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NABARD GRADE – ‘A’ MAINS SPECIAL

JANUARY 2020
ESI & ARD
(including SCHEMES & REPORTS)
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For Exam info & well designed study materials, visit: victoryarena.blogspot.com
Email: mailtovictoryarena@gmail.com
SOURCES REFERRED: PIB, AFFAIRS-CLOUD, MINISTRY WEBSITES, VIKASPEDIA, DRISHTI-IAS,
VISION-IAS, GK-TODAY, NABARD SITE, OFFICIAL REPORTS ETC.
COLOUR LEGENDS USED IN THE DOCUMENT

ESI ARD SCHEMES REPORTS
YELLOW BLUE GREEN PINK
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1ST JAN
5th Swachh Survekshan League 2020:
-For quarter 1 and quarter 2

-WB did not participate
-MoHUA
-INDORE topped in 10lakh+ and JSR topped in 1-10 lakh population
Evaluation: The marks are evaluated based on monthly updation of SBM-U (Swacch Bharat Mission-
Urban; launched October 2014) online MIS (Management information system) by cities along with
citizen’s validation on the 12 service level progress indicators.
Important parameters: In the SS 2020 parameters, wastewater treatment and reuse, and faecal
sludge management have been given special importance. In this regard, ODF+ (Open Defcation Free
+), ODF++ and Water+ Plus Protocols work as guiding documents for cities in the survey.
Targets by the govt:
-Single use plastic free India by 2022.
-Collaboration with Cement Manufacturing Association (CMA) and the National Highway Authority of -
India(NHAI) to make use of reusable plastics in road construction.
-Introduction of garbage cafés (place where a person can get a meal in return of plastic waste).
-100% processing and safe disposal of solid waste.
Current achievements:
-937 of Indian cities are ODF+ and 328 cities are ODF++.
-Over 57,000 public toilet blocks across 2,300 cities have been mapped on Google Maps.
- Star rated cities: Till now 4 cities have been certified as 5-star cities. They are Indore (Madhya
Pradesh), Ambikapur(Chattisgarh), Navi Mumbai(Maharashtra) and Mysuru (Karnataka). 57 cities were
certified with 3 stars while 4 cities have been certified as 1 star.
Feedback by citizens:
Verification of the SS2020 progress will be done through direct responses from citizens. The feedback
shall be provided by the citizens from January 4, 2020 onwards through the 1969 Swachhata Helpline
(1969), Swachhata App, Swachh Survekshan 2020 portal, outbound calls and the Vote for Your City App.
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SWACHH BHARAT MISSION/ABHIYAAN (URBAN)
Launch: was launched on 2nd October 2014.
Aim: It aims at achieving 100% open defecation free (ODF) status and putting in place systems to
achieve 100% solid waste management in all Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) in the country
Objectives
• Eliminate open defecation,
• Conversion of insanitary toilets to pour flush toilets,
• Eradication of manual scavenging,
• 100% collection and scientific processing/disposal reuse/ recycle of Municipal Solid Waste,
• To bring about a behavioral change in people regarding healthy sanitation practices,
• Generate awareness among the citizens about sanitation and its linkages with public health.
• Strengthening of urban local bodies to design, execute and operate systems,
• To create enabling environment for private sector participation in Capital Expenditure and Operation
& Maintenance (O&M) costs
Salient Features
• The Mission will be in force till 2nd October 2019.
• The Mission has following components:
o Construction of Household Toilets,
o Community and Public Toilets,
o Municipal Solid Waste Management,
o Information, Education & Communication (IEC) and
Public Awareness,
o Capacity Building and Administrative & Office Expenses
(A&OE).
• The funding pattern between the Central Government and the State Government/ Urban Local Bodies
(ULBs) is 75%:25% (90%: 10% for North Eastern and special category states).
• The gap in financing of the components could be met by the beneficiary contribution, private funding,
funds with private companies under Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and the Swachh Bharat Kosh
of the Ministry of Finance.
Achievement: Urban areas of 35 states / UTs (Union Territories) became ODF, but it is also to be noted
that urban local bodies in West Bengal had not been declared as ODF.
SMART framework:
The MoHUA has also launched Star rating protocol for garbage free cities. The protocol is based on 12
parameters and follows a SMART framework. The full form of the framework is SMART- Single metric,
Measurable, Achievable, Rigorous verification mechanism and Targeted towards outcomes.
Rashtriya Swachhata Kosh (Swachh Bharat Kosh)

Launch Year: 2014
Key Features:
• It has been set up to facilitate and channelize individual philanthropic contributions and Corporate
Social Responsibility (CSR) funds to achieve the objective of Clean India (Swachh Bharat) by the year
2019.
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It would be administered by a Governing Council chaired by Secretary, Department of Expenditure

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• The Kosh will be used to achieve the objective of improving cleanliness levels in rural and urban areas,
including in schools.
• The allocation from the Kosh will be used to supplement and complement departmental resources for
such activities.
• To incentivize contributions from individuals and corporate, modalities are being considered to
provide tax rebates where it is possible.
SBM ODF+ and ODF++ Protocol

• The original ODF protocol, issued in March 2016, said, “A city/ward is notified as ODF city/ward if, at
any point of the day, not a single person is found defecating in the open.
• The ODF+ protocol says that a city, ward or work circle could be declared ODF+ if, “at any point of the
day, not a single person is found defecating and/or urinating in the open, and all community and public
toilets are functional and well-maintained.”
• The ODF++ protocol adds the condition that “faecal sludge/septage and sewage is safely managed and
treated, with no discharging and/or dumping of untreated faecal sludge/septage and sewage in drains,
water bodies or open areas.”
• Thus, the SBM ODF+ protocol focuses on sustaining community/ public toilet usage by ensuring their
functionality, cleanliness and maintenance while SBM ODF++ will focus on achieving sanitation
sustainability by addressing complete sanitation value chain, including safe containment, processing and
disposal of faecal sludge and septage.
Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin)

Launch: 2014
Nodal Ministry: Ministry of Jal Shakti
Aim: The aim of Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin) is to achieve a clean and Open Defecation Free (ODF)
India by 2nd October 2019
Objectives:
• To bring about an improvement in the general quality of life in the rural areas, by promoting
cleanliness, hygiene and eliminating open defecation.
• To accelerate sanitation coverage in rural areas to achieve the vision of Swachh Bharat by 2nd October
2019.
• To motivate communities to adopt sustainable sanitation practices and facilities through awareness
creation and health education.
• To encourage cost effective and appropriate technologies for ecologically safe and sustainable
sanitation.
• To develop, wherever required, community managed sanitation systems focusing on scientific Solid &
Liquid Waste Management systems for overall cleanliness in the rural areas.
Strategy:
• The Strategy is to move towards a ‘Swachh Bharat’ by making it a massive mass movement.
• For purposes of effective planning and implementation of SBM(G), it is proposed that ‘district‘ be
considered the base unit of intervention
• Implementation Framework of each State be prepared with a road map of activities covering the three
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important phases necessary for the Programme:

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i. Planning – A project proposal shall be prepared by the District, incorporating Gram
Panchayat-wise details and scrutinized, and consolidated by the State Government into a
State Plan.
ii. Implementation – This includes advocacy and communication, financing and toilet
construction. Setting up Rapid Action Learning Unit (RALU)
iii. Sustainability – This includes sustaining ODF communities and verification.
• A five-tier implementation mechanism should be set up at the National/ State/ District/ Block/ Village
level
• Corporate houses should be encouraged to participate as an essential part of the Corporate Social
Responsibility (CSR).
Components:
• Start-up activities – This includes updating baselines surveys, orientation of key
personnel and preparation of plans.
• IEC (Information, Education and Communication) Component: Focus of SBM-G is on
Behaviour Change Communication (BCC). It is not a 'standalone' separate activity, community
action and generation of peer pressure on the outliers is key to it.
• Capacity Building
• Construction of Individual Household
• Latrines - While selecting eligible households for providing incentive under SBM(G),
order of preference shall be – BPL followed by SC/SC APL households
• Availability of Sanitation Material - through Rural Sanitary Marts (RSM), Production
Centers (PC), Self Help Groups (SHG) and Community Sanitary Complex (CSC).
• Provision of Revolving Fund at the District - can also be accessed by APL households
not covered by incentives under the guidelines.
• Equity and inclusion – This also includes raise awareness and skills on Menstrual
Hygiene Management (MHM), specifically amongst adolescent girls in schools.
• Solid and Liquid Resource Management
• Administrative Charges - States shall be permitted to utilize funds under this
component as per requirement
• The monitoring also uses a robust community led system, like Social Audit. Community-
based monitoring and vigilance committees will help in creating peer pressure.
• Foot soldiers of Swachh Bharat: An army of ‘foot soldiers’ or ‘Swachhagrahis’, earlier
known as ‘Swachhata Doots’ is developed and engaged through existing arrangements like
Panchayati Raj Institutions, Co-operatives, ASHAs, Anganwadi workers, Women Groups,
Community Based Organisations, Self-Help Groups etc.
Initiatives related to Swachh Bharat Mission (Grameen)
Swachhata Pakhwada
Launch Year: 2016
Objective: It was started with the objective of bringing a fortnight of intense focus on the issues and
practices of Swachhata by engaging GOI Ministries/Departments in their jurisdictions.
Monitoring: The monitoring of the Swachhata Pakhwada is done using the Swachhata Samiksha Portal.
Key Features:
• Every Ministry/Department should nominate a Joint Secretary as nodal officer for Swachhata
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Pakhwada related activities.

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• Every Ministry/Department to ensure that all their line departments, PSUs, attached offices,
organizations and Institutions under them to plan and implement in detail Swachhata Pakhwada.
Swachh Swasth Sarvatra

Launch Year: 2016
Nodal Ministry: It is a joint initiative of Ministry of Health & Family Welfare and Ministry of Jal Shakti
Aim: To achieve better health outcomes through improved sanitation and increased awareness and
healthy lifestyles.
Components: The three key components of Swachh Swasth Sarvatra are:
i. Community Health Centres (CHCs) in ODF blocks will be supported to achieve Kayakalp
certification (a certificate for high standard of sanitation and hygiene)
ii. Gram Panchayat of Kayakalp Primary Health Centres (PHCs) prioritized to become ODF School
Sanitation
iii. Training in WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) of CHC/PHC nominees
Swachh Shakti 2019

• Ministry of Jal Shakti in association with the Government of Haryana has organized the Swachh Shakti-
2019 in Kurukshetra.
Aim: It aims to bring in to focus the leadership role played by rural women in Swacch Bharat Mission.
Key Features:
• Women Sarpanches and Panches from all over the country will be attending the event.
• Around 15,000 women are expected to participate in this year’s Swachh Shakti event aimed at
empowering the women.
• Best practices from grass root level in the rural areas for Swachh Bharat will be shared by them.
• The event will showcase the achievements of Swachh Bharat and the recently conducted Swachh
Sunder Shauchalay, (neat and clean toilet) - a unique and first of its kind in the world campaign.
Swachh Shakti 2017

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Swachh Shakti program first in 2017 at Gandhinagar, Gujarat.
• 6000 women sarpanches from across the country had assembled in Gujarat on the occasion of International
Women’s Day under the banner of Swachh Shakti 2017.
Swachh Shakti 2018

• The second Swachh Shakti event, Swachh Shakti-2018 was held at Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh.
• 8000 women sarpanches, 3000 women Swachhagrahis and women champions from other walks of life from
across the country were recognized for their outstanding contribution towards making a Swachh Bharat during
the event.
Swachh Vidyalaya Programme

Launch Year: 2015
Nodal Ministry: Ministry of Human Resource and Development
Aim:
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• It aims to provide separate toilets for boys and girls in all government schools within one year.
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• It aims at ensuring that every school in the country must have a set of essential interventions that
relate to both technical and human development aspects of a good Water, Sanitation and Hygiene
Programme.
GOBAR DHAN Scheme

Launch Year: 2018
Aim:
• To positively impact village cleanliness and generate wealth and energy from cattle and organic waste.
• To create new rural livelihood opportunities and enhancing income for farmers and other rural people.
Objectives:
• Energy: Villages become self-reliant in clean energy by harnessing bio-waste to generate bio-energy.
• Empowerment: Households consume cleaner and cheaper fuel through biogas/bio-CNG for cooking,
saving on earnings and time; women of the household who typically engage in collection of firewood/
making dung cakes can be relieved of the drudgery involved.
• Employment: Local youth and semi-skilled technicians can benefit from skilling and potential green
jobs such as collection of waste, transportation to treatment plants, management of plant, operation
and maintenance of plants, sale and distribution of biogas and bio-slurry generated, etc.
• Organic Fertilizer: The digested slurry from biogas plants, a rich source of manure, shall benefit
farmers in supplementing chemical fertilizers.
• Sanitation: Improved sanitation, by reducing source of pollution, linking toilets to biogas, reducing
waste from the villages.
Coverage:
• It proposes to cover 700 projects across the country in 2018- 19.
• It will be implemented in two phases i.e, 350 projects in first half of the year and rest in the second
half.
• The States may choose to develop atleast one project per district or as many viable projects as
possible to achieve effective bio-waste management in the villages.
Swachhta Action Plan (SAP)

• SAP was formally launched on 1st April 2017 with the active participation of 72 Ministries and
Departments.
• During 1st year of implementation (FY 2017-18), Ministries and Departments implemented multiple
innovative ideas along with making financial contribution of over 18000 crore rupees.
• SAP has seen a multi-dimensional range of activities including adopting villages, support for sanitation
infrastructure, solid and liquid waste management, cleaner monuments, school sanitation, better
sanitation in hospitals and iconic places etc.
Swachh Iconic Places (SIP)

