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International
Financial Services Centre (IFSC)
|
An
International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) is set up at Gandhinagar,
Gujarat as a part of a Special Economic Zone (SEZ).
The key features of these regulations will be that any
financial institution (or its branch) set up in the IFSC,-
a)
shall be treated as a non-resident Indian located outside India,
b)
shall conduct business in such foreign currency and with such entities, whether
resident or non-resident, as the Regulatory Authority may determine, and
c)
subject to certain provisions, nothing contained in any other regulations shall
apply to a unit located in IFSC.
2. IRDA
of India would be permitting insurers including foreign insurer or reinsurers
to set up branch in IFSC. Similarly RBI would permit the setting up of IFSC
Banking Units (IBUs) by banks. The Securities and Exchange Board of India
(SEBI) would allow setting up of exchanges and allow other activities for fund
raising, merchant banking, brokerage, fund management, private equity, etc.
Activities like currency derivatives, NIFTY futures, Depository Receipts, etc.
would take place on the exchanges like any other IFSC.
3.
RBI has also formulated a Draft Scheme for the setting up of IFSC Banking
Units (IBUs) by banks, whose broad contours may be summarised as follows:
i.
Setting up of IBUs: Eligible banks intending to set up IBUs, to begin
with, only Indian banks (public and private, authorised to deal in forex) and
foreign banks having a presence in India would be eligible to set up IBUs.
Banks already having offshore presence would be preferred and each bank would
be permitted to set up only one IBU in one IFSC.
ii.
IBUs vis-à-vis foreign branches of banks: For most purposes, the IBU
will be treated on par with a foreign branch of an Indian bank, like the
application of prudential norms, the 90 days’ Income Recognition Asset
Classification and Provisioning norms, adoption of liquidity and interest rate
risk management policies.
iii.
Role of the Parent Bank’s Board: The bank’s Board would set
comprehensive overnight limits for each currency for IBUs, may set out
appropriate credit risk management policy and exposure limits, and monitor
overall risk management and ALM framework of the IBU.
iv.
Capital Requirements: The parent bank would be required to provide a
minimum of USD 20 million upfront as capital, and the IBU shall have to
maintain minimum capital on an on-going basis as may be prescribed.
v.
Liabilities and Advances: The IBU’s liabilities will be exempt both CRR
and SLR. But liabilities only with original maturity period greater than one
year are permissible, although short-term liabilities may be raised from banks
subject to RBI prescribed limits.
vi.
Permissibility of activities: Opening of current or savings accounts and
issuance of bearer instruments is not allowed. Payment transactions can only be
undertaken via bank transfers. IBUs can undertake transactions with
non-resident entities other than retail customers/HNIs, and can deal with
WOS/JVs of Indian companies abroad. They may undertake Factoring/Forfaiting of
export receivables, but are prohibited from cash transactions.
vii.
Ring Fencing: All transactions of IBUs shall be in currency other than
INR, and IBUs would operate and maintain balance sheet only in foreign
currency, except a Special Rupee Account to defray administrative and statutory
expenses. Separate Nostro accounts will have to be maintained by IBUs with
correspondent banks. IBUs will not be permitted to participate in domestic
call, notice, term, forex, money and other onshore markets and domestic payment
systems.
Performance
of Public Sector Banks has remained sub-optimal so far. The Government is
taking various steps to improve the situation both on governance side and
otherwise. The focus of these reforms is to improve the quality of
deliberations in bank boards, leading to better asset quality and further
resulting in better market valuations.
What has
been done
(i) Separation
of the post of Chairman and Managing Director.
(ii) Enabling
provision for the appointment as MD & CEO in five major banks, so that
wider choice is available. Both Public Sector and Private Sector bankers
can apply. Higher salary can be given in appropriate cases.
(iii) Revamping
of present selection system which inter-alia includes structured three separate
interviews, allotment of banks on merit-cum-preference basis.
(iv) Blue
print for road map for reforms on the basis of deliberations carried out in
GyanSangam, a two days top level retreat organised by the department.
(v) Allocation
of capital purely on the basis of efficiency parameters so that banks start
focusing on these.
(vi) Clear
instructions from the department regarding no interference whatsoever in any
matter whether related to HR issues or credit decisions or even otherwise.
Changes
proposed in priority sector lending (psl)-regarding
|
The following changes are being proposed in
the Priority Sector lending:-
·
To enhance credit to Small and marginal farmers, a separate sub limit of upto
8% (for 1st year - 7% and 2nd year - 8%) is being introduced for the first
time.
·
Loans for agri-processing & agri-infrastructure would be included in PSL
without any limit on the size of loans.
·
Loans to Medium Enterprises being included in PSL.
·
For the first time a separate sub limit of 7.5% of ANBC is being created for
the Micro Enterprises.
·
Loans upto Rs.5 crore for Social infrastructure, like
schools and health care facilities, drinking water facilities, sanitation
facilities etc. are being included under PSL, for towns of less than 1 lac
population.
·
Renewable Energy sector is being added to the PSL, upto Rs.10 crore loans.
·
Introduction of Priority Sector Lending Certificate (PSLCs), which will provide
a market-driven incentive for efficiency, will enable banks to sell their
surplus lending and thus earning a premium for their efficiency/geographical
spread.
·
Progress to be monitored quarterly and not at the end of the year.
Steps Being Taken for
Increasing Financing to Micro, Small And Medium Enterprises (Msmes)
|
Debt
Financing:
1)
Loans to Medium Enterprises are being brought under Priority Sector Lending.
2) A
separate sub-limit of 7.5% in Priority Sector Lending is being created for the
Micro Enterprises.
3) RBI has
received 72 application for setting up Small Banks. As per license
conditions, the small finance banks are required to extend 75% of Adjusted Net
Bank Credit to Priority Sector and 50% of loan portfolio to be upto Rs. 25
lakhs. Therefore, once set up, the Small Finance Banks would augment
supply of credit to small business units, micro and small industries etc.
through high technology & low cost operations.
Equity
Financing:
1)
“Tax pass-through” status for equity funds has been rationalized for supporting
the venture capital eco-system.
2) A Fund of
Funds has been set up in SIDBI to act as a catalyst to attract Private Capital
by way of providing equity, quasi equity and other risk capital for start up
companies.
Micro Units
Development and Refinance Agency (Mudra) Bank
|
According to
the NSSO survey of 2013, there are 5.77 crore small business units, mostly
individual proprietorships, which run small manufacturing, trading or services
activities. Most
of these ‘own account enterprises’ are owned by people belonging to Scheduled
Caste, Scheduled Tribe or Other Backward Classes. Only 4% of such units get
institutional finance. Providing access to institutional finance to
such micro/small business units would turn them into strong instrument of GDP
growth and also employment.
Micro Finance is an economic
development tool whose objective is to assist the poor to work their way out of
poverty. It covers a range of services which include, in addition to the
provision of credit, many other services such as savings, insurance, money
transfers, counseling etc. The players in the Micro Finance sector can be qualified as
falling into 3 main groups:- the SHG-Bank linkage model started by NABARD, the
Non Banking Finance companies and the others including Trusts, Societies etc.
The government proposes to set up a Micro Units
Development and Refinance Agency (MUDRA) Bank through a statutory enactment.
This Bank would be responsible for regulating and refinancing all Micro-finance
Institutions (MFI) which are in the business of lending to micro/small business
entities engaged in manufacturing, trading and services activities. The Bank
would partner with state level/regional level co-ordinators to provide finance
to Last Mile Financer of small/micro business enterprises.
The MUDRA
Bank would primarily be responsible for –
1) Laying down
policy guidelines for micro/small enterprise financing business
2) Registration of
MFI entities
3) Regulation of
MFI entities
4) Accreditation
/rating of MFI entities
5) Laying down
responsible financing practices to ward off indebtedness and ensure proper
client protection principles and methods of recovery
6) Development of
standardised set of covenants governing last mile lending to micro/small
enterprises
7) Promoting right
technology solutions for the last mile
8) Formulating and
running a Credit Guarantee scheme for providing guarantees to the loans
which are being extended to micro enterprises
9) Creating
a good architecture of Last Mile Credit Delivery to micro businesses
under the scheme of Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana
Introduction of the Atal Pension Yojana
|
Note
on Atal Pension Yojana
Benefit of
APY:
Fixed pension for the subscribers ranging between Rs. 1000 to Rs. 5000, if he
joins and contributes between the age of 18 years and 40 years. The
contribution levels would vary and would be low if subscriber joins early and
increase if he joins late.
Eligibility
for APY: Atal Pension Yojana (APY) is open to all bank account
holders who are not members of any statutory social security scheme.
Age of
joining and contribution period: The minimum age of joining APY is 18 years and maximum age
is 40 years. Therefore, minimum period of contribution by the subscriber under
APY would be 20 years or more.
Focus of
APY:
Mainly targeted at unorganised sector workers.
Enrolment
and Subscriber Payment: All bank account holders under the
eligible category may join APY with auto-debit facility to accounts, leading to
reduction in contribution collection charges.
Enrolment
agencies: All Points of Presence (Service Providers) and Aggregators under
Swavalamban Scheme would enrol subscribers through architecture of National
Pension System.
Operational
Framework of APY: It is Government of India Scheme, which is administered by the Pension
Fund Regulatory and Development Authority. The Institutional Architecture of
NPS would be utilised to enrol subscribers under APY.
Funding of
APY: Government
would provide (i) fixed pension guarantee for the subscribers; (ii) would
co-contribute 50% of the subscriber contribution or Rs. 1000 per annum,
whichever is lower, to eligible subscribers; and (iii) would also reimburse the
promotional and development activities including incentive to the contribution
collection agencies to encourage people to join the APY.
Highlights of The Pradhan Mantri Jeevan
Jyoti Bima Yojana
(PMJJBY – SCHEME 2 - FOR LIFE INSURANCE COVER)
|
Eligibility: Available to people in the age
group of 18 to 50 and having a bank account. People who join the scheme before
completing 50 years can, however, continue to have the risk of life cover up to
the age of 55 years subject to payment of premium.
Premium:
Rs.330 per
annum. It will be auto-debited in one instalment.
Payment
Mode: The payment
of premium will be directly auto-debited by the bank from the subscribers
account.
Risk
Coverage: Rs.2 Lakh in
case of death for any reason.
Terms of
Risk Coverage: A person has
to opt for the scheme every year. He can also prefer to give a long-term
option of continuing, in which case his account will be auto-debited every year
by the bank.
Who will
implement this Scheme?: The scheme
will be offered by Life Insurance Corporation and all other life insurers who
are willing to join the scheme and tie-up with banks for this purpose.
Government
Contribution:
(i)
Various other Ministries can co-contribute premium for various categories of
their beneficiaries out of their budget or out of Public Welfare Fund created
in this budget out of unclaimed money. This will be decided separately
during the year.
(ii) Common
Publicity Expenditure will be borne by Government.
Highlights of the Pradhan Mantri Suraksha
Bima Yojana (Pmsby – Scheme 1 - for Accidental Death Insurance)
|
Eligibility: Available to people in age group
18 to 70 years with bank account.
Premium: Rs.12 per annum.
Payment
Mode: The premium
will be directly auto-debited by the bank from the subscribers account. This is
the only mode available.
Risk
Coverage: For
accidental death and full disability - Rs.2 Lakh and for partial disability –
Rs.1 Lakh.
Eligibility: Any person having a bank account
and Aadhaar number linked to the bank account can give a simple form to the
bank every year before 1st of June in order to join the
scheme. Name of nominee to be given in the form.
Terms of
Risk Coverage: A person has
to opt for the scheme every year. He can also prefer to give a long-term option
of continuing in which case his account will be auto-debited every year by the
bank.
Who will
implement this Scheme?:The scheme
will be offered by all Public Sector General Insurance Companies and all other
insurers who are willing to join the scheme and tie-up with banks for this
purpose.
Government
Contribution:
(i)
Various Ministries can co-contribute premium for various categories of their
beneficiaries from their budget or from Public Welfare Fund created in this
budget from unclaimed money. This will be decided separately during the year.
(ii) Common
Publicity Expenditure will be borne by the Government.
Incentives
for Girl Students
|
To encourage the participation of all girls at elementary level, the Sarva
Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) provides for the opening of schools in the neighborhood to make access
easier for girls, the appointment of additional teachers including women
teachers, free textbooks, free uniforms, separate toilets for girls, teachers’
sensitization programmes to promote girls participation, gender-sensitive
teaching learning materials including textbooks and the scheme of Kasturba
Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas as residential upper primary schools for girls belonging
to SC/ST/Minority Communities, BPL families and girls in difficult
circumstances.
Make
in India Policy for MSME Sector
|
The
Ministry is proposing to rise to the challenge through action plans directed at
enhancement of the provision of collateral free credit through creation of
state verticals for extending guarantees to the entrepreneurs of particular
state with financial support from state governments, creation of similar
verticals for women entrepreneurs and youth among SC/ ST and NE Regions.
Augmentation of 18 existing Technology Centres (TCs) is to be supported by
cluster network Mangers and a National Portal. Efforts are on to bridge the gap
between Research Institutions and Industries through signing of MOUs with IISc
and CSIR. Defence offset policy is being leveraged for creating ecosystem of
defence manufacturing by MSMEs. A comprehensive skill mapping is also proposed
as a first step towards alleviating the existing skill deficit.
Promotion
of Traditional Industries
|
The Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises
has been implementing various schemes for the promotion of traditional artisans
through Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) and Coir Board, which
include:
(i) Workshed Scheme for Khadi
Artisans for providing assistance for construction of worksheds for better work
environment.
(ii) Khadi Reform and Development Programme
(KRDP) which includes capacity building of 300 khadi
institutions and improved marketing to
revitalize the khadi sector with enhanced sustainability of khadi, increased
incomes and employment for spinners and weavers, increased artisans’ welfare
and achieve synergy with village industries.
(iii) Market Development Assistance (MDA) under
which assistance is provided@ 20% of value of production khadi and polyvastra
to be shared among artisans, producing institutions and selling institutions in
the ratio 25:30:45.
(iv)
Khadi
Karigar Janashree Bima Yojana to provide insurance cover to khadi
artisans
(v) Mahila Coir Yojana
envisages distribution of motorised ratts for spinning coir yarn to women
artisans after being trained.
(vi) Coir Udyami Yojana(CUY) to provide
financial assistance for replacement of outdated ratts/looms and for
construction of worksheds so as to increase productivity/production and
earnings of workers.
(vii) Coir Worker’s Group Personal
Accident Insurance Scheme to provide insurance cover to coir workers.
In addition, a specific cluster-based scheme named Scheme of Fund
for Regeneration of Traditional Industries (SFURTI) is being
implemented by the Government in the Ministry of MSME for promotion of
traditional industries, under which khadi, village industries and coir clusters
have been taken up for development by providing them with improved equipments,
common facilities centres, business development services, training, capacity
building and design and marketing support, etc. 101 clusters (29 Khadi, 47
Village Industries and 25 Coir clusters) have been developed under this scheme.
Clean Energy Co-Operation
Between India and US
|
India
and USA have undertaken new initiatives to enhance clean energy cooperation as
follows:
i. Launched “Innovative Finance Forum”.
ii. Established “PACESetter Funds” to support innovative clean energy access
projects.
iii. Both the countries desire to expand current Partnership to Advance Clean
Energy Development (PACE-D).
iv. Renewed commitment to expanding Partnership to Advance Clean Energy
Research (PACE-R).
‘Go
India’ Smart Card for Train Tickets
|
‘Go-India’ smart
card scheme has been launched on pilot basis on two sectors i.e. New
Delhi-Mumbai and New Delhi-Howrah. At present, the Go-India smart card enables
passengers to pay for reserved and unreserved tickets. The smart card can be
used at nominated Unreserved Ticketing System (UTS)/Passenger Reservation
System (PRS) counters and at Automatic Ticket Vending Machines (ATVMs) on these
two sectors for issuing tickets.
Ministry of Social
Justice & Empowerment
Speaking on the occasion, the Minister stated that his Government is fully
committed to the cause of empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (PWDs)and
implementation of United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with
Disabilitiesas well as the “Incheon Strategy”.
He said that we are presently focussing on
enactment of a new comprehensive law to fulfil our international obligations
following ratification of the UNCRPD; using technology to deliver low-cost
home-based education through e-learning and providing Identity Cards to all
Persons with Disabilities so that they can avail Government benefits.
The Minister said that his government is also
committed to ensure easy access of PWDs to public facilities, public buildings
and transport; develop income generation models to ensure their economic
independence, and provide support to voluntary organizations working in this
sector.
Some of the
important goals of Incheon strategy are: Reduction of
poverty, Enhancement of accessibility, education and employment, Special focus
on children and women, Promotion of social protection and political
participation, and Strengthening of international cooperation etc.
50
circuits have been identified across India for the development of tourism
|
The Ministry of
Tourism has identified 50 circuits for development of tourism. These
circuits/destinations cover major and relevant tourist places and attractions
and have a judicious mix of culture, heritage, spiritualism and ecotourism to
give tourists a holistic perspective of the country. Port Blair-Neil
Havelock-Little Andaman (Andaman and Nicobar), Kashmir Circuit (Jammu and
Kashmir), Desert circuit (Rajasthan), Nature Tourism Circuit (West Bengal),
Braj-Agra Circuit (Uttar Pradesh), Gangtok (Sikkim) are the circuits identified
circuits among others.
The Ministry has formulated a plan scheme SWADESH DARSHAN for integrated development of
tourist circuits around specific themes. The five circuits indentified under
this scheme are: Buddhist Circuit, Himalayan Circuit, Coastal Circuit, Krishna
Circuit and North-East Circuit.
Election
Commission
|
The
Election Commission of India has launched “National Electoral Roll
Purification and Authentication Programme” (NERPAP) throughout the
country from today with the prime objective of bringing a totally error free
and authenticated electoral roll.
During the programme, EPIC data of electors will be linked with Aadhar data
of UIDAI for the purpose of authentication. NERPAP will focus on improving
image quality of electors along with sorting issues like corrections of
errors etc.
GIS System for Fisheries Sector
|
The
components of the scheme for strengthening of database and geographical
information system GIS for fisheries sector are as under:
(i). Sample
Survey for Estimation of Inland Fishery Resources and their Potential
(ii). Census on
Marine Fisheries
(iii). Catch Assessment Survey Inland and Marine
Fisheries
(iv). Development of
Geographical Information System
(v). Development of database
of fishery cooperative of India,
(vi). Mapping of smaller water
bodies and development of Geographical Information System based fishery
management system,
(vii). Strengthening
of Statistical Unit at Headquarter,
(viii) Evaluation Studies/
Professional services,
(ix). Monitoring Control
and Surveillance (MCS).
Scheme Approved for Setting UP of Plastic
Parks
|
End-to-End Computerisation of PDS as a
Mission Mode Project
|
A
scheme on End to end Computerisation of Targeted Public Distribution System
(TPDS) Operations with a total approved cost of Rs.884.07 crore is being
implemented throughout the country.
Strategy for Handling Genetically
Transmitted Cancer Disease
|
Cancer
can be diagnosed and treated at various levels in the government health care
system. The data for medical infrastructure and the quantum of shortage of
specialists for Cancer treatment is not centrally maintained. The number of teletherapy
machine in the country is less than the norms of World Health
Organisation (WHO) and International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
The Government of India has approved a scheme for enhancing the Tertiary Care
Cancer facilities in the country. Under this scheme, the Government of India
will assist 20 State Cancer Institutes (SCI) and 50 Tertiary Care Cancer
Centres (TCCC) in different parts of the country. Oncology in its various
aspects has focus in case of new AIIMS and many upgraded institutions under the
Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojna (PMSSY). Setting up of the National
Cancer Institute at Jhajjar (Haryana) and 2nd campus of the Chittranjan
National Cancer Institute, Kolkata has been approved.
The Government of India had launched a comprehensive National Programme for Prevention and
Control of Cancer, Diabetes, Cardiovascular Disease and Stroke (NPCDCS) in 2010
with focus on 3 types of cancer namely breast, cervical and oral cancer
ISRO to carry out a test flight of Reusable
Launch Vehicle – Technology Demonstrator (RLV-TD) by second quarter of 2015
|
Indian
Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will carry out a test flight of Reusable
Launch Vehicle – Technology Demonstrator (RLV-TD) by second quarter of 2015.
Technology Demonstrator winged body vehicle weighing 1.5T will be lofted to a
height of 70 km using solid booster, thus attaining 5 times the speed of sound.
Thereafter it will descend by gliding and splashing down into the sea. This
test flight would demonstrate the Hypersonic aerodynamics characteristics,
Avionics system, Thermal protection system, Control system and Mission
management.
Development Schemes in the Naxal Affected
Districts
|
The
Additional Central Assistance (ACA) for the
LWE affected districts, being implemented by the NITI Aayog and the Road Requirement Plan (RRP-I), being implemented
by the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways, are the two major
developmental schemes, which focus specifically on the LWE affected districts.
The continuation of Integrated Action
Plan (IAP) as
ACA Scheme for the remaining years of 12th Five Year Plan was approved by the
Government. Besides, two Skill Development related Schemes, namely, ‘ROSHNI’
and ‘Skill Development in 34 Districts affected by Left Wing Extremism’ are
also being implemented by the Ministry of Rural Development and Ministry of
Labour and Employment respectively.
ROSHNI is a special initiative under,
Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (Formerly Ajeevika
Skills), launched in June 2013 for training and placement of rural poor youth
from 27 LWE affected districts in 09 States.
Main objectives of the Scheme “Skill Development in 34 Districts affected by Left Wing
Extremism” under
implementation from 2011-12 are to establish 01 ITI and 02 Skill Development
Centres each in 34 LWE affected districts of 09 States.
India Development Foundation
|
India Development Foundation of
Overseas Indians (IDF-OI) is a “not for profit Trust” established in 2008 by
the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs to serve as a credible institutional
avenue to enable overseas Indians to engage in philanthropy to supplement
India’s social development efforts.
Objectives of IDF-OI are
to:
1.
Lead overseas Indian philanthropy into India.
2.
Provide a list of credible institutions, projects and programmes to NRIs/PIOs.
3.
Function as a clearing house for all philanthropy related information on India.
4.
Partner with and encourage credible philanthropic organizations in the sectors
that best match need based philanthropy.
India-EU Skill Development Project
|
India-EU
project is a technical assistance project for vocational training under which
experts provided by the EU provide advice and guidance on implementation of
National Skills Qualifications Framework, setting up Labour Market Information
System and capacity building of the National Skills Development Authority,
three State Skill Development Missions and six Sector Skills Councils.
Health Ministry to celebrate International
Women’s Day as ‘Safe Motherhood Day’
|
In
a major initiative towards ensuring better health for women of the country, a
three-day special nationwide campaign is being launched by the Union Health and
Family Welfare Ministry from 8-10 March, 2015.
The
Government has been implementing various minority education schemes especially
for Muslims. A total of 15% of the outlay under the
Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan is targeted for the Minority Concentration Districts
(MCD)/Areas to achieve the goal of universalisation of elementary education,
to meet infrastructure gaps for schools, classrooms, teachers and providing
access by opening new schools. Other initiatives which also benefit minorities
and Muslims include the Scheme for Providing Quality Education in
Madarsas (SPQEM), the Scheme of Infrastructure Development in Minority
Institutions (IDMI), the Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya Scheme (JNV), setting up of
Girls Hostels, Model Schools under the Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan
(RMSA), the Mid-Day-Meal Scheme, Jan Shikshan Sansthan (JSS), establishment of
the Model Degree Colleges, Women Hostels and Polytechnics in the Minority
Concentration Districts. Setting up of Block Institutes of Teacher Education,
Appointment of Language Teachers, providing modern education to Madarasas under
National Institute of Open Schooling and the
easing of norms for affiliation of Minority Educational Institutions, are some
of the important initiatives undertaken by the Government.
Innovation is the
key to progress and prosperity, says President
|
Speaking on the
occasion the President said Innovation is the key to progress and prosperity.
The process of innovation converts
knowledge into social good and economic wealth. It encourages the engagement of
talent with the society to improve the quality of life. India always has had a strong
tradition of knowledge. Our knowledge system offer tremendous scope for
research involving land-to-lab investigation and lab-to-land transfer of
technology. It is important that the vast repository of indigenous knowledge is
protected, documented and preserved in active collaboration with prominent
practitioners of traditional knowledge.
The President said building viable
linkages between formal and informal sectors also call for deepening the
involvement of the leaders of technological, financial and educational sectors
with the creativity of common people and young students.
PM launches first indigenously developed and
manufactured vaccine against Rotavirus
|
Government to establish cross cultural
linkages with 39 Indian Ocean Countries under Project Mausam
|
The Government has
proposed to establish cross cultural linkages and to revive historic maritime
cultural and economic ties under ‘Project Mausam’ with 39 Indian Ocean
countries. The 39 countries include Bahrain, Bangladesh, Cambodia, China,
Egypt, Iraq, Mauritius, Singapore, Thailand , Yemen, South Africa, Philippines,
Pakistan among others.
Digital Gender Atlas for Girls’ Education in
India Launched
|
The Ministry of Human Resource
Development, Department of School Education and Literacy, presented the Digital
Gender Atlas for Advancing Girls’ Education in India to the media in New Delhi
today.
The
tool, which has been developed with the support of UNICEF, will help identify
low performing geographic pockets for girls, particularly from marginalised
groups such as scheduled castes, schedule tribes and Muslim minorities, on
specific gender related education indicators.
