UPSC Current Affairs Daily

2021-08-02 09:30:04 Q.)Which of the following is correct about Secured Logistics
Document Exchange
1. The SLDE platform is a solution to replace the present
manual process of generation, exchange and
compliance of logistics documents
2. It will enable generation, storage and interchange of
logistics-related documents digitally. Open / Comment

2021-08-02 08:39:03

Open / Comment

2021-08-02 08:38:27 Vehicle Scrappage Policy

Union Road and Transport Minister announced the Vehicle Scrapping Policy 
It was first announced in the Union Budget for 2021-22.
The policy is estimated to cover 51 lakh Light Motor Vehicles (LMVs) that are above 20 years of age and another 34 lakh LMVs above 15 years of age.
India will also implement a Global Positioning System (GPS)-based toll collection system and do away with all toll booths within a year.
Reducing the population of old and defective vehicles, bringing down vehicular air pollutants, improving road and vehicular safety.

Provisions
Fitness Test:
Old vehicles will have to pass a fitness test before re-registration and as per the policy government commercial vehicles more than 15 years old and private vehicles which are over 20 years old will be scrapped.
Old vehicles will be tested at the Automated Fitness Center and the fitness test of the vehicles will be conducted according to international standards.
Emission test, braking system, safety components will be tested and the vehicles which fail in the fitness test will be scraped.
The Ministry has also issued rules for registration procedure for scrapping facilities, their powers, and scrapping procedure to be followed.
Road Tax Rebate:The state governments may be advised to offer a road-tax rebate of up to 25% for personal vehicles and up to 15% for commercial vehicles to provide incentive to owners of old vehicles to scrap old and unfit vehicles
Vehicle Discount:Vehicle manufacturers will also give a discount of 5% to people who will produce the 'Scrapping Certificate' and registration fees will be waived off on the purchase of a new vehicle.
Disincentive:As a disincentive, increased re-registration fees would be applicable for vehicles 15 years or older from the initial date registration.

Other Initiatives to Curb Vehicular Pollution:
Go Electric Campaign
FAME India Scheme Phase II.
Electric Vehicles (EV) Policy 2020 for Delhi.
Hydrogen Fuel Cell Based Bus and Car Project.
National Electric Mobility Mission 2020.


SOURCE: PIB Open / Comment

2021-08-02 08:38:26 Accident prone stretches on National Highways

Transport Research Wing (TRW), Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has collected the Black spot data from States/UTs 
Road Accident black spot is a stretch of National Highway of about 500m in length in which either 5 road accidents (in all three years put together involving fatalities/ grievous injuries) took place during the last 3 calendar years or 10 fatalities (in all three years put together) took place during the last 3 calendar years

Ministry is taking following steps to rectify blackspots:
Blackspots are being rectified by immediate short term measures such as cautionary road signs and markings, transverse bar markings, rumble strips and solar blinkers etc.
For long term rectification, measures such as Flyover, Underpasses, Footover Bridges, Service roads etc. are being provided wherever required.
Each blackspot location is being inspected by Road Safety Officers of Regional Offices, Project Director of Concerned PIU and Road Safety Expert of the Independent Engineers (IE)/ Authority’s Engineers (AE) /Safety Consultants and recommend the mitigation measures. Based on which approval is being granted by the Regional Officer.
NHAI has issued comprehensive guidelines on preparation of proposal, granting sanctions and execution of work for rectification of blackspots vide circular no. 1.1.31/2019 dated 19.12.2019. Under these guidelines, Regional Officers have been delegated financial power of uptoRs. 50 Cr for rectification of blackspots including land acquisition without sending files to HQ for approval.
Traffic calming measures such as traffic warning signs, delineators, road studs, bar markings, humps at approach roads, etc. are taken at vulnerable sections of National Highways to reduce road accident fatalities. 
For rectification of blackspots, progress of rectification is being monitored at NHAI HQ and Ministry through regular meetings.

SOURCE: PIB Open / Comment

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2021-08-01 10:05:54 Generation Based Incentive (GBI) to Wind Projects

More than 70 percent of the equipment is manufactured in India.
The Government has taken several steps to promote renewable energy, including wind energy, in the country. 

These include:
Permitting Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) up to 100 percent under the automatic route,
Waiver of Inter State Transmission System (ISTS) charges for inter-state sale of solar and wind power for projects to be commissioned by 30th June 2025,
Declaration of trajectory for Renewable Purchase Obligation (RPO) up to the year 2022,
Setting up of Ultra Mega Renewable Energy Parks to provide land and transmission to RE developers on a plug and play basis,
Laying of new transmission lines and creating new sub-station capacity for evacuation of renewable power,
Setting up of Project Development Cell for attracting and facilitating investments,
Standard Bidding Guidelines for tariff based competitive bidding process for procurement of Power from Grid Connected Solar PV and Wind Projects.
Government has issued orders that power shall be dispatched against Letter of Credit (LC) or advance payment to ensure timely payment by distribution licensees to RE generators.
Conducting skill development programmes to create a pool of skilled manpower for implementation, operation and maintenance of RE projects.
 In addition to the above, the following steps have been taken specifically for promoting wind energy:
Concessional custom duty exemption on certain components required for manufacturing of wind electric generators.
Generation Based Incentive (GBI) is being provided to the wind projects commissioned on or before 31 March 2017.
Technical support including wind resource assessment and identification of potential sites through the National Institute of Wind Energy, Chennai.

wind resource is highly site specific and its commercially exploitable potential is available only in seven States i.e. Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Karnataka.


