Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Janaushadhi Pariyojana (PMBJP) is a campaign launched by the Department of Pharmaceuticals in 2008 under the name Jan Aushadi Campaign. Bureau of Pharma PSUs of India (BPPI) is the implementation agency for PMBJP. The Bureau of Pharma PSUs of India works under the Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilizers. PMBJP stores have been set up to provide generic drugs, which are available at lesser prices but are equivalent in quality and efficacy as expensive branded drugs. It also intends to extend the coverage of quality generic medicines so as to reduce the out of pocket expenditure on medicines and thereby redefine the unit cost of treatment per person. It will create awareness about generic medicines through education and publicity so that quality is not synonymous with an only high price. In the Budget 2020, the Government has decided to expand Jan Aushadhi scheme to provide for all hospitals under Ayushman Bharat by 2025.

Five iconic archaeological sites located across five states will be developed with on-site museums, announced Union finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman during the presentation of Union budget 2020.
The sites include Rakhigarhi in Haryana, Hastinapur in Uttar Pradesh, Sivasagar in Assam, Dholavira in Gujarat and Adichanallur in Tamil Nadu.

Rakhigarhi, Haryana:

This is known to be the location of one of the five biggest townships of Harappan civilization that lie in India. Other four are Harappa, Mohenjodaro and Ganveriwala that are located in Pakistan. The fifth site, Dholavira is in Gujrat and is on the list of the sites to be developed.

According to the Haryana governmnet, excavations revealed a mature Harappan phase — a planned township with mud-brick and burnt-brick houses with a proper drainage system.

Hastinapur in Uttar Pradesh:

Hastinapur, near Meerut, as the site of the anciet kingdom of Kauravas and Pandavas over which the battle of Kurukshetra, described in Mahabharata, was fought. Artifacts wre found at a nearby village, which archaeologists said, belonged to 2000 years before the Common Era.

Sivasagar in Assam:

Sivasagar was the capital of the Ahom kings for almost a century — from 1699 to 1788 — and witnessed some of the major historical events of the state. It is home to some of the key historical monuments from the era including Rang Ghar, Talatal Ghar, Namdang Stone Bridge, Rudrasagar tank and temple, and Sivasagar Pukhurithers.

Dholavira in Gujarat:

Dholavira — named after a local village — is the second of the two Harappan cities located in India. The city was said to be inhabited over a period of 1,200 years from 3000 BCE through 1800 BCE. The site, unearthed in 1967, is being systematically excavated since 1990. The artifacts found include terracotta pottery, beads, gold and copper ornaments and imported vessels that indicate trade links with ancient Mesopotamia. Besides, 10 large stone inscriptions, carved in Indus Valley script, were found which was billed as the world’s earliest signboard. Archaeologists suspect the people abandoned the town and returned to a simpler lifestyle.

Adichanallur in Tamil Nadu:

Carbon dating of artefacts found at this excavation site in Thoothukudi district indicates it as a part of the ancient Tamil civilisation. The artefacts, scientists said, date back to a period between 905 BC and 696 BC.

A new scheme was proposed in the budget, which is to be implemented by the Aviation Ministry, for transporting agricultural products of farmers. The scheme was named as ‘Krishi Udan Scheme’.

The scheme is to be launched by the ministry on both international and national routes, which will improve the value realisation on the agricultural products of the farmers.
The scheme will assist the farmers with more focus on north-east and tribal districts.
It will also help boost their income and increase their competitiveness in the market.

Rashtriya Garima Abhiyaan is also known as National Campaign for Dignity and Eradication of Manual Scavenging.

It is also associated with the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, for the identification of manual scavengers and their rehabilitation.

Tikdam:-
You should have some idea of the words “Garima” and “Rashtriya”. (Common hindi words).

Garima roughly translates into Self Respect.

You can eliminate option a. It focuses more on sustainable livlihood.

Rashtriya roughly corresponds to National.

It means we are looking at a NATIONAL programme at SELF RESPECT.

You dont need national level programmes for betterment of sex workers and bonded labourers. So you can eliminate options b and d

National level programme for Manual Scavenging makes sense. Thus you are left with option c which is correct.

Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has launched the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Urja Suraksha evem Utthan Mahabhiyan (PM KUSUM) Scheme for farmers for installation of solar pumps and grid connected solar and other renewable power plants in the country.

The scheme aims to add solar and other renewable capacity of 25,750 MW by 2022 with total central financial support of Rs. 34,422 Crore including service charges to the implementing agencies.

Expansion of PM-KUSUM according to the Budget 2020:
20 lakh farmers to be provided for setting up stand-alone solar pumps.
Another 15 lakh farmers to be helped to solarise their grid-connected pump sets.
Scheme to enable farmers to set up solar power generation capacity on their fallow/barren lands and to sell it to the grid.

