Context:
Recently, the Indian Army launched the first phase of Project NAMAN.
Project NAMAN:
- A dedicated initiative aimed at providing support and services to Defence Pensioners, Veterans, and their families.
- Works through the SPARSH (System for Pension Administration Raksha) digital pension system.
- SPARSH System – A digital pension system that streamlines pension-related processes for Defence Pensioners, ensuring accessible facilitation points for Veterans and Next of Kin (NOK) across the country.
- Implementation –
- Tripartite MoU – A Memorandum of Understanding signed between the Indian Army’s Directorate of Indian Army Veterans, Common Service Centre (CSC) e-Governance India Limited, and HDFC Bank Limited.
- Common Service Centres (CSCs) – These centres are dedicated to Army Veterans, Pensioners, War Widows, and NOKs, offering SPARSH-enabled pension services, Government to Citizen (G2C) services, and Business to Consumer (B2C) services at a single location.
- Management –
- Village Level Entrepreneurs (VLEs) – Each CSC is managed by a VLE, selected from among the veterans or NOKs by the respective Local Military Authorities (LMAs).
- VLEs are onboarded by CSC e-Governance India Limited and receive comprehensive training to deliver the required services.
- Financial Assistance – HDFC Bank supports the VLEs with a monthly monetary grant of ₹20,000 for the first 12 months to assist in the stabilization and sustainability of the centres.
Source: PIB
Previous Year Question
What is “Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD)”, sometimes seen in the news?
[UPSC Civil Services Exam – 2018 Prelims]
(a) An Israeli radar system
(b) India’s indigenous anti-missile programme
(c) An American anti-missile system
(d) A defence collaboration between Japan and South Korea.
Answer: (c)
