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समीक्षा अधिकारी / सहायक समीक्षा अधिकारी 2017 -- एक नज़र मे 
ऑन लाइन फॉर्म :- 30 डिसेंबर से 
#प्ररम्भिक परीक्षा 8 अप्रैल 2018
योग्यता :- समीक्षा अधिकारी के लिये सामान्य स्नातक और सहायक समीक्षा अधिकारी के लिये ओ लेवेल कंप्यूटर सेर्टिफिकेट के साथ सामान्य स्नातक
कुछ विशेष योग्यता के भी पद है
प्रारंम्भिक सीटो की सँख्या #460
प्रारम्भिक परीक्षा पैटर्न :-
पेपर 1 सामान्य अध्ययन 140 प्रश्न 140 नंबर
पेपर 2 हिँदी 60.प्रश्न 60 नंबर
कुल नंबर 200
1/3 नकारात्मक मार्किंग

Centre drafts model contract farming act to counter price risks

Centre drafts model contract farming act to counter price risks
The model contract farming act provides a framework for determining the pre-agreed quantity, quality and price of farm produce between farmer and sponsoring companies
To protect farmers from price risks and provide incentives to buyers to procure produce directly from farmers, the agriculture ministry has drafted a model contract farming act that states can adopt as per their needs.

The model act follows a budget proposal last year to help farmers integrate with food processing units for better price realisation and reducing post-harvest losses. A draft of the act is now available on the agriculture ministry’s website for public comments, following which rules under the act will be framed.

The model act provides a framework for determining the pre-agreed quantity, quality and price of farm produce between farmer and sponsoring companies and seeks to ‘transfer the risk of post-harvest market unpredictability from the former to the latter.’

Among other things, the act bars the transfer of ownership of the farmer’s land to companies under all circumstances. However, as an incentive, it allows these contracts to be governed outside the purview of state agriculture produce marketing committees (APMCs).

This essentially means companies can purchase produce directly from farmers and save the 5-10% usually spent in market fees. Under this act, all disputes relating to these contracts will be settled by a state-level contract farming development and promotion agency. Besides there will be local-level recording committees to register these contracts and implement them effectively.

“Past experiments with contract farming have not been successful as in times of unusual price movements, either the farmer or the buyer reneges on contracts,” said Ashok Dalwai, chief executive of the National Rainfed Area Authority, who chaired the committee which drafted the new law. “But with rules that will be framed under the model act, such situations can be avoided by sharing of windfall gains between parties,” he added.

“The basic aim of the act is to transfer the risk associated with price unpredictability from the farmers to buyers,” said Dalwai.

According to the draft act, contract farming arrangements will benefit growers with access to better inputs, scientific practices and credit facilities that may be provided by the buyer, while their produce will be insured under existing agriculture insurance schemes. Further, under the act provisions will be made to settle disputes at the local level when any party breaches the terms of contract.

“The centre had earlier drafted a model agriculture marketing act which states have been reluctant to adopt and the new model act on contract farming may see the same response,” said Ashok Gulati, agriculture chair professor at the Delhi-based Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations.

“The model act allows for direct purchase from farmers and therefore states have to amend their APMC acts to make this happen,” Gulati said, adding, “if prices rise sharply compared to the contracted price, it will be difficult to force the farmer to sell the produce and such challenges will be difficult to resolve.”

The draft contract farming act follows months of agitations by farmer groups in several states protesting plunging crop prices and demands for loan waivers.

Cities need a sustainable transport update

Cities need a sustainable transport update
Public transport can easily be the cheaper, faster and economical alternative if policymakers plan for tomorrow’s problems today
The car has been the signifier of the aspiring Indian for decades. Starting in the 1980s, the democratization of car ownership with the explosion in sales of the humble Maruti 800 heralded an emergent middle class.

Every year, governments across the country lay down fresh tar on any available city space to welcome the latest entrants into the coveted league of car owners. Meanwhile, the millions who don’t own cars—and are sidelined to the narrow footpaths that lead to the distant bus stop—continue to aspire to own their own car one day.

The government is now beginning to see why this is a problem. Bengaluru is engulfed in a never-ending traffic jam, Delhi’s pollution is at world-beating levels and Mumbai was never famous for its fast roads. This decade has made it resoundingly clear that the present model of urban transport is unsustainable, and the only way out of the cycle—of rising incomes and more wheels on the road—is an efficient public transport alternative.

