Friday, June 16, 2023
Wednesday, June 14, 2023
Tuesday, June 13, 2023
Sunday, June 11, 2023
Saturday, June 3, 2023
Sunday, March 26, 2023
Tuesday, February 21, 2023
Sunday, February 19, 2023
Global Quality Infrastructure Index (GQII) 2021
India’s national accreditation system under the Quality Council of India (QCI) has been ranked 5th in the world in the recent Global Quality Infrastructure Index (GQII) 2021.
- India’s overall QI system ranking continues to be in the Top 10 at the 10th position, with
- the standardization system (under BIS) at 9th and
- The metrology system (under NPL-CSIR) at 21st position in the world.
About Global Quality Infrastructure Index (GQII):
- The GQII ranks the 184 economies in the world on the basis of quality infrastructure (QI).
- The GQII is a database and ranking that allows interested persons to compare the quality infrastructure of different countries worldwide.
- The GQII program is an initiative of the independent consulting firms Mesopartner and Analytics to research and disseminate data on Quality Infrastructure.
- Quality Infrastructure means the international system of metrology, standardization, accreditation and quality-related services (testing, calibration, inspection, verification, training and awareness building).
- GQII rankings are published and presented post-facto for each year based on the data collected till the end of that year.
About Quality Council of India:
- It was established as a National body for Accreditation on recommendations of Expert Mission of EU after consultations in Inter-ministerial Task Force, Committee of Secretaries and Group of Ministers through a Cabinet decision in 1996.
- QCI was set up through a PPP model as an independent autonomous organization with the support of Government of India and the Indian Industry represented by the three premier industry associations, (i) Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM), (ii) Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and (iii) Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).
- QCI is a non-profit organization registered under the Societies Registration Act XXI of 1860.
- The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, Ministry of Commerce and Industry was designated as the nodal point for all matters connected with quality and QCI to structure and help implementation of the Cabinet decision.
- It is operated through the constituent Boards of QCI, primarily the National Accreditation Board for Certification Bodies (NABCB), which provides accreditation to the certification, inspection, and validation / verification bodies.
- The National Accreditation Board for Testing & Calibration Laboratories (NABL), which provides accreditation to the testing, calibration and medical laboratories.
Tuesday, February 7, 2023
2023 - 24 బడ్జెట్లో ప్రవేశపెట్టిన పథకాలు
ఫిబ్రవరి 1న కేంద్ర ఆర్థికమంత్రి నిర్మలా సీతారామన్ 2023-24కు సంబంధించి బడ్జెట్ను ప్రవేశపెట్టారు. అంతర్జాతీయ ఆర్థికమాంద్యం పరిస్థితుల నడుమ ప్రవేశపెట్టిన ఈ బడ్జెట్ను అమృతకాల బడ్జెట్గా మంత్రి పేర్కొన్నారు. ఇందులో విద్య, యువ నైపుణ్యాలు వంటి కొన్ని అంశాలకు పెద్దపీట వేయగా, వ్యవసాయం వంటివాటిని ఎప్పటిలాగే కొనసాగించారు. ఈ ఏడాది కొన్ని కొత్త పథకాలను మంత్రి ప్రవేశపెట్టారు.
iGOT కర్మయోగి (iGOT Karmayogi):
ప్రభుత్వ ఉద్యోగాల్లో ఉన్న లక్షలాది మంది తమలోని నైపుణ్యాలు పెంచుకోడానికి ప్రవేశపెట్టిందే ఈ పథకం. ఇందులో ఇంటిగ్రేటెడ్ ఆన్లైన్ లెర్నింగ్ విధానంలో ఉద్యోగులు స్కిల్స్ నేర్చుకోవచ్చు.
ఎంఎస్ఎంఈ (MSME):
చిన్న, మధ్య తరహ సంస్థలకు రుణాలు మంజూరు చేసే ఈ పథకానికి రూ.9,000 కోట్లు కేటాయించింది. రూ.రెండు లక్షల కోట్ల తనఖా లేని రుణాలకు ఇది ఉపయోగపడుతుంది. రుణ వ్యయం ఒక శాతం మేర తగ్గుతుంది.
