1. Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban) Programme
• The Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban) Programme launched by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation (MoHUPA), in Mission mode envisions provision of Housing for All by 2022, when the Nation completes 75 years of its Independence.
• Government has launched a Mobile App to Allow Beneficiaries to Capture & Upload Photographs of Completed Houses under PMAY- U.
• \ The Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban) Programme launched by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation (MoHUPA), in Mission mode envisions provision of Housing for All by 2022, when the Nation completes 75 years of its Independence.
• The Mission seeks to address the housing requirement of urban poor including slum dwellers through following programme verticals:
• Slum rehabilitation of Slum Dwellers with participation of private developers using land as a resource.
• Promotion of Affordable Housing for weaker section through credit linked subsidy.
• Affordable Housing in Partnership with Public & Private sectors.
• Subsidy for beneficiary-led individual house construction /enhancement.
• The beneficiaries are poor and people living under EWS and LIG categories in the country.
• The scheme is divided into three phases. In the first phase, a total of 100 cities will be covered from April 2015 to March 2017. In phase two, 200 cities will be covered from April 2017 to March 2019. In the third phase, the leftover cities will be covered from April 2019 to March 2022.
• The government is providing an interest subsidy of 6.5% on housing loans which can be availed by beneficiaries for 15 years from start of loan date.
• The government will grant Rs 1 lakh to all the beneficiaries of the scheme. In addition, Rs 1.5 lakh will be given to all eligible urban poor who want to construct their houses in urban areas or plan to go for renovation in their existing houses. One can also avail loans under this scheme to build toilets in existing houses.
2. 1st semi high-speed train Vande Bharat Express
• Country`s first semi high speed train Vande Bharat Express left Delhi for Varanasi this morning on its first commercial run.
• Minister for Railways Piyush Goyal said, tickets of the train have already been sold out for the next two weeks.
• The train, which has been designed and built in India, is running between New Delhi and Varanasi via Kanpur and Prayagraj
• . It will cover the distance between New Delhi and Varanasi in eight hours.
• The train will run on all days except Monday and Thursday.
• The Prime Minister had flagged off the train from the New Delhi Railway station.
3. PM-KISAN scheme
• Chief Economic Adviser K V Subramanian has said, farm income support scheme PM-KISAN will provide multiple benefits to farmers, including improving their credit worthiness.
• The Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana (PM-KISAN) was announced in the Interim Budget 2019-20, under which 6,000 crore rupees will be given in three installments to 12 crore small and marginal farmers holding cultivable land up to 2 hectares.
• Mr Subramanian said, producer support in India is very low compared to the other countries and the scheme will help in supplementing that.
• He said, across countries, producer support for farmers are quite high and the recent OECD study which talks about producers support in India is quite low.
• He said, the reason farming is supported in a lot of countries is that the risk-return trade-off is bad in the sector.
• Mr Subramanian said, the other important benefit of this scheme is in terms of making farmers credit worthy as financial institutions have assured cash flow for this vulnerable section.
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi will formally launch the scheme at a farmers` rally in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, on February 24.
• The data uploaded on the PM-KISAN portal till February 24 will be considered for transfer of the first instalment at the launch event and the second installment will be given from April 1.
4. LADIS – Least Available Depth Information System
• Moving a step ahead towards ensuring optimum use of National Waterways, the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) has launched a new portal LADIS – Least Available Depth Information System.
• Initially LAD information will be available for NW-1, NW-2, Indo-Bangladesh Protocol route and NW-3, along with the date of survey. The facility will be expanded to other NWs also.
• LADIS will ensure that real-time data on least available depths is disseminated for ship/barge and cargo owners so that they can undertake transportation on NWs in a more planned way.
• Details of LAD will be fed into the portal by respective surveyors and regional incharge deputed with IWAI survey vessels which constantly move on NWs.
• IWAI has designed LADIS to facilitate the day to day operations of inland vessels plying on National Waterways and to avoid any hindrance in service and operation.
• An assured depth of waterway is required for seamless movement of vessels. If real time information is made available regarding LADs in stretches of various NWs, it will help transporters by guiding them on the suitability of time of movement.
• It will enhance credibility and efficiency of information sharing to achieve seamless operations on National Waterways, besides pre-empting problems that may occur during movement of vessels.