In light of this realization, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s inauguration speech for the Magenta Line of the Delhi Metro was on point. Using a city’s public transport should be a matter of prestige, he said. Modi made a fine attempt to persuade people to choose public transport over private, but persuasion only goes so far. India is stuck in a collective action problem: It’s not rational for anyone to switch to public transport until everyone else also follows. An individual will stop using his car if the bus is faster, but that is possible only if others also get their cars off the road. Unfortunately, city-development plans have failed to create the right incentives, as is borne out by the preference for private transport.

For example, Bengaluru has seen an increase in the number of private vehicles from 2.7 million in 2008 to 6 million in 2017. The growth in roads cannot keep up with this. Meanwhile, roughly half the city’s passenger trips (5 million) are via a fleet of 6,000 Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation buses.

The problem starts with the way cities are governed in India. The lack of adequate devolution as per the Constitution (74th Amendment) Act, 1992, and consequently, effective power vested in a city-level governance mechanism, exacts a heavy toll. Chief ministers, whose remit should be the state, are inevitably involved at the city level. Municipal corporations lack adequate transparency and accountability, and urban governance is a tangled web of overlapping jurisdictions. This becomes abundantly clear every time a major city floods or faces some other upheaval, like the Elphinstone Road railway bridge tragedy in Mumbai earlier this year. Urban planning is a mechanistic process that pays little heed to evolving urban landscapes. Taken together, this means band-aid solutions to congestion, i.e. building more roads. That is what the Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission did, as it allocated 80% of the budget to building roads and flyovers.

The urban transport policy must rethink the hierarchy of needs; pedestrians and cyclists must be on top, followed by buses and then motor vehicles.

It is absolutely clear that there isn’t enough space for everyone to drive a car, and the government must pivot the policy to delivering reliable public transport. The metro project is a step in the right direction, but it needs complementary changes that improve the citizens’ experience.

For starters, the metro system needs a bus system to provide last-mile connectivity. If people have to take buses, they need pedestrian paths to walk on the roads. The bus system also needs to be reliable. Mysuru has managed to achieve that because of a centralized monitoring system that tracks buses using GPS. monitors driving speed and ensures that they stop at every bus stop.

Second, the government must resist using attractive-sounding propositions, like pushing electric and hybrid buses, to give the impression that there is political will to improve urban transport. Changing the fuel of the bus will reduce emissions, but there will be dramatically bigger gains if we are able to prompt even a quarter of the private vehicle-using population to use public transport.

Third, India has plenty of assets that are decaying due to poor maintenance. Policymakers will do well to make space for depreciation accounts in their budgets to pay for maintenance and replacement of public assets.

As a positive step towards reforming urban governance, the Centre has proposed incentives worth Rs10,000 crore for meeting certain defined parameters. This should, hopefully, empower municipal bodies, encourage states to delegate more powers to them, and improve the delivery of services. There are other reforms as well, like lateral entry of officers and giving local bodies greater flexibility in urban planning. However, it remains to be seen whether these reforms will be able to change the conventional ways of the bureaucracy.

India is a growing economy, and census data suggests that only 31% of the population lives in urban centres. Another 300 million people will be added by 2050 and the planning for carrying those people in our cities must begin now. Public transport can easily be the cheaper, faster and economical alternative if policymakers plan for tomorrow’s problems today.

How can India improve its public transport system?

India’s 1st pod taxi on the way, to follow US safety norms

India’s 1st pod taxi on the way, to follow US safety norms
If all goes according to plan, the first phase will be linking the 70km stretch from Dhaula Kuan in Delhi to Manesar in Haryana to decongest NCR with pod taxi
The much-awaited India’s first pod taxi project has moved a step closer to reality after a high-level panel recommended inviting fresh bids for the same conforming to the strictest safety standards on the lines of those prescribed by an American body.

The projected Rs4,000 crore pod taxi scheme—also known as personal rapid transit (PRT)—is a dream project of road transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari, and the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has been mandated to execute it on Delhi-Gurgaon pilot corridor (12.30km) from Delhi-Haryana border to Rajiv Chowk in Gurgaon on a public-private partnership (PPP) basis.

“The committee recommends issuance of a fresh EOI (expression of interest) incorporating (automated people movers) APM standards and specifications, along with other general safety parameters with Niti Aayog recommendations,” the five-member committee set up for technical and safety standards of PRT, headed by transport expert S.K. Dhramadhikari, said.