SOURCE: PIB Open / Comment

2021-08-01 10:05:53 22.7 lakh loans amounting to ₹2,243 crore have been disbursed to street vendors under SVANIDHI scheme

Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) has launched Pradhan Mantri Street Vendor's Atma Nirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi)
It is for providing affordable loans to street vendors.
Scheme was announced as a part of the Economic Stimulus-II under the Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan.
scheme would benefit vendors, hawkers, thelewale and people involved in goods and services related to textiles, apparel, artisan products, barbers shops, laundry services etc. in different areas.

Features:
The vendors can avail a working capital loan of up to Rs. 10,000, which is repayable in monthly instalments within a year. The loans would be without collateral.
There will be no penalty on early repayment of loan.
Those who were vending till 24th March, 2020 can avail the benefits of the scheme
The scheme is valid until March 2022.
On timely/early repayment of the loan, an interest subsidy of 7% per annum will be credited to the bank accounts of beneficiaries through direct benefit transfer on a six monthly basis.
The scheme provides for the rise of the credit limit on timely/ early repayment of loans i.e. if a street vendor repays the installments on time or earlier, he or she can develop his or her credit score that makes him/her eligible for a higher amount of term loan such as Rs. 20,000.
The scheme incentivises digital transactions by the street vendors through monthly cash back
MoHUA in collaboration with State Governments will launch a capacity building and financial literacy programme of all the stakeholders and Information, Education and Communication (IEC) activities throughout the country during the month of June and loaning will commence in the month of July
LBs will play a pivotal role in the implementation of the scheme by ensuring to target the beneficiary and reaching to them in an efficient manner.
This platform will integrate the web portal/ mobile app with UdyamiMitra portal of SIDBI for credit management and PAiSA portal of MoHUA to administer interest subsidy automatically.

SOURCE: PIB Open / Comment

2021-08-01 10:05:53 Affordable Rental Housing Complexes Scheme under Atmanirbhar Bharat Package

It will be a sub-scheme of the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana- Urban that is implemented by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.
The creation of Affordable Rental Housing Complexes (ARHCs) is as a part of the government’s economic package to address the Covid-19 crisis.
The scheme is in line with the vision of AtmaNirbhar Bharat.
Target Beneficiaries: Workers who come from rural areas or towns to work in manufacturing, hospitality, health, construction, etc.

Features:
Affordable Rental Housing: About 1.03 lakh completed government-funded houses across cities that are yet to be allotted to beneficiaries (Urban poor) under existing schemes would be converted into the rental housing complexes.
Concession Agreements: The conversion will be done through concession agreements for 25 years.
The States and Union Territories would invite bids to select concessionaires.
Concessionaires will make the complexes livable by repair/retrofit and maintenance of rooms and filling up infrastructure gaps like water, sewer/ septage, sanitation, road etc.
Complexes will revert to Urban Local Bodies (ULB) after 25 years to run on their own.
Special Incentives to Entities: Special incentives like concessional loan at priority sector lending rate, etc. will be offered to private/ public entities to develop ARHCs on their own available vacant land for 25 years.
Technology Innovation Grant: Under it an expenditure of Rs. 600 crore would be provided for projects using identified innovative technologies for construction

Initial affordable rent of ARHCs will be fixed by the local authority based on a local survey prior to the issuance of Request for Proposal (RFP) by Urban Local Bodies (ULBs).
Subsequently, rent will be enhanced biennially by 8%, subject to maximum increase of 20% in aggregate, over a period of 5 years, effective from the date of signing the contract.
The same mechanism shall be followed over the entire concession period i.e. 25 years.


SOURCE: PIB Open / Comment

2021-07-31 14:22:33 Affordable Rental Housing Complexes Scheme under Atmanirbhar Bharat Package

It will be a sub-scheme of the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana- Urban that is implemented by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.
The creation of Affordable Rental Housing Complexes (ARHCs) is as a part of the government’s economic package to address the Covid-19 crisis.
The scheme is in line with the vision of AtmaNirbhar Bharat.
Target Beneficiaries: Workers who come from rural areas or towns to work in manufacturing, hospitality, health, construction, etc.

Features:
Affordable Rental Housing: About 1.03 lakh completed government-funded houses across cities that are yet to be allotted to beneficiaries (Urban poor) under existing schemes would be converted into the rental housing complexes.
Concession Agreements: The conversion will be done through concession agreements for 25 years.
The States and Union Territories would invite bids to select concessionaires.
Concessionaires will make the complexes livable by repair/retrofit and maintenance of rooms and filling up infrastructure gaps like water, sewer/ septage, sanitation, road etc.
Complexes will revert to Urban Local Bodies (ULB) after 25 years to run on their own.
Special Incentives to Entities: Special incentives like concessional loan at priority sector lending rate, etc. will be offered to private/ public entities to develop ARHCs on their own available vacant land for 25 years.
Technology Innovation Grant: Under it an expenditure of Rs. 600 crore would be provided for projects using identified innovative technologies for construction

Initial affordable rent of ARHCs will be fixed by the local authority based on a local survey prior to the issuance of Request for Proposal (RFP) by Urban Local Bodies (ULBs).
Subsequently, rent will be enhanced biennially by 8%, subject to maximum increase of 20% in aggregate, over a period of 5 years, effective from the date of signing the contract.
The same mechanism shall be followed over the entire concession period i.e. 25 years.


SOURCE: PIB Open / Comment