IASbaba YK Gist August 2017

Yojana and Kurukshetra- August 2017
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Preface
This is our 29th edition of Yojana Gist and 20th edition of Kurukshetra Gist, released for the
month of August, 2017. It is increasingly finding a place in the questions of both UPSC
Prelims and Mains and therefore, we’ve come up with this initiative to equip you with
knowledge that’ll help you in your preparation for the CSE.
Every Issue deals with a single topic comprehensively sharing views from a wide spectrum
ranging from academicians to policy makers to scholars. The magazine is essential to build
an in-depth understanding of various socio-economic issues.
From the exam point of view, however, not all articles are important. Some go into scholarly
depths and others discuss agendas that are not relevant for your preparation. Added to this
is the difficulty of going through a large volume of information, facts and analysis to finally
extract their essence that may be useful for the exam.
We are not discouraging from reading the magazine itself. So, do not take this as a
document which you take read, remember and reproduce in the examination. Its only
purpose is to equip you with the right understanding. But, if you do not have enough time to
go through the magazines, you can rely on the content provided here for it sums up the
most essential points from all the articles.
You need not put hours and hours in reading and making its notes in pages. We believe, a
smart study, rather than hard study, can improve your preparation levels.
Think, learn, practice and keep improving! You know that’s your success mantra 
One Nation, One Tax, One Market

Goods and Services Tax
GST, the ‘destination tax’
The most revolutionary tax reform in the Indian taxation history; will streamline the system
through a single tax for supply of all goods and services across the country.
In India, the unified tax will take the form of a “dual” GST, to be levied concurrently by both
the Centre and states. The unified tax will comprise of a Central GST and a State GST, which
will be legislated, levied and administered by the respective levels of government. The same
taxable base will be subject to both GSTs.
The words “legislate, levy and administer” are key, since the Centre and the state will
legislate the respective GST Acts and both will have power to administer the taxes.
The proposed tax system will subsume a variety of central and state levies such as Central
Excise Duty, Service Tax and VAT, thereby simplifying the complicated tax structure and
reducing compliance costs.
Key features of GST
Territorial Spread: Whole country including J&K
Applicable on “supply” of goods and services and not on the present concept of tax on
manufacture of goods/sale or on provision of services
Based on the principle of destination based consumption taxation as against the present
principle of origin based taxation
Introduction in India required amendment to the Constitution of India
Introduced as The Constitution (One Hundred and First Amendment) Act 2017, following the
passage of Constitution 122nd Amendment Bill
Amendment, why?
Centre: Had the power to levy tax on the manufacture of goods (except alcoholic liquor
for human consumption, opium, narcotics, etc.)
States: Power to levy tax on the sale of goods
Inter-state sales: Centre had the power to levy a tax (the Central Sales Tax) but the tax
was collected and retained entirely by the States.
Services: Only Centre was empowered to levy the Services Tax
Therefore, an amendment was required to concurrently empower the centre and the
states to levy and collect GST (keeping in mind the constitutional requirement of
cooperative federalism). The adoption of GST is an iconic example of
 ‘Cooperative Federalism’
 ‘Nationwide, multiparty consensus-building exercise’
Note: Alcohol for human consumption has been kept out of the GST. Further, the GST Council
is to decide when GST would be levied on: (i) petroleum crude, (ii) high speed diesel, (iii)
motor spirit (petrol), (iv) natural gas, and (v) aviation turbine fuel
A. Diagrammatic representation of the working of the Dual GST model within a State
B. Diagrammatic representation of the working of the IGST model for inter-State

transactions
GST Council
Objectives – Behind deciding the Tax Slabs
1. Interests of poor and vulnerable sections of the society are protected and goods of
mass consumption and essential commodities remain at affordable level.
2. The overall revenues of the States and the Centre are protected.
3. The tax incidence on the goods and services does not increase or decrease
substantially from the present incidence of tax.
Tax Regime in India (without GST)
In the previous tax regime, States taxed sale of goods but not services. The Centre taxed
manufacturing and services but not wholesale/retail trade.
 Multiple points of taxation

 Multiple jurisdictions
 Imperfect system of offsetting credits on taxes paid on inputs, leading to higher costs
 Cascading of taxes (tax on tax)
 Inter-state commerce are hampered due to the dead weight burden on Central sales
tax and entry taxes, which have no offset
Source: http://www.deccanchronicle.com/business/in-other-news/040816/many-will-reap-gst-benefits.html
Source: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/policy/the-advantages-of-gst-take-a-look-at-
benefits/articleshow/53514291.cms
How GST came into being?
First recommended by: Kelkar Committee Task Force
Source: http://www.gstseva.com/gst/history/
Which taxes at the Centre and State level are being subsumed into GST?
Central level –
 Central Excise Duty,

 Additional Excise Duty,
 Service Tax,
 Additional Customs Duty commonly known as Countervailing Duty,
 Special Additional Duty of Customs
State level –
 Subsuming of State Value Added Tax/Sales Tax,

 Entertainment Tax (other than the tax levied by the local bodies), Central Sales Tax
(levied by the Centre and collected by the States),
 Octroi and Entry tax,
 Purchase Tax,
 Luxury tax,
 Taxes on lottery, betting and gambling
Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN) – The IT enabler of GST
For the implementation of GST in the country, the Central and State Governments have
jointly registered Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN) as a not-for-profit, non-
Government Company to provide shared IT infrastructure and services to Central and State
Governments, tax payers and other stakeholders.
The key objectives of GSTN are to provide a standard and uniform interface to the
taxpayers, and shared infrastructure and services to Central and State/UT governments.
GSTN is working on developing a state-of-the-art comprehensive IT infrastructure including