The ambitious project has been plagued by delays as government think-tank Niti Aayog raised some red flags, asking the highways ministry to direct initial bidders to prepare a 1km pilot stretch as all the technologies were unproved.

Subsequent delays were caused due to formation of the high-powered committee to lay down safety and other specifications. “We will be issuing bids very soon for the pod taxi project now, with all hurdles cleared. The safety and security concerns will be taken care of as per the recommendation of the committee. This will be a major step towards easing congestion on busy Dhaula Kuan-Manesar stretch and revolutionising transportation,” Gadkari told PTI.

PRT is an advanced public transport using automated electric pod cars to provide a taxi-like demand responsive feeder and shuttle services for small groups of travellers and is a green mode of uninterrupted journey. The committee in its report, a copy of which is with PTI, also recommended framing of request for quotation (RFQ) based on discussions with interested players and stressed the need for evaluation, based on performance in the test sections.

The automated people mover (APM) standards in the US as recommended by the committee for the maiden PRT in India have been prepared by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) and these constitute the minimum requirements for an acceptable level of safety and performance for the PRT. “The APM standards include minimum requirements for the design, construction, operation and maintenance of the various sub-systems of an APM system and are in general relevant for a PRT,” the committee said.

These include vehicle arrival audio and video visual warning system, platform sloping, evacuation of misalighted vehicles, surveillance/CCTV, audio communication, emergency call points and fire protection, among other advanced systems, it added. The pilot project, to be taken up on design, build, finance, operate and transfer (DBFOT) basis, is meant for a 12.3km stretch from Delhi-Haryana border on NH 8 (near Ambience Mall) to Badshahpur via Rajiv Chowk, IFFCO and Sohna Road.

The model is in place in London’s Heathrow airport, Morgantown and Masdar city. Earlier, three global companies, including New Zealand’s Metrino Personal Rapid Transit that later called off its joint venture with Indian partner Gawar construction, were picked during initial bids for the project.

Metrino, along with PNC-SkyTran and Neel Metal Products Ltd, had bid for the pod taxi project last year. The companies were to build 1km of pilot stretch to showcase their technology. The standards approved will also play a role in guiding safety and other specifications for states interested in such projects, including Punjab.

Three bidders had made technical presentation to the government last year—Neel Metals Product Ltd, Ultra Personal Rapid Transport (technology partner), Gawar Construction MIPL—which later said that instead of Metrino, they are roping in LSD by MND Group, and PNC-SkyTran that provided details of specifications in the prototype being developed for commercial operation in Israel.

If all goes according to plan, the first phase will be linking the 70km stretch from Dhaula Kuan in Delhi to Manesar in Haryana to decongest national capital region (NCR), Gadkari said

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.

A reform agenda for Indian cities

A reform agenda for Indian cities
The reforms operate at multiple levels—from setting specific checkpoints to giving local governments freedom to innovate
he Union ministry of housing and urban affairs has prepared a comprehensive road map for municipal reforms. From 2015 to 2017, some basic reforms were implemented in 500 cities under the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation. For example, 104 cities in 14 states collected more than 90% of user charges; 21 states have established municipal cadres; 256 cities started offering online citizen services; 21 states established state finance commissions; and 363 cities have completed credit rating. Now, the time has to come to go to the next level of reforms. That’s where the road map, consisting of three tiers of reforms, comes in.

As far as tier I reforms go, the purpose is to accelerate ongoing key financial and service delivery reforms. There are three sets of reforms: (1) Cities have to submit financial year audited accounts for the two years preceding the one in which the municipality seeks to claim the performance grant, (2) cities have to show an increase in their revenue over the preceding year, as reflected in the audited accounts. Specifically, urban local bodies have to recover more than 70% of their revenue expenditure from their own revenue receipts, and (3) cities have to measure and publish service levels for coverage of water supply, reduction of non-revenue water, 24x7 water supply and scientific processing of solid waste. Once these conditions are met, cities get the performance grant (Rs18,000 crore in five years) set down by the Fourteenth Finance Commission.

Tier 2 consists of five transformative reforms: (1) formulating and implementing value-capture financing policy, (2) ensuring that all urban local bodies undergo credit rating and cities with investible- grade rating issue municipal bonds, (3) professionalize municipal cadres by creating five of them, filling up posts and allowing lateral entry of professionals, (4) implementing the trust and verify model, and (5) enacting and implementing a land-titling law with a focus on using information technology.

