agitation after “discussing with the core group”.
Veterans react
Responding to the statement, ex-servicemen while thanking the government
for implementing the scheme rejected the modalities. They have been
demanding an annual revision and implementation from April 1, 2014. “The
government has taken a decision, this is what we can give,” added Minister
of State for Defence, Rao Inderjit Singh.
To address complexities and sort out inter-services issues the government
will appoint a one member judicial commission which will give its report
within six months. The veterans in turn demanded a five member directly
under the Defence Minister and the report submitted within one month.
Given details on the cost of OROP to the exchequer, Mr. Parrikar stated that
it would cost between Rs. 8,000-10,000 crore at present which would
increase in future. The expenditure on arrears alone would be Rs. 12,000
crore. Currently the pension bill of the defence ministry stands at Rs. 54,000
crore.
There are about 2.45 million veterans and six lakh war widows who stand to
benefit from the scheme.
 All about OROP:
1 Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar announced the decision to
implement the One Rank One Pension, w.e.f July 1, 2014.

2 OROP arrears to be paid in four half-yearly instalments; all widows,

including war widows, to be paid arrears in one instalment.

3 The ex-servicemen, who have been agitating for the last 82 days, said
they will not accept review of the pension after every five years.
4 It is understood that a draft proposal on OROP was circulated at a RSS
meeting on Friday, which envisaged commencement of the scheme
from July 2014, besides revision of pension every five years.
5 Veterans have opposed to excluding ex-servicemen, who had opted for
pre-mature retirement, from the ambit of OROP.
6 Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar announced the setting up of a One
member Judicial Committee, which will give its report on OROP in
six months.
7 Veterans have rejected this committee, and instead demanded a
committee under the Defence Minister which will include an ex-
serviceman too.
8 To begin with, OROP would be fixed on the basis of calendar year
2013.

9 Officials said the annual burden on the pension bill will be about Rs.
8,000 crore which would progressively go up with revision in
pensions. The current pension bill of the defence ministry stands at Rs.
54,000 crore.
10 Close to 22 lakh retired servicemen and over six lakh war widows
stand to be the immediate beneficiaries of the scheme.
Chidambaram has said that if any additional amount is needed for this purpose
then the same will be provided too, thus confirming the opinions of the defence
ministry. The government, though, has not provided any reason as to why the
OROP proposal was not passed previously and not mentioned the administrative
and legal procedures that led to it being delayed.
It is expected that this financial benefit for the military officers and soldiers
could lead to civilians making similar demands and it could cost the government
anywhere between INR 8,000 and 9,000 crores per year.
 16. Seventh Pay Commission (7PC)

Pay Commission is set up intermittently by government of India, and gives its
recommendation to regarding changes in salary structure of its employees. Since
India's Independence, seven pay commissions have been set up on a regular
basis to review and make recommendations on the work and pay structure of all
civil and military divisions of the Government of India. In a resolution dated
28th February, 2014, Government of India has appointed the Seventh Central
Pay Commission comprising Justice Shri Ashok Kumar Mathur as Chairman,
Shri Vivek Rae as full time Member, and Dr. Ratin Roy as part time Member and
Smt. Meena Agarwal as Secretary. The Commission is headquartered in Delhi
and has been given 18 months from date of its constitution to make its
recommendations. To this end the Commission will set up its team of Officers,
Advisers, Institutional Consultants and Experts and call for required information
and documents from Ministries and Departments of Government of India and
various Service associations.
The dates of appointment and submission of recommendations of the previous
six central pay commissions are as under
All Central Government employees, including defence personnel keenly await
the Seventh Pay Commission. Since Independence, India has had seven Pay
Commissions put up to review the existing costs, inflation and other impact costs
and make suitable revisions to the salary structure of central government
employees.
The Seventh Pay Commission
On 24 February 2014, the Government of India issued a Gazette
notification announcing the formation of the Seventh Central Pay
Commission with Justice A.K.Mathur as the Chairman, Vivek Rae
– Member (full time), Dr. Rathin Roy – Member (part time), and
Meena Agarwal – Secretary. The Seventh Pay Commission had to
submit its recommendations within 18 months (expected by
December 2015) and the same is to be implemented from
1 January 2016.
The ‘Terms of Reference’ was to examine, review, evolve and
recommend changes regarding the emoluments structure
comprising pay, allowances, facilities and benefits – in cash or
kind. The Commission has been asked to examine the existing
scheme of bonus and its bearing on productivity and performance,
examine the incentive scheme to reward performance, productivity
and integrity, and examine the pension scheme along with other
retirement benefits that will impact:
Central Government employees – industrial and non-industrial
Personnel belonging to All India Services
Personnel of the Union Territories
Officers and employees of the Indian Audit and Accounts
Department
Members of regulatory bodies (excluding RBI) set up under Acts
of Parliament
Officers and employees of the Supreme Court
All employees of Defence Forces
The Commission is mandated to make recommendations based on
current:
Pay structure, associated benefits and existing retirement benefits.
Economic conditions prevailing in the country and fiscal prudence.
Adequacy of resources to meet various welfare measures and
developmental expenditures.
Impact on State Government finances as most states adopt
recommendations made by the Commission with some revisions
as per their priority.
Best global practices and adopt the same.
Pay Commissions over the Years
Stakeholders have been debating the level of salary increase expected prior to
each Pay Commission recommendations.
The First Pay Commission chaired by Srinivasa Varadachariar,
was formed in January 1946 and submitted its recommendations in
May 1947 to the then interim government.
The Second Pay Commission in August 1957 and submitted its
report in 1959. The Pay Commission was headed by Jagannath
Das and its central theme was to ensure smooth government
functioning by recruiting persons with minimum qualifications, to
give more people an opportunity to join government services.
The Third Pay Commission, headed by Raghubir Dayal, was
established in April 1970 and submitted its report in March 1973.
Coming in the wake of an expensive war with Pakistan, the Pay
Commission made its mark by adopting a different approach from
the first two commissions, which focussed on pay being kept at
minimum subsistence levels. The commission, for the first time,
referred to the need of ensuring that the pay structure incorporated
concepts of adequacy, comprehensiveness and inclusiveness to
ensure a fair compensation. This approach cost the government Rs
1.44 billion, which was a significant escalation in cost at the time.
The Fourth Pay Commission chaired by PN Singhal was set up
in June 1983 and submitted its recommendations in three phases,
over a four-year period.
Central Pay Date of Date of Submission of
Commissions Appointment Report
First Pay May, 1946 May, 1947
Commission
Second Pay August, 1957 August, 1959
Commission
Third Pay April, 1970 March, 1973
Commission
Fourth Pay June, 1983 Three Reports
Commission submitted in June,
1986;
 December, 1986 and
May, 1987 respectively
Fifth Pay April, 1994 January, 1997
Commission
Sixth Pay October, 2006 March, 2008
Commission

