Key Indicators of Household Consumer Expenditure in India, 2009-10

The National Sample Survey Office (NSSO), Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation has released the key indicators of household consumer expenditure in India,  generated from the data collected in its 66^th round survey during July 2009 - June 2010. NSS surveys on consumer expenditure are conducted quinquennially starting from 27^th round (October 1972 – September 1973) and the last quinquennial survey was conducted in NSS 61^st round (July 2004- June 2005) for which, the results have already been released. The NSS 66^th round was the eighth quinquennial round on the subject.

The NSS consumer expenditure survey aims at generating estimates of household monthly per capita expenditure (MPCE) and its distribution separately for the rural and urban sectors of the country, for States and Union Territories, and for different socio-economic groups. These indicators are amongst the most important measures of the level of living of the respective domains of the population and are crucial input for estimation of prevalence of poverty by the Planning Commission. The detailed results of quinquennial survey on consumer expenditure are usually brought out by the NSSO through a number of reports. In order to make available the salient results of the survey, well in advance of the release of its reports, for use in planning, policy formulation, decision support and as input for further statistical exercises, the NSSO has released the key indicators.

 

The key indicators are based on the Central Sample consisting of 7,524 villages in rural areas and 5,284 urban blocks spread over all States and Union Territories except in (i) interior villages of Nagaland situated beyond five kilometres of a bus route (ii) villages in Andaman and Nicobar Islands which remain inaccessible throughout the year and (iii) Leh, Kargil and Poonch  districts of Jammu and Kashmir.

In the 66^th round consumer expenditure survey, the data on household consumption was collected with three reference periods of preceding 7 days, 30 days and 365 days for specified set of items of the consumption basket. Two types of schedules namely Schedule 1.0 Type 1 and Schedule 1.0 Type 2 were canvassed during the survey. The reference periods for different Item Groups divided in three Categories in both the schedules of  the survey are summarized below:

Reference periods used for collection of consumption data in Schedule 1.0 Type 1 and Type 2
Cate-gory	Item groups	Reference period for
		Schedule Type 1	Schedule Type 2
I	Clothing, bedding, footwear, education, medical (institutional), durable goods	‘Last 30 days’ and ‘Last 365 days’	Last 365 days
II	Edible oil; egg, fish & meat; vegetables, fruits, spices, beverages and processed foods; pan, tobacco & intoxicants	Last 30 days	Last 7 days
III	All other food, fuel and light, miscellaneous goods and services including non-institutional medical; rents and taxes	Last 30 days	Last 30 days

  From each sample household where Schedule Type 1 was canvassed, two measures of MPCE emerged. This was because for each such household, there were two sets of data for Category I items – “last 30 days” data and “last 365 days” data – unlike items of Categories II and III, for which only “last 30 days” was available. Thus there were two ways of measuring household MPCE: one using “last 30 days” for all items, and the other using “last 365 days” data for Category I items and “last 30 days” for the rest. The first measure of MPCE is called MPCE_URP (Uniform Reference Period MPCE) and the second, MPCE_MRP (Mixed Reference Period MPCE). From data on MPCE_URP and MPCE_MRP (collected from households where Schedule Type 1 was canvassed), two alternative estimates of the distribution of MPCE and average MPCE can be built up.

From each sample household where Schedule Type 2 was canvassed, a single measure of MPCE emerged, as, for each item of consumption, data for only one reference period had been collected. Since the reference period system used for Schedule Type 2 was only a slight modification of the Mixed Reference Period (differing only in the reference period used for Category II items), this measure of MPCE is called the MPCE_MMRP (Modified Mixed Reference Period MPCE).

The values of different types of average MPCE for NSS 61^st and 66^th rounds at all-India level are given below:

Average MPCE (Rs.)
NSS Round	MPCEURP		MPCEMRP		MPCEMMRP
	Rural	Urban	Rural	Urban	Rural	Urban
61st	558.78	1052.36	579.17	1104.60	-	-
66th	927.70	1785.81	953.05	1856.01	1053.04	1984.46

Note: Type 2 Schedule was not canvassed in the 61^st Round.

Besides the average MPCE, the survey results also provide distribution of population over decile classes of MPCE. Thus the first decile class comprises the bottom 10 percent of population in terms of MPCE and the top (10^th) decile class comprises the top 10 percent of population. These decile classes for rural and urban domains are separately arrived at for MPCE_URP, MPCE_MRP and MPCE_MMRP. Further, in addition to all-India decile classes, similar State-specific decile classes are also derived and State-wise results are given for these classes in the detailed tables.

             The results released are mainly based on MPCE_MMRP. However, relevant indicators based on MPCE_URP and MPCE_MRP are also given for comparability.  The estimates of per capita monthly expenditure on food, non-food and total expenditure are provided separately for rural and urban sectors at the State level as well as for all-India across decile classes of MPCE. However, break-up of average MPCE by broad item group of food and non-food items, and item-wise estimates of quantity and value of per capita consumption are given at the all-India level.

Some salient findings of the survey relating to monthly per capita expenditure (MPCE) based on modified mixed reference period (MMRP)  are as follows:

·        In terms of MMRP estimates, the average MPCE in 2009-10 was estimated as Rs.1053.64 in rural India and Rs.1984.46 in urban India. Thus the per capita expenditure level of the urban population was on the average about 88% higher than that of the rural population.

