Achievement Tracking - Modi 2.0 Govt - No Discussions

nash · Post by **nash** » 20 Aug 2015 19:07

http://zeenews.india.com/business/news/ ... 34168.html

Such banks will ensure more money comes into the banking system and will help reach out to people in rural areas. Moreover, the payments bank licence will enable the network of 1,54,000 post offices (including 1,30,000 rural post offices) to offer banking services to the masses in the country.

A_Gupta · Post by **A_Gupta** » 25 Aug 2015 23:29

Modi and the world
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1150825/j ... _38904.jsp
Laudatory article about Modi's foreign policy.

Hari Seldon · Post by **Hari Seldon** » 27 Aug 2015 09:05

EconomicTimes ‏@EconomicTimes 8m8 minutes ago
38% of the 970-odd investment plans in execution mode http://ow.ly/RqNJU

Falijee · Post by **Falijee** » 27 Aug 2015 22:37

Prime Minister Narendra Modi to visit US West Coast in September

[quote]NEW DELHI: Narendra Modi, who will be the first Indian PM to visit the US West Coast after several decades, would not only perform at yet another diaspora show on September 27 but will also try attracting investments and expertise for Digital India, innovation projects and clean energy initiatives with meetings lined up with top IT CEOs of Silicon Valley and startups besides possible visit to Google labs.[quote]

The Modiji train is running full- steam ahead

member_23061 · Post by **member_23061** » 27 Aug 2015 23:44

http://m.timesofindia.com/nri/other-new ... 698802.cms

Foreign minister being pro active

Yagnasri · Post by **Yagnasri** » 28 Aug 2015 17:05

Stolen from Shamlee sir post from Political drama thread.

http://www.abplive.in/india/2015/08/28/ ... Kalam-Road

chaanakya · Post by **chaanakya** » 29 Aug 2015 00:06

First online railway recruitment exams in progress in 242 cities across the country

For the first time, Railway Recruitment Boards are conducting examinations online to fill up more than 3,000 vacancies of engineers.

The all-India examinations for 3,273 vacancies of Senior Section Engineers and Junior Engineers are being held online from August 26 to September 4, railways said in a statement.

The examinations are being conducted in 242 cities across the country including far-off locations in North-East and Jammu and Kashmir.

Railways said the online format is expected to enhance objectivity, transparency and credibility of Railway Recruitment Board (RRB) examinations significantly.

The online system is user-friendly and fool-proof. The system allows a candidate to navigate from one question to another with utmost ease and can also be read/attempted in the respective regional languages

SaiK · Post by **SaiK** » 29 Aug 2015 22:34

can someone with full access to WSJ post it in full?

http://forums.bharat-rakshak.com/viewto ... 0#p1888789

uddu · Post by **uddu** » 01 Sep 2015 08:25

https://pibindia.wordpress.com/

The scale is mind boggling.

Informatively, 77 crore incandescent bulbs were sold in 2013-14 which if replaced by LEDs will result in reduction of 20,000 MW load and energy savings of 100 billion kWh (Kilowatt hour) every year. Total saving in electricity bills of consumers will be Rs 40,000 crore every year, considering average tariff of Rs 4 per kWh. Average reduction of electricity bill of consumers is pegged at Rs160-400 per year per LED ( light emitting diode).

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had launched LED based home and street lighting programme on January 5 this year. The plan envisages to cover 100 cities by March next year and balance by March 2019, targeting 77crore ordinary bulbs and 3.5 crore conventional street lights. There are 3.5 crore street lights in the country with a load of 3,400 MW which can be reduced to 1,400 MW by replacing conventional lights with LED based street lights which could lead to saving of about 9,000 million units annually worth Rs 5,500 crore to municipalities annually.

From department of consumer affairs
ONLINE MONITORING OF CASES IN CONSUMER FORA

A major initiative has been to fully digitise the operations of the consumer courts. The Consumer Forum Network (CONFONET) has linked the Consumer Fora in the country through a Computer Network and any citizen with an internet connection can access the cause list of a district forum or a State Commission, check the status of his case and read the orders passed in a case, online, from the comfort of his home.

Agriculture
Out of about 141 million hectares of net area sown of the country, only an extent of 65 million hectares (46%) is currently covered under irrigation. Substantial dependence on rainfall makes cultivation in remaining areas a high risk and less productive profession. Empirical evidences suggest, that assured/protective irrigation/in-situ moisture conservation encourages farmers to invest more in farming technology and inputs leading to productivity enhancement and increased farm income.

The Government of India is committed to accord high priority to water security. Government has conceived the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY) with the objective of extending the coverage of irrigation in a focused manner, with end-to-end solution on source creation, distribution, management, field application and extension activities.

Many many more are listed.

Hari Seldon · Post by **Hari Seldon** » 04 Sep 2015 08:20

Govt starts showing some respect for taxpayer money.

