Governance Community

The Union Minister for Civil Aviation, Jyotiraditya M. Scindia, announced that the aviation sector in India has undergone significant changes under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Previously limited to a select few, air travel has now become accessible to the common man. Scindia highlighted the growth in domestic passengers, which increased from 60 million in 2014 to 143 million in 2020 before the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. International passengers also saw a significant increase, rising from 43 million to 64 million, marking nearly a 50% growth. Despite the impact of Covid-19, the number of aircraft has risen from around 400 in 2014 to 723 in 2023. Scindia emphasized the launch of Digi Yatra, a program designed for domestic flight passengers, which aims to set a new global benchmark for a seamless, hassle-free, and safe passenger experience at airports. The initiative was initially introduced at three airports – Delhi, Bengaluru, and Varanasi – on December 1, 2022, and later expanded to four more airports – Hyderabad, Kolkata, Pune, and Vijayawada – in March 2023. The government plans to implement Digi Yatra across various airports in the country. Furthermore, the minister highlighted the progress in airport infrastructure, with the government operationalizing an additional 74 airports, helicopters, and water aerodromes, bringing the total to 220. In addition to airport development, the government has also made strides in the establishment of 11 greenfield airports. The UDAN scheme, aimed at enhancing regional connectivity, has identified 180 RCS (Regional Connectivity Scheme) airports, including 25 water aerodromes and 40 helipads, for the operation of RCS flights. Currently, out of 1,152 awarded RCS routes, 475 routes have commenced operations, connecting 74 airports, nine heliports, and two water aerodromes. The RCS UDAN scheme has facilitated travel for approximately 121.67 lakh passengers, and an amount of around Rs 2,585.25 crore has been released to selected airline operators for the operation of RCS UDAN flights. Recently, Udan 5.1 was launched, focusing specifically on helicopter routes.

RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das has introduced a financial inclusion dashboard called ‘Antardrishti’ to assess and monitor the progress of financial inclusion in India. This dashboard will provide valuable insights into the relevant parameters and help identify areas of financial exclusion at a detailed level across the country. Initially, the dashboard will be used internally by the RBI but is expected to promote greater financial inclusion through collaboration with multiple stakeholders. The RBI has been actively promoting financial inclusion through various policy initiatives. In 2021, they developed the Financial Inclusion (FI) Index to measure the extent of financial inclusion. This index combines information from different aspects of financial inclusion into a single value ranging from 0 to 100. A score of 0 represents complete financial exclusion, while 100 indicates full financial inclusion. The FI index considers three dimensions: ‘Access’, ‘Usage’, and ‘Quality’, and incorporates data from banking, investments, insurance, postal services, and the pension sector in consultation with the government and sector regulators. According to the RBI statement, the launch of the Antardrishti dashboard marks another significant step towards deepening financial inclusion in India.

The Indian government plans to implement an Aadhaar-based payment system (ABPS) for 90% of active workers under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) by the end of June. The Ministry of Rural Development aims to make ABPS mandatory for wage settlements starting July 1. Currently, around 74.9% of active workers are eligible for the payment system. The government has instructed state governments to organize camps and maintain contact with beneficiaries to ensure complete coverage under ABPS. However, workers without an Aadhaar number should not be denied work. The government aims to register approximately 1,491,848 workers daily to meet the June 30 deadline. Some states are falling short of the targets, and they are labelled as “lagging” in terms of daily data updates on the government dashboard. Several states have a low percentage of eligible workers, including Meghalaya, Nagaland, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, and Gujarat. However, the government remains optimistic that 88-90% of active MGNREGS workers will be covered by the end of the month. According to government data, out of the total 14.28 crore active beneficiaries, Aadhaar has been linked to 13.75 crore individuals, and 12.17 crore of these have been authenticated, making them eligible for ABPS. In May, approximately 88% of wage payments were made through ABPS. The MGNREGS is a government initiative that provides a minimum of 100 days of guaranteed wage employment per financial year to rural households for unskilled manual work, aiming to improve their livelihood security.

A WhatsApp chatbot called CoalMitra has been introduced by Maharatna PSU Coal India Limited (CIL). The chairman of Coal India, Pramod Agarwal, introduced the chatbot. The chatbot will be used to handle complaints, manage vendor bills using the “Vendor Bill Status” feature, and allow retired employees to download paperwork to handle benefits using the “Retiree’s Benefit” feature. The occasion was attended by Dr. B Veera Reddy, Director of Technical for CIL, Vinay Ranjan, Director of P&IR for CIL, and Mukesh Choudhary, Director of Marketing for CIL. Speaking on the app’s features, the PSU noted that CoalMitra operates around-the-clock and will help with faster complaint handling. Stakeholders can utilise it to file complaints and follow up on them. Additionally, merchants can use it to track the status of their invoices, and retired employees and their family members can use it to download the numerous paperwork necessary for their benefit. The PSU advised consumers to send a WhatsApp message with the phrase “Hello” to the mobile number 9477011383 in order to communicate with CoalMitra.