·        The poorest 10% of India’s rural population had an average MPCE of Rs.453. The poorest 10% of the urban population had an average MPCE of Rs.599. The top 10% of the rural population, ranked by MPCE, had an average MPCE of Rs.2517 – about 5.6 times that of the bottom 10%.  The top 10% of the urban population had an average MPCE of Rs.5863 – about 9.8 times that of the bottom 10%. Average MPCE_MMRP across decile classes of MPCE_MMRP, at  all-India for rural and urban areas during 2009-10 is given in Annexure-I.

·         In rural India, half of the population belonged to households with MPCE below Rs.895 (median value) and nearly 40% of the rural population of India had MPCE below Rs.800. About 60% of rural population  had MPCE below Rs.1000. About 10% had MPCE above Rs.1650.

·        Correspondingly, in urban areas of India, half the population was living with MPCE below Rs.1500, about 70% of population had MPCE above Rs.1100, nearly 30% had MPCE above Rs.2100, and 20% had MPCE above Rs.2600.

INDIAN ECONOMY MCQs

1. Consider the following statements about the 13th finance commission :
     1. It is constituted to give recommendations on specified aspects of centre-state fiscal relations during 2010-2015.
    2. It will give recommendation for the cordial relation between centre & the states
Which of the statements given above is / are correct ?
(A) 1 only
(B) 2 only
(C) Both 1 and 2
(D) Neither 1 nor 2

2. Which among the following is the first commercial bank of limited liability managed by Indians ?
(A) Punjab National Bank
(B) Oudh Commercial Bank
(C) Imperial Bank of India
(D) Bank of Baroda

3. What is International Development Association ?
(A) A voluntary association of developing countries
(B) A federation of International lending agencies
(C) An affiliate of World Bank
(D) An organization of donor countries of European Union

4. Which of the following is not one of the core areas identified under the Bharat Nirman Programme ?
(A) Irrigation
(B) Rural electrification
(C) Drinking water supply
(D) Rural housing
(E) Computer education in schools
5. The Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) provides refinance facilities under ARS. What is the full form of ARS ?
(A) Automatic Refinance Scheme
(B) Allocation and Refinance Solutions
(C) Automatic Refinance Solution
(D) Allocation and Refinance Scheme
(E) None of these

6. Which one of the following was the chairman of the committee on pricing and taxation of petroleum products ?
(A) Raja J. Chelliah
(B) C. Rangarajan
(C) Y. V. Reddy
(D) Abid Hussain

7. What was the limit of ARS fixed initially by the Small Industries Bank of India (SIDBI) ?
(A) Rs. 10 lakh
(B) Rs. 20 lakh
(C) Rs. 25 lakh
(D) Rs. 35 lakh
(E) Rs. 45 lakh

8. The Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) has been operating under SWS. What is the full form of SWS ?
(A) Small Welfare Scheme
(B) Single Window Scheme
(C) Small Window Service
(D) Single Window Service
(E) None of these

9. When was the Small Industries Development Bank of India set up ?
(A) 1988
(B) 1990
(C) 1992
(D) 1998
(E) None of these

10. The Small Industries Development Bank of India was established by the Government of India with an authorized capital of—
(A) Rs. 100 crore
(B) Rs. 150 crore
(C) Rs. 200 crore
(D) Rs. 250 crore
(E) Rs. 300 crore

11. The Small Industries Development Bank of India was established as a wholly owned subsidiary of—
(A) ECGC
(B) RBI
(C) NABARD
(D) IDBI

12. One of the objectives of the 11th five year plan is to reduce the poverty ratio by how much percentage points by the year 2012 ?
(A) 2%
(B) 2·5%
(C) 3·5%
(D) 10%
(E) 5·5%

13. Which of the following is the target fixed by the 11th five year plan pertaining to increase in the literacy by the year 2012 ? The level should be increased to—
(A) 50%
(B) 60%
(C) 70%
(D) 85%
(E) 90%

14. The Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) has taken over the responsibility of administering which of the following funds ?
    (1) Small Industries Development Fund
    (2) National Equity Fund
    (3) National Development Fund
Codes :
(A) Only (1)
(B) Only (2)
(C) Both (1) and (2)
(D) Only (3)
(E) All (1), (2) and (3)

15. Decline in the price of goods and services is technically known as—
(A) Deflation
(B) Inflation
(C) Negative growth
(D) Discount yield
(E) None of these

16. The Union Minister of Commerce and Industry in his announcement of Foreign Trade Policy for 2007-08 set a target to take the Foreign Trade to the level of US$—
(A) 100 billion
(B) 160 billion
(C) 180 billion
(D) 200 billion
(E) 250 billion

17. Match list-I with list-II and select the correct answer using the code given below the lists :
List-I (Company)
(a) Chevron
(b) AT &T
(c) AMD
(d) Enercon GmbH
List-II (Major Area/product)
1. Wind energy
2. Oil
3. Telephone internet
4. Micro processor
Codes :
(a) (b) (c) (d)
(A) 2 1 4 3
(B) 4 3 2 1
(C) 2 3 4 1
(D) 4 1 2 3

