Digitisation Target achievement

I&B Minister Smt. Ambika Soni meets Delhi CM to review Digitisation progress
73% Digitisation Target achieved
4 national MSOs announce rates for consumer packages for Digital Cable TV

Smt. Ambika Soni, Minister for Information and Broadcasting today met the Chief Minister of NCT of Delhi, Smt. Shiela Dixit, to discuss the progress made towards Cable TV Digitization.  In 4 metro cities of Chennai, Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai Cable TV Digitization deadline is 31^st October 2012. During discussions Smt. Soni emphasized the importance of meeting the digitization deadline of 31^st October and sought the support of the Delhi Government. The Chief Minister of NCT of Delhi assured the Minister of Information and Broadcasting of full support of the Delhi Government for the Digitization exercise.  She also asked the Chief Secretary to ask all  SDMs to convene meetings with stakeholders to achieve digitization roadmap well within the time .

In Delhi, 14.74 Lakhs Set Top Boxes(STBs) have already been installed as against the target of 24.74 lakhs, thereby achieving 60% target.  If DTH is also taken into consideration, then the digitization progress is about 70% as 8.77 lakh people in Delhi have already subscribed to DTH services.  Delhi has shown good pace of installation of STBs in the last one month and currently about 15000 STBs are being installed per day in the city.

Recently Ministry has embarked on an aggressive public awareness campaign wherein a syncronised advertisement on digitization deadline was shown on more than 200 television channels.  Radio Jingles, Print advertisements and SMS campaign have also enhanced public awareness about digitization exercise.  With all these efforts, digitization percentage in four metro cities has gone to 73%.   

Towards achieveing the goal of digitization , 4 National-level Multi System Operators(MSOs) viz., DEN, Digi Cable, Hathway, WWIL have also announced rates for consumer packages for Digital Cable.  As per TRAI’s stipulation, the Basic Service Tier (BST) consisting of atleast 100 channels for Rs.100 has also been announced by some of them. The bouquet rates for pay channels is as below

Name of the Package	No. of Channels	Rate in Rs. ( exclusive of taxes)
Digicable
Basic	145	180
Gold	151	200
Premium	165	250
Hathway Cable and Datacom Ltd.
Basic	135	160
Medium	198	220
Premium	242	275
DEN
Pack 1	112	180
Pack 2	219	225
Pack 3	235	270
WWIL
Janta	118	100
Popular 1( Kolkata)	151	150
Popular 2( Mumbai)	153	150
Popular 3( Delhi)	142	150

Consumers will also be given the option of choosing channels from a la carte list.  MSOs had earlier announced a combined promotional rate of STB for Rs.799/-.  MSOs have also announced consumer Care Service wherein Toll Free numbers including consumer charters have also been made available on the respective website. 

 

Over 90 Million Indians are at Risk for Vascular Diseases

The incidence of vascular diseases is increasing at an alarming rate in India. Over 90 million Indians are at risk for various types of vascular diseases including stroke, peripheral arterial disease (PAD), carotid artery disease and aortic aneurysms. This was stated by Union Minister of Health & Family Welfare Shri Ghulam Nabi Azad at Jaipur today.

Addressing the 19th Annual Conference of Vascular Society of India as Chief Guest, Shri Azad said his Ministry has already launched a national programme to prevent and control Cancer, Diabetes, Cardiovascular Diseases and Stroke in 100 backward districts of the country. Over 10 million persons of 30 years and above have been screened so far for diabetes and hypertension. Out of this, 7.27% are suspected for diabetes and 6.44% for hypertension. In addition to this, a cardiac care unit is being set up in 100 districts of the country where funds for infrastructure, equipment, human resources and drugs will be provided by Health Ministry.

According to the World Health Organization, of the 58 million deaths globally, approximately 35 million were due to chronic non-communicable diseases. In India, NCDs like CVDs, diabetes, chronic obstructive lung disease, cancer and injuries have already become the dominant cause of disease burden contributing about 2/3rd of the total disease burden. The number of deaths attributed to chronic diseases was 3.78 million in 1990, i.e. 40.4% of all deaths and is projected to reach an expected 7.63 million in 2020, i.e. 66.7% of all deaths. About 38 million persons were affected with Cardio-vascular diseases in 2005 and the number may go up to 64 million by 2015. High blood pressure is as common as 10-15% in the adult population, more so in metros and large cities.

