LEFT OVER TOPICS on India Year Book-2017

Borders and Indian states

 Indian States which shares international border with Nepal – Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh,
Bihar, West Bengal, Sikkim (5 Indian states shares its border with Nepal)
 Indian states which shares international border with Bhutan – Sikkim, West Bengal, Assam,
Arunachal Pradesh ( 4 states shares border with Bhutan)
 Indian states which shares international border with Bangladesh – West Bengal, Assam,
Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram (5 Indian states shares border with Bangladesh)
 Indian states which shares international border with Myanmar – Arunachal Pradesh,
Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram ( 4 Indian states shares its border with Myanmar)
 So by this data we can say that the country which shares its border with maximum number
of Indian States is a tie between China, Nepal and Bangladesh each of which shares border
with 5 Indian States. In other words the country which touches maximum number of Indian
states are China, Nepal and Bangladesh (each touching 5 Indian states).
 The maximum number of International boundaries shared by any Indian State is three (3
only). In other words there are only maximum three neighbouring countries for some
particular Indian States. These states are Sikkim, West Bengal and Arunachal Pradesh.
 Countries by which Sikkim shares international boundary – Bhutan in east, China in north
and Nepal in west.
 Countries by which West Bengal shares international boundary – Bangladesh in east, Nepal
in north and Bhutan in northeast.
 Countries by which Arunachal Pradesh shares international boundary – Myanmar in east,
China in north and Bhutan in west.
 There are 4 Indian states which shares international boundary with 2 countries. In other
words there 4 Indian states which has 2 neighbouring countries. These states east to west
are Mizoram and Assam in northeast; Uttarakhand and Jammu Kashmir in north. Mizoram
shares international border with Bangladesh and Mayanmar while Assam touches
Bangladesh and Bhutan. Uttarakhand shares its border with Nepal and China while Jammu
Kashmir shares its border with China and Pakistan.
 There are 10 states which share their international border with only one country. These state
from east to west are Nagaland, Manipur, Tripura, Meghalaya, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh,
Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan and Gujarat.
 From the above data it is clear that the India shares longest border with Bangladesh. India
shares second longest border length with China. The country by which India shares least
border length is Bhutan (if Afghanistan’s shared border is neglected as it is not in India’s
control).

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National Authority Chemicals Weapons Convention (NACWC)
NACWC has been established under the Chemical Weapons Convention Act, 2000 for
implementing the provisions of the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development,
Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on their Destruction, signed on
behalf of the Government of India at Paris on the 14th day of January, 1993. NACWC is an
office in the Cabinet Secretariat, Government of India.

Ministries/Departments

 Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers- Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals,

Department of Fertilizers, Department of Pharmaceuticals.
 Ministry of Defence- Department of Defence, Department of Defence Production,
Department of Defence Research & Development, Department of Ex-Servicemen Welfare
 Ministry of Earth Sciences- India Meteorological Department (IMD)
 Ministry of Finance- Department of Economic Affairs, Department of Expenditure,
Department of Financial Services, Department of Investment and Public Asset Management,
Department of Revenue
 Ministry of Home Affairs- Department of Border Management, Department of Home,
Department of Internal Security, Department of Jammu & Kashmir (J & K) Affairs,
Department of Official Language, Department of States

Price Stabilisation Fund

 The Department of Agriculture & Cooperation has approved the Price Stabilisation Fund
(PSF) as a Central Sector Scheme, with a corpus of Rs.500 crores, to support market
interventions for price control of perishable agri-horticultural commodities. PSF will be used
to advance interest free loan to State Governments and Central agencies to support their
working capital and other expenses on procurement and distribution interventions for such
commodities. For this purpose, the States will set up a revolving fund to which Centre and
State will contribute equally (50:50). The ratio of Centre-State contribution to the State level
corpus in respect of North East States will however be 75:25. The revolving fund is being
mooted so that requirements for all future interventions can be decided and met with at the
State level itself. Central Agencies will, however, set up their revolving fund entirely with the
advance from the Centre. Procurement of these commodities will be undertaken directly
from farmers or farmers’ organizations at farm gate/mandi and made available at a more
reasonable price to the consumers. Initially the fund is proposed to be used for onion and
potato only. Losses incurred, if any, in the operations will be shared between the Centre
and the States.

