Punjab Debt Waiver Scheme for OBC / SC / ST to waive off Loans upto Rs. 50,000

Targeted People- Economically weaker and underprivileged borrowers of OBC / SC / ST category
Features of the Scheme-

• Accordingly, the state government will waive off the loans up to Rs. 50,000 taken from the Punjab Scheduled Castes Land Development and Finance Corporation (PSCLDFC) and Punjab Backward Classes Land Development and Finance Corporation (PBCLDFC).
• will commence from 14 April (birth anniversary of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar).
• Government will calculate the interest on the loans which are taken on or before 31 March 2017.
• Punjab government will issue no dues certificates to the borrowers after they repay their balance amount with interest minus Rs. 50,000 which the state government is going to waive off.

Ghar Ghar Naukri 2018 – Punjab Rozgar Mela / 2nd Job Fair Registration Form

• 2nd State Level Mega Job Fair
• Department of Employment Generation and Training
• Objective- To provide jobs to every single berojgar candidate from every home in Punjab

Punjab Debt Waiver Scheme (Kisan Karj Mafi Yojana) for Small & Marginal Farmers

• 1st phase for debt-ridden farmers on 7 January 2018 at Mansa district.
• The state government is going to waive off loans of up to Rs. 2 lakh of small and marginal farmers.
• government provides debt relief certificates as a confirmation document to end their debt.
• Punjab Crop Loan Waiver Scheme will benefit around 5.63 lakh farmers in its initial (1st) phase.
• Self declaration process will also exclude government employees & retired pensioners who pay income tax.
• Eligible Beneficiaries- Marginal Farmers (Less than 2.5 acre) and Small Farmers (2.5-5 acres) land holdings
• Banks Covered Under 1st phase- Cooperative Banks
• There are 4 phases to complete the entire process of Karj Mafi.

Punjab CM Announces Welfare Schemes for Construction Workers

• Government has urged that there is need to create awareness among the labourers about the welfare schemes under the Punjab Building & Other Construction Workers’ Welfare Board.
• Under Punjab Shehri Awas Yojna-2017, the state government has also approved a proposal to pay an additional equal amount of Rs. 1.5 lakh for the registered construction workers.
• The workers belong to SC/BC category with annual income less than Rs. 3 lakh.
• However, the registered construction workers having at least 3-year membership with the Board will be eligible to avail the scheme

Punjab Shehri Awas Yoajna-2017

• Punjab government has ordered to the Punjab Building & Other Construction Workers’ Welfare Board that they will provide interest subsidy of 6.5% upon the loan.
• But the beneficiary must belong by Economically Weaker Section (EWS) with having the annual income less than Rs. 3 lakh.

Punjab Sewa Portal

Registered beneficiary will get the financial benefits directly into their bank accounts

Mobile Health Lab Scheme

• To provide medical check-up facility for the construction workers.
• Operational by the Punjab Building & Other Construction Workers’ Welfare Board.
• Will provide medical check-up facility at just Rs. 124 per worker.
• also agreed to accept medical treatment from PGI or any government hospital.
• The worker will not be required to pay medical reimbursement bills certified by the office of civil surgeon.

Rs. 75,000 Scheme for Scheduled Caste & Inter – Caste Marriages in Punjab

• Under this government will arrange the marriages of couples belonging to the Scheduled Caste as well as the Inter-Caste.
• financial assistance of Rs. 75,000 to each such couple
• implemented by the SCs, STs and Minority Welfare Department.
• This department will cooperate with the NGOs, Trusts and other social welfare institutions to implement the scheme.
• These institutions will get the scheme benefits for arranging 10 or more marriages of Scheduled Caste and Inter Caste couples.
• Out of this amount, Rs. 60000 will be provided for purchasing household items such as utensils, furniture and gold while Rs. 15,000 per couple to the organizer / concerned organization as the consolation prize.
• According to the scheme, if both the bride and groom belong to the Scheduled Caste category then one of them must be Below Poverty Line (BPL) category to avail the scheme benefits.
• Moreover, If the bridegroom belongs to non – Scheduled Caste then the bride must belong to BPL Scheduled Caste category. Also, if the bride is from non-Scheduled Caste background then the bridegroom must belong to the BPL Scheduled Caste category to avail the scheme benefits.

