Blog

PIB – February 6 , 2020

General Studies- III

Topic- Infrastructure: Energy, Ports, Roads, Airports, Railways etc.

Vizag-Chennai Industrial Corridor

Context

Asian Development Bank (ADB) has prepared the Conceptual Development Plan (CDP) for Vizag-Chennai Industrial Corridor (VCIC) project.

About

  • Asian Development Bank (ADB) had prepared Conceptual Development Plan (CDP) for Vizag-Chennai Industrial Corridor (VCIC) and four nodes namely
  1. Visakhapatnam,
  2. Machilipatnam
  3. Donakonda
  4. Chittoor
  • Amongst these nodes, Visakhapatnam and Chittoor have been prioritized by the Government of Andhra Pradesh (GoAP).
  • Initial master planning of these two nodes were also completed by ADB.

About Vizag Chennai Industrial Corridor (VCIC)

  • Vizag Chennai Industrial Corridor (VCIC), part of East Coast Economic Corridor (ECEC), is the first coastal economic corridor in the country.
  • It is aligned with the golden quadrilateral and covers more than 800 kilometers of the state of Andhra Pradesh’s coastline.
  • VCIC is poised to play a critical role in driving India’s economy and to further integrate the Indian economy with the dynamic global production network of East and Southeast Asia.
  • As a coastal corridor, VCIC can provide multiple access points to international gateways to these geographies.

Salient features of VCIC are:

  • It spans a relatively developed coastal region (10% of India’s coast).
  • It supports a large hinterland (from arid Rayalaseema to forested eastern ghats) that offer resources but has significant social and economic developmental needs;
  • Strategic location that helps link into global production networks (using production – industry – port link to be competitive), resulting in stronger regional economic integration;
  • Nodes are non-contiguous (as its densely populated, fertile farmland) but scale benefits can still be gained by incorporating existing development, which also relieves pressure for land acquisition;
  • All nodes are within one state, which allows institutional capacity to be pooled to get right competencies and speed up implementation.

Objectives of VCIC

VCIC has the advantage of a long coastline, the presence of key ports and urban agglomerations, and a workforce that will help it achieve the following industrial transformation objectives:

  • Achieve accelerated industrial output
  • Expand employment opportunities
  • Increase labor productivity & wages
  • Diversify the range of manufacturing products
  • Expand exports over the next two decades
  • Link the corridor with Global Production Networks

Significance

  • The proposed program is in line with ADB’s country partnership strategy for India, which supports the government’s vision of a faster, more inclusive, and sustainable growth with emphasis on developing robust infrastructure to increase productivity, competitiveness, and access to services.
  • The expected impact of VCIC will be an increased contribution of the manufacturing sector to the state’s GDP, trade, and employment.

General Studies- II

Topic– Social empowerment, communalism, regionalism & secularism.

Shri Ram Janma Bhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust

Context

Prime Minister announcement of the formation of Shri Ram Janma Bhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust, in the Parliament

About

  • According to the order of the Supreme Court on Shri Ram Janmabhoomi, the Government of India has formed a trust in the name of Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Tirtha Kshetra.
  • The Trust will have 15 trustees, out of which one trustee will always be from Dalit community.
  • All the other members of the Trust, which includes an IAS officer to be nominated by the Central and State government each, will have to be practising Hindus.
  • The trust will be completely free to take every decision related to the temple.
  • 67 acres of land will be transferred to the trust.
  • Shri Ram Janmbhoomi Teerth Kshetra has been registered in New Delhi.

Contributions

The Trust deed says that the “trustees may accept donations, grants, subscriptions, aids or contribution from any person, government, local authorities or any other institution in cash or in kind, including immovable property/ properties without any conditions or terms inconsistent with this Trust or its objects.”

Background

  • The Supreme Court (SC) delivered the verdict in the politically-sensitive Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid land dispute case in November 2019.
  • At the centre of the issue was the belief among sections of Hindus that the Babri Masjid, was built in Ayodhya after destroying a Ram Temple that marked the birthplace of the deity.
  • The Hindu parties wanted the land to themselves, contending that Lord Ram was born at a spot on which later the central dome of the mosque was built.
  • The Muslim parties contended that the mosque was constructed in 1528 by Mir Baqi, a commander of Babur’s army, without demolishing any place of worship.

