Polity & Governance: June 2022 Current Affairs - UPSC PDF Download

PM eVIDYA

Ministry of Education

Context:

• Union Education Minister reviews the Digital Education initiatives of the Ministry

About:

• The scheme was announced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on May 18 2020. On 31st May 2020.
• The top 100 universities were permitted to automatically start online courses via the PM eVidya scheme.
• This scheme is a part of Aatma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan the scheme launched in the hopes to boost the levels of the education sector and not let the pandemic affect the education of the students in any way.
• The finance minister also mentioned that Sawyam Prabha DTH channel would support students who do not have any access to the internet.
• Pradhan Mantri e-VIDYA is a programme that will provide multimode access to digital education. Under this scheme, many educational channels, radio podcasts, e-learning content are commencing. It will consist of:
  • DIKSHA for school education in all the states/UTs
  • One designated TV channel per class from class 1st to 12th
  • Use of Radio, podcasts, and Community Radio
  • Special e-content for visually and hearing impaired.
  • Top 100 universities were allowed to conduct their online classes.

PM eVIDYA Objectives

The programme was initiated to help the teachers and students amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. It is very important to not hamper the education of a child. The nationwide lockdown was affecting the same. Not only all the students but also teachers were not well-equipped with the technology-driven amenities. They were struggling to conduct their classes via online mode. The objectives behind the launch of the scheme Prime Minister eVIDYA are as follows-

• The scheme was introduced to not let the education system suffer from the COVID-19 pandemic.
• The scheme promotes digital platforms to conduct the classes via online mode.
• To deliver e-learning content for different subjects and courses.
• To prepare students for various competitive examinations

Pradhan Mantri eVIDYA Benefits

With the launch of Pradhan Mantri e-VIDYA scheme, the students and teachers were extremely benefitted. Some of the major benefits of the scheme are –

• Easy to access online classes.
• Students can attend their classes at the comfort of their homes and staying safe during the pandemic.
• A one-stop destination for education.
• Various e-learning contents were provided.
• QR-coded energized books were published for all the classes
• Special arrangements for blind and hearing-impaired students
• The students who do not have the access to internet facility can attend their classes via a DTH channel dedicated solely for educational purposes.

Implementation of PM e-Vidya Scheme

For the successful implementation of the scheme, the government launched an online PM e VIDYA portal called Swayam Prabha, which is a group of 34 DTH channels. The channels telecast education-related programmes every day. Another portal known as DIKSHA was designed for school level education. It provides study material for each class according to the school curriculum. Other than that, several radio programmes, podcasts and community radio sessions were organized.

Other Important eVIDYA Portals and Applications

• Rankguru eVIDYA: Rank guru eVIDYA is a learning app which makes learning fun through various contests, quizzes, videos, etc.
• eVIDYA Vahini: It is an integrated digital platform developed by the government of Jharkhand to provide e-learning facility to its students.
• eVIDYA:  eVidya education, an online portal, is a personalized portal to help you crack your institutional and competitive examinations. It consists of various series of tests, contests, quizzes, worksheets, videos, study material, etc.
• eVIDYA Hub: It is an online learning platform in digital marketing, website designing, social media marketing and others.
• e-BIDYA KKHSOU: It is an integrated digital learning management system for the students of KKHSOU (Krishna Kanta Handiqui State Open University).

Performance Grading Index for Districts (PGI-D)

Why in News?

Recently, the Department of School Education and Literacy (DoSE&L), Ministry of Education (MoE) released the Centre’s first-ever Performance Grading Index for Districts (PGI-D) for 2018-19 and 2019-20.

• In June, 2021, the Union Education Minister has approved the release of Performance Grading Index (PGI) 2019-20 for States and Union Territories.
  

What is the Index All About?

About:

• PGI-D assesses the performance of the school education system at the district level by creating an index for comprehensive analysis.
• The PGI-D assessed district-level performance in school education based on the data collected from various sources, including Unified District Information System for Education Plus (UDISE +), National Achievement Survey (NAS), 2017 and data provided by respective districts.

Methodology:

• Structure: The PGI-D structure comprises a total weightage of 600 points across 83 indicators, which are grouped under six categories:
  • Outcomes, Effective Classroom Transaction, Infrastructure Facilities & Student’s Entitlements, School Safety & Child Protection, Digital Learning and Governance Process.
  • Two categories — digital learning and effective classroom transaction have been added in the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic. However, these categories were not part of the state-level PGI.

