Indira Awaas Yojana Renamed as PMAY
• Union government’s rural housing scheme Indira Awaas Yojana (LAY) restructured and renamed as Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana (PMAY), on September 22, 2016.
• Under the new scheme, the government is aiming to construct one crore houses by the year 2019.
• IAY was launched by Rajiv Gandhi in 1985, it is a centrally sponsored scheme funded on a cost sharing basis between the Centre and States in the 60 : 40 ratio, except in case of North-Eastern States and Union Territories (UTs).
• For North-Eastern States, the Central government funds 90% of the cost and 100% for the UTs.
Incredible India Tourism Investment Summit 2016
• Incredible India Tourism Investors Summit (IITIS), 2016 started on September 21, 2016.
• It is a platform for the investors across the globe r to explore investment opportunities available within the ambit of India’s tourism sector as well as core infrastructure.
• The three-day summit is an initiative of the Ministry of Tourism, government of India, in association with Tourism Finance Corporation of India (TFCI) and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).
• Micro of Small and Micro Enterprises (MSME) in tourism sector, panel discussions on core infrastructure for tourism, session on startups, digital India, investing into Swadesh Darshan, PRASAD.
North-East Connectivity Summit Held
• North-East Connectivity Summit is a cross sectoral initiative of FICCI with the objective of highlighting the connectivity gaps and proposing a comprehensive connectivity agenda apart from encouraging private sector investment in connectivity infrastructure concluded in Agartala on September 23, 2016.
• The summit has help bring into focus the opportunities in developing connectivity of North-East and its associated strategic and economic advantages for the entire India.
• The summit has provided unique platform for strategic dialogue between various stakeholders including government of India, BBIN and South Asian countries. Private sector and others.
• The summit has helped gain intellectual input from various expert agencies on the theme of connectivity aided development with North-East at the centre stage.
New Import Policy for Marble, Travertine Blocks Notified
• In an effort to balance the interests of domestic consumers, producers and processors, and ease the system for import of marble & travertine blocks, the government has notified a new policy with effect from October 1, 2016.
• Under the new policy, the Department of Commerce has notified the end of quantitative restriction on imports of marble & travertine blocks, as well as the associated restrictive import licensing system.
• The Minimum Import Price (MIP) for import of marble blocks has been reduced to $ 200/tonne to address the distortions. The interest of domestic producers, basic customs duty on import of marble & travertine blocks will go up four times from the present 10% to 40% from October 1, 2016.
• The MIP on marble slabs is also being reduced to $40/sq m and basic customs duty is being doubled from 10% to 20%.
Cleanliness Drive ‘Swachhta Saptah’ Launched
• The Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu launched the ‘Swachhta Saptah’ as part of the Swachh Rail Swachh Bharat Mission from New j Delhi Railway Station on September 16, 2016.
• As a pilot project, Sulabh started cleaning and maintenance of five . important railway stations namely Gorakhpur, Old Delhi, Jaipur, Ahamadabad and Gwalior.
• Cleanliness programme has certain defined thrusts like Swachh Stations (Clean Stations), Swachh Rail Gaadi(Clean Train), Swachh Neer(Clean Water), Swachh Parisar(Clean Complex), Swachh Sahyog j (Cleanliness Participation), Swachh Samvad (Cleanliness Dialogue), Swachh Samarpan (Dedication for ensuring Cleanliness), Swachh Aahar (Clean Food).
Toll Free Number Launched for Postal Complaints
• The Union government launched toll free number 1924 to register postal complaints, for redressal of telecom and postal grievances on September 12, 2016.
• The service will be operational initially for 12 hours on working days between 8:00 am to 8:00 pm. The DoP will set-up a nodal officer in all postal circles who will handle public complaints.
• The service has been started initially in three languages – Hindi, English, Malayalam and gradually we will start services in all scheduled languages.
