India free from Trachoma, says health minister J.P. Nadda

India free from Trachoma, says health minister J.P. Nadda
Trachoma prevalence was found to be only 0.7% in India, much below the elimination criteria of infective trachoma as defined by WHO
India has become free from Trachoma—a chronic infective disease of the eye and a leading cause of infective blindness—with an overall prevalence found to be only 0.7% in the National Trachoma Survey Report (2014-17).

The report was released on Friday by the ministry of health and family welfare.

Trachoma is a disease caused by poor environmental and personal hygiene and inadequate access to water and sanitation. It affects the conjunctiva which lines the inside of the eyelids.

Repeated infections can cause scarring, leading to in-turning of the eyelashes and eyelids. This further causes damage to the cornea and blindness. The disease is found to be affecting the population in certain pockets of north Indian states like Gujarat, Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and the Nicobar Islands.

The National Trachoma Prevalence Surveys and the Trachoma Rapid Assessment Surveys were conducted by the Dr. Rajendra Prasad Centre for Ophthalmic Sciences, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi in collaboration with National Programme for Control of Blindness & Visual Impairment, Union ministry of health and family welfare from 2014 to 2017.

This was conducted in 27 high-risk districts across 23 states and union territories. Trachoma Prevalence Surveys were done in 10 districts selected from the previously hyper-endemic states.

Under the survey, 19,662 children in the one to nine year age group were examined by trained ophthalmologists. As many as 44,135 persons were examined in the 15 years and above age group. The Trachoma Rapid Assessment Surveys (TRA) was done in 17 other districts from other parts of the country in places where trachoma cases have been reported, which were not previously hyper-endemic.

Trachoma infection of the eyes was the most important cause of blindness in India in 1950s and over 50% of the population was affected in Gujarat, Rajasthan, Punjab, and Uttar Pradesh. It was the most important cause of corneal blindness in India, affecting young children.

“The survey findings indicate that the active trachoma infection has been eliminated among children in all the survey districts with overall prevalence of only 0.7%. This is much below the elimination criteria of infective trachoma as defined by the World Health Organisation (WHO)—active trachoma is considered eliminated if the prevalence of active infection among children below 10 years is less than 5%,” said J.P. Nadda, Union health minister.

“Trachoma is no longer a public health problem in India. We have met the goal of trachoma elimination as specified by the WHO under its GET2020 programme. There is need for constant surveillance by the states to report any fresh cases of trachoma and trachoma sequelae and to treat them promptly to finally be completely free of trachoma,” he said.

Ministry of Women and Child Development made tremendous strides

During the year 2017, the Ministry of Women and Child Development made tremendous strides with approval and launch of several of its big initiatives like National Nutrition Mission , pan-India expansion of Beti Bachao Beti Padhao, launch of Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana, Universal Scheme for Adolescent Girls, launch of Mahila Shakti Kendra scheme and a large number of measures for promotion of safety of women and children as well as leveraging ICT to ensure transparency, quick delivery of services as well as preventing leakages, among others.

NATIONAL NUTRITION MISSION (NNM):
Although malnutrition indices have shown a decline as per National Family Health Survey (NFHS) – 4 in 2015-16 over NFHS (3) in 2005-06, the overall malnutrition scenario still continues to look bleak across the country. In NFHS(4), 35.7% children under 5 years of age are underweight and 38.4% are stunted indicating a reduction from the previous NFHS – 3 which reported 42.5% children under 5 years of age as underweight and 48% stunted. Further, 22.9% women (15-49 years of age) have chronic energy deficiency (BMI less than 18.5) which is a decline from the previous NFHS-3 levels which reported 35.5% women having chronic energy deficiency.

To deal with this problem of malnutrition on a war footing, the Government of India has approved setting-up of the National Nutrition Mission on 30.11.2017 with a three year budget of Rs. 9046.17 Crores commencing from 2017-18. It ensures convergence with various programmes i.e Anganwadi Services, Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana, Scheme for Adolescent Girls of WCD Ministry; Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY), National Health Mission (NHM) of Ministry of Health & Family Welfare; Swachh Bharat Mission of Ministry of Drinking Water & Sanitation (DW&S); Public Distribution System (PDS) of Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution (CAF&PD); Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) of Ministry of Rural Development (M/o RD); Drinking Water & Toilets with Ministry of Panchayati Raj and Urban Local Bodies through Ministry of Urban Development.

The Goals of NNM are to achieve improvement in nutritional status of Children from 0-6 years, Pregnant Women and Lactating Mothers in a time bound manner during the next three years beginning 2017-18 with fixed targets as under:

S.No
Objective
Target
1.
Prevent and reduce stunting in children (0-6 years)
By 6% @ 2% p.a
2.
Prevent and reduce under nutrition (underweight prevalence) in children (0-6 years)
By 6% @ 2% p.a
3.
Reduce the prevalence of anemia among young Children (6-59 months)
By 9% @ 3% p.a
4.
Reduce the prevalence of anemia among Women and Adolescent Girls in the age group of 15-49 years
By 9% @ 3% p.a
5.
Reduce Low Birth Weight (LBW)
By 6% @ 2% p.a

One of the key activities in project is Information and Communication Technology enabled Real Time Monitoring (ICT-RTM) of ICDS. Accordingly, a customized mobile based Common Application software (ICDS-CAS) has been developed. Anganwadi workers feed the information regarding the services delivered, through the mobile devices installed with ICDS-CAS application. Information entered by the AWWs is visible on the dashboard that can be accessed at Block, District, State and Centre Level at www.icds-cas.gov.in.

The Roll-Out of ICT-RTM has been initiated in 6 states viz. Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. A total of 70,000+ Smart Phone devices pre-installed with ICDS-CAS Software Application have been provided in these 06 States. 70,299 Anganwadi Workers have been trained in Phase-I in using the mobile application.

2. Pan-India expansion of Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP) Scheme after successful implementation in 161 districts:

Beti Bachao Beti Padhao is one the flagship programmes of the Government, launched by the Hon’ble Prime Minister, Sh. Narendra Modi on 22nd January, 2015 at Panipat, Haryana to address the declining Child Sex Ratio (CSR) and address other related issues of disempowerment of women. It is a tri-ministerial, convergent effort of Ministries of Women and Child Development, Health & Family Welfare and Human Resource Development with focus on Awareness and Advocacy Campaign; Multi-sectoral action in select 161 districts (low on CSR); Effective enforcement of Pre-Conception and Pre Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PC&PNDT) Act and enabling girls' education.

