MENTOR NOVEMBER 2016
NATIONAL
Union Cabinet approves merging of Rail budget with Union Budget
The Union Cabinet on 21 September 2016 approved merger of Rail budget with Union Budget. It also decided to advance the date of presentation of the annual budget from the last day of February to start of February.
In addition, it also decided to merge the Plan and the Non-Plan classification in the Budget and Accounts. All these changes will be put into effect simultaneously from the Budget 2017-18.
The arrangements for merger of Railway budget with the General budget have been approved by the Cabinet with the following administrative and financial arrangements-
• The Railways will continue to maintain its distinct entity -as a departmentally run commercial undertaking as at present
• Railways will retain their functional autonomy and delegation of financial powers etc. as per the existing guidelines
• The existing financial arrangements will continue wherein Railways will meet all their revenue expenditure, including ordinary working expenses, pay and allowances and pensions etc. from their revenue receipts;
• The Capital at charge of the Railways estimated at 2.27 lakh crore rupees on which annual dividend is paid by the Railways will be wiped off. Consequently, there will be no dividend liability for Railways from 2017-18 and Ministry of Railways will get Gross Budgetary support. This will also save Railways from the liability of payment of approximately 9700 crore rupees annual dividend to the Government of India.
The decision scraps over nine-decade old tradition of having a separate Railway Budget. The presentation of separate Railway budget started in the year 1924, and has continued after independence as a convention rather than under Constitutional provisions.
The merger will help in
• The presentation of a unified budget will bring the affairs of the Railways to centre stage and present a holistic picture of the financial position of the Government.
• The merger is also expected to reduce the procedural requirements and instead bring into focus, the aspects of delivery and good governance.
• Consequent to the merger, the appropriations for Railways will form part of the main Appropriation Bill.
Advancement of the Budget presentation
As per the plan, the advancement of date of the presentation of the budget would be decided after taking into account dates of assembly elections. All proposals on the railways will be included in it. The government will also ensure that there is a separate discussion on the railways each year.
Advancement of day of budget presentation is going to help by
• Advancement of the date of budget presentation would help the government in following ways.
• The advancement of budget presentation by a month and completion of Budget related legislative business before 31 March would pave the way for early completion of Budget cycle and enable Ministries and Departments to ensure better planning and execution of schemes from the beginning of the financial year and utilization of the full working seasons including the first quarter.
• This will also preclude the need for seeking appropriation through 'Vote on Account' and enable implementation of the legislative changes in tax; laws for new taxation measures from the beginning of the financial year.
Merger of Plan and Non Plan classification in Budget and Accounts:
• The merger of the plan and non plan classification in Budget and Accounts from 2017-18 would help in resolving the following issues
• The Plan/Non-Plan bifurcation of expenditure has led to a fragmented view of resource allocation to various schemes, making it difficult not only to ascertain cost of delivering a service but also to link outlays to outcomes.
• The bias in favour of Plan expenditure by Centre as well as the State Governments has led to a neglect of essential expenditures on maintenance of assets and other establishment related expenditures for providing essential social services.
• The merger of plan and non-plan in the budget is expected to provide appropriate budgetary framework having focus on the revenue, and capital expenditure.
Third list of Smart Cities released
Union Urban Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu on 20 September 2016 released the third list of Smart Cities that will get funding for initiating urban reforms. The list includes names of 27 new cities. With this, the number of cities selected under Smart City Mission for financing implementation of smart city plans has gone up to 60.
