Bharat Rakshak

The Narendra Modi government has decided to get moving on the long-delayed construction of strategically critical Chabahar port in Iran that would give India easier access to Afghanistan and Central Asia through a shorter route that would also mean being able to avoid Karachi in neighbouring Pakistan.

UNION ministers will now have to submit proposals of their foreign travels to the PMO “at least 10 days before the proposed date of departure” as against the earlier norm of five days.

A recent order issued by the Cabinet Secretariat also states that the proposals for foreign tours will have to incorporate details of the tasks to be accomplished during the visit.

Also, those who travel abroad will have to submit a post-visit report to the PM. The same rules will apply during foreign visits undertaken by Secretary/Additional Secretary level officers.

The Narendra Modi government would augment the administrative support to expert committees on environment, ensure that approvals take virtually no time once due diligence is done and attempt to converge the process of environmental and forest clearances (ECs and FCs), environment minister Prakash Javadekar said on Thursday.

In a big step towards improving laws involving juveniles, the Ministry of Women and Child Development has mooted to repeal the existing Juvenile Justice Act and re-legislate it after discussing it at greater length with the concerned bodies. Some studies revealed that a large number of crimes were being planned by gangsters but implemented by minors since that gave them an escape route from harsh punishments. That is why Narendra Modi-led Government is trying to push through this important Bill which needs immediate attention. There is surely an urgent need to address this burning issue to ensure gruesome crimes do not go unpunished, yet there is room for reformation for those have such possibilities.

At a high-level meeting convened by Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan, it was decided that the import duty will be raised to 40 per cent from 15 per cent.
It was also decided that the export subsidy will be extended till September this year to give relief to the sugar industry, which owes Rs 11,000 crore to cane growers largely in Uttar Pradesh.

Industry Body Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA) hailed the decision saying this will improve cash-flow of millers and help clear cane arrears.

New Delhi, June 23: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will take monthly briefings from each of the three military chiefs turning on its head the UPA’s policy of keeping the armed forces away from the centre of decision-making on security policy.

For successive years military veterans have complained that the top brass was not adequately consulted by the government despite the inputs they could give in assessing security situations.
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The Union Budget is likely to announce the first of the Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance government’s social welfare schemes for the health sector — the National Health Assurance Mission.

The programme will provide universal health care and offer comprehensive health insurance for the poor.

The Budget could also, sources say, propose the government’s mission-mode approach towards a ‘mosquito-free India’, addressing malnourishment and increasing budgetary spend on the health sector.

In a move to probably bring in austerity in his government, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has asked all the ministers to refrain from buying new cars, said sources.
Modi, whose working style had garnered headlines in less than a month of assuming office, has also asked the ministers to take PMO's approval for any purchases above Rs 1 lakh, according to sources.

Road Min approves over Rs 40,000 crore highway projects

In a boost to the infrastructure sector, Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has approved worth over Rs 40,000 crore of highway projects to be implemented in the next couple of years.

These projects are in the states of Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and the Northeastern region.

"We have approved projects worth Rs 20,000 crore for Jammu & Kashmir. They include 2-laning and 4-laning of National Highways in the state some roads projects in Leh and Ladakh and we will co-ordinate with the PWD (Public Works Department) of the state for these projects," Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari told reporters here.

* 2100 Acres of land requested for each city in Anantnag, Baramullah and Srinagar Districts
* Each city will accommodate 75,000-100,000 people (Average density 5000/Acr)
* Each Apartment will be 2-bed room apt
* Each city will have transportation connectivity (Read above Rs 20,000 road development news by Gadkari)
* Each city will have 1 medical, 2 Engg, 4 Degree colleges and 12 schools.
* Each city will have 12 police stations (8000people/police station)
* Govt Jobs for KPs is on cards

Within 30 days of taking charge, the NDA government has given environment clearance for projects worth about Rs 22,000 crore that needed coal linkages, approved setting up of eight centres for IT manufacturing and raised fares for long distance trains.
It has also asked states to remove fruits and vegetables from the APMC act and promised to offload 50 lakh tonnes of rice in the markets to keep retail prices stable. Delhi and Uttarakhand have complied with the directions.
And just a day into its second month, the government has decided to take more time to figure out what will be the price of gas extracted from domestic fields, a subject that has become a political hot potato.
As of now, the government has eschewed the temptation take a strident path on economic issues. In the case of gas, for instance it has decided to move with caution building up stakeholder consultations.
Welcoming the way the government has functioned so far the 30-share Sensex at the BSE has risen by nearly 400 points in the one month span between May 26 and June 25.
On the way it has taken in shocks like government data confirming a sub-5 per cent GDP growth for two consecutive years, concerns over Iraq crisis impacting the oil subsidy and an over six per cent headline inflation. The markets reached a peak of 25,521 on May 17, the day after the BJP, led by Narendra Modi, ended up with a clear absolute majority in the Lok Sabha. It has come down by 0.8 per cent, but business plans are firming up.
“The emergence of a new stable government has improved the sentiments of corporates... Large companies such as Hindustan Zinc , Tata Steel and Adani are looking to raise as much as Rs 1.2 lakh crore in the next two years with Rs 71,000 crore to be raised in the coming six months,” said Abhishek Goenka, chief of India Forex Advisors. This is despite Prime Minister Modi advising about the need for “unpopular measures”.