The Fifth Pay Commission chaired by Justice S. Ratnavel
Pandian was set up in 1994. This Commission left its mark as its
recommendations had a major impact on not just central, but for
the first time, on state governments. Its recommendations resulted
in an increase in central government expenditure, including
salaries, pensions and other related costs by 99%, and state
governments’ by 74%. The dramatic increase in expenditure
created a major controversy with 13 states failing to fulfil their
salary obligations and seeking central assistance. Amongst other
radical recommendations was to reduce the central government
staff levels by 30%. The Commission furthered suggested that the
government should not fill the 3,50,000 job vacancies. Even the
World Bank expressed surprise over the cost escalation and radical
level of reforms suggested. The government, however, did not
accept any of the recommendations made. The Sixth Pay
Commission chaired by Justice BN Srikrishna was appointed on 5
October 2006 and submitted its recommendations on 24 March
2008. The Commission made the following recommendations:
Special pay scales for Secretary to Government of India posts and
Cabinet Secretary.
Introduction of four distinct running pay bands, with one running
band each for Group ‘B’ and ‘C’ employees, and two running
bands for Group ‘A’ posts.
Total number of grades running across four distinct pay bands be
reduced to 20 from the earlier 35.
Defence Forces be allowed running pay bands and grade pay on
par with civilians.
Introduction of Performance Related Incentive Scheme (PRIS).
Pension to be paid at 50% of average emoluments or the last pay
drawn.
Controversies Regarding Seventh Pay Commission
Inter-service rivalries extend to salaries and benefits received by
certain services. There is widespread resentment against the IAS
officers, who are seen to be favoured by most pay commissions.
The Indian Revenue Service has raised objections to an IAS
Officer being included as part of the Seventh Pay Commission
since there is no representation from their side. The IRS lobby
believes that they have a right to be on par with the IAS since the
revenue for the government is collected by them.
Same stands true for the Defence Forces. For many years, the
senior most positions in all three forces have been downgraded
progressively, in terms of promotions, salaries and benefits, while
the IAS lobby has progressively increased its stature, promotions,
emoluments and benefits, as compared to what senior Defence
Officers received.
Furthermore, the Defence Forces have a long standing demand
(and rightly so) for a representation from the Services on the Pay
Commission, especially since the role, responsibilities and risks of
work are unique to the forces and thus require a qualified
representative who understands the nature of work and can thus
make suitable recommendations on the basis of that. This demand
has been strongly resisted by the IAS lobby all these years.
It remains to be seen how the present government deals with
demands of its employees from different arms when setting up the
Eighth Pay Commission subsequently.
 17. Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojna

Garib Kalyan Yojana is a Poverty Alleviation Scheme, which is primarily a work shop that you can pay and
attend.
The objective of the workshop is to revive the government’s pro-poor welfare
programs. It would also ideate effective ways to implement and maximize the
outreach of the welfare initiatives. In this campaign, the senior ministers would
be in charge of creating a road map to poverty alleviation and drain down the
ideas to the member of parliaments so that the welfare work is initiated at the
grass root level.
The effort of the campaign and workshop is to motive and apprise the member of
parliaments to help them effectively implement the government run schemes for
the welfare of poor in the country.
Objective of the Workshop
The workshop will revisit the government’s pro-poor welfare programmes and
ideate ways to effectively implement them and maximise their outreach. While
senior ministers would address the MPs and try to create a road map for the
latter to take these initiatives to the grassroots level, Parliamentary Affairs
Minister Venkaiah Naidu is expected to give MPs a brief rundown on poor
welfare schemes.
According to party functionaries, this day-long workshop should be seen as an
effort to “motivate and appraise” the MPs for effective implementation of
government-run schemes for the poor. To be hosted a day ahead of the second
half of the budget session that begins on 20 April, the timing of workshop
indicates that the NDA government is sceptical about the prospects of the land
acquisition ordinance, which will come up for ratification during this session.
What to Expect From the Workshop?
The workshop will cover a host of schemes conceived by the BJP government.
There will be dedicated sessions on rural and urban development schemes.
Besides, the Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari will deliver a presentation on
Sansad Aadarsh Gram Yojna. Health Minister J. P. Nadda would explain
MPLADS (Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme) to the
MPs. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will focus on a macro level and
sensitise MPs on the bigger development agenda. Modi will set the stage for the
workshop with an inaugural speech and the party president, Amit Shah will
conclude the session.
 18. ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’ Scheme

Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao (Save girl child, educate girl child) is a Government of
India scheme that aims to generate awareness and improving the efficiency of
welfare services meant for women. With an initial corpus of Rs 100 crore, the
scheme has been launched in a hundred districts across the country. In Haryana
where the child sex ratio (CSR) has been dismally low, 12 districts have been
chosen: Rewari, Mahendergarh, Bhiwani, Jhajjar, Ambala, Kurukshetra,
Sonepat, Rohtak, Karnal, Kaithal, Panipat and Yamuna Nagar.
The scheme aims at making girls independent both socially as also financially
through education. This approach of the Government can facilitate in generating
awareness and improving the efficiency of delivery of welfare services meant for
the women.
Why the scheme?
The latest census of 2011 reveals a declining trend in CSR in the age group of 0
to 6 years, the figure for girls having gone down to 919 per 1,000 boys, from
what it was in the 2001 census – 927.
The practice of aborting female foetus has become more rampant with the
availability of modern diagnostic tools for sex determination of the unborn. With
the social biases favouring the male child on consideration of economic
advantages and the deep-rooted attitude of labelling the girl child as more of a
liability, the sex ratio in the country has been skewed.
The process of elimination continues even after birth in various forms of
discrimination in matters of health, nutritional and educational needs of the girl
child.
Therefore, it has been rightly stated that women’s disempowerment begins even
before birth. Concomitantly, the fact remains that empowerment of women leads
to all-round progress and emancipation from backwardness of beliefs and
unscientific practices in the society. And towards driving this home among the
rural folks confined to superstitious beliefs and practices, the new media and
communication methods need to be fully utilised. The ‘Beti Bachao, Beti
Padhao,’ campaign has been launched to achieve this objective, of bringing
about the awareness and the change.
Views on the Scheme
Lamenting that we have an 18th century mind-set, the Prime Minister called for an end to the
discrimination between sons and daughters. He said this is the key to ending female foeticide.
The Prime Minister also launched the ‘Sukanya Samriddhi Account’ for the benefit of the girl
child. He released a stamp on the theme of ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao,’ and administered the
‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao pledge on the occasion.
Today the society as a whole needs to change the attitude towards the girl child to end female
foeticide. The practice is prevalent among every strata of the society. Although there was a
healthy sex ratio in the north-eastern region and tribal areas, in many parts of the country the
incidence of female foeticide is high.
The Government has initiated this innovative scheme to save the lots of the girl children.
Scheme Is Boon Not Only For Girls but Also For Society
In this scheme, the Ministry of Women and Child Development is functioning in collaboration
with various other Ministries like Education Ministry and Health Ministry.
It can be a boon not just for the girl children but also for the whole society. Moreover, ‘Beti
Bachao, Beti Padhao’ yojana comes at a time when the nation is confronted with problems
associated with women’s safety like rape and other forms of assault. The Government also
projected Rs 150 crore to be spent by the Ministry of Home Affairs on a scheme to extend the
security of women in large cities.
The Union budget has also allocated to the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways Rs 50
crore for pilot schemes to safeguard the safety of women on public road transport. That may be a
welcome step as this can facilitate to restore women’s faith in the system.
The formidable project can embrace a number of the most effective practices for better initiation
and implementation. For example, West Bengal has a system for enabling money transfers at
periodic intervals for the child’s education. In Punjab, pregnant girls are registered in their first
trimester in order that the authorities may follow up and monitor cases of foeticide. Another
example is Tamil Nadu’s Amma Baby Care Kit.
However, the initiative although sensible has been for the most part criticized by many people.
It’s not enough to allot funds and formulate schemes, it is said. There is need to amend the laws
and penalise those who harm the girl children. There’s also need to educate the grass roots about
the rights of the girl child to exist.
 19. Sagarmala Initiative for Development of
Coastal and Port Cities