The programme will be completing 3 years shortly. It has been successful in establishing improvement in CSR as a National Agenda. Encouraging trends are visible as per the latest HMIS data of M/o HFW for 161 BBBP districts for the time period between April-March, 2015-16 & 2016-17 indicating that, an improving trend in Sex Ratio at Birth (SRB) is visible in 104 districts, 119 districts have reported progress in first trimester registration against the reported Anti Natal Care registrations and 146 districts have reported improvement in institutional deliveries. In addition, as per Unified District Information System for Education (U-DISE) 2015-16, the girl’s enrolment in secondary education has increased to 80.97% against 76% in 2013-14. Construction of girl’s toilets in every school in selected districts has been achieved.

Based on the successful implementation in 161 districts, the Cabinet has approved the expansion of BBBP which would include Multi-sectoral intervention in 244 districts in addition to existing 161 districts, where physical implementation of the scheme will happen under the leadership of Collector/DM/DC. 235 districts are to be covered through Alert District Media, Advocacy and Outreach, thus covering all the 640 districts (as per census 2011) of the Country to have a deeper positive impact on Child Sex Ratio.

The Cabinet has approved the expansion for Pan India Coverage with a proposed outlay of Rs. 1132.5 Crore from 2017-18 to 2019-20, to be funded 100% by the Central Government.

Social Media Presence:

BBBP Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/WCD.BetiBachaoBetiPadhao
YouTube channel on BBBP (for films/ audio-video spots): www.youtube.com/user/BetiBachaoBetiPadhao
Vikaspedia: http://vikaspedia.in/…/girl-child-w…/beti-bachao-beti-padhao
BBBP Mobile Application: https://apps.mgov.gov.in/descp.do?appid=792
3. Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY)

The Hon’ble Prime Minister, on 31st December, 2016, had announced Pan-India implementation of Maternity Benefit Programme to eligible pregnant women and lactating mothers. The Programme has since been named as Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY). The eligible beneficiaries would receive cash incentive of Rs 6000/- as per approved norms during pregnancy and after institutional delivery.

The Scheme Implementation Guidelines, the software for roll out of the Scheme i.e. Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana - Common Application Software (PMMVY-CAS) and its User Manual have been launched on 01.09.2017 by the Hon’ble Minister (WCD). So far, Rs. 2016.37 Crores to all 36 States/UTs have been sanctioned under PMMVY during 2017-18 out of which Rs. 1991.72 Crores have been released till 20.12.2017.

4. Universal Scheme for Adolescent Girls:

The Government on 16.11.2017 approved implementation of the Scheme for Adolescent Girls for out of school girls in the age group of 11-14 years to provide them nutrition support and vocational /skill training under non-nutrition. The scheme has been extended to additional 303 districts in addition to existing 205 districts across the country in 2017-18 targeting targets to provide nutrition to 40 lakh out of school adolescent girls of age 11-14 years in 2017-18. Against the allocation of Rs. 460 crore for Scheme for Adolescent Girls for 2017-18, Rs. 333.59 crore (as on 20.12.2017) have been released to States/UTs benefitting 81.97 lakh adolescent girls (as reported by States/UTs).

5. Women Welfare:

2017 saw the launch of Mahila Shakti Kendra scheme to address women’s issues at the village level. Over 300 thousand student volunteers are being sent out in 115 most backward districts under this new scheme. These volunteers, mobilised through local colleges, NCC, NSS, NYK etc., will work with local women to help them access government schemes for their benefit. District Level Centres for Women are also being set up in 640 districts under this scheme, which will provide convergence at the district level for all initiatives related to women. State Resource Centres for Women will be the state-level mechanism to ensure coordination between blocks, districts, state and centre.

The National Policy for Women, 2017 was drafted and is currently under consideration. The Policy has been prepared keeping in view the socio economic changes that have occurred since the last policy of 2001. It has taken into consideration multi-stakeholder feedback. Over 15,000 crowd-sourced ideas have been considered as part of the policy formulation process. The draft Policy addresses the diverse needs of women with regard to health including food security and nutrition; education; economy including agriculture, industry, labour, employment, NRI women, soft power, service sector, science and technology; governance and decision making; violence; creation of an enabling environment among others.

In a game-changing initiative for working women, Maternity leave has been extended to a period of 26 weeks (~6 months). Passport rules have been amended in favour of single mothers. Now either mother or father’s name can be provided in application form and do not have to provide certificate of marriage/divorce during application.

In the last one year, 117 new One Stop Centres (OSCs) have become operational in addition to previous 51 OSCs. These 168 centres have offered support to over 70,000 women. They offer a single window to a range of services including access to police, medical, legal and psychological support and temporary shelter in 32 States/UTs. A further 150 OSCs are planned to be set up by 2020.

During 2017, 10 new Women Helplines with the uniform code 181 have been started taking total coverage now in 28 States. Over 11 lakh calls of women have been handled in the past one year or so.

To help women report incidents of Sexual harassment at the workplace, an online complaint mechanism – SHe-Box – has been established. Any female employee in the country, whether employed by the government or private, can file an online complaint of sexual harassment through this portal.

An amendment has been proposed by the Ministry to the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006 so as to make child marriages henceforth void ab initio or invalid in law. This would be an effective deterrent to the practice. In 2017, the Ministry also took up the issue for dichotomy between IPC Section 375 (rape) and the Protection of Children Against Sexual Offences Act (POCSO), 2012. In accordance with this, a decision by the Hon’ble Supreme Court this year has criminalized sex between a man and his underage wife – a big success for the Ministry. Further, since Panchayats are usually aware of the child marriages occurring in their villages, the Ministry is working to prosecute panchayat members for promoting or permitting solemnization of child marriages.

The Ministry has conceptualized, after extensive stakeholder consultations, a comprehensive Bill on Trafficking which clearly outlines and differentiates between Regulatory and Rehabilitation aspects. The Bill is under consideration.

A number of projects are being implemented under the Nirbhaya Fund, which is managed by the Ministry for the safety and security of women. Proposals amounting to more than Rs. 2,000 Cr. have been appraised in the last one year. A robust online MIS has been developed to track implementation of all the projects under Nirbhaya.

