Union and State Government Schemes

Union and State Government Schemes

Schemes and Plans of Union and State Governments

PAHAL Scheme

The PAHAL (DBTL) scheme was launched on 1st June 2013 and covered 291 districts. More than 60% of LPG customers in the country have joined the ambitious PAHAL scheme for receiving cash subsidy so that they can buy cooking gas (LPG) at market price.

• The DBTL modified Scheme for LPG consumers (PAHAL) was relaunched on November 15, 2014, in 54 districts and in the rest of the country on January 1, 2015.

• The Scheme aims to transfer the subsidy on LPG directly into the bank accounts of over 15 crore LPG consumers.

Beti Bachao-Beti Padhao

The 'Beti Bachao-Beti Padhao' scheme, which seeks to address gender imbalance and discrimination against the girl child, was launched by the Prime Minister on 2 January 2015 at Panipat in Haryana.

• Mahendergarh and Jhajjar districts of Haryana are badly affected by imbalanced Sex ratios, where there are just about 775 girls for 1,000 boys, the lowest in India.

• Haryana Chief Minister launched a scheme for girl child - 'Aapki Beti Humari Beti' - to combat the problem of declining child sex ratio in the state.

Sukanya Samriddhi Accounts

Rate of interest 9.1% Per Annum (2014-15), calculated every year, yearly compounded. Minimum INR. 1000 and the Maximum INR. 1,50,000 in a financial year. Subsequent deposit in multiples of INR 100.

• Deposits can be made in a lump sum.

• No limit on the number of deposits either in a month or in a financial year.

• An account can be opened up to the age of 10 years only from the date of birth.

• If a minimum of Rs. 1,000 is not deposited in a financial year, the account will become discontinued and can be revived with a penalty of Rs. 50 per year, with a minimum amount required for deposit for that year.

• Partial withdrawal, maximum up to 50% of the balance standing at the end of the preceding financial year, can be taken after the Account holder attains the age of 18 years.

• The account can be closed after completion of 21 years.

Jan Dhan Yojana

• Aim-scheme to promote financial inclusion: Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched 'Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana' to help the poor open bank accounts.

• The slogan for the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan mission is "Mera Khata - Bhagya Vidhaata".

• Every individual who opens a bank account will become eligible to receive an accident insurance cover of up to Rs. 1 Lakh.

• HDFC Ergo General Insurance will provide the accident cover under the scheme.

• LIC (Life Insurance Corporation) will provide the life insurance cover of Rs. 30,000 under the scheme.

• Rs. 5,000 overdraft facility for Aadhar-linked accounts, RuPay Debit Card with and a minimum monthly remuneration of Rs. 5,000 to business correspondents who will provide the last link between the account holders and the bank.

• Capital Infusion in Banks.

Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY)

• The Union Cabinet on March 21, 201,5, cleared a scheme to provide skill training to 1.4 million youth, with an overall outlay of Rs. 1,120 crore.

• The Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana, to be implemented by the new Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship through the National Skill Development Corporation, will focus on fresh entrants to the labour market, especially Class-X and Class-XII dropouts.

• The main objectives of NSDC include:

(i) to catalyse the creation of market-based, scalable businesses by providing funding through a combination of debt, equity, and grants;

(ii) implementing the skills voucher programme; and

(iii) promoting centres of excellence for training of trainers in coordination with states and SSCs, etc.

Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana

• Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana (SAGY), a new initiative in rural development, was launched by the Government of India on October 11, 201,4, with the objective that these Adarsh Grams (Model Villages) serve as the "nucleus of health, cleanliness, greenery and cordiality" within the village community.

• The scheme's Guidelines call upon Members of Parliament (MPs) to make one village of their choice in their constituency a Model Village by 2016, and another two villages by 2019.

• The Adarsh Gram will have a population of 3,000 to 5,000 in plain areas and 1000 to 3000 in hilly, tribal, and difficult areas.

Ayush

• The Department of Indian System of Medicine and Homeopathy (ISM & H) was established in the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare in 1995.

• It was rechristened as the Department of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy with the acronym AYUSH in 2003.

Ayushman Bharat

• To provide health cover of Rs. 5 Lakh per family per year for secondary and tertiary care hospitalisation to poor and vulnerable sections of the population, Ayushman Bharat - Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (ABPMJAY) was launched in 2018, subsuming the erstwhile Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY).

Shyam Prasad Mukherji Rurban Mission

• The Ministry of Rural Development (MRD) launched the Shyama Prasad Mukherji Rurban Mission (SPMRM) in 2016, to implement the vision of "Development of a cluster of villages that preserve and nurture the essence of rural community life with focus on equity and inclusiveness without compromising with the facilities perceived to be essentially urban in nature, thus creating a cluster of "Rurban Villages"."

• A 'Rurban cluster' is a cluster of geographically contiguous villages with a population of about 25,000 to 50,000 in plain and coastal areas and 5,000 to 15,000 in desert, hilly, or tribal areas.

Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin)

• The Government of India administers Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin) [SBM (G)], a comprehensive programme to ensure sanitation facilities in rural areas with the main goal of eradicating the practice of open defecation and ensuring a clean environment.