Shakti-

• The ‘Shakti’ app provides a “help” button — a one touch alert to notify the Punjab police and the user’s family and friends.
• “As soon as the user of Shakti app raises the SOS alert from this app, the location information is transmitted to the Punjab Police control room and their predefined numbers.
• Punjab Police can then immediately send the nearest Police help to the victim.
• The bilingual app, English and Punjabi

Punjab victim or their Dependents Compensation Scheme 2017 Approved by Government

• To provide compensation to the family of victims of several crimes.
• Will provide compensation to victim of crimes including Acid Attack, Rape, Sexual Assault, Physical Abuse, Burns etc.
• Minimum compensation amount of Rs. 3 lakh will be given to each victim family of acid attack.
• The state government will bear the entire cost of the scheme.
• The state government will make a special provision every year in its budget to provide the fund to the Department of Legal and Legislative Affairs.
• This scheme is being launched following the orders of the Supreme Court of India.
• Moreover, the compensation amount will be increased by 50 percent for the victim who is under 14 years of age.
• Department of Home Affairs and Justice is a nodal agency to execute the scheme which would regulate, administer as well as monitor the scheme.

Smart Ration Card Scheme in Punjab to Replace Atta-Dal Scheme Blue Cards

• For the replacement of the blue cards under the Atta-Dal scheme with new smart cards.
• The Atta-Dal scheme blue card was launched by the food and supplies department, Government of Punjab to cover about 30 lakh beneficiaries in the state under the previous government.
• New Atta Dal Scheme has been renamed as Smart Ration Card Scheme.
• Moreover, the state government has directed the three PSU companies of Government of India for the computerization of the state’s Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS).
• Under the Smart ration card scheme, the state government is ensuring that the beneficiary will get the benefit of PDS system and the Atta-Dal scheme in a smooth manner.

Smart Ration Card Scheme

• The Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), Broadcasting Engineering Consultants Indian Ltd. (BECIL) and Electronics Corporation of India Limited (ECIL) have got the direction from the state government for implementing the work of computerization of TPDS.
• This new Smart Ration card scheme is being implemented under the National Food Security Act-2013.
• The state government would also provide e-PoS (Electronic Point of Sale) machines would be deployed at various purchase centers, DCP godowns and FPS in the state. These machines would be linked to the weighing machines and IRIS scanners. The machines would use the bio-metric Aadhaar based identification of the beneficiaries.

Bhagat Puran Singh Sehat Bima Yojana Last Date Extended Till 31st March 2018

• Sehat Bima Yojana will provide cashless treatment facilities and health services to poor people of the state at specialized hospitals.
• Earlier, the Punjab Government has increased the limit of cashless treatment from Rs 30,000 to Rs 50,000 under Bhagat Puran Singh Sehat Bima Yojana (BPSSBY).
• All blue card holders are beneficiary
• Moreover, in death cases or accident causing 100 percent disability to the person, the beneficiary will receive a compensation of Rs. 5 lakh.
• The farmers will receive cashless and free treatment at all government and empanelled private hospitals.
• The beneficiaries will get free medicine for the treatment. Charges for one day prior to admission in the empanelled private hospital and upto five days after discharge will be covered.

Health insurance provided by United India Insurance Company and in the case of accidental and disability, insurance coverage will be given by the reliance general insurance company

Aashirwad Scheme Punjab – Financial Assistance for Marriage of Girl Child

• To provide financial assistance for the Marriage of the girl Child.
• The government has also changed the name from Shagun Scheme to Aashirwad Scheme.
• Under the Shagun Scheme, the government is providing Rs. 15,000 as a financial assistance for marriage of daughter belongs from the poor family in the state. But this financial aid only for those girls who are above 18 years
• Moreover, the state government has made a provision under Punjab Financial Assistance to Acid Victims Scheme 2017 that women victims of acid attacks will get Rs. 8,000 per month per head.
• This scheme is being implemented by the Department of Social Security and Development of Women and Children, Punjab.

Nanhi Chaan-

• An initiative of Ranbaxy group and later adopted by Mrs. Harsimrat Kaur Badal, was launched on 27th August, 2008.
• To create awareness against female foeticide and dwindling number of trees.

Swasth Kanya Yojana-

• To improve health and educational status of girls, Swasth Kanya Yojana has been proposed in the annual plan 2016-17.
• Under this scheme, free schoolbags containing stationery items will be provided to girl students in government schools from Class I to XII. These bags will also contain “Benefit Eligibility Card” showing benefits being provided to girls under various schemes.
• Girls studying from Class VI to XII in all government schools will also be provided “Kanya Health Care Kits” on monthly basis and distribution of these kits through vending machines in schools will also be promoted.

Care Companion Programme Health Scheme Launched by Punjab Government

• To promote better health care services in the life of patients.
• Department of Health and Family Welfare, Punjab has entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Noora Health India Trust, a healthcare NGO that is fully dedicated to patients care.