• This initiative is in partnership with concerned state and local governments and 3 Central
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Ministries of Housing and Urban Affairs, M/o Tourism and M/o Culture with MDWS being the
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nodal ministry.
• 100 places across India have been identified as “iconic” due to their heritage, religious and/or
cultural significance.
• The SIP initiative is to improve the cleanliness conditions at these places to a distinctly higher
level. So far in first two phases, 20 iconic places have been taken up. All these 20 Iconic Sites
have designated PSUs or corporates for financial and technical support. Sri Meenakshi
Sundareswarar Temple in Madurai has been adjudged the cleanest iconic place in the country.
• Ten new iconic sites, namely, RaghavendraSwamy Temple (Kurnool, Andhra Pradesh);
Hazardwari Palace (Murshidabad, West Bengal); Brahma Sarovar Temple (Kurukshetra,
Haryana); VidurKuti (Bijnor, Uttar Pradesh); Mana village (Chamoli, Uttarakhand); Pangong Lake
(Leh-Ladakh, J&K); Nagvasuki Temple (Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh); ImaKeithal/market (Imphal,
Manipur); Sabarimala Temple (Kerala); and Kanvashram (Uttarakhand) have been taken up
under Phase III.
2019-2025 National Infrastructure Pipeline report: Rs 102 lakh crore infrastructure plan unveiled:
- inorder to achieve the $5 trillion economy by 2024-25
- the task force headed by Economic Affairs Secretary Atanu Chakraborty, Rs 102 lakh crores has been
projected on the capital expenditure in infrastructure sectors in India during the fiscals 2020 to 2025.
- The capital expenditure will be shared by the Centre, States and the private sector in the
ratio 39:39:22 respectively
NIP 2025 visions:
During the fiscals 2020 to 2025, sectors such as Energy (24%), Roads (19%), Urban (16%), and Railways
(13%) amount to around 70% of the projected capital expenditure in infrastructure in India. Various
sectors of the govt has set targets/visions for the year 2025. Important ones are as follows
Agriculture sector:
Fund allocation: ₹ 0.54 lakh crores.
Vision: Doubling of farm incomes by upgrading 22,000 rural haats into Gramin Agricultural Markets
(GrAM). Modernizing storage infrastructure by adding modern silos (tall pit) for capacity of 100 lakh MT
(Metric tonne). Usage of drones for about real time weather updates.
Current status: The Food Corporation of India (FCI) currently has an installed modern silos of capacity
7.25 lakh MT.
Irrigation sector:
Fund allocation: ₹ 7.73 lakh crores.
Vision: Total irrigated land to be 85 million hectare with 28% of total net irrigated area (NIA)under micro
irrigation.
Current status: The current area under irrigation is 68 million hectare. Land under micro irrigation is
15% of total NIA.
Rural sector:
Fund allocation: ₹4.11 lakh crore.
Vision: Pucca house access to 100% of rural population. Piped water supply by 2024 under Jal Jeevan
Mission. 100% villages to be Open defecation Free(ODF).
Current status: only 18% of rural households in India have access to piped water supply. 99.4% of rural
households have access to individual household toilets and 90% of villages are considered ODF.
Social Infrastructure:
Vision: GER(Gross Enrolment Ratio) to improve at least 40%. India to spend about 2.5% of GDP(Gross
Domestic Product) on healthcare 73 new medical colleges would be set up.
Current status: Currently, the GER is 25.8% for 18-23 years age group. Healthcare spending is currently
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at 1.28% of GDP.
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Members of the task force:
The members include Chief Executive Officer(CEO) of NITI(National Institution for Transforming India)
Aayog Shri Amitabh Khant; Secretary of Expenditure; Secretary of the administrative ministries;and
Additional Secretary (Investments).
Jal Jeevan Mission

Launch Year: 2019
Aim: • It aims to provide Functional Household Tap Connection (FHTC) to all households by 2024.
HarGharJal (piped water supply) is the motto.
• It also aims at creating a Jan Andolan for water, thereby making it everyone’s priority.
Objectives:
• This Mission will focus on integrated demand and supply side management of water at the local level,
including creation of local infrastructure for source sustainability like rainwater harvesting, groundwater
recharge and management of household wastewater for reuse in agriculture.
• The Mission will converge with other Central and State Government Schemes to achieve its objectives
of sustainable water supply management across the country.
Key Features:
• Under the scheme, the government will focus on rainwater harvesting and water conservation in 1592
blocks of 256 districts in the first phase.
• Besides using funds available under various Schemes, the Government will also explore possibility of
using additional funds available under the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and
Planning Authority (CAMPA) for this purpose.
• Government will carry out other initiatives including –

• Renovation of traditional water bodies and tanks
• Watershed development
• Intensive afforestation
• The duration of second phase of Jal Jeevan Mission was 1st October to 30th November.
2ND JAN
Centre sets up 7-member GoM led by Rajnath singh to review crop insurance scheme-PMFBY
The central Government has formed a 7-member group of ministers (GoM) headed by Defense Minister
Rajnath Singh to review the crop insurance scheme ,“Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY)” &
make suggestions to improve it according to the needs of the farmers.
Key Points:
i.7-member panel: The group also includes Home Minister (HM) Amit Shah and Agriculture Minister
Narendra Singh Tomar and Minister of State for Agriculture, Finance, Tribal Affairs and Animal
Husbandry.
ii.Background:This move comes after the concerns over growing dissent among farmers about the
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Scheme, dropping out of 4 insurance companies (ICICI Lombard, Tata AIG, Cholamandalam MS, and
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Shriram General Insurance). States like Bihar, West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh(AP) have also distanced
themselves from the scheme.
iii.Concerns: The states say that the insurance companies benefited more from the farmers than the
Crop Insurance Scheme. Some more states like Odisha, Karnataka & Gujarat have also expressed their
desire to start their own scheme.The rationale of these states is that farmers are not being
compensated according to the premium paid.
iv.Reforms sought: For a long time there has been a demand that crop insurance for farmers should be
voluntary & high premium crops should be excluded from this scheme. Apart from this, every state
should have the right to include crop insurance products according to the needs of the farmers of their
state.
Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana

Launch Year: 2016
• It replaced all existing crop insurance schemes except Weather Based Crop Insurance Scheme (WBCIS)
and Coconut Palm Insurance Scheme.
Nodal Ministry: Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare

Objectives:
• To provide insurance coverage and financial support to the farmers in the event of failure of any of
the notified crop as a result of natural calamities, pests & diseases.
• To stabilize the income of farmers to ensure their continuance in farming.
• To encourage farmers to adopt innovative and modern agricultural practices.
• To ensure flow of credit to the agriculture sector.
Coverage of Farmers
• All farmers including sharecroppers and tenant farmers growing notified crops in a notified area during
the season who have insurable interest in the crop are eligible.
• Compulsory Component – All farmers availing Seasonal Agricultural Operations (SAO) loans from
Financial Institutions (i.e. loanee farmers) for the notified crop(s) would be covered compulsorily.
• Voluntary Component – The Scheme would be optional for the non-loanee farmers.
Coverage of Risks and Exclusions:
Following stages of the crop and risks leading to crop loss are covered under the scheme.
• Prevented Sowing/ Planting Risk: Insured area is prevented from sowing/ planting due to deficit
rainfall or adverse seasonal conditions.
• Standing Crop (Sowing to Harvesting): Comprehensive risk insurance is provided to cover yield losses
due to non- preventable risks, viz. Drought, Dry spells, Flood, Inundation, Pests and Diseases, Landslides,
Natural Fire and Lightening, Storm, Hailstorm, Cyclone, Typhoon, Tempest, Hurricane and Tornado.
• Post-Harvest Losses: Coverage is available only up to a maximum period of two weeks from harvesting
for those crops which are allowed to dry in cut and spread condition in the field after harvesting against
specific perils of cyclone and cyclonic rains and unseasonal rains.
• Localized Calamities: Loss/ damage resulting from occurrence of identified localized risks of hailstorm,
landslide, and Inundation affecting isolated farms in the notified area.
Implementing Agencies:
Selected insurance companies under the overall guidance & control of the Department of Agriculture,
Cooperation & Farmers Welfare (DAC&FW), Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare (MoA&FW),
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Government of India (GOI).

Premium Rates
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Salient Features:
i. There is no upper limit on government subsidy provided by centre and state governments. Even
if the balance premium (after farmers’ contribution) is 90%, it will be borne by the government.
ii. The farmers will be paid 12% interest by insurance companies for the delay in settlement claims
beyond two months of prescribed cut-off date.
iii. State Governments will have to pay 12% interest for the delay in release of State share of
subsidy beyond three months of prescribed cut-off date submission of requisition by insurance
companies.
iv. Appointment of District Level Grievance Redressal Officer and creation of State and District
Grievance Redressal Cells for fast redressal of grievances.
v. The difference between premium and the rate of insurance charges payable by farmers shall
be shared equally by the Centre and State.
vi. Gram Sabhas across the country will inform the farmers about the enrolment and benefits of
PMFBY.
vii. Use of Technology: Smart phones will be used to capture and upload data of crop cutting to
reduce the delays in claim payment to farmers.
Small savings schemes interest rates unchanged for Jan-Mar quarter of FY 2019-20:Fin Min
Current Interest Rates of Small Savings Schemes:

Small Savings Scheme Annual Interest Rate
Public Provident Fund (PPF) 7.9%
National Savings Certificate (NSC) 7.9%
Kisan Vikas Patra (KVP) 7.6% (113 months maturity)
Sukanya Samriddhi Account 8.4%
5-year Senior Citizens Savings Scheme 8.6%
Savings Deposit 4.0%
Term Deposits (1-5 year maturity) 6.9 %-7.7 %
5-year Recurring Deposit 7.2%
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About Small Savings Schemes (SSS) :

These are more of social welfare schemes .They are government run schemes that provide higher
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interest rate. These schemes are meant for small investors backed by a sovereign guarantee and tax
benefits.
Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana

Launch Year: 2015
Nodal Ministry: Ministry of Women and Child Development
Aim: To ensure a bright future for the girl children by facilitating their education and marriage expenses
What is it? It is a small savings scheme which is a part of BBBP that has the potential to have a
phenomenal impact on the lives and self-esteem of young girls in the country.
Key Features:
• Minimum and maximum amount that can be deposited in a year is Rs.250 (initially it was
Rs.1000) and Rs. 1.5 lakhs respectively.
• The account will be valid for 21 years from the date of opening, after which it will mature, and
the money will be paid to the girl child in whose name the account had been opened.
• The account will also automatically close if the girl child gets married before the completion of
the tenure of 21 years.
• Deposits can be made up to 14 years from the date of opening of the account.
• Premature withdrawal can only be made by the girl child in whose name the account has been
opened after she attains the age of 18 years. This withdrawal will also be limited to 50 per cent
of the balance standing at the end of the preceding financial year and will only be allowed for
the purpose of higher education or if the girl intends to get married.
• A parent or guardian can open only one account per girl child.
• The deposits made to the account, and also the proceeds and maturity amount would be fully
exempted from tax under section 80C of the Income Tax Act.
3rd JAN
30% of Poshan Abhiyaan funds used in 3 years as per data shared in parliament
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Rank Best Performer Worst performer
1 Mizoram Punjab
2 Lakshadweep Karnataka
3 Bihar Kerala
POSHAN (Prime Minister’s Overarching Scheme for Holistic Nutrition) Abhiyaan:

Aim: Poshan abhiyaan is the centre’s flagship programme which is aimed at improving nutritional
benefits to pregnant women, lactating mothers and children by reducing the level of stunting,
underweight, anaemia and low birth weight.
Launch: The scheme was launched in Jhunjhunu, Rajasthan in March 2018
Ministry: It is a flagship programme which would be executed with the Ministry of Women and Child
Development (WCD) as the nodal ministry along with Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation and
Ministry of Health and Family Welfare which ensures convergence with various programmes.
Coverage of the scheme:

