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Vision 2035: Public Health Surveillance in India

Why in News Recently, the NITI Aayog has released a white paper, “Vision 2035: Public Health Surveillance in India” which is envisaged...

15 Dec 2020 NITI Aayog
Data Governance Quality Index: NITI Aayog

Why in News The Department of Fertilizers (Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers) has been ranked 3rd out of the 65 Ministries/Departments with a...

03 Oct 2020 NITI Aayog
MedSpark in Kerala

Why in News Kerala is set to lay the foundation stone for MedSpark, one of the first medical device parks in the country, in...

23 Sep 2020 NITI Aayog
Draft Data Empowerment and Protection Architecture: NITI Aayog

Why in News Recently, the NITI Aayog has released draft Data Empowerment and Protection Architecture (DEPA) which aims to promote greater user...

05 Sep 2020 NITI Aayog
A Digital Push For Healthcare

This editorial analysis is about the “A digital push for healthcare” which was published in The Indian Express on 14/08/2020. It talks...

18 Aug 2020 NITI Aayog
Planning In India

This article is based on “Thinking national, acting local” which was published in The Hindu on 02/04/2020. It talks about the scenario...

02 Apr 2020 NITI Aayog
Ayush Wellness Centres under National Ayush Mission

Why in News Recently, the Union Cabinet has approved the inclusion of AYUSH Health and Wellness Centres (AYUSH HWCs) in the National AYUSH Mission...

23 Mar 2020 NITI Aayog
Satcom Technology Deployed for Learning

Why in News Recently, the Rajasthan government has started using satellite communication technology on a broader scale to enhance the learning...

02 Jan 2020 NITI Aayog
India Innovation Index 2019

NITI (National Institution for Transforming India) Ayog with the Institute for Competitiveness has released the India Innovation Index 2019. The...

18 Oct 2019 NITI Aayog
NITI Aayog : Digital Payments Trends, Issues and Opportunities

A Committee on Digital Payments was constituted by Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance in August 2016 under Chairmanship of Ratan P....

27 Mar 2019 NITI Aayog
Another Look At Fiscal Transfers

(This editorial is based on the article 'Another Look At Fiscal Transfers' which appeared in ‘The Hindu’ on 25th March, 2019. The...

25 Mar 2019 NITI Aayog
Sustainable Tourism in the Indian Himalayan Region : NITI Aayog

Preface Mountains cover around 27% of the Earth’s land surface and contribute to the sustenance and wellbeing of 720 million people living...

13 Mar 2019 NITI Aayog
Strategy for New India at 75

Introduction NITI Aayog has released 'Strategy for New India @ 75' document by replacing five year plans with an aim to accelerate economic growth...

06 Mar 2019 NITI Aayog
NITI Aayog (National Institution for Transforming India)

Background Planning has been in Indian psyche as our leaders came under influence of the socialist clime of erstwhile USSR. Planning commission...

05 Feb 2019 NITI Aayog
The Shape of Growth Matters

(This editorial is based on the article “The Shape of Growth Matters” which appears in The Hindu on 27th December 2018.) India is on...

28 Dec 2018 NITI Aayog
Delta Ranking of the Aspirational Districts

NITI Aayog has released the ranking of 111 aspirational districts- DEEP-DIVE 2nd Delta Ranking & Insights from Household Survey. Aspirational...

28 Dec 2018 NITI Aayog
SDG India Index

The NITI Aayog has released its SDG India Index which intends to provide a holistic view on the social, economic and environmental status of the...

22 Dec 2018 NITI Aayog
Strategy for New India @ 75

NITI Aayog has released ‘Strategy for New India @ 75′ document with an aim to accelerate economic growth to 9-10% and make the country a...

20 Dec 2018 NITI Aayog
Niti Aayog Frames PPP Guidelines for District Hospitals

Niti Aayog, along with technical assistance from the World Bank, has formed guidelines for Public-Private Partnership (PPPs) for providing health...

18 Oct 2018 NITI Aayog
NAFIS Report Released by NITI AAYOG

On August 16, 2018, 'NABARD All India Rural Financial Inclusion Survey' (NAFIS) was released by NITI Aayog. NAFIS was launched in 2016-17 as a...

