Karnataka is the largest silk producing state in the country, with production of 12,463 MT raw silk during 2023-24, which accounts to around 32% of country’s total raw silk production and around 42% of country’s mulberry raw silk production.
The Government through Central Silk Board has been implementing Silk Samagra-2 scheme with an outlay of Rs. 4,679.85 crore for the overall development of sericulture industry in the country from the year 2021-22 to 2025-26.
Under the scheme, financial assistance is provided to States towards implementation of various beneficiary oriented field level critical interventions.
So far, the central assistance of Rs. 1,075.58 crore has been provided to States to cover around 78,000 beneficiaries under Silk Samagra-2 scheme towards implementation of beneficiary-oriented components covering both pre & post cocoon activities/machineries for the growth and sustainability of sericulture sector.
Based on the proposals received from the Karnataka State Sericulture Department, central assistance of Rs. 241.62 crore has been provided to cover around 16,000 beneficiaries during last three years and the current year under Silk Samagra-2 scheme. Around 7,000 persons have been trained by the CSB R&D institutes in Karnataka during the last three years & the current year. Based on the State’s proposal for the benefit of silk producers & artisans, support has been provided for establishment of 32 Multi-end Reeling Machines, 42 Automatic Reeling Machines, 40 motorised charka, 2 pupae processing units and for upgradation of 143 cottage basins
The Silk Samagra-2 scheme focuses on integrated production approach by providing required backward & forward linkages in the silk production chain, through provision of R&D & technical support, ensuring availability of planting material & silkworm seed, strengthening of market infrastructure & up-scaling of reeling & processing sector.
The Government, through Central Silk Board has enhanced the global competitiveness of Indian silk & silk products including Karnataka through establishment of 42 Automatic Reeling Machines (ARM) under Silk Samagra-2, generic and brand promotion of silk products in Karnataka and organization of ‘Silk Mark Expos’.
This information was provided by THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR TEXTILES SHRI PABITRA MARGHERITA in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha today.
Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region
The Secretary for Health, Professor Lo Chung-mau, met with Deputy Commissioner of the National Medical Products Administration Dr Xu Jinghe today (April 1) to have an in-depth exchange on the regulatory regime and reform of drugs and medical devices.
Professor Lo said, “The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area has been ushering in immense opportunities for medical and biotechnological developments in recent years. The National 14th Five-Year Plan has expressed clear support to develop Hong Kong into an international innovation and technology hub. Biomedicine and medical innovation are directly related to people’s life and health and also represent immense new quality productive forces. The Resolution of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee on Further Deepening Reform Comprehensively to Advance Chinese Modernization adopted by the Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee also pointed out the need to deepen medical and healthcare reform and to support the development mechanisms for innovative drugs and medical devices.
“The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Government strenuously works in line with the national objective of deepening medical and healthcare reform by pursuing innovation in the medical field. While integrating into the national development, the HKSAR will capitalise on its unique advantages of international influence and professions to the fullest to develop the city into an international health and medical innovation hub, thereby enabling the innovative medical technologies to go global and attract foreign investment and developing new quality productive forces in biomedicine. Hong Kong will strive to give full play to our strengths to serve the country’s needs amid the comprehensive deepening of reform.”
While introducing the approval mechanism for drugs and medical devices, Professor Lo emphasised, “The HKSAR Government will expedite the reform of the approval mechanism for drugs and medical devices to meet the institutional requirement necessary for the health and medical innovation development, such as extending the ‘1+’ mechanism to cover all new drugs, including vaccines and advanced therapy products, since November 1 last year; preparing for the establishment of the Hong Kong Centre for Medical Products Regulation (CMPR) to progress towards the ‘primary evaluation’ approach, with a view to fully strengthening the drug approval capability of the HKSAR; and taking forward preparatory work for legislating for the statutory regulation of medical devices to dovetail with the timetable for the establishment of the CMPR.”
The Director of Health, Dr Ronald Lam, and representatives from the Health Bureau and the Department of Health also attended the meeting today.
