TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. First woman member from Nagaland to Preside over Rajya Sabha 2. Heli Summit 2023 and UDAN 5.2 3. Sahkar Se Samriddhi Scheme 4. White Label ATMs (WLAs) 5. National Programme for Dairy Development (NPDD)
1. First woman member from Nagaland to Preside over Rajya Sabha
Syllabus: GS-2, Polity & Governance
Prelims: Rajya Sabha
Mains: Women’s representation in Parliament
Context:
Phangnon Konyak becomes the first woman member from Nagaland to preside over Rajya Sabha.
Details:
- In a significant development for women in political life in India, the first woman member from Nagaland in the Rajya Sabha, Smt. Phangnon Konyak presided over the House on July 25, 2023.
- Earlier she had created history by becoming the first ever woman member to be appointed to the panel of Vice-Chairpersons.
- She is also the first woman to be elected to the Rajya Sabha from Nagaland and the second woman from the state to enter Parliament or the State Assembly.
2. Heli Summit 2023 and UDAN 5.2
Syllabus: GS-2, Government Schemes
Prelims: Heli Summit, UDAN Scheme
Context:
Union Minister inaugurated Heli Summit 2023 and UDAN 5.2 in Khajuraho.
Heli Summit:
- The 5th Helicopter & Small Aircraft Summit (Heli Summit 2023) was jointly organized by the Ministry of Civil Aviation, in association with the Government of Madhya Pradesh, Pawan Hans Ltd., and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).
- Theme of the event: “Reaching the Last Mile: Regional Connectivity through Helicopters & Small Aircraft”.
- The broad objectives of the summit were:
- To provide a common platform for all industry stakeholders, and policymakers to discuss the growth story of the Indian Helicopter and Small Aircraft industry
- To enhance the scope of the UDAN Scheme in remote and hilly terrains and expand the country’s rural-to-urban connectivity
- To boost Helicopter & Small Aircraft connectivity to places with existing and potential tourism hotspots by providing uninterrupted services
UDAN 5.2:
- UDAN 5.2 has been launched to further enhance the connectivity to remote and regional areas of the country and achieve last-mile connectivity through small aircraft.
Read more on the UDAN Scheme in the linked article.
Syllabus: GS2, Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors.
Prelims: Sahkar Se Samriddhi Scheme
Context:
Various measures have been taken by the Ministry of Cooperation in order to realise the vision of ‘Sahkar Se Samriddhi’ – strengthening the cooperative movement in India.
Details of the measures taken:
- Model Bye-Laws for PACS making them multipurpose, multidimensional and transparent entities.
- Computerisation of PACS.
- Setting up new PACS/cooperatives in uncovered Panchayats.
- World’s largest decentralized grain storage plan in the cooperative sector to ensure food security.
- PACS as Common Service Centres (CSCs) for better access to e-services.
- Formation of new FPOs by PACS.
- PACS given priority for retail petrol/diesel outlets.
- PACS eligible for LPG distributorship for diversifying its activities.
- PACS as Jan Aushadhi Kendra for improving access to generic medicines at the rural level.
- PACS as Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samriddhi Kendras (PMKSK) for fertilizer distribution.
- Convergence of PM-KUSUM at PACS level for energy security.
- PACS to carry out operations and maintenance of rural piped water supply schemes (PWS).
- Micro-ATMs to Bank Mitra Cooperative Societies for providing doorstep financial services.
- Rupay Kisan Credit Card to members of milk cooperatives.
Other measures taken include steps to strengthen urban and rural cooperative banks; relief to cooperative societies in the Income Tax Act; initiatives to revive cooperative sugar mills; steps for capacity building of cooperatives; facilitating ease of doing business through information technology; and formation of three new multi-state societies at the national level; and so on.
Read more about the measures in PIB dated June 8, 2023.
Syllabus: GS-3, Economy
Prelims: White Label ATMs (WLAs)
Context:
White Label ATMs (WLAs) to drive ATM penetration in India with a greater focus on Tier III to VI centres.
Details:
- The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has apprised that in order to drive ATM penetration in the country with a greater focus on Tier III to VI centres, non-bank companies have been permitted to set up, own and operate White Label ATMs (WLAs) in the country.
- White Label ATMs are ATMs that are set up, owned and managed by companies other than banks.
- WLAs provide banking services to the customers of banks in India, based on the cards (debit/credit/prepaid) issued by banks.
- WLAs also offer other services such as:
- Account Information
- Cash Deposit
- Regular Bill Payment
- Mini/Short Statement Generation
- PIN Change
- Request for Cheque Book
- Currently, four authorised non-bank entities are operating White Label ATMs in the country.
5. National Programme for Dairy Development (NPDD)
Syllabus: GS-2, Govt Scheme; GS-3, Agriculture
Prelims: National Programme for Dairy Development (NPDD)
Context:
The Department of Animal Husbandry & Dairying (DAHD) is implementing the National Programme for Dairy Development (NPDD) scheme across the country.
About the National Programme for Dairy Development (NPDD):
- The scheme is being implemented since 2014 and is a central sector scheme.
- The scheme aims to enhance the quality of milk and milk products and increase the share of organized milk procurement.
- The scheme has two components:
- Component ‘A’ focuses towards creating/strengthening of infrastructure for quality milk testing equipment as well as primary chilling facilities for State Cooperative Dairy Federations/District Cooperative Milk Producers’ Union/SHG-run private dairy/Milk Producer Companies/Farmer Producer Organisations.
- Component ‘B’ (Dairying Through Cooperatives) provides financial assistance from Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
- Objectives of the scheme:
- to create and strengthen infrastructure for the production of quality milk including cold chain infrastructure linking the farmer to the consumer;
- to create and strengthen infrastructure for procurement, processing and marketing of milk;
- to create training infrastructure for training of dairy farmers;
- to strengthen dairy cooperative societies/producer companies at the village level;
- to increase milk production by providing technical input services like cattle feed, and mineral mixture, etc;
- to assist in the rehabilitation of potentially viable milk federations/unions.
Read the previous PIB articles here.
July 25th, 2023, PIB:- Download PDF Here
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