A focussed project for women’s safety in 8 prominent cities is being prepared under the Nirbhaya Fund, which will cover Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Lucknow.

A project for Integrated Emergency Response Management under Nirbhaya is run by Railways. CCTVs and monitoring rooms are being installed at 983 major Railway Stations to provide 24x7 security to women passengers at stations and in trains.

Mahila Police Volunteers are being appointed to encourage women to report crime and are serving as role models in their communities. The scheme is currently operational in 5 States.

Central Victim Compensation Fund has been created under Nirbhaya, which is a corpus fund to support States/UTs for their Victim Compensation Scheme. This is helping ensure adequate and timely support for women survivors of crime and violence.

New Taxi Policy Guidelines have been put in place in consultation with the Ministry which have much improved safety measures for women.

To address the issue of easy availability of child sexual abuse material/imagery, an Inter-Ministerial Committee constituted by Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), with membership of MWCD has issued an advisory to all Internet Service Providers within the country to prevent the distribution and transmission of child sexual abuse material. Efforts are being made to develop of a fast track mechanism (green channel) to complain and enable swift and speedy removal/blockage of online content offensive to women and children.

A Public Grievance Cell is also active in the Ministry, which gives women and children citizens a way to send their grievances directly to the government. It has already processed ~18,000 complaints in the one year since its inception.

This year, the Ministry has taken many steps to build the capacities of Elected Women Representatives of Panchayati Raj Institutions so they may exercise their power effectively. These women are being trained through the National Institute of Public Cooperation and Child Development to take up their responsibilities as development planners.

6. Integrated Child Protection Scheme:

The Ministry of Women and Child Development is executing an Integrated Child Protection Scheme for ensuring implementation of the JJ Act. The scheme has been brought under the Umbrella ICDS as its sub-scheme with the nomenclature as Child Protection Services. The erstwhile ICPS got EFC approval for the FFC period 2017-18 & 2019-20. The financial norms under the scheme were enhanced with the following important changes:

The maintenance grant for children of Rs.2000/- has been increased by 8 % annually in homes, open shelter and SAAs.
Increase in programmatic allocation for CIF Head Office & its regional centers, by Rs.9.70 crore for protection services of CHILDLINE.
7. Cradle Baby Reception Center:

The Ministry has stressed upon the need to place cradles at important locations such as hospitals, PHC, etc. to save the lives of unwanted new born babies and placing them in the adoption net managed by CARA with the intent to rehabilitate them in the familial care.

8. Celebration of Hausala 2017:

WCD Ministry celebrated the child rights week by hosting an inter-Child Care Institution festival, “Hausla 2017” for the children who reside in child care institutions between 16-20th November 2017. During the week-long celebration Children participated in various events like BalSansad, painting competition, athletics meet, football, chess competition and speech writing. More than 400 children from child care institutions across the country are participated in the event.

9. Khoya-Paya Portal:

Citizen friendly web portal for Khoya Paya for reporting and searching missing children was launched in June, 2015.

Report of Missing & Sighted cases reported on Khoya-Paya Web Portal since 2nd June 2015 to 19th December, 2017:

Total Missing/Sighted cases published on the portal: 4976
Total Missing/Sighted cases rejected on the portal: 641
Total Missing/Sighted cases closed on the portal: 4704
POCSO: 0
Total hits : 212004
10. Railway CHILDLINE:

33 Railway stations which serve as ‘source’ and ‘destination’ centres for child trafficking have been identified & rescue services has been started in collaboration with Ministry of Railways. The initiative is currently operating at 33 railway stations. Proposal for extending the service in 55 more new railway stations have been approved by the Ministry.

11. Skoch Order of Merit Award to CARINGS:

CARINGS has been rated on three parameters namely Early Bird, Jury Evaluation and Popular Vote and has been conferred the SKOCH Order-or-Merit Award during the 50th SKOCH Summit on 20th-21st December 2017.

12. Swadhar Greh:

Swadhar Greh Scheme targets the women victims of difficult circumstances and envisages providing shelter, food, clothing and health as well as economic and social security for these women. At present total 561 Swadhar Greh are functioning in the country benefiting 17291 beneficiaries. In addition one Widow Home with the capacity of 1000 inmates fully funded by the Ministry has been constructed at Sunrakh Bangar, Vrindavan, Uttar Pradesh.

13. Construction of Anganwadi Centre (AWC) Buildings under MGNREGS in convergence with Anganwadi Services (under Umbrella ICDS Scheme):

Joint guidelines for construction of 2 lakh Anganwadi Centre (AWC) buildings in most backward districts of 11 States (Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh) by 2019 under MGNREGS in convergence with ICDS Scheme have been jointly issued by Ministry of Rural Development and WCD on 13.08.2015. Taking into consideration the acute shortage of AWC buildings (around 4.5 lakhs) in the country, the convergence scheme for construction of AWC buildings has been extended to all districts across the country and the target for construction of AWCs has been enhanced from 2 lakh to 4 lakh in the four years (by 2019).

Drinking water and sanitation facilities will be provided in these AWCs from the funds available with Panchayati Raj Institutions under 14th Finance Commission.

14. DBT onboarding of ICDS Scheme:

The Ministry has identified two components of ICDS Scheme, viz, (i) payment of honorarium to Anganwadi Worker and Anganwadi Helpers; and (ii) providing supplementary nutrition to pregnant women & lactating mothers and children in the age group of six months to six years, for transfer of benefits/services, using Aadhaar as the primary identifier of beneficiaries and has issued Gazette notification in this regard on 6th February, 2017.This will help speed up delivery of services and prevent leakages.

15. Supplementary Nutrition (under the ICDS) Rules, 2017:

In pursuance of the provisions contained in the National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013, this Ministry has notified the Supplementary Nutrition (under Integrated Child Development Services Scheme) Rules, 2017 on 20th February 2017 to regulate the entitlement specified under provisions of said Act for every pregnant women and lactating mother till 6 months after child birth, and every child in the age group of 6 months to 6 years (including those suffering from malnutrition) for 300 days in a year, as per the nutritional standards specified in Schedule II of the said Act.

Revision of cost norms for Supplementary Nutrition: The Government has also revised the cost norms for supplementary nutrition with annual indexation under the Anganwadi Services.