• The rural sanitation programme was renamed as Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan (NBA) with effect from April 1, 2012.The 

• NBA has now been restructured into the Swach Bharat Mission (Gramin) [SBM (G)] with effect from October 2, 2014.
  SBM-G Phase II was launched in 2020-21 to achieve Sampoorna Swachhata.

Mahatma Gandhi Janbhagidari Vikas Yojana

• The Mahatma Gandhi Janbhagidari Vikas Yojana (MGJVY), formerly known as Guru Golwalkar Janbhagidari Vikas Yojana,  was launched in September 2014 in all the 33 districts of Rajasthan.

• The objective of the scheme is to ensure public participation in rural areas for development, employment generation, and construction and maintenance of community assets, and to improve the living standards of families in rural areas.

Aadhaar

• Aadhaar is the first on-scale Digital ID service in the world, which is formless and paperless.

• With more than 80 crore Aadhaar Cards issued, Aadhaar is the largest biometric programme in the world, making India a global leader in biometric technology.

• A key objective of the Aadhaar programme is to provide an identity infrastructure for the delivery of various social welfare programmes and for the effective targeting of welfare services.

Direct Benefits Transfer (DBT)

• To achieve targeted delivery of welfare services transparently and efficiently, the Government launched Direct Benefits Transfer through Aadhaar Payment Bridge (APB) and other channels in 2013.

• As per the directions of the Government of India, 35 centrally sponsored schemes come under the purview of DBT, which is to be implemented across India.

• This Scheme is linked with DBT for LPG, PDS, MGNREG, etc.

Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana—National Rural Livelihood Mission

• Ajeevika-NRLM is a flagship programme of the Ministry. It seeks to reach out to all rural poor households in the country, estimated at 8-10 cr, and organize them into Self Help Groups (SHGs) and federations at village and higher levels by 2021-22.

• 28 states (except Goa) and the Union Territory of Puducherry transitioned to NRLM and set up SRLMs.

• As of January 2015, 20.95 lakh SHGs in 2125 intensive blocks of 316 districts have been promoted.

• National Rural Livelihood Mission, renamed as Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Rural Livelihood Mission (DAY-NRLM), was launched in 2011.

• Ajeevika Grameen Express Yojana (AGEY) has been introduced by the Gov. of India as a new sub-scheme under DAY-NRLM from the FY 2017-18.

Social Sector Programmes

The seven flagship programmes continue to receive high priority, viz. Sarva Siksha Abhiyan; Mid-Day Meal Scheme; National Health Mission; Integrated Child Development Services; Swachh Bharat Abhiyan; Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme; and 100 Smart Cities.

After providing bank accounts to crores of unbanked, the Prime Minister launched three social security schemes simultaneously at 115 locations throughout the country:

1. Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY) – renewable one-year life cover of ₹2 lakh for savings bank account holders aged 18-50 years (life cover up to 55 years) for a premium of ₹ 330 per annum per subscriber.

2. Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY) – a renewable one-year accidental death-cum-disability cover of ₹ 2 lakh and ₹ 1 lakh for partial/permanent disability for savings bank account holders aged 18-70 years for a premium of ₹ 12 per annum per subscriber.

3. Atal Pension Yojana (APY) – launched in May 2015, focused on workers of the unorganized sector; provides subscribers a fixed minimum pension of ₹1,000, ₹2,000, ₹3,000, ₹4,000, or ₹5,000 per month, starting at age 60 years, depending on the Contribution option exercised between ages 18-40.

Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY)

PMUY is an ambitious social welfare scheme of the Central Government, launched on 1st May 2016 from Ballia in Uttar Pradesh.

• Under PMUY, the government aims to provide LPG connections to BPL households in the country.

• The scheme is aimed at replacing the unclean cooking fuels mostly used in rural India with clean and more efficient LPG (Liquefied Petroleum Gas).

• Ujjwala Yojana is aimed at providing 5 Crore LPG connections in the name of women in BPL households across the country.

Some objectives of the scheme: empowering women, protecting health, reducing serious health hazards from fossil fuel cooking, and reducing deaths due to unclean cooking fuel.

Ujjwala 2.0

• Ujjwala 2.0 was launched in 2021 to provide an additional one crore LPG connections to adult women of poor households under PMUY.

PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana

• A rooftop solar scheme was launched by the Prime Minister on 13th February 2024.

• The scheme aims to solarize one crore households by providing free electricity to certain households every month.

• Under this scheme, the central government will provide 300 units of free electricity per month to beneficiaries by investing Rs. 75,000 crore.

• A free electricity scheme was already announced by the finance minister in an interim budget speech.

Final Thoughts

The Union and State Government schemes aim to promote inclusive development, social welfare, and financial empowerment across India. Programs like PAHAL, PMUY, Jan Dhan Yojana, and Ujjwala 2.0 provide direct benefits to millions, ensuring access to clean cooking fuel, LPG subsidies, and financial services.

Initiatives such as Beti Bachao-Beti Padhao, Sukanya Samriddhi, and Ayushman Bharat focus on women’s welfare, child health, and healthcare coverage. Skill development programs like PMKVY empower youth with employable skills, while Swachh Bharat Mission and Rurban Mission improve sanitation, rural infrastructure, and sustainable living conditions.

These schemes collectively reflect the government’s commitment to holistic growth and equitable opportunities, bridging gaps in employment, health, and social security for vulnerable populations.