During UN General Assembly Special Session on NCDs, held in September 2011 in New York, all countries of the world made a commitment in the Political Declaration to combat key NCDs including cardiovascular diseases which shows that the whole world has united in the struggle against the rising incidence of such diseases.

Shri Azad said that India has only about 59 doctors for every 100,000 people, which is much less than the ratio prevailing in developed countries. Despite that our doctors are taking care of a huge population and disease burden despite their very limited numbers in our country. Vascular surgery as a speciality has grown leaps and bounds in the last decade in India which has helped many needy patients. However, despite that many lives and limbs are still lost due to the non-availability of timely assistance and expertise.

He hoped that VSI would conduct workshops in other cities too to train MS general surgery students so that the benefits of this field are available to as many surgeons as possible.
 Shri Azad also released the Souvenir brought out on the occasion.

Trial Run of e-ticketing at Qutb Minar

Trial Run of e-ticketing at Qutb Minar

Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), as part of the automization programme, shall put on operation the trial run of e-ticketing at Qutb Minar from 1st October, 2012 for a period of one month. The period of the trial run shall be w.e.f. 01.10.2012 to 31.10.2012, both dates included.

The exercise is being undertaken to find out the suitability of the system for public and also to assess the short-comings in the system. The system has been designed by the National Institute for Smart Government (NISG) on experimental basis. The basic idea to introduce e-ticketing for the monuments is to make the current manual system of issue of paper tickets hassle free so that the visitors are not required to stand in queues wasting precious time. The system is also proposed to take care of better accounting of revenue collected, store data on visitors and minimise the possibility of malpractices in the current manual system.

During 01.10.2012 to 31.10.2012, the period of the trial run, e-ticket for individuals and also group of visitors may be purchased from the ticket counters at Qutb Minar. During this period, manual tickets will not be available at Qutb Minar. The system to be tested at Qutb Minar shall be based upon the bar-code technology as it is simple and easy to use. The ticket counters shall be open for issuance of tickets through e-POS system. During the 30 days trial run the system will be properly monitored and audited by the NISG experts and ASI officials to find out the lacunae for further improvisation of the technology.

Currently, entry into 116 monuments in the country, under the control of ASI, is through entry tickets. ASI has plans to introduce e-ticketing at all such ticketed monuments in phases after the technology to be used is firmed up and bottle-necks removed. Qutb Minar has purposely been selected for trial run since it is the second most visited monument in the country, only after the Taj Mahal. Once the technology selected for e-ticketing is found successful at Qutb Minar, its introduction at other monuments shall become easy.

Cash Transfers

Prime Minister sets up the Architecture for Cash Transfers
Thrust to Improve Targeting & Reduce wastage & leakages and increase transparency

            In a move to cut down wastage, duplication and leakages and enhance efficiency, the Prime Minister has given a major push to transfer individual benefits from the Government directly into the bank accounts of beneficiaries. This is to be done in a fast-track, accelerated mode to be achieved in a time bound manner. The idea is to move to a completely electronic Cash Transfer System for the entire population.

            In order to accelerate the process, which currently is being tried in pilots on a small scale and whose results are very encouraging, the Prime Minister has set up the architecture for moving to electronic Cash Transfers leveraging Aadhaar.

