PIB Analysis : 5th February

PIB Analysis for UPSC CSE

Topics Covered

1. Ease of Doing Agri Business Index
2. M-Kisan Portal
3. Categorisation of Farmers
4. Protection of Sentinelese Tribe
5. Safe City Project
6. Border Area Development Programme
7. Shehri Samridhi Utsav
8. Know India Programme
9. Rashtriya Vayoshri Yojana
10. National Film Development Corporation

1 . Ease of Doing Agri Business Index

Background

• The Government has been reorienting the agriculture sector by focusing on an income-centeredness which goes beyond achieving merely the targeted production.
• The income approach focuses on achieving high productivity, reduced cost of cultivation and remunerative price on the produce, with a view to earn higher profits from farming.    

About the Release

• To ensure that the reform agenda of Government is implemented at a desired pace by all States/UTs, a need is felt to develop a competitive spirit between the States. Keeping this in mind to rank the States through an Index i.e. Ease of Doing Agri-Business, a concept note alongwith parameters for developing an Index has been circulated to all States/UTs inviting their views.
• The concept is to consider farming not solely as a production oriented activity carried out to achieve food security for the country, but as a business activity carried out by farmer as entrepreneur. The proposed index has taken the aspects of increasing production/productivity, increasing price realization of agri produce and decreasing input costs of production, risk mitigation and investment related attributes.
• The index will obviously help in fostering agriculture among States by promoting a competitive spirit amongst the States.

2 . M-Kisan Portal

Background

• As per TRAI data of May, 2014, though there are about 38 crore mobile telephone connections in rural areas, internet penetration in the countryside is still abysmally low (in single digit percentage). Therefore, mobile messaging is the most effective tool so far having pervasive outreach to nearly 8.93 crore farm families

About M-Kisan Portal

• M-Kisan SMS Portal for farmers enables all Central and State government organizations in agriculture and allied sectors to give information/services/advisories to farmers by SMS in their language, preference of agricultural practices and location.
• These messages are specific to farmers’ specific needs & relevance at a particular point of time and generate heavy inflow of calls in the Kisan Call Centres where people call up to get supplementary information
• SMS Portal for Farmers has empowered all Central and State Government Organizations in Agriculture & Allied sectors (including State Agriculture Universities, Krishi Vigyan Kendras, Agromet Forecasts Units of India Meteorological Department, ICAR Institutes, Organization in Animal Husbandry, Dairying & Fisheries etc.) to give information/services/advisories to farmers by SMS in their language, preference of agricultural practices and locations.
• USSD (Unstructured Supplementary Service Data), IVRS (Interactive Voice Response System) and Pull SMS are value added services which have enabled farmers and other stakeholders not only to receive broadcast messages but also to get web based services on their mobile without having internet. Semi-literate and illiterate farmers have also been targeted to be reached through voice messages.

3 . Categorisation of Farmers

4 . Protection of Sentinelese Tribe

Laws & Regulations

• A &N Islands (PAT) Regulation 1956,
• Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989,
• Restrictions under Foreigner (Restricted Area) Orders, 1963,
• Visa Manual Conditions/Passport Act 1920,
• Indian Forest Act, 1927 and Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.

Besides, some major steps taken to ensure the protection of Sentinelese are:

• The entire North Sentinel Island along with 5 km coastal sea from high water mark is notified as tribal reserve.
• The Sentinelese are still in isolation practicing primordial hunting and gathering way of life. The Government respects their way of life style, therefore, has adopted an ‘eyes-on and hands-off’ practice to protect and safeguard the Sentinelese tribe.
• A protocol of circumnavigation of the North Sentinel Island has been notified.  The ships and aircrafts of Coast Guard and boats of Marine Police make sorties around North Sentinel to keep surveillance.
• Apart from the land territory the coastal sea up to fixed extent of 1 Km to 5 Km abutting the tribal territory has also been notified as tribal reserve so that marine resources like fish, turtle etc are available exclusively for the Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Gro

5 . Safe City Project

About Safe City Project

• The objective is to make the cities safer for women by addressing different aspects such as street lighting, safer public transport, improved policing and others
• The pilot Safe City projects in eight selected metropolitan cities Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Lucknow
• The cost of the projects is shared between the Central Government and the concerned States in 60:40 ratio. The Safe City Project in Delhi is fully funded by the Central Government.