the common GST portal providing frontend services of registration, returns and payments to
all taxpayers, as well as the backend IT modules for certain States that include processing of
returns, registrations, audits, assessments, appeals, etc. All States, accounting authorities,
RBI and banks, are also preparing their IT infrastructure for the administration of GST.
There would no manual filing of returns. All taxes can also be paid online. All mis-matched
returns would be auto-generated, and there would be no need for manual interventions.
Most returns would be self-assessed.
Challenges under GST
IT Preparedness and Infrastructure:
 Not sure if all states and UTs are currently equipped with the required infrastructure
and requisite manpower to embrace it
 Incorporating the recent changes in the reporting of returns is an additional
challenge
 Given the monthly and annual filings to be done from each and every state where an
enterprise operates, it is necessary to have the ERP system in place for all of them.
While this would be seamless for the larger firms which operate from multiple state
locations, the smaller ones would be challenged as they need to get this in place.
Alternatively this has to be done separately in all locations which will add to the cost
of compliance.
 The GST software (GSTN) from the revenue department’s side will stand the test of
time because with myriads of firms filing their returns continuously on a monthly
basis, there will be a tendency for systems to come under pressure. This has been
noticed from almost any venture taken up which involves heavy usage and hence
will be an area to be watched closely by the government department.
Apportioning of revenue to the states:
 The GST has been drawn up in a manner such that there is an equal division between
the two. As the revenue flows on a monthly basis is important for all states, there
needs to be seamless movement of funds from the centre to the states and vice-
versa or else there would be deficits in cash flows which get linked with
expenditures.
 The process of tracking all these transactions is complex and will require a very
robust IT system. The clearing house mechanism envisaged in the dual model GST
will have to handle a lot of data and process in real time to ensure smooth transition.
Adjustment made by companies:
 The adjustment made by companies is important from the point of view of growth.
 It has been observed that in the period running till the implementation of GST,
companies have cut back on their production to deal with their stocks so as to be
steering away from the dilemma of ambiguity on the tax implications for goods
already in the warehouse to be sold after the GST is introduced. Some may defer
production in order to claim a credit against their costs for the first time under the
new regime. Their period of adjustment is important because it would have a
bearing on the growth of the economy.
Officers Training:
 Need to help officers unlearn the old law and learn the new one – the GST provisions
and possible implications viz a viz present gamut of taxes.
 Proper training of IT has to be given to departmental officers for effective usage and
implementation (GSTN)
New registrants:
 Transition of existing registered assesses and resolving of migration issues is a big

challenge
Transitional Issues:
Concerns about
 Registration
 Carry forward of credits and taking new credits
 Pending refund/rebate claims
 Review of contracts
 Change in taxable event for incomplete transactions
 Pending assessments
 Job work transactions
 Treatment of stock in hand
 Filing of returns
Pending cases/Past Disputes and Upcoming cases:
 Government should find ways and means to resolve the disputes
 A dispute settlement scheme on the lines of Kar Vivad Samadhan Scheme needs to
be explored, which would enable the litigants to resolve pending matters under
earlier laws
 The grievance redress mechanism should be put in place that will be available to all
firms which are involved not just in paying taxes but also seeking clarifications on the
processes, refunds, tax credits etc.
Tax Administration (Alignment/Merger):
 There may be a chance of differences arising and it needs to be addressed on an

immediate basis
Digital Rural India

So far, the key strategies of the government for rural development have been:
 Poverty alleviation
 Better livelihood opportunities
 Provision of basic amenities
 Infrastructure facilities
This is done through innovative programs of wage and self-employment. Today, digital
economic tools and extensive use of ICT applications are being successfully used to
improve the government delivery functioning.
Digital India
 Launched in 2015
 Vision- Transform India into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy.
 Key areas
o Digital infrastructure as a core utility to every citizen
o Government and services on demand
o Digital empowerment of citizens
The reach
The government is promoting inclusive and transparent development through digital
inclusion by providing mobile and broadband connectivity to the villages and initiating
measures like Jan-Dhan account, debit cards, Aadhar Pay, Bharat interface for Money
(BHIM) etc. This is effectively putting an end to the middlemen and ensuring that benefits of
various government schemes directly reach beneficiaries.
How?
As the thrust of government is on cashless transactions through mobile phones, the course
content would also emphasise on digital wallets, mobile banking, UPI, Unstructured
Supplementary Service Data (USSD) and Aadhar enables payment system (AEPS), digidhan
mela, e-money and the like.
Be it skill development, education, agriculture or infrastructure, the use of information and

communication technology has the potential to bring efficiencies in every domain of rural
development.
With the advent of the new era for technology driven schemes and initiatives, ‘Bharat’ has
now started to take a new shape of ‘India’ in an inclusive manner. After 70 years of
independence, and tireless efforts to bring the rural development into the mainstream,
digital India is undoubtedly the boldest step to make a digitally empowered and skilled
‘Bharat’.
E-Governance in Rural India