1.         Architecture for Cash Transfers

            In order to speed up activity and ensure that the shift to electronic Cash Transfers can be rolled out rapidly, the Prime Minister has set up the Architecture for Cash Transfers which will be the coordination mechanism. This architecture will consist of:

i.          National Ministerial Committee - under the Prime Minister with membership of all concerned ministers (Finance, IT, Social Justice, HRD, Minorities, Labour, Health, Food, P&NG, Fertilizers, Planning Commission, UIDAI,). This committee at the highest level would ensure coordination and decision-making at the highest level and impart the necessary urgency to the program.

ii.          National Executive Committee - with the Secretaries of all concerned Ministries as members. This committee would meet frequently to coordinate action, ensure adherence to time lines and sort out hitches in the program as it is rolled out.

iii.         Implementation Mission and Committees - to work on and finalise all operational and implementation details relating to the design and operation of the transfer system. There is a lot work needed to have a smooth roll-out and has to be done in a Mission mode with multiple agencies acting in a coordinated manner.  The Mission will have the following sub-committees:

a.         Cash Transfer Mission - Technology Committee -to focus on the technology, architecture and IT issues.

b.         Cash Transfer Mission - Financial Inclusion Committee - to focus on ensuring Universal Access to Banking and achieving complete Financial Inclusion.

c.         Cash Transfer Mission - Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) Committees - to work out the details relating to EBT such as data bases, transfer rules, controls, audits, etc. There would be one for each Ministry which is engaging in benefit transfers.

            The milestones and timeliness for each of these Committees will be clearly laid down.  The National Executive Committee will monitor progress and ensure timely roll-out.  This scheme will have a momentous impact on the government's various social programmes and help million of beneficiaries.

2.         Background to Aadhaar:

            With the rapid rollout of Aadhaar, now covering 20 crore people and rapidly growing to 60 crores, and with the National Population Register covering the other half, it is possible to move to a system of transferring cash benefits directly to the poor.

            A Cash Transfer System can be used for transferring cash benefits such as NREGA Wages, Scholarships, Pensions, Income support of other types and Health Benefits. Electronic Transfer of Benefits (ETB) is a simple change as the transfers are already taking place and the only modification that would be involved is a movement from a paper based, cash driven system to an electronic direct transfer system.

            Cash Transfer System would improve targeting, reduce corruption, eliminate waste, control expenditure and facilitate reforms.

3.         Pilots

            The results of pilots are encouraging. Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) has already begun in many cases. The Government and RBI have issued Guidelines to Banks for implementation of EBT. Pilots are under implementation, including in AP, Chhattisgarh, Punjab, Rajasthan, TN, WB, Karnataka, Puducherry and Sikkim. 

Zee News wins the ECI National Media Award

Zee News wins the ECI National Media Award on Voters’ Education for Assembly Election (Jan-March) 2012: Amar Ujala wins Special Award Election Commission of India has selected ‘Zee News’ for the National Media Award on Voter Education for its outstanding campaign towards creating voters’ awareness in the Assembly elections (January-March) 2012, especially in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. The Hindi daily ‘Amar Ujala’ has also been selected for a ‘Special Award’ for it remarkable contribution towards voter education and awareness in the aforementioned elections.

This follows the decision taken by the Commission and announced during a Media Convention on 23rd January 2012 at ECI that the Media House with the best campaign on Voter Education and Awareness would be awarded.

The Award would be presented during the 3rd National Voters’ Day on 25th January 2013 at New Delhi.

The Commission has now decided to constitute separate awards for electronic and print media for all the forthcoming elections.

Service Tax on Transportation of Goods by Rail

Service Tax on Transportation of Goods by Rail from 1st October 2012

In compliance of the provisions contained in Finance Bill 2010 and subsequent notifications issued by Ministry of Finance, the Service Tax in case of transportation of goods by rail, which was exempted upto 30th September 2012, would now be levied on total freight charges with effect from 1st October 2012.

Since an abatement of 70% has been permitted on freight for the taxable commodities by the Ministry of Finance, the Service Tax will be charged on 30% of the total chargeable freight inclusive of all charges (like busy season charges, development charge etc.,) would be calculated as follows:-

i) Service Tax of 12% will be charged on 30% of freight (equivalent to 3.6% on the total freight charges)

ii) Education Cess of 2% on Service Tax will be added (equivalent to 0.072% on total freight) and

iii) Higher Education Cess of 1% on Service Tax will also be added (equivalent to 0.036% on total freight)

iv) Total Service Tax implication will be (i)+(ii)+(iii)=3.708% on the total freight charges.

