1) A K Srivastava takes charge as the official spokesperson of the ministry of Corporate Affairs
The Ministry of Corporate Affairs has nominated A K Srivastava, Joint Secretary, as the Official Spokesperson of the Ministry for interacting with the media representatives from the side of the Ministry.
Courtesy : Ministry of corporate affairs release
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2) Minister of Overseas Indian Affairs congratulates Nobel laureates Ramakrishnan
The Minister of Overseas Indian Affairs, Vayalar Ravi congratulated Venkatraman Ramakrishnan on being honoured with the Nobel Prize for Chemistry. In his message he said, “The people of India are proud by his unprecedented achievement and the Indian Diaspora all over the world is also overwhelmed by his accomplishment. Ramakrishnan has honoured the country by joining the list of Nobel laureates.”
Courtesy: Minister of Overseas Indian Affairs release
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3) SJVN paid dividend worth Rs 157.50 crore to Government for FY08
Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam Limited, a Mini Ratna Central Public Sector Undertaking, a joint venture between the Government of India & Government of Himachal Pradesh, has paid a total dividend of Rs 320 crore (Interim Rs. 110 crore and Final 210 crore) for the financial year 2008-09. Towards the 75% equity participation of the Government of India a proportionate final dividend of Rs. 157.50 crore for the financial year 2008-09, SJVN Ltd. paid to the Ministry of Power, Govt. of India here today. The dividend cheque was handed over by Hemant Kumar Sharma, CMD to H S Brahma, Secretary (Power), Government of India in the presence of senior officers of the Ministry and SJVN Ltd. Courtesy: Ministry of Power release
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4) Rural Development Ministry and the review of its Flagship Programs
The Rural Development Ministry will conduct the second meeting of the Performance Review Committee for the present year from 8-9 October and take stock of the progress under the various schemes of the ministry. The performance under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, NREGA and Indira Awas Yojana (IAY) would be reviewed on Thursday, while the National Social Assistance Program(NSOAP) and Swarna Jayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY) would be taken up for review on Friday along with the training programs of the ministry. The issue of BPL list on the basis of BPL Census 2002 and the new BPL List is also on the agenda.
Courtesy: Rural Development Ministry and the review of its Flagship Programs
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5) India to emerge as the manufacturing hub for medical devices
Srikant Kumar Jena, Minister of State for Chemicals & Fertilizers inaugurated a National Conference on Medical Devices on Thursday. The Conference was organised by the Department of Pharmaceuticals, NIPER & FICCI. In his inaugural address, he said over the last three decades unprecedented improvement in healthcare has been seen. This progress is primarily due to strides that science and technology has made in-developing an understanding of the causes of diseases; technology that has helped to develop better medicines and devices and improvement in Diagnostics for an early and correct intervention. These developments have therefore offered a possibility for healthcare to be taken closer to the people. The Minister pointed out that today, in spite of the success and progress of science it is estimated that about one third of the Indian population has little or no access to modern healthcare facilities.
This gap needs to be urgently bridged, and our government is committed to come up to the expectation. NHRM is one such programme launched by the UPA Government, which has enabled to a large extent in bridging this gap in Health care.
He further said that the Ministry is working with the State Government to initiate special drive to promote the Medical Device Manufacturing in the country. The government has accepted the challenge of making India a manufacturing hub for medical devices to serve the nation.
Courtesy: Ministry of State for Chemicals & Fertilizers release
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6) Tourism sector registered 4.1% decline in foreign tourist arrivals in September 09
There has been a decline of 4.1% in foreign tourist arrivals (FTAs) in September 2009 over September 2008. FTAs during the Month of September 2009 were 3.17 lakh as compared to FTAs of 3.31 lakh during the month of September 2008 and 3.02 lakh in September 2007. However, there is an improvement over the growth rate of (-) 8.6% observed in August 2009 vis-à-vis August 2008. FTAs during January - September 2009 at 35.75 lakh were lower as compared to 38.71 lakh in January - September 2008. The growth rate in FTAs during Jan-Sept 2009 (-7.7%) marginally improved as compared to growth rate during Jan-Aug (-8.0%).