India is at cusp of a revolution which is unfolding now with becoming the second largest
country of mobile users having crossed the one billion mark in 2016.
The number of smart phones may be less than china and US but with prices of smart
phones, attractive network offers and competitive prices, it is making a transition easier to
smart phones. Possibilities of graduating from just making a call to innumerable possibilities
make the digital revolution a very exciting period in India.
Rural India
 6.5 lakh villages in India
 72% of the total population.
 The rural mass in the nation comprises the core of the India society and also
represent the real India.
The key strategy of rural development mainly focuses on poverty alleviation, better
livelihood opportunities, provision of basic amenities and infrastructure facilities through
innovative programmes of self and wage employment. For this, there was a need to
improve overall trust relationship between government and citizens.
Inefficient governance- In the past, the people lost their faith in governance system because
of the hardship they had to endure in form of expenses, inconvenience and multiple visits.
For the rural mass, these hardships were more adverse.
Hence it was realised that the challenges like poor public services, unemployment, housing,
crime and violence, health and education for all etc. could be successfully addressed
through extensive use of ICT applications for the improvement in the processes of
government functioning to bring SMART, i.e. Simple, Moral, Accountable, Responsive and
Transparent Governance.
Need of e-governance
It was essential to improve the information flows and encourage active participation by
citizens in the policy making process of the government, so as to build up the trust between
government and citizens.
Hence the complete transformation of the processes of governance using the
implementation of ICT is called E-governance.
It aims at bringing in
 Faster and transparent service delivery
 Accountability
 Information sharing
 People participation in the decision making and government processes.
For instance- The major ICT initiatives of the government include some major projects such
as railway computerisation etc. which focuses mainly on development of information
systems. Later on many states started the ambitious individual e-governance projects aimed
at providing electronic services to citizens.
Limitations
Though these e-governance projects were citizen-centric, they could make less than the
desired impact due to their limited features. The isolated and the less interactive systems
revealed major gaps. They clearly pointed towards the need of a more comprehensive
planning and implementation for the infrastructure required to be put in place,
interoperability issues to be addressed etc. Lessons from previous e-governance initiatives
have played an important role in shaping the progressive e-governance strategy of the
country.
The government accorded the priority to improving the quality of basic governance and in
that context proposes to promote e-governance on a massive scale in areas of concern to
the common people through a strategic collaborative approach of the e-governance.
National E-governance Plan (NeGP)

 It was launched in 2006
 Vision- to make all government services accessible to the common man in his/her
locality, through delivery outlets named Common Services Centres (CSC) and
ensure efficiency, transparency and reliability of such services at affordable costs to
realise the basic needs of the common man.
 31 Mission Mode Projects covering areas such as
o Agriculture
o Land records
o Education
o Health
o Passports
o Police etc.
Challenge- E-governance as a whole has not been able to make the desired impact and fulfil
all its objectives especially in ensuring anytime anywhere availability of services and their
seemless integration.
A lot more thrust is required to promote inclusive growth that covers electronic services,
products, devices and job opportunities. Moreover, electronic manufacturing industries in
the country need to be strengthened. Currently India imports around 100 billion dollar
worth of electronic goods which may reach 400 billion dollar by 2020.
India today is at the tipping point where the technology has to be leveraged more
holistically to meet the aspirations of 1.2 billion population.
Digital India
In order to transform the entire ecosystem of public services through the use of information
technology, the government of India has launched the ‘Digital India’ programme in 2015.
Vision- transform India into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy.
Opportunity- Digital India is a huge challenge in rural areas. But delivery of e-governance
services to the remote corners in a meaningful and locally relevant manner may result in a
successful building of rural India with the advent of the most advanced ICT and by
leveraging various existing infrastructures in an integrated manner.
Basic requirement to fulfil this are

 ICT infrastructure such as broadband connectivity for people, common service
centres for consolidated service delivery to citizens through an integrated platform
up to Gram Panchayat (GP) level
 Government offices up to panchayats,
 Internet, wifi, messaging, video conferencing, skill sets.
 Uninterrupted power supply
 Skilled manpower resources at least upto district level
 On demand scalable and secure cloud infrastructure upto GP level
 Integration of national data centres, state data centres and other data centres.
Common services centre- Creating rural entrepreneurship, redefining governance
For consolidated delivery of electronic services, there is a need to integrate all service
applications working in silos with a common service centre, now commonly known as Digital
Seva.
CSC has proven potential to create sustainable rural entrepreneurship redefining
governance and to meet the expectations of the government in transforming India into a
digitally and socially empowered society.
CSC under digital India movement have now become agents of socio economic changes in
rural India.
CSCs are internet enabled access points for delivery of various Digital Services (e-services)
to the citizens. The CSCs enable citizens to avail the government and other services closer
to their locality in a transparent and timely manner.
CSCs being well equipped ICT enabled centres necessarily play a significant role in enabling
universal access to the plethora of e-services for citizens and acting as a cornerstone for the
citizen’s digital empowerment.
CSC 2.0
It was launched in 2015 under pillar 3 of digital India programme. It was to expand the
reach to all Gram Panchayats (GP) across the country.
This would also include strengthening and integrating the existing one lakh CSCSs already
operational under the existing CSC scheme and making operational an additional 1.5lakh
CSCs at GP level.
CSC 2.0 model is completely based on a service delivery/transaction oriented self-

sustainable entrepreneurship model with no viability gap funding for hardware and
infrastructure support to village level entrepreneurs (VLEs) from government of India.
It was envisaged that the applicant of CSC entrepreneurship should be motivated enough to
be the primer driver of social change and dispense his/her duties with utmost dedication.
For day to day operation of CSCs and knowledge upgradation on new services, the VLEs are
being provided with handholding support through training on enterprise development
programme. For increasing the sustainability of VLEs, CSC 2.0 recommends that revenue
sharing between VLE and other stakeholders is in ratio of 80:20
Participation of women in CSC ecosystem

The government is encouraging women entrepreneurs to set up common services centres.
This motivates other women to come forward and set up their CSCs.
Also, the government is encouraging women members of SHG to become VLEs.
As a result, around 32000 women entrepreneurs have set up CSCs and are delivering
services in rural areas.
Functions of CSCs
1. Service Delivery Centres- G2C, G2B, B2C, utility services etc.
1. Permanent Enrolment Centre for Aadhar, and aadhar printing centres.
2. Business corresponding agents
3. Insurance service centres
4. Educational and skill development centres
5. Electoral registration centres
6. Information centre for various schemes of the government for creating awareness
7. Wifi distribution centres (wifi, e-choupal)
Advantages of CSC
 Transparent and timely delivery of government services. Thus reducing citizens’
efforts and resources in availing services
 Integrated framework for delivery and dissemination of various government
initiatives and benefits through ICT enablement
 Introducing change agents for skill development, education and training
 Acting as last mile distribution units for various governments’ direct benefits to
marginalised/backward communities
 Encouraging more and more participation of women to become VLEs and increasing
their contribution in the social and economic development.
 The CSCs are acting a medium for rural citizens to get digitally empowered and
interact woth the government and its schemes.
During 2016-17, a number of important government services have been added in CSC
network such as
 Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojaan,
 Food Safety and Standards Authority of India,
 Soil Health Card,
 E-district services
 PMGDISHA to the existing basket of services.
CSC has also introduced skill development programme for differently-abled persons.
E-commerce platform ‘vlebazaar’ has been launched for showcasing the products of rural
India through CSCs.
CSC e-governance Service India limited has been given license by RBI for functioning as a
Bharat Bill Payment Operating Unit (BBPOU) under Bharat Bill Payment Services.
BBPS intends to offer an interoperable and accessible bill payment services to customers
though the vast CSC network, enabling multiple payment modes and providing instant
confirmation of payment.
It will facilitate cashless society through migration of bill payments from cash to electronic
channel.
GST Council engaged CSC-SPV as a GST suvidha provider.

