Government Schemes:

1. Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana

Sukanya Samriddhi Account has been introduced vide Government of India December 02, 2014

Objective: To promote the welfare of Girl Child

Maximum number of accounts: Upto two girl children

Tenure of the Deposit: 21 years from the date of opening of the account
Maximum period upto which deposits can be made: 15 years from the date of opening
Interest on Deposit: compounded annually. (Current rate 8.60% w.e.f 1st April, 2016)
Withdrawal : 50% of the balance lying in the account as at the end of previous financial year for the purpose of
higher education, marriage after attaining the age of 18 years.

Wiki: Sukanya Samriddhi Account ( Girl Child Prosperity Account) is a Government of India backed saving
scheme targeted at the parents of girl children. The scheme encourages parents to build a fund for the future
education and marriage expenses for their female child.

The scheme was launched by Prime Minister Narendra modi on 22 January 2015 as a part of the Beti Bachao,
Beti Padhao campaign. The scheme currently provides an interest rate of 8.1% (for October 2017 to December
2017 ) and tax benefits. The account can be opened at any India Post office or branch of authorised
commercial banks

The scheme was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 22 January 2015 in Panipat, Haryana.[4][5] The
accounts can be opened at any India Post office or a branch of some authorised commercial banks.[2] Initially,
the interest rate was set at 9.1% but later revised to 9.2% in late March 2015 for FY2015-16.[2][3] Interest Rate
have been revised for FY 2016-17 to 8.6%.

The account can be opened anytime between the birth of a girl child and the time she attains 10 years age by
the parent/guardian. Only one account is allowed per child. Parents can open a maximum of two accounts for
each of their children (exception allowed for twins and triplets). The account can be transferred to anywhere
in India.

A minimum of ₹1,000 must be deposited in the account initially. Thereafter, any amount in multiples of Rs 100
can be deposited. However, the maximum deposit limit is ₹150,000. If the minimum deposit of ₹1,000 is not
made in a year, a fine of ₹50 will be put on.

The girl can operate her account after she reaches the age of 10. The account allows 50% withdrawal at the
age of 18 for higher education purposes. The account reaches maturity after time period of 21 years from date
of opening it. Deposits in the account can be made till the completion of 15 years, from the date of the
opening of the account. After this period the account will earn only applicable rate of interest. If the account is
not closed, then it will not earn interest at the prevailing rate. If the girl is over 18 and married, normal closure
is allowed.

Of time, the interest of SSY will always be greater than that of PPF. For both, the government fixes the interest
rate on quarterly basis dependent on the G-sec yields. The interest rate and spread that SSY enjoys over the G-
sec rate of similar maturity is 75 basis points in comparison to PPF’s 25. The scheme currently provides an
interest rate of 8.1 % and EEE tax benefit.
 2. Smart City Mission
What is Smart City

Smart City Features

Some typical features of comprehensive development in Smart Cities are described below.

• Promoting mixed land use in area based developments–planning for ‘unplanned areas’ containing a
range of compatible activities and land uses close to one another in order to make land use more
efficient. The States will enable some flexibility in land use and building bye-laws to adapt to change;
• Housing and inclusiveness - expand housing opportunities for all;
• Creating walkable localities –reduce congestion, air pollution and resource depletion, boost local
economy, promote interactions and ensure security. The road network is created or refurbished not
only for vehicles and public transport, but also for pedestrians and cyclists, and necessary
administrative services are offered within walking or cycling distance;
• Preserving and developing open spaces - parks, playgrounds, and recreational spaces in order to
enhance the quality of life of citizens, reduce the urban heat effects in Areas and generally promote
eco-balance;
• Promoting a variety of transport options - Transit Oriented Development (TOD), public transport and
last mile para-transport connectivity;
• Making governance citizen-friendly and cost effective - increasingly rely on online services to bring
about accountability and transparency, especially using mobiles to reduce cost of services and
providing services without having to go to municipal offices. Forming e-groups to listen to people and
obtain feedback and use online monitoring of programs and activities with the aid of cyber tour of
worksites;
• Giving an identity to the city - based on its main economic activity, such as local cuisine, health,
education, arts and craft, culture, sports goods, furniture, hosiery, textile, dairy, etc;
• Applying Smart Solutions to infrastructure and services in area-based development in order to make
them better. For example, making Areas less vulnerable to disasters, using fewer resources, and
providing cheaper services.
3. e-NAM:

National Agriculture Market (NAM) is a pan-India electronic trading portal which networks the
existing APMC (Agricultural Produce Market Committee) mandis to create a unified national market
for agricultural commodities.

The NAM Portal provides a single window service for all APMC related information and services. This
includes commodity arrivals & prices, buy & sell trade offers, provision to respond to trade offers,
among other services. While material flow (agriculture produce) continue to happen through mandis,
an online market reduces transaction costs and information asymmetry.

Agriculture marketing is administered by the States as per their agri-marketing regulations, under
which, the State is divided into several market areas, each of which is administered by a separate
Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) which imposes its own marketing regulation
(including fees). This fragmentation of markets, even within the State, hinders free flow of agri
commodities from one market area to another and multiple handling of agri-produce and multiple
levels of mandi charges ends up escalating the prices for the consumers without commensurate
benefit to the farmer.

NAM addresses these challenges by creating a unified market through online trading platform, both,
at State and National level and promotes uniformity, streamlining of procedures across the integrated
markets, removes information asymmetry between buyers and sellers and promotes real time price
discovery, based on actual demand and supply, promotes transparency in auction process, and access
to a nationwide market for the farmer, with prices commensurate with quality of his produce and
online payment and availability of better quality produce and at more reasonable prices to the
consumer.
 4. eBasta
is a framework to make school books accessible in digital form as e-books to be read and used on tablets
and laptops. The main idea is to bring various publishers (free as well as commercial) and schools together on
one platform.
Besides the portal, a back-end framework to facilitate the organization and easy management of such
resources has also been made, along with the web based applications that can be installed on tablets for
navigating the framework.