Contents
- Jal Jeevan Mission with Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyan
- Aatmanirbhar Bharat Innovation Challenge
- Sovereign Gold Bond Scheme 2020-21
- Chambal Expressway Project
JAL JEEVAN MISSION WITH GARIB KALYAN ROJGAR ABHIYAN
Focus: GS-II Social Justice
Why in news?
The Government is planning for a livelihood provision to boost rural economy under Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan (GKRA) to start extensive public works.
Details
- As part of this Abhiyan, Jal Jeevan Mission aims at providing household tap connections to every rural household and offers a huge opportunity to engage skilled, semi-skilled and migrant returnees in drinking water supply related works.
- States have been requested to start works in villages of these districts so that it will not only help to ensure adequate quantity of water at household level but will also help in providing employment to migrant returnees.
- States have been advised to prioritize taking up works which are easy to complete, by augmenting or retrofitting existing piped water supply schemes so that these villages become ‘Har Ghar Jal Gaon’ i.e. 100% Functional Household Tap Connection (FHTC) villages.
- There is a huge potential to provide household connections to remaining households in villages belonging to poor and marginalized people by retro-fitting of existing piped water supply systems.
- Campaigns to be launched for providing training to impart skills to local people including returnee migrants in plumbing, masonry, electrical aspects, pump operation, etc., so that skilled manpower will be available for water supply related works.
- This time bound campaign is focused implementation in 116 districts including 27 aspirational districts, spread in 6 States viz Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.
Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan
- Government of India has decided to launch a massive rural public works scheme ‘Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan’ to empower and provide livelihood opportunities to the returnee migrant workers and rural citizens.
- This campaign of 125 days will involve intensified and focused implementation of 25 different types of works to provide employment to the migrant workers on one hand and create infrastructure in the rural regions of the country on the other hand.
- Beneficiaries: Approximately 116 districts spread over 6 states namely Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Jharkhand and Odisha have received substantial numbers of returnees, which includes 27 Aspirational Districts.
- The Abhiyaan will be a coordinated effort between 12 different Ministries/Departments.
Jal Jeevan Mission
- Jal Jeevan Mission, a central government initiative under the Ministry of Jal Shakti, aims to ensure access of piped water for every household in India.
- National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NRDWP) was restructured and subsumed into Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) – to provide Functional Household Tap Water (FHTC) to every rural household with service level at the rate of 55 lpcd i.e., Har Ghar Nal Se Jal (HGNSJ) by 2024.
Implications
- Supply of water to all households is a basic necessity
- Reduction in water borne diseases which was due to due to consumption of substandard water
Challenges
- Critical situation of Decrease in ground water table.
- Water demand and supply is a miss match
- Contamination of local ground level sources of water like, ponds lakes and wells.
- Sustaining the provision of water to all households is a challenge, not just starting it.
AATMANIRBHAR BHARAT INNOVATION CHALLENGE
Focus: GS-III Science and Technology
Why in news?
- The Prime Minister has launched Aatmanirbhar Bharat Innovation Challenge, to identify the best Indian Apps that are already being used by citizens and have the potential to scale and become world class Apps in their respective categories.
- This is to help realise the vision of the government for building a Digital India and using Digital Technologies for building an AatmaNirbhar Bharat.
Details
- Track 1 of the App Innovation Challenge, is to identify the best Indian Apps that are already being used by citizens and have the potential to scale and become world class Apps in their respective categories.
- Track 2 of the AatmaNirbhar Bharat App Innovation Challenge will seek to identify Indian start ups / entrepreneurs /companies and encourage them with ideation, incubation, prototyping and roll out of applications. The App innovation challenge has been launched in the combined partnership of the Ministry of Electronics &IT and Atal Innovation Mission-Niti Aayog.
The AatmaNirbhar Bharat App Innovation Challenge Track 1 is being launched in the following 8 broad categories:
- Office Productivity & Work from Home
- Social Networking
- E-Learning
- Entertainment
- Health & Wellness
- Business including Agritech and Fin-tech
- News
- Games.
SOVEREIGN GOLD BOND SCHEME 2020-21
Focus: GS-III Indian Economy
Why in news?
In terms of Government of India Notification Sovereign Gold Bonds 2020-21 (Series IV) will be opened for the July month.
In order to promote the Digital India campaign Government of India in consultation with the Reserve Bank of India has decided to allow discount of Rs 50 (Rupees Fifty only) per gram from the issue price to those investors who apply online and the payment is made through digital mode.
What are Sovereign Gold Bonds?
- Sovereign Gold Bonds are government securities denominated in grams of gold. They are substitutes for holding physical gold.
- Under the Sovereign Gold Bond Scheme, the Reserve Bank of India will issue the bonds on behalf of the Government of India.
- The bonds will be sold at post offices and banks and issued in denomination of gram.
- They will issue these bonds on payment of money. Later on, the bonds will be connected to the price of gold.
- From one person, the Sovereign Gold Bond Scheme would accept a minimum investment of 2 gm gold and a maximum investment of 500 gm in a single fiscal year.
Why is the gold sovereign bond scheme needed?
- The gold demand rises in times of uncertainty or high inflation and Gold demand is mostly met through imports.
- Years of high imports are ones of high current account deficits which, in turn, have weakened the rupee.
- Hence, in order alleviate the deficit issue that rises up due to the demand of gold when people are trying to buy physical gold, the Sovereign bonds work as an alternative option.
CHAMBAL EXPRESSWAY PROJECT
Focus: GS-III Industry and Infrastructure
Why in news?
Union Minister for Road Transport & Highways and MSME reviewed the proposed Chambal Express Project.
Highlights
Land acquisition should cater to the development of way side amenities besides industrial and commercial clusters with potential for having smart cities, mandis, humar haats etc on both sides.
Apart from providing smooth traffic & goods movement the project will immensely benefit the area and people of the backward region along the Expressway.
Chambal Expressway
- Chambal Expressway is a proposed Six-lane expressway in the state of Madhya Pradesh.
- The proposed highway will connect the historic towns of kota in Rajasthan to Etawah in Uttar Pradesh alongside of Chambal River which will cover towns like Sheopur Morena, Shampur, Ater and Gohad.
- It also will provide cross connectivity with Golden Quadrilateral’s Delhi-Kolkata corridor, North-South Corridor, East-West Corridor and Delhi-Mumbai -Expressway.
Golden Quadrilateral
Difference between Expressways and Highways
- In expressways, roads are not multiples, controlled access is there where vehicle can enter through a limited place and no further or other road merges or crosses the expressway anywhere. Due to this the possibility of accidents are also less. But in the case of highways, multiple roads are there which merge with or cross the highways at many places
- Highway is a generic term given to roadways which connect important cities; towns etc, and usually have 4 lanes to provide high speed traffic. But expressway is a high-speed road with little access and consists of several facilities like access ramps, lane dividers etc.