The clearances for some big ticket environment projects including those for SAIL was the first major economic decision of the new government. Subsequently it cleared interest subsidy plan for setting up eight IT manufacturing clusters in towns like Ghaziabad, Gandhinagar, Pune and Nagpur. Eight other centres will get incentives to set up manufacturing centers too, a Cabinet decision of early June noted.
Other than the price related decisions, this government has also meanwhile raised the minimum support price for paddy, but at a lower pace than the ones made by the UPA government. Modi’s team has announced a Rs 50 per quintal increase in the minimum support price of paddy and that of pulses by up to Rs 100 per quintal.
It has also raised the import duty on sugar to 40 per cent and as per the Rangarajan committee formula raised an interest support for sugar mills to Rs 3,300 per tonne.
The one major slip up has been the partial roll back of suburban rail fares. Less than a week after it was announced, it has managed to retain the increase in freight and passenger fares despite stiff opposition.
In a further boost to industry and manufacturing, the labour ministry has also begun a review of archaic labour laws while a single window system will also soon be in place for green clearances for coal, steel and power projects.

The Ministry of Labour and Employment plans to launch a pilot in 20 districts from January 1, 2015 to enable unorganised workers to avail benefits of the Rashtriya Swastha Bima Yojana (RSBY), Aam Aadmi Bima Yojan (AABY) and Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme (IGNOAPS) via one single smart card.

The pilot project would be funded from the National Social Security Fund.

"Road construction has gone down to three kms a day. Highway projects worth about Rs 60,000 crore are stuck, mainly due to delay over land acquisition and environment and forest clearances," Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari told reporters here.

"We have managed to find solutions for projects to the tune of Rs 35,000-Rs 45,000 crores. These stalled projects would be up and running in the next three months. We have fast-tracked the processes of clearances," Gadkari said.

The Minister said, three months onwards, forest clearance, which is a big impediment and slows down road construction, will no longer be required. "The Government has decided to import truck moulding machines from Canada, which can uproot and replant trees from forest tracks to a fresh location. We will only need to give an affidavit to the forest department on the number of trees transplanted," he said.

Gadkari said the Government will build all new roads by awarding Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contracts as against Public-Private Partnership contracts followed by the UPA Government.

"We will give the money to the contractors and ask them to build the roads or bridges for us within the deadline. We have also decided that before giving out work orders, we shall have acquired 90 per cent of the land for construction and all required clearances are in place to avoid any delays," he said.

In a major liberalisation, the government on Thursday allowed manufacturing of several hundreds of equipment and products in the defence sector without licence.

Manufacture of products such as sub-assemble items, components, castings, night-visions and surveillance would not require an industrial licence. Simplifying the licensing process, a Commerce and Industry Ministry order listed four categories of products that would require prior permission and freed the rest from any licence condition.

Industrial licences would now be required only to make items such as tanks and other armoured fighting vehicles; defence aircraft, spacecraft and parts; warships of all kinds; and arms and ammunition and allied items of defence equipment, parts and accessories.

According to a top government official, this is a major breakthrough which would enhance defence manufacturing in the country. "From the earlier list, now we have removed over 50 per cent of items which would not require industrial licence to manufacture. The previous list was a total of 6 pages, out of which 4 pages have been removed. A foreign company too can come and set up units to manufacture those items without prior approval," the official said.

Moving ahead with its plans to promote private industry in the defence sector, the government has issued a set of security guidelines for all licensed defence companies detailing the measures to be put in place for manufacturing sensitive equipment — from an audit by the Intelligence Bureau to setting up elaborate physical defence systems and making the Official Secrets Act (OSA) applicable to employees.

The new security manual, applicable to all Indian licensed defence companies, comes after a list of products and technologies requiring a licence by the commerce ministry was released. The government has moved ahead with plans to liberalise foreign direct investment in the sector.

