Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana (PMJDY)

• Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) is National Mission for Financial Inclusion to ensure access to financial services, namely, Banking/ Savings & Deposit Accounts, Remittance, Credit, Insurance, Pension in an affordable manner.
• Account can be opened in any bank branch or Business Correspondent (Bank Mitr) outlet.
• PMJDY accounts are being opened with Zero balance.
• However, if the account-holder wishes to get cheque book, he/she will have to fulfill minimum balance criteria.

1. About PMJDY

• PMJDY or Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana/PMJDY is a National Mission scheme for financial inclusion for providing following affordable services:
– Banking, Savings and Deposit Accounts, Remittance, Credit, Insurance, Pension
• PMJDY was launched at National, State and District Level on 28th August 2014.
• Over one crore accounts were opened on the day the scheme was launched

Objectives:

• Ensuring access to financial services
• Providing need based credit
• Promotion of financial inclusion for:
– Weaker sections
– Low income groups
• Use of technology for providing financial penetration
• Providing low cost banking services solutions
• Universal access to baking services
• Atleast one basic banking account for every household
• Provision of financial literacy
• Access to credit,insurance and pension facilities
• Channelising government benefits to accounts of beneficiaries
• Promotion of DBT (Direct Benefits Transfer) Scheme
• Addressing low connectivity and lack of financial inclusion

MICRO UNITS DEVELOPMENT AND REFINANCE AGENCY (MUDRA) BANK

• According to the NSSO survey of 2013, there are 5.77 crore small business units, mostly individual proprietorships, which run small manufacturing, trading or services activities.
• Most of these ‘own account enterprises’ are owned by people belonging to Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe or Other Backward Classes.
• Only 4% of such units get institutional finance. Providing access to institutional finance to such micro/small business units would turn them into strong instrument of GDP growth and also employment.
• Micro Finance is an economic development tool whose objective is to assist the poor to work their way out of poverty.
• It covers a range of services which include, in addition to the provision of credit, many other services such as savings, insurance, money transfers, counseling etc.
• The players in the Micro Finance sector can be qualified as falling into 3 main groups:- the SHG-Bank linkage model started by NABARD, the Non Banking Finance companies and the others including Trusts, Societies etc.

• The government proposes to set up a Micro Units Development and Refinance Agency (MUDRA) Bank through a statutory enactment.

• This Bank would be responsible for regulating and refinancing all Micro-finance Institutions (MFI) which are in the business of lending to micro/small business entities engaged in manufacturing, trading and services activities.

The Bank would partner with state level/regional level co-ordinators to provide finance to Last Mile Financer of small/micro business enterprises.

SELF-EMPLOYMENT & TALENT UTILISATION (SETU):

• The Government has established a mechanism to be known as SETU (Self-Employment and Talent Utilisation) under NITI Aayog.
• SETU will be a Techno-Financial, Incubation and Facilitation Programme to support all aspects of start-up businesses, and other self-employment activities, particularly in technology-driven areas.

Skill India Programme:

Objectives of ‘Skill India’

• The main goal is to create opportunities, space and scope for the development of the talents of the Indian youth and to develop more of those sectors which have already been put under skill development for the last so many years and also to identify new sectors for skill development.

The new programme aims at providing training and skill development to 500 million youth of our country by 2020, covering each and every village. Various schemes are also proposed to achieve this objective.

KISAN CREDIT CARD SCHEME

Objective

The scheme aims at providing adequate and timely credit for the comprehensive credit requirements of farmers under single window for their cultivation and other needs as indicated below:

• To meet the short term credit requirements for cultivation of crops
• Post-harvest expenses
• Produce Marketing loan
• Consumption requirements of farmer household
• Working capital for maintenance of farm assets, activities allied to agriculture, like dairy animals, inland fishery and also working capital required for floriculture, horticulture etc.

Investment credit requirement for agriculture and allied activities like pump sets, sprayers, dairy animals, floriculture, horticulture etc

MGNREGA:

A brief introduction

1. Objectives:

• MGNREGA, which is the largest work guarantee programme in the world, was enacted in 2005 with the primary objective of guaranteeing 100 days of wage employment per year to rural households. 
• Secondly, it aims at addressing causes of chronic poverty through the ‘works’ (projects) that are undertaken, and thus ensuring sustainable development. 

Finally, there is an emphasis on strengthening the process of decentralisation through giving a significant role to Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) in planning and implementing these works.

Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yoiana (PMKSY)

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, has given its approval to a new scheme the “Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana” (PMKSY).