The e-Vidhan Sabha project, where MLAs will be able to ask questions online and perform other activities using tablets, would be operational within the next two months, according to Gujarat assembly speaker Shankar Chaudhary on Friday. To oversee project execution, a 15-member committee with the speaker as its head and members who are MLAs and officers from the relevant departments has been constituted. Through the e-Vidhan Sabha project, MLAs will be able to use tablets to submit questions, present issues from their various areas, and even upload data. The state government’s e-file system would be linked to the MLAs’ uploaded data, according to Chaudhary. The system would be operational by the next session of the Gujarat assembly, the speaker continued, adding that the process of updating the data is virtually complete and all other project modalities will be finished in the next two months. “We will be in a position to implement the project before the next session. It will ensure faster solution of peoples’ problems,” Chaudhary said. A team has been established to instruct MLAs on how to utilise the e-Vidhan Sabha module, he continued. These individuals, according to him, “will visit all constituencies, meet with MLAs, and train them in using all the features that will be made available under the project.” One meeting with representatives of the state government’s department of science and technology has already taken place, according to Chaudhary, and a second one is set for next week.

Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC), according to Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal, was established to democratise the nation’s current e-commerce environment. In his virtual address at the ‘ONDC Elevate’ programme on Monday in Bengaluru, Goyal stated that ONDC is a growth engine with the ability to totally redefine the e-commerce sector. The minister stated that the fact that there are so many merchants on the network attests to ONDC’s significance as digital commerce being reimagined. Throughout the open house, Goyal interacted with every network participant, taking note of their comments and offering advice on how to step up their efforts to democratise digital commerce in India. As a follow-up to participants’ questions, the minister added that “any marketplace joining ONDC should come with serious commitment, and not for namesake.” Additionally, he made the point that platforms joining ONDC should do so in a spirit of reciprocity rather than just taking advantage of the network’s resources without making a contribution to its development. With the goal of boosting collaboration by bringing together network participants and ecosystem players, ONDC Elevate celebrated ONDC’s one-year anniversary. It provided a platform for open talks about current successes and facilitated brainstorming sessions to help determine ONDC’s future course. Dilip Asbe, CEO of NPCI, Adil Zainulbhai, Chairman of the Capacity Building Commission, and Jaxay Shah, Chairman of QCI, members of the ONDC Advisory Council, also attended the occasion. According to a release from the Ministry of Commerce & Industry, participants had the chance to express their ideas during this interactive session and benefited from the minister’s and the advisory council members’ advice. As ONDC completes its first year of operations, T. Koshy, MD & CEO, stated that it is the perfect time to reflect on what has been accomplished thus far and make plans for the future. According to him, the network has consistently developed with the participation of a variety of companies from five cities to 236 cities. The panel also talked about the different achievements made by ONDC during the last 12 months. Since the beginning of beta testing on September 29, 2022, ONDC has expanded to 36,000 merchants, 45+ network participants, and 8+ categories. Weekly averages of 13,000+ retail orders and 36,000+ mobility rides each day have been achieved, with daily peaks of 25,000 retail orders. According to the statement, the session also covered the effects that ONDC is having, particularly on SHGs and non-digitized sellers.

The Rs 2,000 banknotes will no longer be in circulation, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced on Friday, May 19. The Rs 2,000 banknotes will still be accepted as legal tender. The people can also exchange Rs 2,000 notes for notes of other denominations at any bank branch or deposit them into their bank accounts. The RBI said that beginning on May 23, 2023, any bank will allow the exchange of Rs 2,000 banknotes into banknotes of other denominations up to a ceiling of Rs 20,000 at a time in order to maintain operational ease and prevent disruption of routine activities of bank branches. Additionally, starting on May 23, the 19 Regional Offices (ROs) of the RBI with issuing departments will offer the ability to swap Rs 2,000 bank notes up to the maximum of Rs 20,000 at a time. The introduction of the Rs 2,000 denomination banknote in November 2016 was primarily done to quickly satisfy the economy’s need for money following the loss of the legal tender status of the Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 bank notes that were in use at the time. After sufficient supplies of notes in other denominations became available, the goal of launching Rs 2,000 banknotes was achieved. As a result, the printing of Rs 2,000 banknotes was discontinued in 2018–19, according to the RBI. The expected life time of the Rs 2,000 banknotes is about 4-5 years, and 89 percent of them were printed before March 2017. According to the apex bank, the total value of these banknotes in circulation has decreased from Rs 6.73 lakh crore, which represented 37.3% of notes in circulation at their peak on March 31, 2018, to Rs 3.62 lakh crore, which will make up only 10.8% of notes in circulation on March 31, 2023.