Sagar Mala project is a strategic and customer-oriented initiative of the
Government of India to modernize India's Ports so that port-led development can
be augmented and coastlines can be developed to contribute in India's growth. It
looks towards "transforming the existing Ports into modern world class Ports and
integrate the development of the Ports, the Industrial clusters and hinterland and
efficient evacuation systems through road, rail, inland and coastal waterways
resulting in Ports becoming the drivers of economic activity in coastal areas.
Objective
The prime objective of the Sagarmala project 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.
Therefore, the Sagarmala Project shall, inter alia, aim to develop 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.
The Sagarmala initiative will address challenges by focusing on three
pillars of development, namely (I) 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, (ii) Port Infrastructure Enhancement, including
modernization and setting up of new ports, and (iii) Efficient Evacuation
to and from hinterland.
The Sagarmala Project therefore intends to achieve the broad objectives
of enhancing the capacity of major and non-major ports and modernizing
them to make them efficient, thereby enabling them to become drivers of
port-led economic development, optimizing the use of existing and
future transport assets and developing new lines/linkages for transport
(including roads, rail, inland waterways and coastal routes), setting up of
logistics hubs, and establishment of industries and manufacturing centres
to be served by ports in EXIM and domestic trade. In addition to
strengthening port and evacuation infrastructure, it also aims at
simplifying procedures used at ports for cargo movement and promotes
usage of electronic channels for information exchange leading to quick,
efficient, hassle-free and seamless cargo movement.
Need for the Project
Presently, Indian ports handle more than 90 percent of India’s total
EXIM trade volume. However, the current proportion of merchandize
trade in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of India is only 42 percent,
whereas for some developed countries and regions in the world such as
Germany and European Union, it is 75 percent and 70 percent
respectively. Therefore, there is a great scope to increase the share of
merchandising trade in India’s GDP. With the Union Government’s
“Make in India” initiative, the share of merchandise trade in India’s GDP
is expected to increase and approach levels achieved in developed
countries. India lags far behind in ports and logistics infrastructure.
Against a share of 9 percent of railways and 6 percent of roads in the
GDP the share of ports is only 1 percent. In addition high logistics costs
make Indian exports uncompetitive. Therefore Sagarmala project has
been envisioned to provide ports and the shipping the rightful place in
the Indian economy and to enable port-led development.
Amongst Indian States, Gujarat has been a pioneer in adopting the
strategy of port-led development, with significant results. While in the
1980’s the state grew at only 5.08 percent per year (National average
was 5.47 percent), this accelerated to 8.15 percent per annum in the
1990’s (All India average 6.98 percent) and subsequently to more than
10 percent per annum, substantially benefitting from the port-led
development model.
The growth of India’s maritime sector is constrained due to many
developmental, procedural and policy related challenges namely,
involvement of multiple agencies in development of infrastructure to
promote industrialization, trade, tourism and transportation; presence of
a dual institutional structure that has led to development of major and
non-major ports as separate, unconnected entities; lack of requisite
infrastructure for evacuation from major and non-major ports leading to
sub-optimal transport modal mix; limited hinterland linkages that
increases the cost of transportation and cargo movement; limited
development of centres for manufacturing and urban and economic
activities in the hinterland; low penetration of coastal and inland
shipping in India, limited mechanization and procedural bottlenecks and
lack of scale, deep draft and other facilities at various ports in India.
An illustrative list of the kind of development projects that could be
undertaken in Sagarmala initiative are (I) Port-led industrialization (ii)
Port based urbanization (iii) Port based and coastal tourism and
recreational activities (iv) Short-sea shipping coastal shipping and Inland
Waterways Transportation (v) Ship building, ship repair and ship
recycling (vi) Logistics parks, warehousing, maritime zones/services
(vii) Integration with hinterland hubs (viii) Offshore storage, drilling
platforms (ix) Specialization of ports in certain economic activities such
as energy, containers, chemicals, coal, agro products, etc. (x) Offshore
Renewable Energy Projects with base ports for installations (xi)
Modernizing the existing ports and development of new ports. This
strategy incorporates both aspects of port-led development viz. port-led
direct development and port-led indirect development.
Implementation
For a comprehensive and integrated planning for “Sagarmala”, a
National Perspective Plan (NPP) for the entire coastline shall be
prepared within six months which will identify potential geographical
regions to be called Coastal Economic Zones (CEZs). While preparing
the NPP, synergy and integration with planned Industrial Corridors,
Dedicated Freight Corridors, National Highway Development
Programme, Industrial Clusters and SEZs would be ensured. Detailed
Master Plans will be prepared for identified Coastal Economic Zones
leading to identification of projects and preparation of their detailed
project reports.
In order to have effective mechanism at the state level for coordinating
and facilitating Sagarmala related projects, the State Governments will
be suggested to set up State Sagarmala Committee to be headed by Chief
Minister/Minister in Charge of Ports with members from relevant
Departments and agencies. The state level Committee will also take up
matters on priority as decided in the NSAC. At the state level, the State
Maritime Boards/State Port Departments shall service the State
Sagarmala Committee and also be, inter alia, responsible for
coordination and implementation of individual projects, including
through SPVs (as may be necessary) and oversight. The development of
each Coastal economic zone shall be done through individual projects
and supporting activities that will be undertaken by the State
Government, Central line Ministries and SPVs to be formed by the State
Governments at the state level or by SDC and ports, as may be
necessary.
Sagarmala Coordination and Steering Committee (SCSC) shall be
constituted under the chairmanship of the Cabinet Secretary with
Secretaries of the Ministries of Shipping, Road Transport and Highways,
Tourism, Defence, Home Affairs, Environment, Forest & Climate
Change, Departments of Revenue, Expenditure, Industrial Policy and
Promotion, Chairman, Railway Board and CEO, NITI Aayog as
members. This Committee will provide coordination between various
ministries, state governments and agencies connected with
implementation and review the progress of implementation of the
National Perspective Plan, Detailed Master Plans and projects. It will,
inter alia, consider issues relating to funding of projects and their
implementation. This Committee will also examine financing options
available for the funding of projects, the possibility of public-private
partnership in project financing/construction/ operation.
Improvement of operational efficiency of existing ports, which is an
objective of the Sagarmala initiative, shall be done by undertaking
business process re-engineering to simplify processes and procedures in
addition to modernizing and upgrading the existing infrastructure and
improved mechanisation. Increased use of information technology and
automation to ensure paperless and seamless transactions will be an
important area for intervention. Under the Sagarmala Project, the use of
coastal shipping and IWT are proposed to be enhanced through a mix of
infrastructure enhancement and policy initiatives.
The Sagarmala initiative would also strive to ensure sustainable
development of the population living in the Coastal Economic Zone
(CEZ). This would be done by synergising and coordinating with State
Governments and line Ministries of Central Government through their
existing schemes and programmes such as those related to community
and rural development, tribal development and employment generation,
fisheries, skill development, tourism promotion etc. In order to provide
funding for such projects and activities that may be covered by
departmental schemes a separate fund by the name ‘Community
Development Fund’ would be created.
The Institutional Framework for implementing Sagarmala has to provide
for a coordinating role for the Central Government. It should provide a
platform for central, state governments and local authorities to work in
tandem and coordination under the established principles of “cooperative
federalism”, in order to achieve the objectives of the Sagarmala Project
and ensure port-led development.
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 shall be chaired by the Minister in charge 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.
At the Central level, Sagarmala Development Company (SDC) will be
set up under the Companies Act, 1956 to 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. The SDC shall also get the Detailed Master Plans
for individual zones prepared within a two year period. The business
plan of the SDC shall be finalised within a period of six months. The
SDC will provide a funding window and/or implement only those
residual projects that cannot be funded by any other means/mode.
In order to kick start the implementation of projects it is proposed to take
up identified projects covered in the concept of Sagarmala for
implementation forthwith. These identified projects for implementation
in the initial phase will be based on the available data and feasibility
study reports and the preparedness, willingness and interest shown by
the State Governments and Central Ministries to take up projects.
All efforts would be made to implement those projects through the
private sector and through Public Private Participation (PPP) wherever
feasible. Funds requirement for starting the implementation of projects
in the initial phase of Sagarmala Project is projected at Rs. 692 crores for
the FY 2015-16. Further requirement of funds will be finalized after
completion of Detailed Master Plan for Coastal Economic Zones for
future years. These funds will be used for implementation of projects by
line ministries in accordance with approvals by the SCSC.
The Sagarmala Project Stands on Three Pillars of Focus
Supporting port-led development with pro-active policy initiatives
and providing institutional framework to assist all stakeholders.
Modernising port infrastructure.
Developing integrated transport infrastructure for connecting the
coast to the hinterland.
The Current Infrastructure Scenario
Unfortunately, the country has not focussed on developing the coastal and port
infrastructure in an integrated manner that would have realised its full potential.
Today, most ports lack adequate cargo handling infrastructure. The ship
turnaround time is poor compared to most other developed ports in China, Japan,
Korea, Dubai, Netherlands, etc. The loading-unloading processes are
cumbersome. The rail and road connectivity to the hinterland is inadequate.
Industrial centres near port locations that can offer value addition are also
lacking.
 20. Pradhan Mantri Nai Manzil Scheme
Yojana