మహిళా సమ్మాన్ బచత్ పాత్రా (Mahila Samman Bachat Patra):
ఆజాదీకా అమృత్ మహోత్సవ్ను పురస్కరించుకుని రూపొందించిన పథకం. ఇందులో మహిళ లేదా బాలిక పేరు మీద రూ.2 లక్షలు డిపాజిట్ చేయాలి. రెండు సంవత్సరాల తర్వాత అంటే 2025 మార్చి తర్వాత తీసుకోవచ్చు. దీనికి 7.5 వడ్డీ ఇస్తారు. మధ్యలో అవసరాన్ని బట్టి నగదు తీసుకునే అవకాశం కూడా ఉంది.
పీఎం ప్రణామ్ (PM PRANAM):
వ్యవసాయంలో ఎరువుల వాడకాన్ని తగ్గించి, నేలను కాపాడుకునేందుకు ప్రవేశపెట్టిందే ఇది. రసాయన ఎరువుల వాడకాన్ని తగ్గించి సేంద్రియ ఎరువులు వాడేలా ప్రోత్సహించడం. రైతులకు అవగాహన కల్పించడం.
అమృత్ దరోహర్ పథకం (Amrit Dharohar Scheme):
చిత్తడి నేలల వినియోగం పెంచేందుకు, జీవ వైవిధ్యాన్ని కాపాడుకునేందుకు, భూమిలో కార్బన్ నిల్వలు పెంచుకోవడం ద్వారా పర్యావరణ సమతుల్యతను కాపాడుకోవడం దీని లక్ష్యాలు. రాబోయే మూడేళ్లు ఈ పథకాన్ని అమలు చేయనున్నారు.
పీఎం మత్స్య సంపద యోజన:
మత్స్యకారులు, చేపల విక్రేతలు వంటి చిరు రంగాల వారు ఆర్థికాభివృద్ధి సాధించేందుకు, వారి వ్యాపారాన్ని మరింత విస్తరించుకునేందుకు ఈ పథకాన్ని ప్రవేశపెట్టారు. దీనికి గాను రూ.6,000 కోట్లు కేటాయించారు. వీటికి సంబంధించిన కొత్త పరిశ్రమలను ఏర్పాటు చేయడానికి పరిశీలించి నిధులు మంజూరు చేస్తారు.
గోబర్దన్ పథకం (GOBARdhan):
అంటే గాల్వనైజింగ్ ఆర్గానిక్ బయో అగ్రో రిసోర్సెస్) రూ.పదివేల కోట్ల పెట్టుబడితో 500 ప్లాంట్లు స్థాపిస్తారు. ఇందులో జీవ వ్యర్థాల నుంచి బయోగ్యాస్ తయారుచేస్తారు.
గ్రీన్ క్రెడిట్ ప్రొగ్రాం (Green Credit Programme):
పర్యావరణ రక్షణ కోసం, కాలుష్య కారకాలను తగ్గించి పర్యావరణ సమతుల్యత పాటించేలా ప్రణాళిక అమలు చేయడమే దీని ముఖ్య ఉద్దేశం. వనరులు పెంచేలా ప్రోత్సహించడం, ప్రత్యేక కార్యాచరణ అమలు చేయడం.నేషనల్ అప్రెంటిస్ షిప్ ప్రమోషన్ స్కీం: యువతల్లో నైపుణ్యాలు ప్రోత్సహించడానికి ఈ స్కీం ఉపయోగపడుతుంది. మూడు సంవత్సరాలలో 47 లక్షల మందికి స్టైఫండ్ ఇస్తారు.
ల్యాబ్ గ్రోన్ డైమండ్స్ (Lab Grown Diamonds):
స్వదేశీ విజ్ఞానాన్ని ప్రోత్సహించి, దిగుమతులు తగ్గించుకునేందుకు LGD స్కీం ఉపయోగపడుతుంది. స్వదేశీ విత్తనాలు, యంత్రాలు రూపొందించేలా చూడటం, వీటికి సంబంధించిన పరిశోధనలపై ఆర్థిక సహకారం అందించడం.
Monday, February 6, 2023
PRADHAN MANTRI KRISHI SINCHAYEE YOJANA
Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY) was launched during the year 2015-16 to enhance physical access of water on farm and expand cultivable area under assured irrigation, improve on-farm water use efficiency, introduce sustainable water conservation practices, etc.