Six port clusters out of which four port clusters, namely, Cochin – Vizhinjam Port cluster, Galathea South Bay Port, Chennai – Kamarajar – Cuddalore Port cluster, Paradip and other Non-Major Ports cluster with capacity of more than 300 Million Tonnes Per Annum (MTPA) and two port clusters, namely, Deendayal and Tuna Tekra Port cluster, Jawaharlal Nehru – Vadhavan Port cluster with capacity of more than 500 MTPA are to be developed as Mega Ports by the year 2047.The activities to be undertaken by Major Ports for augmentation of capacity and improving infrastructure are included in the Maritime Amrit Kaal Vision, 2047. The works for infrastructure enhancement and capacity augmentation in the Major Ports are already under progress through Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode and also through internal resources.
This information was given by the Union Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, Shri Sarbananda Sonowal in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.
Strengthening of Early Warning Systems is prerequisite for preparedness measures and is the most important element of entire cycle of disaster management.
The Prime Minister has enunciated ten-point agenda on Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) during the Asian Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (AMCDRR) held in New Delhi in November 2016. The all-inclusive agenda includes the following: –
“Leverage technology to enhance the efficiency of disaster risk management efforts.” and “Build on local capacity and initiative to enhance disaster risk reduction”.
The Government effectively deploys technologies for improved early warning and forecasting of disaster in the vulnerable areas. Central Government has designated nodal agencies for early warning of different natural disasters.
To promote the use of modern technologies and to strengthen the early warning system for natural disasters, Ministry of Earth Sciences has
launched a Multi-faceted transformative approach namely “Mission Mausam” for the period 2024-2026 with the goal of making India a “weather-ready and climate smart” nation.
Under the National Cyclone Risk Mitigation Project (NCRMP) Early Warning Systems have been installed in the Coastal States, which have proved to be of great help in alert dissemination to the coastal community during recent cyclones.
‘Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) based Integrated Alert System’ has been initiated with an outlay of Rs. 354.83 Crore, for dissemination of geo targeted early warnings/alerts related to disasters to the citizens of India for all 36 States/UTs using various disseminating medium like SMS, TV, Radio, Indian Railways, Costal Sirens, Cell broadcast, Internet (RSS feed & Browser Notification), Satellite Receiver of GAGAN & NavIC etc., through integration of all alerting agencies, [India Meteorological Department (IMD), Central Water Commission (CWC), Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS), Defence Geo-informatics Research Establishment (DGRE), Geological Survey of India (GSI) and Forest Survey of India (FSI)].
In CAP system, the alerts related to various disasters are generated by Alert Generating Agencies like IMD, CWC, INCOIS, DGRE & FSI and moderated by SDMAs of concern States/UTs. The alerts are sent to geo targeted areas in regional languages. There is a web-based dashboard to disaster managers for approving/editing alerts and choosing media for dissemination. The system has been used successfully in recent disasters. More than 4500 crore SMS alerts have been disseminated so far using CAP.
National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has also initiated a project for Pan India, end-to-end secure and foolproof Disaster Grade Cell Broadcasting System (CBS) to improve faster dissemination of alert / early warning messages to the citizen.
Defence Geoinformatics Research Establishment (DGRE), Chandigarh under Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is also the nodal agency for studying and developing avalanche mitigation technologies. DGRE has installed 72 Snow Meteorological Observatories and 45 Automated Weather Stations (AWS).
India Metrological Department (IMD) issues regular and precise weather forecasts & warning bulletins including for cyclones to all the affected/ likely affected States/ UTs.
IMD uses a suite of quality observations from Satellites, Radars and Conventional & Automatic Weather Stations for monitoring of cyclones developing over the Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea. It includes INSAT 3D, 3DR and SCATSAT satellites, Doppler Weather Radars (DWRs) along the coast and coastal Automated Weather Stations (AWS), High wind speed recorders, Automatic Rain Gauges (ARGs), Meteorological buoys and ships.
NDMA also conducts capacity building programmes, organizes awareness workshops and fosters community-based risk reduction strategies and also trainings for monitoring and alert mechanism to ensure last mile connectivity.
Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology (WIHG) monitors the glaciers and provides comprehensive analysis of factors that trigger hazards and its associated downstream risks to significantly enhance early warning capabilities and disaster preparedness. WIHG has prepared glacial lake
inventories for Uttarakhand (2015) and Himachal Pradesh (2018), identifying 1,266 lakes (7.6 km²) in Uttarakhand and 958 lakes (9.6 km²) in Himachal Pradesh.
Central Water Commission (CWC) monitors 902 Glacial lakes and water bodies, to enable the detection of relative change in water spread areas of Glacial lakes and water bodies as well as identifying those ones which have expanded substantially during its monitoring months.