Modi govt withdraws security to over 30 VIPs including Sushil Kumar Shinde's family members, Meira Kumar (DNA)

Eight family members of former Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar, two former Chief Justices of India are among more than 30 VIPs whose security cover have been withdrawn by the Central government. Former Telecom Minister A Raja, who is also an accused in the 2G scam, former Jammu and Kashmir Governor Lt Gen (retd) S K Sinha and NHRC chairperson K G Balakrishnan names also figure in the list whose security was either withdrawn or downgraded by the Central government.

Security cover given by central forces to Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, Kerala Governor and former Chief Justice of India P Sathasivam and Uttarakhand Governor K K Paul were also withdrawn as they have been given security cover by the respective state governments. A total of eight family members of Shinde are no longer eligible for security cover given by central forces. They are: Shinde's wife Ujwala, daughters Praniti and Smruti, son-in-law Raj Shroff, two grand daughters and two grand sons. All of them got security when Shinde was Union Home Minister.

A Home Ministry official said that the decision has been taken after a thorough security review of each of the individual and considering their current threat perception. Others whose security cover has been withdrawn include former Union Ministers Subodh Kant Sahai, V Narayanasamy and Jitin Prasada, Principal Secretary to former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, T K A Nair, former MP and industrialist Naveen Jindal, former National Conference MP Abdul Rashid Shaheen and R K Dhawan, close aide of late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

Former Delhi Lt Governor Tejendra Khanna, former Solicitor General Gopal Subramaniam, former Rajya Sabha MP Rishang Keishing, former Manipur Governor V K Duggal's son Sunil, V Narayanasamy's daughter-in-law Yamuna, former Home Secretary Anil Goswami and former Cabinet Secretary Ajit Seth also figure in the list.

g.sarkar · Post by **g.sarkar** » 06 Sep 2015 14:13

http://www.rediff.com/news/report/defen ... 150906.htm
Armed forces personnel who retired prematurely to get OROP: PM Modi
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday cleared the air over One Rank One Pension for veterans who retired prematurely, saying, “Armed forces personnel who retired prematurely will be entitled to OROP.”
Addressing a rally in Faridabad, PM lampooned the Opposition for criticising his government over the OROP scheme announced on Saturday, and claimed that justice had finally been given to the ex-servicemen after 42 years. "This matter was pending for over four decades. Everyone had sympathies, but justice was not given to our ex-servicemen," said Modi.
"I promised you that I would do it and I am fulfilling the promise that I have made," he added....
Gautam

Hari Seldon · Post by **Hari Seldon** » 06 Sep 2015 15:57

>>Vivek Agnihotri ‏@vivekagnihotri 4h4 hours ago
Another good move towards #GoodGovernance after cancellation of police verification for passport renewal.

Hari Seldon · Post by **Hari Seldon** » 07 Sep 2015 05:47

I hope this is true (the famous lalchowk tower lends some cred). Should've been BIG news. Can anyone confirm?

From twitter:
>>Dheeraj Jaiswal ‏@DheerajGbc 7h7 hours ago
Thanx to #ModiGovt, Hindus celebrating Janmashtami at Lalchawk Srinagar without any fear from terrorist & Islamists

member_29058 · Post by **member_29058** » 08 Sep 2015 06:40

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/indi ... 863845.cms

Agriculture expert Ramesh Chand appointed to Niti Aayog

Agriculture expert Ramesh Chand has been appointed as new member of the Niti Aayog.

Chand is the third member to join the government's think tank which has replaced the erstwhile planning commission.

The Aayog, which is headed by eminent economist Arvind Panagariya, has two other members—economist Bibek Debroy and former DRDO chief V K Saraswat.

Chand's appointment came at a time the Modi government is keen to revive the agriculture sector and reaffirm its commitment to farmers.

The BJP government has already formed a task force to suggest ways to boost agriculture sector in a follow up to first meeting of the Niti Aayog chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The task force, under the aegis of Aayog, is mandated to recommend ways to reinvigorate agriculture, strategies for reforms and identify successful experiments from which all states can learn.

member_29058 · Post by **member_29058** » 08 Sep 2015 07:06

http://www.oneindia.com/india/fake-curr ... 61549.html
Fake currency: How RAW is turning the heat on Pakistan

Investigations later revealed that fake currency was first sent out of Pakistan to a person in China who in turn decided to courier it to a contact in India. [Fake currency menace: New Rs 1,000 notes to be issued soon] This incident reveals that the Pakistan based racket has been innovating with each passing day and a detailed paper of the Research and Analysis Wing shows how deep rooted the problem is. In the past few months agents of the R&AW have launched a global operation and this has led to persons being arrested in Sri Lanka, Thailand and Bangladesh.

The arrests in Thailand Three persons, Sajjad Noor, Ali Hafiz and Noor Shahid were arrested recently in Thailand. The tip off to the Thai police was sounded off by the R&AW which led to their arrest and subsequent interrogation. All three nationals of Pakistan were flying between countries on a fake Canadian passport. During the investigation they revealed that they would bring in the fake currency from Pakistan and drop it off at Thailand. From Thailand the currency would be transported to India. It was also revealed that these persons had point men in Thailand. Further investigations revealed that the men who worked for the Pakistanis were of Cambodian and Sri Lankan origin. It was also found that the Sri Lankan and the Cambodian were collecting the notes at Thailand and then transporting it to India.

