‘Land of Rising Sun’ plans, Cyclone Nisarga, Greenfield Expressway to Amritsar, Indian Industry
1. ‘Land of Rising Sun’ Arunachal Pradesh plans by March 2023
- The State proposed to provide 100% tap connections to all the households by March, 2023 under National Jal Jeevan Mission, Ministry of Jal Shakti.
- Govt of India approved Rs 255 Crore for the State under Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) in 2020-21.
- States are given additional funds in form of performance grants based on their achievement in terms of tangible outputs i.e. the household tap connections and commensurate financial progress. Out of 2.18 lakh total rural households, the State is planning to provide 77,000 tap connections in 2020-21.
- Water availability in Arunachal Pradesh is not an issue, but the challenges faced in implementation are the tough mountainous terrain, sparsely located habitations and the harsh climatic conditions. However, the State Govt has charted a well thought of plan to cover all villages/ habitations so as potable water reaches every rural household. Jal Jeevan Mission does provide a golden opportunity to the State to provide clean, potable water to its citizens in their houses, so that the burden of women and girls is lessened.
- The state is targeting the ‘low-hanging fruits’ i.e. in the villages/ habitations where piped water supply schemes already exist, so that remaining households could be provided with tap connections easily.
- The State plans to immediately provide tap connections to all remaining households belonging to weaker sections of the society on priority.
- During the Covid–19 pandemic, it’s the endeavour of Government that people don’t crowd public stand posts/ drinking water sources. State was advised for taking up water supply works in villages on immediate basis to provide household tap connections, which will help in practicing social distancing, and will additionally help local people in getting employment and boost rural economy.
- Local community will play a pivotal role in planning, implementation, management, operation and maintenance of water supply systems in villages to ensure long-term sustainability. Local communities are encouraged to take responsibility of water supply systems in villages for regular upkeep and operation and maintenance.
- Skilling activities are planned so that unemployed youth could be trained in plumbing, masonry, fitting, electricity, etc. so that a pool of trained Human resources could be available at village level and could be engaged locally.
- Strengthening of existing drinking water sources for long-term sustainability of drinking water supply systems through convergence of various programmes like MGNREGS, SBM (G), 15th FC Grants to PRIs, District Mineral Development Fund, CAMPA, Local Area Development Fund, etc. at village level is planned for judicious use of all available funds. The State has been allocated Rs. 231 Crore under 15th Finance Commission Grants to PRIs during 2020-21; 50% of this amount has to be mandatorily to be spent on water and sanitation.
- Under Jal Jeevan Mission, water quality testing laboratories at district & state levels are given priority. Community is being involved for surveillance of water quality. Provision has been made to empower and engage with the community, for which action plan is prepared to incorporate the various planned activities like timely procurement of kits, supply of kits to the community, identification of at least five women in every village, training women for use of Field Test Kits.
- The Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi had announced Jal Jeevan Mission on 15th August, 2019 with the objective to provide functional household tap connections to every rural household of the country by 2024. Being implemented in partnership with States, the Mission aims to enable every rural household has assured availability of potable water at a service level of 55 litres per capita per day (lpcd) on regular and long-term basis so as to bring improvements in lives of rural folks.
2. Cyclone Nisarga
- With the monsoons imminent over the West Coast of India, the Western Naval Command has mobilised adequate resources for flood relief, rescue and diving assistance in the event of excessive rainfall and flooding of both, urban and rural areas in coordination with the respective State Governments on the Western seaboard.
- In Mumbai, the Maharashtra Naval Area will be on standby with five Flood Rescue Teams and three Diving Teams throughout the monsoon season.
- These teams are stationed at various naval areas across the city to enable early response over a larger area. These teams are fully equipped and have been trained for rescue operations. Recce of known flood-prone areas has been undertaken and all necessary preparations are in place.
- With the cyclonic storm Nisarga brewing in the Arabian Sea, all teams have been put on alert and are in readiness to respond to any requirement of Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) during the storm period.
- The Cyclonic Storm ‘NISARGA’ over Eastcentral Arabian Sea moved north-northeastwards with a speed of 13 kmph during past 06 hours, and lay centred at 1730 hours IST of today, the 02nd June, 2020 over Eastcentral Arabian Sea near latitude 16.3°N and longitude 71.3°E, about 280 km west-northwest of Panjim (Goa), 350 km south-southwest of Mumbai (Maharashtra), 300 km south-southwest of Alibagh (Maharashtra) and 560 km south-southwest of Surat (Gujarat).
3. Transformative programs in India
- The Indian government has always believed in transformative programs be it Digital India, Make in India and Startup India.
- These initiatives have empowered ordinary Indians, led to digital inclusion, encouraged innovation and entrepreneurship and raised the stature of India as a global digital power.
- Promotion of electronics manufacturing has been a key component of Make in India program. With efforts such as the National Policy on Electronics, 2019, Modified Special Incentive Scheme (MSIPS), Electronics Manufacturing Clusters and Electronics Development Fund etc.
- The growth in mobile phone manufacturing in particular has been remarkable during this period. From just 2 mobile phone factories in 2014, India now has become the 2nd largest mobile phone producer in the world.
India’s share in global electronics production has reached 3% in 2018 from just 1.3% in 2012.
- With a view to building a robust manufacturing ecosystem which will be an asset to the global economy we are looking forward to developing a strong ecosystem across the value chain and integrating it with global value chains. This is the essence of these three Schemes namely, the (i) Production Linked Incentive Scheme (PLI) for Large Scale Electronics Manufacturing,
(ii) Scheme for Promotion of Manufacturing of Electronic Components and Semiconductors (SPECS)
(iii) Modified Electronics Manufacturing Clusters (EMC 2.0) Scheme.
