Whatsapp 93125-11015 For Details
The Union Cabinet approved setting up of three new cooperative bodies — national multi-state cooperative export society, national multi-state cooperative organic society and national multi-state cooperative seed society — under the Multi-State Cooperative Societies (MSCS) Act, 2002.
This was decided during a meeting of the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav said there are about 8.50 lakh cooperatives, which have around 29 crore members mainly from rural areas, who will benefit from the move.
An official statement, detailing the decision on export society, said: “It will provide thrust to exports from cooperative sector by acting as an umbrella organisation for carrying out and promoting exports.
This will help unlock export potential of Indian cooperatives in global markets. Higher exports through the proposed society will increase production of goods and services by the cooperatives at various levels, generating more employment.
Processing of goods and enhancing the services to match international standards will also generate additional employment. Increased export of cooperative products would, in turn, also promote “Make in India”, leading to Atmanirbhar Bharat.”
Giving details of the society for organic products, a separate statement said: “The cooperative society will manage various activities related to organic sector by providing certified and authentic organic products.
It will help in unlocking demand and consumption potential of organic products in domestic as well as global markets. It will also help cooperatives and ultimately their farmer members in getting benefits of high price of organic products through aggregation, branding and marketing on large scale by facilitating testing and certification at affordable cost.”
The seed cooperative society will act as an “apex organisation for production, procurement, processing, branding, labelling, packaging, storage, marketing and distribution of quality seeds; strategic research and development; and to develop a system for preservation and promotion of indigenous natural seeds; through various cooperative societies across the country with support from relevant ministries”.
Express Network
Free foodgrain scheme named ‘PM Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana’ (Page no. 9)
(GS Paper 3, Food Security)
The Centre has named its new free foodgrain scheme under the National Food Security Act, 2013, as ‘Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY)’, the Union Ministry of Consumer Affairs.
Implementation of the new scheme has started from January 1, 2023, benefitting more than 80 crore poor and poorest of poor people.
The name of the new scheme is similar to that of the free foodgrain scheme implemented as part of the Centre’s Covid-19 package announced in 2020. However, the difference between the two schemes is that about 81 crore NFSA beneficiaries were entitled to get free of cost 5 kg foodgrain per person in a month over and above their monthly entitlements.
However, they were required to pay the subsidised rate of foodgrains (Rs 3 per kg rice, Rs 2 per kg wheat and Rs 1 per kg coarse grains) to purchase the quantity for which they were entitled–35 kg per Antyoday Anna Yojana Household and 5kg per person to a Priority Household in a month.
In the new scheme, the government has done away with the subsided prices and is providing foodgrains free of cost for a year. But now the additional quantity, which was available during the Covid pandemic, will not be provided to these beneficiaries. They will receive as much quantity of foodgrains, for which they are entitled under the NFSA. The move comes days after the Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved the new integrated food security scheme for providing free foodgrains to Antodaya Anna Yojna (AAY) & Primary Household (PHH) beneficiaries under the NFSA for a year beginning January 1, 2023.
Keeping in view welfare of the beneficiaries and in order to maintain uniformity across the states, free foodgrains will be provided under PMGKAY for the year 2023 to all PHH and AAY beneficiaries, as per entitlement under the NFSA.
The Central Government will spend more than Rs 2 lakh crore in 2023 as food subsidy under NFSA and other welfare schemes, to remove the financial burden of the poor and the poorest of the poor.
The integrated scheme will strengthen the provisions of the NFSA, 2013 in terms of accessibility, affordability and availability of foodgrains for the poor.
Editorial page
Governor vs Government (Page no. 12)
(GS Paper 2, Polity and Governance)
“Governor” is neither a decorative emblem nor a glorified cipher. His powers are limited but he has an important constitutional role to play in the governance of the state and in strengthening federalism.
He is the head of the state and all chief ministers, including the Tamil Nadu chief minister, must remember it. All governors too must remain true to their oath of “preserving, protecting and defending the Constitution”.
What happened in Chennai on Monday was shocking and demonstrates the trust deficit between the governor and the chief minister.