18. Level of inflation has been a cause of concern for India in the recent past. Which of the following is/are not important contributory factor(s) in rise of the level of inflation ?
    (1) High rate of taxation.
    (2) Hike in oil prices in international market.
    (3) Policy to announce support prices of major cereals and agro products.
Codes :
(A) Only (1)
(B) Only (2)
(C) Both (1) and (2)
(D) Only (3)
(E) All (1), (2) and (3)

19. Which of the following is/are the component(s) of Gross Domestic Capital Formation (GDCF) ?
    (1) Gross Domestic Savings
    (2) Net Capital Inflow
    (3) Direct Foreign Investment
Codes :
(A) Only (1)
(B) Only (2)
(C) Only (3)
(D) Both (1) and (3)
(E) Both (1) and (2)

20. Small Scale Industry like handicraft and cottage industries account for nearly what per cent of the countrys exports ?
(A) 15%
(B) 20%
(C) 30%
(D) 35%
(E) 50%

21. Normally two types of factors are responsible for industrial sickness extrogenous and endogenous. Which of the following is not and endogenous factor of industrial sickness ?
(A) Shortage of power
(B) Mismanagement
(C) Diversion of funds
(D) Excessive overheads
(E) Overestimation of demand

22. While preparing estimates of savings it is customary to divide the economy in to three sectors. Which of the following is/are considered part(s) of these sectors ?
    (1) The household sector
    (2) Corporate sector
    (3) Government sector
Codes :
(A) Only (1)
(B) Only (2)
(C) Only (3)
(D) Both (1) and (2)
(E) All (1), (2) and (3)

23. Which of the following is an employment generating scheme ?
(A) Ganga Kalyan Yojana
(B) IRDA
(C) Swarnjayanti Shahri Rozgar Yojana
(D) Mid Day Meal Scheme
(E) All of these

24. Which of the following is the ceiling enforced by the European commission on the budget deficit in terms of the percentage of the GDP, on its member countries ?
(A) 1%
(B) 2%
(C) 3%
(D) 5%
(E) None of these

25. VAT is—
(A) Value Added Tax
(B) Value Added Temple
(C) Value Assets Total
(D) None of these

26. Euro is a—
(A) Currency
(B) City
(C) Group
(D) River

27. Govt. of India recently decided to import wheat at a lower rate of custom duty. The effective rate of the duty would be—
(A) 15%
(B) 12%
(C) 10%
(D) 5%
(E) None of these

28. As per the reports published recently in the Newspapers, banks surpassed the target set for farm credit in 2005-2006. How much more credit was given to this sector in terms of percentage ?
(A) 15%
(B) 20%
(C) 26%
(D) 33%
(E) 43%

29. Match list-I with list-II and select the correct answer using the code given below the lists :
List-I (Person)
(a) Mukesh Ambani
(b) Sanjeev Batra
(c) Radhey Shyam Sharma
(d) T. Shankar Lingam
List-II (Company)
1. ONGC
2. NTPC
3. Reliance Industries Ltd.
4. MMTC
Codes :
(a) (b) (c) (d)
(A) 2 4 1 3
(B) 3 1 4 2
(C) 2 1 4 3
(D) 3 4 1 2

30. As per the reports published in the Newspapers the National Housing Bank (NHB) is planing to launch a reverse mortgage scheme specially to help which of the following sections of society ?
(A) People in rural India
(B) Senior citizens
(C) People living in Govt. accommodations
(D) Women who are sole bread winners
(E) None of these

31. Which one of the following is the correct sequence in the decreasing order of contribution of different sectors to the Gross Domestic Product of India ?
(A) Services—Industry—Agriculture
(B) Services—Agriculture—Industry
(C) Industry—Services—Agriculture
(D) Industry—Agriculture—Services

32. Govt. of India recently introduced some measures/incentives to improve tourism in India. Which of the following is one of these measures ?
(A) Issuance of electronic visa
(B) Free stay for three days in Govt. hotels in four metros for business travellers and frequent flyers
(C) Highly subsidized air travel on metro routes for frequent flyers
(D) Free trip to Agra, Delhi and Jaipur to those coming on educational/study tours
(E) None of these

33. Which of the following agencies recently laid down guidelines for foreign companies who wish to raise money from the Indian capital markets ?
(A) RBI
(B) IRDA
(C) Registrar of Companies
(D) SEBI
(E) None of these

34. Consider the following statements—
    1. The repo rate is the rate at which other banks borrow from the Reserve Bank of India.
    2. A value of 1 for Gini co-efficient in country implies that there is perfectly equal income for everyone in its population.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct ?
(A) 1 only
(B) 2 only
(C) Both 1 and 2
(D) Neither 1 nor 2

35. SEBI has decided to give an exemption to some companies from the requirement of the minimum 25 per cent public share holding companies exempted from such requirement should fulfill which of the following norms ?
    1. They should have market capitalization of Rs. 1,000 crore.
    2. They should have 20 million shares listed.
    3. They should have a turnover of Rs. 400 crore per annum.
Codes :
(A) Only 1
(B) Only 2
(C) Only 3
(D) Both 1 and 3
(E) Both 1 and 2

36. Which of the following organizations/agencies has agreed to set up an institute in India to train manpower in commodities ?
(A) World Bank
(B) Asian Development Bank
(C) International Monetary Fund
(D) New York Stock Exchange
(E) None of these