17 Aug 2018 NITI Aayog

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		'title' => 'Vision 2035: Public Health Surveillance in India',
		'description' => '<h3>Why in News</h3>
<p>Recently, the <a href="/important-institutions/drishti-specials-important-institutions-national-institutions/niti-aayog-national-institution-for-transforming-india" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>NITI Aayog</strong> </a>has released a white paper, <strong>&ldquo;Vision 2035: Public Health Surveillance in India&rdquo;</strong> which is envisaged to serve as a vision document t<strong>o propel Public Health Surveillance</strong> (PHS) in India and establish India as a global leader in the area.</p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>A <strong>white paper</strong> is an <strong>informational document,</strong> usually issued by a company or not-for-profit organization, <strong>to promote or highlight the features of a solution, product, or service.</strong></li>
</ul>
<h3>Key Points</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Background:</strong><br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li><strong>NITI Aayog&rsquo;s mandate is to provide strategic directions</strong> to the various sectors of the Indian economy. In line with this mandate, the Health Vertical released a set of four working-papers compiled in a volume entitled <strong>&lsquo;Health Systems for New India: Building Blocks-Potential Pathways to Reforms&rsquo;</strong> during November 2019.</li>
<li>This white paper is a <strong>continuation of the work on strengthening the health systems.</strong></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>About the White Paper:</strong><br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>This paper is a <strong>joint effort</strong> of <strong>Health Vertical, NITI Aayog,</strong> and <strong>Institute for Global Public Health,</strong> University of Manitoba, Canada with <strong>contributions from technical experts</strong> from the Government of India, States, and International agencies.</li>
<li>It <strong>lays out India&rsquo;s vision 2035 for PHS</strong> through the integration of the<strong> three-tiered (primary, secondary and tertiary) <a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-editorials/public-health-system-in-india" target="_blank" rel="noopener">public health system</a> into <a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/ayushman-bharat" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ayushman Bharat.</a></strong></li>
<li>It contributes by <strong>suggesting mainstreaming of surveillance</strong> by making individual electronic health records the basis for surveillance.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Main Features:</strong><br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Strengthen non-communicable disease prevention, detection, control and to reduce out of pocket expenses of individuals and families.</li>
<li>It <strong>builds on initiatives such as the Integrated Health Information Platform</strong> of the<a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/integrated-disease-surveillance-programme" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong> Integrated Disease Surveillance Program.</strong></a></li>
<li><strong>Aligns with the citizen-centricity</strong> highlighted in the <strong>National Health Policy 2017</strong> and the <a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/national-digital-health-blueprint#:~:text=The%20Objectives%20of%20NDHB%20are,required%20for%20its%20seamless%20exchange." target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>National Digital Health Blueprint.</strong></a><br />
<ul style="list-style-type: disc;">
<li>It encourages the use of mobile and digital platforms and point of care devices and diagnostics for amalgamation of data capture and analyses.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>It <strong>highlights the importance of capitalizing on initiatives</strong> such as the <strong>Clinical Establishments (Registration and Regulation) Act 2010</strong> to enhance private sector involvement in surveillance.</li>
<li>It<strong> points out the importance of a cohesive and coordinated effort of apex institutions</strong> including the <a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/national-centre-for-disease-control-ncdc" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>National Centre for Disease Control</strong></a>, the <a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/icmr-to-test-for-community-transmission-of-covid-19" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Indian Council of Medical Research</strong> </a>(ICMR), and others.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Vision:</strong><br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>To make India&rsquo;s PHS system<strong> more responsive and predictive to enhance preparedness</strong> for action at all levels.</li>
<li>To make it <strong>more citizen-friendly to ensure individual privacy and confidentiality,</strong> enabled with a client feedback mechanism.</li>
<li>To<strong> improve data-sharing mechanisms</strong> between Centre and states for better disease detection, prevention, and control.</li>
<li>To<strong> provide regional and global leadership</strong> in managing events that constitute a public health emergency of international concern.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<h3>Public Health Surveillance</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>PHS is an important public health function that<strong> cuts across the three-tiered public health system and care provided.</strong> Surveillance is<strong> &lsquo;Information for Action&rsquo;</strong> and is an <strong>essential action for disease detection, prevention, and control.</strong></li>
<li><strong>Challenges:</strong><br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li><strong>Data Collection and Sharing:</strong> Various <strong>verticals to collect data work differently and in separation</strong> with no mechanism for data sharing.<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: disc;">
<li>There is<strong> no single system</strong> where surveillance data generated by target specific populations like the <a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/world-aids-day" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>National AIDS Control Programme</strong></a>, <a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-editorials/paradigm-shift-for-tb-control" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>National TB Elimination Programme</strong></a>, etc. <strong>could be understood in its entirety.</strong></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Poor Quality Data:</strong> The data generated is of<strong> low quality</strong> and the<strong> research or use of data</strong> to answer critical health policy questions of the country<strong> has been very limited.</strong></li>
<li><strong>Limited Synchronisation:</strong> There is the limited ability of programme implementation structures to work in synchrony with research organisations and vice versa.</li>
<li><strong>Missing Linkages:</strong> India invests significant resources in the registration of deaths. However, various <strong>reviews have not been able to link the causes of mortality with morbidities.</strong> There was still <strong>no proper linking to find common ground</strong> between the causes of diseases and deaths.</li>
<li><strong>Lack of Human Resources:</strong> Human resources also form a formidable challenge. As many as<strong> 42% vacancies existed</strong> at state and district level surveillance systems.<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: disc;">
<li>Most of the positions of the Central Surveillance Unit at the Centre are <strong>filled either by deputation or on contract</strong> and the individuals are <strong>loaded with multiple other responsibilities</strong>.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Lack of Epidemic Intelligence:</strong> India <strong>does not have an adequate number</strong> of public health <strong>professionals having expertise</strong> in the field.<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: disc;">
<li>&lsquo;Epidemic intelligence&rsquo; can be defined as all the activities related to early identification of potential health threats, their verification, assessment and investigation in order to recommend public health measures to control them.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Under-developed Systems:</strong> A<a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/non-communicable-diseases-in-india" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong> non-communicable diseases</strong> </a>(NCDs) <strong>surveillance system hardly exists</strong> in India and other factors like integration of surveillance for NCD risk factors, surveillance of injury and accidents, air pollution and its effects, etc, are <strong>yet to be included in surveillance.</strong></li>
<li><strong>Lack of Occupational Health Surveillance:</strong> This type of surveillance <strong>addresses issues like lead toxicity, silicosis, etc.</strong> Whatever data has been generated hardly became part of India&rsquo;s PHS system.</li>
<li><strong>Emerging Challenges:</strong> Growing<a href="/loksabha-rajyasabha-discussions/in-depth-drug-resistance" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong> antimicrobial resistance</strong></a> (AMR), new infectious diseases or new strains of existing diseases and increased rate of NCDs.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Suggestions:</strong><br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li><strong>Creation of a skilled and strong health workforce</strong> dedicated to surveillance activities.</li>
<li><strong>Integration</strong> of NCDs, reproductive and child health, occupational and environmental health and injury into PHS.</li>
<li><strong>Merger of morbidity data</strong> from health information systems.</li>
<li><strong>Amalgamation</strong> of plant, animal, and environmental <strong>surveillance in a One-Health approach</strong> that also includes surveillance for antimicrobial resistance and predictive capability for pandemics.</li>
<li><strong>Strengthening of laboratory capacity</strong> with new diagnostic technologies including molecular diagnostics, genotyping, and phenotyping.</li>
<li><strong>Establishment of a governance framework</strong> that is inclusive of political, policy, technical, and managerial leadership at the national and state level.</li>
<li><strong>Enhancement of surveillance</strong> of NCDs, citizen-centric and community-based surveillance and use of point of care devices and self-care diagnostics.</li>
<li><strong>Prioritization of diseases</strong> that can be targeted for elimination as a public health problem, regularly.</li>
<li><strong>Improvement of core support functions</strong> and system attributes for surveillance at all levels.</li>
<li><strong>Establishment of mechanisms to streamline data sharing,</strong> capture, analysis, and dissemination for action.<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: disc;">
<li>These could <strong>include the use of situation-aware real-time signals</strong> from social media, mobile sensor networks, and participatory surveillance systems for event-based epidemic intelligence.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Encouragement of innovations</strong> at every step-in surveillance activity.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<h3>Way Forward</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Despite all of the challenges, India has made good progress in improving the surveillance system and implementation of this vision can thrust India to be a global/regional leader in PHS.</li>
<li>The building blocks for this vision are an interdependent federated system of governance between the Centre and states, a new data-sharing mechanism that involves the use of new analytics, health informatics, and data science including innovative ways of disseminating<strong> &lsquo;information for action&rsquo;.</strong></li>
</ul>
<p><a href="https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1680519" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Source: PIB</strong></a></p>',
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		'article_id' => (int) 6638,
		'category_id' => (int) 21,
		'title' => 'Data Governance Quality Index: NITI Aayog',
		'description' => '<h3>Why in News</h3>
<p>The <strong>Department of Fertilizers (Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers)</strong> has been ranked 3<sup>rd</sup> out of the 65 Ministries/Departments with a score 4.11 on a scale of 5 on <strong>Data Governance Quality Index (DGQI).</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>It has been ranked<strong> 2<sup>nd</sup> amongst the 16 Economic Ministries/Departments.</strong></li>
</ul>
<h3>Key Points</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Data Governance Quality Index (DGQI)</strong> survey was conducted by<strong> Development Monitoring and Evaluation Office (DMEO), <a href="/important-institutions/drishti-specials-important-institutions-national-institutions/niti-aayog-national-institution-for-transforming-india" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Niti Aayog</a></strong> to assess different Ministries/Departments' performance on the implementation of <strong>Central Sector Schemes (CS) and Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS).</strong></li>
<li><strong>Objective:</strong> To drive healthy competition among them and promote cooperative peer learning from best practices.</li>
<li><strong>Benefits:</strong> Improve the implementation framework of government policies, schemes and programmes to achieve the desired goals.</li>
<li><strong>Six major themes of DGQI:</strong> Data Generation; Data Quality; Use of Technology; Data Analysis, Use and Dissemination; Data Security and HR Capacity and Case Studies.</li>
<li><strong>Ministries/Departments were classified in six categories:</strong> Administrative, Strategic, Infrastructure, Social, Economic and Scientific.</li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>Central Schemes</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The central schemes are divided into<strong> Central Sector Schemes and Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS).</strong></li>
<li>Central sector schemes:<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>These schemes are 100% funded by the Central government.</li>
<li>Implemented by the Central Government machinery.</li>
<li>Formulated on subjects mainly from the Union List.</li>
<li><strong>E.g.:</strong> Bharatnet, Namami Gange-National Ganga Plan, etc.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Centrally Sponsored Schemes are the schemes by the centre where there is financial <strong>participation by both the centre and states.</strong></li>
<li>Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS) are again divided into<strong> Core of the Core Schemes, Core Schemes and Optional schemes.</strong></li>
<li>Currently, there are<strong> 6 core of the core schemes</strong> while 22 core schemes.</li>
<li>Most of these schemes prescribe specific financial participation by states. For example, in the case of MGNREGA, state governments have to incur 25% material expenditure.</li>
<li>The<strong> 6 core of the core CSS</strong> are:<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>National Social Assistance Programme</li>
<li>Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Program</li>
<li>Umbrella Scheme for Development of Scheduled Castes</li>
<li>Umbrella Programme for Development of Scheduled Tribes</li>
<li>Umbrella Programme for Development of Minorities</li>
<li>Umbrella Programme for Development of Other Vulnerable Groups</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</div>
<h3>Development Monitoring and Evaluation Office</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The <strong>Development Monitoring and Evaluation Office</strong> (DMEO) was constituted in September 2015 by merging the erstwhile Program Evaluation Office (PEO) and the Independent Evaluation Office (IEO).</li>
<li>It is an <strong>attached office under NITI Aayog,</strong> aimed at fulfilling the organization&rsquo;s monitoring and evaluation (M&amp;E) mandate and building the M&amp;E ecosystem in India.</li>
<li>Its vision is to improve sustainable outcomes and impacts of the government. It aims to enable high-quality monitoring and evaluation of government programs to improve effectiveness, efficiency, equity and sustainability of service delivery, outcomes and impacts.</li>
<li><strong>Monitoring through Output-Outcome Framework:</strong> In accordance with the Union Budget for 2019-20, the <strong>Output-Outcome Framework</strong> represents an important reform towards outcome-based monitoring.This is a paradigm shift from measuring simply physical and financial progress, to a governance model based on outcomes. DMEO has been working with Ministries and Departments to develop this framework since 2017.</li>
<li><strong>Evaluation:</strong> The Government has assigned DMEO, NITI Aayog the responsibility to conduct <strong>independent third-party evaluation of all the CSS</strong> in a time-bound manner so that the findings of the evaluation are made available to appropriate authorities for determining the rationalization of the schemes.</li>
</ul>
<p><a href="https://pib.gov.in/PressReleaseIframePage.aspx?PRID=1660923" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Source: PIB</strong></a></p>',
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		'category_id' => (int) 21,
		'title' => 'MedSpark in Kerala',
		'description' => '<h3>Why in News</h3>
<p><strong>Kerala</strong> is set to lay the foundation stone for <strong>MedSpark,</strong> one of the first <a href="/to-the-points/Paper2/medical-devices-in-india-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>medical device</strong> </a>parks in the country, in <strong>Thiruvananthapuram.</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Medical devices</strong> include <strong>surgical equipment, diagnostic equipment</strong> like Cardiac Imaging, CT scans, X-ray, Molecular Imaging, MRI and Ultrasound-imaging, <strong>life support equipment</strong> like ventilator, etc. as well as <strong>implants and disposables.</strong></li>
<li>Medical devices, unlike pharmaceuticals, are <strong>dependent on a mix of technologies such as engineering, electronics, material sciences and information technology</strong> (IT).</li>
</ul>
<h3>Key Points</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Established By:</strong><br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li><strong>Technical Research Centre for Biomedical Devices Programme</strong> of the <strong>Department of Science and Technology</strong> (DST), Government of India.</li>
<li><strong>Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology</strong> (SCTIMST), an <strong>autonomous institute of the DST.</strong><br />
<ul style="list-style-type: disc;">
<li>SCTIMST has made <strong>substantial contributions to the biomedical devices sector</strong> and is fully aligned with the vision of <a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-editorials/atma-nirbhar-bharathttps://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-editorials/atma-nirbhar-bharat-abhiyan-challenges" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Aatmanirbhar Bharat.</strong> </a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation Ltd.</strong> (KSIDC) which is the <strong>industrial and investment promotion agency</strong> of the Government of Kerala.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Fundings:</strong><br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li><strong>Funding from the state and central governments</strong> will meet the capital expenditure and deficit in income against expenses during the initial stages.</li>
<li>The business model for the MedSpark is <strong>self-sustaining</strong> in which its<strong> operational expenses will be generated from its revenue streams.</strong></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Functions:</strong> It will<strong> focus on the high-risk medical device sector:</strong><br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>It will provide a full range of services for the industry like<strong> research and development support, testing, </strong>and<strong> evaluation</strong> of medical devices.</li>
<li>Create an <strong>enabling support system for</strong> manufacturing support, technology innovation, and knowledge dissemination.</li>
<li><strong>High-risk medical device sector</strong> deals with the category of high-risk devices which include <strong>medical implants and extracorporeal devices</strong> (mechanical organs used in blood purification).<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: disc;">
<li>For example, <strong>implantable cardioverter-defibrillator</strong> (a small battery-powered device placed in the chest to monitor heart rhythm and detect irregular heartbeats) <strong>pacemakers, coronary stents, artificial heart valves,</strong> etc.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Benefits:</strong><br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>These services can be <strong>utilised by the medical device industries</strong> located<strong> within the MedSpark as well from other parts of India.</strong></li>
<li>It will <strong>benefit small and medium-sized medical devices industries,</strong> which dominate the medical devices sector.</li>
<li>It can<strong> leverage the existing advantage of Kerala in the high-risk medical device manufacture</strong> and develop it into the most sought after destination for setting up the medical device industry in India.</li>
<li>It is expected that it would <strong>provide direct employment to 1200 people</strong> and generate up to<strong> 4000-5000 jobs through the supporting industries.</strong></li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>Medical Devices Sector in India</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The medical devices industry in India is <strong>valued at USD 5.2 billion,</strong> contributing about <strong>4-5% to the USD 96.7 billion Indian healthcare industry.</strong></li>
<li>Medical devices sector in India is <strong>very small in size as compared to the rest of the manufacturing industry,</strong> though<strong> India is one of the top twenty markets for medical devices</strong> in the world and is the<strong> 4<sup>th</sup> largest market in Asia</strong> after Japan, China, and South Korea.</li>
<li>India&rsquo;s medical devices industry is<strong> poised for significant growth in the next five years</strong> and the market size is <strong>expected to reach USD 50 bn by 2025.</strong></li>
<li>India <strong>currently imports 80-90% of medical devices</strong> and the vast majority of which are <strong>unregulated for quality and safety.</strong><br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>The <strong>USA, Germany, China, Japan, and Singapore</strong> constitute the<strong> five largest exporters</strong> of high technology medical equipment to India.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</div>
<p><a href="https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1657669#:~:text=Pinarayi%20Vijayan%2C%20Chief%20Minister%2C%20Government,a%20pioneer%20in%20this%20field." target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Source: PIB</strong></a></p>',
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		'title' => 'Draft Data Empowerment and Protection Architecture: NITI Aayog',
		'description' => '<h3>Why in News</h3>
<p>Recently, the <a href="/important-institutions/drishti-specials-important-institutions-national-institutions/niti-aayog-national-institution-for-transforming-india" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>NITI Aayog</strong></a> has released <strong>draft Data Empowerment and Protection Architecture (DEPA)</strong> which aims to promote greater user control on data sharing.</p>
<h3>Key Points</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Features:</strong> DEPA will be empowering individuals with control over their personal data, by operationalising a <strong>regulatory, institutional, and technology design for secure data sharing</strong>.<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>DEPA is designed as an <strong>evolvable and agile framework</strong> for good data governance.</li>
<li>DEPA empowers people to <strong>seamlessly and securely access their data and share it with third party institutions</strong>.</li>
<li>The consent given under DEPA will be <strong>free, informed, specific, clear, and revocable</strong>.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Consent Managers:</strong> DEPA&rsquo;s Institutional Architecture will involve the creation of <strong>new market players</strong> known as User Consent Managers. These will ensure that individuals can provide consent as per an innovative digital standard for every data shared. These Consent Managers will also work to protect data rights.<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li><a href="/important-institutions/drishti-specials-important-institutions-national-institutions/important-institutions-national-institution-reserve-bank-of-india" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Reserve Bank of India (RBI)</strong></a> issued a Master Directive creating Consent Managers in the financial sector to be known as <strong>Account Aggregators (AAs)</strong>. A non-profit collective or alliance of these players is created called the <a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/sahamati" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>DigiSahamati Foundation</strong></a>.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Open APIs:</strong> Open <strong>Application Programming Interfaces</strong> (APIs) enable <strong>seamless and encrypted flow of data</strong> between data providers and data users through a consent manager.</li>
<li><strong>Implementation:</strong> RBI, <a href="/important-institutions/drishti-specials-important-institutions-national-institutions/securities-and-exchange-board-of-india-sebi" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>SEBI</strong></a>, <a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/sandbox-for-fintech" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>IRDAI</strong></a>, <a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/pfrda-sets-up-panel-on-cyber-safety" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>PFRDA</strong></a> and the Ministry of Finance will implement this model. This regulatory foundation is also expected to evolve with time (eg. with the forthcoming <strong>Data Protection Authority</strong> envisaged under <strong><a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-editorials/personal-data-protection-bill-2019" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Personal Data Protection Bill</a>, 2019</strong>).</li>
</ul>
<p><a href="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/1599303876_image1.png" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="content-img" src="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/1599303876_image1.png" width="715" height="437" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" /></a></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Background:</strong> Regulatory direction on data privacy, protection, consent, and the new financial institutions required for DEPA&rsquo;s application in the financial sector was provided through<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Supreme Court Judgement on the fundamental <a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-editorials/privacy-judgement-and-the-aftermath" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Right to Privacy</strong></a> in 2017.</li>
<li><strong><a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-editorials/personal-data-protection-bill-2019" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Personal Data Protection Bill</a> (PDP), 2019.</strong></li>
<li><strong><a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/justice-bn-srikrishna-committee-submits-data-protection-report" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Justice Srikrishna Committee Report</a>, 2018.</strong></li>
<li><strong><a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/sahamati" target="_blank" rel="noopener">RBI Master Direction on NBFC-Account Aggregators</a>, 2016</strong> (for the financial sector).</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Recently, a government committee headed by Infosys co-founder <strong>Kris Gopalakrishnan</strong> has suggested that <a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/non-personal-data" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>non-personal data</strong></a> generated in India <strong>be allowed to be harnessed by various domestic companies and entities</strong>.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Application</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Financial sector:</strong> <br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Using DEPA, individuals and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) can use their <strong>digital footprints to access not just affordable loans,</strong> but also <strong>insurance, savings, and better financial management products</strong>.</li>
<li>The framework is <strong>expected to become functional for the financial sector starting fall 2020</strong>.</li>
<li>It will help in <strong>greater financial inclusion and economic growth</strong>.</li>
<li><strong>Flow based lending:</strong> If <strong>portability and control of data</strong> could allow an MSME owner to digitally share proof of the business&rsquo; regular tax (GST) payments or receivables invoices easily, a bank could design and offer <strong>working capital loans based on demonstrated ability to repay</strong> (known as flow based lending) rather than only offering bank loans backed by assets or collateral.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Telecom Sector:</strong> DEPA is also being launched in the telecom sector following a <strong><a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/telecom-firms-oppose-trai%E2%80%99s-public-wi-fi-model" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Telecom Regulatory Authority of India</a> (TRAI) consultation report on privacy</strong> released in July 2018.</li>
<li><strong>Government Departments:</strong> The first major government department to become a Government Information Provider will be <strong><a href="/to-the-points/paper3/goods-and-services-tax-gst-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Goods and Services Tax</a> (GST)</strong>.<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>In future, departments with data on individuals and MSMEs could adopt the specifications to improve the ease of doing business or create greater data portability of individual education, jobs, or transaction data.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Healthcare:</strong> National Health Authority which has been tasked with implementing the <a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/draft-health-data-management-policy" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>National Digital Health Mission</strong></a>, is piloting the DEPA architecture for <strong>healthcare data</strong>.</li>
<li><strong>Skilling:</strong> The Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship is encouraging adoption of a <strong>digital skill credential</strong> that could be used to address low data portability in employment by sharing <strong>verified information on work experience or educational training</strong>.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Advantages</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Opening up an API-based data sharing framework would bring <strong>significant innovation by new <a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-editorials/daily-updates-news-editorials-the-challenges-for-fintech-adoption-in-India" target="_blank" rel="noopener">fintech</a> entities</strong>.</li>
<li>This architecture <strong>replaces costly and cumbersome data access and sharing practices that disempower individuals,</strong> such as physical submission, username/password sharing, and terms and conditions forms providing blanket consent etc.</li>
<li>Individuals and small firms do not benefit from individual&rsquo;s data right now. DEPA will provide individuals and small businesses with the practical means to <strong>access, control, and selectively share</strong> personal data that they have stored across <strong>multiple institutional datasets</strong> &ndash; to <strong>maximise the benefits of data sharing for individual empowerment whilst minimising privacy risks and data misuse</strong>.</li>
<li>DEPA will also enable <strong>better personal financial management services, wealth management, robo advisory, or different types of lending, insurance, and investment use cases and products</strong> that one may not be able to foresee today.</li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>Global Approaches to Data Protection and Sharing</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>European Union&rsquo;s <a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-editorials/right-to-be-forgotten-2" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)</strong></a>: It introduces strong data protection laws (through policies such as the right to be forgotten), and the emphasis on gathering minimum data.</li>
<li><strong>UK&rsquo;s Open Banking Data Sharing Framework:</strong> It takes a restoration of competition perspective, and mandates that banks work with <strong>Account Information Service Providers</strong> to gather individual <strong>consent</strong> to share data.</li>
<li>Australia&rsquo;s <strong>My Health Record</strong>, which has an opt-out system rather than a consent-to-share system for health records and the <strong>Australian Consumer Data Right</strong> for the banking sector.</li>
<li>China&rsquo;s approach has been to create a <strong>tightly controlled internet</strong> that prioritises national security over user control and data democracy.</li>
<li>The USA has <strong>some cybersecurity measures</strong> but is yet to implement a nationwide data protection law.</li>
</ul>
</div>
<p><a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/business/economy/draft-on-architecture-for-third-party-access-to-data-released-niti-seeks-views-6583581/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Source: IE</strong></a></p>',
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		'article_id' => (int) 6217,
		'category_id' => (int) 22,
		'title' => 'A Digital Push For Healthcare',
		'description' => '<div class="border">
<p>This editorial analysis is about the<a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/india-health-sector-data-ecosystem-niti-aayog-national-health-stack-bluebook-6553690/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong> &ldquo;A digital push for healthcare&rdquo;</strong></a> which was published in The Indian Express on 14/08/2020. It talks about the need for digitisation of healthcare and challenges that lie ahead.</p>
</div>
<p>Recently, many digital initiatives have been launched in India such as the National Digital Health Blueprint, National Health Stack (NHS), etc. These initiatives are aimed at re-imagining India&rsquo;s health data ecosystem.</p>
<p>The basic idea is that instead of ferrying medical records in polythene bags from doctor to doctor, Indian should be able to access their lab reports, x-rays and prescriptions irrespective of where they were generated, and share them with doctors or family members with consent.</p>
<p>Indeed these initiatives have intended benefits but there are many challenges in their implementation.</p>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>National Health Stack (NHS)</strong></p>
<p>NHS is digital infrastructure built with the aim of making the health insurance system more transparent and robust, while factoring in the uniqueness of India&rsquo;s health sector, and the political realities of federalism. There are<strong> five components </strong>of NHS:</p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>An <strong>electronic national health registry</strong> that would serve as a single source of health data for the nation;</li>
<li><strong>A coverage and claims platform</strong> that would serve as the building blocks for large health protection schemes, allow for the horizontal and vertical expansion of schemes like Ayushman Bharat by states, and enable a robust system of fraud detection;</li>
<li><strong>A federated personal health records</strong> (PHR) framework that would serve the twin purposes of access to their own health data by patients, and the availability of health data for medical research, which is critical for advancing the understanding of human health;</li>
<li><strong>A national health analytics platform</strong> that would provide a holistic view combining information on multiple health initiatives, and feed into smart policymaking, for instance, through improved predictive analytics; and</li>
<li>Other horizontal components including <strong>a unique digital health ID, health data dictionaries and supply chain management for drugs, payment gateways, etc.,</strong> shared across all health programmes.</li>
</ul>
<p><a href="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/1597756815_image2.png" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="content-img" src="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/1597756815_image2.png" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="650" caption="false" /></a></p>
</div>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>National Digital Health Blueprint (NDHB)</strong></p>
<p>This National Digital Health Blueprint is<strong> an extension of the <a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-editorials/public-health-system-in-india" target="_blank" rel="noopener">National Health Policy of 2017</a></strong> (NHP 2017) that was formulated to provide universal healthcare to all citizens of India based on digital technologies for achieving higher efficiency and effectiveness.</p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The NDHB is the<strong> architectural document for the implementation of the National Health Stack.</strong></li>
<li>The NDHB identifies the necessity to establish a specific organisation, called the National Digital Health Mission (NDHM) that can facilitate the implementation of the blueprint, to support and simplify the development of a national digital health ecosystem.</li>
<li>The <strong>key features of this blueprint include a unified architecture, a set of architectural elements, a five-layered structure of architectural institutional blocks, a Unique Health ID (UHID), privacy and consent control, national portability, electronic health records, appropriate principles and guidelines, and health analytics.</strong></li>
<li>It also<strong> aims to deploy Artificial Intelligence (AI)</strong> in leveraging health records.</li>
</ul>
<p><a href="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/1597756794_image1.png" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="content-img" src="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/1597756794_image1.png" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" caption="false" width="505" height="578" /></a></p>
</div>
<h3>Intended Benefits</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Coherence Between Central and State Health Schemes:</strong> Currently, apart from Ayushman Bharat or Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY), there are many secondary and tertiary care schemes running in the states.<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>The initiatives like NDHB will help in creating synergy between union and states. Thereby, promoting the cause of cooperative federalism.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Aiding Integration of Ayushman Bharat Scheme:</strong> Without integration between the two components <strong>(Health &amp; wellness centres and</strong> PMJAY) of <strong>Ayushman Bharat Scheme,</strong> the goal of continuum of care cannot be met.<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>NDHB and NHS will help in<strong> integration of the two arms of Ayushman Bharat.</strong></li>
<li>This will help in shifting focus from <strong>&ldquo;Illness to Wellness&rdquo;</strong> to drive down future cost of health protection.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Interoperability of Health Schemes:</strong> NHS will also provide for a common digital language for the operationalisation and interoperability of various health schemes.<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li><strong>Also the continuum of healthcare will be promoted</strong> as the NHS supports information flow across primary, secondary and tertiary healthcare.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Effective Governance:</strong> Transparency principle that is imbibed in the NHS and NDHB will help in furtherance of effective public service delivery in many fronts. For example:<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li><strong>Cashless Care</strong> to ensure financial protection to the poor.</li>
<li><strong>Timely Payments on Scientific Package Rates</strong> to service providers, a strong lever to participate in government-funded healthcare programs.</li>
<li><strong>Robust Fraud Detection</strong> to prevent funds leakage.</li>
<li><strong>Improved Policy Making</strong> through access to timely reporting on utilization and measurement of impact across health initiatives.</li>
<li><strong>Enhanced Trust and Accountability</strong> through non-repudiable transaction audit trails.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<h3>Associated Challenges</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Procedural Challenges:</strong> First, to enable seamless data exchange, all users must be incentivised or mandated to adopt a standard language of communication.<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>A claims-driven documentation system, that also serves as a medico-legal instrument, runs the risk of reducing highly-trained professionals to data-entry operators who must enter billing and legal information, that has little relevance for clinical care.</li>
<li>It is imperative that India, while embracing global standards, seriously rethinks what to document, when, why, and most importantly, by whom.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Data Security and Privacy:</strong> One of the biggest concerns has been regarding data security and privacy of patients. <br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>The concerns were aggravated after an Assam minister and a senior official of the National Health Authority posted patient details on Twitter recently.</li>
<li>The concerns with universal IDs are particularly salient when it comes to sensitive personal data like health data.</li>
<li>More than a year after the Justice Srikrishna Committee prepared a draft data privacy law, there has been little meaningful movement on it.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<h3>Conclusion</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The National Health Stack will<strong> facilitate collection of comprehensive healthcare data</strong> across the country.</li>
<li>Designed to leverage India Stack, subsequent data analysis on NHS will not only allow <strong>policy makers to experiment with policies, detect fraud in health insurance, measure outcomes and move towards smart policy making,</strong> it will also engage market players (NGOs, researchers, watchdog organizations) to innovate and build relevant services on top of the platform and fill the gaps.</li>
<li>The portability of clinically-relevant data across private public divides and states <strong>will cut costs and save time, the ability to monitor compliance,</strong> say, with responsible use of antibiotics, can profoundly alter practice and improve the quality of care, and the ability to conduct timely institution-based syndromic surveillance may alter the course of an epidemic, and of a nation</li>
<li>The design is geared to generate vast amounts of data resulting in some of the largest health databases with secured aggregated data that will <strong>put India at the forefront of medical research in the world.</strong></li>
</ul>
<table border="1" style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%;">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="width: 100%; border-style: dotted; border-color: #ff0000; background-color: #fffef5;">
<p><span style="color: #000080;"><em><strong>Drishti Mains Question</strong></em></span></p>
<p>Explain how initiatives like National Health Stack will provide a much needed digital push in India&rsquo;s health infrastructure.</p>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p style="text-align: center;"><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/7kL4Y1zGH4Y" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></p>
<p>This editorial is based on<a href="https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/editorial/limited-peace-the-hindu-editorial-on-uae-israel-peace-agreement/article32359121.ece" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong> &ldquo;Limited peace: On UAE-Israel peace agreement&rdquo;</strong></a> which was published in The Hindu on August 15<sup>th</sup>, 2020. Now watch this on our Youtube Channel.</p>',
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		'title' => 'Planning In India',
		'description' => '<div class="border">
<p>This article is based on<a href="https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/thinking-national-acting-local/article31230613.ece" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong> &ldquo;Thinking national, acting local&rdquo;</strong></a> which was published in The Hindu on 02/04/2020. It talks about the scenario of national planning in India.</p>
</div>
<p>Being a developing country, India needs to increase employment and incomes; revive investments and growth; untangle the financial sector; navigate muddied-up international trade; solve the perennial problems of poor education and health, and the growing problems of environmental pollution and water scarcity.</p>
<p>With scarce resources and a huge magnitude of welfare to be done, the role of planning becomes significant. In India the role of planning activities was played by the Planning Commission (until 2014), afterwards <a href="/important-institutions/drishti-specials-important-institutions-national-institutions/niti-aayog-national-institution-for-transforming-india" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>NITI Aayog</strong></a>, a policy Think Tank replaced Planning Commission with an aim to make planning approach more inclusive and bottom-up.</p>
<p>The charter of NITI Aayog describes it as a body that should act as a catalyst of change in India's federal and complex socio-economic system.</p>
<p>However, the experts have raised concerns regarding the independence of NITI Aayog to guide the government and becoming a mouthpiece of the government and an implementer of the government&rsquo;s projects.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/1585829404_image2.png" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="content-img" src="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/1585829404_image2.png" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="700" caption="false" /></a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/1585829424_image1.png" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="content-img" src="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/1585829424_image1.png" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" caption="false" width="429" height="410" /></a></p>
<h3>Issues Faced by National Planning</h3>
<p><strong>Complex-System Problem</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Economy is a complex system, as economy, human society and natural environment are intimately connected to each other.</li>
<li><strong>A feature of complex systems, in which all the parts are connected, is that the system cannot be healthy if any part becomes very sick. Further, fixing one part of the system alone can make matters worse.</strong><br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>For example, providing skills to millions of youth before there are enough employment opportunities is a bold fix that can backfire.</li>
<li>Similarly, this can be seen in the air pollution problem in northern India which emanates from stubble burning.</li>
<li>Thus, the complexity of the task demands a good plan and a good strategy.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>Severe Air Pollution Due to Stubble Burning</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The improvement of productivity of agriculture with mechanization, and the management of water resources, has produced the unintended consequence of Delhi becoming the most polluted city in the world.<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Ever since mechanization was introduced in the 1980s to improve farm productivity, farmers in Punjab have burned the paddy stubble left by machines.</li>
<li>Later, alarmed by the increasing demand of water for paddy growth which was dwindling groundwater resources, the government passed the Preservation of Subsoil Water Act in 2009.</li>
<li>It stipulated that farmers postpone by one month the sowing and transplanting of paddy so that it was closer to the onset of the monsoon.</li>
<li>This reduced the need for drawing underground water for the transplanted paddy.</li>
<li>However, the post-harvest burning of the stubble also got postponed by a month.</li>
<li>It now coincided with the onset of winter in the North, when wind movement is low and atmospheric moisture content is high. Thus, it gave rise to severe air pollution in Northern India.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</div>
<p><strong>Federal Issue</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>In India, States are expected to improve human development, create infrastructure, and make it easy to do business.</li>
<li>Along with that they are expected to manage their financial resources efficiently and balance their budgets.</li>
<li>However, the <strong>majority of States in India are not financially self-sufficient</strong> and most of the time that has to depend on grants from the centre, as decided by the Finance Commission (where states have no representation).</li>
<li>Further, it is argued that policies formulated by NITI Aayog are based on<strong> 'One size fits all approach'</strong>, most of the time they are unaware of ground realities and have little experience of how to get things done to produce outcomes.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Need for Diversification in Policy Making</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>A national planning institution must guide all-round progress. It must assist in achieving not just faster economic growth, but also more socially inclusive, and more environmentally sustainable growth. For this, it needs a balanced model in which societal and environmental forces are integrated.</li>
<li>However, <strong>economists have been advising policymakers to have comprehensive models of socio-environmental systems.</strong><br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>This can be testified by the fact that, despite economic growth, inequality and unemployment are rampant in India.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Planning by an Executive Body</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>NITI Aayog <strong>does not have constitutional status</strong> independent from that of the government, thus it is alleged to bend to the will of the Government.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Way Forward</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>NITI Aayog should act as a force for persuasion, not control centre. Its role should intend to promote local systems solutions to national problems.</li>
<li>Many stakeholders must be involved in the implementation of a plan in a large, diversified and democratic country. Thus, planning should be devolved to State governments, and even to the third tier of city and district governance.</li>