Read more at: http://www.oneindia.com/india/fake-curr ... 61549.html

Hari Seldon · Post by **Hari Seldon** » 08 Sep 2015 08:06

Make in India lures Siemens into promising a billion Euro investment in India.

Rahul M · Post by **Rahul M** » 10 Sep 2015 18:09

Narendra Modi government pulls out all stops to host the first all-Africa Summit in India

Read more at:
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/art ... aign=cppst

NEW DELHI: The Narendra Modi government has pulled out all the stops to host the first all-Africa Summit in India. If China could get heads of state and government of an entire continent at a single venue in 2006, a faster growing India can surely do so in 2015. Well, almost.

When the Modi government decided to match the Chinese initiative nine years on, something that its predecessor UPA did not dare consider during its tenure, it ran into a slight problem that threatened to render its ambitious plan a non-starter. There was simply no single venue in the capital with a stage big enough to accommodate 50-odd dignitaries.

Supratik · Post by **Supratik** » 12 Sep 2015 17:19

X-post

Modi govt issues notification giving refugee status to minority illegal immigrants from Pak and Bdesh.

Viv S · Post by **Viv S** » 12 Sep 2015 18:42

SaiK wrote:can someone with full access to WSJ post it in full?

http://forums.bharat-rakshak.com/viewto ... 0#p1888789

In ‘Digital India,’ a 15-Minute Wait for Email

Progress is slow on cable-laying project to get 600 million villagers online

By JOANNA SUGDEN

Updated Aug. 20, 2015

NEW DELHI—India’s Communications Ministry has big plans to connect hundreds of millions of villagers to the Internet. But for now, it is struggling to conquer email.

In a cramped government office, a secretary tells a visitor that it will take 15 minutes for an email she sent to arrive in his inbox. The local broadband connection is poor, he explains.

When the message does arrive, he prints it and carries it to his boss, Aruna Sundararajan, head of Bharat Broadband Network Ltd., the state enterprise spearheading India’s Web-expansion push. Ms. Sundararajan prefers to have some of her work email delivered by hand.

This is where Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s dream of a “Digital India” meets reality.

In early July, the leader of the world’s largest democracy outlined ambitious plans to get rural Indians onto the information superhighway—in large part by ramping up a long-delayed effort to connect hundreds of thousands of villages to the national Internet backbone using fiber-optic cable. The original 2013 target date for completion has been shunted back to 2019.

“India may have missed the industrial revolution, but will not miss the IT revolution,” Mr. Modi said, pledging to hook up 600 million rural Indians for online access to government services, education, e-commerce, banking and health care.

Accomplishing that is a tall order. Fiber-optic cables—which transmit data at high speeds and at a lower cost than satellite or spectrum technology—can be difficult to put down in hard-to-reach areas. The installation program that started in 2011 is woefully behind schedule: Just 1% of the planned 250,000 central village hubs are connected to the Internet, according to the government.

Mr. Modi is trying to kick the project into high gear by slashing red tape. The premier also set up the Committee on the National Fibre Optic Network to evaluate the previous government’s plan to lay 372,000 miles of last-mile cable at a cost of $3.1 billion. It has issued a report saying almost three times as much cabling is required and that the price tag for the government will rise to about $11.2 billion.

“The old plan was a rural road, this is a broadband highway, a superhighway,” Ms. Sundararajan said.

The committee also recommended allowing greater participation by state governments and the private sector in the construction and maintenance of a network that so far has been in the hands of a few state-owned behemoths. The proposals are awaiting cabinet approval.

“The private sector is ready to go,” said Ankit Agarwal, global head of telecom products at Pune-based Sterlite Technologies Ltd., which is one of the government’s main cable suppliers.

Private firms are expected to deliver and operate the village hubs’ fiber-optic networks in 10 of India’s 29 states—including some of its largest—and lay cable in at least three others, according to the network committee’s report.

Jaideep Ghosh, a partner at KMPG India who focuses on telecoms, said the industry wasn't “overly excited to take part.” He cited the expected slow pace of the installation and that telecommunications companies have already reached the most-lucrative population centers. Phone and cable companies “are focused on markets where money can be made.”

Work in India is speeding up. More than 11,500 miles of optical fiber have been laid between April and June this year, a huge improvement from the same period a year ago, when around 250 miles of fiber was installed.

But the task ahead remains gargantuan. In 2013, 1.06 billion Indians were still without Internet access, according to a report by McKinsey & Co. Internet penetration was 15% in India, compared with 46% in China.

If connectivity can be improved in Asia’s third largest economy, it could become a vast new marketplace for online companies. Amazon has set up an Indian arm to tap India’s e-commerce market, which is set to soar to over $100 billion in the next five years from the current $11 billion, according to Morgan Stanley.

Local e-commerce companies, such as Flipkart Internet Pvt. and Snapdeal.com, owned by Jasper Infotech Pvt. Ltd., have been getting large-scale financial backing from investors. In October, Japan’s SoftBank Corp. invested more than $600 million in Snapdeal.

