PIB Summary for RBI Grade B and NABARD Grade A : 30th July 2021

Daily PIB Summary & Analysis for RBI Grade B 2022, NABARD Grade A 2021 and SEBI Grade A Exam. In this Article we will discuss Press Information Bureau (PIB) Programs and their Summary for RBI Grade B Economics and Social Issue Section.

Press Information Bureau (PIB) releases news related to the policies, programmes, initiatives and achievements of the Government of India. PIB releases are important to be read for the RBI Grade B Exam however, equally important is to know which PIB release should be read.

The Press Information Bureau (PIB) is the nodal agency of the government of India to broadcast and publicize information on government policies, initiatives, achievements and working of every ministry and department within the government through its official website using various articles, images and photographs.

Skill Development Programs - Pradhan Mantri Kaushal VikasYojana (PMKVY), Jan Shikshan Sansthan (JSS) Scheme and National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme (NAPS) for providing short term Skill Development training and Craftsman Training Scheme (CTS) for long term training, to the youth

• Also, Takshashila, a dedicated technology platform has been developed to support the trainer development framework such as Trainer registration, demand aggregation, batch-life cycle and certification.
• PMKVY has two components namely Short Tern Training (STT) and Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL).
• PMKVY 3.0, a pilot On-line/Digital (Blended) Mode of training under STT-PMKVY3.0 has been launched. Blended Learning (Training) through digital skills is crucial in the post COVID era to ensure skilling for youth and also to address the requirements of industrial revolution 4.0.

PM CARES for children scheme to support children who have lost both parents or surviving parent or legal guardian or adoptive parents due to COVID-19 pandemic.

• The scheme provides support for education and health and will create a corpus of Rs 10 lakh for each child when he or she reaches 18 years of age.
• This corpus will be used to give a monthly financial support/ stipend form 18 years of age, for the next 5 years to take care of his or her personal requirements during the period of higher education and on reaching the age of 23 years, he or she will get the corpus amount as one lump-sum for personal and professional use

Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh releases “Biotech-PRIDE (Promotion of Research and Innovation through Data Exchange) Guideline

• The Minister also launched the website of Indian Biological Data Centre, IBDC

A total of 3,91,112 households have completed 100 days of work under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (Mahatma Gandhi NREGA) in the months of April- June, 2021

• An additional 50 days of wage employment is provided over and above 100 days in the notified drought affected areas or natural calamity areas in the country on recommendation of the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare

In order to handle the difficult time on account of spread of COVID-19, the Government released  an amount of Rs.2814.50 crore to States/UTs for payment of ex-gratia of Rs. 1000 (in two installments of Rs.500 each) to the old aged, widows and divyangjan beneficiaries of NSAP under Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana Package (PMGKYP) in 2020-21

• Under the National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP), monthly pension at the rate of Rs.300/- p.m  to widows in the age group of 40 to 79 years and divyangjan in the age group of 18-79 years and Rs.200/- p.m to old age persons in the age group of 60 to 79 years belonging to  below poverty line households is being paid.
• The amount of pension is increased to Rs. 500/- per month in respect of these beneficiaries on reaching the age of 80 years and above. Under the National Family Benefit Scheme of NSAP, a one-time lump-sum amount of Rs.20,000/- is paid to a bereaved family, on the death of primary breadwinner, aged between 18-60 years

50.78 crore person-days employment generated during the Garib Kalyan Rozgar Abhiyaan with a total expenditure of Rs. 39,293 crore

• Government of India had launched a campaign known as Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan (GKRA) of 125 days on 20th June, 2020.
• By giving focus on 25 works (including works under Mahatma Gandhi NREGS) in 116 selected districts across 6 States of Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. A total of 12 Ministries/Departments of Government of India has participated in the Abhiyaan.
• The terminal date of Abhiyan was 22nd October, 2020.

Shri Singh said that the 3lakh 3000 Crore Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme  - a reforms Based and Results Linked Scheme was the  largest of its kind in the power sector and that there are enough funds to meet the requirements of the States/DISCOMs for distribution system strengthening and modernization

• Guidelines of the new  Reforms Based and  Results Linked  Distribution Sector Scheme  followed by a review of the IPDS and DDUGJY Schemes
• Minister Power mentioned that Under the KUSUM scheme, Agriculture feeders are being solarized. Thirty percent of the cost of solarization is met from the KUSUM, and seventy percent is loan from NABARD/PFC/RE

A National Population Policy was formulated in the year 2000 with the long term objective of attaining Population Stabilization by 2045. Various initiatives have been taken under the National Family Planning Programme providing broad range of services mentioned as given below:-