5. National Conference on “Sustainable and Environment-friendly Industrial Production”
• Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) organised a conference on Sustainable and Environment-friendly Industrial Production (SEIP) Project in New Delhi.
• Ministry organized this conference for dissemination of results, successful models and experiences so as to enable replication and plan further actions with state agencies on Pan-India basis.
• The project worked directly with companies and advised them on environment friendly production and wastewater management in 5 industrial areas in three states (Delhi, Uttarakhand and Gujarat).
• Amongst 70 participants included representatives from 18 State Pollution Control Boards and 8 State Industrial Departments.
6. Annadata Sukhibhava scheme
• Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu announced Rs 9000 each to the farmers under Annadata Sukhibhava scheme 2019.
• Under Annadata Sukhibhava scheme 2019, an amount of Rs 9,000 will be given to the farmers having land less than 5 acres.
• This will be in addition to the Rs 6,000 announced by the Central government.
• Effectively, each farmer will get Rs 15,000 per annum.
• Farmers having land more than 5 acres, will be given Rs 10,000. This will be solely by the state government, as the Centre is not giving any aid to farmers having land more than 5 acres
7. Indian History Congress
• The Congress government in Madhya Pradesh has decided to host the 79th Indian History Congress (IHC) in Bhopal.
• The 79th session was earlier supposed to be held at Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU) from December 28.
• The three day convention will begin in the city on February 26.
• The IHC is the largest professional and academic body of Indian historians with over 10,000 members.
• It was established in the year 1935.
8. Deen Dayal Antarashtriya Hastshilp Bhawan
• Union Minister of Textiles, Smriti Zubin Irani, laid the foundation stone of a Hastshilp Complex in New Delhi.
• The Bhawan will be named Deen Dayal Antarashtriya Hastshilp Bhawan.
• The awardee artisans will be allocated space for marketing their products, on rotation basis, and preference will be given to Divyang artisans.
• Hastshilp Bhawan will have dormitory facilities for handicrafts artisans who will come from all across the country.
• There will be a separate research wing and research will be carried out on endangered crafts and new and emerging handicrafts products and markets.
9. 112 : Women safety number
• Home Minister Rajnath Singh launched Emergency Response Support System (ERSS) in 16 states and Union territories for women safety.
• Persons in distress can dial a pan-India number: 112.
• Under this system, all the states have to set up a dedicated Emergency Response Centre (ERC).
• A citizen may Press the power button on a smartphone thrice quickly to activate a panic call to ERC.
• In case of a feature phone, long press on number 5 or 9 on the phone keypad will activate the panic call.
10. Krushak Assistance for Livelihood and Income Augmentation (Kalia) scheme
• Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik unveiled a scholarship programme for the children of the beneficiaries of the Krushak Assistance for Livelihood and Income Augmentation (Kalia) scheme.
• Eligible children of Kalia scheme beneficiaries can avail assistance to study in more than 13 professional/ technical subjects like MBBS, BDS etc.
• The state government will bear all expenditure including course fees, hostel fees and mess fees under Kalia scholarship.
• Kalia scholarship will ensure that not a single eligible child of Kalia beneficiaries aspiring for technical and professional education, be deprived of his/her dream.
11. National Rural Economic Transformation Project (NRETP)
• The Union Cabinet has approved the Implementation of an Externally Aided Project namely National Rural Economic Transformation Project (NRETP) under the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana – National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM) through loan assistance (IBRD Credit) from World Bank.
• The technical assistance provided by NRETP and the higher level interventions facilitated by the project will enhance the livelihoods promotion and access to finance and scale-up initiatives on digital finance and livelihood interventions.
• DAY-NRLM lays special emphasis on targeting the poorest of the poor and the most vulnerable communities and their financial inclusion. Innovative projects will be undertaken under NRETP to pilot alternate channels of financial inclusion, creating value chains around rural products, introduce innovative models in livelihoods promotion and access to finance and scale-up initiatives on digital finance and livelihoods interventions.
• DAY-NRLM provides for mutually beneficial working relationship and formal platforms for consultations between Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) and Community Based Organizations(CBOs). NRLM has also developed activity map to facilitate convergence in different areas of interventions where NRLM institutions and PRIs could work together which has been disseminated to all state Rural Livelihood Missions.