Schemes of NDA Government for Sustainable Development: A Sanctum

INTRODUCTION

Good governance was a fundamental and basic right contemplated under the constitution and can be provided by public servants of they realise their duty to the people and not thinking of themselves as master. Good governance requires foresight and master planning. Cynics say in a democracy people fight for it collectively. Immediate after assuming his Office, Prime Minister Honourable Narendra Modi promised a business friendly nation with “good governance and minimum government” by developing a stable and prosperous society from day one for which he has framed a sound social security umbrella for the weaker sections under which several social welfare schemes have been launched in India. It is believed that the sustainable development of a society not only relies on encouraging the quantitative improvement but it mostly relies on the qualitative improvements. Hence, the present paper tries to give an overview on the social welfare and Development schemes, namely Jan Dhan Yojana, Make in India, Good Governance, 100 Smart Cities, Bullet Trains and Swatch Bharat Abhiyan in the country under the NDA Regime.

Social Welfare and Development Schemes

Following are some major schemes floated by the NDA Government in its six-month stint. The Prime Minister at Jhan Dhan Yojana inauguration Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana. The Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) is National Mission for Financial Inclusion to ensure access to financial services, namely, Banking/ Savings & Deposit Accounts, Remittance, Credit, Insurance, Pension in an affordable manner. With a substantial section of society still outside the ambit of the formal financial system, this initiative which aims to bring the excluded into the banking system over the next few years is a laudable one. The scheme provides a host of benefits including a bank account, insurance and a debit card for all. With the slogan "Mera Khata - Bhagya Vidhaata" the scheme is a financial inclusion scheme covering all households in the country with banking facilities, ensuring a bank account for each

Name of the Authors:

Dr.S.Dharmaraj & Dr.R.Karthikeyan* *Faculty members, Deptt. of Economics, AVC College (Autonomous), Mannampandal-609305, Mayiladuthurai,Tamilnadu (INDIA)

Advance Research Journal of Multi-Disciplinary Discoveries ISSN NO : 2456-1045

Part -1 (Business, Economics & Statistics )

Chapter-III

AUGUST/Vol.4.0/Issue-I

ISSN NO : 2456-1045

ISSN CODE: 2456-1045 (Online)

(ICV-BES/Impact Value): 2.31

(GIF) Impact Factor: 1.272

Copyright@IJF 2016

Journal Code: ARJMD/BES/P-I/V-4.0/C-3/AUG-2016

Website: www.journalresearchijf.com

Received: 01.08.2016

Accepted: 07.08.2016

Date of Publication: 31.08.2016

Page: 14-17

A unit of International Journal Foundation Page I 14

household. It is a mega financial inclusion plan under which bank accounts and RuPay debit cards with inbuilt insurance cover of Rs 1 lakh will be provided to crores of persons with no access to formal banking facilities. At present, about 1.5 crore accounts were opened through thousands of camps, exceeding the first day target of 1 crore accounts.

Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana:

Prime Minister’s ambitious Parliamentarian's Model Village Scheme or Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana is aimed to ensure holistic development of identified Gram Panchayats. The scheme was launched on October 11, the birth anniversary of social reformer Jay Prakash Narayan. According to the scheme, each MP adopts a village every year for all-round development and helps in development of the select village using the programmes of the Centre and States and their constituency development funds (MPLADS). The Yojana drafted by Rural Development Ministry is aimed at substantially improving the quality of life of all sections of the population in these select villages. It aims at turning villages into model villages not just through infrastructure development but gender equality, dignity of women, social justice, community service, cleanliness etc. Each MP should make one village and turn it into a model village by 2016, two more villages by 2019. After 2019, each MP must develop 5 model villages during their tenure in their constituencies till 2024.

One Rank One Pension Scheme:

The Central Government allotted Rs. 1,000 crore for the implementation of one rank one pension scheme. According to the scheme, the armed forces personnel holding the same rank will get the same pension, regardless of the last drawn pay, years of service and the years served in a particular rank.

Housing for All by 2022 scheme:

Housing for All by 2022' scheme Stating that the Government is committed to its endeavour to have housing for all by 2022, the Government allocated Rs. 4000 crore for affordable housing in Union Budget 2014. It is also proposed to set up a Mission on Low Cost Affordable Housing to be anchored in the National Housing Bank.

Namami Ganga Yojana:

The Clean Ganga project is officially known as the Integrated Ganga Conservation Mission project or 'Namami Ganga Yojana'. This is basically a dream project of Prime Minster. He has engaged in cleaning of ganga The Government announced an ambitious Rs. 2037-crore ‘Namami Ganga' project in its maiden budget to kick-start the process of cleaning up the holy river.

Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana:

This programme has been proposed to meet the need to provide assured irrigation to mitigate risk to the farmer. This scheme would facilitate access to irrigation. A sum of Rs. 1, 000 crores have been set aside for this scheme.