16. Organisation of Women of India Festival 2017 (Dilli Haat, INA):

To encourage women producers of organic products, a Women of India Festival 2017 from 1st to 15th October 2017 at Dilli Haat, INA, New Delhi. Over 530 women farmers and entrepreneurs from 25 States of India and the remotest parts of the country participated in the Festival. Total Sales of all participants during the 15 day festival were to the tune of Rs. 1.84 crores.

Sattvik Food Festival – 23rd to 25th December, 2017 (Ahmedabad) –WCd Ministry setup 50 stalls in the said event thereby providing an opportunity to 100 participants (especially women entrepreneurs and farmers who produce organic products) to exhibit and sell their products thus making another attempt towards financial inclusion of these participants.

17. Swachh Bharat Mission:

The Ministry celebrated the Swachhta Pakhwada between 1st-15th March, 2017 to maintain universal sanitation and hygiene at Anganwadi Centres, all States/UTs were requested to give wide publicity to Government’s “Swachh Bharat Mission” and “Bal Swachhta Mission” by conducting activities on various themes [like Clean Anganwadis; Clean Surroundings e.g. Playgrounds; Clean Self (Personal Hygiene / Child Health), Clean Food, Clean Drinking Water, Clean Toilets] related to cleanliness and sanitation.

The Ministry also organised “Swachhta Hi Seva” campaign from 15th Sept 2017 to 2nd Oct 2017 as envisaged by Hon’ble Prime Minister.The Ministry carried out activities such as: White-washing the AWCs involving local communities; Cleanliness in and around the AWCs; weeding out of obsolete records and documents; Review of toilets constructed; Involving private sectors under CSR for Swachhta; Swachhta Drive in and around AWCs on the bank of rivers in convergence with ‘Namami Gange’; Construction of toilets in rented AWCs or shifting of such AWCs to the building having toilet facilities, etc. to mention a few.

18. International Women’s Day Celebration:

The International Women’s day was celebrated by the Ministry on 08.03.2017. whereby the Hon’ble President gave Nari Shakti Puraskars to eminent women and institutes, in recognition of their services, towards the cause of women empowerment.

19. Good Governance:

Following the successful implementation of e-Office and Rapid Reporting System, the Ministry has implemented Government e-Marketplace (GeM) which ensures that all public procurements are made through GeM as per provisions of GFR 2017.

Saving the environment and the economy

Saving the environment and the economy
We want economic growth that is ‘green’—without damaging or destroying the environment. At the same time, we want improvement of the environment without stopping innovation and economic growth,
Every country has national problems, such as a dangerous loss of inclusion or a costly loss of growth. We learn that a solution does not happen without society’s understanding of the problem and a wide desire for action.

But with climate change, all countries have a shared problem, too. And although experts have gained understanding and reached a consensus on the objectives to be sought, these goals require wider support from society than exists so far.

As everyone knows, most of the climate change started with the burning of fossil fuels brought by the industrialization that began in the late 18th century and has been producing rising levels of carbon dioxide ever since.

A major point is that the climate has already deteriorated to such an extent that it has become costly to society and even dangerous to life: The violence of hurricanes has risen following the rise of water temperature in the Caribbean. Air quality is deteriorating noticeably around the world. And rising sea levels are threatening many low-lying cities.

In his recent book, Endangered Economies, economist Geoffrey Heal surveys the array of measures, public and private, taken to block further climate change. A point introduced by Heal is that the damage—in many cases, the devastation—done to our natural world has serious consequences not only for the air and water we depend on for our existence, but also for businesses, which have relied on free natural benefits like pollination, the water cycle, marine and forest ecosystems, and more. Thus, preserving “natural capital” would raise the rate of return on capital in the business sector. Businesses would react by investing more, thus boosting productivity in the economy. And with each such boost, we could afford a greater effort that would preserve still more of the world’s natural capital.

The world, then, must give up aspiring to economic growth so rapid that it is running down the world’s natural capital. We want economic growth that is “green”—without damaging or destroying the environment. At the same time, we want improvement of the environment without stopping innovation and economic growth.

In a series of powerful presentations and interviews, the Columbia economist and mathematician Graciela Chichilnisky contends that mankind’s survival requires that we remove the CO2 already accumulated in the atmosphere and ensure that it stays out of the atmosphere. To cover the cost, Chichilnisky proposes a marketplace in which the captured carbon is sold for commercial use.

Another possible solution is “regenerative agriculture,” such as what the biologist Allan Savory recently introduced in Patagonia.

If made profitable, these innovations could create an incentive for private actors to undertake carbon capture far beyond what a national government could afford to conduct. However, success will depend on whether “carbon farming” stays profitable even in a context of increasing supply, and thus falling prices.

We will also have to come to grips with fundamental challenges such as continuing population growth, industrialization, and weak governance. And we will have to strike a balance between fighting climate change and ensuring that most people still have lives that are worth living.

One might look at the growing body of research into climate change and conclude that we can rest easy: the experts have already worked out what needs to be done. But the experts themselves are not so naive. They know that businesses will not police themselves, and they recognize that much will depend on whether the profit motive can be harnessed for social good. The problem is that too many people assume that businesses, households, and policymakers will simply do what the experts recommend: that all companies—out of social pressure or threats from the state—will pay for the damage they cause; and that all governments will eventually institute carbon taxes or cap-and-trade arrangements to reduce and eventually eliminate emissions.

Another problem is that much environmental damage is not straightforward to control. Even if large public companies see fit to offset their pollution by, say, replanting rainforests in Central America, the earth has come to have a human population that is huge and still rising. This presents challenges. As the economist Dennis J. Snower showed some years ago, discrete individual activities—such as fishing, cooking on wood-fired stoves, or simply letting the water run—can contribute significantly to pollution and environmental degradation, but go largely unseen by governments, communities, and individuals. That being the case, any programme to protect the environment must be based on moral suasion: to call on all individuals—not just corporations—to summon whatever sense of altruism they have and curb voluntarily their own polluting.

Yet, another problem is that many countries are still undergoing industrialization. So, even if every country on the planet could reduce its per capita contribution to pollution, the ongoing rise in the proportion of the world’s population working in countries that are now in the stage of industrializing will pull up the global average. Clearly, this demographic phenomenon will make for tough sledding as we pursue Heal’s proposed measures to limit CO2 emissions.

We will also have to confront the fact that not all governments are able to stand up to vested interests. Powerful companies can get away with violating environmental restrictions issued by the government, especially if they are a major source of income and jobs.