Supreme Court Verdict

  • Possession of disputed 2.77 acre land will remain with Central government receiver.
  • The Hindus would get the entire disputed 2.77 acres in Ayodhya where the demolished Babri Masjid once stood.
  • The Muslims will get alternate five acres of land either in the surplus 67 acres acquired in and around the disputed structure by the central government or any other prominent place.
  • A trust will be formed in 3 months to build a temple on the disputed land.

General Studies- II

Topic- Welfare schemes for vulnerable sections of the population by the Centre and States and the performance of these schemes constituted for the protection and betterment of these vulnerable sections.

New Pension Schemes for Unorganised Sector

Context

Government of India has introduced two voluntary and contributory Pension Schemes

About

Government of India has introduced two voluntary and contributory Pension Schemes,

  1. Pradhan Mantri Shram Yogi Maan-dhan Yojna (PM-SYM), a pension scheme for  the  Unorganised Workers
  2. National Pension Scheme for the  Traders and  Self Employed  Persons (NPS-Traders) 

Highlights

  • These pension schemes are introduced under the Unorganised Workers Social Security  Act, 2008 to  provide  old  age  protection  to 
  • The schemes envisage for providing minimum assured monthly pension of Rs. 3000/- after attaining the age of 60 years.
  • If the  subscriber dies,  the  spouse  of  the  beneficiary shall  be  entitled  to   receive  50%  of  the  pension  as  family 
  • Family pension is applicable only to spouse.
  • The monthly contribution ranges from Rs.55-Rs.200/- depending upon the entry age of the beneficiary.

Pradhan Mantri Shram Yogi Maan-dhan Yojna (PM-SYM)

  • PM-SYM is meant for old age protection and social security of Unorganized Workers (UW).
  • who are  mostly engaged as rickshaw  pullers, street vendor, mid-day  meal workers,  head  loaders,  brick kiln  workers, cobblers, rag pickers, domestic workers, washermen, home-based, agricultural workers,  construction  workers,  beedi workers,  handloom  workers,  leather workers, audio-visual workers or  in  similar other 
  • There are estimated 42 crore such unorganised workers in the country.
  • The entry age for  the  beneficiary is  18-40 years  and  he/she should not  be  a member  of  ESIC/EPFO or  an  income  tax payer.

National Pension Scheme for the Traders and Self Employed Persons (NPS-Traders)

  • The NPS-Traders scheme is  meant  for old  age  protection and  social security  of  Vyapaaris (retail traders/ shopkeepers and  self-employed  persons) .
  • The eligibility for the benefits of this scheme is annual turnover should not be exceeding 1.5 Crore.
  • These retail traders / petty shopkeepers and self-employed  persons are  mostly  working as  shop  owners,  retail  traders,  rice  mill  owners,  oil  mill  owners,  workshop owners,  commission  agents, brokers of real  estate,  owners of  small  hotels, restaurants  and  other 
  • The entry age  for  the  scheme  is  18-40 years and the Vyapaari should  not  be a  member of  ESIC/EPFO/PM-SYM or  an income  tax payer.

For Prelims

DefExpo 2020

Highlights

  • DefExpo, a flagship biennial event of the Ministry of Defence, is being held for the first time in Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh).
  • This is the 11th edition of DefExpo – a mega defence exhibition.
  • The 10th edition of the event was held at Chennai (Tamil Nadu) in 2018.
  • Theme – ‘India: The Emerging Defence Manufacturing Hub’
  • Focus will be on ‘Digital Transformation of Defence’.
  • Defence Expo 2020 will showcase the comprehensive spectrum of India’s aerospace, defence and security interests.
  • The fifth India Russia Military Industry Conference will be held on the sidelines of the event.

New Major Port at Vadhavan in Maharashtra

Highlights

  • Cabinet gives in-principle approval for setting up a new Major Port at Vadhavan in Maharashtra.
  • Vadhavan port will be developed on “land lord model”.
  • A Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) will be formed with Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) as the lead partner with equity participation equal to or more than 50% to implement the project.
  • All the business activities would be undertaken under PPP mode by private developers.
  • The position of JN Port, the biggest container port in India is 28th in the world with traffic of 5.1 million TEUs (Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units).

 

Leave a Reply