The Atlas
provides comparative analysis of individual gender related indicators over
three years and that enables a visual assessment of the change and an
understanding of whether some intervention introduced in a geography at a
particular point in time has worked or not. It is constructed on an open source
platform with an inbuilt scope of updating data by authorized persons to retain
its dynamic character.
Subsidy on Rooftop Solar Power Plants
|
National Gas Pipeline Authority
|
Presently, there is no proposal with
PNGRB for setting up a National Gas Pipeline Authority.
The details of the Bhatinda-Jammu-Srinagar and Jagdishpur-Haldia pipeline
projects along with the current status is enclosed at Annexure-II.
Ministry has approved a pipeline
section (Ranchi-Talcher-Paradip) for implementation through PPP mode as pilot
project and the remaining 2 pipeline sections viz., Barauni-Guwahati-Agartala
and Haldia-Paradip/Srikakulam would be considered through PPP mode with VGF
after successful completion of the pilot project.
The Minister of State (I/C) for
Petroleum & Natural Gas Shri Dharmendra Pradhan informed the Lok Sabha in a
written reply today that presently, Govt. is broadly following the
under-mentioned order of priority in allocation of domestic gas:
(i)
Existing Gas based Urea plants.
(ii)
Existing Gas based LPG plants.
(iii)
Existing grid connected and gas based power plants.
(iv)
City Gas Distribution (CGD) network for domestic and transport sectors
(v)
Other sectors including steel, refineries, petrochemicals, CGD for industrial
and commercial customers etc.
However, in order to comply with the
orders of
Hon’ble Supreme Court in the case of M.C. Mehta Vs UOI & Ors. in WP
13029/1985, April, 2002 directing to accord highest priority to transport sector
in allocation of natural gas,
it has been decided to meet the entire requirement of CGD entities for CNG
(transport) and PNG (domestic) segments through domestic gas.
News schemes PRASAD and SWADESH DARSHAN
launched by the government to promote Tourism
|
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In
pursuance of the budget announcement 2014-15, the Ministry of Tourism has
launched two new plan schemes (i) “National Mission on
Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spiritual Augmentation Drive (PRASAD)” and
(ii) “SWADESH DARSHAN”. Both
the schemes are to be implemented in mission mode. Developing world-class
infrastructure in the respective destinations/circuits is one of the mission
objectives of the schemes.
Under
PRASAD, initially, twelve cities namely Amritsar, Ajmer, Amaravati, Dwaraka, Gaya, Kanchipuram,
Kedarnath, Kamakhya, Mathura, Puri, Varanasi and Vellankani have been identified for
development.
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Cleaning of Ganga
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National Ganga River Basin Authority has resolved
that by the year 2020 no untreated municipal sewage or industrial effluent
will be discharged into River Ganga.
Pollution abatement and cleaning of river Ganga is
an ongoing and collaborative effort of the Central and State Governments.
“Namami Gange”, an Integrated Ganga Conservation Mission has been set up
under NGRBA for rejuvenation of river Ganga and its tributaries.
Incorporating the existing projects under the NGRBA, the Ganga rejuvenation
plan provides for ‘Short-term’ (3 years), ‘Medium-term’ (5 years) and
‘Long-term’ (10 years and more) action plan. The Ministry of Urban
Development and Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation have also drawn
action plans under ‘Swachh Bharat Mission’ (Urban and Rural) to address the
sanitation issues, which will minimise the domestic/ municipal pollution load
in the rivers of the country.
The Hon’ble Supreme Court of India has made
certain observations in some of the recent
orders during the year 2014 and 2015 on:
1. Stage-wise developments for
cleaning the river Ganga.
2. Status of Ganga River Basin Management
Plan prepared with the help of Consortium of
seven IITs.
3. Follow up action taken in relation to
Bhagirathi ecological sensitive zone notification.
4. Industrial pollution abatement.
Status on these have been submitted by the
Government to the Hon’ble Supreme Court.
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Total 42 Mega Food Parks have been
Sanctioned by the Government
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A total
42 Mega Food Parks (MFPs) have been sanctioned by the Government for setting-up
in the country. Out of these, 21 Mega Food Parks have been accorded final
approval and are at various stages of implementation, while 4 Mega Food Parks
are progressing towards meeting the conditions for final approval.
The Scheme of Mega Food Parks is aimed at providing modern infrastructure
facilities along the value chain from farm gate to the market with strong
backward and forward linkages. It is expected to facilitate the efforts to
increase the level of processing of agricultural and horticultural produce,
with particular focus on perishables, in the country and thereby to check the
wastage. The Scheme has a cluster
based approach based on a hub and spokes model. It includes creation of
infrastructure for primary processing and storage near the farm in the form of
Primary Processing Centres (PPCs) and Collection Centres (CCs) and common
facilities and enabling infrastructure at Central Processing Centre (CPC). The PPCs
are meant for functioning as a link between the producers and processors for
supply of raw material to the Central Processing Centres. CPC has need based
core processing facilities and basic enabling infrastructure to be used by the
food processing units setup at the CPC. The minimum area required for a CPC is
50 acres. The scheme
is demand-driven and would facilitate food processing units to meet
environmental, safety and social standards.
It has been experienced during implementation of the Scheme of Mega Food Parks
that the major challenges being faced by
the Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) in implementation of the Mega Food Park
projects, include acquiring contiguous land of 50 acres or more in the name of
SPV, obtaining term loan from the Banks, difficulties in obtaining various
statutory clearances from the State Government Departments/Agencies, timely
contribution of equity by the promoters, lack of cohesiveness amongst the
promoters etc.
National Electric Mobility Mission Plan
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Government of India
launched the National Electric Mobility Mission Plan (NEMMP) 2020 in 2013. It
aims to achieve national fuel security by promoting hybrid and electric
vehicles in the country. There is an ambitious target to achieve 6-7 million
sales of hybrid and electric vehicles year on year from 2020 onwards. It is
expected to save 9500 Million Liters of crude oil equivalent to Rs. 62000 Cr.
savings. Government has launched
the scheme namely Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid &) Electric
Vehicles (FAME India) under NEMMP 2020
in the Union Budget for 2015-16 with an initial outlay of Rs. 75 Cr. The scheme
will provide a major push for early adoption and market creation of both hybrid
and electric technologies vehicles in the country. The thrust for the Government through this scheme will be to
allow hybrid and electric vehicles to become the first choice for the
purchasers so that these vehicles can replace the conventional vehicles and
thus reduce liquid fuel consumption in the country from the automobile sector. It is envisaged that early
market creation through demand incentive, in-house technology development and
domestic production will help industry reach a self-sufficient economies of
scale in the long run by around the year 2020.
Government
of India has launched the ‘Make in India’ Programme to promote manufacturing in
India and develop it as a hub for manufacturing, design and innovation Certain
important steps taken to gear up manufacturing include
(i)
creation of an
investor facilitation cell
(ii)
dissemination of
information on twenty five priority sectors on ‘Make in India’s web-portal
(http://www.makeinindia.com) along with details of FDI Policy, National
Manufacturing Policy, Intellectual Property Rights, Delhi-Mumbai Industrial
Corridor and other National Industrial Corridors
(iii)
issuance of
Ordinance to make land acquisition easier for important projects
(iv)
a number of items
taken off the licensing requirement from Defence products’ list, etc. and
(v)
Sector wise plan
of action has been prepared with time lines of one year and three years.
Culture Minister inaugurates the curtain
raiser of the year long celebrations of 125th Anniversary of National
Archives of India
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The Minister inaugurated i) A
Logo for the 125th Year Celebration of the National Archives of
India; ii) an Online Search Portal
entitledAbhilekh-PATAL, which puts the catalogue of over 2
million records in the public domain together with over 2000 digital images of
records; iii) a Virtual Exhibition: Gandhi-Mandela that was displayed at
Johannesburg as a part of the ‘Festival of India in South Africa’ and iv) 3
New publications of the department on the occasion.
National Archives of India was
established on 11 March 1891 at Calcutta as the Imperial Record Department,
and later shifted to New Delhi following the transfer of the capitalfrom
Calcutta to Delhi in 1911. The present building of the National Archives of
India was constructed in 1926, and the transfer of all records was completed in
1937. Today, it has one Regional Office at Bhopal and three Records Centres at
Bhubaneswar, Jaipur and Puducherry.
This department is the custodian of
the non-current records of the Government of India and is holding them in trust
for the use of the records creators and the users at large. Archives are the
priceless documentary heritage of any nation and as the premier archival
institution in the country, and play a key role in guiding and shaping the
development of archives both at the national as well as international level.
National Mission on Teachers and Teaching
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The
Government will set up 50 Centres of
Excellence for Curriculum and Pedagogy
with necessary emphasis on Maths and Science; under the newly launched Scheme Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya National Mission on Teachers and
Teaching (PMMMNMTT).
The Mission will provide an integrated
platform for building synergies among all the existing initiatives, providing
oversight to the existing activities and also carry out new activities aimed at
gap filling so that a comprehensive vehicle for Teacher/Faculty related
programmes and schemes is created.
The
various components of PMMMNMTT, such as, setting
up 30 Schools of Education, 50 Centres of Excellence for Curriculum and
Pedagogy, two Inter University Centres, National Resource Centre, five Centres
of Academic Leadership and Educational Management, Subject Based Networks and
Workshops and Seminars,
which will strengthen teachers, are, in fact aimed at improving the
understanding of the students to grasp basic concepts and help them learn
better.
Social Security Agreements
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The Government has signed Social Security
Agreements (SSAs) with Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Switzerland,
Netherlands, Denmark, South Korea, Hungary, Finland, Sweden, the Czech
Republic, Norway, Canada, Japan, Austria, Portugal, Australia and Quebec
(Province of Canada) for the protection of Indian professionals working in
these countries from making double contribution of social security in the home
country as well as in the host country on the same income.
The salient features of these
Agreements are:
(i)
Exemption
from social security contribution
for the posted (detached) workers provided the worker is covered under the
Indian social security system and continues to pay his contribution to the
Indian system during the period of contract.
(ii)
Exportability of
benefits in case of relocation to India or any other country after having made
social security contribution.
(iii)
Totalization
of the periods of contribution
pertaining to both countries for the purpose of assessing eligibility for benefit/pension
under the legislation of each country.
(iv) It also makes Indian companies more
competitive since exemption from social security contribution in respect of
their employees substantially reduces costs.
Welfare Schemes for Overseas Indians
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The Ministry has information on
number of Indian workers who emigrated abroad through Emigration Clearance to
notified Emigration Clearance Required countries only. The detail particulars
gender-wise, State-wise and country-wise during the last one year are given in
Annexure I, II and III respectively.
The schemes for welfare of Indian
workers/Non-Resident Indians are:
(i)
Pravasi Kaushal Vikas Yojana
(ii) Pravasi
Bharatiya Bima Yojana (PBBY)
(iii) Mahatma
Gandhi Pravasi Suraksha Yojana (MGPSY)
(iv) Indian
Community Welfare Fund (ICWF)
(v)
Scholarship Programme for Diaspora Children
(vi) Scheme for
Legal/ Financial Assistance to Indian Women Deserted by their NRI Husbands
Implementation of Tribal Sub Plan
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Recently erstwhile
Planning Commission got a holistic evaluation study conducted through a third
party agency on the effectiveness of the TSP strategy in terms of delivery and
goods services to the tribal population. The report of the Study was made public
during May 2013. The Study, inter alia, reported underperformance of TSP funds in fetching
tangible results and for that matter triggering development of tribals.
Besides, the
Ministry held several consultations with the stakeholders in the Central
Governments as well as State Governments and outside experts / agencies to
gauge the deficiencies confronting tribal development with the desired pace.
In nutshell, besides other things, the prominent reasons for underperformance
of TSP funds have been identified as (i)
Lack of unified planning, implementation and monitoring mechanism (ii) Lack of effective mechanism to gel central plan TSP funds and
State Plan TSP Funds (iii) Scattered financial resources used in a scattered manner (iv) Lack of location specific perspective plan (v) Lack of gap analysis (vi)
Weakening of institutions specifically meant for delivery of goods and services
to tribal population i.e. Integrated Tribal Development Agency (ITDA) /
Integrated Tribal Development Projects / Tribal Research Institutes (TRI) and
other Micro Projects. (vii) Utilization of TSP funds was more ritualistic than outcome
based initiative based on gap analysis in HDI. (viii)
Inadequate and insufficient administrative and financial powers with the Tribal
Welfare Departments in the States and Ministry of Tribal Affairs at Centre.
Union
Minister of Chemicals & Fertilizers Shri Ananth Kumar launches ‘Pharma Jan Samadhan’ scheme
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The
Union Minister of Chemicals & Fertilizers Shri Ananth Kumar launched
‘Pharma Jan Samadhan’ scheme here today.
It is a web enabled system for redressal of consumers’ grievances relating to
pricing and availability of medicines, created by National Pharmaceutical
Pricing Authority (NPPA).
The ‘Pharma Jan
Samadhan’ scheme has put in place a speedy and effective complaint redressal
system with respect to availability and pricing of medicines. It would serve as
a robust e-governance tool for protection of consumers’ interests through
effective implementation of the Drugs (Price Control) Order 2013. ‘Pharma Jan Samadhan’ will provide consumers and others with an
on-line facility to redress their complaints relating to over-pricing of
medicines, non-availability or shortage of medicines, sale of new medicines
without prior price approval of NPPA, and refusal of supply for sale of any
medicine without good and sufficient reason. NPPA will initiate action on any complaint within
48 hrs of its receipt.
Initiatives to Improve the Efficiency of
Coal Based Power Plants
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The
Centre for Science and Technology in its report “Green Rating of Coal-Based Thermal Power Plants” has given suggestions for
improving the efficiency of thermal power plants in India.
The Minister further stated that Government of India has already taken
following initiatives to improve the efficiency of coal based power plants and
to reduce the carbon footprint of the power sector:
(i) Out of about 87,000 MW thermal capacity under construction, about 48,000 MW
is based on supercritical technology,
which uses less coal.
(ii) Supercritical technology has been made
mandatory for Ultra Mega Power Projects (UMPPs) being implemented.
(iii) In 13th Plan, all coal fired capacity
addition shall be through supercritical units.
(iv) An Advanced Ultra Super Critical Technology R&D Project has been
approved by Government at a cost of Rs.1500 Crore involving BHEL, NTPC and
Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR) to achieve higher efficiency,
reduce carbon-dioxide emissions and coal consumption for coal based power
plants.
(v) Renovation, Modernization and Life Extension of old thermal power
generating units and retirement of old and inefficient thermal generation
units, in phased manner, is being undertaken.
(vi)
Doubling coal cess from Rs.100 per tonne to Rs.200 per tonne for funding
projects under National Clean Energy Fund as announced in the Budget Speech of
2015-16.
(vii) Increasing the share of renewable energy in the overall power generation
in the country.
(viii) Perform Achieve Trade (PAT) Scheme under National Mission on Enhanced
Energy Efficiency is under implementation by Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE).
In this Scheme, individual target for improving energy efficiency has been
assigned to 144 number of thermal stations.
New Bill aims for Safe Transport System
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The
new Road Transport and Safety Bill 2015, in place of Motor Vehicle Act 1988,
proposes to constitute a National Road Transport and Multimodal Co-ordination
Authority and State Transport Authority with an objective and power to plan and
develop integrated, safe and sustainable transport systems that contribute to
an inclusive, prosperous and environmentally responsible India, the primary
objective of State Transport Authority includes the following:-
(1) to ensure, in collaboration with National Transport Authority, other state
transport bodies and public entities, urban local bodies and land holding
agencies and the traffic police, that the public transport system is planned
and operated as part of an integrated transport system which seeks to meet the needs
of all transport system users within the state;
(2) to organize and regulate the public transport system in a manner which
supports a multi-modal integrated transport system within the state by
(i) increasing the share of public transport trips within the state;
(ii) actively promoting public transport usage;
(iii) improving the environmental performance and minimizing the adverse
environmental impacts of the public transport system;
(iv) contributing to social well-being by providing access to livelihood
opportunities and supporting social interaction amongst members of the
community;
(v) promoting economic prosperity through efficient and reliable movement of
public transport users while also supporting the movement of livestock and
freight; and
(vi) Collaborating with relevant bodies including the Central Government, the
State Government, National Transport Authority, State Road Transport
Corporations, public and private transport operators, urban local bodies, the
National Authority, the State Safety Authority, State Police and other such
bodies, in order to improve the efficiency of public transport for public
transport users.
The Government of India has undertaken a project “Security for Women in public road transport in the country”. The objective of the scheme is
to ensure safety of women and girl child in public transport by monitoring
location of public road transport vehicles to provide immediate assistance in
minimum response time to the victims in distress.
The proposed scheme under the
“Nirbhaya Fund” envisages setting up of a unified system at the National Level
(National Vehicle Security and Tracking System) and State level (City Command
and Control Centre) for GPS tracking of the location of, emergency buttons in
and video recording of incidents in public transport vehicles, in 32 cities of
the country with a population of 1 million or more.
The
Ministry of Road Transport and Highways proposed “Road Transport and Safety
Bill, 2015”, in Chapter XI, provides for constitution of a Motor Vehicle Crash
Fund. The following shall be credited to the fund:
i) A cess or tax or payment of a nature notified and approved by Central
Government.
ii) Any grant or loan made to the fund by the Central Government.
iii) Any other source of income as may be prescribed by the Central Government.
Union Agriculture Minister underlines the
importance of water security and organic farming at 4th Meeting of BRICS
Ministers of Agriculture and Agrarian Development in Brasilia, Brazil today
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Participating in
4th Meeting of BRICS Ministers of Agriculture and Agrarian Development in
Brasilia, Brazil today, Union Agriculture Minister, Shri Radha Mohan Singh,
said that the Government is committed to promote Organic Farming that improves
soil health and leads to better quality crops. From the current financial year,
‘Paramparagat
Krishi Vikas Yojana’,
a new scheme to develop organic clusters and make available chemical free
inputs to farmers will be implemented. He also referred about the Gokul Mission, a
dedicated intervention to improve cattle progeny so as to improve milk yields
and farmers income.
Shri Singh said
that the Government of India is committed to giving top priority to water
security. In this context, he referred to the ‘Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana’ with the motto of water to
every farm ‘Har Khet Ko Paani’. He mentioned that the ‘Pradhan Mantri Krishi
Sinchayee Yojana’ aims at providing end-to-end solutions in irrigation supply
chain, viz. water sources, distribution network and farm level applications.
Revamping of Jan Aushadhi Scheme
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178 Jan Aushadhi Stores have been
opened across the country since the inception of the scheme against which only
98 are functional as on date. The Scheme is being revisited to expand its
reach across the country. Details are being worked out by Bureau of
Pharma Public Sector Undertakings of India (BPPI) in consultation with
Department of Pharmaceuticals.
The third party evaluation of Public Health Foundation of India noted five
major reasons for under performance of the scheme:
(a) Over
dependence on support from State Government;
(b) Poor Supply Chain
Management;
(c)
Non-prescription of Generic Medicines;
(d) Health Policies of
Central/State Governments-Free Supply of Drugs;
(e) Lack of
awareness
Digital Life Certificate for Pensioners;
More Than One Crore Pensioners May be Benefitted by the Scheme
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Under the ‘Digital
India Mission’, Government has launched ‘Jeevan Pramaan – an Aadhaar based
Digital Life Certificate’
for pensioners on 10.11.2014. This facility provides an option to the
pensioners to submit their life certificate digitally by authenticating
biometrically using UIDAI Database. The pension disbursing agencies integrated
with the Jeevan Pramaan Portal will get access to digital life certificate. The
pensioners need not go to the pension disbursing agency in person.
Aadhaar numbers is used for
bio-metric authentication of pensioners. All pensioners having Aadhaar number
may avail this facility. More than one crore pensioners may be benefitted by
the scheme.
Steps Taken Under NRHM to Reduce Neonatal
Mortality Rates in the Country
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The following interventions have been taken under NRHM
to reduce neonatal mortality rates in the country:
1) Promotion
of Institutional Delivery through Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY) and Janani
Shishu Suraksha Karyakram (JSSK): Promoting
Institutional delivery to ensure skilled birth attendance is key to reducing
both maternal and neo-natal mortality. JSY incentivizes pregnant women to opt
for institutional delivery and provides for cash assistance. JSSK entitles all
pregnant women to absolutely free and zero expense delivery including caesarean
section operation in Government health facilities and provides for free to and
fro transport, food, drugs and diagnostics. Similar entitlements have also been
put in place for sick neonates.
2) Strengthening Facility
based newborn care: Newborn care corners (NBCC) are being
set up at all health facilities where deliveries take place to provide
essential newborn care at birth to all new born babies; Special
New Born Care Units (SNCUs) at District Hospitals and New
Born Stabilization Units (NBSUs) at FRUs are
being set up for the care of small and sick newborn.
3)
Home
Based Newborn Care (HBNC): Home based newborn care through ASHA has been
initiated to improve new born care practices at the community level and for
early detection and referral of sick new born babies.
4) Ensuring single dose of
Injection Vitamin
K prophylaxis
in all the births in all the public and private health facilities even at the
sub centre by ANM.
5) Provision of Support in the
annual state plans for up scaling of Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC) in all
health facilities.
6) Capacity
building of health care providers: Various trainings are being conducted under National
Rural Health Mission (NRHM) to build and upgrade the skills of doctors, nurses
and ANM for early diagnosis and case management of common ailments of children
and care of newborn at time of birth.
7) Management of
Malnutrition: Emphasis is
being laid on reduction of malnutrition which is an important underlying cause
of child mortality. 891 Nutritional Rehabilitation Centres have been
established for management of Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM).Exclusive
breastfeeding for first six months and appropriate infant and young child
feeding practices are being promoted in convergence with Ministry of Woman and
Child Development.
8) Village Health and
Nutrition Days (VHNDs) are also being organized for imparting nutritional
counselling to mothers and to improve child care practices.
MD, IMF meets PM (Prime Minister's Office)
The Prime Minister thanked Ms. Lagarde for her words. He
stressed the importance of having a
clear direction and focus. He said reforms
are not restricted to legislation alone, and implementation and direction are equally important. He said that
his focus, while promoting growth, is to
create jobs, have inclusive growth,
and focus on development of backward regions in Eastern and North-Eastern India.
This region is rich in natural and human
resources and we need to capitalize on this. The priority is on all fronts –
agriculture, manufacturing and services.
India
and Canada discuss possible joint-ventures of mutual interest (Ministry for Development of
North-East Region)
The Canadian High Commissioner in India, Mr. Nadir Patel,
referred to the Indian Space Research
Organization’s (ISRO) reported plans to develop capability for heavy and high throughput satellites. In
this context, Canadian scientists are eager to share their technical know-how
with the Indian counterparts. Mars Orbiter Mission which had been 100%
indigenously developed with 100% Indian infrastructure and human resource,
lived up to Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi’s inspiring concept of “Make in
India”
Coal
Production (Ministry
of Coal)
The Minister further stated that Coal India Limited (CIL)
have been taken/contemplated several measures for enhancing domestic coal
production which are as follows:-
• An exercise has been carried out to prepare a roadmap for achieving the
production level of One Billion Tonne coal by the year 2019-20. So far,
mine/projects have been identified to produce about 908 Mt.
• Up gradation and modernization of existing technology in phases. Mega
opencast projects have been planned with higher size of equipment for
excavation, transportation, drilling and other auxiliary operations of
international standard.
• Deployment a Continuous miners (CMs) for mass production technology &
Long Wall Mining where ever geo mining conditions permits.
• Periodical review at the Ministry level and by an inter ministerial committee
set up under the Chairman, Railway Board with secretaries of Coal, Power, and
Ministry of Environment & Forests (MoEF) as members to expedite the railway
projects aimed at enhancing the evacuation capacities.
Sh. Goyal further stated that steps are also being taken to
improve quality of coal:
i. Selective mining for elimination of bands wherever necessary /feasible.
ii. Appropriate positioning of overburden (OB) and coal benches to avoid
contamination.
iii. Scrapping/cleaning of coal benches before blasting.
iv. Installation of metal detectors / magnetic separators over running
conveyors before coal loading.
v. Crushing arrangement for supply of sized coal.
vi. All the major projects having high capacity coal handling plants to
dispatch sized and uniform quality of coal to suit the requirement of the
consumers.
vii. Shale picking, if any, at mine face, stocks, sidings and from the wagons.
viii. Beneficiation of non-coking coal in washeries have been planned on “Build
Operate & Maintain” (BOM) basis in addition to the existing capacity of
non-coking coal washeries.
Visit
of Union Home Minister to Japan (Ministry of Home Affairs)
Shri Rajnath Singh, presenting the Country Statement on
March 14, 2015, said that the Hyogo
Framework for Action has provided a
blue print for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) activities including promotion of
culture of prevention, mitigation, preparedness and resilience at all levels.
Since then, considerable progress has been made by investing resources and
enhancing capacities in dealing with the disasters. recent events in India such
as the landslides and floods of 2013 in the Himalayan State of Uttarakhand,
cyclone ‘Phailin’ in Odisha in 2013, the floods and landslides in Jammu &
Kashmir and cyclone ‘Hudhud’ in Andhra Pradesh in 2014 have once again brought
into focus the need for multiplying our efforts towards DRR.