The major objective of the PMKSY is to achieve convergence of investments in irrigation at the field level, expand cultivable area under assured irrigation (Har Khet ko pani), improve on-farm water use efficiency to reduce wastage of water, enhance the adoption of precision-irrigation and other water saving technologies (More crop per drop), enhance recharge of aquifers and introduce sustainable water conservation practices by exploring the feasibility of reusing treated municipal based water for peri-urban agriculture and attract greater private investment in precision irrigation system. The scheme also aims at bringing concerned Ministries/Departments/Agencies/Research and Financial Institutions engaged in creation/use/recycling/potential recycling of water, brought under a common platform, so that a comprehensive and holistic view of the entire “water cycle” is taken into account and proper water budgeting is done for all sectors namely, household, agriculture and industries.

Background:

In the last one year, the Government of India has taken several farmer friendly initiatives. These, amongst other things, include the following:

•   A new scheme has been introduced to issue a Soil Health Card to every farmer. Soil Health Management in the country is being promoted through setting up of soil and fertilizer testing laboratories. 34 lakh soil samples has been collected and analysis is continuing.
•   A new scheme for promoting organic farming “Pramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana” has been launched to promote organic farming.
•    A dedicated Kisan Channel has been started by  Doordarshan to address various issues concerning farmers.
•     Government is also encouraging formation of Farmer Producer organizations.
•   Assistance to farmers, as input subsidy, has been increased by 50 percent in case of natural calamities.
• Norms have been relaxed to provide assistance from previous norm of crop loss of more than 50 percent to 33 percent to farmers afflicted by natural calamities.

National Agricultural Market (NAM)

• National Agricultural Market (NAM) is a pan India electronic common market platform for agricultural goods launched by the central government.
• NAM integrates the existing 585 Agricultural Produce Marketing Committees (APMC) that are at present conducting agricultural trade across the country. The APMCs are regulated by concerned state governments as agricultural marketing is a state subject.

Why NAM?

The move towards a national agricultural trading platform is a progressive step by the center and two factors have propelled the center to come out with the launch of NAM.

• First is the weaknesses of the existing agricultural marketing laws created by states and their lack of interest to follow center’s surgeons on these.
• The existing agricultural marketing situation creates lot of regulation and hurdles for farmers to directly sell in the market.
• Fragmented markets and large number of intermediaries in regulated markets (APMCs) gives only a fraction of the market price to the farmer. In this context, the best way is enabling the farmer to sell his product directly into the market. For that, the center has suggested modifications in the existing APMC law by producing a model APMC Act. But many states are not following the suggestions of the center. It is in this context that the new NAM become very important.

Secondly, NAM utilizes the opportunities of technology for agricultural marketing as it is a techno-infrastructure platform. Farmers can sell their produce directly using electronic auction system. Selling of the produce through online auction beyond the traditional borders of the regional market may give them more price. Thus the national online auction system is the main attraction of the NAM. An electronic portal of NAM (e-NAM) has been officially launched recently.

PRADHAN MANTRI JEEVAN JYOTI BIMA YOJANA 

• A government-backedLife insurance scheme in India.

Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana is available to people between 18 and 50 years of age with bank accounts.

PRADHAN MANTRI SURAKSHA BIMA YOJANA 

• A government-backedaccident insurance scheme in India.

Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana is available to people between 18 and 70 years of age with bank accounts.

ATAL PENSION YOJANA

The scheme intends to bring pension benefits to people of the unorganised sector so that they can enjoy social security with a minimum contribution per month.

People who work in the private sector or are employed in occupations that do not give them the benefit of pension can apply for this scheme. They can opt for a fixed pension of INR 1,000 or 2,000 or 3,000 or 4,000 or 5,000 on attaining the age of 60. The amount of contribution and the individual’s age will determine the pension. Upon the contributor’s death, the spouse of the contributor can claim the pension and after the spouse’s death the nominee will be returned the corpus accrued.

The amount collected under the scheme is to be managed by Pension Funds Regulatory Authority of India (PFRDA) as per the investment pattern specified by the Government of India. Individual applicants will have no choice of pension funds or investment allocation.

DIGITAL INDIA PROGRAMME

Digital India is an ambitious programme of the Government of India to empower Indians through the electronic and on-line media, to create a countrywide digital infrastructure to serve the people of the country.

Nine Pillars of Digital India

1. Broadband Highways
2. Universal Access to Mobile Connectivity
3. Public Internet Access Programme
4. e-Governance: Reforming Government through Technology
5. e-Kranti: Electronic Delivery of Services
6. Information for All
7. Electronics Manufacturing
8. IT for Jobs and
9. Early Harvest Programmes