As GSP, CSC-SPV needs to perform various functions supporting various stakeholders.
Mainly merchants, establishments and person required to fulfil compliance as prescribed
under GST regime.
Wi-fi chaupal
During 2016-17, CSC-SPV launched wif-fi choupal, a rural wifi facility, signifying a new era in
providing connectivity in the villages.
Wi-fi choupal project has been launched to provide wi-fi internet access in rural India
through CSCs.
Digital Saksharta Abhiyan

Through national digital literacy mission/digital saksharta abhiyan, the CSC-VLEs and
partners worked with inspiring enthusiasm towards the goal of making at least one person
from each family digitally literate.
Indirect employment generation through CSCs.

The current working model of CSC is completely a transaction oriented self-sustainable
model. On an average 3-4 persons are engaged in each CSC kiosk. Hence, it is estimated that
around 9.18 lakhs of people are indirectly employed in the CSC ecosystem.
Challenges
1. Connectivity
At present, CSC are functioning based on the available mode of connectivity such as data
card, wifi and broadband wherever feasible. However, internet bandwidth is not adequate
and stable in far flung and remote areas due to inaccessibility.
2. Support of states
One of the key objectives of present CSC initiative is consolidated delivery of e-gov services
by integrating all services access portals available at states/UT level with the national level
universal and integrated platform of digital seva. For this, continuous support from the
respective states/UTs are pre-requisites. For now, few state governments have allowed
integration of state portal with digital sewa portal.
REVOLUTIONISING INDIAN AGRICULTURE: USE OF ICT

It is reported that in 2016, 234million internet users in India were local language users. This
is expected to grow at a CAGR of 18%.
In rural development, agriculture plays a vital role in India’s economy. 54% of population is
engaged in agriculture and allied activities (Census 2011)
It contributes 17% to the country’s Gross Value Added.
Thus, government has taken several steps to have sustainable development in agriculture.
The average villager living in rural India already has a basic awareness of the wonders of the
WWW and is willing to explore the internet to satisfy his queries about the world and issues
which impact his livelihood.
National e-governance plan in agriculture

It is proposed to be implemented across the country.
Aims to offer G2C or GRF, G2B and G2G agricultural services in a integrated manner
through central agricultural portal CAP and state agricultural portals.
Information in agriculture and marketing channels

India’s farmers live in rural areas and agriculture and allied activities still continue to be
largest share of India’s employment.
It is estimated that 72% farmers do not have access to reliable sources of information and
this prevents them from accessing credit and realizing high crop productivity.
Around 94% of farmers in India depend upon ‘fellow farmers’ as the preferred source of
information, followed by 10% on agri retailers. 4 % on tv/radio and only 3% on agri
extension officers.
Information provided by extension services are perceived to be unreliable and less
actionable due to lack of accuracy.
This is a bottleneck for adoption of modern agri-practices; hence crop yields India are still
just 30%-60% of the best sustainable crop yields achievable in the farms of developed as
well as developing countries.
ICT in agriculture
Also known as e-agriculture, it is developing and applying innovative way to use ICTs in
rural domain, with primary focus on agriculture.
It is seen as an emerging field focusing on the enhancement of agricultural and rural
development through improved information and communication processes.
In this context, ICT is used as an umbrella term encompassing all information and
communication technologies including devices, network, mobiles, services and
applications.
Digital India envisions empowering citizens with e-access to government and related
livelihood services.
The project has 3 core components
1. Digital infrastructure
2. Digital services
3. Digital literacy
Mobile phone is the preferred delivery medium under digital India with focus on m-
governance and m-services. Out of the 7 components covered under m-service, m-
agriculture and m-grambazzar directly impact agricultural extension.
An end-to-end ICT led agri platform has been crated

 Pan India teleco and handset neutral agri info service delivered through sms, voice
and mobile app
 10000 + info services sources managed by team of 300+ on ground agri markets
reporters and state/national kevel agri experts
 Dedicated agri call centre
 Custom designed CRM and ERP solutions for Indian farmers
 Agri e-commerce platform with agri produce aggregation and demand/supply
matching capability.
Kisan Call centre initiative

With the increase in choices of farm inputs, pesticides, herbicides, high yielding varieties of
seeds, a farmer today requires guidance of expert agriculturalists more than anything else.
Kisan call centre is a pioneering intuitive started in Madhya Pradesh by the Indian society of
agri-business professionals. The KCC is a combination of ICT and Agri technology.
It uses backend data support system, which is inbuilt into overall MIS.
KCC enables farmers to have a direct discussion with the subject matter experts who are
able to analyse the problem effectively and provide solution directly
NAM
 It is a pan India electronic trading portal which networked the existing APMC mandis
to create a unified national market for agricultural commodities.
 It provides a single window service for all APMC related information and services.
This includes commodity arrival and prices, buy and sell trade offers, provision to
respond to trade offers among other services.
 While material flow continue to happen through mandis, an online market reduces
transaction costs and information asymmetry.
Major applications of ICT in agriculture
GPS receivers
The use of GPS provides benefits in geo-fencing, map making and surveying. Drop in prices
of GPS receivers over years make it more popular for civilian use.
Geographic information systems

