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THE PRINT JULY 28 2020 The “One Nation One Ration Card” system will include about 800 million people under the world’s biggest food-security program. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration is betting that nationwide portability of rations can help bring migrants back to cities after the world’s largest lockdown — imposed in March with just a few hours’ notice — left many without food or money. Under the program, people are now allowed to take their quota of foodgrains from a “fair-price shop” anywhere in India by giving their ration card number and providing biometric authentication. Until now Indians could only receive the rations in their hometowns, which could discourage some from moving away in search of work. “One of the key challenges faced by the migrant workers in the cities at the beginning of the lockdowns was the lack of food security and a lack of access to foodgrains,” said Ashwajit Singh, managing director of New Delhi-based IPE Global Pvt Ltd., whi...

FINANCIAL EXPRESS FEBRUARY 20, 2020  In an overhaul of its flagship crop insurance scheme Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY), the Centre on Wednesday put ceilings of 30% and 25% on premiums against sum insured for its subsidy to be available for non-irrigated and irrigated areas respectively, made enrolment of loanee farmers voluntary and extended the contract period for insurers to three years from one year. The moves are aimed at addressing the challenges in implementation of the scheme, and making it more pragmatic. As higher premium rates are necessary to sustain insurance companies’ interest in the country’s 151 water-stressed districts, a separate scheme was under preparation for these areas, the government said after a Cabinet meeting. The revamped scheme will be effective from Kharif 2020. Under PMFBY, launched in 2016, farmers pay 1.5% of sum insured for rabi crops and 2% for kharif while it is 5% for cash crops. The balance premium is split equally betwe...

Business Standard July 17, 2019 An influential Hindu nationalist group close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ruling party has demanded his government review its plan to raise money by selling foreign currency  bonds . They say it is anti-patriotic as it could create long-term risks for the economy, potentially allowing rich foreign nations and their financial institutions to dictate the country's policies. "We can't allow this to happen," declared Ashwani Mahajan, the co-convenor of Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM), the economic wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). The RSS was the key founder of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and has people it nurtured in top positions in the government, including Modi himself. Declaring that the SJM will campaign against the plan by convening meetings of influential economists, Mahajan said: "We are confident that government will withdraw its decision on these  bonds . ...

hindustan times Sudhi Ranjan Sen, July 09, 2019 The National Population Register (NPR), which is a database of 1.3 billion Indians that will be ultimately used to issue citizenship cards, will be updated with individual Aadhaar, passport, driving license, mobile, and voter identity card numbers along with the Census 2021, according to officials who did not want to be named. This is being updated for a second time since 2015. The Union home ministry has asked the Register General of India to prepare for the exercise, an official said. About 15 additional data points per person will be added to the 20-point database of the NPR, a second official said on condition of anonymity. “Disclosing Aadhaar, passport, driving license details will be voluntary and up to an individual. It is not mandatory to give this data.” The issue was discussed last week at a ministry’s conference. Over 150 demographers, researchers, data users from various ministries and state government attended t...

The Economic Times June 13, 2019 Farmers will have to contribute Rs 100 per month under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Pension Yojana that seeks to provide minimum fixed monthly pension of Rs 3,000 on attainment of 60 years, according to the government.  The central government will also contribute an equal amount to the pension fund to be managed by the LIC, which will be responsible for the pension payout, it said.  The Modi 2.0 government in its first cabinet meeting had approved a separate pension scheme for farmers with an aim to cover 5 crore beneficiaries in the first three years, which would cost the exchequer Rs 10,774.5 crore per annum.  Discussing the new scheme with state agriculture ministers through a video conference, Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar urged all states and union territories to roll out the programme at the earliest.  Tomar urged the states to start enrolling farmers in the age group of 18-40 years besides ...

The Print April 11, 2019 India is in the middle of an election campaign driven by the issue of ‘national security’, especially as it comes after the Pulwama attack and the Balakot air strikes. So, there were a lot of expectations that the political manifestos of the Congress and the BJP would refer to the issue with an improved mindset. But both parties’ manifestos lack a holistic approach to national security, settling instead for a simple ‘to-do’ list which has been our bane in the past. The manifestos mirror what India’s strategic community unanimously says: that India does not have a formal national security vision, that it lacks a coherent strategy, and that we go about managing national security affairs from ‘crisis to crisis’. India needs radical reforms — with respect to higher defence management, integration of the three services, creation of the post of Chief of Defence Staff, and restructuring/ reorganisation of the armed forces. Keeping in mind how modernisatio...

The Hindu June 18, 2018 With India becoming the biggest consumer of data, the country is leaving no page unturned to strengthen its data storage capabilities. Plans are afoot to set up the country’s fifth data centre, which is expected to be the biggest so far and to be located in Bhopal. To be undertaken by National Informatics Centre (NIC), under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), this data centre will have five lakh virtual servers, the highest so far in any centre in India. It had recently opened one of the biggest data centres in Bhubaneswar, second after the Delhi centre. The three others are in Delhi, Hyderabad and Pune. The government has spent ₹200 crore to set up the Bhubaneswar centre. According to senior officials at NIC, the land is already available through the Madhya Pradesh government and soon there will be ‘ground breaking ceremony’, and the building would be operational within the next two years. “India’s digita...