The 27 smart cities announced are from 12 States including 5 from Maharashtra, 4 each from Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, 3 from Uttar Pradesh and 2 each from Punjab and Rajasthan. Nagaland and Sikkim have made it to the smart city list for the first time. List of the 27 cities
States / CitiesPunjab / Amritsar, Jalandhar
Maharashtra / Kalyan-Dombivili, Nagpur, Thane, Nashik, Aurangabad
Madhya Pradesh / Ujjain, Gwalior
Andhra Pradesh / Tirupati
Karnataka / Managaluru, Tumakuru, Shivamogga, Hubbali-Dharwad,
Uttar Pradesh / Agra, Kanpur, Varanasi
Odisha / Rourkela
Tamil Nadu / Vellore, Madurai, Thanjavur, Salem,
Rajasthan / Kota, Ajmer
Gujarat / Vadodara
Nagaland / Kohima
Sikkim / Namchi
Indian Railways launches Yatri Mitra Sewa for elderly, differently-abled
Indian Railways on 19 September 2016 launched Yatri Mitra Sewa to facilitate access to wheelchairs, battery operated cars and porter services. The service was launched to make rail travel comfortable for elderly, differently-abled and ailing travelers.
Yatri Mitra or Passenger Friend service can be an assistant or any other person nominated for the purpose. The service will be available at major railway stations across the country. It can be availed at the time of online booking of tickets by calling or messaging 139 or by simply dialling a dedicated mobile phone number to be activated for the purpose. Passengers can also access the Mobile app to avail the service in the future. The App will be developed by the Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS). Once the service is booked, the IRCTC will ensure the Yatri Mitra receive the passenger at the entrance of the station and help in boarding the train safely. The assistant will also be available at the coach when the passenger arrives at the designated railway station.
Mission Parivar Vikas to be launched in seven states for improved family planning services
The Union Health Ministry has decided to launch Mission Parivar Vikas in 145 High Focus districts in seven states for improved family planning services. The Mission will be implemented in all the 145 districts at one go.
Its main objective is to accelerate access to high quality family planning choices based on information, reliable services and supplies within a rights-based framework.
These districts having the highest total fertility rates are in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Assam. These states constitute 44 percent of the country’s population.
How these districts were identified?
These 145 districts have been identified based on total fertility rate and service delivery (PPIUCD and Sterilization performance) for immediate, special and accelerated efforts to reach the replacement level fertility goals of 2.1 by 2025.
Recent data suggests that these 145 districts have TFR of more than/equal to 3.0 (56% of the 261 districts in the 7 HFS) and are home to 28% of India’s population (about 33 Crores).
However, only 22% of India’s protected couples and 40% of India’s couples with unmet need reside in these districts. These districts also have a substantial impact on maternal and child health indicators as about 25-30% of maternal deaths and 50% of infant deaths occur in these districts Moreover, 115 of these districts (79%) have high percentage of adolescent mothers.
Key Strategic Focus area
The key strategic focus area of this initiative will be on improving access to contraceptives through delivering assured services, dovetailing with new promotional schemes, ensuring commodity security, building capacity (service providers), creating an enabling environment along with close monitoring and implementation.
Union Cabinet approves submarine optical fibre cable connectivity with Andaman & Nicobar Islands
The Union Cabinet on 21 September 2016 approved the provision of a direct communication link through a dedicated submarine Optical Fibre Cable (OFC) between Mainland (Chennai) and Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The project to be completed by December 2018 will connect the mainland Chennai with Port Blair & five other islands viz. Little Andaman, Car Nicobar, Havelock, Kamorta and Great Nicobar.
The estimated cost for development of the project is 1102.38 crore rupees including operational expenses for 5 years. It will equip Andaman & Nicobar Islands with appropriate bandwidth and telecom connectivity for implementation of e-Governance initiatives and establishment of enterprises & e-commerce facilities. It will also enable the provision of adequate support to educational institutes for knowledge sharing, availability of job opportunities and fulfill the vision of Digital India.
Currently the only medium of providing telecom connectivity between Mainland and Andaman & Nicobar Islands is though satellites, but the bandwidth available is limited to 1 Gbps. Satellite bandwidth is very costly and its availability is limited due to which future bandwidth requirement cannot be met solely through it. Then, there is an issue of redundancy, that is, no alternate media is available in case of any emergency. Lack of bandwidth and telecom connectivity is also hampering socio-economic development of the islands. Hence it is essential to have submarine OFC connectivity between the Mainland India and Andaman & Nicobar Islands, being the only option for catering to projected future bandwidth requirements.