Under Nai Manzil scheme the government would not only be providing modern
education but would also empower these students with skill training that would
help them compete with the competitive environment of job hunting. As an
observation, all the religious leaders and academicians are welcoming this
scheme.
As per the government’s statistics, a total of more than 3 lakhs big and small
madrasas are operating in India and this scheme would benefit all of them.
There is an average of about hundred students in all these madrasas and thus this
scheme is going to benefit a total of more than three crore students.
As of now, the government plans to initiate the scheme in order to empower at
least 5 thousand students in the first phases and then further expand the scheme
to other students and madrasas. The Maulana Azad Education Foundation
would be frontrunner in providing all the necessary help in start and execution of
the scheme, fairly supported by the Ministry of Minorities.
As per the sources from ministry itself, this project would be fund by central
government with a gross of Rs 3,738 crore and the scheme would be applied on
a pan India basis. This would act as a rescue to thousands of Muslim students
who somehow get their education from Madrasas, however fail to get an
admission or a job in universities just because they do not have any standardized
form certification.
For those students who would not be willing to take on the academic training,
the scheme would provide an option for skill training so that they are skilled
enough to work as skilled labour or get a job directly. These skill based training
may range from driving to security guards, to carpentry to tailoring to nursing
assistants, etc.
Overall, this scheme would be a welcoming move by the religious leaders and
such schemes would only enhance the productivity of youths studying in these
madrasas. This would ensure that they are not left behind in this competitive
world just because of lack of any formal training or education.
 21. Jan Aushadhi Yojana

Over the years India, has developed a strong capability in producing quality
branded and generic medicines in most of the therapeutic categories, evolving
from an mere Rs 1,500 crores industry in 1980 to a more than Rs 1,19,000 crores
industry in 2012. However, although these medicines are reasonably priced, as
compared to the prices of their equivalent medicines in most other countries, yet
a large population of poor people in the country find it difficult to afford the
more expensive branded category of medicines. Accordingly, 'ensuring
availability of quality medicines at affordable prices to all', has been a key
objective of the Government.
Features
1. Price control of Scheduled Drugs through the National Pharmaceutical pricing
authority (NPPA)
Under the Drug Price Control Order, 1995, NPPA): Under the Drug Price Control Order, 1995,
NPPA has been given the mandate to control and fix the maximum retail prices of a number of
scheduled/listed bulk drugs and their formulations, in accordance with well-defined criteria and
methods of accounting, relating to costs of production and marketing Notably therefore, the prices
of these medicines have remained quite stable and affordable.
2. Price regulation of Non-Scheduled Drugs
Apart from the scheduled medicines under DPCO, 1995, the NPPA monitors the prices of other
medicines not listed in the DPCO schedule, such that they do not have a price variation of more
than 10% per annum. This has further helped in keeping the prices of most of the non-scheduled
medicines stable and affordable.
3. Uniform VAT of 4% on medicines
Government has fixed a uniform and low rate of 4% VAT on medicines in the country. This policy
has been adopted, in almost all the States in the country, and has reduced the incidence of sales tax
on medicines and thereby assisted in keeping their prices low.
4. Reduction in Excise Duty
Reduction in excise duty from 16% to 4% Further and in addition to above low, VAT rates, the
[present government had, as part of the Budget for the year 2008-09 reduced the excise duty on
medicines from 16% to 8%. This has been further reduced to 4 percent as from 8th December,
2008. This has again, played a crucial role in keeping the prices of most of the medicines at
reasonable levels. Not satisfied with the above regulatory and financial steps for ensuring greater
availability of medicines at affordable prices to all, especially the poorer masses, the government
has decided to launch a country wide Jan Aushadhi Campaign. So, here are a few questions that
immediately popup and require proper explanation:
 FAQs on Jan Aushadhi Yojana
Q1) What are generic medicines?
Generic medicines refer to those drugs that are not branded. In other
words, these medicines will not have brand names like Sun Pharma, Intas
etc. These generic medicines will not be produced by multi-billion dollar
pharmaceutical firms.
Q2) Will these generic medicines be effective?
Over centuries, capitalism has hardwired our brains into thinking that
anything that’s expensive is better in quality. This is true even for
medicines. But, this is only a myth. Experts say that cheaper medicines are
equally effective in dealing with diseases as their expensive counterparts.
The same assurance comes from government too.
Q3) Who will be responsible for quality control of these medicines?
There is a mounting concern about fake medicines making their way into
the market. To deal with this government has put forward strict quality
guidelines for these generic medicines. All generic medicines that are and
will be made available under the Jan Aushadhi Yojana need to pass NABL
certification. Unless and until that happens, generic medicines will not
make it to the shelves of pharmacies.
Q4) Who will be producing these medicines?
Government won’t be manufacturing these medicines. Instead, these
generic medicines will be procured from public as well as private
manufacturers. The procured medicines will be put through quality testing
and then rebranded as ‘Jan Aushadhi’.
Q5) Who is responsible for implementation of the scheme?
The government has formulated The Bureau of Pharma Public Sector
Undertakings of India (abbreviated as BPPI). It is a nodal agency working
directly under the Department of Pharmaceuticals. The whole operation
will be implemented and monitored by BPPI.
Q6) What type of medicines will be made available under JAY?
Also, medicines used for treatment of ailments like gastroenterology
diseases, diabetes, respiratory diseases and cardiovascular disease.
Essentially, government has identified 361 different types of drugs based
on the overall sales and then narrowed down on the medicines produced
using these drugs. These 361 drugs cover nearly all therapeutic categories.
using these drugs. These 361 drugs cover nearly all therapeutic categories.
Government officials say that over time, more drugs and more medicines
will be included in the Jan Aushadhi Yojana.

