National Biopharma Mission:

• The mission is aimed at accelerating biopharmaceutical development in a bid to create a globally competitive biopharmaceutical industry.
• It is targeted to increase India ‘s share in the global biopharmaceutical market to 5 per cent from the current 2.8 per cent.
• This brings together industry and academia to promote entrepreneurship and indigenous manufacturing in the bio-pharmaceutical sector.
• The mission will be implemented by Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC).
• It is expected to bring together expertise from national and international corridors to provide strategic guidance and direction to move promising solutions through the product development value chain.
• The flagship program is run in collaboration with the World Bank and will be implemented by the Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC), a Public-Sector Enterprise set up by DBT.

SANKALP and STRIVE:

• Skills Acquisition and Knowledge Awareness for Livelihood Promotion (SANKALP) aimed at providing market relevant training to youths across the country.
• Skill Strengthening for Industrial Value Enhancement (STRIVE) aimed at improving the quality and the market relevance of vocational training provided in ITIs.
• The project will also strengthen the apprenticeship programme through industry-cluster approach.

Both Schemes are under the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship and supported by World Bank loan assistance.

• The two schemes will help in setting up national body for vocational education – Vocational Education and Training (VET).
• VET shall regulate accreditation and certification in both long and short term thereby bringing about uniformity in vocational training.
• SANKALP is a centrally sponsored scheme and STRIVE is a central sector scheme.

Portal PENCIL:

• PENCIL (Platform for Effective Enforcement for No Child Labour) is an electronic platform for no child labour developed by the Labour Ministry.
• The portal creates a robust implementing and monitoring mechanism for enforcement of the legislative provisions of National Child Labour Policy (NCLP).
• Since the subject of labour is in the concurrent list, the enforcement of the policy depends on respective state governments.
• This online portal aims to connect the Centre to the state government, district and to all project societies for effective implementation of NCLP.
• The portal has a component of child tracking system.

Atal Tinkering Labs:

• Niti Aayog brainchild Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) has selected additional 1,500 schools across the country to establish Atal Tinkering Labs (ATLs).
• ATLs are play workspaces fitted with state-of-the-art technologies like 3D printers, robotics, sensor technology kits, Internet of things (IoT), miniaturised electronics.
• The labs are designed to spur the spark of creativity, and go beyond regular curriculum and text book learning.
• AIM will enhance the coverage of ATLs to over 98 per cent smart cities and 93 per cent districts.
• The addition of these schools will give a major boost to realise the vision of the mission to cultivate one million children in India as the innovators of tomorrow.

Main Nahin Hum Portal and App:

• PM Modi has launched the “Main Nahin Hum” Portal and App for IT Professionals.

It works on the theme “Self4Society”

The portal will enable IT professionals and organizations to bring together their efforts towards social causes, and service to society, on one platform.

• The portal is expected to help catalyse greater collaboration towards the service of the weaker sections of society, especially by leveraging the benefits of technology.
• It is also expected to generate wider participation of interested people who are motivated to work for the benefit of society.

SRISTI:

• SRISTI – Sustainable Rooftop Implementation for Solar Transfiguration of India is a proposed scheme by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy.
• The proposed scheme will incentivise the installation of roof top solar projects in India.
• It aims to achieve a national solar rooftop target of 40 GW by 2021-22.
• Under SRISTI, a central financial assistance will be provided only for installation of roof top solar plants in residential sectors.
• Once approved, the concept will acts as a basis for phase – II of solar rooftop power programme.

Modified Special Incentive Package Scheme (M-SIPS):

• The scheme aims to provide a special incentive package to boost domestic electronic product manufacturing sector and move towards Union Government ‘s goal of Net Zero imports’ in electronics by 2020.
• It promotes large scale manufacturing in the Electronics System Design and Manufacturing (ESDM) sector by:
• Providing subsidy for capital expenditure upto 20% for investment in SEZ and 25% in non-SEZs.
• Providing reimbursement of duties and central taxes for projects with high capital investments.
• The incentives will be available for investments made within 5 years from the date of approval of the project.
• Unit receiving incentive will provide undertaking to remain in commercial production for at least 3 years.

Janani Shishu Suraksha Karyakram (JSSK):

• The scheme entitles all pregnant women delivering in public health institutions to an absolutely free and no expense delivery including C- section.
• All expenses are borne by the government.
• A pregnant woman is also entitled to free transport from home to the government health facility.
• Entitlements include free drugs and consumables, free diagnostic, free blood, free diet up to 3 days for normal delivery and 7 days for C-section.
• Similar entitlements have been put in place for all sick newborns accessing public health institutions for healthcare till 30 days after birth.
• It also provides for free transport from home to institution, between facilities in case of a referral and drop back home.
• This initiative will also help in reducing maternal and infant mortality and morbidity.

IMPRESS scheme:

• Union HRD Ministry has launched the web portal of IMPRESS scheme with an aim to build a research ecosystem in educational institutions.

The scheme:

• The objective of Impactful Policy Research in Social Sciences (IMPRESS) is to identify and fund research proposals in social sciences with maximum impact on the governance and society.
• The Indian Council of Social Science and Research (ICSSR) will be the project implementing agency.
• Provide an opportunity for social science researchers in any institution in the country which includes all universities (central and state) and also a few private institutions meeting the requirement.
• It will focus on broad thematic areas such as state and democracy, urban transformation; media, culture and society; employment, skills and rural transformation; governance; innovation and public policy; macro-trade and economic policy and social media and technology.
• The scheme will be implemented till March, 2021.

Cyber swachhta Kendra:

• It is a malware analysis centre aims to create a secure cyber space by detecting botnet infections in India and to notify, enable cleaning and securing systems of end-users to prevent further infections.
• The systems will be scanned by the Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-in) for free of all those users who register to the CSK website.
• This centre will work in coordination with the internet service providers (ISPs) and Industry.
• This Kendra will also enhance awareness among citizens regarding botnet and malware infection along with measures to be taken to secure their devices.
• It is part of Digital India initiative

Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana:

• The Cabinet Committee has approved the renaming of SAMPADA (Scheme for Agro-Marine Processing and Development of Agro-Processing Clusters) as “Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana.
• It is the new Central Sector Scheme that aims to supplement agriculture, modernize processing and decrease Agriculture waste.
• The implementation period of the scheme is 2016-20 coterminous with the 14th Finance Commission cycle.
• It is a comprehensive package to give a renewed thrust to the food processing sector in the country.
• The implementation of this scheme will result in creation of modern infrastructure, growth of food processing sector and providing better prices to the farmers.