PM Narendra Modi Diwali Celebrations

 PM Narendra Modicelebrates Diwali with ITBP, Indian Army and Dogra Scouts in Sumdo, Kinnaur district of Himachal Pradesh.

Selection of Foreign Coaches to be done through Open Advertisement

Selection of foreign coaches in future will be done through open advertisement. The Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Youth Affairs & Sports, Shri Vijay Goel has approved this proposal which emerged at a meeting taken by him with senior officers of his Ministry and Sports Authority of India in New Delhi yesterday. This will bring more names before the Foreign Coaches Selection Committee in addition to those suggested by National Sports Federations.
The Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports spends a substantial amount on foreign coaches to prepare Indian athletes for Olympics, Asian Games, Commonwealth Games and other important tournaments. Keeping this in view, extension to foreign coaches in future will be given on the basis of their performance as assessed by a Committee.
Hiring of foreign coaches is a necessity for training Indian athletes in many sports disciplines at present, but they will be utilized for training Indian coaches so that our dependence on foreign coaches can be reduced in future. The contract with foreign coaches will invariably include a component of training of Indian coaches for a certain period.
Shri Vijay Goel said that he would continue to take such steps in the interest of transparency in sports.

FM Radio Phase III Auction

E-Auction of the Second Batch of Private FM Radio Phase III Channels commenced  on 26th October 16.  During the day, four rounds of bidding took place.  266 FM Channels in 92 cities comprising 227 channels in 69 fresh cities and 39 unsold channels from 23 cities of batch I of Ph-III have been put on auction in the second batch.  At the close of first day of bidding, 58 channels in 42 cities became Provisionally Winning Channels with cumulative provisional winning price of around Rs.182 Crore against their aggregate reserve price of about Rs.179.2 Crore.

The auction began today.  Total 14 bidders were allowed to participate in the auction.  The ongoing auction is a Simultaneous Multiple Round Ascending (SMRA) e-auction which is being conducted on line.  States of Uttarakhand and Nagaland and Border Area Towns of Poonch Mokukchung, Leh, Kathua, Kargil, Bhaderwa to have Private FM Channels for the first time

Make in India ,Skill India" and “Digital India

Minister of Information and Broadcasting, M. Venkaiah Naidu has said that digital and mobile tools have been leading to paradigm shifts in the M&E sector. The growth of varied platforms such as 4G, broadband, mobile technologies, digital media has enabled the M&E sector to move towards “Convergence across platforms and content”.
 The Government of India's “Make in India”, "Skill India" and “Digital India” campaigns were clearly positive signals of the new transformation including GST which is expected to be a game changer for the M&E sector. Shri Naidu stated this while delivering the keynote address at the inaugural function of the 5th Edition of CII Big Picture Summit at New Delhi today. The theme of this year’s Summit is 'Embracing Disruption to Stay Competitive'.Regarding opportunities in the skill sector for the M&E industry, Mr.Naidu said that the Government is fully aware of the acute shortage of professionals across different segments. He mentioned that he would like the industry to give its recommendations on the steps to be taken to match demand and supply as well as the recommendations emerging from the discussions at the summit for the different sessions focusing on skill assessment and needs.

On the issue of growth prospects for the industry, Naidu said that as part of the national policy, the Government would work with the industry to develop infrastructure to get the right talent at the appropriate sectors. The M&E sector in India had always been a very liberal media market and a number of initiatives had been taken including opening up and liberalizing FDI in the broadcast sector.

For the initiatives in the film sector,  Naidu said there is a huge opportunity to make India lead in the world as film shooting location and digital media hub for the world. Our films, actors, content, technology were expanding footprint to new and emerging global markets, and the aim of the Government was to make this transition smooth by creating an enabling regulatory environment. The Co-production agreements with other countries has ensured the projection and branding of India’s soft power.

