govt schemes

CCEA approves National Monsoon Mission
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved implementation of the programme National Monsoon Mission
of the Earth System Science Organization for a period of 5 years.
Main Objective of National Monsoon Mission: To build a working partnership between the academic, Research,
Development organizations, both national and international, and operational agencies to improve monsoon forecast
skill over the nation.





Over 250 lakh CFLs distributed under Bachat Lamp Yojana
Minister of State for Power, Mr. K.C. Venugopal held that over 259 lakh Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFLs) have been
distributed under Bachat Lamp Yojana, BLY and the scheme is proposed in the 12th Plan with modifications. The BLY
scheme has been designed on PPP (Public Private Partnership) mode.





‘Kanya Vidya Dhan’ scheme to be revived in Uttar Pradesh
The CM of UP Akhilesh Yadav declared that the State Government would revive “Kanya Vidya Dhan” scheme to
promote education among women.
What is Kanya Vidya Dhan Scheme?
Kanya Vidya Dhan Scheme was launched by the Mulayam Singh Yadav government in 2004 in Uttar Pradesh. Under
this scheme State Govt distributed Rs 20,000 for those girls/women who were 8th / Intermediate qualified and living
below poverty line. Aim of distribution of this amount was to help those girls who are not able to continue their
education due to financial problem. CM Akhilesh Yadav has announced to re-launch the scheme with an increased
allowance of Rs 25,000 from earlier Rs 20,000.







Rashtriya Ucchatar Shiksha Abhiyan
RUSA – A proposed scheme to increase Enrolment
in Higher Education in INDIA
Firstly, a FACT:
At present the enrolment ratio in Higher Education in India is 12.4%
Now, What is RUSA?
 Rashtriya Ucchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (राष्ट्र􀈣य उच्चतर 􀍧श􀂢ा अ􀍧भयान) = RUSA
 It is a proposed Central Scheme which concerns primarily with the Low Enrolment Ratio (LER) in Higher
Education in India.
Current Affairs Published on www.gktoday.in from January 1, 2012 to
September 10, 2012
 RUSA aims to incentivise the Indian States to improve Higher Education in India.
 RUSA aims to increase enrolment ratio in Higher Education institution in India to30% by 2020.
How RUSA aims to increase the enrolment ratio in Higher Education in India?









Jairam Ramesh: ‘NRLM to link one woman from poor family to SHG’
Union Minsiter Jairam Ramesh asserted that the NRLM (National Rural Livelihood Mission) would connect at least 1
woman from every poor household all over India with SHGs in 5 years.
Objective: To ensure in 5 years, one woman from every poor household becomes a member of self-help group (SHG).
At present nearly 3 crore women who are members of SHGs and we the aim is to raise it to 7 crore in within 5 years.






Funding for NREGS shrinks in Budget 2012-13
The finance minister shrunk the Budget allocation for the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) this
year owing to the poor spending of the funds allocated last year. NREGS has been allocated Rs 33,000 crore in the
Union Budget 2012-13, as against Rs 40,000 crore last year. Last year too, under the Revised Estimates, the funds for
NREGS had been reduced to Rs 31,000 crore. However, Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh said the reduction
in NREGS funds did not matter because it was a demand-based programme. He also pointed out that the overall
allocation to the Rural Development ministry as a whole had gone up in this years Budget.




Funding may double for JNNURM scheme`s phase-2
Most of the projects of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) are still on
paper after 7 years of launch of the scheme. Phase-2 ofJNNURM is likely to be announced in April 2012, as
the first phase draws to a close in March 2012.
The anticipated phase-2 of the JNNURM may see allocations twofold, albeit nearly half of the phase-1 projects remain
pending, especially in the case of housing for the poor. The allotment for the first phase, launched in 2005, was Rs
100,000 crore. The Central government was to give half the money.
JNNURM has been divided into infrastructure and transport-related services in 65 ‘mission towns’ (the nomenclature
covers cities, too) and basic services, mainly housing, for the urban poor in 562 towns, including the first 65. The
second phase will see the number of towns go up.







