1

POLICIES AND
SCHEMES
2015-2016

This Section “Policies and Schemes” is taken from our :

ISBN : 9789385846335
 POLICIES AND SCHEMES IN 2015-2016
Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna
• The scheme aims at constructing
more than two crore houses
across the length and breadth
of the nation within a span of
next seven years. This means
the scheme would conclude
successfully in the year 2022.
• The target beneficiaries of
the scheme would be poor
and people living under EWS
and LIG categories in urban
establishments of the country.
• The Government to provide
interest subsidy of 6.5% on
housing loans to the beneficiaries
for a term of 15 years.
• Houses to be constructed under
the scheme will be allotted
preferably in the name of the
female head of the family or in
the joint name of the male head
of the family.
• Under the PMAY scheme the
ground floor will be preferably
allotted to the differently-abled
and older people.
• The mission encourages
adoption of modern and green
technologies for faster and
quality construction of houses
with the deployment of disaster
resistant and environment
friendly technologies.
SAHAJ Scheme
• Under the SAHAJ scheme,
people are required to fill up
forms online for a new LPG
connection and avoid visiting
the LPG distributors. It
involves filing the KYC form by
uploading bank account details
and photographs.
• On submission of the details,
customer will receive a
registration number for enquiring
about the status of the new
connection with an additional
option of offline or online mode
of payment for the connection.
• After the completion of payment,
an electronic subscription
voucher will be mailed to the
new customer and a physical
delivery of the gas cylinder,
regulator with hose pipe will be
made to the customer.
• The twelve cities involved under
the scheme are Ahmedabad,
Bhubaneswar, Bengaluru,
Bhopal, Chennai, Chandigarh,
Kolkata, Hyderabad, Lucknow,
Patna, Mumbai and Pune.
Smart Cities Project
• Union Government named 98
cities under the Smart Cities
Project.
• Out of the total 98 cities,
13 cities were selected from
Uttar Pradesh, 12 cities from
Tamil Nadu, 10 cities from
Maharashtra, 7 cities from
Madhya Pradesh, 3 cities each
from Bihar and Andhra Pradesh.
• The 98 cities constitute 13 crore
people which covers around 35%
of the urban population of India
under the mission.
• The selected cities will receive a
sum of two crore rupees each for
 the execution of the smart city
plan with the primary aim being,
enhancement of the urban life
under a practical and realistic
approach.
• The Union Government has
sanctioned 48,000 crore rupees
with the purpose to financially
support the project over the next
five years.
Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana
(SAGY)
• Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana is
focused on the development of
the rural areas which involves
social and cultural development,
and spreading motivation among
the villagers for the betterment
of the village community.
• MPs are required to adopt one
village each with a population
of 3000-4000 in plains and 1000-
3000 in hills with the criteria
that the village doesn’t belong to
them or their spouses.
• The yojana requires the MPs to
prepare a village development
plan and motivate the residents
for participation in growth
oriented activities, channelizing
MPLAD funds to generate
further resources specifically
from the CSR initiatives of
various corporate houses, in the
field of sanitation and water
supply.
• Improving upon the standard
and quality of the mid-day meal
schemes, Aadhaar enrolment,
setting up “smart schools” with
IT-enabled classrooms and
e-libraries, and development
of the infrastructure of the
Panchayat under schemes like
MGNREGA and Backward
Regions Grants Fund etc.
• Development of social life and
harmony to be encouraged via
activities celebrating a village
day, formation of a village
song and implementation of
alternative methods for resolving
disputes.
• The functioning of the yojana
will be ensured by web-based
monitoring with an initial
5-month assessment by an
independent organisation and
ground-level survey by the
District Collectors to monitor
the progress.
PAHAL Scheme
• The scheme was revised and
reintroduced as PaHal in
November 2014 and launched in
54 districts. Later on the scheme
was implemented all over the
nation on 1 January 2015.
• The scheme involves sale of
subsidized LPG cylinders at
market rates and consumers are
allowed to collect LPG subsidy
straight into their bank accounts.
• The process of receiving the
subsidy is either via the bank
account or Aadhaar linkage
covering around 9.75 crore LPG
consumers across the nation.
• The scheme’s primary motive
involves elimination of duplicate
or bogus LPG connections.