Used extensively in agriculture, especially precision farming.
Land is mapped digitally and pertinent geodetic data such as topography and contours are
combined with other statistical data for easier analysis of the soil.
Smartphone mobile apps

The smartphone penetration enhances the multi-dimensional positive impact on sustainable
poverty reduction and identity accessibility as the main challenge in harnessing full potential
in agriculture.
PM Fasal Bima Yojana

It was launched from kharif season of 2016.
It envisages a uniform premium of 2% paid by farmers on kharif crops, 1.5% on rabi crops
and 5% on horticulture.
There is not upper limit on government subsidy for this scheme.
Farmers will get full sum insured without any reduction.
Boosting productivity
 Expand the services of Kisan Call Centre for easy reach to farmers
 Make provision to enable the companies investing in agriculture technology
management agency
 National programme for space application in agriculture as a comprehensive
platform to harvest the advantages of space technology in agriculture and allied
sectors.
 Space and info technologies will be leveraged to improve efficiency, speed and
accuracy of crop cutting experiments.
 Ensure timely settlement of claims of the farmers in accordance with prescribed
timelines in guidelines.
Conclusion
Agriculture is one of the most important sectors in India and could benefit tremendously
with the applications of ICT in improving the socio conditions of poor in backward areas.
Though India has a strong and fast growing IT industry, access to ICTs remains very low,
particularly in rural areas.
If right information is provides timely, it can help to develop the agriculture sector.
It helps to take timely action, prepare strategies for next season, speculate the market
changed and avoid unfavourable circumstances.
SMART VILLAGES- A WAY FORWARD

Most Indian villages are yet to avail the basic necessities to lead a healthy life like access to
education, healthcare, drinking water, electricity, toilets-both domestic and public- with
proper water facilities and proper road infrastructure.
In addition, to keep pace with the modern technological innovations like mobile phone,
internet etc. which are essential for making the country digital, Indian villages are lagging
much behind in it.
Village empowerment till now

 The first concrete step to address the issue of empowering the villages was in 1992
with 73rd Constitutional Amendment being adopted. It decreed the organisation of
village panchayats so that they can function as the local self-government.
 In 2002, fundamental duty was added by 86th CA which urged parents to provide
opportunities for education to their child.
 The National Rural Health Mission was launched in 2005 with a vision to provide
effective health care to rural population throughout the country.
 Road connectivity was facilitated through PM gram Sadak Yojana.
 PM Grameen Awas Yojana ensured housing for all.
Many more such schemes have been undertaken by the central and state governments to
improve the quality of life in rural India.
SMART INDIA
 With improved quality of life comes the need of better living. In the age of
digitisation, the concept of smart city was embraced but the need to convert villages
into smart villages was also felt.
 The first step was taken in 2015 to transform rural areas economically, socially and
physically sustainable space through Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Rurban mission.
 This mission aims to develop rural growth clusters which have latent potential for
the growth in all states and UTs.
 This would trigger overall development in the region.
 These cultures would be developed by providing of economic activities, developing
skills and local entrepreneurship and providing infrastructure amenities.
The Rurban mission will thus develop a cluster of smart villages.
How to choose cluster?

The ministry of rural development is adopting scientific process of cluster selection which
involves objectives analysis at the district, sub-district and village level of the demography,
economy, tourism, and pilgrimage significance and transportation corridor.
Impact
The ministry would provide a suggestive list of sub-districts to the state and the state
government would then select the clusters following a set of indicated principles included n
framework for implementation.
What to have in a cluster?

14 components have been suggested as desirable for the cluster
1. Skill development
2. Agro/processing agri-services/ storage and warehousing
3. Digital literacy
4. Sanitation and provision of piped water supply
5. Solid and liquid waste management
6. Village streets and drains
7. Street lights
8. Fully equipped mobile health unit
9. Upgrading school/higher education facilities,
10. Inter-village road connectivity
11. Citizen service centre
12. E-gram connectivity
13. Public transport
14. LPG gas connections
Development process of few of them
Skill development
Under ministry of skill development and entrepreneurship, it aims to enable a large number
of Indian youth to take up the industry relevant skill training that will help them in securing
a better livelihood.
Digital literacy
PM Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyan. It is expected to be one the largest digital literacy
programmes of word. The course content will have emphasises on digital wallets, mobile
banking UPI, USSD and AEPS.
Agro based scheme Sampada- scheme for agro marine processing and development of
agro-processing clusters
Under ministry of food processing, it aims to supplement agriculture, modernise processing
and decrease agro-waste.
Implementation of scheme will result in creation of modern infrastructure with efficient
supply chain management from farm gate to retail outlet.
Sanitation
Swachh Baharat aims at making rural India open defecation free by 2019 by encouraging
households to build toilets, thus improving level of cleanliness in the country.
Drinking water supply

National rural drinking water programme to provide piped water supply to rural households
by 2022 to 90% rural households. At least 80 % houses have piped water supply with
household connection, less than 10% use public taps and 10% use hand pumps or other safe
and adequate private water resources.
Street light
Ministry of new and renewable energy has installed solar PV through the national solar
mission.
Road connectivity and public transport

PM Gram Sadak Yojana to provide good road connectivity in rural areas
PM Gramin Parivahan Yojana would involve women SHGs and train them to operate mini-
buses to serve village blocks not covered by public transport.
LPG gas connection

Ujjwala yojana aims at providing deposit-free LPG connections to BPL families in name of
adult women.
Challenges
The main challenge lies in implementing the programme effectively. Only if other socio-
economic indicators are good and the basic needs of the village are already met, then can
a smart village with a digital future be made possible.
A digital future can be built on top of physical one.
How to check the basic fulfilments of village?