Care Companion Programme in Punjab

The Care Companion Program would be initially implemented in Maternal and Child Health wings of six district hospitals in Punjab.
Name of District-

1. Amritsar
2. Patiala
3. Jalandhar
4. SBS Nagar
5. Sangrur
6. Tarn Taran

• The classrooms will be attended by the patient’s own family.
• The staff of hospital will teach the family members about high-impact medical skills to take care of their patients in the hospital and at home.
• The aim is to reduce the number of baby deaths and other diseases like infections in the first 30 days post-discharge, and ensure adoption of long-term health pro-motive behaviours.
• Through the Care Companion Program, state govt. will improve the health status in the state and the welfare of Punjab’s citizens by increasing the awareness of its people. This companion will include many aware programs name is..

1. Increasing hospital hygiene
2. Decreasing post discharge complications
3. Decreasing burden of re-admissions
4. Decreasing the neonatal mortality
5. Increasing productivity of nurses
6. Patient satisfaction

Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana

• Concerned by the slow growth in the Agriculture and allied sectors, the National Development Council (NDC)- on 29th May, 2007
• The NDC reaffirmed its commitment to achieve 4 per cent annual growth in the agricultural sector during the 11th plan.

Objectives of the programme-

1. To incentivize the states that increase their investment in Agriculture and allied sectors
2. To provide flexibility and autonomy to the States in planning and executing programmes for agriculture
3. To ensure the preparation of Agriculture Plans for the districts and states
4. To achieve the goal of reducing the yield gaps in important crops
5. To maximize returns to the farmers
6. To address the agriculture and allied sectors in an integrated manner

Basic features of RKVY

• It is a State Plan scheme
• The eligibility of a state for the RKVY is contingent upon the state maintaining or increasing the State Plan expenditure for Agricultural and Allied sectors
• The base line expenditure is determined based on the average expenditure incurred by the State Government during the three years prior to the previous year.
• The preparation of the district and State Agriculture Plans is mandatory
• The scheme encourages convergence with other programmes such as NREGS.
• The pattern of funding is 100% Central Government Grant.
• If the state lowers its investment in the subsequent years, and goes out of the RKVY basket, then the balance resources for completing the projects already commenced would have to be committed by the states.
• It is an incentive scheme, hence allocations are not automatic
• It will integrate agriculture and allied sectors comprehensively
• It will give high levels of flexibility to the states

Punjab Land Improvement Scheme-

Under the state Budget 2018-19, Resolving a long pending issue, the Punjab Land Improvement Schemes Act, 1963 has been amended to provide for right of way for laying of underground pipelines in land holdings of others by provisioning of payment of a compensation for the damage to crop or structure in the way of demarcated line.

The India BPO Promotion Scheme (IBPS)

It is distributed among each State in proportion of State's population with an outlay of Rs. 493 Crore. This would help in capacity building in smaller cities in terms of infra & manpower and would become basis for next wave of IT/ITES led growth.
Salient Features-

• Financial Support: Up to 50% of expenditure incurred on BPO/ITES operations towards capital expenditure (CAPEX) and/or operational expenditure (OPEX) on admissible items, subject to an upper ceiling of Rs. 1 Lakh/Seat.
• Special incentives toward employment of women & specially enabled persons
• Incentive for generating employment beyond target & wider dispersal within state including rural areas
• Encouragement for local entrepreneurs
• Special consideration for Hilly states of HP, J&K and UK

ASHIRWAD Scheme

• For the welfare of SC/ST/OBC & Minority student by offering them Pre- Matric & Post Matric Scholarship.
• The scheme makes sure that no student from backward community remains uneducated because of lack of money.
• Professional or non- professional education both

Benefits of Ashirwad Scholarship scheme-

• Funding for further education- Scheme funds the post- matriculation studies irrespective of stream
• Few conditions for the students eligible- The best thing about the scholarship is it is only for the student from backward community with only one condition of annual income of family and no selection on basis of percentage
• Hassle free process- Since the process by Punjab government is completely online there are no such panicking situations while registering or availing the scholarship

Eligibility for Ashirwad scholarship Scheme-

• Parent/ Guardian annual income should not exceed Rs. 1 Lakh
• Candidates age at time of applying for the scheme should not be less than 17 years
• should be the bonafide student of Punjab state
• Must SC/ST/OBC category
• He/ She must be from government or private school/ board/ institute or university in Punjab

Post-Matric Scholarship for Students belonging to the Minority Communities

Objective- to award scholarships to meritorious students belonging to economically weaker sections of minority community so as to provide them better opportunities for higher education increase their rate of attainment in higher education and enhance their employability.
Distribution-

• 30% of scholarship will be earmarked for girl students. In case sufficient numbers of eligible girl students are not available, then the balance earmarked scholarships may be awarded to eligible boy students.

