• Ministry of Defence and Directorate General of Defence Estates (DGDE) organised a webinar to improve implementation of Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS) in 62 cantonments around the country

• Presidents, Vice-Presidents and Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of all 62 Cantonment Boards are attending the two-day webinar.
• It was organised with the objective to have better understanding of the implementation mechanism and funding of various Centrally Sponsored Schemes and to prepare a roadmap for extending the benefits of these to the residents of cantonment areas.
• The webinar was attended by the Joint Secretaries/Nodal Officers of the Ministries of Housing and Urban Affairs, Education, Health and Family Welfare, Social Justice & Empowerment and Women & Child Development.

• Raksha Mantri launched the ‘Chhavni COVID: Yodha Sanrakshan Yojana', a group life insurance scheme through Life Insurance Corporation (LIC), which will cover more than 10,000 employees in all 62 Cantonment Boards in event of any unfortunate fatal calamity with an insurance cover of Rs five lakhs each.
• The Scheme will benefit permanent and contractual employees including doctors, paramedics and sanitation staff.

• It is a civic administration body in India under control of the Ministry of Defence
• Urban Self Governance of the Cantonments and the Housing Accommodation is the subject matter of the Union of India.
• There are 62 Cantonments in the country which have been notified under the Cantonments Act, 1924 (succeeded by the Cantonments Act, 2006).
• The overall municipal administration of the notified Cantonments is the function of the Cantonment Boards which are democratic bodies.
• The Station Commander of the Cantonment is the ex-officio President of the Board
• The Board has equal representation of the elected and nominated/ex-officio members to balance the official representation with the democratic composition.
• The term of office of a member of a board is five years.
• A cantonment board consists of eight elected members, three nominated military members, three ex-officio members (station commander, garrison engineer and senior executive medical officer), and one representative of the district magistrate.
• Cantonment areas are primarily meant to accommodate the military population and their installations.
• Cantonments are different from the Military Stations in that the Military Stations are purely meant for the use and accommodation of the armed forces and these are established under an executive order whereas the Cantonments are areas which comprise of both military and civil population.

• Directorate General, Defence Estates (DGDE) is an Inter Services Organisation of the Ministry of Defence which directly controls the Cantonment Administration.
• The Directorate General Defence Estates (DGDE), monitors all 62 cantonments in the country
• The cantonment board takes care of mandatory duties such as provision of public health, water supply, sanitation, primary education, and street lighting etc.
• As the resources are owned by government of India, it can't levy any tax. Government of India provides the financial assistance.

• Category I - population exceeds fifty thousand
• Category II - population exceeds ten thousand, but does not exceed fifty thousand
• Category III - population exceeds two thousand five hundred, but does not exceed ten thousand
• Category IV - population does not exceed two thousand five hundred.

• In India's developmental plan exercise we have two types of schemes viz; central sector and centrally sponsored scheme.

• Under Central sector schemes, it is 100% funded by the Union government and implemented by the Central Government machinery.
• Central sector schemes are mainly formulated on subjects from the Union List.
• Central Ministries also implement some schemes directly in States/UTs which are called Central Sector Schemes but resources under these Schemes are not generally transferred to States.

• Under Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS) a certain percentage of the funding is borne by the States in the ratio of 50:50, 70:30, 75:25 or 90:10 and the implementation is by the State Governments.
• Centrally Sponsored Schemes are formulated in subjects from the State List to encourage States to prioritise in areas that require more attention.

Food Processing
APEDA signs MoUs with AFC India Limited and National Cooperative Union of India
Relevance IN - Prelims ( about APEDA + NCUI + AFC India ltd) + Mains ( GS III Food processing and related industries in India- scope and significance, location, upstream and downstream requirements, supply chain management.
What's the NEWS

• Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, has signed MoUs with AFC India Limited, and National Cooperative Union of India (NCUI)
• The objective is to utilise their expertise by mutually working together to synergize the activities in the interest of agriculture and allied sectors for bringing better value to the stakeholders.

• Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) is an apex body under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India, responsible for the export promotion of agricultural products.
• The Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) was established by the Government of India under the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority Act passed by the Parliament in December, 1985.
• The Authority replaced the Processed Food Export Promotion Council (PFEPC).

• It is the apex organisation representing the entire cooperative movement in the country.
• It was established in 1929 as All India Cooperative Institutes Association and was re-organised as Indian Cooperative Union through the merger of Indian Provincial Cooperative Banks' Association with All India Cooperative Institutes Association and later in 1961 as National Cooperative Union of India.
• The National Cooperative Union of India is the sole representative of the Cooperative movement in the country.

• AFC India Ltd., is a deemed to be Govt. organization, wholly owned by Commercial Banks, NABARD and EXIM Bank, established in 1968.
• It is a multi-disciplinary cross-functional development organization providing consulting, policy advisory and implementation support for agriculture, rural development and other strategic socio-economic sectors in India.

