Other Proposals

• Skill Development Mission: A non-profit corporation to be established with the entrusted mission to address the challenge of imparting the skills required by a growing economy; Rs.15,000 crore proposed to be garnered as capital from Governments, public and private sector, and bilateral/multilateral sources; Government's equity in the proposed non-profit corporation to be Rs.1,000 crore to begin with.
  
  
• Industrial Training Institutes: 238 ITIs being upgraded under the World Bank assisted scheme; Under the PPP scheme, 309 ITIs have been identified in 29 States with corresponding industry partners and agreements signed in 244 cases; Rs.750 crore set apart in 2008-09 in anticipation of upgrading 300 more ITIs.
  
  
• Sainik Schools: Rs.44 crore allocated to the 22 Sainik Schools at the rate of Rs.2 crore each, for immediate improvement of infrastructure including classrooms, laboratories, libraries and facilities for physical education.
  
  
• Public Distribution System: Rs.32,667 crore being provided next year for food subsidy under PDS and other welfare programmes; State of Haryana and the Union Territory of Chandigarh to introduce, on a pilot basis, a smart card based delivery system to deliver food grains under the PDS.
  
  
• Unorganised Sector Workers: In anticipation of the Unorganised Sector Workers' Social Security Bill, 2007 being made into law, three schemes designed to provide social security to workers in unorganised sector in a phased manner introduced;
  
  (i) Aam Admi Bima Yojana to provide insurance cover to poor households; in the first year of the Yojana, LIC to cover one crore landless households by September 30, 2008; Rs.1,500 crore placed with LIC; Additional sum of Rs.1,000 crore to be placed with LIC in 2008-09 to cover another one crore poor households in the second year;
  
  (ii) Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana to be implemented with effect from April 1, 2008; Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme enlarged with effect from November 19, 2007 to include all persons over 65 years falling under the BPL category expanding beneficiary cover from 87 lakh to 157 lakh; Rs. 3,443 crore being allocated in 2008-09 as against Rs.2,392 crore in 2007-08.
  
  
• Housing for the Poor: 41.13 lakh houses constructed up to December 2007 under Indira Awas Yojana (IAY) against a target of 60 lakh houses; Cumulative number of houses constructed under IAY to be 51.77 lakh by end March 2008; Subsidy per unit in respect of new houses sanctioned after April 1, 2008 to be enhanced from Rs.25,000 to Rs.35,000 in plain areas and from Rs.27,500 to Rs.38,500 in hill/ difficult areas to reflect the higher cost of construction; Subsidy for upgradation of houses to be increased from Rs.12,500 per unit to Rs.15,000; Public sector banks to be advised to include IAY houses under the differential rate of interest (DRI) scheme and lend up to Rs.20,000 per unit at an interest rate of 4 per cent.
  
  
• Defence: Allocation for Defence to be increased by 10 per cent from Rs.96,000 crore to Rs.105,600 crore.
  
  
• Backward Regions Grant Fund: Allocation for 2008-09 kept at same level as current year at Rs.5,800 crore; 45 per cent of the amount likely to be allocated to the States of Bihar, Orissa and Uttar Pradesh.
  
  
• Climate Change: Permanent institutional mechanism to be established for development and coordination role in exploration and implementation of ideas.
  
  
• Sixth Central Pay Commission: to submit its report by March 31, 2008.
  
  
• Commonwealth Games: to be provided Rs.624 crore in 2008-09.
  
  
• Institutions of Excellence: Special grant of Rs.100 crore awarded to three institutions of excellence for 2008-09
  
  (i) Mahatma Phule Krishi Vidyapeeth, Rahuri, Maharashtra;
  (ii) University of Mysore, Mysore; and
  (iii) Delhi University, Delhi.
  
  
• India's Soft Power: Rs.75 crore grant to Indian Council of Cultural Relations to design and implement a programme to achieve the objective of projecting the 'soft power' of India in music, literature, dance, art, cuisine and especially films.
  
  
• Tiger Protection: One time grant of Rs.50 crore to the National Tiger Conservation Authority to redouble efforts to protect the tiger; Bulk of grant to be used to raise, arm and deploy a special Tiger Protection Force.
  
  
• Monitoring and Evaluation: Central Plan Schemes' Monitoring System (CPSMS) to be put in place and implemented as Plan scheme; a comprehensive Decision Support System and Management Information System also to be established to generate and monitor scheme-wise and State-wise releases for about 1,000 Central Plan and centrally sponsored schemes in 2008-09; Concurrent evaluation started by some ministries to be supplemented by independent evaluations conducted by research institutions.