Presence of primary school
 Separate toilets for boys and girls in school
 Basic sense of hygiene imparted to children through schools
 Mid day meal provided to the children, enough to supplement their nourishment.
 Higher secondary school in cluster of 5 villages, within a radius of 10 kms.
 Presence of degree college too for a cluster of villages.
Different scholarships directly credited to bank accounts of students

 These accounts linked with Aadhar.
 Such steps helps in removing ghost beneficiary and interference of middlemen
ASHA workers appointed under NRHM.

 ASHA along with ANM form the first interface between village community and health
care.
 There should be ambulances to ferry patients to referral hospitals,
 Mobile medical vans can also be arranged for the village clusters to provide basic
medical help.
 Under Janani Suraksha Yojana, eligible pregnant women are entitled for cash
assistance for giving birth in a government or accredited private health facility.
Swachh Bharat Abhiyan

 Toilets to be constructed in every house of the villages.
 Providing toilet and piped water is a basic necessity.
 Usage of toilet should stop the age-old practice of manual scavenging.
 Ensure safety of women
Agriculture yields by the farmers need to reach the market in time

 Farmers can recover the investments they have made.
 For this, connectivity to the nearest mandi is essential.
 PM Krishi Sinchayi Yojana- Har Khet Ko Paani ensures bringing more agricultural land
under irrigation.
Financial inclusion will play a key role in making villages smart.

 The JAM trinity of Jan Dhan account, Aadhar number and mobile connectivity is
expected to every Indian.
 Although every bank is mandated to have 45% rural penetration having a bank
account still remains elusive to many persons.
 Banking correspondents or bank mitras were appointed by banks to talks this
situation.
Street lighting
 Use of non-renewable source of energy, especially solar energy is designed for
electrifying most villages.
When village with all such facilities can be developed, it would be termed as a smart village.
A holistic approach is needed to develop such a village.
Involvement of panchayat to implement the government programmes successfully along
with community participation is utmost necessary to develop the village.
FINANCIAL INCLUSIION IN RURAL AREAS

The combination of IT and mobile can only allow circumventing the cost problem to connect
1250 million people and 180 million households of India.
Welfare measures can only be visible by coming closure to the poor by various innovative
channels where there are no leakages and pilferages. Effective implementation of pro-poor
programmes by using available digital path is now the weapon.
Financial inclusion is construed by two ways

1. Countering the exclusion from the payment system
2. Countering the exclusion from the formal financial services
The approach is based on following principles

1. Adequacy and availability of financial services to all sections of the society
1. Awareness of financial services
2. Affordability and accessibility of appropriate financial products through a
combination of conventional and alternative delivery channels and technology
enabled services and processes.
PM Jan Dhan Yojana- It is India’s national mission for financial inclusion to ensure access to
financial services, namely savings and deposit accounts remittances, credit, insurance and
pension in an affordable manner.
This financial inclusion campaign was launched by PM in 2014.
Aadhar- the Unique Identification Authority of India is a central government agency. Its
objective is to collect the biometric and demographic data of residents, store them in a
centralised database and issue a 12 digits unique identity number called Aadhar.
Mobile banking- it has registered a volume of 106.18 million transactions with value of 1612
billion rupees. With the introduction of new technologies introduced by NPCI, a person can
transfer funds, check balances through a normal phone which was earlier limited only to
smart phones.
Mobile banking for the poor would be available through national USSD platform for which
all banks and mobile companies have come together.
JAM trinity- it is government of India’s link to Jan Dhan accounts, mobile numbers and
Aadhar numbers. It is to plug the leakages of government subsidies.
Direct benefit transfer

It is an attempt to change the mechanism transferring subsidies launched by government.
The programme aims to transfer subsidies directly to the people through their bank
accounts.
It is hoped to reduce leakages, delays etc.
The primary aim of DBT program is to bring transparency and terminate pilferage from
distribution of funds sponsored by the government.
Over 1200 schemes were studied to see if they could be brought under the DBT scheme and
it was found that within a period, around 550 schemes could be incorporated in the scheme.
Digital boost to MGNREGA- A total of 35000 gram panchayats are covered to ensured
better implementation through mobile monitoring system.
It will help the implementation agencies with live data from the worksites, an online and
real time updation of data base, real time visibility of the data for complete transparency
and location of assets with geo-tagging for easy verification.
E-money- The department of posts has planned to provide electronic money order service
to 70% of its total post offices. This services will enable India post to remit money next day
to the door step that earlier took about a week. Twitter samvad.
It is to enable citizens to know about new government initiatives and actions.
Digital life certificates- The Jeevan praman scheme has given a scope of relief to a million to
retired government employees. With this, the pensioner will do away with the requirement
of submitting a physical life certificate. They can digitally provide proof of their existence to
authorities for continuity of pension every year.
Digital locker India- it eliminates the need for people to carry the hard copies of the
certificates issued by states, municipal agencies and other bodies.
PRAGATI- It is an interactive platform launched for public grievances redressal.

It is aimed at monitoring and reviewing programs and projects of the government of India as
well as state government initiatives.
Digidhan mela- various digital payment channels including Unified Payment Interface, AEPS,
USSD and Rupay cards. The event will focus on ways and benefits of the system and will also
address the concerns regarding payments and commissions charged by the respective
organisations. Since demonetisation, there has been phenomenal growth in digital
transactions.
BHIM App for e-transactions, aadhar seeding- Through this app, the customer can access
his bank account and then make payment or send a request to collect payment by directly
approaching the settlement system. Bhim doesn’t require writing of account number. The
virtual financial address is created here. The sender doesn’t know the account details to
send the money but can use BHIM app and recipient’s’ mobile number, Aadhar or virtual
payment address.
Digigaon- PMGDHSA is extended to impart knowledge on basic education and health

services
BHUVAN
A satellite based geo platform by ISRO, reaching out to the rural people. It acts like a
clearing house for satellite data.
Some applications are
1. Chaman- coordinated program on horticulture assessment and management using geo-
informatics
 Digital inventory of all horticulture zones in country
 Deciding cold storage hubs
 Managing inflation through accurate data of food stock
2. FASAL- forecasting agricultural output using space, agro-meterology and land based
observation
 Monitor the crop
 Can be used directly to study crop locations
3. NADAMS- national agricultural drought assessment and monitoring systems