<li>Indian Planning scheme requires a transformational approach to deal with 21<sup>st</sup> century challenges.<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>It requires new methods to speed up &lsquo;organisational learning&rsquo; amongst stakeholders in the system who must make plans together and implement them together.</li>
<li>Thus, it is not good enough to have a plan, there must also be a strategy for its cooperative implementation too.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<table border="1" style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%;">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="width: 100%; background-color: #dff7df; border-style: dotted; border-color: #ff0000;">
<p><span style="color: #000080;"><em><strong>Drishti Mains Question</strong></em></span></p>
<p>Planning in India must adopt a more decentralised approach. Discuss.</p>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
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		'article_id' => (int) 4783,
		'category_id' => (int) 21,
		'title' => 'Ayush Wellness Centres under National Ayush Mission',
		'description' => '<h3>Why in News</h3>
<p>Recently, the Union Cabinet has approved the <strong>inclusion of AYUSH <a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/ayushman-bharat" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Health and Wellness Centres</a></strong> (AYUSH HWCs) in the <strong>National AYUSH Mission</strong> (NAM).</p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>AYUSH HWC is a component of the <a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-editorials/ayushmanbharat" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Ayushman Bharat.</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<h3>Background</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The <strong>National Health Policy 2017</strong> advocated for mainstreaming the potential of <a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/national-commission-for-indian-system-of-medicine-bill-2018" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>AYUSH systems</strong></a> (Ayurveda, Yoga &amp; Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, Sowa-rigpa and Homoeopathy) within a <strong>pluralistic system of integrative healthcare.</strong></li>
<li>In 2018, the Government of India decided that <strong>1.5 lakh health &amp; wellness Centres</strong> would be created by transforming existing sub-health centres and primary health centres<strong> to deliver comprehensive primary health care.</strong></li>
<li>So, it was decided that the Ministry of AYUSH would operationalize 10% of the total sub-health centres as HWCs under Ayushman Bharat.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Key Points</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Cost and time:</strong><br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li><strong>Expenditure-</strong> ₹3399.35 Crore (with a<strong> ratio of almost 2:1 between the centre and the states</strong> respectively)</li>
<li><strong>Time-</strong> Within a period of <strong>five years</strong> from<strong> 2019-20 to 2023-24.</strong></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>AYUSH HWCs operating under NAM will have the following <strong>objectives:</strong><br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>To<strong> establish a holistic wellness model</strong> based on AYUSH principles and practices focusing on preventive, promotive, curative, rehabilitative and palliative healthcare by integration with the existing public health care system.</li>
<li>To <strong>provide informed choice</strong> to the public in need, by making the AYUSH services available.</li>
<li>To spread community awareness about lifestyle, yoga, medicinal plants and provision of medicines for selected conditions as per strength of AYUSH systems.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>After consulting with the States/UTs, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and other ministries involved, the <strong>Ministry of AYUSH</strong> has proposed <strong>two models</strong> for operationalization of AYUSH HWCs:<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li><strong>Upgradation of existing AYUSH dispensaries.</strong></li>
<li><strong>Upgradation of existing Sub Health Centres</strong> (SHCs).</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Benefits:</strong><br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li><strong>Enhanced accessibility</strong> to achieve universal health coverage for affordable treatment.</li>
<li><strong>Reduced burden</strong> on secondary and tertiary health care facilities.</li>
<li><strong>Reduced out of pocket expenditure</strong> due to self-care model.</li>
<li><strong>Integration</strong> of AYUSH in implementation of <strong><a href="/to-the-points/paper3/sustainable-development-3" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sustainable Development Goal</a> (SDG) 3 (Good Health and Well-being)</strong>, as mandated by the <a href="/important-institutions/drishti-specials-important-institutions-national-institutions/niti-aayog-national-institution-for-transforming-india" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>NITI Aayog.</strong></a></li>
<li><strong>Validated holistic wellness model in target areas.</strong></li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>National Health Policy, 2017</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>It seeks to reach everyone in a comprehensive integrated way to move towards wellness.</li>
<li>It aims at <strong>achieving universal health coverage</strong> and delivering quality health care services to all at affordable cost.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>National AYUSH Mission</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>It was launched by the<strong> Department of AYUSH</strong> under the <strong>Ministry of Health and Family Welfare,</strong> during the <strong>12<sup>th</sup> Plan for implementation</strong> through States/UTs.</li>
<li><strong>Objectives:</strong><br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>To<strong> promote</strong> AYUSH medical systems through cost effective AYUSH services.</li>
<li>To <strong>strengthen</strong> the educational systems.</li>
<li>To <strong>facilitate</strong> the enforcement of quality control of Ayurveda, Siddha, Unani and Homoeopathy (ASU&amp;H) drugs and sustainable availability of the raw-materials needed in them.</li>
<li>It envisages<strong> flexibility of implementation</strong> of the programmes which will lead to substantial participation of the State Governments/UT.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Elements</strong> of the National AYUSH Mission:<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li><strong>Obligatory</strong> Components<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: disc;">
<li>AYUSH Educational Institutions.</li>
<li>AYUSH Services.</li>
<li>Medicinal Plants Quality Control of ASU&amp;H Drugs.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Flexible</strong> Components<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: disc;">
<li>AYUSH Wellness Centres comprising Yoga and Naturopathy.</li>
<li>Tele-medicine.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</div>
<p><a href="https://pib.gov.in/PressReleaseIframePage.aspx?PRID=1607479" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Source: PIB</strong></a></p>',
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		'article_id' => (int) 4047,
		'category_id' => (int) 21,
		'title' => 'Satcom Technology Deployed for Learning',
		'description' => '<h3>Why in News</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Recently, the Rajasthan government has started using <strong>satellite communication technology</strong> on a broader scale to enhance the learning outcomes in educational institutions and generate awareness about social welfare schemes.</li>
<li>It will give priority to the<strong> five<a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-editorials/aspirational-districts-programme" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> aspirational districts,</a></strong> <strong>Karauli, Dholpur, Baran, Jaisalmer and Sirohi, selected by</strong> <a href="/important-institutions/drishti-specials-important-institutions-national-institutions/niti-aayog-national-institution-for-transforming-india" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>NITI Aayog</strong></a> in the State.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Key Points</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The initiative has been taken to provide the facility of <strong>Receive Only Terminals (ROT)</strong> and <strong>Satellite Interactive Terminals (SIT)</strong> for getting the services of subject experts in the government schools and colleges. It will propagate various schemes in remote areas with no internet connectivity.<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>At present, there are over hundred SITs and ROTs under <strong>CEC EDUSAT network,</strong> installed at various colleges, and Universities across the country.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>It will be used in approximately 2,000 institutions coming under various departments, such as education, higher <strong>education, social welfare, minority welfare, women and child development and tribal area development.</strong></li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>CEC EDUSAT Network</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The <strong>Consortium for Educational Communication (CEC)</strong> is one of the Inter-University Centres <strong>set up by the University Grants Commission of India.</strong><br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>It has been established with the goal of addressing the needs of Higher Education through the use of television along with the use of emerging Information Communication Technology (ICT).</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>EDUSAT is the satellite exclusively devoted to meet the demands of the educational sector.</strong><br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>It was launched on September20, 2004, by <a href="/important-institutions/drishti-specials-important-institutions-national-institutions/indian-space-research-organisation-isro" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO)</strong></a> to meet the demand for an interactive satellite-based distance education system for the country.</li>
<li>It has revolutionized classroom teaching through IP based technology.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>University Grants Commission</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>It came into existence on 28<sup>th</sup> December <strong>1953</strong> and became a <strong>statutory organization</strong> of the Government of India by an <strong>Act of Parliament in 1956,</strong> for the coordination, determination and maintenance of standards of teaching, examination and research in university education.</li>
<li>The head office of the UGC is located in New <strong>Delhi.</strong></li>
</ul>
</div>
<p><a href="https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/satcom-technology-being-used-for-learning/article30453885.ece" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Source: TH</strong></a></p>',
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		'article_id' => (int) 3396,
		'category_id' => (int) 21,
		'title' => 'India Innovation Index 2019',
		'description' => '<p><a href="/important-institutions/drishti-specials-important-institutions-national-institutions/niti-aayog-national-institution-for-transforming-india" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>NITI (National Institution for Transforming India) Ayog</strong> </a>with the <strong>Institute for Competitiveness</strong> has released the India Innovation Index 2019.</p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The index, developed <strong>on the lines of the Global Innovation Index,</strong> would help the innovation ecosystem of Indian states and Union Territories (UTs) to design policies to drive innovation across regions.<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>For a country as large as India, the state of innovation needs to be understood at the regional level for effective policy formulation.</li>
<li>Based on the index each state needs to formulate its own policy, based on its unique resources and strengths and which caters to its specific needs.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>The index goes <strong>beyond traditional approaches</strong> for measuring innovation such as patents per million of population, publication in scientific journals, percentage of GDP spending on research and <strong>adds parameters that are specific to the Indian economy (eg. Demographic dividend),</strong> to give it a more <strong>holistic coverage.</strong></li>
<li>The India Innovation Index 2019 is calculated as the <strong>average of the scores</strong> of its two dimensions - <strong>Enablers and Performance.</strong> <br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>The <strong>Enablers</strong> examine innovative capacities: Human Capital, Investment, Knowledge Workers, Business Environment, and Safety and Legal Environment.</li>
<li>The <strong>Performance</strong> captures benefits that a nation derives from the inputs: Knowledge Output and Knowledge Diffusion.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<h3>Key Findings<a href="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/1571387535_image5.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="content-img" src="http://www.drishtiias.com/images/uploads/1571387535_image5.jpg" style="float: right;" caption="false" width="212" height="423" /></a></h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The states have been bifurcated into three categories: <br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Major states,</li>
<li>North-east and hill states,</li>
<li>Union territories/Small states</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Karnataka</strong> emerged <strong>topper in the overall rankings</strong> in the <strong>category of major states.</strong> with Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra in the second and third positions.<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Karnataka&rsquo;s top position is partly attributed to its top rank in the Performance dimension.</li>
<li>It is also among the top performers in Infrastructure, Knowledge Workers, Knowledge Output and Business Environment.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Maharashtra</strong> performs the <strong>best</strong> in the <strong>dimension of Enablers.</strong> <br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>This implies that it has the best enabling environment for innovation, even though the state comes in at the third position in the overall innovation index.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>The top ten major states are <strong>majorly concentrated in southern and western India.</strong></li>
<li>Among the <strong>North-Eastern states and Union territories, Sikkim and Delhi</strong> occupy the top spots respectively.</li>
<li><strong>Delhi, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Telangana,</strong> and <strong>Uttar Pradesh</strong> are the <strong>most efficient states</strong> in translating inputs into output.</li>
<li>In terms of <strong>attracting investment, Karnataka</strong> topped the index among major states, followed by Maharashtra, Haryana, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Telangana, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh.<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li><strong>Bihar, Jharkhand, and Punjab</strong> were the <strong>least attractive states</strong> for investment.</li>
<li>Among <strong>North East and the Hill States, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, and Tripura</strong> were the top three states; while among the <strong>UTs, Lakshadweep, Delhi and Goa were the top three regions.</strong></li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<h3>Way Forward</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>There is a need to broaden and improve the capability of top rung educational institutions in the country to produce greater innovation outputs.</li>
<li>Increased spending on research and development with greater collaboration between the industry and educational institutions may help to enhance innovation capability.</li>
<li>A collaborative platform consisting of all the stakeholders of innovation - innovators, researchers, and investors from the industry should be developed.<br />
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>It will help to strengthen the industry-academia linkages and will ease the process of technology transfer by providing a platform for innovators to showcase their inventions.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<p><a href="https://pib.gov.in/PressReleseDetail.aspx?PRID=1588392" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Source: PIB</strong></a></p>',
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		'article_id' => (int) 1625,
		'category_id' => (int) 17,
		'title' => 'NITI Aayog : Digital Payments Trends, Issues and Opportunities',
		'description' => '<p>A Committee on Digital Payments was constituted by Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance in August 2016 under Chairmanship of <strong>Ratan P. Watal</strong> to inter-alia recommend medium term measures of promotion of Digital Payments Ecosystem in the country. It submitted its final report to Finance Minister in December 2016.</p>
<h3>Digital Payments</h3>
<p>The Payment and Settlement Act, 2007 has defined Digital Payments, as any "electronic funds transfer" that is any transfer of funds which is initiated by a person by way of instruction, authorization or order to a bank to debit or credit an account maintained with that bank through electronic means and includes point of sale transfers; automated teller machine transactions, direct deposits or withdrawal of funds, transfers initiated by telephone, internet and, card payment.</p>
<h3>Segments of Payment Systems</h3>
<p>The payment system could be bifurcated into two main segments.</p>
<ol>
<li>Instruments which are covered under Systemically Important Financial Market Infrastructure (SIFMIs),</li>
<li>Retail Payments.</li>
</ol>
<p><strong>Systemically Important Financial Market Infrastructure (SI-FMI)</strong></p>
<p><strong>Financial Market Infrastructure (FMI):</strong> It is defined as a multilateral system among participating institutions, including the operator of the system, used for the purposes of clearing, settling, or recording payments, securities, derivatives, or other financial transactions.</p>
<p><strong>Under SIFMI,</strong> new standards (called principles) are designed to ensure that the essential financial market infrastructure(FMI) supporting global financial markets is even more robust and thus even better placed to withstand financial shocks than at present.</p>
<p>Under this segment (SIFMI) there are <strong>four instruments of payments</strong>:</p>
<ol>
<li><strong>RTGS:</strong> Real Time Gross Settlement is defined as the continuous (real-time) settlement of fund transfers individually on an order by order basis (without netting). 'Real Time' means the processing of instructions at the time they are received rather than at some later time; 'Gross Settlement' means the settlement of fund transfer instructions occurs individually (on an instruction by instruction basis). This system is primarily meant for large value transactions. The minimum amount to be remitted through RTGS is ` 2 lakh. For inter-bank fund transfer there is no floor.</li>
<li><strong>CBLO:</strong> Collateralized Borrowing and Lending Obligation (CBLO) is a money market instrument developed by Clearing Corporation of India Ltd. (CCIL), introduced in 2003. This represents an obligation between a borrower and a lender to the terms and conditions of a loan. It also does not entail physical transfer of respective securities from borrower to lender or vice versa.</li>
<li><strong>Government Securities:</strong> A Government Security (G-Sec) is a tradeable instrument issued by the Central Government or the State Governments.</li>
<li><strong>Forex Clearing:</strong> The term &lsquo;Forex&rsquo; stands for Foreign Exchange. In simple terms it is the trading in currencies from different countries against each other. In India the settlement of Forex transactions is done by CCIL which was started in 2002.</li>
</ol>
<p><strong>Retail Payments</strong></p>
<p>Under the Retail Payments segment which has a large user base, there are <strong>three broad categories</strong> of instruments. They are <strong>(1) Paper Clearing, (2) Retail Electronic Clearing, (3) and Card Payments</strong>. The instruments under these three categories are discussed below:</p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Cheque Truncation System (CTS):</strong> CTS or online image-based cheque clearing system is a cheque clearing system undertaken by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for faster clearing of cheques. It eliminates the associated cost of movement of physical cheques.</li>
<li><strong>Non-MICR:</strong> The Non-MICR clearing refers to the process of manual clearing of cheques where the cheque is physically moved between the bank branches/banks for clearing. MICR (magnetic ink character recognition) is a technology used to verify the legitimacy or originality of paper documents, especially checks.</li>
<li><strong>ECS DR/CR:</strong> ECS (Electronic Clearing System) is an electronic mode of payment / receipt for transactions that are repetitive and periodic in nature. DR/CR is &lsquo;Debit Record or Credit Record&rsquo;. ECS facilitates bulk transfer of monies from one bank account to many bank accounts or vice versa. ECS includes transactions processed under National Automated Clearing House (NACH) operated by National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).</li>
<li><strong>NEFT:</strong> National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT) is a nation-wide payment system facilitating one-to-one funds transfer. Under this scheme, individuals, firms and corporates can electronically transfer funds from any bank branch to any individual, firm or corporate having an account with any other bank branch in the country participating in the scheme.</li>
<li><strong>IMPS:</strong> Immediate Payment Service (IMPS) offers an instant 24X7 interbank electronic fund transfer service through mobile phones. IMPS is an emphatic tool to transfer money instantly within banks across India <strong>through mobile, internet and ATM</strong>. It is offered by National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).</li>
<li><strong>UPI:</strong> Unified Payments Interface (UPI) is a system that powers multiple bank accounts into a single mobile application (of any participating bank), merging several banking features, seamless fund routing &amp; merchant payments into one hood.</li>
<li><strong>*99#:</strong> USSD based mobile banking service of NPCI was initially launched in November 2012. The service had limited reach and only two TSPs (Telecom Service Provider) were offering this service i.e. MTNL &amp; BSNL. Understanding the importance of mobile banking in financial inclusion, *99# was dedicated to the nation by Hon&rsquo;ble Prime minister on 28th August 2014, as part of &lsquo;Pradhan Manti Jan Dhan Yojna&rsquo;.</li>
<li><strong>USSD</strong> (Unstructured Supplementary Service Data) is a Global System for Mobile (GSM) communication technology that is used to send text between a mobile phone and an application program in the network.</li>
<li><strong>NACH:</strong> &ldquo;National Automated Clearing House (NACH)&rdquo; is a service offered by NPCI to banks which aims at facilitating interbank high volume, low value debit/credit transactions, which are repetitive and electronic in nature. It allows participating banks for <strong>centralized posting</strong> of inward debit/credit transactions and is run by NPCI.</li>
<li><strong>Credit Card:</strong> A credit card is a card issued by a financial company which enables the cardholder to borrow funds. The issuer pre-sets borrowing limits which have a basis on the individual's credit rating. These cards can be used domestically and internationally and can also be used to withdraw cash from an ATM and for transferring funds to bank accounts, debit cards and prepaid cards within the country.</li>
<li><strong>Debit Cards:</strong> A debit card is a <strong>payment card</strong> that deducts money directly from a consumer&rsquo;s bank account to pay for a purchase and eliminate the need to carry cash or physical checks to make purchases. In addition, they offer the convenience of credit cards for small negative balances that might be incurred if the account holder has signed up for overdraft coverage. However, debit cards usually have daily purchase limits.</li>
<li><strong>Pre-Paid Instruments (PPIs):</strong> PPIs are <strong>payment</strong> instruments that facilitate purchase of goods and services, including financial services, remittance facilities, etc., <strong>against the value stored on such instruments</strong>. PPIs are classified under three types:
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li><strong>Closed System PPIs:</strong> These PPIs are issued by an entity for facilitating the purchase of goods and <strong>services from that entity only</strong> and <strong>do not permit cash withdrawal</strong>.</li>
<li><strong>Semi-closed System PPIs:</strong> These PPIs are used for purchase of goods and services, including financial services, remittance facilities, etc., at a group of clearly identified merchant locations/establishments which have a specific contract with the issuer (or contract through a payment aggregator/payment gateway) to accept the PPIs as payment instruments. These instruments <strong>do not permit cash withdrawal</strong>.</li>
<li><strong>Open System PPIs:</strong> These PPIs are issued only by banks and are used at any merchant for purchase of goods and services, including financial services, remittance facilities, etc. Banks issuing such PPIs shall <strong>also facilitate cash withdrawal</strong> at ATMs/Point of Sale (PoS)/Business Correspondents (BCs).</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<h3>Evolution of Digital Payments in India</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>India&rsquo;s digital payments system - has been evolving robustly over the past many years, spurred by <strong>developments in information and communication technology,</strong> and fostered in consonance with the <strong>path envisioned by the Reserve Bank of India</strong>.</li>
<li><strong>National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI)</strong> was established in 2008&ndash;has been spearheading the development of the <strong>retail payments system</strong>.</li>
<li>Important milestones attained in process of development of the payments system include:
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Introduction of <strong>MICR clearing</strong> in the early 1980s. It is online image-based cheque clearing system where cheque images and magnetic ink character recognition (MICR) data are captured at the collecting bank branch and transmitted electronically.</li>
<li>Electronic Clearing Service and Electronic Funds Transfer in the 1990s.</li>
<li>Issuance of credit and debit cards by banks in the 1990s.</li>
<li>National Financial Switch in 2003 that brought about interconnectivity of ATMs across the country.</li>
<li>RTGS and NEFT in 2004.</li>
<li>Cheque Truncation System (CTS) in 2008. Cheque Truncation System (CTS) or Image-based Clearing System (ICS) is for faster clearing of cheques. Cheque truncation means <strong>stopping the flow of the physical cheques</strong> issued by a drawer to the drawee branch.</li>
<li>'Card not present' transaction in 2009. It is most commonly used for <strong>payments made over Internet,</strong> but also mail-order transactions by mail or fax, or over the telephone.</li>
<li>New RTGS with enhanced features in 2013 that required banks to adopt ISO 20022 standard messaging formats. The objective of <strong>introducing ISO 20022 standard message format</strong> for payment system is to bring about standardisation in the messaging formats for various payment systems in the country and to conform to international standard.</li>
<li><strong>Non-bank entities</strong> have been introduced in the issuance of pre-paid instruments (PPI), including mobile and digital wallets. <strong>BHIM</strong> (Bharat Interface for Money) is a <strong>mobile payment App</strong> developed by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), based on the Unified Payments Interface (UPI).</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>These developments capture the evolution of the Digital Payments ecosystem in the country. It resulted in setting up <strong>Committee of Digital Payments</strong> in 2016 under the Chairmanship of Shri. Ratan P. Watal, Principal Adviser, NITI Aayog.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Trends during 2016-17 and 2017-18</h3>
<p>The demonetization in early November 2016 and other series of measures announced by the Government and the RBI to promote the movement from cash to non-cash modes of transactions impacted the volume and value of payments systems.</p>
<p><strong>Volume: Instrument Wise Growth Trends (Data source &ndash; RBI)</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Transactions relating to <strong>IMPS, PPI and Debit card</strong> had exhibited growth rates in triple digits in the year 2016-17. This growth trend however has slowed down in 2017-18 and all these instruments exhibited double digit growth.</li>
<li><strong>UPI</strong> has grown multi-fold in the year 2017-18 and touched 915.2 mn transactions in 2017-18. This instrument had minimal presence in year 2016-17.</li>
<li><strong>The volume of paper clearing</strong> had been persistently showing <strong>negative growth</strong> throughout the year 2017-18 compared to the positive growth in 2016-17.</li>
<li><strong>NEFT</strong> volumes had showed an impressive increase in 2016-17. It continued to grow in 2017-18 albeit a slower pace.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>New Modes of Digital Payments</strong></p>
<p>In addition to UPI which was introduced recently, several other modes have been introduced by NPCI.</p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS):</strong> Bharat Bill Payment System is a tiered structure for operating a <strong>unified bill payment system</strong>. NPCI functions as the authorised Bharat Bill Payment Central Unit <strong>(BBPCU),</strong> which is responsible for setting business standards, rules and procedures for technical and business requirements for all the participants. Under BBPS the Bharat Bill Payment Operating Units <strong>(BBPOUs)</strong> will function as entities facilitating collection of repetitive payments for everyday utility services, <strong>such as, electricity, water, gas, telephone and Direct-to-Home (DTH)</strong>.</li>
<li><strong>Bharat Interface for Money (BHIM):</strong> Bharat Interface for Money is a mobile application that enables simple, easy and quick payment transactions using Unified Payments Interface (UPI). Instant bank-to-bank payments and Pay and Collect Options are facilitated using just Mobile number and Virtual Payment Address (VPA). The application was launched by NPCI.</li>
<li><strong>Bharat Quick Response Code Solution (Bharat QR):</strong> An interoperable solution for QR code, developed by NPCI, MasterCard and Visa. Merchants can display these QR codes at their premises and customers can pay through linked account by scanning these QR codes via Bharat QR enabled application in an interoperable environment.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Growth Drivers for Digital Payments</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>In 2017-18, the <strong>Volume segment</strong> in Digital Payments is <strong>dominated by Debit Cards, PPIs and IMPS</strong>. These, together constitute close to 50 % of the total volume of Digital Payments. Their combined share in 2011-12 was about 14%.</li>
<li>In 2017-18, Value segment is <strong>dominated by RTGS and NEFT</strong>. These together constitute about 53 % of the total value of Digital Payments, which is almost same as in 2011-12.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Authorized Payment Service Providers</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Reserve Bank of India under the <strong>Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007</strong> issues Certificates of Authorization for Setting up and Operating <strong>Payment System</strong> in India.</li>
<li>Regulations for Authorisation process:
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Board for Regulation and Supervision of Payment and Settlement Systems Regulations, 2008.</li>
<li>Payment and Settlement Systems Regulations, 2008.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>The 58 banks permitted to issue pre-paid cards in India as on 22nd June 2018.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Digital Payments Service Charges</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>RTGS Service Charges:</strong> These charges would consist of monthly membership fee and processing charges per transaction.</li>
<li><strong>NEFT Service Charges:</strong>
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li><strong>Inward transactions</strong> at destination bank branches (for credit to beneficiary accounts) &ndash; Free, no charges to be levied on beneficiaries.</li>
<li><strong>Outward transactions</strong> at originating bank branches &ndash; charges applicable for the remitter. Originating banks are required to pay a nominal charge of 25 paise each per transaction to the clearing house as well as destination bank as service charge. However, these charges cannot be passed on to the customers by the banks.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>PPI/Mobile Banking/IMPS/USSD:</strong> No charges are prescribed by RBI and the charges are determined by the entity. As a temporary measure, it was decided that all participating banks and Prepaid Instrument (PPI) issuers would not levy any charges on customers for transactions up to Rs. 1000 settled on the Immediate Payment Service (IMPS). Also, <strong>no charges are levied on USSD-based *99#</strong> and Unified Payment Interface (UPI) systems.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Policy Initiatives</h3>
<p>In <strong>Union Budget 2017-18, major policy announcements</strong> were made by the Finance Minister for promoting Digital Payments.</p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Amendment of <strong>Payment and Settlement Systems (PSS) Act, 2007</strong> for structural reforms in the payment ecosystem is under process.</li>
<li>BHIM:
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>For promotion of the BHIM app, the Government has approved two promotional schemes namely &lsquo;Referral Bonus scheme for individuals&rsquo; and &lsquo;Cash-back scheme for merchants&rsquo;.</li>
<li>For promotion of BHIM Aadhaar, a promotional scheme with total outlay of Rs 395 under the name &lsquo;DIGIDHAN MISSION&rsquo; has been established.</li>
<li><strong>BHIM Aadhaar Pay</strong> was launched by government of India on 14th April, 2017 as a merchant based mobile application for accepting payments from customers.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Financial Inclusion Fund:
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>3 BHIM schemes i.e. &lsquo;BHIM Referral Bonus scheme for individuals&rsquo;, &lsquo;BHIM Cashback scheme for merchants&rsquo; and &lsquo;BHIM Aadhaar Merchant Incentive scheme&rsquo;.</li>
<li>Financial Inclusion Fund of NABARD is proposed to be augmented with Rs. 439.202 crore.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Major policy initiatives have been taken by RBI</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>NEFT system &ndash; Settlement at half-hourly intervals</strong> instead of hourly from 8:00 am to 7:00 pm on all working days.</li>
<li><strong>Master Directions on Prepaid Payment Instruments (PPIs):</strong>
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>RBI had issued guidelines for issuance and operations of prepaid payment instruments (PPIs) in 2009 in order to foster an orderly development of the PPI ecosystem.</li>
<li>Based on past experience, Master Directions on the subject was placed in the public domain for comments on March 20, 2017 and decided to rationalize the operational guidelines to encourage competition and innovation, and strengthening safety and security of operations, besides improving customer grievance redressal mechanisms.</li>
<li>Revised framework will pave the way for bringing inter-operability amongst KYC compliant PPIs.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Rationalisation of Merchant Discount Rate (MDR):</strong>
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>MDR applicable on debit card transactions has been rationalized based on the category of merchants with effect from July 2011.
<ul style="list-style-type: disc;">
<li>Small Merchants (with turnover up to Rs. 20 lakh last financial year), MDR Not exceeding 0.40% (MDR cap of rupees Rs. 200 per transaction).</li>
<li>Other Merchants (with turnover more than Rs. 20 lakh last financial year), MDR Not exceeding 0.90% (MDR cap of rupees Rs. 1000 per transaction).</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>The revised MDR aims at achieving the twin objectives of increased usage of debit cards and ensuring sustainability of the business for the entities involved.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Storage of Payment System Data:</strong> With considerable growth in the payment ecosystem and also highly technological dependency, it necessitates the adoption of safety and security measures.
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>All system providers shall ensure that the entire data relating to payment systems operated by them are stored in a system only in India.</li>
<li>System providers shall submit the <strong>System Audit Report (SAR)</strong> conducted by <strong>CERT-IN</strong> (The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team) to RBI.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<h3>Emerging Global Trends</h3>
<p>As per the report of Capgemini on <strong>&lsquo;Trends in Payments 2018&rsquo;</strong>, the Top 5 trends in Digital Payments across the world are as follows:</p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Alternate payment channels such as contactless payments fulfill customer demands for convenience and speed and could soon become main-stream.
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li><strong>Contactless payments</strong> enable consumers to make everyday purchases quickly and safely especially for low-value transactions. (Contactless payment is a secure method for consumers to purchase products or services via debit, credit or smartcards (also known as chip cards). To make a contactless payment, a person simply needs to tap their card near a point-of-sale terminal &amp; <strong>do not require a signature or a PIN, transactions sizes on cards are limited)</strong>.</li>
<li><strong>Augmented Reality (AR)-integrated payment gateway</strong> delivers a superior customer experience. Mastercard now allows customers to log in to the <strong>mobile payment app Masterpass</strong> by scanning their iris (one of the safest means of facial recognition).</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Banks and Fin-Tech (Financial Technology) companies explore distributed ledger technology to transform cross-border payments.
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>The current cross-border payments model lacks an international clearinghouse and relies on correspondent banks, which causes inefficiency, slow speed, and high cost. As a result, corporate customers are demanding transformation.</li>
<li><strong>A distributed ledger-based cross-border payments model</strong> is expected to result in improved efficiency, enhanced security, and lower costs.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Instant payments &lsquo;new normal&rsquo; for corporate</strong> treasurers, industry: Banks are leveraging instant payments platform to connect with third parties to deliver better digital customer experience and provide innovative products and services to both retail and corporate customers.</li>
<li>As global cyber-attacks rise, regulators focus on data-privacy law compliance:
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Based on estimates, cyber-attacks cost the global economy <strong>1% of annual GDP</strong>.</li>
<li><strong>The cyber insurance industry</strong> grew 35% in 2016 to $1.35 billion in terms of direct written premium, which shows that corporates are looking to protect themselves from liabilities related to cyber-security laws.</li>
<li>Lack of harmonization in cyber-security laws in different countries is a challenge for multinational companies operating across the globe.</li>
<li>Regulators across the world are bringing in new cyber-security regulations and standards which could impose heavy fines, injunctions, audits, even criminal liability on firms for a data breach.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Payments Infrastructure rationalization</strong> is likely through <strong>mergers and acquisitions</strong> to expand the reach of the payments firms, increase their value proposition to meet changing customer expectations, and create customized solutions.</li>
</ul>
<p>(<strong>Capgemini:</strong> A global leader in consulting, technology services and digital transformation, Capgemini is at the forefront of innovation to address the entire breadth of clients&rsquo; opportunities in the evolving world of cloud, digital and platforms.)</p>
<h3>Opportunities</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Mobile payments are expected to grow from US$10 billion in FY18E to US$190 billion by FY23E.</li>
<li>The Digital Payment ecosystem in India is undergoing a transformation with the entry of global tech giants like <strong>Google&rsquo;s payments app</strong> that are acting as aggregators for retail transactions.</li>
<li><strong>Paytm</strong> &ndash; which has 7 million merchants &ndash; now becoming a bank and post the launch of <strong>Google Tez</strong> and <strong>PhonePe</strong>, which are also focusing on merchant payments, <strong>a steep rise in digital payments could be expected</strong>.</li>
<li>While the number of PoS (Point of Sale) terminals has doubled since demonetization, the <strong>merchant acquisition infrastructure</strong> (is a mechanism of providing necessary infrastructure and facilitating payment for goods and services purchased through medium of a card) in India remains weak, as banks have not been able to drive adoption. This sector presents immense opportunities for digital players.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Way Forward</h3>
<p>The different components of Digital Payments have to be comprehensively studied with respect to global best practices and the list of indicators which are universally acceptable and relevant in the current context may be considered by RBI.</p>',
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		'title' => 'Another Look At Fiscal Transfers',
		'description' => '<div class="border">
<p>(This editorial is based on the article <a href="https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/another-look-at-fiscal-transfers/article26626986.ece" target="_blank" rel="noopener">'Another Look At Fiscal Transfers'</a> which appeared in &lsquo;The Hindu&rsquo; on 25th March, 2019. The article talks about the fiscal relationship shared by state and the centre and the challenges associated with it.)</p>
</div>
<p>Federalism is not an alien concept in political lexicon of nations and is relatively an old concept. It is a system of government in which entities such as states or provinces share power with a national government.</p>
<p>It is well known that the efficiency of a government depends on its structure; in large countries like ours federal structure can efficiently meet the requirements of people from different regions as preferences vary across regions and can best be addressed through local leadership.</p>
<p>However, after Independence several compulsions led to a scheme of federalism in which the Centre assumed greater importance. The process of centralisation in economic sphere has resulted in reduced fiscal autonomy for states.</p>
<p>Economic planning at a nation-wide level has resulted in the vertical fiscal imbalance between the federation and the provinces.</p>
<h3>Breaking The Term: Fiscal Federalism</h3>
<p>Fiscal federalism can best be understood as the economic counterpart to political federalism. It is concerned with assigning functions to different levels of government, and providing appropriate fiscal instruments for carrying out these functions.</p>
<p>It is generally believed that the Central government should provide national public goods that render services to the entire population while sub-national governments are expected to provide goods and services whose consumption is limited to their own jurisdictions.</p>
<p>Governments often find it difficult to determine the specific fiscal instruments that enable the different levels of government to carry out their functions.</p>
<p>However Indian Constitution lays down the functions as well as taxing powers of the Centre and States providing clarity in financial relations shared by state and the centre.</p>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>Centre State Financial Relations</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Indian Constitution has made elaborate provisions, relating to the distribution of taxes as well as non-tax revenues and the power of borrowing, supplemented by provisions for grants-in-aid by the Union to the States.</li>
<li>Article 268 to 293 deals with the provisions of financial relations between Centre and States.</li>
</ul>
<p>The Constitution divides the taxing powers between the Centre and the States as follows:</p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The Parliament has exclusive power to levy taxes on subjects enumerated in the Union List,</li>
<li>The state legislature has exclusive power to levy taxes on subjects enumerated in the State List,</li>
<li>Both can levy taxes on the subjects enumerated in Concurrent List whereas residuary power of taxation lies with Parliament only.</li>
</ul>
</div>
<h3>Evolution of Fiscal Relationship</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>In India, substantial sources of revenue remains with the centre and major expenditure obligations lies with the states, creating vertical fiscal imbalance between the federation and the provinces.</strong></li>
<li>This economic relationship can best be attributed to colonial legacy of centralisation under the British. The imperial government had all the powers related to revenue and ordered discontinuation of the assignment of expenditure and revenue functions to the provinces. It was in this situation that the provinces had to give away a portion of their surplus to the imperial government to finance the deficits of the latter.</li>
<li>A clear delineation of powers between the centre and the provinces was attempted through the Government of India Act, 1935. It had a substantial centralising tilt with discretionary powers for the governor general and governors, and the retaining of major revenue sources with the imperial government.</li>
<li>Later, when the Constitution was framed under extraordinary circumstances after partition, most of the fiscal provisions of the Government of India Act, 1935, found a place in it without any changes. This is the basic reason for the strong centralising trends in Indian polity, including in the fiscal division of powers and intergovernmental fiscal transfers.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Tussle Between The State and The Centre</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Overtime, the non-shareable revenue of centre such as surcharges and cesses has increased which has made states demanding for more fiscal powers and share of all taxes collected by the centre from time to time.</strong></li>
<li>With respect to their own tax revenue, states have substantially lost the power to fix tax rates of items, de facto after value added tax (VAT) was implemented on intra-state trade of goods, and de jure when goods and services tax (GST) got introduced.</li>
<li>On the expenditure side, rise in the share of conditional and tied grants that essentially deal with items in the state list of the seventh schedule of the Constitution has restricted the freedom of the states in spending according to their priorities that takes into account the local specifications.</li>
<li>Challenges also arise from <strong>Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM)</strong> acts, which lay down uniform targets across states ignoring the different fiscal needs.</li>
<li>In short, the domain of the states, which should be given due autonomy in so far as their constitutional assignment is concerned; it is being restricted in more than one way.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Recent Developments</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Central governments have tried to address these issues of vertical and horizontal imbalances through various Finance Commissions, taking into account the prevailing set of circumstances.</li>
<li>The Fourteenth Finance Commission has broken new ground in terms of allocation of resources. It has recommended increasing the share of tax devolution to 42% of the divisible pool.</li>
<li>It does not necessarily affect the overall transfers but only enhances the share of unconditional transfers as it looks to address the increasing central encroachment in states through conditional and centrally sponsored schemes.</li>
<li>Increased allocation in unconditional transfers however suffers from two challenges; firstly the total transfers that need to be made to the states, secondly who will be suggesting all the transfers.</li>
<li>Replacement of Planning Commission (entrusted to allocate resources to states) with NITI Aayog, which is simply a think-tank with no powers of resource allocation makes the process all the more difficult.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Harmonising The Relation</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The proportion of shareable taxes that go to the States should be fixed at the desired level. The shareable tax pool must also include cesses and surcharges as these have sharply increased in recent years.</li>
<li>Another possible route can be to follow the practice in the U.S. and Canada: of allowing the States to levy tax on personal income, with some limitations, which is as of now collected by Centre.</li>
<li>Any reform aimed at rationalising the sharing of taxes between state and centre should also address issues related to horizontal distribution and should take into consideration the question of equity amongst states as states often feel &lsquo;cheated&rsquo; because of the overuse of the equity criterion.</li>
</ul>
<p><em><strong>It is time that the nation arrived at an appropriate solution giving effect to fiscal federalism so that the provincial aspirations are taken care of, meanwhile extending the provincial autonomy that our constitution talks about.</strong></em></p>
<div class="border-bg">
<p>To correct the horizontal fiscal imbalance between the States and bring more equity, Finance Commission undertakes few steps while horizontally distributing revenue.</p>
<p>The criteria used by the Finance Commissions can be broadly grouped under:</p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Factors reflecting needs, such as population and income measured either as distance from the highest income or as inverse.</li>
<li>Cost disability indicators, such as area and infrastructure distance.</li>
<li>Fiscal efficiency indicators, such as tax effort and fiscal discipline.</li>
</ul>
<p>While the weightage assigned to population has declined considerably, weightage assigned to income distance and efficiency factors has increased considerably in recent years.</p>
</div>',
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		'title' => 'Sustainable Tourism in the Indian Himalayan Region : NITI Aayog',
