UDAN scheme selected for PM’s Award

UDAN scheme selected for PM’s Award for Excellence in Public Administration

What is the news:

• Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) flagship Regional Connectivity Scheme UDAN (Ude Deshka Aam Nagrik) has been selected for Prime Minister’s Award for Excellence in Public Administration 2020 under the category “Innovation (General) – Central”.

Civil aviation minister of india – Jyotiraditya Scindia

• Government of India has initiated this award to acknowledge, recognize and reward extraordinary and innovative work done by Districts and Organizations of State/Government.
• This scheme emphasises on Good Governance, Qualitative achievements, and last mile connectivity rather than only on achievement of quantitative targets.
• The award consists of a trophy, scroll and an incentive of Rs 10 lakhs.
• The Ministry of Civil Aviation will receive the award on 21^stApril,i.e. Civil Service Day.A special event is been organized by Government of India at VigyanBhawan on the occasion of “Civil Service Day” where the representative of the ministry will be facilitated with the award.

• UDAN has a positive impact on the economy of the country and has witnessed an excellent response from industry stakeholders especially airlines operators and state governments. More than 350 new city pairs are now scheduled to be connected under the scheme, with 200 already connected and are widely spread geographically providing connectivity across the length and breadth of the country as well as ensuring balanced regional growth resulting in economic growth and employment to local population.
• The scheme also led to development of new Green Field Airports such as Pakyong near Gangtok in Sikkim, Tezu in Arunachal Pradesh and Kurnool in Andhra Pradesh. The scheme also led to 5% incremental growth in domestic passenger share of non-metro airports.
• The Ministry of Civil Aviation plans and commits to construct 100 new airports by 2024 in India with 1,000 new routes under UDAN RCS scheme by the year 2026.
• Recently, Ministry of Civil Aviation tableau was named as the best central ministry tableau for Republic Day 2022. The tableau of Ministry of Civil Aviation showcased Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) – UDAN (UdeDeshKaAamNagrik) as its central theme.

What is the UDAN scheme:

• Nearly five years ago, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the first flight under Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik (UDAN) scheme, also known as regional connectivity scheme (RCS).
• The aim of the scheme was to take flying to the masses and improve air connectivity to tier-2 and tier-3 cities.
• The scheme is aimed at enhancing connectivity to remote and regional areas of the country and making air travel affordable.
• It is a key component of Centre’s National Civil Aviation Policy led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and launched in June 2017.
• The scheme is jointly funded by the central government and state governments.
• Under the scheme, airlines have to cap fares at ₹2,500 per seat per hour of flight for 50% of the seats in a plane for which they receive a viability gap funding (subsidy) from the government along with some other benefits.
• The government expected that after the expiry of the three-year subsidy period, airlines would be able to sustain the routes without outside support.
• The scheme document says the key guiding principle is to encourage “sustainability of operations under RCS in the long term — such that the connectivity established is not dependent on VGF in perpetuity”.
• It also recognises that select areas may need funding support for longer periods.

Key features of the scheme:

• Airlines are awarded routes under the programme through a bidding process and are required to offer airfares at the rate of ₹2,500 per hour of flight.
• At least 50% of the total seats on an aircraft have to be offered at cheaper rates.
• In order to enable airlines to offer affordable fares they are given a subsidy from the Government for a period of three years.

What the scheme have achieved :

The achievements under the UDAN scheme and measures to boost civil aviation sector in the country are as under:

• Till date, out of 948 valid routes, 403 routes involving 65 airports (including 8 heliports & 02 water aerodromes) have been operationalised across the country under UDAN.
• Approximately 86.05 lakhs passengers have travelled on UDAN flights since its commencement till 09.01.2022.
• UDAN has transformed the way people travel in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities. Regional airports like Jharsuguda, Kishangarh, Belgaum, Darbhanga, etc. have been witnessing exponential growth in air traffic.
• The scheme offers a unique opportunity to a common person to fly at an affordable price, for which the Government has capped the Airfare for the seats where VGF is extended to airlines under the RCS scheme.
• UDAN scheme has sparked significant increase in helicopter services in hilly areas and islands through use of heliports.
• The linkage between the Civil Aviation Sector and Economic Growth is well recognized. International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) study shows that the air connectivity has an economic multiplier of 3.1 and employment multiplier of 6.1.
• COVID guidelines/protocols for the Airline are framed in consultation with Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MoHFW) and Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to boost confidence of the air travellers during COVID-19 pandemic.
• The other steps include e-boarding, web check-in, contactless dropping of baggage, etc.