Suraksha Bandhan drive
• Union Government has launched
Suraksha Bandhan drive with an
objective of creating a universal
social security system in the
country, particularly for the poor
and the deprived sections.
• The drive will associate the
poor and deprived sections with
social security schemes such as
Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima
Yojana (PMSBY) and Pradhan
Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima
Yojana (PMJJBY).
• The participating Insurance
Companies will support the
respective banks to work jointly
towards local outreach and
create awareness in order to
facilitate enrolments during this
drive.
• People who enrol during this
drive will be exempted from
submitting a certificate of good
health for the PMJJBY.
• The drive empowers people to
present social security to their
near and dear ones in the form of
Jeevan Suraksha gift cheques of `
351 which is one-year premium
for PMJJBY and PMSBY.
‘SAMANVAY’ portal
• ‘SAMANVAY’ web portal
was launched by the Union
Ministry of Rural Development
to supervise the progress
and execution of the Sansad
Adarsh Gram Yojana (SAGY)
for development of Gram
Panchayats.
• The aim of the portal is to assist
Members of Parliament (MPs)
to utilise relevant schemes in the
planning and implementation of
SAGY.
• SAMANVAY has helped in the
documentation of around 1800
state schemes from across all
states.
Surakshit Khadya Abhiyan
• Union Government launched
Surakshit Khadya Abhiyan with
the focus on creating awareness
and capacity building for safe
and hygienic food.
• The campaign complements
the widely popular multi-media
campaign “Jago Grahak Jago”
which empowers the consumers
of their rights and demands.
• Under the campaign, nationwide
sensitisation sessions will be
organized across the country on
cleaning, hygiene & sanitation
for safe food, Walkathons
and Media dissemination
programmes for Consumers and
Street Food Industries.
• The ministry also launched
a website and a logo for the
campaign and signed a pledge for
adoption of safe food practices.
Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee
Yojana (PMKSY)
• PMKSY aims primarily at
providing irrigation facilities to
every village in the country by
converging ongoing irrigation
schemes implemented by various
ministries.
• The Yojana ensures protective
irrigation to all agricultural
farms in the country in order to
produce ‘per drop more crop’
ensuring rural prosperity.
• The scheme ensures that state
and district irrigation plans
are equipped on the basis of
availability of water and agro-
climatic conditions in the
respective regions.
• The PMKSY focuses on ‘end-to-
end solution’ in irrigation supply
chain by implementing the new
programme in a “project mode”
with decentralised state-level
planning and execution.
• PMKSY funds will be given to
states as 75% grant by the central
government and the rest 25%
share is to be taken up by the
state government. And in case
of the north-eastern region and
hilly states, the grant would be
90:10.
Deendayal Upadhyaya Gram
Jyoti Yojana
• The scheme was launched by
Prime Minister Narendra Modi
with the primary aim to provide
24×7 uninterrupted electricity
supply to each rural household
across the nation by 2022.
• The yojana was planned to
separate agriculture and non-
agriculture feeders facilitating
judicious rostering of supply to
agricultural and non-agricultural
consumers in rural areas.
• It also seeks to strengthen the sub
transmission and distribution
infrastructure in rural areas
which includes metering
of transformers/feeders/
consumers.
• The scheme has the total outlay
of 76,000 crore rupees for
execution of the projects for
which the Union Government
will provide grant of 63,000
crore rupees.
‘Sakaar’
• Union Government launched an
Augmented Reality technology
based mobile application
named ‘Sakaar’ to showcase the
achievements of the Department
of Space.
• The application is developed by
Development and Educational
Communication Unit (DECU)
of ISRO.
• The application showcases 3D
models of Mars Orbiter Mission
(MOM), RISAT, indigenous
rockets such as PSLV, GSLV
Mk-III; videos of INSAT
3D-predicting cyclones, MOM
launch and orbit insertion videos,
360 degree animated view of
MOM, GSLV D5/Cryo and
Anaglyph of Mars surface which
are purely for representational
and educational purposes.
Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana
• Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan
Yojana (PMJDY) was launched
as a nationwide scheme by
Prime Minister Narendra Modi
on 28th August 2014 which
seeks to provide a bank account
for every individual who does
not have one.
• The scheme facilitates the
account holders with a zero-
balance bank account with
RuPay debit card, with an
additional accidental insurance
cover of ` 1 lakh.
• The account holders can take a
loan benefit of
• 5000 from the bank after an
interval of six months from
opening of the account.