1. Mission Parivar Vikas has been introduced for substantially increasing access to contraceptives and family planning services in 146 high fertility districts in 7 high focus states.
2. Expanded Contraceptive Choices: The current contraceptive basket comprising of condoms, Combined oral contraceptive pills, Emergency contraceptive pills, Intrauterine contraceptive uterine device (IUCD) and Sterilization has been expanded with inclusion of new contraceptives namely Injectable contraceptive (Antara programme) and Centchroman (Chhaya).
3. Compensation scheme for sterilization acceptors which provides compensation for loss of wages to the beneficiary and also to the service provider team for conducting sterilization. 
4. Post-partum Intrauterine contraceptive device (PPIUCD) services are provided post delivery.
5. Scheme for Home Delivery of contraceptives by ASHAs at doorstep of beneficiaries has been taken up.
6. Scheme for provision of Pregnancy Testing Kits in the drug kits of ASHA for use in communities.
7. Family Planning Logistics Management Information System (FP-LMIS): dedicated software has been launched to ensure smooth forecasting, procurement and distribution of family planning commodities across all the levels of health facilities.

Achievement of the above initiatives are as follows:-

• The Total Fertility Rate has declined from 2.9 to 2.2 from 2005 to 2018 (SRS).
• 28 out of 36 States/UTs have already achieved the replacement level fertility of 2.1 or less.
• The Crude Birth Rate has declined from 23.8 to 20.0 from 2005 to 2018 (SRS).\nIndia’s Wanted Fertility Rate has come down to 1.8 in NFHS IV from 1.9 in NFHS III

Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI) is implementing a Central Sector scheme- PRADHAN MANTRI KISAN SAMPADA YOJANA (PMKSY) for overall growth and development of food processing sector including augmenting the preservation and processing capacity in the sector with off farm employment generation across the country.

• Total investment leveraged through implementation of the component schemes of PMKSY over the past three years was Rs.7185.48 crore

About PM-FME Scheme :

The Central Government, in partnership with the State Governments, has launched "PM Formalization of Micro food processing Enterprises (PMFME) Scheme" for providing financial, technical and business support for upgradation of micro food processing enterprises in the country.

• The scheme is operational for a period of five years from 2020-21 to 2024-25 with an outlay of Rs 10,000 Crore.
• Support to upgrade existing units or setting up of new micro units for individuals is provided through a credit linked grant @ 35% with maximum grant of Rs.10 lakhs.
• The Scheme also provides support to food processing units of SHGs/ FPOs/ Cooperatives for credit linked subsidy@35%, Seed Capital to SHGs, Incubation Centre, Common Infrastructure, Marketing & Branding and Capacity Building. 
• Two lakh micro food processing units will be directly assisted with credit linked subsidy, capacity building and marketing & branding support.
• In 2020-21, against the Budget of Rs. 398.69 crore, expenditure incurred was Rs.398.43 crore including Letter of Authorizations. For 2021-22, BE is Rs. 500 crore  and expenditure of Rs.104.80 crore has been incurred so far
• One District One Product (ODOP) have been approved for 707 districts of the country based on the recommendations of the States/UT.
• MIS for online filing of applications has been developed and operationalized and applicants are filing applications that are being appraised at the district level, being recommended to the banks for sanction of credit

Government of India has procured 869.29 LMT of paddy during KMS 2020-21 and 43

3.32 LMT of wheat during RMS 2021-22, which is the highest ever procurement.

Some state governments have also recorded highest ever procurement of food grains during current year.

• Wheat: Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir have recorded highest ever procurement during RMS 2021-22.
• Paddy: Punjab, Bihar, Gujarat, Telangana, Jharkhand, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh have recorded highest ever procurement during KMS 2020-21.
• Coarsegrain:  The State Government of Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh have recorded highest procurement during 2020-21 as compared to procurement during last five years

States/UTs have completed the Aadhaar seeding of about 21.91 Crore (92.8%) ration cards and 70.94 Crore (90%) NFSA beneficiaries at the national level.

• While around 5.38 lakh Fair Price Shops (FPSs) under the Public Distribution System (PDS) are operational in the country, nearly 4.98 Lakh (92.7%) FPS in the country are having ePoS devices up to 23/07/2021.

The Office of Economic Adviser, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade is releasing Index of Eight Core Industries (ICI) for the Month of June, 2021

• ICI measures combined and individual performance of production in selected eight core industries viz. Coal, Crude Oil, Natural Gas, Refinery Products, Fertilizers, Steel, Cement and Electricity.
• The Eight Core Industries comprise 40.27 percent of the weight of items included in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP)
• The combined Index of Eight Core Industries stood at 126.6 in June 2021, which increased by8.9 per cent (provisional) as compared to the Index of June 2020
• Final growth rate of Index of Eight Core Industries for March 2021 is revised to 12.6 % from its provisional level 6.8%.

