PIB Analysis : 5th March

PIB Analysis for UPSC CSE

Topics Covered

1. Pradhan Mantri Shram Yogi Maan-dhan (PM-SYM) Yojana
2. Transport and Marketing Assistance (TMA)
3. National Rural Economic Transformation Project (NRETP)
4. Public Financial Management and Accountability Program
5. Smart Fencing on Indo-Bangladesh border

1 .  Pradhan Mantri Shram Yogi Maan-dhan (PM-SYM) Yojana

Context : The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, today, launched the Pradhan Mantri Shram Yogi Maan-dhan (PM-SYM) Yojana at Vastral in Gujarat.

About Pradhan Mantri Shram Yogi Maan-dhan (PM-SYM) Yojana

• PM-SYM is a Central government scheme administered by the Ministry of Labour and Employment and implemented through Life Insurance Corporation of India and CSC eGovernance Services India Limited (CSC SPV). LIC will be the Pension Fund Manager and responsible for Pension pay out.
• The amount collected under PM-SYM pension scheme shall be invested as per the investment pattern specified by Government of India.
• PM-SYM is a voluntary and contribution based scheme under which the subscriber gets an assured minimum monthly pension of Rs. 3,000 from the age of 60 years onwards.
• The contribution of a subscriber ranges from Rs. 55- Rs. 200 per month depending on his entry age which is 18 to 40.
• Under the scheme, the Central Government will also give matching contribution towards beneficiary’s pension account. Further, it has unique feature that in case of exit, subscriber would be returned his entire contribution.
• The PM-SYM scheme is for unorganised workers who are mostly engaged as home based workers, street vendors, mid-day meal workers, head loaders, brick kiln workers, cobblers, rag pickers, domestic workers, washer men, rickshaw pullers, rural landless labourers, own account workers, agricultural workers, construction workers, beedi workers, handloom workers, leather workers, audio- visual workers, and in similar other occupations
• The subscribers should not be covered under New Pension Scheme (NPS), Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) scheme or Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO). Further, he/she should not be an income tax payer.

2 . Transport and Marketing Assistance (TMA)

Context : Department of Commerce of the Ministry of Commerce & Industry has notified a scheme for Transport and Marketing Assistance (TMA) for Specified Agriculture Products.

Introduction and Objective

• The “Transport and Marketing Assistance” (TMA) for specified agriculture products scheme aims to provide assistance for the international component of freight and marketing of agricultural produce which is likely to mitigate disadvantage of higher cost of transportation of export of specified agriculture products due to trans-shipment and to promote brand recognition for Indian agricultural products in the specified overseas markets.
• Under the Transport and Marketing Assistance (TMA) scheme, the government would reimburse a certain portion of freight charges and provide assistance for marketing of agricultural produce.
• The scheme covers freight and marketing assistance for export by air as well as by sea (both normal and refrigerated cargo).
• “Assistance under TMA would be provided in cash through direct bank transfer as part reimbursement of freight paid. FOB (freight on board) supplies where no freight is paid by Indian exporters are not covered under this scheme,” the commerce ministry said in a statement.
• The level of financial assistance would be different for different regions and shall be admissible for exports made through EDI (electronic data interchange) ports only.

Coverage

• All exporters, duly registered with relevant Export Promotion Council as per Foreign Trade Policy, of eligible agriculture products shall be covered under this scheme.
• The assistance, at notified rates, will be available for export of eligible agriculture products to the permissible countries, as specified from time to time.

Eligibility of Products

• The assistance will be provided on export of all agriculture products covered in HSN chapter 1 to 24 including marine and plantation products except those mentioned in Annexure (1).

3 . National Rural Economic Transformation Project (NRETP)

Context : The World Bank and the Government of India signed here today in New Delhi a $250 Million Agreement for the National Rural Economic Transformation Project (NRETP) which will help women in rural households shift to a new generation of economic initiatives by developing viable enterprise for farm and non-farm products.   

About the Project

• Key Focus of the Project will be to promote women-owned and women-led farm and non-farm enterprises across value chains; enable them to build businesses that help them access finance, markets and networks; and generate employment.
• The National Rural Economic Transformation Project (NRETP) is an additional financing to the $500 million National Rural Livelihoods Project (NRLP) approved by the World Bank in July 2011. 
• The NRLP which is currently being implemented across 13 states, 162 districts and 575 blocks, has so far mobilized more than 8.8 million women from poor rural households into 750,000 self-help groups (SHGs). These SHGs have been further federated into 48,700 Village Organizations and 2900 Cluster/Gram Panchayat-level Federations.  While these 13 states will continue to be supported under the new project signed today, 125 new districts will be added from within these states.  
• The NRETP will support enterprise development programs for rural poor women and youth by creating a platform to access finance including start-up financing options to build their individual and/or collectively owned and managed enterprises.
• The other key component of the project includes developing financial products using digital financial services to help small producer collectives scale-up and engage with the market.  It will also support youth skills development, in coordination with the Deen Dayal Upadyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana.  Peer to peer learning across States and across communities was a successful strategy under the NRLP and will also continue to be used in this project. 