• The facility of mobile banking
available for the poor through
National Unified USSD
Platform (NUUP) by the
combined efforts of all banks
and mobile companies.
• The scheme allows the account
holders to avail the facilities
of checking balance and
transferring funds through a
normal cellphone which was
earlier limited to smart phones
 only, with the introduction of
new age technology introduced
by National Payments
Corporation of India (NPCI).
• The account holders will be
awarded an insurance coverage
worth ` 30000 if they comply
with certain condition of the
scheme, including opening an
account by 26th January, 2015
and possessing an accidental
insurance coverage worth `
200000.
USTAAD Scheme
• The USTAAD scheme was
launched in order to improve
the degrading condition of the
world renowned Banaras Saree
weavers belonging to various
minority communities.
• The Scheme seeks to upgrade
the Skills and Training of
the minority communities by
preservation of their customary
ancestral Arts and Crafts.
• It also focuses on improving
upon the skills of craftsmen,
weavers and artisans who
are already engaged in the
traditional ancestral work.
• USTAAD also seeks to work
on the skill development and
imbibing better marketing
strategies to the weavers and
artisans of traditional crafts.
Namami Gange Project
• Namami Gange Project has been
launched as an intergrated effort
by the Union Government for the
conservation and improvement
of the Ganga River.
• The Government has sanctioned
a sum of
` 2,037 crore for the integrated
programme with the aim to
cover 8 states, 47 towns & 12
rivers under the project.
• Several ministries are engaged
with nodal Water Resources
Ministry in relation with the
project including - Environment,
Urban development, Shipping,
Tourism & Rural Development
Ministries with the prime focus
on connecting people living on
the river’s banks in this project.
• The scheme also involves setting
up river centric urban planning
process in order to establish
better citizens connect through
interventions at Ghats and River
fronts along with expansion of
sewerage infrastructure in 118
cities on banks of Ganga.
• The project also involves
ensuring ecological rejuvenation
by conservation of aquatic life
and biodiversity, and side by side
promoting tourism and shipping
in a rational and sustainable
manner.
Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti
Bima Yojana
• Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti
Bima Yojana (PMJJBY) was
launched by the Union finance
minister Arun Jaitley with the
aim to extend life insurance
cover to people both in the cases
of natural deaths or accidents.
• The Yojana will be available to
people who have an Aadhaar
number linked with a bank
account and within the age
group of 18-50 years.
• The annual premium for the
scheme is ` 330 which will be
 auto-debited in one instalment
from the subscriber’s bank
account.
• The scheme will be primarily
offered by LIC and other life
insurers who are willing can join
the scheme.
MUDRA Bank
• Micro Units Development and
Refinance Agency Bank (or
MUDRA Bank) was launched
by the Prime Minister Narendra
Modi on 8th April, 2015.
• The primary focus of the bank
is to provide loans at low rates
to microfinance institutions
and non-banking financial
institutions which then offer
credit to MSME’s.
• The bank will also monitor the
people who have taken up loans
to regulate his/her activities
if they are under any debts
and become a liability for the
government.
• The agencies will set up a
method using the last-mile credit
agent scheme system for small
and micro businesses.
• MUDRA Bank will offer
financing in 3 stages- Shishu,
Kishore and Tarun.
PRAGATI platform
• PRAGATI is a distinctive
multipurpose platform aimed
at addressing common man’s
grievances, and at the same
time monitoring and reviewing
important programmes and
projects of the Government of
India along with the projects
flagged by State Governments.
• The platform involves a three-tier
system which includes the PMO,
Union Government Secretaries,
and Chief Secretaries of the
States.
• The issues to be highlighted in
front of the PM will be taken
from the available database
regarding Public Grievances, on-
going Programmes and pending
Projects.
• The system will strengthen and
re-engineer the data bases of the
CPGRAMS for grievances along
with the Project Monitoring
Group (PMG) and the Ministry
of Statistics and Programme
Implementation.
Beti Bachao-Beti Padhao
campaign
• Union government launched one
of its most ambitious projects
Beti Bachao-Beti Padhao (BBBP)
on 22nd January 2015 whose
prime objective is to create
awareness about the diminishing
child sex ratio in the country.
• The scheme was launched by
Prime Minister Narendra Modi
from Panipat in Haryana.