More difficulties arise if most people are still poor but determined to become rich—as rich as the richest countries in the West. In such a country, the government might not be ready to cut deep into carbon emissions or other pollution lest it miss its growth target. It has been estimated that 20% of the world’s population accounts for 80% of the world’s consumption of natural resources. Because the right to survival trumps any one country’s right to ruin the environment in pursuit of growth, the countries leading the fight against climate change will have to be tough with those that think the costs of reducing emissions are too high.

Lastly, renewable energies could pose new challenges for wages and employment in the future. According to the International Renewable Energy Agency, the US wind and solar industries have been creating jobs—employing 777,000 people in 2016—while the coal industry has continued to shed them. But this is not a useful observation, given that employees flocking to new industries generally come from other industries, not from some vast pool of unemployed but well-suited workers. It would be absurd to think that total employment is raised by every newly arriving industry.

Economic theory implies that a new industry will expand overall employment only if its method of production is more labour-intensive than the cross-industry average. However, I have yet to see data for the renewables sector that addresses this issue, and I would not be surprised if the industry became highly capital-intensive over time.

I have long emphasized not just the material rewards of work—mainly wage rates (from the bottom up) and labour force participation rates—but also the non-material side of work (the various satisfactions that people get from the experience of work). Now that the imagination and ingenuity of our experts and engineers have helped us turn the corner, it will be important that we get back to business: to conceive of new products and methods of production, test them in the market, and strive for the new.

“Young America,” Abraham Lincoln once said, “has a great passion—a perfect rage—for the ‘new’.” It is time for us all to be young like that again. As the project to reclaim our environment plays out and as the other international challenges are being met and resolved, also to revive an older conception of work based on exercising one’s initiative and using one’s creativity. The good life must again be understood as a personal voyage into the unknown, through which one might “act on the world” and “make your garden grow”—in order to be “somebody.”

The worry—my worry, at any rate—is that our national economies, many of them already highly regulated in the name of stability, will become much more regulated in the name of a green economy. Yes, many regulations may be needed, but we must be careful in our efforts to save the planet that we do not strangle the sources of what makes life worth living.

Maternal Mortality ratio(MMR) of India is 167 per 100,000 live births.

Maternal Mortality ratio(MMR) of India is 167 per 100,000 live births.

The key steps taken under the National Health Mission (NHM) are:

v Promotion of institutional deliveries through Janani Suraksha Yojana.

v Janani Shishu Suraksha Karyakaram (JSSK) has been launched on 1st June, 2011, which entitles all pregnant women delivering in public health institutions to absolutely free and no expense delivery including Caesarean section. The initiative stipulates free drugs, diagnostics, blood and diet, besides free transport from home to institution, between facilities in case of a referral and drop back home. Similar entitlements have been put in place for ante-natal and post–natal complications during pregnancy and all sick infants accessing public health institutions for treatment.

v The Pradhan Mantri Surakshit Matritva Abhiyan (PMSMA) has been launched by the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MoHFW), Government of India to provide fixed-day assured, comprehensive and quality antenatal care universally to all pregnant women on the 9th of every month. As part of the Abhiyan, a minimum package of antenatal care services would be provided to pregnant women in their 2nd / 3rd trimesters, by OBGY specialists/ Radiologist/ Physicians at government health facilities, with support from private sector doctors to supplement the efforts of the government.

v Universal screening of pregnant women for anaemia is a part of ante-natal care and all pregnant women are provided iron and folic acid tablets during their ante-natal visits through the existing network of sub-centers and primary health centres and other health facilities as well as through outreach activities at Village Health & Nutrition Days (VHNDs).

v Every pregnant woman is given iron and folic acid, after the first trimester, to be taken 1 tablet daily till delivery and same is continued during the post-natal period. Pregnant women, who are found to be clinically anaemic, are given additional 1 tablet for taking two tablets daily. This has been now expanded to 6 months during ANC and 6 months during PNC.

v Capacity building of MBBS doctors in Anesthesia (LSAS) and Obstetric Care including C-section (EmOC) skills to overcome the shortage of specialists in these disciplines, particularly in rural areas.

v Capacity buildings of SNs & ANMs in Skilled Birth Attendant (SBA) and DAKSHATA programme to equip them for managing normal deliveries, identify complications, do basic management and then refer at the earliest to higher facilities.

v To strengthen the quality of training, a new initiative has been taken for setting up of Skill Labs with earmarked skill stations for different training programs in the states for which necessary allocation of funds is made under NHM.

v Operationalization of adequate number of Primary Health Centres for providing 24 x7 basic emergency obstetric care services.

v Operationalization of adequate number of FRUs to provide 24 X 7 comprehensive emergency obstetric care services.

v Establishing Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Wings at high caseload facilities to improve the quality of care provided to mothers and children.

v Name Based Web enabled Tracking of Pregnant Women and New born babies so that provision of regular and complete services to them can be ensured.

v Mother and Child Protection Card in collaboration with the Ministry of Women and Child Development to monitor service delivery for mothers and children.

v Engagement of more than 9.15 lakhs Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs) to generate demand and facilitate accessing of health care services by the community.

v Operationalization of Comprehensive Abortion Care Services and Reproductive Tract Infections and Sexually Transmitted Infections (RTI/STI) at health facilities with a focus on “Delivery Points.

v Newer operational guidelines have been prepared and disseminated to the States for Screening for Diagnosis & management of Gestational Diabetes Mellitus, Hypothyroidism during pregnancy, Calcium supplementation during pregnancy and lactation, De-worming during pregnancy, Maternal Near Miss Review, Screening for Syphilis during pregnancy, Guidance note on use of Uterotonic during labor and Guidance note on prevention and management of PPH.

v Guidelines on standardization of Labor Rooms and creation of Obstetric HDU and Obstetric ICU at District Hospitals and Medical Colleges has also been prepared and disseminated to the States for improving quality of care during delivery and child birth.

v Reproductive Maternal Newborn Child Health + Adolescent (RMNCH+A) interventions for achieving improved maternal and child health outcomes through continuum of care across life cycle.