Certain commodities have been exempted from payment of service tax as per Ministry of Finance notification. The list of such commodities and further details on the modalities of levy and collection of Service Tax on transportation of goods by rail, may be ascertained from Indian Railways’ web site i.e. www.indianrailways.gov.in

The amount of Service Tax collected by Railways would be deposited with the Ministry of Finance as per prescribed procedure.

Service Tax on Railway Passengers

Levy of Service Tax on Railway Passengers Travelling in AC Class/First Class from 1st October 2012

In compliance of the provisions contained in Finance Bill 2012 and subsequent notifications issued by Ministry of Finance, the Service Tax in case of railway travel, which was exempted upto 30^th September 2012, will be levied on the fare of passenger services in the following classes from 1^st October 2012. 

(i) AC First Class, (ii) Executive Class, (iii) AC-2 tier Class, (iv) AC-3 tier class, (v) AC Chair Car class, (vi) AC Economy class and (vii) First Class.

Since an abatement of 70%  has been permitted on passenger services by Ministry of Finance,  the Service Tax will be charged on 30% of total fare including reservation charge, development charge, superfast surcharge which would be calculated as follows:-

i)                    Service Tax of 12% will be charged on 30% of fare (equivalent to 3.6% on the total fare)

ii)                  Education Cess of 2% on Service Tax will be added (equivalent to 0.072% on total fare) and

iii)                Higher Education Cess of 1% on Service Tax will also be added (equivalent to 0.036% on total fare)

iv)                Total Service Tax implication will be (i)+(ii)+(iii)=3.708% on the total fare.

      On Concessional value tickets/PTO tickets etc. service charge will be levied on 30% of the total fare actually being paid by the passengers.

The Service Tax will also apply to tickets issued in advance for journeys to commence on or after date of implementation of Service tax.  In the case of tickets already issued excluding service tax,  the service tax on total fare including development charge, superfast surcharge, reservation fee, etc. date of implementation of Service Tax will be recovered  either  by TTEs in the train or by the Booking Offices before commencement of the journey by the passengers.  Commercial Inspectors and TIAs have been instructed to visit all important stations and ensure that service tax is levied on tickets issued as per the revised rates.  Commercial Officers have also been asked to make surprise checks at the stations and ensure that Service Charges are levied from date of implementation of Service Tax.

The amount of Service Tax collected from passengers will be deposited with the Ministry of Finance as per procedure.  Finance Departments of Zonal Railways have been instructed for proper accountal and remittance of Service Tax amount to the Government.

In case of refund of passenger fare, if any, refund of Service Tax shall be claimed by the passenger from the concerned Service Tax authority.  No refund shall be made by the Railways on this account.  For the purpose of claiming refund, Chief Commercial Manager (CCM)  office of concerned Zonal Railway shall issue a certificate to passenger detailing the amount of refunds to be signed by an Officer authorized by CCM, which shall be countersigned by the Dy. Chief Account Officer (DCAO) or officer authorized by them for this purpose.

NEET Exam

In order to bring transparency and streamline admission to Post Graduate medical and dental courses Government has decided to introduce a single entrance examination to be known as “The National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET)” from the next academic year i.e. 2013-2014.

The National Board of Examination (NBE) will conduct NEET-PG Test for admission to MD/MS/PG Diploma Course courses offered by all the Medical Colleges/Institutions coming under the ambit of the Medical Council of India. The first NEET-PG, for admissions in MD/MS/PG Diploma courses in 2013-14 will be held online by NBE from 23rd November to 6th December 2012 at various centres in 34 cities of the country. The details of NEET-PG for medical courses are available atwww.nbe.gov.in/neetpg.

The NEET-PG for dental courses will be conducted by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), for admission in MDS courses offered by all the dental colleges/institution coming under the ambit of the Dental Council of India. AIIMS will notify the dates of the examination in due course of time.

Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs Approves Scheme for Financial Restructuring of State Distribution Companies (Discoms).

