SWAYAM (Study Webs of Active Learning for Young Aspiring Minds)

-National Initiative to provide online platform for technical education

-developed by Microsoft for 3 years
-Massive Open Online Courses
-A rural student can take a course from IIT Bombay and credits transfered. Cert
ificate issued by parent.
-Labs,facilities provided by parent institution.
UDAY (Ujwal Discom Assurance Yojana)
-Aimed at financial turn around and revival of financially stressed power distr
ibution companies.
a)Improve opertional efficiency
b)Reduce cost of power
c)Reduce interest cost of discoms
d)Ensure financial discipline aligning it with states.
-Salient features
a)States take over 75% of debt
b)This wont be counted in fiscal deficit of state
c)States achieving operational milestone will be given preference in DDUGJY et
c
d)States shall takeover future losses of discom in graded manner.
SMART CITIES MISSION
-An urban renewal and retrofitting program by Govt. of India.
-100 cities to be selected based on Smart City Proposal and each city allocated
Rs10 billion. Rs5 billion from state and Rs5 billion from central govt over a pe
riod of 5 years.
-31% of Indian population lives in Urban Areasand contribute to 60% of GDP. Proj
ected to grow to 40% occupation.
Hence there is a requirement of comprehensive social,economical,institutional a
nd physical infrastructural development. This would improve std of living and at
tract
more people and institutes to the city. Virtuos cycle of growth and development
.
-Core Infrastructural elements
a)Adequate water Supply
b)Assured electricity Supply
c)Efficient Public Transport systems.
d)Sanitation,Solid waste management.
e)Affordable housing for the poor.
f)HEalth and Education
g)Sustainable Environment
h)Robust IT connectivity and digitalization.
-Features of Smart Cities
a)Area based development
Mixed land use for compatible activities. Planning for unplanned land to maxi
mise efficiency of land use.
b)Providing an identity to the city
On the basis of its unique art,dance,cuisine,culture etc.
c)Housing and Inclusiveness -Expanding housing opportunities for all.
Criticisms
-Smart City proposals have proposed to use 71% of funding for area based develop
ment

ABD will provide retrofitting of infrastructure like water,electricity,creating

new business districts
This will lead to land monetisation.
Remaining areas in the city to get services like Intelligent traffic management
, water resource, CCTV based central command system.
-No institutional framework for urban development
Convergence with national missions like Swach Bharat,HRIDAY,expansion of roadwa
ys and other schemes are unknown which would also be taken up by state govt.
No role of local governance. Instead a special purpose vehicle (SPV) has been d
elegated the responsibility of implementing the mission.
Shankar Acharya Commitee
-To deliberate on the possibility of introducing a new fiscal year.
-Take into account work season, agricultural crop production pattern, transactin
g of budget by govt, trades and businesses and taxation, statistics and data col
lection