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Budget2016 Swachh bharat - read breaking and trending Budget2016 news, stories, headlines. Business insider India is providing latest, handpicked stories related to the Swachh bharat category.

Budget2016 Swachh bharat - read latest and trending Budget2016 news and headlines

The appointment of ex-IAS officer and World Bank expert Parameswaran Iyer as secretary in the ministry of drinking water and sanitation, which pilots the Swachh Bharat Mission, may be seen as unconventional but lateral entry of private-sector technocrats has for long been the norm in key government positions requiring a certain skill. 
 
Iyer joins the league of experts technocrats like Mantosh Sondhi, a Bokaro Steel import who went on to become steel secretary in seventies; Lovraj who was brought from Burmah Shell and was petroleum secretary between 1981and 1983; BEST's R V Shahi who was hired as power secretary by then power minister Suresh Prabhu; economist Montek Singh Ahluwalia who was hand-picked by then PM Manmohan Singh to serve as deputy chairman of Planning Commission; economist Raghuram Rajan who is now RBI governor; chief economic adviser to government of India Arvind Subramanian who comes from Peterson Institute for International Economics; and Infosys Nandan Nilekani who piloted the Unique Identification Authority of India, to name a few. 
 
Even though lateral recruitment of private sector experts and technocrats in top secretary-level government posts, especially those demanding a given set of skills and expertise, has been upheld by the Second Administrative Reforms Commission as well as in the 7th Pay Commission report, the regular refrain form the civil services associations is that it saps the morale of IAS officers. 
 
"But, ultimately , it is up to the government and UPSC to decide who to hire...if a certain private-sector candidate is very good and has the right type of qualification and skills for that post, they have every right to recruit him," Former cabinet secretary Naresh Chandra said. However, the general feeling is that lateral recruitment should be an exception rather than the rule.The government, incidentally , is on board with this. 
 
Image credit: Indiatimes

Parameswaran Iyer, new Swachh head joins long list 'outsiders' in the government

Urban Development Ministry today announced it would launch a mobile App for citizens to post their complaints about garbage pile-up in their areas and seek timely redress of their grievance. 
 

	Named 'Swachh City Solutions', the proposed mobile and web-based application will be developed in partnership with an NGO 'Janaagraha' Centre for Citizenship and Democracy, to ensure timely and effective implementation of the Swachh Bharat Mission objectives in 4041 statutory towns in the country. 
 

	A Memorandum of Understanding to the effect was signed today between the Ministry and the NGO 'Janaagraha' here. 
 

	The application is likely to become operational by April and will give citizens access to the latest technology to lodge their complaint and actively participate in keeping their cities clean. 
 

	Speaking on the occasion, UD Ministry Joint Secretary Praveen Prakash said, "Through this App, the government is providing the citizens with a platform to express their concerns regarding their areas and build community participation and consensus towards maintaining the cleanliness in their cities." 
 

	Prakash, who is also the Mission Director for Swachh Bharat said "The App will also enable municipal officials/field engineers to see each complaint and update the status of the resolution along with photos, hence building accountability in the system by ensuring timely grievance redressal." 
 

	Citizens will have features that will allow them to view complaints posted nearby, and show support by 'Voting up' on various complaints. 
 

	The App, in addition to enabling the creation of a community around complaints, leading to community participation and faster complaint resolution, will also enable the Ministry to rate and rank the 4041 urban local bodies (ULBs) in India, based on their efficiency of redressing citizen grievances. 
 

	The application aims at realising the vision of Swachh Bharat Mission towards a clean and garbage free India by 2019. 
	 
	(Image credits: Reuters)

Swachh City Solutions App for garbage free India by April

Providing relief to SEZ units and developers, the Finance Ministry today said they will be entitled to refund of the Swachh Bharat cess, a levy imposed by the government from November last year to fund its cleanliness drive.
 

	"The SEZ Unit or the Developer shall be entitled to refund of the Swachh Bharat Cess paid on the specified services on which ab-initio exemption is admissible but not claimed," the Central Board of Excise and Customs said in a notification.
 

	It has also specified a formula for calculating refund due to SEZ units and developers. 
 

	Government had imposed 0.5 per cent Swachh Bharat cess on taxable services from November 15, 2015. With the imposition of the cess, service tax rate has gone up from 14 per cent to 14.5 per cent.
 

	The cess is levied only on the portion of taxable services (after abatement) and will go towards funding of the Swachh Bharat scheme, a pet project of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. 
 

	The concessions provided to the Special Economic Zones (SEZs) is expected to generate some interest of investors in them. Investors have been losing interest in these zones for various reasons including global economic slowdown, imposition of minimum alternate tax (MAT) and dividend distribution tax ( DDT).
 