Q7) Which pharmacies will be selling these generic medicines?
Medicines under Jan Aushadhi Yojana will be sold only through Jan
Aushadhi Store. A number of these stores are already functioning. Here is
a quick list summing up the total number of operational stores in various
parts of the country:
Punjab 22 stores
Delhi 5 stores
Haryana 2 stores
Uttar Pradesh 1 store
Madhya Pradesh 5 stores
Tripura 3 stores
Mizoram 1 store
Maharashtra 1 store
Odisha 23 stores
Chandigarh 3 stores
Jammu & Kashmir 8 stores
Himachal Pradesh 10 stores
Jharkhand 24 stores
To find the details of these stores and the contact person, visit this link.
Government has confirmed that more stores will be opened across the
country and in all states by the end of this year.
Q8) How is government selecting the stores?
Government is not selecting any store in particular. Rather, government is
encouraging people or organizations to open new stores. There are specific
requirements that must be fulfilled for opening a new store. These
requirements are mentioned below:
Applicants need to own a place for opening a store. The
available place should have a minimum space of 120 sq. ft.
 available place should have a minimum space of 120 sq. ft.
Applicants need to have a Retail Drug License and an active
TIN (Tax-Payer Identification Number).

Applicants either need to have a certified pharmacist employed
or they themselves should be pharmacists. If the applicants are
pharmacists, they should be unemployed. If they are hiring a
pharmacist, the State Council and the license registration
number should be included in the application form.
Applicants need to have updated and audited account for last 3
years and they need to produce their bank statements and sales
return for last 3 years.
Q9) Will there be financial aid from government for individuals
willing to open Jan Aushadhi Store?
Yes, individuals who want to open Jan Aushadhi Stores will receive
financial aid from government provided they fulfil the aforementioned
requirements. Store owners will receive financial assistance of up to ₹
200,000. Additionally, government will also provide ₹ 50,000 extra for
hardware infrastructure purchase.
Q10) How much cheaper can people expect the medicines to be?
Under the Jan Aushadhi Yojana, prices of generic medicines will be way
cheaper than their expensive counterparts. Prices can be anywhere between
3 to 14 times lower than the usual market rates.

 22. School Nursery Yojana

Considering the number of automobiles and other petroleum run machines that
we have in the world, we could be sure of one thing that if we do not plant more
and more trees today and in future, we are surely going to see the world
perishing in front of us. This is something that none of us and none of the
governments would ever want to happen.
One of the biggest crises that the world is facing today is not terrorism, inflation,
etc., but it is the world pollution and to check it immediately, the only remedy is
forestation.

Government is the one that has to lead by example and in this regard we have all
the respect for the current Modi government at centre which has launched a
noble scheme with the name of School Nursery Yojana.
The government has identified that it is vital to bring students close to nature and
this is why the central government has launched this eco-friendly scheme.
Under the scheme, the schools would build nurseries within their campus and
students studying in those schools would raise saplings within those nurseries as
a part of their study curriculum.
The entire idea behind the scheme is to make the country a better place to live by
making the surrounding greener and cleaner. The students of schools would
carry out the sowing of seeds along with nurturing them into seedlings and then
as plants. All this would be done under the supervision of selected trained staff
in the school. This would act as a chapter/curriculum under biology classes of
the students.
After these saplings grow up, the same students would carry out plantation drive
in and around school and in localities around the school. This way, the entire
country would have more than required number of trees and environmental
problems could be handled effectively by just involving the school kids.
The environment minister Shri Prakash Javadekar has launched this scheme with
very high hopes. He exclaimed with motivation that the scheme would be
launched in first 1,000 schools in the beginning year and would be followed by
all other schools in years to come. The ministry is taking a three year time to
implement this scheme nationwide.
The environment minister in his address urged all the students of the schools to
take active part in the drive and make their schools and vicinity environment
friendly. Each school under the scheme is aptly directed to create a small zone
for creating nurseries under their premises.
The ministries believe that this drive would also connect the school and the
students and the latter would enjoy their time during studies while playing with
the seeds, saplings and soil. This way, the schools authorities can ensure that
children not only learn from the books but also learn while doing those things in
practical and feeling the responsibility to nurture their surroundings.
In the first go, more than sixty schools have already received the saplings and
started building the nursery beds. The minister on the inaugural address also
distributed a packet of seeds to each student. He further advised the students
that they can take home at least a plant grown by them to their homes along with
their annual report cards and show their noble work to their parents and
guardians.
Some of the plants suggested to be grown in these nurseries are from a range or
environment friendly and fruit giving plants like bigonia, amla, bahera, kachnar,
amaltas, jamun, neem, gulsi, giloi, haldi, elaichi, etc.
Last but not the least, the objective of the drive is to create both awareness and a
connection between students and Mother Nature. This is one scheme that is
going to pay off well in times to come when we nurture both our future citizens
and Mother Nature simultaneously with each other’s help and thus create a better
place for our children.
 23. Deendayal Upadhyay Shramev Jayate
Karyakram