PMKSY is an umbrella scheme, consisting of two major components being implemented by the Department of Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation, Ministry of Jal Shakti, namely, Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme (AIBP), and Har Khet Ko Pani (HKKP). HKKP, in turn, consists of four sub-components: (i) Command Area Development & Water Management (CAD&WM); (ii) Surface Minor Irrigation (SMI); (iii) Repair, Renovation and Restoration (RRR) of Water Bodies; and (iv) Ground Water (GW) Development. In 2016, with the launching of revised AIBP format, CAD&WM sub-component of HKKP was taken up for pari passu implementation with AIBP.
In addition, PMKSY consists of two other components implemented by other Ministries. Per Drop More Crop (PDMC) component is being implemented by Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, while Watershed Development component (WDC) of PMKSY is being implemented by Department of Land Resources.
Further, in December, 2021, implementation of PMKSY for the period 2021-22 to 2025-26 has been approved by Government of India. However, approval of Ground Water component under PMKSY-HKKP has provisionally been accorded till 2021-22, which has been extended subsequently till completion of ongoing works. Also, Per Drop More Crop component, which was earlier a component of PMKSY, is now being implemented separately.
World Wetlands Day
The World Wetlands Day is observed on 2nd February every year all over the world to commemorate the signing of Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance in 1971. India is a party to the Convention since 1982 and has so far declared 75 wetlands as Ramsar sites covering 23 states and Union Territories.
The 2023 theme for World Wetlands Day is ‘Wetland Restoration’ which highlights the urgent need to prioritize wetland restoration. It is a call on an entire generation to take proactive action for wetlands, by investing financial, human and political capital to save the wetlands from disappearing and to revive and restore those that have been degraded.
India has the largest network of Ramsar Sites in Asia, making these sites a critical ecological network for conservation of global biological diversity and supporting human well-being. The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) launched Mission Sahbhagita in 2022 with a mission of ‘a healthy and effectively managed network of 75 wetlands of national and international significance which support water and food security; buffer from floods, droughts, cyclones and other extreme events; employment generation; conservation of species of local, national and international significance; climate change mitigation and adaptation actions; and recognition, conservation and celebration of cultural heritage.’
First Energy Transitions Working Group Meeting held in Bengaluru
The first G20 Energy Transitions Working Group (ETWG) Meeting under India’s Presidency will begin in Bengaluru on 05 February 2023.
Union Minister for Power and New and Renewable Energy Shri R.K. Singh will deliver keynote address of the three-day event. Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, Coal and Mines Shri Pralhad Joshi will give special address.
The first G20 ETWG Meeting under India’s Presidency being held in Bengaluru will have over 150 participants including G20 member countries, nine special invitee guest countries – Bangladesh, Egypt, Mauritius, Netherlands, Nigeria, Oman, Singapore, UAE and Spain. India’s G20 Presidency will share, collaborate, and build on the sense of trusteeship amongst the member countries to help build a sustainable future for all.
The priority areas of ETWG meeting include Energy Transition through Addressing Technology Gaps; Low-cost Financing for Energy Transition; Energy Security and Diversified Supply Chains; Energy Efficiency, Industrial Low Carbon Transitions and Responsible Consumption; Fuels for Future (3F) and Universal Access to Clean Energy and Just, Affordable, and Inclusive Energy Transition Pathways.
The Energy Transitions Working Group while retaining focus on achieving energy transition, will emphasize on addressing technology gaps and financing to ensure that it is delivered across countries in a time-bound and affordable manner without compromising the energy needs of the communities.
The expected outcomes of the deliberations would include agreement to advance cooperation initiatives under Research and Development-20 roadmap for channelizing adequate low-cost international finance towards deployment of critical technologies, declaration on collective efforts to ensure energy security and diversified supply chains of new energy sources, roadmap for doubling global rate of improvement in energy efficiency by 2030, action plan for enhancing and promoting
bio-energy cooperation, and recommendations on global best practices for supporting Just, Affordable, and Inclusive energy transitions.
On the sidelines, a high-level international seminar on ‘Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage (CCUS)’ has been organized. The seminar will focus on highlighting the importance of carbon capture, utilization, and storage, considered vital for achieving net-zero targets.
As part of the first ETWG Meeting, delegates will also visit Infosys Green Building Campus and Pavagada Solar Park to see first-hand India’s push towards renewable sector and efforts to mitigate climate change.