• More than 10 crore people will be benefitted by this programme.
• All the States and districts will be covered in three phases i.e. 315 districts in 2017-18, 235 districts in
2018-19 and remaining districts in 2019-20.
Targets: It has also set an aim to achieve the following targets by 2022:
• The mission has a target to reduce stunting, undernutrition, and low birth weigh by 2 per cent per
annum, and anaemia by 3 per cent annually.
• It aims to focus mainly on children up to the age of 6 years, pregnant and lactating women, and
adolescent girls.
• Although the target to reduce Stunting is atleast 2% p.a., Mission would strive to achieve reduction
in Stunting from 38.4% (NFHS-4) to 25% by 2022 (Mission 25 by 2022).
• It will be implemented in three phases: 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019- 20. 315 ‘high burden’ are to be
covered in the first phase, 235 in next and the remaining in last.
Strategy:
• ICT (Information and Communication Technology) based real time monitoring system.
• Incentivizing states/UTs for meeting targets
• Incentivizing Anganwadi Workers (AWW) for using IT based tools and eliminating the need for
registers
• Measurement of height of children at Anganwadi Centres
• Social Audits to track the health progress of the children
• Setting-up Nutrition Resource Centre
• Jan Andolan
• Its large component involves gradual scaling-up of interventions supported by World Bank assisted
Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS), Systems Strengthening and Nutrition Improvement
Project (ISSNIP) to all districts in the country by 2022.
• UNICEF provides technical support to MoWCD for POSHAN Abhiyan under Country Programme 2018-
2022.
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Budget: A total budget of ₹9,046.17 crore was allocated for three years, 50% of which is through
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budgetary support, that is further divided in the ratio 60:40 between the Centre and the States.
For Northeastern & Himalayan states, the ratio is 90:10 while it is 100% for union territories(UTs)
without legislature. The remaining 50% is provided by the World Bank (WB) or other multilateral
development banks. As a result, the Centre’s total share will only be ₹2,849.54 crore.
Zero hunger programme:
• India’s ambitious ‘Zero Hunger’ programme through interventions in farm sector was initiated
on October 16 (World Food Day) in three districts – Gorakhpur in UP, Koraput in Odisha and
Thane in Maharashtra in 2018.
• Many more districts will eventually be covered under this dedicated farm-based programme in sync
with India’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end hunger by 2030.
• These three districts would act as a model of an integrated approach to deal with hunger and
malnutrition by adopting suitable agricultural\horticultural practices.
• There will be intensive training programme in order to identify the nutritional maladies in each
district and the appropriate agricultural/horticultural and animal husbandry remedies.
It is initiated by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) in association with the Indian Council
of Medical Research (ICMR), the M S Swaminathan Research Foundation and the Biotechnology
Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC).
Comprehensive National Nutrition Survey (CNNS)
The first-ever Comprehensive National Nutrition Survey (CNNS) has been conducted by the Ministry of
Health and Family Welfare and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to measure the level of
malnutrition in India. The CNNS is the largest micronutrients survey ever conducted in India.
Key findings:
• Only 6.4% of Indian children aged less than two years get a “minimum acceptable diet”.
• A higher proportion of children (12-15 months) residing in rural areas are breastfed
(85%) compared to children in urban areas (76%).
• Breastfeeding is inversely proportional to household wealth.
• Under the age of 5, 35% of children are stunted (low height for age), 11% were acutely
malnourished, 17% are wasted (low weight for height), 33% underweight (low weight for age)
and 2% are overweight or obese.
• Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh have a high (37- 42% ) stunting
prevalence.
• Nearly 10% of children in the age group of 5-9 years and adolescents in the age group of 10-19
years are pre-diabetic, 5% are overweight and another 5% suffer from blood pressure.
• Children and adolescents residing in urban areas have a higher (40.6%) prevalence of iron
deficiency compared to their rural counterparts (29%) due to a better performance of the
government’s health programmes in rural areas.
MAA scheme:
• MAA (Mothers’ Absolute Affection) Programme for Infant and Young Child Feeding is a
nationwide programme of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in an attempt to bring
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undiluted focus on promotion of breastfeeding and provision of counselling services for supporting
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breastfeeding through health systems.
• The programme has been named ‘MAA’ to signify the support a lactating mother requires from
family members and at health facilities to breastfeed successfully.
• The goal of ‘MAA’ Programme is to revitalize efforts towards promotion, protection and support of
breastfeeding practices through health systems to achieve higher breastfeeding rates.
4th JAN
DPIIT: FDI inflows rose 15% to $26 Bn in 1st half of FY2020; Singapore largest FDI source of India:
• Singapore continued to be the largest source of FDI in India during the first half of FY2020 with
$8 billion investments.
• Singapore was followed by Mauritius ($6.36 billion), the United States (US) ($2.15 billion)
Some of the sectors that attracted maximum foreign inflows during April-September 2019-20
include
✓ Services at $4.45 billion
✓ Computer software and hardware at $4 billion
✓ Telecommunications at $4.28 billion
✓ Automobile at $2.13 billion and
✓ Trading at $2.14 billion.
Foreign Direct Investment:
A foreign direct investment (FDI) is an investment in the form of a controlling ownership in a
business in one country by an entity based in another country.
• India gets FDI through 2 routes. They are automatic route and government route.
• The govt. has revised it norms on FDI. It includes permit of 100% FDI under automatic route for
sale of coal, for coal mining activities including associated processing infrastructure.
• The government has allowed 100% FDI through the automatic route for contract
manufacturing.
• 26% FDI under government route has been permitted for uploading/ streaming of news &
current affairs through digital media, on the lines of print media.
3rd installment of Rs 2000 to 6 crore beneficiaries under PM KISAN released by PM in Karnataka visit
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PM Shri Modi released the 3rd installment of PM Kisan scheme i.e., Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi
Yojana of Rs.2000 for December 2019- March 2020 period. Through this amount disbursal, nearly 6
crore people will be benefited. The beneficiaries were also handed over certificates under the scheme
from 8 states/Union Territories (UTs).
Under the 3rd tranche of the scheme, Rs 12000 crore has been deposited.
The money has been disbursed to the personal accounts of the beneficiaries through Direct Benefit
Transfer (DBT).
i.TN farmers handed over with deep sea fishing vessels: During the event the prime minister also
handed over keys of deep sea fishing vessels and fishing vessel transponders to select farmers of Tamil
Nadu (TN).
ii.Toll free number started: The Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare (MoAFW), Shri
Narendra Singh Tomar announced the launch of toll free number ‘155261’ for the beneficiaries of PM-
Kisan Yojana where the farmers can know about their payment status.
PM Kisan portal facilities for farmers is also being developed for ease of use.
Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN)

Launch Year: 2019
Aim:
• To provide assured income support to small and marginal farmers.
• Enable farmers to earn and live a respectable life.
Eligibility Criteria:
• Earlier, vulnerable landholding farmer families, having cultivable land up to 2 hectares and between 18
to 40 years of age are covered under the scheme.
• Later in June 2019, government has extended the PM-KISAN scheme to all 14.5 crore farmers,
irrespective of the size of their landholding.
• Any per making a contribution to Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), Employees' State
Insurance Corporation (ESIC), National Pension System (NPS), Pradhan Mantri Shram Yogi Maan-dhaan
(PM-SYM) and/or paying income tax is not eligible for the scheme.
Key Features:
• It provides direct income support to farmers at the rate of Rs. 6,000 per year.
• It will be transferred directly into the bank accounts of beneficiary farmers, in three equal instalments
of Rs. 2,000 each.
• It will be funded by the Government of India.
Achievement:
• As on November 30, 2019 the govt. has disbursed Rs. 36,000 crores under this scheme
• 8.12 crore farmer families have been benefitted and more than Rs. 48,937 crore has been
released under the scheme.
Krishi Karman awards distributed:
PM Modi distributed Agriculture Minister’s Krishi Karman Awards for progressive farmers while
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commendation awards to the states were also given at a public meeting in Tumkur, Karnataka. Kisan
Credit Cards(KCC) were also distributed.
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Key speeches: Some of the key speeches while distributing the awards are as follows:
i.Spice production in the country has increased by more than 2.5 million tonnes. Thus the export has
increased from Rs 15,000 crores to Rs.19,000 crores.
ii.The govt aims to strengthen fisheries sector through 3 levels. They are
Encouraging fisheries in villages through financial assistance to fishermen.
Under blue revolution scheme, fishing boats to be modernised.
Constructing modern infrastructure related to fish trade and business. A special fund of Rs 7.50 crores
has been allocated for this purpose.
iii.Creating of new category in the Krishi Karman Award for Nutri Cereals, Horticulture and organic
culture was also requested.
Kisan Credit Card Scheme:
MoF
The Kisan Credit Card (KCC) scheme was announced in the Budget speech of 1998-99 to fulfil the
financial requirements of the farmers at various stages of farming through institutional credit.
The model scheme was prepared by the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD)
on the recommendation of V Gupta committee.
The KCC scheme is being implemented by the all Co-operative banks, Regional Rural Banks and Public
Sector Banks throughout the country.
Scheme covers risk of KCC holders against death or permanent disability resulting from accidents.
Objectives:
To provide adequate and timely credit support from the banking system to the farmers at the cheap rate
of interest.
To provide credit at the time of requirement.
To support post-harvest expenses.
To provide Working capital for maintenance of farm assets and activities allied to agriculture.
Investment credit requirement for agriculture and allied activities (land development, pump sets,
plantation, drip irrigation etc.)
Consumption requirements of farmers.
Other Salient features of the Scheme:
Revolving cash credit facility involving any number of drawals and repayments within the limit.
Limit to be fixed on the basis of operational land holding, cropping pattern and scale of finance.
• Entire production credit needs for full year plus ancillary activities related to crop production to
be considered while fixing limit.
• Conversion/reschedulement of loans also permissible in case of damage to crops due to natural
calamities.
• Operations may be through issuing branch (and also PACS in the case of Cooperative Banks)
through other designated branches at the discretion of bank.
• Crop loans disbursed under KCC Scheme for notified crops are covered under Crop Insurance
Scheme, to protect the interest of the farmer against loss of crop yield caused by natural
calamities, pest attacks etc.
• KCC credit holders are covered under personal accident insurance up to ₹50,000 for death and
permanent disability, and up to ₹25,000 for other risk.
• The premium is borne by both the bank and borrower in a 2:1 ratio.
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• The validity period is five years, with an option to extend for up to three more years.
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• Kisan Credit Card (KCC) offering credit to the farmers in two types viz, 1. Cash Credit 2. Term
Credit ( for allied activities such as pump sets, land development, plantation, drip irrigations).
•
India’s Foreign Exchange touches all time high of 457.468 billion USD: RBI
According to the “Bulletin Weekly Statistical Supplement – Extract” released by the Reserve Bank of
India (RBI), India’s foreign exchange (Forex) reserves rose by $ 2.52 billion to a record $ 457.468 billion
Key Points:
i.The main reason for increase in foreign exchange reserves is the increase in foreign exchange assets,
which is the main component of forex.
ii.Foreign Currency Assets (FCA): Foreign currency assets rose by $ 2.2 billion to $ 424.936 billion during
the week.
FCA’s include the effect of appreciation or depreciation of non-US units like the euro, pound and the yen
held in the forex reserves.
iii.Gold Reserve: The country’s gold reserves also increased by $ 260 million to reach $ 27.392 billion
during the week.
iv.SDR:The country’s special drawing rights (SDR) with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) declined
by $ 2 million to $ 1.441 billion.
v.Reserve Position in the IMF: India’s reserve position with the IMF Fund increased by $ 58 million to
$3.7 billion.
Note: Total Reserves = Foreign Currency Assets +Gold + SDRs + Reserve Position in the IMF
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5TH JAN
171 hospitals de-empanelled & ₹4.5 cr fine imposed for fraud under Ayushman Bharat scheme
NHA has de-empanelled a total of 171 hospitals and also imposed penalty of Rs 4.5 crore on hospitals
for committing fraud and indulging in malpractices under the Ayushman Bharat health insurance
scheme.
Violations detected by NAFU

Ayushman Bharat scheme- PMJAY:
PM-JAY is the world’s largest health insurance scheme fully financed by the government. The scheme
was launched in 2018 under the aegis of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) in India
aimed at making necessary interventions in primary, secondary and tertiary health-care systems.
It is also known as National Health Protection Scheme.
Health insurance cover of Rs. 5 lakhs per family per year for secondary and tertiary care hospitalization
to over 10.74 crores poor and vulnerable families will be provided under the scheme.
It is an umbrella of two major health initiatives, namely Health and wellness Centres and
National Health Protection Scheme.
Health and Wellness Centres
Under this 1.5 lakh existing sub centres will bring health care system closer to the homes of people in
the form of Health and wellness centres. These centres will provide comprehensive health care,
including for non-communicable diseases and maternal and child health services.
List of Services to be provided at Health & Wellness Centre
• Pregnancy care and maternal health services
• Neonatal and infant health services
• Child health
• Chronic communicable diseases
• Non-communicable diseases
• Management of mental illness
• Dental care
• Eye care
• Geriatric care Emergency medicine
National Health Protection Mission (AB-PMJAY)
Benefits
• AB-PMJAY provides a defined benefit cover of Rs. 5 lakh per family per year. This cover will take
care of almost all secondary care and most of tertiary care procedures.
• To ensure that nobody is left out (especially women, children and elderly) there will be no cap
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on family size and age in the scheme.