Central Government has approved National Glacial Lake Outburst Flood (GLOF) Risk Mitigation Project (NGRMP) for its implementation in four states namely, Arunachal Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim and Uttarakhand at a financial outlay of Rs. 150.00 crore.
NGRMP is aimed at reducing the risks associated with glacial lake outburst floods, particularly in regions that are highly susceptible to such natural disasters. The objectives of NGRMP project are:
(i) Prevent loss of life and reduce economic loss and damage to critical infrastructure due to GLOF and similar events.
(ii) Strengthen the early warning and monitoring capacities based on last mile connectivity.
(iii) Strengthen scientific and technical capabilities in GLOF risk reduction and mitigation at local levels through strengthening of local level institutions and communities.
(iv) Use of indigenous knowledge and scientific cutting-edge mitigation measures to reduce and mitigate GLOF risk.
NGRMP, approved by the Government, has one of its components as GLOF monitoring and Early Warning Systems (EWS) including remote sensing data, community involvement for monitoring, alerting / dissemination.
Two Automatic Weather Stations (AWS) have been installed in Sikkim with further deployments of EWS planned in collaboration with C-DAC, ISRO and Space Applications Centre, Ahmedabad to provide early warning to local communities in case of any GLOF event.
CWC has finalized the criteria for Risk Indexing of Glacial Lakes offering a structured approach for identifying and ranking such lakes based on their likelihood of failure and potential damage they could cause in the event of GLOF.
A Committee on Disaster Risk Reduction (CoDRR) under NDMA involving representatives from six Himalayan States / Union Territories and other Stakeholders, has identified a set of high risk glacial lakes for sending expeditions to directly assess these lakes and prepare comprehensive mitigation strategies in terms of setting up EWS / other structural and non-structural measures.
Subsequent to Teesta-III Hydroelectric dam collapse in October, 2023, CWC has decided to review the design flood of all the existing and under construction dams vulnerable to GLOFs to ensure their adequate spillway capacity for a combination of Probable Maximum Flood / Standard Probable Flood and GLOF. Further, GLOF Studies has been made mandatory for all new dams planned having Glacial Lakes in their catchments.
This was stated by the Minister of State in the Ministry of Home Affairs Shri Nityanand Rai in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha.
Sagarmala programme is a flagship programme of the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways to promote port-led development in the country through harnessing India’s 7,500 km long coastline, 14,500 km of potentially navigable waterways and strategic location on key international maritime trade routes. The projects under Sagarmala Programme are categorized into five pillars – port modernization, port connectivity, port-led industrialization, coastal community development and coastal shipping & inland water transport. These projects are implemented by Central Ministries, lWAl, Indian Railways, State Government and Major Ports etc. There are 839 projects worth investment of Rs. 5.79 Lakh crores for implementation under the Sagarmala Programme, out of which, 272 projects worth ~Rs. 1.41 lakh crores have been completed. Under Modernisation pillar, 103 completed project have resulted into port capacity addition for more than 528 million tonnes per annum.
Coastal Community Development is a dedicated pillar of the Sagarmala Programme. This pillar focuses on improving the living standards of the coastal communities by enhancing their livelihood opportunities, primarily through skill development, capacity building, and increasing access to sustainable economic activities. Under the Sagarmala Programme, a comprehensive skill gap study was conducted across 21 coastal districts in 9 states and 3 Union Territories, including Odisha and Tamil Nadu. Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) and MoPSW have entered a MoU during May 2017 to enable skilling of coastal population under DDU-GKY Sagarmala Convergence Programme. Phase I of this convergence was implemented on pilot basis between 2016-2018 in 5 States viz. Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Odisha and Tamil Nadu. 2079 candidates have been trained out of whom 1243 have been placed.
This information was given by the Union Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, Shri Sarbananda Sonowal in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.
The Government has taken measures to ensure the full implementation of the three new criminal laws in Jammu and Kashmir such as:
A Steering Committee under the Chief Secretary of Jammu and Kashmir and an Empowered Committee under Director General of Police, Jammu and Kashmir has been formed.
The training programs are conducted at the Police Academy, Police Training Institutes, District Police Lines and Battalion Training Centres. Translation of new criminal laws in Urdu, Dogri and Kashmiri languages have been completed.