6 . Border Area Development Programme

About BADP

• The Department of Border Management, Ministry of Home Affairs has been implementing the Border Area Development Programme (BADP) through the State Governments as part of a comprehensive approach to Border Management.
• The programme aims to meet the special development needs of the people living in remote and inaccessible areas situated near the international border and to saturate the border areas with the essential infrastructure through convergence of Central/State/BADP/Local schemes and participatory approach.
• BADP was initiated in the border areas of the western region during that Seventh Five Year Plan period for ensuring balanced development of border areas through development of infrastructure and promotion of a sense of security among the border population. 
• The State covered are Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Punjab, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and West Bengal

7 . Shehri Samridhi Utsav

About Shehri Samridhi Utsav

• Shehri Samridhi Utsav is an initiative of Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs (MoHUA),aims to extend the outreach of Deendayal Antyodaya Mission – National Urban Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NULM), to the most vulnerable, showcase its initiatives and facilitate access of Self-Help Group (SHG) members to the other government schemes.
• Through Shehri Samridhi Utsav, SHG members across cities are being linked to national government schemes viz. Swachchh Bharat Mission (U), Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (U), Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Yojana and National Nutrition Mission.
• A major highlight of Shehri Samridhi Utsav is the National Exhibition cum sale of SHG products and National Street Food Festival

8 . Know India Programme

About Know India Programme

• The Know India Programme is organised by the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India with the objective of familiarizing the India Diaspora Youth, in the age group of 18-30 years, with developments and achievements made by the country and bringing them closer to the land of their ancestors.
• The programme provides a unique forum for students and young professionals of India origin to visit India, share their views, expectations and experiences and to bond closely with the contemporary India.

9 . Rashtriya Vayoshri Yojana

About Rashtriya Vayoshri Yojana

• The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment has introduced a scheme for providing physical aids and Assisted Living Devices for Senior Citizens belonging to BPL category named “Rashtriya Vayoshri Yojana (RVY)
• The objective of providing Senior Citizens, belonging to BPL category and suffering from age related disabilities/ infirmities, with such physical aids and assisted living devices which can restore near normalcy in their bodily functions.
• Under the Scheme, assisted living devices such as Walking Sticks, Elbow Crutches, Walkers/ Crutches, Tripods/ Quadpods, Hearing Aids, Wheelchairs, Artificial Dentures and Spectacles are provided free of cost to the beneficiary senior citizens.
• The Scheme is being implemented through the “Artificial Limbs Manufacturing Corporation (ALIMCO)”, a Public Sector Undertaking under the Ministry of SJ&E, as the sole Implementing Agency.
• The beneficiaries are identified through Assessment Camps organised in collaboration with the respective State Government/District Administration and the devices are distributed in Distribution Camps organised in the selected districts. For the senior citizens aged 80 years or more, the devices are provided at their doorsteps.

10 . National Film Development Corporation

About NFDC

• National Film Development Corporation Ltd. (NFDC), incorporated in the year 1975, was formed by the Government of India with the primary objective of planning and promoting an organized, efficient, and integrated development of the Indian film industry. NFDC has so far funded / produced over 300 films. 
• These films, in various Indian languages, have been widely acclaimed and have won many national and international awards. 
• The primary activities of NFDC are Film Production – 100% finance for debutant directors & Co-Production with Foreign & Indian Film Makers, Promoting Indian Films at various International Film Festivals and markets in India and abroad, NFDC’s Film Bazaar has now become one of the leading platform for promoting & showcasing Indian cinema to the world
• Ministry of I&B has taken the lead with a long-term objective of positioning and promoting India as a preferred destination for filmmakers across the world, by setting up the Film Facilitation Office (FFO), which is housed under the aegis of  NFDC