SPR 2020: Schemes in News Part-6

Scheme

Concerned Ministry

Features

About:

• Launched in 2016.
• It encourages employers of Small and Medium Enterprises and Micro Businesses to avail the benefits of this project.
• Under the scheme, the Government is paying full employers’ contribution of 12% (towards Employees’ Provident Fund and Employees’ Pension Scheme both), for a period of 3 years in respect of new employees who have been registered with the EPFO on or after 1st April 2016, with salary up to Rs.15,000 per month.
• The entire system is online and AADHAR based with no human interface in the implementation of the scheme.

Objectives:

1. To incentivize employers
2. promoting employment generation and
3. providing social security benefits to the workers. 

Beneficiaries:

• All establishments registered with the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) can apply for availing benefits.
• The establishments must have a valid LIN (Labour Identification Number).

Benefits:

• The employer is incentivised for increasing the employee base in the establishment through the payment of EPF contribution of 12% of wage, which otherwise would have been borne by the employer and on the other hand, a large number of workers find jobs in such establishments.
• A direct benefit is that these workers have access to the social security benefit through Provident Fund, Pension and Death Linked Insurance.

About:

• It aims to facilitate bank loans between Rs 10 lakh and Rs 1 Crore to at least one Scheduled Caste (SC) or Scheduled Tribe (ST) borrower and at least one woman borrower per bank branch.
• Loans under the scheme are available for only greenfield project.
• The rate of interest would be the lowest applicable rate of the bank for that category (rating category) not to exceed (base rate (MCLR) + 3%+ tenor premium).
• Besides primary security, the loan may be secured by collateral security or guarantee of the Credit Guarantee Fund Scheme for StandUp India Loans (CGFSIL) as decided by the banks.
• The loan is repayable in 7 years with a maximum moratorium period of 18 months.
• Rupay debit card to be issued for the convenience of the borrower.
• It also provides for Creation of a credit guarantee mechanism through the National Credit Guarantee Trustee Company (NCGTC).

Objective:

• To promote entrepreneurship among Scheduled Caste/Schedule Tribe and Women.

Beneficiaries:

• SC/ST and/or woman entrepreneurs, above 18 years of age.
• In the case of non-individual enterprises, 51% of the shareholding and controlling stake should be held by either SC/ST and/or Women Entrepreneur.
• The borrower should not be in default to any bank/financial institution.

About:

• Recently, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs announced to advance the deadline for delivering one crore houses under PM Awas Yojna (PMAY) in urban areas by almost two years to 2020 (earlier deadline 2022).
• It will provide central assistance to ULBs and other implementing agencies through States/UTs for (programme verticals): 
  1. In-situ Rehabilitation of existing slum dwellers using land as a resource through private participation 
  2. Credit Linked Subsidy (CLSS)
  3. Affordable Housing in Partnership with the public or private sector 
  4. Subsidy for Beneficiary-led individual house construction/enhancement.
• Credit linked subsidy component will be implemented as a Central Sector Scheme while the other three components will be implemented as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS).

Objectives:

1. Ensure that the housing requirement of all urban poor including slum dwellers are met through different Programme verticals. 
2. To provide central assistance to implementing agencies through States and UTs for providing houses to all eligible families/beneficiaries by 2022. 
3. Provide pucca house with water connection, toilet & electricity facilities
4. Ensure that urban localities are slums free & that all citizens have access to basic services.
5. Provide houses designed and constructed to meet requirements of structural safety against earthquake, flood, cyclone, landslides etc. conforming to the National Building Code (NBC) and other relevant Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) codes.

Beneficiaries:

• EWS category of beneficiaries is eligible for assistance in all four verticals of the Missions whereas LIG and MIG categories are eligible under only Credit linked subsidy scheme (CLSS) component of the Mission.

Key provisions:

• The houses constructed/acquired with central assistance under the mission should be in the name of the female head of the household or in the joint name of the male head of the household and his wife, and only in cases when there is no adult female member in the family, the house can be in the name of the male member of the household.
• Flexibility to States for choosing the best options to meet the demand of housing in their states.
• Central grant of Rs. one lakh per house, on an average, will be available under the slum rehabilitation programme.
• National Housing Bank and Housing and Urban Development Corporation (HUDCO) has been designated as Central Nodal Agency (CAN) for the implementation of CLSS.
• Geo-tagging for monitoring the progress of construction of houses, Public Financial Management System (PFMS) to ensure electronic fund flow and Technology Sub-Mission to implement new construction technologies, have been introduced.
• Government has also sanctioned ‘infrastructure status’ for the affordable housing sector, giving a boost to PMAY.