Eligibility-

• Students belonging to Muslim/ Christian/Sikh/ Buddhist/ Jain / Parsi are eligible
• Students who have secured 50% and above marks in previous final examination
• The annual income of his/her parents/guardians from all sources not exceeding Rs. 2 Lakhs
• Both Day scholar and hostellers are eligible to apply

Mode of Selection-
The fixed number of scholarships for minorities is small and limited. Students from BPL families, having the lowest income shall be given preference in the ascending order.
Conditions for scholarship-

• Scholarship will be awarded to the students who have secured not less than 50% marks or equivalent grade in the previous final examination and the annual income of whose parents/guardian from all sources does not exceed Rs.2.00lakh.
• The award will be discontinued if a student fails to secure 50% marks or equivalent grade in the previous final examination.
• Scholarship will not be awarded for more than the normal period of time taken to obtain Certificate/ Degree/M. Phil Degree/ Doctorate Degree.
• Scholarships will not be given to more than two students in a family.
• The students should be regular in attendance for which the yardstick will be decided by the competent authority of the school/college/university.
• Migration of students from one institution to another would not normally be allowed during the course of the academic year except under exceptional circumstances and in the interest of the student’s academic career.
• Course fee/tuition fee and maintenance allowance will be credited directly to the students’ bank account
• The student obtaining benefits under this scholarship scheme shall not be allowed to avail of benefits under any other scholarship scheme implemented by State Government/UT Administration, for the same purpose.

Integrated Child Development Services Programme

• Aims at providing services to pre-school children in an integrated manner so as to ensure proper growth and development of children in rural, tribal and slum areas.
• Centrally sponsored scheme
• Launched on 2nd October 1975 in 33 Community Development Blocks, ICDS today represents one of the world’s largest programmes for early childhood development.
• foremost symbol of India’s commitment to her children – India’s response to the challenge of providing pre-school education on one hand and breaking the vicious cycle of malnutrition, morbidity, reduced learning capacity and mortality, on the other.
• An inter-sectoral programme which seeks to directly reach out to children, below six years, especially from vulnerable and remote areas and give them a head-start by providing an integrated programme of early childhood education, health and nutrition.
• No programme on Early Childhood Care and Education can succeed unless mothers are also brought within it ambit as it is in the lap of the mother that human beings learn the first lessons in life.

Objectives-

• To improve the nutritional and health status of children in the age group of 0 to 6 years

Following six services are provided under ICDS-

• Supplementary nutrition (SNP),
• Immunization,
• Health check-up,
• Referral services,
• Pre-school non-formal education and
• Nutrition & health education

Mahila Shakti Kendra Scheme

• To empower rural women through community participation and to create an environment in which they realize their full potential.
• It will provide an interface for rural women to approach the government for availing their entitlements also empowering them through training and capacity building.
• The scheme at the block level will provide an opportunity to Student Volunteers to participate in the development process by bringing change in their own communities and ensuring that women are not left behind and are equal partners in India’s progress.
• These centres will serve as a link between village, block and state level in facilitating women centric schemes and also give foothold for BBBP scheme at the district level.

Guardians of Governance Scheme

To ensure efficient and effective implementation of various welfare schemes and citizen-centric services provided by the Government as well as employment for ex-servicemen, state government launched the ''Guardians of Governance'' scheme.

CM Garima Gram Yojana

Under Friends of Punjab (CM Garima Gram Yojana) and Connect with Your Roots (CYR), the Punjab origins NRIs are being encouraged to connect themselves to their roots in Punjab.
NRI brethren shall be supported by the Government by contributing 50% for any infrastructure related work that is undertaken in their villages in Punjab by NRIs.

MGNREGA

• Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) w.e.f 02.02.2006.
• To provide for the enhancement of livelihood security of the rural households by ensuring a legal right for at least 100 days of unskilled wage employment to willing adult members.
• MGNREGA envisages creation of durable and productive assets which would contribute greatly to the economic and ecological development of the rural areas. The objective of asset creation also takes into account local needs and priorities and calls for community participation and departmental convergence at the worksite.
• Special emphasis has been laid on backward districts which are covered under Government of India Integrated Action Plan (IAP).
• Construction of playgrounds and Anganwadi Centre under MGNREGA
• Aadhaar enabled payment of wages is being piloted in 46 rural districts out of the 51 taken up by the Government for Direct Benefit Transfers (DBT).
• Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Fund is partially financed through National Investment Fund.

Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Gramin)

• It was launched after subsuming the existing Indira Awas Yojana into it. This scheme is being implemented by Ministry of Rural Development.
• Rural housing program, as an independent programme, started with Indira Awaas Yojana (lAY) in January, 1996.
• Although lAY addressed the housing needs, certain gaps were identified Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) in 2014. Some of these gaps included non-assessment of housing shortage, lack of transparency in selection of beneficiaries, low quality of houses, lack of technical supervision, lack of convergence, loans not availed by beneficiaries and weak mechanism for monitoring, were limiting the impact and outcomes of the programme.

Salient Features

• Aims at providing a pucca house, with basic amenities, to all houseless households and those households living in kutcha and dilapidated house, by 2022.
• To cover 1 crore households living in kutcha house/dilapidated houses in three years from 2016-17 to 2018-19.
• The minimum size of the house is to be 25sqm (raised from 20m²) with a hygienic cooking space.
• The unit assistance under the scheme is Rs. 1.20 Lakh (raised from Rs. 70,000) for plains and Rs. 1.30 Lakh (raised from Rs.75000) in hilly, difficult areas and IAP districts.
• The beneficiary is also entitled to 90/ 95 person days of unskilled labour from MGNREGS.
• The assistance for construction of toilet; piped drinking water, electricity connection, LPG gas connection etc. are also provided in convergence with other schemes.

Fund Sharing
60:40 in plain areas and 90: 10 for North Eastern and Himalayan States.
Selection of Beneficiaries

• PMAY-G instead of selecting a beneficiary from among the BPL households, selects beneficiaries using housing deprivation parameters in the Socio Economic and Caste Census (SECC), 2011 data which is to be verified by the Gram Sabhas.
• To address grievances in beneficiary selection an appellate process has also been put in place.

AwaasSoft and AwaasApp

• The two IT applications help identify the slipups in achievement of targets during the course of implementation of the program.
• All payments to beneficiaries is to be through DBT to beneficiary’s Bank/Post office accounts registered in AwaasSoft MIS.

Mahatma Gandhi Sarbat Vikas Yojana (MGSVY)

• For the welfare of the downtrodden citizen throughout the state.
• This scheme will be based on the line of Antyodaya principles.
• Antyodaya’ means the “rise of the last person”

Objectives of Mahatma Gandhi Sarbat Vikas Yojana (MGSVY)

• To identify the poor and distressed households which have been deprived of the benefits of the various welfare schemes launched by the state government.
• It will mainly focus on encouraging voluntary organizations, various civil society organizations, Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) and other socially committed persons for the contribution to the welfare of the downtrodden.
• Motto-- to provide the benefit of welfare schemes for debt-stressed farmers, poor families that have a woman as sole bread earner, families of AIDS patients, out-of-school children, martyred soldiers, differently-abled, abandoned old persons, drug addicts among others.
• No financial implication under the scheme. The state government will also ensure that the benefits of its various welfare programmes are availed by the rural poor.

‘Padho Punjab Padhao Punjab’ Programme

• To improve the learning levels of students studying in Government schools.
• All primary and upper primary schools in the state.
• The initial results show substantial improvement in the learning levels of the target students.

Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan
Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS) for reforming the state higher education system and it is also a way to provide funding to large number of institution.
The key objectives of RUSA are following-

• Improve the overall quality of existing state higher educational institutions
• Rectify regional imbalances in access to higher education through high quality institutions in rural and semi urban areas
• Establish higher education institutions in unserved and underserved areas.
• Providing adequate opportunities to socially disadvantaged communities; encouraging inclusion of women, minorities, SC/ST and OBCs as well as differently-abled persons.
• Ensure adequate availability of quality faculty
• Integrate skill developments efforts of the government
• Future grants to RUSA would be performance based and outcome dependent. Commitment by States and institutions to certain academic, administrative and governance reforms will be a precondition for receiving funding.

Punjab Naujawan Hunar Vikas Yojana-

• To provide free skill training to the unemployed youth in the age group 18-35 years at any of the Skill training centres.
• The scheme will specifically focus on Scheduled Castes, Backward Classes, specially-abled, women and school dropouts.
• The government also plans to set-up ITIs/ Skill Development Centres in the blocks where none exists.
• An ITI on PPP mode will also be set up in Cycle Valley, Ludhiana to link the industry with skilled workforce.