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• The benefit cover will also include pre and post-hospitalisation expenses. All pre-existing
conditions will be covered from day one of the policy. A defined transport allowance per
hospitalization will also be paid to the beneficiary.
• Benefits of the scheme are portable across the country and a beneficiary covered under the
scheme will be allowed to take cashless benefits from any public/private empanelled hospitals
across the country.
• The beneficiaries can avail benefits in both public and empanelled private facilities. All public
hospitals in the States implementing AB-PMJAY, will be deemed empanelled for the Scheme.
Hospitals belonging to Employee State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) may also be empanelled
based on the bed occupancy ratio parameter. As for private hospitals, they will be empanelled
online based on defined criteria.
• To control costs, the payments for treatment will be done on package rate (to be defined by the
Government in advance) basis. The package rates will include all the costs associated with
treatment. For beneficiaries, it will be a cashless, paper less transaction. Keeping in view the
State specific requirements, States/ UTs will have the flexibility to modify these rates within a
limited bandwidth.
Eligibility criteria
• AB-PMJAY is an entitlement based scheme with entitlement decided on the basis of deprivation
criteria in the SECC database.
• The different categories in rural and urban areas include
• families having only one room with kucha walls and kucha roof;
• families having no adult member between age 16 to 59;
• female headed households with no adult male member between age 16 to 59;
• disabled member and no able bodied adult member in the family;
• SC/ST households;
• landless households deriving major part of their income from manual casual labour,
• Families in rural areas having any one of the following: households without shelter, destitute,
living on alms, manual scavenger families, primitive tribal groups, legally released bonded
labour.
• For urban areas, 11 defined occupational categories are entitled under the scheme -
Occupational Categories of Workers, Rag picker, Beggar, Domestic worker, Street vendor/
Cobbler/hawker / Other service provider working on streets, Construction worker/ Plumber/
Mason/ Labour/ Painter/ Welder/ Security guard/, Coolie and another head-load worker,
Sweeper/ Sanitation worker / Mali, Home-based worker/ Artisan/ Handicrafts worker / Tailor,
Transport worker/ Driver/ Conductor/ Helper to drivers and conductors/ Cart puller/ Rickshaw
puller, Shop worker/ Assistant/ Peon in small establishment/ Helper/Delivery assistant /
Attendant/ Waiter, Electrician/ Mechanic/ Assembler/ Repair worker, Washerman/ Chowkidar.
As per the SECC 2011, the following beneficiaries are automatically excluded:
• Households having motorized 2/3/4 wheeler/fishing boat
• Households having mechanized 3/4 wheeler agricultural equipment
• Households having Kisan Credit Card with credit limit above Rs. 50,000/ -
• Household member is a government employee
• Households with non - agricultural enterprises registered with government
• Any member of household earning more than Rs. 10,000/ - per month
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• Households paying income tax

• Households paying professional tax
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• House with three or more rooms with pucca walls and roof
• Owns a refrigerator
• Owns a landline phone
• Owns more than 2.5 acres of irrigated land with 1 irrigation equipment
• Owns 5 acres or more of irrigated land for two or more crop season
• Owning at least 7.5 acres of land or more with a t least one irrigation equipment
About National Health Authority:

Fact- National Health Authority is the successor of National Health Agency, which was functioning as a
registered society since 23rd May, 2018. It was reconstituted as National Health Authority on 2nd
January 2019.
Chief Executive Officer(CEO)- Dr. Indu Bhushan (ceo of AB-PMJAY)
Deputy CEO- Dr Praveen Gedam (Deputy CEO of AB-PMJAY)
6th JAN
Eight States finalized Agriculture Export Policy by the Government of India
As per Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), eight states
namely Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, Nagaland, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Punjab, and Karnataka
finalized an action plan for Agriculture Export Policy (AEP) to enhance exports.
Key Points:
i.Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) ensures the
involvement for states in AEP.
ii.A MoU was signed with the National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC) to include co-
operatives for active role in AEP. Over 800 farmers producer organizations were signed the agreement.
iii.The product clusters selected are Jalandhar, Punjab (Potato), Sangli, Maharashtra (Grapes), Salem,
Tamil Nadu (Poultry products), Theni, Tamil Nadu (Banana), Chittoor, Andhra Pradesh (Mango), Indore,
Madhya Pradesh (Onion), Jodhpur, Rajasthan (Isabgol) and Chikkaballapur, Karnataka (Rose Onion).
iv.Under the guidance of APEDA, states are operating a market intelligence cell.
v.APEDA launched the Farmer connect portal on its website to interact with exporters.
About Agriculture Export Policy:
i.Agriculture Export Policy was approved by the Union Cabinet in 2018.
ii.It aims to increase the potential of Indian agriculture to make India a global power in agriculture.
iii.This policy also helps the government in achieving the target of doubling the farmer’s income from 30
billion USD to 60 billion USD by 2022.
MP cabinet approves Mukhyamantri karmchari swasthya bima yojana, rollout from April 1,2020
- for the welfare of all 12.55 lakh employees of the state.
Mukhya Mantri Karmchari Swasthya Bima Yojana

Key Points:
i.Benefits of the scheme: Under this, Rs 5 lakh for general illness and 10 lakh for critical illness &
Cashless treatment facility up to Rs 10,000 per annum in OPD (Outpatient Department) will be provided
/ free medicines will be distributed.
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ii.Beneficiaries: All the current and retired employees of the state will get the benefit of the scheme.
These include government employees, contract workers, teacher cadres, nagar soldiers, employees
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serving in autonomous institutions of the state.
This scheme will be optional for employees working in corporations / boards and officers of All India
Services (AIS).
iii.Other approvals:
The government has decided to increase the amount of discretionary funds of the Ministers from 50
lakh to one crore rupees in the state. Similarly, the annual voluntary grant amount of Ministers of State
has been increased from 35 lakh to 60 lakh.
Along with this, approval has been given to fill 560 posts in Women and Child Development
Department(WCD) to operate 100 % aided ‘One Stop Centre’ Scheme of the Government of India (GoI)
in 51 districts of the State.
Under the loan waiver scheme called “Jai Kisan Fasal Rin Maafi Yojana”,the government has so far
forgiven the debt of 21 lakh farmers. Now another list has been prepared. In which loan of 10 lakh
farmers will be waived.
7th JAN
VVI
MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE & FAMILY WELFARE
YEAR END REVIEW REPORT 2019
Launch of farmers’ pension scheme PM Kisan Maan Dhan Yojana; Over 19 lakh beneficiaries
registered till date
• PM-KMY inaugurated by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi on 12th September, 2019
• provides for payment of minimum pension of Rs.3000/- per month to the eligible small and
marginal farmers on attaining the age of 60 years.
• It is voluntary and contributory pension scheme, with entry age of 18 to 40 years.
• The monthly contribution by farmer ranges between Rs.55 to 200.
• Central Government will contribute an equal amount in the pension scheme.
• Till now 19, 19, 802 beneficiaries have been registered.
Launch of PM KISAN scheme; 8.12 crore beneficiaries registered till date
• PM-KISAN Scheme inaugurated by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi on 24th February,
2019
• It provides for transfer of an amount of Rs. 6000/- per year in three equal instalments each of
Rs. 2000/- directly into the bank account of beneficiary farmer families.
• The Scheme initially covered only small and marginal farmer families with land holding upto 2
hectares as beneficiaries, subject to certain exclusion criteria for higher income status. The
Government later extended the scheme with effect from 1st June 2019 to all farmer families
irrespective of land holding size, subject to applicable exclusions.
• Since the launch of PM Kisan till now about 8.12 crore farmer families have been benefitted
and more than Rs. 48,937 crore has been released under the scheme.
• A new facility has been provided on PM-KISAN Web-portal (www.pmkisan.gov.in)
through ‘Farmers’ Corner’ Link to facilitate the farmers for self registration, edit his/her name
in PM-Kisan data base as per Aadhar Card, access the beneficiary list and status of payment.
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• The farmers are being facilitated for self registration and data correction through Common
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Service Centers.
Government constitutes a High Powered Committee of Chief Ministers for ‘Transformation of Indian
Agriculture’
A High Powered Committee of Chief Ministers for “Transformation of Indian Agriculture” has been
constituted and two meetings of the Committee have been held on 18th July, 2019 and 16th August 2019
to deliberate and firm up their report.
Minimum Support Prices (MSPs) for Kharif 2019-20 season and Rabi Crops of 2019-20 increased
The Union Government has announced an increase in MSP for Kharif 2019-20 season.
• MSP of Paddy increased by Rs.65 per quintal, Jowar by Rs.120 per quintal, Bajra by Rs.50 per
quintal, Ragi by Rs.253 per quintal and Maize by Rs.60 per quintal.
• MSP of Tur, Moong and Urad pulses raised by Rs.125, Rs.75 & Rs.100 per quintal respectively.
• MSP of Groundnut up by Rs.200 per quintal, Sunflower seed by Rs.262 per quintal, Nigerseed
by Rs.63 per quintal, Medium staple cotton by Rs.105 per quintal, Long staple Cotton by Rs.100
per quintal, Soybeen (yellow) by Rs. 311 per quintal and Sesamum by Rs. 236 per quintal.
The Government has announced the increase in the Minimum Support Prices (MSPs) for Rabi Crops of
2019-20 to be marketed in Rabi marketing season (RMS) 2020-21.
The MSP of Wheat and Barley increased by Rs. 85 per quintal each, Gram by Rs. 255 per quintal,
Lentil by Rs. 325 per quintal, Rapeseed & Mustard by Rs. 225 per quintal and Safflower by Rs. 270 per
quintal.
e-NAM –One Nation One Market
• 421 new mandis have been approved for integration under the e-NAM.
• Along with these, FPOs have also been on-boarded on e-NAM portal and they have started
uploading their produce for trading from their premise.
• Further, 23 Warehouses of CWC located in 11 districts of AP have been declared as Deemed
Market under Agriculture Produce and Livestock Marketing (APLM) Act which will facilitate
trading in future through these warehouses on e-NAM portal.
Other Initiatives and Achievements:
• 25 Seed-Hub Centres have been sanctioned across the country for increasing availability of
quality seeds of Nutri-Cereals (Millets) and the first instalment of Rs.723.00 lakh has been
released.
• During current year (2019-20), 12.40 lakh Soil Health Card has been distributed to farmers
under Model Village Project.
• Under Farm Mechanization 1,44,113 machineries have been distributed and 2300 Custom Hiring
Centres have been established during current year (2019-20). During 2019-20, 32,808
machineries have been distributed and 8662 Custom Hiring Centres have been established
under Crop Residue Management Programme.
• Muti lingual Mobile App “CHC-Farm Machinery” was launched, which helps the farmers for
getting rented farm machinery and implements through Custom Hiring Service Centres (CHC) in
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their area. As on date, 41,992 CHCs with 1,33,723 Agricultural machinery for renting out are
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registered on this Mobile app. Total 1,12,505 farmers as users are registered on this Mobile App.
• During current year (2019-20) 73,658 hectare additional area has been covered under
Horticulture Crops and 59 Nurseries have been established.
8th JAN
Highlights of 107th Indian Science Congress held in bengaluru, Karnataka
Prime Minister of India Shri Narendra Modi inaugurated the 107th edition of the Indian Science
Congress (ISC) also known as ISC 2020 at the University of Agricultural Sciences (UAS) in Bengaluru,
Karnataka.
The theme of ISC for the year 2020 was “Science and Technology: Rural Development”.
Objective: The main objective of the summit was to bridge the gap between farmers and tech-
developers.
Farmers Science congress conducted for the 1st time:

i.During ISC 2020, for the 1st time Farmer’s Science Congress was conducted. It was inaugurated by Dr.
Trilochan Mohapatra, Secretary of the Department of Agricultural Research and Education (DARE) &
Director General(DG) of Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR). Some of the highlights are as
follows:
• PM Modi’s vision of doubling of farmers’ income by 2022 was discussed during the event.
• Farmers were encouraged to make use of organic farming. Development of 45 types of organic
farming systems in niche areas was also announced.
• Around 120 innovative farmers from across the country participated in the 1st Farmers Science
Congress and also showcase their products.
• Experts from the different agriculture sector discussed on three themes. They were farmers
innovation on integrated agriculture and entrepreneurship for doubling farmers income;
Climate change, bio-diversity, conservation, ecosystem services & farmers empowerment and
Agrarian distress, rural bio-entrepreneurship.
2nd phase of Intensified Mission Indradhanush (IMI) 2.0 begins in Uttar Pradesh
The Union Government has launched 2nd phase of vaccination drive under Intensified Mission
Indradhanush (IMI) 2.0 at block level in 35 districts of Uttar Pradesh (UP).
Intensified Mission Indradhanush
MoHFW
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i.It aims to achieve 90 % vaccination coverage among children under 2 years of age & pregnant women
against 8 vaccine preventable diseases(diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, poliomyelitis,
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tuberculosis, measles, meningitis and Hepatitis B).
ii.Under IMI2.0, the government will provide the immunization activity in 4 rounds over seven working
days excluding the Regular immunization days, Sundays and holidays between December 2019 & March
2020.
iii.It will primarily focus on those people left out from earlier immunisation drives including dropouts,
resistant families and under-served population, tribal areas and the urban areas.
About Intensified Mission Indradhanush 2.0:
It is the 2nd phase of the nationwide immunisation drive to mark the 25 years of Pulse polio
programme.
The previous version (IMI 1.0) was launched by the centre in 2017.
Prior to this, Mission Indradhanush launched in the year 2014, which sought to achieve 90 %
immunisation coverage in India by 2020.
The 1st round of IMI 2.0 was completed in December 2019 and the next/ 3rd round of the mission will
be launched in February 2020, where it will cover 425 blocks of 73 districts of Uttar Pradesh (UP) state
and 4th round will be launched in March 2020.
MISSION INDRADHANUSH:
Launch Year: 2014

Nodal Ministry: Ministry of Health & Family Welfare
Aim: To strengthen and re-energize the immunization programme and achieve full immunization
coverage for all children and pregnant women at a rapid pace.
Target: To ensure 90% full immunization with all available vaccines for children up to two years of age
and pregnant women by 2020.
All vaccines are available free of cost under ‘universal immunization programme’
• 7 vaccine preventable diseases which include diphtheria, whoopingcough, tetanus, polio, tuberculosis,
measles and hepatitis b.
• “Catch-up” campaign mode aims to cover all the children who havebeen left out or missed out for
immunization.
• First phase of mission has identified and targeted 201 high focusdistricts in the country that have the
highest number of partially immunized and unimmunized children.
• Technical support to be given by WHO, UNICEF, Rotary International etc.
• In addition to this, vaccines for Japanese Encephalitis, Haemophilus influenza type B, inactivated polio
vaccine, Rotavirus vaccine and Measles Rubella vaccine are also being provided in selected states.
India ranks 34th on World Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index (TTCI) 2019:
Released by: WORLD ECO FORUM

