• Pradhan Mantri Krishi Bima Yojana
    • Premium for Kharif season crops is 2 % and for Rabi crops is 1.5%. 5 % premium has been fixed for horticulture and cotton crops.
    • full insured amount to the farmers against crop loss on account of natural calamities.
    • Post-harvest losses also covered.
  • Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana
    • Fifty or more farmers will form a cluster having 50-acre land to take up the organic farming under the scheme.
    • Every farmer will be provided Rs. 20,000 per acre in three years for seed to harvesting of crops and to transport produce to the market.
  • Nairobi Package- The “Nairobi Package” was adopted at the WTO’s Tenth Ministerial Conference, held in Nairobi, Kenya, from 15 to 19 December 2015. It contains a series of six Ministerial Decisions on agriculture, cotton and issues related to least-developed countries (LDCs). A Ministerial Declaration outlining the Package and the future work of the WTO was adopted at the end of the five-day Conference.

  • Recent measure for trade facilitation
    • Customs single window initiative- importers and exporters will electronically submit their customs clearance documents at a single point with customs
    • 24×7 customs clearance- specified imports, namely goods covered under ‘facilitated’ bills of entry, and specified exports, namely factory stuffed containers and goods exported under free shipping bills, have been made available at 18 seaports.
  • Paris Agreement on Climate Change
    • New collective quantified goal based on US$ 100 billion floor will be set before 2025
    • Starting in 2023, a global stocktake covering all elements will take place every five years to assess the collective progress towards achieving the purpose of the Paris Agreement and its long term goals
    • India’s Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC)
    • reduce the emissions intensity of its GDP by 33 to 35 per cent of the 2005 level by 2030.
    • achieve about 40 per cent cumulative electric power installed capacity from non-fossil fuel- based energy resources by 2030
    • create an additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent (CO2 eq.) through additional forest and tree cover by 2030.

  • The Payment of Bonus (Amendment) Act 2015
    • eligibility for bonus payment increased from Rs 10,000 to Rs 21,000 per month.
  • National Career Services Portal
    • a digital portal that will provide a nationwide online platform for job seekers and employers for job matching
    • 60 model career centers will be made functional in 2016-17.
  • Shram Suvidha Portal will offer
    • A unique Labour Identification Number (LIN)
    • transparent labour inspection scheme
    • unified annual returns under nine central acts and unified electronic challan-cum-return for filling of monthly contribution with Employees Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) & Employee State Insurance Corporation (ESIC).
  • Universal Account Number (Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyay Shramev Jayate Karyakram)- Portability of this Universal Account Number (UAN) has been made functional. This means that in future if an employee changes his job, he can carry the same UAN to his next job. Earlier, he/she had to apply for a fresh account number every time a change of job was made.
  • Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana
    • Skill training to be provided by National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC)
    • a monetary reward is given to trainees on assessment and certification by third party assessment bodies.
    • Skill Development Management System (SDMS) would be put in place to verify and record details of all training centres a certain quality of training locations and courses
    • The scheme will primarily be focused on a first time entrants to the labour market and primarily target Class 10 and Class 12 drop outs.
  •  Deen Dayal Upadhyay Grameen Kausalya Yojana
    • provide Skill training to poor in cities and villages
    • Rural segment of the scheme was started in 2014, Urban segment will be launched in 2016.
    • Minimum age to enrol under the scheme is 15 years
    • Target is to train 10 lakhs by 2017

  •  Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram
    • Also known as Child Health Screening and Early Intervention Services
    • Aims to Defects at birth, Diseases in children, Deficiency conditions and Developmental delays including Disabilities.
    • The services aim to cover all children of 0-6 years of age group in rural areas and urban slums, in addition to children enrolled in classes 1st to 12th in Government and Government aided schools.
    •  Universal Health Coverage Index (World Bank)
    • to measure the progress made in health sectors in select countries of the World
    • financial risk protection, access to quality essential health care services, and access to safe, effective, quality, and affordable essential medicines and vaccines.
    •   India ranks 143 among 190 countries in terms of per capita expenditure on health
  • Jan Aushadhi Yojana
    • Uniform VAT of 4% on medicines
    • Price regulation of Non-Scheduled Drugs under Drug Price Control Order (DPCO), 1995
    • rice control of Scheduled Drugs through the National Pharmaceutical pricing authority (NPPA)
    • Reduction in Excise duty from 16% to 4% 
  • National Dialysis Services Programme
    • Funds will be made available through PPP Mode under the National Health Mission, to provide dialysis services in all district hospitals
    • which will provide health cover up-to rupees one lakh per family
    • For Senior citizens of the age 60 years and above belonging to this category, an additional top-up packages up to Rs.30, 000 will be provided.
    • exempt certain parts of dialysis equipment from basic customs duty, excise/special Countervailing duty (CVD) and Special Additional Duty (SAD).

  • Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan
    • Enhancing the funds of Management, Monitoring Evaluation and Research (MMER) from 2.2 percent to 4 percent of the total outlay.continuation of existing fund sharing pattern of 75:25 for the last four years of the 12th Plan to non – North Eastern Region (NER) states and 90:10 for NER States (including Sikkim)
    • extending all the benefits of RMSA to aided secondary schools excluding infrastructure support / core areas.
  • Sarva Shiksha AbhiyanM
    • Main vehicle for implementing Right to Education Act, 2009
    • special attention has been given to urban deprived children, children affected by periodic migration and children living in remote and scattered habitations
    • improvement in infrastructural facilities and sanctioning of new teacher posts in government schools.
  • Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan
    • Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS), launched in 2013 aims at providing strategic funding to eligible state higher educational institutions. The central funding (in the ratio of 60:40 for general category States, 90:10 for special category states and 100% for union territories) would be norm based and outcome dependent.
    •    Improve the overall quality of state institutions by ensuring conformity to prescribed norms and standards and adopt accreditation as a mandatory quality assurance framework.
    • Usher transformational reforms in the state higher education system by creating a facilitating institutional structure for planning and monitoring at the state level, promoting autonomy in State Universities and improving governance in institutions.
    •  Ensure reforms in the affiliation, academic and examination systems.
    •  Ensure adequate availability of quality faculty in all higher educational institutions and ensure capacity building at all levels of employment.
    •  Create an enabling atmosphere in the higher educational institutions to devote themselves to research and innovations.
    •  Expand the institutional base by creating additional capacity in existing institutions and establishing new institutions, in order to achieve enrolment targets.
    •  Correct regional imbalances in access to higher education by setting up institutions in unserved & underserved areas.
    •   Improve equity in higher education by providing adequate opportunities of higher education to SC/STs and socially and educationally backward classes; promote inclusion of women, minorities, and differently abled persons.

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