PIB Summary- 27th November, 2021 | PIB (Press Information Bureau) Summary - UPSC PDF Download

River Cities Alliance

Why in News?

Recently, the Ministry of Jal Shakti along with the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has launched the River Cities Alliance (RCA).

About  River Cities Alliance :

• It is a dedicated platform for river cities in India to ideate, discuss and exchange information for sustainable management of urban rivers.
• The National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) and National Institute for Urban Affairs (NIUA) have collaborated together to launch the RCA.
• The Alliance will focus on three broad themes- Networking, Capacity Building and Technical Support.
• Although the Alliance began with the Ganga basin cities, it was extended to include cities beyond the basin as well. The participating cities in the River Cities Alliance are:
• Dehradun, Haridwar, Rishikesh, Srinagar, Begusarai, Bhagalpur, Munger, Patna, Berhampore, Hooghly-Chinsurah, Howrah, Jangipur, Maheshtala, Rajmahal, Sahibganj, Ayodhya, Bijnor, Farrukhabad, Kanpur, Mathura-Vrindavan, Mirzapur, Prayagraj, Varanasi, Aurangabad, Chennai, Bhubaneswar, Hyderabad, Pune, Udaipur and Vijayawada.

Objectives:

• To provide the member cities with a platform to discuss and exchange information on aspects that are vital for sustainable management of urban rivers.
• To work towards adopting and localizing national policies and instruments with key river-related directions.
• To prepare cities urban river management plans and develop city-specific sectoral strategies that are required for sustainable urban river management.

Production Linked Incentive Scheme

Why in News?

The PLI Scheme for Pharmaceuticals is based on the strategy of “Atmanirbhar Bharat- Strategies for enhancing India’s manufacturing capabilities and enhancing exports in ten sectors.”

• The scheme has received a very good response from the industry and a total of 278 applications were received against which a maximum of 55 applicants were to be selected.

About PLI Scheme for Pharmaceuticals:

• The objective of the scheme is to enhance India’s manufacturing capabilities by increasing investment and production in the sector and contributing to product diversification to high value goods in the pharmaceutical sector.
• One of the further objectives of the scheme is to create global champions out of India who have the potential to grow in size and scale using cutting edge technology and thereby penetrate the global value chains.
• The scheme will provide financial incentives on the incremental sales (over Base Year) of pharmaceutical goods and in-vitro diagnostic medical devices to selected applicants based on pre-defined selection criteria.
• The incentives will be paid for a maximum period of 6 years for each participant depending upon the threshold investments and sales criteria to be achieved by the applicant.
• The total quantum of the incentive for the scheme is Rs 15,000 crore.
• SIDBI is the Project Management Agency for the Scheme.

The scheme covers three different product categories for which applicants have applied under the scheme. These products are expected to give an impetus to innovation, R&D and widening of product profile of India Pharmaceutical industry.

• Category 1: Biopharmaceuticals; Complex generic drugs; Patented drugs or drugs nearing patent expiry; Cell based or gene therapy drugs; Orphan drugs; Special empty capsules like HPMC, Pullulan, enteric etc.; Complex excipients; Phyto-pharmaceuticals.
• Category 2: Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients / Key Starting materials / Drug Intermediates (except the Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients / Key Starting materials / Drug Intermediates covered under the earlier PLI scheme for APIs/KSMs and DIs being implemented by the Department).
• Category 3 (Drugs not covered under Category 1 and Category 2): Repurposed drugs; Auto immune drugs, anti-cancer drugs, anti-diabetic drugs, anti-infective drugs, cardiovascular drugs, psychotropic drugs and anti-retroviral drugs; In vitro diagnostic devices; Other drugs not manufactured in India.

What is a Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme?

• A Production-Linked Incentive, or PLI scheme, provides incentives to companies in order to boost domestic manufacturing.
• This is done by the government in an effort to make products more competitively priced, reduce a country’s dependence on imports and generate employment.
• According to experts, the idea of PLI is important as the government cannot continue making investments in these capital intensive sectors as they need longer times for start giving the returns. Instead, what it can do is to invite global companies with adequate capital to set up capacities in India.

About the 13 PLI schemes in India

• The objective is really to make India more compliant with our WTO (World Trade Organisation) commitments and also make it non-discriminatory and neutral with respect to domestic sales and exports.
• Finance Minister announced an outlay of INR 1.97 Lakh Crores for the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Schemes across 13 key sectors, to create national manufacturing champions and generate employment opportunities for the country’s youth.
  (i) Key Starting Materials (KSMs)/Drug Intermediates (DIs) and Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs): Department of Pharmaceuticals
  (ii) Large Scale Electronics Manufacturing: Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology
  (iii) Manufacturing of Medical Devices: Department of Pharmaceuticals
  (iv) Electronic/Technology Products: Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology
  (v) Pharmaceuticals drugs: Department of Pharmaceuticals
  (vi) Telecom & Networking Products: Department of Telecommunications
  (vii) Food Products: Ministry of Food Processing Industries
  (viii) White Goods (ACs & LED): Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade
  (ix) High-Efficiency Solar PV Modules: Ministry of New and Renewable Energy
  (x) Automobiles & Auto Components: Department of Heavy Industry
  (xi) Advance Chemistry Cell (ACC) Battery: Department of Heavy Industry
  (xii) Textile Products: MMF segment and technical textiles: Ministry of Textiles
  (xiii) Specialty Steel: Ministry of Steel