Measured: 140 economies
IND rank: 34
Top : 1. Spain
2. France
3. Germany
4. japan
5. us
Reason behind the rise in India’s Rank:
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To boost tourism sector, Government of India has taken so many initiatives. They are as follows,
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i. ‘Adopt a Heritage: Apni Dharohar, Apni Pehchaan’:The scheme is an initiative of the Ministry of
Tourism, in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture and the Archaeological Survey of India. It was
launched in September 2017 on World Tourism Day.
ii. Ek Bharat Shrestha Bharat programme: This aims to actively enhance interaction between people of
diverse cultures living in different States and UTs in India, with the objective of promoting greater
mutual understanding amongst them.
Launch Year: Announced on 31st October, 2015 on the occasion of the 140th birth anniversary of Sardar
Vallabhbhai Patel but launched in 2016
Nodal Ministry: Ministry of Human Resource Development but 8 Participating Ministries
Objectives
• • To CELEBRATE the unity in diversity of our nation and to maintain and strengthen the fabric of
traditionally existing emotional bonds between the people of our Country.
• • To SHOWCASE the rich heritage and culture, customs and traditions of each State for enabling
people to understand and appreciate the diversity that is India.
• • To ESTABLISH long-term engagements between states
• • To CREATE an environment which promotes learning between States by sharing best practices
and experiences.
• • PROMOTE the spirit of national integration through a deep and structured engagement
between all Indian States and Union Territories through a year-long planned engagement
between States.
iii. Swadesh Darshan Scheme:

The Scheme was launched in the year 2015 by Ministry of Tourism with an aim to promote, develop and
harness the potential of tourism in India.
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iv. Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spiritual, Heritage Augmentation Drive (PRASAD)Scheme: It aims at
integrated development of pilgrimage destinations in planned, prioritised and sustainable manner to
provide complete religious tourism experience & focuses on the development and beautification of the
identified pilgrimage destinations.
v. E-visa has been further liberalized and visa fee on e – visa has been substantially reduced to increase
tourism competitiveness of the country.
vi. Government of India has opened 120 mountain peaks for mountaineering and trekking for
promoting adventure tourism.
PRASAD (Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spiritual, Heritage Augmentation Drive) Scheme

Launch Year: 2015
Nodal Ministry: Ministry of Tourism
Aim: It aims at integrated development of pilgrimage destinations in planned, prioritised and
sustainable manner to provide complete religious tourism experience.
Objectives of the scheme:
• Integrated development of pilgrimage destinations in a planned prioritized and sustainable manner to
provide complete religious experience.
• Follow community-based development and pro-poor tourism concept in development of pilgrimage

destinations.
• Creating awareness among the local communities about the importance of tourism for them in terms
of increase in sources of income, improved living standards and overall development of the area.
• Promote local arts, culture, handicrafts, cuisine, etc. to generate livelihoods in the identified regions.
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• Harness tourism potential for its direct and multiplier effects in employment generation and economic
development.
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• Enhancing the tourist attractiveness in a sustainable manner by developing world-class infrastructure
in the religious destinations.
Funding:
• Under it, Ministry of Tourism provides Central Financial Assistance (CFA) to State Governments for
promoting tourism at identified destinations.
• For components within public funding under this scheme, Central Government will provide 100% fund.
• For improved sustainability of project, it also seeks to involve Public Private Partnership (PPP) and
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) as well.
Cities Covered:
• In December 2018, Central Government has included Gangotri and Yamunotri in Uttarakhand,
Amarkantak in Madhya Pradesh and Parasnath in Jharkhand.
• With this addition, the number of sites under PRASAD has now reached to 41 in 25 states.
9TH JAN
EIU survey 2015-20: 3 of world’s 10 fastest-growing cities in Kerala; Malappuram tops list
i.List preparation: The list was compiled on the basis of the data provided by the United Nations
Population Division (UNPD).
ii.Top rankers: Malappuram was followed by Can Tho region in Vietnam at 2nd spot and Suqian in China
in the 3rd spot.
EIU (ECONOMIST INTELLIGENCE UNIT):

Headquarters- London, England.
Managing Director(MD)- Robin Dew
Andhra Pradesh govt and Kfw, Germany Development bank inks a loan agreement for Rs.711 crore
under ZBNF for next 5 years
i. Karnataka was the first state to implement in India. In June 2018, Andhra Pradesh rolled out an
ambitious plan to become India’s first State to practise 100% natural farming by 2024.
ii. ii.ZBNF already covers about 1.28 lakh hectares in 3,011 villages of Andhra Pradesh and the
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financial assistance from German bank helps to cover about 2 lakh hectares in the addition.
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iii. iii.The helpline number “1800 599 3366” was also launched for enquiries related to the
insurance scheme.
iv. iv.The state government under takes ZBNF along with the Rastriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVV)
and Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana’s (PKVY) of the Centre government and technical
supported by Azim Premji Philanthropic Initiatives.
Zero budget natural farming (ZBNF):

• It is a method of chemical-free agriculture drawing from traditional Indian practices.
• Karnataka is the original pioneer for ZBNF.
• It was originally promoted by Maharashtrian agriculturist and Padma Shri recipient Subhash
Palekar, who developed it in the mid-1990s as an alternative to the Green Revolution’s methods
driven by chemical fertilizers and pesticides and intensive irrigation.
• Last year, the Centre revised the norms for the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana- Remunerative
Approaches for Agriculture and Allied sector Rejuvenation (RKVY-RAFTAAR), a flagship Green
Revolution scheme with an allocation of ₹3,745 crore this year, and the Paramparagat Krishi
Vikas Yojana, which has an allocation of ₹325 crore and is meant to promote organic farming
and soil health. Under the revised guidelines, both Centrally-sponsored schemes now allow
States to use their funds to promote the ZBNF, vedic farming, natural farming, cow farming and
a host of other traditional methods.
According to Palekar, ZBNF has following 4 wheels:
Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY)

Launch Year: 2007
• The Union Cabinet in November 2017 has approved the restructuring of Centrally
sponsored scheme Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY) as Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana-
Remunerative Approaches for Agriculture and Allied Sector Rejuvenation (RKVY-
RAFTAAR) for three years i.e. 2017-18 to 2019-20.
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Objectives:
• To incentivize the states that increase their investment in Agriculture and allied sectors
• To provide flexibility and autonomy to the States in planning and executing programmes
for agriculture
• To ensure the preparation of Agriculture Plans for the districts and states
• To achieve the goal of reducing the yield gaps in important crops
• To maximize returns to the farmers
• To address the agriculture and allied sectors in an integrated manner
Nodal Implementing Agency: State Agriculture Departments
Allied sectors covered under the scheme
• Crop Husbandry (including Horticulture)
• Animal Husbandry, Dairy Development and Fisheries
• Agricultural Research and Education
• Agricultural Marketing
• Food storage and Warehousing
• Soil and Water Conservation
• Agricultural Financial Institutions
• Other Agriculture Programmes and Cooperation
9 Sub-Schemes under RKVY
Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana – Remunerative Approach for Agriculture and Allied Sector Rejuvenation
(RKVY – RAFTAAR)
Aim: Making farming a remunerative economic activity through strengthening the farmer’s effort, risk
mitigation and promoting agri-business entrepreneurship.
Objectives:
• To strengthen the farmers’ efforts through creation of required pre and post-harvest agricultural
infrastructure that increases access to quality inputs, storage, market facilities etc. and enable farmers
to make informed choices.
• To provide autonomy, flexibility to States to plan and execute schemes as per local/ farmers’ needs.
• To promote value chain addition linked production models that will help farmers increase their income
as well as encourage production/productivity.
• To mitigate risk of farmers with focus on additional income generation activities - like integrated
farming, mushroom cultivation, bee keeping, aromatic plant cultivation, floriculture etc.
• To attend national priorities through several sub-schemes.
• To empower youth through skill development, innovation and Agri-Entrepreneurship based
agribusiness models that attract them to agriculture.
Funding: 60:40 grants between Centre and States in states and 90:10 for North
Eastern States and Himalayan States through following streams:–
• Regular RKVY-RAFTAAR - 70% of annual outlay for the following activities:
✓ Infrastructure and assets - 50% (of 70%) of regular RKVY-RAFTAAR outlay (20% for Pre-harvest
infrastructure and 30% for post-harvest infrastructure)
✓ Value addition linked production projects- 30% (of 70%) of regular RKVY-RAFTAAR outlay.
✓ Flexi-funds - 20% (of 70%) of regular RKVY-RAFTAAR outlay. States can use this for supporting any
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projects as per the local needs.

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• RKVY-RAFTAAR special sub-schemes as per national priorities -20% of annual outlay.
• Innovation and agri-entrepreneur development -10% of annual outlay including 2% for administrative
costs.
Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY)

Launch Year: 2015
• It is an extended component of Soil Health Management (SHM) under National Mission on
Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA).

Aim: Supporting and promoting organic farming, in turn resulting in improvement of soil health.
Objectives:
• Cluster Approach: Fifty or more farmers form a cluster having 20 ha or 50-acre land to take organic
farming farmers will be eligible for an assistance of Rs 48,700 per hectare for a three-year period for
adopting the traditional methods of cultivation and standard organic farming practices like zero
budget natural farming and permaculture. In this way, during three years 10,000 clusters will be formed
covering 5 lakh acre area under organic farming.
• There will be no liability on the farmers for expenditure on certification.
• Every farmer will be provided Rs. 20,000 per acre in three years for seed to harvesting of crops and to
transport produce to the market.
• At least 30% of the budget allocations need to be earmarked for women beneficiaries/ farmers.
• Government plans to form around 10 thousand clusters in three years (by 2017- 18) and cover an area
of 5 Lakh hectares under organic farming.
• Components -
o Participatory Guarantee System (PGS) certification through cluster approach - mobilization of
farmers, form clusters, identification of land resources and training on organic farming and PGS
Certification and quality
control.
o Adoption of organic village for manure management and biological nitrogen harvesting through
cluster approach –action plan for Organic Farming, Integrated Manure Management, Packing, Labelling
and Branding
of organic products of cluster.
10th Jan
Forest Committee approves Green Credit Scheme to ‘trade’ in forests
The Forest Advisory Committee (FAC) which is an apex body that considers questions on the diversion of
forest land for non-forest uses such as mining, industrial projects, townships etc. and also which issues
granting of forest clearances has approved Green Credit Scheme that would allow forests to
be traded as a commodity.
Green Credit scheme:

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I. Agencies identifying lands: The scheme allows agencies like private companies, village forest
communities etc. to identify lands for forest cultivation and ensures plantations are grown.
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ii.Compensatory forest land: After 3 years, these identified lands would be considered as compensatory
forest land after meeting forest department’s criteria.
iii.Industry approaching agencies: An industry that needs forest land could approach these agencies and
pay them for such forested land. This would then be transferred to the forest department & also
recorded as forest land.
5th edition of ‘The pulses conclave 2020’ will be held in Lonavala, Maharashtra
India Pulses and Grains Association (IPGA), the apex organisation of the import and export trader of
pulses and grains in India will host the 5th edition of its biennial conference, ‘The Pulses Conclave
2020’ from February 12 – 14, 2020 at the Aamby Valley City in Lonavala, Maharashtra.
Aim: The Conclave aimed at increasing domestic production and consumption & other areas of the trade
like improving processing efficiencies, increasing consumption, exports, value addition, post-harvest
crop management, etc.
Stats: India is the largest producer & consumer of pulses in the world accounting for around 25 % of
global production, 27 % of global consumption.
Union Power Minister RK Singh released 2nd State Energy Efficiency Index 2019 in New Delhi
Indicators: 97
Progressive states: Haryana, Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand,
Puducherry and Chandigarh
State Energy Efficiency Index 2019:
i.Assessment: This year the assessment was based on efforts and achievements in policy and regulation,
financing mechanisms, institutional capacity, adoption of energy efficiency measures and energy savings
achieved.
• States/UTs grouped into 4: For rational comparison, States/UTs were grouped into 4
categories based on Total Primary Energy Supply (TPES) required to meet the state’s actual
energy demand (electricity, coal, oil, gas, etc.). The 4 categories were Frontrunner, Achiever,
Contender and Aspirant.
ii.Front Runner: No States/UTs were listed in the frontrunner category.
iii.Achiever: The states and UTs listed under front runner categories were Haryana, Kerala and
Karnataka, thus making the total count to 3.
iv.Contender: Totally it is 8.
v.Aspirant: Totally it is 24.
Index and indicators:
i. Index development: The index was developed by the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) in association
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with Alliance for an Energy Efficient Economy (AEEE).