Institutional credit to small farmers

Institutional credit to small farmers
Government has taken several measures to increase institutional credit flow and to bring more and more farmers including small and marginal farmers within the institutional credit fold. These measures, inter alia, include the following major steps to provide hassle free crop loans to farmers including small and marginal farmers:-

i). Under the Interest Subvention Scheme (ISS)Short Term Crop loans upto Rs.3 lakh are extended to farmers at a subvented interest rate of 7% per annum for a period up to one year. In case of prompt repayment, the farmers can avail a prompt repayment incentive of 3% per annum and thus the effective rate of interest on such loans is only 4%.

ii). The ISS also provides for post harvest loans for up to 6 months at the same rate of interest as Short Term Crop loans to Kisan Credit Card holding Small and Marginal Farmers, to encourage them not to resort to distress sale and instead store their produce in Warehouses accredited with Warehousing Development Regulatory Authority (WDRA) against Negotiable Warehouse Receipts (NWR).

iii). Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has issued Priority Sector Lending Guidelines (PSL), which mandate all Domestic Scheduled Commercial Banks to earmark 18% of their Adjusted Net Bank Credit (ANBC) or Credit Equivalent amount of Off-Balance Sheet Exposure (OBE), whichever is higher, as on the corresponding date of the previous year, for lending to Agriculture. Within the 18 percent target for agriculture, a sub-target of 8 % for small and marginal farmers has been fixed to help in increasing the flow of credit to small and marginal farmers.

iv). As per PSL guidelines loans to distressed farmers to repay non-institutional lenders are eligible under priority sector. Besides loans to stressed persons (other than farmers) not exceeding Rs. 1,00,000/- per borrower to repay their debt to non-institutional lender are also eligible for the purpose of priority sector lending by banks.

v). The Government implements the Kisan Credit Card (KCC) Scheme aimed at providing adequate and timely credit support from the banking system under a single window to the farmers for their cultivation and other needs. In terms of master circular dated July 03, 2017 of RBI, tenant farmers, oral lessees or share croppers are also covered under the KCC Scheme. The Scheme provides for sanction of the limit for 5 years with simplified renewal every year. All the banks have been advised to implement the scheme. The issue of smart–cum debit card, mandated under the revised guidelines, is enabling the farmers to access multiple delivery channels.

vi). To bring small, marginal, tenant farmers, oral lessees, etc. taking up farm activities, off-farm activities and non-farm activities, into the fold of institutional credit, Joint Liability Groups (JLGs) have been promoted by banks. The announcement of Union Budget for 2014-15 for financing of 5 lakh JLGs of ‘Bhoomi Heen Kisan’ (landless farmers) has given further credence to efforts of National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) in innovating and reaching out to the landless farmers through JLG scheme of financing.

vii). Banks have been advised by RBI to waive margin/security requirements of agricultural loans upto Rs.1,00,000/-, vide RBI’s circular dated 18th June, 2010.

viii). RBI has issued directions for Relief Measures to be provided by respective lending institutions in areas affected by natural calamities which, inter alia, include, restructuring/rescheduling of existing crop loans and term loans, extending fresh loans, relaxed security and margin norms, moratorium, etc. These directions have been so designed that the moment calamity is declared by the concerned District Authorities they are automatically set in motion without any intervention, thus saving precious time. The benchmark for initiating relief measures by banks has also been reduced to 33% crop loss in line with the National Disaster Management Framework.

As on 31st March, 2017, cumulatively 24.53 lakh Joint Liability Groups (JLGs) have been provided Rs.26,848.13 crore loan by banks across the country. In Andhra Pradesh, 1,82,375 JLGs have availed loans of Rs.1,618.05 crore and in Telangana, 35,748 JLGs have availed bank loans aggregating to Rs.620.94 crore, as on 31st March, 2017. The details of small and marginal farmers availing loan through JLG mode of financing is not maintained separately.

online portal ‘NARI’ for women empowerment

online portal ‘NARI’ for women empowerment
In a path breaking initiative to empower women, the Minister of Women & Child Development, Smt Maneka Sanjay Gandhi inaugurated an online portal NARI in New Delhi today. Developed by the Ministry of Women & Child Development, the portal will provide women citizens with easy access to information on government schemes and initiatives for women. Further to provide a platform for NGOs and Civil Societies to interact with the Ministry of Women & Child Development, e-Samvad portal has also been developed which was inaugurated by the WCD Minister today. The Minister of State for Women & Child Development, Dr. Virendra Kumar was also present on the occasion.

Speaking on the occasion, Smt Maneka Sanjay Gandhi said that for the first time ever since Independence, women of the country will be able to access information about benefits being provided to them by the Government. The portal contains information about schemes being run by both Central as well as the States Governments. The WCD Minister also gave an overview of the agenda of the WCD Ministry in the current year 2018. The Minister said that the new National Nutrition Mission will be launched in January, 2018 and will be operationalized in 315 districts across the country. About 50.7 lakhs women will be given Conditional Cash Transfer under maternity benefit scheme Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY) this year, the Minister explained. The bill on Trafficking, which has been referred to the GOM, will be finalised and presented in the Parliament in the Budget Session. Smt. Maneka Sanjay Gandhi said that the deadline mandated by the Supreme Court for registration of Child Care Institutions expired on 31.12.2017. There will be very sharp focus on linking of the Child Care Institutions to the adoption system in 2018.

Giving details about the panic button scheme for women in distress, Smt Maneka Sanjay Gandhi said that the user trials of panic button, backed with a full real time emergency response system, will begin in Uttar Pradesh from 26th January this year. The Childline will be expanded to 500 Cities (currently in 412 cities) and Railway Childline will be expanded to 88 Railway stations (currently in 33) by March, 2018. 150 new One Stop Centres will be added in 2018 beyond 165 centres which are operating. The inter-ministerial authority on issues related to NRI marriages has already been constituted. The Law Ministry is already examining legislative amendments pertaining to this issue which will be taken up in 2018, WCD Minister explained.

The Government – both Central and State – has implemented a number of schemes & legislations for women to provide them equal rights, economic opportunities, social support, legal aid, housing etc. However, there is often a lack of awareness of these provisions and difficulties in accessing their benefits. For example, many are unaware that One Stop Centres are available in 168 districts for women in difficult circumstances, PM Awas Yojana gives priority to registraton of homes in the name of women and many State Governments offer financial support for the education of girl children. However, information related to women centric schemes/legislations are all scattered on different websites/portals.

In order to make this information more easily accessible in one place, the NARI portal summarizes over 350 government schemes and other important information for the benefit of women, with more being added everyday. It provides links to the Ministries, Departments and autonomous bodies offering these schemes as well as easy access to online applications and grievance redressal.