India’s shortcomings in building traditional infrastructure mean it doesn’t have the roads, bridges, power lines and predictable electricity supply that would make it easier to connect the country.

Getting access to land through India’s myriad local and federal government bodies that control access to rights of way has also checked momentum.

Work on the network has so far only begun in 19% of the village clusters, and of those, 15% have faced delays getting access to the land because of red tape, according to the committee’s report.

A shortage of duct through which to feed the fiber has also held progress back, as have problems with the government-developed technology to connect the cables to the schools, community centers and hospitals they are meant to serve with the Internet.

“It is a monumental project but it really can be a game changer for India,” said Ms. Sundararajan. “We’re going from dial-up to actual broadband pace.”

Write to Joanna Sugden at joanna.sugden@wsj.com

Hari Seldon · Post by **Hari Seldon** » 13 Sep 2015 08:59

Common sense-application to solve long standing issues continues apace - this for the awfully slow, broken, clogged justice-delivery system in India... lateral hires of technically competent administrators in a hitherto holy-cow sector. Hope its takes off.

Courting MBAs for Managing Justice (new IE)

NEW DELHI: Business Administration degree holders may soon find another plum job opportunity, albeit in a different sector. To manage the court cases in an orderly manner, the Ministry of Law and Justice is planning to appoint permanent court managers across the country, so that the judges can devote more time to their judicial functions, rather than thinking about administrative issues.

To handle this job, the ministry is planning to hire Masters of Business Administration (MBA), who are less than 35 years of age. They will be required to use their managerial skills to improve the quality of the administrative wing of the courts.

In a bid to make the judicial system more user-friendly, the case and court management is an attempt to provide the people with better services in a lesser time through effective utilisation of the available resources and manpower. This process will also reduce the cost of litigation.

The ministry has allocated `300 crore for employing the court managers, who will be assisting the judges. The managers will be deputed in each judicial district to assist the Principal District and Sessions Judge. Two posts will be created for every High Court. The ministry has also fixed a salary slab of `50,000 a month for the court managers, with a provision for a 10 per cent raise a year.

The reason behind appointing court managers is to have effective, efficient and purposeful judicial management of a case, and to achieve a timely and quality bound resolution of a dispute. The court manager’s job will be to assist in the early identification of disputed issues of facts and law, establishing a procedural calendar for the life of the case and exploration of a possibility of a resolution through methods other than the trial court.

Their main job, however, will be sorting the cases, scheduling them according to the stages, setting a time table and then following up the time table.

Case management requires a managerial approach towards the cases or briefs. It requires judicial commitment and leadership, timely and qualitative disposal of dispute, identification of disputed issue of facts and law, exploration of other methods of disposal of disputes other than trial. It also deals with control of adjournment and total workload of the court.

With the ministry aiming to develop the Human Resources development strategy, the judges have also welcomed the move. “We face so many pressures from the High Court to dispose the pending cases. At the end of every month, we will have to send a complete report to them showing our rate of disposal. This mechanism will help us also to perform in an organised way. Posts of court managers are necessary for professional working of registries,” a Sessions Judge in Delhi told The Sunday Standard.

Hari Seldon · Post by **Hari Seldon** » 15 Sep 2015 06:56

Railways to launch trial run of vacuum toilets on Dibrugrah Rajdhani from today (Zee news)

Dirty washrooms on trains may soon become a thing of the past.

The Railways is all set to launch the trial run of vacuum toilet on Dibrugarh Rajdhani from Monday.

Fitted in the First AC coach at an estimated cost of about Rs 3 lakh, the vacuum toilet is also equipped with the bio-digester system.

Vacuum toilets are currently operational in aircraft.

The environment-friendly vacuum-based toilets consume much less water than conventional ones despite improved efficiency of the flush, aiding water conservation efforts.

Besides, such toilets would also help prevent corrosion of rail tracks.

According to the plan, railways will initially install 80 such toilets on a Shatabdi Express train, an official had said yesterday, as per PTI.

Indian Railway has floated global tenders for installing the toilets at a cost of Rs 25 crore and multinational companies from Germany, USA, Denmark and Spain have evinced interest in manufacturing and installing the system, the official had added.

A vacuum toilet will also be installed at New Delhi station.

Currently, premier trains like Rajdhani and Shatabdi are equipped with controlled discharge toilet system which prevent disposal of waste at stations.

"Waste is automatically discharged after trains gather a minimum speed of 30 km per hour," the official had further pointed out.

So far, railways have replaced 17,388 conventional toilets with bio-toilets.

About 17,000 more are to be replaced by the end of this year.

(With PTI inputs)

member_29172 · Post by **member_29172** » 15 Sep 2015 21:00

X-post from economy thread, a slideshow on infrastructure projects carried out in the 2014-15 period and the plan ahead.

http://niti.gov.in/mgov_file/presentati ... slides.pdf

Hari Seldon · Post by **Hari Seldon** » 16 Sep 2015 06:19

Saw y'day on India TV (no links at present).

GoI quietly decides to phase out Indira and Rajiv stamps and replace them with Pt DD Upadhyay and SP Mukherji ones.