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iii.Assessment by indicators: The 97 indicators will assess the progress based in 5 distinct sectors
namely buildings, industry, municipalities, transport, agriculture and DISCOMs (distribution
companies).
Key Takeaways for States

3-point agenda has been suggested to be considered by state agencies. They are as follows:
• Proactive role by states to be taken in policy formulation and implementation

• Strengthening the mechanism for data capture, management of data
• Enhancing the credibility of EE schemes.
11th JAN
RBI formulates National Strategy for Financial Inclusion for the period 2019-2024
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has planned the National Strategy for Financial Inclusion (NSFI) for the
period 2019-2024.
Vision: ‘A financially aware and empowered India’
Target beneficiary: It is an ambitious strategy which targets to strengthen the ecosystem for
various modes of digital financial services in all Tier-II to Tier VI centres to create the necessary
infrastructure to move towards a less-cash society by March 2022.
Classification of Centres (tier-wise) Population (as per 2011 Census)
Tier I - 1, 00,000 and above
Tier II - 50,000 to 99,999
Tier III - 20,000 to 49,999
Tier IV - 10,000 to 19,999
Tier V - 5,000 to 9,999
Tier VI - Less than 5000
➢ NSFI approval: The national strategy plan, i.e., NSFI was finalised and approved by Financial
Stability Development Council (FSDC).
NSFI recommendation: The key recommendations of NSFI are as follows:
➢ Banking outlets to be increased: Increasing outreach of banking outlets to provide financial
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inclusion to every village within a 5 kilometre radius/ 500 households in hilly areas by March
2020.
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➢ Digital architecture: Moving to digital and consent based architecture for customer by March
2024. Access to financials service providers through mobile device by March 2024.
➢ Digital payments: Moving to a less cash society by enhancing digital payments by March 2022.
➢ Current financial inclusion programme: Currently the govt. promotes financial inclusion through
Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) which is a financial inclusion scheme applicable to all
people aged from 10-65 years.
➢ Public Credit Registry: The strategy also envisions to make the Public Credit Registry (PCR) fully
operational by March 2022 so that authorised financial entities could leverage it for assessing
credit proposals from all citizens.
Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY)

Launch Year: 2014
Nodal Ministry: Ministry of Finance
Aim: It aims to expand and make affordable access to financial services, namely, Banking/ Savings &
Deposit Accounts, Remittance, Credit, Insurance, Pension for every household.
Phases of Implementation
Phase I (15 August 2014 - 14 August 2015)
• Universal access to banking facilities for all households across the country through a bank branch or a
fixed point Business Correspondent (BC) (Bank Mitr) outlet within a reasonable distance.
• To cover all households with at least one basic banking account with RuPay Debit Card with inbuilt Rs
1 lakh accident insurance cover.
• Financial literacy programme to be taken to the village level.
• Expansion of Direct Benefit Transfer under various government schemes through bank accounts of the
beneficiaries.
• Issuance of Kisan Credit Card is also proposed.
Phase II (15 August 2015 - 14 August 2018)

• Providing micro-insurance to the people.
• It focuses on coverage of households as against the earlier plan which focused on coverage of villages.
• It focuses on coverage of rural as well as urban areas.
• Overdraft facility upto Rs.5000/- is available in only one account per household, preferably lady of the
household after satisfactory operation of the account for 6 months.
• Any individual above the age of 10 years can open Basic Savings Bank Deposit Account (BSBDA)
Account.
• Unorganised sector pension schemes like Swavalamban through the Business Correspondents.
Phase III (beyond 14 August 2018)

• The flagship financial inclusion program (PMJDY) will focus on opening accounts from "every
household to every adult".
• Existing Overdraft (OD) limit of Rs 5,000 to be raised to Rs 10,000.
• There will not be any conditions attached for OD up to Rs 2,000.
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• Age limit for availing OD facility to be revised from 18-60 years to 18-65 years.
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• Under the expanded coverage from "every household to every adult", accidental insurance cover for
new RuPay card holders to be raised from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 2 lakh to new PMJDY accounts opened after
28.8.18.
Salient Features:
• Provision of zero balance bank accounts.
• Interest on deposit.
• Life insurance cover of Rs. 30,000 payable on death of the beneficiary, subject to fulfillment of the
eligibility condition.
• Easy transfer of money across India.
• Beneficiaries of Government Schemes will get Direct Benefit Transfer in these accounts.
• After satisfactory operation of the account for 6 months, overdraft facility to be permitted.
• In August 2019, RTI reveals that over Rs 1 lakh crore deposited in PMJDY accounts.
IEA’s India 2020 energy policy review: India to surpass China in terms of oil demand growth by mid-
2020s
‘India 2020 Energy Policy Review’ covers the key energy sectors of oil, natural gas and electricity and
identify the main energy security issues.
Released by: International Energy Agency (IEA) in collaboration with NITI (National Institution for
Transforming India) Aayog
Findings:
• India will overtake China by mid-2020 in terms of crude oil demand growth.
• India is the 3rd largest consumer of crude oil after China and the United States(US)
About International Energy Agency (IEA):
Headquarters– Paris, France
12th JAN
Petroleum minister Pradhan launched PURVODAYA mission in steel sector in Kolkata, West Bengal
PURVODAYA
Min: Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas & Steel
Aim: driving accelerated development of eastern India through integrated steel hub
Features:
• The proposed steel hub encompasses of Odisha, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal and
Northern Andhra Pradesh
• India has come up with Rs. 102 lakh crore worth National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP)
Union Minister Smriti Irani launched Yashaswini scheme, swasthya Sakhi Project and Breast cancer
initiative in Goa
Yashaswini Scheme:
i.Under this scheme, interest free loans up to Rs. 5 lakhs with a tenure of 5 years will be given to
women self-help groups by the state government of Goa.
ii.The loan amount will be paid in four installments and repayment of the loan starts from the second
year.
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Breast Cancer screening initiative:

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Under this initiative, women will be screened for breast cancer by the healthcare workers of the state by
which healthcare services will be reached out in rural areas of the state. Nearly 20,000 women in the
state will be screened under this initiative.
Swasthya Sakhi Project:

i.Under this Project a diagnostic kit is given to the healthcare workers which helps them to conduct
basic diagnostic tests for People in the state at their doorsteps.
ii.The diagnostic kit is developed by the Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI)along with Procter and
Gamble to manufacture and supply the kits using corporate social responsibility (CSR) fund.
iii.It contains an interface unit, a tablet and the peripheral bag which contains necessary equipment to
test blood pressure, blood sugar, blood haemoglobin and heart rate.
14th JAN
India’s under-5 mortality of girls exceeds that of boys: UN Child Mortality report
The United Nations(UN) inter agency group for child mortality has produced a report titled “Levels and
Trends in Child Mortality” among children under age 5 and children aged 5-14.
SDG:
The SDG Goal 3 is to end preventable deaths of new-borns and under-5 children by 2030. There are two
targets:
• Reduce new-born mortality to at least as low as 12 per 1 000 live births in every country (SDG
3.2); and
• Reduce under-five mortality to at least as low as 25 per 1,000 live births in every country (SDG
3.2).
India’s Findings:
• India’s neonatal mortality rate is 23 per 1,000 live births.
• According to India’s 2017 Sample Registration System (SRS), the States with the highest burden
of neonatal mortality are Madhya Pradesh, Odisha and Uttar Pradesh, with 32, 33 and 30
neonatal deaths per 1,000 live births, respectively.
• Jharkhand, Bihar and Uttarakhand showed the largest gender gaps in under-5 mortality.
• Uttar Pradesh is the state with the highest number of estimated newborn deaths in India, both
because of the high neonatal mortality rate and because of the large number of births that
occur every year in the State.
Reasons for Mortality:

• Most children under 5 die due to preventable or treatable causes such as complications during
birth, pneumonia, diarrhoea, neonatal sepsis, and malaria.
• By comparison, among children between 5 and 14 years of age, injuries become a more
prominent cause of death, especially from drowning and road traffic.
Future :
Current trends predict that close to 10 million 5- to 14-year-olds, and 52 million children under 5 years
of age, will die between 2019 and 2030.
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SUMMARISATION:
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Si.No Category State
1 State with largest gender gap Jharkhand.
2 State with highest newborn deaths Uttar Pradesh.
3 State with highest under 5 mortality rate Madhya Pradesh.
4 State with least under 5 mortality rate Kerala.
15th Jan
National draft policy on Rare Disease: Govt to provide Rs 15 lakh under Rashtriya Arogaya Nidhi
scheme
The govt has released the National draft policy on Rare Disease in which financial support of Rs. 15
lakh will be provided under the Rashtriya Arogaya Nidhi scheme for one-time treatment of rare
diseases.
Rare Disease Policy draft:
Beneficiaries: The scheme benefit is limited to people below Poverty Line (BPL) and also 40% of the
population eligible as per Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana(AB-PMJAY) norms for
treatment in government tertiary hospitals only.
Centers of Excellence Institutes:

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• Certain medical institutes will also be notified by the Union Ministry of Health (MoH) as Centers
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of Excellence for Rare Diseases.
• These institutes include All India Institute of Medical Sciences(AIIMS)- New Delhi; Maulana Azad
Medical College(MAMC), New Delhi; Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical
Sciences(SGPGIMS), Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh; Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and
Research(PGIMER), Chandigarh and 4 more institutes.
Cost of treatment:
• The patients cost of treatment will be met out by these Centers of Excellence by donations
received through the online digital platform.
• For this, govt will set up the platform for voluntary individual and corporate donors to
contribute to the treatment cost.
National Registry for Rare Diseases:

• Govt plans to set up National Registry for Rare Diseases at Indian Council of Medical Research
(ICMR) to create a database of various rare diseases.
• This has been decided keeping in view lack of availability of data on rare diseases, resource
constraints etc.
16th Jan
Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Shri Dharmendra Pradhan launched ‘Saksham’ Campaign in
New Delhi
‘Saksham’
It is a month long People-centric fuel conservation mega campaign of Petroleum Conservation Research
Association (PCRA) under the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas in New Delhi.
KeyPoints:
i. Under this campaign PCRA and Gas companies will conduct various workshops, seminars, cyclothons
to adapt the measure of using less fuels. This campaign programs will be also broadcast in social media
to create awareness among the people in conservation of fuels.
ii. PCRA along with the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has prepared a
comic book on the theme ‘Fuel Conservation’ aimed at younger generation especially the school
children which is available on E-Pathshala on NCERT website.
iii. PCRA in association with the Institute of Petroleum-Dehradun has developed high energy efficient
Piped Natural Gas (PNG) burner for household which will save gas as compared to modified Liquefied
petroleum gas (LPG) stove for PNG.
iv. PCRA also has developed attractive messages and animated documentary ‘Pollution Ka Solution”
which is available on PCRA website and YouTube.
v. The annual Saksham National Competition will be conducted in the month of July, involving schools
and students in Essay, Painting and Quiz competition and nearly 1.48 crore students are expected to
participate in the event.
vi. PCRA also carried out an awareness Campaign on 100 busiest intersections of Delhi through Central
Road Research Institute (CRRI) on encouraging switching-off engine at red light and the outcome of this
campaign was remarkable with encouraging results of approx. 22% reduction in idling fuel losses for
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petrol fuel “before” and “after” the campaign phase.

vii. Nearly 14%, 12% and 19% reduction in Diesel, Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) and LPG were
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observed due to awareness campaign.
17th Jan
WHO released Global health challenges for 2020; 13 health challenges for the decade identified
World Health Organisation(WHO) released the Global challenges for 2020.
Top global challenges: Antimicrobial resistance (AMR), climate crisis, eventuality of an influenza
epidemic and spread of infectious diseases such as malaria, HIV (Human immunodeficiency virus) and
tuberculosis (TB) were listed as the top global health challenges for 2020.
13 challenges: The 13 global challenges are addressing climate crisis; delivering health amid conflict;
fighting health care inequality; expanding access to medicines; stopping infectious diseases; preparing
for epidemics; guarding against dangerous products; investing in health workers; Protecting the world’s
youth; gaining public trust; harnessing new technologies; Protecting lifesaving medicines and finally
keeping health care clean.
Main Reason: Lack of medical access is the main reason for these 13 potential threats. Nearly 1/3rd of
the people globally lack access to medicines, vaccines, and various other health products which act as
the 2nd largest expenditure for most health systems.
Findings:
• Air pollution: 7million people are being killed every year due to Air pollution.
• WHO says that another 18 million health workers are required by 2030.
15th Global Risk Report 2020

Released by: WEF
• Based on the work of the Global Risk Network, the report describes changes occurring
landscape from year to year and identifies global catastrophic risks.
• The report explores the interconnectedness of risks, and is intended to raise awareness about
the need for a multi-stakeholder approach to the mitigation of global risk.
Top 10 risks by likelihood as per the latest report:
1. Extreme weather events.