The scheme is aimed at creating conducive environment for industrial
development and doing business with ease.
Besides, it will also herald towards good governance, welfare and skill
development of labour sector.
Initiatives
Labours will be provided Unique Labour Identification number, Local Interconnect Network, to
facilitate their online registration.
Unified Labour Portal (Shram Suvidha) and a Transparent & Accountable Labour Inspection
Scheme to facilitate ease of compliance especially for four Central Government Organizations
i.e. ESIC, EPFO, DGMS and CLC.
Demand Responsive Vocational Training
Apprentice Protsahan Yojana.
Portability through Universal Account Number for Employees’ Provident Fund Account Holders.
Implementation of Revamped Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) for the workers in the
unorganized sector.
Dedication of Shram Suvidha Portal and Labour Inspection
Scheme in Central Sphere:
Multiplicity of labour laws and the difficulty in their compliance has always
been cited as an impediment to the industrial development. The World Bank
annual report for year 2014 in a comparative study on Indian Labour Laws has
established the fact that the Indian states with flexible labour laws and easier
compliance mechanism have fared better in terms of Industrial development than
those where labour laws are rigid and the compliance is difficult as well. Ease of
compliance has also been found to be important for the growth of organized
sector. Ministry of Labour and Employment and Ministry of Commerce and
Industry are both working in close coordination to fulfil the mission of “Make in
India”. Not only it is needed to amend the labour laws and make them flexible
for the present circumstances but it is also important to ensure that the
compliance is made easy as this will encourage the development of
manufacturing industry particularly MSME sector in the country.
Amendments to three major labour laws were presented to Parliament during
this Monsoon session of the Parliament. Ministry has developed a Shram
Suvidha Portal in central sphere to create a conducive environment for industrial
development. The 4 main features of this Portal are:
a. Unique labour identification number (LIN) will be allotted to Units to
facilitate online registration.
b. Filing of self-certified and simplified Single Online Return by the industry.
Now Units will only file a single consolidated Return online instead of filing 16
separate Returns.
c. Mandatory uploading of inspection Reports within 72 hours by the Labour
inspectors.
d. Timely redressal of grievances will be ensured with the help of the portal.
This will bring in the necessary ease in compliance of provisions related to
labour and will be a step forward in promoting the ease of doing business. The
complete database available centrally at unified portal will also add to the
informed policy process. The portal will be operative in 4 central organizations
namely Chief Labour Commissioner, Directorate General of Mines Safety,
Employee Provident Fund and Employees’ State insurance Corporation. In this
endeavour of the Ministry, complete information of all 11 lakh units for these
organizations has been collected, digitized and de-duplicated reducing the total
number to 6-7 lakh. It is proposed to allot LIN to all these 6-7 lakh units.
Labour Inspection Scheme: So far the units for inspection were selected locally
without any objective criteria. To bring in transparency in labour inspection, a
transparent Labour Inspection scheme is being developed. The four features of
the inspection scheme are:
(i) Serious matters are to be covered under the mandatory inspection list.
(ii) A computerized list of inspections will be generated randomly based
on pre-determined objective criteria.
(iii) Complaints based inspections will also be determined centrally after
examination based on data and evidence.
(iv) There will be provision of Emergency List for inspection of serious
cases in specific circumstances.
A transparent Inspection Scheme will provide a check on the arbitrariness in
compliance mechanism. Immediately on inauguration, a SMS/email was sent to
1800 Labour inspectors of these enforcement agencies on behalf of the Prime
Minister.
Dedication of Portability through Universal Account Number
(UAN) for Employees Provident Fund
Under the scheme complete information for approximately 4 crore subscribers of
EPF has been centrally compiled and digitized and a UAN has been allotted to
all. The UAN is being seeded with Bank account and Aadhaar Card and other
KYC details for financial inclusion of vulnerable section of society and their
unique identification. Camps are being organized to facilitate opening of bank
account and Aadhaar card for those subscribers who have no bank account or
Aadhaar card as on date. This will ensure portability of the Social Security
Benefits to the labour of organised sector across the jobs and geographic areas.
The EPF account of employee will be now be updated monthly and at the same
time he will be informed through SMS. Finally it will ensure that each of the 4
crore or more EPF account holders have direct access to their EPF accounts and
will also enable them to consolidate all their previous accounts (approximately
Rs 27000 Crore are currently lying with EPFO in inoperative accounts). By 16th
October, 2014, approximately 2 crore subscribers will have the benefit of
portability through UAN. Subscribers have been informed through SMS/email
immediately on inauguration. The minimum pension for employees has been
introduced first time so that employees’ pension is not less than Rs. 1000 per
month. The wage ceiling has been raised from Rs. 6500 to Rs. 15000 per month
to ensure that vulnerable groups are covered under EPF Scheme.
Recognition of Brand Ambassadors of ITIs
The Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) in the country are the backbone of the
vocational training system, only source of supply of skilled manpower to
manufacturing industry. There are 11,500 ITIs having about 16 lakh seats. But
this is grossly inadequate for supplying skilled manpower to Indian industry.
Only 10% of the workforce has got formal or informal technical training. Only
one fourth of this is formally trained. Whereas in South Korea, Japan, Germany,
the percentage of workforce having received skills training is 96, 80 and 75
respectively. There is also another big imbalance. The intake capacity of
undergraduate engineering colleges was more than 16 lakh in India which was
almost same as seating capacity of ITIs. Whereas we need about at least 10 shop
floor workers for an engineer. Therefore we need to rapidly expand certificate
level vocational training if we have to succeed in our mission of ‘Make in India’.
However, as a general trend, pass outs from education system do not take
admission in the ITIs as their first choice. Mostly end up in ITI after exhausting
all other options for higher education. This is because; blue collar work is not
respected and regarded in the society. For meeting the skill needs of our industry
and for enhancing employability of our youth, we need to attract more youth to it
is by enhancing dignity of vocational training.
Over 60 years of existence ITIs have given excellent technician, mechanics,
entrepreneurs and professional leaders. Manufacturing sector is reservoir of this
success. They have brought name and fame in the country and abroad. It is
proposed to compile these success stories and publish in print and electronic
form. These success stories shall be used for motivating youngsters and their
parents. We would like to showcase such successful ITI graduates as National
Brand Ambassadors of Vocational Training. This will be taken as communicator
and catalyst, taking the message of ITI vocational training to every section of
society. This will also improve the brand image as well as social acceptance of
the vocational training. The Prime Minister has released this publication and
felicitates few of these Brand Ambassadors. This will send a good message in
the society and help in giving honour and acceptability, removing social stigma
from vocational training and skilled work. Best wishes for a successful career
will be sent on behalf of the Prime Minister to 4 lakh ITI students through SMS.
All India Skill Competition
The Ministry of labour conducts competitions to foster the healthy spirit of
competitiveness among the trainee Craftsmen/ Apprentices. Winning spirit
brings pride to world of skills, improves changing work habits to be more
organized, goal setting to achieve goals, and simply performing higher quality
work. They are:
a) All India Skill Competition for Craftsmen among trainees admitted under
Craftsmen Training Scheme (CTS). It is conducted once in a year. On the basis
of marks obtained in skill competition by trainees, the award is given to BEST
CRAFTSMAN-cash prize and merit certificate, BEST INSTITUTE – a merit
certificate and the BEST STATE –a shield.
b) All India Competition for Apprentices among trainees admitted under
Apprenticeship Training Scheme (ATS). It is conducted twice every year. The