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Shramev Jayate (Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay Shramev Jayate Karyakram):

The scheme is aimed at creating conducive environment for industrial development and doing business with ease. At least four crore labourers are expected to benefit from this scheme. Several initiatives were taken by the Government under the scheme.

Shramev Jayate :

Utilizing technology to eliminate human discretion in selection of units for Inspection, and uploading of Inspection Reports within 72 hours of inspection mandatory. Universal Account Number: Enables 4.17 crore employees to have their Provident Fund account portable, 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.

Revamped Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana:

Introducing a Smart Card for the workers in the unorganized sector seeded with details of two more social security schemes.

Digital India ( IT+IT+ IT, i.e., India Today +Information Technology + India Tomorrow.):

The Digital India- A programme “to transform India into digital empowered society and knowledge economy”. This is a follow up to the key decision taken on the design of the programme during the meeting of the Prime Ministries on Digital India Programme on August 7, 2014, and to sensitize all ministries to this vast programme touching every corner of the government. This programme has been envisaged by Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY), it is turning high speed internet into a core utility. Digital India which promises to transform India into a connected knowledge economy offering world class services at the click of a mouse, will be implemented in a phased manner by 2019 at an estimated cost of about Rs.1,13,000 crore, including on-going enabling projects run by telecom and electronics and IT departments. It promises to change the life in rural India. It was function on July 1, 2015.Common Service Centres (CSC) in villages will serve as critical pivots around which most goods and services will be delivered. Once connected to broadband, an entire village’s requirements of goods can be placed through these service centres and people can use these service centres as one stop shop for all their e-needs.

E-medical facilities will ensure specialist services on a dial, a patient at the health centre in a village can be connected to any medical specialist hundreds of miles away and diagnosed online. Thus, various government or private specialists will be able to diagnose and treat people who otherwise don’t have access to specialist medical facilities.

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In school education, subject module prepared by the private sector could be delivered online to the CSC which can be accessed by Children. The Government of India entity Bharat Broadband Nigam Limited which executes the NOFN (National Optical Fibre Network) project will be the custodian of Digital India project. BBNL had ordered United Telecoms Limited to connect 200,000 villages through GPON to ensure FTTH based broadband. The project is expected to be completed by 2017 in complete. The Ministry release says by March 2016 approximate 50,000 villages will be completed.

To make this vision true, three broad things must happen. i.e., Creation of Infrastructure, Delivery Platforms and Digital Literacy. Further it is centred on three key areas viz, Infrastructure as Utility to Every Citizen; Governance and Services on Demand; and Digital Empowerment of Citizens. It is aims to provide the much needed thrust to Nine Pillars of Growth Areas, namely, Broadband Highways, Universal Access to Mobile Connectivity, Public Internet Access Programme, e-Governance Reforming Government through Technology, E-Kranti Electronic Delivery of Services, Information for All, Electronics Manufacturing, IT for Jobs and Early Harvest Programme. Therefore, the overall scope of this programme is ”to Prepare India for a Knowledge Future”, to make technology central to enabling change” and “to become an umbrella programme covering many departments”. The focuses of this projects is on being transformative –to realise IT+IT +IT, i.e., India Today +Information Technology = India Tomorrow.

On October 2, 2014, the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, Prime Minister announced the initiation of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan a nationwide mission to Clean India’s streets and ensures sanitation. The government has speeded up building individual latrines in rural and urban areas, which is a key component of NDA’s flagship Swachh Bharat Programme. So far, over 43 lakh individual latrines have been built in village. Now, with a policy in place and more funds coming in from the corporate sector and elsewhere, more progress is expected. Every panchayat, however small, will get at least Rs.17 lakh in the next five years and this and this can be used to treat solid and liquid waste.

Beti Bachao Beti Padhao: Prime Minister has launched a small deposit scheme “Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana” for Girl Child, as part of the ‘Beti Bachao Beti Padhao’ campaign which would fetch an interest rate of 9.1 percent and provide income tax rebate on January 22, 2015. This is a welcome step of Central Government for Women empowerment. This is specially designed for girl’s higher education or marriage needs. The ‘Sukanya Samriddhi Account’ can be opened at any time from the birth of a girl child till she attains the age of 10 years, with a minimum deposit of Rs. 1, 000. A Maximum of Rs.1.5 lakh can be deposited during the financial year. The account can be opened in any post office or authorised branches of commercial banks. Launched this programme for promoting survival, protection and education of the girl child in Panipat on January 22, 2015. The objective of the government’s Beti Bachao Beti Padhao scheme is to educate citizens to prevent female feticide and encourage girl child education, give girls a chance to be born, to be loved and grow. The targets are ambitious.