		'description' => '<h3>Preface</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Mountains cover around 27% of the Earth&rsquo;s land surface and contribute to the sustenance and wellbeing of 720 million people living in the mountains and billions more living downstream.</li>
<li>Yet mountains are under threat from climate change, land degradation, overexploitation, and natural disasters, with potentially far-reaching and devastating consequences, both for mountain communities and downstream populations.</li>
<li>The challenge is to <strong>identify new and sustainable opportunities</strong> that can bring benefits to both highland and lowland communities and help to eradicate poverty without contributing to the degradation of fragile mountain ecosystems <strong>(FAO, 2018)</strong>.</li>
<li>With a similar set of threats in the <strong>Indian Himalayan Region (IHR)</strong> and its adjoining landscapes, existing <strong>non-climatic issues</strong> are becoming complex as multi-faceted problems such as <strong>human wildlife conflicts, water insecurity</strong> due to drying of natural springs, <strong>land degradation</strong> and resultant socio-demographic changes (out-migration), and <strong>environmental problems</strong> such as solid waste and air pollution are pertinent.</li>
<li>As <strong>climate change has affected the Himalayan region,</strong> warning signals in the form of shrinking glaciers, increasing temperatures, water scarcity, changing monsoonal patterns, and frequency of severe disasters are obvious.</li>
<li><strong>The IHR extends</strong> from the Indus River in the west to the Brahmaputra River in the east. The mountain ranges and river basins share trans-boundary connectedness. Six countries in the <strong>Hindu Kush Himalayan region</strong> share borders with India.</li>
<li>For the IHR, <strong>&lsquo;Tourism&rsquo;</strong> has existed for a very long time. Apart from <strong>pilgrimage tourism, &ldquo;modern&rdquo; tourism</strong> in the IHR region, which is represented by mass tourism, largely limited to sightseeing and visiting major tourism hubs, is also putting severe stress on the ecology and ecosystem services of the Himalaya as well as on local social structures.</li>
<li>While tourism is one of the main development sectors for the Himalaya and can be the engine that drives future development in the region, this will only be possible if it is developed and implemented following <strong>principles of sustainability</strong>.</li>
<li>This report <strong>&ldquo;Sustainable Tourism in the Indian Himalayan Region&rdquo;</strong> lays out an <strong>action-oriented path</strong> for the development of sustainable tourism in the Himalaya, which can enhance economic and livelihood opportunities while maintaining the ecology and cultural values of the region.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Background</h3>
<p><strong>Tourism in Indian Himalayan Region (IHR)</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>In the Indian Himalayan Region (IHR) tourism has experienced continued growth and increasing diversification over the last few decades. It is expected to grow at an <strong>average annual rate of 7.9% from 2013 to 2023</strong>.</li>
<li>For local mountain people, tourism means valuable economic and business opportunities and jobs, and for state governments and private entrepreneurs it brings revenues and profits.</li>
<li>In the <strong>11<sup>th</sup> Five-Year Plan</strong> of India&rsquo;s Planning Commission: &ldquo;Tourism is the largest service industry in the country&rdquo;. Its importance lies in being an instrument for <strong>economic development and employment generation, particularly in remote and backward areas (e.g. in IHR)</strong>.</li>
<li>Moreover, the <strong>12<sup>th</sup> Five-Year Plan</strong> clearly recognizes <strong>pro-poor tourism for inclusive growth</strong>.</li>
<li>The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), mountain specific tourism is directly included as a target in Goals 8 and 12:
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li><strong>Goal 8</strong> on the promotion of &ldquo;sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth&rdquo;, Target 8.9(By 2030, devise and implement policies to promote sustainable tourism that creates jobs and promotes local culture and products)</li>
<li><strong>Goal 12</strong> aimed to &ldquo;ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns&rdquo;, Target 12.b(Develop and implement tools to monitor sustainable development impacts for sustainable tourism which creates jobs, promotes local culture and products)</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>On 7 April 2017, NITI Aayog,</strong> in association with some key national institutions and ICIMOD (International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development), set up an Action Agenda for <strong>&ldquo;Sustainable Development of Mountains of Indian Himalayan Region (IHR)&rdquo;,</strong> in which <strong>&ldquo;Sustainable Tourism in IHR&rdquo;</strong> was selected as one of the key themes.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Tourism Sector Trends and Development Paradigms</h3>
<p>Tourism in the IHR has shown a persistent upward trend over many decades despite several natural disasters and political unrest.</p>
<p><strong>Various initiatives taken by the Government to promote tourism</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>e-Visa</strong> facility under three categories &ndash; Tourist, Medical and Business &ndash; for the citizens of 163 countries</li>
<li><strong>Global Media Campaign</strong> for 2017-18 on various international TV channels</li>
<li><strong>'The Heritage Trail'</strong> to promote the World Heritage Sites in India</li>
<li>Celebration of <strong>&lsquo;Paryatan Parv&rsquo;</strong> with three components, namely <strong>&lsquo;Dekho Apna Desh&rsquo;</strong> to encourage Indians to visit their own country, <strong>&lsquo;Tourism for All&rsquo;</strong> with tourism events at sites across all states in the country, and <strong>&lsquo;Tourism and Governance&rsquo;</strong> with interactive sessions and workshops with stakeholders on varied themes.</li>
<li>Under the <strong>Swadesh Darshan scheme,</strong> among 15 thematic circuits, a few are closely related to IHR such as the <strong>North-East (NE) India Circuit, Himalayan Circuit,</strong> and <strong>Spiritual Circuit</strong>.</li>
<li>&lsquo;National Mission on Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spiritual, Heritage Augmentation Drive&rsquo; <strong>(PRASHAD)</strong> launched by the MoT with the objective of holistic development of identified pilgrimage destinations in 2017. Only three mountain states figured in planned budget (i.e. J&amp;K, WB and Uttarakhand).</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Contribution of tourism to the state economy</strong></p>
<p>Trade, hotels, and restaurants are considered as contributing factors Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP). As per data from RBI tourism has been contributing more than 10% to the GDP in states such as Uttarakhand, West Bengal, Tripura, Assam, and Meghalaya. The lowest contributions are in states like Arunachal Pradesh (3-4%), Sikkim (2-3%) and Nagaland (3-4%).</p>
<p><strong>Potential repercussion</strong></p>
<p>Barring Sikkim, all mountain states show slightly <strong>decreasing contribution of tourism to GSDP of the state</strong>. To some extent this may be related to fresh impetus given by central government to <strong>multi-sectoral investments in the NER</strong> (North Eastern Regions). It is also evident that contribution to GSDP does not necessarily become the basis for priority investments in this sector. With this it can also be also assumed that tourism promotion is largely in the hands of private sector as tourists still come and are served.</p>
<p><strong>Building the waste argument</strong></p>
<p>With upward trends in tourist numbers to the IHR, have direct or indirect causes and effects such as pollution, overexploitation of natural resources, food insecurity, ill planned urbanization, traffic congestion, loss of indigenous culture, natural disasters, and so on.</p>
<p>As per the available data (2009-2012) IHR states are accumulating 22,372 metric tonnes (MT) of municipal solid waste per day. It is logical that these figures for 2017 have increased substantially given that the number of tourists to the IHR has gone up by a huge margin and waste collection, segregation, disposal and recycling are not organized.</p>
<p><em>Good practices and examples:</em></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>"Waste Warriors"</strong> in Dharamsala Town, which need to be backed up with a meticulous plan to up-scale and out-scale.</li>
<li>Sikkim is a model state for promoting ecotourism products and infrastructure, solid waste management concepts and capacity building efforts but is hugely challenged by the emerging and threatening aspects of mass tourism, human-wildlife conflict, landslides, and climate change induced fires.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Condition of forests as key elements of landscape aesthetics</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Forest area loss in IHR states is a matter of concern as most tourist/pilgrim sites are located within or near to forest lands.</li>
<li><strong>Inappropriate forms of tourism development</strong> may add to deforestation. For instance, tourism in Uttarakhand has the highest contribution to its state GDP but conversely, the state <strong>lost 268 sq.km of forest in a span of two years</strong>.</li>
<li>Forest cover shrinkage in Northeast India is common and, to a great extent, related to the practice of shifting cultivation.</li>
<li>While <strong>positive changes</strong> have been reported from J&amp;K (450 sq.km), West Bengal (23 sq.km) and Manipur (4 sq.km) is mostly due to <strong>afforestation efforts,</strong> often monocultures, while natural forest cover and dense canopy forest (with higher value) is decreasing.</li>
<li><strong>National Green Tribunal (NGT)</strong> in the matter of <em><strong>Sher Singh Vs State of HP (2014)</strong></em> regarded <strong>tourism impacts</strong> on major tourist destinations in north-western Himalaya such as<strong> loss of good forest cover,</strong> mounting solid waste, forest fires.</li>
<li>The recent ISFR (INDIA STATE OF FOREST REPORT) 2017 not only repeats the scenario of forest cover loss in most of the NER states but also shows that <strong>forest cover loss is more severe</strong> (e.g. Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura and Meghalaya). The loss of forest cover is related to <strong>shifting cultivation practices</strong> and now also increasingly to development investments in the NE region.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Environmental performance index (EPI) 2014</strong></p>
<p>In 2014, at the global level, <strong>India ranked very low at 155 among 178 countries</strong>. Hence, it can be concluded that <strong>even if states have the best formulated and inclusive policies and programmes,</strong> their application and results on the ground counts.</p>
<p><strong>World Bank survey 2015, &ldquo;Ease of doing Business and Environmental Compliance&rdquo;</strong></p>
<p>None of the IHR states figured in the top 10. This indicates that the environment for tourism business is not necessarily favourable in the IHR and that despite the fragility of the IHR landscape, environmental compliance may have been compromised.</p>
<p><strong>Hindu Kush Himalayan Monitoring and Assessment Programme (HIMAP, 2018, forthcoming), coordinated by ICIMOD</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Evidence-based actions to reduce disaster risk, to mitigate and adapt to climate change, and to adopt good governance, are central to ensuring prosperity in the HKH (Hindu Kush Himalaya).</li>
<li>The participatory visioning process identified collaboration among state and non-state actors as crucial for prosperity in the HKH in 2080.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Analysis of Supporting Policies and Plans</h3>
<p><strong>Brundtland Commission report (1987)</strong></p>
<p>In sustainable development discourse, <strong>Sustainable tourism</strong> has been widely debated as a <strong>panacea</strong> to mass tourism and environmental degradation</p>
<p><strong>The Rio Earth Summit (1992)</strong> added another chapter to sustainability by binding agreements on <strong>biological diversity, climate change, and combating desertification</strong>.</p>
<p>To understand the extent to which these 12 Himalayan states are able to address sustainable tourism practices, twelve core areas (from a draft <strong>UNESCO Checklist for Sustainable Tourism Strategy</strong>) were assessed:</p>
<p>(1) Disaster Management (2) Pollution Control (3) Visitor Control (4) Tourist Traffic Management (5) Crisis Management (6) Waste Management (7) Natural Resource and Ecology Management (8) Quality Standard/Control Mechanism (9) Tourism Enterprise Development Governance (10) Energy (11) Gender, and (12) Marketing and Branding.</p>
<p><strong>Assessment of tourism in IHR based on above 12 parameters:</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>In most of IHR states, <strong>these parameters are marginally addressed</strong> (or not at all) in policy/plan documents.</li>
<li>Barring Sikkim in NER, only western Himalayan states have elaborate and inclusive policy and plan documents.</li>
<li>Similarly, the tourism policies of <strong>Nagaland and West Bengal have very marginal reference to the above indicators</strong>.</li>
<li>It also appears that <strong>forest policies of IHR states are sector centric</strong> and do not have aspects relating to a crosscutting set of policies and plans.</li>
<li>Commonly, <strong>industrial policy is lacking content that supports linkages with other sectoral policies</strong> and plans in all IHR states.</li>
<li>It is encouraging to see that<strong> waste management,</strong> marketing, and branding and tourism enterprise development <strong>(governance)</strong> are <strong>largely represented</strong>.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>IHR State policies match-up with sustainable tourism indicator (UNWTO) areas</strong></p>
<p>United Nations World Tourism Organization <strong>(UNWTO)</strong> published <strong>&lsquo;Indicators of Sustainable Development for Tourism Destinations: A Guidebook&rsquo;</strong> with <strong>13 key</strong> sustainable tourism <strong>indicators</strong>.</p>
<p>(1) Wellbeing of host communities, (2) Sustaining cultural assets, (3) Community participation in tourism, (4) Tourist satisfaction, (5) Health and safety, (6) Capturing economic benefits from tourism, (7) Protection of valuable natural assets, (8) Managing scarce natural resources, (9) Limiting impacts of tourism activities, (10) Controlling tourist activities and levels, (11) Destination planning and control, (12) Designing products and services, (13) Sustainability of tourism operations and services.</p>
<p><strong>Assessments related to policies and plans of IHR states</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Only West Bengal is lagging behind</strong> in some principles such as in sustaining cultural assets, tourist satisfaction, and sustainability of tourism operations and services.</li>
<li>It is reiterated that climate change brings a common factor to challenges that states are trying to meet for evolving and sustaining good practices of tourism.</li>
<li>IHR has a typical<strong> bio-physical context (e.g. fragility, marginality, and inaccessibility),</strong> it is also clear that there are cross-border contexts such as upstream-downstream linkages of cultures, ecosystem services, trade and markets, and services sector.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Opportunities and paradigms of the tourism sector</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>India ranks 15th in the world in terms of International Tourism Receipts,</strong> with a share of 1.62%. India registered 8.03 million foreign tourist arrivals in 2015, an annual growth of 4.5% over the previous year.</li>
<li>It is the <strong>third highest foreign exchange earner,</strong> after gems, jewellery, and garments (Economic Survey of India, 2018).</li>
<li>India aims to create <strong>100 million jobs through tourism</strong> and attract <strong>40 million foreign tourists annually in the next five years</strong> (Union Minister K J Alphons on 23 October 2017). <strong>At present, 14.4 million international tourists</strong> visit India annually.</li>
<li>However, in the IHR, due to <strong>environmental fragility</strong> (e.g. ban on green felling) tourism is not necessarily an investment friendly for the private sector.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Govt. initiative for promotion of tourism</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Tax Incentives:</strong> An investment-linked deduction under Section 35 AD of the Income Tax Act is in place for establishing new hotels in the 2-star category and above across India. <strong>100% deduction on investment of capital nature</strong> excludes land.</li>
<li><strong>State Incentives:</strong> Incentives offered by state governments include <strong>subsidized land cost,</strong> relaxation in stamp duty, exemption on sale/lease of land, <strong>power tariff incentives, concessional rate of interest on loans,</strong> investment subsidies/tax incentives, backward areas subsidies and special incentive packages for mega projects; Incentives are provided for setting up projects in special areas &ndash; the North-east, Jammu &amp; Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand.</li>
<li><strong>Incentives from the Ministry of Tourism:</strong> Assistance in large revenue-generating projects; Support to <strong>Public Private Partnerships (PPPs)</strong> <strong>in infrastructure development</strong> such as <strong>viability gap funding;</strong> Schemes for capacity building of service provider.</li>
<li>A <strong>mobile application called &lsquo;Swachh Paryatan&rsquo;</strong> was launched in 2016, which lets citizens report any <strong>hygiene issues at various tourist destinations</strong> across the country.</li>
<li>The Ministry of Tourism launched the <strong>24x7 Toll Free Multi-Lingual Tourist Helpline</strong> in 12 languages in 2016 and it can be accessed on toll free numbers.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Trans-boundary Tourism Aspects</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Improving living standards</strong> in the IHR and its neighbouring countries, traditional trans-boundary pilgrimages (e.g. Kailash in Tibet, Muktinath in Nepal, Char Dham in Uttarakhand, India) are now <strong>witnessing continuous and increasing</strong> flow of tourists from neighbouring countries.</li>
<li>Hence IHR has a clear trans-boundary and strong inter-state context as visitors and tourism actors (South Asia) are coming from beyond the borders, with <strong>different understanding of standards of responsible tourism</strong> and awareness of <strong>delicate socio ecological and cultural contexts and sensitivities</strong>.</li>
<li>IHR sites are significant for their trans-boundary protected areas connect (e.g. <strong>Askot-ANCA</strong> on the Indo-Nepal border of the Kailash and <strong>Kangchenjunga landscapes</strong> between India, Nepal, and Bhutan with 19 protected areas).</li>
<li>Planning for tourist destinations as <strong>&ldquo;Cross-border Circuits in IHR&rdquo;</strong> is attractive and managing such cross-border tourism is an emerging field.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Building on Cultural Paradigm</h3>
<p>No other mountain range anywhere in world has affected the life of people and shaped the destiny of a nation as the Himalayas have with respect to India. Apart from its physical grandeur and natural splendour, and prime heritage values of culture, aesthetic beauty and sacredness, these mountains are <strong>Asia&rsquo;s Water Towers</strong> and also known as the <strong>&ldquo;Third Pole&rdquo;</strong>.</p>
<p><strong>However, there are some key concerns in the IHR:</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Socio-demographic disincentives:</strong> Lack of sustained economic opportunities, adoption of generic development paradigm (e.g. such as for plains of India) and inadequate outreach to local communities has brought enormous disincentives and resulted in migration of youth and men manifested in the <strong>&ldquo;Ghost Villages of Uttarakhand&rdquo;</strong> and predominantly <strong>women headed households</strong>. This has further eroded the cultural and social fabric of collectivism in the mountains.</li>
<li><strong>Stewardship degradation:</strong> Adoption of management concepts including for tourism and technologies (for road and infrastructure, construction) that are appropriate for plains has led to degradation of ecosystem services and problems such as <strong>human-wildlife conflicts, forest fires, drying of springs</strong> and land degradation through waste accumulation.</li>
<li><strong>Security and national sovereignty:</strong> As the natural and cultural legacy is fast deteriorating, <strong>depopulation from border and remote areas to greener pastures in the urban centres is bringing a sense of social demographic alienation</strong> with the rest of the population of 60 million. Thus sensitiveness of situation is visible in the borders as Illegal trade, wildlife trafficking etc. is increasing and cross-border connect to cultural linkages is further leading to <strong>inter-country polarization</strong>.</li>
<li><strong>Synergy deficits:</strong> As mentioned earlier, <strong>development investments and interventions</strong> made in IHR are <strong>not harmonized or synchronised</strong> so there is a lack of convergence among a host of planning and implementing institutions and networks which often leads to unsustainable models of tourism development.</li>
</ul>
<p>Given the above scenario of IHR, sustaining the natural and cultural legacy of IHR is a massive challenge, Govt is pursuing following initiatives:</p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Inclusion of <strong>ancient knowledge and wisdom</strong> in providing tourism services, <strong>Sangeet Natak Akademi (SNA),</strong> an autonomous organization under the Ministry of Culture channelizes work on the Folk and Tribal Performing Arts and Puppetry traditions of the country by organising national level festivals in various parts of the country.</li>
<li>Showcasing of <strong>festivals, folk and tribal performing art traditions</strong> of various states of the country on the lines of cultural exchange as consolidated also by the <strong>&ldquo;Ek Bharat Shreshth Bharat&rdquo;</strong> initiative is an innovative way to add heritage value to tourism in IHR.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Best Practices</h3>
<p><strong>&rsquo;Making Tourism More Sustainable&rsquo; guidelines by the WTO (WTO &amp; UNEP, 2005):</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Sustainable tourism is tourism that takes <strong>full account of current and future economic, social and environmental impacts,</strong> addressing the needs of visitors, the industry, the environment and host communities. It is not a special form of tourism; rather, all forms of tourism may strive to be more sustainable.</li>
<li><strong>Make optimal use of environmental resources</strong> that constitute a key element in tourism development, maintaining essential ecological processes and helping to conserve natural resources and biodiversity.</li>
<li><strong>Respect the socio-cultural authenticity of host communities,</strong> conserve their built and living cultural heritage and traditional values; and contribute to inter-cultural understanding and tolerance.</li>
<li>Ensure viable, long-term economic operations; providing <strong>socio-economic benefits to all stakeholders that are fairly distributed;</strong> including stable employment and income-earning opportunities and social services to host communities; and contributing to poverty alleviation.</li>
</ul>
<p>The UNEP report&sbquo; <strong>&lsquo;Tourism in the Green Economy&rsquo;</strong> (WTO &amp; UNEP, 2012):</p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>It makes an economic case for <strong>investing in the greening of tourism</strong> and provides guidance on how to mobilize such investments.</li>
<li>It highlights the challenges of the growth of tourism including the sector&rsquo;s contribution to&sbquo;<strong> global greenhouse gas (GHG)</strong> emissions, <strong>excessive water consumption</strong> compared with residential water use, <strong>discharge of untreated water,</strong> the generation of waste, the damage to local terrestrial and marine biodiversity and the threats to the survival of local cultures, built heritage and traditions.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>TERI and Metroeconomica (2013)</strong></p>
<p>It suggests introduction of a special <strong>tourist tax</strong>. It is collecting a modest tax in the form of a <strong>service fee for the provision of high quality environmental services to visitors</strong>.</p>
<h3>Recommended Sustainability Needs in IHR</h3>
<p><strong>Global Sustainable Tourism Council</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>(For a Destination)</strong>
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li><strong>Sustainable destination strategy:</strong> It considers environmental, economic, social, cultural, quality, health, and safety, and aesthetic issues; and was developed with public participation.</li>
<li><strong>Destination management:</strong> It defines responsibilities, oversight, and implementation capability for the management of environmental, economic, social, and cultural issues.</li>
<li><strong>Monitoring:</strong> The destination has a system to monitor, publicly report, and respond to environmental, economic, social, cultural, tourism, and human rights issues.</li>
<li><strong>Tourism seasonality management:</strong> The destination dedicates resources to mitigate seasonal variability of tourism by identifying year-round tourism opportunities.</li>
<li><strong>Climate change adaptation:</strong> It identifies risks and opportunities associated with climate change and encourage climate change adaptation strategies.</li>
<li><strong>Property acquisitions:</strong> Laws and regulations regarding property acquisitions exist, are enforced, comply with communal and indigenous rights, ensure public consultation, and do not authorize resettlement without prior informed consent and/or reasonable compensation.</li>
<li><strong>Crisis and emergency management:</strong> The destination has a crisis and emergency response plan that is appropriate to the destination.</li>
<li><strong>Protection of sensitive environments:</strong> The destination has a system to monitor the environmental impact of tourism, conserve habitats, species, and ecosystems, and prevent the introduction of invasive species</li>
<li><strong>Solid waste reduction:</strong> The destination has a system to encourage enterprises to reduce, reuse, and recycle solid waste.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>(For Hotels and Tour Operators)</strong>
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li><strong>Legal compliance:</strong> The organization is in compliance with all applicable local, national and international legislation and regulations including, among others, health, safety, labour and environmental aspects.</li>
<li><strong>Impact &amp; Integrity:</strong> The integrity of archaeological, cultural heritage and sacred sites has been preserved.</li>
<li><strong>Cultural interactions:</strong> The organization follows international and national good practice and locally agreed guidance for the management and promotion of visits to indigenous communities and culturally or historically sensitive sites in order to minimize adverse impacts and maximize local benefits and visitor fulfilment.</li>
<li><strong>Exploitation and harassment</strong>: The organization has implemented a policy against commercial, sexual or any other form of exploitation or harassment, particularly of children, adolescents, women, minorities and other vulnerable groups.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>The adapted aims for sustainable tourism and associated actions in the IHR region</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Economic viability:</strong> To ensure the viability and competitiveness of tourism destinations and enterprises, so that they are able to sustain prosperity and deliver benefits in the long term.</li>
<li><strong>Local prosperity:</strong> To maximize the contribution of tourism to the economic prosperity of the host destination, including the proportion of visitor spending that is retained locally.</li>
<li><strong>Employment quality and social equity:</strong> To strengthen the number and quality of local jobs created and supported by tourism, including standardized skill and entrepreneurship development, the level of pay, conditions of service and availability to all without discrimination by gender, disability or in other ways.</li>
<li><strong>Visitor fulfilment:</strong> To provide a safe, satisfying and fulfilling experience for visitors, available to all without discrimination by gender, disability or in other ways.</li>
<li><strong>Community wellbeing:</strong> To maintain and strengthen the quality of life in local communities, including social structures and access to resources, amenities and life support systems, avoiding any form of social degradation or exploitation.</li>
<li><strong>Cultural richness, integration and mutual understanding:</strong> To respect and enhance the historic heritage, authentic culture, traditions and distinctiveness of host communities. Respect for, and understanding of, cultural diversity between nations and peoples is a key principle of sustainable development.</li>
<li><strong>Physical integrity:</strong> To maintain and enhance the quality of IHR, both rural and remote, and avoid the physical and visual degradation of the environment. It includes Carrying Capacity Management, Infrastructure, Resource Consumption, Eco-labelling, and Waste Management.</li>
<li><strong>Mountain biological diversity:</strong> In relation to visual impacts, most attention in the past has been paid to the quality of rural landscapes and how they affect, and are affected by, tourism. However, there should be equal concern for the integrity and aesthetic quality of built as well as natural environments in rural and urban areas.</li>
<li><strong>Resource efficiency:</strong> To minimize the use of scarce and non-renewable resources in the development and operation of tourism facilities and services.</li>
<li><strong>Environmental purity</strong>: To minimize the pollution of air, water and land and the generation of waste by tourism enterprises and visitors.</li>
<li><strong>Standards and monitoring and evaluation:</strong> To design and implement eco-labelling standards and monitor these for measuring changes and performance to initiative timely corrective policy and practice actions.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Actions for Impacts</h3>
<p><strong>Action agenda for states:</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Institutions and processes:</strong> Create separate divisions within tourism departments to look after the key aspects of tourism and related information viz. capacity building, marketing and promotion including product development, standards, certification and guidelines.</li>
<li><strong>Capacity building:</strong> Design and deliver an IHR specific Awareness and sensitization package of different actors and sectors, including all key service providers and producers and unleash this information through a proactive media campaign and existing travel related websites and tourism information centres.</li>
<li><strong>Research/science and technology:</strong> A detailed survey of tourists should be carried out in the near future to elicit visitor perceptions on what services they are looking for and identify the gap areas. Promote new opportunities and technologies to widen the spectrum of entrepreneurship and associated skills.</li>
<li><strong>Finance and market:</strong> Market/State instruments for entrepreneurship and start-ups (e.g. adventure tourism, sports equipment, waste management technologies) must be encouraged by facilitating access to credit and low interest loans.</li>
<li><strong>Planning, implementation, and monitoring:</strong> All IHR states must link their tourism related plans and investments according to envisaged state growth models that integrate targeted private sector investments. A system to monitor and publicly report visitor satisfaction.</li>
<li><strong>Policy and regulations:</strong> All key services providers must be made to follow international and national good practices and locally agreed guidance for the management and promotion of visits to indigenous communities and culturally or historically sensitive sites in order to minimize adverse impacts and maximize local benefits and visitor fulfilment.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Summing-up</h3>
<p><strong>Summary</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Based on the key principles outlined for sustainable tourism by World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), numerous actions have been proposed and the <strong>implementation of actions could contribute to sustainable tourism in the IHR</strong>.</li>
<li>It requires <strong>improved access to existing national and state funding streams</strong> so that actions are implemented in a timely manner.</li>
<li><strong>Enabling conditions</strong> are to be created for the business sector to invest in conservation and in inclusive tourism business with local stakeholders as key partners.</li>
<li>The <strong>existing institutional and governance</strong> landscape in IHR needs <strong>to be updated</strong> and oriented to the possibilities for developing IHR in the long term.</li>
<li><strong>Capacity development programmes</strong> is needed that <strong>not only mentors future policymakers</strong> and practitioners from public and private sector but also <strong>enables local economic and entrepreneurship</strong> <strong>avenues</strong> through sustainable tourism.</li>
<li>If the list of <strong>actions suggested here are incorporated into the current tourism development plans</strong> and implemented, there is likelihood that they will contribute to conservation and development of IHR landscapes and improve the <strong>wellbeing of people</strong>.</li>
<li><strong>The implementation strategy should be IHR state specific</strong> and must be based on business plans that clearly relate to eco-labelling parameters, investment plans, and monitoring and evaluation.</li>
<li>It is crucial that<strong> climate change mitigation and adaptation actions are reflected in state and national policies</strong> and strategic plans and investments for sustainable tourism in the IHR.</li>
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		'title' => 'Strategy for New India at 75',
		'description' => '<div class="border">
<h1 style="text-align: center;">Introduction</h1>
<p>NITI Aayog has released <strong>'Strategy for New India @ 75'</strong> document by replacing five year plans with an aim to <strong>accelerate economic growth to 9-10%,</strong> make the country a <strong>$4-trillion economy by 2022-23 and to achieve UN Sustainable Development Goals</strong>.</p>
<p>The document defines the strategy for 2022-23 across <strong>forty-one areas</strong>. Each chapter includes:</p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><em><strong>Objectives for 2022,</strong></em></li>
<li><em><strong>Progress already made,</strong></em></li>
<li><em><strong>Binding constraints,</strong></em></li>
<li><em><strong>Way forward for achieving stated objectives.</strong></em></li>
</ul>
<p>The document was prepared after <strong>extensive consultation</strong> at &ndash; central, state and district levels stakeholders.</p>
<p>The document has been disaggregated under <strong>four sections: Drivers, Infrastructure, Inclusion and Governance</strong>.</p>
</div>
<h1 style="text-align: center;"><br />CHAPTER 1: DRIVERS</h1>
<h2>Growth</h2>
<h3>Objectives</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Accelerate gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate in a inclusive and sustainable manner to about 8 per cent during 2018-23.</li>
<li>Investment rate should be raised from 29 per cent to 36 per cent of GDP by 2022-23.</li>
<li>Increasing total exports from USD 478 billion in 2017-18 to USD 800 billion by 2022-23.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Current Situation</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The share of manufacturing in India&rsquo;s GDP is low relative to the average in low and middle-income countries.</li>
<li>Capital intensive sectors have witness higher growth in manufacturing such as automobiles and pharmaceuticals.</li>
<li>India hasn&rsquo;t been able to capitalize fully on its inherent labor and skill cost advantages to develop large-scale labor intensive manufacturing.</li>
<li>India is also grappled with complex land and labour laws.</li>
<li>There is a need of generating good quality jobs to cater to the growing workforce and to absorb out-migration of labour from agriculture.</li>
<li>India has had strong macroeconomic fundamentals including low and stable rates of inflation and a falling fiscal deficit. However there is a need for structural reforms that address the binding constraints for a more robust supply-side response.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Way Forward</h3>
<p><strong>Raising investment rates to 36 per cent by 2022-23</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>India&rsquo;s tax to GDP ratio (17%) is very low and it should aim to increase its tax-GDP ratio to at least 22 per cent of GDP by 2022- 23.</li>
<li>There&rsquo;s a need to rationalize direct taxes for both corporate tax and personal income tax, ease tax compliance burden which along with demonetization and GST will boost India&rsquo;s tax to GDP ratio.</li>
<li>Higher public investment in housing and infrastructure will create large multiplier effects in the economy.</li>
<li>Government should exit central public sector enterprises (CPSEs) that are not strategic in nature, which will attract private investment and contribute to the exchequer, enabling higher public investment.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Macroeconomic stability should be achieved through prudent fiscal and monetary policies</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Lowering government&rsquo;s debt-to-GDP ratio will reduce the relatively high interest cost burden on the government budget and will also improve the availability of credit for the private sector in the financial markets.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Efficient financial intermediation</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Efficient functioning of the financial markets is crucial to maintain high growth in the economy.</li>
<li>An improved risk-assessment framework for lending should be created to facilitate easier availability of capital and avoid a situation of large-scale nonperforming assets in the banking sector.</li>
<li>Enable alternative (to banks) sources of credit such as bond market for India&rsquo;s long-term investment needs.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Focus on exports and manufacturing</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Logistics sector needs to be made more efficient, rationalization of power tariffs structure to ensure global connectivity and competitiveness of Indian industries.</li>
<li>States should ease labor and land regulations particularly speedily implementing <strong>Fixed Term Employment (FTE)</strong>.</li>
<li>Strengthen the governance and technical capabilities of Export Promotion Councils (EPCs) by subjecting them to a well-defined, performance-based evaluation.</li>
<li>Closer ties with emerging economies of South East Asia particularly Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam should be forged using BIMSTEC frameworks.</li>
<li>Physical infrastructure and measures to facilitate seamless cross-border movement of goods in the North-East region would help accelerate integration and promote exports.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Employment generation</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Employability of labor can be increased by improving health, education and skilling outcomes and a massive expansion of the apprenticeship scheme.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Employment and Labour Reforms</h2>
<h3>Objectives</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Complete codification of central labor laws into four codes by 2019.</li>
<li>Increase female labor force participation to at least 30 per cent by 2022-23.</li>
<li>Encourage formalization of the labor force by reforming labor laws, easing of industrial relations and ensuring of fair working conditions and social security.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Current Situation</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>49% of total Indian workforce engages in agriculture with a miniscule contribution of 15% to <strong>Gross Value Added</strong>.</li>
<li>Indian economy needs to generate nearly 70 lakh jobs annually to absorb the net addition to the workforce.</li>
<li>MSMEs and informal sector firms dominate the employment landscape in India. As per the National Sample Survey (NSS) 73rd round, 6.34 crore MSMEs in the country engaged in different economic activities provides employment to 11.10 crore workers.</li>
<li>India also exhibits a low and declining female labor force participation rate which stood at 23.7% in 2011-12 compared to China&rsquo;s 61% and US&rsquo;s 56%.</li>
<li>Cost of compliance and the complexity generated by various labor laws is high in the country.</li>
<li>Government has brought in few reforms such as moving licensing and compliance processes online, simplifying procedures and permitting self-certification etc.</li>
<li>Government has several schemes to help generate employment such as <strong>MGNREGS, MUDRA Yojana, and Pradhan Mantri Rojgar Protsahan Yojana</strong> etc.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Constraints</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Large share of India&rsquo;s workforce is employed in low productivity activities with low levels of remuneration.</li>
<li>Workers in unorganized sector are not covered by labor regulations and social security.</li>
<li>According to the <strong>India Skill Report 2018,</strong> only 47 per cent of those coming out of higher educational institutions are employable.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Way Forward</h3>
<p><strong>Enhance skills and apprenticeships</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Labour Market Information System (LMIS)</strong> which identifies skill shortages, training needs and employment created should be made functional.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Labour law reforms</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Simplify and modify labor laws in formal sector.</li>
<li>There is a need of National Policy for Domestic Workers to recognize worker&rsquo;s rights and promote better working conditions.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Enhance female labor force participation</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act, 2017,</strong> and the <strong>Sexual Harassment of Women at Work Place (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act</strong> need to be implemented effectively across all sectors.</li>
<li>Ensuring that skills training programs and apprenticeships include women.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Ease industrial relations to encourage formalization</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Overhaul the labor dispute resolution system to resolve disputes quickly, efficiently, fairly and at low cost.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Wages</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Minimum Wages Act, 1948,</strong> needs to cover all jobs.</li>
<li>Enforcing the payment of wages through cheque or Aadhaar-enabled payments for all.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Working conditions and social security</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Enact a comprehensive occupational health and safety legislation based on risk assessment.</li>
<li>Workers housing on site will enhance competitiveness and workers&rsquo; welfare.</li>
<li>Increasing capacity building in informal sector.</li>
<li>Compulsory registration of all establishments to ensure better monitoring of occupational safety as well as recreation and sanitation facilities.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Technology and Innovation</h2>
<h3>Objectives</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Reach in top 50 countries in the Global Innovation Index by 2022-23.</li>
<li>Five scientific research institutions should be amongst the top 100 in the world.</li>
<li>India should spend at least 2 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) on Research &amp; Development.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Current Situation</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>India has launched various schemes to nurture and retain young researchers and women scientists in the field of scientific research.</li>
<li>India has become a major destination for outsourced funding in R&amp;D covering areas from Information and Communication Technology, biotechnology, aerospace, and materials technology etc.</li>
<li>India is amongst handful nations that have credible capabilities in the field of space technology, strategic and defense technologies.</li>
<li>India ranks third in largest number of startups in the world. Government through the <strong>Atal Innovation Mission (AIM)</strong> aims to transform radically the innovation, entrepreneurship and start-up ecosystem of the country.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Constraints</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>India&rsquo;s expenditure in R&amp;D is a paltry 0.7% of its GDP which stands 1.2% and 2% for Brazil and China respectively. Private sector&rsquo;s contribution in R&amp;D is also miniscule.</li>
<li>The link between research, higher education and industry is weak and nascent.</li>
<li>Lack of scientific temperament at both early and later stage of career leads to the diversion of potential researchers to other rewarding sectors.</li>
<li><strong>"Lab to Land"</strong> time is too long i.e. rate of transfer of technologies from lab to industry and for societal benefits is low.</li>
<li>The public procurement system is heavily biased in favor of experienced and established products and technologies discouraging new and innovative technologies offered by start-ups.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Way Forward</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Empowered body is required to steer holistically the management of science in the country which will help in pursuing inter-disciplinary research among various scientific agencies.</li>
<li>Public funded R&amp;D institutions are affected by their poor marketing skills and information dissemination which can be improved by-
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Setting up value addition centers for (i) up-scaling technologies, (ii) improving technologies from Technology Readiness Level 4 to 6. (iii) Demonstrating industrial scale pilot production, (IV) coordinating with investors to incubate entrepreneurs etc.</li>
<li>DST should create a National Technology Data Bank to provide central database for technologies that are ready for deployment or under development.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Measures related to government procurement include the following:</strong>
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Government should invite international bidding for both products and services only when Indian manufacturers are unable to supply products/services of comparable international quality.</li>
<li>Awareness drives can be organized among the procurement managers of various ministries/ departments/state governments/CPSUs, about the DIPP&rsquo;s <strong>Public Procurement Order 2017</strong>.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>District Innovation Fund</strong> (2 crore) in each district may be created for promoting grass root innovation.</li>
<li>Atal Innovation Mission is aimed at setting at least 5,000 labs by 2019 and 10,000 by 2020 <strong>Atal Tinkering Labs (ATLs)</strong> around the country.</li>
<li>Foreign collaborators, consultants, visiting faculty, adjunct scientists needs to be involved in pursuing R&amp;D in the emerging areas such as nano-technology, stem cell research, astronomy, genetics, next generation genomics, drug discovery, etc.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Industry</h2>
<h3>Objectives</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Double the current growth rate of the manufacturing sector by 2022.</li>
<li>Gradual adoption of the latest technology advancements, referred to as &lsquo;Industry 4.0&rsquo;.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Current Situation</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>India is the fifth largest manufacturer in the world with a gross value added (GVA) of INR 21,531.47 billion in 2017-18 with a Cumulative Annual Growth Rate of 7.7 per cent between 2012-13 and 2017-18.</li>
<li>Government has taken multiple initiatives to boost manufacturing such as <strong>Make in India, Startup India, and MUDRA</strong>. It has also undertaken massive recapitalization of Public Sector Banks to ease availability of credit to MSMEs.</li>
<li>World Bank ranked India 100th among 190 countries in the Ease of Doing Business (EODB) in 2018 a jump of 34 positions from last year.</li>
<li>FDI regime has substantially liberalized, improving India&rsquo;s rank in terms of annual FDI inflows from 14 in 2010 to 9 in 2017. FDI inflow in manufacturing is about 35% of total FDI India receives.</li>
<li>Manufacturing share stands at 16% of GDP.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Constraints</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Regulatory risks and policy uncertainty in the past have dented investor confidence.</li>
<li>There has been a <strong>cyclical slowdown in fresh investment</strong> since 2011-12.</li>
<li>The adoption of new technologies such as artificial intelligence, data analytics, M2M (Machine</li>
<li>Getting construction permits, enforcing contracts, paying taxes, starting a business and trading across borders continue to constrain doing business.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Way Forward</h3>
<p><strong>Demand generation, augmentation of industrial infrastructure and promotion of MSMEs</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Government should push domestic manufacturing capabilities by optimally using public projects such as Sagarmala, Bharatmala, industrial corridors, and the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY).</li>
<li>Export strategies should be based on sector competitiveness and resource strength.</li>
<li>Foreign Direct Investment should be encouraged in manufacturing in order to realize Indian dream of becoming world&rsquo;s workshop.</li>
<li>Streamline discretionary powers vested at different levels of governance by adopting digitized processes and making all approvals electronic in a transparent, time bound manner.</li>
<li>A greater connect between government-industry-academia is required to identify the changing requirements in manufacturing and prepare an employable workforce.</li>
<li>E-commerce will be the driver of overall economic growth in the near future, creating vibrant environment for it to thrive, is the need of the hour which involves increasing internet access, digitizing payment, improving transportation, logistics etc.</li>