On the issue of the theme of the Conference “'Embracing Disruption to Stay Competitive”, the Minister said that this process had substantially altered the business models across the world. The Indian M&E industry needed to outline a firm roadmap to ensure the convergence of networks, devices and content, the core elements of the digital entertainment process. Shri Naidu referred to the Government’s Digital India and Smart City initiative that were going to have a major impact on increasing the penetration of Internet to Tier-II and Tier-III cities. He also referred to the potential of smartphones in facilitating a critical role for consumers’ professional and personal lives. The Government’s initiatives and private sector participation was necessary to ensure the optimal use of the potential of the digital ecosystem.

PM Modi urges citizens to send their messages to jawans

The great respect and admiration that the nation has for our Armed Forces, will find expression this festive season, through a unique campaign being led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. 

The #Sandesh2Soldiers campaign gives every citizen an opportunity to spread happiness and cheer among the Indian Armed Forces, who are guarding our nation’s frontiers, far from their loved ones on Diwali. 

A holistic campaign has been launched to urge and invite people to send letters and messages to the Armed Forces. Leading this effort, the Prime Minister shared through social media, a special video, featuring his appeal to the people to send messages to our brave Armed Forces personnel. Within hours, the video has generated tremendous interest on platforms such as Twitter and Facebook. 

People can send messages to soldiers on the Narendra Modi App, through MyGov.in, and also through All India Radio. Doordarshan shall also be mounting a programme to share people’s emotions with the Armed Forces. 

A special module has been launched on the Narendra Modi App, which enables people to send greetings or their hand-written messages to the Armed Forces. 

The #Sandesh2Soldiers campaign is expected to generate increased interaction between the people and the Armed Forces. Earlier this month, at an event in Bhopal, the Prime Minister had focused on the human element of our brave jawans. His appeal to people to applaud jawans when they meet them, has also created a buzz on social media. 

Since becoming Prime Minister, Narendra Modi has spent both Diwalis with the Armed Forces. 

Cabinet approves establishment of an Indian Institute of Management at Jammu

The Union Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, has approved the establishment and operationalisation of Indian Institute of Management (IIM) at Jammu in a transit/temporary campus at Old Government College of Engineering & Technology from the Academic Year 2016-17.

The project will involve a cost of Rs.61.90 crore in temporary campus for the initial four years from 2016 to 2020. The student strength intake for this year in the Post Graduate Diploma Programme (PGDP) in Management is 54 which will progressively go up to a cumulative student strength of 120 in the 4th year. Meanwhile, steps would also be taken up for setting up campus at Jammu and an out-campus in Kashmir region. The Detailed Project Report for the permanent campuses is under preparation and thereafter the process for setting up of the campuses would start.

The Cabinet also approved formation of an IIM Jammu Society under the Societies Registration Act, 1860. IIM Jammu will be run and managed by the Society with a Board of Governors (BOGs) to be constituted by the Government of India, which will administer the Institute and would be responsible for establishment and operationalisation of the Institute.

This is a part of Prime Minister’s development package for Jammu & Kashmir. The Institute coupled with opening of IIT at Jammu, modernization of NIT Srinagar and opening of two new AIIMS institutions, one each in Kashmir region and Jammu region, would go a long way in meeting the requirement of high quality living and education in Jammu & Kashmir.

Background:

Indian Institutes of Management are the country’s premier institutions imparting best quality education in management on globally benchmarked processes of education and training in management education and allied area of knowledge.

At present, there are nineteen IIMs. Out of these, thirteen IIMs are located at Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Lucknow, Indore, Kozhikode, Shillong, Ranchi, Raipur, Rohtak, Kashipur, Trichy, Udaipur. Another six IIMs which have been started in 2015 are located at Amritsar, Sirmaur, Nagpur, Bodhgaya, Sambalpur and Vishakhapatnam. 

AMCDRR: School kids to paint 'LIVE' for Disaster Risk Reduction Awareness

A national-level painting competition for school children aged between 10-14 years will be held on November 3, 2016 during the Asian Ministerial Conference for Disaster Risk Reduction (AMCDRR) 2016. 

The Conference is being organised from November 3-5, 2016 at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi by the Government of India in collaboration with the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR). 