OK, found the link:
Your Right to Know: Stamps with Indira, Rajiv Gandhi discontinued(IE)

The government now plans to introduce stamps under a new series featuring Deendayal Upadhyaya, Jayaprakash Narayan, Syama Prasad Mookerjee and Ram Manohar Lohia in the coming months.

Hitesh · Post by **Hitesh** » 16 Sep 2015 07:14

My first post in this thread: A post on Linkedin.

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/what-pri ... arihar-t-s

What Prime Minister Modi must be actually telling the people of India...
Sep 14, 2015
BY Harihar T S

Over the past few months the media has been busy dissecting the performance of the Modi government on the political and economic front. For a moment, let us forget our political affiliations and try to focus on what the government has managed to do over the last 15 months. Interestingly, this government seems to have done a lot to make the life of the average person better and easier. The unfortunate part is that most speeches by the PM do not seem to focus on these minor aspects which are actually making a huge difference to the lives of people.

A focus on broad macro achievements and catch words like "Make in India" and "Swacchh Bharat" are surely commendable. But they are not something that the man on the street can actually experience. The difference or the impact is not exactly palpable. Here are the 4 things that Prime Minister must be talking about in his speeches when he addresses the people of India.

1. The assessment year 2015-16 has actually seen the finest management of the tax season in recent memory. Over 2 crore income tax returns were filed and the throughput per hour has been highest in history. Where the government has really made a difference is in easing the process of filing and refunds. The government has done away with the practice of paying IT refunds above the threshold of Rs.50,000/- by cheques and is paying all refunds by direct credit to the bank accounts. Additionally, by making e-verification of returns through net banking possible, the entire process of filing returns, verifying and getting refunds has become one seamless process. And if the refunds are actually issued in less than 10 days, it will make a whale of a differnce to the general public. This is something Mr. Modi must be talking about when he addresses people as this is a difference that will be palpable.

2. Despite all the criticism, the Jan Dhan Yojana is rendering yeoman service to the public. Opening 15 crore banking accounts makes the delivery of social welfare schemes so much simpler and seamless. Direct credit means no spillages in between. Additionally, each of these accounts also has an attached insurance cover. So with one stone, the average Indian gets access to a bank account. benefits with little spillages and also the much needed social security. I am actually surprised that these achievemnets hardly find adequate mention in the speeches by the Prime Minister as well as his colleagues.

3. This government has been willing to roll up its sleeves and get down to brass tacks. Be it providing relief to Indians stuck in Yemen and Iraq or rescuing earthquake victims in Nepal or even taking the Kashmir floods head on; this government has been at the forefront. In the past, India hardly saw the kind of decisiveness in rescuing Indians the way we saw in Yemen or even in Iraq. Compared to the way India bungled up with its previous misadventures in Sri Lanka, this government has displayed logistical expertise and ground management skills that are vastly superior. Again, this is something government should be talking about more often.

4. This is a government that is learning fast and that is a good sign. They quickly learnt about the sloth in decision making and quickly dispensed with the various ministerial groups. This has smoothened the process of decision making. The government has also learnt that inflation really pinches the people and has set up the price stabilization fund for agri-commodities. While you can partly credit it to cheap crude, the government has surely managed to keep inflation under check. Also the government has learnt fast that FPI flows form the life-line for the Indian economy and has not waited too long to reverse their MAT idea. The people must be surely happy that this is a government that is learning and is willing to correct its mistakes quickly and smartly.

I think these are the real achievements of the government that are palpable at a grassroot level. High flying dreams do not make much sense to the people of India. Also criticizing the previous government is pointless; that is the reason people have elected the Modi government. Modi and his team must talk a lot more about these simple things that have made the life of Indians easier, simpler and better. He will strike a stronger chord with public opinion.

saumitra_j · Post by **saumitra_j** » 19 Sep 2015 06:30

Operation Smile:

Nineteen thousand boys and girls rescued by a special initiative of the Union home ministry have similar stories: From being pushed into prostitution and bonded labor to ill-treatment by parents. Codenamed 'Operation Smile,' the drive pioneered by home minister Rajnath Singh has seen different state police and women and child departments step up efforts to rescue missing children, with Haryana and Maharashtra taking the lead.

chaanakya · Post by **chaanakya** » 21 Sep 2015 12:13

India received $19.78 billion in FDI in 2014-15 from countries that PM Narendra Modi visited

NEW DELHI: When the PM travels to the US this week to woo businesses there, one of the key facts that the government will be tomtoming about is the surge in foreign direct investment since Narendra Modi took over and how his personal touch has helped.

India received $19.78 billion (Rs 1.3 lakh crore) in FDI in 2014-15 from a dozen major FDI source countries that Modi has visited since taking over in May last year. This accounts for nearly two-thirds of the $30.93 billion FDI the country received in the fiscal year, which was 27 per cent more than the year before.

FDI grew quicker after the launch of the Make in India programme in September 2014 — inflows jumped 48 per cent between October 2014 and April 2015 over the year-earlier period, data from the Department of Industrial Policy and Planning showed.