National Health Mission (NHM)

Ministry/Department: Ministry of Health & Family Welfare
Started in 2013
Initially, NRHM was launched in 2005 to strengthen public health care system in the rural areas
Public health being a state subject, support is being provided under NHM to the States/UTs for strengthening their health care delivery systems
The National Health Mission (NHM) has two Sub-Missions:

1. National Urban Health Mission (NUHM) covering urban areas
2. National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) covering rural areas

The broad objectives of this mission are as follows-

• Reduce MMR to 1/1000 live births
• Reduce IMR to 25/1000 live births
• Reduce TFR (Total Fertility Rate) to 2.1
• Prevention and reduction of anaemia in women aged 15–49 years
• Prevent and reduce mortality & morbidity from communicable, non-communicable; injuries and emerging diseases
• Reduce household out-of-pocket expenditure on total health care expenditure
• Reduce annual incidence and mortality from Tuberculosis by half
• Reduce prevalence of Leprosy to <1/10000 population and incidence to zero in all districts
• Annual Malaria Incidence to be <1/1000
• Less than 1 per cent microfilaria prevalence in all districts
• Kala-azar Elimination by 2015, <1 case per 10000 population in all blocks

National Health Protection Scheme (NHPS)

• NHPS or Ayushman Bharat -- 2018-19.
• To provide health cover to more than 10 crore poor families. If an average family size is considered 5 members, the proposed scheme will have 50 crore people as beneficiaries.
• It will replace Rashtriya Swasthiya Bima Yojana.

Features of NHPS are following-

• To 10 crore economically vulnerable families.
• Every family will be provided Rs. 5 lakhs annually for secondary and tertiary health care.
• The Premium for every household is expected to be Rs.1000 to Rs. 1200 annually.
• The scheme is a centrally sponsored scheme. The centre intends to bear 60 percent of the cost. Remaining 40 percent will be borne by the states.

Modi-Care

• The scheme is also being called Modi Care or Namo Care. Since health is a state subject, the states have welcomed the scheme and plan to launch it locally as soon as possible. The existing health cover programs of the different states will be subsumed into National Health Protection Scheme.
• All the Public and empanelled private hospitals will implement the scheme. Rural hospitals will be encouraged to come under the scheme. The government also intends to provide incentives to improve the facilities of such rural hospitals.
• The launch of the scheme is planned for either August 15th 2018 or October 2nd 2018. The scheme will encourage economically weak sections to seek proper healthcare facilities without the fear of huge bills.

HAR GHAR SAFAI, HAR GHAR PANI

• Under the Swachh Bharat Mission government is focusing on Open Defecation Free (ODF) status and scientific Solid Waste Management (SWM).
• The project proposals for 24x7 surface drinking water schemes for Amritsar, Ludhiana, Patiala and Jalandhar to be implemented with support from the World Bank & ADB have been prepared.
• These projects would be executed over next three years.

AMRUT

• Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT)
• To establish infrastructure that could ensure adequate robust sewage networks and water supply for urban transformation.
• Rajasthan was the first state
• The scheme Housing for All by 2022 and Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) were launched on the same day.
• The scheme is dependent with public private partnership model (PPP) model.
• If required, various other schemes like Swachh Bharat Mission, Housing for All 2022, along with the local state schemes like that related to water supply and sewerage and other infrastructure related schemes can be linked to AMRUT.
• Some of the broad targets of AMRUT scheme are ascertaining that everyone has access to tap water and sewerage facilities, greenery like parks and open spaces are well maintained, digital and smart facilities like weather prediction, internet and WiFi facilities, pollution reduction by encouraging the public for using cheaper but secure public transport etc.
• After replacing the decade old planning commission with NITI Aayog, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has replaced the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM).
• JNNURM named after Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru will be replaced by AMRUT scheme.
• AMRUT stands for Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation. The new scheme is named after former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee (conferred with Bharat Ratna).

SMART CITIES

• There is no universally accepted definition of a smart city and it may mean different things to different people. The concept of smart city can vary from people to people, city to city and country to country.
• The smart city mission of Government of India focuses on promoting the cities that provide core institutional, physical, social and economic infrastructure; give their dwellers a decent quality of life; sustainable environment and smart solutions.

Core Elements of Smart City Mission

• The focus of the smart city mission is on sustainable and inclusive development and set examples which can be replicated in other parts of the city and other cities of the country.
• There are 10 core infrastructure elements viz. adequate water supply; assured electricity supply; sanitation, including solid waste management; efficient urban mobility and public transport; affordable housing, especially for the poor; robust IT connectivity and digitalization; good governance, especially e-Governance and citizen participation; sustainable environment; safety and security of citizens, particularly women, children and the elderly; and health and education.

Smart Solutions

• E-Governance and Citizen Services
• Waste Management
• Water Management
• Energy Management
• Urban mobility
• Others: Telemedicine; Incubation / trade facilitation centres; skill development centres.