NARI will provide information to women on issues affecting their lives. There are tips on good nutrition, suggestions for health check ups, information on major diseases, tips for job search and interview, investment and savings advice, information on crimes and against women and reporting procedures, contacts of legal aid cells, simplified adoption procedures and much more. It will endow women with the power of information to build their life skills and facilitates them in taking full advantage of the services provided by the Government for them.

Through e-Samvad portal, NGOs and civil society can provide their feedback, suggestions, put up grievances, share best practices etc. Senior Officers within MWCD will be able to view the inputs/suggestions received for their concerned subject areas and appropriately respond to NGOs. This will help in formulation of effective policies and measures for welfare of women and children.

Delivering pro-poor development

Delivering pro-poor development
The government must take appropriate steps to reinvigorate the rural economy for both economic and political reasons
But for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s relentless campaigning, inability of the Congress to highlight limitations in the National Democratic Alliance’s (NDA’s) urban development model, the role of None of the Above (NOTA) option, and copious amount of luck, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would have lost its Gujarat bastion. While it has traditionally been a darling in urban areas, the poor performance of the BJP in rural areas is telling. In predominantly rural areas, the Congress won 62 seats, against the BJP’s 43. This is despite the pro-poor rhetoric of the government.

While the BJP might have saved face owing to urban support in Gujarat, this was substantially due to the personal connect of the prime minister and the lack of alternatives, which may not be the case in the forthcoming state elections in 2018, particularly in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Karnataka, and more importantly, in the general election of 2019. Creating a connect with urban and semi-urban trading community may particularly be difficult owing to continuing challenges with the goods and services tax (GST) regime.

It also appears that more young and first time voters are, albeit unsurprisingly, getting disenchanted with the BJP and attracted to other options. It is this set of voters which also migrates from the rural to urban belts in search of employment opportunities, putting pressure on urban resources. The competition for opportunities available in urban areas is expected to increase, which might add fuel to the building discontent, costing the BJP its urban support base. Coupled with this, an already dissatisfied rural voter might cost it an election.

A two-fold strategy would be required to avoid such collapse. First, the government should stop testing the patience of its urban voters. It needs to address genuine challenges faced by small and medium-sized traders in compliance with GST- related procedures, claiming refunds and credits, and address concerns around potential hounding by the National Anti-Profiteering Agency, and the e-way Bill. While the government has claimed making significant advancements in ease of doing business, the ground realities do not appear to support such claims. Availability of land, skilled labour and finance is still a challenge and avoidable compliance costs put immense burden on small industries and traders. Government obsession with technology-enabled start-ups, wherein success stories are few and far between, has completely ignored small-scale frugal innovation, such as low-cost farm mechanization equipment, which is awaiting support to scale up.

Second, the government must take appropriate steps to reinvigorate the rural economy for both economic and political reasons. This involves removing artificial barriers to growth of agriculture, and ensuring adequate opportunities exist for income generation in rural non-farm sector. Investments must be made in export-oriented agriculture value chains, modern storage and warehousing facilities, and knee-jerk reactions adversely affecting agriculture export must be avoided. The distortions in pricing of fertilizers and agriculture procurement, and restrictions on agriculture futures, need immediate review and correction.

In summary, the government will need to dismantle the disincentives to prosperity in rural and urban areas. Both areas suffer from different types of disincentives and thus, different strategies will need to be devised to deal with each of them.

So, is the government working in this direction? It appears not. Recently, the government has decided to reimburse banks the merchant discount rate (MDR) in respect of debit card/ BHIM Unified Payments Interface/AEPS (Aadhaar enabled payment system) transactions of less than Rs2,000 for a period of two years, with the objective of promoting adoption and usage of digital payments. It is estimated that the total MDR support would be Rs2,512 crore.

This measure assumes awareness and willingness of consumers and merchants to adopt digital payments, availability of basic infrastructure, and existence of payment acceptance infrastructure, which is unfortunately not the case. A deeper analysis would reveal that such distortion of market-based incentives might be counter-productive in the long term. As realized on the first anniversary of demonetization, the digital villages have reverted to old ways of using cash.

Despite digitization being a laudable objective, the country is currently grappling with more serious challenges, such as employment generation. And the government has recently announced a paltry package of Rs2,600 crore for a period of three years for employment generation in the leather and footwear industry, a move which clearly indicates its priorities.

At best, the government appears to be playing to the gallery and score points for its short-sighted efforts to promote digital payments in predominantly urban areas. The government must realize that tinkering with processes of doing business resulting in gains on global indices is not enough.

If it really wants to recover lost ground, it will need to help the rural and urban poor populace realize its untapped potential by implementing transformational changes in social sectors. This would include investment in areas like education, health and social security. Without these, India’s growth story is expected to be non-inclusive and short lived, similar to the fate which the government is staring at currently.

Several important schemes for development of women and children are being implemented by WCD Ministry

Several important schemes for development of women and children are being implemented by WCD Ministry
#must read
The Ministry of Women and Child Development is implementing various schemes/programmes for empowerment of women and development of children across the country. The details of those schemes are as follows:

For Women empowerment:

Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP), a comprehensive programme is being implemented to address the declining Child Sex Ratio (CSR) and related issues of empowerment of women over a life-cycle continuum.
Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY), {erstwhile Maternity Benefit Programme} has been contributing towards better enabling environment by providing cash incentives for improved health and nutrition to pregnant and nursing mothers.
Scheme for Adolescent Girls aims at girls in the age group 11-18, to empower and improve their social status through nutrition, life skills, home skills and vocational training.

Pradhan Mantri Mahila Shakti Kendra scheme, promote community participation through involvement of Student Volunteers for empowerment of rural women.

National Creche Scheme to provide day care facilities to children of age group of 6 months to 6 years of working women who are employed.

Rastriya Mahila Kosh (RMK) to provide micro-credit to poor women for various livelihood support and income generating activities at concessional terms in a client-friendly procedure to bring about their socio-economic development.
Swadhar Greh to provide relief and rehabilitation to destitute women and women in distress.

Ujjawala, a Comprehensive Scheme for prevention of trafficking and for rescue, rehabilitation, re-integration and repatriation of victims of trafficking for commercial sexual exploitation.