<li>There is a need to harmonize Indian quality standards with global standards, lack of which has affected Indian exports and prevented the leveraging of trade agreements adequately.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Industry 4.0</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Major push should be given to industry to adopt Industry 4.0, which will significantly impact sectors like automobile, pharmaceuticals, chemicals and financial services resulting in operational efficiencies, cost control and revenue growth.</li>
<li>Specialized training programs should be created on <strong>'Smart manufacturing'</strong> to address the shortage of high-tech human resources.</li>
<li>The development of industries that produce the key building blocks forming the basis of Industry 4.0 could be incentivized.</li>
<li>Incentives could be focused on MSMEs that manufacture products including sensors, actuators, drives, synchronous motors, communication systems, computer displays, and auxiliary electromechanical systems.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Ease of doing business</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Introduce a &ldquo;single window&rdquo; system that provides a single point of contact between investor and government and facilitates all required licenses and approvals.</li>
<li>Geographic Information System (GIS) should be adopted for geographical planning and ease of environmental clearances.</li>
<li>Ensure the seamless integration of the <strong>Shram Suvidha portal</strong> and state agencies&rsquo; portals.</li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>Shram Suvidha Portal</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The portal was launched by government of India in Oct&rsquo; 2014 and comes under Ministry Of Labor And Employment.</li>
<li>The main features of the Portal are as follow:
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Allots Labour Identification Number (LIN) for effective, efficient and real-time governance in Labour Administration.</li>
<li>To bring transparency and accountability in enforcement of labour laws through Online Inspection System and Filing of Online Inspection Report</li>
<li>Common Online Registration and Filing of Self-Certified and Simplified Single Online Annual Return for multiple labour laws to ease the complexity of compliance.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</div>
<h2>Doubling Farmers&rsquo; Income (I): Modernizing Agriculture</h2>
<h3>Objectives</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Modernize agricultural technology, increase productivity, efficiency and crop diversification.</li>
<li>Generate income and employment while ensuring food security and maximizing value addition in agriculture.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Current Situation</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Yield of majority of crops in India is lower than the world average <strong>due to low irrigation, use of low quality seeds, low adoption of improved technology, and knowledge deficit</strong> about improved agricultural practices.</li>
<li>There is a <strong>huge gap in extension delivery system</strong> in India which results in poor yields amongst as well as within states.</li>
<li>Closing these gaps provides an opportunity to enhance productivity and incomes significantly implying that state with low productivity have significant potential for catch-up growth in their productivity levels.</li>
<li>Demand side factors favor the expansion of area under fruits and vegetables, and livestock products, diversification to the fruits and vegetables segment is likely to benefit small and medium farmers.</li>
<li>Number of initiatives aimed at modernizing agriculture has been launched such as <strong>PMKSY (Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana), Soil Health Card etc</strong>.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Constraints</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Use of outdated and inappropriate technology.</li>
<li>Affordability of Technology remains a challenge due to dominance of small and marginal farmers.</li>
<li>Agricultural research in the country is constrained by resource inadequacy, regulations and intellectual property rights (IPR).</li>
<li>A huge gap exists between the demand for and supply of skills in agriculture, hindering diversification, adoption of precision agriculture and on farm post-harvest value addition.</li>
<li>Low scale is a serious constraint on the adoption of improved practices and in the input and output market.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Way Forward</h3>
<p><strong>Productivity and efficiency</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Irrigation coverage needs to be increased to 53 per cent of <strong>Gross Cropped Area (GCA)</strong> by 2022-23.</li>
<li>Increase adoption of hybrid and improved seeds.</li>
<li>States should aim to increase the <strong>Seed Replacement Rate (SRR)</strong> to 33 per cent for self-pollinated crops and 50 per cent for cross-pollinated crops in alternative years.</li>
<li><strong>Increase Variety Replacement Ratio</strong> - replacing old variety of seeds with hybrid and enhanced seeds to increase productivity along with developing climate resilient varieties of crops suitable for the 128 agro-climatic zones of the country.</li>
<li>Seed testing facilities needs up gradation in terms of both personnel and technical expertise.</li>
<li>There is a need for Uniform National Procedure for seed licensing to tackle the problem of heterogeneity in seed licensing procedures across states.</li>
<li>Efficient fertilizer usage by strengthening the Soil Health Card scheme.</li>
<li>The current lopsided fertilizer subsidy policy needs to bring secondary and micronutrients on the same nutrient based subsidy (NBS) platform as phosphorus (P) and potash (K).</li>
<li>Align the pesticide regulatory framework with food safety laws to make adoption broad based.</li>
<li>Subsidy should be provided on liquid fertilizers to encourage fertigation with micro-irrigation.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Strengthening extension systems</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The <strong>Agriculture Technology Management Agency (ATMA)</strong> programme needs to include bottom up planning at the district and block levels to develop <strong>Strategic Research Extension Plans (SREP)</strong> and subject matter specialists at Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) should orient their research to the block action plans developed by ATMA.</li>
<li>Priority should be given to extension services that disseminate information to farmers regarding (i) crop selection (ii) demand for and supply of crop produce, and (iii) availability of infrastructure facilities for storage, transport and marketing of produce.</li>
<li>Prioritizing value added extension services to raw agricultural produce would result in increased price realization and farmers&rsquo; income.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Diversification: promotion of High Value Crops (HVCs) and livestock</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Design an incentive mechanism to wean farmers away from cereal crops to HVCs.</li>
<li>Shift to using hybrid varieties for vegetables which has the potential to increase yields by 1.5 to 3 times and provide a significant increase in income.</li>
<li>Using <strong>Rootstock technology</strong> which has shown the capacity to double production and is resilient to climate stress.</li>
<li>Targeted efforts to create a market for niche products are recommended.</li>
<li>Recycling and utilizing agricultural waste would give a further fillip to farmers&rsquo; income.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Livestock and fisheries</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Breeding of indigenous cattle with exotic breeds needs to be encouraged which will enable greater gene coverage, reduced diseases and greater resilience to climate change.</li>
<li>Installing of bulk milk chillers and facilities for high value conversion of milk are needed to promote dairy in states.</li>
<li>Integrate the Blue Revolution scheme with MGNREGA.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Doubling Farmers&rsquo; Income (II): Policy &amp; Governance</h2>
<h3>Objectives</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Create a policy environment that enables income security for farmers, while maintaining India&rsquo;s food security.</li>
<li>Transforming agriculture to robust agri-business systems by encouraging participation of private sector.</li>
<li>Promoting agripreuners so that even small and marginal farmers can capture a higher share of value addition from <strong>'farmgate to fork'</strong>.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Current Situation</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Mismatch between the contribution of agriculture to national income and share in employment.</li>
<li>Income of farmer is only one-third of the income of a non-agriculture worker since the 1980s.</li>
<li>Country took 22 years to double farmers&rsquo; income at an annual growth rate of 3.31% during 1993-1994 to 2015-16; doubling farmers&rsquo; income between 2015-16 and 2022-23 will require an annual growth rate of 10.4%</li>
<li>Government initiatives:
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>100 per cent foreign direct investment in agriculture in 2016-17,</li>
<li>e SAMPADA scheme for creation of food processing infrastructure,</li>
<li>Introducing <strong>Model Agricultural Produce and Livestock Marketing Act (2017), Model Contract Farming Act</strong> etc.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<h3>Constraints</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Fragmented land holdings create difficulties for marginal farmers to access credit or new technology, severely affecting farm productivity and their incomes.</li>
<li>There exists a large gap between <strong>Farm Harvest Prices (FHP)</strong> and retail prices leading to agrarian distress.</li>
<li>Lack of non-farm employment opportunities has resulted in excessive dependence on agriculture.</li>
<li>Access to institutional credit remains a constraint, especially in the case of tenant farmers.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Way Forward</h3>
<p><strong>Marketing reforms</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Marketing can be improved by adopting <strong>Model APLM Act,</strong> which provides for progressive agricultural marketing reforms such as setting up of markets in the private sector, farmer-consumer markets, e-trading, single point levy of market fee, a unified single trading license in a state etc.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Amend Essential Commodities Act</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The Essential Commodity Act should be replaced with a modern statute that balances the interests of farmers and consumers as it has disincentivized large investment in agricultural technology and infrastructure.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Stable export policy</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Government of India should come up with a coherent and stable agricultural export policy, ideally with a five to ten-year time horizon.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Price realization</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Commission on Agricultural Costs &amp; Prices (CACP)</strong> should be replaced by an agriculture tribunal in line with the provisions of <strong>Article 323 B</strong> of the Constitution.</li>
<li>Replacing MSP with Minimum Reserve Price (MRP) which could be the starting point for auctions at mandis or separating the criteria for MSPs for which produce is procured.</li>
<li>Raising MSP or prices is not a long term solution. Fair prices can be realized by the creation of a competitive, stable and unified national market to enable better price discovery, and a long-term trade regime favorable to exports.</li>
<li>Creation of an effective and technology driven Agriculture Advisory Service to ensure that farmers adopt an optimal cropping pattern that maximizes their income.</li>
<li>Encourage states to adopt the <strong>Model Contract Farming Act, 2018</strong>.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Land aggregation</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Encourage states to adopt the <strong>Model Agriculture Land Leasing Act, 2016</strong>.</li>
<li>Digitization of land records is a must for effective implementation of land leasing which will help in generating updated land records.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Research &amp; development</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Focus needs to shift on precision agriculture such as micro irrigation, climate smart technologies, internet of things (IoT), and use of technology in animal husbandry to monitor animal behaviour, health and production to prepare for future challenges.</li>
<li>Raising research spending from 0.3 per cent to at least 1%.</li>
<li>Integrating Farming value chain, covering production, postproduction, processing and other value addition activities will turn cost effective for agriculture sector.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Innovation</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Several breakthroughs have the clear potential for quickly doubling farmers&rsquo; income such as ZBNF (Zero Budget Natural Farming), herbal inputs that improve soil quality and make plants more pest resistant etc.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Non-farm income</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Farmers can be shifted to agro-business and farm related skills which are currently in short supply.</li>
<li>India needs to accelerate growth in the manufacturing, services and exports sectors to wean labour away from agriculture resulting in higher productivity and income for farmer.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Doubling Farmers&rsquo; Income (III): Value Chain &amp; Rural Infrastructure</h2>
<h3>Objectives</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Transform the rural economy through the creation of modern rural infrastructure and an integrated value chain system.</li>
<li>Leveraging the value chain to boost India&rsquo;s exports of food products.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Current Situation</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Despite achieving full village electrification and accelerating the pace of connecting habitations through the <strong>Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY),</strong> Agriculture infrastructure, such as rural markets, warehouses, cold chain, farm machinery hubs India suffers from an infrastructure deficit.</li>
<li>There is a need for additional markets to be setup as recommended by <strong>Dalwai committee</strong>. A proposal for <strong>developing 22,000 Rural Periodic Markets (RPMs) into Grameen Agriculture Markets (GrAMs)</strong> has also been made in 2018-19 Budget.</li>
<li>Lack of adequate and efficient cold chain infrastructure leads to massive post-harvest losses.</li>
<li>Number of step has been taken to modernize the agri-value chain such as <strong>SAMPADA, Operation Greens etc</strong>.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Constraints</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Inability to acquire land for setting up of market yards due to restrictions on land leasing and land acquisition.</li>
<li>Existing marketing infrastructure suffers because of a lack of finances, manpower and proper facilities.</li>
<li>Poor maintenance of rural roads with a sub optimal connectivity also acts as a hindrance.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Way Forward</h3>
<p><strong>Markets and value chain</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Infrastructure status should be accorded to agriculture value chains- Warehousing, pack-houses, ripening chambers those even at village levels in order for them to avail fiscal benefits.</li>
<li>Government collection centers and warehousing facilities should be set up at the village/block level to benefit small and marginal farmers.</li>
<li>Pledge financing at warehouses, through <strong>Negotiable Warehouse Receipts (NWR),</strong> needs to be adopted and popularized as an alternative means of financing.</li>
<li>Coordination among different ministries will facilitate synergies between different initiatives such as the <strong>Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY)</strong> of the agriculture ministry, <strong>Viability Gap Funding</strong> of the Ministry of Commerce for cold chains and <strong>Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana</strong> of Ministry of Food Processing Industry.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Rural roads, electricity and mechanization</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Maintenance of rural roads through women Self Help Groups.</li>
<li>Private entrepreneurs should be incentivized to establish small farm implement mechanization hubs and big machinery hubs.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Export enablers</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Developing export oriented clusters with common infrastructure facilities. These clusters should contain a functional, end-to-end cold chain system along with processing facilities.</li>
<li>There exists a shortage of testing laboratories, essential for health certificates for exports. Private laboratories should be extended financial support to achieve international accreditation.</li>
<li>Efforts must be made to setup <strong>Green Channel</strong> for perishable produce at identified airports handling cargo.</li>
<li>Regulatory frameworks regarding use of pesticides, growth hormones, and antibiotics for marine produce need to be developed and implemented effectively to curb the rejection rate in the export market.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Financial Inclusion</h2>
<h3>Objectives</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Ensuring universal access to bank accounts, which are a gateway to all financial services.</li>
<li>Providing access to digital payment services and increasing its penetration.</li>
<li>Ensuring universal coverage of insurance for life, accidents, etc., and of pensions and other retirement planning services.</li>
<li>Better access to credit at a reasonable cost for those presently excluded.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Current Situation</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Schemes such as <strong>Jan Dhan Yojana, MUDRA Yojana, Stand-Up India Scheme, Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana, Suraksha Bima Yojana</strong> promote financial inclusion.</li>
<li>At present 80% of Indian adults have bank accounts which stood at 53% in 2014.</li>
<li>Awareness and use of mobile payments in India which was low before 2016 and stood at 1% has seen a significant improvement after demonetization and launch of BHIM platform.</li>
<li>India has a considerable ground to make in terms of credit access to its people. Similarly, bank credit to GDP ratio in India is 51 per cent, as compared to 98 per cent in China in 2016.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Constraints</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Lack of financial literacy amongst low income households.</li>
<li>High cost of operations of the traditional banking model.</li>
<li>Excessive regulatory requirements on products, and market entry, and conservative regulatory approach to new technologies.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Way Forward</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>A comprehensive financial literacy program <strong>(Arthik Shiksha Abhiyan)</strong> will help improve financial literacy and may be integrated in the regular school curriculum.</li>
<li>Growth of online and paperless banking can be facilitated which will turn out to be cost and time effective.</li>
<li>Technology can be used to assess the credit worthiness for households and informal businesses.</li>
<li>New data-sharing framework can be build on the success of Jan Dhan and Aadhaar platform to enable easier access to credit, with adequate safeguards for maintaining data privacy.</li>
<li>Payment banks and other platforms can be used to scale up payments systems in underserved areas.</li>
<li>Payment banks can be proactively regularized in order to make the commercially viable and scalable.</li>
<li>Regulatory framework governing formal financial products should be simplified and made more consumer-friendly in order to attract households.</li>
<li>KYC restrictions in the capital markets can be eased and linked to other KYC information to enable ease of doing business and increase the participation of retail investors.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Housing for All</h2>
<h3>Objectives</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Providing every family with a pucca house, with a water connection, toilet facilities, and 24x7 electricity supply and access.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Current Situation</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Homeless families are provided housing assistance in rural and hilly areas through Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Gramin) launched in 2016.</li>
<li>The scheme aims at building one crore rural houses in three years between 2016-17 and 2018-19 and has built 32.14 lakh houses in 2016-17.</li>
<li>Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban) looks to achieve target of constructing 1.2 housing units in urban areas.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Constraints</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Lack of access to finance from formal financial institutions.</li>
<li>Long-drawn out, multi-level approval system in urban areas.</li>
<li>Predominance of conventional construction practices that result in delayed progress in urban areas and the limited use of prefabricated and pre-engineered materials</li>
<li>Capacity constraints in urban local bodies (ULBs) to formulate and design mass housing projects.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Way Forward</h3>
<p><strong>Access to finance</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Department of Financial Services should consider creating a subcategory under priority sector lending (PSL) for affordable houses.</li>
<li>The government should raise funds commensurate with the &lsquo;Housing for All&rsquo; targets which will help in achieving greater synergies among agencies, implementing government housing schemes.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Technology for construction</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>A Global Housing Technology Challenge has been launched which will bring internationally proven construction technologies for adoption in India.</li>
<li>There is a need for major push in the form of slum development programs in urban areas. Therefore, a National Mission for Slum Rehabilitation will bring a greater focus on making the country slum free.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Reducing costs</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Government projects should focus on the life cycle cost (LCC) approach to the construction of houses rather than the cost per square foot approach to ensure quality of construction.</li>
<li>Fiscal support should be provided to companies that use recycled products made from waste.</li>
<li>Regulatory complexities should be rationalized and a single window approval system should be adopted to reduce the time taken to construct houses in urban areas.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Efficient use of land</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The land lying idle with loss making PSUs of the central/ state governments can be used for projects under &lsquo;Housing for All&rsquo;.</li>
<li>Indian cities should focus on vertical growth instead of horizontal growth.</li>
<li>Urban governance reforms, such as removing the need to obtain permission for non-agricultural use, amending rental laws and others, can potentially help achieving the goal of &lsquo;Housing for All&rsquo; by 2022-23.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Travel, Tourism and Hospitality</h2>
<h3>Objectives</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Increase India&rsquo;s share in global international tourist arrivals from 1.18 per cent to 3 per cent.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Current Situation</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>India sits at 40<sup>th</sup> position in the World Economic Forum&rsquo;s Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index in 2017.</li>
<li>India with its 35 world heritage sites, 10 bio-geographical zones and 26 biotic provinces proves itself as a hot destination among tourists with varied interests.</li>
<li>India&rsquo;s travel and tourism sector contributed of USD 22.92 billion in 2017-18.</li>
<li>Tourism is a labour intensive sector which has a potential to generate large scale, good quality employment.</li>
<li>To realize the sector&rsquo;s potential Indian government has launched multiple initiatives such as tourist visa on arrival, enabled with electronic travel authorization (ETA)</li>
</ul>
<h3>Constraints</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Awareness about the e-visa facility remains low, medical e-visa holders face difficulties because of the limited number of repeat visits and cumbersome registration processes.</li>
<li>Deficiencies in infrastructure and inadequate connectivity hamper tourist visits to some heritage sites.</li>
<li>Tourist information centers are poorly managed, making it difficult for domestic and foreign tourists to access information with ease.</li>
<li>Lack of adequately trained individuals in the tourism and hospitality sector is a key challenge in giving visitors a world-class experience.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Way Forward</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Launch an e-visa regime to attract clientele from the meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions (MICE) market.</li>
<li>Hotels, resorts, equipment, parks etc., having a project cost more than INR 1 crore should be notified as &lsquo;infrastructure&rsquo; to enable promoters to avail loans on a priority basis.</li>
<li>Improve flight connectivity to tourist destinations through the timely implementation of the Ministry of Civil Aviation&rsquo;s Regional Connectivity Scheme &ndash; UDAN (RCS-UDAN).</li>
<li>Promote river cruise tourism by making the entire stretch of National Waterway No. 1, the River Ganga, from Allahabad to the Farakkah Barrage, fully navigable.</li>
<li>Building <strong>deep-water marinas</strong> in the coastal areas of India including in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and in Mumbai.</li>
<li>Connect local communities to tourism by encouraging them to set up small enterprises to supply the tourism industry.</li>
<li>Upgrade the skills of existing workers such as taxi drivers, boat operators, guides, and restaurant and dhaba workers making the more people friendly and receptive.</li>
<li>Create Centers of Excellence for leadership in the tourism sector as a fulcrum of professional education, research and advocacy to create managers and entrepreneurs in tourism.</li>
<li>Enable access to markets for traditional handicrafts producers by linking them with global markets. The government should also encourage the export of tribal handicrafts.</li>
<li>Launch targeted promotional campaigns in Asian countries.</li>
<li>Reconsidering differential pricing for heritage sites as the higher ticket price for non-Indians leads to losing out on a large segment of youth travelers.</li>
<li>Create common passes to visit multiple heritage sites.</li>
<li>Tourist information centers should be operated by trained personnel and must have resources like maps, travel guides, etc.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Minerals</h2>
<h3>Objectives</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Double the area explored from 10 per cent of obvious geological potential (OGP) area to 20 per cent.</li>
<li>Accelerate the growth of the mining sector from 3 per cent in 2017-18 to 14 per cent, with an average growth of 8.5 per cent during 2018-23.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Current Situation</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>India has explored only 10% of its Obvious Geological Potential (OGP) area of 5.71 lakh sq. km. resulting in India&rsquo;s huge mineral import corresponding to 3,73,662 crore seven times more than its domestic production.</li>
<li>Minor minerals have a small share in value terms but their production is more labour intensive. Thus, they can be a source of large-scale employment generation.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Constraints</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Shortcomings in the licensing regime such as the separation of auction of prospecting licenses and provision of mining licenses.</li>
<li>High incidence of taxes, royalties and levies in comparison to global standards.</li>
<li>Disconnect between training institutions and industry.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Way Forward</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>To facilitate participation by private sector players in exploration, launch a mission <strong>&ldquo;Explore in India&rdquo;,</strong> by revamping the minerals exploration and licensing policy.</li>
<li>Public sector units (PSUs) and private sector companies should have a level-playing field with respect to mining.</li>
<li>Single window and time-bound environment and forest clearances with authorities explicitly declaring whether an area is inviolable or not.</li>
<li>All statutory approvals should mandatorily be granted within 180 days of application for exploration and mining of minerals.</li>
<li>Landowners/farmers/tribals need to be given mining rights for minor minerals on their land, to enable them to mine either on their own or by outsourcing it.</li>
<li>A National Mineral Regulatory Authority may be created to regulate the minerals sector to operate transparently with internationally recognized technical standards.</li>
<li>A National Data Repository (NDR) of Mineral Resources should be created and uploaded online.</li>
<li>Rationalize taxation/royalty and other levies on mining, capping it at a maximum of 40 per cent of the sale value to make mining competitive globally.</li>
<li>India should create an organization for strategic acquisitions of mines in other countries and to sign diplomatic and trade agreements.</li>
<li>Promote zero waste mining by incentivizing leaseholders to utilize and sell sub-grade minerals/rejects.</li>
</ul>
<h1 style="text-align: center;">Chapter 2: INFRASTRUCTURE</h1>
<h2>Energy</h2>
<h3>Objectives</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>175 GW of renewable energy generation capacity by 2022</li>
<li>Reduce imports of oil and gas by 10 per cent by 2022-23</li>
<li>Continue to reduce emission intensity of GDP in a manner that will help India achieve the intended nationally determined contribution (INDC) target of 2030.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Current Situation</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>India&rsquo;s energy mix is dominated by coal with a 49.6% share, followed by oil- 28%, biomass- 11.6%, gas - 7.3%, renewable and clean energy 2.2% and nuclear energy 1.2%.</li>
<li>India is the third largest energy consumer of the world but its per capita energy consumption is significantly low in comparison to US and China.</li>
<li>Total Installed power capacity of India is about 334 GW including 64 GW of renewable energy.</li>
<li>India is heavily dependent on petroleum imports, importing approximately 82% of crude oil and 45% of natural gas requirements during 2017.</li>
<li>India has a 16,000 km network of gas pipeline with another 10,000 km out for bidding.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Constraints</h3>
<p><strong>Subsidies and taxes</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>A variety of subsidies and taxes distort the energy market and promote the use of inefficient over efficient fuels.</li>
<li>Indian exports and domestic production turns out uncompetitive as energy taxes do not come under GST and hence, no input credit is given.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Power</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Unmetered power supply to agriculture provides no incentive to farmers to use electricity efficiently.</li>
<li>Regulatory Commissions are unable to fully regulate discoms and fix rational tariffs.</li>
<li>State power utilities are not able to invest in system improvements due to their poor financial health.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Oil &amp; gas</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Lack of market-driven gas prices for old fields disincentivizes further production.</li>
<li>The gas pipeline infrastructure is inadequate.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Coal</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Land for coal mining is becoming a major issue.</li>
<li>Tendency to expand opencast mining and giving up underground operation even for better quality coal reserves aggravates the land availability problem.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Renewable energy</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>High energy cost makes investment in the sector unattractive.</li>
<li>Flexibility in generation and balance requirements for the integration of renewable energy are emerging as major issues.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Energy efficiency</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Limited technical capabilities, high initial capital expenditure, limited market and policy issues have adversely affected efforts to achieve energy efficiency.</li>
<li>Non-availability of sufficient credit facilities.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Way Forward</h3>
<p><strong>Subsidies and Taxes</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Oil, natural gas, electricity and coal may be brought under GST to enable input tax credit.</li>
<li>All form of subsidies should be provided as functional subsidies to end-consumers to empower them to choose the energy form most suitable and economical to them</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Power</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Privatizing state distribution utilities and/or the use of a franchisee model will reduce Aggregate Technical and Commercial losses.</li>
<li>Promote the use of solar pumps for agriculture. Local discoms should buy surplus power from the farmer.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Oil &amp; gas</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Provide for a common carrier and open access to gas pipelines.</li>
<li>Separate the developmental and regulatory functions of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulation Board.</li>
<li>Consider market pricing for blocks that are not viable because of low gas pricing.</li>
<li>Provide "priority sector" status for 2G bioethanol projects. The concept of &lsquo;solar parks&rsquo; can be applied to bio-fuels.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Coal</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Put the onus on concerned state governments to make the land required for mining available.</li>
<li>Expeditiously operationalize commercial coal mining.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Renewable Energy</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Renewable purchase obligations (RPO) should be strictly enforced and inter-state sale of renewable energy should be facilitated.</li>
<li>Hybrid renewable energy systems such as solar PV + biomass should be explored.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Energy efficiency</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) should come out with a white paper on its 5-year strategy on energy efficiency in various sectors and specify energy consumption norms.</li>
<li>Promote the mandatory use of LED and the replacement of old appliances in government buildings with five-star appliances.</li>
<li>Widen and deepen The Perform, Achieve and Trade (PAT) program; make Energy Saving Certificate (ESCert) trading under the PAT scheme effective by ensuring strict penalties against defaulters.</li>
<li>For the MSME sector, BEE should develop cluster-specific programs for energy intensive industries to introduce energy efficient technologies.</li>
<li>Promote the use of the public transport system and vehicles can be turned electric gradually.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Surface Transport</h2>
<h3>Objectives</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Increasing the coverage and quality of roads and highways for internal and external trade.</li>
<li>Achieve the Bharatmala Phase-I target by completing 24,800 km by 2021-22.</li>
<li>Improve the regulatory framework for roads to achieve better compliance, seamless connectivity.</li>
<li>As a signatory to the Brasilia Declaration, reduce the number of road accidents and fatalities by 50 per cent by 2020.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Current Situation</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The road sector in India accounts for the largest share in the movement of both passengers and freight.</li>
<li>The demand for mobility on roads has risen continuously, leading to a sharp rise in the number of road transport vehicles.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Constraints</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Stretched capacities of the existing national and state highways.</li>
<li>The annual outlay marked for maintenance and repair of national highway is only 40 per cent of the funds required resulting in the inability to take up timely maintenance interventions.</li>
<li>Delays in acquiring land affects project costs as the average cost of land escalates with time.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Way Forward</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Increase connectivity by expanding the road network through:-
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Bharatmala Pariyojana Phase-I</li>
<li>Special Accelerated Road Development Program for the North-Eastern region (SARDP-NE)</li>
<li>&lsquo;North-East Road Network Connectivity Project Phase I&rsquo;</li>
<li>Chardham Mahamarg Vikas Pariyojna</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Improve road maintenance and safety by adopting a Maintenance Management System (MMS).</li>
<li>Earmarking 10 per cent of its annual budget for road and highways for maintenance.</li>
<li>Imposing heavy penalties on contractors for poor quality of operations and maintenance (O&amp;M) into contracts across all contract modes.</li>
<li>Ensuring that Ministry of Road Transport and Highway&rsquo;s <strong>Bhoomi Rashi</strong> web portal becomes fully functional by March 2019.</li>
<li>Introducing vocational training courses on road construction in Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs).</li>
<li>Ensure stringent testing of driving skills before granting driving licenses by adopting technologically advanced methods such as the automated driving testing system.</li>
<li>Increase emphasis on research and development such as Establish a transport data centre at the national level for applied research on roads, Enhance R&amp;D on IT-enabled traffic management systems, etc.</li>
<li>Transform state road transport undertakings (SRTUs) and promote public transport, rural transport and last mile connectivity.</li>
<li>Urban mobility must move towards multimodal solutions by ensuring seamless movement between different modes.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Railways</h2>
<h3>Objectives</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>India should have a rail network that is not only efficient, reliable and safe, but is also cost-effective and accessible by 2022-23.</li>
<li>Augment the capacity of existing railway infrastructure and increasing the speed infrastructure creation from the present 7 km/day to 19 km/day by 2022-23.</li>
<li>"100 per cent" 2 electrification of broad gauge track by 2022-23 from the 40 per cent level in 2016-17.</li>
<li>Improve the safety of the railways, achieving zero fatalities from the 2016-17 level of 238 fatalities.</li>
<li>Increase the share of non-fare revenues in total revenue to 20 per cent and increasing the freight load capacity of railways.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Current Situation</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Indian Railways (IR) is the fourth largest network in the world in terms of route km (67,368 km in FY17).</li>
<li>It is also the largest passenger and fourth largest freight transporting railway system globally.</li>
<li>Indian railways suffer from high saturation and over-utilized capacity on popular routes such as golden quadrilateral make up only 15% of the total route of the railways but it transports 52% of passenger traffic and 58% of total freight load.</li>
<li>Under-investment in the sector has crippled operations and hampered capacity augmentation.</li>
<li>There is a need for additional investment in rail infrastructure and scaling up investment.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Constraints</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Routes are congested with 60% routes running at more than 100% utility leading to leading to reduction in the average speed of passenger and freight trains.</li>
<li>Delays in decision making, inadequate market orientation and long project approval durations lead to slow turnover times and delays in the implementation of railways projects.</li>
<li>Poor cleanliness of trains and stations, delays in train departures/arrivals, quality of food and difficulties in booking tickets are key issues.</li>
<li>Poor terminal facilities lengthen loading and unloading times.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Way Forward</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Prioritize ongoing projects to improve capacity utilization. Timely completion of these projects will generate more revenue.</li>
<li>Consider transferring coach and locomotive manufacturing and repairs to private players with Indian railways keeping the right to regulate, monitor and ensure safety of users.</li>
<li>Separate suburban passenger transport from the rest of the network and put a light rail network in place in all major urban areas under local governments.</li>
<li>Rationalize fare structures and subsidies, and monetize assets to generate revenues.</li>
<li>Enhance safety of trains to reduce accidents and modernize stations by <strong>Eliminating level crossings,</strong> using advanced technologies such as automatic train protection, fog safety devices and ensuring the smooth functioning of by-pass crossings.</li>
<li>Improve terminal efficiency by promoting the concept of <strong>&lsquo;engine-on-load&rsquo;</strong> system, developing proper terminal layouts etc.</li>
<li>Setting up an independent regulator for the Indian Railways which will take decisions such as:
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Take decisions regarding price regulation.</li>
<li>Protect consumer interests, promote competition, efficiency and economy</li>
<li>Help attract investment, promote efficient resource allocation etc.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<h2>Civil Aviation</h2>
<h3>Objectives</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Doubling air cargo handled from about 3.3 million tonnes in 2017-18 to about 6.5 million tonnes.</li>
<li>Ensuring the increase of domestic flight ticket by making domestic air travel affordable by 2023.</li>
<li>Ensure that airport tariffs, taxes on fuel, landing charges, passenger services, cargo and other charges are determined in an efficient, fair and transparent manner.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Current Situation</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The World Economic Forum&rsquo;s Global Competitiveness Report, 2018 ranks India as 53rd out of 140 countries worldwide in air transport infrastructure.</li>
<li>UDAN promote balanced regional growth and make flying affordable for the population.</li>
<li>India&rsquo;s civil aviation sector has seen a steady growth with its domestic passenger almost doubling between 2007-08 and 2016-2017.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Constraints</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>With continued expansion of its aviation sector India is likely to face airspace, parking bays.</li>
<li>Shortage and gaps in availability of industry-recognised skills &ndash; from airline pilots to crew for maintenance could constrain the growth of different segments of the sector.</li>
<li>Due to high taxes and lack of competition among providers, ATF is relatively expensive in India. Since it remains outside the GST network, prices are plagued with regional disparities.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Way Forward</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Enhancing aviation infrastructure by completing the planned airports under the UDAN initiative in a time-bound manner.</li>
<li>Increase investment in the sector through financial and infrastructure support by creating additional parking hubs at suitable locations accessible through short haul flights.</li>
<li>Promote collaboration between original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), industry and educational institutes to teach latest concepts of aviation industry.</li>
<li>Promoting air cargo growth through &ldquo;Fly-from-India&rdquo; that is the creation of transshipment hubs.</li>
<li>Develop an integrated digital supply chain or e-cargo gateway based on the <strong>National Air Cargo Community System (NACCS)</strong> platform.</li>
<li>Ensuring the independence of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation and Prioritizing aviation safety.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Ports, Shipping and Inland Waterways</h2>
<h3>Objectives</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Double the share of freight transported by coastal shipping and inland waterways from 6% in 2016-17 to 12% by 2025.</li>
<li>Increase the port handling capacity to 2,500 Million Metric Tonnes (MMT) by 2022-23.</li>
<li>Reduce the turnaround time at major ports from about 3.44 days to 1-2 days (global average) by 2022-23.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Current Situation</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>India has a coastline spanning about 7,500 km, forming one of the biggest peninsulas in the world and majority of Indian external trade by volume and by value are handled by ports. Yet, roads and railways continue to be the dominant mode for cargo movement.</li>
<li>The total capacity utilization of Indian ports stands at 52.44 %.</li>
<li>The Ministry of Shipping&rsquo;s Sagarmala program focuses on modernizing and developing ports, enhancing port connectivity, etc.</li>
<li>Inland Water Transport (IWT) carries less than 2 per cent of India&rsquo;s organized freight traffic and negligible passenger traffic.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Constraints</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Lack of capability to handle large container vessels due to inadequate depth.</li>
<li>Weak hinterland connectivity between production centers and gateway ports often leads to higher costs and delays.</li>
<li>The cost of capital is very high and makes IWT freight uncompetitive.</li>
<li>States&rsquo; Ferries Acts from various years govern cross ferry movement and this may present a barrier to inland navigation.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Way Forward</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The government needs to open up the dredging market to attract international players in dredging activities to increase and maintain draft depth at ports to attract large vessels and enable them to become hub ports.</li>
<li>Expedite the completion of various projects under Sagarmala, setting up coastal economic zones (CEZs) and establishing new ports.</li>
<li>Drawing lessons from successful global ports such as Rotterdam, Felixstowe and Singapore to improve efficiency.</li>
<li>The new <strong>Merchant Shipping Bill</strong> needs to be enacted at the earliest to promote the ease of doing business, transparency and effective delivery of services</li>
<li>Enhance last mile connectivity to inland waterways by integrating multimodal and intermodal connectivity.</li>
<li>Financing for inland vessels could be made part of priority sector lending by banks.</li>
<li>Categorizing inland vessels as infrastructure equipment will ease access to capital for a sector where capital investments and operational costs are high.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Logistics</h2>
<h3>Objectives</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Reducing the logistics cost from 14% of its GDP to less than 10%.</li>
<li>Expand the logistics market to USD215 billion by 2020 from the current level of USD160 billion.</li>
<li>Improving logistics skills and increase jobs in the sector to 40 million by 2022-23 from about 22 million in 2016.</li>
<li>Reducing border compliance time to 24 hours for exports and to 48 hours for imports by 2020 as approved by National Trade Facilitation Action Plan.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Current Situation</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Existing logistics costs in India are high relative to other countries.</li>
<li>Recognizing importance for exports and growth, the government has included logistics in the harmonized master list of the infrastructure subsector.</li>
<li>India is placed at 66th out of 137 countries in infrastructure in World Economic Forum&rsquo;s Global Competitiveness Index (GCI) 2017-18 and at 146 out of 190 in World Bank&rsquo;s Ease of Doing Business.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Constraints</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Cost of logistics is high due to challenges in accessing finance, underdeveloped infrastructure, and poor connectivity.</li>
<li>Logistic sector is burdened by too many regulators which often lead to duplication of processes.</li>
<li>Movement of goods across modes suffers from the absence of last mile connectivity and infrastructure.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Way Forward</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Rationalize tariffs and determine prices in an efficient manner across different modes.</li>
<li>Creating an overarching body that maintains a repository of all transport data.</li>
<li>Setting up multimodal logistics parks will help in addressing issues related to underdeveloped infrastructure, an unfavorable modal mix and connectivity.</li>
<li>Allowing private players to operate in <strong>Container Corporation of India&rsquo;s</strong> (CONCOR) port terminals which will help utilize the infrastructure better.</li>
<li>Gradual implementation of the international standards especially in operations, and adopting global benchmarks on unit load devices such as containers and pallets.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Digital Connectivity</h2>
<h3>Objective</h3>
<p>Digital connectivity is vital to Indian economic growth and there is a need to eliminate digital divide by 2022-23, whereby India looks to achieve:</p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Physical digital connectivity across all states, districts and gram panchayats (GPs).</li>
<li>Delivery of government services digitally by 2022-23.</li>
<li>Hundred per cent basic digital literacy across the country to be able to leverage the benefits of digitization.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Current Situation</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>According to the Internet Trends 2017 report - 27% of Indian population uses internet.</li>
<li>Indian government has multiple schemes running to help realize its vision of Digital India such as Digital India Scheme (2015), BharatNet and National Information Infrastructure etc.</li>
<li>The government has also launched the Public Internet Access Program to make common service centers (CSCs) operational at the gram panchayat level to deliver government services online.</li>
