CONTENTS
- PM CARES Fund
- Convergence module between AIF, PMFME & PMKSY
- SPARSH Initiative
PM CARES Fund
Focus: GS II: Government policies and Intervention
Why in News?
Prime Minister chaired a meeting of the Board of Trustees of the PM CARES Fund
About PM CARES – Fund
- The Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations Fund (PM CARES Fund) was created on 28 March 2020, following the COVID-19 pandemic in India.
- The fund will be used for combating, and containment and relief efforts against the coronavirus outbreak and similar pandemic like situations in the future.
- Although the documentation for the constitution of the fund has not been made public, the Government of India has stated that the Prime Minister of India is the chairman of the fund, and that trustees include the Minister of Defence, Minister of Home Affairs and Minister of Finance in the Government of India.
Click Here To Read More: PM CARES Fund
Convergence Module Between AIF, PMFME & PMKSY
Focus: GS II: Government policies and Intervention
Why in News?
As part of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, Union Ministers launched the convergence module between the Agriculture Infrastructure Fund (AIF) scheme of the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Pradhan Mantri Micro Food Enterprises Upgradation Scheme (PMFME) and Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana (PMKSY) of the Ministry of Food Processing Industries.
Agriculture Infrastructure Fund
Nodal: Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare
- Agriculture Infrastructure Fund is a pan India central sector scheme to inject formal credit into farm and farm-processing based activities.
- The Aim is to provide medium – long term debt financing facility for investment in viable projects for post-harvest management Infrastructure and community farming assets.
- The fund was initially announced during the Third Tranche of Aatmanirbhar Bharat Economic Stimulus Package
- This scheme provides a good opportunity for start-ups in agriculture to avail the benefits and scale their operations, thereby creating an ecosystem that reaches farmers in every corner of the country.
Click Here To Read More: Convergence Module Between AIF, PMFME & PMKSY
SPARSH Initiative
Focus: GS II: Government policies and Intervention
Why in News?
The Defence Accounts Department signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) today with Bank of Baroda and HDFC Bank, to onboard them as Service Centres under the System for Pension Administration (Raksha) (SPARSH) initiative, across more than 14,000 branches throughout India.
About SPARSH
- SPARSH is an initiative of Ministry of Defence which aims at providing a comprehensive solution to the administration of pension to the defence pensioners.
- It is in line with the Government’s vision of ‘Digital India’, ‘Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT)’ and ‘Minimum Government, Maximum Governance’.
- The system is administered by DAD, and caters to all the three Services and allied organisation.
- The system on roll-out is initially catering to the new retirees and subsequently being extended to cover the existing defence pensioners.
- The system caters to all activities of the pension cycle namely: Initiation and Sanction, Disbursement as well as Revision.
- SPARSH has been designed keeping defence pensioners at the centre, who will be given a completely transparent view of their pension account, through an online portal.
- It captures and maintains a complete history of events and entitlements of the pensioner – right from the date of commencement of pension to the date of cessation of pension due to the last eligible beneficiary.
- SPARSH has fundamentally re-engineered the process of pension disbursement – from generation of the Pension Payment Orders (PPOs) to Direct Benefit Transfer of pensions, with the motto of right pension delivered at the right time.