Jammu and Kashmir Police along with other departments of the Government of Jammu and Kashmir is organizing joint awareness programmes at all 282 blocks in the second and fourth week of every month.
All the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network System (CCTNS) patches including e-Sakshya (audio-video recording application) for the IOs of Jammu and Kashmir Police, sending of e-summons/SMS/emails have been made functional.
All the required Rules, Notifications and Administrative Orders in respect of three criminal laws have been issued.
Regular training on three new criminal laws is provided. So far 975 Gazetted Officers, 60,890 police personnel under Jammu and Kashmir Police and 254 Judicial Officers have been trained. Additionally, 191 Master Trainers under the Training of Trainers (ToT) program and 118 personnel have been trained at NFSU, Gandhinagar. J&K Police also use the iGoT Karmayogi platform, with 50,984 personnel onboard, completing 1,21,000 courses, including 1,10,773 on new criminal laws.
To monitor the implementation of new criminal laws, review meetings are held fortnightly by the Chief Secretary and weekly by the Principal Secretary (Home), DGP and top police officials. The reports thereof are for internal circulation of the Government.
This was stated by the Minister of State in the Ministry of Home Affairs Shri Nityanand Rai in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha.
The various steps taken to upgrade and modernise the shipbuilding sectors across India and the shipbuilding are as under:
(i). Ministry has amended the Shipbuilding Financial Assistance Policy(SBFAP) guidelines on 29.01.2025 to encourage more participation in the shipbuilding activities.
(ii). The Government, in November, 2021, has released Standard Tug Designs of five variants for use by Major Ports for procurement of tugs to be built in Indian Shipyards.
(iii). To promote indigenous shipbuilding, the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways on 20.09.2023 has revised the hierarchy of Right of First Refusal (RoFR) to be followed in any kind of charter of a vessel which is undertaken through a tender process. The revised hierarchy of RoFR is:
(1) Indian built, Indian flagged and Indian owned
(2) Indian built, Indian flagged and Indian IFSCA owned
(3) Foreign built, Indian flagged and Indian owned
(4) Foreign built, Indian flagged and Indian IFSCA owned
(5) Indian built, foreign flagged and foreign owned
(iv) Ministry of Ports, Shipping & Waterways has launched the Green Tug Transition Programme (GTTP) which aims to reduce carbon emissions and minimize environmental impact by encouraging adoption of environmentally sustainable tugboat operations.
(v) Government has launched the Harit Nauka guidelines for inland vessels which aim to promote the adoption of greener technologies in inland waterway vessels.
(vi). Government of India vide Gazette Notification No. 112 dated April 13, 2016 has included ‘Shipyards’ in the updated Harmonized Master List of Infrastructure Sub-sectors.
(vii). In order to promote indigenous shipbuilding, Government has issued guidelines on 19.05.2016 for evaluating and awarding tenders for new shipbuilding orders floated by government departments or agencies including public sector undertakings for acquisition of any type of vessel(s) used by them for Governmental purposes or for their own use. Whenever acquisition of a vessel(s) is undertaken through tendering route, the qualified Indian Shipyards will have a “Right of First Refusal” to enable them to match the evaluated lowest price offered by the foreign shipyard which is aimed at increasing ship building activities in Indian shipyards.
Further, the Government entities dealing with ship building and ship-owning are advised to ensure local content as per the Government of India Public Procurement (Preference to Make in India) Order, 2017. As per this Order, procurement of ships of less than ₹200 crores is required to be from Indian shipyards.
(viii) Government of India, in the budget speech, 2025, has made following announcements:
The Shipbuilding Financial Assistance Policy will be revamped to address cost disadvantages. This will also include Credit Notes for shipbreaking in Indian yards to promote the circular economy.
· Large ships above a specified size will be included in the infrastructure harmonized master list (HML).
· Shipbuilding Clusters will be facilitated to increase the range, categories and capacity of ships. This will include additional infrastructure facilities, skilling and technology to develop the entire ecosystem.
· For long-term financing for the maritime industry, a Maritime Development Fund with a corpus of Rs. 25,000 crores will be set up. This will be for distributed support and promoting competition. This will have up to 49 per cent contribution by the Government, and the balance will be mobilized from ports and private sector.
· To continue the exemption of Basic Customs Duty (BCD) on raw materials, components, consumables or parts for the manufacture of ships for another ten years.