<li>The government has identified 55,619 villages with no mobile coverage. Most of which are in the North-Eastern states.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Constraints</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Internet access is plagued by issues related to quality and reliability, outages, call drops and weak signals.</li>
<li>Scarcity of content in Indian languages as most of the content on internet is in English.</li>
<li>A large number of e-services are not available on digital platform requiring citizens to physically visit government offices.</li>
<li>The regulatory framework for cyber security is inadequate; hacking and denial-of-service attacks have often led to disruption of services.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Way Forward</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>TRAI should put in place a credible system to track call drops, weak signals and outages to ensure the quality and reliability of telecom services.</li>
<li>Adequate spectrum availability is critical to ensure service quality. Efficient spectrum allocation in large contiguous blocks should be explored.</li>
<li>The National Digital Literacy Mission should focus on introducing digital literacy at all levels in all government schools.</li>
<li>State governments should pay special attention to creating content, particularly those relating to government e-services, in Indian regional languages.</li>
<li>Ministry of electronics and information technology needs to evolve a comprehensive cyber security framework for data security, safe digital transactions and complaint redressal.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Smart Cities for Urban Transformation</h2>
<h3>Objective</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Drive job creation and economic growth.</li>
<li>Significantly improve efficiencies in service delivery.</li>
<li>Leverage technology for inclusive, sustainable and participatory development by 2022-23.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Current Situation</h3>
<p>Smart Cities is an approach to urban development characterized by area-based development, efficient delivery of basic infrastructure and services in an equitable manner and citizens&rsquo; participation.</p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The Government of India has selected 100 cities with an outlay of INR 2.04 lakh crore to develop and transform into smart cities.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Constraints</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Unavailability of digital master plan or a digital strategy and roadmap.</li>
<li>Data-driven decision making for service delivery and resource sustainability.</li>
<li>Non-availability of skilled human resources to handle various functional domains.</li>
<li>Financing smart cities and financial sustainability of ULBs would pose a serious challenge.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Way Forward</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>India should mainstream the resilient cities approach which should also be in line with the 11th Sustainable Development Goal (SDG)</li>
<li>Environment sustainability should be recognized as a distinct goal and be measured as part of service levels.</li>
<li>Data observatories should be developed in urban centers which should serve as a decision support mechanism for policy makers and to engage citizens.</li>
<li>Single-window facility should be created for the urban poor to access basic services such as water supply, drainage and sewerage, and affordable housing in the form of dormitory and rental housing.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Swachh Bharat Mission</h2>
<h3>Objectives</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Making India Open Defecation Free (ODF) by October 2, 2019.</li>
<li>Carrying out extensive information, education and communication (IEC) and behavior change campaigns to change the attitude of people regarding healthy sanitation practices.</li>
<li>Ensuring scientific solid and liquid waste management.</li>
<li>Creating an enabling environment for private sector participation.</li>
<li>Eradicating manual scavenging.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Current Situation</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Water and Sanitation related diseases continue to remain among the major causes of death among children under five years.</li>
<li>In India, the under-five mortality rate is 50 per thousand live births as compared to the global average of 41.</li>
<li>Lack of sanitation facilities leads to groundwater contamination and pathogen contamination leads to diarrhoeal diseases, resulting in malnutrition, stunting and death.</li>
<li>The Swacch Bharat mission has resulted in achieving 81% sanitation coverage which was only 39% in 2011 census.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Constraints</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Sustaining the change in behavior patterns among people</li>
<li>Continued unwillingness of urban local bodies (ULBs) to levy user charges.</li>
<li>Inadequate infrastructure for collection, transportation and processing of segregated waste.</li>
<li>Lack of credit from financial institutions for solid and liquid waste management projects.</li>
<li>Discharge of untreated effluent into rivers.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Way Forward</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The concept of Swachhata needs to be integrated into hospitals, government offices and other public establishments.</li>
<li>Plan intensive behavior change communication (BCC) and inter-personal communication (IPC) campaigns beyond the SBM target year of 2019.</li>
<li>BCC should lay greater emphasis on encouraging people to segregate waste into wet, dry and hazardous waste right at the point of waste generation</li>
<li>Children should be made aware of sustainable waste management practices through suitable changes in the school syllabus; engaging in college campuses etc.</li>
<li>Adopt the wider use of twin-pit toilets. It is a low-cost technology that decomposes waste into bio-fertilizer.</li>
<li>Expenditure on bio-toilets/bio-digesters may be considered for concession from the goods and services tax (GST) to encourage large-scale adoption.</li>
<li>ULBs should be nudged to charge adequate user charges for collection and disposal of waste and maintenance of toilets.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Water Resources</h2>
<h3>Objective</h3>
<p>By 2022-23, India&rsquo;s water resources management strategy should facilitate water security to ensure adequate availability of water for life, agriculture, economic development, ecology and environment.</p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Provide adequate and safe drinking water (piped) and water for sanitation for citizens and livestock.</li>
<li>Provide irrigation to all farms (Har Khet Ko Pani) with improved on-farm water-use efficiency (more crop per drop).</li>
<li>Ensure Aviral and Nirmal Dhara in the Ganga and other rivers along with their tributaries.</li>
<li>Create additional water storage capacity to ensure full utilization of the utilizable surface water resources potential of 690 billion cubic meters (bcm).</li>
</ul>
<h3>Current Situation</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Main source of water in India is precipitation which brings about 4000 BCM of water of which 53.4% is lost due to evapo-transpiration.</li>
<li>The available utilizable water resource potential is 1137 bcm, comprising 690 bcm of surface water and 447 bcm of ground water.</li>
<li>According to Central Water Commission water availability in the country has decreased from 1816 cubic meters (cu m) in 2001 to 1544 cu m in 2011.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Constraints</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>There is a huge gap between the irrigation potential created (112.5 million ha in 2012) and the irrigation potential utilized (89.3 million ha in 2012).</li>
<li>The Easement Act, 1882, which grants groundwater ownership rights to the landowner, is one of the reasons for water over-use and depletion of groundwater levels.</li>
<li>The subsidized pricing of water in various states has resulted in non-revenue water and a sharp decline in groundwater levels in all states.</li>
<li>The sustainability of the source and growing contamination of ground water in newer areas are constraints in ensuring safe drinking water supply in rural and urban areas.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Way Forward</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The National Mission for Clean Ganga should coordinate with the Ministry of Drinking Water, Supply and Sanitation for solid and liquid waste management.</li>
<li>Incentivize the wider adoption of sprinkler and drip irrigation by diverting resources otherwise used to subsidize power and surface irrigation.</li>
<li>Special emphasis should be laid on desilting of water bodies, including river, lakes, ponds and reservoirs.</li>
<li>With the country generating 140 bcm of wastewater annually, a pilot scheme to irrigate 10 lakh ha with treated waste water by 2020 may initially be taken up.</li>
<li>Participatory aquifer management initiated in the 12th Plan National Aquifer Management (NAQUIM) under PMKSY should be strengthened through a network of partnerships to control unbridled, competitive extraction of groundwater.</li>
<li>Promote the use of solar pumps to improve the utilization of groundwater in Eastern India where utilization is hampered by the lack of power.</li>
<li>The MoWR should develop specific strategies to tap water through watershed development (check dams) in rain-fed areas.</li>
<li>States should ensure effective implementation of the rain water harvesting structures for buildings.</li>
<li>A water regulatory framework should be established for water resources in all states.</li>
<li>An action plan should be drawn up to improve water use efficiency (with 2017 as the base year) by 20 per cent in all sectors by 2022.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Sustainable Environment</h2>
<h3>Objective</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Bringing down PM2.5 levels in Indian cities to less than 50.</li>
<li>Creating 175 GW of renewable energy generation capacity.</li>
<li>Effectively implementing the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016.</li>
<li>Increasing the forest cover to 33.3 per cent of the geographical area, as envisaged in the National Forest Policy, 1988.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Current Situation</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Indian cities face a high risk of air pollution due to rapid industrialization high urbanization, increased use of vehicles, uncontrolled burning of crop residue and emissions from coal power plants and brick kilns, etc.</li>
<li>At present, forest and tree cover occupies about one-fourth of the total geographical area in our country.</li>
<li>Country produces 62 million tonnes of waste approximately annually of which only 22-28% is processed and treated.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Constraint</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>A major contributor to air pollution is the practice of burning crop residue, particularly in North India. Convincing farmers to discontinue the practice would be a big challenge.</li>
<li>Lack of awareness of the ill effects of pollution impedes efforts to control pollution.</li>
<li>'Polluters should pay for the pollution' principle is not effectively implemented.</li>
<li>Agro-forestry is hampered by regulatory restrictions.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Way Forward</h3>
<p><strong>Crop residue burning</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Extend financial support to farmers in the short term for in-situ treatment of paddy-straw/non burning of crop residue.</li>
<li>Create a &ldquo;Clean Air Impact Fund&rdquo; to provide viability gap funding (VGF) for projects with long gestation periods and low returns on investment such as bio-power or bio-ethanol projects.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Solid waste management and air, water and soil pollution</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>A task force should be set up to study and implement measures to control pollution from brick kilns.</li>
<li>Sewage treatment plants of adequate capacity should be installed at suitable locations to make rivers pollution free.</li>
<li>The use of bio-digester toilets, a technology licensed by the Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO), may be expeditiously considered for nationwide implementation.</li>
<li>Introduce an eco-labeling scheme to promote the sale of products made out of waste.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Forest management</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Afforestation should be promoted aggressively through joint forest management (peoples&rsquo; participation) and the involvement of the private sector.</li>
<li>Public land available along railway tracks, highways, canals, etc., should be used for greening India.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Climate change</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Access to low cost finance especially through the Green Climate Fund should be encouraged</li>
<li>New national missions on wind energy, waste-to-energy and coastal areas should be developed.</li>
<li>Use the <strong>National Adaptation Fund for Climate Change</strong> and other global funds for strengthening resilience against climate change in sectors like agriculture, forestry, infrastructure and others.</li>
</ul>
<h1 style="text-align: center;">Chapter 3: INCLUSION</h1>
<h2>School Education</h2>
<h3>Objective</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Hundred per cent enrolment and retention at elementary education and secondary education levels.</li>
<li>Equitable participation by all society segments, in terms of attendance, retention and years of schooling to ensure maximum social inclusion.</li>
<li>Creating a robust framework for tracking individual students across their schooling years that incorporates data on their learning outcomes.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Current Situation</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The ASER surveys estimate that national attendance in primary and upper primary schools is 71.4 per cent and 73.2 per cent respectively.</li>
<li>Despite increasing access, enrolment in government primary schools declined by 2.31 crores in absolute numbers from 2007-08 to 2015-16.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Constraints</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Disproportionate focus on school infrastructure as opposed to learning outcomes.</li>
<li>Challenges in governance and monitoring mechanisms for learning outcomes.</li>
<li>Accountability systems in government schools.</li>
<li>Inadequate teacher training, large number of teaching vacancies and rampant absenteeism.</li>
<li>Limited options for vocational education in the school system.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Way Forward</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Government spending on education as a whole should increase to at least 6 per cent of GDP by 2022 which stands at 3 % and according to World Bank world&rsquo;s average is 4.7%.</li>
<li>Robust mechanisms should be formulated to enforce regulations on teacher qualifications, teacher absenteeism and learning outcomes.</li>
<li>An electronic national educational registry may be conceptualized for tracking each child&rsquo;s learning outcomes based on CCE and final exams through a unique ID.</li>
<li>Improving the quality of teaching is an integral aspect of improvement in school education.</li>
<li>Life skills, including coping with failure/crises and stress management, should be included as part of the school curriculum.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Higher Education</h2>
<h3>Objective</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Increasing gross enrolment ratio (GER) in higher education from 25 per cent in 2016-17 to 35 per cent by 2022-23.</li>
<li>Make higher education more inclusive for the most vulnerable groups.</li>
<li>Create an enabling ecosystem to enhance the spirit of research and innovation.</li>
<li>Improve employability of students completing their higher education.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Current Situation</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The number of university-level institutions has grown by about 25 per cent and the number of colleges by about 13 per cent in the last five years.</li>
<li>India&rsquo;s higher education GER (calculated for the age group, 18-23 years) increased from 11.5% in 2005-06 to 25.2% in 2016-17 but it is significantly less than the global average of 33%.</li>
<li>Very few Indian institutions due to quality, feature in the top 200 in world rankings.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Constraints</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Outdated curriculum results in a mismatch between education and job market requirements.</li>
<li>Quality assurance or accreditation mechanisms are inadequate.</li>
<li>There is no policy framework for participation of foreign universities in higher education.</li>
<li>There is no overarching funding body to promote and encourage research and innovation.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Way Forward</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Ensuring effective coordination of different higher education regulators, such as UGC, All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE).</li>
<li>Create a framework to allow foreign universities of global repute to operate in India and collaborate with Indian universities and offer joint degrees.</li>
<li>Domain experts in their field should develop basic minimum standard in curriculum that will serve as a benchmark for institutions at the undergraduate and post-graduate levels.</li>
<li>Post-secondary career options should be provided through skills/vocational training that should be integrated seamlessly with higher education and the skilling mission.</li>
<li>Reforming accreditation framework as accreditation coverage in nation is inadequate.</li>
<li>Quality teaching skills are in short supply across disciplines. A central scheme may be launched to attract teachers of Indian origin.</li>
<li>The scope of Massive Open Online Course (MOOCs) and Open and Distance Learning (ODL) can be broadened, to tap their potential to provide access to quality education beyond geographical boundaries.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Teacher Education and Training</h2>
<h3>Objective</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Enforcing minimum teacher standards through rigorous teacher eligibility tests and criteria for the induction of teachers.</li>
<li>Improving in-service teacher training system.</li>
<li>Increasing teacher accountability for learning outcomes of students.</li>
<li>Addressing the problem of teacher vacancies and teacher absenteeism.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Current Situation</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) is the regulator for teacher education in the country.</li>
<li>Inadequate accreditation and grading process followed by NCTE has resulted in bad quality of teachers at primary and higher educational level.</li>
<li>There is a vacancy of 9 lakh teachers in schools, of which 4.2 lakh teacher vacancies are in SSA schools.</li>
<li>Thirty-three per cent of schools do not meet the pupil-teacher ratio. Ironically, despite the overall shortage of teachers, there is a surplus of 2.91 lakh teachers across the country because of an imbalance in regional demand-supply.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Constraints</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>There is insufficient regulatory monitoring of teacher education institutions.</li>
<li>Test eligibility test in some states are not adequately robust.</li>
<li>There are inadequate in-service training programs as well as lack of public funding support.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Way Forward</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>A committee should be set up to develop transparent/objective and rigorous criteria to recognize institutions.</li>
<li>Fraudulent or dysfunctional teacher education institutions should be closed as soon as possible.</li>
<li>In-service teacher professional development programs should be redesigned with continuous progressive development such as peer-learning, demonstration classes, sabbaticals for research/advanced studies etc.</li>
<li><strong>The Pt. Madan Mohan Malviya National Mission for Teachers &amp; Teaching,</strong> which seeks to &ldquo;build a strong professional cadre of teachers&rdquo;, should be taken up in mission mode.</li>
<li>A national electronic teacher registry should be setup to bring together employers and job aspirants in this sector.</li>
<li>States should test teachers tri-annually on the same test designed for the children they are teaching which will ensure competency of the teacher.</li>
<li>The Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) across states should be strengthened as per central TET through standardization of results, quality benchmarking of testing-items and extending the TET for teachers at pre-school and classes at 9-12 levels.</li>
<li>Each state must develop a teacher-demand forecast model for all levels, starting from elementary to higher education based on which new training institutions can be instituted.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Skill Development</h2>
<h3>Objective</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>India needs to build the capacity and infrastructure for skilling/reskilling/up-skilling existing and new entrants to the labor force.</li>
<li>Increase the proportion of formally skilled labor from the current 5.4 per cent1 of India&rsquo;s workforce to at least 15 per cent.</li>
<li>Developing internationally compliant National Occupation Standards (NOS) and the Qualification Packs (QP) that define a job role.</li>
<li>Making all training compliant with the <strong>National Skills Qualification Framework (NSQF)</strong>.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Current Situation</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>More than 54 per cent of India&rsquo;s population is below 25 years of age and 62 per cent of India&rsquo;s population is aged between 15 and 59 years, this demographic dividend for India is expected to last for the next 25 years.</li>
<li>India has the opportunity to supply skilled labor globally and become the world&rsquo;s skill capital.</li>
<li>To realize the potential of its huge youth population government has launched many schemes and programs such as National Skill Development Mission, Skill India scheme.</li>
<li>Sector skill councils (SSCs) have been involved in curriculum up-gradation/preparation, and in the assessment and certification process, with courses aligned to NSDF.</li>
<li><strong>Recognition of prior learning (RPL)</strong> has been introduced to ensure certification of and bridge training for the existing work force.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Constraints</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The India Skill Report 2018 states that only 47 per cent of those coming out of higher educational institutions are employable.</li>
<li>Vocational training is not an aspirational choice.</li>
<li>Involving industry for improved quality and relevance &ndash; scaling up the apprenticeship program.</li>
<li>Integrating the informal sector into the skill development ecosystem.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Way Forward</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Skill development plans and strategies should be developed by geography and sector by mapping the availability of infrastructure and on the basis of assessing skill requirements at the national and state levels.</li>
<li>Industry stakeholders must be incentivized to provide data on their skill requirements which could be used as input for the skill requirement assessment made at different levels.</li>
<li>Capacities of teacher training institutes need to be upgraded to ensure the availability of qualified trainers along with cross learning by teachers and industry experts.</li>
<li>There is a need to create awareness about recent amendments in the Apprenticeship Act, 1961, and about the National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme (NAPS) among different stakeholders.</li>
<li>Facilitate the integration of the micro, small &amp; medium enterprises (MSME) sector into the apprenticeship system by linking it to MUDRA scheme.</li>
<li>Alternative financial sources such as Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funds, Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA) funds should be tapped to expand the skill program and contribute to national skill development fund.</li>
<li>NSDC may get into partnerships with private jobs counseling agencies for helping newly skilled persons with soft skills and adapting to local conditions.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Public Health Management and Action</h2>
<h3>Objective</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Mobilize public health action through an integrated, inter-sectoral and pan-stakeholder approach.</li>
<li>Operationalize vital enablers - a) public health and management cadre, b) public health agency with capacitated supporting institutions (c) municipalities and panchayati raj institutions.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Current Situation</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>India accounted for only 18% of the global population in 2016, but it accounts for 34% of the global tuberculosis burden and 26 per cent of the premature mortality due to diarrhoea, lower respiratory and other infectious diseases.</li>
<li>A poor health system results in increased burden of non-communicable disease which can easily be prevented and stopped at early stage.</li>
<li>The government has taken several steps to strengthen public health such as Mission Indradhanush and Intensified Mission Indradhanush as well as the National AYUSH Mission.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Constraints</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The large burden of NCDs requires lifestyle and community-level interventions necessitating concerted interventions at various levels of the system.</li>
<li>The following preventable risk factors are causes for a major proportion of diseases in the country: maternal and child malnutrition, air pollution, unhealthy diets, high blood pressure, high blood glucose etc.</li>
<li>There is no single authority responsible for public health that is legally empowered to enforce compliance from other public authorities and citizens.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Way Forward</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Public funding on health should be increased to at least 2.5 per cent of GDP as envisaged in the National Health Policy, 2017</li>
<li>Make the practice of yoga a regular activity in all schools through certified instructors.</li>
<li>Strengthen the Village Health Sanitation and Nutrition Day platform to cover a broader set of health issues across various population groups instead of only focusing on child health.</li>
<li>Incentivize state governments to invest in creating a dedicated cadre for public health at the state, district and block levels.</li>
<li>Create a designated and autonomous focal agency to perform the functions of disease surveillance, maintenance of national health statistics, enforcement of public health regulations etc.</li>
<li>Redefine the role of the technical directorate (Directorate General of Health Services) and create a Directorate of Public Health.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Comprehensive Primary Health Care</h2>
<h3>Objective</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Provide quality ambulatory services for an inclusive package of diagnostic, curative, rehabilitative and palliative care, close to the people.</li>
<li>Deliver preventive and promotion services, and action on the ground to tackle determinants of ill health locally.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Current Situation</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>India, primary care infrastructure largely prioritized around reproductive, maternal and child healthcare, and some communicable diseases.</li>
<li>The National Health Policy (NHP), 2017, envisages comprehensive primary health care delivered through Health and Wellness Centers (HWCs).</li>
</ul>
<h3>Constraints</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The existing primary health care model in the country is limited in scope representing only 15 per cent of all morbidities for which people seek care.</li>
<li>Supply side deficiencies, poor management skills and lack of appropriate training prevent delivery of the desired quality of health services.</li>
<li>Funding for health is inadequate on primary care.</li>
<li>Citizens have to incur high out-of-pocket expenditure on primary health care, of which the largest expenditure is on drugs.</li>
<li>There is a shortage of adequately trained and motivated personnel.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Way Forward</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Accelerate the establishment of a network of 150,000 HWCs to ensure sufficient coverage of affordable primary care and lower the burden on secondary and tertiary care.</li>
<li>Mobilize Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Non-Resident Indians for funding HWCs.</li>
<li>Coordinate action for disease prevention and public health promotion and to address social determinants of health.</li>
<li>Undertake a well-funded research program to find the best pathways for effective and context-specific scaling up of primary health care.</li>
<li>Develop urban adaptations of comprehensive primary care.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Human Resources for Health</h2>
<h3>Objective</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Achieve a doctor-population ratio of at least 1:1400 (WHO norm 1:1000) and nurse population ratio of at least 1:500 (WHO norm 1:400) by 2022-23.</li>
<li>Ensure availability of paramedics and doctors as per Indian Public Health Standard (IPHS) norms in high priority districts by 2020.</li>
<li>Generate at least 1.5 million jobs in the public health sector by 2022-23, a large number of which will employ women.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Current Situation</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>India&rsquo;s Doctor-population ratio stands at 1:1613 and current Nurse-population ratio at 1:588.</li>
<li>The distribution of doctors and nurses across the country is uneven. Urban areas have four times as many doctors and three times as many nurses as compared to rural areas.</li>
<li>There are also severe shortages in the category of allied health professionals (AHPs) including medical lab technicians, optometrists and radiologists.</li>
<li>Passage of the National Medical Commission (NMC) Bill, 2017 by the Union Cabinet, addition of 15,364 undergraduate and 9,855 postgraduate seats in medical colleges increasing the superannuation age of doctors to 65 are some steps taken by govt. to address the issue of shortage of HR in healthcare sector.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Constraints</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The regulatory system (Medical Council of India, Nursing Council of India) has failed to ensure adequate availability and quality of health professionals.</li>
<li>Many state and private medical/nursing/dental colleges have poor infrastructure.</li>
<li>Health professionals in the public sector are inadequately compensated and motivation levels are extremely poor.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Way Forward</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Enacting the NMC Bill, 2017 and revamping the AYUSH, nursing, dentistry and pharmacy councils along the lines of the NMC Bill, 2017.</li>
<li>Establish a nursing school in every large district or cluster of districts with a population of 20-30 lakhs as per the National Health Policy, 2017.</li>
<li>Create pathways for training of doctors in specialties and super-specialties at private hospitals (certification, short courses, exchange programs, etc.)</li>
<li>An enabling framework for deployment of doctors and specialists from the private sector to government hospitals on a visiting/honorary basis may be developed and piloted.</li>
<li>Create a cadre of primary healthcare practitioners by introducing a three-year competency-based dynamic course for primary, community and family medicine.</li>
<li>Partner with private hospitals to skill technicians, nursing and para-nursing under the National Skill Development Corporation&rsquo;s Healthcare Sector Skill Council.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Universal Health Coverage</h2>
<h3>Objective</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Attain coverage of at least 75 per cent of the population with publicly financed health insurance by 2022-23.</li>
<li>Reduce by 50 per cent the proportion of households facing catastrophic health expenditure from the current levels.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Current Situation</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The mixed health system is largely dominated by the private sector, which provides services at widely varying costs and quality levels.</li>
<li>Public funding of health has been consistently low in India (approximately 1.3 per cent of GDP) resulting in huge Out of pocket expenditure.</li>
<li>Despite India being one of the largest suppliers of generic drugs to the world, a significant proportion of the country&rsquo;s population lacks access to essential medicines.</li>
<li>The Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Janaushadhi Pariyojana provides cheaper drugs.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Constraints</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>There has been inadequate focus on comprehensive preventive care and primary care in the past.</li>
<li>The multiplicity of government-sponsored insurance schemes has resulted in the fragmentation of the risk pool.</li>
<li>Since outpatient care, drugs and diagnostics are not covered under several government insurance schemes, people often delay seeking care until they are severely ill.</li>
<li>The prices of diagnostic tests can vary widely across the country. For example, a lipid profile test can cost Rs. 90 in some cities, going up to Rs. 7,110 in others.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Way Forward</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Establish the Ayushman Bharat-National Health Agency at the central level and counterpart institutions at the state and district levels for management of the PM-JAY.</li>
<li>Develop a robust, modular, scalable and interoperable IT platform to enable paperless and cashless transactions under the scheme.</li>
<li>Provide greater autonomy to public hospitals to use claims money generated under PM-JAY to improve facilities, purchase the necessary drugs/tests and provide performance-based incentives to staff.</li>
<li>Institute a new Drug Price Control Order (DPCO), which ensures rational drug prices by reducing trade margins.</li>
<li>Finalize the national pharmaceutical policy to enable access to affordable medicines, promote the use of generic drugs, and clamp down on unfair marketing practices.</li>
<li>Formulate and implement the e-pharmacy policy to facilitate online access to quality medicines in a cost-effective and timely manner.</li>
<li>Introduce a separate Act for medical devices as per global best practices, so that medical devices are regulated separately from pharmaceuticals.</li>
<li>Identify at least 20 academic or research institutions at the regional level to act as hubs capable of training a minimum of 500 doctors every year.</li>
<li>Cover the entire country with a network of viral research and diagnostic laboratories with a testing capacity of more than 15 lakh samples per year.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Nutrition</h2>
<h3>Objective</h3>
<p>Under POSHAN Abhiyaan, achieve the following outcomes by 2022-23:</p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Reduce the prevalence of stunting among children to 25 per cent or less.</li>
<li>Reduce the prevalence of underweight in children (0-6 years) to 25 per cent or less.</li>
<li>Reduce the prevalence of anaemia among young children (6-59 months) to 43 per cent or less.</li>
<li>Reduce the prevalence of anaemia among adolescent girls and women (15-49 years) to 38 per cent or less.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Current Situations</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>A World Bank estimate indicates that reducing stunting can raise India&rsquo;s GDP by 4-11 per cent.</li>
<li>According to National Family Health Survey-4 (NFHS-4), 2015-16, over one-third of all under-five children are stunted, every fifth child is wasted, and more than 50 per cent of the children are anaemic.</li>
<li>India is fighting the rising menace of &lsquo;over-nutrition&rsquo; as one fifth of India&rsquo;s adults are either obese or overweight as per NFHS-4 data, leading to an increased risk of diabetes and cardiovascular disorders.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Constraints</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The underlying causes of malnutrition are multifaceted and rooted in economic and social factors like low levels of female literacy, lack of access to clean drinking water and sanitation.</li>
<li>The design of the ICDS program has an important limitation &ndash; its focus on the first 1000 days of the child&rsquo;s life is inadequate.</li>
<li>The ICDS program is beset with persistent challenges such as shortage of staff and field workers, poor monitoring, instances of food pilferage and poor quality of services.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Way Forward</h3>
<p><strong>Address policy and governance issues</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Provide greater flexibility to states to adapt programs for context-specific implementation and to experiment with innovative approaches to attain high coverage, quality, equity and better outcomes.</li>
<li>Establish an institutional mechanism, outside the government, to conduct independent annual audits of the program to achieve implementation improvements.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Ensure convergent action at all levels</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Develop and implement Annual Integrated Health, Nutrition and Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) action plans for all districts under the POSHAN Abhiyaan.</li>
<li>Implement mission mode action in districts with a high burden of malnutrition under POSHAN Abhiyaan</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Refine program interventions</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Replace the food-centric approach with more broad-based action that includes healthcare measures birth spacing, delaying age of marriage, exclusive breastfeeding for 6 months, and adequate access to complementary food interventions.</li>
<li>Focus on immunization including Rota Virus and Pneumococcal Vaccines; target the vaccines preferentially to high focus districts.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Fortification</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Consider mandatory fortification of staples produced in the organized sector and provide incentives to the industry.</li>
<li>Incorporate fortified food grains within government programs such as ICDS, mid-day meal scheme, and PDS.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Scale-up nutrition MIS and strengthen monitoring mechanisms</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Undertake joint health and nutrition reviews in the field as a standard practice.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Make &lsquo;POSHAN Abhiyaan&rsquo; a Jan Andolan</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Make POSHAN Abhiyaan a community-led movement with adequate political backing.</li>
<li>Develop behavioral change communication modules and ensure its use by all frontline workers.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Galvanize the National Anaemia Control Program</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Implement the revised strategy for the anaemia control program based on evidence; incorporate home, community, school and facility level action.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Gender</h2>
<h3>Objective</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>To create an enabling environment without institutional and structural barriers.</li>
<li>To enhance the female labor force participation rate to at least 30 per cent by 2022-23.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Current Situation</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>There has been a decline in female labor force participation rate (LFPR) despite increasing levels of education and declining fertility rates.</li>
<li>The current female LFPR is 23.7 per cent (26.7 per cent in rural areas and 16.2 per cent in urban areas).</li>
<li>On average, 66 per cent of women&rsquo;s work in India is unpaid, compared to 12 per cent of men&rsquo;s.</li>
<li>The government has launched some initiatives to promote gender equality and welfare such as <strong>Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao</strong> campaign, <strong>the Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act, 2017, Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana, POSHAN Abhiyaan and the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana</strong>.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Constraints</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Constraints of workplace distance, inflexibility in working hours, lack of availability of cr&egrave;ches, safety etc., deter women from participating in economic activities.</li>
<li>The absence of opportunities for part-time work and challenges surrounding re-entry into the workforce further worsen the situation.</li>
<li>Women&rsquo;s work comprises mostly of invisible/unpaid work.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Way Forward</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Craft legislations for women engaged in the unorganized sector to ensure at least a minimum set of gender-sensitive provisions such as access to privacy, minimum wages, maternity benefits, leave and grievance redressal.</li>
<li>Reward villages/districts with an equal child sex ratio through information, education, and communication (IEC) campaigns.</li>
<li>Generate gender-disaggregated data and rank states on key indicators.</li>
<li>Create policies and guidelines, on priority, to enhance access to credit by women entrepreneurs; provide facilitated credit access pathways for single women, women&rsquo;s self-help groups.</li>
<li>Prioritize groups of women farmers seeking to lease land, water bodies, etc., at the village panchayat level.</li>
<li>Specially focus on skill development among women, particularly for activities such as soil conservation, social forestry, dairy development etc.</li>
<li>Extending the Post Graduate Indira Gandhi Scholarship for Single Girl Child scheme to families with two girl children.</li>
<li>Promote skill development among women in non-traditional work such as electronic technicians, electricians, plumbers, taxi drivers etc.</li>
<li>Ensure mobility, security and safety for all women.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Senior Citizens, Persons with Disability and Transgender Persons</h2>
<h3>Objective</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>To ensure a life of dignity, social security and safety for senior citizens, enabling them to actively participate in economic development and the nation building process.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Current Situation</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>India has 10.38 crore senior citizens (60 years and above), with 3.8 crore being above the age of 80 years.</li>
<li>Senior citizens are expected to rise to 20% of the population by 2050.</li>
<li>Access to institutional support and specialized medical care is skewed, with most of these concentrated in urban areas.</li>
<li>The government has taken various steps to ensure benefits to elderly people such as providing them tax benefits, pension scheme- Pradhan Mantri Vaya Vandana Yojana etc.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Constraints</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Poverty and lack of income security makes it difficult to meet even basic needs like food, housing, healthcare, etc., for a large number of senior citizens.</li>
<li>There is a shortage of well-trained personnel for delivering care giving and other services for senior citizens.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Way Forward</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>National policy for older people should be revised; it should cover housing, income security, pension, and access to healthcare.</li>
<li>Necessary amendments to the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Older Persons Act, 2007 should be made.</li>
<li>Old age home in every district should be made in every district in adherence to some minimum quality standards by 2020.</li>
<li>Prioritize supply of aids and assistive devices for senior citizens below the poverty line.</li>
<li>Ensure a barrier-free environment in all public buildings, parks, etc., for the elderly.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Persons with disabilities</h2>
<h3>Objective</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>To create opportunities for and empower persons with disabilities (PwDs) to realize their potential and live a productive and dignified life.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Current Situation</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>India has a Persons with Disabilities&rsquo; population of 2.68 crore corresponding to 2.21% of population.</li>
<li>PwDs today face several challenges, according to the Census 2011, 27 per cent of disabled children between the ages of 5-19 had never attended an educational institution.</li>
<li>They also tend to be stigmatized and discriminated against and lag behind others with respect to access to basic infrastructure and opportunities for economic participation.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Constraints</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Identification of the disabled population in India has been a major problem.</li>
<li>There is a lack of appropriately disaggregated data for PwDs generated at regular intervals.</li>
<li>Disability related issues require multi-sectoral action, which has been difficult to achieve in practice.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Way Forward</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Generate data on PwDs to identify reliable and regular trends for informed policymaking.</li>
<li>Earmark at least 5 per cent of the total budget of social sector ministries for schemes for PwDs.</li>
<li>Provide special education training in teacher training courses, give scholarship to disable students making physical environment of school PwDs friendly etc.</li>
<li>Provide aids and assistive devices to at least 3 lakh beneficiaries every year.</li>
<li>Integrate the skill development scheme with schemes of the National Trust (e.g., Disha), to address the needs of the intellectually disabled.</li>
<li>Integrate initiatives of various ministries to provide skill training, soft loans and entrepreneurship opportunities to PwDs.</li>
<li>Make the Accessible India Campaign a mass movement with the involvement of citizens and civil society.</li>
<li>Incorporate universal design and accessibility standards in engineering, architecture and computer science studies.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Transgender Persons</h2>
<h3>Objective</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>To ensure a life of dignity, social security and safety for transgender persons, enabling them to actively participate in economic development and the nation building process.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Current Situation</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The transgender community is among one of the most marginalized communities in the country.</li>
<li>As per Census 2011, India has 4.87 lakh transgender persons.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Constraints</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Parliament is yet to pass the Rights of Transgender Persons Bill, 2016.</li>
<li>Accurate identification of transgender persons is a major challenge.</li>
<li>The implementation of the &ldquo;Scheme for Transgender Persons&rdquo; is suboptimal.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Way Forward</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Provide for identification of transgender persons in all government and non-government records by introducing a separate column to include the third gender.</li>
<li>Sensitize communities towards the challenges and needs of transgender persons.</li>
<li>Mandate the provision of housing and community services to accommodate at least 50 per cent of transgender persons.</li>
<li>Design a scheme for providing skill and employability training to transgender persons to integrate them with mainstream society.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs), Other Backward Classes (OBCs), Other Tribal Groups and Minorities</h2>
<h3>Objective</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>To accelerate the socio-economic development of SCs, STs, OBCs, safai karamcharis as well as De-notified Tribes, Notified Tribes and Semi Nomadic Tribes through focused affirmative action.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Current Situation</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>High incidence of poverty and low educational attainment are the two major challenges faced by weaker sections in India.</li>
<li>Research on SCs and STs suggests that historical inequities among the different segments of India&rsquo;s workforce have diminished over the last three decades.</li>
<li>However, there is still a long way to go before the inequities are bridged completely.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Constraints</h3>
<p>Problems of isolation, exclusion and occupational subjugation are major obstacles to mainstreaming these social groups in the socio-economic development of the country.</p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Resources are distributed thinly among a large number of schemes, especially under the scheduled caste sub-plan (SCSP) and tribal subplan (TSP), instead of among a few targeted schemes.</li>
<li>There is limited awareness about the schemes resulting in leakages and denial of benefits.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Way Forward</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Establish the National Institute for Tribal Research.</li>
<li>Earmark funds under all developmental programs for DNTs, SNTs and NTs.</li>
<li>Put in place mechanisms to regularly monitor the implementation of legislations like the Panchayat (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act and Forest Rights Act (FRA), 2006.</li>
<li>Set up a permanent commission for NTs, DNTs and SNTs along the lines of the National Commission for SCs and STs.</li>
<li>Establish residential schools in uncovered blocks/districts with facilities for vocational training.</li>
<li>Expand the Stand-Up India scheme to include uncovered social groups like OBCs, DNTs, NTs and SNTs.</li>
<li>Encourage indigenous tribal medicine alongside other systems to create additional livelihood opportunities.</li>
<li>Extend habitat rights to Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups within the FRA framework.</li>
<li>Empower marginalized communities by promoting community-owned radio stations.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Minorities</h2>