award is given to the BEST Apprentice- cash prize of Rs 50,000 and a merit
certificate and Runner up Apprentice- cash prize of Rs 25000 and merit
certificate in each Trade, and the BEST ESTABLISHMENT on all India basis- a
trophy and certificate by President of India.
Launch of Apprenticeship Protsahan Yojna
The Apprentices Act 1961 was enacted for regulating the Apprenticeship
Training Scheme in the industry for imparting on-the-job training to apprentices.
Presently, there are only 2.82 lakh apprentices undergoing training against 4.9
lakh seats.
Apprenticeship Scheme has huge potential for training the large number of
young person’s to make them employable. If properly revamped, it could also
significantly contribute to ‘Make in India’ Mission. Similar schemes have been
highly successful in countries like Germany, China and Japan where the number
of apprentices are stated to be 3 million, 20 million and 10 million respectively.
Present framework tightly regulates the number of apprentices trade-wise, and is
not attractive to youth because of low rate of stipend. Further the industry is
averse to participate because the scheme is not viable for the small industries.
There are a large number of establishments including MSMEs where training
facilities are available but could not be utilized so far.
A major initiative has been undertaken to revamp the apprenticeship Scheme in
India after extensive consultation with industry, states and other stakeholders
with the vision of increasing apprenticeship seats to more than 20 lakhs in next
few years. There are four components of this initiative, which are given below:
a. Making the legal framework friendly to both, industry and youth.
The necessary Bill amending the Act was placed and passed in Lok
Sabha on 14.8.2014.
b. Enhancing the rate of stipend and indexing it to minimum wages
of semi skilled workers.
c. Apprentice Protsahan Yojana which will support manufacturing
units mainly and other establishments by reimbursing 50% of the
stipend paid to apprentices during first two years of their training.
d. Basic training component (mainly class room training part) of the
curricula is being restructured on scientific principles to make it more
effective, and MSMEs will be supported financially by permitting this
component in government funded SDI scheme.
The Apprentice Protsahan Yojana will support one lakh apprentices during the
period up to March 2017. Selected Apprentices and the Establishments ready to
participate in this scheme from various states will be invited and it is proposed
that Prime Minister will give sanction letters to these to mark the launch of the
new scheme.
 Appendix
India in 2016
Building a strong foundation to drive inclusive economic resurgence is an
imperative for India in FY2016* if the nation hopes to launch itself on a double-
digit growth trajectory. The time is right, and expectations are high. With
inflation under control, a trade deficit of about 1 percent of gross domestic
product (GDP), substantive foreign-exchange reserves and an expanding
digitally literate populace, growth stakeholders— government and industry—can
now aggressively push a reform agenda. Key elements of the agenda include:
• Putting the nation’s macroeconomic health back on track
• Commissioning state-of-the-art physical infrastructure and building a
talent pool with the right skills to drive growth
• Creating a policy environment conducive to attracting manufacturing
investment
• Raising public participation in decision making and in execution of
socioeconomic policies
Since assuming power in May 2014, India’s new government has been actively
leveraging a range of policy instruments available at its disposal to achieve such
goals. For example, through proceeds gathered from disinvestment in profitable
public-sector undertakings, auctions of coal blocks and sale of telecom spectrum,
the government is generating revenues for bridging fiscal-deficit numbers. By
moving toward promulgation of a single goods and service tax (GST) regime
across the nation and by launching programs such as “Make in India,” the
government is actively wooing long term inbound investments. In its first
budget, the government has also announced a slew of steps toward creating
legislative and financial mechanisms to develop high-quality infrastructure. And
the “Digital India” campaign aims to promote adoption of digital technologies to
deliver government services and promote scalable e-governance.
But to execute an aggressive reform agenda in a timely manner, government and
industry must work together as a team. They will need to leverage digital-savvy
citizens and digital technologies to target subsidies for meeting fiscal and
governance targets inclusively. Workers will need to be equipped with skills
needed by industry and an innovation economy capable of crafting novel
solutions for local needs. Collaborative ecosystems that can foster creation of
viable public-private partnerships (PPPs) in India’s infrastructure sector will
need to be carefully nurtured.
The actions that government and industry must take to make growth not only
inclusive but also sustainable.
Managing macroeconomic recovery: Industrial production has improved in
anticipation of pro-growth policy reforms; consumer confidence has surged in India; and
inflation nose-dived after the elections. India’s GDP, which grew at an average of 6 percent year-
over-year (y-o-y) for the last couple of years, is expected to grow by 7.4 percent in FY2015. If it
does, it would boast the highest such growth since FY2011.1 Industrial production has also
improved in anticipation of pro-growth policy reforms. In the first three quarters of FY2015
(April to December 2014), the industrial production index increased by 1.7 percent y-o-y.2 By
contrast, during the same period in FY2014, industrial production was a negative 1.5 percent y-o-
y. Production in the manufacturing sector overall witnessed stronger growth—1.2 percent y-o-y
for the first three quarters of FY2015, as compared to negative 0.4 percent in the corresponding
period during FY2014. Basic metals, the largest contributor to the manufacturing index, has
enjoyed an especially pronounced turnaround since the national elections, growing by 10.7
percent in the first three quarters of FY2015; it had declined by 1 percent in the same period
during FY2014. The Consumer Price Index, too, has dipped to a five year low of 4.38 percent in
November 2014, below the central bank’s target of 6 percent set for January 2016. Prices of basic
commodities will likely stabilize further in the coming year, thanks to the establishing of the
Agricultural Price Stabilization Fund, which stands at INR 5 billion (US$82 million). This fund
will shield consumers and farmers from price fluctuations while also minimizing hoarding and
speculation in commodity markets.
Containing fiscal deficit: The government will need to make thoughtful policy interventions on
the expenditure and revenue fronts, and prioritize expenditure realignment initiatives. With
gross fiscal deficit estimated at INR 5.31 trillion (US$87 billion) for
FY2015, the Indian government has set a target for the deficit to move to
4.1 percent of GDP by March 31, 2015. If the target is achieved, the
deficit would be the lowest since FY2008. Moreover, the government
has committed to reducing the deficit to 3 percent of GDP by FY2018—
an admirable goal, but one that will require thoughtful policy
interventions on the expenditure and revenue fronts. The government
will need to prioritize expenditure realignment initiatives. The gap
between revenue expenditure and capital expenditure has grown almost
threefold since FY2008. The government has raised the service tax rate
and revamped its excise duty structure to make up the shortfall. But if
such measures prove imprudent from a social-welfare standpoint, they
may be replaced with measures aimed at rapidly expanding the tax base
and injecting higher levels of efficiency into tax collection.
Wooing long-term investment: The government will need to set up
mechanisms for making investment easier. It has already made drastic
changes in regulations. For example, it has digitized the Industrial
License and Industrial Entrepreneur Memorandum application process
through an online portal. Transforming India into both an investor and an
investment-friendly destination will be vital for driving growth. The
government has already sent the right signals by easing foreign direct
investment (FDI) restrictions in single-brand retail as well as in the
defence and insurance sectors. It has also launched a range of programs
and institutional reforms to welcome investors in key sectors such as
manufacturing and infrastructure. The government’s flagship “Make in
India” campaign aims to boost manufacturing’s share of GDP from the
current 16 percent to 25 percent by 2022, as well as create some 100
million new jobs. The freshly formed National Industrial Corridor
Development Authority will oversee development of four industrial
corridors, numerous investment and manufacturing zones along the
various corridors and nearly 100 “smart” cities. In addition, the