The Ministry of Rural Development started a scheme to provide facilities to women farmers namely, Mahila Kisan SashaktikaranPariyojana (MKSP), a sub-component of Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana- National Rural Livelihood Mission (DAY –NRLM), which is under implementation since 2011 through State Rural Livelihoods Mission as Project Implementation Agencies. 

• The primary objective of MKSP is to empower women by making systematic investments to enhance their participation and create sustainable livelihood of rural women

There have been several reforms to unleash the potential of Women Empowerment in Agriculture and Rural Development Sector which include Market Reforms like 

• Model APLMC (Promotion & Facilitation) Act, 2017; 
• Establishment of Gramin Agriculture Markets (GrAMs); 
• Agri-Export Policy, 2018; 
• The Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion & Facilitation) Act, 2020; 
• The Farmers (Empowerment & Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020; 
• Amendments to Essential Commodities Act, 1955; 
• Promotion of 10,000 FPOs with necessary financial support under AtmaNirbhar Package (Agriculture) 
• Supplementary income transfers under Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN); 
• Pradhan Mantri FasalBimaYojna (PMFBY); 
• Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana (PMKSY); 
• Increase in Minimum Support Price (MSPs) for all Kharif & Rabi Crops ensuring a minimum of 50 percent of profit margin on the cost of production to provide remunerative price to farmers; 
• Har Medh Par Ped; 
• Bee-Keeping; 
• Rashtriya Gokul Mission; 
• Blue Revolution; 
• Interest Subvention Scheme; 
• Kisan Credit Card (KCC) that now offers production loan to even dairy & fishery farmers besides agricultural crops etc

Promoting Traditional Agro-Product : The National Gene bank (NGB) at ICAR-National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources (ICAR- NBPGR), New Delhi is currently conserving more than 4.52 lakh accessions of various crops of which over 0.92 lakh accessions are of indigenous/local/traditional varieties and landraces

• Government has also been promoting traditional ways of crop cultivation through dedicated schemes of Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY) and Mission Organic Value Chain Development in North East Region (MOVCDNER)

• ICAR-NBPGR and Biodiversity International are jointly executing  UN Environment implemented project entitled “Mainstreaming Agricultural biodiversity conservation and utilization of the agriculture sector to ensure ecosystem services and reduce vulnerability” in seven states  and Union Territory of Ladakh

• Besides, in the  United Nation- Global  Environment  Facility (UNEP-GEF) project, NBPGR, Biodiversity International and other institutes are also executing “Seeds for Needs” project using crowd sourcing (CS) and Participatory Varietal Selection trials (PVS) approaches to look for the “best set” of traditional varieties of wheat and rice farmers across 4 states (Bihar, Chhattisgarh, UP and MP)

In order to enhance production and productivity of Oilseeds and Pulses, the Government of India is implementing National Food Security Mission (NFSM) on Oilseeds, Oil palm and Pulses. 

• The NFSM - Pulses programme is implemented in 644 districts of 28 States and Union Territories (UTs) of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh
• Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare is implementing various schemes viz., Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojna (RKVY), Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana (PMKSY), Formation of Farmers Producer Organization (FPOs), National Project on Soil Health and Fertility etc for promotion of Oilseeds and Pulses.
• The adoption of the above technologies by the farmers through these schemes has led to increase in production of oilseeds and pulses from 31.52 million tonnes (mt) and 22.08 mt during 2018-19 to 36.57 mt and 25.58 mt during 2020-21 (as per 3rd advance estimates), respectively

The Government is actively and continuously engaged in strengthening of agriculture market/ infrastructure in the country through various schemes and programs such as Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana - Remunerative Approaches for Agriculture and Allied Sector Rejuvenation (RKVY-RAFTAAR) Scheme, Agriculture Infrastructure Fund(AIF), Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH), National Agriculture Market (e-NAM) and Agricultural Marketing Infrastructure (AMI) sub-scheme of  Integrated Scheme for Agricultural Marketing (ISAM).

• AIF Scheme provides financial support to Agricultural Produce Marketing Committees (APMCs) in terms of interest subvention on loans up to Rs. 2 crores. Government is providing  one time assistance of Rs.75 lakhs per mandi under e-NAM Scheme to meet expenses for computer hardware, IT infrastructure, assaying equipment, etc and for creation of cleaning, grading and packaging facilities and also a compost unit in the e-NAM mandis.
• The development of agriculture markets and market infrastructure has helped farmers to enhance agricultural food grain production.
• As per 3rd Advance estimates (2020-21), total food grain production in the country is estimated at 305.44 million tonnes, which is higher by 7.94 million tonnes than the production of foodgrain of 297.50 million tonnes achieved during 2019-20.    

Source : Multiple PIB Article