Schemes for Self Employment Of Women (GS Paper 3, Economy)
Why in news?
- Recently, the Minister of Women and Child Development, in a written reply in Lok Sabha gave detail about the schemes for self-employment of women.
Key schemes:
- The Government of India is providing training to women through a network of Women Industrial Training Institutes, National Vocational Training Institutes and Regional Vocational Training Institutes under the Pradhan MantriKaushalVikashYojana (PMKVY).
- To economically empower women, 81% of loans of sizes from Rs. 10 Lakhs to Rs. 1 crore under ‘Stand-Up India’ have been made available to women.
- Under ‘MUDRA’ (or Prime Minister’s Micro-Units Development & Refinance Agency)Yojana, 68% loans sized up to Rs. 10 Lakhs have been sanctioned to women-owned and operated enterprises.
- Under National Rural Livelihoods Mission, approximately 9.0 crore women are connected with around 83 lakh women’s self-help groups that are transforming the rural socio-economic landscape in several innovative and socially and ecologically responsible ways, also availing governmental support including through collateral free loans.
- With special attention towards entrepreneurship, under the Start-up India Initiative, a large number of loans have been disbursed to women-led enterprises.
- National Agriculture Market or e-NAM, an online trading platform for agricultural commodities, ‘Kisan Call Centres’ answering farmers queries on a telephone call in their own dialect, mobile applications like Kisan Suvidhaare helping women overcome or compensate the barriers they face in accessing markets and extension services.
- National Cooperative Development Corporation is playing a significant role to uplift women cooperatives as large number of women are engaged and involved in cooperatives dealing with activities related to food grain processing, plantation crops, oilseeds processing, fisheries, dairy & livestock, spinning mills, handloom and power loom weaving, Integrated Cooperative Development Projects, etc.
- Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture imparting training for skills development to women, provide more subsidy/ assistance to women farmers, beneficiaries as compared to general category farmers. Under Agricultural Marketing Infrastructure component, women are eligible for subsidy at higher rates to procure agricultural machinery, implements and equipment under Sub-Mission on Agricultural Mechanization.
- To provide Government-to-Citizen (G2C) e-Services within the reach of the citizen, over 5.2 lakh Common Service Centres have been set up, thus creating the physical service delivery ICT infrastructure. These centres are spread across the country and provide a range of digital services in the rural areas, creating rural digital entrepreneurs of whom over 67,000 are women entrepreneurs.
Pradhan MantriShram Yogi Maan-dhan (PM-SYM):
- PM-SYM has been launched to ensure old age protection for unorganised Workers who are not covered by any other pension scheme.
- The unorganised workers including women, mostly engaged as home based workers, street vendors, mid-day meal workers, head loaders, brick kiln workers, cobblers, rag pickers, domestic workers, washer men, rickshaw pullers, landless labourers, agricultural workers, construction workers, beedi workers, handloom workers, leather workers, audio- visual workers and similar other occupations whose monthly income is Rs 15,000/ per month or less and belong to the entry age group of 18-40 years.
Mission Shakti:
- The Ministry implements ‘Mission Shakti’, an Integrated Women Empowerment Programme, as Umbrella Scheme for the Safety, Security and Empowerment of Women for implementation during the 15th Finance Commission period.
- It aims to strengthen interventions for safety, security and empowerment of women in a mission mode through institutional and convergence mechanism for greater efficiency, effectiveness and financial prudence.
- The Umbrella Scheme of Mission Shakti has two sub-schemes namely "Sambal" for safety and security of women and "Samarthya" for empowerment of women.
- Under 'Samarthya' sub- scheme, a new component i.e. Hub for Empowerment of Women (HEW) has been included with the aim to facilitate inter-sectoral convergence of schemes and programs meant for women at the Central, State/ UT and District levels for creating an environment in which women are able to realize their full potential.
- The support under the HEW provides for guiding, linking and hand holding women to various institutional and schematic set ups for their empowerment and development including access to healthcare, quality education, career and vocational counseling/ training, financial inclusion, entrepreneurship, backward and forward linkages, health and safety for workers, social security and digital literacy at districts/ Blocks/ Gram Panchayats level across the country.