Selection and spatial distribution of Smart Cities

• Government plans to develop 100 Smart Cities distributed among the States and UTs on the basis of equitable criteria.
• The formula gives equal weightage (50:50) to urban population of the State/UT and the number of statutory towns in the State/UT.
• The distribution of Smart Cities will be reviewed after two years of the implementation of the Mission.
• Based on an assessment of the performance of States/ULBs in the Challenge, some re-allocation of the remaining potential Smart Cities among States may be required to be done by Ministry of Urban Development.

Special Purpose Vehicle-

• The implementation of the Mission at the City level will be done by a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) created for the purpose.
• The SPV will plan, appraise, approve, release funds, implement, manage, operate, monitor and evaluate the Smart City development projects.
• Each Smart City will have a SPV which will be headed by a full time CEO and have nominees of Central Government, State Government and ULB on its Board.

Coverage and Duration

The Mission will cover 100 cities and its duration is five years (2015-16 to 2019-20). The Mission may be continued thereafter in the light of an evaluation to be done by the Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD) and incorporating the learning into the Mission.

Strategy

• The strategic components of Area-based development in the Smart Cities Mission include City improvement (retrofitting); City renewal (redevelopment); City extension (Greenfield development) and pan-city initiatives with smart solutions.
• Smart City Mission promotes competitive co-operative federalism. It is the first time Ministry of Urban Development has adopted a challenging competitive method in order to select for funding and using a strategy of area-based development.
• The States and ULBs will play a key supportive role in the development of Smart Cities. Smart leadership and vision at this level and ability to act decisively will be important factors determining the success of the Mission.

Punjab Shehri Awas Yojana

• To provide free housing to houseless SC/BC families having household annual income less than Rs. 5 lakh and to provide subsidized housing to all urban poor/poor residing in the slums as well as urban middle class.
• The construction of 10,000 EWS dwelling units for eligible families would be taken up in a phased manner.
• A Central assistance @ Rs. 1.50 lakh per house for construction shall be availed from Government of India under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) (U) and balance funds and land shall be provided by the state government.

Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) & CRF

• Launched in 2000
• Ministry/ Department- Ministry of Rural Development
• Objective- To provide all-weather road connectivity to all eligible unconnected habitations

Scheme-

• Centrally Sponsored Scheme
• The programme envisages connecting all eligible unconnected habitations with :
• A population of 500 persons and above in plain areas
• 250 persons and above in Hill States, Tribal (Schedule-V) areas, the Desert Areas (as identified in Desert Development Programme) and 82 Selected Tribal and Backward Districts under Integrated Action Plan (IAP) as identified by the Ministry of Home Affairs/Planning Commission.
• The programme also has an Upgradation component in order to ensure full farm to market connectivity.
• The Rural Roads is one of the six components of Bharat Nirman.

HAR GHAR SAFAI, HAR GHAR PANI
To achieve that we propose to ensure 100% coverage of rural households with individual household connections from piped potable water supply schemes by 2021.

Swcahhta Darpan

• An online ranking system launched by Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation Government of India to rank the performance of the districts under Swachh Bharat Mission Gramin.
• Four districts - Ludhiana, Fatehgarh Sahib, Barnala and SAS Nagar have achieved 1st Award in Swcahhta Darpan ranking all over the country.

Bebe Nanki Ladli Beti kalian Scheme

• Ministry- Department of Women and Child Development, Government of Punjab
• Date- 2011-12
• This scheme is for those girls who born after 1st January 2011 and those whose annual family income is less than Rs. 30,000/-
• This scheme provides financial assistance to the beneficiaries. Government of Punjab deposits an amount and paid to beneficiary at the various stages of school level.

The objective is to:

• To improve sex ratio
• To prevent the female foeticide and to provide better education to girls
• To provide financial assistance to the families from time to time, so that they are not burdened with the birth of a girl child

Eligibility

• Girls who born after 1st January, 2011
• Girls whose parents are permanent resident of Punjab
• Girls residing in an orphanage and children homes within the State of Punjab are eligible under this scheme
• This benefit will not be given to newly born boys.

Benefits

• The Families whose annual income is less than Rs. 30,000/- and are covered under the Atta Dal Scheme will be benefitted and the proof of income will be the blue card issued by the Food and Supply Department, Punjab.