The IB will first carry out a security audit of all licensed manufacturers to see how they comply with the regulations. It will have the power to make recommendations to improve security. Directions have also been issued that the visits of all foreign nationals should be reported to local IB authorities.

Sri Lanka has banned visas on arrival for Pakistanis after investigations showed that jihadist groups targeting India were using Sri Lanka as a transit point. Lanka is also one of the few countries that extended such a facility to Pakistani nationals.
Modi, in his first conversations with Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, had raised this issue which he said was of particular sensitivity to India. On his return, Rajapaksa is believed to have launched an investigation. The results of the probe have contributed to the decision.

In a related development, Sri lankan authorities have been rounding up Pakistani asylum seekers — almost 1,500 of them will be deported back to Pakistan. This has invited sharp criticism from human rights activists and the UN, because many of them are Ahmadiyas (a banned sect in Pakistan) and Shia Muslims.

BEIJING: India and China today signed a key agreement to set up Chinese Industrial Parks in India as their Commerce Ministers today held the first meeting here after the new NDA government came to power.

RamaY wrote:Three extension cities planned for Kashmiri Pandits.
Source: 6/25 Andhrajyothi News Paper

* 2100 Acres of land requested for each city in Anantnag, Baramullah and Srinagar Districts
* Each city will accommodate 75,000-100,000 people (Average density 5000/Acr)
* Each Apartment will be 2-bed room apt
* Each city will have transportation connectivity (Read above Rs 20,000 road development news by Gadkari)
* Each city will have 1 medical, 2 Engg, 4 Degree colleges and 12 schools.
* Each city will have 12 police stations (8000people/police station)
* Govt Jobs for KPs is on cards

Amnesty Intl expressed happiness over this development. JK Separatists are against this plan.

NEW DELHI: Now any employer or establishment can get a provident fund code number within hours of registering online. They will no longer have to chase officials and files to get the PF code with the Employees' Provident Fund Organization (EPFO).

"This will clear hurdles, such as bureaucratic delays, and hopefully portability of the code number will also happen soon,"
labour minister Narendra Singh Tomar said while launching the online registration system
on Monday.

Sources in the state government say after the amendments, the appointment of apprentices will be voluntary and industry will be allowed to design courses according to their needs. “We are not changing the provisions of the Act regarding the punishment. What we are doing is making it more flexible. There will be less prosecution in such cases. The intention is to generate more employment the way we are doing through amendments to other three Acts,” Rajiv Mehrishi, chief secretary of Rajasthan, told Business Standard.

“The Apprentices Act, 1961, was written for a very different India. It has scared away employers because it requires an employer to seek a licence for every apprentice. It has imprisonment provisions for not engaging with the Act. Also, it micro-specifies location, duration and trades,” said Manish Sabharwal, who headed the Planning Commission’s sub-committee on remodelling India’s apprenticeship regime. “Apprentices are vital to building skills,” he adds.

India has only 300,000 apprentices, compared with three million in Germany, 10 million in Japan and 10 million in China. The Act was last amended in 1973 to bring the training of graduate and diploma holders in engineering and technology under its purview.

NEW DELHI: India's private sector output witnessed significant uptrend in June as both manufacturing and services sector registered solid rate of expansion, driven by robust order flows and stronger business sentiment, an HSBC survey said on Thursday.

660 Nirbhaya Centres for women violence victims: At least 660 rape crisis centres will be established across the country and named as Nirbhaya centres, as a tribute to the victim of December 16, 2012 Delhi gang-rape case. The centres will be set up in all the 640 districts and 20 additional locations in the country and the project will cost 477 crores approximately, Women and Child Development Ministry officials said.

The Women and Child Development Ministry has already prepared the concept note which has been approved by the Expenditure Finance Committee (EFC) and has been sent to various stakeholders like Ministry of Law, Finance, Tribal Affairs, Health, Social Justice and Empowerment and Minority Affairs seeking their suggestions.

These Nirbhaya Centres will act as one stop centre for women victims of molestation, rape, sexual assault, domestic violence and provide them medical assistance, police assistance, psycho-social support and counselling, legal aid and temporary shelter.

A few weeks ago, I travelled to Gujarat to attend the project launch workshop for the second Gujarat State Highway Project (GSHP-II). It is a return visit to Gujarat after my last visit in 2008. I was the task team leader for the first Gujarat State Highway Project (GSHP) during 2005-2008, so I knew the state quite well and I expected to see a lot of changes during this new visit. But when I got there, I was still surprised.

