Union Minister Amit Shah, Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), has launched the “CAPF e-Awas“ portal for the purpose of allocating residential quarters to the Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) personnel, in New Delhi, Delhi.
- The “CAPF e-Awas” portal, which promotes transparency and accountability, would abolish the “caste system” in the allocation of residential quarters to jawans.
Background
i.In the CAPFs, a mechanism has been established under which only personnel of the force for whom the houses have been built are eligible to receive them. As a result, thousands of houses have been unoccupied.
- The introduction of the e-Awas portal has rectified it, and now personnel from other CAPFs will have access to vacant houses.
ii.The Housing Satisfaction Ratio, which was around 33 % in 2014 and 48 % in 2022, with the launch of the CAPF e-Awas portal, will increase by 13 % without construction of new buildings. It is expected to reach 73 % by November 2024.
Initiatives of the GoI for the Welfare of Jawans
i.The MHA and the National Health Authority (NHA) have jointly launched the ‘Ayushman CAPF’ scheme to deliver cashless healthcare services to serving CAPF personnel and their dependents through the “Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana”(AB-PMJAY) IT (Information Technology) platform.
- The NHA is the apex organisation in charge of implementing India’s flagship public health insurance/assurance scheme, AB-PMJAY, as well as the “National Digital Health Mission” to develop a National Digital Health Eco-system.
ii.It covers the CAPF personnel from all 7 forces: Assam Rifles, Border Security Force (BSF), Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), National Security Guard (NSG) and Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB).
- It was launched in Assam in 2021 and will be implemented gradually across India in a phased manner.
- Till date, 56,000 bills worth more than Rs. 31 crore have been paid, while more than 35 lakh Ayushman Cards have been distributed to 10 lakh personnel.
iii.An e-Transfer software has been developed to make the transfer of CAPF staff more transparent
- This allows the posting to be linked to the age and health of the Jawans.
- The software is now being utilized experimentally by the CISF and ITBP.
iv.The Prime Minister’s Scholarship Scheme (PMSS) is in place to support technical and post-graduate education for the widows and wards of deceased/ex-service personnel of the Armed Forces.
- The scheme is funded out of the National Defence Fund (NDF) administered by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).
- More than 80 additional courses have been introduced to the PMSS since it only had 42 previously. The central ex-gratia has also been increased by making it more scientific.
v.A slew of initiatives has been done to strengthen the Kendriya Police Kalyan Bhandar, including the implementation of air courier services.
Recent Related News:
In August 2022, In a National e-Governance Service Delivery Assessment, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) website ranked first under the Central Ministries Portal. The Digital Police Portal is ranked number 2 under the Central Ministry Services Portal. This was unveiled in the National e-Governance Service Delivery Assessment done by the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG) in collaboration with its knowledge partners, NASSCOM (National Association of Software and Services Companies) and KPMG in 2021.
About Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA):
Union Minister – Amit Shah (Gandhi Nagar Constituency, Gujarat)
Minister of State (MoS) – Nityanand Rai; Ajay Kumar Mishra; Nisith Pramanik
