The Forgotten People In 2011, when the census data was revealed, Indians, at least those who could place themselves anywhere in or above the middle income group, let out a collective sigh. The number of slum dwellers in the country had gone up from 52 million (as reported in 2001) to 65 million. This represented almost 17 percent of the country’s urban population (at the time). Another half a decade has passed, and now the [...]
Deen Dayal Antyodaya Yojana (DAY) – Background Skills development and employment generation has been at the core of the NDA government’s agenda. A number of programmes such as the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojna, USTAD, Skill India have been launched to meet this objective. The Deen Dayal Antyodaya Yojana is one such scheme; aimed at developing the skills of rural and urban youth in order to make them self reliant and capable of earning meaningful [...]
Background and Scheme Objective With a dramatic increase in population through the early years of this millennium, and a lack of corresponding growth in employment opportunities and wealth, it became evident that social security and healthcare for all was a pressing demand. According to reports from the early 2000′s, about 93 percent of the work force of the country was employed with the unorganized sector. While many of these workers were already below poverty line [...]
Narendra Modi government has launched a new health initiative for pregnant women called Pradhan Mantri Surakshit Matritva Abhiyan (PMSMA) on June 9, 2016. Speaking to the nation on ‘Mann ki Baat‘, PM Modi spoke of the need for a healthy nation and the need for pregnant women to remain healthy through their period of pregnancy leading up to delivery. The need to address the high maternal mortality rate, along with high infant mortality rate was [...]
Launched in 2014 by the HRD Minister of India, Smriti Irani, Padhe Bharat Badhe Bharat can be regarded as a countrywide programme being implemented under the aegis of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. It has normally been seen that kids who are unable to read during their early education tend to be bad in other subjects as well. The programme looks to improve the reading and writing skills of children in classes I and II, along [...]
Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY) is a youth employment programme of the Indian Government. It was launched by Venkaiah Naidu and Nitin Gadkari on 25 September 2014. It was the 98th birth anniversary of Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya, a prominent figure in Bharatiya Jana Sangh, the predecessor of BJP. Its main aim is to help people in the age group of 15-35 years and train a million young individuals in India by 2017, [...]
Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the ‘Stand up India’ initiative in Noida on 5 April 2016. The objective of this launch is to promote entrepreneurship in India, especially among women, SC and ST communities. It was the death anniversary of Dalit icon Babu Jagjivan Ram on 5 April and a perfect day to launch the initiative. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley was also present at the event held in Noida, along with 16 Dalit lawmakers of [...]
Organic Farming in India According to a 2013 study conducted by the International Federation of Organic Agricultural Movements (IFOAM), there are about two million farmers across the globe who practice organic farming methods and roughly 80 percent of these farms are in India. It wouldn’t be wrong to assume that our country is at the centre of an organic revolution that is set to take the world by storm. Certified or not, the abundance of [...]
The Government of India breathed life into the Jan Aushadhi Programme, 2008, and plans to run it on a Campaign Mission Mode. The Jan Aushadhi Campaign is a self-sustaining business model re-launched in March by the Department of Pharmaceuticals under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Aushadhi Scheme. Based on the principle of Not for Profits but with Minimal Profits, this programme has been re-launched with the objective of ensuring availability of quality medicines at affordable prices [...]
The Indian postal system boasts of being the largest postal network in the world with more than 1.5 lakhs post offices across the nation. It has been the backbone of communication as well as small savings schemes for more than 150 years now. Post Office has been involved in multifaceted functions and apart from delivering mails and saving schemes, it also deals in retail services like bill collection, sale of forms etc. It can be [...]