Village Storage Scheme
The village storage scheme is proposed in the Union Budget 2020. The storage houses will be run by the SHG (Self Help Group).
Importance under the scheme will be given to the Women SHGs.
Under the scheme, the group will get loan from NABARD to store food grains.
This will help farmers to increase their holding capacities.
It will also help farmers reduce their logistics cost.
NABARD to map and geo-tag agri-warehouses, cold storages, reefer van facilities, etc.

SWAYAM or Study Webs of Active Learning for Young Aspiring Minds is a programme of the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India,that enables professors and faculties of centrally funded institutions like IITs, IIMs, Central University Of Haryana to offer online courses. Previously, the courses were only for the citizens of India, but now they are offered to anyone in the world having an internet connection.

Tikdam:-
SWAYAM resonates with SELF HELP but is deliberately palced by UPSC in this context.

Though options a and b look very obvious, they need to be eliminated as being too obvious to be true.

The least apparent option i.e. option d is correct. Remember that SWAYAM ia an acronym. In such cases, the option that appears least likely is more likely to be correct.

Tikdam:-
Be it GST or any other intervention, it is anybody’s guess that India Economy cannot overtake Chineese economy in the near future.

Even cursory knowledge of CA will enable you to know that Cineese economy is manifold bigger and much more robust than that of Indian economy.

Thus eliminate statement 3 and you are left only with the correct answer.

TB Harega Desh Jeetega Campaign
It has three strong pillars which include clinical approach, public health component and active community participation.
This includes preventive and promotive approaches and proposes potentially transformative interventions such as engagement with the private sector health care providers, inter-ministerial partnerships, corporate sector engagement, latent TB infection management, and community engagement.
The interventions will be accompanied by a comprehensive, mass media and communications campaign to generate awareness about the disease and the free treatment services available under the government program.

Originalluy it aimed to improve and expand the reach of TB care services across the country by 2022.
According to the Union Budget 2020, the campaign will be strengthened to eliminate tuberculosis by 2025 in the country. The Finance Minister has proposed Rs 69.000 crore allocation for healthcare sector. PM Jan Arogya Yojana to get Rs 6,400 crore.

Statements 1 and 3 are Incorrect:
Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman unveiled Rs 102 lakh crore of infrastructure projects, under National Infrastructure Pipeline, that will be implemented in the next five years as part of the government’s spending push in the infrastructure sector.

To achieve the GDP of $5 trillion by 2024-25, India needs to spend about $1.4 trillion (Rs. 100 lakh crore) over these years on infrastructure.

To achieve this objective, a Task Force was constituted to draw up the National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP) for each of the years from FY 2019-20 to FY 2024-25 with the approval of the Finance Minister. The Task Force is chaired by Secretary, DEA with CEO (NITI Aayog), Secretary (Expenditure), Secretary of the Administrative Ministries, and Additional Secretary (Investments), DEA as members and Joint Secretary (IPF), DEA as Member Secretary.

Statement 1 is Correct:
Ramayana Circuit:
● Ramayana Circuit is one of the fifteen thematic circuits identified for development under the Swadesh Darshan scheme of Ministry of Tourism.

● The destinations under the circuit will be developed by bridging infrastructural gaps like provision of drinking water, accommodation facilities, etc.
● Then the 15 places will be connected to form a circuit.

Statement 2 is Incorrect:
The scheme will be a joint effort of the states and the central government. It has a larger aim of providing job opportunities to local artisans, as it promotes local art and craft.

Both Statements are Incorrect:
National Recruitment Agency (NRA) will be set up for all computer-based examinations for recruitment to non-gazetted government and public sector banks posts.

Candidates have to appear for multiple examinations conducted by multiple agencies at different points of time for similar posts.

This places enormous burden on time, effort and cost of young people. Thus to mitigate their hardship faced, it is proposed to set up a NRA as an independent, professional, specialist organisation for conduct of a computer-based online Common Eligibility Test for recruitment to non-gazetted posts.

Jal Jeevan Mission Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) envisages supply of 55 litres of water per person per day to every rural household through Functional Household Tap Connections (FHTC) by 2024. JJM focuses on integrated demand and supply-side management of water at the local level. Creation of local infrastructure for source sustainability measures as mandatory elements, like rainwater harvesting, groundwater recharge and management of household wastewater for reuse, would be undertaken in convergence with other government programmes/schemes. The Mission is based on a community approach to water and includes extensive Information, Education and Communication as a key component of the mission. JJM looks to create a jan andolan for water, thereby making it everyone’s priority. Funding Pattern: The fund sharing pattern between the Centre and states is 90:10 for Himalayan and North-Eastern States, 50:50 for other states, and 100% for Union Territories. The Central government has recently released the operational guidelines for JJM. For the implementation of JJM, following institutional arrangement has been proposed: National Jal Jeevan Mission (NJJM) at the Central level State Water and Sanitation Mission (SWSM) at the State level District Water and Sanitation Mission (DWSM) at the District level Village Water Sanitation Committee (VWSC) at Village level Every village will prepare a Village Action Plan (VAP) which will have three components: Water source & its maintenance Water supply and Greywater (domestic wastewater) management.