Government of Punjab deposits an amount of Rs. 20,000/- with L.I.C. per girl/ beneficiary and detail of benefit provided by the LIC to beneficiaries is as under:-

• On birth of newly born girl child 0 years - Rs. 2100/-
• On attaining the age of 3 years (after full immunization) 03 years - Rs. 2100/-
• On admission to Class -1st 06 years - Rs. 2100/-
• On admission to Class –9th 14 years - Rs. 2100/-
• On attaining age of 18 years & passed Class- 12th 18 years, Rs.31000/-
• Scholarship payable: 1. From class-1st to 6th standard 100/- per month - Rs.7200/-
• Scholarship payable: 2. From class-7th to 12th standard 200/- per month - Rs.14400/-
• Total benefit at the age of 18 years is Rs. 61000/-
• If the girl child drops from school due to any reason then no benefit will be given to the beneficiaries or the families after that day.

Mata Kaushalya Kalyan Scheme

• Initiated in 2011 had resulted in encouraging pregnant women to go for institutional deliveries, which helped in saving the life of the mother and the child.
• To promote institutional deliveries in the district has once again been hit by the fund crunch as thousands of women, who delivered babies at various government hospitals, have not been paid any incentives for the past few months.
• The government had announced to pay an incentive of Rs 1,000 to every woman, who opted to deliver child at government health facilities, under Mata Kaushalya Scheme.
• Apart from Mata Kaushalya Scheme, pregnant women from below poverty line (BPL) families are also paid a cash incentive of Rs 600 under Janani Suraksha Yojana of the National Rural Health Mission.

Shagun Scheme

• To provide financial assistance for girl's marriage.
• Implemented by the Department of Welfare of Scheduled Caste and Backward Classes in Punjab
• State government will provide financial assistance of Rs. 15,000 for marriage of the daughter to poor families in Punjab
• Objective- to bring a positive change after a girl child is born to the family, to support the family financially for the marriage of the girl, to discourage any minor girl marriage in the state and encourage marriages only after the girl has attained the legal age for marriage

Mai Bhago Istri Shakti Scheme

• For empowering women and help them to become more strengthen women, especially in rural areas.
• To help women for establishing the micro and small business in rural areas and to encourage women to believe in themselves
• The assistance under MBIS scheme will be available in any sector for imparting skills related to employability and entrepreneurship, including Agriculture, Horticulture, Food Processing, Handlooms, Tailoring, Stitching, Embroidery, Zari, Handicrafts, Computer and IT enabled services along with soft skills and skills for the workplace such as spoken English, Gems and Jewellery, travel and Tourism, Hospitality
• The scheme will provide loan to 8-10% interest per annum to individual or group of women
• This scheme helps to improve their families financial position and also to give them self- respect and confidence
• Primary Agriculture Cooperative Societies (PACS) is an organisation which is available in many areas in Punjab and help to provide training and commercial activity to women
• A scheme will be created by Punjab government for providing assistance upto Rs. 25,000 to women through PACS on the basis of personal guarantee

Bhai Ghanhya Sehat Sewa Scheme-

• To provide the cashless health care facilities and treatment to the members of the Cooperative societies and their family members across the state.
• Was operative upto November 19, 2013. ICICI Lombard G.I.C. is appointed as Insurer with MD India Healthcare Services Ltd. as Third Party Administrator (TPA) to implement the scheme.
• Each beneficiary under the scheme has a photo I-card having unique number to be presented by him while getting treatment in the network hospitals approved under the scheme.
• Every beneficiary is entitled to cashless treatment up to Rs. 1.5 lakh on family floater basis in any approved hospital and on re-imbursement basis in any government hospital in Punjab and Chandigarh after submitting the claim within 45 days from the date of discharge from the hospital.

Kanya Jagriti Jyoti Scheme

• Under this scheme, financial assistance to the girl child belonging to BPL families is provided by the Government of Punjab.
• Objective- To provide financial assistance to the girl child belonging to BPL families

Eligibility-

• Girl children who born in BPL family
• The parents should have adopted two child norm
• The benefits of this scheme are summarized as below:
• Government of Punjab deposits Rs. 5000/- at the time of birth of girl child with Life Insurance Corporation (LIC); the following benefits are provided under the LIC scheme-
• From 6 to 12 years of age Rs.1200/- per annum is provided as scholarship
• From 12 to 18 years of age Rs.2400/- per annum is provided as scholarship
• A lump sum amount is given at the age of 18 or on 21 years as decided by the family. This amount is to be finalized by the LIC at the age of 18 or 21 years

Balri Rakshak Yojana
Launched in 2005
The objectives of this scheme are-

• To reduce infant mortality rate by declining the number of higher birth order.
• To promote the cause of the girl child for correcting the skewed sex ratio in the State.
• To motivate the couples to adopt the terminal method of sterilization in order to stabilize the growth rate of population.

Eligibility-

• The family should be a non income tax payee
• Should adopt two child norm
• Should have no male child and can have one or two girl child