Infrastructure Development
Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation India Limited (DFCCIL)


Relevance IN - Prelims ( about DFCCIL + about Dedicated Freight Corridor) + Mains ( GS III infrastructure development)

What's the NEWS

• The Minister of Railways reviewed the progress of Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation India Limited (DFCCIL).

Know! the current status of the project.

• It is expected that Western Corridor connecting Dadri in Utttar Pradesh to Jawaharlal Nehru Port (JNPT) in Mumbai and Eastern Corridor starting from Sahnewal near Ludhiana (Punjab) to terminate at Dankuni in West Bengal shall be completed by December, 2021.
• Dedicated Freight Corridors (DFC) is one of the largest rail infrastructure projects undertaken by the Government of India. The overall cost is pegged at Rs 81,459 crores.
• DFCCIL has been set up as a special purpose vehicle to undertake planning, development, mobilization of financial resources, construction, maintenance and operation of Dedicated Freight Corridors.
• In the first phase the organisation is constructing the Western DFC (1504 Route km) and Eastern DFC (1856 route km) spanning a total length of 3360 route km.

• It is a Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) corporation run by government of India's Ministry of Railways to undertake planning, development, and mobilisation of financial resources and construction, maintenance and operation of the "Dedicated Freight Corridors" (DFC).
• The DFCCIL was registered as a company under the Companies Act 1956 in 2006.
• First 2 DFC, Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (WDFC), and Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor (EDFC), will decongest railway network by moving 70% of India's goods train to these two corridors

• The Eastern & western dedicated freight corridors entail an investment of $12 billion, with the World Bank and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) partly funding the project with around $1.86 bn and $5.2 bn respectively.

• Currently, freight trains do not get priority over passenger trains. Once completed, at least 70% of the freight trains will be transferred on the DFCCIL network which will help in timely movement of cargo.
• DFCCIL will be monitoring the movement of freight trains at the Operations Control Centre in Prayagraj, which is the second largest in the world after Shanghai, China
  Private containers will also be allowed to use the freight corridor but they have to pay track usage charges.

International Organisations
Government of India and AIIB sign agreement
Relevance IN - Prelims ( about AIIB) + Mains ( GS II Important International institutions, agencies and fora- their structure, mandate. + GS III infrastructure development)
What's the NEWS

• The Government of India, the Government of Maharashtra, Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) signed a loan agreement for a $500 million Mumbai Urban Transport Project-III to improve the network capacity, service quality and safety of the suburban railway system in Mumbai.
• This project will assist in improved mobility, service quality and safety of passengers of the sub urban railway system of Mumbai, by providing faster, more reliable and higher quality transport services compared to road-based transport.
• The total estimated cost of the project is $997 million, of which $500 million will be financed by the AIIB, $310 million by the Government of Maharashtra and $187 million by Ministry of Railways.
• The $500 million loan from the AIIB has a 5-year grace period and a maturity of 30 years.

 Know! about AIIB

• The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) is a multilateral development bank with a mission to improve social and economic outcomes in Asia.
• Headquartered in Beijing, it began operations in January 2016 and have now grown to 103 approved members worldwide.
• AIIB invests in sustainable infrastructure and other productive sectors in Asia and beyond,
• Membership in the AIIB is divided into regional (Asia) and non-regional( other continent)members.
• India is a founding member of AIIB
• It is open to all members of the World Bank or the Asian Development Bank
• AIIB allows for non-sovereign entities to apply for AIIB membership, assuming their home country is a member. (eg- sovereign wealth funds of a member country)
• China is the largest contributor and also the largest shareholder to the Bank, India is the second-largest shareholder, contributing USD 8.5 billion.
• The Bank can lend outside Asia provided that it supports connectivity with Asia or it is for a global
• The AIIB has approved for lending USD 200 million to National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF).

Voting shares in the bank

• China (26.1 %)
• India (7.6%)
• Russia (6.01%)
• Germany (4.2 %).

Agreements signed by AIIB

• The AIIB has signed a co-financing framework agreement with the World Bank

AIIB has also signed three nonbinding Memoranda of Understanding (MOU) with

• Asian Development Bank (ADB),
• European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD),
• European Investment Bank (EIB).

AIIB Support to India

• The total loan sanctioned by AIIB to five Indian projects is USD 1.074 billion.
• India is the largest beneficiary of AIIB financing for infrastructure projects.

Approved projects

•  Bangalore Metro Rail Project
•  Gujarat Rural Roads (MMGSY)
•  India Infrastructure Fund.
•  Andhra Pradesh 24×7 - Power For All Project.
•  Covid-19 support for India.
•  Mumbai Urban Transport Project-III

National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF).

• NIIF is an Indian-government backed entity established to provide long-term capital to the country's infrastructure sector.
• Its portfolio includes investments in ports and logistics, real estate and renewables.

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