Remote sensing realtime information on current or developing drought at state, district and
sub-district level.
Android apps
1. CCE agri- revenue officials can use to estimate crop damage and yield loss at 1100
locations in 12 states
2. Ground truth- to monitor crop health
3. Bhuban hailstorm app- capture hailstorm losses in states such as MP
4. Mkisan- nearly 90 million farmers are now enrolled for farm advisories such as
weather and pest updates on their phones through apps.
CHANGING CONDITIONS OF WOMEN IN DIGITAL AGE

As digital practices become the norm in our world, it would become more evident who is
‘digitally connected’ and who is not. The phenomenon of digitisation is set to reach an
inflection point since it will determine how economic development can be achieved with
greater alacrity and efficiency.
By 2020, an entire generation, generation C (Connected), would grow in a digitised culture

dominated by computers, internet, mobile phones, texting, and social media.
In India, rapid efforts to provide broadband connection across the country is helped by this
understanding that technology is a great leveller and can bridge the gap in any
development sector.
Digital India programme

In order to transform the entire ecosystem of public services through the use of information
technology, the government of India has launched the ‘Digital India Programme’’ with the
vision to transform India into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy.
One of the strong components is ‘information for all’. It underpins the efforts to provide
services and improve the infrastructure. It can be argued that once mobile connectivity has
been established and broadband access is available, the natural corollary is that
information will be sought by anyone and everyone.
This may seem a probable possibility but has remained elusive for women, even in urban
areas as well.
Asian Development Bank report 2015

Women’s low participation in the labour force in Asian countries is attributable to choices
favouring domestic or non-commercial activities, which in turn are reinforced by social
norms that promote domesticity as a woman’s primary responsibility, “constraining
women’s social activities, mobility and severely limiting opportunities for women to achieve
financial growth or to venture into entrepreneurial activities or both”.
Closing the gender gap could generate a 30% increase in the per capita income of a
hypothetical average Asian economy in one generation.
In India, opportunities to tap the potential of women in acceleration of economy has been
left unexplored.
Perceptive on inclusion of women in building economy has been treated as a perfunctory
idea since the assumption is women require facilitation and assistance in availing social and
economic benefits.
UN Women’s report- “Gender equality. The new urban agenda” 2016

It emphasises multiple challenges women face, especially in urban areas, exacerbated by
the non-acknowledgement or under-resourcing of their contributions in creating sustainable
cities.
The UN reiteration of the tectonic linkages between gender equality and sustainable
development has been corroborated by its 2030 agenda for sustainable development.
Increasing visibility of women’s marginalisation in access to education, healthy lifestyle and

financial inclusion opportunities has allowed governments to debate and discuss the
impediments which detract societies to alter policies and programmes which can attend to
the widening gender gaps.
This is evident from the attention given by the World Economic Forum by introducing the
Global Gender Gap Index for the first time in 2006 as a framework for capturing the
magnitude of gender-based disparities and tracking their progress.
‘The index benchmarks national gender gaps on economic, political, political, education and
health criteria and provides country rankings that allow for effective comparisons across
regions and income groups.
Importance of women
All development sectors like education, health, livelihood and agriculture, just to name
some are inextricably linked to lives of women.
We have to recognise the contribution of women as an integral agent in the process of
achieving the minimum standards in development.
A critical element in changing lives is the role information plays in critical and emergency
situation as well as regular process of information sharing. This can be effectively achieved
if digital platform are not just used for providing information, but assist through a network
within women’s social and cultural context.
These ‘Glocal networks’ are more sustainable and require less capital intensive measures.
Educational opportunities
Though India has done well in terms of economic growth, the dividends of growth have not
percolated to the lives of women to a large extent.
A similar situation is evident in the area of literacy which has been repeatedly shown that
girls drop off the education radar because of s social and prejudicial cultural practices.
The change can be brought in by bringing women in mainstream by linking literacy and
learning through digital platforms to fostering better informed citizenry.
A report by Mckinsey global institute says that bridging the gender gap could add $700
billion to India’s GDP by 2025.
Financial inclusion of women

Issues of diversity and inclusion are important elements of digital culture.
E-commerce has a transformational impact with opportunities emerging in areas such as
made-to-order meals and handicrafts among others, which money could capitalise on.
But picture is dismal because women can contribute to only 17% of India’s GDP, below the
global average, despite accounting for 50% of the population and having potential to
represent such a larger part of the workforce.
Financial inclusion of women can be accelerated by digital literacy and ability of banks to
become more proactive in setting digitised operational norms for a transparent, effective
and timely response system in the marginal settings as well. Within a digitised ecosystem,
financial inclusion for women can have multiplier impact on their entrepreneurship
economic growth and wealth creation.
Access to information is critical to women’s lives and lack of it causes impediments and
confines them to a static instead of dynamic life.
Conclusion
The reason why fewer women access and use digital media is a direct result of their
unfavourable conditions with respect to employment, education and income.
Therefore, women have and use less digital media not because they are women per se, but
because social practice provides them with less employment, less education and less
income, which again leads to less digital media access and usage.
Women see themselves as primary custodian of ‘family and health’. They need information
critical to their health and their family for sustainable life. They have a seminal role to play
in sustaining family values and traditions. These issues have been overlooked largely and
women have been treated as recipients of developments and technological changes.
The know-how and the skills women possess have been marginalised with the advent of the
new knowledge. Digital devices can blend these two aspects in a way that can allow women
to emerge more confident and have an ability to form new networks of business or of
mutual benefit, socially and economically.
Women have the tendency to form informal networks to facilitate challenges that they face
and mobiles provide a berth and an opportunity to enlarge the circle of these network.
This process of sharing of information among themselves does get compromised if it is not
based on legitimate sources and verifiable point of access.
DIGITAL RURAL REVOLUTION- RETHINKING

