Daily PIB Analysis For UPSC/IAS | 4th January 2019 -

Table of Contents

FDI policy on e-commerce, first pronounced through Press Note 2 of 2000, permitted 100% FDI in B2B ecommerce activities
B2C e-commerce, that is multi-brand retail through inventory based model, has all along remained prohibited for FDI.
FDI is not permitted in inventory based model of e-commerce which amounts to multi-brand retail.
there is no change in the FDI policy on food product retail trading, which permits 100% FDI under approval route, including through e-commerce, in respect of food products manufactured and/or produced in India.

What is a marketplace and inventory based model?

Marketplace based model of e-commerce means providing an information technology platform by an e-commerce entity on a digital & electronic network to act as a facilitator between the buyer and seller.
Inventory based model of e-commerce means an ecommerce activity where inventory of goods and services is owned by e-commerce entity and is sold to the consumers directly.

▪ Counselling, Retraining & Redeployment (CRR) scheme is being implemented as a social safety net to provide opportunities to the Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) employees or their dependents under Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS) / Voluntary Separation Scheme (VSS).
▪ The aim of retraining of the employees is to reorient them through short duration skill training to adjust to the new environment and adopt new jobs after their retirement from CPSEs.
▪ From the year 2016-17, CRR scheme is being implemented in collaboration with National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) under the Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship (MSDE).
▪ According to VRS/VSS guidelines, once an employee avails of voluntary retirement from a CPSE, the employee shall not take up employment in another CPSE.

▪ The mapping of field functionaries on Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana-Common Application Software (PMMVY-CAS) using Local Government Directory (LGD) Code allows implementing the scheme independent of the implementing Department in States/Uts
▪ It also allows hierarchical monitoring of scheme from Pan-India to village level.
▪ Review is also undertaken through Video Conferences
▪ The scheme is implemented through web based Software, viz. PMMVYCAS which has dashboard for regular monitoring/ review of the scheme.

PMMVY-CAS was launched on 01.09.2017.
The Government of India has approved Pan-India implementation of PMMVY in all districts of the country w.e.f. 01.01.2017 under which the eligible beneficiaries gets Rs. 5,000/- under PMMVY and the remaining cash incentive as per approved norms towards Maternity Benefit under Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY) after institutional delivery so that on an average, a woman gets Rs. 6000/-

HISTORY

▪ Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY), previously Indira Gandhi Matritva Sahyog Yojana (IGMSY), is a maternity benefit program run by the government of India.
▪ It was introduced in 2016 and is implemented by the Ministry of Women and Child Development. It is a conditional cash transfer scheme for pregnant and lactating women of 19 years of age or above for the first live birth
▪ In 2013, the scheme was brought under the National Food Security Act, 2013
▪ Previously the pregnant women were given 6000 but in PMMVY they receive 5000 in three installations
The maternity benefits under Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY) are available to all Pregnant Women & Lactating Mothers (PW&LM) except those in regular employment with the Central Government or State Government or Public Sector Undertaking or those who are in receipt of similar benefits under any law for the time being in force, for first living child of the family as normally, the first pregnancy of a woman exposes her to new kind of challenges and stress factors. The objectives of the scheme are:

providing partial compensation for the wage loss in terms of cash incentives so that the woman can take adequate rest before and after delivery of the first living child; and
the cash incentives provided would lead to improved health seeking behaviour amongst the Pregnant Women and Lactating Mothers (PW&LM).
The first transfer (at the end of second birth / pregnancy trimester) of ₹3,000 requires the mother to:
Register pregnancy at the Anganwadi centre (AWC) within four months of conception
Attend at least one prenatal care session and taking Iron-folic acid tablets and TT (tetanus toxoid injection), and
Attend at least one 3. counseling session at the AWC or healthcare centre.
The second transfer (three months after delivery) of ₹2,000 requires the mother to:
Register the birth
Immunize the child with OPV and BCG at birth, at six weeks and at 10 weeks
Attend at least two growth monitoring sessions within three months of delivery
Additionally the scheme requires the mother to:
Exclusively breastfeed for six months and introduce complementary feeding as certified by the mother,
Immunize the child with OPV and DPT
Attend at least two counseling sessions on growth monitoring and infant and child nutrition and feeding between the third and sixth months after delivery.
However, studies suggest that these eligibility conditions and other conditionalities exclude a large number of women from receiving their entitlements

In 2016 the number of suicides in India had increased to 230,314. Suicide was the most common cause of death in both the age groups of 15–29 years and 15–39 years.

The Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas (jnvs) are fully residential schools managed and
Run by the navodaya vidyalaya samiti, an autonomous organization under the ministry of human resource development

If Indian states were countries, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and West Bengal would have the third, fourth and fifth worst rates of female suicide in the world (only Greenland and Lesotho are worse).

80% of the suicide victims were literate, higher than the national average literacy rate of 74%
India now accounts for over a third of the world’s annual female suicides and
nearly a fourth of male suicides, a significant increase in its global share from 1990.
The suicide rates for men and women in India were much higher than the global averages

▪ Ministry of Human Resource Development and its organizations like University Grants Commission (UGC), All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) are undertaking various research projects in the different Higher Educational Institutions.
▪ Department of Science & Technology and Department of Biotechnology also provide funding support to higher educational institutions for various research projects.
▪ These research projects are both domestic and also with international collaboration

Apart from the Major Research Project scheme, UGC has funded several schemes for research and innovation like

Special Assistance Programme (SAP),
Colleges with Potential for Excellence (CPE),
University with Potential for Excellence (UPE),
Centre with Potential for Excellence in Particular Areas (CPEPA), Fellowships support for Research to students and teachers. In 2017 -18, an amount of Rs. 1769 crores has been spent under these schemes. UGC is actively involved in promoting research through international collaborations through important initiatives like