Shri Rajnath Singh chaired the Ministerial Round Table on
`International Cooperation in support of post-2015 Framework for Disaster Risk
Reduction. The objective of the deliberations was on generating ideas to bring
about better international cooperation in support of post-2015 Framework for
DRR. The issues of strengthening of existing mechanisms, targets as specified
in the framework, international cooperation and partnerships, for Least Developed
and Developing Countries to build and strengthen their capacities were
deliberated upon. The Union Home Minister urged all countries to reaffirm their
commitment to pursue effective DRR through international cooperation and global
partnership to build communities self-reliant in mitigating the impacts of
disasters.
India-Japan (visited the town of Onagawa, where India’s NDRF
team assisted the Japanese authorities in their search and rescue mission from
26th March to 7th April, 2011; opened the Exhibition of Indian Museum Kolkata
on Indian Buddhist Art at the prestigious National Museum of Tokyo today,
important holy sites of Buddhism, ‘Sarnath’ and ‘Kushinagar’ are located. It
was in Sarnath that Lord Buddha delivered his first sermon after attaining enlightenment;
and Kushinagar is the place where the Lord Buddha attained Mahaparinirvana. He
remarked that two sculptures from Sarnath from the 5th Century AD, - that of a
standing Buddha and another depicting scenes from his life, - have been
included as part of this exhibition.)
India- Russia (enhancing the ongoing cooperation in dealing
with emergency situations, natural disasters as well as encouraging greater
institutional linkages between research and training institutes in the area of
disaster management, possible use for space-based technologies for averting
natural disasters and their management. )
Apprentice Protsahan Yojana (Ministry of Labour & Employment)
A new Scheme ‘Apprentice Protsahan Yojana’ has been started
on 16.10.2014 to share 50% of prescribed stipend to the apprentices by
Government of India for the first two years of training engaged by eligible
establishments particularly in manufacturing sector and other establishments
covered under the Apprentices Act, 1961; the MSMEs establishments are able to
engage apprentices and it also enables them to get skilled manpower for their
needs. This Scheme covers all categories
of apprentices except the Graduate, Technician and Technician (Vocational)
apprentices which are covered by scheme administered by Ministry of Human
Resource Development.
Rising
Unemployment: Steps by Government (Ministry of Labour & Employment)
Government has taken various steps for generating employment
in the country like encouraging private
sector of economy, fast tracking
various projects involving substantial investment and increasing public expenditure on schemes like Prime Minister’s
Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP) run by Ministry of Micro, Small &
Medium Enterprises, Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme
(MGNREGS), Pt. Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY) scheme
run by Ministry of Rural Development and National Urban Livelihoods Mission
(NULM) run by Ministry of Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation.
Government has also decided to strategically promote labour-intensive manufacturing and expand employment
opportunities by promoting tourism and
agro-based industries. The National Manufacturing Policy of the Government
targets to create 10 crore jobs by the year 2022.
Approval
of NMCP- National Manufacturing
Competitiveness Programme (Ministry
of Micro,Small & Medium Enterprises)
The Ministry of MSME is implementing
the National Manufacturing
Competitiveness Programme (NMCP) with the aim to support the Micro, Small and
Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) to become competitive. The objective of NMCP is to
develop global competitiveness among Indian MSMEs. This programme targets at
enhancing the entire value chain of the MSME sector through the following
components:
i)
Lean Manufacturing Competitiveness Scheme
for MSMEs,
ii)
Design Clinics scheme for MSMEs,
iii)
Marketing Assistance and Technology Up gradation Scheme for MSMEs,
iv) Bar code
scheme for MSEs,
v)
National Campaign for building awareness on Intellectual Property Rights (IPR),
vi)
Technology and Quality Up gradation Support to MSMEs,
vii)
Enabling Manufacturing Sector to be Competitive through Quality Management
Standards (QMS) and Quality Technology Tools (QTT),
viii) Support for
Entrepreneurial and Management development of SMEs through Incubators.
ix)
Promotion of Information & Communication Tools (ICT) in MSME sector.
US
Assistance for Renewable Energy Technologies (Ministry of New and Renewable Energy)
New initiatives to enhance clean energy cooperation as
follows:
i. Set up “Innovative Finance Forum”.
ii Establish “PACESetter Fund” to support innovative clean energy access
projects.
iii. Both the countries desired to expand current Partnership to Advance Clean
Energy Development (PACE-D).
iv. Renewed commitment to expand Partnership to Advance Clean Energy Research
(PACE-R).
Primitive
Tribal Groups (Ministry
of Tribal Affairs)
Seventy five communities have been identified as Particularly Vulnerable
Tribal Groups (PVTGs) {earlier called as Primitive Tribal Groups (PTGs). The 100%
Central sector scheme aims at the socio-economic development of PVTGs in a
holistic manner by adopting habitat development approach and intervening in all
spheres of their social and economic life, so that the quality of life of PVTGs
is improved and a visible impact is made. The funds under this scheme are made
available to the States/UTs having PVTG population in accordance with the
Conservation cum Development (CCD) plan approved by an Expert Committee in the
Ministry of Tribal Affairs
Regulation
of AYUSH Institutions
The National Policy on Indian Systems of Medicine &
Homoeopathy - 2002, envisages integration of AYUSH with the Health Care
Delivery System. Mainstreaming of AYUSH is one of the strategies in National
Health Mission (NHM) as well which seeks to provide accessible, affordable and
quality health care in order to improve the existing health care delivery
system. Government of India has adopted a strategy of Co-location of AYUSH
facilities at Primary Health Centres (PHCs), Community Health Centres (CHCs)
and District Hospitals (DHs), thus enabling choice to the patients for
different systems of medicines under single window. The engagement of AYUSH
Doctors / paramedics and their training is supported by the Department of
Health & Family Welfare, while the support for AYUSH infrastructure,
equipment / furniture and medicines are provided by Ministry of AYUSH under
shared responsibilities.
Government of India has approved and notified National AYUSH
Mission (NAM) on 29.09.2014 which envisages better access to AYUSH services,
strengthening of AYUSH educational Institutions, facilities for the enforcement
of quality control of Ayurveda, Siddha and Unani & Homoeopathy (ASU &
H) drugs and sustainable availability of ASU & H raw – materials in the
States / UTs during 12th Plan.
Under National AYUSH Mission provision has been kept to
assist the State Governments/UTs for the promotion and development of AYUSH
Institutions through upgradation of State/ UT Government Institutions and
setting up of new Government Institutions.
Hybrid
Rice (Ministry
of Agriculture)
Promote cultivation of hybrid rice through various crop
development programmes such as National Food Security Mission (NFSM), Bringing
Green Revolution to Eastern India (BGREI) and Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana
(RKVY) in eastern Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and
Chhattisgarh.
Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) and
Directorate of Rice Research (DRR) have jointly developed bacterial blight
resistant variety ‘Improved Samba Mahsuri’ which variety was notified and
released for cultivation in 2008. The variety has so far spread to an area of
90,000 ha in the states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
Development
of Agricultural Markets (Ministry
of Agriculture)
Promotion of National Agricultural Market through Agri-Tech
Infrastructure Fund (ATIF)” for Rs.200 crores to be implemented during 2014-15
to 2016-17. It is proposed to utilise the ATIF for migrating towards a National
Market through implementation of an appropriate common e-market platform.
Implementation of Central Sector of Integrated Scheme for
Agricultural Marketing (ISAM). Under the scheme, assistance is provided towards
creation of market infrastructure including storage; Venture Capital Assistance
is provided to projects that provide market linkages to farmers; assistance for
capacity building of farmers and other stake holders; and support for
strengthening Agmarknet portal which provides information on prices and
arrivals of agri commodities in wholesale regulated markets, etc. The Government has also recently approved the
Price Stabilisation Fund (PSF) Scheme for Procurement and Distribution of
perishable agri-horticultural Commodities to control price volatility of these
commodities
Rural
Irrigation Scheme (Ministry
of Agriculture)
Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY) with the
vision to ensure access to water to every agricultural farm for minimizing the
impact of vagaries of monsoon.
Promotion
of use of Bio-Fertilizers in the Country (Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers)
The Government proposes to produce manure and
energy from the urban waste. The proposal is in primary stage and a draft
discussion paper on ‘Promotion of City Compost’ has been circulated for
inter-ministerial consultation. However, the Government has undertaken a
number of steps for promotion of use of bio-fertilizers in the country.
They are as under:
(1) Financial
support for establishment of bio-fertilizers production unit as back ended
subsidy @ 25% of total financial outlay up to a maximum of Rs. 40.00 lakh
through NABARD is provided. Financial assistant of 50% of cost or Rs.
100/- per hectare, whichever is less, is provided to farmers for promotion of
bio-fertilizers under Integrated Scheme for Oilseeds, Pulses, Oil Palm and
Maize (ISOPOM).
(2) To encourage the producers of
organic fertilizers, the Government is providing financial assistance for
setting up of production units of organic fertilizers under following schemes:-
(i) Under National Project on Organic
Farming (NPOF), financial assistance is provided as credit linked back ended
subsidy through NABARD for setting up of fruit/vegetable waste/agro-waste
compost unit @33% of the total cost of project upto Rs. 60.00 lakh per unit.
(ii) Under National Horticulture Mission
(NHM), financial assistance is provided for setting up vermi-compost production
units @50% of the cost subject to a maximum of Rs. 30,000/- per beneficiary.
Measures
to cheque the quality of foodgrains during storage (Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food
& Public Distribution)
The quality of foodgrains in storage is monitored by Food
Corporation of India (FCI) at regular intervals by a system of check and super
checks to ensure proper preservation of foodgrains in the storage. These are as
follows:-
• Fortnightly inspection of stock on 100% basis by Technical Assistants at
storage depot level.
• Monthly inspection by Manager (Quality Control) at storage depot level.
• Quarterly inspection by Assistant General Manager (Quality Control) at
District level.
• Super checks by Regional, Zonal and FCI Headquarter squads.
Measures to Check Maternal Deaths (Ministry of Health and Family
Welfare)
Under the National Health Mission (NHM), financial support
is provided to the States/UTs for strengthening their healthcare delivery
system including support for provision of free drugs to those who access public
health facilities based on requirements reflected in their Programme
Implementation Plans. Under the NHM-Free drug service Initiative and
substantial funding is also provided to States/UTs with the conditionality.
An incentive of up to 5% additional funding over and above the normal
allocation of the state under NRHM-RCH Flexipool is provided to State/UTs to
introduce free medicine scheme.
In addition, Janani Shishu Suraksha Karyakaram (JSSK) entitles all pregnant
women delivering in public health institutions to absolutely free and no
expense delivery including Caesarean section, which includes free drugs, etc.
and similar entitlements for all sick infants accessing public health
institutions for their treatment.
The key steps taken to accelerate the pace of reduction for Maternal Mortality
Ratio (MMR) under the National Health Mission (NHM) are:
• Promotion of institutional deliveries through Janani Suraksha Yojana.
• Capacity building of health care providers in basic and comprehensive
obstetric care.
• Operationalization of sub-centres, Primary Health Centres, Community Health
Centres and District Hospitals for providing 24x7 basic and comprehensive
obstetric care services.
• Name Based Web enabled Tracking of Pregnant Women to ensure antenatal,
intranatal and postnatal care.
• Mother and Child Protection Card in collaboration with the Ministry of Women
and Child Development to monitor service delivery for mothers and children.
• Antenatal, Intranatal and Postnatal care including Iron and Folic Acid
supplementation to pregnant & lactating women for prevention and treatment
of anaemia.
• Engagement of more than 8.9 lakhs Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs)
to generate demand and facilitate accessing of health care services by the
community.
• Village Health and Nutrition Days in rural areas as an outreach activity, for
provision of maternal and child health services.
• Health and nutrition education to promote dietary diversification, inclusion
of iron and folate rich food as well as food items that promote iron
absorption.
• Janani Shishu Suraksha Karyakaram (JSSK) has been launched on 1st June, 2011,
which entitles all pregnant women delivering in public health institutions to
absolutely free and no expense delivery including Caesarean section. The
initiative stipulates free drugs, diagnostics, blood and diet, besides free
transport from home to institution, between facilities in case of a referral
and drop back home. Similar entitlements have been put in place for all sick
infants accessing public health institutions for treatment.
• To sharpen the focus on the low performing districts, 184 High Priority
Districts (HPDs) have been prioritized for Reproductive Maternal Newborn Child
Health+ Adolescent (RMNCH+A) interventions for achieving improved maternal and
child health outcomes.
Meeting
MDG Target on Infant Mortality (Ministry of Health and Family Welfare)
Under the Millennium
Development Goal (MDG) 4, target is to reduce Child Mortality by two-third
between 1990 and 2015. In case of India, it translates into a goal of reducing
Infant mortality rate from 88 per thousand live births in 1990 to 29 in 2015.
As per Sample Registration System (SRS), 2013 reports published by Registrar
General of India the Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) of India is 40 per 1000 live
births. It may reach 35 by 2015 if the current trend of annual decline of 5.6
per cent continues.
Under
National Health Mission, the following interventions are being implemented to
reduce infant mortality rate and maternal mortality ratio in the Country:
1.
Promotion of institutional deliveries through Janani Suraksha Yojana.
2. Operationalization of
sub-centres, Primary Health Centres, Community Health Centres and District
Hospitals for providing 24x7 basic and comprehensive obstetric care services.
3. Name Based Web
enabled Tracking of Pregnant Women to ensure antenatal, intranatal and
postnatal care.
4. Mother and Child
Protection Card in collaboration with the Ministry of Women and Child
Development to monitor service delivery for mothers and children.
5. Antenatal, intranatal
and postnatal care including Iron and Folic Acid supplementation to pregnant
& lactating women for prevention and treatment of anaemia.
6. Engagement of more
than 8.9 lakhs Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs) to generate demand
and facilitate accessing of health care services by the community.
7. Village Health and
Nutrition Days in rural areas as an outreach activity, for provision of
maternal and child health services.
8. Adolescent
Reproductive Sexual Health Programme (ARSH) – Especially for adolescents to
have better access to family planning, prevention of sexually transmitted
Infections, Provision of counselling and peer education.
9. Health and nutrition
education to promote dietary diversification, inclusion of iron and folate rich
food as well as food items that promote iron absorption.
10. Janani Shishu Suraksha
Karyakaram (JSSK) entitles all pregnant women delivering in public health
institutions to absolutely free and no expense delivery including Caesarean
section. The initiative stipulates free drugs, diagnostics, blood and
diet, besides free transport from home to institution, between facilities in
case of a referral and drop back home. Similar entitlements have been put
in place for all sick infants accessing public health institutions for
treatment.
11.
Universal Immunization Programme (UIP): Vaccination protects children against
many life threatening diseases such as Tuberculosis, Diphtheria, Pertussis,
Polio, Tetanus, Hepatitis B and Measles. Infants are thus immunized against
seven vaccine preventable diseases every year. The Government of India supports
the vaccine programme by supply of vaccines and syringes, cold chain equipment
and provision of operational costs.
12.
Strengthening Facility based newborn care: Newborn care corners (NBCC) are
being set up at all health facilities where deliveries take place; Special New
Born Care Units (SNCUs) and New Born Stabilization Units (NBSUs)
are also being set up at appropriate facilities for
the care of sick newborn including preterm babies.
13.
Home Based Newborn Care (HBNC): Home based newborn care through ASHA has
been initiated to improve new born practices at the community level and early
detection and referral of sick new born babies
14.
Capacity building of health care providers: Various trainings are being
conducted under National Health Mission (NHM) to build and upgrade the skills
of health care providers in basic and comprehensive obstetric care of mother
during pregnancy, delivery and essential newborn care.
15.
Management of Malnutrition: Nutritional Rehabilitation Centres (NRCs) have been
established for management of severe acute malnutrition in children.
16.
India Newborn Action Plan (INAP) has been launched to reduce neonatal mortality
and stillbirths.
17.
Newer interventions to reduce newborn mortality- Vitamin K injection at birth,
Antenatal corticosteroids for preterm labour, kangaroo mother care and
injection gentamicin for possible serious bacillary infection.
18.
Intensified Diarrhoea Control Fortnight was observed in August 2014 focusing on
ORS and Zinc distribution for management of diarrhoea and feeding practices.
19.
Integrated Action Plan for Pneumonia and Diarrhoea (IAPPD) launched in four
states with highest infant mortality (UP, MP, Bihar and Rajasthan).
The
prominent causes of death among infants as per RGI-SRS (2001-03) are perinatal
conditions (46%), respiratory infections (22%), diarrhoeal disease (10%), other
infectious and parasitic diseases (8%), and congenital anomalies (3.1%).
Besides this, Illiteracy, low socio-economic status, early age of marriage,
high parity, women’s empowerment, poor sanitation, hygiene and nutrition, poor
access to health facilities are also contributing factors of Infant and Child
mortality.
Healthcare
Programmes for Women and Children (Ministry of Health and Family Welfare)
The
Government of India, under National Health Mission, has taken several steps in
all the States and UTs with regard to health issues related to women and
children.
Programmes/strategy
being carried out by the Ministry in this regard is given below:
1.
Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY)
The Government
of India is implementing Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY) which is a safe
motherhood scheme throughout the country. The objective of the JSY is to reduce
maternal and infant mortality by promoting institutional delivery among
pregnant women by providing conditional cash assistance.
Important Features of JSY
Financial assistance under JSY is
available to all pregnant women in those States that have low institutional
delivery rates, namely, the states of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Bihar,
Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Assam, Rajasthan, Odisha, and Jammu
and Kashmir are categorized as Low Performing States (LPS). However, in
remaining States where the levels of institutional delivery are satisfactory,
pregnant women from BPL/SC/ST households only are entitled for JSY benefit.
These states are categorized as High Performing States (HPS) under JSY.
2.
Janani Shishu Suraksha Karyakaram (JSSK)
The programme has been
launched on 1st June, 2011, which entitles all pregnant women
delivering in public health institutions to absolutely free and no expense
delivery including Caesarean section. The initiative stipulates free
drugs, diagnostics, blood and diet, besides free transport from home to
institution, between facilities in case of a referral and drop back home.
Similar entitlements have been put in place for all sick infants accessing
public health institutions for treatment.
Key steps which contribute to
improving health of women and children
·
Capacity building of health care providers in basic and comprehensive obstetric
care including essential newborn care, early diagnosis and
case management of common ailments of children. These trainings are on Navjaat
Shishu, Suraksha Karyakram (NSSK), Integrated Management of Neonatal and
Childhood Illnesses (IMNCI), Facility Based Newborn Care (FBNC), Infant and
Young Child Feeding practices (IYCF), etc.
·
Operationalization of sub-centers, Primary Health Centres, Community Health
Centres and District Hospitals for providing 24x7 basic and comprehensive
obstetric care services.
·
Emphasis on
facility based newborn care at different levels to reduce child morbidity and
mortality: Setting up of facilities for care of sick newborn such as Special
New Born Care Units (SNCUs), Newborn Stabilization Units (NBSUs) and Newborn
Care Corners (NBCCs) at different levels is a thrust area under NHM.
·
Mother and
Child Tracking System (MCTS): A name based Mother and Child Tracking System has
been put in place which is web based to ensure registration and tracking of all
pregnant women and new born babies so that provision of regular and complete
services to them can be ensured.
·
Mother and Child Protection Card in collaboration with the Ministry of Women
and Child Development to monitor service delivery for mothers and children.
·
Antenatal, Intranatal and Postnatal care including Iron and Folic Acid
supplementation to pregnant & lactating women for prevention and treatment
of anemia.
·
India
Newborn Action Plan (INAP) has been launched with an aim to reduce neonatal mortality
and stillbirths.
·
Newer
interventions to reduce newborn mortality- Vitamin K injection at birth,
Antenatal corticosteroids for preterm labour, kangaroo mother care and
injection gentamicin to young infants in cases of suspected sepsis.
·
Intensified
Diarrhoea Control Fortnight was observed in August 2014 focusing on ORS and
Zinc distribution for management of diarrhoea and feeding practices.
·
Integrated
Action Plan for Pneumonia and Diarrhoea (IAPPD) launched in four states with
highest infant mortality (UP, MP, Bihar and Rajasthan).
·
Management
of Malnutrition: Nutritional Rehabilitation Centres (NRCs) have been
established for management of severe acute malnutrition in children.
·
Appropriate
Infant and Young Child Feeding practices are being promoted in convergence with
Ministry of Woman and Child Development.
·
Universal
Immunization Programme (UIP): Vaccination protects children against many life
threatening diseases such as Tuberculosis, Diphtheria, Pertussis, Polio,
Tetanus, Hepatitis B and Measles. Infants are thus immunized against seven
vaccine preventable diseases every year. The Government of India supports the
vaccine programme by supply of vaccines and syringes, cold chain equipment and
provision of operational costs.
·
Engagement of more than 8.9 lakhs Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs) to
generate demand and facilitate accessing of health care services by the
community.
·
Home Based
New Born Care (HBNC): Home based newborn care through ASHAs has been initiated
to improve new born practices at the community level and early detection and referral
of sick new born babies.
·
Rashtriya
Bal Swasthya Karyakram (RBSK) for health screening and early intervention
services has been launched to provide comprehensive care to all the children in
the age group of 0-18 years in the community. The purpose of these services is
to improve the overall quality of life of children through early detection of
birth defects, diseases, deficiencies, development delays including disability.
·
Village Health and Nutrition Days in rural areas as an outreach activity, for
provision of maternal and child health services.
·
Health and nutrition education to promote dietary diversification, inclusion of
iron and folate rich food as well as food items that promote iron
absorption.
·
Under
National Iron Plus Initiative (NIPI), through life cycle approach, age and dose
specific IFA supplementation programme is being implemented for the prevention
of anaemia among the vulnerable age groups like under-5 children, children of 6
– 10 years of age group, adolescents, pregnant & lactating women and women
in reproductive age along with treatment of anaemic children and pregnant
mothers at health facilities.
India
to host first Asian Ministerial Conference of post-2015 Framework (Ministry of Home Affairs)
India will
host the first Asian Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction of the
post-2015 era. The Ministerial Conference is set to endorse a Regional
Implementation Plan of the new post-2015 framework for Disaster Risk Reduction
(DRR). This will form a key element of the initial global effort to implement
the new framework. Shri Rajnath Singh said the decision demonstrated India’s
strong commitment and leadership in the area of Disaster Risk Reduction in the
Asia region.
“One of the biggest challenges we are facing is
promoting risk-sensitive development and reduction of impacts of disasters to
protect the development gains”.
Operation
Smile and Milap (Ministry
of Home Affairs)
The Ghaziabad Police, Uttar Pradesh launched an operation
named ‘Operation Smile’ in the month of September, 2014 to identify, track,
locate, rescue and rehabilitate children who went missing and found to be
subjected to abuse and exploitation. Till date 553 children from various parts
of the country have been recovered and most of them have been handed over to
their parents by the Ghaziabad Police. Thereafter, Government of Uttar Pradesh
implemented a similar operation throughout the State.
Delhi Police have also launched a special drive `Operation Milap’ to reunite
missing children with their parents through the Anti Human Trafficking Units
(AHTU). In this special drive, all the Children Homes in Delhi are checked for
matching the records of the children inmates with the available data of
missing/kidnapped children. So far, 165 children staying in Children Homes,
railway platforms, bus stands, roads, religious places etc of Delhi have been
handed over to their families.
National
Commission for Denotified Tribes (Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment)
The Government has constituted a National Commission for
Denotified, Nomadic and Semi-Nomadic Tribes(NCDNT) in January, 2015. The terms
of reference of the Commission are as under:
i) To prepare a State-wise list of castes belonging to Denotified and Nomadic
Tribes.
ii) To identify the castes belonging to Denotified and Nomadic Tribes in the
Lists of Scheduled Castes Scheduled Tribes and Central List/State List of Other
Backward Classes.
iii) To identify the castes belonging to Denotified and Nomadic Tribes which
have not been included in the Lists of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and
Central List of Other Backward Classes and to pursue their case for inclusion
in these lists depending on the modalities laid down for the purpose.
iv) To identify the places where DNTs are densely populated.
v) To evaluate the progress of the development of Denotified and Nomadic Tribes
under the Union and the States.
vi) To suggest appropriate measures in respect of Denotified and Nomadic Tribes
to be undertaken by the Central Government or the State Government.
vii) Any other related work as may be assigned by the Ministry of Social
Justice & Empowerment.
The Commission will submit its report in a period of three years.
The Government of India has been seized of the educational and economic needs
of the Denotified Nomadic and Semi-nomadic Tribes (DNTs) who are spread amongst
Scheduled Castes, Scheduled-Tribes, Other Backward Classes and others. One of
the basic principles of the Government is to provide for full equality of
opportunity, particularly in education and employment of Scheduled Castes,
Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes and marginalized sections. Those, who
are covered under the lists of SC/ST&OBCs are getting the benefits provided
to these groups. There are certain groups of DNTs who are not covered under the
lists of SC/ST & OBCs and for them the Government has launched two schemes
namely (i) Dr. Ambedkar Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Pre-Matric and
Post-Matric Scholarship Scheme for Denotifed, Nomadic and Semi-Nomadic Tribes
(DNTs) and (ii) Nanaji Deshmukh Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Construction of
Hostels for Denotified, Nomadic and Semi-Nomadic Tribes in the current
financial year. Funds have been released to the States of Maharashtra &
Karnataka under these Schemes.