EDUCATION
The process of imparting education has gone through a sea change if looked into last two
decades. The life has become technology driven and the onset of online courses came as a
path-breaker.
Digital learning has seeped into the system considerably and has far-reaching impact
towards educating the vast population of India.
However the stagnant state of rural education has been a major point of concern for
educational policy-makers in India.
67% of India’s population belongs to rural areas.
The ration of rural-urban enrolment of students is a massive 7:5.
Despite such high rate of enrolment, nearly 60% of students in rural India upto age 10 do
not possess basic reading skills nor can they solve simple mathematical problems.
The main reason behind poor quality of rural education are dismal standards of rural
education, infrastructural inequities, lack of connectivity and unavailability of teachers.
Considering such limitations, government in December 2015 expanded its digital India
programme, launching new initiatives and broadening the scope of existing ones, to make
more services accessible to the masses.
e-Kranti- a pillar of digital India programme under which immense emphasis has been given
to digitising rural India through e-technology, especially in the domain of education.
Some of these programmes are:
•Framework to make school books accessible in digital form as e-books to be read

and used on tablets and laptops.
e-basta •Students can easily access interactive and dynamic content augmented with text,
charts, graphic etc.
•Teachers can choose and bundle content accroding to their teaching methods.
National Digital •To build education and capacity programmes that will help rural communities to
take lead in the global digital economy.
•For this, National Optical Fibre Netwrok has been laid to enable digital inclusion
Literacy Mission across all villages in the country
•To make 6 crore household digitally literate
PMGDISHA •Empowering citizens by providing access to information, knowledge and skills for
operating computers/digital access devices.
•Expected to be world's largest digital literacy programmes.
•Central government has collaborated with various telecom service providers

Digital such as Google and Facebook to empower geographically-remote areas of India
with basic infrastructural set-ups for internet services.
•The digital classroom refers to the classroom where student learning and
Classroom interaction with the instructor and peers are fully supported throguh strategic
use of ICT.
•Study Webs of Active-Learning for Young Aspiring Minds

SWAYAM •Focus on developing MOOC to help rural students pursue any course of their
choice from institutions all over country and abroad.
Biometric •To address teahcers' absenteeism, biometric attendance of all teachers in

Teachers' primary school is to be recorded for arrival and departures.
•This will help in strengthening student's presence due to less teacher absentism.
Attendance
Digital learning is slowly but definitely becoming the direction everyone is stepping towards
where hybrid, collaborative and online learning processes are changing education.
‘live and interactive’ digital learning empowers the learner to receive par excellence, quality
education anytime and anywhere. The social media is also now used as a learning tool.
Thus, digital education is breaking the numerous barriers that are preventing students in
rural India from receiving quality education in physically bound classroom. With digital India
programme’s vision to transform India into a digitally empowered society and knowledge
economy, the education sector is poised to witness major growth in coming years.
RURAL HEALTH- IT INITIATIVES
Happy Reading
IASbaba 

IASbaba YK Gist August 2017

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Yojana and Kurukshetra- August 2017

knowledge that’ll help you in your preparation for the CSE.

an in-depth understanding of various socio-economic issues.

extract their essence that may be useful for the exam.

most essential points from all the articles.

One Nation, One Tax, One Market

GST, the ‘destination tax’

Key features of GST

Territorial Spread: Whole country including J&K

Introduction in India required amendment to the Constitution of India

States: Power to levy tax on the sale of goods

Services: Only Centre was empowered to levy the Services Tax

B. Diagrammatic representation of the working of the IGST model for inter-State

Objectives – Behind deciding the Tax Slabs

Tax Regime in India (without GST)

 Multiple points of taxation

How GST came into being?

First recommended by: Kelkar Committee Task Force

 Central Excise Duty,

 Subsuming of State Value Added Tax/Sales Tax,

Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN) – The IT enabler of GST

GSTN is working on developing a state-of-the-art comprehensive IT infrastructure including

Challenges under GST

IT Preparedness and Infrastructure:

 Transition of existing registered assesses and resolving of migration issues is a big

Pending cases/Past Disputes and Upcoming cases:

 Government should find ways and means to resolve the disputes

 There may be a chance of differences arising and it needs to be addressed on an

Digital Rural India

Be it skill development, education, agriculture or infrastructure, the use of information and

E-Governance in Rural India

National E-governance Plan (NeGP)

Basic requirement to fulfil this are

Common services centre- Creating rural entrepreneurship, redefining governance

CSC 2.0 model is completely based on a service delivery/transaction oriented self-

Participation of women in CSC ecosystem

GST Council engaged CSC-SPV as a GST suvidha provider.

Digital Saksharta Abhiyan

Indirect employment generation through CSCs.

REVOLUTIONISING INDIAN AGRICULTURE: USE OF ICT

National e-governance plan in agriculture

Information in agriculture and marketing channels

An end-to-end ICT led agri platform has been crated

Kisan Call centre initiative

Major applications of ICT in agriculture

Geographic information systems

Smartphone mobile apps

PM Fasal Bima Yojana

SMART VILLAGES- A WAY FORWARD

Village empowerment till now

How to choose cluster?

What to have in a cluster?

Development process of few of them

Drinking water supply

Road connectivity and public transport

LPG gas connection

A digital future can be built on top of physical one.

How to check the basic fulfilments of village?

Different scholarships directly credited to bank accounts of students

ASHA workers appointed under NRHM.

Swachh Bharat Abhiyan

Agriculture yields by the farmers need to reach the market in time

Financial inclusion will play a key role in making villages smart.