PIB Analysis : 19th, 20th and 21st July

PIB Analysis for UPSC CSE

Topics Covered

1. Increasing private expenditure in agricultural sector
2. Impact of Climate change on Agriculture
3. Nag Missile
4. Arani Silk Saree
5. PM Paridhan Rozgar Protsahan Yojana
6. Schemes/programmes to overcome gender disparity and provide equal status to women in the country
7. Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana
8. Electronically Transmitted Postal Ballot System (ETPBS)

1 . Increasing private expenditure in agricultural sector

Background

While public investment usually strengthen infrastructure of the sector , private investment is associated with enhanced productive capacity.

Govt Initiatives

In order to incentivize corporate sector investments in agriculture sector, Government has already rolled out the following policy reforms:

• The Model Agriculture Produce & Livestock Marketing (Promotion & Facilitation) Act 2017, which provides the opportunity for private sector to set up private markets, alternate marketing channels, online market platforms etc. in both agriculture and livestock marketing.
• The Model Agriculture Produce & Livestock Contract Farming & Services Act (Promotion & Facilitation) Act, 2018, which enables private sector investments by way of capital, technology and extension all along the value system.
• Exemption to Farmer Producer Companies (FPCs) under Income Tax Act – the Budget 2018 has offered an IT exemption to all FPCs with a turnover of upto Rs 100 crore per annum, by considering their incomes as agricultural income. This will incentivise corporate sector to partner with farmers as FPCs.
• 100 per cent FDI in food retail – this will encourage foreign investments in establishing appropriate post-production infrastructure to strengthen the food supply chains.

2 . Impact of Climate change on Agriculture

Background

• Agriculture sector in India is vulnerable to climate change. Higher temperatures tend to reduce crop yields and favour weed and pest proliferation.
• Climate change can have negative effects on irrigated crop yields across agro-ecological regions both due to temperature rise and changes in water availability.
• Rainfed agriculture will be primarily impacted due to rainfall variability and reduction in number of rainy days.
• Analysis of impact of climate change under National Innovations in Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA) project has found that climate change is expected to affect yields, particularly in crops like rice, wheat and maize. 

Government of India has initiated various actions to mitigate affects of climate change:

• Varieties and cultivars tolerant to abiotic stresses are developed under strategic research component of NICRA.
• The technology demonstrations aim at enhancing the adaptive capacity of the farmers and also to cope with climate variability in the vulnerable districts to achieve climate resilient agriculture. Under NICRA, climate resilient technology demonstrations are implemented in 151 climatically vulnerable districts of the country.
• District Agriculture Contingency Plans have been prepared by ICAR-CRIDA, Hyderabad for 648 districts in the country to address the adverse weather conditions.

3 .Nag Missile

Context : Indian Army has successfully carried out summer user trials of third Generation Anti-Tank Guided Missile NAG at Pokhran Field Firing Ranges. 

About Nag

• NAG missile has been developed to engage highly fortified enemy tanks in all weather conditions with day and night capabilities and with a minimum range of 500 metres and maximum range of four kilometres.
• It is a third-generation fire and forget class missile and uses an imaging infrared seeker in lock-on-before-launch mode.
• The missile is launched from the NAG missile carrier (NAMICA) which is capable of carrying up to six combat missiles.
• The robust imaging algorithm has made the missile hit the target at four-kilometre distance even in severe summer desert conditions which is unique in its class.

4 . Arani Silk Saree

About Arani Silks

• The silks from the town of Arani in Tiruvannamalai are equally famous as the Kanjivaram; but they are lighter than them.
• The sarees are woven with mulberry silk in warp and weft, with or without too much Zari.
• The highlight of an Arani pattu is the “thazamboo” border motif.

