30 June 2021: PIB Summary & Analysis

June 30th, 2021, PIB:- Download PDF Here

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Goods and Services Tax (GST)
2. MoU approved by the Cabinet
3. Atmanirbhar Bharat Rojgar Yojana (ABRY)
4. BharatNet Project
5. Loan Guarantee Scheme for Covid Affected Sectors (LGSCAS)
6. AIM-iLEAP Program
7. Black Carbon (BC)
8. Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme

1. Goods and Services Tax (GST)

Context:

GST completed four years of implementation.

Read more on the goods and services tax in the link.

2. MoU approved by the Cabinet

Context:

The Union Cabinet approved the following MoUs between India and various countries.

India and Nepal

• Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), India and the Nepal Health Research Council (NHRC), Nepal.
• The objectives of this MoU are collaboration on joint research activities of mutual interest such as cross-border health issues, Ayurveda/traditional medicine and medicinal plants, climate change and health, non-communicable diseases, mental health, population-based cancer registry, tropical diseases (vector-borne diseases such as dengue, chikungunya, malaria, JE, etc.), influenza, clinical trial registry, health research ethics, capacity building through exchange of knowledge, skills tools and fellows and collaboration for adoption of tools, guidelines, protocols and best practices related to health research.

India and Myanmar

• Memorandum of Understanding signed between the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), India and the Department of Medical Research (DMR), Ministry of Health and Sports of Myanmar.
• Objectives of the MoU:
  • Elimination of infectious diseases
  • Development of network platform of emerging and viral infections
  • Training/capacity building in research methodology management, clinical trials, ethics, etc.
  • Harmonization of regulatory mechanism

India and The Gambia

• MoU signed between the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances, Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, GOI and the Public Service Commission, Office of the President, Republic of The Gambia.
• The MoU is on Refurbishing Personnel Administration and Governance Reforms.
• The areas of cooperation includes improving performance management system in the government, implementation of contributory pension scheme, e-recruitment in government, among others.

3. Atmanirbhar Bharat Rojgar Yojana (ABRY)

Context:

Cabinet approved the extension of last date of Registration under Aatmanirbhar Bharat Rojgar Yojana (ABRY) from 30th June 2021 to 31st March 2022.

Details:

• ABRY was announced as one of the measures under Aatmanirbhar Bharat 3.0 package to boost the economy and increase employment generation in the formal sector during the post-Covid recovery phase.
• Under ABRY, the Government of India is crediting for a period of two years both the employees’ and employers’ share (24% of wages) or only the employees’ share (12% of wages), depending on the strength of EPFO registered establishments.

Read more on the Atmanirbhar Bharat Rojgar Yojana in PIB dated Dec 9, 2020.

4. BharatNet Project

Context:

Revised implementation strategy of BharatNet Project.

Details:

• The Cabinet accorded approval for the revised implementation strategy of BharatNet through Public Private Partnership mode in 16 States of the country.
• The program will be extended to all inhabited villages beyond Gram Panchayats (GPs).
• The revised strategy also includes the creation, upgradation, operation, maintenance and utilization of BharatNet by the concessionaire who will be selected by a competitive international bidding process.
• For the other states/UTs of the country, the Cabinet has given in-principle approval for covering all inhabited villages. The modalities for the same will be worked out separately by the Dept of Telecommunications.

Benefits:

• Proliferation of broadband in rural areas will bridge the rural-urban divide of digital access and accelerate the achievement of Digital India.
• The penetration and proliferation of broadband is also expected to increase direct and indirect employment and income generation.
• The States where the PPP Model is envisaged will facilitate free Right of Way.
• The Private Sector Partner is also expected to bring an equity investment and raise resources towards capital expenditure and for operation and maintenance of the network.

Advantages offered by the BharatNet PPP Model:

• Use of innovative technology by the Private Sector Provider for the consumers
• High quality of service and service level to consumers
• Faster deployment of network and quick connectivity to consumers
• Competitive tariffs for services
• Variety of services on high-speed broadband including Over the top (OTT) services and multi-media services as part of packages offered to consumers
• Access to all online services

5. Loan Guarantee Scheme for Covid Affected Sectors (LGSCAS)

Context:

Cabinet approved Loan Guarantee Scheme for Covid Affected Sectors (LGSCAS).

About Loan Guarantee Scheme for Covid Affected Sectors (LGSCAS):

• This scheme enables funding to the tune of Rs. 50,000 crore to provide financial guarantee cover for brownfield expansion and greenfield projects related to health/medical infrastructure.
• The Scheme would be applicable to all eligible loans sanctioned up to 31.03.2022, or till an amount of Rs. 50,000 crore is sanctioned, whichever is earlier.
• The move comes in the wake of disruptions caused by the second wave of the pandemic which overwhelmed India’s healthcare system.
  • According to the government statement, the scheme is a specific response to the extraordinary situation faced by the country due to inadequate health infrastructure during the pandemic’s second wave.
• The approved scheme is expected to help the country in shoring up its much-needed healthcare infrastructure along with creating more employment opportunities.
• The main objective of LGSCAS is to partially mitigate credit risk (primarily construction risk) and facilitate bank credit at lower rates of interest.
• It aims at upscaling medical infrastructure in India, especially targeting the underserved areas.