Haryana was chosen to launch
the scheme due to its low sex
ratio i.e. 879 girls per 1000 boys,
which is below the national sex
ratio that stands at 918 girls per
1000 boys.
• The campaign is to be
implemented in 100 districts
of the country, including 12
districts of Haryana where the
number of girl child is drearily
low.
• Centre has provided an initial
investment of 100 crore rupees
for it.
HRIDAY scheme
• Union Government launched
the Heritage City Development
and Augmentation Yojana
(HRIDAY) on 21st January
2015 for the preservation and
rejuvenation of the invaluable
heritage of our country.
• Urban development minister
Shri Venkaiah Naidu launched
the scheme in New Delhi.
• ` 500 crore has been sanctioned
for the HRIDAY scheme.
• The 12 heritage cities to be
renovated and developed
under the HRIDAY scheme
are Amritsar, Varanasi,
Gaya, Puri, Ajmer, Mathura,
Dwarka, Badami, Velankanni,
Kanchipuram, Warangal and
Amaravati.
• HRIDAY will be working in
collaboration with Tourism
Ministry’s Pilgrimage
Rejuvenation and Spiritual
Augmentation Drive (PRASAD)
scheme which aims at renovating
the infrastructure of various
pilgrimage sites over the country.
Atal Pension Yojana
• Atal Pension Yojana was
launched for all those who come
from the unorganised sector to
make them self-dependent after
they have spent their lifetime
working for a non-pensionable
job.
• Under the scheme, a person
can receive a fixed amount of
pension starting from ` 1000 to
` 5000 per month depending on
the contribution made by them.
• The minimum age of joining
the scheme is 18 years and the
maximum age is 40 years.
• The minimum period of
contribution by the person under
the scheme is 20 years or more.
• The government will contribute
50% to the pension fund of the
nominee for every contribution
made by him/her for a period of
5 years.
One Rank One Pension
• The Union Government gave its
consent for the implementation
of One Rank One Pension
(OROP) scheme for ex-
servicemen on 5th September
2015.
• The scheme promises to
provide uniform pension to ex-
servicemen of the same rank
and the same length of service,
regardless of their date of
retirement.
• The scheme will benefit all
the three branches of services
including army, air force and
navy.
• All the OROP arrears will
be paid in four half yearly
instalments and all the widows
including war widows will be
paid arrears in one instalment.
• The government has announced
the revision of the pension after
every five years.
Unnat Bharat Abhiyan
• Unnat Bharat Abhiyan is
launched with the purpose to
connect institutions of higher
education, including IITs, NITs
and Indian Institutes of Science
Education & Research (IISERs)
with the local communities
to overcome development
 challenges and bring about rural
development.
• Each IITs and NITs will
choose 10 villages from their
neighbourhood and solve the
gravest issues of the region by
using technology.
• The HRD ministry and the
educational institutes along
with other ministries like rural
development and various NGOs
working for the development of
the villages are most likely to be
included in the scheme.
• The high priority problems to be
looked after during the scheme
are: supply of potable water,
sanitation, energy consumption
and construction of houses at a
low cost.
Sukanya Samridhi Yojana
• Sukanya Samridhi Yojna was
launched by Prime Minister
Narendra Modi on 22nd January
2015 as a girl child prosperity
scheme to ensure the bright
future of the girl child in India.
• The Sukanya Samriddhi account
can be opened anytime in
between the birth of the girl
child and till the time she attains
the age of 10 years under her
name.
• Only one account is permissible
for every girl child.
• Under the scheme, parents need
to deposit
` 1,000 at the time of her birth and
thereafter deposit multiples of `
100 with the maximum deposit
of ` 1,50,000.
• The yojana permits the girl child
to access her account after she is
10 years old and a withdrawal
of 50% from the account is
permitted at the age of 18 years
for higher education purpose.
• The account reaches the
maturation period when she
attains the age of 21 years.
Minority Ministry launches
OAMS for Nai Roshni
• Union Minister for Minority
Affairs, Dr. Najma Heptulla
launched the Online Application
Management System (OAMS)
for “Nai Roshni” in order to
bring the scheme into public
domain which will facilitate
transparency and quick delivery.
• The procedures involved and
benefits of the system include:
(a) Submission of online
application and generation
of an application ID with
date.
(b) Online screening of
applications.