▪ UK India Education Research Initiative (UKIERI),
▪ Israel Science Foundation (ISF),
▪ Indo Norway Cooperation Programme (NCP),
▪ Indo German Programme (IGP),
▪ 21st Century Knowledge Initiative with United States of America
▪ Scheme for Promotion of Academic and Research Collaboration (SPARC) is a recent initiative of the Ministry to support Joint Research Projects through collaboration of top ranked Indian Institutions and globally ranked Foreign Institutions.
▪ It aims to support 600 research projects in two years, at an outlay of Rs. 418 crores.
▪ To channelize technical research, the Impacting Research Innovation and Technology (IMPRINT) scheme has been launched.
▪ Under IMPRINT-I, 142 research projects with an outlay of Rs. 318.71 crores for 3 years have been accepted.
▪ Under IMPRINT-II, a total of 122 projects at an estimated cost of Rs. 112 crores have been approved.
▪ For the promotion of Research in Social Sciences, the scheme for Impactful Policy Research in Social Sciences (IMPRESS) has been launched.
▪ Under this scheme 1500 research projects, at a total sanctioned cost of Rs. 414 crores, will be awarded for implementation upto 31.3.2021
▪ IMPRINT is the first of its kind MHRD supported Pan-IIT + IISc joint initiative to address the major science and engineering challenges that India must address and champion to enable, empower and embolden the nation for inclusive growth and self-reliance.
▪ This novel initiative with twofold mandate is aimed at:
(a) Developing new engineering education policy
(b) Creating a road map to pursue engineering challenges
IMPRINT provides the overarching vision that guides research into areas that are predominantly socially relevant.
The Indian Council of Social Science Research has been entrusted with the task of implementing and monitoring the scheme IMPRESS.
The identified domains under IMPRESS are as:
1. State and Democracy
2. Urban Transformation
3. Media, Culture and Society
4. Employment Skills and Rural Transformation
5. Governance, Innovation and Public Policy
6. Growth, Macro Trade and Economic Policy
7. Agriculture and Rural Development
8. Health and Environment
9. Science and Education
10. Social Media and Technology
11. Politics, Law and Economics
▪ The Ministry of Road Transport & Highways has recently launched the Bhoomi Rashi portal.
▪ In the past years, acquisition of land for the purpose of National Highway projects, payment of compensation to the land owners etc were done manually by physical movement of documents in the form of files.
▪ However, in that procedure some constraints viz. delay in issuing notification, errors in the land/area details etc were being faced.

▪ In order to overcome these issues, to cut short delays and avoid parking of public funds with the Competent Authority for Land Acquisition (CALA), Ministry has developed a web based Utility – BhoomiRashi to fully digitize and automate the entire process of land acquisition.

The Ministry of Road Transport & Highways had amended the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 by inserting the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act, 2015 dated 19.03.2015 and had notified amending the Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989 (CMVRs) to include specifications regarding manufacture, operation, registration, permit exemption and issue of driving license to e-rickshaw drivers under the ambit of CMVRs.
Further, for the promotion of electric mobility in the country, the Government has launched Phase-I of the FAME India Scheme [ Faster Adoption of Electric (& Hybrid) Vehicles in India] with effect from 1st April 2015, which was initially for a period of 2 years and has subsequently been extended till 31st March 2019.

The Phase-1 of FAME Scheme is, at present, available upto 31stMarch 2019 and is available for all registered electric vehicles with lithium ion batteries.

The 1360 kms long India-MyanmarThailand Trilateral Highway is an initiative pertaining to India, Myanmar and Thailand. India is undertaking construction of two sections of the Trilateral Highway in Myanmar namely,

construction of 120.74 km KalewaYagyi road section, and
construction of 69 bridges along with the approach road on the 149.70 km Tamu-Kyigone-Kalewa (TKK) road section.

The India–Myanmar–Thailand Trilateral Highway is a highway under construction under India’s Look East policy that will connect Moreh, India with Mae Sot, Thailand via Myanmar.
Imphal-Mandalay-Bangkok 55 km (34 mi) route, consisting of Imphal-Mandalay 584 km (363 mi) and Mandalay-Bangkok 1,397 km (868 mi), is a highway in good condition except for 101 km (63 mi) part of 120 km (75 mi) long Kalewa-Yagyi stretch being upgraded to 2-lane in each direction (total 4 lanes) highway by India, revised expected completion date for which is April 2021 (April 2018 update)

In May 2017, India’s NITI Aayog proposed establishing a Special Purpose Vehicle owned by all three countries to monitor and implement the project
The 160 km (99 mi) long India–Myanmar Friendship Road, linking Moreh-TamuKalemyo-Kalewa, was officially inaugurated on 13 February 2001,and it now forms a part of the trilateral highway. This road was built by the Border Roads Organisation (BRO), a wing of the Indian Army

The road is expected to boost trade and commerce in the ASEAN–India Free Trade Area, as well as with the rest of Southeast Asia. India has also proposed extending the highway to Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam.
The proposed approx 3,200 km (2,000 mi) route from India to Vietnam is known as the East-West Economic Corridor (Thailand to Cambodia and Vietnam became operational in 2015).
This highway will also connect to the river ports being developed along the way at Kale (also called Kalemyo) and Monywa on Chindwin River.
India and ASEAN have plans to extend this route to Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam as this connectivity will generate annually, an estimated US$70 billion in incremental GDP and 20 million in incremental aggregate employment by 2025, and India has offered US$1 billion line-of-credit for the India-ASEAN connectivity projects (c. Dec 2017)