Some of major schemes of Government for promoting education and holistic development of girl child are as under:
- BetiBachaoBetiPadhao: The overall goal of the BetiBachaoBetiPadhao (BBBP) Scheme is to ensure survival and protection of the girl child and to ensure her education and participation.
- Kasturba Gandhi BalikaVidyalayas focuses both on quality education and residential facilities for girl child(10-18 years) from marginalized communities belonging to SC, ST, OBC, Minority communities and BPL families to ensure smooth transition of girls from elementary to secondary and upto class XII.
- Udaan programme for Girls-Udaan is a project of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) to address the low enrollment of girl students in prestigious engineering institutions and the teaching gap between the school education and engineering entrance examination through provision of free online science courses for girls in class XI and XII.
- National Means-cum-Merit Scheme- Scheme to arrest dropout of girls in school by providing girls belonging to EWS with Rs. 1000/- per month as cash incentive
- SukanyaSamriddhiYojana is a saving scheme for the parents of girl child. The scheme allows parents to build a fund for the future education of their female child. SukanyaSamriddhi Account provides a higher rate of interest than other Savings Plans that offer financial security for the girl child.
Outcome of BBBP Scheme:
- BetiBachaoBetiPadhao Scheme has stirred up collective consciousness towards changing the mindset of the public to acknowledge the rights of the girl child. Scheme has raised concerns around the issue of declining CSR in India.
- This is reflected in the improvement of Sex Ratio at Birth (SRB) by 15 points at National level, from 918 in 2014-15 to 933 in 2022-23 (Health Management Information System (HMIS), MH&FW).
- And as per UDISE data of Ministry of Education, the gross enrolment ratio of girls in the schools at secondary level has also increased from 75.51% percent in (2014-15) to 79.4% in 2021-22.
Lok Sabha passes mines and minerals amendment to up private sector role
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
Why in news?
- The Lok Sabha recently passed the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation Amendment) Bill, 2023, which seeks larger participation of the private sector in mineral exploration and production, including that OF sought-after lithium.
Details:
- The Bill brings lithium out from the list of restrictive atomic minerals which require mining grants from the Centre with only government companies given licences. The amendment would allow auction of this critical mineral, used extensively for making batteries for electric vehicles.
- It proposes to bring eight of 12 atomic minerals, including lithium bearing minerals, zirconium bearing minerals, beach sand minerals, titanium bearing minerals, minerals of rare earth group containing utanium and thorium, into a new category, critical and strategic minerals.
Key Highlights:
- The Centre will have the power to give concessions for these minerals to both public and private mining companies.
- The Bill empowers the central government to exclusively auction mining lease and composite exploration licence for certain critical high value minerals such as gold, silver, platinum and copper.
- The Bill also dispenses with cumbersome forest clearances for mine reconnaissance and prospecting operations, making it easier for private firms to participate in exploration of the country’s mineral resources.
- The reform proposals in the legislation include allowing states to grant composite mineral licence without having to get a central nod. This is expected to enable state governments to put up blocks for auction at faster pace. It will also raise and fix mineral-wise maximum area limits for mineral concessions to provide larger and economic mines to investors.
Single exploration licence:
- The proposal on a single exploration licence has been inserted in Bill to promote specialized mineral exploration companies for reconnaissance and prospecting of mineral resources and earn revenue from its discovery after the mine is put to auction.
- At present the MMDR Act provides for grant of two types of minerals concessions to private entities through auction, including mining lease for undertaking mining operations and composite licence for undertaking prospecting operations followed by mining operations.
- There is no provision for grant of a mineral concession for undertaking full range of exploration starting from reconnaissance to prospecting operations.
Maximum area limits:
- The legislation has also raised and fixed mineral-wise maximum area limits for mineral concessions. Accordingly, for prime mineral such as iron ore, the maximum area for prospecting licence and mining lease has been doubled to 50 sq km and 20 sq km, respectively.
- This would allow private entries to get same land area for mining as was earlier being given to government companies and that also by the state governments itself without any need for central approval.