(c) Online receipt of
documents.
(d) No loss of documents
due to postal or human
negligence.
(e) Curtailment of procedural
delays.
(f) Minimized paper work.
(g) Time saving.
(h) The applicant can check the
status of their applications
with their ID.
(i) Online project approval,
sanctions and release of
funds.
(j) Online monitoring of
projects.
 (k) Reports on trained women,
location of projects etc.
available in public domain.
• The scheme was launched
for Leadership Development
of Minority Women in 2012-
13, to empower and instil
self-confidence in women by
providing knowledge, tools and
techniques for interacting with
Government systems, banks and
intermediaries at all levels.
Nai Manzil scheme launched by
the Union Government
• Dr. Najma Heptulla, the Union
Minister for Minority Affairs
launched Nai Manzil scheme in
Patna on 8th August, 2015 for
empowering minorities.
• The scheme seeks to deal with
educational and livelihood
needs of minority communities
in general and Muslims in
particular as it lags behind other
minority communities in terms
of educational attainments.
• The focus of the scheme is to
provide educational intervention
by offering bridge courses to the
trainees, getting them certificates
for class XII and X through
distance educational system and
facilitate them with trade basis
skill training in 4 courses namely
Manufacturing, Engineering,
Services and Soft skills.
• The scheme will cover people in
the age group of 17 to 35 years
from all minority communities
as well as Madrasa students.
The scheme will also provide
avenues for continuing higher
education and will also open up
employment opportunities in the
organized sector.
Start up India, Stand up India
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi
announced the ‘Start-Up India’
initiative while addressing
the nation on the eve of 69th
Independence Day.
• The campaign aims to encourage
entrepreneurship among the
youth and create employment
opportunities in India. PM
urged 1.25 lakh bank branches
to provide finance to at least one
Dalit or Adivasi and at least one
woman entrepreneur.
• The initiative would be
beneficiary in giving a new
dimension to entrepreneurship
and will help in setting up a
network of start-ups in the
country.
• The campaign aims to establish
India as the number one start up
country. The Prime Minister has
also promised to do away with
the current practice of interview-
based selections for low-skilled
government jobs.
• As part of the Skill India and
Digital India initiative, the
PM announced that a package
of incentives will be given
to manufacturing units for
generating jobs.
Union Government launches
School Nursery Yojana
• -The School Nursery Yojana
was launched by the Union
Government with the sole
purpose to bring school students
closer to nature by involving
them in raising saplings in the
nurseries created inside their
school campuses.
• The scheme aims to cover ten
thousand schools in the coming
three years, which will receive
a grant of Rs 25,000 in the first
year and Rs 10,000 per year for
the subsequent two years.
• The students will sow seeds and
nurture the saplings in the school
nursery as a part of their extra-
curricular activities and practical
exercise for Biology classes.
• The school nurseries will have
minimum of 100 sq metres for
preparation of beds for raising
saplings and for nursery-related
activities.
• The yojana will encourage
schools to practice composting,
rainwater harvesting and water
recycling to inspire best practices
in the young minds.
• The scheme seeks to
inculcate best environmental
responsiveness practices in
young minds.
Thari Pension, Thare Pass
• Haryana Chief Minister
Manohar Lal Khattar launched
the Thari Pension Thare Pass in
Chandigarh, seeking to directly
transfer pension into the bank
accounts of beneficiaries.
• Over 10 lakh beneficiaries from
1,744 villages and 81 towns in the
state would get pensions through
banks and post offices under the
first phase of the scheme.
• The beneficiaries would get their
pension through different modes,
including bank branches, post
offices, business correspondent
agents (BCAs), additional BCAs,
primary agricultural cooperative
society (PACS), Vodafone
M-Pesa, common service centres
and gramin dak sewaks.
• There are currently over 23.3
lakh beneficiaries getting pension
under various social security
schemes entailing a monthly
expenditure of Rs 270 crore.
The residents of other villages
would, for the time being, get
their pension manually.
• The beneficiaries are liable to
withdraw the amount as per their
requirement and also trace their
account online to be acquainted
with the balance in his or her
account.
Spices Board launches Subsidy
Scheme
• Spices Board of India launched
various subsidies for farmers
to sensitize them to enhance
the quality of spices and boost
production of spices in the
country.