government has digitized the Industrial License & Industrial
Entrepreneur Memorandum application process by establishing an online
eBiz portal. To ease investor regulations, the government has also
decided to make a common investment cap for FDI and foreign portfolio
investment (FPI) at a sector level.11 it has also created one unified form
for filing returns and has aligned patent applications to global standards.
Timely implementation of these mechanisms and their seamless
operation in the coming year will go a long way toward removing
investment bottlenecks. Investors are responding positively to these
efforts. In the first three quarters of FY2015, foreign investment inflows
exceeded INR 1.5 trillion (US$25 billion), logging a 20 percent y-o-y
growth over the same period in FY2014. Conservative estimates expect
FDI inflows to cross INR 2 trillion (US$35 billion) by the end of
FY2015.
Developing industry-friendly infrastructure: The new government has a sharper
focus on infrastructure development, and has announced numerous
regulatory reforms. This has boosted private investors’ confidence.
However, the government will need to collaborate closely with project
partners as well as district and state administrations to ensure that
infrastructure investments deliver the intended results. Since FY2009,
the average quarterly y-o-y increase in the value of new investment
projects announced was about 2.4 percent. In contrast, the average
quarterly y-o-y increase in the value of investment projects dropped was
close to 60 percent. However, the situation has begun turning around
since the new government came to power. Value of new investment
projects announced saw an average quarterly y-o-y growth of 183
percent during September through December 2014, the highest in eight
and half years. What explains this impressive increase? The
government’s sharper focus on infrastructure development, along with
announcements of numerous regulatory reforms, has boosted private
investors’ confidence. In the budget released in February 2015, the
government earmarked an additional expenditure of INR 700 billion
(US$11.5 billion) for roads, railways, ports and other infrastructure
projects in the coming year.12 The government is also working to
accelerate clearance of infrastructure projects to speed up their
implementation. In addition, the new administration has signalled its
intent to revisit current PPP models with an eye toward making them
friendlier to investors. For instance, public agencies are now expected to
bear the burden of project implementation risks such as delays in land
acquisition, environmental clearances and variability of inputs. Further,
to reduce costs of project financing options for infrastructure projects
with long gestation periods, the government plans to establish a National
Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) in FY2016, with an annual
boost of INR 195 billion (US$3.2 billion). The fund is expected to invest
in companies such as the Indian Railway Finance Corporation and
National Housing Bank. Moreover, the government plans to allow tax-
free infrastructure bonds for projects in the rail, road and irrigation
sectors.13 to make the new PPPs work, the government will need to
collaborate closely with project partners as well as district and state
administrations to ensure that infrastructure investments deliver the
intended results.
Building talent pools with the right skills: India is home to one of the
largest pools of young employable talent in the world. How the nation
leverages this potential will prove crucial to its economic future. India
will have to broaden training efforts across geographies, communities
and industry sectors to build a labour pool equipped with the skills that
industry needs. India is home to one of the largest pools of young
employable talent in the world. How the nation leverages this potential
will prove crucial to its economic future. Studies conducted by the
National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) suggest that, for the
period 2013 through 2022, India’s non farming sectors will need to
employ 120 million new skilled workers. However, the nation’s current
vocational education system will not be able to equip that many
individuals with the required skills. The new government has responded
to this challenge by granting ministerial status to Skill Development,
Entrepreneurship Youth Affairs and Sports. The government has also
recently launched new programs including the Rashtriya Uchchatar
Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA), Technical Education Quality Improvement
Programme (TEQIP) and National Skill Qualification Framework
(NSQF)—all aimed at encouraging more young people to take advantage
of vocational education opportunities. The Deen Dayal Upadhyaya
Grameen Koushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY), a placement linked skill
development scheme for low-income, rural youth, is another scheme that
seeks to improve employability. Almost 52,000 candidates have been
trained under DDU-GKY, and nearly 29,000 had found jobs by
November 2014. The government has also launched new initiatives to
develop skills that are not covered by traditional vocational education
approaches. For example, Nai Manzil (“A fresh destination”) focuses on
educating high school dropouts. A program called Upgrading Skills and
Training in Traditional Arts/Crafts for Development (USTTAD) seeks to
build the capabilities of traditional artisans and craftspeople. Nai Roshni
(“New enlightenment”) is dedicated to leadership training for women.
To build a labour pool equipped with the skills that industry needs, India
will have to broaden training efforts across geographies, communities
and industry sectors. Moreover, it will have to complement investments
in skilling infrastructure with degree and certificate programs that
recognize completion of training and help in job placements.
Deepening digital governance: The new government is aware of the
importance of going digital, especially for delivering inclusive
government services. The “Digital India” initiative is expected to
address the nation’s last-mile broadband connectivity deficit, support
development of digital identities for India’s entire population and create
a cloud platform for citizens. Digital technologies and platforms will
play a central role in enabling India’s governance systems to achieve
unprecedented levels of efficiency. The new government is aware of the
importance of going digital, especially for delivering inclusive
government services. Indeed, it created the MyGov. In portal as a
platform for crowd sourcing ideas from citizens for improving
government service quality across nationally important economic and
social issues. Within 15 days of its launch in July 2014, the portal
received more than 200,000-plus suggestions. Meanwhile, the “Digital
India” initiative, another government milestone project, is expected to
address the nation’s last-mile broadband connectivity deficit, support
development of digital identities for India’s entire population and create
a cloud platform for citizens. The INR 1.1 trillion (US$18 billion)
project aims to lay down 750,000 kilometres of optical fibre for
broadband Internet under the National Optical Fibre Network
Programme (NOFNP). This program will also work to provide seamless
Internet connectivity to as many as 250,000 villages by 2019.In addition,
project leaders plan to make this same number of village schools Wi-Fi
enabled and help as many as 1 million people become digitally literate in
2015 alone. The government has set a budget appropriation target of
INR 25 billion (US$398million) for FY2016 for “Digital India”. The
initiatives already receiving tremendous interest from businesses,
investors and non-profit organizations for seamless and effective
governance, India will need to complement last-mile Internet
connectivity with easy mobile accessibility. Mobile applications will
play a critical role in better connecting governments and citizens. With
that in mind, the government has already launched the Government of
India Calendar2015 social media application, which will provide
information on the launch of government flagship schemes and a
medium for real-time communication between the government and
citizens. In addition to improving e-governance, “Digital India” will
likely create new avenues and platforms for information-for-all services,
bolster electronics manufacturing industries and create a slew of IT jobs.
Government ministries and departments will be responsible for
deploying their individual information and communication technology
(ICT) projects in the areas of healthcare, education and judicial services.
Land records will be made available online. E-literacy training programs
in local languages will be delivered in 200,000 community service
 centres across the country. Moreover, government departments will
likely hire CIOs from industry to oversee implementation of “Digital
India”.

[1]Published by Cosmos Bookhive in 2014.

[2]Published by Sultan Chand and Sons in 2013.
[3]Published by Sultan Chand and Sons in 2014.
[4]Published by Sultan Chand and Sons in 2012.