Exclude duties and levies:
- Among the other changes, the Centre has decided to exclude duties and levies (ex-mine price) such as GST, export duty, royalty, District Mineral Foundation (DMF), National Mineral Exploration Trust (NMET) while calculating Average Sale Price (ASP) of minerals.
- This will restrict charge of royalty over royalty and limit tax burden on companies and improve realizations for the government in mineral concession auctions.
Sale of minerals from captive mines:
- The changes on sale of minerals from captive mines has also been provided to do away with the existing provision where sale of 50% of minerals can commence only after the need of end use plant is meant.
- This provision was impacting development of mining operations as companies where end use plants were shut or still under development could not mine minerals and extraction of minerals got delayed.
Lok Sabha passes National Nursing and Midwifery Commission Bill & National Dental Commission Bill
(GS Paper 2, Health)
Why in news?
- Recently, the Lok Sabha passed two new bills during the ongoing monsoon session of the Parliament namely the National Nursing and Midwifery Commission Bill (NNMC) and the National Dental Commission Bill.
Details:
- These bills hold significant importance as they will repeal the Dentists Act 1948, and the Indian Nursing Council Act 1947 and will enhance transparency and quality in the fields of nursing, midwifery and dentistry.
- The passage of these bills comes after recommendations from the Parliamentary Standing Committee to the health ministry, urging to explore the possibility of restructuring and revamping the Dental Council of India and the Indian Nursing Council to regulate education and professional practice.
National Nursing and Midwifery Commission Bill, 2023
- The bill seeks to provide for regulation and maintenance of standards of education and services by nursing and midwifery professionals, assessment of institutions, maintenance of National and State Registers and creation of a system to improve access, research and development along with the adoption of the latest scientific advancement in the nursing & midwifery profession.
Why Indian Nursing Council Act 1947 was replaced by NNMC?
- The Indian Nursing Council Act 1947 was enacted to constitute the Indian Nursing Council to establish a uniform standard of training for nurses, midwives and health visitors.
- However, the said Act went through minimal amendments and limited the growth of the professionals concerned. Therefore, the National Nursing and Midwifery Commission Bill aims to set up National Nursing and Midwifery Commission (NNMC) that will replace the existing Indian Nursing Council Act 1947 to reform nursing and midwifery education and profession in India.
- The NNMC commission would have a nursing and midwifery Undergraduate and postgraduate education board, an assessment and rating board to carry out inspections and to assess and rate the nursing and midwifery institutions and an ethics board to regulate the professional conduct.
Importance of nursing profession in healthcare:
- Nurses, who comprise the greatest number of healthcare providers, are the backbone of health systems. A well-functioning nursing and midwifery education is essential for redefining the role and scope of the nursing and midwifery profession in the country.
- According to the Indian Nursing Council records, till 2022, there were around 33.41 lakh nursing personnel registered in the country.
Salient features of National Dental Commission Bill, 2023?
- The bill seeks to regulate the profession of dentistry in the country, to provide quality and affordable dental education and to make accessible high-quality oral healthcare and related matters to bring it to par with global standards.
- According to government data, there are 2.89 lakh registered dentists in the country.
Why was the existing Dentists Act 1948 replaced by the National Dental Commission?
- The National Medical Commission through the National Medical Commission Act, 2019, aims to bring reform in dental education and profession and its regulatory framework.
- Therefore, the government expert panel recommended for establishment of a National Dental Commission in place of the Dental Council of India and for creation of Autonomous Boards under the National Dental Commission to oversee various functions related to the dental profession.
Functions of the National Dental Commission:
- The commission will have three autonomous boards,
- the Undergraduate and Post-Graduate Dental Education Board to regulate dental education,
- the Dental Assessment and Rating Board to carry out inspections, assess and rate the dental institutions and
- the Ethics and Dental Registration Board to regulate professional conduct and promote dental ethics amongst dentists.
- Besides this, it will also look after holding a uniform National Exit Test (Dental) for granting a license to practice dentistry, for enrolment in the State Register or the National Register and for admission to postgraduate dental courses and recognition of dental qualifications in India and outside India.