Indian Semiconductor Mission
India Semiconductor Mission (ISM) has been setup as an Independent Business Division within Digital India Corporation having administrative and financial autonomy to formulate and drive India’s long-term strategies for developing semiconductors and display manufacturing facilities and semiconductor design ecosystem. Envisioned to be led by global experts in the Semiconductor and Display industry, ISM is serving as the nodal agency for efficient, coherent and smooth implementation of the programme for development of semiconductor and manufacturing ecosystem in India.
Objectives of ISM are as under:
- Formulate a comprehensive long-term strategy for developing sustainable semiconductors and display manufacturing facilities and semiconductor design eco-system in the country in consultation with the Government ministries / departments / agencies, industry, and academia.
- Facilitate the adoption of secure microelectronics and developing trusted semiconductor supply chain, including raw materials, specialty chemicals, gases, and manufacturing equipment.
- Enable a multi-fold growth of Indian semiconductor design industry by providing requisite support in the form of Electronic Design Automation (EDA) tools, foundry services and other suitable mechanisms for early-stage start-ups.
- Promote and facilitate indigenous Intellectual Property (IP) generation.
- Encourage, enable and incentivize Transfer of Technologies (ToT).
- Establish suitable mechanisms to harness economies of scale in Indian semiconductor and display industry.
- Enable cutting-edge research in semiconductors and display industry including evolutionary and revolutionary technologies through grants, global collaborations and other mechanisms in academia / research institutions, industry, and through establishing Centres of Excellence (CoEs).
- Enable collaborations and partnership programs with national and international agencies, industries and institutions for catalysing collaborative research, commercialization and skill development.
ISM has been working as nodal agency for the Schemes approved under Semicon India Programme. The applications were received by ISM and are being appraised by ISM. ISM has also been engaging with various stakeholders of Semiconductors and Display ecosystem to attract the investments in India. So far INR 13 crore has been released to ISM.
Government is very focused on its important objective of building the overall semiconductor ecosystem and ensure that, it in-turn catalyses India’s rapidly expanding electronics manufacturing and innovation ecosystem. Government has approved the Semicon India programme with a total outlay of INR 76,000 crore for the development of semiconductor and display manufacturing ecosystem in the country. The programme has further been modified in view of the aggressive incentives offered by countries already having an established semiconductor ecosystem and a limited number of companies owning advanced node technologies. The modified programme aims to provide financial support to companies investing in semiconductors, display manufacturing and design ecosystem. This will serve to pave the way for India’s growing presence in the global electronics value chains.
Following four schemes have been introduced under the aforesaid programme:
- ‘Modified Scheme for setting up of Semiconductor Fabs in India’ for attracting large investments for setting up semiconductor wafer fabrication facilities in the country to strengthen the electronics manufacturing ecosystem and help establish a trusted value chain. The Scheme extends a fiscal support of 50% of the project cost on pari-passu basis for setting up of Silicon CMOS based Semiconductor Fab in India.
- ‘Modified Scheme for setting up of Display Fabs in India’ for attracting large investments for manufacturing TFT LCD or AMOLED based display panels in the country to strengthen the electronics manufacturing ecosystem. Scheme extends fiscal support of 50% of Project Cost on pari-passu basis for setting up of Display Fabs in India.
- ‘Modified Scheme for setting up of Compound Semiconductors / Silicon Photonics / Sensors Fab / Discrete Semiconductors Fab and Semiconductor Assembly, Testing, Marking and Packaging (ATMP) / OSAT facilities in India’ shall extends a fiscal support of 50% of the Capital Expenditure on Pari-passu basis for setting up of Compound Semiconductors / Silicon Photonics (SiPh) / Sensors (including MEMS) Fab/ Discrete Semiconductor Fab and Semiconductor ATMP / OSAT facilities in India.
- ‘Semicon India Future Design: Design Linked Incentive (DLI) Scheme’offers financial incentives, design infrastructure support across various stages of development and deployment of semiconductor design for Integrated Circuits (ICs), Chipsets, System on Chips (SoCs), Systems & IP Cores and semiconductor linked design. The scheme provides “Product Design Linked Incentive” of up to 50% of the eligible expenditure subject to a ceiling of ₹15 Crore per application and “Deployment Linked Incentive” of 6% to 4% of net sales turnover over 5 years subject to a ceiling of ₹30 Crore per application.
In addition to the above schemes, the Government has also approved modernisation of Semi-Conductor Laboratory, Mohali as a brownfield Fab.