WCD
Ministry is fully dedicated to creating an enabling environment for empowerment
of women and safety of children
Recognizing the need for urgent action, Government announced
in the Budget Speech 2014-15, Beti
Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP) programme to empower the girl child and enable
her education. Ministry has started work on establishment of One Stop Centres for women who are
affected by violence and has already requested the States and Union Territories
to provide land for establishing One Stop Centre in each State and Union
Territory. It will soon be extended to one centre in each district. These
centres will provide legal, medical, psycho-social and police assistance to
women who have suffered violence and will be funded from the Nirbhaya Fund. They will also be
connected by an All-India Women’s Helpline.
The Integrated Child
Protection Scheme (ICPS) has brought several existing child protection
programs, under one umbrella, with enhanced financial norms and also introduced
several new features. To avoid kidnapping and for children in distress, Emergency Outreach Services are
provided through CHILDLINE Service
which is a 24-hour toll free emergency outreach telephone service (1098).
Major initiative in collaboration with Ministry of Railways to provide care and protection to children who
come in contact with the railways. Assigned NGOs will work closely with Railway
Station authorities for which a Standard Operating Procedure has been
developed.
Government has approved strengthening and restructuring of
ICDS Scheme which include Special focus on children under 3 years and pregnant
and lactating mothers and Community based care of underweight children (SnehaShivir) in 200 high burden
districts among others.
To tackle the problem of under nutrition a new invigorated National Nutrition Mission is being
formulated. The Mission will involve a real time monitoring of
under-nutritioned and mal-nutritioned children with extensive use of
technology. The ministry is in the process of establishing state- of-the-art
laboratories to monitor the quality of food and Take Home Rations being
provided to women and children.
Reformed the STEP (Support to Training and Employment
Programme for Women). Efforts are also being made to link women artisans
directly to the market so that they are fairly compensated for their skills and
for this purpose, women melas are being organized in different parts of the
country. The Rashtriya Mahila Koshhas
also been restructured so that it can be a strong instrument for skill
development of women and provides a holistic solution to skill development as
well as financial assistance for women to become micro entrepreneurs.
Appointment of Special Police Officers (SPOs) to function as
a bridge between the women affected by violence and the police authorities. The
Ministry has offered to work with the Ministry of Home Affairs and the State
Governments to work on this innovative method where young girls are trained to
function as honorary special police officers. New concept of Foster Care which
will enable children to be placed with willing families instead of putting them
in children homes and orphanages. The
amendment to National Commission for
Women Act, 1990 will be another instrument to strengthen the institutional
infrastructure for providing safety and empowerment to the women in India.
National
Youth Corps (Ministry
of Youth Affairs and Sports)
National Youth Corps (NYC) in the
country during the year 2010, with the aim to create a space enabling young men
and women in the age group of 18-25 years, to serve up to two years in
nation-building activities, for which they are paid suitable honorarium. The
objectives of the Scheme are as under:-
·
To setup a group of disciplined and dedicated youth who have
the inclination and spirit to engage in the task of nation building.
· To facilitate the realization of inclusive growth
(both social and economic)
· To act as points for dissemination of information, basic
knowledge in the community
· To act as group modulators and peer group educators
·
To act as role models for the younger cohort especially
towards enhancement of public ethics, probity and dignity of
labour.
The main features of NYC Scheme are
as follows:
i. The
minimum qualification for enrolment as NYC volunteer is class-X
passed.
ii.
Volunteers are paid honorarium @ Rs. 2500/- per month.
iii.
The selection of NYC volunteers is done by a Selection Committee, headed
by District Collector/Deputy Commissioner of the concerned District.
iv. The
volunteers are given 15 days training, in two spells and their services
are utilised for various nation-building activities for maximum 2 years. In the
last quarter of the 2nd year, they are provided skill development
training so that they can get some employment after their term with NYKS ends.
v. After 2
years, another set of NYC volunteers are recruited.
vi. The
Scheme guidelines also stipulate that the NYC volunteers shall have no claim or
right for any regular employment to any post under the deploying
agency/department. In fact, the volunteers are required to give undertaking to
the effect that their engagement will be purely on voluntary basis and they
shall have no right/claim for employment in the deploying Agency/Department.
- The Scheme is fully funded by the Government of India.
In
a written reply in the Lok Sabha today Shri Sonowal said, normally 2 NYC
volunteers are deployed per block of the country. The State/UT wise details of
volunteers deployed and the amount allocated/spent under the Scheme during each
of the last 3 years and current year are given in Annexure-I and Annexure-II
respectively.
As per the Scheme guidelines,
the volunteers engaged under the Scheme are to be deployed in the existing
Schemes/programmes of the Ministry and Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan (NYKS) and
collaborative programmes with other Ministries/Departments of the Government of
India. This Ministry /NYKS have not been mandated with the cleaning of river
Ganga, the Minister added
Projects
under Radiation Technologies (Department of Atomic Energy)
The Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) has developed and
deployed technologies to use atomic energy in the areas of electricity
generation, nuclear agriculture, food preservation, healthcare, isotope
hydrology etc. Ionizing radiation has been used to induce mutations in plant
breeding to develop new crop varieties having better yield, stress resistance
and early maturity. Radioisotopes have been used for clinical diagnosis and
therapeutic purposes. They are also used for treating cancer and sterilizing
medical products. The gamma rays emanating from radioisotopes are also used to
increase the shelf life of food products. In addition, Bhabha Atomic Research
Centre (BARC), a constituent unit of DAE has also developed several
desalination and water purification technologies for application in rural
areas. Using Isotope hydrology techniques employing radiotracer, studies are
carried out for recharging the underwater resources and improving the ground
water levels.
DAE collaborates with other countries on a mutually
beneficial basis to participate in high technology areas like high power
accelerators. In this connection, recently, an agreement has been signed
between DAE and the US Department of Energy (DOE) to make in-kind contribution
to a High Intensity Superconducting Proton Accelerator and using the experience
and technology gained to build two similar accelerators within the country.
Mars
Orbiter Mission (MOM) (Department
of Space)
The details of significant achievements of MOM include –
i. First interplanetary mission realized by India and first Indian spacecraft
to incorporate full scale on-board autonomy to overcome the long distances and
the communication gaps due to non-visibility periods.
ii. First Indian spacecraft to successfully survive Van Allen belt crossing 39
times.
iii. First mission to use Ship Borne Terminals to track the launch vehicle and
satellite over Pacific Ocean by ISRO.
iv. First Indian spacecraft to escape the Sphere Of Influence of Earth and
orbit Sun.
v. First Mars mission in the world to succeed Mars Orbit Insertion in first
attempt.
vi. Most economical interplanetary mission in the world and paved way for
cost-effective access to deep space. The launch vehicle, Spacecraft and Ground
Segment have been realised with a budget of Rs 450 Cr.
Roadmap
to Increase Share of Manufacturing in GDP (Ministry of Commerce & Industry)
The Government has launched ‘Make in India’ Programme
aimed at developing, promoting and marketing India as a leading manufacturing
and investment destination and as a hub for design and innovation. The
programme seeks to radically improve the Ease of Doing Business, and boost up
the manufacturing sector. Certain important steps taken to gear up
manufacturing include (i) creation of an investor facilitation cell (ii)
dissemination of information on twenty five priority sectors on ‘Make in
India’s web-portal (http://www.Makeinindia.com) along with
details of FDI Policy, National Manufacturing Policy, Intellectual Property
Rights, Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor and other National Industrial
Corridors (iii) issuance of ordinance to make land acquisition easier for
important projects (iv) a number of items taken off the
licensing requirement from Defence products’ list, etc.
An Investor Facilitation Cell has
been created to provide assistance to investors and entrepreneurs. In
addition, a Special Cell namely, ‘Japan Plus’ has been created to facilitate
investments from Japan. A Country Focus Desk on Singapore is also
functional under ‘Invest India’. Sustainable development is integral to the spirit of
the policy and technological value addition in manufacturing has received
special focus.
Department of Consumer Affairs
launches portal for redressal of grievances against misleading advertisements
Launched two new initiatives of the
Department of Consumer Affairs aimed at enhancing consumer awareness and
strengthening support services to consumers in the country. These include a
dedicated portal to register Grievances Against Misleading Advertisements
(GAMA) and Grahak Suvidha Kendras – one stop consumer centers at Ahmedabad,
Bangalore, Jaipur, Kolkata, Patna and Delhi.
Portal forGrievances Against Misleading Advertisements (GAMA)
The explosive growth of multi-media
marketing and the virtual market has seriously challenged the concept of
‘Consumer Sovereignty’. Increasingly subliminal advertising and peer pressure
are influencing consumer behavior. Consumers are today exposed to large number
of misleading advertisements often making claims that are dubious or
unverified. Till date there is no single platform or agency to serve as a
central registry for complaints against misleading advertisements. The
Department of Consumer Affairs has taken the initiative to establish a
dedicated portal to enable consumers to register their Grievances Against
Misleading Advertisements (GAMA). Any consumer in any part of the
country can register on this site and can lodge a complaint against misleading
advertisements. A well-defined protocol then ensures that the complaints
are taken up with the relevant authorities in the state or the central
government concerned and appropriate action taken. The portal also enables the
consumer to be informed of the action taken. The portal will be linked to
all state authorities concerned, select voluntary consumer organizations in the
country and the sector regulators in the Government of India.
Grahak Suvidha Kendra
The Department of Consumer Affairs
has already set up and is supporting the National Consumer Helpline where
consumers can lodge telephonic complaints regarding their grievances.
Similarly the Department has assisted 22 States to set up and run state help
lines by which services are provided in regional language to aggrieved
consumers. Building on the success of these initiatives the Department has now
conceptualized and launched the Grahak Suvidha Kendra – a one stop center that
will provide a host of services to consumers under one roof. Select Voluntary
Consumer Organizations with funding support from Government will run the
Kendras. The services envisaged include information dissemination,
consumer awareness, mediation, grievance redress, assistance in filing
complaints before the relevant consumer forum and counseling. The Kendras are
being launched on a pilot basis in six locations: Ahmadabad, Bangalore, Jaipur,
Kolkata, Patna and Delhi. Based on the performance of these pilot centers
a decision to extend the scheme to other parts of the country will be explored.
Progress of new scheme PRASAD (Ministry of Culture)
Twelve cities namely Amritsar, Ajmer, Amaravati, Dwaraka,
Gaya, Kanchipuram, Mathura, Puri, Varanasi, Vellankani, Kedarnath and Kamakhya
have been identified for development under Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and
Spirituality Augmentation Drive (PRASAD) by the Ministry of Tourism.
The National Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana (HRIDAY) scheme
aimed at preserving and revitalizing heritage cities in India, has been
approved by the Ministry of Urban Development for the twelve cities under the
scheme in the first phase, namely; Varanasi; Amritsar; Ajmer; Mathura; Gaya;
Kanchipuram; Vellankani; Badami; Amaravati; Warangal; Puri and Dwarka
Speech by Sushma Swaraj for Prime
Minister’s Visit to Seychelles, Mauritius and Sri Lanka (Ministry of External Affairs)
Seychelles
They had a bilateral meeting where
issues of economic, infrastructure and maritime cooperation were discussed. The
Prime Minister inaugurated the Coastal Surveillance Radar System set up with
India’s collaboration. Our decision to gift a second Dornier aircraft, to
provide gratis visa for a period of three months and to include Seychelles in
the Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) Scheme. Four agreements were signed:
for development of infrastructure facilities at Assumption Island, renewal
energy cooperation, cooperation in hydrography and sale of navigational charts.
The two countries also decided to set up a Joint Working Group on Cooperation
in Blue Economy.
Mauritius
He
addressed a special session of the National Assembly of Mauritius. He jointly
commissioned with Prime Minister Jugnauth the offshore patrol vessel Barracuda,
which is the first custom built vessel exported by India. The Prime Minister
unveiled a plaque with PM Jugnauth for the official commencement of
construction of the building of the World Hindi Secretariat. Prime Minister
also addressed a well attended civic reception. Prime Minister also visited
Aapravasi Ghat and offered prayers at Ganga Talao.
Prime
Minister announced a concessional line of credit of US$500 million for project
to be identified by the Government of Mauritius. Five bilateral documents were
signed: for development of sea and air transportation facilities at Agalega
Island, cooperation in ocean economy, cooperation in traditional systems of
medicine and homeopathy, cultural exchange programme for 2015-18, and
importation of mangoes from India.
Sri Lanka
He
conveyed India’s sincere support and good wishes for Sri Lanka’s new journey of
peace, reconciliation and progress. India stands with Sri Lanka in its efforts
to build a future that accommodates the aspirations of all sections of society,
including the Sri Lankan Tamil community, for a life of equality, justice,
peace and dignity in a united Sri Lanka. Prime Minister also declared that we
believe that the early and full implementation of the 13th Amendment and going
beyond it would contribute to this process.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi became
the first Indian Prime Minister to visit Jaffna. Prime Minister unveiled the
foundation stone of the Jaffna Cultural Centre to be built under a grant
offered by India. He handed over certificates to the beneficiaries of the
Indian Housing Project for internally displaced persons. At Talaimannar, he
flagged off the inaugural train on the track to Madhu Road. Prime Minister also
visited the ancient temple of Naguleswaram at Jaffna.
Fishermen’s
associations of both countries must meet at the earliest to work out a mutually
acceptable arrangement. Prime Minister underscored our common Buddhist
heritage. He visited the Mahabodhi Society in Colombo, offered ‘Dana’ to monks
and planted a sapling. Prime Minister also offered prayers along with President
Sirisena at the venerated Sri Mahabodhi Tree at Anuradhapura.
Among the main outcomes of the Prime
Minister’s talks in Sri Lanka were: a) inclusion of Sri Lanka in the Electronic
Travel Authorisation (ETA) Scheme from 14th April, coinciding with the occasion
of the Sinhala and Tamil New Year; b) setting up of a Joint Task Force to
develop the Trincomalee Upper Oil Tank Farm; c) announcement of a fresh line of
credit for US$318 million for Sri Lanka’s railway sector; d) extension of
currency swap facility of US$1.5 billion by Reserve Bank of India to Sri
Lanka’s Central Bank; e) creating a Joint Task Force for cooperation in the
Ocean Economy; f) direct flights between Delhi and Colombo by Air India to
begin this summer; g) holding of a Festival of India in Sri Lanka; and h)
cooperation in development of a Ramayana Trail in Sri Lanka and the Buddhist
circuit in India.
Four agreements/ MOUs were signed
during the visit: on customs cooperation; visa exemption for diplomatic and
official passport holders; youth development; and construction of an auditorium
in Ruhuna University in Matara, Sri Lanka.
Financial and Technical Assistance
for Smart / Model Police Stations ( MoHA)
the concept of S.M.A.R.T Police was introduced wherein ‘S’
stands for Sensitive and Strict, ‘M’ for Modern with Mobility, ‘A’ for Alert
and Accountable, ‘R’ for Reliable and Responsive and ‘T’ for Trained and
Techno-savvy. The Government has decided to establish one model SMART Police
Station in each State to start with. Bureau of Police Research and Development
(BPR&D) has prepared a plan for building of such Police Station.
Citizenship to Children Born to a
Surrogate Indian Mother (MoHA)
The following provisions have been made under these
guidelines for the foreign nationals coming to India for commissioning
surrogacy:
1. The appropriate VISA category for the foreign nationals coming to India for
commissioning surrogacy will be “Medical VISA”.
2. It will also be necessary in such cases to ensure that the surrogate mother
is not cheated. Therefore such a visa may only be granted if the following
conditions are fulfilled:
(i) The foreign man and woman are duly married and the marriage should have
sustained at least for two years.
(ii) A letter from the Embassy of the foreign country in India or the Foreign
Ministry of the country should be enclosed with the Visa application stating
clearly that (a) the country recognizes surrogacy and (b) the child/children to
be born to the commissioning couple through the Indian surrogate mother will be
permitted entry into their country as a biological child/children of the couple
commissioning surrogacy.
(iii) The couple will furnish an undertaking that they would take care of the
child/children born through surrogacy.
(iv) The treatment should be done only at one of the registered Assisted
Reproduce Technology (ART) clinics recognized by ICMR. (The list of such
clinics will be shared with MEA from time to time).
(v) The couple should produce a duly notarized agreement between the applicant
couple and the prospective Indian surrogate mother.
3. If any of the above conditions are not fulfilled, the visa application shall
be rejected.
4. Before the grant of visa, the foreign couple need to be told that before
leaving India for their return journey, ‘exit’ permission from FRRO/FRO would
be required. Before granting ‘exit’, the FRRO/FRO will see whether the foreign
couple is carrying a certificate from the ART clinic concerned regarding the
fact that the child/children have been duly taken custody of by the foreigner
and that the liabilities towards the Indian surrogate mother have been fully
discharged as per the agreement. A copy of the birth certificate(s) of the
surrogate child/children will be retained by the FRRO/FRO along with photocopies
of the passport and visa of the foreign parents.
Bringing Hotel and Private Security
Workers under Social Security Scheme (MoL&E)
The Government enacted the “Unorganised Workers’ Social
Security Act, 2008” with a view to provide social security to unorganized
workers including those in hotel, private security and others. The Act provides
for constitution of National Social Security Board at the central level to
recommend social security schemes like life and disability cover, health and
maternity benefits, old age protection and any other benefit as may be
determined by the Government for unorganized workers.
The ‘unorganized worker’ has been defined under the Unorganized Workers Social
Security Act, 2008 as a home-based worker, self-employed worker or a wage
worker in the unorganized sector and includes a worker in the organized sector
who is not covered by any of the Acts mentioned in Schedule-II of this Act. As
such all unorganised workers including those in hotel, private security and
others and covered as per the provisions of the Act are eligible to take
benefits under the social security schemes/welfare schemes framed under the
Act.
Scheme for Promotion of Innovation,
Entrepreneurship and Agro Industry launched (Ministry
of Micro,Small & Medium Enterprises)
Set up a network of technology centres and to set up
incubation centres to accelerate entrepreneurship and also to promote start-ups
for innovation and entrepreneurship in agro-industry. The scheme emanates from
the Finance Minister’s budget speech for 2014-15, whereby, he has suggested
establishing Technology Centre Network to promote Innovation, Entrepreneurship
and Agro Industry with a fund of Rs.200 crore. He had also suggested to put in
place a programme to facilitate forward and backward linkages with multiple
chain of manufacturing and service delivery and also to take up a nationwide
“District level Incubation and Accelerator Programme” for incubation of new
ideas and providing necessary support for accelerating entrepreneurship.
The first important program component of the scheme is to
create a database of technologies available with various Government / private
agencies and set up a Network of Technology Centres for handholding of
prospective entrepreneurs of MSME sector.
The second component is to develop the required skilled
Human Resources necessary for mentoring and handholding the incubatees in the
Incubation centres. Under this component, special efforts would be made to
identify, support and expand the role of competitive Indian MSMEs in a global
economy.It is proposed to provide mentoring support to MSME’s through NSIC/
other Agencies of Ministry of MSME.
The third component is to set up Livelihood Business
Incubators(LBI) under National Small Industries Corporation (NSIC), KVIC or
Coir Board or any other Institution/agency of GOI/State Govt. to replicate the
NSIC model of successful "Rapid Incubation Model". Rapid incubation
model is a mix of "promotion of entrepreneurship and skill
development" and involves setting up of live "demo projects".
Private partner institutions and entities can also set up livelihood incubation
centres under PPP mode with the aforesaid institutions, namely: NSIC, KVIC or
Coir Board or any other Institution/agency of GOI/State Govt.
The fourth component is to set up Technology Business
Incubators (TBI) at twin levels, i.e. supporting existing incubation centres
operated currently under different Ministries and Departments of the Government
of India or Institutions including National / Regional level institutions of
GOI / State Governments to set up such centre dedicated to incubation and
enterprise creation in the area of Agro based Industries and also new
incubation centres to be set up by eligible private institutions including
Industry Associations, along with the Academic Institutions, R&D
laboratories, Universities, Government entities and Technology Parks. Region
wise, Crop wise, Product wise, Process wise and Industry Vertical wise
Incubation Centres will be promoted. The existing incubators under different
Ministries would be required to provide built up covered space with electric
power & water connections, any other forward/backward linkages and required
manpower resources for both the centres to be created within the existing
incubators and also for the new incubators.One-time grant of 50% of cost of
Plant & Machinery other than the land and infrastructure or an amount up to
INR 30 lakh whichever is less to be provided for the existing incubators to set
up incubators in agro based industries, whereas, in case of new incubation
centres to be set up, one-time grant of 50% of cost of Plant & Machinery
other than the land and infrastructure or INR 100.00 lakh, whichever is less to
be provided. The Accelerator workshop programme would also facilitate the process
of entrepreneur creation and scaling up the existing talent pool. The total
allocated budget under this head would be INR 61.50 Crore setting up 30 TBIs.
The last important component is to create a framework for Start-up Promotion
through Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) by using innovative
means of finance like Equity, Quasi-Equity, Angel fund, Venture capital fund,
Impact funds, Challenge funds etc. to enable ideas/innovation with creativity
and scalability to come to the fore and convert these into commercial
enterprises with specific outcomes and within a specific time period. A fund of
Funds will be created under SIDBI for the purpose and INR 60 Cr earmarked for
the same.
National Skill Qualification
Framework(Ministry of Skill Development and
Entrepreneurship)
National Skill Qualification
Framework (NSQF) is implemented through the National Skills Qualifications
Committee (NSQC), which comprises of representatives from key central
Ministries concerned with skill development, State representatives from three
State Skill Development Missions (nominated by rotation every year), and
sectoral representatives, depending on the sector in question – including the
concerned administrative Ministry, regulatory bodies, training providers,
Sector Skill Councils.
Millions of people in India acquire
skills through non-formal channels. Without any formal certification of their
skills, these people are constrained to market their skills in the limited
geographies and communities that know of them by word of mouth. NSQF
allows all such skills to be tested and certified. This process, known as
Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) will enable the millions of experientially
skilled to be able to derive proposer economic and social benefits of their
skills.
The Minister said, the National
Skill Development Agency has launched pilots on Recognition of Prior Learning
(RPL) in four sectors- Agriculture, Domestic Work, Healthcare and Gems and
Jewellery. A separate pilot for the construction sector by the DGET has been
initiated as well.
New Tourism Policy 2015 to be
launched (Ministry of Tourism)
A new work culture will be implemented in which a task will
be identified and a person assigned for the task. The timeline will also be
fixed and the implementation will be closely monitored. The idea of National
Tourism Board which is proposed as a part of the new Tourism Policy to speed up
and promote tourism in the country.
The stakeholders related to hotel industry and transport
business demanded tax incentives from the government specially in the off
season. They also emphasized upon the need to have a data base research and
training for skill development in order to boost tourism.
New policy will contain a definite action plan with a
clear-cut road map and timelines. On the issue of E-Ticketing Dr. Lalit Panwar,
said that E-Ticketing was started on a pilot basis for Taj Mahal and Humayun
Tomb and Government is in the process of E-Ticketing for top 25 monuments of
India.
The stake holders welcomed the move by Ministry of Tourism to make the new
National Tourism Policy, 2015 to be based on fixed timeframes. They said that
the ‘S’s used in previous policy i.e., Swagat (welcome), Soochna (Information),
Suvidha (Facilitation), Suraksha (Security), Sahyog (Cooperation), Samrachana
(Infrastructure Development) and Safai (Cleanliness) are relevant even today.
Speakers suggested that different mobile applications for
various sectors of tourism can be launched in order to disseminate information
to the interested tourists. The setting up of ‘Digital Museum’ was also
proposed in order to promote the rich and unique local cultures and their
heritage. Demand for establishing a ‘Hospitality University’ was also raised.
Various other issues like soft adventures tourism, wildlife
tourism, desert tourism and nature tourism were also discussed. The
stakeholders also said that Yoga, Ayurveda and hospitality should be given due
importance in the upcoming new tourism policy.
Scheme for Promotion of Tribal
Culture and Art (Ministry of Tribal Affairs)
The Ministry of Tribal Affairs implements a Central Sector
Scheme of ‘Grant-in-aid to Tribal Research Institutes’ under which financial
assistance is extended to States/UT for Tribal Research Institutes set up by
them for various activities which inter-alia include (i) Documentation of
intangible heritage/ arts and crafts of the tribal communities,(ii) Developing
database for STs and Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups(PVTGs)including
collection of documentation , translation and publication on the tribal
heritage, festivals, oral and visual folklore, arts, local games, sports, songs,
literature etc,(iii) development and printing of primers in tribal languages
and local official language, publication of books/dictionaries of tribal
languages and translating policy provisions in major tribal languages for
dissemination of the same amongst tribal etc and (iv) Organization of tribal
festival and exchange of visits by tribals
Special provision for welfare of
youth in Himalayan and NE States (Ministry
of Youth Affairs and Sports)
the Village Panchayats/Gaon Sabhas as well as rural Youth
and Sports clubs will be mobilized to facilitate development of the requisite
infrastructure and for the identification of talent through an appropriate
competition structure in the rural areas as also in the disadvantaged and
remote parts of the country which appear to merit special consideration under
various schemes including for the North East. Efforts will also be made for
tapping such potential as swimming in coastal areas and Archery in tribal
areas. Indigenous games will be promoted through schemes related to rural
sports.
implementing the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Abhiyan (RGKA) which
provides for construction of a sports complex (comprising outdoor playfield and
indoor sports hall) at each block of the country, both for outdoor and indoor
sports disciplines, on land measuring about six - seven acres at a cost of Rs.
80 lakh each (Total Rs. 1.60 crore) and conducting annual sports competitions,
including a special competition called the North East Games exclusively for the
North East States.