Schemes undertaken for marketing of Arani Silks

• For providing marketing facility to all the handloom products including Arani Silk, Government of India is implementing Handloom Marketing Assistance (HMA)scheme, a component of National Handloom Development Programme (NHDP), all across India.
• The scheme provides marketing platform to the handloom weavers/organisations to sell their products directly to the consumers.
• Under the scheme, financial assistance is provided to National Level Handloom Organisations and nominated handloom agencies of the State Governments to organize the marketing events like National Handloom Expos (NHEs), Special Handloom Expos (SHEs) and District Level Events (DLEs).

5. Pradhan Mantri Paridhan Rozgar Protsahan Yojana(PMPRPY)

About PMPRPY

• Pradhan Mantri Paridhan Rozgar Protsahan Yojana(PMPRPY) was a labour reform initiative under which Government was bearing the entire 12% of the employers’ contribution to the Employees Provident Fund Scheme for new employees of garment and made-ups sectors for the first three years of their employment.
• Earlier, 8.33% of employer’s contribution was being provided by Government under Pradhan Mantri Rozgar Protsahan Yojana(PMRPY) and additional 3.67% of employers’ contribution was made available under PMPRPY to garment and made-ups segments to new workers with wage up to Rs. 15,000/-  per month.
• This scheme has a dual benefit, where, on the one hand, the employer is incentivised for increasing the employment base of workers in the establishment, and on the other hand, a large number of workers will find jobs in such establishments. A direct benefit is that these workers will have access to social security benefits of the organized sector

6. Schemes/programmes to overcome gender disparity and provide equal status to women in the country

Background

• Government of India is implementing various programs/schemes and legislations to address various forms of gender discrimination.
• The root cause of gender discrimination is the patriarchal mind set prevalent in the Indian society. Though this mind set is changing with urbanization and education, still there is long way to go for a permanent change in the scenario.
• Sex ratio at birth has improved from 918 in 2014-15 to 931 in 2018-19 and female literacy rate has increased from 55.1% in 2004-05 to 68.4% in 2015-16. As per NCRB data, which is available up to 2016, 339457, 329243 and 338954 cases were registered as crime against women in the years 2014, 2015 and 2016 respectively. Over the years various legislations have been enacted.
• In the changed environment, now more and more women are accessing criminal justice system to complain against the harassment suffered in educational institutes, workplaces and various other public organizations in India.

Initiatives undertake by Govt

• The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has developed syllabus and textbooks across the subjects to promote gender sensitization in the school curriculum. Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has also prepared guidelines for gender sensitivity in textbooks and textual material, including question papers.
• The Government of India has already enacted a number of legislations to prevent exploitation/ harassment of women and to address the issues of discrimination and gender disparity. These include
  • ‘The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009’, ‘The Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013’, ‘The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005’, ‘The Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961’, ‘The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013’; ‘The Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006’, ‘The Equal Remuneration Act, 1976’, ‘The Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act, 2017’ and the 73^rd – 74^th Amendment of the Constitution mandating 33% reservation for women in the local governance. The Criminal Law (Amendment), Act 2013 has been enacted making the punishment more stringent for offences like rape, sexual assaults, etc.

Schemes

• The Government of India is implementing various schemes/programmes to overcome gender disparity and provide equal status to women in the country. The schemes being implemented by Ministry of Women and Child Development for welfare of women are :
  • Beti Bacho Beti Padhao (BBBP) to improve the Child Sex Ratio and enabling education for the girl children,
  • Swadhar Greh Scheme to provide relief and rehabilitation to destitute women and women in distress,
  • Ujjawala a Comprehensive Scheme for prevention of trafficking and rescue, rehabilitation and re-integration of victims of trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation,
  • Rashtriya Mahila Kosh (RMK) to provide loan to poor women through Intermediary Microfinancing Organisations (IMOs), Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) to promote their socio-economic development
  • Working Women Hostels (WWH) for ensuring safe accommodation for women working away from their place of residence.
• Apart from the above, Ministry of Women and Child Development is also implementing scheme of ‘One Stop Centre’ to provide integrated support and assistance to women affected by violence, scheme for ‘Universalisation of Women Helpline’ intended to provide 24 hours immediate and emergency response to women affected by violence and scheme of ‘Mahila Police Volunteers’ in which MPVs act as a link between police and community and help women in distress.