“Mamoni Scheme” in Assam to reduce Maternal Mortality Ratio
In order to reduce the Maternal Mortality Ratio, MMR in Assam, NRHM has introduced “Mamoni Scheme” in Assam.
Assam has recorded 381 MMR against per lakh live birth as per Annual Health Surver,2010-11. Lack of nutritious food
during pregnancy can lead to anaemia and other vitamin and mineral deficiency related diseases, which obstruct the
development of the foetus.
The Scheme:
“Mamoni” is a scheme to encourage pregnant women to undergo three ante-natal checkups which identify danger
signs during pregnancy and offer proper treatment. Under the scheme, every pregnant woman will receive a booklet

on tips of safe motherhood and new born care. After this, the pregnant women are provided with an amount of 1000
rupees in the second and third ante-natal check-ups for expenses related to nutritional food and supplements.
In 2011, more than 2 lakh 40 thousand women received the first instalment and around 2 lakh, 12 thousand pregnant
women received the third instalment.











‘Nirmal Gram Puraskar’ for Dakshina Kannada
‘Dakshina Kannada’ became the first district in the Karnataka to be chosen for the Nirmal
Gram Puraskar.The “Nirmal Gram Puraskar” award is instituted in 2003 by the Union Ministry of DrinkingWater and Sanitation. The award carries and incentive amount of Rs. 50 lakh for District Panchayats with population of above 10 Lakh. The Nirmal Gram Puraskar is being awarded at the gram panchayat, taluk and district levels as an incentive to eradicate open defecation in villages. Also, Mangalore and Sullia taluks have been chosen for the block-level Puraskar. The Govt has laid down guidelines for spending the award money. The Award Money should be used for solid waste management and upgrading sanitation facilities.

The Union Ministry of Women and Child Development on 18 September 2012 decided to launch a scheme called Saksham to empower adolescent boys by educating them on gender sensitivity and moral behaviour. Saksham aims to target young boys in the age group 10-18 years for their holistic development by giving lessons in gender sensitivity and inculcating in them respect for women.

The Union government has already allocated ten lakh rupees for preparatory work for the scheme which is expected to be rolled out from the next financial year 2012-13.

Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan in 2004.




Union Rural Development Minister Mr Jairam Ramesh says that new Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan will ensure the extension
of the sanitation scheme to both Above Poverty Line and Below Poverty Line families. Subsidy amount for the
sanitation scheme is also being raised from the present level of 3,000 rupees.












“Panchayat Yuva Krida Aur Khel Abhiyan”: Sports Ministry apportions
Rs 77 crore
The Sports Ministry granted Rs 77 crore to 26 states for organizing annual sports competitions
under thePanchayat Yuva Krida Aur Khel Abhiyan (PYKKA) scheme. The states include Andhra
Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Nagaland,
Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. The Scheme has so far covered around 52,000 village
panchayats and more than 1,500 block panchayats.
Objective:
 To develop playfields at block, district, state and national levels
 To conduct Yearly sports competitions at block, district, state and national levels
PYKKA:
 A rural sports go-ahead introduced by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, Govt of India to promote youth
and social development via sports.
 Launched on 1 April 2008
 3 decision making bodies of PYKKA and their respective heads
 General Council - Union Sports Minister of the Government of India
 Executive Committee - Secretary of Sports, Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports
 Mission Directorate – Joint Secretary of Sports, Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports
 A Central Government sponsored scheme and it is implemented by State and Union Territory administrations.
Funding Structure:-
 Union Govt : State Government = 90 : 10 (For North Eastern States)
 Union Govt : State Government = 75 : 25 (For Rest of India)
Modus Operandi:-
 PYKKA furnishes funds for the development and maintenance of sports grounds in villages and block panchayats.
 For several sporting disciplines, PYKKA alleviates the conduct of district-state and national level competitions.










Rs 36,000 Crore in order to ameliorate sanitation in rural areas in 12th
Plan: Planning Commission
 Planning Commission allocates Rs 36,000 crore in the 12th Five Year Plan for improving sanitation in Rural Areas
 It is an increment from Rs 7,800 crore in the previous Plan
 About 60% of open defecation in the world are in India
 Government targets to achieve total sanitation in the country in the next 10 years
Current Affairs Published on www.gktoday.in from January 1, 2012 to
September 10, 2012
 Amount allocated for construction of individual household latrines has been doubled from existing Rs 4,600 to
nearly Rs10,000
 Total Sanitation Campaign is rechristened as Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan.










Govt of Goa starts “Ladli Laxmi Scheme”
Govt of Goa started Ladli Laxmi Scheme initiated by Women and Child Welfare department. The scheme is aimed
preventing female feticide in the state.
The scheme:
 Girls who are 18 years and above would be provided with Rs. 1 Lakh for their marriage. This scheme is for those
girls who lie between the age group of 18-40 years.
 Scheme only for girls whose parents are living in Goa for the last 25 years. Besides, the girl should have been
born and brought up in the state.



