PIB 23rd March 2021

JAL SHAKTI ABHIYAN: CATCH THE RAIN

Focus: GS II- Government Policies and Interventions

Why in news?

Prime Minister launched the ‘Jal Shakti Abhiyan: Catch the Rain’ campaign on World Water Day

• A Memorandum of Agreement was signed between the Union Minister of Jal Shakti and the Chief Ministers of Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh to implement the Ken Betwa Link Project, the first project of the National Perspective Plan for interlinking of rivers, in the presence of the Prime Minister.

About Jal shakti abhiyan: catch the rain campaign

Nodal: Ministry of Jal shakti

Theme: “catch the rain, where it falls, when it falls”

Aim: “JSA II: Catch the Rain” Awareness Generation Campaign aims to  to focus on water conservation and rainwater harvesting with involvement of the youngsters in the revolutionary campaign.

•  The Catch the Rain Campaign will be implemented from March 22 to November 30 during the pre-monsoon and the monsoon period in the country  in both rural and urban areas.
•  The campaign will be launched as a Jan Andolan for taking the idea of water conservation and preservation at the grassroot level through the people’s participation.
•  The campaign aims at nudging all the stakeholders to create rainwater harvesting structures suitable to the subsoil strata and the climatic conditions and for ensuring proper storage of rainwater.

“JSA II: Catch the Rain” Awareness Generation Campaign is organised by

• National Water Mission(NWM)
• Ministry of Jal Shakti
• Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan (NYKS)
• Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports .

Jal Shakti Abhiyan:

• The Jal Shakti Abhiyan is a campaign for water conservation and water security in the country.
• It is a collaborative effort of various ministries of the Government of India and state governments, being coordinated by the Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation (DDWS) that comes under the Jal Shakti Ministry.
• The focus of the campaign is on water stressed districts and blocks. The teams of officers from the central government will visit and work with district administration in 1592 water stressed blocks in 256 districts, to ensure five important water conservation interventions.

The five important water conservation interventions are :

• Water conservation and rainwater harvesting,
• Renovation of traditional and other water bodies/tanks,
• Reuse of water and recharging of structures,
• Watershed development and
• Intensive afforestation.

The water conservation interventions will also be supplemented with special interventions including the development of block and district water conservation plans, promotion of efficient water use for irrigation and better choice of crops through Krishi Vigyan Kendras.

GANDHI PEACE PRIZE

Focus: Facts for Prelims

Why in news?

The Ministry of the culture has stated that, the government of India has conferred the Gandhi Peace Prize for the year 2020 on the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. The peace prize for the year 2019 was conferred on the late His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said Al Said of Oman.

About Gandhi peace prize:

• This award was launched in the year 1995 on the occasion of the 125^th anniversary of Mohandas Gandhi. This annual award is given to the individuals and institutions for their contributions in the political, social and economic transformation through non-violence and other Gandhian ideals.
• This is an International Gandhi Peace Prize which has been named after Mahatma Gandhi.
• The award is presented by the Government of India.
•  It is presented as a tribute to the Gandhian Ideals.
• It comprises of rupees one crore in cash, a plaque and a citation.
• The award is open to all the persons regardless of their race, nationality, gender or creed.

PM SVANidhi

Focus: GS II- Welfare schemes

Why in news?

23.24 lakh loans have been sanctioned and 18.54 lakh loans have been disbursed under PM SVANidhi Scheme

About PM SVANidhi

Nodal: Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs

• Pradhan Mantri Street Vendor’s Atma Nirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi) was launched for providing affordable loans to street vendors.
• The scheme would benefit vendors, hawkers, thelewale and people involved in goods and services related to textiles, apparel, artisan products, barbers shops, laundry services etc. in different areas.
• The vendors can avail a working capital loan of up to Rs. 10,000, which is repayable in monthly instalments within a year. The loans would be without collateral.
• It is for the first time that Microfinance Institutions, Non-Banking Financial Company, Self Help Groups have been allowed in a scheme for the urban poor due to their ground level presence and proximity to the urban poor including the street vendors.
• There will be no penalty on early repayment of loan.
• Early repayment (or resettlement) is a clearance of debt or loan before the scheduled time. Many banks and lenders charge penalties for repaying loans early.
• This is for the first time that street vendors from peri- urban/rural areas have become beneficiaries of an urban livelihood programme.
• ULBs will play a pivotal role in the implementation of the scheme by ensuring to target the beneficiary and reaching to them in an efficient manner.
• This platform will integrate the web portal/ mobile app with UdyamiMitra portal of SIDBI for credit management and PAiSA portal of MoHUA to administer interest subsidy automatically.
• It will help in integrating the vendors into the formal financial system.
• On timely/early repayment of the loan, an interest subsidy of 7% per annum will be credited to the bank accounts of beneficiaries through direct benefit transfer on a six monthly basis.
• The scheme provides for the rise of the credit limit on timely/ early repayment of loans i.e. if a street vendor repays the installments on time or earlier, he or she can develop his or her credit score that makes him/her eligible for a higher amount of term loan such as Rs. 20,000.
• The scheme incentivises digital transactions by the street vendors through monthly cash back.
• The scheme is valid until March 2022.

ATAL PENSION YOJANA

Focus: GS-II Social Justice, Prelims

Why in news?

The Government has made a co-contribution amount of Rs 57,078.22 lakh disbursed till February 2021 under Atal Pension Yojana

Atal Pension Yojana (APY)

• APY was launched on 9th May 2015 with an objective of delivering old age income security, particularly to the workers in the unorganised sector.
• APY envisages Government providing guarantee of minimum pension after 60 years of age.
• The scheme even after garnering 2.23 crores workers under the ambit of pension, still remains unequivocally relevant for addressing the challenges of rapidly increasing aging population of India.
• The scheme has been implemented comprehensively across the country covering all states and Union Territories with male to female subscription ratio of 57:43.
• APY can be subscribed by Any Indian citizen in the age group of 18-40 years having a bank account and its uniqueness is attributable to three distinctive benefits.
• It provides a minimum guaranteed pension ranging from Rs 1000 to Rs 5000 on attaining 60 years of age.
• The amount of pension is guaranteed for lifetime to spouse on death of the subscriber and lastly, in the event of death of both the subscriber and the spouse, entire pension corpus is paid to the nominee.

Future of APY

Going forward there is still the humongous task of increasing the pension coverage, as only five per cent of the eligible population has been covered under APY till date.