Highlights of Government Schemes in News - 2017

1.Why was "Skill India Mission" in the News recently?

Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) celebrated the second anniversary of Skill India Mission on the World Youth Skills day, which is on July 15.
(From 2015, July 15 of every year is celebrated as World Youth skills day to give global focus on improvement of skills of the youth. It was constituted by United Nations General Assembly.

What is Skill India Mission?

Launched on	July 15, 2015
Launched by	Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi
Under Ministry of	Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE)
Minister of State , MSDE	Shri Rajiv Pratap Rudy

Mechanisms for achieving the objectives of the Skill India Mission have been divided into three tiers. They are

Governing Council for policy guidance at apex level (Chaired by the Prime Minister)
A Steering Committee (Chaired by the Minister, MSDE)
A Mission Directorate (along with an Executive Committee) as the executive arm of the Mission (Chaired by the Secretary, MSDE)

Mission Directorate will be supported by three other institutions. They are as follows:
National Skill Development Agency (NSDA),
National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC)
Directorate General of Training (DGT)

Highlights of the second anniversary:
The Ministry launched some new schemes and training programmes on the day.

National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme (NAPS):

Representatives of several companies participated in the event and more than 32000 companies nodded to support the apprenticeship training for Skill India Mission under the National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme (NAPS)
MSDE also announced the launched of National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme (NAPS) in BFSI (Banking, Financial services and Insurance) Sector.

GST training centres:

Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) announced a national training Programme to certify GST practitioners under its flagship scheme of Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY). A total of 100 GST training centres across the nation were launched along with the training curriculum.
This would help the people to transit to the new tax system with ease.

Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Kendra (PMKK):

It was proposed to open one PMKK in each district and additional 51 PMKKs were announced across India counting to 200 Kendras in total till date. MSDE also launched 100 yoga training centres on the occasion.

Takshashila

MSDE also launched Takshashila - a portal for trainers and assessors that would support their training life-cycle and would function as the central repository of information regarding the development of their quality benchmarks in the Indian skill eco-system.
To keep up with the changing and competitive world, new accreditation and affiliation guidelines for ITIs (Industrial Training Institutes) were released by the guests of honour.
An MoU was signed with Ministry for Water Resources and River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation to provide skilled work force to clean the river Ganges.
The world's largest vocational skills competition is scheduled to be held in Abu Dhabi from 14 to 19 October 2017.

2. Why was PMUY in news recently?

PMUY, Pradan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana reaches 2.5 Crore beneficiaries within a span of 14 months. The 2.5 croreth LPG connection under PMUY, was distributed by the President of India Shri Pranab Mukherjee in a programme organised at Jangipur, West Bengal.

What is Pradan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana?

Launched on	May 1, 2016
Launched at	Ballia, Uttar Pradesh
Launched by	Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi
Under Ministry of	Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas
Minister of State ,Petroleum & Natural Gas	Shri Dharmendra Pradhan
Objective	To provide LPG connections to women beneficiaries from below poverty line (BPL) households across the country
Fund allocated for implementation	Rs.8000 Crore
Duration	Financial year 2016-2019

Highlights of PMUY:

As per a WHO report, smoke inhaled by women from unclean fuel is equivalent to burning 400 cigarettes in an hour . PMUY aims to safeguard the health of women & children by providing them a clean cooking fuel, LPG.
This is the first time in the history of our country, that the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas implementing a welfare scheme to benefit women belonging to the BPL households.
The scheme of providing clean cooking fuel has also reduced the hazardous effects of using unsafe fuel and also provides employment for rural youth in the supply chain of cooking gas.
PMUY is proposed to result in an additional employment to around 1 Lakh people and provide business opportunity of at least Rs. 10,000 Cr. over the 3 Years to the Indian Industry.
PMUY scheme provides assistance of Rs. 1600/- to the beneficiary women, comprising security deposit of a 14.2 Kg cylinder and domestic pressure regulator, domestic gas consumer card and installation charges.
Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) aims to provide LPG connections to 5 Crore BPL households across the country ,by the end of the year 2019.
The identification of BPL families was made on the basis of Social Economic Caste Census (SECC)- 2011 data.
The scheme will be assisted by the money saved in LPG subsidy through the “Give-it-Up” campaign.
A woman of a BPL household, who does not have LPG connection in her household, may apply for new LPG connections under Ujjwala Scheme by filling the prescribed KYC application and submitting it to the nearest distributor. While submitting the application form, the woman will submit Proof of Address, Aadhaar number and Jandhan /Bank Account.
Till date, 2.5 crore connections are provided, out of which the largest number of connections (55 lakh) have been released in UP and the second largest number have been released in the state of West Bengal.
In the financial year 2016-17, Oil Marketing Companies have provided 3.25 Crore new connections across the country. This is the highest ever LPG connections released in any year in the history of our country.
The total number of active LPG consumers has gone to 20.7 Crores, after the implementation of this scheme.

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