PIB Summary- 28th August, 2021 | PIB (Press Information Bureau) Summary - UPSC PDF Download

PM Jan Dhan Yojana

Context: PM Jan Dhan Yojana completes seven years.

Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) was launched by Narendra Modi on 28th August 2014. It is a national mission with an aim to provide access to various financial services including Remittance, Credit, Insurance, Pension, Banking Savings & Deposit Accounts in an affordable manner. Prime Minister Narendra Modi first announced this scheme during his Independence Day speech on 15th August 2014.

Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) – National Mission for Financial Inclusion, completed its six years of successful implementation in August 2020. 
Financial Inclusion is the delivery of financial services at an affordable cost to the vast sections of the disadvantaged and low-income groups, providing them with timely and adequate access to financial products and services.
With the outbreak of Covid-19 in India, the Finance Minister of India, Nirmala Sitharaman made an announcement to provide Rs. 500 per month to every Women Jan-Dhan Account Holders for the next three months.This announcement was made on 26th March 2020 as an initiative towards the loss caused by the outbreak.
A relief package worth Rs 1.70 lakh crore will also be provided by the government to tackle the financial difficulties arising from Covid-19 outbreak under the PM Garib Kalyan Scheme. The 21 days lockdown is expected to cost the Indian Economy a cost of around 9 lakh crores.
As of 3rd August 2020, it was reported that more than 40 crore bank accounts have been opened under the government’s flagship financial inclusion drive
Candidates can know the detailed information about the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana on the Official Website.
Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana is a financial inclusion campaign which provides universal access to banking facilities. It also ensures to provide financial literacy with at least one basic banking account for every household in India.
The highlights of this scheme have been mentioned in the table below:

What are the benefits of the PMJDY scheme?

Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) was introduced with a target of opening bank accounts for around 7.5 crores uncovered households in India by 26th of January, 2015. This scheme was successful in opening around 12.54 crore accounts by 31st January 2015 with deposits exceeding Rs. 10,000 crores. PMJDY scheme is also certified by the Guinness World Records for its achievements which states that most bank accounts opened in one week as part of the Financial Inclusion Campaign is 18,096,130 and was achieved by the Department of Financial Services, Government of India.

Some of the benefits provided under this scheme are mentioned below:

• The scheme covers both the urban as well as rural areas and provides an indigenous Debit Card (RuPay card) to each of its account holders.
• No minimum balance is required for opening an account under this scheme. The beneficiary can open his/her account in any bank branch or Business Correspondent outlet at zero balance.
• It ensures to provide on Core Banking System (CBS) along with mobile banking using USSD facilities. A facility of call center and a toll-free number is available nationwide.
• Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana provides each beneficiary with basic banking accounts with a debit card with inbuilt accident insurance.
• Rs. 5,000 overdraft facility for Aadhar-linked accounts as well as a RuPay debit card with inbuilt Rs. 1 lakh accident insurance cover is one of the main features provided by this scheme.
• For accounts that are opened between 15th August 2014 and 26th January 2015, a Life Insurance cover of Rupees 30,000 is provided to the eligible beneficiaries. Also after remaining active for 6 months, the beneficiary will be eligible for an overdraft of up to Rs 5,000.

Implementation of Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana

The implementation of Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) occurred in three phases:

Phase I: 15 August 2014 – 14 August 2015

• PMJDY scheme was implemented during this period with an aim to provide universal access to banking facilities for all the household families across the country with at least one basic banking account with RuPay Debit Card which had an inbuilt accident insurance cover of Rs 1 lakh.
• It provided a financial literacy program to the villages.
• Issuing of the Kisan Credit Card was also proposed during this period.

Phase II – 15 August 2015 – 14 August 2018
It aimed at providing microinsurance to the people and pension schemes like Swavalamban to the unorganized sector through the Business Correspondents.

Phase III – after 14 August 2018

• PMJDY focused on opening accounts for every household with an existing Overdraft (OD) limit of Rs 5,000 to be raised to Rs 10,000. No conditions were attached for OD up to Rs 2,000.
• The age limit for availing the OD facility was revised from 18-60 years to 18-65 years.
• Under this expanded coverage, an accidental insurance cover for new RuPay card holders has raised from Rs. 1 lakh to Rs. 2 lakh if the accounts were opened after 28.8.18.

Achievements under PMJDY –

• Total Number of PMJDY Accounts (as of 19th August 2020) is 40.35 Crore; Rural PMJDY accounts 63.6%, Women PMJDY accounts 55.2%. Out of the total of 40.35 crore PMJDY accounts, 34.81 crores (86.3%) are operative.
• Total deposit balances under PMJDY Accounts stand at Rs. 1.31 lakh crore.
• During the first year of the scheme 17.90 crore PMJDY accounts were opened.
• Deposits have increased about 5.7 times with an increase in accounts 2.3 times between 2015 to 2020.
• A mobile application named Jan Dhan Darshak App was launched to provide a citizen-centric platform for locating banking touchpoints such as bank branches, ATMs, Bank Mitras, Post Offices, etc.

One Nation One Ration Card Scheme (ONORC)

Context: ONORC is successfully operational in 34 states.

The Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution rolled out a pilot scheme titled, One Nation One Ration Card Scheme in four states on a pilot basis in 2019. 12 states were added on 1st January 2020. It was reported by the Central Government that about 86% beneficiaries under the NFSA were brought under the One Nation One Ration Card plan.
Another recent change is with regards to food security of migrant workers. In this scheme, beneficiaries can lift their entitled foodgrains from any electronic point of sale (ePoS) enabled FPS in the country through portability. “Portability gives that choice, while at the same time enabling the family back home to draw the remainder of the eligible ration,” the government explained.
As of June 2021, four States/UTs of Assam, Chhattisgarh, Delhi and West Bengal are yet to be bought under the ONOR scheme. The aim of the scheme is to ensure hassle-free delivery of subsidized food grains to all migratory beneficiaries anywhere in the country through nation-wide portability under National Food Security Act (NFSA.)