- The three Schemes together will enable large scale electronics manufacturing, domestic supply chain of components and state-of-the-art infrastructure and common facilities for large anchor units and their supply chain partners.
- These Schemes shall contribute significantly to achieving a USD 1 Trillion digital economy and a USD 5 Trillion GDP by 2025.
- The three new Schemes are expected to attract substantial investments, increase production of mobile phones and their parts/ components to around Rs.10,00,000 crore by 2025 and generate around 5 lakh direct and 15 lakh indirect jobs.
4. Greenfield Expressway to Amritsar
- The development of a new Greenfield connectivity to Amritsar City from Nakodar via Sultanpur Lodhi, Goindwal Sahib, Khadoor Sahib as part of Delhi-Amritsar Expressway.
- The road from Amritsar to Gurdaspur would also be fully developed and made completely signal free.
- With this, traffic would have option to travel to Gurdaspur onwards from Nakodar, i.e. via Amritsar or via Kartarpur.
- The greenfield alignment will not only provide shortest and alternate express connectivity to Amritsar city but also to other religious centres of Sultanpur Lodhi, Goindwal Sahib, Khadoor Sahib as well as the recently developed Dera Baba Nanak/Kartarpur Sahib International Corridor in Punjab.
- The first phase of expressway would involve investment of about Rs 25,000 crore.
- Ministry of Road Transport & Highways have taken up development of Delhi Amritsar Katra Expressway under Bharatmala Pariyojana.
- It is reiterated that Amritsar city was always an integral part of the Delhi-Amritsar-Katra Expressway. From beginning Expressway was proposed as combination of Greenfield and Brownfield alignment in two phases.
5. Annual Session of Confederation of Indian Industry
- Successfully completing 125 years as a 125-year journey is very long.
- There must have been several milestones, must have faced many ups and downs, but running an organization for 125 years is a big thing in itself.
- n the wake of Corona pandemic, such online events are becoming a new normal.
- But this is also the biggest strength of human being that he finds a way out of every difficulty.
- Even today, on one hand we have to take stringent steps to fight this virus, while on the other hand, we also have to take care of the economy. On the one hand we have to save the lives of the countrymen and on the other hand we have to stabilize and speed up the economy of the country. In this situation, you have started talking about Getting Growth Back and certainly it is something commendable! I would go a step further and rather say that yes, we will definitely get our growth back. Some of you might be wondering that in this hour of crisis, how I am saying this with so much confidence.
- PM said, I trust India’s capabilities and crisis management. I trust India’s talent and technology. I trust Innovation and Intellect of India. I trust the farmers, MSMEs and entrepreneurs of India. And, I trust Industry leaders like all of you. That’s why I’m saying- Yes! We will get our growth back. India will get its growth back.
- If we compare our situation with all the countries of the world, we can see that today how widespread the effect of lockdown has been in India. In this lockdown, India has not only prepared physical resources to fight against Corona, but has also saved its human resource. As industry leaders, one question will surely be in your minds – what is the government going to do now? You will also have some questions about the Atmanirbhar Bharat campaign.
- Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana has helped a lot in providing immediate benefits to the poor. Ration has been delivered to about 74 crore beneficiaries under this scheme. Free ration is also being provided to migrant workers. Besides, so far poor families have been given more than fifty three thousand crore Rupees of financial assistance. Be it women, divyangs, elderly, or labourers; everyone has benefited from it. During the lockdown, the government has delivered more than 8 crore gas cylinders to the poor – that too for free. Moreover, the government has also made 24 per cent EPF contribution in the accounts of about 50 lakh employees of private sectors. Around Rs 800 crore has been deposited into their accounts.
- Five things are very important to build a self-reliant India and to bring India back on the path of rapid development – Intent, Inclusion, Investment, Infrastructure and Innovation. You will get a glimpse of all these in the bold decisions taken recently. With these decisions, we have made every sector future ready. Thus, today India is ready for a big step towards a new growth-oriented future. Friends, reforms are not some random or scattered decisions for us. For us reforms are systematic, planned, integrated, inter-connected and futuristic process.
- For us, ‘reform’ means having the courage to make decisions and taking them to a logical conclusion. Be it IBC, bank merger, GST, Faceless Income Tax Assessment, we have always emphasized on reducing the interference of government in the systems, and encouraging an eco-system for private enterprises. For this reason, the government is also making such policy reforms, which the country had given up hope for.
- If we talk about the agriculture sector, then the rules and regulations that were made after independence in our country had left the farmers at the mercy of middlemen. The rules were very strict as to where the farmer could sell the crop and so on. Our government showed the willingness to remove injustice that was being done to the farmers for decades.
- After changes in the APMC Act, now the farmers will also get their rights. Farmers can now sell their crop to whomsoever they want and whenever they want. Now a farmer can take his crop to any state of the country and sell it. Also, grains or agricultural products kept in warehouses can now be sold through electronic trading. Just imagine! How many new avenues are going to open for agri-business.
- walking on the path of ‘Sabka Sath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas India has the third largest coal reserve in the world. Now commercial mining in the coal sector has been permitted. Permission has also been granted for the allotment of partially explored blocks. Similarly, in mineral mining too, now companies can do mining work simultaneously with exploration.
The direction in which the government is moving, be it our mining sector, energy sector, or research and technology, both the industry and the youth will get opportunities in every field. Going beyond, now the participation of private players in the strategic sectors of the country is also becoming a reality. Whether you want to invest in space sector, or want to explore new opportunities in the atomic energy, there are immense possibilities completely open for you.
- However, Atmanirbhar Bharat package is a fuel for the engine of the MSME sector.
- Self-sufficient India will be fully integrated with the world economy and will also be supportive.
