Prelim Bits 04-08-2017

AGRI UDAAN- Food and Agribusiness Accelerator 2.0

• AGRI UDAAN is a unique initiative for upliftment of Agri start-ups.
• It is implemented by Indian Council of Agriculture Research in collaboration with IIM-Ahmadabad.
• It aims at scaling up innovative start-ups through education, mentorship, and financing.
• The initiative has 6 month program in which shortlisted Agri startups with promising innovative business models will be mentored & guided to scale up their operations with market traction.

Pradhan Mantri Paridhan Rojgar Protsahan Yojana (PMPRPY)

• The Scheme is under the Ministry of Textiles, benefitting the apparel industries.
• The scheme enables incentives towards employers, registered with Employees’ Provident Fund Organization (EPFO), for creation of new employment.
• Under Pradhan Mantri Rojgar Protsahan Yojana (PMRPY), GOI is providing incentive to the employer by paying the 8.33% EPF contribution towards new employment created for up to 3 years.
• Ministry of Textiles under PMPRPY, will bear additional 3.67% towards the employer’s contribution of the Employers Provident Fund Scheme, in addition to Ministry of Labour‘s contribution under PMRPY.

Gender Champions Scheme

• The scheme is implemented by Ministry of Women and Child Development and Ministry of Human Resource Development.
• Gender Champions aim to make young boys and girls gender sensitive and create positive social norms which value the rights of women and girls.
• Under the scheme, Colleges and universities will appoint responsible leaders as Gender champions.
• They will facilitate an enabling environment within their schools/colleges/academic institutions where girls are treated with dignity and respect.

Annual Status of Education Report

• The report is released by PRATHAM, a non-governmental organization.
• It is a household survey, limited to rural areas of the country.
• Ministry of Human Resource Development was not associated with this Annual Status of Education Report Survey.
• The report points out the learning outcomes for each class in Languages (Hindi, English and Urdu), Mathematics, Environmental Studies, Science and Social Science up to the elementary stage.
• The report would serve as a guideline for States and UTs to ensure that all children acquire appropriate learning level.

Capping of Orthopaedic implants price

• National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) has started working on capping the prices of orthopaedic implant.
• An orthopaedic implant is a medical device manufactured to replace a missing joint or bone or to support a damaged bone.
• It is mainly fabricated using stainless steel and titanium alloys for strength and the plastic coating that is done on it acts as an artificial cartilage.
• The similar capping of price was previously carried out for cardiac stents.
• The prices are capped to make it more accessible to patients and reducing the out of pocket expenditure.
• NPPA is an executive body under the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers controls the price of pharmaceutical drugs in India.
• It renders advice to the government in the matters of drug policies and pricing.

Payout Ratio

• Payout Ratio is a financial metric used to express the proportion of earnings that a company pays out to its shareholders in the form of cash dividends.
• It is calculated by dividing the cash dividend paid during the year by the total amount of earnings.
• Growth companies that have several opportunities to reinvest their earnings generally have a lower payout ratio than mature companies with fewer reinvestment opportunities.

Marginal Cost of Funds-Based Lending Rate (MCLR)

• RBI has constituted an internal group to review the working of MCLR system.
• The MCLR was introduced in April 2016, replacing the existing base rate system.
• MCLR refers to the minimum interest rate of a bank below which it cannot lend, except in some cases allowed by the RBI.
• Prior to MCLR system, different banks were following different methodology for calculation of base rate, either on the basis of average cost of funds or marginal cost of funds or blended cost of funds.
• MCLR’s method is largely determined by marginal cost of funds and especially by deposit rates and repo rates.
• It takes into consideration in repo rates change and transmit it into bank’s lending rates.
• The MCLR, the internal benchmark lending rates, have to be revised monthly.