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Schemes related to Education
Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalya (KGBV) scheme was launched in July 2004, for setting up
residential schools at appear primary level for girls belonging predominantly to the SC, ST,OBC
and minority communities. The scheme is being implemented in Educationally Backward Blocks
(EBBs) of the country where the female rural literacy is below the national average and gender
gap in literacy is above the national average. The scheme provides minimum reservation of 75
per cent of the seats for girls belonging to SC, ST communities and priority for the remaining 25
per cent, is accorded to girls from families below poverty line. The Kasturba Gandhi Balika
Vidylaya scheme was merged with Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan in the XIth Plan with effect from 1st
April, 2008. The scheme is not being implemented in the States and UTs of Andaman &
Nicobar, Chandigarh, Delhi, Daman & Diu, Goa, Kerala, Lakshadweep, Puducherry and Sikkim
as no blocks in these states and UTs fall under the category of EBB.
Rashtriya Avishkar Abhiyan was launched on 9th July 2015. This programme is directed
towards creating interest among school going students from classes I to XII in sciences. Model
labs would be created all over the country for this purpose. The key activities under this
programme include mentoring of elementary and secondary schools by Institutions of higher
Education; forming Maths and Science clubs for children at school and professional
development of teachers in order to make teaching of Maths and Science interesting for
students. The activities/components of RAA are funded under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and
Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan.
Padhe Bharat Badhe Bharat: It is a sub-programme of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan launched in
August, 2014 with special focus on improving language development and to create interest
in mathematics. The two tracks of Padhe Bharat Badhe Bharat are: Early reading and writing
with comprehension (ERWC) and Early mathematics (EM).
Digital Gender Atlas for Advancing Girls’ Education in India: It was launched on 8th March 2015.
The tool will help identify low performing geographic pockets for girls, particularly from
marginalised groups.
Udaan: This Scheme is dedicated to the development of girl child education, so as to promote
the admission of girl students. It seeks to enhance the enrolment of girl students in prestigious
technical education institutions through incentives & academic support.
"Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao" programme, launched on January 20, 2015 has ushered in to
encourage education among girl children. The programme is a joint initiative of Ministry of
Women and Child Development, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and Ministry of Human
Resource Development.
Saransh: The CBSE Board has launched an on-line facility titled ‘Saransh’ for affiliated & CBSE
schools on 2ndNovember, 2014. It helps the schools to look at their performance at an
aggregate level and at the level of each student. It is an online self-review tool for schools

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affiliated to the CBSE. It allows schools to identify areas of improvement in students, teachers &
curriculum and take necessary measures to implement change. It also provides schools with a
view of overall and individual student’s performance in academic & extra-curricular activities.
Mid Day Meal Scheme: The IVR (Interactive Voice Response System) to monitor the daily
implementation of Mid Day Meal scheme was showcased this year during the National
Conference on ICT in School Education. There are two recent interventions viz Tithi Bhojan and
Social Audit designed to attract community participation and channelize it for enrichment of Mid
Day Meal Scheme. The Central Government has requested the States to consider the concept
of Tithi Bhojan for mid day meals in a suitable manner, to encourage local community
participation the programme. Social Audit, another intervention under this Scheme means is a
process in which people collectively monitor and evaluate the planning and implementation of
the Scheme. It is viewed as an ongoing process of public vigilance. Bihar, Karnataka,
Maharashtra, Odisha and Punjab have completed Social Audit. Social Audit is under progress
in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.

Global Initiative for Academics Network (GIAN), was launched asan initiative to attract the
best foreign academics to Indian Universities of Excellence. The programme has been
launched to facilitate the partnership between Higher Education Institutions of India and other
foreign universities.
Study Webs of Active-Learning for Young Aspiring Minds (SWAYAM), is a Web portal where
Massive Open On-line Courses (MOOCs) will be available on all kinds of subjects. SWAYAM is
the Indian electronic e-education platform which proposes to offer courses from the high school
stage to Post-Graduate stage in an interactive electronic platform. The IT platform for
SWAYAM is going to be built and is expected to be operationalized by 31st March 2016 with a
capacity to host nearly 2,000 courses. This would provide the best quality education to more
than three crore students across the country. The system would allow 10 lakh students using
the system concurrently.

Unnat Bharat Abhiyan was launched for connecting higher education and society to enable
technology and its use for development of rural areas. Under this all technical and higher
education institutions have been asked to adopt five villages each; identify technology gaps and
prepare plans for innovations that could substantially increase the incomes and growth in the
rural areas.
Ucchtar Aavishkar Abhiyaan : For promotion of innovation, All the IITs have been encouraged to
work with the industry to identify areas where innovation is required and come up with solutions
that could be brought up to the commercialization level. For this purpose, it is proposed to
launch a scheme Ucchtar Aavishkar Abhiyan by investing Rs. 250 crores every year on
identified projects proposed by IITs and NITs.
Ishan Vikas is comprehensive programme to introduce school children from the North-Eastern
states to high quality academia. A separate programme also provides summer internship for

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college students studying in educational institutions in the North-East. The Ministry of HRD and
the University Grants Commission has taken special interest with regard to promotion of higher
education in the NER. For improving the GER, promoting higher education and for encouraging
children belonging to economically weaker section of the NE region, the UGC has decided to
launch “Ishan Uday” Special Scholarship Scheme for North Eastern Region from academic
session 2014-15.

Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana

The Government has decided to introduce and implement Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti
Yojana in the country. Deendayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY) envisages feeder
separation, strengthening of sub-transmission and distribution system including metering of
distribution transformers/feeders/consumers and rural electrification with scheme cost of
Rs.43033 crore during the entire implementation period. The major components of the scheme
are feeder separation; strengthening of sub-transmission and distribution network; Metering at
all levels (input points, feeders and distribution transformers); Micro grid and off grid distribution
network & Rural electrification- already sanctioned projects under RGGVY to be completed.

National Mission for Urban Housing

The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, today gave its approval
for launch of “Housing for All by 2022” aimed for urban areas with following components/options
to States/Union Territories and cities:-

(a) Slum rehabilitation of Slum Dwellers with participation of private developers using land as a
resource;
(b) Promotion of affordable housing for weaker section through credit linked subsidy;
(c) Affordable housing in partnership with Public & Private sectors and
(d) Subsidy for beneficiary-led individual house construction or enhancement.

National Health Policy, 2017 (NHP, 2017)

 The Policy seeks to reach everyone in a comprehensive integrated way to move towards
wellness.
 It aims at achieving universal health coverage and delivering quality health care services to
all at affordable cost.

 This Policy looks at problems and solutions holistically with private sector as strategic
partners. It seeks to promote quality of care, focus is on emerging diseases and investment
in promotive and preventive healthcare.

 The policy is patient centric and quality driven.

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 It addresses health security and make in India for drugs and devices.
 In order to provide access and financial protection at secondary and tertiary care levels, the
policy proposes free drugs, free diagnostics and free emergency care services in all public
hospitals.
 The Policy recommends prioritizing the role of the Government in shaping health systems in
all its dimensions.
 The NHP, 2017 advocates a positive and proactive engagement with the private sector for
critical gap filling towards achieving national goals. It envisages private sector collaboration
for strategic purchasing, capacity building, skill development programmes, awareness
generation, developing sustainable networks for community to strengthen mental health
services, and disaster management. The policy also advocates financial and non-incentives
for encouraging the private sector participation.
 The policy proposes raising public health expenditure to 2.5% of the GDP in a time bound
manner.

 Policy envisages providing larger package of assured comprehensive primary health care
through the Health and Wellness Centers'.
 This policy denotes important change from very selective to comprehensive primary health
care package which includes geriatric health care, palliative care and rehabilitative care
services.
 The policy advocates allocating major proportion (upto two-thirds or more) of resources to
primary care followed by secondary and tertiary care.
 The policy aspires to provide at the district level most of the secondary care which is
currently provided at a medical college hospital.
 The policy assigns specific quantitative targets aimed at reduction of disease
prevalence/incidence, for health status and programme impact, health system performance
and system strengthening.

 It seeks to strengthen the health, surveillance system and establish registries for diseases of
public health importance, by 2020.
 It also seeks to align other policies for medical devices and equipment with public health
goals.
 The broad principles of the policy is centered on Professionalism, Integrity and Ethics,
Equity, Affordability, Universality, Patient Centered & Quality of Care, Accountability and
pluralism.
 The policy affirms commitment to pre-emptive care (aimed at pre-empting the occurrence of
diseases) to achieve optimum levels of child and adolescent health. T

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 The policy envisages school health programmes as a major focus area as also health and
hygiene being made a part of the school curriculum.

 Yoga would also be introduced much more widely in school and work places as part of
promotion of good health.
 The policy advocates extensive deployment of digital tools for improving the efficiency and
outcome of the healthcare system and proposes establishment of National Digital Health
Authority (NDHA) to regulate, develop and deploy digital health across the continuum of
care.

Deendayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana

The Union Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, has approved the launch
of Deendayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY) with components (i) to separate
agriculture and non agriculture feeders facilitating judicious rostering of supply to agricultural
and non-agricultural consumers in rural areas and (ii) strengthening and augmentation of sub
transmission and distribution infrastructure in rural areas, including metering of distribution
transformers/feeders/consumers.
The scheme would help in:

(i) Improvement in hours of power supply in rural areas,

(ii) Reduction in peak load,
(iii) Improvement in billed energy based on metered consumption and
(iv) Providing access to electricity to rural households.
The process of sanction of projects shall commence immediately. After sanction of projects,
contracts for execution of projects will be awarded by States Discoms / Power Departments.
The projects shall be completed within 24 months from date of award.

