Prelims 2020: Schemes in News part-4

Scheme

Concerned Ministry 

Features

About: 

• Phase III of Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) was recently launched.
• It involves the consolidation of Through Routes and Major Rural Links connecting habitations to Gramin Agricultural Markets (GrAMs), Higher Secondary Schools and Hospitals.
• Under the PMGSY-III Scheme, it is proposed to consolidate 1,25,000 Km road length in the States.
• The duration of the scheme is 2019-20 to 2024-25.
• The funds would be shared in the ratio of 60:40 between the Centre and State for all States except for 8 North Eastern and 3 Himalayan States (Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh & Uttarakhand) for which it is 90:10.

PMGSY – Phase I:

• PMGSY – Phase I was launched in December 2000 as a 100 % centrally sponsored scheme.
• Objective: Its objective was to provide single all-weather road connectivity to eligible unconnected habitation of designated population size for overall socio-economic development of the areas.
• These unconnected habitations included:
  1. 500+ in plain areas
  2. 250+ in North-East, hill, tribal and desert areas,
  3. 00 – 249 population in LWE districts as per Census, 2001) 

PMGSY – Phase II:

• The Phase II of PMGSY was approved during May 2013.
• Objective: While the ongoing PMGSY – I continued, under PMGSY phase II, the roads already built for village connectivity was to be upgraded to enhance rural infrastructure.
• The cost was shared in 75:25 ratio between centre and states. 

Road Connectivity Project for Left Wing Extremism Area (RCPLWEA)

• The government launched RCPLWEA in the year 2016 as a separate vertical under PMGSY
• Objective: The objective was to provide all-weather road connectivity with necessary culverts and cross-drainage structures in 44 districts (35 are worst LWE affected districts and 09 are adjoining districts), which are critical from security and communication point of view.
• Under the Scheme, 5,066 Km road length has been sanctioned.

About:

• The scheme was launched in 2015. 
• Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) is the new avatar of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM).
• But, in a significant departure from the earlier mission, the Centre will not appraise individual projects.

Objective:

• The AMRUT Scheme focuses on establishing an infrastructure for ensuring adequate sewage networks and water supply in the urban areas through the implementation of the urban revival projects.

The Mission will focus on the following Thrust Areas:

• Water Supply.
• Sewerage and septage management.
• Storm Water Drainage to reduce flooding
• Non-motorized Urban Transport.
• Green space/parks.

About:

• SAGY is a village development project under which each Member of Parliament (MP) owned the responsibility to develop the institutional and physical infrastructure in gram panchayats adopted by them.

Goals per MP:

• Three villages each by 2019, and a total of eight villages each by 2024.
• The first Adarsh Gram (Model Village) was to be developed by 2016, and two more by 2019.
• From 2019 to 2024, five more Adarsh Grams must be developed by each MP, one each year.
• This implies that a total of 6,433 Adarsh Grams, of the 2,65,000 gram panchayats, will be created by 2024.

Process:

• Gram Panchayat is the basic unit for development.
• Lok Sabha MP chooses a Gram Panchayat from within his/her constituency.
• Rajya Sabha MP chooses Gram Panchayat from the rural area of a district of his/her choice in the State from which he/she is elected.
• Nominated MPs choose a Gram Panchayat from the rural area of any district in the country.
• The MPs engages with the community, facilitate the Village Development Plan and mobilise the necessary resources particularly from Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and philanthropies.
• The planning process in each village is a participatory exercise coordinated by the District Collector.
• MPs also fill up critical gaps in the plan using the Member of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADs) funds.

About:

• The Union government’s UJALA and LED SLNP schemes marked their fifth anniversary on 5th January 2020.
• UJALA is a flagship project of the Govt. of India where it wants every home in India to use LED bulbs so that the net power or energy consumption rate comes down and the carbon emission rates can also be checked.
• It was launched in 2015.
• Target: Replacing 77 crore incandescent lamps with LED bulbs and to nullify the high-cost of LEDs that acted as a barrier previously in the adoption of energy-efficient systems.
• The scheme was implemented to set up a phase-wise LED distribution.
• It is the world’s largest domestic lighting project.

Objective:

• To promote efficient lighting, enhance awareness on using efficient equipment that will reduce electricity bills and preserve the environment.

Implementation:

• The scheme is being implemented by Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL), a joint venture of PSUs under the Union Ministry of Power.

Achievements: 

• Through the UJALA initiative, over 36.13 crores LED bulbs have been distributed across India.
• This has resulted in an estimated energy savings of 46.92 billion kWh per year, avoided peak demand of 9,394 MW.
• Estimated greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction of 38 million tons of CO2 annually.
• Government of India initiated the Gram Swaraj Abhiyan (GSA) in 2018, which was aimed at the promotion of social harmony by appraising rural communities of various government welfare schemes and initiatives.
• As a part of it, villages with poor households were able to buy LED bulbs for a special price under UJALA programme.

About:

• It was launched in 2015 and has been instrumental in replacing over 50 lakh street lights in over 500 cities in India.
• Under the programme, EESL replaces the conventional street lights with LEDs at its own costs, with no upfront investment by the municipalities, thereby making their adoption even more attractive.
• It is the world’s largest streetlight replacement programme.

Achievements:

• Over 1.03 crore smart LED streetlights have been installed till date,
• An estimated energy savings of 6.97 billion kWh per year with an avoided peak demand of 1,161 MW.
• An estimated greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction of 4.80 million tons CO2 annually.
• LED streetlights have been installed in various states across the country, helping generate approximately 13,000 jobs to support Make in India initiative.

About:

• PMUY was launched in 2016.
• Under the scheme, an adult woman member of a below poverty line family is given a deposit-free LPG connection with the financial assistance of Rs 1,600 per connection by the Centre.
• PMUY aims at providing clean-cooking fuel to the poor households and bringing in qualitative charges in the living standards.

Objective:

• Empowering women and protecting their health.
• Reducing the serious health hazards associated with cooking based on fossil fuel.
• Reducing the number of deaths in India due to unclean cooking fuel.
• Preventing young children from a significant number of acute respiratory illnesses caused due to indoor air pollution by burning fossil fuel.

Beneficiaries:

Eligible women are identified through the Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC). Where names are not covered under SECC list, beneficiaries are identified from seven categories:

• All SC/STs households beneficiaries of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana(PMAY) (Gramin)
• Antyoday Anna Yojana (AAY)
• Forest dwellers
• Most Backward Classes (MBC)
• Tea & Ex-Tea Garden Tribes
• People residing in Islands
• People residing in river islands.

Target:

• Through PMUY, initially, 5 crores below poverty line (BPL) households were targeted for providing deposit free LPG connections to BPL households by 31st March 2019.
• This target has been achieved.