Our team first went on a site visit first. We passed one road section which was improved in 2006 under the GSHP. The road will looked new. My colleague Arnab Bandyopadhyay, who is the Project Leader for GSHP-II, asked the engineers from the Roads and Buildings Department (R&BD) whether they have rehabilitated the road recently. The answer was no. “You must be kidding,” I said to them. “How can an 8-year old road still look so new?” But they were very firm. “No. We have not done any new works on those GSHP roads since they were constructed.”

On the second day, while we were standing outside the R&BD office in Gandhinagar (the center of the state administration), I saw a large 4-story building right in front of the R&BD office building. “Oh, yes, this and another one behind are new buildings,” the chief engineer of R&BD responded to my inquiry, “and actually they were completed within 8 months.” “Only 8 months?” I cannot believe what he said, “Are you kidding me? It cannot be done so fast in India.” But he was very firm. He counted his fingers, saying “yes, from awarding the contract to move-in, 8 months in total.”

The next day morning, we had a project review meeting with each contractor. One common question we asked to every contractor was how long it took for them to get payments after they submitted invoices. “About four days” the first contractor answered. “Are you kidding me?” I said to them. “No, sir.” the contractor replied, after checking with his engineers and his accountant. One by one, all eight contractors said the same thing: 3 or 4 days. “This was really super!” I said to myself. Delay in contractor’s payments was a big problem in India before. Sometimes it took weeks or even months for the contractors to receive their payments.

Our last day in Gujarat was the project launch workshop. After a beautiful traditional lighting ceremony and speeches by R&BD minister, R&BD secretary, and other leaders, a training workshop was provided by World Bank experts on various topics related to the project. Participants include R&BD engineers, contractors, consultants, and NGO representatives. It is a classic World Bank training workshop, but there was still something that surprised me. I remembered that in the past, at this kind of occasions when senior officials were present, R&BD engineers normally kept quiet, and they would not stand up and speak out without being called by those officials. This time, however, many R&BD engineers (including junior engineers) raised their hands to question or comment. There were thus very good interactions between Bank experts and audience. From their questions and comments and from their confidence in speaking, I could feel the quality of R&BD engineers has improved enormously, particularly compared to 9 years ago when I first visited Gujarat.

By the end of the workshop, I started to realize that the R&BD has been significantly transformed from a traditional public works department, which executed government funded projects in a very slow and poor quality manner, to a new type of government agency that can effectively and efficiently plan, deliver and manage high quality road infrastructure and services. (See details in a World Bank publication, Institutional Development and Good Governance in the Highway Sector – Learning from Gujarat).

On my way back to Delhi, I was told by my colleagues that similar transformations have been taking place in some other Indian states in recent years. “You may feel you are kidded again when you visit other states,” my colleagues joked to me.

The passport delivery system could soon become hassle-free and quick. On the directions of the chief passport officer in the ministry of external affairs, Mumbai may lead the way to do away with cumbersome processes that currently delay the issuance of a passport.

Maria said specific bottlenecks in the police verification process have been identified and stringent measures taken to ensure that the entire exercise is completed in a time-bound period. "It was bringing a bad name to Mumbai Police. In addition, there were charges of corruption too. I am sure, once the new system comes into force, passport delivery will be hassle-free," Maria said.

Four new vaccines in national immunization programme
by fwire Jul 4, 2014 01:00 IST

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New Delhi, July 3 (IANS) The Indian government Thursday introduced four new vaccines, including one for Japanese Encephalitis (JE), in the national immunization programme, which will now provide free vaccines against 13 life-threatening diseases to 27 million children annually.

The decision to introduce the vaccines for rotavirus, rubella and polio (injectable) as part of the universal immunization programme was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, an official here said.

The JE vaccine would be available for adults in 179 districts in nine states where the disease is highly prevalent.

"The introduction of four new lifesaving vaccines, will play a key role in reducing the childhood and infant mortality and morbidity in the country.

"Many of these vaccines are already available through private practitioners to those who can afford them. The government will now ensure that the benefits of vaccination reach all sections of the society, regardless of social and economic status," said Modi.

"India is committed to tackle child mortality and provide health for all through multiple initiatives taken up by the government. Strengthening routine immunization is an essential investment in India's children and will ensure a healthy future for the country," he said.

The decision to introduce the vaccines represents one of the most significant policy initiatives in public health, the release said adding at least one lakh infant deaths and that of adults in working age group would be prevented by this decision.

Diarrhoea caused by rotavirus kills nearly 80,00,000 children each year and results in up to 10 lakh hospitalizations, pushing many Indian families below the poverty line while rubella causes severe congenital defects in newborns.

