Cabinet approves Unified Pension Scheme

Unified Pension Scheme (UPS):

• The Central Government has introduced the Unified Pension Scheme (UPS) to address the concerns of government employees regarding pension security.
• The scheme integrates features of both the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) and the New Pension Scheme (NPS).
• Effective Date: The scheme will be implemented starting from April 1, 2025.

The salient features of the UPS are:

• Assured pension: 50% of the average basic pay drawn over the last 12 months prior to superannuation for a minimum qualifying service of 25 years. This pay is to be proportionate for lesser service period upto a minimum of 10 years of service.
• Assured family pension: @60% of pension of the employee immediately before her/his demise.
• Assured minimum pension: @10,000 per month on superannuation after minimum 10 years of service.
• Superannuation pay-out: A lump sum payment in addition to gratuity benefits will be provided at the time of retirement.

Contributions under the UPS:

The scheme is contributory, requiring:

• Employees to contribute 10% of their salary.
• The government is to contribute 5% of the salary.
• The government’s contribution may be adjusted based on periodic actuarialassessments to ensure the scheme''s sustainability.

Significance of Unified Pension Scheme

• Inclusivity: The scheme seeks to cover all segments of the workforce, including unorganized sector workers, who often lack access to formal pension schemes. This is crucial in a country like India, where a significant portion of the workforce is employed in the informal sector.
• Portability: One of the key features of the Unified Pension Scheme would be the portability of benefits. This means that workers can carry their pension benefits with them across different jobs and geographical locations, making the system more adaptable to the modern, mobile workforce.
• Centralized Administration: The scheme would be administered by a centralized authority, ensuring uniformity in the implementation and management of pension benefits across the country.
• Enhanced Benefits: By pooling resources and managing funds more efficiently, the scheme aims to provide enhanced pension benefits to retirees, ensuring a more secure and stable retirement.

Challenges

• Transition Process: Merging different schemes with varying rules and benefits into a single system could be complex and requires careful planning to ensure that existing beneficiaries are not disadvantaged.
• Funding and Sustainability: Ensuring the financial sustainability of the Unified Pension Scheme is critical. This includes determining contribution rates, government support, and investment strategies to ensure long-term viability.
• Legal and Regulatory Framework: The implementation of a unified scheme would require significant changes to the existing legal and regulatory framework governing pension schemes in India.

Comparison with Old Pension Scheme (OPS)

• Assured Pension: Like UPS, OPS also provided a fixed pension at 50% of the last drawn basic pay, with DA adjustments.
• No Employee Contribution: Unlike UPS, OPS did not require any contribution from employees, making it an unfunded scheme.
• Unfunded Scheme: OPS was criticized for being fiscally unsustainable due to its unfunded nature.

Comparison with New Pension Scheme (NPS)

• No Assured Pension: NPS does not offer a guaranteed pension, as the returns are based on market performance.
• Employee Contribution: NPS requires employees to contribute 10% of their basic salary and DA, with a matching contribution from the government.
• Funded Scheme: Contributions under NPS are invested in various pension funds, making the pension amount dependent on market risks.

Mega hydropower project on Siang

Upper Siang Multipurpose Storage Project

• The Upper Siang project is a proposed 11,000 MW hydropower project on the Siang Riverin Arunachal Pradesh.
• The Siang, originating near Mount Kailash in Tibet (Tsangpo), flows over 1,000 km eastward, enters Arunachal Pradesh as the Siang, and later becomes the Brahmaputra in Assam.
• Initially proposed as two separate projects, it was consolidated into one larger project in 2017, to be built by the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC), featuring a 300-metre high dam.

National Importance and Strategic Imperatives

• Officials emphasize the strategic importance of the Upper Siang project, particularly in response to China’s plan for a 60,000 MW ‘Super Dam’ in Tibet’s Medog County.
• This super dam’s capacity would be nearly three times that of the world’s largest hydropower station, the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River.
• The Upper Siang project is seen as a necessary measure to counter potential water flow reductions caused by China’s projects.

Environmental and Social Concerns

• Three anti-dam organizations—the Siang Indigenous Farmers Forum (SIFF), Dibang Resistance, and North East Human Rights—have voiced their concerns about the project’s environmental and social impacts.
• The proposed mega dam threatens delicate ecosystems, wildlife habitats, and biodiversity.
• Additionally, activists worry about the displacement of local communities, particularly the Adi tribe. The project could submerge over 300 villages, including the Upper Siang district headquarters of Yingkiong.

