Lakhpati Didi scheme

• Aim: To train women self help groups (SHGs) to earn a sustainable income of at least ₹1 lakh per annum by setting up microenterprises within their villages.
• Provide training to women in various skills such as plumbing, LED bulb making, drone operation and repair, tailoring, and weaving.
• Target increased from the existing 2 crore to 3 crore.

Statement/Data: “83 lakh self-help groups with 9 crore women are transforming the rural socio economic landscape with empowerment and self-reliance.”

National Family Health Survey(NFHS)-5 for 2019-21:

• Total Fertility Rate(TFR) declined from 2(2015-16) to 2 at the national level which is below Replacement Level Fertility(RLF).
• Total Fertility Rate: It is an average number of children that a woman would bear over her lifetime.
• Replacement Level Fertility: is the total fertility rate at which a population exactly replaces itself from one generation to the next. This rate is roughly 1 children per woman.

Statement: ““India’s demographics are an opportunity as well as a challenge.”

• The budgetary allocation for the regional connectivity scheme UDAN (Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik) has been slashed by 60%.

Regional Connectivity Scheme UDAN

• To provide connectivity to un-served and under-served airports in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities of the country through revival of existing air-strips and airports.
• Implemented by the Ministry of Civil Aviation.
• The government noted that the number of airports in the country had doubled to 149 since 2014

• Centre will implement three major economic corridor programmes
  • Energy Economic Corridor – energy, mineral, and cement sectors
  • Port connectivity corridor aka Rail Sagar; and
  • high traffic density corridors, aka Amrit Chaturbhuj.
• 434 projects with an investment of ₹11 lakh crore will be rolled out under these programmes.

• The government would launch a scheme to help “deserving sections of the middle class living in rented houses or slums or chawls and unauthorised colonies” buy or build houses.

Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY)

• The PMAY is a credit linked subsidy scheme to facilitate access to affordable housing for low and moderate income groups.
• It has two components
  • PMAY (Urban) for the urban poor under the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs
  • PMAY (Rural) for rural India under the Ministry of Rural Development.
    • Over 2 crore houses have been constructed under the scheme since its launch in 2016.
    • Construction of two crore more houses will be taken up in the next five years.

• Health cover under the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana will be extended to all Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHA) and anganwadi workers and helpers.
• The U-WIN platform will be rolled out, which captures vaccination status and maintains an electronic registry of routine immunisations.
• It will digitise India’s Universal Immunisation Programme (UIP).

Universal Immunization Programme (UIP)

Launched in 1985, the scheme  aims to provide free, universal immunisation against vaccine-preventable diseases.

Key features of the UIP:

• Targets: Children from birth to adolescence and pregnant women.
• Vaccines: Protects against 12 life-threatening diseases
• Delivery: Through a network of government health facilities, outreach camps, and mobile units.

Funding: Fully funded by the central government.

Investment in Research and Development:

Share of govt. and private:

National Research Foundation(NRF) Act, 2023

• Provide high level strategic direction for research, innovation and entrepreneurship in various fields like engineering and technology, environmental and earth sciences, health and agriculture.
• The Act dissolves the Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB) and establishes the National Research Foundation in its place.
• Envisaged spending of 50,000 crore for five years, out of which Rs. 36,000 crore, is going to come from non-governmental sources (industry & philanthropists).