NITI Aayog Launches ‘Vocal For Local’ Initiative Fostering Grassroots Entrepreneurship and Self- reliance.
Key Highlights of Initiative
- Launched under: Aspirational Blocks Programme (ABP).
- Aim: Encouraging a spirit of self-reliance among people of Aspirational Blocks, propelling them towards sustainable growth and prosperity.
- It will bolster local economies and also drive inclusive growth.
- Implementation: Government e-marketplace (GeM) and Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) platforms will provide support to entrepreneurs for e-commerce onboarding, establishing linkages, enhancing financial and digital literacy, etc.
- ‘Aakanksha’window on GeM portal: Created for showcasing indigenous local products from 500 ABP.
About ABP
- Genesis: Launched in 2023 by NITI Aayog, ABP is built on the success of the Aspirational Districts Programme (ADP).
- Focus: Improving governance to enhance the quality of life of citizens in the most difficult and relatively underdeveloped blocks of India.
- Coverage: 500 blocks from 27 states and 4 UTs
- Progress monitoring: Across 40 socio-economic indicators under 5 themes:
- Programme strategy:
- Convergence (of Central and state Schemes)
- Collaboration (between NITI Aayog, Central Ministries, State Departments, District and block Administration)
- Competition among blocks driven by a spirit of mass Movement
About ADP
- ADP was launched in 2018 and initially covered 112 most under-developed districts across the country.
- With States as the main drivers, this program focuses on the strength of each district, identifying low hanging fruits for immediate improvement and measuring progress by ranking districts every month.
5 themes for Socio-Economic Indicators:
- Health and Nutrition
- Education
- Agriculture and Allied Services
- Basic Infrastructure
- Social Development
REMISSION OF DUTIES AND TAXES ON EXPORTED PRODUCTS (RODTEP) SCHEME
Centre has extended RoDTEP scheme to-
- Advance Authorisation Holders: Refers to manufacturer exporters or merchant exporters tied to supporting manufacturer.
- Special Economic Zones Units: Designated duty free enclave to be treated as a territory outside the customs territory of India.
- Export Oriented Units: Defined under Foreign Trade Policy as units undertaking to export their entire production of goods and services (with some exceptions).
RoDTEP was launched by Ministry of Commerce and Industry in 2021 for refunding various embedded taxes and duties on exported products.