2. Failure of climate change mitigation and adaption.
3. Major natural disasters.
4. Massive incident of data fraud/theft.
5. Large scale cyberattacks.
6. Man-made environmental damage and disasters.
7. Large-scale involuntary migration.
8. Major biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse.
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9. Water crises.
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10. Asset bubbles in a major economy
Findings:
• Over 78 % of the 750 global experts expect rise in “economic confrontations” and “domestic
political polarization” in 2020.
• 90% of the respondents to the Global Risks Perception Survey (GRPS) expect that “extreme
heat”, “destruction of ecosystems” and “health impacted by pollution” will worsen in 2020.
• Worldwide economic stress and damage from natural disasters in 2018 totalled $165 billion,
and 50% of that total was uninsured.
• The survey rated “information infrastructure breakdown” will be the 6th most impactful risk in
the years until 2030.
• cross G20(group of 20) economies, public debt was expected to reach 90% of GDP in 2019,
which is the highest level on record. The debt is also expected to grow even more to 95% in
2024.
• The WHO (World Health Organisation) estimates that AMR (Antimicrobial Resistance) could
result in 10 million deaths by 2050.
18th JAN
DV Sadananda launched HURL’s brand “APNA UREA-Sona Ugle” & unveiled company logo in New
Delhi
Gowda launched “APNA UREA – Sona Ugle” brand of Hindustan Urvarak & Rasayan Limited (HURL) and
also the company’s logo at an event in New Delhi.
HURL: It is a Joint venture(JV) company 3 Maharatna companies as its lead promoters which are Coal
India Limited (CIL), NTPC Limited (NTPC) and Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) and Fertilizer
Corporation of India Ltd (FCIL) & Hindustan Fertilizer Corporation Limited (HFCL) as other two partners.
Bahadurpur and Kheri Viran to become India’s first model sports villages
Two villages namely Bahadurpur and Kheri Viran of Uttar Pradesh (UP) has set to become India’s first
‘Model Sports villages’ as a part of Institute of Management Technology (IMT) Ghaziabad, UP ‘Adarsh
Khel Gram’ program in association with NGO(Non Governmental Organization)‘ Sports: A Way of Life’
to evolve sports culture and increase sports literacy in the country.
19th JAN
Gujarat leads in water efficiency survey under National hydrology project, Delhi among worst
performing states
According to the rankings of ‘Central and state governmental water departments based on their
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efficiency targets for 2019’ released by Ministry of Jal Shakti, Gujarat ranked the best for parameters
on efficiency targets , while National Capital Territory of Delhi remains in the worst-performing state
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category.
Departments wise ranking:
The Survey of India (SoI) received top spot among the 7 central government departments reviewed on
parameters for procurement, finance, real-time data acquisition system, data digitization, analytical
work, pieces of training
State wise ranking:
• Delhi improved its position by 6 places to get 35th rank in 2019 as against bottom 41 in 2018.
• Tamil Nadu (TN) ranked best among the states that significantly improved its ranking.
20th Jan
1st of Krishi Manthan 2020 begins in Ahmedabad, Gujarat
The 1st edition of the Krishi Manthan 2020 which is a Food, Agri-business and Rural Development
Summit of Asia was held in Ahmedabad, Gujarat on December 28-29, 2019. The event was organised by
the Food and Agribusiness Committee of the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA).
WEF’s 1st Global Social Mobility Index 2020: India ranks 76th & Denmark tops the list
Global Social Mobility Index
Ind- 76, with score=42.7
Top 3: Denmark, Norway, Finland
Total: 82
Indicators/Parameters: 10 indicators and 5 dimensions
5 dimensions are health; education (access, quality and equity); technology; work (opportunities, wages,
conditions); and protections & institutions (social protection and inclusive institutions)
World Findings:
G7 countries: Among the G7(group of 7) countries, Germany is the most socially mobile, with rank 11.
By 2030: The world’s economies will be boosted by nearly 5%.
BRICS nations: When comparing all the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) nations,
Russia (rank 39) is the most socially mobile.
India Findings:
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About World Economic Forum(WEF):
Founded- January 1971.
Headquarters- Geneva, Switzerland.
Founder & Chairman- Klaus Schwab.
WGC: RBI ranked 6th among central banks in buying gold abroad; China’s central bank tops
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has been ranked 6th largest buyer of sovereign gold abroad after it
purchased 25.2 tonnes in the first 10 months of 2019 according to World Gold Council(WGC) report
titled “Outlook 2020: Global economic trends and their impact on gold”.
Top: China
• Forex reserves crosses $450 billion: To be more precise, the Forex reserves surged to a new
high of $451.7 billion as of December 3, 2019, which is the largest in recent years.
• Current holdings in gold: RBI currently holds 625.2 tonnes of gold, that forms 6.6% of its forex
reserves.
About World Gold Council(WGC):
Founded- 1987.
Headquarters- London, United Kingdom(UK).
Chief Executive Officer(CEO)- David Tait.
Managing director(MD), India- Somasundaram PR
Chairman- David Harquail
21st JAN
‘One Nation, One Ration Card’ scheme will be implemented by June 1, 2020: Union Minister Ram Vilas
Paswan
• PREPONEMENT: This scheme has been preponed from its original date of June 30, 2020 to June
43
1, 2020.
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• PILOT BASIS: On January 1, 2020 the scheme is operational in 12 states across the country
which includes Madhya Pradesh, Goa, Tripura, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Kerala,
Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Telangana.
• BENEFICIARIES: Under this scheme, the beneficiaries will be able to avail their entitled food
grain under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) from any Fair Price Shop located across India.
• The beneficiaries will be identified and verified through Aadhaar authentication at the Fair Price
Shops on the electronic point of sale (e-POS) devices.
• Families who have food security cards will be able to buy rice, wheat or any food grain at a
subsidised price from any ration shop in above mentioned four states.
• The ration cards will need to be linked with the Aadhaar Number to avail the service
• Currently NFSA covers nearly 81.34 Crore people across the country, who are now able to take
advantage of One Nation One Ration Card Scheme.
APEDA sets up 186 Agri Products testing laboratories across the country
❖ Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) has added
135 laboratories to existing 51 recognized laboratories.
❖ With this initiative APEDA recognition of laboratories has reached 186 laboratories across the
country.
❖ The number of Agri product testing laboratories have increased in states like Maharashtra (35),
Gujarat (23), Andhra Pradesh & Telangana (10), Tamil Nadu (23) and Karnataka (17).
12th National Tribal Youth Exchange Programme inaugurated in Puducherry

Lieutenant Governor (LG) of Puducherry Dr Kiran Bedi inaugurated the 12th National Tribal youth
programme. It is a week long program in which 200 Youths from Naxal-affected districts of Chattisgarh
are taking part in this programme.
Organisers: The programme has been jointly organized by Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan (NYKS) and
Puducherry Government to ensure development and empowerment of the tribal youths.
Oxfam Report: India’s richest 1% people’s Wealth is 4 times of 70% of population

Oxfam Report: ‘Time to Care: Unpaid and underpaid care work and the global inequality crisis’
Report on India:
❖ Indian billionaires’ wealth: Total combined wealth of 63 Indian billionaires is higher than the
country’s total Union Budget for the fiscal year 2018-19 which stood at Rs 24,42,200 crore.
❖ Unpaid care work of Indian females: Women and girls put in 3.26 billion hours of unpaid care
work every day which marks a contribution to the Indian economy of at least Rs 19 lakh crore a
year. It is also 20 times the entire education budget of India in 2019 (Rs 93,000 crore).
General report:
• Global earnings: The no. of billionaires has doubled in over a decade despite decline in their
combined wealth. Worldwide men own 50% more wealth than all the women.
• Earnings by a female domestic worker: It would take 22,277 years for a female domestic
worker to obtain per annum earnings of a top Chief Executive Officer (CEO).
• 22 of the world’s richest men have more wealth than all the women in Africa.
44
Steps proposed to reduce inequality:

Page
4R framework: Feminist economists, civil society and care advocates have proposed a 4R framework for
radical reprioritization in economies and societies. The 4Rs are recognize, reduce, redistribute and
represent.
About Oxfam International:
Fact- Oxfam is a confederation of 19 independent charitable organizations focusing on the alleviation of
global poverty.
Headquarters- Nairobi, Kenya.
India ranked 8th among the top 10 nations receiving FDI in 2019, US tops: UNCTAD report
“Global Investment Trend Monitor report 2020”
• Released by United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)
• India ranked 8th among the top 10 countries attracting foreign direct investment (FDI) in 2019.
• During this period FDI in India grew by 16 % to $ 49 billion(bn)
• Top 3: US, China, Singapore
• Global FDI :Foreign direct investment globally fell by 1% to $1.39 trillion from $1.41 tn in 2018.
About UNCTAD:
Established– 1964
Headquarters– Geneva, Switzerland
Secretary General– Dr. Mukhisa Kituyi
22ND JAN
Uttarakhand is the 1st state in the country to implement agricultural leasing policy
Uttarakhand has become the first state in India which has made a policy to lease agricultural land. After
the approval of Rashtrapati Bhavan, the state government has issued the order.
Key Points
i. Under this leasing policy, instead of giving land on a 30-year lease, the concerned farmer will get the
rent for the land.
ii. By this policy any institutions, company, firm or NGO can take farm lands of maximum 30 acres in
villages for lease for a period of 30 years and the government land around farm land can be taken for
lease by paying the fee with the permission of the District Magistrate.
23rd JAN
PM Modi chairs 32nd PRAGATI meeting 2020 in New Delhi; 9 delayed projects worth Rs 24,000 crores
discussed
Narendra Modi chaired 32nd PRAGATI (Pro-Active Governance and Timely Implementation) meeting
2020:
• PM Modi reviews 9 delayed projects of three central ministries, costs Rs 24,000 crores
• PM modi reviews progress under insurance schemes- PMJJBY and PMSBY
Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY)

Launch Year: 2015
Aim: To enhance the level of insurance penetration in the country and to provide insurance cover to
45
common people especially poor and the under-privileged sections of the society. It is an accidental
Page
death insurance scheme.
Eligibility: The Scheme will be available to people in the age group 18 to 70 years with bank account.
Premium: It is aimed at covering the uncovered population at a highly affordable premium of just Rs.12
per year.
Risk coverage:
• Rs. 2 lakh for accidental death and permanent total disability.
• Rs. 1 lakh for permanent partial disability.
Terms of Risk Coverage: A person has to opt for the scheme every year. He/She can also prefer to give a
long-term option of continuing in which case his/her account will be auto-debited every year by the
bank.
Implementation:
• The scheme will be offered by Public Sector General Insurance Companies or any other General
Insurance Company who are willing to offer the product on similar terms with necessary approvals and
tie up with banks for this purpose.
• Participating Bank will be the Master policy holder on behalf of the participating subscribers.
• It will be the responsibility of the participating bank to recover the appropriate annual premium in
one instalment, as per the option, from the account holders on or before the due date through ‘auto-
debit’ process and transfer the amount due to the insurance company.
Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY)

Launch Year: 2015
Aim: To enhance the level of insurance penetration in the country and to provide insurance cover to
common people especially poor and the under-privileged sections of the society.
Eligibility: People in the age group of 18 to 50 years having a savings bank account who give their
consent to join / enable auto-debit.
Premium: Rs.330/- per annum per member and is renewable every year.
Risk Coverage: Rs.2 Lakh in case of death for any reason.
Implementation: The scheme will be offered by Life Insurance Corporation and all other life insurers
who are willing to join the scheme and tie-up with banks for this purpose.
Key Features
• The policy provides life coverage for 1 year and the insured can renew the policy every year.
• According to one’s own choice, the insured can walk out of the scheme at any time and rejoin it in
future.
EIU’s 12th edition of Democracy Index 2019: India slips 10 ranks to 51st position, Norway tops
Democracy Index 2019

According to the 12th edition of the ‘Democracy Index 2019: A year of democratic setbacks and popular
protest’, released by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), India has slipped 10 ranks to 51st spot with
the score of 6.90 in this index.
46
Page
Categories:
• Electoral process and pluralism.
• Civil liberties.
• Functioning of government.
• Political participation.
• Political culture.
Indicators: 60 indicators
Classification:
Based on their scores each country is then itself classified as one of four types of regime: full
democracy; flawed democracy; hybrid regime; and authoritarian regime.
Performance of India:
• In 2019, India slipped 10 places to 51st position.
• It is placed in the “flawed democracy” category, with score of 6.90.
• Its score, down from from 7.23 in 2018 to 6.90 in 2019, is its lowest ever since the Democracy
Index was begun in 2006.
Global Finding:
• In 2019, the average global score fell from 5.48 in 2018 to 5.44, the worst result since 2006.
• Norway (top-ranked with 9.87) is counted as a “full democracy”.
Switzerland tops the Global Talent Competitiveness Index 2020, India ranks 72nd
Global Talent Competitiveness Index 2020: Global Talent in the Age of Artificial Intelligence
Released by: Institut Europeen d’Administration des Affaires (INSEAD), a partner and sponsor of the
United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Tent in Davos, Switzerland.
47
Page
Assessment:
This index is the Input-Output model which combines with the assessments like what does the country
produce and acquire as input and the result from the skill is considered as the output.
Key indicators: The country’s rank are decided using 6 metrics:

• 4 Input Sub Index: Enable, Attract, Grow, Retain
• 2 Output Sub Index: Vocational and Technical Skills and Global Knowledge Skills
Swiss bank Julius Baer report 2020: Mumbai among cheapest cities in the world for luxury goods,
Hong Kong most expensive
Global Wealth and Lifestyle Report 2020

Released by: Julius Baer
Topped by: Hongkong followed by Shanghai (China), Tokyo (Japan), New York (US) and Singapore
Mumbai: 28th position
23rd Global CEO survey: India 4th best market for global companies looking for growth abroad; US
tops
Released by: WEF
Report on India:
Only 9% in the global survey favour India for their companies’ growth prospects.
Rank of countries with maximum growth prospect:
Rank Country Percentage (%) of estimation
4 India 9
1 United States 30
2 China 29
48
3 Germany 13
Page
5 United Kingdom 9
Gujarat secures top spot the SKOCH State of Governance 2019 ranking
The projects undertaken by the states, have performed the best in terms of rankings across 22 different
parameters have been listed as STARS.
Top 3 Star states include:

Rank State Name Project
1 Gujarat 104 projects
2 Maharashtra 50 projects
3 West Bengal 20 projects
Category-wise state Ranking:
S.No Category Topped by
1 Governance Gujarat
2 Tourism & Culture Gujarat
3 e-Governance Gujarat
4 Health Gujarat
5 Education Gujarat
6 Power Gujarat
7 Infrastructure Gujarat
8 Irrigation Karnataka &Rajasthan
9 Police & Safety Telangana
10 Food & Civil Supplies West Bengal
11 Finance Tamil Nadu
12 Women & Child Development Rajasthan
13 Municipal Governance Maharashtra
14 Sanitation Telangana
15 Districts Andhra Pradesh
16 Agriculture Telangana
17 Urban Development Maharashtra
18 Rural Development Tamil Nadu
19 Water Resources West Bengal
20 Skill Development West Bengal
21 Transport Telangana
22 Disaster Management Odisha
49
Page
About Skoch:
It is a Gurgaon (Haryana) based think tank dealing with socio-economic issues with a focus on inclusive
growth since 1997.
Uttar Pradesh government implements ‘Mukhyamantri Krishak Durghatna Kalyan Yojana’ for the
farmers in the state
Mukhyamantri Krishak Durghatna Kalyan Yojana