The government has reached out foreign semiconductor companies and invited them to set up semiconductor and display manufacturing facilities in the country. As a result, India Semiconductor Mission, a Nodal Agency setup for implementation of the programme has received proposals under all schemes which are currently under consideration.
MoHUA signs MoU to develop Waste to Wealth plants in million plus cities
Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs, Smt Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Budget 2023-2024 listing the seven priorities or the ‘Saptarishi’ guiding us through the Amrit Kaal. In the ‘Green Growth’ segment, 500 new Waste to Wealth plants will be established under the GOBARdhan scheme for promoting circular economy. These will include 200 compressed biogas plants, 75 in urban areas, 300 community or cluster-based plants, at a total investment of Rs 10,000 Cr.
As part of furthering the ‘Green Growth’ agenda, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Engineers India Limited to develop Waste to Energy and bio-methanation projects in cities with a population of million plus. In the presence of Mr. Manoj Joshi, Secretary, MoHUA and Ms. Vartika Shukla, C&MD, EIL, the MoU was signed by Ms. Roopa Mishra, Joint Secretary, SBM-U & Mission Director, MoHUA and Mr. R.K. Rathi, Executive Director, EIL.
The thrust on sustainable solid waste management has been strengthened under the ambit of Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban 2.0, with the overall vision of creating garbage-free cities. Focusing on this objective, MoHUA has decided to set up large-scale solid waste processing facilities in million plus cities. There are 59 million plus cities in India like Lucknow, Kanpur, Bareilly, Nasik, Thane, Nagpur, Gwalior, Chennai, Madurai, Coimbatore to name a few. For management of organic/wet fraction of municipal solid waste bio-methanation plants have been proposed in these million plus cities.
In February 2022, Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, inaugurated Asia’s biggest municipal solid waste based GOBARdhan plant in Indore aiming to generate 19,000 kg bio-CNG gas. Under Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban 2.0, the bio-methanation plants linked to the GOBARdhan and SATAT schemes will produce Bio-CNG as a renewable energy.
Waste to Energy plants use dry waste fraction of municipal solid waste and produce renewable power with maximum reduction of waste volume utilizing least space in execution in compliance with SWM Rules 2016 and fulfill all the statutory norms of environment protection. Waste to Energy and bio-methanation projects will integrate the concept of circularity in waste management by producing green energy from dry and wet waste component of municipal solid waste. The by-product such as electricity and Bio-CNG will also help in achieving sustainability of waste management operations.
EIL will assist and handhold the million plus cities in developing such projects for larger quantum of waste integrating circularity in waste management. In the first phase, 25 million plus cities will be selected for developing large-scale process plants. The success of these projects will be pivotal as it will be conceptualized and executed as bench-marking for such projects. Thus, collaboration for providing support in preliminary technical assessment and Transaction Advisory services from EIL will have significant impact. EIL will also handhold ULBs in carrying out monitoring process of these PPP projects during the construction phase and will assist in obtaining statutory approvals. The initiative will result in additional processing capacity of 15,000 TPD for Bio-Methanation and 10,000 TPD for Waste to Energy respectively.
URBAN INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT FUND TO BE ESTABLISHED
States and cities will be encouraged to undertake urban planning reforms and actions to transform cities into ‘sustainable cities of tomorrow’. This means efficient use of land resources, adequate resources for urban infrastructure, transit-oriented development, enhanced availability and affordability of urban land, and opportunities for all. This was stated by Union Finance & Corporate Affairs Minister Smt Nirmala Sitharaman while presenting the Union Budget 2023-24 in the Parliament on 01-02-2013.
Urban Infrastructure Development Fund:
Smt. Sitharaman mentioned that an Urban Infrastructure Development Fund (UIDF) will be established through use of priority sector lending shortfall. This will be managed by the National Housing Bank, and will be used by public agencies to create urban infrastructure in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities.
Making Cities Ready for Municipal Bonds
The Finance Minister said that the cities will be incentivized to improve their credit worthiness for municipal bonds. This will be done through property tax governance reforms and ring-fencing user charges on urban infrastructure.
Urban Sanitation
All cities and towns will be enabled for 100 per cent mechanical desludging of septic tanks and sewers to transition from manhole to machine-hole mode. Enhanced focus will be provided for scientific management of dry and wet waste.