Statement 2 is Incorrect:
The Ministries of AYUSH and Electronics and Information Technology signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in New Delhi to collaborate on the digitization of the AYUSH sector. The Electronics and Information Technology Ministry has agreed to give technical support to the AYUSH Ministry for planning and development of AYUSH GRID Project.

Statement 1 is Correct:
In pursuance to the National Health Policy 2017, the project aims to digitize the entire AYUSH, leading to transformation in the field of health care delivery at all levels, along with greater research, education, delivery of various health care programmes and better drug regulations.

Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has taken various Health initiatives such as e-Hospital, e-Aushadhi, e-Rakt Kosh, Online Registration System (ORS) and e-Shushrut for digitizing the internal workflows and processes of hospitals across the country. MeitY has also launched an online information guide called Vikaspedia, a portal for the various social sectors including Health and it offers information in 23 languages.

The Companies (Amendment) Bill, 2019 was recently passed by the Parliament. It amends the Companies Act, 2013.

Under the Act, if companies which have to provide for CSR, do not fully spent the funds, they must disclose the reasons for nonspending in their annual report.

Statement 1 is Correct:
Under the Bill, any unspent annual CSR funds must be transferred to one of the funds under Schedule 7 of the Act (e.g., PM Relief Fund) within six months of the financial year.

Statement 2 is Correct:
To crack down on shell companies, the minister said it has been made mandatory to have physical address and register to ensure such companies exist on ground.

Statement 2 is Incorrect:
“Partial Credit Guarantee Scheme”, to be offered by the Government of India (Gol) to Public Sector Banks (PSBs) for purchasing high-rated pooled assets from financially sound Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) / Housing Finance Companies (HFCs), with the amount of overall guarantee being limited to first loss of up to 10 per cent of fair value of assets being purchased by the banks under the Scheme, or Rs. 10,000 crore, whichever is lower, as agreed by Department of Economic Affairs (DEA).

The proposed Government Guarantee support and resultant pool buyouts will help address NBFCs/HFCs resolve their temporary liquidity or cash flow mismatch issues, and enable them to continue contributing to credit creation and providing last mile lending to borrowers, thereby spurring economic growth.

Statement 1 is Correct:
ITSSO:

The Union Home Ministry launched an analytics tool — Investigation Tracking System for Sexual Offences (ITSSO) to monitor and track time-bound investigation.

Statement 2 is Correct:
ITSSO is part of the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and System (CCTNS) that connects over 15,000 police stations across the country.

Recent analysis: Key Findings

According to the ITSSO analysis of crime data in the 7 States — Haryana, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh. Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Uttarakhand — investigation into nearly half the sexual offences cases are not being completed within the stipulated 60-day period.

To check sexual crimes against women and children, the Centre approved the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2018 last year which prescribed the time-limit for completion of investigation.

In many States, the fast-track courts designated to handle rape cases are also handling other criminal cases leading to delay in verdicts.

Successful development requires two kinds of structural transformations:

a. a shift of resources from low productivity to high productivity sectors (as highlighted by Sir Arthur Lewis)

b. a larger share of resources devoted to sectors that have the potential for rapid productivity growth

The dual-sector model is a model in developmental economics.

It is commonly known as the Lewis model after its inventor W. Arthur Lewis. It explains the growth of a developing economy in terms of a labour transition between two sectors, the capitalist sector and the subsistence sector

India’s road density at 1.66 km/sq.km of area is higher than that of Japan (0.91 km/ sq km), USA (0.67 km/ sq km), China (0.46 km/ sq. km), Brazil (0.18 km/sq.km) and Russian Federation (0.08 km/ sq km).

Roads carry almost 85 percent of the country’s passenger traffic and more than 60 percent of its freight.

UK freight share is 90% while that of India is 60%.

Statement 1 is Incorrect:
The Credit Guarantee Fund Scheme for Micro and Small Enterprises (CGS) was launched by the Government of India (GoI) to make available collateral-free credit to the micro and small enterprise sector.

The Banks / Financial Institutions, which are eligible under the scheme, are scheduled commercial banks (Public Sector Banks/Private Sector Banks/Foreign Banks) and select Regional Rural Banks (which have been classified under ‘Sustainable Viable’ category by NABARD).