President Gives Away National Sports and Adventure Awards

The President also gave away Dronacharya Awards for the this year to the following

eight Sports persons in recognition of their meritorious achievements in the field of coaching. The award carries a statuettes, citations and enhanced cash prize of Rs 5 lakh each.

1.	Shri Virender Poonia	Athletics
2.	Ms. Sunil Dabas	Kabaddi (Women)
3.	Shri Yashvir Singh	Wrestling
4.	Shri Harendra Singh	Hockey
5.	Dr. Satyapal Singh	Para Sports (Athletics)
6.	Shri J.S. Bhatia	Athletics  *
7.	Shri Bhawani Mukherjee	Table Tennis *
8.	Shri B.I. Fernandez, Cuban Boxing Coach	Boxing

          *- for Life Time Achievement  

25 Sports persons were conferred Arjuna Awards for the year 2012, in recognition of their outstanding achievements in the respective field of sports. The Award carries a statuettes, citations and enhanced cash prize of Rs 5 lakh each. The Sports persons are as follows:

Sl. No.	Name	Discipline
1.	Ms. Deepika Kumari	Archery
2.	Ms. Laishram Bombayla Devi	Archery
3.	Ms. Sudha Singh	Athletics
4	Ms. Kavita Ramdas Raut	Athletics
5	Ms. Ashwani Ponnappa	Badminton
6	Mr. Parupalli Kashyap	Badminton
7	Mr. Aditya S. Mehta	Billiards & Snooker
8	Mr. Vikas Krishan	Boxing
9	Mr. Yuvraj Singh	Cricket
10	Mr. Sardar Singh	Hockey
11	Mr. Yashpal Solanki	Judo
12	Mr. Anup Kumar	Kabaddi
13	Mr. Samir Suhag	Polo
14	Ms. Annu Raj Singh	Shooting
15	Mr. Omkar Singh	Shooting
16	Mr. Joydeep Karmakar	Shooting
17	Ms. Deepika Pallikal	Squash
18	Mr. Sandeep Sejwal	Swimming
19	Ms. Ng. Sonia Chanu	Weightlifting
20	Mr. Narsingh Yadav	Wrestling
21	Mr. Rajinder Kumar	Wrestling
22	Ms. Geeta Phogat	Wrestling
23	Mr. M. Bimoljit Singh	Wushu
24	Mrs. Deepa Malik	Athletics – Paralympics
25	Mr. Ramkaran Singh	Athletics – Paralympics

Sea Tourism

The Government of India has approved the Cruise Shipping Policy in June 2008. Some salient features of this policy include conducive fiscal regime, development of facilities at Ports and connectivity through rail, road transport, air and metro, quick completion of immigration formalities, hassle free custom clearance and proper waste disposal system ensuring cleaner ocean. An Inter Ministerial Steering Committee with Secretary (Shipping) as Chairman was constituted in June, 2010 to address issues relating to development of cruise shipping.

The Steering Committee on Cruise Tourism has identified the ports of Chennai, Cochin, New Mangalore, Mormugao and Mumbai for development of Cruise Tourism.

Development and promotion of Tourism including Sea, Cruise and Coastal Tourism is primarily undertaken by the State Governments/Union Territory Administrations themselves. The Ministry of Tourism extends Central Financial Assistance (CFA) to the State Governments/Union Territory Administrations for project proposals under the scheme of Product/ Infrastructure Development for Destinations & Circuits, subject to availability of funds and inter-se priority.