The Injectable Polio Vaccine (IPV) is being introduced together with 125 countries in a globally synchronized manner. India has been certified polio free in March 2014 and the introduction of IPV in addition to the oral polio vaccine (OPV) will provide long lasting protection to the population against the virus.

The recommendations to introduce new vaccines had been made by the National Technical Advisory Group of India (NTAGI), the country's apex scientific advisory body on immunization.

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.

NEW DELHI: Farmers will soon have a 24-hour TV channel dedicated to agriculture and related issues, providing the farming community with information related to aspects like weather forecast and seeds.

To be named 'DD Kisan', the government and the Prasar Bharati are working on finalising the plans for launching the channel at the earliest.

India has relaxed visa rules for a category of Bangladeshi nationals planning to cross into its borders. Children below the age of 13 years and citizens above the age of 65 years will be given multiple-entry tourist visas for five years on their arrival in India. The move is aimed at giving a fillip to ties between the two South Asian neighbours, as per a report by Devesh Kumar on ndtv.com.

The decision was taken at a meeting between Sushma Swaraj, Minister for External Affairs, Government of India, and her Bangladeshi counterpart, Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali, in Dhaka yesterday.

Swaraj was in the Bangladesh capital on her first foreign visit after being elected to the Ministry.

The Narendra Modi government has asked the United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) to vacate the government bungalow housing its office in the heart of the Capital, in a sign of its toughening stand towards the UN mission.

The Indian Express has learnt that South Block has asked the UNMOGIP to vacate the bungalow — 1AB, Purana Qila Road — which has been serving as its office for the last four decades. The government accommodation — a Type VII bungalow, about 7,000 square feet — was allotted to the UN mission “free of charge”.

Sources said in its recent communication to the UN, the government has conveyed that the UNMOGIP’s role has been overtaken by the Simla Agreement and the consequent establishment of the Line of Control. New Delhi is of the view that the UNMOGIP has “no relevance or role to play whatsoever”.

The UNMOGIP, established under a UN Security Council Resolution, was meant to supervise the ceasefire line established under the Karachi Agreement of July 1949.

The government’s decision is being seen as a move to convey Delhi’s desire to not engage with the UN mission in Delhi. “They should stay in Srinagar and do what they want. In case they want to be stationed in Delhi, they should hire premises in a private property and not occupy the government accommodation,” said a senior official requesting anonymity.

When contacted, UNMOGIP’s Military Information Officer Major Tomas Malm, who is based in Srinagar, confirmed that the government has asked them to vacate the premises. “UNMOGIP’s response is to relocate to another location in Delhi,” he said. Asked if they have been told the reason for this directive, he said, “The Indian authorities’ reason is unknown to UNMOGIP.”

Asked if the move reflected New Delhi’s stand towards UNMOGIP, he said, “You have to ask the Indian government regarding their attitude towards us”.

According to a source familiar with the arrangement between South Block and UNMOGIP, the bunglow “was allotted to the UNMOGIP as part of a gentleman’s agreement between Indian officials and the UN mission over 40 years ago. It was meant to be a short-term arrangement, and the UNMOGIP officials were supposed to move to a private hired accommodation. But that never happened.”

Even as South Block officials are yet to get the property vacated, the Ministry of External Affairs’ finance department has told them that it will not be able to provide budgetary support for such “goodwill gestures”.

The Narendra Modi government has asked the United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) to vacate the government bungalow housing its office in the heart of the Capital, in a sign of its toughening stand towards the UN mission.

The Indian Express has learnt that South Block has asked the UNMOGIP to vacate the bungalow — 1AB, Purana Qila Road — which has been serving as its office for the last four decades. The government accommodation — a Type VII bungalow, about 7,000 square feet — was allotted to the UN mission “free of charge”.

Sources said in its recent communication to the UN, the government has conveyed that the UNMOGIP’s role has been overtaken by the Simla Agreement and the consequent establishment of the Line of Control. New Delhi is of the view that the UNMOGIP has “no relevance or role to play whatsoever”.

According to a source familiar with the arrangement between South Block and UNMOGIP, the bunglow “was allotted to the UNMOGIP as part of a gentleman’s agreement between Indian officials and the UN mission over 40 years ago. It was meant to be a short-term arrangement, and the UNMOGIP officials were supposed to move to a private hired accommodation. But that never happened.”
Even as South Block officials are yet to get the property vacated, the Ministry of External Affairs’ finance department has told them that it will not be able to provide budgetary support for such “goodwill gestures”.