37. More and more banks in India these days are setting up their ATMs and discourage people to visit their branches for transaction which of the following is/are the limitations of the ATMs which force people to go to branch for transactions ?
    1. Lack of human interface.
    2. Communication gap.
    3. Limited cash dispensing ability.
Codes :
(A) Only 1
(B) Only 2
(C) Only 3
(D) Both 1 and 2
(E) 1, 2 and 3 all

38. Tarapore committee was associated with which one of the following ?
(A) Special economic zones
(B) Full capital account convertibility
(C) Foreign exchange reserves
(D) Effect of oil prices on the Indian economy

39. Who among the following served as the chief economist of the International monetary fund ?
(A) Ashok Lahiri
(B) Sumantra Ghoshal
(C) Saumitra Chaudhri
(D) Raghuram Rajan

40. The government of India recently cleared Rs. 1,00,000 crore of investment in Special Economic Zones (SEZs) the investment will be helpful in many ways. Which of the following is/are among such benefits ?
    1. About 40,000 hectares of the land will be converted into SEZs.
    2. About 5,00,000 people will get various types of jobs in those units.
    3. Exports of agro products would get an enormous boost as all such SEZ units are to be established for agro exports only.
Codes :
(A) Both 1 and 2
(B) Only 1
(C) Only 2
(D) Only 3
(E) 1, 2 and 3 all

Answers
1. (A) 2. (B) 3. (C) 4. (E) 5. (A) 6. (B) 7. (A) 8. (D) 9. (B) 10. (D)
11. (D) 12. (D) 13. (D) 14. (C) 15. (A) 16. (B) 17. (C) 18. (B) 19. (E) 20. (B)
21. (A) 22. (E) 23. (C) 24. (C) 25. (A) 26. (A) 27. (D) 28. (E) 29. (D) 30. (B)
31. (A) 32. (A) 33. (D) 34. (C) 35. (B) 36. (D) 37. (C) 38. (B) 39. (D) 40. (C)

