Daily Current Capsules 22^nd April 2022

Government Schemes/GSII
Pradhan Mantri National Apprenticeship Mela

What's the NEWS

• Over 4000 organisations from more than 30 industries, including power, retail, telecommunications, IT/ITeS, electronics, automotive, and others, participated in the event.
• Individuals having a 5th-12th grade pass certificate, a skill training certificate, an ITI Diploma, or a graduate degree were eligible to participate in the PM Apprenticeship Mela.
• The main objective of this programme was to encourage the hiring of approximately One lakh apprentices and to assist employers in identifying and developing their potential through training and practical skillsets.
• The PM Apprenticeship Mela has been a great opportunity for the participating establishments, as they were able to meet potential apprentices on a single platform and choose applicants based on their requirements.
• In addition, small-scale industries with a minimum of four employees were also able to hire apprentices at the mela.

• On the occasion of the 75th anniversary of Indian Independence & ongoing Azadi ka Amrit Mahotasav, India Post Payments Bank (IPPB), a 100% government owned entity under Department of Posts (DoP) announced the launch of Fincluvation- a joint initiative to collaborate with Fintech Startup community to co-create and innovate solutions for financial inclusion.

• It is an Industry first initiative to create a powerful platform to mobilize the start-up community towards building meaningful financial products aimed at financial inclusion.
• "Fincluvation will be a permanent platform of IPPB to co-create inclusive financial solutions with participating start-ups.
• IPPB and DoP collectively serve close to 430 million customers through neighbourhood post office and at their doorsteps via more than 400,000 trusted and capable Post Office employees and Gramin Dak Sevaks - making it one of the largest and trusted postal networks in the world
• Fincluvation invites startups to Participate, Ideate, Develop and Market intuitive and tailored products and services that can be taken to the customers.

1. Startups are encouraged to develop solutions aligned with any of the following tracks-
2.  Creditization - Develop Innovative & Inclusive credit products aligned with the use cases of target customers and take them to their doorsteps through Postal network.
3.  Digitization - Bring convenience through convergence of traditional services with Digital Payment Technologies such as making the traditional Money Order service as Interoperable Banking service.
4. Any Market-led solutions that can help solve any other problem relevant to IPPB and/or DoP in serving the target customers

• India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) has been established under the Department of Posts, Ministry of Communication with 100% equity owned by Government of India. IPPB was launched by the Prime Minister on September 1, 2018.
• The bank has been set up with the vision to build the most accessible, affordable and trusted bank for the common man in India.
• The fundamental mandate of IPPB is to remove barriers for the unbanked and under-banked and reach the last mile leveraging a network comprising 160,000 post offices (145,000 in rural areas) and 400,000 postal employees.
• IPPB's reach and its operating model is built on the key pillars of India Stack - enabling Paperless, Cashless and Presence-less banking in a simple and secure manner at the customers' doorstep, through a CBS-integrated smartphone and biometric device.

• The event will attract a large number of innovators and investors from India's leading industries in the defence sector.
• It will include sessions with stalwarts of the industry, various announcements and static exhibitions of an array of start-ups supported by iDEX-DIO.
• The event will bring together start-ups, corporates and military representatives to ascertain the indigenous innovations leading us into a bright future.
• The DefConnect will provide a unique opportunity for innovators associated with iDEX-DIO to showcase their capabilities, products and state-of-the-art-technologies to the target audience of the industry leaders.
• Platforms like the iDEX enable the military to find disruptive solutions to complex challenges through its flagship programmes like Defence India Startup Challenges (DISC) and Open Challenges (OC) which shall be the key components for the future of military technology.
• Till date, iDEX has launched five rounds of DISC and three rounds of OC, receiving more than 2,000 applications from individual innovators and start-ups.
• Furthermore, iDEX has been able to fund projects in numerous technological areas through its Grant-in-Aid framework, Support for Prototype and Research Kickstart (SPARK), which entail provisioning of grant up to Rs 1.50 crore to budding entrepreneurs.

• The iDEX stands for Innovation for Defence Excellence. It is an initiative by the Government of India to modernize the nation's Defense industry.
• The iDEX, launched by Prime Minister in 2018, essentially provides a unified platform for various stakeholders in the defence and aerospace sectors. It acts like an umbrella organisation to oversee technology development and potential collaborations in this specific field.
• Defence Minister has approved the budgetary support of Rs. 498.8 crore to Innovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX) challenge under the Defence Innovation Organisation (DIO) for the next five years.
• It is aimed at providing financial support to nearly 300 start-ups, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME), individual innovators and 20 partner incubators under the DIO framework.
• It will empower a culture of technology co-creation and co-innovation in the sector and boost innovation among the start-ups and encourage them to be a part of the ecosystem.

• Atal Pension Yojana is the guaranteed pension scheme of Government of India administered by PFRDA.
• The scheme allows any Citizen of India between the age group of 18-40 years to join through the bank or post office branches where one has the savings bank account.
• Under the scheme, a subscriber would receive a minimum guaranteed pension of Rs.1000 to Rs. 5000 per month from the age of 60 years, depending upon his contribution.
• The same pension would be paid to the spouse of the subscriber after the demise of subscriber and on demise of both the subscriber and spouse, the pension wealth as accumulated till age 60 of the subscriber would be returned back to the nominee.

• Ambedkar Foundation (DAF), Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment, Govt. of India, is starting Dr. Ambedkar Centres of Excellence (DACE) in 31 Central Universities across the country.
• The DACEs are being set up to provide high quality free coaching facilities to the Scheduled Caste students for the Civil Services examinations, conducted by Union Public Service Commission (UPSC).
• Under the DACE Scheme, a total of 100 seats will be sanctioned for coaching per centre.
• Of the total sanctioned seats for coaching, 33% seats will preferably be given to the eligible female candidates of Scheduled Castes.
•  If eligible female candidates are not available in sufficient numbers for the coaching, the concerned University will allocate the vacant seats to the male/transgender candidates (SC Candidates only).
• The coaching benefits, under the scheme,will only be utilized by a student ONCE regardless of the number of chances he/she is entitled for a particular competitive examination.
• Ambedkar Foundation (DAF) shall fund the entire expenditure incurred on the establishment of Dr. Ambedkar Centre for Excellence.
• 75,000/- per annum / per student will be provided to the University for 100 students. Total amount of Rs. 75.00 lakh per year would be provided to the University for running the Scheme.

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