Significance:

• The indicator-wise PGI score shows the areas where a district needs to improve. The PGI-D will reflect the relative performance of all the districts in a uniform scale which encourages them to perform better.
• At the same time, it will also act as a good source of information for best practices followed by States and UTs which can be shared.

What are the Key Highlights of the Report?

1. Best Performers:

• Three districts from Rajasthan performed the best in the assessment.
  • According to the report, the three districts — Sikar, Jhunjhunu, and Jaipur figured in ‘Utkarsh’ grade in 2019-20 in contrast to a year before when no district featured in that category.
• Rajasthan has the highest 24 districts in this grade, followed by Punjab (14), Gujarat (13), and Kerala (13).

2. Lowest Performers:

• The districts with the lowest scores (1 out of 50) in this category were:
  • South Salmara-Mankachar (Assam), Alirajpur (Madhya Pradesh), North Garo Hills and South Garo Hills in Meghalaya, and Khowai (Tripura) in 2019-20.
• The 12 states/ UTs which don’t have a single district in the Ati-Uttam and Uttam are:
  • Bihar, Goa, Jammu and Kashmir, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, Tripura and Uttarakhand.

3. Progress:

• As per the report, the number of districts in all categories has increased.
  • In the ‘Ati Uttam’ grade, the number of districts increased from 49 to 86 during 2018-19 to 2019-20 showing “remarkable improvements”.
  • 33 districts improved their score in outcomes, but there is no grade-level improvement.
  • The outcomes category includes learning outcomes of students, teachers’ availability and professional outcomes.

What are the Other Government Initiatives in this Direction?

• National Education Policy, 2020: It aims at making “India a global knowledge superpower” by introducing several changes from the school to college level in the Indian education system.
• Samagra Shiksha: It is an integrated scheme for school education extending from pre-school to class XII to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education at all levels of school education.
• Mid Day Meal Scheme: It provides that every child within the age group of six to fourteen years studying in classes I to VIII who enrolls and attends the school, shall be provided hot cooked nutritional meals, free of charge every day except on school holidays.
• Eklavya Model School and Rajiv Gandhi National Fellowship Scheme (RGNF): These aim to encourage the students belonging to Scheduled Tribes (ST) community to pursue higher education.

Shreshta Scheme

Why in News?

Recently, the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment has launched the scheme ‘SHRESHTA.’ This scheme is known as Scheme for residential education for students in High school in Targeted Areas.

• The scheme ‘SHRESHTA’ was created with the goal of providing quality education and opportunity to students of SC Category.

What is the scheme ‘SHRESHTA’?

About:

• Its basic motive is to uplift the socio-conomic status of the Scheduled Castes peoples by providing high quality education to their children in best private residential schools in the country.
• Admission will be provided in Class 9 and Class 11 of CBSE affiliated private schools.

Objective:

• To make easy delivery of the Governmental initiatives and schemes.
• To create a conducive atmosphere for the ‘Scheduled Castes' socioeconomic advancement and overall growth.
• To enable bright Scheduled Caste (SC) students with high-quality education so that they can pursue future opportunities.

Eligibility:

• The students, belonging to Scheduled Castes, studying in class 8th and 10th in the current academic year (2021-22) are eligible for availing the benefits of the scheme.
• Students from the SC community who come from a marginalized income group with an annual income of up to Rs.2.5 lakh are eligible.
• The selection will be done through a transparent mechanism which is known as National Entrance Test for SHRESHTA (NETS).
  • It will be conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA) for admission in class 9th and 11th.

Beneficiaries:

• Government has targeted that every year around 3000 students belonging to SC category will be admitted to Class 9 and Class 11 under this system.
• The Ministry will cover the whole cost of their school fees and accommodation fees till they have completed their academics in class 12th.

What are the Other Related Initiatives for SCs?

• Babu Jagjivan Ram Chhatrawas Yojana (BJRCY):
  • The Department of Social Justice and Empowerment is a nodal agency for implementation of this scheme.
• Post Matric scholarship schemes for SC:
  • It is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme launched in 2006. It is implemented through State government and Union Territory administration.
• Single National Scholarship Scheme:
  • The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment has been tasked to implement the Scheme by conducting a merit test.

Since SHRESHTA scheme is a part of Rural Development , here's a document to clear your concepts on the same here:  Ministry of Rural Development

Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Urban 

Why in News?

Recently, Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY)- Urban has completed seven years of successful implementation.

With a total investment of Rs 8.31 Lakh Crore, PMAY-U has so far sanctioned 122.69 lakh houses, out of which more than 1 crore houses have been grounded and over 61 lakh houses have been completed and delivered to the beneficiaries.

What is Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Urban?