Abbreviations

A
ABNF: Augmented Backus-Naur Formalism
ACA: Additional Central Assistance
ACE:ASCII compatible encoding
ADFE: Adaptive Decision Feedback Equalization
AI: Air Interface
AICTE: All India Coucil for Technical Education
APCERT: Asia Pacific CERT
APCICT: Asia Pacific Centre for ICT
API: Application Programming Interface
APNIC: Asia Pacific Network Information Centre
APWG: Anti-Phishing Working Group
ASEAN: Association of Southeast Asian Nations
ASIC: Application Specific Integrated Circuit
ASN: Autonomous System Number
ASTeC: Automation Systems Technology Centre
AS &FA: Additional Secretary & Financial Adviser
ASR: Automatic Speech Recognition
ATCS: Area Tariff Control System
B
BAC: Bacterial Artificial Chromosome
BDB: Biometric Data Block
BESU: Bengal Engineering and Science University
BGP Border Gateway Protocol
BIAB: Bioinformatics & Applied Biotechnology
BIPK: Basic Information Processing Kit
BHQ: Block Head Quarter
BPEL4WS: Business ProcessExecution Language for Web Services
BPO: Business Process Outsourcing
BPL: Broadband on power lines
BRAF: Bio-informatics Resource and Application facility
BTP: Biotechnology Park
C
CARE: Centre for Advanced Computing Research and Education
CAT: Cyber Appellate Tribunal
CATR: Compact Antenna Test Range
CBEFF: Common Biometric Exchange Formats Framework
CCA: Controller of Certifying Authorities
C-DAC: Centre for Development of Advanced Computing
CFR: Centre for Reliability
CC&BT: Convergence Communications & Broadband Technologies
CCP: Commonwealth Connects Programme
CCSM: Coupled Climate System Model
CDMA: Code Division Multiple Access
CEERI : Central Electronics Engineering Research Institute
CEG: Centre for e-Governance
CBDT: Central Board of Direct Taxes
CEWiT: Centre of Excellence in Wireless Technology
CGCRI: Central Glass and Ceramic Research Institute
C-GRex: Chaos Game Representation explorer
CIMFR: Central Institute of Mining & Fuel Research
CIS: Commonwealth of Independent States
C-MET: Centre for Materials for Electronics Technology
CMRI: Central Mining Research Institute
CMS: Content Management System
CPeMT: Central Project e-Mission Team
CPMT: Central Project Monitoring Team
CPS: Certification Practice Statement
CRL: Certificate Revocation List
CSC: Common Services Center
CSIRO: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Organization
CSP: Content Service provider
CSR: Certificate Signing Request
CTT: Central Technical Team
CUG: Closed User Group
CIC: Community Information Centres
CVO: Chief Vigilance Officer
D
DANTE: Delivery of Advanced Network Technology to Europe Limited
DANN: Distributed Artificial Neural Network
DCO: Data Centre Operator
DEA: Department of Economic Affairs
DEPB: Duty Entitlement Pass Book
DIP: Database of interacting proteins
DOEACC: Department of Electronics Accredited Computer Course
DoS: Denial-of-service
DGF: Development Gateway Foundation
DHQ: District Head Quarter
DIT: Department of Information Technology
DNS: Domain Name System
DPR: Detailed Project Report
DSC: Digital Signature Certificate
DRP: Dispute Resolution Policy
DTA: Domestic Traffic Area
E
EA: Enterprise Architecture
e-AGRIEN : Electronics for Agriculture & Environment
EBR's: Extra-Budgetary Resources
EC: Empowered Committee
EDA: Electronic Design Automation
EHTP: Electronics Hardware Technology Park
EMD : Earnest Money Deposit
EMS: Enterprise Management System
EOU: Export Oriented Unit
EPGC: Export Promotion Capital Goods
EPID : Electronic Portal Imaging Device
ERDA: Electrical Research and Development Association
eSAFE: e-Governance Security Assurance Framework
ESC: Electronics and Computer Software Export Promotion Council
ERNET: Education & Research in Computer Networking
ERTL: Electronics Regional Test Laboratory
ETDC: Electronics Test and Development Centre
EU : European Union
F
FBG : Fiber-Bragg-Grating Sensors
FCS: Fluorescence Correlation Spectrometers
FDI: Foreign Direct Investment
FIPB: Foreign Investment Promotion Board
FIRST: Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams
F/OSS: Free/Open Source Software
FMS: Facility Management Service
FRS: Functional Requirement Specification
G
G2B: Government-to-Business
G2C: Government-to-Citizen
G2E: Government-to-Employees
GAC: Governmental Advisory Committee
GAID: Global Alliance for ICT and Development
GCC: General Conditions of Contract
GIGW : Guidelines for Indian Government Websites
GNU : GNU Compiler Collection
GIA : Grant-in-Aid
GIST: Graphics and Intelligence based Script Technology
GNCTD: Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi
GSP: Generalized System of Preferences
H
HLD: High Level Design
HTTP: Hypertext Transfer Protocol
I
IA: Implementing Agency
IANA: The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority
IASST: Institute of Advanced study in Science & Technology
ICANN: Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers
ICERT: Indian Computer Emergency Response Team
ICR: Intelligent Character Recognition
ICT: Information and Communication Technologies
ICTACT: ICT Academy of Tamil Nadu
IDN: Internationalized Domain Names
IEC: Information, Education and Communication
IEP: Instruction Enhancement Programme
IFA: Information For All
IGF: Internet Governance Forum
IIIT: International Institute of Information Technology
IISc: Indian Institute of Science
ILTP: Integrated Long Term Programme
IMSC : Inter Ministerial Standing Committee
INDRP: .IN Dispute Resolution Policy
INUP: Indian Nanoelectronics Users Programme
IP: Internet Protocol
IPR: Intellectual Prperty Rights
ISEA Project: INFORMATION SECURITY EDUCATION AND AWARENESS PROJECT
ISMS : Information Security Management System
IST: Information Society Technologies
ISTDC/WGs: Information Security Technology Devlopment Council/Working Groups
ITIL: Information Technology Infrastructure Library
ITS: Intelligent Transport Systems
ITSM: Information Technology Services Management
ISCII: Indian Standard Code for Information Interchange
ITIR: Information Technology Investment Regions
J
JWG: Joint Working Group
K
KDC: Knowledge Data Centre
KPO: Knowledge Process Outsourcing
L
LAN: Local Area Network
LDAB: Layout Design Appellate Board
LIR: Local Internet Registry
LINAC: Linear Accelerator
LNT: Liquid Nitrogen Temperature
LTCC: Low Temperature Cofired Ceramic
M
MAI: Market Access Initiative
MB-OFDM: Multi-Band Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing
MCA: Ministry of Corporate Affairs
MCCDMA: Multi Carrier Code Division Multiple Access
MDA: Market Development Assistant
MEMS: Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems
MGO: Magnesium Oxide coatings
MGS: Multiplier Grant Scheme
MLC: Multileaf Collimator
MMP: Mission Mode Project
MOSFET: Metal- Oxide- Semiconductor- Field -Effect-Transistor
MoU: Memorandum of Understanding
MSP: Managed Service Provider
N
NaMPET: National Mission of Power Electronics Technology
NASSCOM: National Association of Software and Service Companies
NBRI: National Botanical Research Institute
NCBI: National Center for Biotechnology Information
NCMRWF : National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting Centre
NE: North East
NeGA: National e-Governance Agency
NeGP: National e-Governance Plan
NFE: Net Foreign Exchange
NISG: National Institute for Smart Government
NIR: National Internet Registry
NIC : National Informatics Centre
NICSI : National Informatics Centre Services Incorporation
NIIST: National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology
NIT: National Institute of Technology
NIXI: National Internet Exchange of India
NKN: National Knowledge Network
NMCC: National Manufacturing Competitiveness Council
NPR: National Population Register
NRCFOSS: National Resource Centre for Free & Open Source Software
NSD: National Services Directory
O
OTC: Open Technology Centre
OCB: Overseas Corporate Bodies
OCR: Optical Character Recognition
OLED: Organic Light Emitting Diode
O&M: Operation and Maintenance
ORF: Open Reading Frame
ORG & CCI: Office of Registrar General & Census Commissioner of India
P
PAC: Process Advisory Committee
PDP : Plasma Display Panels
PIs: Participating Institutions
PKS: Polyketide Synthase
PMG: Project Management Group ()
PMSD: Project Management Service Division
PNG: Portable Network Graphics
PoC: Proof of Concept
PoP: Point of Presence
PRSG: Project Review and Steering Group
PSC: Programme Steering Committee
PSE: Public Sector Enterprise
Q
QAF: Quality Assurance Framework
QoS: Quality of Service
R
RASIP : Reconfigurable Application Specific Instruction-Set Processor
RCAI: The Root Certifying Authority of India
RCs: Resource Centers
RFD: Result Framework Document
RFID : Radio Frequency Identification
RFP: Request for Proposals
RFQ : Request For Qualification
RIELIT: Regional Institute of e-Learning and Information Technology
RIR: Regional Internet Registry
RoHS: Restriction of Hazardous Substances
ROTs: Receive Only Terminals
RPR: Resilient Packet Ring Technologies
S
SaaS: Software As A Service
SAMEER: Society for Applied Microwave Electronics Engg. and Research
SAP: Service Access Providers
SASEC : South Asia Subregional Economic Cooperation
SCA: Service Centre Agency
SCADM: Single Channel Add-Drop Multiplexer
SDA: State Designated Agency
SDR: Software-Defined Radios
SeMT: State e-Governance Mission Team
SEZ: Special Economic Zone
SLA: Service Level Agreement
SIA : State Implementing Agency
SIPS: Special Incentives Package Scheme
SITs: Sattelite Interactive Terminals
SOA: Service Oriented Architecture
SMDP : Special Manpower Development Programme
SPF: State Portal Framework
SRS: Software Requirement Specifications
SSDG: State Services Delivery Gateway
SSL: Secure Socket Layer
STQC Dte.: Standardisation, Testing and Quality Certification Directorate
STT: State Technical Team
SDC: State Data Centre
SHQ: State Headquarter
SIA: State Implementing Agency
SIP-EIT: Support International Patent Protection in Electronics & IT
STPI: Software Technology Park of India
SVM: Support Vector Machine
SWAN: State Wide Area Network
T TCG: Trusted Computing Group
TKDL: Taditional Knowledge Digital Library
TPA: Third Party Audit
TCAD: Technology Computer-Aided Design
TIED: Technology Incubation and Development
TIFR: Tata Institute of Fundamental Research
TMR: Tunnel Magnetoresistance
TSP: Technical Service Provider
TTS: Text to Speech
U
UIDAI: Unique Identification Authority of India
UGC: University Grants Commission
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Schemes and Programme for Economic Empowerment of Women Run by Ministry of Women and Child Development