What the scheme offers:

• LGSCAS would provide a guarantee of 50 percent for brownfield projects and 75 per cent to greenfield projects for loans sanctioned up to Rs.100 crore, set up at urban or rural locations other than 8 Metropolitan Tier 1 cities (Class X cities).
• For aspirational districts, the guarantee cover for both brownfield expansion and greenfield projects shall be 75%.

Additional Information:

• The Cabinet also approved the enhancement of the corpus of the Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS).

6. AIM-iLEAP Program

Context:

AIM-iLEAP, the first fintech cohort of the Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) concluded.

About AIM iLEAP:

• This is a program under the Atal Innovation Mission to provide AIM-backed start-ups with the much needed access to industry, markets and investors.
• The fintech cohort was done through a series of thematic virtual demo days organised by AIM in partnership with Startup Réseau and Visa as part of AIM-iLEAP (Innovative leadership for entrepreneurial agility and profitability) initiative.
• The objective of the AIM-iLEAP program is to invite technology start-ups across a broad range of functions and have them present their solutions to the corporate leadership and innovation team for enabling market access and industry partnerships.
• The Fintech cohort consisted of start-ups from a wide range of areas such as payments, international money transfers, personal finance, consumer banking, insurance, neo bank, etc.
• In the bootcamp they got an opportunity to fine-tune their pitches, work on their GTM strategy, understand more about the fintech ecosystem, ask questions to sectoral experts and so on.
• The program was attended by fintech giants such as Visa, Paytm, etc.
• As per the AIM’s mission, AIM-iLEAP bootcamp and demo day is the first among the many initiatives to push startups in the country.
• Future cohorts shall be focussed on different sectors such as Agri-tech, Defence Tech, Smart Mobility, AI and so on.

7. Black Carbon (BC)

Context:

Study says black carbon could lead to premature mortality.

About the Study:

• Scientists from Department of Science & Technology-Mahamana Centre of Excellence in Climate Change Research (MCECCR) at Banaras Hindu University.
• The study was supported by the Climate Change programme of the Department of Science and Technology (DST).
• They utilized daily all-cause mortality and ambient air quality from 2009 to 2016 to clearly establish a significant impact of Black Carbon aerosols, NO2 and, PM2.5 exposure on mortality.

Results:                        

• Black Carbon has a significant adverse effect on human health and leads to premature mortality.
• The inclusion of co-pollutants (NO2 and PM 2.5) in the multi-pollutant model increased the individual mortality risks for BC aerosols.
• The effect of pollutants was more prominent for males, age group 5-44 years and, in winter.
• They found that the adverse effect of air pollutants was not limited to current day of exposure but can extend as high as up to 5 days (Lag effect).
• They further showed that mortality rises linearly with an increase in air pollutant level and shows adverse impact at higher levels.

Significance of the study:

• The Indo-Gangetic plain is exposed to black carbon with serious implications on regional climate and human health.
• Most of the pollutants-based epidemiological studies relate exposure to particulate mass concentration (PM 10 and/-or PM 2.5) that invariably generalize all particulates with equal toxicity without distinguishing individuals by its source and composition.
• Importantly, the health effects in terms of mortality due to BC aerosol exposure have never been evaluated in India.

Benefits of the study:

• The study could help in the estimation of the future burden of mortality associated with air pollutants more accurately.
• This will help government and policymakers for better planning to mitigate the adversities associated with changing climate and air pollution on health.

8. Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme

Context:

Cabinet approved the Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme.

About the Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme:

• It is a reforms-based and results-linked scheme to improve the operational efficiencies and financial sustainability of all DISCOMs/Power Departments excluding Private Sector DISCOMs.
• The scheme envisages the provision of conditional financial assistance to DISCOMs for strengthening supply infrastructure.
• The assistance will be based on meeting pre-qualifying criteria as well as upon the achievement of basic minimum benchmarks by the DISCOM. These will be evaluated on the basis of agreed evaluation framework tied to financial improvements.
• Each state would have its own action plan for implementation of the scheme rather than a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach.
• The scheme proposes to subsume the ongoing schemes of IPDS, DDUGJY along with PMDP-2015 for the Union Territories of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh.
• The scheme would be available till 2025-26.
• Nodal agencies for the scheme’s implementation are REC Limited and Power Finance Corporation (PFC).
• The scheme has a major focus on improving electricity supply for the farmers and for providing daytime electricity to them through solarization of agricultural feeders.
• Objectives of the scheme:
  • Reduction of AT&C losses to pan-India levels of 12-15% by 2024-25
  • Reduction of ACS-ARR gap to zero by 2024-25
  • Developing institutional capabilities for modern DISCOMs
  • Improvement in the quality, reliability, and affordability of power supply to consumers through a financially sustainable and operationally efficient distribution sector

Read previous PIB here.

June 30th, 2021, PIB:- Download PDF Here