This information was given by the Minister of State for Tourism, Shri Sultan Ahmed in a written reply to Shri Baliram Jadhav in Lok Sabha

Measures to Protect Welfare of Overseas Indian Workers

           Complaints regarding non-delayed- payment of salaries, non-renewal of visa, and unsatisfactory living conditions; and refusal of  medical treatment, leave or air ticket on completion of two years period of contract from Indian emigrants are received from time to time. Whenever a complaint is received, action is initiated by the Ministry by asking the concerned Indian Mission to look into the matter. If need be, steps are taken for the suspension or cancellation of the Registration Certificate of the Recruiting Agent. If required, requisite legal action is also initiated against the concerned Recruiting Agent. Complaints filed against illegal agents are referred to the State Governments. When there is a complaint against a foreign employer, proceedings for blacklisting such an employer are initiated. Indian Missions also take up these issues with the foreign employers/local governments to protect the welfare of the workers.

      The Government has taken several initiatives to protect the welfare of Overseas Indian Workers which inter alia include:

(i)         A Nation - wide Awareness-cum-Publicity Campaign through media is carried out to educate intending emigrants about legal emigration procedures, risk of illegal migration and precautions to be taken during emigration.

(ii)      The Ministry has notified the Emigration (Amendment) Rules 2009 on 9th July, 2009 revising the eligibility criteria of Recruiting Agents (RAs) and increasing the security amount and service charges.

(iii)     The Ministry has set up the Indian Community Welfare Fund (ICWF) in all the Indian Missions for providing onsite support and financial assistance to Indian workers in distress.

(iv)     The Government has established an Overseas Workers Resource Centre (OWRC) which is a 24 hour telephone helpline in eight languages to provide authentic information to intending emigrants as well as emigrants on all aspects of emigration. 

(v)      Indian Workers’ Resource Centre (IWRC) is also functioning at Dubai for taking care of the emergency needs of Indian workers.

(vi)     India had signed Labour Agreements with Jordan and Qatar in the 1980s to protect the interests of the Indian Workers. Memoranda of Understanding (MOU) were signed with United Arab Emirates (UAE) in December, 2006, with Kuwait in April, 2007, with Oman in November 2008, with Malaysia in January 2009, and with Bahrain in June 2009.

            An Additional Protocol to the existing Labour Agreement between India and Qatar was signed in November, 2007.

          These MOUs enhance bilateral co-operation in the management of migration and protection of labour welfare. Under these MOUs Joint Working Groups (JWG) have been constituted that meet regularly in order to resolve bilateral labour issues.

(vii)    In addition, the Government has taken the following measures for protecting the safety and welfare of women workers of the ECR (Emigration Check Required) category to emigrate to 17 ECR notified countries: -

(1)      Minimum Age limit of 30 years has been made mandatory in respect of all intending women emigrants.

(2)      The employment contract must be duly attested by the Indian Missions in respect of all such women.

(3)      Women household workers are allowed to emigrate after the Indian mission has attested the identity of the foreign employer and terms and conditions of the contract.

(4)      A pre-paid mobile facility must be provided by the employer to every woman Household Worker.

(5)        The Foreign Employer recruiting a woman household worker is required to deposit a security amount of $2500 with the Indian Mission.

            The Indian Missions in Middle East Countries have reported that they are not aware of the death of persons who have been sent to those countries fraudulently.   However, the data of Indians who died in these countries is as below.

Country	2009	2010	2011	2012(till July)
Saudi Arabia	1729	1855	1954	437
Kuwait	458	453	459	NA
UAE	1688	1498	1307	435 (upto May)
Oman	543	539	522	248(upto May)
Qatar	262	233	239	NA
Bahrain	1042
Libya	15	27	08	02
Lebanon	nil	06	07	01
Syria	08	08	09	08

This information was given by the Minister of Overseas Indian Affairs, Shri Vayalar Ravi in a written reply in the Lok Sabha 

Steps Taken to Prevent Misuse of Tatkal Tickets

With a view to reduce the scope for misuse, Tatkal tickets are issued on production of self attested photocopy of one of the prescribed proof of identity and the same in original is required to be carried during the journey, to verify the bonafide of passengers. However, during peak rush periods when the demand outstrips the availability, some cases of black marketing of reserved tickets by touts come to notice at the time of surprise inspections and preventive checks conducted at reservation offices.