About:

• Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) falls under the Government’s mission - Housing for All by 2022 for urban housing being implemented by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA).
• It makes home loans affordable for the urban poor by providing a subsidy on the Interest Rate of a home loan during repayment by way of EMI (Equated Monthly Installments).

Beneficiaries:

• The Mission addresses urban housing shortage among the EWS/LIG and MIG categories including the slum dwellers.
• Economically Weaker Section (EWS) - with a maximum annual family income of Rs. 3,00,00.
• Low Income Group (LIG) - with maximum annual family income of Rs. 6,00,000) and
• Middle Income Groups (MIG I & II) - with a maximum annual family income of Rs. 18,00,000)

Four Verticals of PMAY-U:

• In Situ Slum Redevelopment (ISSR):
• This vertical will be implemented with the concept “Land as a resource” with private sector participation for providing houses to eligible slum dwellers.
  • Slum: It is a compact area of at least 300 people or about 60 - 70 households of poorly built congested tenements in an unhygienic environment usually with inadequate infrastructure and lacking in proper sanitary and drinking water facilities
• Affordable Housing through Credit Linked Subsidy (CLSS):
  • Beneficiaries of EWS, LIG, MIG (I &II) seeking housing loans from Banks, Housing Finance Companies and other such institutions for acquiring, new construction or enhancement of houses are eligible for an interest subsidy of:
    (i) 6.5% on loan amount up to Rs. 6 Lakh
    (ii) 4% on loan amount up to Rs. 9 Lakh
    (iii) 3% on loan amount up to Rs. 12 Lakh
• Affordable Housing Through Partnership (AHP):
  • An affordable housing project can be a mix of houses for different categories but it will be eligible for Central Assistance, if at least 35% of the houses in the project are in the EWS category.
• Beneficiary-led individual house construction (BLC):
  • Central Assistance up to Rs. 1.5 lakh per EWS house is provided to eligible families belonging to EWS categories for individual house construction/ enhancement.

Demand-driven Approach:

• PMAY-U adopts a demand-driven approach strengthening the ethos of cooperative federalism, housing shortage is decided based on demand assessment by States/Union Territories (UTs).
• The Mission is implemented as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS) except the CLSS vertical of the PMAY-U which is being implemented as a Central Sector Scheme.
  • Central Sector Schemes are 100% funded by the Union government and implemented by the Central Government machinery.
  • Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS) a certain percentage of the funding is borne by the States and the implementation is by the State Governments.

Geotagging:

• Geotagging is a process of adding geographical identification to various media like photography.
  • Under the PMAY-U guidelines, it is mandatory for the state government to ensure that all houses built under the scheme are geotagged to the Bhuvan HFA (housing for all) application.
    (i) Bhuvan is an Indian Geo Platform developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
    (ii) It is a web-based application which allows users to access various map related services.

Women Empowerment:

• The Mission promotes Woman Empowerment by providing the ownership of houses in the name of a female member or in joint names.
• Preference is also given to women (with overriding preference to widows, single women), persons belonging to Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes/Other Backward Classes, Minorities, Persons with disabilities and Transgender.

Initiatives under PMAY-U:

• Affordable Rental Housing Complexes (ARHCs) :
  • It is a sub-scheme under PMAY-U.
  • This will provide ease of living to urban migrants/ poor in the Industrial Sector as well as in non-formal urban economies to get access to dignified affordable rental housing close to their workplace.
• Global Housing Technology Challenge:
  • It aims to identify and mainstream a basket of innovative construction technologies from across the globe for the housing construction sector that are sustainable, eco-friendly and disaster-resilient.
• CLSS Awas Portal (CLAP):
  • It is a common platform where all stakeholders i.e., MoHUA, Central Nodal Agencies, Primary Lending Institutions, Beneficiaries and Citizens are integrated in a real-time environment.

GeM For Cooperatives

Why in News?

The Union Cabinet has cleared up a proposal allowing cooperatives to sell products on the Government-e-Marketplace (GeM) platform.

• The cooperatives may however be charged a transaction fee to cover the incremental costs.
• The validated list of cooperatives to be onboarded on the GeM - for pilot as well as subsequent scale up - will be decided by the Ministry of Cooperation in consultation with the GeM SPV (Special Purpose Vehicle).

What is the Gem Portal?

• GeM is a one-stop National Public Procurement Portal to facilitate online procurement of common use Goods & Services required by various Central and State Government Departments/Organisations/Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs).
• The procurement of goods and services by Ministries and the Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) is mandatory for goods and services available on GeM.

Launch:

• It was launched in 2016 to bring transparency and efficiency in the government buying process.