<h3>Objective</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>To bridge the gap between minority communities and the rest of the population with respect to various socio-economic and human development indicators through affirmative action.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Current Situation</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>As per Census 2011, of the total population of 121 crore, Hindus constitute 79.8%, Muslims 14.25%, Christians 2.3%, Sikhs 1.7%, Buddhists 0.7% and Jains 0.4%.</li>
<li>While improvements have been made in various fields religious minorities lag behind on certain indicators pertaining to educational attainment, gender equality and workforce participation.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Constraints</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Data on development indicators for minorities is not generated at regular intervals.</li>
<li>Some minority communities are also included under SCs, STs and OBCs, which could result in the duplication of schemes for the same set of beneficiaries.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Way Forward</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Enhance pre-matric scholarships, post-matric scholarships, merit-cum-means scholarships, Maulana Azad National Fellowships and National Overseas Scholarships with a 15 per cent increase annually from 2019-20.</li>
<li>Increase the number of scholarships for girls from minority communities by 10 per cent every year.</li>
<li>Provide access to public transport in the form of buses and cycles to raise enrolment rates among girls from vulnerable communities.</li>
<li>Train at least 100,000 minority women under the <strong>Nai Roshni</strong> and <strong>Seekho Aur Kamao</strong> scheme every year.</li>
<li>Identify the poorest among the minority communities through the Socio-Economic Caste Census data for proper targeting of various schemes.</li>
</ul>
<h1 style="text-align: center;">Chapter 4: GOVERNANCE</h1>
<h2>Balanced Regional Development: Transforming Aspirational Districts</h2>
<h3>Objective</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Achieve balanced development in India by uplifting 115 districts, currently below the national average in the areas of health and nutrition, education, agriculture and water resources, financial inclusion and skill development, and basic infrastructure.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Current Situation</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The Aspirational Districts Program (ADP) was launched on January 5, 2018, to select backward districts and uplift them.</li>
<li>These places suffer from poor endowment of physical resources, lack of infrastructure, poor social capital, low standards of health, nutrition, education and skill, poor governance etc.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Constraints</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Governance inadequacy hampers the effective implementation of government schemes</li>
<li>There is no accountability on the part of either the government or district administrations.</li>
<li>There is lack of social awareness and community participation in development programs.</li>
<li>There is lack of competitiveness among districts to improve developmental performance.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Way Forward</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Create a positive narrative of development by making development a mass movement as people are the most valuable resource to improve a district&rsquo;s performance.</li>
<li>Use data to inform decision-making and spur competition among districts.</li>
<li>Promote federalism and put in place institutional mechanisms to ensure teamwork between the central, state and district administration.</li>
<li>Partner with expert organizations with demonstrated technical competence.</li>
</ul>
<h2>The North-East Region</h2>
<h3>Objective</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Create adequate infrastructure such as road, rail and air connectivity, waterways, internet connectivity and financial inclusion.</li>
<li>By 2022-23, the region should also be developed for enhanced trade, particularly for the export of products made in the NER, to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) region and other neighboring countries (Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal).</li>
</ul>
<h3>Current Situation</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The NER consists of eight states, namely Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura.</li>
<li>The region accounts for 3.78% of India&rsquo;s population and covers 7.98% of its total geographical area and contributing 2.5% to India&rsquo;s GDP.</li>
<li>This area is strategically important for India both for its geographical location and the resources found there.</li>
<li>NER shares about 5,437 km of international boundaries with Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, Myanmar and Nepal.</li>
<li>The region is rich in coal, limestone, petroleum, natural gas, Uranium etc. some of the states in north east have highest forest cover in the country.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Constraints</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Despite abundant rainfall, the irrigation coverage in this region is less than the national average of 46.35 per cent.</li>
<li>The NER offers great attractions for mountaineering, trekking and other tourist activities. However, the tourism industry remains underdeveloped.</li>
<li>The region remains under developed because of inadequate infrastructure in terms of limited air, rail and road connectivity; Under-utilization of available natural resources; Safety and security related issues.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Way Forward</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Each state should be encouraged to draw up their development blueprint in consultation with the NITI Aayog and the North-East Council (NEC).</li>
<li>Transit treaties for the NER and its neighboring countries need to be put in place. India should initiate a regional multi-modal transit agreement between the NER and the four neighboring countries.</li>
<li>UDAN III may be launched. Its international component could connect Guwahati to ASEAN capitals.</li>
<li>The Government of India and the NER should work together to create an environment to attract more private investment into the region.</li>
<li>Tourism, particularly eco-tourism and adventure tourism should be promoted by identifying suitable sites and creating supporting infrastructure at these sites through the PPP mode.</li>
<li>Water management is a major issue in the NER. Early completion of ongoing irrigation projects under the <strong>Accelerated Irrigation Benefits Program</strong> should be accorded high priority.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Legal, Judicial and Police Reforms</h2>
<h3>Objectives</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>To ensure the safety and security of citizens and ensure access to effective legal systems and speedy delivery of justice.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Current Situation</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>There is massive pendency and capacity issues in Indian courts, which impede access to justice.</li>
<li>Police reforms are intrinsically linked to judicial reforms which would result in efficient criminal justice dispensation.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Constraints</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The major challenge facing the judiciary is the huge backlog of over 2.7 crore pending cases.</li>
<li>Ease of doing business in India is severely constrained by the inability to enforce contracts or laws, lengthy and costly litigation and arbitration processes, and archaic legislations. y. The World Bank &ldquo;Doing Business Report&rdquo; 2018 ranks India at 164 in &lsquo;Enforcing Contracts&rsquo;.</li>
<li>Police/law and order is a state subject, falling under List II of the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution of India. Our federal structure makes policy reform a rather sticky issue.</li>
<li>The police to people ratio is significantly lower (137 police personnel per 1, 00,000) against the UN recommended 222 police personnel per 100,000 citizens.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Way Forward</h3>
<p><strong>Legal reforms</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Create a repository of all existing central and state laws, rules and regulations</li>
<li>Repeal redundant laws and introduce a new initiative to remove restrictive clauses in existing laws.</li>
<li>It is necessary to inculcate respect for the rule of law among citizens. The process should start at the school level by mandatorily introducing innovative programs with well thought out content and activities.</li>
<li>Continuing legal education in selected areas should be made mandatory for lawyers and judges and rules of professional conduct and ethics need to be drawn up and implemented.</li>
<li>New laws should be drafted in simple, plain language.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Judicial reforms</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>There is a huge backlog of pending cases which is a critical logistical and efficiency issue. A study conducted by finance ministry shows that it takes, on an average, almost 20 years for a property related dispute to be resolved.</li>
<li>Tribunals should be merged and rationalize to enhance efficiency. Appointments to tribunals must be streamlined through a specialized agency or under the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT).</li>
<li>An all-India judicial services examination on a ranking basis can be considered to maintain high standards in the judiciary.</li>
<li>Multi-faceted training faculty for judicial academies including reputed lawyers, successful NGOs and others, for holistic exposure may be considered.</li>
<li>Performance index for judges and a separate state wise index for ease of getting justice should be created.</li>
<li>Videoconferencing facilities can be used to assist in speedy access to justice and to minimize logistical issues.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Police reforms</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>The Model Police Act of 2015</strong> can serve as the basis for legislative reform as it modernizes the mandate of the police, insulates police from political interference and provides for the measurement and tracking of police performance.</li>
<li>A task force may be created under the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to skill personnel and identify non-core functions that can be outsourced.</li>
<li>Women participation should be encouraged by MHA to achieve the target of 30% women among the new recruits.</li>
<li>Integrate the Lokpal and Prevention of Corruption Acts into police reforms to enhance accountability.</li>
<li>Introduction of remodeled training modules, refresher courses and continuing education for police personnel should be undertaken.</li>
<li>A separate cadre for exclusively looking into cyber-crimes, cyber threats and fraud needs to be developed.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Civil Services Reforms</h2>
<h3>Objective</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>To reform system of recruitment, training and performance evaluation of the civil service to ensure more effective and efficient delivery of public services.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Current Situation</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Reforms in civil services are a continuous process and several initiatives have been taken in recent years such as introduction of a multi-stakeholder feedback (MSF) performance evaluation, dispensing with interviews for lower level positions, introduction of online mechanisms for appraisals and filing of various returns by employees, implementation of e-office etc.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Constraints</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>There is a mismatch between positions and skill sets. Recruitment is not competency specific and often, the right person is not placed in the right job.</li>
<li>As the complexity of the economy increases, policymaking becomes a specialized activity. Opposition to lateral entry therefore hinders the development process.</li>
<li>Attracting talent and nurturing excellence, ensuring transparency and accountability along with participatory and representative decision-making are also few of the challenges.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Way Forward</h3>
<p><strong>Recruitment</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Objectivity in the recruitment should be increased and elements of arbitrariness should be eliminated.</li>
<li>Lateral entry should be encouraged in higher levels of government which requires higher expertise.</li>
<li>Young officers should be assigned mentors having similar functional specialization or with high-quality NGOs for values and soft skill mentorship.</li>
<li>The upper age limit for the civil services should be brought down to 27 years for the general category in a phased manner by 2022-23.</li>
<li>Efforts need to be made to outsource service delivery to reduce dependence on the administrative machinery.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Training</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Training system needs to be reoriented to focus more on managing urban areas as economic gravities are shifting towards cities.</li>
<li>Mid-career exams/skill assessment might be undertaken to evaluate and decide on future postings.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Evaluation</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Annual Confidential Reports can be replaced by Multi Stake Holder Feedback. It is important for MSF to be online to retain transparency and accountability.</li>
<li>New schemes of incentives for extraordinary performance should be introduced.</li>
<li>Develop benchmarks to assess the performance of officers and compulsorily retire those deemed unable to meet the benchmarks.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Governance</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>A citizen centric framework needs to be devised by improving people&rsquo;s access to information through the use of Information and communication technology and RTI.</li>
<li>The capabilities and knowledge base of central public information officers (CPIOs), appellate authorities (AAs) and information commissions need to be upgraded in order to save them from any external influences.</li>
<li>Effective system of checks and balances needs to be created to ensure that officers are given their due process and are not vulnerable to vested interests and political pressures.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>E-initiatives and Probity</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Strengthen institutional mechanisms for prevention and detection of corruption by Improving transparency in recruitment, placement and training; Reviewing performance of officers based on probity etc.</li>
<li>E-Office should be created in all ministries/ departments; all states/UTs may also be encouraged to adopt it.</li>
<li>Every department should simplify their processes to cut administrative delays and ensure participatory feedback mechanisms for efficient service delivery.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Modernizing City Governance for Urban Transformation</h2>
<h3>Objective</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>To transform our cities into economically vibrant and environmentally sustainable habitats that provides equitable access to basic infrastructure, public services and opportunities to all citizens.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Current Situation</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>India&rsquo;s growing urbanizing needs requires sustainable infrastructure and services for a better quality of life, which can be ensured through modern urban governance which is a key enabler for urban transformation.</li>
<li>The government has undertaken various initiatives-
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Tourism (HRIDAY - Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana),</li>
<li>Infrastructure (Housing for All, Smart Cities Mission, AMRUT - Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation)</li>
<li>Sanitation (Swachh Bharat Mission)</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<h3>Constraints</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The absence of a modern spatial planning framework, public utility design standards takes a huge toll on economic growth, environmental sustainability and living conditions in the cities.</li>
<li>There is lack of human resource capacities in the urban sphere at all levels. The municipalities are heavily under-staffed along with required skill gap.</li>
<li>ULBs (urban local bodies) always struggle with financial crunch mainly due to the narrow, inflexible and non-buoyant tax base; broken financial accounting and audit systems and the inability of municipalities to levy and recover taxes and user charges.</li>
<li>The distribution of power between elected officials at the city level (mayors and councillors) and central administrative service cadres at the city/ district levels is often a bone of contention with no clear demarcation.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Way Forward</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>A city dashboard can be created- capturing city-level investments, GDP and employment growth, financial position and financial performance encouraging competition among cities.</li>
<li>There is urgent need for a synchronous and modern national framework for the spatial planning of cities factoring in plan preparation, implementation and enforcement at metropolitan, municipal and ward levels.</li>
<li>Finances of civic agencies and Urban Local Bodies needs to be strengthened to support high-quality infrastructure and the delivery of services.</li>
<li>This can be done through fiscal decentralization, innovative models to improve revenue collection, optimizing return on assets especially land and buildings, value capture methods etc.</li>
<li>The National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) should be leveraged to improve understanding of municipal jobs including job definitions, technical competencies and key result areas.</li>
<li>A separate sector skill council for municipal services may be considered.</li>
<li>Ward committees should activate a technology enabled &lsquo;Open Cities Framework&rsquo; and the use of digital tools for feedback and reporting enhancing trust between citizens and governments.</li>
<li>ULBs should encourage the participation of all community associations, including settlements of the underprivileged and civil society organizations.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Optimizing the Use of Land Resources</h2>
<h3>Objectives</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Ensuring that land markets function smoothly, through efficient allocation of land across uses, provision of secure property rights and titles.</li>
<li>Legalize and ease land leasing.</li>
<li>Consolidate fragmented plots of farmers to enhance efficiency and equity.</li>
<li>Create a digitized and integrated land records system that is easily accessible in all states.</li>
<li>Increase efficiency in the management of forest land.</li>
<li>Convert waste and fallow land to productive uses.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Current Situation</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>India is one of the most land scarce countries in the world. Agriculture accounts for the bulk of land use although the sector contributed only 17.45% to the nation&rsquo;s GDP.</li>
<li>The total recorded forestland in India is 76.4 million hectares, which is about 23.3 per cent of the total geographical area.</li>
<li>There is a need to make land available to meet the needs of a fast expanding economy and rising population with a greater thrust on vertical development.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Constraints</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Agricultural tenancy laws passed by various state governments between 1950s and 1970s are highly restrictive discouraging landowners from leasing out land.</li>
<li>Landholdings in India are small and highly fragmented which not only results in diseconomies of scale, but also makes the task of irrigation management and land improvement difficult.</li>
<li>Deficient land records and lack of conclusive land title result in costly litigation and adversely affects investment and economic growth.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Way Forward</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Smaller plots of land can be consolidated through pooling to enhance productivity and increase farm incomes.</li>
<li>Effectively implement the Forest Rights Act (FRA) in all states to strengthen the property rights of forest dwellers, tribal populations and local communities.</li>
<li>Bring more area under agro forestry using wasteland, non-cultivable fallow lands, etc.</li>
<li>Encourage trees as a resource for farmers especially by easing restriction on certain species of trees.</li>
<li>Efforts must be made to update and digitize land records in a user-friendly manner. This will improve real-time information on land, optimize use of land resources, benefit landowners and assist in policy and planning.</li>
<li>Cultural wastelands, estimated at about 12 million ha, need to be improved and productively utilized as a potential resource.</li>
<li>Strengthen property rights, plan urbanization and prevent land degradation.</li>
<li>Prevent land degradation and soil erosion through policies that promote fertilization and organic farming.</li>
<li>Tools such as land value capture, town planning schemes, and land based taxes like vacant land tax, land value increment tax, etc., can be used to finance rapid and efficient urbanization.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Data Led Governance and Policy Making</h2>
<h3>Objective</h3>
<p>Evidence based policy making should be made integral to the overall governance structure in New India, 2022-23.This would require:</p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Improving efficiencies in processes related to existing data collection by government departments and agencies.</li>
<li>Expanding warehousing facilities for storing and integrating data from different sources.</li>
<li>Making data available for industry practitioners, academicians, researchers, etc., wherever feasible.</li>
<li>Integrating data analysis and interactive data visualization into all policy formulation.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Current Situation</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>For any large-scale developmental to take place its delivery mechanisms needs to be robust and efficient and requires data for selection, implementation and evaluation of these policies.</li>
<li>Rapid advancements in technology have led to an explosive growth in the volume of data produced.</li>
<li>The proprietary access to high value data sources, public services and governance systems in India can better harness the value of this data.</li>
<li>There is a need for evidence-based policymaking and robust data collection processes in various contexts ranging from health to natural calamities to agriculture.</li>
<li>The Report of the Dr. Rangarajan Commission in 2001 also acknowledges the increased need for data in the decision-making process.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Constraints</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>There is over-reliance on data collection through surveys which are released at a considerable lag diminishing their usefulness in policymaking.</li>
<li>Large volumes of data collected by different government agencies and departments are not shared. The shared data too is not in machine readable format or cannot be integrated with data from other sources to help develop multi-dimensional insights.</li>
<li>There is considerable lack of awareness regarding currently available data sources.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Way Forward</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Collecting administrative and survey data in digital format will address the issues related to time lags, data cleansing, etc., associated with surveys to a large extent. This requires adoption of latest technologies that require recording in digital format, geo-tagging etc.</li>
<li>Ensure availability of data at a more granular level &ndash; village/block/district.</li>
<li>Enable data sharing in real time through Application Programming Interfaces (API) across ministries in a central location for easy access by the public.</li>
<li>Data integration and quality assurance should be undertaken by states. States should also create Data Repositories.</li>
<li>A strong data protection regime needs to be formulated for which <strong>Justice Sri Krishna Committee&rsquo;s recommendation</strong> (July 2018) are being considered.</li>
<li>Tertiary big data should be collected by private third parties for better governance and evidence-based policymaking.</li>
<li>Government statistical organizations responsible for data collection and reporting need to be updated on new technologies.</li>
<li>Re-skilling in areas of statistics, analytics, computer science and programming needs to be promoted across government agencies, both at the state level and at the centre.</li>
</ul>',
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		'article_id' => (int) 1328,
		'category_id' => (int) 63,
		'title' => 'NITI Aayog (National Institution for Transforming India)',
		'description' => '<h3>Background</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Planning has been in Indian psyche as our leaders came under influence of the socialist clime of erstwhile USSR. Planning commission served as the planning vehicle for close to six decades with a focus on control and command approach.</li>
<li>Planning Commission was replaced by a new institution &ndash; NITI AAYYOG on January 1, 2015 with emphasis on &lsquo;Bottom &ndash;Up&rsquo; approach to envisage the vision of Maximum Governance, Minimum Government, echoing the spirit of &lsquo;Cooperative Federalism&rsquo;.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Administrative Skeltal</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Chairperson:</strong> Prime Minister</li>
<li><strong>Vice-Chairperson:</strong> To be appointed by Prime-Minister</li>
<li><strong>Governing Council:</strong> Chief Ministers of all states and Lt. Governors of Union Territories.</li>
<li><strong>Regional Council:</strong> To address specific regional issues, Comprising Chief Ministers and Lt. Governors Chaired by Prime Minister or his nominee.</li>
<li><strong>Adhoc Membership:&nbsp;</strong>2 member in ex-officio capacity from leading Research institutions on rotational basis.</li>
<li><strong>Ex-Officio membership:</strong> Maximum four from Union council of ministers to be nominated by Prime minister.</li>
<li><strong>Chief Executive Officer:</strong> Appointed by Prime-minister for a fixed tenure, in rank of Secretary to Government of India.</li>
<li><strong>Special Invitees:</strong> Experts, Specialists with domain knowledge nominated by Prime-minister.</li>
</ul>
<h3>NITI Aayog Hubs</h3>
<ol>
<li><strong>Team India Hub</strong> acts as interface between States and Centre.</li>
<li><strong>Knowledge and Innovation Hub</strong> builds the think-tank acumen of NITI Aayog.</li>
</ol>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The Aayog planned to come out with three documents &mdash; 3-year action agenda, 7-year medium-term strategy paper and 15-year vision document.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Importance</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The 65 year-old Planning Commission had become a redundant organization. It was relevant in a command economy structure, but not any longer.</li>
<li>India is a diversified country and its states are in various phases of economic development along with their own strengths and weaknesses.</li>
<li>In this context, a &lsquo;one size fits all&rsquo; approach to economic planning is obsolete. It cannot make India competitive in today&rsquo;s global economy.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Objectives</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>To foster cooperative federalism through structured support initiatives and mechanisms with the States on a continuous basis, recognizing that strong States make a strong nation.</li>
<li>To develop mechanisms to formulate credible plans at the village level and aggregate these progressively at higher levels of government.</li>
<li>To ensure, on areas that are specifically referred to it, that the interests of national security are incorporated in economic strategy and policy.</li>
<li>To pay special attention to the sections of our society that may be at risk of not benefitting adequately from economic progress.</li>
<li>To provide advice and encourage partnerships between key stakeholders and national and international like-minded Think Tanks, as well as educational and policy research institutions.</li>
<li>To create a knowledge, innovation and entrepreneurial support system through a collaborative community of national and international experts, practitioners and other partners.</li>
<li>To offer a platform for resolution of inter-sectoral and inter-departmental issues in order to accelerate the implementation of the development agenda.</li>
<li>To maintain a state-of-the-art Resource Centre, be a repository of research on good governance and best practices in sustainable and equitable development as well as help their dissemination to stake-holders.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Challenges</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>To prove its mettle in policy formulation, the NITI Aayog needs to prioritize from the long list of 13 objectives with clear understanding of the difference in policy, planning and strategy.</li>
<li>To build the trust, faith and confidence more than the planning commission, NITI Aayog needs freedom of various kinds with budgetary provisions not in terms of plan and non-plan expenditures but revenue and capital expenditure as the higher rate of increase in capital expenditure can remove infrastructural deficits at all levels of operation in the economy.</li>
</ul>
<table border="1" style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%;">
<tbody>
<tr style="height: 19px;">
<td style="width: 49.4431%; height: 19px; background-color: #b8a606;"><span style="color: #ffffff;"><strong>NITI Aayog</strong></span></td>
<td style="width: 50.5569%; height: 19px; background-color: #b8a606;"><span style="color: #ffffff;"><strong>Planning Commission</strong></span></td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 19px;">
<td style="width: 49.4431%; height: 19px; background-color: #f0e8a5;">It serves as an advisory Think Tank.</td>
<td style="width: 50.5569%; height: 19px; background-color: #f0e8a5;">It served as extra-constitutional body.</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 19px;">
<td style="width: 49.4431%; height: 19px; background-color: #f0e8a5;">It draws membership from a wider expertise.</td>
<td style="width: 50.5569%; height: 19px; background-color: #f0e8a5;">It had limited expertise.</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 19px;">
<td style="width: 49.4431%; height: 19px; background-color: #f0e8a5;">It serves in spirit of Cooperative Federalism as states are equal partners.</td>
<td style="width: 50.5569%; height: 19px; background-color: #f0e8a5;">States participated as spectators in annual plan meetings.</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 19px;">
<td style="width: 49.4431%; height: 19px; background-color: #f0e8a5;">Secretaries to be known as CEO appointed by Prime- Minister.</td>
<td style="width: 50.5569%; height: 19px; background-color: #f0e8a5;">Secretaries were appointed through usual process.</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 19px;">
<td style="width: 49.4431%; height: 19px; background-color: #f0e8a5;">It focuses upon &lsquo;Bottom-Up&rsquo; approach of Planning.</td>
<td style="width: 50.5569%; height: 19px; background-color: #f0e8a5;">It followed a &lsquo;Top-Down&rsquo; approach.</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 19px;">
<td style="width: 49.4431%; height: 19px; background-color: #f0e8a5;">It does not possess mandate to impose policies.</td>
<td style="width: 50.5569%; height: 19px; background-color: #f0e8a5;">Imposed policies on states and tied allocation of funds with projects it approved.</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 19px;">
<td style="width: 49.4431%; height: 19px; background-color: #f0e8a5;">It does not have powers to allocate funds, which are vested in Finance Minister.</td>
<td style="width: 50.5569%; height: 19px; background-color: #f0e8a5;">It had powers to allocate funds to ministries and state governments.</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<h3><br />Way Forward</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Decentralization of planning but within a five-year plan framework.</li>
<li>Bureaucratic inertia need to be shaken, specializing it and fixing the accountability on basis of performance.</li>
<li>NITI Aayog could emerge as an agent of change over time and contribute to the government&rsquo;s agenda of improving governance and implementing innovative measures for better delivery of public services.</li>
<li>NITI Aayog continues to be representative of efficient, transparent, innovative and accountable governance system in country with distinguished work ethics.</li>
</ul>',
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		'article_id' => (int) 1116,
		'category_id' => (int) 22,
		'title' => 'The Shape of Growth Matters',
		'description' => '<div class="border">
<p>(This editorial is based on the article &ldquo;The Shape of Growth Matters&rdquo; which appears in The Hindu on 27th December 2018.)</p>
</div>
<p>India is on the cusp of a major transformation. Change has been continuous in every sector. The economy is finally moving out of the negative legacies of the past, specially the reckless credit expansion. India has regained its position as the fastest growing large economy in the world.</p>
<p>For achieving further targets, recently <strong>NITI Aayog released the &lsquo;Strategy for New India @ 75&prime; document</strong> with an aim to accelerate economic growth to 9-10% and make the country a $4-trillion economy by 2022-23. <strong>The document replaces the now-defunct five-year plans.</strong></p>
<h3>Employment and Labour Reforms in the Report</h3>
<p><strong>Objectives of Labour Reforms</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Complete <strong>codification of central labour laws</strong> into four codes by 2019.</li>
<li><strong>Increase female labour force participation</strong> to at least 30 per cent by 2022-23.</li>
<li><strong>Disseminate publicly available data,</strong> collected through rigorous household and enterprise surveys and innovative use of administrative data on a quarterly basis by 2022-23.</li>
<li>Encourage increased <strong>formalization of the labour force</strong> by reforming labour laws, easing of industrial relations and ensuring of fair wages, working conditions and social security through significant productivity improvements in the economy.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Current Situation of India&rsquo;s Workforce</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Of India&rsquo;s total workforce of about 52 crore, agriculture employed nearly 49 per cent while contributing only 15 percent of the GVA(Gross Value Added). In contrast, only about 29 per cent of China&rsquo;s workforce was employed in agriculture.</li>
<li>Micro and small-sized firms as well as informal sector firms dominate the employment landscape in India. As per the National Sample Survey (NSS) 73rd round, for the period 2015-16, there were 6.34 crore unincorporated non-agricultural micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the country engaged in different economic activities providing employment to 11.10 crore workers.</li>
<li>A large majority of these firms are in the unorganized sector.&nbsp;<strong>By some estimates, India&rsquo;s informal sector employs approximately 85 percent of all workers.</strong></li>
<li>While there are many refreshing improvements in NITI Aayog&rsquo;s &lsquo;Strategy for New India @ 75&rsquo; from the erstwhile Planning Commission&rsquo;s plans, there are also concerns about some of the strategies recommended.</li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>Reorienting labour laws</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The strategy on labour laws appears pedestrian compared with the ambitious strategy of uplifting the lives of millions of Indians so that they share the fruits of economic growth.</li>
<li><strong>What is required is a fundamental reorientation of the laws and regulations &mdash; they must fit emerging social and economic realities.</strong>
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li><strong>First,</strong> the nature of work and employment is changing. It is moving towards more informal employment, through contract work and self-employment, even in formal enterprises. In such a scenario, social security systems must provide for all citizens, not only those in formal employment.</li>
<li><strong>Second,</strong> in a world where workers are atomised as individuals, they must have associations to aggregate themselves to have more weight in the economic debate with owners of capital. Rather than weakening unions to give employers more flexibility, laws must strengthen unions to ensure more fairness.</li>
<li><strong>Third,</strong> all employers in India should realise that workers must be their source of competitive advantage. India has an abundance of labour as a resource, whereas capital is relatively scarce. Human beings can learn new skills and be productive if employers invest in them. Employers must treat their workers &mdash; whether on their rolls or on contract &mdash; as assets and sources of competitive advantage, not as costs.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</div>
<h3>Some Observations on the Report</h3>
<p>The strategy affirms that &ldquo;policy making will have to be rooted in ground realities&rdquo; rather than economic abstractions. It says that stakeholders have been consulted widely in preparing the strategy, which is also something that the erstwhile Planning Commission said.</p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>It is the shape of growth that matters more than size.</strong></li>
<li>Overall growth is emphasised by NITI Aayog: <strong>&ldquo;Besides having rapid growth, which reaches 9-10 per cent by 2022-23, it is also necessary to ensure that growth is inclusive, sustained, clean and formalised.</strong></li>
<li><strong>The employment-generating capacity of the economy is what matters more to citizens than the overall GDP growth rate.</strong> There is no joy for citizens if India is the fastest-growing economy and yet does not provide jobs and incomes.</li>
<li>The target for growth of industry and manufacturing sector is set.<strong> But, it is not the size of the manufacturing sector that matters but its shape. Labour-intensive industries are required for job creation. If the manufacturing sector is to grow from 16% to 25% of the GDP, which the strategy states as the goal, with more capital-intensive industries, it will not solve the employment problem.</strong></li>
<li>The strategy does say that labour-intensive industries must be promoted, but the overall goal remains the size of the sector. What one measures, one manages. Therefore, the goal must be clearly set in terms of employment, and policies and measurements of progress set accordingly.</li>
<li><strong>A big weakness in the Indian economy&rsquo;s industrial infrastructure is that middle-level institutions are missing.</strong></li>
<li><strong>Rather than formalising small enterprises excessively, clusters and associations of small enterprises should be formalised.</strong> Small enterprises cannot bear the burden of excessive formalisation &mdash; which the state and the banking system need to make the informal sector &lsquo;legible&rsquo; to them.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Way Forward</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>It will be worthwhile for NITI Aayog to <strong>get feedback from stakeholders</strong> on whether it has improved the process of consultation substantially or not.</li>
<li><strong>Indian statistical systems must be improved quickly</strong> to measure the ground reality in various forms, formal as well as informal. So that it will further help to form policies.</li>
<li><strong>Processes for participative governance are also in need of repair urgently.</strong> Until they are fixed, any strategy cannot make the economy environmentally sustainable and inclusive.</li>
</ul>',
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		'article_id' => (int) 1115,
		'category_id' => (int) 21,
		'title' => 'Delta Ranking of the Aspirational Districts',
		'description' => '<p><strong>NITI Aayog</strong> has released the ranking of 111 aspirational districts- DEEP-DIVE 2nd Delta Ranking &amp; Insights from Household Survey.</p>
<p>Aspirational Districts were <strong>ranked on improved performance</strong> made by them over the months of<strong> June &ndash; October 2018.</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The districts were assessed across <strong>six developmental areas</strong> of <strong>Health and Nutrition, Education, Agriculture and Water Resources, Financial Inclusion, Skill Development, and Basic Infrastructure.</strong></li>
<li>The ranking also factored invalidated data from Household Surveys conducted by NITI Aayog&rsquo;s knowledge partners, namely, TATA Trusts and Bill &amp; Melinda Gates Foundation (IDInsight).</li>
<li>The Surveys were carried out in all Aspirational Districts during the month of June 2018 covering more than 1,00,000 households.</li>
<li>The<a href="/summary-of-important-reports/NITI-AAYOG-2018-transformation-of-aspirational-districts-baseline-ranking-and-real-time-monitoring-programme" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> first delta ranking for aspirational districts</a> was released in June 2018.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Ranking of Districts</h3>
<p></p>
<table border="1" style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%;">
<tbody>
<tr style="height: 35px; text-align: center;">
<td colspan="4" style="width: 84.2909%; height: 35px;">
<p style="text-align: center;"><strong>Most and Least Improved Districts (June-October 2018)</strong></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 19px; text-align: center;">
<td style="width: 20.2609%; height: 19px;"><strong>Rank</strong></td>
<td style="width: 20.7604%; height: 19px;"><strong>District, State</strong></td>
<td style="width: 26.4919%; height: 19px;"><strong>Rank</strong></td>
<td style="width: 16.7777%; height: 19px;"><strong>District, State</strong></td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 19px; text-align: center;">
<td style="width: 20.2609%; height: 19px;">1</td>
<td style="width: 20.7604%; height: 19px;"><br />Virudhunagar, Tamil Nadu</td>
<td style="width: 26.4919%; height: 19px;">107</td>
<td style="width: 16.7777%; height: 19px;">Kiphire, Nagaland</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 19px; text-align: center;">
<td style="width: 20.2609%; height: 19px;">2</td>
<td style="width: 20.7604%; height: 19px;">Nuapada, Odisha</td>
<td style="width: 26.4919%; height: 19px;">108</td>
<td style="width: 16.7777%; height: 19px;"><br />Giridh, Jharkhand</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 19px; text-align: center;">
<td style="width: 20.2609%; height: 19px;">3</td>
<td style="width: 20.7604%; height: 19px;"><br />Siddharthnagar, Uttar Pradesh</td>
<td style="width: 26.4919%; height: 19px;">109</td>
<td style="width: 16.7777%; height: 19px;">Chatra, Jharkhand</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 19px; text-align: center;">
<td style="width: 20.2609%; height: 19px;">4</td>
<td style="width: 20.7604%; height: 19px;">Aurangabad, Bihar</td>
<td style="width: 26.4919%; height: 19px;">110</td>
<td style="width: 16.7777%; height: 19px;">HailaKandi, Assam</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 19px;">
<td style="width: 20.2609%; height: 19px; text-align: center;">5</td>
<td style="width: 20.7604%; height: 19px; text-align: center;">Koraput, Odisha</td>
<td style="width: 26.4919%; height: 19px; text-align: center;">111</td>
<td style="width: 16.7777%; height: 19px; text-align: center;">Pakur, Jharkhand</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p></p>
<table border="1" style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%;">
<tbody>
<tr style="height: 66px;">
<td style="width: 33.3333%; height: 66px; text-align: center;" colspan="3"><strong>"Fast Movers&rsquo;: Districts which have shown a qualitative jump in their scores between June and October 2018</strong></td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 19px;">
<td style="width: 33.3333%; height: 19px; text-align: center;"><strong>District, State<br /></strong></td>
<td style="width: 33.3333%; height: 19px; text-align: center;"><strong>June 2018</strong></td>
<td style="width: 33.3333%; height: 19px; text-align: center;"><strong>October 2018</strong></td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 19px;">
<td style="width: 33.3333%; height: 19px; text-align: center;"><br />Kupwara,<br />Jammu, and Kashmir</td>
<td style="width: 33.3333%; height: 19px; text-align: center;">108</td>
<td style="width: 33.3333%; height: 19px; text-align: center;">7</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 19px;">
<td style="width: 33.3333%; height: 19px; text-align: center;"><br />Ranchi, Jharkhand</td>
<td style="width: 33.3333%; height: 19px; text-align: center;">106</td>
<td style="width: 33.3333%; height: 19px; text-align: center;">10</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 19px;">
<td style="width: 33.3333%; height: 19px; text-align: center;">Siddarthnagar, Uttar Pradesh</td>
<td style="width: 33.3333%; height: 19px; text-align: center;">101</td>
<td style="width: 33.3333%; height: 19px; text-align: center;">3</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 19px;">
<td style="width: 33.3333%; height: 19px; text-align: center;"><br />Jamui, Bihar</td>
<td style="width: 33.3333%; height: 19px; text-align: center;">99</td>
<td style="width: 33.3333%; height: 19px; text-align: center;">9</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 19px;">
<td style="width: 33.3333%; height: 19px; text-align: center;"><br />Fatehpur, Uttar Pradesh</td>
<td style="width: 33.3333%; height: 19px; text-align: center;">82</td>
<td style="width: 33.3333%; height: 19px; text-align: center;">25</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p></p>
<table border="1" style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%;">
<tbody>
<tr style="height: 66px;">
<td style="width: 33.3333%; height: 44px; text-align: center;" colspan="3"><strong>Most and Least Improved Districts Across Different Themes</strong></td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 19px;">
<td style="width: 33.3333%; height: 19px; text-align: center;"><strong>Themes</strong></td>
<td style="width: 33.3333%; height: 19px; text-align: center;"><strong>Most Improved District</strong></td>
<td style="width: 33.3333%; height: 19px; text-align: center;"><strong>Least Improved Districts</strong></td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 19px;">
<td style="width: 33.3333%; height: 19px; text-align: center;"><strong>Education</strong></td>
<td style="width: 33.3333%; height: 19px; text-align: center;">Virudhunagar, Tamil Nadu</td>
<td style="width: 33.3333%; height: 19px; text-align: center;"><br />Pakur, Jharkhand</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 19px;">
<td style="width: 33.3333%; height: 19px; text-align: center;"><br /><strong>Health and Nutrition</strong></td>
<td style="width: 33.3333%; height: 19px; text-align: center;">Chitrakoot, Uttar Pradesh</td>
<td style="width: 33.3333%; height: 19px; text-align: center;">Chatra, Jharkhand</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 19px;">
<td style="width: 33.3333%; height: 19px; text-align: center;"><br /><strong>Financial Inclusion</strong></td>
<td style="width: 33.3333%; height: 19px; text-align: center;"><br />Kupwara, Jammu, and Kashmir</td>
<td style="width: 33.3333%; height: 19px; text-align: center;">Chandel, Manipur</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 19px;">
<td style="width: 33.3333%; height: 19px; text-align: center;"><br /><strong>Agriculture and Water Resources</strong></td>
<td style="width: 33.3333%; height: 19px; text-align: center;"><br />Sitmarhi, Bihar</td>
<td style="width: 33.3333%; height: 19px; text-align: center;"><br />Giridh, Jharkhand</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 19px;">
<td style="width: 33.3333%; height: 19px; text-align: center;"><strong>Basic Infrastructure</strong></td>
<td style="width: 33.3333%; height: 19px; text-align: center;"><br />Virudhunagar, Tami Nadu</td>
<td style="width: 33.3333%; height: 19px; text-align: center;"><br />Pakur, Jharkhand</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 19px;">
<td style="width: 33.3333%; height: 19px; text-align: center;"><strong>Skill Development</strong></td>
<td style="width: 33.3333%; height: 19px; text-align: center;"><br />Raichur, Karnataka</td>
<td style="width: 33.3333%; height: 19px; text-align: center;"><br />Khammam, Telangana</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p></p>
<h3>Significance</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The delta ranking of the Aspirational Districts combines the<strong> innovative use of data with pragmatic administration,</strong> keeping the district at the locus of inclusive development.</li>
<li>This positioning is expected to<strong> aid the District Magistrates/Collectors</strong> to focus more on these sectors and improve their ranking in the future.</li>
</ul>
<h3>&lsquo;Transformation of Aspirational Districts&rsquo; programme</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>This was launched in <strong>January 2018.</strong></li>
<li>The programme was launched with the<strong> aim of expeditiously improving the socio-economic status of 117 districts through cooperative and competitive federalism.</strong></li>
<li>Driven primarily by the States, this initiative focuses on the strengths of each district and prioritizes the attainable outcomes for immediate improvement.</li>
<li>The Aspirational Districts programme<strong> aims to rapidly transform districts that have been showing relatively less progress in key social areas,</strong> and have emerged as pockets of under-development, thereby posing a challenge to balanced regional development.</li>
<li>The programme tracks 81 data-points across six themes with direct bearing on the quality of life and economic productivity of citizens. The themes and their weights are as follows:</li>
<li>The broad contours of the programme are:
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li><strong>Convergence</strong> (of Central &amp; State Schemes),</li>
<li><strong>Collaboration</strong> (of Central, State level &lsquo;Prabhari&rsquo; Officers &amp; District Collectors),</li>
<li><strong>Competition among districts</strong> driven by a Mass Movement or a Jan Andolan.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>Delta Ranking</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The programme ranks districts based on the improvement achieved month-on-month through the Champions of Change dashboard (An online Dashboard).</li>
<li>Districts enter data for the previous month by the 20th of the next month, after which the dashboard automatically updates ranking based on the entered data.</li>
</ul>
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	(int) 16 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {

		'article_id' => (int) 1094,
		'category_id' => (int) 21,
		'title' => 'SDG India Index',
		'description' => '<p>The<strong> NITI Aayog</strong> has released its <strong>SDG India Index</strong> which intends to provide a holistic view on the social, economic and environmental status of the country and its States.</p>
<h3>Index</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>First</strong> of its kind<strong> &lsquo;SDG India Index&rsquo;</strong>&nbsp;has been developed in collaboration with the<strong> Ministry of Statistics &amp; Programme Implementation (MoSPI), Global Green Growth Institute, United Nations in India, and NITI Aayog.</strong>
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>In September 2016, MoSPI developed a <strong>National Indicator Framework (NIF)</strong> which is a consolidated list of possible national indicators. It consists of <strong>306 statistical indicators</strong> to serve as a <strong>backbone for monitoring of SDGs.</strong></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>NITI Aayog has prepared the SDG India Index spanning across <strong>13 out of 17 SDGs</strong> (leaving out Goals 12, 13, 14 and 17).</li>
<li>Being the <strong>baseline report,</strong> it does <strong>not consider time series</strong> <strong>comparison</strong> of data. As a result, the SDG India Index tells us where a State/UT currently stands on each of the indicators considered, and will present incremental change in subsequent versions.</li>
<li>Classification Criteria based on SDG India Index Score is as follows: <strong>Aspirant: 0-49; Performer: 50-64; Front Runner: 65-99; Achiever: 100.</strong></li>
</ul>
<h3>Key Findings</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Himachal Pradesh, Kerala and Tamil Nadu</strong> have emerged as the <strong>front runners</strong> in the race to achieve key sustainable development goals (SDGs) in a ranking of states released by NITI Aayog.</li>
<li><strong>Kerala&rsquo;s</strong> top rank is attributed to its superior performance in providing <strong>good health, reducing hunger, achieving gender equality and providing quality education.</strong></li>
<li><strong>Himachal Pradesh</strong> ranks high on providing<strong> clean water and sanitation, in reducing inequalities and preserving mountain ecosystem.</strong></li>
<li>The toppers in <strong>gender equality,</strong> <strong>Sikkim and Union territories Andaman and Nicobar islands and Chandigarh</strong> have crossed the halfway mark in reaching the goals.</li>
<li><strong>Jharkhand, Odisha and Nagaland</strong> are among the states that have a lot more <strong>ground to cover</strong> in the overall rankings.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Limitations</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Exclusion of goals:</strong> SDG India Index does not currently cover Goals 12, 13 and 14 largely on account of <strong>unavailability of comparable data</strong> across States and UTs. Further, SDG 17 was left out as it focuses on<strong> international partnerships.</strong></li>
<li><strong>Indicators emerging from the State schemes not included:</strong> The Indicators focus largely on data sources emerging from central official statistical systems and the respective Union Ministries/Departments.</li>
<li><strong>Limitation of equal weightage:</strong> Assigning equal weightage for all indicators across all Goals may lead to biased results. Additionally, some indicators may be <strong>less relevant to some States.</strong> For example, indicators like the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) have less relevance in States like Punjab and Haryana because they have already been performing better on these targets. Thus, their progress on these schematic indicators will seem less in comparison to other States.</li>
<li><strong>Missing data:</strong> Data for a few States /UTs is<strong> not available</strong> for some indicators.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Background</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The Sustainable Development goals were adopted at the <strong>UN Sustainable Development Summit in September, 2015.</strong></li>
<li>They came into <strong>force from January 1st, 2016</strong> and have <strong>2030 as deadline</strong> for achieving the targets.</li>
<li>The success of Agenda 2030 globally will depend, on the <strong>progress India makes on the SDGs</strong>. It is not just the size of India&rsquo;s population (about 17% of the world population) or the scale of its interventions that makes it so critical to the SDGs, but its unique convergence of extraordinary economic growth, commitment to sustainability, and social and technological innovations.</li>
<li>India has also emerged as a <strong>global leader on the international climate action agenda</strong> and an enabler of <strong>sustainable development for developing countries around the world.</strong></li>
<li>This combined with some of the world&rsquo;s largest and most ambitious social programmes including <strong>housing for all, energy for all, urbanization, health and nutrition, and digital and financial inclusion,</strong> make it a leading force for the SDGs globally.</li>
<li>This SDG India Index by NITI Aayog is an important first step in <strong>enabling comprehensive tracking</strong> of the country&rsquo;s progress, and in benchmarking SDGs for <strong>both central and State governments</strong> across the country serving its <strong>twin mandate</strong> to oversee the <strong>implementation of SDGs</strong> in the country, and also<strong> promote Competitive and Cooperative Federalism</strong> among States and UTs.</li>
<li>The SDG India Index embodies the <strong>five Ps</strong> of the global SDG movement -<strong> people, planet, prosperity, partnership and peace.</strong></li>
</ul>
<h3>Way Forward</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The SDG India Index will help every State and Union Territory identify their strengths and areas of opportunity, relative to their peers, and to identify the steps they can take towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.</li>
<li>It is also important to note that this exercise has revealed that their <strong>urgent need for the improvement of statistical systems</strong> to <strong>generate data</strong> that helps in effective monitoring of SDGs at the national and State level on a real-time basis. The selection of indicators for present exercise was constrained by the availability of data. Improved data availability and quality in the future will make the index more robust.</li>
<li>Going forward, the report should be used for <strong>identifying priority areas</strong> that require interventions and also to <strong>strengthen capacities for monitoring SDGs.</strong></li>
</ul>',
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		'article_id' => (int) 1075,
		'category_id' => (int) 21,
		'title' => 'Strategy for New India @ 75',
		'description' => '<p>NITI Aayog has released <strong>&lsquo;Strategy for New India @ 75&prime;</strong> document with an aim to <strong>accelerate economic growth to 9-10%</strong> and make the country a <strong>$4-trillion economy by 2022-23.</strong> The document replaces the now-defunct five-year plans.</p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The document defines the strategy for 2022-23 across <strong>forty-one areas</strong>. Each chapter includes:
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Objectives for 2022,</li>
<li>Progress already made,</li>
<li>Binding constraints,</li>
<li>Way forward for achieving stated objectives.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>The document was prepared after <strong>extensive consultation</strong> with over 800 stakeholders from within the government &ndash; central, state and district levels.</li>
<li>The document has been disaggregated under <strong>four sections: Drivers, Infrastructure, Inclusion and Governance.</strong></li>
</ul>
<h3>Drivers</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Drivers include chapters on growth and employment, doubling of farmers&rsquo; incomes, upgrading the science, technology and innovation ecosystem and promoting sunrise sectors like fintech and tourism.</li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<p><strong>Sunrise Sector:</strong> It is a new industry that is expanding rapidly and expected to be rise further in the future. It is characterised by high growth, number of startups, increased investment especially through venture capital funding.</p>
</div>
<p><strong>Key recommendations in the section on drivers are</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Economy:</strong> Accelerate the GDP growth rate to raise the economy&rsquo;s size in real terms from USD 2.7trillion in 2017-18 to nearly<strong> USD 4 trillion by 2022-23.</strong>
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>The paper sets an <strong>annual inflation target of 2% to 6%</strong> by 2022-23.</li>
<li>Increase the <strong>investment rate in housing &amp; infrastructure</strong> as measured by gross fixed capital formation (GFCF) from the present 29% to 36% of GDP by 2022.</li>
<li><strong>Rationalise direct taxes</strong> for both corporate tax and personal income tax, ease the tax compliance burden and eliminate direct interface between taxpayers and tax officials using technology.</li>
<li><strong>Increase tax-GDP ratio to 22% of GDP by 2022-23.</strong> India&rsquo;s tax-GDP ratio is around 17%, half of the average 35% for countries part of Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).</li>
<li>States should undertake greater mobilisation of their taxes such as<strong> property tax</strong> and take steps to<strong> improve administration of GST</strong> to better tax collections.</li>
<li>The strategy paper also called for having <strong>flexible fiscal deficit targets,</strong> governance reforms in<strong> public sector banks</strong>, performance assessment of executives and <strong>increased flexibility in personnel policy.</strong></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Agriculture:</strong> Convert farmers to <strong>&lsquo;agripreneurs&rsquo;</strong> by further expanding <strong>e-National Agriculture Markets (e-NAM)</strong> and replacing the Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee Act with the Agricultural Produce and Livestock Marketing Act.
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>The document is silent on farm loan waivers but has suggested the concept of a minimum support price for produce be replaced with that of a <strong>Minimum Reserve Price.</strong> The latter should be the starting point for auctioning at official wholesale markets, so that <strong>farmers get at least a basic income.</strong></li>
<li>Consider <strong>replacing</strong> the Commission on Agricultural Costs and Prices<strong> (CACP)</strong> by an<strong> agriculture tribunal</strong> in line with the provisions of Article 323B of the Constitution.</li>
<li>The<a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/pradhan-mantri-fasal-bima-yojana-(pmfby)" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana</a> needs to promote<strong> weather-based insurance.</strong></li>
<li>Give a strong push to &lsquo;<a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/important-facts-for-prelims-11th-august-2018" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Zero Budget Natural Farming</a>&rsquo; techniques that reduce costs,improve land quality and increase farmers&rsquo; incomes.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Employment:</strong> Codification of labor laws, upscale and expand apprenticeships.
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Enhance female labour force participation, by ensuring employers' adherence to the <a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/maternity-leave-government-for-incentive-scheme" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act, 2017</a>, and the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Minerals:</strong> Launch a mission <strong>&ldquo;Explore in India&rdquo;</strong> by revamping minerals exploration and licensing policy.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Infrastructure</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Infrastructure deals with the physical foundations of growth.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Key recommendations in section of Infrastructure are:</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Transport:</strong> Expedite the establishment of already approved <strong>Rail Development Authority (RDA)</strong>, for an integrated, transparent and dynamic pricing mechanism for the railways.
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Double the <strong>share of freight transported</strong> by coastal shipping and inland waterways.</li>
<li>Develop an <strong>IT-enabled platform</strong> for integrating different modes of transport and promoting multi-modal and digitized mobility.</li>
<li><strong>Private investment</strong> in infrastructure should be focused on through a renewed public-private partnership model.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Digital India:</strong> Aim to <strong>deliver all government services</strong> at the state, district, and gram panchayat level digitally by 2022-23.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Inclusion</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Inclusion deals with investing in the capabilities of all of India&rsquo;s citizens. The <strong>three themes</strong> in this section revolve around the dimensions of <strong>health, education and mainstreaming of traditionally marginalized sections of the population.</strong></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Key recommendations in section of inclusion are&nbsp;</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li><strong>Health:</strong> Successfully implementing the <a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-editorials/ayushmanbharat" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ayushman Bharat</a> programme, create a focal point for public health at the central level with state counterparts, promote integrative medicine curriculum.</li>
<li><strong>Education:</strong> Upgrade the <strong>quality of the school education</strong> system and skills, including the creation of a new innovation ecosystem at the ground level by establishing at least 10,000 <a href="/summary-of-important-reports/niti-aayog-annual-report-2017-18" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Atal Tinkering Labs</a> by 2020.
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Conceptualize an electronic national educational registry for tracking each child&rsquo;s learning outcomes.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>Housing for all:</strong> Affordable<strong> housing in urban areas</strong> to improve workers&rsquo; living conditions and ensure equity while creating very large <strong>multiplier effects</strong> in the economy.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Governance</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Governance deals with how the governance structures can be streamlined and processes optimized to achieve better developmental outcomes.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Key recommendations in section of Governance are</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Implement the recommendations of the <strong>Second Administrative Reforms Commission</strong>.</li>
<li>Set up a new autonomous body, viz., the <strong>Arbitration Council of India</strong> to grade arbitral institutions and accredit arbitrators to make the arbitration process cost effective and speedy, and to preempt the need for court intervention.</li>
<li>Address the<strong> backlog of pending cases</strong> - shift part of workload out of regular court system.</li>
<li>Expand the scope of <a href="/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/Swachh%20Bharat%20Mission" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Swachh Bharat Mission</a> to cover initiatives for landfills, plastic waste and municipal waste and generating wealth from waste.</li>
</ul>',
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		'article_id' => (int) 736,
		'category_id' => (int) 21,
		'title' => 'Niti Aayog Frames PPP Guidelines for District Hospitals',
		'description' => '<p>Niti Aayog, along with technical assistance from the World Bank, has formed guidelines for Public-Private Partnership (PPPs) for providing health services in district hospitals.</p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The documents have been designed to supplement efforts for provision of prevention and treatment services of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) related to Cardiac Sciences, Oncology, and Pulmonary Sciences at the district hospitals in tier 2 &amp; 3 cities.</li>
<li>PPP for NCDs in district hospitals will play a pivotal role in ensuring the availability of the services at the district headquarters.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Background</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The contribution of non-communicable diseases (NCD) to the overall disease burden in the country has increased over the years. But <strong>district hospitals in the country have focused mainly on communicable diseases and reproductive and child health. As a result of which the capacity for handling NCD cases by district hospitals has not been adequately developed.</strong></li>
<li>Presently, in India <strong>patients have to travel long distances for availing medical services for NCDs due to urban bias in the availability of private health care,</strong> especially secondary and tertiary care which is skewed towards Tier-1 cities.</li>
<li>National Programme for Prevention and Control of Cancers, Diabetes, Cardiovascular Diseases and Stroke (NPCDCS) was launched by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) in 2010.</li>
<li>One of the objectives of the programme is to:
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Build capacity at various levels of health care for prevention, early diagnosis, treatment, Information Education Communication (IEC) and Behaviour Change Communication (BCC), operational research and rehabilitation.</li>
<li>Provide support for diagnosis and cost-effective treatment at primary, secondary and tertiary levels of health care.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<h3>NITI Aayog Guidelines&nbsp;</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>PPP Units will be established in District Hospitals</li>
<li>The model covers the prevention and treatment of three Non-Communicable Diseases- <strong>Cardiovascular diseases, Cancers and Pulmonary Diseases.</strong></li>
<li>The scope of services:
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li><strong>Oncology:</strong> Palliative care, Medicinal /Conservative Management (including Chemotherapy, Growth Inhibitors &amp; Hormone Therapy)</li>
<li><strong>Pulmonology:</strong> Emergency Management of acute syndromes, Medicinal/Conservative Management for COPD, Bronchial Asthma and Bronchoscopy.</li>
<li><strong>Cardiology:</strong> Emergency Management of acute syndromes, Medicinal/Conservative Management, and Angiography/Angioplasty.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>All these services in PPP facility will be offered by <strong>a Single partner or a single group of private partners.</strong></li>
<li>The private partner will invest in upgrading/building and equipping the facility and responsible for operational management and service delivery.</li>
<li>The government will provide physical space &amp; other infrastructure in &lsquo;as-is-where-is&rsquo; condition, provide support facilities and hospital amenities.
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li>Four PPP models&mdash;<strong>Management of Contract, Purchasing of Services, Build, Operate and Transfer Model or a Co-location Model</strong>&mdash;have been proposed.</li>
<li>In the <strong>Management of Contract model,</strong> the state government will bring in a private partner for a period of 10-15 years of investing in equipping the government facility, hiring human resources and managing the facility, while the government will reimburse the private partner.</li>
<li>In the<strong> Purchasing of Services model,</strong> the state government will identify medical and surgical procedures that a private partner, will carry out and the government will pay or co-pay the costs. This will be for a period of one to three years.</li>
<li>In the<strong> Build, Operate and Transfer Model,</strong> the private partner will have the vacant land offered by the government for thirty years or more and will finance the project.</li>
<li>The <strong>Co-location model</strong> will involve government allowing a private partner to set-up a separate facility through private investment within an existing government hospital premise for a duration of 15 years with a renewal option and it will allow the private facility to charge patients.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>&lsquo;User Fee&rsquo; can be charged by the private entity from patients.</li>
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		'article_id' => (int) 389,
		'category_id' => (int) 21,
		'title' => 'NAFIS Report Released by NITI AAYOG',
		'description' => '<p>On August 16, 2018, 'NABARD All India Rural Financial Inclusion Survey' (NAFIS) was released by NITI Aayog.</p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>NAFIS was launched in 2016-17 as a national level survey that offers a comprehensive overview of the status of livelihoods and level of financial inclusion of the rural population.</li>
<li>Its coverage spans across various financial inclusion aspects ranging from loans, savings, investments, pension, remittances and insurance.</li>
<li>The survey also assessed the financial knowledge, attitude &amp; behaviour of individuals.</li>
<li>NABARD has decided to carry out such surveys every three years.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Analysis</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The NABARD All India Rural Financial Inclusion Survey (NAFIS) shows that average agriculture household income was a mere Rs 8,931 per month in 2016-17. Apart from a paltry income, farmers are facing rising indebtedness, lesser financial inclusion, and absence of insurance facility, according to the report.</li>
<li>In the past four years, the income of a farm household has increased by just Rs 2,505/month. This is calculated by comparing the NABARD report with a 2012-13 study by the National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO), another government body that estimated the average monthly income of farm household at Rs 6,426. However, this income would actually be lesser if food inflation is included.</li>
<li>While cultivation is still a major source of income (35 per cent), followed by daily wage labourer (34 per cent), livestock rearing contributes only 8 per cent of their income.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Indebtedness and agricultural households</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>The survey shows that 41 per cent of rural households are indebted, of which majority (43 per cent) are agriculture households. Gujarat, Maharashtra, Telangana, Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh are the most indebted households.</li>
<li>Around one-third of total households take a loan from money lenders and other non-financial institutions. Although around 60 per cent of households take loans from financial institutions, the average amount of loan from non-institution is more than double than any financial institution.</li>
<li>The average loan per household from non-institutional sources is Rs 63, 645 whereas average loan from a financial institution is Rs 28, 207.</li>
<li>It clearly shows that one-third of rural households, which require the most support, are weaned away from financial inclusion. It also states that financial institutions do not prefer to lend in rural areas and they prefer to give the least they can.</li>
<li>On an average, rural households have a debt of Rs 91,852.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Insurance</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Only one-fourth of the total rural households have any kind of insurance such as life insurance, vehicle, accident or health insurance. Out of the total rural households, only 26 per cent of agriculture households <g class="gr_ gr_339 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_disable_anim_appear Grammar multiReplace" id="339" data-gr-id="339">have</g> any kind of insurance. Only 5 per cent and 2 per cent of the rural household have a vehicle and accidental insurance respectively said the survey.</li>
<li>Only 6 per cent of rural households <g class="gr_ gr_349 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_disable_anim_appear Grammar multiReplace" id="349" data-gr-id="349">have</g> health insurance. The health insurance among agriculture households was lowest (5 per cent) among the rural population.</li>
<li>The pension is another social security scheme to provide income support to rural households, but only 19 per cent of rural households get any kind of pension. 20 per cent of agriculture households got a pension.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Financial Inclusion</h3>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>Around 49 per cent of total rural households report savings in a financial institution and around 53 per cent of agriculture households to save in financial institution. Besides, one-fourth rural households cannot use an ATM independently and 60 per cent of rural households cannot use mobile banking as they needed help to use it.</li>
<li>Only 20 per cent rural households reported being associated with Self Help Groups.</li>
</ul>
<div class="border-bg">
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) came into existence at the recommendation of B. Sivaraman Committee.</li>
<li>It was approved by the Parliament through Act 61 of 1981 and came into existence in 1982 by transferring the agricultural credit functions of RBI and refinance functions of the then Agricultural Refinance and Development Corporation (ARDC).</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Functions of NABARD</strong></p>
<ul style="list-style-type: square;">
<li>NABARD gives high priority to projects formed under the Integrated Rural Development Programme (IRDP).</li>
<li>It provides finance to support poverty alleviation programs run by IRDP.</li>
<li>It also makes the service area plan to provide backward and forward linkages and infrastructural support.</li>
<li>It seeks to establish linkages between Self-help Group (SHG) that are organized by voluntary agencies for poor and needy in rural areas and other official credit agencies.</li>
<li>It finances projects under the &lsquo;National Watershed Development Programme&lsquo; and the &lsquo;National Mission of Wasteland Development&lsquo;.</li>
<li>It also supervises the cooperative banks and Regional Rural Banks to periodically ensure the development of the rural financing and farmers&rsquo; welfare.</li>
</ul>
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