Working Women Hostels for ensuring safe accommodation for women working away from their place of residence. Under this scheme, 2 new proposals have been received and 2 sanctioned in Himachal Pradesh during last three years.

Schemes of One Stop Centre (OSC) and Women Helpline (WH) are being implemented to facilitate access to an integrated range of services including medical aid, police assistance, legal aid/ case management, psychosocial counseling and temporary support services to women affected by violence.

Gender Budgeting Scheme is being implemented as a tool for mainstreaming gender perspective at various stages of planning, budgeting, implementation, impact assessment and revisiting of policy/programme objectives and allocations. The Scheme helps in strengthening of institutional mechanisms and training of various stakeholders so as to mainstream gender concerns in Central and State Governments.
For Child Development

Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) Scheme is being implemented through States/UTs with the aim of holistic development of children upto 6 years of age and to meet nutritional needs of pregnant women and lactating mothers.

Integrated Child Protection Scheme (ICPS) (now Child protection Services) is being implemented through the State Government/UT Administrations to create a safe and secure environment for overall development of children in need of care and protection in urban and semi-urban areas.

National Nutrition Mission (NNM): The Government of India has approved setting up of National Nutrition Mission (NNM) commencing from 2017-18. The NNM, as an apex body, will monitor, supervise, fix targets and guide the nutrition related interventions across the Ministries. The programme through the targets will strive to reduce the level of stunting, under-nutrition, anaemia and low birth weight babies.

Year End Review-2017: Department of Food & Public Distribution

Year End Review-2017: Department of Food & Public Distribution

Following are the major highlights of the activities of the Department of Food & Public Distribution during the year 2017:

1. Implementation of the National Food Security Act, 2013 (NFSA)

1. Persistent efforts has resulted in universal implementation of the NFSA, 2013 in all 36 States & UTs, benefiting 80.72 crore persons in the country by providing them access to highly subsidized foodgrains at Rs.1/2/3 per kg. for coarse grains/wheat/rice respectively.
2. The prices of foodgrains specified under NFSA – Rs.3 per kg for rice, Rs.2 per kg for wheat and Re.1 per kg for coarse grains – which were valid upto July, 2016, have been continued upto June, 2018.
3. During the Financial Year 2017-18 (upto 13.12.2017), Rs.2959.22 crore has been released to State Governments as Central assistance to meet the expenditure incurred on intra-State movement of foodgrains and fair price shop dealers’ margins.  Such an arrangement has been made for the first time under NFSA.  Under erstwhile TPDS, State Governments were required to either meet this expenditure on their own or pass it on to beneficiaries (other than AAY beneficiaries).

2. End-to-end Computerization of TPDS Operations

1. As an outcome of digitization of Ration Card/beneficiary records, de-duplication due to Aadhaar seeding, transfer/migration/deaths, change in economic status of beneficiaries, and during the run-up to and implementation of NFSA, a total of 2.75 Crore ration cards have been deleted/cancelled by State/UT Governments during the years 2013 to 2017 (up to November 2017). Based on this the Government has been able to achieve an estimated ‘Rightful Targeting of Food Subsidies’ of about Rs. 17,500 Crore per annum.
2. To modernize and to bring about transparency in the Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS), the Department is implementing scheme on End-to-end Computerization of TPDS Operations at a total cost of 884 Crore on cost-sharing basis with the States/UTs. The Scheme provides for digitization of ration cards & beneficiary records, computerization of supply chain management, setting up of transparency portals and grievance redressal mechanisms.
3. Key achievements under the scheme are as follows:-

Sl.	Schematic Activity	Achievement
1	Digitization of ration cards / beneficiaries data	Completed in all States/ UTs.
2	Online allocation of food grains	Started in 30 States/UTs.
3	Computerization of Supply Chain Management	Completed in 20 States/UTs, and the work is in progress in the remaining States/UTs.
4	Transparency portals	Set up in all States/UTs
5	Grievance redressal facilities	Either or both toll-free helplines/Online registration facility is available in all States/UTs.

1. To identify and weed-out duplicate/ineligible beneficiaries, and to enable rightful targeting of food subsidies, seeding of Aadhaar numbers of beneficiaries with their Ration Cards is being done by States and UTs. Presently, 81.35% of all ration cards have been seeded.
2. As part of the scheme, electronic Point of Sale (ePoS) devices are being installed at Fair Price Shops (FPSs) for distribution of foodgrains through authentication and electronic record-keeping of the sale transactions. As on date, 2.83 lakh FPSs out of total 5.27 lakh FPSs have ePoS devices in 23 States/UTs.

3.         Launch of hybrid model of DBT:

A pilot scheme on DBT (In-cash & In-kind) on the pattern of “PAHAL” has been launched in Nagri Block of Ranchi District, Jharkhand w.e.f. October 2017. Under this scheme, the subsidy amount (economic cost, less the central issue price) is directly transferred into the bank account of the eligible NFSA beneficiaries in advance in the beginning of the month. The beneficiary then can purchase the foodgrains as per entitlement from the Fair Price Shop at economic cost of the foodgrains after authentication on Point of Sale (PoS) device. Central Issue Price is contributed by the beneficiary. This model enables continued support to the procurement exercise from farmers at MSP, while dis-incentivising any leakage of food grains from PDS.

4. Intra state portability of ration cards:

Facility enabling PDS beneficiaries to lift their entitled foodgrains from any fair price shop in the State where ePoS device has been installed has been started in states of Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh (750 FPSs), and Telangana (2273 FPSs).

5. ‘Integrated Management of PDS’ (IM-PDS)

A new Central Sector Scheme has been approved to be implemented during FY 2018-19 and FY 2019-20 for establishing Public Distribution System Network (PDSN) to implement national level portability, central data repository and central monitoring system of PDS operations. 

6. Launch of ePoS transactions portal:

Annavitran Portal (www.annavitran.nic.in) has been implemented to display electronic transactions made through ePoS devices for distribution of subsidized foodgrains to beneficiaries. This portal also shows all India picture of Aadhaar authentication of beneficiaries besides allocated and distributed quantity of foodgrains up to district level.

7. Supporting the Farmer

During KMS 2016-17, a record quantity of 381.07 Lakh MT paddy (in terms of rice) was procured. In 2015-16 KMS it was 342.18 LMT. During RMS 2017-18, a quantity of 308.24 lakh MT of wheat was procured which is highest in last five years. In 2016-17 this was 229.61 LMT.