Local Resistance and Government Response

• Local resistance to the project is strong. SIFF activists expressed their concerns about the displacement of villages in the valley along the Siang.
• They noted that if the villages were submerged, residents would have nowhere to go since moving further uphill, where there is snow and ice, would be unfeasible.
• They pointed out that survival would be difficult there, as there would be no opportunities for farming or maintaining gardens.
• However, authorities have accelerated pre-construction activities, increasing the urgency among those resisting the project.
• NHPC officials have met with state leaders to discuss early commencement of Siang basin projects, and the Upper Siang district administration has held multiple meetings to lay the groundwork for a pre-feasibility survey.

Public Outreach and Concerns Over Framing

• The government is launching a massive public outreach campaign to drum up support for the project.
• NHPC has sanctioned a ₹325 crore CSR package for livelihood schemes and the development of health, education, and sports infrastructure.
• However, activists remain wary of the project being framed as a matter of national interest.
• They are particularly concerned about a provision in the Forest (Conservation) Amendment Act of 2023, which exempts strategic projects within 100 km of India’s borders from clearance.

   

Cabinet approves BioE3 (Biotechnology for Economy, Environment and Employment) Policy for Fostering High Performance Biomanufacturing

This Policy will further strengthen Government’s initiatives such as ‘Net Zero’ carbon economy & ‘Lifestyle for Environment’and will steer India on the path of accelerated ‘Green Growth’ by promoting ‘Circular Bioeconomy’.

About BioE3 (Biotechnology for Economy, Environment and Employment) Policy:

• To be steered by the Department of Biotechnology, the policy is for fostering high-performance biomanufacturing.
• High-performance biomanufacturing is the ability to produce products from medicine to materials, address farming and food challenges, and promote manufacturing of bio-based products through the integration of advanced biotechnological processes.
• The policy seeks to include innovation-driven support for research and development and entrepreneurshipacross thematic sectors.
• This will accelerate technology development and commercialization by establishing biomanufacturing and bio-AI hubs and biofoundry.
• Along with prioritising regenerative bioeconomy models of green growth, this policy will facilitate the expansion of India’s skilled workforce and provide a surge in job creation.

Focus areas of the policy: 

It primarily concentrates on the following 6 strategic sectors:

• High-value bio-based chemicals, biopolymers & enzymes;
• Smart proteins & functional foods;
• Precision biotherapeutics;
• Climate-resilient agriculture;
• Carbon capture & its utilisation; and
• Marine and space research.

Lifestyle for the Environment

• The idea of LiFE was introduced by India during the 26^thUnited Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) in Glasgow in 2021.
• Theidea promotes an environmentally conscious lifestyle that focuses on ‘mindful and deliberate utilisation’ instead of ‘mindless and wasteful consumption.
• With the launch of the Mission, the prevalent "use-and-dispose" economy governed by mindless and destructive consumption will be replaced by a circular economy, defined by conscious and deliberate consumption.

Net-Zero Target

• Net Zero refers to achieving an overall balance between carbon emissions produced and carbon taken out of the atmosphere.
• It is referred to as carbon neutrality, which does not mean that a country would bring down its emissions to zero.
• Further, absorption of the emissions can be increased by creating more carbon sinks such as forests.
• The removal of gases from the atmosphere requires futuristic technologies such as carbon capture and storage.
• More than 70 countries have promised to become Net Zero by 2050.

Cabinet approves the Department of Science and Technology scheme namely ‘Vigyan Dhara’

The Union Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi approved continuation of the three umbrella schemes, merged into a unified central sector scheme namely ‘Vigyan Dhara’ of Department of Science and Technology (DST).

The scheme has three broad components:

1. Science and Technology (S&T) Institutional and Human Capacity Building,
2. Research and Development and
3. Innovation, Technology Development and Deployment.

• This initiative, managed by the Department of Science and Technology (DST),is designed to enhance India''s S&T capabilities through a streamlined approach. 
• The proposed outlay for the implementation of the unified scheme ‘Vigyan Dhara’ is Rs.10,579.84 crore during the 15th Finance Commission period from 2021-22 to 2025-26.
• The merger of the schemes into a single scheme would enhance efficiency in fund utilization and establish synchronization among the sub-schemes/programs.
• The primary objective of the ''Vigyan Dhara'' scheme is to promote S&T capacity building as well as research, innovation, and technology development towards strengthening the Science, Technology and Innovation ecosystem in the country.

Components:

• The scheme endeavours to promote research in areas such as basic research with access to the international mega facilities, translational research in sustainable energy, water, etc. and collaborative research through international bilateral and multilateral cooperation.
• It will also contribute to building a critical human resource pool to strengthen the science and technology landscape and expand the R&D base of the country towards improving the Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) researcher count.
• Focused interventions will be taken up to enhance the participation of women in the field of S&T with the ultimate goal of bringing gender parity in Science, Technology, and Innovation (STI).