Unique sports traditions have developed in the Himalayan
region in the countries and the states that are a part of it. To promote these,
the Government proposes to hold an annual event to promote these games in which
countries such as Nepal and Bhutan will also be invited to participate in
addition to the Indian states such as J&K, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh,
Sikkim and the North Eastern States.
Remember “An old man once expressed
his good will for your success” says President to artists, writers and
innovators at the end of their in-residence programme in Rashtrapati Bhavan
The innovators, writers and artists who were the part of
two week long In-Residence Programme are:
Shri Vikram Sampath –Writer from Karnataka
Dr. Gayatribala Panda –Writer from Orissa
Shri Rajesh Kargutkar –Artist from Maharashtra
Shri Haobam Sanaton Singh –Painter from Manipur
Ms. Priyanka Mathikshara (15 years) – Innovator from Tamil Nadu who invented
Super Stocker 3C a Ultra Model Dustbin
Master Diptanshu Malviya – Innovator from Rajasthan who invented Wrapper Picker
Shri Mansukh Jagani – Innovator from Gujarat who invented Bullet Santi a
Multipurpose Agriculture Machine
Shri Rai Singh Dahiya – Innovator from Rajasthan who invented Biomass Gasifier
System
Shri Kamruddin Saifi – Innovator from Uttar Pradesh who invented Chaff cutter
with clutch and brake system
Shri T.S. Anand – Innovator from Tamil Nadu who invented Prosthetic knee for
uneven terrain
Shri Shantanu Pathak – Innovator from Maharashtra who invented Care Mother a
Mobile Pregnancy Care Kit
Shri Vikas Karade – Innovator from Maharashtra who invented 3D model generation
from 2D X-Ray images
Shri Mohanlal – Innovator from Kerala who invented a reversible Reduction Gear
for Marine Diesel Engine and Z-drive propeller
Master Sarthak Shukla (14 years)– Innovator from Uttar Pradesh who invented a
cylindrical shaped refrigerator with rotatory tray
The ‘In-Residence’ Programme for writers and artists and innovators was
launched by the President of India on December 11, 2013 with a view to
encouraging senior as well as young and upcoming talent by facilitating them
stay close to nature in the picturesque and serene surroundings of Rashtrapati
Bhavan.
India’s BVR Air-to-Air Missile
‘ASTRA’ (MoD)
The missile
has been indigenously designed and developed by the Defence Research and
Development Organisation (DRDO). In today’s test flight an ASTRA missile
carrying telemetry equipment in place of the warhead was fired from a Sukhoi-30
aircraft against a Lakshya (Pilotless Target Aircraft) target. The target was
successfully engaged and it was captured by Telemetry and Electro-optical
tracking stations.
Seismicity & Earthquake
Precursor’ Programme Initiated to Understand the Earthquake Generation Process
(Ministry of Earth Science)
The Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) has also initiated a
major project on drilling a deep bore hole in the seismically active
Koyna-Warna region in Maharashtra, to study in detail the ongoing earthquake
generation processes in the region. The proposed scientific deep drilling
investigations in the seismically active Koyna region will provide a unique
opportunity and the much desired data sets to better understand the mechanisms
of faulting, physics of reservoir triggered earthquakes and also contribute towards
earthquake hazard assessment and develop models for earthquake forecast in
future.
Government has taken several initiatives/ measures towards safety of people
living in earthquake –prone zones. These include:
Guidelines have been published by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS),
Building Materials & Technology Promotion Council (BMTPC), Housing and
Urban Development Corporation (HUDCO) and National Disaster Management
Authority (NDMA) for the design and construction of earthquake resistant structures
to minimize the loss of life and damage to property caused by earthquakes.
These guidelines are in wide circulation amongst the public and the
administrative authorities responsible for the design and construction of
earthquake resistant structures in earthquake prone areas.
Loss of life and damage to property caused by earthquakes may be considerably
reduced through proper planning and implementation of pre- and post- disaster
preparedness and management strategies by respective State and Central Government
agencies in a coordinated manner. As part of pre-disaster preparedness measure,
Government of India has completed seismic microzonation studies of some of the
major cities in the country such as, Jabalpur, Guwahati, Bangalore, Sikkim,
Ahmedabad, Gandhidham-Kandla, Kolkata and Delhi.
Ministry of Earth sciences is also taking up microzonation of other megacities
in a phased manner. These seismic microzonation maps are useful in land use
planning and formulation of site specific design and construction criteria for
the buildings and structures towards minimizing the damage to property and loss
of life caused by earthquakes.
National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) under Ministry of Home Affairs
(MHA), other state Disaster Management Authorities, have also taken up various
initiatives to educate and bring awareness amongst general public and school
children on the general aspects of earthquakes, their impacts and measures to
mitigate losses caused by them. A National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) is
also functional under the general superintendence, direction and control of the
National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) for the purpose of specialized
response to natural and man-made disasters.
Timely dissemination of information pertaining to occurrence of earthquakes to
various concerned state and central government authorities helps in planning
and implementing various post-disaster mitigation and management related
issues. National Centre for Seismology (NCS)/ Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES)
is operating national seismological network to detect and locate earthquakes in
the country and disseminate the information to all the concerned in least
possible time.
Union Home Minister inaugurates
International Counter-Terrorism Conference (MoHA)
The Union Home Minister said that the influence of Islamic
State on the Indian youth is negligible as just a handful of Indian youth have
joined the ISIS and some have also returned after being persuaded by their
families. The Union Home Minister further said that the failure of ISIS to
attract Indian Muslims is due to the complete integration of Indian Muslims
into the national mainstream. Indian Muslims are patriots and are not swayed by
fundamentalist ideologies. Moreover, India, as a country is proud of all its
diversity, he added.
Shri Rajnath Singh said that we also need to be concerned over the increasing
possibility and opportunity to use available technology & cyberspace in a
destructive manner. The menace of terrorism is greatly amplified in today’s
digital world, he added. Shri Rajnath Singh said that today a ‘lone wolf’ or a
‘DIY (Do It Yourself) Terrorist’ can go online and learn how to carry out an
attack without ever leaving home. Shri Rajnath Singh said that India has been a
victim of cross-border terrorism for the last several decades and terrorism
knows no boundaries and doesn`t respect nations` sovereignties. They have
become transnational in character and therefore International Cooperation is
needed to build popular opinion and pressurise the countries that use
terrorists as their strategic assets
Steps taken to protect SMEs (MoMSME)
The major schemes include Credit Guarantee Scheme, Credit
Linked Capital Subsidy Scheme, Cluster Development Programme, National
Manufacturing Competitiveness Programme, Marketing Assistance Scheme and Prime
Minister’s Employment Generation Programme
Zero Effect, Zero Defect Model
(MoMSME)
The benefit of local manufacturing in the MSME sector
across the country. These Schemes include National Manufacturing Competitiveness
Programme, Support for Entrepreneurial and Managerial Development of SMEs
through Incubators, Cluster Development Programme, Credit Guarantee Scheme,
Credit Linked Capital Subsidy Scheme and Marketing Assistance Scheme. These
Schemes are aimed towards upgradation of technology, creation of
infrastructure, making available collateral free credit, provision of capital
subsidy and provision of marketing assistance which in turn lead to creation of
high quality local manufacturing. Especially, the National Manufacturing
Competitiveness Programme (NMCP) Scheme highlights the needs for enhancing the
competitiveness of Indian manufacturing sector by reducing the manufacturing
costs through better space utilization, scientific inventory management, improved
process flows, reduced engineering time etc.
To achieve the targets of the recent "Zero Effect,
Zero Defect Models", the Ministry has not only aligned its schemes like
Lean Manufacturing Competitiveness Scheme, Quality Management Standards (QMS)
and Quality Technology Tools (QTT), Technology and Quality Upgradation (TEQUP)
Schemes in particular but also with Quality Council of India (QCI) has worked
out a ‘ZED Certification’ model encompassing an array of quality parameters in
manufacturing.
The Ministry of MSME is providing skill development
training in rural and urban areas in the widest range of skill sets, from those
required for the khadi and village industries to the skill sets required by the
globally competitive industries such as auto-components, electronic items,
pharma products etc. Efforts are now being directed for a more co-ordinated
approach in the areas of skill development i.e. accredition of institutions,
certification, curriculum development, industry linkage, training of trainers,
trend spotting etc through various training outfits of the Ministry, such as
National Level Training Institutions, Tool Rooms and Technology Development
Institutions.
Comprehensive women entrepreneur
development programme (MoMSME)
The Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises has
been implementing Trade Related Entrepreneurship Assistance and Development
(TREAD) Scheme for Women. The scheme envisages economic empowerment exclusively
of women through trade related training, information and counseling extension
activities related to trades, products, services etc. Under the Scheme
financial loans are provided by Nationalized Banks and grants by Government of
India at the rate of 30% of the loan subject to maximum limit of Rs.30.00 lakh
through NGOs for capacity building and for undertaking self-employment ventures
by women in non-farm activities. Ministry of MSME also conducts Skill
Development Training Programmes for women to upgrade their skills for self
& wage employment and generate income. Under Mahila Coir Yojana , financial
assistance is provided for motorized ratts for spinning coir yarn to women
artisans after giving training. Under the Micro & Small Enterprises -
Cluster Development Scheme (MSE-CDP) , there is special dispensation for women entrepreneurs
in Soft and Hard Intervention ranging from additional 15% to 20% of Government
of India grant.
Change in Training System Due to
Terrorism and Naxalism (MoPersonnel)
The changes carried out in the training system imparted by
Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Police Academy (SVP NPA), Hyderabad to Indian
Police Service Officers Trainees are as follows:
(i) Introduction of a new subject “Internal Security” since 2011.
(ii) Revision and updation of the subject of “Field Craft and tactics”, and
increasing its marks from 50 to 200 since 2011 thus emphasizing the importance
of application of knowledge and skills to counter and threat of
terrorism/naxalism.
(iii) Establishment of Special Tactics Wing in the Academy since 2009 which
imparts specialized practical training to the Officer Trainees to prepare them
for the challenges related to countering terrorism/naxalism;
(iv) Fine-tuning of the syllabus at micro level on annual basis as per the
challenges arising in the field.
Energy Efficient Norms For Power
Plants (MoPower)
The Government has identified 144 thermal power
plants/stations for improving energy efficiency and thereby reducing fuel
consumption under Perform, Achieve and Trade (PAT) Scheme of the Ministry of
Power (MoP) being implemented by Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE). The
Minister further stated that the steps taken/being taken by the Union
Government to improve Demand Supply Management are as follows:-
1. Advanced planning of generation projects for 12th Five Year Plan in detail
and perspective planning for 13th Plan.
2. Rigorous monitoring of under execution projects – All the under execution
projects are monitored at the highest level to resolve the bottlenecks and to
ensure that the projects are commissioned on time.
The following steps are being taken to design and operate the power plants as
per energy efficiency norms across the country:-
1. Renovation & Modernisation (R&M) and Life Extension (LE) of existing
old thermal power stations are taken up for improving plant performance.
R&M and LE works of total capacity of 18776 MW have been completed.
2. Mapping studies of 85 thermal power generating units were carried out during
2007-09 in the country under Indo-German Energy Programme (IGEN). The mapping
studies were carried out by using Ebsilon Professional Software to identify
gaps in operating parameters vis-à-vis design parameters pertaining to overall
energy efficiency of the plant. This has enabled power utilities to take
remedial measures to enhance operational efficiency of their plants.
3. Central Electricity Authority (CEA) has notified
Technical Standards for Construction of Electric Plants and Electric Lines
Regulations – 2010 which lay down the requisite efficiency criteria to be
complied by the stations coming up in the country.
4. Old & in-efficient thermal units are being retired in a phased manner. A
total capacity of about 3000 MW has already been retired till date.
5. Supercritical technology is being adopted to enhance the efficiency of coal
fired power generation and reduce the specific coal consumption in production
of power.
An Equity Fund to Address to
Accelerate the Growth of Entrepreneurs, in the field of Biotechnology Launched
(MoS&T)
The Minister of State for Science & Technology and
Earth Sciences Shri Y.S. Chowdary today announced launching of–“BIRAC AcE
Fund”. The Equity Fund is aimed at addressing the pressing needs of
accelerating the growth of entrepreneurs, in the field of Biotechnology.
Government will be a partner in Equity Funding for Start Up’s. The Minster also
mentioning several budgetary provisions that are aimed at encouraging self
employment and start ups said that a help-desk is proposed to be set up in his
ministry for people wanting to know of these schemes.
To make biotechnology one of the drivers of the ‘Make in
India’ Programme. The theme for the foundation day is “Accelerating
Innovations: India the Next Biotech Global Hub”.
Government Takes Measures to improve
Business at Major Ports (MoShipping)
The Government has taken following steps to improve the
business at Major Ports;
I. Construction of new berths and terminals to enhance port capacity to
minimise pre-berthing detention time and reduce turnaround time of vessels
calling on the Ports.
II. Modernising berths with state of the art loading/unloading equipment to
improve operational efficiency.
III. Deepening of channels and berths so that ports can accommodate larger
vessels.
IV. Improving rail/road connectivity of Ports for speedy evacuation of cargo.
V. Implementation of Enterprise Resource Programme (ERP) for internal
automation and EDI-PCS for paperless interaction with stakeholders.
VI. Installation of VTMS for monitoring vessels traffic and navigation support.
VII. Simplification of processes to reduce transaction time at Ports.
Tariff Authority for Major Ports (TAMP) regulates all tariffs in respect of
Major Port Trusts and the private operators located therein. Necessary
modifications in the Tariff Guidelines are made from time to time to promote
the development of the Major Ports, keeping in view the interest of the various
stakeholders. In order to allow the competitive market forces to play a greater
role in determination of tariff at Major Ports Trusts, the Government issued
two new sets of Tariff Guidelines namely Guidelines for Determination of Tariff
for Projects at Major Ports, 2013 and Guidelines for Port Charges, 2015. These
Guidelines impart flexibility to the PPP operators as well as Major Ports owned
terminals in determining their tariff.
Details of Welfare Schemes for the
Aged Persons (MoSJ&E)
Schemes/ Provisions made by the
Government to improve the condition of the aged
persons
(1)Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment
The
Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment is implementing a Central Sector
Scheme of Integrated programme for Older
Persons (IPOP) since 1992 with the objective of improving the quality of
life of senior citizens by providing basic amenities like shelter, food,
medical care and entertainment opportunities and by encouraging productive and
active ageing. Under this Scheme, financial assistance (up to 95% in the case
of States of Jammu and Kashmir, Sikkim and North-eastern states and 90% for
rest of the country) is provided to Non-Governmental/Voluntary Organisations,
Panchayati Raj Institutions etc. for maintenance of Old Age Homes, Respite Care
Homes and Continuous Care Homes, Multi-service centres, mobile medicare units,
Day care centres for Alzheimer’s disease /Dementia patients, physiotherapy
clinics for older persons etc. The Programme is mainly implemented through
Non-Governmental/Voluntary Organisations.
(2)Ministry of Rural Development
Old age pension is provided under the
Indira Gandhi Old Age Pension Scheme (IGNOAPS) which is a component of National Social Assistance Programme
(NSAP), implemented by Ministry of Rural Development. Under IGNOAPS,
central assistance of Rs. 200/- per month is provided to persons in the age
group of 60-79 years and Rs. 500/- per month to persons of 80 years and above
and belonging to below poverty line (BPL) household as per the criteria by Government
of India. State/UTs have been requested to contribute at least the same amount
under the scheme.
(3) Ministry of Health and Family Welfare
Keeping in view the recommendations made in the National Policy on Older Persons, 1999 as well as the State’s
obligations under the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens,
2007, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare had launched the National Programme for Health Care of the
Elderly (NPHCE) during the 11th Plan period to address various
health related problems of elderly people. The basic aim of NPHCE is to
provide dedicated health care facilities to the elderly people through State
Public health delivery system at primary, secondary and tertiary levels,
including outreach services.
Major components of this programme, launched in 2010-11, are:
· Community based Primary Healthcare approach;
· Strengthening of health services for senior citizens at
District Hospitals/ CHC/ PHC/ Sub-Centres;
· Dedicated facilities at 100 District Hospitals with 10
bedded wards for the elderly;
· Strengthening of 8 Regional Medical Institutions to provide
dedicated tertiary level Medical Care for the elderly, with 30 bedded wards and
Introduction of PG courses in Geriatric Medicines in the these Institutions and
In-Service training of health personnel at all level.
(4)Ministry of Finance, Department of Revenue
A number of incentives have been provided under the Income
Tax Act, 1961, to a senior citizen (ie., an individual, resident in India, who
is of the age of 60 years or more at any time during the relevant previous
year). Some such incentives are enumerated below:
·
A Senior Citizen is liable to Income-Tax if his total income
exceeds Rs.3 lakh as against the exemption limit of Rs.2.5 lakh applicable in
the case of other individuals. An individual resident in India who is of
the age of 80 years or more at any time during the relevant previous year is
liable to income tax if his total income exceeds Rs.5 lakh.
·
Any sum deposited in an account under the Senior Citizens
Savings Scheme Rules, 2004 is eligible for deduction under section 80C of the
Income-Tax Act subject to a limit of Rs.1.5 lakh.
·
A deduction of Rs.20,000/- (Rs.15,000/- in other cases) is
allowed under Section 80D of the Income Tax Act in respect of premium paid to
effect or keep in force an insurance on the health of an individual being a
Senior Citizen.
·
A deduction of Rs.60,000/- (Rs.40,000/- in other cases) is
allowed under Section 80DDB of the Income-Tax Act on amount of expenditure
actually incurred for the treatment of specified diseases in case of a Senior
Citizen.
·
No deduction of tax at source is required to be made under
Section 193, 194, 194A, 194EE or 194K of the Income Tax Act in case of Senior
Citizen if he furnishes to the deductor a declaration to the effect that the
tax on his estimated total income of the relevant previous will be
nil.
·
Under the Service Tax law, activities relating to
advancement of education programmes or skill development relating to persons
over the age of 65 years residing in a rural area by an entity registered under
Section 12AA of the Income Tax Act, 1961 are exempt from Service Tax.
(5)
Ministry of Railways
The
following facilities have been extended by Ministry
of Railways from time to time to senior citizens:
·
As per rules, male Senior Citizens of minimum 60 years and
lady Senior Citizens of minimum 58 years are granted concession in the basic
fares of all classes of Mail/Express/Rajdhani/Shatabdi/Jan Shatbdi/Duronto
group of trains. The element of concession is 40% for men and 50% for women.
No proof
of age is required at the time of purchasing tickets. However, they are
required to carry some documentary proof as prescribed showing their age or
date of birth and have to produce it if demanded by on-board ticket checking
staff. Senior Citizens can book reserve tickets across the reservation
counters as well as through internet.
·
In the computerised Passenger Reservation System (PRS),
there is a provision to allot lower berths to Senior Citizens, Female
passengers of 45 years and above automatically, even if no choice is given,
subject to availability of accommodation at the time of booking.
·
In all trains having reserved accommodation, a combined
quota of two lower births per coach has been earmarked in sleeper, A/C 3 tier
and A/C 2 tier classes for the Senior Citizens, Female passengers aged 45 years
above and pregnant women when travelling alone.
·
Accommodation is also earmarked for Senior Citizens during
specified hours on suburban sections by Central and Western Railways.
·
Instructions exist for provisions of wheel chairs at
stations. This facility is provided, duly escorted by coolies on payment
as per present practice. Moreover, Zonal Railways have also been advised
to provide free of cost ‘Battery Operated Vehicles for Disabled and Old Aged
passengers’ at Railway Stations.
·
After departure of the train, if there are vacant lower
berths available in the train and if any physically handicapped person booked
on the authority of handicapped concession or a senior citizen, who has been
allotted upper/middle berth, approaches for allotment of vacant lower berths,
the on-board Ticket Checking Staff has been authorised to allot the vacant
lower berth to them making necessary entries in the chart.
·
Separate counters are earmarked at various Passengers
Reservation System (PRS) centres for dealing with the reservation requisitions
received from physically handicapped persons, senior citizens, ex-MPS, MLAs
accredited journalists and freedom fighters, if the average demand per shift
not less than 120 tickets. In case there is no justification for earmarking of
an exclusive counter for any of these categories of persons including
handicapped persons or senior citizens, one or two counters depending upon the
total demand are earmarked for dealing with the reservation requests for all
these categories of persons.
(6) Ministry of Civil Aviation:
In
order to facilitate the passengers, particularly senior citizens, expectant
mothers, passengers with disability, first time travellers etc. all the
stakeholders have been instructed to ensure that the following requirements are
complied:
· Airline /airport operator shall ensure provision of
automated buggies free of charge for all senior citizens, in the terminal
building to facilitate their access to boarding gates located beyond reasonable
walking distance at all airports having annual aircraft movements of 50,000 or
more. This facility may be extended to other needy passengers on demand basis
free of charge.
· Airport operators shall provide small trolleys after
security check for carriage of hand baggage (permitted as per regulation) up to
the boarding gate.
·
Airport operator shall adequately display information
regarding availability of automated buggies and small trolleys in the terminal
building at prominent locations including dos and don’ts regarding the same.
This shall also be published on the website of the airport operator.
· Further, Air India offers 50% discount to senior citizens on
the highest economy class Basic Fare. The discount is offered to those who have
completed 63 years of age on the date of commencement of journey.
· Senior citizens can also avail multi-level fares offered by
Air India on each sector for travel on domestic sectors, starting from a low
level advance purchase fares which facilitate early selling to the highest one.
Schemes for development of Women
& Children (MoW&C)
The Ministry of Women and Child Development is running
mainly three major schemes for the development of women and children in the
country i.e., Integrated Child
Development Services (ICDS) Scheme, ‘Rajiv Gandhi Scheme for Empowerment of
Adolescent Girls (RGSEAG)–‘Sabla’, Indira Gandhi Matritva Sahyog Yojana
(IGMSY).
The Ministry of Women and Child Development is administering ICDS which is a centrally sponsored
scheme and is being implemented for holistic development of children below 6
years of age and pregnant women & lactating mothers, by providing a package
of six services comprising (i) Supplementary nutrition (ii) Pre-school
non-formal education (iii) Nutrition and health Education (iv) Immunization (v)
Health check-up and (vi) Referral services through Anganwadi Centres at
grassroots level.
The Sabla, is a Centrally-sponsored
scheme which was introduced in the year 2010-11 on a pilot basis. It is being
implemented presently in 205 districts from all the States/UTs. Sabla aims at
all-round development of adolescent girls of 11-18 years by making them
‘self-reliant’. The scheme has two major components: Nutrition and Non
Nutrition Component. While the nutrition component aims at improving the health
& nutrition status of the adolescent girls the non-nutrition component
addresses the developmental needs.
The Ministry of Women & Child Development is also implementing Indira Gandhi Matritva Sahyog Yojana
(IGMSY), a Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT), 100% centrally sponsored scheme
for pregnant and lactating (P & L) women in 53 selected districts across
the country on pilot basis to improve their health & nutrition status by
providing cash incentives upon fulfilment of certain health and nutrition
conditions. The scheme addresses short term income support objective with long
term objective of behavioral and attitudinal changes. It also attempts to
partly compensate for wage loss to P&L women both prior to and after
delivery of the child.
Pradhan
Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana
This will be the flagship scheme for skill training of youth
to be implemented by the new Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship
through the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC). Skill training would
be done based on the National Skill Qualification Framework (NSQF) and industry
led standards. Under the scheme, a monetary reward is given to trainees on
assessment and certification by third party assessment bodies.
Awareness building and mobilization efforts would be focused
for attention, for which Rs.67 crore has been provided. Mobilization would be
done through skill melas organized at the local level with participation of the
State Governments, Municipal Bodies, Pachayati Rai Institutions and community
based organizations. The focus under the scheme is also on mentorship support
and placement facilitation for which an outlay of Rs.67 crore has been
provided. An allocation of Rs.150 crores has been made for training of youth
from the North-East region.
Highlights of skill training would be that it would be done
on the basis of demand assessed on the basis of recent skill gap studies
conducted by the NSDC for the period 2013-17. For assessment of demand of
Central Ministries/Departments/State Governments, industry and business would
be consulted. A demand aggregator platform would be launched for the purpose
very soon. The target for skilling would be aligned to demand from other
flagship programmes launched in recent times such as Make in India, Digital
India, National Solar Mission and Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. Skill training under
the new scheme will primarily be focused on a first time entrants to the labour
market and primarily target Class 10 and Class 12 drop outs.
The scheme would be implemented through NSDC training partners. Currently NSDC
has 187 training partners that have over 2300 centres. In addition, Central /
State Government affiliated training providers would also be used for training
under the scheme. All training providers will have to undergo a due diligence
before being eligible for participating under this scheme. Focus under the
PMKVY would be on improved curricula, better pedagogy and better trained
instructors. Training would include soft skills, personal grooming, behavioral
change for cleanliness, good work ethics. Sector Skill Councils and the State
Governments would closely monitor skill training that will happen under PMKVY.
Skill Development Management System (SDMS) would be put in place to verify and
record details of all training centres a certain quality of training locations
and courses. Biometric system and video recording of the training process would
be put in place where feasible. All persons undergoing training would be
required to give feed back at the time of assessment and this would become the
key element of the evaluation framework to assess the effectiveness of the
PMKVY scheme. A robust grievance redressal system would be put in place to
address grievances relating to implementation of the scheme. An online citizen
portal would be put in place to disseminate information about the scheme.