Anurag Thakur, the Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting, urged the Indian Information Service (IIS) officers and members of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting on Wednesday to push the boundaries of public communication and use new technologies in doing so. The Minister was speaking to an audience in New Delhi as he opened the day-long “Chintan Shivir” conclave on “Citizen Centric Communication as a Tool for Good Governance.” According to Thakur, both the media landscape and how information is consumed by individuals are rapidly changing. In order to address those needs, he continued, it is necessary to adapt new information transmission techniques. The minister noted that the Indian Information Service (IIS) is an essential component of the government and that this year’s Chintan Shivir has given the staff members a special opportunity to work together, reflect on their own behaviour, and promptly alter their course. He encouraged the officers to aim towards greater effectiveness through improved resource management, teamwork, collaboration, and information sharing. The minister asked everyone in attendance to set a deadline for themselves and to regularly review and update both the ministry’s and their own organization’s priorities and deliverables. The minister urged the officers to periodically assess their ability to serve the country to the best of their abilities, referring to Karmayogi Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership. As the government is focused on the welfare of the impoverished, the minister outlined a clear priority for the ministry’s communication aim and stated that the Antyodaya mantra should direct the officers’ everyday activities. He emphasised how a substantial portion of India lacks access to television and newspapers and lives in the media shadows.

On May 16, 2023 at 10:30 AM via video conference, Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi will give around 71,000 appointment letters to newly inducted recruits. The Prime Minister will also speak to these new hires at the event. There will be 45 Rozgar Mela events across the nation. State governments and UTs supporting this programme, as well as departments of the central government, are all recruiting. The newly hired individuals, chosen from applicants across the nation, will fill a variety of roles and posts, including Gramin Dak Sevaks, Inspector of Posts, Commercial-cum-Ticket Clerk, Junior Clerk-cum-Typist, Junior Accounts Clerk, Track Maintainer, Assistant Section Officer, Lower Division Clerk, Sub Divisional Officer, Tax Assistants, Assistant Enforcement Officer, Inspectors, Nursing Officers, Assistant Security Officers, Fireman, Assistant Accounts officer, Assistant Audit officer, Divisional Accountant, Auditor, Constable, Head Constable, Assistant Commandant, Principal, Trained Graduate Teacher, Assistant Registrar, Assistant Professor, among others. The Rozgar Mela is a step in the direction of fulfilling the Prime Minister’s promise to give employment creation first priority. The Rozgar Mela is anticipated to serve as a catalyst for increased job creation and give young people worthwhile possibilities for empowerment and involvement in national development. The newly appointed individuals will also have the chance to train on their own through Karmayogi Prarambh, an online orientation programme for all new hires in different government departments.

The BJP has “not been able to make a mark,” Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai conceded, as the Congress was winning or leading in 136 of the state’s 224 assembly seats, comfortably exceeding the magic number of 113. According to the most recent trends on the Election Commission website, the BJP is leading in 64. The JD-S, which hoped to be the kingmaker, was leading in 20 seats. “Once the results come we will do a detailed analysis. As a national party, we will not only analyse but also see what deficiencies and gaps were left at various levels. We take this result in our stride,” stated Basavaraj Bommai. Exit polls had indicated that it would be a close contest, with the Congress emerging as the single-largest party but lacking sufficient support to surpass the 113-seat mark. According to the state’s chief election officer, Karnataka voted in a single phase and had 73.19 percent voter turnout. One of the main causes of the right-wing party’s defeat in the Karnataka assembly election in 2023, according to CM Bommai, was that the Congress began its election preparation much earlier than the BJP. “I take responsibility for this debacle. There are multiple reasons for this. We will find out all the reasons and strengthen the party once again for Parliament elections,” he told reporters. A party must win 113 seats in the 224-seat Karnataka assembly in order to form the government. Who the Congress chooses as their candidate for chief minister will now be the center of attention. Both DK Shivakumar, President of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC), and senior leader Siddaramaiah are eyeing the position. Rahul Gandhi of the Congress congratulated the people of Karnataka, where his party appears to have won a landslide win and would likely form the next government. At the Congress office in New Delhi, he said to the ecstatic party members that “the market of hate has been shut, and shops of love have opened.” According to him, “the power of poor people” won in the elections in Karnataka. This will happen again in other states as well. He continued, assuring that the party will keep the five promises it made during the first cabinet meeting of its government. “The Congress has fought for the issues of the poor,” he said.