About:

• ESI is a multidimensional social security system tailored to provide socio-economic protection to worker population and their dependants covered under the scheme.
• The scheme was inaugurated in 1952.
• It is a self-financing scheme that caters to the social security and health insurance needs of the employees.
• The scheme is funded by both the employer and the employees as a fixed percentage of wages, which would be remitted into the Employees State Insurance Fund. 
• The fund is regulated by the ESI Act, 1948, and is administered by the Employees State Insurance Corporation (ESIC), which is an autonomous body that was statutorily formed by the Ministry of Labour and Employment.
• The ESI Act, 1948, applies to organisations with 10 or more employees, drawing a salary of up to ₹21,000. 
• It is not applicable for seasonal factories, factories engaged in the pursuit of blending, packing or repacking tea or coffee or any other processes as notified by the Central Government.
• The State Governments, as per provisions of the Act, contribute 1/8th of the expenditure of medical benefit within a per capita ceiling of Rs. 1500/- per Insured Person per annum.

Eligibility:

• The ESI Scheme applies to factories and other establishments viz. Road Transport, Hotels, Restaurants, Cinemas, Newspaper, Shops, and Educational/Medical Institutions wherein 10 or more persons are employed.
• However, in some states, the threshold limit for coverage of establishments is still 20.

Areas covered:

• The ESI Scheme is now notified in 526 Districts in 34 States and Union Territories, which include 346 complete District, 95 District Headquarters and in 85 Districts.
• The scheme is implemented in centres.
• The scheme is yet to be implemented in Arunachal Pradesh and Lakshadweep.

About:

• The scheme has been conferred the prestigious SKOCH Governance Gold Award for its Portal for Affordable Credit and Interest Subvention Access (PAiSA).
• NULM was launched by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation (MHUPA) in 2013 by replacing the existing Swarna Jayanti Shahari Rozgar Yojana (SJSRY).
• It provides for:
  • Employment through Skill Training and Placement through City Livelihood Centres.
  • Social Mobilization and Institution Development through the formation of Self Help Groups (SHG) for training members and hand-holding, initial support of 10, 000 is given for each group.

Objective:

• To uplift the urban poor folks by enhancing sustainable livelihood opportunities through skill development.

Key provisions:

• An interest subsidy of 5% – 7% for setting up individual micro-enterprises with a loan of up to 2 lakhs and for group enterprises with a loan limit of up to Rs.10 lakhs is provided.
• Cost of construction of shelters for urban homeless is fully funded under the Scheme. 
• Other means- Development of vendor markets and also the promotion of skills for the vendors through setting up infrastructure and special projects for the ragpicker and differently-abled etc. 
• Ministry of Housing launched a web portal named PAiSA.
• It acts as a centralized electronic platform for processing interest subvention on bank loans to beneficiaries under Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana– National Urban Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NULM).

Beneficiaries:

1. Urban poor
   • Street Vendors
   • Slum-dwellers
   • Homeless
   • Ragpickers
2. Unemployed
3. Differently-abled 

About:

• It aims at providing skill development to the youth for gainful and sustainable employment in the textile sector covering the entire value chain of textiles excluding spinning and weaving.
• It was launched in 2017 for a period of three years from 2017-18 to 2019-20 with an outlay of Rs. 1300 crore.

Objectives:

• To provide demand-driven, placement oriented National Skills Qualifications Framework(NSQF) compliant skilling programmes.
• To promote skilling and skill up-gradation in the traditional sectors of handlooms, handicrafts, sericulture and jute.
• To enable the provision of sustainable livelihood either by wage or self-employment to all sections of the society across the country.

Key provisions:

The scheme will broadly adopt the following strategy: 

• Aadhaar enabled biometric attendance system with minimum 80% attendance for assessment.
• Training by certified trainers having Training of Trainers (ToT) certification by Resource Support Agency (RSA).
• Third-party assessment and certification by assessment agencies empanelled by RSA.
• Placement linked skilling programme with mandatory wage employment in the organized sector (70%) and in the traditional sector (50%) and post-placement tracking for one year.
• Preference is given to marginalized social groups and 115 aspirational districts o Public Grievance redressal system. 
• For self-employment, concessional credit under the Pradhan Mantri MUDRA Yojana will be provided for beneficiaries.

Beneficiaries:

• The Scheme would target to train 10.00 lakh persons (9 lakhs in organised & 1 lakh in the traditional sector).

Implementation:

The scheme will be implemented by-

• Textile Industry
• Institutions/Organization of the Ministry of Textile/State Governments having training infrastructure and placement tie-ups with the textile industry.
• Reputed training institutions/ NGOs/ Societies/ Trusts/ Organizations/ Companies /Startups/Entrepreneurs active in the textile sector having placement tie-ups with the textile industry.