Cochin Shipyard Limited, a PSU under the administrative control of MoPSW, has signed important active Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) with international parties and the details of which are as given below:
Fincantieri, Italy:On October 27, 2020, CSL signed an MoU with Fincantieri, Italy, to collaborate on design, shipbuilding, ship repair, and marine equipment manufacturing, as well as training and skill development.
IHC Holland BV:On November 26, 2020, CSL signed an MoU with Dredging Corporation of India (DCI) and IHC Holland BV to facilitate the construction of IHC-designed Trailing
Suction Hopper Dredgers (TSHDs) for DCI in India.
Robert Allan Limited, Canada:CSL entered into an MoU with Robert Allan Limited, Canada, on February 26, 2021, for design and consultancy services related to tugs, inland vessels, harbor crafts, and specialized vessels.
SeatriumLeTourneau:CSL signed an MoU with Seatrium LeTourneau, a division of Seatrium Offshore Technology (SOT), on November 20, 2024 for the development and execution of Jack-Up Rig projects in India under the ‘Make in India’.
Shipbuilding financial assistance policy with a financial outlay of 4000 crore was amended in August 2023, to include flat 30% Financial Assistance for vessels where main propulsion is achieved by means of green fuels such as Methanol/ Ammonia / Hydrogen fuel cells etc. This amendment also included ‘flat 20% Financial Assistance for vessels fitted with fully electric or hybrid propulsion. Under this scheme, 78.23 crore has been disbursed towards construction and delivery of hybrid vessels, till date.
This information was given by the Union Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, Shri Sarbananda Sonowal in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.
WAVES ‘Create in India Challenge’ Crosses 85,000 Registrations with 1100 International Participants 750 Finalists from 32 Challenges to participate in WAVES ‘CreatoSphere’ at Mumbai from 1st to 4th May, 2025
Posted On: 01 APR 2025 3:54PM by PIB Delhi
The Create in India Challenge (CIC) Season-1, launched as part of the World Audio Visual and Entertainment Summit (WAVES) set to take place at the Jio World Centre in Mumbai from 1st to 4th May, 2025, has achieved a new milestone of crossing 85,000 registrations including 1,100 International participants. Over 750 finalists, selected after a meticulous selection process, from across 32 diverse challenges, will get a unique opportunity to showcase the outcome and output of their individual challenge, their talent and skills, apart from networking opportunities with business leaders from their respective sector including pitching sessions, and learn from global stalwarts through masterclasses, panel discussions, conferences etc. The winners of the Create in India challenges will be felicitated with ‘WAVES Creator Awards’ in a grand ceremony at Mumbai.
These challenges have made a powerful entry into the creative landscape, igniting a wave of innovation and engagement across India and beyond, emerging as a premier platform for creative talent on a global scale. Featuring 32 diverse and dynamic challenges including the high-energy Reel Making Competition, the solution-oriented Truth Tell Hackathon, the visionary Young Filmmaker’s Challenge, and the imaginative Comics Creator Championship, CIC offers a unique opportunity for creators to showcase their skills. Other flagship events such as the A.I. Avatar Creator Challenge, WAM! Anime Challenge, Esports Tournament, Trailer Making Competition, Theme Music Competition, and the cutting-edge XR Creator Hackathon further establish CIC as a definitive launchpad for the next generation of storytellers, designers, and digital innovators.
By uniting creators across disciplines, borders, and generations, CIC not only celebrates India’s creative energy — it has sparked a global dialogue around the future of storytelling and digital expression. With this remarkable foundation, CIC is poised to scale new heights in the seasons ahead, continuing its mission to empower creators and shape the cultural landscape of tomorrow.
The first World Audio Visual & Entertainment Summit (WAVES), a milestone event for the Media & Entertainment (M&E) sector, will be hosted by the Government of India in Mumbai, Maharashtra, from May 1 to 4, 2025.
Whether you’re an industry professional, investor, creator, or innovator, the Summit offers the ultimate global platform to connect, collaborate, innovate and contribute to the M&E landscape.
WAVES is set to magnify India’s creative strength, amplifying its position as a hub for content creation, intellectual property, and technological innovation. Industries and sectors in focus include Broadcasting, Print Media, Television, Radio, Films, Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming, Comics, Sound and Music, Advertising, Digital Media, Social Media Platforms, Generative AI, Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR), and Extended Reality (XR).