Courtesy: Ministry of Tourism release
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7) Its dividend season for ministry of defence
a) Bharat Dynamics Limited pays 23 crore dividend
Chairman and Managing Director, Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL), Ravi Khetarpal presented a dividend cheque of Rs 23 Crore for the financial year 2008-09 to Defence Minister AK Antony in New Delhi, on Thursday. The Company has achieved a turnover of Rs 465 crore during the fiscal year. BDL, a Defence PSU is a Mini-ratna Category - I Company and is amongst a few companies in the world having capabilities to produce state-of-the art guided weapon systems. The Company has been regularly paying dividends to the Govt. of India for over a decade and is poised to scale further heights.
b) Defence PSU GSL pays Rs 8 crore dividend
S Anathasayanam, Officiating Chairman and Managing Director of Goa Shipyard Limited (GSL), a Defence PSU presented a dividend cheque of Rs. 8.47 crores to the Defence Minister A K Antony on Thursday. R K Singh, Secretary, Defence Production and other senior officials of the Ministry of Defence were also present on the occasion. GSL has declared and paid dividend of 57 per cent of the paid up capital for the financial year 2008-09 as compared to 50 per cent in the previous year.
c) MDL announces Forty nine crore dividend
Mazagon Docks Limited (MDL), a Defence PSU has paid a dividend of Rs 49.80 crore to the Government of India for the year 2008-09. This works out to 25 per cent on the equity share capital against 21 per cent declared in 2007-08. A cheque of this amount was presented to Defence Minister A K Antony in New Delhi, on Thursday by HS Malhi, Chairman & Managing Director of the company. MDL has also paid a dividend of Rs. 4.07 crore on its 7 per cent Preference Shares.
d) GRSE pays 24 crore dividend
Chairman and Managing Director of Garden Reach and Shipbuilders & Engineers Ltd, (GRSE), K C Sekhar, presented a cheque for Rs 24.77 crore to the Defence Minister A K Antony in New Delhi on Thursday towards dividend to the Government of India for the financial year 2008-09. R K Singh, Secretary (Defence Production) and other senior officials of the Ministry of Defence were also present on the occasion. This is the third year in succession that GRSE, a Defence PSU has paid the same amount towards dividend to the Government which amounts to 20 per cent of the share capital. GRSE expects to achieve a Value of Production of Rs 850 crore in financial year 2009-10 as against Rs 673 crore achieved in financial year 2008-09.
Courtesy: Ministry of Defence release
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8) Influenza A H1N1 update on 8th October 09
On 7th October 09, 39485 passengers have been screened at 22 Airports with 83 counters manned by 225 doctors and 172 paramedics. Total passengers screened till date is 6869505. Till date, samples from 48355 persons have been tested for Influenza A H1N1 in Government Laboratories and a few private Laboratories across the country and 11507 (23.8%) of them have been found positive. Of the 146 cases reported during the day, four are imported and the rest are indigenous cases.
Courtesy: Ministry of Health and Family Welfare
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9) Import of sensitive items up 34.5% during April-July 09
The total import of sensitive items for the period April-July 09 has been Rs18061 crore as compared to Rs 13424 crore during the corresponding period of last year thereby showing an increase of 34.5 per cent. The gross import of all commodities during same period of current year was Rs 382422 crore as compared to Rs 488668 crore during the same period of last year. Thus import of sensitive items constitutes 2.7 per cent and 4.7 per cent of the gross imports during last year and current year respectively. Imports of automobiles, products of SSI and alcoholic beverages have shown a decline at broad group level during the period. Imports of all other items viz. edible oil, Pulses, fruits & vegetables (including nuts), cotton & silk, rubber, spices, marble & granite, milk & milk products, tea & coffee and food grains have shown increase during the period under reference. In the edible oil segment, the import has increased from Rs 3682.91 crore last year to Rs 7150.81 crore for the corresponding period of this year. The imports of both crude edible oil as well as refined oil have gone up by 94.6 per cent and 91.6 per cent respectively. The increase in edible oil import is mainly due to substantial increase in import of crude palm oil and its fractions. Imports of sensitive items from Indonesia, Myanmar, United States of America, Malaysia, Canada, Ukraine, Brazil, Argentina, Benin, Cote D’ Ivoire, Australia, Thailand etc. have gone up while those from China P RP, Korea RP, Japan, Germany, Czech Republic etc. have shown a decrease.
Courtesy: Ministry of Commerce and Industry release
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10) WPI inflation eases to 0.70 percent from 0.83%
The annual rate of inflation, calculated on point to point basis, stood at 0.70 percent (Provisional) for the week ended September 26, 09 as compared to 0.83 per cent (Provisional) for the previous week (ended 19/09/2009) and 12.08 per cent during the corresponding week (ended 27/09/2008 of the previous year. Build up inflation in the financial year so far was 6.30 per cent compared to a build up of 6.44 per cent in the corresponding period of the previous year.