Launched: 2020 by UP
Features:
• The assistance of Rs 5 lakh will be provided to the farmers’ family in case of farmer’s death or
disabled due to the accident.
• The age limit of the scheme is between 18 to 70 years. This scheme is fully funded by the
government of UP.
Key Points:
i. Within 45days, the beneficiaries will receive the amount under this scheme.
ii. UP government will launch a web portal for this scheme for its easy access.
iii. The amount will be adjusted for the person who are already receiving benefits from Pradhan Mantri
Jeevan Bima Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana or any other schemes which are provided by
the government.
24th JAN
Corruption Perception Index 2019: India ranks 80th; Denmark and New Zealand top the list
It is a composite index that draws from 12 surveys to rank nations around the globe.
Released by: Transparency International
Ind Rank: 80 (with score=41/100) out of 180 nations
Topped by: Denmark & NZ
Rank Country
1 Denmark , Newzealand
3 Finland
80 India
180 Somalia
WEF’s 1st Nature Risk Rising report:
World Economic Forum (WEF) in collaboration with PwC released a report titled “Nature Risk Rising:
50
Why the Crisis Engulfing Nature Matters for Business and the Economy”.
As per the report, global businesses are more than dependent on nature with an estimated exposure
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of $44 trillion which is half of world GDP.
Global unemployment to increase by around 2.5 million in 2020: UN’s ILO report
World Employment and Social Outlook: Trends 2020 (WESO)
Released by: International Labor Organization
Findings:
• Around 120 million people worldwide have either given up their jobs or otherwise lack access to
the labour market.
• About 188 million people in the world are unemployed & about 165 million people do not have
sufficient paid work.
• Thus, around 470 million people in the world are troubled by the problem of employment
• Around 267 million people (between the age group of 15-24 yers) are not in employment,
training or education.
Working poverty:
• According to the ILO report, people with incomes below US $ 3.20 per day are considered as
poverty-stricken people.
• Currently working poverty affects more than 630 million people or one in five people in the
working population globally.
Reasons For Rising Unemployment:
• Inequalities:
Persisting and substantial work-related inequalities (Gender, age and geographical location) and
exclusion are preventing from finding decent work and better futures.
• Global Economic Slowdown:
It is one of the major reason for not creating enough new jobs to absorb new entrants to the
labour market.
• Rising Protectionism:
A rise in trade restrictions and protectionism restricts national as well as global employment
generation.
• Decreasing Value of Human Capital:
Labor under-utilization and poor-quality jobs
Future:
It is projected to increase by around 2.5 million in 2020
About International Labor Organization (ILO):

Formation– 29 October 1919
Headquarters– Geneva, Switzerland
Director-General– Guy Ryder
It is a specialized body of the United Nations (UN). Presently 187 countries are members of this
organization. This organization was awarded the Nobel Prize for World Peace in 1969.
25th JAN
West Bengal leads in vegetable production, Andhra Pradesh tops in Fruits in 2018-19: Horticultural
production data
According to the State-wise horticulture production data released at a conference organised by the
Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare, the state of West Bengal (WB) has been at the forefront
51
of vegetable production in 2018-19 (3rd advance estimates), where the production of vegetables
Page
was 29.55 million tonnes (MT).
Fruit crops Production:
Andhra Pradesh (AP) continued to hold the top spot in fruits with 17.61MT in 2018-19.
India & WB signed $210 million loan pact for Maharashtra’s Agri & Rural Transformation Project
On January 24, 2020 the govt of India, Govt of Maharashtra and the World Bank (WB) signed a loan
agreement of $210 million for Maharashtra’s Agribusiness & rural transformation project.
WEF: Survey on trust on climate science & 1st positive impact rating 2020 launched
The 50th edition of the 2020 World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting was held in Davos-Klosters,
in Switzerland
Theme: “Stakeholders for a Cohesive and Sustainable World”.
During the summit two survey reports were released as follows:
Climate Science
• Indians were the most trusting people in this regard.
• 86% of Indians trusted scientists on climate science.
Positive Impact Rating 2020

• 1st edition of Positive Impact Rating 2020 was launched at the WEF.
• As per the rating, 2 Indian business schools, Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Bangalore in
Karnataka and XLRI (formerly Xavier Labor Relations Institute) – Xavier School of Management,
in Jamshedpur, Jharkhand have been included in the top 30 list.
Category: IIM Bangalore was placed in ‘transforming schools’ category (level 4) and XLRI was placed in
‘Progressing schools’ category (level 3) for the rating.
The 5 levels are as follows:

Level 1- Beginning.
Level 2- Emerging.
Level 3- Progressing.
Level 4- Transforming.
Level 5- Pioneering.
26th JAN
Horticulture output to be 313.35 million tonnes in 2019-20: First advance estimates

Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Government of India (GoI) has presented the first advance
report for 2019-20 & as well as the final estimate for 2018-19 for Area and Production of various
Horticulture Crops.
• According to the report, horticulture production in 2019-20 can be be 313.35 million tonnes
(mt), 0.84% higher than in 2018-19 (310.74 mt).
• The government hopes to increase the yield of these 3 vegetables (Onion, tomato and potato)
in the current financial year 2019-20.
27th JAN
52
Assam and Jal Shakti Mission wins the best tableaux awards for the Republic Day Parade 2020
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Best Tableaux Awards(states/UT):
Assam’s tableaux displayed with the theme ‘Land of Unique Craftsmanship and Culture’, had showcased
the Xattriya tradition in the form of Bhortal Nritya was chosen as the best tableaux.
Best Tableaux Awards(Ministry)

National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) won best tableaux for Ministry
Best Tableaux Awards (Departments)

Jal Shakti Mission won best tableaux among departments for government’s new initiative, ‘Jal Jeevan
Mission’, which aims at providing functional tap connection to every rural household by 2024.
28th JAN
Prime Minister to Address the 3rd Global Potato Conclave, Gandhinagar, Gujarat on 28th of January
2020
Prime Minister is expected to take an overall view of the achievements and opportunities in the area of
potato research, trade and industry, and value chain management and set a roadmap for the decade.
• The Conclave is being organized by Indian Potato Association (IPA) in collaboration with Indian
Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi, and ICAR-Central Potato Research Institute,
Shimla and International Potato Center (CIP), Lima, Peru.
• This mega event has three major components; (i) The Potato Conference, (ii) The Agri Expo and
(iii) Potato Field Day (January 31, 2020)
Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana (PMKSY)

Launch Year: 2017
• The Central Sector Scheme - SAMPADA (Scheme for Agro-Marine Processing and Development of
Agro-Processing Clusters) was approved by the cabinet in May 2017.
• The scheme has now been renamed as the "Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana (PMKSY)"
Nodal Ministry: Ministry of Food Processing Industries

Aim: To supplement agriculture, modernize processing and decrease Agri-Waste.
Key Features:
• The implementation of PMKSY will result in creation of modern infrastructure with efficient supply
chain management from farm gate to retail outlet.
• It will provide a big boost to the growth of food processing sector in the country.
• It will help in providing better prices to farmers and is a big step towards doubling of farmers’ income.
• It will create huge employment opportunities especially in the rural areas.
• It will also help in reducing wastage of agricultural produce, increasing the processing level,
availability of safe and convenient processed foods at affordable price to consumers and enhancing the
export of the processed foods.
Financial Allocation
PMKSY with an allocation of Rs. 6,000 crore is expected to leverage investment of Rs. 31,400 crore,
handling of 334 lakh MT agro-produce valuing Rs. 1,04,125 crore, benefit 20 lakh farmers and generate
5,30,500 direct/ indirect employment in the country by the year 2019-20.
53
Schemes under PMKSY -

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1. Mega Food Parks
2. Integrated Cold Chain and Value Addition Infrastructure
3. Food Safety and Quality Assurance Infrastructure
4. Creation/Expansion of Food Processing & Preservation Capacities
5. Infrastructure for Agro-processing Clusters
6. Creation of Backward and Forward Linkages
7. Human Resources and Institutions.
• Last three schemes are new initiatives launched under the scheme while first 4 were the
ongoing schemes.
Mega Food Parks

Launch Year: 2008
Nodal Ministry: Ministry of Food Processing Industries
Aim: It aims at providing a mechanism to link agricultural production to the market by bringing
together farmers, processors and retailers so as to ensure maximizing value addition, minimizing
wastage, increasing farmers income and creating employment opportunities particularly in rural sector.
Implemented By: It is implemented by a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) which is a Body Corporate
registered under the Companies Act.
Funding: Central Government provides financial assistance upto Rs. 50 Crore per Mega Food Park
project.
Components: Supply chain infrastructure including
• Collection centres
• Primary processing centres (PPC)
• Central processing centres (CPC)
• Cold chain
Key Feature:
• It is based on “Cluster” approach and envisages creation of state of art support infrastructure in
a well-defined agri / horticultural zone for setting up of modern food processing units in the
industrial plots provided in the park with well-established supply chain.
• The minimum land required for a Central Processing Centre in Mega Food Park is 50 acre and
implementation period is 30 months.
29th JAN
MGNREGA scheme faces fund crunch as 96% funds been spent
• As per Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) scheme’s
financial statement, the govt is on the verge of running out of funds for the MGNREGA scheme.
• It has been announced that more than 96% of the allocated money to the fund has been spent
and is still needed to pay the pending dues.
• Less than Rs. 2500 crore is left to sustain the scheme for the next two months.
Key Points:
i. 15 states currently have negative net balance. Out of them Rajasthan has the highest negative net
balance.
ii. Budget allocation: This year’s budget allocation was Rs 60,000 crore. This is lower than the amount
54
spent in the previous year.

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Dr Jitendra Singh launched ISRO’s Bhuvan Panchayat V 3.0 Web portal
Dr. Jitendra Singh, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Ministry of Development of North
Eastern Region, Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space launched
the Bhuvan Panchayat Version V 3.0 web portal.
• Venue: Antariksh Bhavan Bengaluru, Karnataka.
• Aim: to support Gram Panchayat Development planning in the country.

About Bhuvan Panchayat V 3.0 web portal:
i. The web portal has been developed by National Remote Sensing Center (NRSC), Hyderabad,
Telangana.
About NRSC: NRSC is one of the centres of ISRO (Indian Space Research Organization) that manages
data from aerial & satellite resources.
ii. The Web portal will enhance network application of gram Panchayats & will function with the help of
satellite technology.
iii. The Portal supports multiple tasks that makes work simpler for gram panchayats all over the country
and also has responsive GUI (Graphical User Interface) for easy access.
iv. This portal benefits around 2.56 lakh gram panchayats in India.
Flipkart signs MoU with GSHHDC to promote artisans and craftsmen

Flipkart Private Limited, has entered into an MoU with Gujarat State Handloom and Handicrafts
Development Corporation Ltd (GSHHDC).
Aim: for the promotion of local handicrafts by bringing on board thousands of artisans, weavers and
craftsmen through its online platform.
Objective: The agreement is a part of Flipkart’s “Samarth” initiative.
30th JAN
NITI Aayog’s Aspirational district ranking : Chandauli of UP tops in December 2019

Key Points:
• The ranking is based on the progress made in 5 development areas in 112 aspirational districts
across India in December 2019.
• The rankings focus on progress in Health and nutrition, education, agriculture and water
resources, financial inclusion& skill development and Basic infrastructure.
The Aspirational District Program was launched in January 2018.
• Aspirational districts are ranked every month.
• This includes districts with relatively little progress in important social sectors.
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COLOUR LEGENDS USED IN THE DOCUMENT

5th Swachh Survekshan League 2020:

-For quarter 1 and quarter 2

Rashtriya Swachhata Kosh (Swachh Bharat Kosh)

It would be administered by a Governing Council chaired by Secretary, Department of Expenditure

SBM ODF+ and ODF++ Protocol

Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin)

important phases necessary for the Programme:

Initiatives related to Swachh Bharat Mission (Grameen)

Pakhwada related activities.

Swachh Swasth Sarvatra

Swachh Shakti 2019

Swachh Shakti 2017

Swachh Shakti 2018

Swachh Vidyalaya Programme

GOBAR DHAN Scheme

Swachhta Action Plan (SAP)

Swachh Iconic Places (SIP)

Jal Jeevan Mission

• Government will carry out other initiatives including –

Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana

Nodal Ministry: Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare

Government of India (GOI).

Current Interest Rates of Small Savings Schemes:

About Small Savings Schemes (SSS) :

Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana

POSHAN (Prime Minister’s Overarching Scheme for Holistic Nutrition) Abhiyaan:

Coverage of the scheme:

Zero hunger programme:

Comprehensive National Nutrition Survey (CNNS)

breastfeeding through health systems.

Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN)

Krishi Karman awards distributed:

Kisan Credit Card Scheme:

Violations detected by NAFU

on family size and age in the scheme.

• Households paying income tax

About National Health Authority:

Eight States finalized Agriculture Export Policy by the Government of India

- for the welfare of all 12.55 lakh employees of the state.

Mukhya Mantri Karmchari Swasthya Bima Yojana

serving in autonomous institutions of the state.

Launch of PM KISAN scheme; 8.12 crore beneficiaries registered till date

e-NAM –One Nation One Market

Other Initiatives and Achievements:

Highlights of 107th Indian Science Congress held in bengaluru, Karnataka

Farmers Science congress conducted for the 1st time:

Intensified Mission Indradhanush

tuberculosis, measles, meningitis and Hepatitis B).

Launch Year: 2014

Released by: WORLD ECO FORUM

iii. Swadesh Darshan Scheme:

PRASAD (Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spiritual, Heritage Augmentation Drive) Scheme

• Follow community-based development and pro-poor tourism concept in development of pilgrimage