Modi will be reaching New York on Wednesday evening and is scheduled to meet top business honchos. The visit is coming at a time when cynicism is growing about the government's ability to introduce and implement reforms as promised.

"There has been some questions about the Modi government's performance when it comes to pace of reforms and ease of doing business," a foreign diplomat in Delhi said. But a government official from Japan, one of the countries that Modi visited and from where he got a huge investment commitment, told ET there was no major reason to be upset about since Modi became the PM.

While some criticise his frequent foreign visits, others say those trips have helped boost India's image as an investment destination. "Foreign firms had switched off India in the last couple of years (of the previous government) but they have been upbeat in the past year," said ex-CII mentor Tarun Das.

"Modi has been able to integrate foreign policy with economic and corporate policies. India is emerging as the apple of everybody's eye as other BRICS economies are witnessing downslide," he told ET. "A big change has been brought in the approach towards foreign investors by the PM deciding to meet individual CEOs of global business giants. When domestic investments are constrained and Indian banks have huge NPAs, FDI is key to boosting economy." A concern that Das has is on the tax regime, which he said needs to be simplified for securing more FDI.

Among the countries that Modi visited, Japan has committed to invest about $35 billion in five years and South Korea about $10 billion. China has assured $20 billion in the next five years, while France has announced $2 billion euros ($2.26 billion). The UAE, which the PM visited last month, has assured to pump in money for India's $75-billion infrastructure fund. The UK has launched a programme for investments here ahead of Modi's planned trip in November and Germany is expected to make some announcements related to the Make in India initiative during Chancellor Angela Merkel's visit to New Delhi in the first week of October.

JE Menon · Post by **JE Menon** » 21 Sep 2015 16:31

X-Post of one made by Vipul in IT Thread in TEF

Government lays broadband fibre in 68,000 village panchayats.
http://www.dnaindia.com/money/report-go ... ts-2126138

The government has laid down 90,000 kms of optical fibre network for high speed broadband connection, covering about 68,000 village panchayats till date, Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has said. "We are connecting about 2.5 lakh village panchayats. We have made it BharatNet. Only 2,000 kms (of OFC) was laid under the previous government.

"In last 14 months, we have covered nearly 90 thousand kilometers, including about 68 thousand panchayats," he said at India Economic Convention 2015.

The project was started at the time of UPA government but could not be completed during their tenure.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led NDA government has set a deadline to complete roll out of optical fibre network across all village panchayats by the end of 2016.The Modi government has remodelled the project as BharatNet. The new models proposed under BharatNet will be implemented after Cabinet approves it.

Prasad said that 18 states have expressed interest to roll out BharatNet project using special purpose vehicles.

He said that government is promoting electronics manufacturing by offering various incentive scheme like electronics manufacturing cluster (EMC) and Modified Special Incentive Package scheme.

"When I became Minister, we had just two electronics clusters approved. Today, we have 20 in last 14-15 months," Prasad said.

The Minister said that states are competing among themselves to set up EMC.

"When our government came, investments proposals of electronics manufacturing worth Rs 10,000 crore only had come. Today, I am very happy to tell you I took a briefing this morning itself. In last 15 month, investment proposals worth Rs 1.04 lakh crore have come in India for electronics manufacturing," Prasad said.

Some large electronics companies have submitted their proposal and very soon they will start production in the country, he added.

vish_mulay · Post by **vish_mulay** » 22 Sep 2015 16:48

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/indiahome/in ... state.html

Every year the Maharashtra government doles out crores of rupees in aid to drought-hit farmers in the state.

But according to those at the ground level the solution is not long-term, and is therefore proving counter-productive.

To reach a permanent solution to this perennial problem, the state government, under the Chief Minister’s Transformation Committee, on Monday announced an allocation of Rs 1,000 crore to “permanently eradicate drought” in Maharashtra

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/indiahome/in ... z3mT8nKhMZ
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

http://www.hindustantimes.com/mumbai/ma ... 68281.aspx

Farmers’ suicides may soon be a thing of the past in the Vidarbha region, if the efforts taken by the Maharashtra government through its ambitious Jalyukta Shivar pay off.

The project involves deepening and widening of streams, construction of cement and earthen stop dams, work on nullahs and digging of farm ponds. The state claims around 50% of the total one lakh water conservation works under the scheme are on the verge of completion. Different projects are under progress at more than 6,000 villages in the state and around 20,000 villages will benefit over the next four years. The state has given special emphasis on the scheme in the suicide-prone Vidarbha region, on an average, three farmers commit suicide daily owing to crop failure.

http://articles.economictimes.indiatime ... tee-scheme

MUMBAI: Impressed with the progress of Maharashtra's 'Jal Yukt Shivar Abhiyan,' Rajashtan may also adopt the state's flagship water conservation and Integrated water management scheme.