Courtesy: Ministry of Commerce and Industry release
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11) India Post to celebrate Postal Week from October 9 onwards
Starting from 9th October, which is the World Post Day, India Post will celebrate Postal Week. During this week, India Post will get in touch with its customers informing them of new initiatives. One of the key initiatives of India Post is the introduction of three aircrafts carrying mail, parcel, speed post and logistic consignments. This will result in delivery of parcel and logistic consignments by next day in major cities. With one lakh fifty five thousand post offices in the country, India Post has the largest postal network in the world. World Post Day is celebrated every year on 9th October, to commemorate the anniversary of the establishment of the Universal Postal Union (UPU) in 1874 in the Swiss Capital, Bern. It was declared World Post Day by the UPU Congress held in Tokyo Japan in 1969. Since then, countries across the world use the occasion to introduce and promote new postal products and services.
Courtesy: Ministry of Ministry of Communications & Information Technology
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12) Vijay Kelkar elected as Chairman of Forum of Federations
Vijay Kelkar, Chairman, Thirteenth Finance Commission has been unanimously been elected as Chairman of the Forum of Federations, an international organisation headquartered in Ottawa, which seeks to strengthen democratic governance by promoting dialogue on the practices, principles, and possibilities of federalism through partner governments.
Kelkar, former Finance Secretary, is expected to submit the Report of the Thirteenth Finance Commission by December this year. He will take over the Chair of the Forum in January, 2010 from Arnold Koller, former President of Switzerland, who has been Chairman since February, 2005. George Anderson, former Deputy Minister in Canadian Government, is the President & CEO of the Forum.
The Forum builds international networks and fosters the exchange of experience on federal governance with a strong focus on fiscal federalism. The Forum also disseminates knowledge and technical advice of interest to existing federations and of benefit to countries seeking to introduce federal elements into their governance structures and constitutions. Thus, the Forum deals not only with governments and administrations, but also with civil society organizations in sharing federal knowledge and promoting a federal spirit in a society. India, represented through the Inter State Council, is a partner government since 2005 in the Forum, which includes Canada, Australia, Ethiopia, Germany, Mexico, Nigeria, Switzerland and also Brazil which joined the Forum last year. In November, 2007, the Forum held their Fourth International Conference on Federalism in New Delhi which was inaugurated by the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh and attended by several heads of government.
Courtesy: Ministry of Finance release
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13) First North East Youth Festival begins at Kohima
In a glittering ceremony held at the Indira Gandhi Stadium at Kohima on Thursday, the Chief Minister of Nagaland, Neiphiu Rio declared the First North East Youth Festival open. Thundering applause from thousands of audience, firing of the traditional gun, colorful balloons flying high in the cloudy sky, smiling of the early morning sun in between, traditional music all added a festive look to the stadium.
About 1300 youth from all over the country including all the north eastern states are participating in the 3 day North East Youth Festival being organised jointly by the Department of Youth Affairs, Government of India and the Nagaland Government.
B M Lanong, Deputy Chief Minister of Meghalaya, also addressed the youth and wished the very best. The inauguration of the festival was followed by cultural performances, which included traditional Nagas indigenous sports viz., Naga Wrestling, Taekwondo display by students and other tribal dances.
The three day festival will witness a number of competitive events like Rock Band Contest, One Act Play, Folk Dance, Folk Music Classical Dance Competitions etc. for which elaborate arrangements have been made. The closing ceremony to be held on 10th October 2009 will be graced by Agatha Sangma, Union Minister of State in the Ministry of Rural Development.
Courtesy: Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports release
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14) Sibal urges UNESCO to launch Teachers First Campaign
The Union Minister for Human Resource Development, Kapil Sibal has called upon UNESCO to commence a world-wide campaign to restore the respect of a teacher in society. Giving the keynote address at the first ministerial plenary forum at the 35th UNESCO General Conference in Paris on Thursday, he said that it would be in the fitness of things if we all take up a “Teachers First Campaign” aimed at restoring respect for this noble profession. He said, “To meet the requirements of EFA and to provide secondary and vocational training to the youth, we require millions of teachers. The young may be hungry for learning, but we may not have quality teachers to ignite their minds. The social order must respect teachers who all play a pivotal role in building a peaceful and just society.”