But what Governor R N Ravi, an appointee of the BJP government at the Centre, did was neither new nor surprising: Governors appointed by Congress governments in the past had behaved similarly. But Governor Ravi should have ideally respected the national anthem.
The governor leaving the House is not good even for the reputation of Chief Minister M K Stalin, an experienced politician following in the footsteps of his illustrious father and former CM, M Karunanidhi.
A good governor must stay above politics and manifestly be seen as impartial and fair. In 1937, when the Congress won elections in seven provinces, it took office on the condition that the British governors would not interfere in the functioning of its ministries and refrain from exercising “discretion and special powers”. However, after Independence, India conferred the same special powers on governors.
The governor is an integral part of the legislative assembly. He calls its sessions and he dissolves the House. Under Article 176(2(b), he has the right to address the first session of the House.
‘This address is an integral part of constitutional symbolism and has huge significance. True, the Constitution gives no discretion to governors in the matter of convening the session of the assembly.
Explained
VSHORAD missile system (Page no. 15)
(GS Paper 3, Defence)
The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) Tuesday accorded Acceptance of Necessity (AoN) to procure the Very Short Range Air Defence System or VSHORAD (IR Homing) missile system, designed and developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), among other weapon systems for the Army and Navy at a total cost of Rs4,276 crore.
The development comes amid the ongoing military standoff with China at the LAC in eastern Ladakh and reports of air violations by China along the LAC last year.
India has been in talks with Russia since 2018 to procure the Igla-S air defence missiles at a cost of $1.5 billion under the VSHORAD programme in a bid to replace the Russian Igla-M systems which have been in use with the Army.
However, defence officials indicated that there has been little progress on that front and it has been put on hold for now with the strong government pitch for atmanirbharta (self -dependence) in defence. The latest AoN granted to the procurement of the DRDO-developed VSHORAD testifies that.
The DRDO, in September last year, conducted two successful test flights of the VSHORADS missile from a ground based portable launcher at the Integrated Test Range, Chandipur, off the coast of Odisha.
As per the defence ministry, the missile—which is propelled by a dual thrust solid motor—incorporates many novel technologies including miniaturised Reaction Control System (RCS) and integrated avionics, which were successfully proven during the tests conducted last year. The DRDO has designed the missile and its launcher in a way to ensure easy portability.
While the exact specifications of the missile are not immediately known, officers in the Army explained that being man portable and lightweight compared to the other missile systems in the Army’s armoury, it can be deployed in the mountains close to the LAC at a short notice.
Economy
Centre clears Rs 2,600 cr scheme to promote RuPay, BHIM-UPI (Page no. 17)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
The Union Cabinet has also approved the incentive scheme for promotion of RuPay Debit Cards and low-value BHIM-UPI transactions (person-to-merchant) for a period of one year from April 2022.
The scheme has a financial outlay of ₹ 2,600 crore, announced Union Minister Bhupender Yadav on Wednesday. Under the scheme, acquiring banks will be provided financial incentive for promoting Point-of-sale (PoS) and e-commerce transactions using RuPay Debit Cards and low-value BHIM-UPI transactions.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in her Budget speech 2022-23, had announced government’s intent to continue the financial support for digital payments announced in the previous Budget, with a focus on promoting use of payment platforms that are economical and user-friendly.
In 2021-22, the government had approved an incentive scheme in compliance with the budget announcement to boost digital transactions. As a result, the government says, total digital payments transactions have registered a year-on-year growth of 59%, from Rs 5,554 crore in 2020-21 to 8,840 crore in 2021-22. BHIM-UPI transactions have registered a growth of 106%, rising from Rs 2,233 crore in Rs 4,597 crore.
Various stakeholder in the digital payments systems and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) expressed concerns regarding potential adverse impact of the zero MDR regime on the growth of the digital payments ecosystem.
Further, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) requested, among other things, for incentivisation of BHIM-UPI and RuPay Debit Card transactions to create a cost-effective value proposition for stakeholders, the government said in a statement.
The government says it is taking various initiatives for promotion of digital payments across the country. During Covid-19, digital payments facilitated functioning of businesses, including small merchants, and helped in maintaining social distancing.