In its capacity as the nodal Ministry, the Ministry of Women and Child Development seeks to promote economic empowerment of women through policies and programmes cutting across sectors, mainstreaming gender concerns, creating awareness about their rights and facilitating institutional and legislative support for enabling them to develop to their full potential.  The important programmes in different areas are

Skill upgradation:

Support to Training & Employment Programme for Women (STEP), a Central Sector Scheme launched in 1986-87, seeks to upgrade skill of poor and assetless women and provide employment on sustainable basis by mobilizing them in viable cooperative groups, strengthening marketing linkages, support services and access to credit.   The scheme also provides for enabling support services in the form of health check-ups, legal and health literacy, elementary education, gender sensitization and mobile crèches. The ultimate endeavour of each project is to develop the group to thrive on a self-sustaining basis in the market place with minimal governmental support and intervention even after the project period is over.  Since inception, around 250 projects have been provided financial assistance under the scheme.

         The ten traditional sectors identified for project funding under STEP comprise of agriculture, animal husbandry, dairying, fisheries, handlooms, handicrafts, khadi and village industries, sericulture, waste land development and social forestry. The scope and coverage of the scheme is being broadened with introduction of locally appropriate sectors being identified and incorporated into the scheme.                                                                                

Rajiv Gandhi Scheme for Empowerment of Adolescent Girls (RGSEAG) – ‘Sabla’, a Centrally-sponsored scheme was approved by the Government on 16.8.2010. The scheme is being implemented in 200 districts across the country on a pilot basis. In the remaining districts, Kishori Shakti Yojana (KSY) continues to be operational as before.  However, SABLA has completely replaced Nutrition Programme for Adolescent Girls (NPAG) as all districts of NPAG are now part of the SABLA. The scheme, interalia, aims at vocational training for girls above 16 years of age for their economic empowerment.

                           Sabla is being implemented through the State Governments/UTs with 100 per cent financial assistance from the Central Government for all inputs other than nutrition provision for which 50 % Central assistance to States is provided. Anganwadi Centre is the focal point for the delivery of the services.

Objectives:

i.            Life Skill Education and accessing public services,

ii.            Vocational training for girls aged 16 and above under National Skill Development Program (NSDP)

iii.            The successful implementation of SABLA requires convergence with development activities/schemes of other Departments such as Health, Education, Youth Affairs, Labour, PRIs etc.

iv.            Nearly 100 lakh adolescent girls per annum are expected to be benefitted under the scheme. Against the allocation of Rs. 350 crore for the year 2010-11, a sum of Rs. 330 crore (approx.) has been released to States/UTs. The year 2011-12 will be the first complete year of implementation of the scheme after which the physical and financial achievements made vis-à-vis the target would be assessed. A sum of Rs. 750 crore has been allocated for Sabla for 2011-12.