During the period from April 2012 to June 2012, a large number of checks were conducted during which 930 unauthorized agents/touts were apprehended/prosecuted.

During the current financial year (upto June 2012), Indian Railways Catering & Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) has permanently deactivated 14 subagents for involvement in irregularities. Moreover, with a view to keep a check on the activities of agents booking Tatkal tickets, following additional steps have been taken:

1. The timing of opening of reservation of Tatkal tickets has been changed to 1000 hours on the previous day of journey instead of 0800 hours as per earlier provision.

2. Access to Tatkal bookings has been denied to agents both through internet as well as across the computerized Passenger Reservation System (PRS) counters between 1000 hours & 1200 hours.

3. Captcha has been introduced to check fraudulent booking on internet through automation software.

4. Booking of only two tickets per IP address between 1000 hours and 1200 hours is permitted to avoid multiple booking from same office/internet café.

5. Quick book option and booking on cash card is not allowed between 1000 hours and 1200 hours.

6. Individual users can also book only two tickets between 1000 hours and 1200 hours.

7. No refund is granted on cancellation of confirmed Tatkal tickets except under special circumstances like cancellation of train, late running of train by more than three hours, etc.

8. Duplicate Tatkal tickets are not issued except on payment of full fare.

9. Facility of change of name is not available under this scheme.

This information was given by the Minister of State for Railways, Shri Bharatsinh Solanki in a written reply in Rajya Sabha

Transaction Failures in E-Ticket Booking

During the period from April 2011 to March 2012, while 11.62 crore tickets were booked successfully through the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) website, in 96.12 lakh cases payment was settled but tickets were not booked.

In May 2012 and June 2012, in 13.19 lakh and 11.41 lakh cases respectively payment were settled but tickets were not booked. The reasons for such incomplete transaction included non availability of lower berths, entry of wrong password, network failure etc.

In addition to regular monitoring of the system, the following measures have been taken to improve the functioning of the IRCTC website:

 Capacity of the servers has been upgraded to meet the demand.

 Internet Bandwidth has been increased from 350 Mbps to 450 Mbps.

 IRCTC is continuously coordinating with various banks regarding payment gateway to reduce failed cases. This has resulted in improvement in success rate of transactions.

This information was given by the Minister of State for Railways, Shri Bharatsinh Solanki in a written reply in Rajya Sabha today.

Dronacharya Awards, Dhyan Chand Awards and Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puruskar announcement

Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puruskar 2012:

Sl. No.	Category	Entity recommended for Rashtriya Khel Protsahana Purushkar Rashtriya Khel Protsahana Purushkar, 2012
1.	Community Sports Identification and Nurturing of Budding Young Talent	Steel Authority of India Ltd. (SAIL)
2.	Financial Support for Sports Excellence	Railway Sports Promotion Board (RSPB)
3.	Establishment and Management of Sports Academies of Excellence	Services Sports Control Board (SSCB)
4.	Employment of Sportspersons and Sports Welfare Measures.	Air India Sports Promotion Board

Dhyan Chand Awards:

Sl. No.	Name	Discipline
1.	Shri Jagraj Singh Mann	Athletics
2.	Shri Gundeep Kumar	Hockey
3.	Shri Vinod Kumar	Wrestling
4.	Shri Sukhbir Singh Tokas	Para-Sports

Dronacharya Awards for 2012:

Sl. No.	Name	Discipline
1.	Shri Virender Poonia	Athletics
2.	Ms. Sunil Dabas	Kabaddi (Women)
3.	Shri Yashvir Singh	Wrestling
4.	Shri Harendra Singh	Hockey
5.	Dr. Satyapal Singh	Para Sports (Athletics)
6.	Shri J.S. Bhatia	Athletics  *
7.	Shri Bhawani Mukherjee	Table Tennis *
8.	Shri B.I. Fernandez, Cuban Boxing Coach	Boxing