	Many business houses have surrendered SEZs while the government on its part has given more time to some developers to execute the projects. 
	 
	(Image credit: BCCL)

Finance Ministry to refund Swachh Bharat cess paid by SEZs

Looking beyond the bureaucratic culture, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has appointed World Bank expert Parameshwaran Iyer to lead his Swachh Bharat mission. 
 
Iyer, who is World Bank's Practice Manager for Water for the South Asian region, will lead the mission as Secretary of the Drinking Water and Sanitation Department. 
 
Iyer, 55, formed the framework of $1,500 million proposed loan from World Bank for the mission, which awaits Cabinet approval. 
 
Iyer who had quit Indian government in 2009 has worked with the UN World Food Programme (UNWFP) for nearly a decade till 2006 as a Senior Rural Water Sanitation specialist on foreign assignment. 
 
(Image: Indiatimes)

Modi gets top man for his Swachh Bharat Mission

The government has managed to collect a total of Rs 329.6 crore within a month from the 0.5 per cent Swachh Bharat cess imposed on all taxable services. 
 

	"The provisional figures of Swachh Bharat cess collected till December 16, 2015, is about Rs 329.6 crore," MoS Finance Jayant Sinha said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha. 
 

	The government had imposed the cess with effect from November 15 to fund Swachh Bharat programme. 
 

	Between November 15 and March 31, 2016, the revenue estimated to be collected is about Rs 3,750 crore, Sinha said. 
 

	The minister added that the proceeds collected through the cess would be allocated to the state governments to fund Swachh Bharat initiatives. 
 

	The amount estimated to be collected from <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Swachh+Bharat">Swachh Bharat</a> cess on all taxable services which are not exempt or in negative list in a full financial year is about Rs 10,000 crore. 
 

	Revenue for the next financial year has not been estimated so far, he said. 
 

	With the Swachh Bharat cess, the Service Tax rate has gone up to 14.5 per cent from 14 per cent. 
	 
	(Image credits: BCCL)

Swachh Bharat cess garners Rs 329 crore in a month!

The World Bank it seems is very serious on helping PM Narendra Modi's Swachh Bharat dream. It approved a US$1.5 billion loan for the Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) Support Operation Project to support the Modi government in its efforts to ensure all citizens in rural areas have access to improved sanitation – such as a toilet or latrine with a focus on changing behaviors – in ending the practice of open defecation by 2019.
 

	Today, of the 2.4 billion people who lack access to improved sanitation globally, more than 750 million live in India, with 80 percent living in rural areas. More than 500 million of the rural population in India continue to defecate in the open, suffering from preventable deaths, illness, stunting, harassment and economic losses.
 

	In view of this situation, the project will support the rural component, known as SBM – Gramin (SBM-G), over a five-year period using a new performance-based program which links funds directly to results, ensuring that benefits are delivered to the people in need – more than 60 percent of India’s rural population.
 

	The SBM-G program focuses on ensuring usage of toilets along with their construction. States and their implementing agencies will be given incentives for meeting performance standards. Performance will be measured against the states’ ability to reduce open defecation, sustaining their open defecation free (ODF) status and improving solid and liquid waste management in rural areas. The financing mechanism promotes the leadership of the states, which will have flexibility in innovating and adopting their own delivery models.
 

	“One in every ten deaths in India is linked to poor sanitation. And studies show that low-income households bear the maximum brunt of poor sanitation. This project, aimed at strengthening the implementation of the Swachh Bharat Initiative of the government, will result in significant health benefits for the poor and vulnerable, especially those living in rural areas,” said Onno Ruhl, World Bank Country Director for India in a company statement. “Incentivizing good performance by states and the focus on behavioral changes are two important components of this project,” he added.
 

	The Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation (MDWS) will play the overseeing and coordinating role for the Program and support the participating states. Funds will also be used to develop the capacity of MDWS in program management, advocacy, monitoring and evaluation.
 

	“India has demonstrated extraordinary leadership in pursuing the ambitious SBM campaign and embracing the focus on behavior to complement the construction of toilets,” said Annette Dixon, World Bank Vice President for the South Asia Region. “It is our privilege to support the Indian government in this initiative and we look forward to working side by side.”
 

	The World Bank will also provide a parallel US$25 million technical assistance to build the capacity of select state governments in implementing community-led behavioral change programs targeting social norms to help ensure widespread usage of toilets by rural households.
 

	“This program, built on lessons learnt from global and national sanitation projects, represents a fundamental change in approach and recognizes the importance of coupling investments in the construction of toilets to its usage. For it to succeed, large-scale social mobilization for behavior change is critical at the community level,” said Soma Ghosh Moulik, Lead Water and Sanitation Specialist and the project’s Task Team Leader.“Third party assessments and regular monitoring will provide reliable information on the project’s progress,” she added.

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