4 . Public Financial Management and Accountability Programme

Context : The Government of India, the State Government of Chhattisgarh and the World Bank signed here in New Delhi today a $25.2 Million Loan Agreement to support the State’s Reforms in Expenditure Management. This support will cover Expenditure Planning, Investment Management, Budget Execution, Public Procurement and Accountability.

About Public Financial Management and Accountability Programme

• The Chhattisgarh Public Financial Management and Accountability Program, which is the First Bank-Financed State-Level Project in Chhattisgarh in nearly a decade, will also help the State strengthen its Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) and Tax Administration Systems.
• The New Project will build capacity of the State’s Human Resources and the Institutions Handling Management of Public Finances. The World Bank will facilitate cross-learning from Public Financial Management (PFM) Reforms undertaken by it in other Indian States while bringing in global experiences.
• With 92 % households in the State belonging to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes, the Direct Benefit Transfers (DBTs) are increasingly being used by the Central and State Governments to channel resources to households and individuals. The Program will support development of systems that will facilitate inter-departmental data interaction under secured protocols and automate most of the processing and payment of DBTs in the State.
• Almost 11,000 Village Panchayats and 168 Urban Municipalities in Chhattisgarh are likely to benefit from the program’s emphasis on transparency and accountability.
• It will also support the State Government’s initiative to put in place systems to automate most of the processing and payment of DBTs to beneficiaries; improve property tax collection through the digitization of property tax rolls; and extending the property surveys to 47 municipalities. Enhanced outreach and improved tax return filing performance are also likely to help the State’s objective of increasing the number of GST Taxpayer Registrations.

5 . Smart Fencing on Indo-Bangladesh border

Context : Two pilot projects covering about 71 Kms on Indo-Pakistan Border (10 Kms) and Indo-Bangladesh Border (61 Kms) of Comprehensive Integrated Border Management System (CIBMS) have been completed. The CIBMS project will vastly improve the capability of BSF in detecting and controlling the cross border crimes like illegal infiltration, smuggling of contraband goods, human trafficking and cross border terrorism etc. 

About Comprehensive Integrated Border Management System (CIBMS)

• CIBMS involves deployment of a range of state-of-the-art surveillance technologies — thermal imagers, infra-red and laser-based intruder alarms, aerostats for aerial surveillance, unattended ground sensors that can help detect intrusion bids, radars, sonar systems to secure riverine borders, fibre-optic sensors and a command and control system that shall receive data from all surveillance devices in real time. Implementation of CIBMS projects on Indo – Pakistan and Indo – Bangladesh border will enhance the capabilities of Border security Force (BSF).  

Bold QIT

• BOLD-QIT (Border Electronically Dominated QRT Interception Technique) under Comprehensive Integrated Border Management System (CIBMS) is implemented on Indo- Bangladesh border in Dhubri district of Assam
• BOLD-QIT project has been implemented along riverine border, as it was not feasible to construct border fencing. The 61 kms of border area in Dhubri where River Brahmaputra enters into Bangladesh consists of vast char lands and innumerable river channels thus making border guarding in this area a challenging task especially during rainy season.
• To address these problems Ministry of Home Affairs has decided to use technological solutions to enhance capabilities of manpower of Border Security Force (BSF) deployed on the ground.
• As part of CIBMS, these two projects were undertaken. Implementation of this project will help in integration of manpower, sensors, networks, intelligence and command and control solutions to improve situational awareness at different levels of hierarchy to facilitate prompt and informed decision making and quick reaction to  emerging situations.

About CIBMS

• CIBMS involves deployment of a range of state-of-the-art surveillance technologies — thermal imagers, infra-red and laser-based intruder alarms, aerostats for aerial surveillance, unattended ground sensors that can help detect intrusion bids, radars, sonar systems to secure riverine borders, fibre-optic sensors and a command and control system that shall receive data from all surveillance devices in real time. Implementation of CIBMS projects on Indo – Pakistan and Indo – Bangladesh border will enhance the capabilities of Border security Force (BSF).