'Bal Bandhu
Scheme': 1.It is a Centrally-sponsored scheme for youth in Naxal-hit districts.
2.Funds for the scheme will come from the Prime Minister's National Relief Fund.










Madhya Pradesh to launch Panch Parmeshwar scheme
 The Madhya Pradesh government is launching its Panch Parmeshwar scheme to further empower village
Panchayats.
 Under the Panch Parmeshwar scheme funds for different schemes will be provided to more than 23 thousand
Panchayats in lump sum.
 As of now the funds were being provided into various stages.







Home Ministry to assist UIDAI in bio-metric data-collection
As per the Union Cabinet, the Home Ministry and the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) will together
collect biometric data of 1.2 billion Indians.
What was the issue?
Home Ministry and the UIDAI were debating over the issue of collection of biometric data which necessitates the right
to scan people’s eyes and fingerprints. The issue was settled by a cabinet committee on UIDAI which directed UIDAI
(which comes under the Planning Commission) to issue 600 million cards in 16 states and union Territories and asked
the Home Ministry to cover the remaining 600 million people as part of the National Population Register (NPR) being
prepared by the Registrar General of India. NPR project again came to halt because of the UID scheme. NPR
programme is facing hurdles in collection of photographs and biometric information on account of UIDAI. UIDAI is
objecting to the conduct of NPR camps in certain states and is also refusing to accept the biometric data of NPR for deduplication
and generation of Aadhaar number. NPR would manifest into resident identity card which will culminate in
a citizenship card.
 The UID project aims to provide unique identity numbers to the marginalized sections of society and reinforce
equity.



1 Crore Aadhaar Numbers
First resident to get the Aadhaar number, Ranjana Sonawane, is a resident of
Maharashtra.
She received her number on 29th September, 2010 in Tembhli village of Nandurbar
district.
Now, 52 year old, NK Chheda from the same state Maharastra has the got distinction of
being the resident whose Aadhaar number was a milestone of reaching 1 Crore Aadhaar
numbers.




New national permit scheme of goods carriages
 A new National Permit System has been implemented in all states and Union Territories in order to facilitate
inter-State seamless movement of goods carriages.
 As per the new arrangement, national permit can be granted by the Home State on payment of Rs 1,000 as home
State authorisation fee and Rs 15,000 per annum per truck towards consolidated fee authorising the permit
holder to operate throughout the country.
 The new national permit system has also been implemented electronically through a web portal developed by
NIC.Under the new National Permit Scheme, the consolidated fee collected by the Central Government through
State Bank of India is distributed among the States/UTs on a pro-rata basis as per agreed formula.
 The new National Permit System is being implemented successfully by all States/UTs and has been welcomed by
the transporters and States as a significant step towards improvement in road transport system in the country.



People of A & N First to get Resident Identity Smart card, RIC
 The People of Andaman and Nicobar Islands becomethe first among Indians to receive the Resident Identity
Smart card, RIC under the National Population Register, NPR scheme.
 Home Minister P Chidambaram distributes the first batch of the RIC smart cards at Porthrapur village in Andaman
and Nicobar Islands.
 RIC cards are distributed to all persons above the age of 18 residing in the nine maritime states and four union
territories under the National Population Register, NPR scheme.
 The objective of the NPR scheme is to provide valid identity to all people in these areas to strengthen the security
along the country’s coastline.



Pattipulam: First village in India Mainland to get RIC Card
 Union Home Minister P Chidambaram launched the Resident Identity (Smart) cards in the coastal village of
Pattipulam, about 50 km from Chennai. The small village have thus achieved the unique statues of being the first
coastal village in the country (main land) to have received these smart cards under the scheme of National
Population Register. Ms Bhu Devi receives first RIC Smart Card of India
 Union Home Minister P Chidambaram issues the first set of Resident Identity (Smart) Card at Porthrapur village
of South Andaman.
 India s first RIC Smart Card was handed over to Ms Bhu Devi, a resident of Porthrapur village.







pension


Government to lower the lower age bar from the central
pension scheme
 Rural development Minister Jairam Ramesh says that Government is planning to lower the age bar from 40 to 18
for widows entitled to central pension scheme.
 At present BPL widow in the age group of 40 to 59 are eligible for pension.
 Ministry has proposed to the Finance Ministry to enhance the pension amount from existing 200 to 500 rupees
for the old age people, differently abled as well as for widows.