Central Social Welfare Board (CSWB)- In order to address the socio-economic needs of the women and children of selected eight most backward districts in the North Eastern region in the economic arena, Central Social Welfare Board has formulated the Integrated Scheme for Women Empowerment (ISWE). The scheme is being implemented on pilot basis since 2008 and has the objective of meeting the felt needs of the area by mobilizing community action, converging available services and resources of the area, income generation through feasible and sustainable activities for women and to provide services for health awareness, career counseling vocational training, preventing child trafficking and other social evils.

Economic Improvement:

National Mission for Empowerment of Women- The extent of empowerment of women from a holistic and macro-point of view is largely determined by 3 factors viz. economic, social and political identity. These factors are deeply intertwined and linked with many cross cutting linkages. It implies that if efforts in any one dimension remains absent or week, the outcome and momentum generated by the other components cannot be sustained. It is only when all these three factors are addressed simultaneously and made compatible with each other can women be truly empowered. Therefore, for the holistic empowerment of women, an inter-sectoral approach has to be adopted. The vision for socio-economic empowerment of women is to empower women economically and socially to end exploitation and discrimination enabling them to develop their full potential to be active participants in nation building, sharing the benefits of economic growth and prosperity. To achieve this vision, the National Mission for Empowerment of Women (NMEW) was launched on 8th March. The objectives of the Mission are to:

I.                                       Ensure economic empowerment of women,

II.                                       Ensure that violence against women is eliminated progressively,

III.                                       Ensure empowerment of women with emphasis on health and education,

IV.              Oversee gender mainstreaming of programmes, policies, institutional arrangements and processes of participating Mininstries, institutions and organizations, and

V.              Undertake awareness generation as well as advocacy activities to fuel the demand for benefits under various schemes and progreammes and create, if required, structures at district, tehsil and village level with the involvement of Panchayats foe their fulfillment.

Economic Empowerment of Women is to be achieved through convergence of the schemes and programmes having focus on formation and promotion of SHGs so as to enable women to have access to micro credit and micro finance. Programmes like National Rural Livelihood Mission (erstwhile SGSY) of MoRD, Smayamsidha of MWCD and similar programmes of other Ministries and organizations would need to be converged to help the identified SHGs in a coordinated fashion. The Mission would see that access to credit by women SHGs under schemes of NABARD, Rashtriya Mahila Kosh, Financial institutions like NSCFDC/ NBCFDC/ NSKFDC of MoSJ&E and nationalized banks, is coordinated well and delivery of credit is timely.

In order to promote self employment opportunities and create livelihood options for women, it would ensure that training and skill upgradation under schemes/ programmes of MoS&ME, MoL&E , MoRD, MWCD etc. are available to the women beneficiaries of SHGs and that there is no duplication of errors. Sustainability of income generation activities by women would be looked at and they would be ensured provision of adequate forward, backward and horizontal linkages. The relevant programmes of NABARD, RMK and participating Ministries as well as organizations with components of processing, storage, distribution and market networks would be put in a convergent mode to strengthen the livelihood of women.

The existing monitoring systems in place at the state and district levels would be utilized by the National Mission for tracking the effectiveness of convergence efforts in the area of economic empowerment. While at the district level, the District Collector as per the existing arrangement of the DRDA would be responsible for monitoring convergence efforts at the district level, the Chief Secretary of the State Government with technical inputs from the State Resource Centre to be set up for women (SRCW) will be made responsible at the state level. At the national level national level, the National Mission Authority (NMA) will be responsible for overall monitoring of actionable agenda requiring convergence and for which it will take the inputs from both the Mission Directorate and the National Resource Centre for Women (NRCW).

Rashtriya Mahila Kosh - (National Credit Fund for Women)

         The Rashtriya Mahila Kosh (National Credit Fund for Women) was set up in 1993 with a corpus of Rs. 31 crore, against the backdrop of socio-economic constraints faced by poor women to access micro – credit from the formal financial system in the country, especially those in the rural and in unorganized sectors. The principal corpus has increased to Rs.100.00 crore by 2009-10.  The main objective of setting up of Rashtriya Mahila Kosh (RMK) under the Department of Women and Child Development (now Ministry) was to provide micro-credit to poor women for various livelihood support and income generating activities at concessional terms in a client-friendly procedure to bring about their socio-economic development. The RMK is now being restructured as a NBFC with a corpus of Rs.500.00 crore.  Till 31.3.2011, 6, 87,512 women beneficiaries have been sanctioned Rs.307.52 crore and disbursed Rs.251.82 crore.  However, with the proposed induction of funds and conversion to NBFC, the projected yearly number of beneficiaries and loans are at the end of five year period in FY 2015-16 is likely to be 2,19,500 and Rs.492.02 crore respectively.   Thus, there would be a quantum jump in the business volume of the organization through this restructuring.  Further, the fact that RMK extends loan upto maximum of 18 per cent interest per annum to SHGs/beneficiaries as against loans disbursed to beneficiaries through Micro Finance Institutions (MFIs) under the NABARD’s SHG - Bank  Linkage Programme at the interest rate ranging between 30 and 40 per cent per annum and even higher and 60 to 70 percent rate charged by traditional moneylenders, would mean that the impact by way of higher incomes and welfare of the beneficiaries at  such an expanded scale of finance and at affordable rate, would be much more pronounced.

