PM HAILS SVAMITVA SCHEME AS IT COMPLETES ONE YEAR
HIGHLIGHTS:
- SVAMITVA (Survey of Villages And Mapping with Improvised Technology in Village Areas) scheme is a collaborative effort of the Ministry of Panchayati Raj, State Panchayati Raj Departments, State Revenue Departments and Survey of India.
- It is a Central Sector Scheme with an aim to provide the ‘Record of Rights’ to village household owners to document their residential properties so that they can use their ownership rights of property for economic purposes.
- This will help in providing an integrated property validation solution for rural India, engaging the latest Drone Surveying technology, for demarcating the inhabitant (Aabadi) land in rural areas.
- Property cards are distributed under this scheme to the respective owners.
- It will help reduce property disputes in rural areas and legal cases.
- This scheme will facilitate monetization of properties of the citizens of rural India by enabling them to use their property as a financial asset by taking loans and other financial benefits.
- This scheme will help in creation of accurate land records for rural planning, thus streamlining planning and revenue collection in rural areas and ensuring clarity on property rights by proper demarcation of properties
- The scheme will also enable creation of better-quality Gram Panchayat Development Plans (GPDP) by making use of GIS maps and ensuring rapid development of rural areas.
- Determination of property tax, which would accrue to the Gram Panchayats directly in States where it is devolved or else, add to the State exchequer.
- Creation of survey infrastructure and GIS maps that can be leveraged by any department for their use and help in making new building plans and issuance of permits.
Source: The Hindu, The Print, PIB.
AFTER A HIATUS, HOUSEHOLD CONSUMER SPENDING SURVEY TO RESUME IN JULY
HIGHLIGHTS:
- It will be carried out by National Statistical Office between July 2022 and June 2023.
- Usually carried out every 5 years, the survey helps assess poverty levels and consumption patterns across the country and rebase GDP calculations.
- The survey mainly talks about estimates of household monthly per capita consumer expenditure (MPCE) and the distribution of households and persons over different MPCE classes.
- The government had junked the findings of the last survey conducted in 2017-18, citing ‘data quality’ issues.
- The results of the survey will include separate data sets for rural and urban parts, and also splice spending patterns for each state and union territory, as well as different socio-economic groups.
- In the previous survey, that was done almost a decade ago (2011-12), there was a significant increase in divergence in not only the levels in the consumption patterns but also the direction of change when compared to other administrative data sources like the actual production of goods and services.
- There were also concerns about the ability/sensitivity of the survey instrument to capture consumption of social services by households especially on health and education.
- The survey could not be launched in the past two years due to pandemic.
Source: The Hindu
FSSAI ORDERS LICENSE REVIEW OF PACKAGED DRINKING WATER BOTTLERS
HIGHLIGHTS:
- The food regulator has asked food commissioners of states and union territories to review licenses granted to bottlers of Packaged Drinking Water (PDW).
- The action has been taken due to mounting complaints about water being sold without BIS (Bureau of Indian Standards) certification.
- The BIS certification is mandatory on packaged water bottles.
- FSSAI has asked states/UTs to conduct a special drive to ensure if all manufacturers of PDW and mineral water have minimum BIS number or not and accordingly take action.
- As per BIS, the newly published standards for drinking water is IS 17482:2020.
- It has also directed states to conduct a special drive to check the quality of drinking water.
- It has directed its counterparts in the state to review and rectify any misuse of labelling in the context of misuse of term ORS by certain fruit based or Ready to drink beverage manufacturers.
Source: Mint
PALLI IN JAMMU AND KASHMIR BECOMES INDIA’S FIRST CARBON-NEUTRAL PANCHAYAT
HIGHLIGHTS:
- It is a nondescript hamlet in J&K’s border district of Samba which is now fully powered by solar energy.
- All its records have been digitised and the benefits of all the central schemes are available in this village.
- All 1500 solar panels put up in a total area of 6408 square metres will provide clean electricity to 340 houses in the model panchayat under the central government’s ‘Gram Urja Swaraj’ programme.
- PM Modi described Palli as an example of sabka prayas where every household in Palli offered rotis to workers who completed the solar power plant.
- He said that the government was pushing for major technology-related measures, e-swaraj and mode of payments to make panchayats more powerful.
- He also asked panchayats to participate in the movement to segregate waste at the doorstep and reduce the use of chemical fertilisers.
Source: The Hindu, Mint