UIDAI bans sharing of Aadhaar details
In a step to ensure that the details of Aadhaar is not misused, the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) asked agencies in possession of Aadhaar number of an individual to not publish or post the information publicly. It said that the agencies will have to ensure security and confidentiality of the 12-digit resident identification number under the Aadhaar Act.
Regulations
• The core biometric information, collected by the Authority, cannot be shared with anyone for any reason.
• Any violation of the Aadhaar Act will constitute an offence and is punishable under the Act.
• The agencies that collect the Aadhaar number will also have to specify whether submission of the number or proof of Aadhaar is mandatory or voluntary.
• The regulations also provide for obtaining consent of the Aadhaar number holder for collection, storage and use of the same for specified purposes.
India declares itself free from bird flu
India declared itself free from the highly contagious avian influenza (H5N1) or bird flu from 5 September 2016. The declaration was made by the Department of Animal Husbandry under the Agriculture Ministry. The Department in a statement said that it had notified the same to the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE). However, it also stressed that there is a need for continued surveillance. To make sure that this H5N1 free status is maintained, the union government has asked the chief Secretaries of states to continued surveillance especially in the vulnerable areas bordering infected countries and in areas visited by migratory birds.
Avian influenza (AI) is an infectious viral disease of birds. AI viruses are divided into 2 groups based on their ability to cause disease in poultry: high pathogenicity or low pathogenicity. Highly pathogenic viruses result in high death rates (up to 100% mortality within 48 hours) in some poultry species. Low pathogenicity viruses also cause outbreaks in poultry but are not generally associated with severe disease. Most avian influenza viruses do not infect humans; however some, such as A(H5N1) and A(H7N9), have caused serious infections in people.
Union Government issues model guidelines for states to curb Ponzi schemes
The Union Government on 12 September 2016 issued model guidelines for states to regulate direct selling and multi-level marketing businesses while prohibiting pyramid structures as well as money circulation schemes. The guidelines were issued to protect consumers from Ponzi frauds. TheDirect Selling Guidelines 2016framework was released by the Food and Consumer Affairs Minister Ram Vilas Paswan. They have been sent to the states and Union Territories for adoption.
Key highlights of the guidelines
•In the guidelines, the Union Government has clearly defined legitimate direct selling and differentiates it from pyramid and money circulation schemes to help investigating agencies identify fraudulent players.
•Direct selling means marketing, distribution and sale of goods or providing of services as a part of network of direct selling other than under a pyramid scheme.
•Pyramid Scheme has also be defined in the framework. Money Circulation Scheme has the same meaning as defined under Prize Chits and Money Circulation Schemes (Banning) Act, 1978.
•To conduct direct selling business, the guidelines have prescribed many conditions that need to be complied within 90 days.
•The guidelines bar direct selling companies from charging any entry fee from agents or compelling them to buy back unsold stocks. These entities will have to enter into an agreement with direct sellers or agents, and give full refund or buy-back guarantee for goods and services sold to them.
•The guidelines also mandate direct sellers to constitute a grievance redressal committee to protect consumers’ right.
•The guidelines have also made provision for appointment of monitoring authority at both Central and state level to deal with the issues related to direct selling.
•They also prohibit direct selling entities from using misleading and deceptive or unfair recruitment practices.
•The guidelines have also put conditions for contract between direct sellers and direct selling entity, saying that all such agreements should be in writing describing the material impact of the participation.
•The agreement should not compel or induce the direct seller to purchase goods or services in an amount that exceeds an amount that can be expected to be sold to consumers within a reasonable period of time.
•The contract should provide direct sellers a reasonable cooling-off period in which they can cancel it and receive a refund for goods and services purchased.
•The guidelines have also specified certain obligations of direct sellers such as carrying identity card, and full disclosure of the good and services offered by the entity represented by them.
•The new guidelines mandate a seller to provide information about the name of the purchaser and seller, delivery date of goods, procedure of its return and its warranty.