General Awareness

GOVERNMENT POLICIES AND SCHEMES - January 2019

Jan 2019

Jun 18, 2019

Only e-vehicles must be Sold after 2030: Niti

The government's think tank Niti Aayog has proposed that only electric vehicles be sold after 2030, expanding the scope of the clean fuel technology beyond two- and three-wheelers.
Earlier, a panel headed by Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant had suggested that only electric-powered three-wheelers and two-wheelers with engine capacity of up to 150cc be sold from 2025.
Now, it has moved a Cabinet note seeking to fix responsibility for different ministries, with the road transport and highways ministry proposed to prepare a framework to phase out the sale of diesel and petrol vehicles by 2030.
It has also suggested that the ministry pilot an ehighways programme—with an overhead electricity network—to enable plying of trucks and buses on select National Highways.
The proposals are part of the plan to manufacture 50 Gigawatt hour (GWh) batteries by 2030.
The plan comes amid intense lobbying by the automobile industry, which is opposed to the push for 100% electric vehicles, with the Japanese and Korean companies leading the charge with support from Indian veterans such as Rahul Bajaj and Venu Srinivasan. Transport minister Nitin Gadkari, who had once threatened to mandate EVs from 2030, has said that the roadmap will be decided after consulting the industry.
The Cabinet proposal has suggested that Gadkari's ministry should be tasked with issuing norms for cab aggregators to replace all diesel and petrolfuelled vehicles with EVs by 2030.
Similarly, the heavy industries ministry will go for complete replacement of all diesel/ petrol vehicles with EVs in all central ministries, agencies and public sector by 2030.
To meet the target of setting up the Giga-scale battery manufacturing, the think tank has proposed extending financial incentives to investors, including cash subsidy on the basis of overall domestic value addition per kilowatt hour (KWh) basis.
It estimated the annual subsidy outgo would be around Rs 8,000 crore. The subsidy will be given to manufacturers after the actual sale.
In its effort to ensure that there is no monopoly of manufacturers and the batteries are made domestically, the maximum cash subsidy would be for up to 20 GWh per firm and Rs 2,000 cash subsidy will be for one KWh only for 100% domestic value capture, which means the minimum percentage of manufacturing in India.
It has also proposed that manufacturers must go for 60% domestic value capture and the cash subsidy will be Rs 1,200 per KWh.

Jun 16, 2019

PM to Make Piped Water Drive as Big as Swachh

What Swachh Bharat was for Modi 1.0, an ambitious programme of piped water to all willing households in rural areas might be for Modi 2.0.
The government is poised to launch a massive effort to provide piped drinking water with issues of water supply and conservation given a sharper focus with the creation of a new ministry of jal shakti.
While the Modi government nearly completed a plan for electricity connections to all households under the Saubhagya programme, the scale of the drinking water challenge is significant even as the Centre looks to put its experience in mission mode implementation to good use.
Official data shows that coverage of village households with piped water has annually increased from 12% in 2013-14 to 17% in 2017-18, highlighting the need to seriously accelerate the programme.
Sources said the challenge to achieve 100% coverage of piped water supply by 2024 is similar to that of increasing the toilet coverage from just 33% in October 2014 to over 99% at present.
To spread awareness of water conservation and to check wastage, the government may deploy "jaldoots" (volunteers) on the lines of "swachhdoots" in villages.

Govt May Come Out with New Toll Policy

The Centre may soon come out with a national policy aimed at revising the existing toll rates for national highways and reclassifying vehicle types.
The charges for private cars may be increased.
The ministry of road transport and highways has hired consultancy firm Boston Consulting Group (BCG) to prepare a draft policy in collaboration with the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to revamp the toll system, which was last revised in 2008.

Jun 15, 2019

Bihar- First State to Launch Old-age Pension Scheme for all

Bihar became the first Indian state to launch a universal old-age pension scheme, one that will put Rs 400 per month in the bank accounts of persons aged 60 years and above, irrespective of financial or caste status, provided they do not already receive a state or central government pension.
In other states, old-age pensions are provided only to members of BPL families, SCs/STs, widows and the disabled.
But in Bihar every male and female above 60 years, if they are not getting any other pension from the state or central government, will be entitled to a pension under the new scheme, named "Mukhyamantri Vridhjan Pension Yojana".
Each male and female aged 80 years and above will get a pension of Rs 500 per month directly in his or her bank account under the new scheme.

Jun 14, 2019

Kamal Nath Implements Central Schemes

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath expedited the Central schemes held back because of the Lok Sabha elections after meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
After his return to Bhopal, the CM announced that the state government will provide data to the Centre for implementation of the NDA government's Prime Minister Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojna.
At the same time, a cabinet sub-committee gave its nod to implementation of 10% reservation in government jobs and admissions in educational institutions for economically weaker sections (EWS) people in the upper castes in line with the NDA government's decision.

Punjab to Roll out health Cover Scheme

According to State Health Minister Balbir Singh Sidhu, the Punjab government would launch its flagship universal health insurance scheme 'Sarbat Sehat Bima Yojana' from July 2019.
The scheme will provide an annual health cover of Rs. 5 lakh per family and around 43.18 lakh families will be covered under it.
Besides all government hospitals, 364 private hospitals in Punjab have been empanelled for treatment.

Jun 12, 2019

Government to Introduce Ambulance-cycles

To help people get medical aid faster, the Haryana government announced that it decided to introduce motorcycle ambulances or "ambu-cycles" in the city.
The state government would use the assistance of the government of Israel for this venture.
Ambu-cycles are essentially motorcycles with all the necessary medical equipment found in an ambulance. Due to its size, they can reach an emergency spot faster than an ambulance and are useful in those areas of the city that have a high volume of traffic.
As per government officials, the service would initially be started in Gurugram and Faridabad.

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