Recent news of ministry of civil aviation :

53 airports are included under Krishi Udan Scheme:

• Krishi Udan Scheme was launched in August, 2020 on international and national routes to assist farmers in transporting agricultural products so that it improves their value realization.
• Krishi Udan 2.0 was announced in October, 2021 enhancing the existing provisions, mainly focusing on transporting perishable food products from the hilly areas, North-Eastern States and tribal areas. Primarily the scheme was focusing on 25 airports of North-Eastern Region, Hilly and Tribal region namely Agartala, Agatti, Barapani, Dehradun, Dibrugarh, Dimapur, Gaggal, Imphal, Jammu, Jorhat, Kullu (Bhuntar), Leh, Lengpui, Lilabari, Pakyong, Pantnagar, Pithoragarh, Port Blair, Raipur, Ranchi, Rupsi, Shimla, Silchar, Srinagar and Tezu. Subsequently, other 28 AAI airports, namely, Adampur (Jalandhar), Agra, Amritsar, Bagdogra, Bareilly, Bhuj, Chandigarh, Coimbatore, Goa, Gorakhpur, Hindon, Indore, Jaisalmer, Jamnagar, Jodhpur, Kanpur (Chakeri), Kolkata, Nasik, Pathankot, Patna, Prayagraj, Pune, Rajkot, Tezpur, Trichy, Trivandrum, Varanasi and Visakhapatnam have been included in the Scheme.
• Krishi Udan is a convergence scheme where eight Ministries/Departments namely Ministry of Civil Aviation, Department of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare, Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Department of Fisheries, Ministry of Food Processing Industries, Department of Commerce, Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) would leverage their existing schemes to strengthen the logistics for transportation of Agri-produce. There is no budgetary allocation for the Scheme.
• Under the Scheme, facilitating and incentivizing movement of Agri-produce by air transportation by full waiver of Landing, Parking, Terminal Navigational Landing Charges (TNLC), and Route Navigation Facility Charges (RNFC) for Indian freighters and Passenger to Cargo (P2C) at selected Airports of Airports Authority of India, primarily around 25 airports focusing on NER, Hilly and Tribal region and 28 airports at other areas have been included.
• A total of 1,08,479 Metric Tonne perishable cargo (International + Domestic) was handled in Financial Year 2021-22 (till 28 Feb., 2022) in comparison to 84, 042 Metric Tonne handled in Financial Year 2020-21 at AAI airports. Krishi Udan is an ongoing Scheme and  is reviewed from time to time in consultation with stakeholders.

International Air Connectivity Scheme(IACS) to connect North Eastern States with selected international destinations

• The Ministry of Civil Aviation has launched International Air Connectivity Scheme (IACS) scheme (International Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik(UDAN) with an objective to enhance air connectivity from certain States of the country with selected international destinations to promote socio-economic growth.
• This scheme is supported by the State Governments. The State Government of Assam, Manipur and Tripura have identified routes connecting Guwahati, Imphal and Agartala with selected international destinations viz. Bangkok, Dhaka, Kathmandu, Yangon, Hanoi, Mandalay, Kunming & Chittagong.

Ministry of Civil Aviation & FICCI organized ‘WINGS INDIA 2022’ in Hyderabad

• Ministry of Civil Aviation (MOCA) and FICCI  jointly organized Asia’s largest event on Civil Aviation (Commercial, General and Business Aviation), titled ‘WINGS INDIA 2022’. WINGS INDIA AWARDS will also conferred during this event.
• The event focuses on new business acquisition, investments, policy formation, and regional connectivity.
• It is held from 24th to 27th March 2022, at Begumpet Airport, Hyderabad.

Airport As Venue For Skilled Artisans Of The Region (AVSAR ) Scheme

• The Airport Authority of India (AAI) has launched an initiative “AVSAR” to encourage the talent of women, artisans and craftsmen and provide them with the right opportunities. AVSAR stands for ‘Airport as Venue for Skilled Artisans Of The Region’.
• Under “AVSAR” (Airport as Venue for Skilled Artisans Of The Region), which is an initiative of AAI, an opportunity to help the indigent to mobilize their households into functionally effective self-earned groups for self-reliance and self-dependence, has been provided.
• Under this scheme, an area of 100-200 square feet has been earmarked at each AAI operated airport.
• The space is being allotted to the self- help groups, turn on turn basis, for a duration of 15 days.