In an attempt to restore power purchasing capacity of the debt ridden DISCOMS and also to enable Banks to recover their loans, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved the scheme for Financial Restructuring of State Distribution Companies (Discoms). The scheme contains various measures required to be taken by State Discoms and State Governments for achieving the financial turnaround of the Discoms by restructuring their debt with support through a Transitional Finance Mechanism  by Central Government. The scheme is effective from the date of notification and will remain open upto 31st Dec 2012 unless extended by the GOI. The scheme would be applicable to all State owned Discoms having accumulated losses and facing difficulty in financing operational losses.

The accumulated losses of the state power distribution companies (Discoms) are estimated to be about Rs 1.9 Lakh crore as on 31st March, 2011.Any turn around strategy has to be based on the principle that gap between Average Revenue Realization (ARR) and Average Cost of Supply (ACS) is eliminated as early as possible, liability to be taken over by State Government/ equity infusion by State Government, subsidy to be provided in full by State Government as per the Electricity Act and Average Debt Service Coverage Ratio (DSCR) to be atleast 1. The scheme has been prepared keeping in view the fragile health of utilities and State Government, coupled with serious systemic deficiencies in the working of State Discoms and underlying principles of turnaround as aforesaid. The scheme contains immediate/ continuing and short term measures required to be taken in a time bound manner by the Discoms and State Governments. These measures include Financial Restructuring, Tariff Setting & Revenue Realization, Subsidy, Metering, Audit & Accounts and Monitoring.

Salient features

50% of the outstanding short term liabilities upto March 31, 2012 to be taken over by State Governments. This shall be first converted into bonds to be issued by Discoms to participating lenders, duly backed by State Govt guarantee.

a.           Takeover of liability by State Govt from Discoms in the next 2-5 years by way of special securities and repayment and Interest payment to be done by State Govt till the date of takeover.

b.           Restructuring the balance 50% Short Term Loan by rescheduling loans and providing moratorium on principal and the best possible terms for this restructuring to ensure viability of this effort.

c.            The restructuring/reschedulement of loan is to be accompanied by concrete and measurable action by the Discoms/States to improve the operational performance of the distribution utilities.

d.           For monitoring the progress of the turnaround plan, two committees at State and Central levels respectively are proposed to be formed.

e.            Central Government will provide incentive by way of grant equal to the value of the additional energy saved by way of accelerated AT&C loss reduction beyond the loss trajectory specified under RAPDRP and capital reimbursement support of 25% of principal repayment by the State Govt on the liability taken over by the State Govt under the scheme.

f.             Ministry of Power to bring out draft model legislation on State Electricity Distribution etc. Responsibility bill, after due inter-ministerial consultation within a period of twelve months from the approval of the Scheme.

g.           States will enact the legislation within twelve months from the date of circulation of model legislation by Ministry of Power to mandate the compliance of the provisions of FRP.

  Objectives

  The scheme proposes to enable the State Governments and the DISCOMs to carve out a strategy for the financial turnaround of the distribution companies in the State power sector which will be enabled by the lenders agreeing to restructure/reschedule the existing short-term debt. As the restructuring/reschedulement by lenders is subject to certain prior steps to be taken by the State Government/DISCOMs and their commitment to fulfil mandatory conditions which are aimed at bridging the gap between the average cost of supply and the average revenue realized, this would help in restoring the viability of the distribution sector in the State. By restructuring and rescheduling the outstanding short term debt and securing the commitment of the State Govt in the discharge of debt service obligation, the Discoms would be nursed back to health. Government of India support through the transitional finance mechanism would serve the purpose of incentivizing the fulfilment of mandatory conditions.

Expected Outcomes

(a)     Providing comfort to the lenders by securing State takeover of and guarantee for debt,

(b)     Bringing about financial discipline in the distribution sector in the State,

(c)      Providing a commercial orientation to the functioning of the distribution companies,

(d)     Casting responsibility on the State Government to ensure a steady flow of revenue to the distribution companies by improving the efficiency of their operations,

(e)      Accelerate the AT&C loss reduction effort of DISCOMs, through additional incentive from Central Govt

(.f)     Ensure regular rationalisation of tariff to cover cost of service,

(g)     Gradual elimination of the gap between ACS and ARR.