         An RMK sponsored ‘Impact Study ‘ of 2008 shows 84% beneficiaries from rural areas and 16% from urban areas had undertaken activities like Animal husbandry (41%), Petty Shops (19%) and Agriculture (17%).  Their monthly income has increased between Rs.2000/- and Rs.4000/-.  54% reported increase in household expenditure, 96% reported improvement in food consumption pattern, and 87% reported increase in household assets.  Access to medical facility increased for majority of beneficiaries (88%).  There was increase in social status of 87% of beneficiaries.  98% women beneficiaries reported increase in their self-confidence and security with increased income through RMK.  Majority (95%) of the beneficiaries reported improvement in their standard of living and participation in micro finance led to decrease in domestic violence.

Gender Budgeting and Economic Empowerment of Women-

Budgets, which influence the overall level of national income and employment and reflect the priorities of the government regarding public investment, also promote gender equality within the national development framework.  The Government of India is committed to promoting gender equality and has adopted Gender Budgeting (GB) as a tool to address the inequalities faced by women. The purpose is to ensure the translation of Government’s policy commitments on gender equity into budgetary allocations.

To institutionalize the process of Gender Budgeting, the Government had initiated the formation of Gender Budget Cells (GBCs) within all Central Ministries/ Departments in 2005. These Cells are required to take up evaluation of existing Government programmes and schemes from a gender perspective and identify new areas of intervention for addressing the existing gender gaps. The flow of funds under certain women specific schemes/programmes are also being monitored through a Gender Budget Statement (Statement 20) as a part of the Union Budget Document since 2005.

MWCD, as the nodal agency, is pursuing with other Ministries/Departments to build their capacity so as to integrate gender concerns across sectors/schemes/programmes/ and ensure proper allocation and/or reprioritization of resources.  The number of Ministries reflecting their allocations in the Gender Budget Statement have gone up from nine in 2005-06 to 29 in 2011-12, with a magnitude of Gender Budget (BE) increasing from Rs.14379.00 crore (2.79%) in 2005-06 to Rs.78251.00 crore (6.22%) in 2011-12.

Support services:

Hostel for Working Women-

a. The Scheme of Working Women Hostel envisages provision of safe and affordable hostel accommodation to working women, single working women, women working at places away from their home-towns and for women being trained for employment.

The scheme has been revised with following salient features:

·           Financial assistance for construction of hostel building to be given only on public land.

·           Financial assistance available for rent of the hostels which are run in rented premises also.

·           Provision for maintenance grant of hostel building (maximum Rs.5 lakh) and one-time non-recurring grant for furnishings (@ Rs.7500 per beneficiary).

·           State Government agencies, Urban Municipal Bodies, Cantonment Boards, Civil Society Organizations, Panchayati Raj Institutions, Self Help Groups, Recognized Colleges/Universities, and Corporate or associations like CII, ASSOCHAM and FICCI have been included under the revised scheme.

·            The State Governments have been advised to disseminate and send project proposals as per the revised guidelines the Scheme. Since its inception in 1972-73, 890 hostels have been sanctioned under the scheme all over the country benefiting about 66,000 working women.

b. Working Women Hostel at Jasola, New Delhi: In view of increasing incidents of assault on women from the North-eastern States, the Ministry of Women and Child Development had undertaken construction of a working women hostel in the year 2008-09 exclusively for the working women of North East region working in and around Delhi. The construction of the hostel building at Jasola, New Delhi, has been completed in this current year. The six storied hostel building is having 167 living rooms with a capacity to accommodate 500 working women. This hostel also has provision of a day care centre for the children of working mothers.

Rajiv Gandhi National Creche Scheme- With a view to encourage women to join/ continue with gainful employment, Rajiv Gandhi National Creche Scheme for children of working mothers (RGNCS) was introduced in 2006. The scheme seeks to provide day care facilities to children in the age group 0-6 years from families with a monthly income of less than Rs. 12,000/-. In addition to being a safe space for the children, the crèche provide services like supplementary nutrition, pre school education, emergency health care etc.

         The scheme provides for grant of Rs.3532/- per month for a crèche, limited to 90% of the schematic pattern or actual expenditure whichever is less, and the remaining expenditure is borne by the implementing agencies. Honorarium to crèche workers is fully funded under the scheme. Funds are separately provided to the implementing agencies for one time training of crèche workers.

        

The Central Sector scheme is implemented through Central Social Welfare Board (CSWB) and two national level mother NGOs i.e. Indian Council for Child Welfare (ICCW) and Bharatiya  Adimjati  Sevak  Sangh (BAJSS).

Indira Gandhi Matritva Sahyog Yojana (IGMSY) – Conditional Maternity Benefit (CMB) scheme is a Conditional Cash Transfer scheme for pregnant and lactating women to contribute to better enabling environment by providing cash incentives for improved health and nutrition to pregnant and nursing mothers.  It is being implemented initially on pilot basis in 52 selected districts using the platform of ICDS. IGMSY is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme introduced in the FY 2010-11, under which the grant-in-aid is released to States/UTs.  The Scheme envisages providing cash directly to P&L women during pregnancy and lactation in response to individual fulfilling specific conditions. It would address short term income support objectives with long term objective of behaviour and attitudinal change.  The scheme attempts to partly compensate for wage loss to pregnant & lactating women both prior to and after delivery of the child.