• Under the new scheme, financial
aid to be given to farmers for
irrigation, land development,
mechanisation, replanting, soil
conservation, organic farming of
various spices (especially small
cardamom) and purchasing
modern irrigation and farming
equipment and tools.
• To increase production of spices,
especially of small cardamom,
cultivators of small cardamom
in Kerala and Tamil Nadu
will receive up to Rs 70,000
for replanting, while farmers
in Karnataka will get up to Rs
50,000.
• Also, there is provision of
financial assistance up to 25 per
cent of actual cost for acquiring
 irrigation pump sets, sprinkler
sets, equipment for gravity-fed
irrigation system along with
financial aid of 50 per cent for
water storage structure.
• The board has also announced
subsidy of Rs.1 lakh for
purchasing improved cardamom
curing devices and 50 per
cent subsidy for GAP (Good
Agricultural Practices) kits and
bee-keeping boxes.
‘Aapki Beti Hamari Beti’ scheme
• Haryana government launched
the ‘Aapki Beti Hamari Beti’
scheme aiming to combat the
problem of declining child
sex ratio and promote girls’
education.
• According to the scheme,
the first girl child born on or
after 22ndJanuary, 2015 in a
scheduled caste or below poverty
line family would be eligible to
receive a onetime grant of Rs
21,000.
• The scheme is to be implemented
in both rural and urban areas of
the state covering first-born girl
child of Scheduled Caste (SC)
and Below Poverty Line (BPL)
families.
• The grant will be invested with
the Life Insurance Corporation
of India in the name of the girl
child, and the sum would be
given to the beneficiary when
she turns 18.
• The parents should be resident
of Haryana, to be eligible for the
scheme.
• If the applicant fails to submit
the application form within
the stipulated time, it can be
submitted within one year after
the birth of the child.
‘Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas
Yojana’
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi
launched ‘Pradhan Mantri
Kaushal Vikas Yojana’, which
aims to offer 24 lakh Indian
youth meaningful, industry
relevant, skill based training.
• Under this scheme, the trainees
will be offered a financial reward
and a government certification
on successful completion of
training and assessment, which
will help them in securing a job
for a better future.
• An allocation of Rs 150 crores
has been done for training of
youth from the Northeast region.
Green Highways Policy 2015
• Union Minister of Road
Transport & Highways and
Shipping Shri Nitin Gadkari
launched the Green Highways
(Plantation, Transplantation,
Beautification and Maintenance)
Policy, 2015.
• The aim of the policy is to
promote greening of Highway
corridors with participation of
the community, farmers, private
sector, NGOs, and government
institutions.
• The target for the first year is
to plant trees along 6,000 km
of highways, for which 12,000
hectares of land allotted.
• The Green Highway Policy will
help in making India pollution
free and lessen the number of
road accidents in the country.

Swachh Himachal Padhai bhi,
Safai bhi campaign
• Governor of Himachal Pradesh
Acharya Devvrat launched the
“Swachh Himachal – Padhai bhi,
Safai bhi” campaign initiated
by the HP Cricket Association
(HPCA).
• The objective of the campaign is
to showcase Himachal’s beauty
and project it as India’s cleanest
and the greenest state.
• This campaign will be conducted
throughout the state, across 12
districts both in urban and rural
areas led by youth hailing from
school, colleges, universities,
educational institutes such as
ITI’s, technical universities,
Yuva Kendra, Mahila Mandal,
etc.
• HPCA became the first cricket
association in the country to
work towards Swacch Bharat
Abhiyan initiated by the Union
Government.
Udyam Aakansha scheme to
promote SMEs
• Chhattisgarh  government has
launched ‘Udyam Aakansha’
Scheme for promoting micro,
small and medium enterprises in
the state.
• Subodh Singh, Secretary of the
Commerce and Industries
department stated that the
scheme would help free online
registration and self-certification
to the investors interested in
investment on micro, small and
medium enterprises and service
businesses. The people planning
to invest can enroll themselves
online through website of the
13
Industries department which
will be based on self-certification
process.
• Chhattisgarh CM Raman Singh
had issued directives to simplify
the process of registration
and self-certification for
entrepreneurs so that they could
take its advantage.
• The CM has also urged the
entrepreneurs planning to invest
in the state to simplify the
investment and business process
so that PM’s ‘Make in India’,
‘Digital India’ and ‘Start up
India’ programmes yield good
results.