Nodal Ministry

• Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

Recent Updates

• Country of Origin Mandatory: GeM has made it mandatory for sellers to enter the Country of Origin while registering all new products on GeM.
  • This has been enabled on the portal so that the buyers can choose to buy only those products that meet the minimum 50% local content criteria.

What is the Significance of GeM?

• Transparent and Cost-effective Procurement: GeM enables quick, efficient, transparent and cost-effective procurement, especially when government organizations require products and services urgently to fight against the Covid-19 pandemic.
• Promotion of Atmanirbhar Bharat: GeM has been promoting the Atmanirbhar Bharat policy, introduced in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, meant to encourage self-reliance and boost small Indian manufacturers.
• Entry of Small Local Sellers: The Marketplace has facilitated entry of small local sellers in Public Procurement, while implementing ‘Make in India’ and MSME Purchase Preference Policies of the Government in the true sense.

What are the Challenges associated with GeM?

Multiple Portals:

• There are multiple portals in Central government departments, such as the defence procurement portal, and the Indian Railways e-Procurement System, which could limit GeM’s effort to achieve its mandate as the National Public Procurement Portal and provide the benefit of economies of scale and efficiency.

Lack of Compliance:

• It also faces a bit of a challenge in getting all Central organizations to comply with Rule 149 of the General Financial Rules (GFR) 2017, which mandates that all common-use goods and services that are available on the GeM portal should necessarily be procured on the platform.

Way Forward

• Single Portal: The multiple portals are leading to confusion among farmers and also cause synchronization challenges. A single portal for all the public purchases may help to solve this problem and will help in tackling the problem of mis-governance.
• Imposition of penalty: There should be penalties for mis-governance in matters related to agricultural marketing and an increase in penalties wherein they already exist. It will help in tackling the problem of lack of compliance.
• Use of vernacular Language: The user interface for public purchase portals should be in local language to tackle the issue of a particular language dominance.
• Agricultural Produce Market Committees (APMCs) of states had led huge increase in cost due to administrative inefficiency.
  • It will help in realizing the vision of Doubling Farmers Income by 2022 as recommended by Ashok Dalwai committee.

Amrit Sarovar Mission 

Why in News?

The Union government has asked the Ministry of Railways and the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to use the soil/silt excavated from ponds/tanks in all districts across the country under the Amrit Sarovar Mission for their infrastructure projects.

What is Amrit Sarovar Mission?

About:

• Amrit Sarovar Mission was launched on 24th April 2022 with a view to conserve water for the future.

Aim:

• The Mission is aimed at developing and rejuvenating 75 water bodies in each district of the country as a part of celebration of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav.
• In total, it would lead to the creation of 50,000 water bodies of a size of about an Acre or more.
• The Mission encourages mobilisation of citizen and non-govt resources for supplementing these efforts.

Ministries Involved:

This Mission has been launched with a whole Government Approach with 6 Ministries/Department namely:

• Department of Rural Development
• Department of land resources
• Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation
• Department of Water resources
• Ministry of Panchayati Raj
• Ministry of Forest, Environment and Climate Changes.

Technical Partner:

• Bhaskaracharya National Institute for Space Application and Geo-informatics (BISAG-N) has been engaged as technical partner for the Mission.

Refocusing with Various Schemes:

• The Mission works through the States and Districts, through refocusing of various schemes such as Mahatma Gandhi NREGS, XV Finance Commission Grants, PMKSY sub schemes such as Watershed Development Component, Har Khet Ko Pani besides States’ own schemes.

Target:

• Mission Amrit Sarovar is to be completed by 15th August 2023.
• Around 50,000 Amrit Sarovar may be constructed in the country.
  • Each of these Amrit Sarovar will have approx. area of 1 acre with a water holding capacity of 10,000 cubic meters.
• On every 15th August, National Flag hoisting will be organized on every Amrit Sarovar site.

Achievements:

• So far, 12,241 sites have been finalized for construction of Amrit Sarovars by States/Districts, out of which works has started on 4,856 Amrit Sarovars.

What is Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav?

• Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav is an initiative of the Government of India to celebrate and commemorate 75 years of independence and the glorious history of its people, culture and achievements.
• This Mahotsav is dedicated to the people of India who have not only been instrumental in bringing India thus far in its evolutionary journey but also hold within them the power and potential to enable Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of activating India 2.0, fuelled by the spirit of Aatmanirbhar Bharat.
• The official journey of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav commenced on 12th March 2021 which started a 75-week countdown to our 75th anniversary of independence and will end post a year on 15th August 2023.