AFFORDABLE RENTAL HOUSING COMPLEXES (ARHC) -
GOVERNMENT SCHEME
News: 5,648
vacant houses converted into affordable rental housing for urban poor and
migrant workers
What's in the news?
● A
total of 5,648 vacant houses built under various government schemes have been
converted into ‘Affordable Rental Housing Complexes’ (ARHC), a scheme which the
Centre had announced during the COVID-19 pandemic to help migrant workers and
urban poor employed in the informal sector secure accommodation.
Key takeaways:
● The
Urban Development Ministry has also approved construction of 82,273 new units
under the scheme in the public-private partnership model, while another 7,413
vacant houses have been identified to be converted under the ARHC scheme.
Affordable Rental Housing Complexes (ARHCs):
● The
ARHC was launched as a sub-scheme of the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 to
ensure dignified living conditions close to work spaces for urban migrants and those working in the informal
sector in cities.
Nodal Ministry:
● The
Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs
has initiated Affordable Rental Housing Complexes (ARHCs), a sub-scheme under
Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana - Urban (PMAY-U).
Objective:
● This
will provide ease of living to urban
migrants/poor in the Industrial Sector as well as in the non-formal urban
economy to get access to dignified affordable rental housing close to their
workplace.
Features:
● Beneficiaries
for ARHCs are urban migrants/ poor from EWS/ LIG categories.
● ARHCs
will be a mix of single/double bedroom Dwelling Units and Dormitory of 4/6 beds
including all common facilities which will be exclusively used for rental
housing for a minimum period of 25 years.
Implementation: The
scheme is implemented under two models.
Model-1:
● Under
Model-1, existing government-funded
vacant houses constructed under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal
Mission (JnNURM) and Rajiv Awas Yojana (RAY) are converted into ARHCs through public private partnerships or by public
agencies.
Model-2:
● Under
the second model, the dwelling units are constructed and maintained by public
or private entities on their own
available vacant land.
WORLD PRESS FREEDOM INDEX - REPORT AND INDICES
News: Govt
doesn’t subscribe to World Press Freedom Index rankings: Thakur
What's in the news?
● The
Government does not subscribe to the rankings of the World Press Freedom Index,
nor does it agree to the conclusions drawn by ‘Reporters Without Borders’, the
agency that conducts the rankings, it has stated in Parliament.
Key takeaways:
● “The
World Press Freedom Index is published
by a foreign non-government organization, called Reporters Without Borders,
and the government does not subscribe to its views and country rankings and
does not agree to the conclusions drawn by this organization,” Union
Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur said in a written response
in Rajya Sabha.
World Press Freedom Index:
● It
ranks countries across the world as
per the level of freedom available to journalists. Though it does not compute
the quality of journalism, it releases the freedom of press available in a
country.
Released by:
● The
Index has been released every year by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) since
2002.
● Reporters
Without Borders (RSF) is an international NGO, based in Paris which has
consultative status with the United Nations, UNESCO and the Council of Europe.
Parameters:
● Pluralism
● Media
independence
● Media
environment
● Self-censorship
● Legislative
framework
● Transparency
● Quality
of the infrastructure that supports the production of news and information.
● In
order to reflect press freedom’s complexity, five new indicators have been
inducted this year to compile the Index such as
○ Political
context
○ Legal
framework
○ Economic
context
○ Sociocultural
context
○ Security.
Reasons for decline:
1. Political motivation:
● The
report mentions that Indian authorities have targeted journalists and online
critics in recent times driven by political motivation.
2. Wrongful prosecution:
● It
also talked about journalists getting prosecuted under counterterrorism and
sedition laws thereby cracking down on dissent.
3. Threats and violence:
● It
is said that journalists have been threatened, harassed and abused by communal
forces within the country.
4. Kashmir Issue:
● The
situation in Kashmir remains “worrisome” and reporters are often harassed by
police and paramilitaries.
Go back to basics:
Press Council of India (PCI):
● It
is a statutory autonomous body, has
been set up under the Press Council Act, 1978
● Its
main objective is to preserve the
freedom of the press and improve the standards of newspapers and news
agencies in the country.
● PCI
considers complaints filed ‘by the press’ concerning curtailment of press freedom,
physical assault/attack on journalists etc.