What is One Nation One Ration Card?

It is a national ration card that will enable migrant workers and their families to access the public distribution system (PDS) benefits from any fair price shops across the country.

The characteristics of the ONORC are:

1. Existing ration cards will be turned as one nation one ration card.
2. It will be a universal ration card allotted to each beneficiary registered under NFSA.
3. Using the ONORC, a beneficiary who migrates from one place to another can buy subsidized food grains from the fair price shop located in the destination city regardless of the origin of the beneficiaries.
4. The beneficiaries will be identified through biometric authentication on electronic Point of Sale (ePoS) devices. These devices will be installed at each fair price shop.
5. The national portability will work using the:
   • Integrated Management of Public Distribution System (IM-PDS) portal – It will provide the technological platform for the ration cards portability.
   • Annavitran portal – It will host the data of the food grains distribution through ePoS devices within a state. This will help a beneficiary to access subsidized food grains within a state (inter-district.)
6. Aadhar Cards will be seeded with ration cards which will help beneficiaries get the ration using the same ration card.

Objectives of One Nation One Ration Card Scheme

In simple words, the ONORC will bring the following changes:

1. Reforms in the public distribution system.
2. Access of food grains to each beneficiary.
3. Integrating all the Indian states and UTs in the scheme by March 2021.

Salient Features of One Nation One Ration Card Scheme

1. It is being implemented under the Integrated Management of PDS (IMPDS.)
2. 65 crores beneficiaries are being covered under the ONORC scheme.
3. 80 percent of beneficiaries registered under NFSA has been covered under the scheme.
4. 25 states and UTs have been integrated into the scheme.
5. 81 crores beneficiaries are reported to get the benefits of this scheme once all states/UTs will be integrated under the scheme.
6. The government will come up with a helpline number to assist beneficiaries.

Benefits of the ONORC

The major benefit of the One Nation One Ration Card is as follows:

• Those agile of the ONORC will receive subsidised food grain from any Fair Price Shop in the country, immensely benefitting migrants staying in different parts of the country.
• With the ONORC, all the beneficiaries in one state can get the same fair rations in other states where the ration card was issued.
• In case of any foul play, a beneficiary can switch to an alternative FPS almost immediately.
• The scheme will be of benefit to women and other poorer sections of the society since social identity will be a strong factor in accessing PDS.
• The ONORC will help in achieving the target of eliminating hunger by 2030, given the fact that it has been ranked 102 out of 17 in the Global Hunger Index.

Challenges regarding the Implementation of the One Nation One Ration Card

• Exclusion Error: Once the PDS processes have been digitised through smart cards and Aadhar linking then leakages could be reduced, but there have been exclusion errors post Aadhar linking as of late.
• Lack of Data: There is a shortage of data on the population moving to other cities to work. As such it becomes a difficult task in identifying the beneficiaries as they move to different locations.

Domicile-Based Social Sector Schemes: Along with the PDS most of the welfare schemes and food security measures were based on historic domicile-based access and restricted welfare and entitlements at their places of origin, thus negating any chance of non-native population from accessing such benefits.

Association of Renewable Energy of States (AREAS)

Context: Association of Renewable Energy of States (AREAS) celebrates  7th Foundation Day.

About Association of Renewable Energy of States (AREAS)

• The Association of Renewable Energy Agencies (AREAS) came into existence in 2014 on the initiative of the Ministry of New & Renewable Energy.
• All state nodal agencies for renewable energy are members of AREAS.
• On this platform, they can learn from each other’s experience in the promotion of renewable energy in the country.
• The Union Minister in charge of New & Renewable Energy is the Ex-Officio Patron of the Association and Secretary, MNRE is the ex-officio President of the Association.

“Bharat series (BH-series)”

Context: Government introduces a new registration mark for new vehicles “Bharat series (BH-series)” to facilitate the seamless transfer of vehicles.

Details

• The Ministry of Road, Transport and Highways in its notification introduced a new registration mark for new vehicles under the ‘Bharat series (BH-series)’.
• The central government rolled a new Bharat Series registration mark scheme, which will not require an individual to get a new registration number for the vehicle if one moves to another state.
• Currently, the process of re-registration of vehicles while moving to another state requires the vehicle owners to obtain a no-objection certificate from the old state where the vehicle was earlier registered, then get the vehicle registered in the new state and pay the road tax. Then, file for a refund for the road tax already paid in the old state.
• Bharat series (BH-series) is an IT-based solution for vehicle registration by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways to facilitate seamless transfer and re-registration of vehicles while moving from one state to another in India.
• The Bharat Series Registration process facility will be available to Defense personnel, private organizations, individuals working at Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs), Central or State governments, or private sector companies which have offices across four or more states/Union Territories.

What are the benefits of Bharat Series vehicles?

• Under Section 47 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, an individual is allowed to keep a vehicle for only 12 months in any state other than the state where the vehicle is registered.
• During those 12 months, the individual is required to obtain a new registration in the new state.
• With the new Bharat series registration mark, an individual will not be required to apply for re-registration when moving the vehicle from one state to another.
• Under the scheme, the motor vehicle tax will be levied for 2 years or in multiples of two.
• After the completion of the 14th year, the motor vehicle tax will be levied annually which will be half of the amount than the amount charged earlier for that vehicle.