7 . Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana

About Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana

• Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana  (PMMVY) is a Maternity Benefit Programme that is implemented in all the districts of the country in accordance with the provision of the National Food Security Act, 2013.

Objectives

• Providing partial compensation for the wage loss in terms of cash incentive s so that the woman can take adequate rest before and after delivery of the first living child.
• The cash incentive provided would lead to improved health seeking behaviour amongst the Pregnant Women and Lactating Mothers (PW& LM).

Benefits under PMMVY

• Cash incentive of Rs 5000 in three instalments i.e. first instalment of Rs 1000/ – on early registration of pregnancy at the Anganwadi Centre (AWC) / approved Health facility as may be identified by the respective administering State / UT, second instalment of Rs 2000/ – after six months of pregnancy on receiving at least one ante-natal check-up (ANC) and third instalment of Rs 2000/ – after child birth is registered and the child has received the first cycle of BCG, OPV, DPT and Hepatitis – B, or its equivalent/ substitute.
• The eligible beneficiaries would receive the incentive given under the Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY) for Institutional delivery and the incentive received under JSY would be accounted towards maternity benefits so that on an average a woman gets Rs 6000 / – .

Target beneficiaries

1. All Pregnant Women and Lactating Mothers, excluding PW&LM who are in regular employment with the Central Government or the State Governments or PSUs or those who are in receipt of similar benefits under any law for the time being in force.
2. All eligible Pregnant Women and Lactating Mothers who have their pregnancy on or after 01.01.2017 for first child in family.
3. The date and stage of pregnancy for a beneficiary would be counted with respect to her LMP date as mentioned in the MCP card.
4. Case of Miscarriage/Still Birth :
   • A beneficiary is eligible to receive benefits under the scheme only once.
   • In case of miscarriage/still birth, the beneficiary would be eligible to claim the remaining instalment(s) in event of any future pregnancy.
   • Thus, after receiving the 1st instalment, if the beneficiary has a miscarriage, she would only be eligible for receiving 2nd and 3rd instalment in event of future pregnancy subject to fulfilment of eligibility criterion and conditionalities of the scheme. Similarly, if the beneficiary has a miscarriage or still birth after receiving 1 st and 2nd instalments, she would only be eligible for receiving 3rd instalment in event of future pregnancy subject to fulfilment of eligibility criterion and conditionalities of the scheme.
5. Case of Infant Mortality: A beneficiary is eligible to receive benefits under the scheme only once. That is, in case of infant mortality, she will not be eligible for claiming benefits under the scheme, if she has already received all the instalments of the maternity benefit under PMMVY earlier.
6. Pregnant and Lactating AWWs/ AWHs/ ASHA may also avail the benefits under the PMMVY subject to fulfilment of scheme conditionalities.

8 . Electronically Transmitted Postal Ballot System (ETPBS)

Background

• Among the many milestones recorded by Election Commission of India during the recently concluded Lok Sabha Election 2019, Electronically Transmitted Postal Ballot System (ETPBS) is one of its kind.
• For the first time enabled through the dedicated portal online registration, the service voters were sent postal ballots electronically one way to save processing time, resources and avoid human errors. 

Service Voters

• Persons working in Central Forces under Arms Act and Government officials deployed in Embassies outside the country are classified as Service Voters and are provisioned for online enrolment.

ETBPS

• ETPBS is a fully secured system, having two security layers. Secrecy of voting is maintained through the use of OTP and PIN and no duplication of casted ETPB is possible due to the unique QR Code in the portal
• Through this system the service voters cast their vote on an electronically received postal ballot, from anywhere outside their constituency, thus reducing the chances of losing the voting opportunity.
• The purpose of the online system was to create convenient and easy-to-use online system for Defense Personnel to become Service Voters.