Availability
of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants/Herbs (MoAYUSH)
Certain medicinal plants are threatened and endangered
causing their short supply, due to which the industry perceives difficulties in
the procurement of medicinal plant materials like Guggul (Commiphora wightii),
Katuki (Picrorrhiza Kurroa) , Kuth (Saussurea lappa), Jatamansi (Nardostachys
Jatamansi) etc.
National Medicinal Plants Board under the Ministry of AYUSH
for overall development of the medicinal plants sector including conservation,
cultivation, processing and storage of medicinal and aromatic plants for
promoting the availability of herbal raw materials. The National Medicinal
Plants Board has implemented a Central Sector Scheme for supporting
conservation, development and sustainable management of medicinal plants and a
Centrally Sponsored Scheme of National Mission on Medicinal Plants, which is
now merged in the National AYUSH Mission notified on 29th September 2014.
Through such schemes, grant-in-aid is provided to support for survey,
inventorization, in-situ conservation and ex-situ conservation of medicinal
plants, development of herbal gardens, linkage with Joint Forest Management
Committees, research and development etc. Through National Mission on Medicinal
Plants, Government has supported cultivation of medicinal plants with backward
linkages for establishment of nurseries for supply of planting material etc.
There is also provision for forward linkages for post-harvest management,
marketing infrastructure, certification etc.
Major initiatives taken by the Government for improving the manufacturing of
quality medicines and their trade and export include the following-
i. Publication of Ayurvedic, Siddha, Unani and Homoeopathic (ASU&H)
Pharmacopeias containing quality standards of 600 single drugs & 152
compound formulations of Ayurveda, 139 single drugs of Siddha, 298 single drugs
and 100 compound formulations of Unani and 1016 Homoeopathic drugs
respectively.
ii. Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) have been notified, which are legally
mandatory for licensing of Ayurveda, Siddha, Unani and Homeopathic drugs.
iii. Pharmacopoeia Commission for Indian Medicine & Homoeopathy has been
established to address quality concerns and accelerate the work of development
of quality standards of Ayurveda, Siddha, Unani and Homoeopathic medicines.
iv. WHO Certification System and voluntary certification of quality of
Ayurvedic, Siddha and Unani medicines have been implemented by the Central Drug
Standards Control Organization and Quality Council of India respectively.
v. Shelf life or date of expiry of Ayurveda, Siddha, Unani AND Homoeopathic
medicines has been notified under Drugs and Cosmetics Rules.
vi. 27 State Drug Testing Laboratories and 46 State Pharmacies have been provided
financial assistance for strengthening of infrastructure and functional
capacity and a component of Drugs Quality Control is provided in the National
AYUSH Mission to support the state initiatives.
vii. 39 Drug Testing Laboratories are approved for testing of Ayurveda, Siddha,
Unani and Homoeopathic drugs under the provisions of Drugs & Cosmetics
Rules 1945.
viii. Provisions have been made in the International Cooperation scheme to
support the manufacturers for promoting export by registration of AYUSH
products in the foreign markets, development of drug dossiers and participation
in international fairs & exhibitions.
Schemes
for Poor Fishermen (MoAg)
|
The Ministry of Agriculture, Department of Animal Husbandry,
Dairying and Fisheries implements a Central Sector Scheme on National Scheme of
Welfare of Fishermen for both inland and marine sector. The scheme has four
components namely (i) Development of Model Fishermen village, (ii) Group
Accident Personal Insurance, (iii) Saving- cum-Relief and (iv) Training and
Extension. The component on Saving-cum-Relief is implemented for benefit of
fishermen who are engaged in active fishing, member of cooperative
society/federation/welfare society, lives below poverty line, does not own
mechanized fishing boat/beach landing craft and below 60 years of age.
The other schemes implemented by the Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying
and Fisheries to provide financial help and sustainable livelihood are as
below;
(i) Centrally Sponsored Scheme on Development of Marine Fisheries,
Infrastructure and Post Harvest Operations.
(ii) Centrally Sponsored Scheme on Development of Inland Fisheries and
Aquaculture.
(iii) Central Sector Scheme on National Fisheries Development Board
Loss
of Soil Nutrients Due to Excess use of Urea (MoAgriculture)
Government is recommending soil test based balanced and
integrated nutrient management through conjuctive use of both inorganic and
organic sources of plant nutrient to sustain soil health and its productivity.
‘Soil Health Card’ scheme is introduced to assist State Governments to issue
soil health cards to all farmers in the country. Soil health card will provide
information to farmers on nutrients status of their soil along with
recommendation on appropriate dosage of nutrients to be applied for improving
soil health and its fertility.
Under National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture there is a provision of
financial assistance in Capital Investment Subsidy Scheme through NABARD for
establishment of Bio Fertilizer/ Bio pesticides production units (200 TPA).
National
Policy for Farmers (MoAgricutlure)
Government has already implemented the National Policy for
Farmers (NPF), 2007, which aims to improve economic viability of farming and
increase net income of farmers. Policy provisions in NPF-2007 include,
inter-alia, asset reforms in respect of land, water, livestock, fisheries and
bio-resources; supply of good quality seeds and disease-free planting material,
issue of soil health passbooks to the farmers and integrated pest management
system; region and crop specific implements and machinery; support services for
women; timely, adequate and easy reach of institutional credit at reasonable
interest rates and farmer-friendly insurance instruments; support services and
inputs like application of frontier technologies; agricultural bio-security
system; use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and setting up of
farm schools to revitalize agricultural extension; coverage of farmers under a
comprehensive national social security scheme; effective implementation of
Minimum Support Price (MSP) across the country and establishing community
foodgrain banks; development of agricultural market infrastructure and terminal
markets for agriculture; curriculum reforms in agricultural universities;
special categories of farming like organic farming and contract farming; rural
non-farm employment initiative for farm households; and integrated approach for
rural energy, etc
Government will soon come up with 10
pharma clusters (MoChemical & Fertilizer)
That these clusters will provide
common facilities to the pharmaceutical industry, and help them hive off upto
25% of the cost, making them globally competitive. He said that the Government wants to ensure that four
pillars of the industry - Quality, Affordability, Availability and Stability
are in position. He said that the Government wants to provide health security
for the poor people of the country, and this requires innovative strategies,
like supply of generic medicines, building domestic capacity in bulk drugs, and
making pharma sector competitive. Shri Ananth Kumar said that unified policy,
regulation and administration mechanism is required for the pharmaceutical
industry, and he has recommended to the Prime Minister to set up a separate
department for the same. He said that on the issue of Bulk drugs production in
the country, Katoch committee report has been received in the Ministry, and an
action plan is being prepared for its implementation. Once its recommendations
are put in place, it will make Indian industry viable and competitive.
These groups include the following:
1)
Single window clearance mechanism
2)
Inducing manufacturing clusters
3)
Unified policy mechanism
4)
Capacity building across functions
5)
Developing a national innovation strategy
6)
Creating innovation fund targeted towards specific therapy areas
7)
Streamlining IP operations
8)
Evidence-based price controls
9)
Greater industry academia collaboration
10) Streamlining clinical
trials
11) Ensuring quality
compliance.
Parliament Passes the Coal Mines
(Special Provisions) Bill, 2015 (MoCoal)
The objecives and salient
features of the Coal Mines( Special Provisions) Bill,2015 are as follows :
Objectives of the Bill :
• To provide for allocation of coal
mines and vesting of the right, title and interest in and over the land and
mine infrastructure to successful bidders and allottees with a view to ensure
continuity in coal mining operations and production of coal.
• To take immediate action to auction
or allot coal mines to minimise impact on core sectors such as steel, cement
and power, which are vital for the development of the nation.
• To amend the Coal Mines (Nationalization) Act, 1973 and the
Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957 thereby removing the
restriction of end use from the eligibility to undertake coal mining except in
the case of certain specified coal blocks.
Salient features of the Bill :
• 204 cancelled blocks have been defined as ‘Schedule-I coal
mines’.
• 42 producing and ready to produce coal mine out of
Schedule-I coal mines are defined as ‘Schedule-II coal mines’.
• Other 32 substantially developed coal blocks out of
Schedule-I coal mines are defined as ‘Schedule-III coal mines’ meant for
specified end-use(more mines can be added to Schedule-III).
• The Central Government has the power to classify mines
identified from Schedule I coal mines as earmarked for a class of specified
end-uses.
• Allocation shall be made through auction to a company or
their JV.
• In case of Government Company or their JV, allotment may be
made without auction.
• There shall be no end use restrictions on the eligibility to
participate in the auction, other than for Schedule II & III coal
mines.
• ‘Nominated Authority’ shall be appointed for conduct of
auction/ allotment and vesting and transfer of all interests, rights and titles
of these coal mines in the successful bidder or allottee. Nominated Authority
to be assisted by experts and other officers.
• The proceeds of auction shall be received by the Nominated
Authority and disbursed to respective States.
• Compensation only for land and immovable mining
infrastructure shall be paid to the prior allottee after paying secured
creditors.
• The quantum of compensation for the mine infrastructure in
relation to Schedule I coal mines is determined as per the written down
valuereflected in the statutorily audited balance sheet of the previous
financial year.
• The quantum of compensation for the land in
relation to Schedule I coal mines shall be as per the registered sale deeds
together with twelve per cent. simple interest from the date of such purchase
or acquisition, till the date of the execution of the vesting order or the
allotment order, as the case may be.
• ‘Commissioner of Payments’ shall be appointed for disbursal
of compensation.
• The Central Government may appoint Custodian(s) for
operation and management of the coal mines till they are allocated through
auction or allotment.
• Tribunal constituted under the Coal Bearing Areas
(Acquisition and Development), Act, 1957 will adjudicate any dispute arising
out of any action of the Central Government/ nominated authority or any dispute
between the successful bidder or allottee and prior allottee arising out of any
issue connected with the Act.
Growth in Manufacturing Sector (MoCommerce
& Industry)
The Government is continuously taking measures including
inter alia administrative and regulatory measures to accelerate the growth of
manufacturing sector in the country. For the creation of conducive business
environment, the Government is constantly simplifying and rationalizing the
processes and procedures for boosting investor sentiment, simplifying the
Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) policy and correcting the inverted duty
structure. Some of the recent initiatives towards this end include pruning the
list of industries that can be considered as defence industries requiring
industrial license, permissible extensions in the validity of industrial
license up to seven years, treating partial commencement of production as commencement
of production of all the items included in the license etc. The recent
amendments in FDI policy include allowing FDI in Defence up to 49% and FDI in
Railway infrastructure up to 100%, easing the norms for FDI in construction and
exempting FDI in medical devices from sectoral restrictions of pharmaceuticals
and raising permissible FDI in insurance from 26% to 49%.
Further, inter alia, the Government has launched the e-biz Mission Mode Project
under the National e-Governance Plan, and 14 Central Services spanning a number
of Ministries and Departments are now integrated in the e-Biz portal. Besides,
the Government is implementing the Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC)
project. In addition, the Government has conceptualized Amritsar Kolkata Industrial
Corridor, Chennai-Bengaluru Industrial Corridor, Bengaluru Mumbai Economic
Corridor and the Vizag-Chennai Industrial Corridor (as the first phase of an
East Coast Economic Corridor), and setting up a National Industrial Corridor
Development Authority for coordinating and overseeing progress of the various
industrial corridors.
The Government has launched a “Make in India” programme under which 25 thrust
sectors have been identified. Information on these 25 thrust sectors has been
put up on ‘Make in India’s web portal (http://www.makeinindia.com) along with
details of FDI Policy, National Manufacturing Policy, Intellectual Property
Rights and the envisaged National Industrial Corridors including the Delhi
Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC). An Investor Facilitation Cell in `Invest
India` has been created to assist, guide and handhold investors during the
various phases of business life cycle under the Make in India initiative with
provision of back end support up to the State level.
The Government has set up a separate Ministry of Skill Development and
Entrepreneurship for providing the necessary thrust for skill development.
There are over 20 Central Ministries/Departments involved in implementation of
more than 70 schemes for various skill development/entrepreneurship programmes,
and a number of these schemes are implemented through Public Private
Partnership providing training and other infrastructural facilities. The recent
amendments to the Apprenticeship Act 1961 also facilitate the private industry’s
ability to take on apprentices.
Ministry of Textiles has taken steps to address the plight of the jute
industry. Some of the important measures undertaken include compulsory
packaging of certain essential commodities under the Jute Packaging Material (Compulsory
use in packaging commodities) Act 1987, and the Technology Upgradation Fund
Scheme for modernization/technology upgradation of textile industry which
includes jute industry. Besides, the National Jute Board (NJB) runs various
schemes for the promotion and development of various linkages of the Jute Value
Chain.
Government to set up (MUDRA) Bank
(Mo Finance)
The Union Finance Minister in the Union Budget 2015-16 has
announced to set up MUDRA Bank through a statutory enactment. A sum of Rs.
20,000 crore would be allocated to the MUDRA Bank from the money available from
shortfalls of Priority Sector Lending for creating a Refinance Fund to provide
refinance to the Last Mile Financers. Another Rs. 3,000 crore would be provided
to the MUDRA Bank from the budget to create a Credit Guarantee corpus for
guaranteeing loans being provided to the micro enterprises.
MUDRA Bank will operate through regional level financing institutions who in
turn will connect with last mile lenders such as MFIs, Small Banks, Primary
Credit Cooperative Societies, Self Help Groups (SHGs), NBFC (other than MFI)
and other lending institutions.
MUDRA Bank will refinance Micro-Finance Institutions through a Pradhan Mantri
Mudra Yojana (PMMY). In lending, priority will be given to SC/ST enterprises.
These measures will greatly increase the confidence of young, educated or
skilled workers who would not be able to aspire to become first generation
entrepreneurs; existing small businesses, too will be able to expand their
activities.
Since the MUDRA Bank will be set up through an enactment of law and it will
take some time. To begin with, the same is being operationalised as a
subsidiary of Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI).
Highlights of the Undisclosed
Foreign Income and Assets (Imposition of Tax) Bill, 2015
The salient features of the Undisclosed Foreign Income and
Assets (Imposition of Tax) Bill, 2015 are as under:-
Scope – The Act will apply to all persons resident in India. Provisions of the
Act will apply to both undisclosed foreign income and assets (including
financial interest in any entity).
Rate of tax – Undisclosed foreign income or assets shall be taxed at the flat
rate of 30 percent. No exemption or deduction or set off of any carried forward
losses which may be admissible under the existing Income-tax Act, 1961, shall
be allowed.
Penalties – Violation of the provisions of the proposed new legislation will
entail stringent penalties.
The penalty for non-disclosure of income or an asset located outside India will
be equal to three times the amount of tax payable thereon, i.e., 90 percent of
the undisclosed income or the value of the undisclosed asset. This is in
addition to tax payable at 30%.
Failure to furnish return in respect of foreign income or assets shall attract
a penalty of Rs.10 lakh. The same amount of penalty is prescribed for cases
where although the assessee has filed a return of income, but he has not
disclosed the foreign income and asset or has furnished inaccurate particulars
of the same.
Prosecutions – The Bill proposes enhanced punishment for various types of
violations.
The punishment for willful attempt to evade tax in relation to a foreign income
or an asset located outside India will be rigorous imprisonment from three years
to ten years. In addition, it will also entail a fine.
Failure to furnish a return in respect of foreign assets and bank accounts or
income will be punishable with rigorous imprisonment for a term of six months
to seven years. The same term of punishment is prescribed for cases where
although the assessee has filed a return of income, but has not disclosed the
foreign asset or has furnished inaccurate particulars of the same.
The above provisions will also apply to beneficial owners or beneficiaries of
such illegal foreign assets.
Abetment or inducement of another person to make a false return or a false
account or statement or declaration under the Act will be punishable with
rigorous imprisonment from six months to seven years. This provision will also
apply to banks and financial institutions aiding in concealment of foreign
income or assets of resident Indians or falsification of documents.
Safeguards – The principles of natural justice and due process of law have been
embedded in the Act by laying down the requirement of mandatory issue of
notices to the person against whom proceedings are being initiated, grant of
opportunity of being heard, necessity of taking the evidence produced by him
into account, recording of reasons, passing of orders in writing, limitation of
time for various actions of the tax authority, etc. Further, the right of
appeal has been protected by providing for appeals to the Income-tax Appellate
Tribunal, and to the jurisdictional High Court and the Supreme Court on substantial
questions of law.
To protect persons holding foreign accounts with minor balances which may not
have been reported out of oversight or ignorance, it has been provided that
failure to report bank accounts with a maximum balance of upto Rs.5 lakh at any
time during the year will not entail penalty or prosecution.
Other safeguards and internal control mechanisms will be prescribed in the
Rules.
One time compliance opportunity – The Bill also provides a one time compliance
opportunity for a limited period to persons who have any undisclosed foreign
assets which have hitherto not been disclosed for the purposes of Income-tax.
Such persons may file a declaration before the specified tax authority within a
specified period, followed by payment of tax at the rate of 30 percent and an
equal amount by way of penalty. Such persons will not be prosecuted under the
stringent provisions of the new Act. It is to be noted that this is not an
amnesty scheme as no immunity from penalty is being offered. It is merely an
opportunity for persons to come clean and become compliant before the stringent
provisions of the new Act come into force.
Amendment of PMLA – The Bill also proposes to amend Prevention of Money
Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002 to include offence of tax evasion under the
proposed legislation as a scheduled offence under PMLA.
Thus, in keeping with the commitment of the government for focussed action on
black money front, an unprecedented and multi-pronged attack has been launched
to root out the menace of black money. The Government is confident that this
new law will act as a strong deterrent and curb the menace of black money
stashed abroad by Indians.
Scheme for Incentive to Parents of
Girl Child (MoHealth & Family)
Scheme: Prerna Strategy:
In order to help push up the age of
marriage of girls and space the birth of children in the interest of health of
young mothers and infants, Jansankhya Sthirata Kosh (National Population
Stabilization Fund) - an autonomous body of the MoHFW, Govt. of India has launched
PRERNA, a Responsible Parenthood Strategy in all districts of seven focus
states namely Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand,
Odisha, and Rajasthan.
The strategy recognizes and
awards couples who have broken the stereotype of early marriage, early
childbirth and repeated child birth and have helped change the mindsets of the
community.
In order to become eligible for
award under the scheme, the girl should have been married after 19 years of age
and given birth to the first child after at least 2 years of marriage. The
couple will get an award of Rs.10, 000/- if it is a Boy child or Rs.12, 000/-
if it is a Girl child. If birth of the second child takes place after at least
3 years of the birth of first child and either parent voluntarily accept
permanent method of family planning within one year of the birth of the second
child, the couple will get an additional award of Rs.5,000/- (Boy child) /
Rs.7,000/- (Girl child). The amount of award is given in the form of National Saving
Certificate (NSC). The scheme is meant only for BPL families.
Important Conditions:
1.
Couple must belong to BPL family
2. Age of lady should not exceed 30 years
3. The girl should have been married after 19 years
4. First child birth after at least 2 years of marriage
5. Second child birth after at least 3 years of the first child
birth
6. Either parent voluntarily accepts permanent method of family
planning within one year of the second child birth
If above four (S.N. 1-4) conditions
are fulfilled then payment of award:
·
Rs. 10,000/- if boy child
·
Rs. 12,000/- if girl child
If all above six (S.N.1-6)
conditions are fulfilled then payment of award:
·
Rs. 15,000/- if both are boys
·
Rs. 17,000/- if one boy & one girl child
·
Rs. 19,000/- if both are girls
Certificates Required:
1. BPL certificate of the couple
2. Date of birth certificate of Mother (Schools/Board/Registrar
of birth/death)
3. Marriage Certificate of the couple (Registrar of
marriages/appropriate govt. officer/delegated authorities)
4. Birth Cert. of 1st child (Registrar / appropriate govt.
officer registering births/death)
5. Birth Cert. of 2nd child, if any. (Registrar / appropriate
govt. officer registering births/death)
6. Sterilization Certificate (NSV/LTT), if any, ( Govt.
Hospital)
7. Character Cert. (Gram Panchayat)
Note: Photocopies of all relevant documents should be
attested by a gazetted officer.
Antibiotic Policy (Ministry of Health and Family Welfare)
In order to strengthen the
surveillance of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in the country, Indian
Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has set up a National Anti-Microbial
Resistance Research and Surveillance Network (AMRRSN) to enable compilation of
national data of AMR at different levels of Health Care.
The Drugs and Cosmetic Rule,
1945 were amended in 2013 to incorporate a new Schedule H1 under the said rules
containing 46 drugs which include III and IV generation antibiotics, anti TB
drugs and certain habit forming drugs for having strict control over the sale
of these drugs. The Drugs falling under Schedule H1 are required to be sold in
the country with the following conditions:-
1.
The supply of a drug specified in Schedule H1 shall be
recorded in a separate register at the time of the supply giving the name and
address of the prescriber, the name of the patient, the name of the drug and
the quantity supplied and such records shall be maintained for three years and
be open for inspection.
2. The drug specified in Schedule H1 shall be labeled with the
symbol Rx which shall be in red and conspicuously displayed on the left top
corner of the label, and shall also be labeled with the following words in a
box with a red border:
Schedule H1 Drug Warning:
-It is dangerous to take this
preparation except in accordance with the medical advice.
-Not to be sold by retail without
the prescription of a Registered Medical Practitioner.”
|
Further, the Government of India has
formulated a National policy for containment of antimicrobial resistance in
2011. A National Programme for Containment of AMR has also been initiated in
12th Five Year Plan with the following objectives:-
§ To
establish a laboratory based surveillance system by strengthening laboratories
for AMR in the country and to generate quality data on antimicrobial resistance
for pathogens of public health importance.
§
To generate awareness among healthcare providers and in the
community regarding rational use of antibiotics.
§
To strengthen infection control guidelines and practices and
promote rational use of antibiotics.
BRICS Nations Endorsed India´s Young
Scientists Forum Initiative (MoS&T)
BRICS nations have endorsed India´s Young Scientists Forum
Initiative and this will form part of the BRICS STI work plan for the period
2015 to 2018. India´s strong commitment to the strengthening of cooperation
within BRICS in this key sphere of Science, Technology & Innovation (STI)
which directly impacts the welfare and progress of all our peoples.
Proposed establishment of a BRICS Technology Foresight for
Climate System to address scientific and innovative solutions for climate
change and natural disaster management while identifying viable R&D
initiatives for the future. The AIM
(Atal Innovation Mission ) will be an Innovation Promotion Platform involving
academics, entrepreneurs, and researchers and draw upon national and
international experiences to foster a culture of innovation, R&D and
scientific research in India. A strong and viable Science, Research and
Innovation System for High Technology-led path for India (SRISHTI) is the goal
of India’s new STI policy.
Commencement of National Health
Systems Resource Centre (NHSRC) (MoH&FW)
World Health Organization (WHO) Country office for India in
collaboration with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of
India and National Health Systems Resource Centre (NHSRC), formally announced
the commencement of National Health Systems Resource Centre (NHSRC), as the WHO
Collaborating Centre for Priority Medical Devices and Health Technology Policy.
Prioritizing medical devices and health technology in the country is an
important agenda item. It is critical to have the specifications in place for
the medical devices and equipments that are already procured and used in the
system. There is also need for dedicated medical devices testing laboratories
to ensure the safety and efficacy of these devices.
The scope of its work includes: framing of technical
specifications for technologies procured under National Health Mission; best
practices for technology life cycle management and maintenance; secretariat for
assessment and uptake of innovations into public health systems; health
technology systems research such as proposing roadmap for establishing testing
laboratories; supporting the Health Ministry on issues related to free
essential diagnostics and other technology intensive services; domestic
manufacturing capacity, quality and safety criteria for healthcare
technologies; and conducting health technology assessments.
National Action Plan for Skill
Training of Persons with Disabilities Launched (MoSJ&E)
The Minister of State (IC) for Skill Development &
Entrepreneurship, Shri Rajiv Pratap Rudy stated that the Skill Development is
of the highest priority of Prime Minister of India as only around 2% of the
workforce in India is skilled. Under the overall guidance of the Prime
Minister, the Ministry of Skill Development has decided to constitute a
separate “Sector Skill Council” for PWDs to scale up the initiative with
Quality Standards as acceptable by industry. He also announced that the
Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship has decided to contribute 100
crore to this initiative and support MSJE at every step. National Skill
Development Corporation (NSDC) will be the implementing agency for the National
Action Plan. According to census 2011, there are 2.68 Crore Persons with
Disability (PwDs) in India. About 1.34 crores persons with disabilities are in
the employable age of 15 to 59 years.
The National Action Plan (NAP) seeks to provide a synergistic framework for
people with disability, for improving vocational training and employment
opportunities for them with the eventual goal of providing them with
livelihoods and independence. The plan envisages use of Information Technology
for content, training delivery and employer connect. The goals of empowering
and capacitating PwDs will have substantial gains for the broader economy.
India Pavilion in Hannover Messe
2015 to incorporate core sectors of Make in India (MoC&I)
By adopting
the theme of Make in India, the country is branding strongly in the forthcoming
fair in Germany during April 2015. Some of the highlights of India’s participation in HM
2015 are:
‘Make in India’ the flagship programme of the Government to
develop and market India to global investors has been decided as the theme for
participation.
· Since India is the Partner Country, branding / publicity for
projecting India’s participation as also highlighting the ‘Make in India’ is
being done extensively at Hannover city / airport / fairground etc.
· About 300 Indian companies including public sector giants
would be participating in the five – day fair, seeking technology
collaborations, business tie-ups and showcasing India’s capabilities in global
trade. India was a Partner Country at the Hannover Messe last in 2006.