Aiming to learn more about the state's water conservation programme, a delegation from Rajasthan, comprising a minister and senior bureaucrats are on Maharashtra tour and will visit a few sites where the project is currently underway.

https://twitter.com/CMOMaharashtra Good source of before after photos and impact of Jal Yukt Vihar in Marathwada region.

https://youtu.be/rBnWKNkPcNw

Hari Seldon · Post by **Hari Seldon** » 22 Sep 2015 18:34

>>Indian Railway Facts ‏@IRfacts 6h6 hours ago
In a landmark move, Indian Railways removes quotas for all MLAs and ex-MPs. Only current MPs and their spouses can have quotas now.

Hari Seldon · Post by **Hari Seldon** » 28 Sep 2015 14:18

>>Mukul ‏@MukulAgarwal66 6m6 minutes ago
Maharashtra: Govt departments will have to upload photos, and details of work done for getting funds

>> Mukul ‏@MukulAgarwal66 5m5 minutes ago
The planning and finance departments will first run a pilot from November involving two departments, agriculture and irrigation.

SwamyG · Post by **SwamyG** » 29 Sep 2015 19:37

Areas: Skill Development, Education, Economy, Jobs etc.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/education ... UovYO.html

The demand for Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) in the country is scaling unprecedented highs with skill development becoming a buzzword under the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party-led NDA government.
“Several reasons have contributed towards this ITI boom. Besides the governmental push and underscoring skill development as a priority sector, we have implemented a movement from the manual to a simplified online system. It is much easier than ever to start an ITI,” said a top government official familiar with the development.

According to government figures, on an average about eight new ITIs—lead institutes for acquiring and developing vocational skills—are being set up across India every day for the last five months. From April 1 to August 30, 1,133 ITIs have been set up and the corresponding additional increase in seating capacity has been by 1,71,392.

“There is a rush among corporates to set up ITIs as part of their CSR effort. Also, there is an increasing demand for skill acquisition and we are expanding into new geographies and areas where there was no such facility before. Moreover, the number of skills is multiplying by getting subdivided into specialties. For example, a skill like welding has about 12 variants now,” the official added.
The top states with the biggest number of ITI are Uttar Pradesh (2,185), Rajasthan (1,769), Karnataka (1,481), Madhya Pradesh (886), Bihar (873), Maharashtra (863) and Tamil Nadu (722).

The official, however, sounded a note of caution over the mushrooming of these institutes. “With the mushrooming of ITIs, there are quality and regulatory issues too which we are trying to address in an urgent manner. We are trying to devise a ranking system for the ITIs across the country. This system will be up in about a month or so,” the official added. Operated by both the government and the private sector, ITIs are vocational training organisations that provide post-school technical training. Normally, a Class 10 certificate is the minimum eligibility for admission to ITIs.

At present, there are 13,105 ITIs which cater to about 18,65,629 students at any given point of time. While 2,293 are government-run, 10,812 are operated by the private sector.

Interestingly, the demand for ITIs is rising in the face of plummeting demand for engineering courses in the country with a whopping 13.3 lakh seats in engineering colleges—including both government and private institutes and comprising IITs, NITs, and renowned engineering colleges—going vacant in the last three years.

HT had reported that the government is actively considering utilisation of capacities in such engineering institutes by introducing skill development and entrepreneurial courses so that skill development capacity is enhanced with minimum investment and optimal utilisation of resources.

SwamyG · Post by **SwamyG** » 29 Sep 2015 21:20

Area: Education
Government unveils framework to rank Indian institutes

The government today unveiled a framework that would rank engineering and management institutes taking into account peer perception, research activity and also inclusively through reservations.

The ranking framework broadly covers all institutes both in government and private sectors, though participation is voluntary in nature, and the first ranking list would be released in early April next year.

The framework for pharmacy, architecture and universities would be released within the next month.

chaanakya · Post by **chaanakya** » 29 Sep 2015 23:11

Browse the list of achievements during last one years . List of what respective Ministries and departments think they have achieved,

http://pib.nic.in/nda/Achievements.aspx

chaanakya · Post by **chaanakya** » 29 Sep 2015 23:12

Department wise e-Books. Gives good overview in a polished manner.

http://pib.nic.in/newsite/ebook.aspx

JE Menon · Post by **JE Menon** » 30 Sep 2015 00:13

http://www.hindustantimes.com/education ... UovYO.html

Industrial Training Institutes being set up at a dizzying pace...

According to government figures, on an average about eight new ITIs—lead institutes for acquiring and developing vocational skills—are being set up across India every day for the last five months. From April 1 to August 30, 1,133 ITIs have been set up and the corresponding additional increase in seating capacity has been by 1,71,392.
“There is a rush among corporates to set up ITIs as part of their CSR effort. Also, there is an increasing demand for skill acquisition and we are expanding into new geographies and areas where there was no such facility before. Moreover, the number of skills is multiplying by getting subdivided into specialties. For example, a skill like welding has about 12 variants now,” the official added.
The top states with the biggest number of ITI are Uttar Pradesh (2,185), Rajasthan (1,769), Karnataka (1,481), Madhya Pradesh (886), Bihar (873), Maharashtra (863) and Tamil Nadu (722).

saumitra_j · Post by **saumitra_j** » 30 Sep 2015 06:09

India becomes the top FDI Destination

India has emerged on top of the foreign direct investment league table, overtaking China and the United States, according to the FT data service

A ranking of the top destinations for greenfield investment (measured by estimated capital expenditure) in the first half of 2015 shows India at number one, having attracted roughly $3 billion more than China and $4 billion more than the US, according to the Financial Times newspaper. "With midyear data on greenfield FDI now in, 2015 looks to be a milestone year for India following its impressive performance in 2014," the article in FT said quoting fDi Markets, a data service of the FT.

