Daily PIB Analysis For UPSC/IAS | 20th Feb 19

Table of Contents

Prime Minister’s Office

List of MoUs/Agreements signed during State Visit of Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia to India

DPIIT launches second edition of States’ ranking on Startup initiatives
After the successful first edition of States’ Startup Ranking in 2018, where 27 States and 3 Union Territories participated, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) today released second edition of Startup Ranking for 2019. The Startup Ranking framework aims to rank the States/UTs for establishing a robust ecosystem for supporting Startups. The framework also encourages States and UTs to identify, learn and replicate good practices from each other. The Ranking Framework 2019 comprises of 7 pillars and 30 action points. The pillars will assess States’/UTs efforts across institutional support, simplifying regulations, easing public procurement, incubation support, seed funding support, venture funding support and awareness and outreach related activities. The ranking exercise aims to evaluate measures taken by States/UTs during the assessment period from May 1, 2018 to June 30, 2019.

4TH India-Asean Expo Summit on 21 – 23 February 2019 in New Delhi
This is a flagship event of Department of Commerce, being organized with FICCI to carry forward the momentum and to further strengthen India-ASEAN relations under the Act-East Policy. The 4th India-ASEAN Expo and Summit, 2019 will build upon the success of the previous edition of ASEAN-India Business and Investment Meet and Expo which was held in 2018 as a precursor to India-ASEAN Commemorative Summit. The Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) comprises of Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore, Philippines, Myanmar, Malaysia, Lao PDR, Indonesia, Cambodia and Brunei. India’s relationship with ASEAN is a key pillar of our foreign policy and the foundation of our Act-East Policy.India-ASEAN trade and investment relations have been growing steadily, with ASEAN being the second largest trading partner of India,after China,with a total bilateral merchandise trade of USD 81.33 billion.

Cabinet approves continuation of Khadi Gramodyog Vikas Yojana from 2017-18 to 2019-20
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, has approved the approval to the following:

To continue the existing schemes of MPDA, Khadi Grant, ISEC and Village Industry Grant, all subsumed under ‘Khadi and Gramodyog Vikas Yojana’ at the total cost of Rs. 2800 crore for the period 2017-18 to 2019-20;
To bring in a new component of ‘Rozgar Yukt Gaon’ to introduce enterprise-based operation in the Khadi sector and to create employment opportunities for thousands of new artisans in the current and next financial year (2018-19 and 2019-20). Rozgar Yukta Gaon (RYG) aims at introducing an ‘Enterprise-led Business Model’ in place of ‘Subsidy-led model’ through partnership among 3 stakeholders- KRDP-assisted Khadi Institution, Artisans and Business Partner. It will be rolled out in 50 Villages by providing 10,000 Charkhas, 2000 looms & 100 warping units to Khadi artisans, and would create direct employment for 250 Artisans per village. The total Capital Investment per village shall be Rs.72 Lakh as subsidy, and Rs.1.64 Crore in terms of Working Capital from the Business Partner.

Under the Village Industry verticals, special focus shall be on Agro-based and food processing (Honey, Palmgur etc.), Handmade Paper and Leather, Pottery and Wellness and Cosmetics sectors through Product Innovation, Design Development & Product Diversification. Another intervention is to set up 4 Design Houses across the country to capture regional variations, to provide access to Khadi Institutions, to evolve modern designs, ethnic wear etc. with an investment of Rs.5 crore each.
The other key component is to make the ‘Production Assistance’ competitive and incentive based. The incentive structure focuses on improving productivity, turnover and quality assurances, and would be extended on the basis of an objective scorecard.
While the Khadi Institutions would automatically be given the financial assistance of 30%, in order to become eligible for the additional incentive of 30%, these institutions must strive for efficiency, optimal utilization of resources, reduction of waste, effective managerial practices etc.
As a part of rationalization exercise, 8 different schemes of Khadi & Village Industries are now merged under 2 umbrella heads i.e. ‘Khadi Vikas Yojana’ and ‘Gramodyog Vikas Yojana’:

Commerce Minister launches ‘SWAYATT’ on GeM Union Minister of Commerce & Industry and Civil Aviation, Suresh Prabhu, launched SWAYATT in New Delhi today. SWAYATT is an initiative to promote Start-ups, Women and Youth Advantage Through eTransactions on Government e Marketplace (GeM). This will bring together the key stakeholders within the Indian entrepreneurial ecosystem to Government e-Marketplace the national procurement portal. On this occasion, Commerce Minister also dedicated GeM Start-up Runway-an initiative of GeM in association with Start -up India to facilitate Start-ups registered with Start -up India to access the public procurement market and sell innovative products and services to government buyers. Suresh Prabhu also felicitated a few successful entrepreneurs from Women Self Help Groups, Start-ups and MSMEs in GeM.

OFB Gets Bulk Production Clearance for ‘Dhanush’ Artillery Gun
Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) has received the bulk production clearance (BPC) from the Indian Army and the Ministry of Defence on February 18, 2018 for production of 114 nos of ‘Dhanush’, the first ever indigenous 155mm x 45 calibre artillery gun. The weapon is the first long rang artillery gun to be produced in India and it is a major success story of the ‘Make in India’ initiative. The gun is equipped with inertial navigationbased sighting system, auto-laying facility, onboard ballistic computation and an advanced day and night direct firing system. The selfpropulsion unit allows the gun to negotiate and deploy itself in mountainous terrains with ease. ‘Dhanush’ is the product of joint efforts by the OFB and the Indian Army with contributions from DRDO, DGQA, DPSUs such as BEL, PSUs such as SAIL and several private enterprises.

Cabinet approves launch Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Utthaan Mahabhiyan The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved launch of Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Utthaan Mahabhiyan with the objective of providing financial and water security to farmers.

Component-A: 10,000 MW of Decentralized Ground Mounted Grid Connected Renewable Power Plants.
Component-B: Installation of 17.50 lakh standalone Solar Powered Agriculture Pumps.
Component-C: Solarisation of 10 Lakh Grid-connected Solar Powered Agriculture Pumps. All three components combined, the scheme aims to add a solar capacity of 25,750 MW by 2022. The total central financial support provided under the scheme would be Rs. 34,422 crore.