Government Scheme Part 9 | Latest Burning Issues

Table of Contents

BHOJ YOJNASEVA
(Ministry of Culture)

The Ministry of Culture, Government of India has introduced a new scheme namely ‘Seva Bhoj Yojna’ with a total outlay of Rs. 325.00 Crores for Financial Years 2018-19 and 2019-20.
The scheme envisages to reimburse the Central Government share of Central Goods and Services Tax (CGST) and Integrated Goods and Service Tax (IGST)so as to lessen the financial burden of such Charitable Religious Institutions who provide Food/Prasad/Langar (Community Kitchen)/Bhandara free of cost without any discrimination to Public/Devotees.
The Charitable Religious Institutions such as Temples, Gurudwara, Mosque, Church, Dharmik Ashram, Dargah, Matth, Monasteries etc. which have been in existence for at least five years before applying for financial assistance/grant and who serve free food to at least 5000 people in a month shall be eligible for grant under the scheme.

Ministry of Culture will register the eligible charitable religious institutions for a time period ending with finance commission period and subsequently the registration may be renewed by the Ministry, subject to the performance evaluation of the institutions
The entity / institution will be permitted to submit the reimbursement claim of the GST and Central Government share of IGST to designated authority of GST Department at State level in the prescribed format during the validity of registration.
All the eligible institutions should be registered with Darpan portal.

MISSION Raftaar
(Ministry of Railways)

With a view to increasing speed of trains in Indian Railways, ‘Mission Raftaar’ was announced in the Railway Budget 2016-17. The mission envisages a target of doubling of average speed of freight trains and increasing the average speed of all non-suburban passenger trains by 25 kmph in the next 5 years.

Principal routes have been identified for raising of speed under Mission Raftaar.
These are six routes on Golden Quadrilateral and diagonals namely, Delhi – Mumbai, Delhi – Howrah, Howrah- Chennai, Chennai – Mumbai, Delhi – Chennai and Howrah – Mumbai.
These six routes carry 58% of freight traffic and 52% of coaching traffic with a share of only 16% of the network.
Golden Quadrilaterals and its Diagonal routes have been prioritized for replacement of loco hauled short distance passenger trains by MEMUs/DEMUs having better acceleration and deceleration characteristics for fast pickup and braking.