To promote National Waterways (NWs) for the efficient and cost-effective transportation of cargo including food grains and other essential commodities to remote and underserved areas, 111 National Waterways (NWs) were declared in the country vide National Waterways Act, 2016. Some of the initiatives for promoting Inland Water Transport (IWT) are as under:
A scheme for providing 35% incentive to promote the utilization of inland waterways transport sector by cargo owners and for establishing scheduled service for cargo movement on NW-1 and NW-2 and NW-16 via Indo Bangladesh Protocol has been approved by the Government.
The National Waterways (Construction of Jetties / Terminals) Regulations 2025 has been notified, allowing private companies to invest and operate Inland Waterways infrastructure by providing a clear regulatory framework to attract private sector investment for facilitating the growth of inland waterways sector.
For modal shift of cargo to waterways, more than 140 Public Sector Units have been approached to plan their movement using Inland Water Transport mode. They have been requested to outline their current status of cargo movement through the waterways and their plan for modal shift of cargo.
Fairway maintenance works (river training, maintenance dredging, channel marking and regular hydrographic surveys) are taken up in various National Waterways (NWs).
49 community jetties, 20 floating terminals, 3 Multi-Modal Terminals (MMTs) and 1 Inter-Modal Terminal (IMT) have been constructed on NW-1 (River Ganga) in addition to 5 pre-existing permanent terminals.
· 9 Permanent Inland Water Transport terminals with godowns and 2 Ro-Ro/Ro-Pax terminals have been constructed on NW-3 (West Coast Canal in Kerala).
This information was given by the Union Minister of Ports, Shipping and waterways, Shri Sarbananda Sonowal in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.
Pradhan Mantri Anusuchit Jaati AbhyudayYojana (PM-AJAY) is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme being implemented since 2021-22. The Scheme has three components namely (i) ‘Adarsh Gram’, (ii) ‘Grants-in-aid for District/State-level Projects for Socio-Economic betterment of Scheduled Caste(SC) Communities’ and (iii) ‘Hostel’. The objectives of the Scheme are:
To improve socio-economic developmental indicators by ensuring adequate infrastructure and requisite services in the SC dominated villages.
To reduce poverty of the SC communities by generation of additional employment opportunities through skill development, income generating schemes and other initiatives.
To increase literacy and encourage enrolment of SCs in schools and higher educational institutions by providing adequate residential facilities in quality institutions, as well as residential schools where required, especially in the aspirational districts/ SC dominated blocks and elsewhere in India.
Skill development is one of the interventions covered under Grants-in-aid Component of the Scheme. 25 States have submitted Perspective Plans for 2023-24, 2024-25 & 2025-26 and Rs. 457.82 Crore has been released for 8146 projects including 987 projects for skill development during 2023-24 & 2024-25 under Grants-in aid Component.
In 2021-22, the erstwhile scheme of Pradhan Mantri Adarsh Gram Yojana has been subsumed under the umbrella Scheme Pradhan Mantri Anusuchit Jaati Abhyuday Yojana (PM-AJAY). The villages having more than 40% SC population and a total population of 500 or more are eligible for selection under the Scheme. The selected villages are saturated with identified 50 Socio-Economic developmental indicators, under 10 domains namely Drinking Water and Sanitation, Education, Health and Nutrition, Social Security, Rural Roads and Housing, Electricity and Clean Fuel, Agricultural Practices, Financial Inclusion, Digitization, Livelihood and Skill Development, which are the minimum requirements for any person residing in a village. Since 2018-19, 29,847 villages have been selected out of which 11,076 villages have been declared as Adarsh Gram. During 2024-25, 4,991 villages have been declared as Adarsh Gram.
The Hostel Component aims to increase literacy and encourage enrolment of SCs in schools and higher educational institutions by providing adequate residential facilities in quality institutions, as well as residential schools where required. Till now, 891 hostels have been sanctioned under PM-AJAY of which 27 hostels have been sanctioned during 2024-25.
Under PM-AJAY, upto 5% of the total funds is allocated for Administration, Monitoring and Evaluation of the Scheme. During 2024-25, Rs. 6.64 Crore has been utilized as Administrative expense under PM-AJAY.
This information was provided by UNION MINISTER OF STATE FOR SOCIAL JUSTICEAND EMPOWERMENT, SHRI RAMDAS ATHAWALE, in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.