Indira Gandhi Matritva Sahyog Yojana

The Government of India in the Ministry of Women and Child Development is implementing a
centrally sponsored scheme namely, Indira Gandhi Matritva Sahyog Yojana
(IGMSY),Conditional Maternity Benefit (CMB) for pregnant and lactating women to improve
their health and nutrition status to better enabling environment by providing cash incentives to
pregnant and nursing mothers. It is being implemented using the platform of Integrated Child
Development Services (ICDS) Scheme. The scheme was introduced in October 2010 on pilot
basis now operational in 53 selected districts. Currently, the beneficiaries are paid Rs.6000/ in
two installments through bank accounts or post office accounts. The first installment is given in
third trimester i.e. seven to nine months of pregnancy and the Second installment is given six
months after delivery on fulfilling specific conditions. All Government/PSUs (Central & State)
employees are excluded from the scheme as they are entitled for paid maternity leave.

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The scheme is being implemented on pilot basis in 53 selected districts, including two districts
of Maharashtra namely, Amravati & Bhandara.

Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana

The Government of India launched ‘Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana(RGGVY) –
Programme for creation of Rural Electricity Infrastructure & Household Electrification, in April
2005 for providing access to electricity to rural households. As on 30.04.2012, against the
targeted coverage of 1.10 lakh un/de-electrified village and release of free electricity
connections to 2.30 crore BPL households, electrification works in 1.05 lakh un/de-electrified
villages have been completed and 1.95 crore free electricity connections to BPL households
have been released under RGGVY.
The States of Delhi, Goa and Union Territories of Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Chandigarh,
Dadar & Nagar Haveli, Daman & Diu and Puducherry have not participated in RGGVY
Programme as they had achieved 100% electrification of villages.
Four independent agencies namely M/s The Energy and Resources Institute(TERI), M/s
Integrated Research for Action and Development (IRADe), M/s. Sambodhi & M/s. Tetratech,
have been engaged for conducting impact evaluation studies of RGGVY programme in 20
States. While conducting these studies, the agencies are also required to interact with the
beneficiaries, i.e. villagers and Panchayat representatives, to seek their views about
implementation of the scheme. The evaluation report of 12 States, out of 20 States where the
study has been taken up, have already been received. Major findings in the reports are as
below:
(i) Electrification of villages have resulted in socioeconomic improvements and villagers are
able to utilize electrical appliances for additional comfort convenience and education of their
children.
(ii) It has been reported that some economic activities like agarbatti making, bamboo items etc.
have started specially in the States like West Bengal & Tripura, where electric supply is
better.
(iii) Villagers demand coverage of left out BPL households and habitations.
iv) There is demand for more number of distribution transformers to cater to higher Below
Poverty Line (BPL) and Above Poverty Line(APL) loads.
(iv) The villagers demanded increased hours of electric supply especially in the evening hours.
They also required more quality and reliability of electric supply, i.e. reduction in
unscheduled power cuts.
Under RGGVY, electrification of un-electrified BPL households is provided free electricity
service connection. Infrastructures created under RGGVY can be used for providing

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connections to APL by respective distribution utilities. APL households are required to pay for
prescribed connection charges and no subsidy is available for this purpose.

National Sports Policy 2001

(i) Broad basing of sports and achievement of excellence;

(ii) Up-gradation and development of infrastructure;
(iii) Support to National Sports Federations and other sports bodies;
(iv) Strengthening of scientific and coaching support to sports;
(v) Special incentives to promote sports;
(vi) Enhanced participation of women, scheduled tribes and rural youth;
(vii) Involvement of corporate sector in sports promotion; and
(viii) Promote sports mindedness among the public at large.

Rajiv Gandhi Scheme for Empowerment of Adolescent Girls (RGSEAG) –

SABLA is a scheme to empower adolescent girls of 11-18 years by improving their nutritional
and health status, upgrading various skills like home skills, life skills and vocational skills. The
girls will also be equipped with information on health and family welfare, hygiene and guidance
on existing public services. The scheme is being implemented in 200 districts across the country
on a pilot basis while in the remaining districts Kishori Shakti Yojna (KSY), where operational,
will continue as before. The scheme is being implemented using the platform of Integrated
Child Development Scheme (ICDS) wherein Aanganwadi Centres (AWC) would be the focal
point for the delivery of services.

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