· Indian Government is seizing the participation in the fair
as an opportunity to increase its global presence in commodities &
services, apart from utilizing the event for attracting investments into India
as part of the ‘Make in India’
·
Prime Minister would be utilizing this opportunity to reach
out to the world about India’s initiatives in doing business and opening up of
FDI regime etc.
·
After the ‘Walk Through’ Chancellor and Prime Minister
jointly would attend the inaugural session of Indo-German Business Summit which
would be attended by hundreds of CEOs from both Germany and India. Make in
India is the topic for discussion in IGBS.
·
India is participating with more than 300 companies in
the 10th Sectoral Core Themes of HM 2015 (like energy, wind,
industrial automation, industrial supply etc.)
·
More than 100 top CEOs are participating and they would be
interacting with the German CEOs as part of the IGBS, as also have one to one
interaction for developing business opportunities.
·
Apart from IGBS India is hosting 6 Seminars to highlight the
new initiatives of the Government and seeking induction of German technology /
investment on the following topics; the key officials of the concerned
Ministries of GoI would be involved in these seminars:
o New
sunrise in electronics and electricals
o Smart
Cities – the Urban Challenge
o Renewable
Energy
o Strategy
for skilling India
o Heavy
Engineering & Motion Drive and Automation
o Digital
India
·
12 State Governments have confirmed participation and the
State Pavilion, adjacent to India Pavilion, has been created to display the
State profile. The States of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, Gujarat,
Rajasthan and U.P. are separately hosting investments seminars during the fair.
·
To demonstrate India-Germany linkage in Yoga, Yoga display
is being made on all the five days of the fair.
‘Mission Indradhanush’ (MoH&FW)
Creating awareness regarding the importance to fully
immunize every child against all vaccine preventable diseases in the country.
Mission Indradhanush depicting seven colours of the rainbow, aims to cover all
those children by 2020 who are either unvaccinated or are partially vaccinated
against seven vaccine preventable diseases which include diphtheria, whooping
cough, tetanus, polio, tuberculosis, measles and hepatitis B.
Elaborating on the Mission Indradhanush which seeks to
achieve this goal, the Health Minister informed that between 2009-2013
immunisation coverage has increased from 61% to 65%, indicating only 1%
increase in coverage every year. To accelerate the process of immunization by
covering 5% and more children every year, the Mission Mode has been adopted to
achieve target of full coverage by 2020.
The Health Minister stated that the micro plans developed to
make the Mission mode successful will draw on the lessons learned from the
Polio eradication towards systems strengthening, vaccine cold chain management,
regular surveillance and monitoring of the plans to reach each and every left
out and uncovered child.
Highlighting the critical importance of a targeted and effective IEC campaign,
Shri Nadda stated that studies have revealed that children are left uncovered
by the routine immunisation programme either because the parents and guardians
are unaware of the drive, or there is some element of apprehension or fear due
to vaccination. Both these can be effectively addressed through an awareness
campaign which underlines the critical importance of vaccination, and removes
any apprehension harboured by the parent or the guardian. He appealed to them
to participate in the Mission Indradhanush to ensure that no child is left
uncovered during the rounds that will commence soon. Terming media as a
powerful instrument that can bring about an everlasting change in the society
through changing mindsets and generating awareness about various issues, the
Health Minister stated that he looks at them to guide the Ministry at various
stages in its endeavor to successfully implement the ambitious Mission.
Health Secretary Shri Bhanu Pratap Sharma underscored the challenges that face
the effective implementation of the Mission given the scale of the country and
the difficulties in reaching children living in rural and remote areas,
riverine mining units, far flung and remote hamlets etc. He stated that the
team of AHSAs and ANMs are committed in their endeavor to make the Mission a
success. The Ministry has particularly paid attention to systems strengthening
and capacity building of the frontline workers in this Mission Mode.
“Green” technology developed by CSIR
for leather tanning (MoS&T)
A
novel, biodegradable dispersing agent developed by CLRI, enables the chrome
tanning of leather with just half the normal usage. This ensures the saving of
water by 15 million litres per day in the Indian leather sector alone –and an
estimated 200 million litres per day if this revolutionary technology is
applied globally. He also announced that CLRI has succeeded in fostering an
“enzymatic intervention” to complete in just 30 minutes the enabled fibre
opening process which till now has taken up to 72 hours.
Government Welcomes Court Decision
on 66A (MoC&IT)
The relevant paragraphs are verbatim
quoted:
A.
“This counter affidavit is being filed only for the purpose of assisting
this Hon’ble Court and to satisfy this Hon’ble Court that the impugned Sections
of the IT Act neither seeks to curtail nor the Central Government desires any
interpretation which seeks to curtail any of the fundamental rights guaranteed
to the citizens including the right under Article 19(1)(a) i.e. fundamental
right to free speech and expression.
B.
This counter affidavit seeks to point out the necessity and desirability of the
provisions which are challenged in these petitions and to bring it on record
that the usage of cyber space either by social media or otherwise is not even
remotely intended to be curtailed either totally or partially at instance of
Union of India.
C.
Central Government encourages beneficial use of cyber space and the Act only
seeks to regulate the use of cyberspace which would fall within any of and/ or
all categories stipulated under Article 19(2) of the Constitution of India.
D. That the penal provisions of the Act
can never be interpreted so as to take within its sweep political debate, any
form of honest decent, decent humour, political satire etc. With a view
to avoid possibility of any misconstruction of the expressions used in the
penal provisions of the Act, the Central Government has prepared an advisory /
guidelines to be strictly followed by law enforcement agencies which would
ensure that the honest and legal use of cyber space does not result into any
harassment to any citizen of the country.”
Thus in a layman’s language, the
Government absolutely respects the right to freedom of speech and expression on
social media and has no intention of curbing it. Only reasonable restrictions
apply on social media, as they do in routine normal day to day life in the
physical world under Article 19 (2) of the constitution of India. We will have
to understand that we cannot set a different standard of Public Morality for
Speech & Expression in Cyberspace from Speech in other mediums and in the
Public Domain
ISCS Signs Framework Agreement with
Forum of Federations (MoHA)
The Inter-State Council Secretariat (ISCS) under the
Ministry of Home Affairs has signed an Agreement with the Forum of Federations
(FoF) based at Ottawa, Canada here today for next three years. The Agreement
provides for creating a mutually supportive international partnership with
India for improving governance and enhancing democracy by promoting dialogue on
the practices, principles and possibilities of federalism. The Forum of
Federations is an international organization of federal countries. It is based
in Canada and brings together government practitioners and academics to improve
governance and enhance democracy by promoting dialogue and providing policy
research on federalism and the challenges of multi-level governance. The Forum offers
partner countries the opportunity to be part of a global network which provides
a mechanism for insight into both internal and international governance
debates. The Forum works in the international arena to improve the practice of
federalism by addressing the needs of practitioners of federalism through three
broad core functions i.e. serving as a clearing house for information and
resources on the practice of federalism, offering and implementing policy and
partnership programmes with the governments and encouraging future
practitioners to develop an interest and expertise in federalism.
The Forum has, in the past, worked closely with India on
several important issues pertaining to federal governance, fiscal federalism,
public security, environmental governance and local government. India has been
a Forum partner country since 2005 and has been represented on the Board of
Directors by the Secretary, Inter-State Council Secretariat, Ministry of Home
Affairs. Senior Officials from India have been involved in a wide range of key
activities of the Forum, including capacity building, imparting training and
rendering technical advice on federal issues.
Scheme to Promote Geotechnical
Textiles in North East (MoTextiles)
The scheme
has the following basic objectives:
a.
To
demonstrate use of geotechnical textiles as a modern cost-effective
technology in the development of infrastructure in fragile geological
conditions of NER;
b.
To improve
the durability, function and life of infrastructure in NER, while bringing down
the life cycle cost of the projects;
c.
To promote
the use of geotechnical textile materials and create a market for these
products in NER by inducing demand in infrastructure development;
d.
To stimulate
investment and development of technical textile industry in NER and rest of the
country.
The ultimate
objective is to introduce modern cost-effective technology pertaining to the
application and usage of geotechnical textiles in the development of
infrastructure of NE Region, which is likely to boost the region’s economy.
Geotechnical
Textiles is a proven technology world over. Geotechnical Textiles provide the
functional advantages of higher endurance and durability in roads and
infrastructure projects. Countries such as USA, UK, Germany and other parts of
Western Europe, have detailed construction codes for most of the geotechnical
textile applications in roads and highways construction, with reference to
material specifications and test standards.
The
topography of the North Eastern region (NER) makes application of geotechnical
textiles particularly suitable for the region in infrastructure projects
relating to road construction, river bank erosion control and slope erosion
control.
For example,
the rain conditions and overflowing of Brahmaputra River during monsoons causes
a significant damage to life, property and economy of North East. The problem
of landslides causes blockages in roads which at times take weeks to be
resolved. Geotechnical Textile technology has the potential to provide a
durable and economic solution to address these problems in NER.
Special Purpose Vehicles (SPV) to
implement Smart Cities Project (MoUD)
Efficient deployment of human and physical resources is one
of the objectives of the scheme. the present deficit in physical, social,
economic and institutional infrastructure will be bridged to make the cities
more livable and drive the economic growth. He said that this infrastructure
deficit will be bridged by retrofitting of identified areas of a city and
redevelopment of areas which are not amenable to retrofitting to enable such
areas conform to the norms of smart city. In addition, pan-city schemes like
efficient public transport systems including ring roads, e-governance
initiatives etc. will also be undertaken under brownfield development.
The objective of smart cities building is to enable such
changes in a sustainable manner for long term results. Smart solutions will be
applied to places and projects to enable efficient utilization of limited
resources like land, water, power etc. “ICT solutions would play an important
role in improving urban governance and enhancing the efficiency of resource
use.
PM launches PRAGATI (PMO)
Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi launched today
his ambitious multi-purpose and multi-modal platform PRAGATI (Pro-Active
Governance And Timely Implementation). PRAGATI is a unique integrating and
interactive platform. The platform is aimed at addressing common man’s
grievances, and simultaneously monitoring and reviewing important programmes
and projects of the Government of India as well as projects flagged by State
Governments.
During the first PRAGATI interaction today, the Prime
Minister discussed issues relating to unseasonal rain and relief to farmers,
public grievances, project implementation, Swachh Bharat and ‘ease of doing
business.’
PM gave suitable directions for redressal of grievances and
compliance on the projects and programmes and motivated all officers to work in
coordinated manner for outcome; The PRAGATI platform uniquely bundles three
latest technologies: Digital data management, video-conferencing and
geo-spatial technology. It also offers a unique combination in the direction of
cooperative federalism since it brings on one stage the Secretaries of
Government of India and the Chief Secretaries of the States. With this, the
Prime Minister is able to discuss the issues with the concerned Central and
State officials with full information and latest visuals of the ground level
situation. Such an effort has never been made in India. It is also an
innovative project in e-governance and good governance.
Key features of the PRAGATI application are as follows:
• It is a three-tier system (PMO, Union Government Secretaries, and Chief
Secretaries of the States);
• Prime Minister will hold a monthly programme where he will interact with the
Government of India Secretaries, and Chief Secretaries through
Video-conferencing enabled by data and geo-informatics visuals;
• The first such programme was launched on 25th March, 2015 (Wednesday) at 3.30
PM;
• Now onwards, it will be held once in every month on Fourth Wednesday at 3.30
PM-to be known as PRAGATI Day.
• Issues to be flagged before the PM are picked up from the available database
regarding Public Grievances, on-going Programmes and pending Projects;
• The system will ride on, strengthen and re-engineer the data bases of the
CPGRAMS for grievances, Project Monitoring Group (PMG) and the Ministry of
Statistics and Programme Implementation. PRAGATI provides an interface and
platform for all these three aspects.
• It will also take into consideration various correspondences to PM’s office
by the common people or from high dignitaries of States and/or developers of
public projects;
• The issues flagged are uploaded seven days prior to the PRAGATI day (i.e. on
third Wednesday of every month).
• These issues can be viewed by the Union Government Secretaries and Chief
Secretaries after entering into the application;
• User ID and Password for each of the Union Government Secretaries and Chief
Secretaries have been created and made available;
• Union Government Secretaries and Chief Secretaries will be able to see the
issues pertaining to their Department /State;
• Union Government Secretaries and Chief Secretaries have to put their comments
and updates about the flagged issues within three days (i.e. by next Monday);
• One day - Tuesday is available to the PMO team to review the data entered by
the Union Government Secretaries and Chief Secretaries;
• The design is such, that when PM reviews the issue he should have on his
screen the issue as well as the latest updates and visuals regarding the same;
The system has been designed in-house by the PMO team with the help of National
Informatics Center (NIC). As the name suggests, it is aimed at starting a
culture of Pro-Active Governance and Timely Implementation. It is also a robust
system for bringing e-transparency and e-accountability with real-time presence
and exchange among the key stakeholders.
Enactment of a Central legislation
for declaring identified inland waterways as National Waterways (Cabinet)
Approval
for enactment of Central legislation for
declaring 101 additional Inland Waterways as National Waterways (NW) for
navigation. This will create a logistic supply chain with intermodal (Rail,
Road and Waterways) connectivity. It would positively contribute to the GDP by
opening up business opportunities in the area of dredging, barge construction,
barge operation, barge repair facilities, terminal construction, terminal
operation, storage facilities, providing modern aids to day and night
navigation, tourist cruise, consultancy, training of manpower for manning
barges, hydrographic survey, etc. Investment in all these business areas
will create numerous opportunities for employment and economic development and
reduce pressure from the already over-loaded, congested and costlier other
surface modes of transport.
Detailed business development
studies are being carried out under the Jal Marg Vikas Project for identifying
all business opportunities and quantifying anticipated investments and
employment opportunities. Inland
Water Transport (IWT) is world over recognised as a fuel efficient, cost
effective and an environment friendly mode of transport, especially for bulk
goods, hazardous goods and over dimensional cargo.
(i)
Cost savings :
·
1 HP moves 150 kg on road, 500 kg on rail and 4000 kg on
water.
·
1 litre of fuel moves 24 t-km on road, 85 on rail and 105 on
IWT.
·
Cost of developing waterways is much lower than rail &
road.
·
Reduces transportation and transition losses.
(ii)
Environment friendly:
·
Least fuel consumption per tonne – km.
·
CO2 emission is 50 percent that of trucks.
·
Negligible land requirement.
·
Safe mode for hazardous and over dimensional cargo.
(iii)
Supplementary mode:
·
Reduces pressure on road and rail.
·
Reduces congestion and accidents on road.
Formation of a Special Purpose
Vehicle to provide efficient rail evacuation systems to Major Ports and thereby
enhance their handling capacity and efficiency (Cabinet)
Formation of a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) to provide
efficient rail evacuation systems to Major Ports and thereby enhance their
handling capacity and efficiency.
The SPV would undertake the following Projects:-
1. Last mile connectivity to Major Ports;
2. Modernization of evacuation infrastructure in Ports;
3. To operate and manage internal Port Railway system;
4. To raise financial resources for funding Port related Railway Projects
The SPV would work in close co-ordination with the Indian
Railways and leverage the existing participative model of the Indian Railways
for enhancing last mile connectivity to Ports. The work of the SPV is expected
to result in substantial reduction in dwell time of cargo at Ports and bring
down the overall logistic cost for trade.
The SPV focusing on Port connectivity will fit into the ambitious Sagarmala Programme
of the Government which aims at promoting port-led direct and indirect
development and to provide infrastructure to evacuate goods from ports quickly
and efficiently.
Sagarmala: Concept and
implementation towards Blue Revolution (Cabinet)
The prime objective of the Sagarmala project is to promote
port-led direct and indirect development and to provide infrastructure to
transport goods to and from ports quickly, efficiently and cost-effectively.
Therefore, the Sagarmala Project shall, inter alia, aim to develop access to
new development regions with intermodal solutions and promotion of the optimum
modal split, enhanced connectivity with main economic centres and beyond
through expansion of rail, inland water, coastal and road services.
The Sagarmala initiative will address challenges by
focusing on three pillars of development, namely (i) Supporting and enabling
Port-led Development through appropriate policy and institutional interventions
and providing for an institutional framework for ensuring inter-agency and
ministries/departments/states’ collaboration for integrated development, (ii)
Port Infrastructure Enhancement, including modernization and setting up of new
ports, and (iii) Efficient Evacuation to and from hinterland.
The Sagarmala Project therefore intends to achieve the broad objectives of
enhancing the capacity of major and non-major ports and modernizing them to
make them efficient, thereby enabling them to become drivers of port-led
economic development, optimizing the use of existing and future transport
assets and developing new lines/linkages for transport (including roads, rail,
inland waterways and coastal routes), setting up of logistics hubs, and
establishment of industries and manufacturing centres to be served by ports in
EXIM and domestic trade. In addition to strengthening port and evacuation
infrastructure, it also aims at simplifying procedures used at ports for cargo
movement and promotes usage of electronic channels for information exchange
leading to quick, efficient, hassle-free and seamless cargo movement.
For a comprehensive and integrated planning for “Sagarmala”, a National
Perspective Plan (NPP) for the entire coastline shall be prepared within six
months which will identify potential geographical regions to be called Coastal
Economic Zones (CEZs). While preparing the NPP, synergy and integration with
planned Industrial Corridors, Dedicated Freight Corridors, National Highway
Development Programme, Industrial Clusters and SEZs would be ensured. Detailed
Master Plans will be prepared for identified Coastal Economic Zones leading to
identification of projects and preparation of their detailed project reports.
In order to have effective mechanism at the state level for coordinating and
facilitating Sagarmala related projects, the State Governments will be
suggested to set up State Sagarmala Committee to be headed by Chief
Minister/Minister in Charge of Ports with members from relevant Departments and
agencies. The state level Committee will also take up matters on priority as
decided in the NSAC. At the state level, the State Maritime Boards/State Port
Departments shall service the State Sagarmala Committee and also be, inter
alia, responsible for coordination and implementation of individual projects,
including through SPVs (as may be necessary) and oversight. The development of
each Coastal economic zone shall be done through individual projects and
supporting activities that will be undertaken by the State Government, Central
line Ministries and SPVs to be formed by the State Governments at the state
level or by SDC and ports, as may be necessary.
Sagarmala Coordination and Steering Committee (SCSC) shall be constituted under
the chairmanship of the Cabinet Secretary with Secretaries of the Ministries of
Shipping, Road Transport and Highways, Tourism, Defence, Home Affairs,
Environment, Forest & Climate Change, Departments of Revenue, Expenditure,
Industrial Policy and Promotion, Chairman, Railway Board and CEO, NITI Aayog as
members. This Committee will provide coordination between various ministries,
state governments and agencies connected with implementation and review the
progress of implementation of the National Perspective Plan, Detailed Master
Plans and projects. It will, inter alia, consider issues relating to funding of
projects and their implementation. This Committee will also examine financing
options available for the funding of projects, the possibility of
public-private partnership in project financing/construction/ operation.
Improvement of operational efficiency of existing ports, which is an objective
of the Sagarmala initiative, shall be done by undertaking business process
re-engineering to simplify processes and procedures in addition to modernizing
and upgrading the existing infrastructure and improved mechanisation. Increased
use of information technology and automation to ensure paperless and seamless
transactions will be an important area for intervention. Under the Sagarmala
Project, the use of coastal shipping and IWT are proposed to be enhanced
through a mix of infrastructure enhancement and policy initiatives.
The Sagarmala initiative would also strive to ensure sustainable development of
the population living in the Coastal Economic Zone (CEZ). This would be done by
synergising and coordinating with State Governments and line Ministries of
Central Government through their existing schemes and programmes such as those
related to community and rural development, tribal development and employment
generation, fisheries, skill development, tourism promotion etc. In order to
provide funding for such projects and activities that may be covered by
departmental schemes a separate fund by the name ‘Community Development Fund’
would be created.
The Institutional Framework for implementing Sagarmala has to provide for a
coordinating role for the Central Government. It should provide a platform for
central, state governments and local authorities to work in tandem and
coordination under the established principles of “cooperative federalism”, in
order to achieve the objectives of the Sagarmala Project and ensure port-led
development.
A National Sagarmala Apex Committee (NSAC) is envisaged for overall policy
guidance and high level coordination, and to review various aspects of planning
and implementation of the plan and projects. The NSAC shall be chaired by the
Minister incharge of Shipping, with Cabinet Ministers from stakeholder
Ministries and Chief Ministers/Ministers incharge of ports of maritime states
as members. This committee, while providing policy direction and guidance for
the initiative’s implementation, shall approve the overall National Perspective
Plan (NPP) and review the progress of implementation of these plans.
At the Central level, Sagarmala Development Company (SDC) will be set up under
the Companies Act, 1956 to assist the State level/zone level Special Purpose
Vehicles (SPVs), as well as SPVs to be set up by the ports, with equity support
for implementation of projects to be undertaken by them. The SDC shall also get
the Detailed Master Plans for individual zones prepared within a two year
period. The business plan of the SDC shall be finalised within a period of six
months. The SDC will provide a funding window and/or implement only those
residual projects that cannot be funded by any other means/mode.
In order to kick start the implementation of projects it is proposed to take up
identified projects covered in the concept of Sagarmala for implementation
forthwith. These identified projects for implementation in the initial phase
will be based on the available data and feasibility study reports and the
preparedness, willingness and interest shown by the State Governments and
Central Ministries to take up projects.
All efforts would be made to implement those projects through the private
sector and through Public Private Participation (PPP) wherever feasible. Funds
requirement for starting the implementation of projects in the initial phase of
Sagarmala Project is projected at Rs. 692 crores for the FY 2015-16. Further
requirement of funds will be finalized after completion of Detailed Master Plan
for Coastal Economic Zones for future years. These funds will be used for
implementation of projects by line ministries in accordance with approvals by
the SCSC.
Background:
Presently, Indian ports handle more than 90 percent of India’s total EXIM trade
volume. However, the current proportion of merchandize trade in Gross Domestic
Product (GDP) of India is only 42 percent, whereas for some developed countries
and regions in the world such as Germany and European Union, it is 75 percent
and 70 percent respectively. Therefore, there is a great scope to increase the
share of merchandising trade in India’s GDP. With the Union Government’s “Make
in India” initiative, the share of merchandise trade in India’s GDP is expected
to increase and approach levels achieved in developed countries. India lags far
behind in ports and logistics infrastructure. Against a share of 9 percent of
railways and 6 percent of roads in the GDP the share of ports is only 1
percent. In addition high logistics costs make Indian exports uncompetitive.
Therefore Sagarmala project has been envisioned to provide ports and the
shipping the rightful place in the Indian economy and to enable port-led
development.
Amongst Indian States, Gujarat has been a pioneer in adopting the strategy of
port-led development, with significant results. While in the 1980’s the state
grew at only 5.08 percent per year (National average was 5.47 percent), this
accelerated to 8.15 percent per annum in the 1990’s (All India average 6.98
percent) and subsequently to more than 10 percent per annum, substantially
benefitting from the port-led development model.
The growth of India’s maritime sector is constrained due to many developmental,
procedural and policy related challenges namely, involvement of multiple
agencies in development of infrastructure to promote industrialization, trade,
tourism and transportation; presence of a dual institutional structure that has
led to development of major and non-major ports as separate, unconnected
entities; lack of requisite infrastructure for evacuation from major and
non-major ports leading to sub-optimal transport modal mix; limited hinterland
linkages that increases the cost of transportation and cargo movement; limited
development of centres for manufacturing and urban and economic activities in
the hinterland; low penetration of coastal and inland shipping in India,
limited mechanization and procedural bottlenecks and lack of scale, deep draft and
other facilities at various ports in India.
An illustrative list of the kind of development projects that could be
undertaken in Sagarmala initiative are (i) Port-led industrialization (ii) Port
based urbanization (iii) Port based and coastal tourism and recreational
activities (iv) Short-sea shipping coastal shipping and Inland Waterways
Transportation (v) Ship building, ship repair and ship recycling (vi) Logistics
parks, warehousing, maritime zones/services (vii) Integration with hinterland
hubs (viii) Offshore storage, drilling platforms (ix) Specialization of ports
in certain economic activities such as energy, containers, chemicals, coal,
agro products, etc. (x) Offshore Renewable Energy Projects with base ports for
installations (xi) Modernizing the existing ports and development of new ports.
This strategy incorporates both aspects of port-led development viz. port-led
direct development and port-led indirect development.
Approach and Key Components of
e-Kranti : National e-Governance Plan 2.0 (Cabinet)
This is a follow up to the key decisions taken in the first
meeting of the Apex Committee on the Digital India programme held in November
2014. This programme has been envisaged by the Department of Electronics and
Information Technology (DeitY).
The objectives of `e-Kranti` are as follows:
i. To redefine NeGP with transformational and outcome oriented e-Governance
initiatives.
ii. To enhance the portfolio of citizen centric services.
iii. To ensure optimum usage of core Information & Communication Technology
(ICT).
iv. To promote rapid replication and integration of eGov applications.
v. To leverage emerging technologies.
vi. To make use of more agile implementation models.
The key principles of e-Kranti are as follows:
i. Transformation and not Translation.
ii. Integrated Services and not Individual Services.
iii. Government Process Reengineering (GPR) to be mandatory in every MMP.
iv. ICT Infrastructure on Demand.
v. Cloud by Default.
vi. Mobile First.
vii. Fast Tracking Approvals.
viii. Mandating Standards and Protocols.
ix. Language Localization.
x. National GIS (Geo-Spatial Information System).
xi. Security and Electronic Data Preservation.
e-Kranti is an important pillar of the Digital India programme. The Vision of
e-Kranti is "Transforming e-Governance for Transforming Governance".