(h)     Ensure timely audit of DISCOM accounts

(i)      Improve the financial health of the Distribution Utilities to enable them to procure more electricity for meeting their growing demands.

IMPORTANT MANDATORY CONDITIONS

1.    State Governments shall convert all their loans to equity

2.    All outstanding energy bills of State Departments/Agencies as on 31.3.2012 to be paid  by 30.11.2012

3.    Eliminate the gap between ACS and ARR within the period of moratorium of the bonds

4.    Involvement of private sector in state distribution sector through franchisee arrangements or any other mode of private participation to be prepared within a year by the Discoms

5.    Tariff order to be notified by 30^th April of each Financial year

6.    Fuel cost adjustment to be allowed as directed by APTEL

7.    FRP to include targets for progressive reduction in Short Term Power (STP) purchase by the State Discoms

8.    Subsidy should be paid upfront by State Govt.

9.    Prepaid meters to be installed by 31.3.2013 for all Government consumers

10.  Audited accounts for and up to FY 2010-11 by 30.9.2012 and of FY 2011-12 to be finalized by 31.12.2012.

Union cabinet approved Rs.2300 crore to meet the demands of Ex-servicemen pensioners

  

The Union Cabinet has approved the recommendations of the Committee headed by Cabinet Secretary for benefits to ex-servicemen on four issues.   The financial implications of the improvements made as per the Cabinet decision on the four items are broadly estimated at Rs.2300 crore per annum.  The details are as follows:

I.             One Rank One Pension:

On One Rank One Pension, the demand of the Defence Forces and Ex-Servicemen Associations is that uniform pension be paid to the Defence Forces personnel retiring in the same rank with the same length of service irrespective of their date of retirement and any future enhancement in the rates of pension be automatically passed on to the past pensioners. 

            The difference in the pension of present and past pensioners in the same rank occurs on account of the number of increments earned by the defence personnel in that rank.  There is also a difference between the pension of pre 1.1.06 and post 1.1.06 retirees belonging to a particular rank.  The UPA Government on two previous occasions has taken decisions to narrow the gap between the present and past pensioners, particularly those belonging to the ranks of JCOs and Other Ranks.

            On the issue of One Rank One Pension, the following have been approved by the Cabinet:

(i)         Bridging of the gap in the pension of pre 1.1.06 and post 1.1.06 JCO/OR retirees by determining the pension of pre 1.1.06 retirees on the basis of notional maximum for ranks and groups across the three Services as in the case of post 1.1.06 retirees.  In addition, the weightage of qualifying service in the ranks of Sepoys, Naik and Havaldar would be increased by two years for both pre and post 1.1.06 retirees.

(ii)        The pension of pre 1.1.06 Commissioned Officer pensioners would be stepped up with reference to the minimum of fitment table for the ranks instead of the minimum of pay band.

           

These are expected to largely meet the demands of the defence pensioners on one rank one pension. 

II.                   Enhancement of Family Pension :

(i)                   The pension of pre - 1.1.2006 family pensioners(Commissioned Officers, Honorary Commissioned Officers, JCOs/ORs ) be stepped up based on the minimum of the fitment table instead of the minimum of the Pay Band;

(i)            Establishing linkage of the family pension with the pension of JCOs/ORs, in those cases where the death takes place after the retirement of the JCO/OR since such a JCO/OR drew a pension based on the maximum of the pay scales, 60% of the pension applicable to JCO/OR pensioners would be granted to the family pensioner in case of normal family pension calculated a 30% of last pay drawn. Accordingly, based on the rank, group and length of service of the deceased JCO/OR pensioner, his pension would first be determined on notional basis. In cases where death of JCO/OR took place after retirement, the family pensioners in receipt of normal family pension would become entitled to 60% of the said pension determined on notional basis and those in receipt of enhanced family pension will be entitled to 100% of this pension. Similar entitlements would be determined in the case of Special Family Pension; and

(ii)                 The family pensioner of the JCO/OR would be granted pension arrived at on the basis of the family pension worked out as per the formulation at (i) above or the pension on the basis of stepping up with reference to the minimum of the fitment table, whichever is beneficial. Further, the linkage of family pension with retiring pension be applied in the case of post 1.1.2006 family pensioners of JCOs/ORs also.