In five years it seeks to improve sex ratio at birth in 100 gender-critical districts by 10 points in a year, reduce gender differentials in under five child mortality from 59:51 for girls Vs boys in 2011 to 55 for girls in 2017 and improve nutrition status of girl, reducing number of underweight and anaemic girls under the age of 5. It is also launched Sukanya Samriddhi Savings Bank Account for a minor girl child younger than 10 years. Only parents and legal guardians are allowed to open the account with a minimum deposit of Rs 1,000. Deposits can be made for 14 years from the date of opening and gives tax benefits. The account will remain operative for 21 years from the date of opening of the account or marriage of the girl child after attaining 18 years of age. To meet the requirement of higher education expenses, partial withdrawal of 50 parent of the balance would be allowed after the girl child has attended 18 years of age. The provision of not allowing withdrawal from the account till age of 18 has been kept to prevent early marriage of girls. Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana A scheme named the Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana was launched On April 8, 2015, stressing the contribution of Small entrepreneurs in the economy, the prime minister expressed confidence that within a year’s time, the banks would also adopt the MUDRA model. The government in last year’s budget announced creating MUDRA (Micro Units Development and Refinance Agency) Bank for easy access to loans for unorganized sector, small businessmen, traders, shopkeepers, hawkers. The government has provided Rs. 20, 000 crore in the budget to offer loans from Rs.10, 000 to 10 lakh and SCs, STs, OBCs and Minorities will be the major beneficiaries.

The Prime Minister said that in our country, one

often experiences that things revolve around mere perceptions, while the details often paint a different picture. The perception that large industries create more employment, he said that a look at the details reveals the reality that only 1 crore 25 lakh people find employment in large industries, whereas small enterprises employ 12 crore people in the country. The number of facilities provided for the large industries in India, there is a need to focus on the 5 crore 75 lakh self-employed people who use funds of Rs.11 lakh crore, with an average per unit debt of merely Rs17,000 to employ 12 crore Indians. He said that these facts, when brought to light, led to the vision for MUDRA Bank. According to Modi said that MUDRA scheme is aimed at “funding the unfunded”. He said that the small entrepreneurs of India are used to exploitation at the hands of money lenders so far, but MUDRA will in still a new confidence in them that the country is ready to support them in their efforts that arte contributing so heavily to the task of nation building. Insurance and Pension Schemes

On May 9, 2015, the government launched a comprehensive social security package for all citizens. They include Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Suraksha Bima Yojana, which is renewable one-year accident insurance cover of Rs.2 lakh at premium of Rs. 1 per month.

An individual in the age group of 18 to 70 can join the scheme; The second is Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Beema Yojana, which is a life insurance cover of Rs.2 lakh at 90 paisa premium per day and can be renewed every year. An individual in the age group of 18 to 50 will be eligible for the cover. The third is Atal Pension Yojana, which will give guaranteed minimum pension of Rs 1,000 to Rs.5000 per month after the age of 60. The minimum contribution will be for 30 years with the government to contribute 50 % of premium for 5years, up to a maximum of Rs1, 000 per month. In the first week of its launch, there have been a record 6.75 crore enrolments in these three schemes. At present, over 90 percent people in the country neither have insurance cover nor any kind of pension. Skill Development Mission: Government has launched “Sill India” on the occasion of the first ever World Youth Skills Day on 15

th July, 215 in New

Delhi, to skill 40 crore Indian in the next 7 years. The Prime Minister unveiled the Skill India Logo and launched four landmark initiatives of the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, National Skill Development Mission, National Policy for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship 2015, Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) Scheme and the Skill Loan Scheme. Smart City The Smart City concept primarily involves combination of human capital and technology to create a sustainable environment. Such cities work towards improving sustainable economic development, infrastructure and also create a higher quality of life for the citizens as they contribute to this process with increasing urbanisation. Cities need to plan and provide a suitable environment for future investments, creates new jobs and livelihood, build reliable public infrastructure, provide social services with ample access to affordable housing and most importantly support efficient use of resources for a sustainable quality life. The NDA Government has launched three major urban development initiatives, viz AMRUT ( Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation); Smart Cities Mission; and Housing for All(Urban), at New Delhi unveiling the roadmap for developing 100 smart cities and 500 AMRUT cities over the next years and 20 million houses for urban poor by 2022. Smart city applications are developed with the goal of improving the management of urban flows and allowing for real time responses to challenges. A smart city may, therefore, be more prepared to respond to challenges than one with a simple ‘transactional relationship with its citizens. Major technological, economic and environmental changes have generated interest in smart cities, including climate change, economic restructuring ecommerce and entertainment. Smart cities can be broadly classified into three types: i.e., (1) New Cities, (2) Retrofitting existing cities with smart technologies, and (3) Purpose Driven Cities, New cities integrate ICT in all aspects to attract citizens and business by providing quality services.

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Conclusion:

The NDA Government has taken up the most difficult task of rebuilding India. It is trying to make the government systems sharp, effective, fast and flexible by simplifying processes and having trust in citizens. Though expectations from the government have been running high, it is unrealistic to expect that change will happen in just one year. But it can be concluded that a number of Social Welfare Programmes along with Economic Development Programmes have been enunciated by this Government boldly to ensure the goals of Sustainable Development and it is fond hope that the Government alone cannot do anything fruitfully and hence the combined efforts of Privates, Public and NGOs can ensure the desired fruits of the economy.

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