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Schemes and Initiatives launched by PM Modi

Prime Minster Narendra Modi has launched several schemes since he has come to power in 2014. The mission of these schemes is to transform India through such rapid means of development.

A - Transforming India

Digital India and Make in India are the top schemes launched by the Modi government to transform India into a rapidly developing economy.

  1. Digital India: The vision of digital India is to transform the country into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy. Digital India has three focus areas i) providing digital Infrastructure to every citizen, ii) governance and services on demand iii) digital empowerment of the people. Digital India stands on following pillars; i) information for all; this can be achieved through public access to phones and to internet. ii) e-Kranti or e-governance: this can be achieved through technology, electronic delivery of services, electronics manufacturing and using IT for jobs.
  2. Make in India: Make in India initiative has following objectives; i) to promote India as a manufacturing hub, ii) economic transformation, iii) to eliminate unnecessary rules and regulation. Some of the sectors under Make in India scheme include; automobiles, chemicals, IT, pharmaceuticals, textiles, leather, tourism and hospitality, design manufacturing, renewable energy, mining and electronics etc.

B - Entrepreneurship development schemes

In order to encourage entrepreneurship government has decided to extend credit facilities to small business units to expand their capabilities and to reduce over indebtedness.

  1. PM Jan-Dhan Yojana: PMJDY scheme is meant for the low income group. They can access various financial services like; i) savings bank account with zero balance ii) interest on deposit iii) need based credit through RuPay Debit Card, iv) Overdraft facility up to Rs.5000 for only one account per household v) remittances facility, vi) life insurance cover of Rs.30,000 vii) accidental insurance cover of Rs.1.
  2. MUDRA Bank Yojana: MUDRA stands for Micro Unit Development and Refinance Agency. MUDRA Bank yojana act as regulator of Micro finance institutions and provide credit up to Rs.10 lakh to small entrepreneurs. There are three categories under MUDRA bank scheme: Shishu - the starters-covers loan up to Rs.50,000, Kishor - the mid stage finance seekers-covers loan above Rs.50,000 and up to Rs.5,00,000 and Tarun - growth seekers- covers loan above Rs.5,00,000 and up to Rs. 10,00,000

C- Farmers and Rural Development Schemes

There are certain schemes that are exclusively targeted to the farmers and meant for the rural transformation of the country.

  1. Kisan Vikas Patra: Kisan Vikas Patra is a saving certificate scheme where the amount invested will double in 100 months. The amount that can be invested are; Rs. 1000, 5000, 10000 and Rs.50000. Certificate is issued in single or in joint names and this can be pledged as security to get loans at an interest rate of 8.7%
  2. Krishi Ambani Bima Yojana: The aim of the scheme is to give impetus to agriculture practice. This scheme will help the farmers bear any financial burden due to unexpected weather or natural calamity.
  3. PM Gram Sinchai Yojana: This objective of this scheme is to take irrigation water to each and every agricultural field in the country.
  4. Soil health card scheme: This scheme provides every farmer a soil health card. The card will carry crop wise recommendations of nutrients/ fertilizers required for farmers to improve productivity. The budget allotted Rs.100 crore for issuing cards.
  5. Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana: The aim of DDUGJY is to provide continuous power supply to rural India. Under this scheme government plans to invest Rs 75,600 crore for rural electrification.
  6. DeenDayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana: DDU-GKY is a youth employment scheme that aims to target rural youth, under the age group of 18–35 years.
  7. PM Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana: This scheme is targeted to the Members of Parliament who are made responsible for developing the socio-economic and physical infrastructure of at least three villages by 2019 and total eight villages by 2024. The goal of this scheme is to create 6,433 model villages (Adarsh Grams) by 2024.

D - Child Health Development & Girl Child Development Schemes

There are some schemes launched for child health development and also for creating positive environment in favour of the development of the girl child.

  1. Indradhanush: Mission Indradhanush was launched to speed up the process of immunization. It aims to immunize all children against seven vaccine preventable diseases namely diphtheria, whooping cough (Pertussis), tetanus, polio, tuberculosis, measles and hepatitis B. The target of full coverage is set to be achieved by the year 2020.
  2. Sukhanya Samridi Account: The key features of the scheme are; the account can be opened in the name of girl child it will get highest interest rate of 9.2%, exemption from Tax u/s 80c. The maturity of account is 21 years from date of opening account or marriage of girl child whichever is earlier. Initial deposit of Rs.1000 and thereafter any amount in multiple of Rs.100 can be deposited to maximum of 1.5lakhs.
  3. Beti Bachao-Beti Padhao Yojna: This scheme aims to generate awareness about saving girl child and educate them. The scheme was initiated with an initial corpus of Rs 100 crore is intended for creating positive environment in favour of girl child. This scheme is for the development of the girl child to correct the gender imbalances that remains in the population growth of the country.