III.           Dual Family Pension:

Dual family pension would be allowed in the present and future cases where the pensioner drew, is drawing or may draw pension for military service as well as for civil employment.

IV.          Family pension to mentally / physically challenged children of armed forces personnel on marriage:

Grant of family pension to mentally/physically challenged children who drew, are drawing or may draw family pension would continue even after their marriage.

The above recommendations made by the Committee on pension issues of Ex-Servicemen may be implemented from a prospective date and payment made accordingly.

DA for Central Government Employees

The Union Cabinet today approved to release additional installment of Dearness Allowance (DA) to Central Government employees and Dearness Relief (DR) to pensioners with effect from 01.07.2012, representing an increase of 7 per cent over the existing rate of 65 per cent of the Basic Pay/Pension, to compensate for price rise.

The increase is in accordance with the accepted formula, which is based on the recommendations of the 6th Central Pay Commission.

The combined impact on the exchequer on account of both Dearness Allowance and Dearness Relief would be of the order of Rs.7408.24 crore per annum and Rs. 4938.78 crore in the financial year 2012-2013 i.e. for a period of 8 months from July, 2012 to February, 2013.

Financial Restructuring of State Distribution Companies

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs today approved the scheme for Financial Restructuring of State Distribution Companies (Discoms). The scheme contains various measures required to be taken by State Discoms and State Governments for achieving the financial turnaround of the Discoms by restructuring their debt with support through a transitional finance mechanism by the Central Government. The scheme is effective as soon as notified and will remain open upto 31st Dec 2012 unless extended by the GOI. Support under the scheme will be available for all participating State owned Discoms on fulfilling certain mandatory conditions as outlined in Part C of the Scheme.

The salient features of the scheme are as follows:

a. 50 percent of the outstanding short term liabilities upto March 31, 2012 to be taken over by State Governments. This shall be first converted into bonds to be issued by Discoms to participating lenders, duly backed by State Governments guarantee.

b. Takeover of liability by State Governments from Discoms in the next 2-5 years by way of special securities and repayment and interest payment to be done by State Governments till the date of takeover.

c. Restructuring the balance 50 percent Short Term Loan by rescheduling loans and providing moratorium on principal and the best possible terms for this restructuring to ensure viability of this effort.

d. The restructuring/reschedulement of loan is to be accompanied by concrete and measurable action by the Discoms/States to improve the operational performance of the distribution utilities.

e. For monitoring the progress of the turnaround plan, two committees at State and Central levels respectively are proposed to be formed.

f. Central Government will provide incentive by way of grant equal to the value of the additional energy saved by way of accelerated AT&C loss reduction beyond the loss trajectory specified under RAPDRP and capital reimbursement support of 25 percent of principal repayment by the State Governments on the liability taken over by the State Governments under the scheme.

The accumulated losses of the state power distribution companies (Discoms) are estimated to be about Rs 1.9 Lakh crore as on 31st March, 2011. In order to look into the issues of State Discoms and to suggest a strategy for the turnaround of the distribution sector, Planning Commission constituted an Expert Group under the chairmanship of Sh. B K Chaturvedi, Member (Energy), Planning Commission. The approved scheme is formulated based on the report of the Expert Group and deliberations in the PMO and Ministry of Finance.

Indian Railways Carry Special Drive to Curb Crime against Passengers

The Indian Railway has conducted a 90 day special drive over its Zonal Railways to contain crime against passengers from 1st June to 31st August 2012.

During this drive, the Railway Protection Force (RPF) officials and staffing in tendem with their counterparts in Government Railway Police (GRP) of respective state governments have done a remarkable job by nabbing 48 gangs including 901 criminals involved in passenger crimes and apprehended 4548 persons for unauthorised alarm chain pulling.

Besides, a total number of 2,15,784 persons have been prosecuted under various sections of the Railways Act for other petty offences during this period. Number of incidence of dacoity, drugging, theft of passengers’ belongings and alarm chain pulling in train has come down significantly during this drive.