The Mission of e-Kranti is to ensure a Government wide transformation by
delivering all Government services electronically to citizens through
integrated and interoperable systems via multiple modes, while ensuring
efficiency, transparency and reliability of such services at affordable costs.
The approach and methodology of e-Kranti are fully aligned with the Digital
India programme. The programme management structure approved for Digital India
programme would be used for monitoring the implementation of e-Kranti and also
for providing a forum to ascertain views of all stakeholders, overseeing
implementation, resolving inter-Ministerial issues and ensuring speedy sanction
of projects. Key components of the management structure would consist of the
Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) for according approval to projects
according to the financial provisions, a Monitoring Committee on Digital India
headed by the Prime Minister, Digital India Advisory Group chaired by the
Minister of Communications and IT, an Apex Committee chaired by the Cabinet
Secretary and the Expenditure Finance Committee (EFC) / Committee on Non Plan
Expenditure (CNE). The Apex Committee headed by the Cabinet Secretary would
undertake addition / deletion of Mission Mode Projects (MMPs) which are
considered to be appropriate and resolve inter-Ministerial issues.
Central Ministries/ Departments and State Governments concerned would have the
overall responsibility for implementation of the MMPs. Considering the need for
overall aggregation and integration at the national level, it is felt
appropriate to implement e-Kranti as a programme, with well defined roles and
responsibilities of each agency involved. The thrust areas of the e-Kranti -
electronic delivery of services under the Digital India programme are:-
Technology for Education (e-Education), Health (e-Healthcare), Farmers,
Financial Inclusion, Planning, Justice, Security, Planning and Cyber Security.
e-Governance - Reforming Government through Technology, a pivotal pillar of the
Digital India programme, would also be implemented under e-Kranti by
undertaking and strengthening Government Process Re-engineering, electronic
databases, complete workflow automation and IT based Public Grievance Redressal
in all Government Departments.
“National Supercomputing Mission
(NSM): (CCEA)
This is a visionary program to enable India to leapfrog to
the league of world class computing power nations. The Mission would be
implemented and steered jointly by the Department of Science and Technology
(DST) and Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY) at an
estimated cost of Rs.4500 crore over a period of seven years.
The Mission envisages empowering our national academic and R&D institutions
spread over the country by installing a vast supercomputing grid comprising of
more than 70 high-performance computing facilities. These supercomputers will
also be networked on the National Supercomputing grid over the National
Knowledge Network (NKN). The NKN is another programme of the government which
connects academic institutions and R&D labs over a high speed network.
Academic and R&D institutions as well as key user departments/ministries
would participate by using these facilities and develop applications of
national relevance. The Mission also includes development of highly
professional High Performance Computing (HPC) aware human resource for meeting
challenges of development of these applications.
The Mission implementation would bring supercomputing within the reach of the
large Scientific & Technology community in the country; will provide
significant qualitative and quantitative improvement in R&D and higher
education in the disciplines of Science & Technology; and enable the
country with a capacity of solving multi-disciplinary grand challenge problems.
Currently, in the top Supercomputing machines in the world, a major share is
taken from advanced countries such as the US, Japan, China and the European
Union (EU). The mission envisages India to be in the select league of such
nations. To provide continuity in maintaining a lead in supercomputing, the
Mission also includes advanced R&D. This will create requisite expertise to
build state-of-the-art next generation supercomputing. The Mission supports the
government’s vision of “Digital India” and “Make in India” initiatives.
The Mission has been conceptualized and evolved keeping in view the ever
increasing computing demand of the scientific and academic community in the
country, international technology trends and roadmaps of leading countries in
the area, strategic importance and emergence of supercomputing as a benchmark
for Scientific & Technological advancements. Two key departments of the Government
of India, DeitY and DST will be implementing the mission jointly through two
leading organizations. These are the Centre for Development of Advanced
Computing (C-DAC) and the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore.
Approval to innovative mechanism for
utilization of stranded gas based generation capacity (CCEA)
In order to revive these stranded gas based plants, the
mechanism envisages importing Regasified Liquified Natural Gas (RLNG) for
supply to these plants so that they can generate power. The mechanism also
envisages sacrifices to be made collectively by all stakeholders, including the
Central and State Governments by way of exemptions from certain applicable
taxes and levies on the incremental RLNG being imported for the purpose. Besides,
gas transporters and re-gasification terminals have agreed to reduce their
transportation tariff, marketing margin and re-gasification charges on the
incremental RLNG. Power developers would completely forego the return on their
equity. The Government of India also proposes to provide support to Discoms
from the Power System Development Fund (PSDF) through a transparent reverse
e-bidding process. This will make the cost of power affordable.
With this arrangement, electricity generation in the
country would be enhanced significantly by around 79 billion units, valued at
about Rs 42,000 crore. The additional generation would help light up many
unconnected households in the country, besides benefitting the public at large,
including farmers and poorer sections of the society who have limited access to
electricity. This initiative is another key step towards achieving this
Government’s commitment of 24X7 power supply to all.
This decision will also help improve grid stability and safety, as gas based
plants are ideal for being used as spinning reserve, and for meeting peaking
power requirements, as they can be started and shut down at very short notice.
Grid collapse of the kind that happened in July, 2012, will be avoided with
this measure. Besides, it can support renewable balancing power requirements
and enable grid integration of renewable energy. This gains importance
especially in the context of India’s aspiration to rapidly scale up renewable
generation. Gas based power is also environment friendly and much less
polluting than coal based generation.
Reviving these gas based power plants will go a long way in making peak load
shortages in the summer months a thing of the past. Many of the stranded gas
based power projects are located in the Southern region which is power deficit.
With their revival, power shortage in the Southern region will be minimized
significantly.
It is felt that the revival of stranded gas based capacity would ameliorate
stress on the banking sector. This will kickstart growth and have a multiplier
effect on the economy. It would also restore investors’ confidence in the power
sector. The mechanism will also result in optimal use of gas infrastructure
like gas pipelines and re-gasification capacities in the country, which are currently
underutilized.
Union Minister for Earth Sciences
and Science & Technology Dr Harsh Vardhan Dedicates a Remote-Controlled
Polar Vehicle to the Nation (Mo Earth Science)
An indigenously
developed remote-controlled Polar vehicle which would reach where no human can
dare to go. It will be deployed in the extremely harsh Polar Regions and will
be remotely operated by our scientists at our base in Antarctica. The Minister
said that the results of its findings will contribute vastly to mankind’s
understanding of climate besides enhancing our capability to predict the
Monsoon”. Its successful development by
ESSO-NIOT signals the beginning of a process of both self-sufficiency and entry
into the highly sophisticated field of Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) engineering
which has hitherto been dominated by the western powers.
After years of work based in Dakshin
Gangotri (Antarctica), Indian scientists have discerned a clear connection
between the thermohaline circulation that originates in the North Atlantic and
southern Arctic and the Monsoon. It is a major force that drives not only the
oceanic circulation but also regulates the global climate.
The ESSO-NIOT team that participated
in the 34th Indian Scientific Expedition to Antarctica (ISEA) successfully deployed
PROVe in the Priadarshini Lake located on the Schirmacher Oasis in Antarctica
which is the source of water for Maitri, India’s second base in the icy
continent.”
He added that PROVe’s systems
have been integrated with Conductivity, Temperature, Dissolved Oxygen sensors
and Irradiance meter. PROVe was later deployed near ice shelf from the
ship at the India Bay in Antarctica at a depth of 62 metres. Further
explorations and data analysis are in progress.
The country, he said, is on
track with the objective of developing reliable technology to solve the varied
technology problems associated with harvesting living and non-living resources
in the Indian Exclusive Economic Zone which makes up about two-thirds of the
land area of India.
Under the Ministry`s Monsoon Mission
program, ESSO-NIOT is part of an Indo-US initiative involving the participation
of several institutions. This group is studying the science behind the
monsoonal events of Bay of Bengal using both Indian and US research ships using
special equipment. The results are very promising from the point of view of
enhancing insights into air-sea interactions.
Union Agriculture Minister
emphasises that the Prime Minister attaches importance to revitalization of the
Agriculture Sector through modernization of farming practices (MoA)
Prime Minister attaches importance to revitalization of the
agriculture sector through modernization of farming practices thereby
increasing crop productivity without compromising on quality. Shri Singh said
that the measures announced by the Government like Pradhan Mantri Krishi
Sinchai Yogna to ensure more crop per drop are aimed at improving efficiency of
farm activities and also increasing farm productivity.
Shri Singh said that while increased productivity is an essential component of
a vibrant agricultural sector, improved post harvest handling and processing is
essential to ensure value addition, reduction in wastage and transporting good
quality products to markets. He said that it is in this context that agricultural
cooperatives have a very important role to play and it is expected that NCDC to
fully support them.
NCDC would continue to support and supplement Government
efforts towards development of cooperatives in agriculture and allied sectors.
The focus would be on consolidation of the existing infrastructure and units
established by the cooperatives especially for value addition and processing of
farmers’ produce, strengthening of forward and backward linkages for
procurement and marketing. He spoke about strengthening of the existing
monitoring systems and creating awareness about NCDC schemes / programmes by
organizing workshops.
Coal Minister Launches Projects
Monitoring Portal to Enhance Efficiency, Transparency & Improve
Communication Between B2G, G2G & G2B (MoCoal)
e-CPMP (Online Coal Project Monitoring Portal) has been
developed for tracking projects that entail an investment related to coal. IT
automates the entire tracking of projects in the context of the bottlenecks.
This system has been designed in such a way that it will enhance the
efficiency, bring transparency, boost the investor confidence, revive the
investment cycle, eliminate the human interaction, and improve the
communication between industries to Government (B2G), Government to Government
(G2G), or vice versa (G2B). It automates the entire tracking of issues
resolution mechanism from submission to commission on time. This would include
submission of a new project, editing/updating the projects, reviewing the
projects, submission of details relating to bottlenecks and the decisions taken
to remove the implementation bottlenecks in the stalled coal related projects.
It also includes preparation of Agenda that can be generated online and
circulated with auto mailer to all the Nodal officers. System also provides
various Graphical Analysis and Reporting functionalities. The system also
provides general issues module through which agencies, states and coal
administrator can discuss other issues apart from projects.
PM at Urja Sangam 2015 (PMO)
The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, today appealed to
well-to-do sections of Indian society to voluntarily give up LPG subsidy, so
that the benefit of the same could be shared more widely with poorer sections
of society. Delivering the inaugural address at the global energy summit – Urja
Sangam-2015 – in New Delhi, the Prime Minister said about 2.8 lakh people from
across the country had already given up LPG subsidy. He said this was an
important contribution for the service of the poor.
The Prime Minister called for enhancing domestic production to reduce the
energy import burden of the country by at least 10 percent, till 2022 – the
occasion of the platinum jubilee of India`s independence.
The Prime Minister complimented ONGC Videsh Ltd, Engineers India Ltd, and
Barauni Refinery, for their successful journey of five decades, and called upon
India`s energy sector to plan for the next five decades with a global
perspective. He said India, with one-sixth of the world`s population, should
shoulder one-sixth of the world`s energy responsibility, hence contributing to
global prosperity.
The Prime Minister highlighted various achievements of the Union Government,
and reforms initiated in the energy sector over the last ten months. He said
these reforms were motivated by the quest for greater energy security, which is
both a necessity and responsibility. He said transfer of LPG subsidy directly
into bank accounts through the world`s largest cash subsidy transfer programme
in the world – PAHAL – had resulted in elimination of leakages, and curbing
corruption. He also mentioned deregulation of diesel prices, ethanol blended
petrol to help sugarcane farmers, promotion of bio-diesel, and extension of the
gas grid in eastern India, as some of the other major initiatives of the
Government. The Prime Minister said the Union Government aims to extend piped
natural gas (PNG) to one crore houses over the next five years.
The Prime Minister called upon Indian energy companies to become multinational;
work towards India-Middle East, India-Central Asia, and India-South Asia energy
corridors; and establish gas positions in North America and Africa.
FM Stresses the need for use of more
Accounted Money and Discourage of use of Unaccounted Money (MoF)
The Union Finance Minister Shri Arun Jaitley said that
there is need to take steps to encourage people to use more and more accounted
money and discourage the use of unaccounted currency. In this regard, the
Finance Minister said that with the progress in the growth of economy, more and
more people should be incentivized to use plastic money such as credit cards,
Rupay cards and cheques or any other negotiable instrument. They should be
discouraged to use hard currency or unaccounted money. As a result of financial
inclusion, more and more households are now connected to banks and RuPay cards
have been issued to people even to those below the poverty line. He said that
there is now need to launch a campaign to create an awareness among them for
using more and more RuPay cards which can be a game changer as far as India is
concerned.
Government plans to launch - Ek Saal
Desh Ke Naam (MoYouth affairs)
Discuss a new programme proposed to be introduced for
“Youth Leadership Development – Ek Saal, Desh Ke Naam”. The group discussed the
various issues like objectives of the programme, selection process for the
fellows, course content, their training, etc. The group discussed as to how to
nurture leadership talent among youth to meet societal challenges by way of
comprehensive leadership training through exposure, experience, experimentation
and enterprise and to equip them with the necessary skills, values and vision
to increase the effectiveness of their work by giving them opportunity and
atmosphere to develop their leadership talents by way of ‘Self Learning’ and to
find more meaningful and joyful purpose for their life. The eminent persons
discussed how to create a large group of young professionals having the desire
and capability to understand and find answers to developmental issues. The
members discussed ways to achieve the objectives by developing training and
experience based learning process facilitating deeper search of these youth for
leading a purposeful life. It is believed that such a pursuit of social problem
solving will bring out the best among youth.
“Consultation Paper on Regulatory
Framework for Over-the-top (OTT) Services (MoC&IT)
Telecom
service providers (TSPs) offering fixed and mobile telephony are currently
being overwhelmed by online content,
known as
over-the-top (OTT) applications and services. The term over-the-top (OTT)
refers to applications and services which are accessible over the internet and
ride on operators’ networks offering internet access services e.g. social networks,
search engines, amateur video aggregation sites etc. OTT providers make
use of the TSPs’ infrastructure to reach their customers and offer
products/services that not only make money for them but also compete with the
traditional services offered by TSPs. Leave aside TSPs, these apps also compete
with brick and mortar rivals e.g. e-commerce sites, banking etc. Today, users
can directly access these applications online from any place, at any time,
using a variety of internet connected consumer devices.
The rising penetration
of smartphones (because of declining price) and the up-gradation of access
networks by the TSPs are among the important factors contributing to OTT
growth. Digitalization of content has reduced conservation, reproduction and
distribution costs, which, in turn, has promoted the explosive growth in the
supply of online content. Paradoxically, the broadband networks provided by
incumbent TSPs are used as a platform by the OTT players for the development of
new businesses. The growth of traffic apart, the OTT applications have created
an increasing demand for faster broadband speed, which translates into a need
for huge investments in network up-gradation by the TSPs.
Worldwide there is an
ongoing debate amongst Governments, industry and consumers regarding the
regulation of OTT services and about net-neutrality. In this
background, TRAI has today released a Consultation Paper on
Regulatory Framework for Over-the-top (OTT) services. This
Consultation Paper covers the views of the service providers and OTT providers,
all related issues (including network neutrality), international experience
with network neutrality and regulation of OTTs (communications and
non-communications).
Some of the important
issues discussed in the Consultation Paper are:
a. Policy
and regulatory environment and need for regulation;
b. Current
policy dispensation for OTT players vis-a-vis TSPs;
c. Security
concerns of OTT players providing communication services;
d. Issues
related to security, safety and privacy of the consumers;
e. Issues
arising because of ‘net-neutrality’;
f. Network
discrimination and traffic management practices;
g. Non-price
based discrimination of services and ensuring transparency to consumers;
h. Pricing-related
issues, including differential pricing for data access;
Geophysical Observatory at Shoal Bay
in Port Blair (Mo Earth Science)
India can now boast of being one of the most scientifically
advanced countries to tackle any situation effectively arising out of natural
calamities and disasters. Inaugurating the Multi-Parametric Geophysical
Observatory set up by the Indian Institute of Geomagnetism at Shoal Bay No. 8
in Port Balair on Andama & Nicobar Islands. India is much ahead in terms of
Early Warning Systems and this is evident from the fact that about 28 nations
depend and act upon the real time data provided by India, which, he said, is a
matter of great pride for all of us.
A&N Islands is a place of pilgrimage where the freedom
fighters have made supreme sacrifices in the cause of the motherland. “If there
is a sacred place in the country it is Andamans where the National Memorial
Cellular Jail is a testimony to the great suffering of the freedom fighters”.
Indian Institute of Geomagnetism (IIG) for setting up of
the Geophysical Observatory here in the Islands, considering that these Islands
lie in Seismic Zone 5 and that the setting up of such Laboratory is going to be
immensely beneficial to the Islands. The Lt. Governor also lauded the efforts
of the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Science (INCOIS), Hyderabad
for their frequent updates and early warnings on natural disaster such as
earthquake, cyclones etc.
The Lt. Governor also urged the Union Minister to help the Island Administration
to set up a Desalination Plant at Mayabunder or Chowra on a pilot project basis
in order to overcome water scarcity in these places. He also requested for
setting up of Biotechnology Research Centre and said the Administration is
ready to extend help, if needed, in this regard.
Signing
and ratifying the Inter-Governmental Agreement on Dry Ports of International
Importance
The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister, Shri
Narendra Modi, today gave its approval for signing and ratifying of the Inter-Governmental
Agreement on Dry Ports of International Importance for signature at the United
Nations Headquarters in New York. This is a follow up of the Resolution of the
United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP)
regarding development of dry ports within member countries of UNESCAP,
including India.
This current agreement promotes international recognition of dry ports,
facilitates investment in infrastructure, improves operational efficiency of
inter modal transport services, establishes guiding principles for development
and operation of dry ports and enhances the environmental sustainability of
freight transport.
The agreement will help in connectivity and integration of the Asian highway
network, the trans-Asian railways network and other modes by working towards
development of dry ports.
There is need to promote and develop an international integrated intermodal
transport and logistics system in Asia with its neighbouring regions. The
agreement will facilitate and expand international goods transport as a
consequence of growing international trade in the region.
The agreement will also lead to strengthening of connectivity and seamless
international movement of goods, facilitate increased efficiency and reduce
cost of transport and logistics as well as extend reach to inland areas and
wider hinterlands.
Memorandum
of Understanding on Cooperation in Traditional Systems of Medicine and
Homoeopathy between India and Mauritius
The MoU will enhance bilateral cooperation between the two
countries in the areas of traditional medicine including medicinal plants. This
will be of immense importance to both countries, considering their shared
cultural heritage.
Both India and Mauritius share several cultural, historical, linguistic and
literary similarities. Traditional medicine including medicinal plants are
promising areas which need to be further explored and can prove to be mutually
beneficial to the people of the two countries.
The financial resources necessary to conduct research, training courses,
conferences/ meetings and deputations of experts will be met from the existing
allocated budget and existing plan schemes of the Ministry of AYUSH.
Prime
Minister to Inaugurate Two-Day Conference of Environment and Forest Ministers
(MoE&F)
The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, will inaugurate a
two-day Conference of Environment and Forest Ministers of States and Union
Territories on April 6 at Vigyan Bhawan. Interacting with mediapersons at
Paryavaran Bhavan here today, the Minister of State for Environment, Forest and
Climate Change (Independent Charge), Shri Prakash Javadekar said that the Prime
Minister will launch the National Air Quality Index (AQI) i.e. one number, one
colour and one description to inform the public about air quality in a simple
and an easily understandable form. The AQI would be available for 10 cities, on
a real-time basis from that day. 46 cities, with a population of more than one
million and 20 state capitals will be covered in the next couple of years. This
will enhance public awareness and involvement in air quality improvement.
The programme of the Conference reflects the growing awareness of various
issues concerning environment, forest and climate change. A combined session on
“Waste to Wealth” on the first day will discuss rules regarding solid waste,
e-waste, hazardous waste, plastic waste and bio-medical waste. A copy of the
latest report on Tiger Census will be presented to the Prime Minister during
the inaugural session of the Conference.
Another combined session on April 6 will focus on “Ease of doing Business and
TSR report” covering forest and wildlife issues. At present, there are six laws
under Environment and Forest, viz Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 (EP Act);
Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 (FC Act); Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 (WLP
Act); The Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 (Water Act);
The Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 (Air Act); and The
Indian Forests Act, 1927 (IF Act). All these Acts are being reviewed. The
second combined session will have a detailed discussion on strengthening of
environment and forest laws, rules & processes.
On April 7, there will be three break-out sessions on issues related to forest
wildlife and GIM issues, pollution-related issues and issues related to
bio-diversity and climate change, including eco-sensitive zones and Western
Ghats. As air and water pollution directly impact the health of the people and
need stringent action, there will be a separate four-hour deliberation on the
issue during the Conference.
The two-day Conference will also provide the States an opportunity to share the
best practices on various laws, rules and procedures related to environment.
The Conference is important, as it is the first such conference being organized
after the new Government assumed office under the leadership of the Prime
Minister, Shri Narendra Modi.
PM would also Launch Pradhan Mantri
Mudra Yojana on the Occasion (MoF)
Dr. Hasmukh Adhia, Secretary,
Department of Financial Services, Ministry of Finance reviewed here today the
preparations made for launch of Micro Units Development and Refinance Agency
(MUDRA) – a bank. MUDRA Bank would be launched by the Prime Minister on 8th
April, 2015 at Vigyan Bhavan in the national capital. Dr. Adhia said that the
Prime Minister would also launch the Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana on this
occasion. The bank would be based on the theme of ‘Funding the unfunded’.
Secretary (DFS) Dr Aadhia said that MUDRA bank would be responsible for regulating and refinancing all
Micro-finance Institutions (MFI) which are in the business of lending to
micro/small business entities engaged in manufacturing, trading and services
activities among others. The MUDRA Bank would be set-up through a statutory
enactment and would be partner with State level/Regional level co-ordinators to
provide finance to Last Mile Financer of small/micro business enterprises.
The meeting was attended among others by Ms. Snehlata Srivastava, Additional
Secretary, Department of Financial Services, Shri Kshatrapati
Shivaji, CMD, SIDBI and other senior officers of the Ministry of Finance and
SIDBI.
The MUDRA Bank would
primarily be responsible for –
1)
Laying down policy guidelines for micro/small enterprise financing business
2)
Registration of MFI entities
3)
Regulation of MFI entities
4)
Accreditation /rating of MFI entities
5)
Laying down responsible financing practices to ward off indebtedness and ensure
proper client protection principles and methods of recovery
6)
Development of standardized set of covenants governing last mile lending to
micro/small enterprises
7)
Promoting right technology solutions for the last mile
8)
Formulating and running a Credit Guarantee scheme for providing guarantees
to the loans which are being extended to micro enterprises
9)
Creating a good architecture of Last Mile Credit Delivery to micro
businesses under the scheme of Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana
A
sum of Rs 20,000 crore would be allocated to the MUDRA Bank from the
money available from shortfalls of Priority Sector Lending for creating a
Refinance Fund to provide refinance to the Last Mile Financers. Another Rs 3,000
crore would be provided to the MUDRA Bank from the budget to create a Credit
Guarantee corpus for guaranteeing loans being provided to the micro
enterprises.
India Signs Loan Agreements with
World Bank for US$ 500 Million for Small Industries Development Bank of India
(SIDBI) for MSME Growth Innovation and Inclusive Finance Project (MoF)
The Loan Agreements for World Bank (IBRD) assistance of US$
500 million to Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) for MSME
Growth Innovation and Inclusive Finance Project was signed here today between
Government of India and the World Bank. The Objective of the project is to
improve access to finance of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) in
manufacturing and service sectors from early to growth stage, including through
innovative financial products. The project also aims to support growth and
employment creation through unlocking opportunities for firm growth that the
financing would provide.
Funded MSMEs will be the primary beneficiaries. MSMEs for the purpose of this
project will be firms that are considered as MSMEs under the MSME Act. The
project specifically benefits SIDBI by enhancing its financial and
institutional capacity in the areas of early stage, service and manufacturing
sector financing, and also supports other Participating Financial Institutions
(PFIs).
The project will have three components which are: (i) Spurring Early Stage and
Risk Capital Finance, (ii) Supporting service sector financing models and (iii)
Supporting finance to manufacturing MSMEs.
It is a loan with an implementation period of 5 years. Small Industries
Development Bank of India is the implementing agency.
Health
and Family Welfare Ministry to Implement RSBY Scheme (MoL&E)
The Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojna (RSBY ) of the Labour and Employment
Ministry will now be implemented by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
The RSBY, the health insurance scheme for BPL(below poverty line) families was
launched for the workers in the unorganized sector in the FY 2007-08 and it
became fully operational from 1st April 2008. It provides for IT-enabled and smart
–card-based cashless healthy insurance, including maternity benefit cover up to
Rs. 30,000/- per annum on a family floater basis to BPL families (a unit of
five) and 11 occupational groups in the unorganized sector. The ‘’Unorganized
workers social Security Act, 2008” came into operation w.e.f 31st December 2008
and it encompassed ten social security schemes benefitting the unorganized
workers including the RSBY.