E - Youth Development Schemes

India has a large number of youth populations and there are some schemes that are meant for the development of the youth in the country.

  1. Skill India: The focus of Skill India scheme is to create jobs for youth. Under this scheme government has revamped the old industrial training centres and wants to skill over 20 lakh youth annually and create 500 million jobs by 2020.
  2. Udaan Project: Udaan, is the Special Industry Initiative (SII) for J&K state. This scheme is to provide skills and enhance employability of 40,000 youth over a period of five years in key high growth sectors. Udaan also aims to provide a platform that empowers girl students and provides them with better learning opportunities. The programme is designed to provide a comprehensive platform to deserving girl students aspiring to pursue higher education in engineering and assist them to prepare for the IIT-JEE while studying in Classes 11 and 12.

F - Insurance and Pension Schemes

There are some insurance and pension schemes that is launched by the Prime Minister as social security measures for the citizen of the country.

  1. Pradhan Mantri Jeeva Jyoti Bima Yojana: This is a life insurance scheme with age limit of 18 to 50 years. The annual premium is under this scheme for life cover of Rs.2, 00,000 is Rs.330 per year.
  2. Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana: This is a life insurance scheme with age limit of 18 to 70 years and here the annual premium is Rs.12 per year. It covers accidental death and full disability of Rs.2, 00, 00 and Rs.1, 00,000 for partial disability.
  3. Atal Pension Scheme: This is targeted at unorganized sector workers with age limit of 18 to 40 years. Depending on the contribution, pension will start at the age of 60 years. Government will contribute 50% of total contribution or Rs.1000 whichever is lower.The beneficiary will get guaranteed pension of Rs.1000 to Rs.5000 per month.
  4. Rani Laxmi Bai Pension Scheme: This is special pension scheme that would be given to Muzzaffarnagar riot victims by UP government.

G - Workers protection and development scheme

There are several components under this scheme which is meant for the welfare of the workers

  1. Pandit DeenDayal Upadhyaya Shramev Yojana: A dedicated Shram Suvidha Portal that would allot Labour Identification Number (LIN) to nearly 6 lakhs units and allow them to file online compliance for 16 out of 44 labour laws

    Universal Account Number will enable 4.17 crore employees to have their Provident Fund account, hassle-free and universally accessible.

    Apprentice Protsahan Yojana will support manufacturing units mainly and other establishments by reimbursing 50% of the stipend paid to apprentices during first two years of their training.

    Under the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana, a Smart Card will be issued to the workers in the unorganized sector that would be fed with details of two more social security schemes.
  2. Mahatma Gandhi Pravasi Suraksha Yojana: MGPSY is a special social security scheme for the overseas Indian workers in possession of Emigration Check Required (ECR) passports. It is a voluntary scheme which includes Pension and Life Insurance and designed to help workers to meet their three financial needs: saving for retirement, saving for their return and resettlement, and providing free life insurance offering coverage for death from natural causes.

H - Urban development schemes

  1. Swachh Bharat: This is a national campaign to accomplish the vision of clean India by October 2, 2019. This campaign is on performance ranking on cleanliness issued by the Ministry of Urban Development and based on the extent of open defecation, and solid waste management practices etc. The ministry has released ranking of 476 cities and among them top ranked 10 cities are; Mysore, Tiruchirapalli, Navi Mumbai, Kochi, Hassan, Mandhya, Bengaluru, Thiruvanathapuram, Halisahar, Gangtok. Related to Swachh Bharat is also Bal Swachhta Abhiyan to increase awareness about the cleanliness of the children in the country.
  2. AMRUT: This stands for Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Development. The focus of AMRUT scheme is on water supply, sewerage facilities and management, storm water drains to reduce flooding, strengthening of public transport facilities and creating public amenities like parks and recreation clubs etc.
  3. HRIDAY Yojana: HRIDAY stands for National Heritage City Development and Augmentation. The focus of this scheme is holistic development of heritage cities in the country. The Scheme is being implemented in 12 identified cities namely; Ajmer, Amaravati, Amritsar, Badami, Dwarka, Gaya, Kanchipuram, Mathura, Puri, Varanasi, Velankanni and Warangal. With a total outlay of Rs.500 crores, the scheme has to be completed within the duration of 27 months i.e. in March 2017.

I - Tourism development scheme:

Swadesh Darshan: The Scheme envisages enhancement of tourist attractiveness in a sustainable manner by developing world class infrastructure in the circuit destination. Swadesh Darshan, aims to provide engaging and complete tourism experience to both domestic including low budget tourists and foreign tourists alike. Under it Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spiritual Augmentation Drive (PRASAD) aims to beautify and improve the amenities and infrastructure at pilgrimage centres of all faiths. Under this initially twelve cities have been identified namely; Ajmer, Amritsar, Amravati, Dwarka, Gaya, Kedarnath, Kamakhaya, Kanchipuram, Mathura, Puri, Varanasi and Velankanni.