Sibal urged UNESCO to start a global campaign leveraging scientific knowledge for societal benefit on the lines of India’s “Science for Equity Empowerment and Development (SEED)” programme. This programme seeks to provide opportunities to motivated scientists and field level workers, to take up action oriented and location specific projects aiming at socio-economic upliftment of the poor and disadvantaged sections, through appropriate science and technology interventions especially in the rural areas. Adding that India has made major progress in ICT and has also developed e-learning materials, Sibal offered to share this knowledge with the world community.
Sibal emphasised that Mahatma Gandhi’s messages of non-violence assume relevance even in the area of sustainable development. He thanked UNESCO and the Director-General, Matsuura for their interest in India’s proposal to set up the Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development as a Category – I Institute of UNESCO in India. He expressed the hope that the proposal would be approved by the General Conference of UNESCO, for the Institute to spread the message that unsustainable development will breed conflict and that sustainable development is a necessary pre-requisite for peace. The minister stated that a significant initiative reflecting the political commitment of the Government of India to universalise 8 years of schooling, has recently been translated into action by making elementary education a fundamental right of every child in India.
He also pointed out that during 2000-06, South Asia made the most progress in gender parity. He mentioned that the number of girls per 100 boys enrolled in primary schools increased from 84 in 2000 to 95 in 2006 in South Asia (a reduction of 69% in the gender equity deficit); 88 to 91 in Western Asia (a reduction of a quarter of the deficit); and 85 to 89 in Sub-Saharan Africa (27% reduction in gender equity deficit). Steady progress in participation in primary education across the globe keeps the hope alive for achieving universal primary education, a pre-condition for improving gender equity in secondary education, he added. Sibal informed the gathering of the major developments in elementary education in India during the post-Dakar period: “(a) reduction in the number of out of school children, from about 32 million in 2002-03 to 7.05 million in March 2006; (b) reduction in gender gaps, at the primary stage from 5.5 percentage points in 2002-03 to 4.2 percentage points in 2005-06; and at the upper primary stage, from 10.7 percentage points to 8.8 percentage points. The Gender Parity Index at the primary stage in 2005 was 0.95 while it was 0.88 for the upper primary stage. (c) bridging social disparity - the share of Scheduled Caste students in total enrollment moved up to 20.72 per cent at the primary stage and 19.42 per cent at the upper primary stage. For Scheduled Tribe students, share in total enrollment moved up to 11.75 per cent at the primary stage in 2005-06 and 9.28 per cent at the upper primary stage. (d) drop-out rates at lower primary stage declined from 39.03 per cent in 2001-02 to 28.49 per cent in 2004-05. For girls, it declined from 39.88 per cent to 24.82 per cent – a decline of more than 15 percentage points.” Sibal also stated that universalisation of secondary education and significant expansion of higher education, are the priority areas for implementation, for the country. Plans have been delineated and goals set for growth of high end scientific and technical institutions alongside vocational training to equip the country’s youth to meet the challenges of a globally competitive environment, he added further.
Courtesy: Ministry of Human Resource Development
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15) PM congratulates Ramakrishnan on Nobel honour for Chemistry
The Prime Minster, Manmohan Singh, congratulated Venkatraman Ramakrishnan on his being honoured with the Nobel prize for Chemistry. The Prime Minister in his congratulatory message to Ramakrishnan said that his work in extending the frontiers of Molecular Biology will be an inspiration to thousands of Indian scientists and researchers and has made all Indians very proud.
Courtesy: PMO release
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16) Ceremonial Changing of the Guard Ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan on October 10th to have special feature
The Ceremonial Changing of the Guard Ceremony held on Saturdays at Rashtrapati Bhavan will have an added attraction and special feature on Saturday, October 10th. The Ceremony shall begin at 9.00 AM and end at about 9.45 AM. During this Saturday’s Ceremony, the incoming 15th Battalion of the Jammu and Kashmir Rifles shall replace the outgoing 6th Battalion of the Assam Rifles. This colourful ceremony which has been attracting tourists and citizens of Delhi in the hundreds can be watched free of charge. The Changing of the Guard Ceremony has a very ancient tradition in which the Infantry Army Guards and the President’s Body Guards change guard with clock-work precision. The said tradition dates back to the raising of the Body Guards in 1773.
Courtesy: Presidents Secretariat release
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