The trust and verify model is a paradigm shift from the current process for municipal permissions. While granting building permissions, cities generally inspect first and give approvals later. This is the verify and trust model. The process of inspection results in time delays and cost overruns, and opens up opportunities for rent seeking.

Inverting this process gives us the trust and verify process in which permission is issued first and inspection taken up later. The assumption is that citizens can be trusted and will furnish correct information. Applications are submitted online with required attachments (documents), machine-checked for accuracy and completeness and building permissions issued. Inspections are only carried out after permission is issued.

Land titling in urban areas is another area of concern. A 2001 McKinsey study has reported that most, over 90% by one estimate, of the land titles in India are ‘unclear’ and land market distortions and unclear land titles cost India around 1.3% of gross domestic product. In India, ownership rights to property are proved through title deeds—a chain of documents that provide evidence of the transfer of title from one person to another over the years, all the way to the current owners. Even though the law provides that transfers of title and interest in property should be registered, this only provides limited assurance. Transfers can be challenged in several ways—from family members who may claim title through inheritance to unknown third parties who try to assert their right to specific performance.

Therefore, the need is to devise a mechanism by which transfers cannot be set aside. One way is to formulate a land-titling law. The Rajasthan government, for instance, has passed the Urban Land (Certification of Titles) Bill, 2016 to issue certificate of ownership to state residents living in urban areas. The new reform agenda incentivises all states to enact similar legislation.

States/cities are also incentivised to use leapfrog technology, such as the blockchain. Blockchain is a digital ledger of transactions—here, property—which allows digital information (of property titles and transactions) to be distributed. The database is not stored in a single location; no centralized version exists as it is hosted by millions of computers simultaneously belonging to all interested entities. Every user of the blockchain has a copy of the entire ledger of transactions concerning the property and every transaction is uploaded on each such copy of the ledger.

Thus, information is shared and continually updated and there is an immutable history of every property transaction that can be viewed by all interested parties and tampered with by no one. Moreover, each property transaction is time stamped, further reducing the possibility of fraud. Other services, such as notarial and escrow, can also be added. This is similar to the encumbrance certificates for properties being given by state government registration departments.

The focus of tier 3 is rapid and even more transformational reforms along three main avenues: governance, planning and finance. The emphasis is on (1) deepening decentralization and strengthening urban local bodies through greater devolution of funds, functions and functionaries, (2) own source revenue mobilization for self-reliance and (3) flexibility in urban planning, particularly aligning master plans to changing socio-economic conditions in cities. These involve reforms that can be pushed for enhancing downstream accountability mechanisms, like making local ward committees responsible for operation and maintenance of projects, etc. States and cities compete against each other and the incentive is given based on competition. They have the flexibility to define their reform paths and innovate; only the what of reforms is given, the how is left to states.

India tops list of migrants living abroad at 17 million: UN

India tops list of migrants living abroad at 17 million: UN
India tops the list of people living abroad at 17 million with about 5 million Indians residing in the Gulf region alone, according to UN’s 2017 International Migration Report
India has topped the list of people living abroad at 17 million with about 5 million Indians residing in the Gulf region alone, according to a new UN report.

Mexico, Russia, China, Bangladesh, Syria, Pakistan and Ukraine also have large migrant populations living abroad, ranging from 6 to 11 million each, according to the 2017 International Migration Report.

In 2017, India was the largest country of origin of international migrants at 17 million, followed by Mexico at 13 million. Other countries of origin with large migrant populations include the Russia at 11 million, China at 10 million, Bangladesh at 7 million, Syria at 7 million and Pakistan and Ukraine at 6 million each.

The number of migrants from India now reside in multiple destination countries, including the United Arab Emirates at 3 million, the US and Saudi Arabia at 2 million each, the report said. There are now an estimated 258 million people living in a country other than their country of birth — an increase of 49% since 2000, it added.

International migration is a critical concern for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the report said.

“Reliable data and evidence are critical to combat misperceptions about migration and to inform migration policies,” said Liu Zhenmin, UN department of economic and social affairs’s under-secretary-general. “These new estimates of numbers of international migrants around the world will provide an important baseline for Member States as they begin their negotiations on the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration,” Liu said.

The report shows that international migration makes an important contribution to population growth in many parts of the world and even reverses population decline in some countries or areas. Between 2000 and 2015, migration contributed 42% of the population growth in Northern America and 31% in Oceania. In Europe, the size of the total population would have declined during the period 2000-2015 in the absence of migration.