India is tracking well ahead of where it was at this time last year: it has more than doubled its midyear investment levels, attracting $30 billion by the end of June 2015 compared with $12 billion in the first half of last year," the newspaper said, adding that the news comes at a time at a time when FDI into emerging markets as a group is falling off a cliff.

Hari Seldon · Post by **Hari Seldon** » 30 Sep 2015 10:03

^ Related to above, numbers from FT

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 01 Oct 2015 13:49

IBN
New Delhi: Government on Thursday said it received an amount of Rs 3,770 crore from 638 declarations under the one-time black money compliance window that closed on Wednesday.
"638 number of declarations have been received under the compliance window declaring undisclosed foreign assets amounting to Rs 3770 crore. These figures are subject to final reconciliation," the Finance Ministry said in a statement based on figures provided to it by the Central Board of Direct Taxes.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 01 Oct 2015 19:12

http://www.gizmodo.in/indiamodo/ASUSsma ... 183098.cms

Taiwanese PC and smartphone manufacturer ASUS has just announced a partnership with Chinese contract manufacturer Foxconn for the production of its handsets and other mobile devices in India. The manufacturing will take place at Foxconn's Sri City unit in Andhra Pradesh.

This makes ASUS the latest manufacturer to join the Indian Government's 'Make in India' campaign, which has already seen support from companies like Xiaomi, Motorola, Lenovo and the likes.

Hari Seldon · Post by **Hari Seldon** » 02 Oct 2015 07:24

89 lakh toilets built in rural India in 1 year, govt says

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/indi ... s?from=mdr

NEW DELHI: Showing remarkable progress, 89 lakh individual household latrines have been built in rural areas in the past one year. According to government figures, the big Swachh Bharat push in rural areas has increased the access of toilets to 46.9% from only 32.6% in 2011 across the country. However, urban areas in poll-bound Bihar and Uttar Pradesh have built only 927 and 862 household latrines respectively since the sanitation mission was launched last October.

Urban development minister M Venkaiah Naidu said that the rural development ministry has surpassed the target of building about 60 lakh toilets while he is confident of the target in urban areas would also be met by March 2016. Claiming that Swachh Bharat is the "mother of all new missions" he said that changing the mindset and attitude of people remains the biggest challenge.

Stating that the message of complete sanitation has gone down well with people and has sensitized people, Naidu said the mission is "demand driven" in nature. "A clean India is the most profound statement that the county can make to the world which is keenly watching us in the context of various initiatives launched during the last over one year," he added.

Based on reports received till August, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Punjab, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan and Haryana have performed better in respect of construction of individual household toilets. Against the target of construction of 25 lakh household toilets in urban areas till March, 16.45 lakh toilets have been completed or are nearing completion.

States such as Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Tamil Naidu are still to pick up momentum. Naidu added that toilet construction is still to begin in five UTs, four North-Eastern states besides Kerala and Tamil Naidu.

However, referring to the enthusiasm on the part of several states, he said that over and above the central assistance of Rs 4,000 for construction of each toilet in urban areas, 13 states are providing additional assistance in the range of Rs 4,000 to Rs 13,000.

Regarding construction of community and public toilets in urban areas, Naidu said that as against the target of building one lakh toilet seats by March, 94,653 toilet seats has been taken up and 24,233 seats have already been built.

Stating that solid waste management is the largest component of the mission in urban areas, Naidu said that till August this year, 100% door to door collection of municipal solid waste has been reported in 31,593 of the total 78,003 municipal wards and the mission is on course to achieve the target of door to door collection of 50% of solid waste by March. He added that as against the target of processing of 35% of 1.42 lakh tonnes of solid waste being generated every day, 17.34% is being processed at the moment.

In solid waste management, while Chandigarh leads the list of good performers with 100% processing followed by Meghalaya (58%), Delhi(52%), Kerala and Manipur(50%), Telangana (48%), Karnataka(34%) and Andaman & Nicobar Islands (30%).

Ahmedabad (64 wards), Surat (38), Mahisagar (27) and Morbi (14 wards), all in Gujarat and Andaman & Nicobar Islands (30 wards) have reported 100% door to door collection of solid waste in all the wards.

Naidu said that the fertilizer ministry will soon come out with a Cabinet proposal for market development assistance for compost made from city waste. One bag of city compost will be sold to farmers along with two bags of urea.

Naidu said Surat and Morbi in Gujarat have also already met the mission targets of construction of 6,634 and 3,028 individual toilets already. Ahmedabad and Mahisagar, also in Gujarat are very close to meeting the mission targets of construction of 22,562 and 3,028 toilets.