National Capital Goods Policy
2016
• Union Government unveiled the
National Capital Goods Policy in
a seminar titled ‘Capital Goods
and Engineering: Realising
the Make in India Vision, in
Mumbai on 15th February.
• “National Capital Goods
Policy” is a unique Government
led- industry driven manoeuvre
for scripting a new growth
narrative in the history of
industrial development.
• Union Minister of Heavy
Industry and Public Enterprises
Shri Anant Ganga Ram Geete
highlighted the strategic
importance of Capital Goods
and the important role played by
it in the overall manufacturing,
as the pillar of strength to the
vision of “Make in India”, the
government has now come out
with this policy.
• The policy seeks to increase
exports from the current 27%

to 40% of production while
increasing share of domestic
production in India’s demand
from 60% to 80%.
It also aims at improvement in
technology depth across sub-
sectors, amplify skill availability,
guarantee mandatory standards
and support growth and capacity
building of MSMEs.
Bihar becomes sixth state to join
UDAY Scheme
• Bihar became the sixth state to
join the UDAY scheme which
is Centre’s power distribution
sector revival scheme that
targets operational and financial
turnaround of state discoms,
starting with restructuring of
their debt.  • Union Finance Minister Arun
• The Government of India, the
State of Bihar and the DISCOMs
of Bihar (North Bihar Power
Distribution Company Limited,
and South Bihar Power
Distribution Company Limited)
signed a Memorandum of
Understanding (MOU) under
the Scheme UDAY — “Ujwal
DISCOM Assurance Yojana”
on 21st February for operational
and financial turnaround of
DISCOMs.
• The MoU was signed in the
presence of the Minister of
State for Power (Independent
Charge) Piyush Goyal. The
MoU was signed on behalf
of Ministry of Power by Dr.
A K Verma, Pratyaya Amrit ,
Bihar’s Secretary for Energy,
R Lakshmanan , MD, North
Bihar Power Distribution
Company Limited and Sandeep
Kumar MD ,South Bihar Power
14
Distribution Company Limited .
• After the signing of MoU,
approximately 33 per cent of
Bihar’s DISCOM debt which is
around Rs.1.40 lakh crores will
be restructured.
• Bihar became the second state
with a non-BJP government
after Uttar Pradesh to join the
scheme. Other states that have
become a part of the scheme
are Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh,
Jharkhand and Gujarat.
• The scheme will help Bihar provide
power to around 1,152 villages
and 160.60 lakh households that
are still without electricity. 
Rashtriya Gram Swaraj Abhiyan
Jaitley has proposed a new
structure scheme, ‘Rashtriya
Gram Swaraj Abhiyan’ to help
Panchayat Raj Institutions
deliver Sustainable Development
Goals.
• The scheme will help to develop
governance capabilities of
Panchayati Raj Institutions on
the Sustainable Development
Goals, for which Rs. 655 crore
is being set apart. For rural
development as a whole, Rs.
87,765 crore has been allocated.
Deen Dayal Antyodaya Yojana
• Deen Dayal Antyodaya Yojana
or DAY is a scheme aiming at
upliftment of urban and rural
poor through enhancement
of livelihood opportunities
through skill development and
other means as per requisite
international standards.
• Union government has
sanctioned Rs 500 crore (US$74

million) for the scheme. It will
replace Aajevika.
• The scheme aims at training 0.5
million people in urban area
per annum from 2016 and in
rural area it is training 1 million
people by 2017.
• Rs 1,000 crore has been
provisioned for urban poverty
alleviation under the scheme
during 2014-15, out of which Rs
500 crore will be spent on skill
development of over 5,00,000
urban poor.
• Union Finance Minister Arun
Jaitley in Budget 2016-17 said
that every block under drought
and rural distress will be taken
up as an intensive Block under
the Deen Dayal Antyodaya
Mission.
15
National Dialysis Services
Programme
• Finance Minister Arun Jaitley
has proposed to start a ‘National
Dialysis Services Programme’
under the New Health Protection
Scheme in the Budget 2016-17.
• The required funds will be made
available through PPP Mode
under the National Health
Mission, to provide dialysis
services in all district hospitals.
• The Finance Minister proposed
to exempt certain parts of
dialysis equipment from basic
customs duty, excise/CVD and
SAD to reduce the cost involved
in the dialysis sessions.