This competition will be based on themes related to Disaster Risk Reduction and aims to make children aware of its need and importance. It also aims at bringing to the fore their understanding of risks and ways to address them. 

Children are a nation's future, and they need to be exposed to notions of safety from all kinds of hazards - small everyday hazards to major natural hazards like floods like floods and earthquakes - early in their lives to ensure their holistic growth. 

Children's participation would also lead to a greater involvement of their parents and society resulting in better prepared communities. 

The State Disaster Management Authorities (SDMAs) will organise the first level of the competition. Each participating State will send its three best participants for the national level competition. 

At the national level competition, a jury will select three winners who will be rewarded cash prizes, a certificate of recognition and a memento. Three consolation prizes will also be awarded. 

AMCDRR will set the direction of implementation and monitoring of Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (SFDRR) in the region. The Framework was adopted by 187 countries, including India, at the Third UN World Conference on DRR in March 2015. It recognises children as agents of change and advocates that they should be given the space and modalities to contribute to DRR. 

CCTV cameras to be installed at Polavaram Project

The Andhra Pradesh Government is installing CCTV cameras around the Polavaram Project so that the progress of work could be monitored round the clock.

Chief Minister will be monitoring the pace and progress of work from the command and control centre in the CMO at the new Temporary Secretariat at Velagapudi in Amaravati. Sources said that in a review meeting today, Naidu directed officials to arrange CCTV cameras using optical fiber network for round the clock surveillance of project site. The Chief Minister inspected the progress of Polavaram project works on Monday along with Minister for Water Resources Devineni Umamaheswara Rao and irrigation officials.

He has also asked to strengthen the security measures at Polavaram project. He directed the officials to set up facial recognition and RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) bands to identify the work force.

Regional Editors Conference begins at Chandigarh

Media should develop self regulatory mechanism - VP Singh Badnore Governor Punjab

Regional Editors Conference begins at Chandigarh

Governor Punjab and Administrator of Chandigarh, Sh. VP Singh Badnore has said that media should develop self regulatory mechanism to place true picture of the issues concerning people before the government. He said role of the media is very important in raising issues concerning to common people and it can also help in addressing these issues. The Governor was addressing the Regional Editors’ Conference here today. Citing some incidents of paid news, Shri Badnore said that media should come forward to check this menace. He invited public suggestions to improve the infrastructure and the public convenience in Chandigarh and added that media should play its role in getting these suggestions to the administration.

Welcoming the participants, Director General of PIB, Shri A.P.Frank Naronha said the Government considers the media as an important stakeholder in its agenda of development. “The media has an onerous responsibility as both a facilitator and a watchdog to ensure that the fruits of development are distributed to the deserving,” he said. He added the media, especially regional media, can play an important role in this venture.

During the inaugural session, Home Minister, Shri Rajnath Singh and Member Parliament, Smt. Kirron Kher were also present.

Giving the background of the conference, Shri Naronha said the Regional Editors Conference has been organized with an objective to provide an opportunity to the editors of the regional press to interact directly with the ministers on the crucial issues concerning their respective ministries. While the participants will get to know the relevant context and deeper background behind a particular initiative, programmes and policies, it will also help the policy makers in getting the feedback from the media which could be useful for further improvement, he said.

Highlighting the role of PIB in information dissemination and communication, Shri Naronha said besides traditional modes of communication PIB is also reaching to the regional press and public through social media in big way to make them aware of government policies and programmes.

In two-day conference six central Ministries viz, Home affairs, Women & Child Development, Road Transport & Highways, Consumer Affairs & Public Distribution, Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare and Development for North East region are participating. Union Ministers of the concerned Ministries would preside over the respective sessions and address the Editors about the policy issues and initiatives pertaining to the Ministry.

In the Conference, editors from the states of Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttrakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, Manipur, Mizoram and Chandigarh are taking part.

AMCDRR Film Festival: Stories of hope and future

A short films competition on the theme of Risk Sensitive Development for Community Resilience will be organised at the Asian Ministerial Conference for Disaster Risk Reduction (AMCDRR) 2016.
The Conference is being organised from November 3-5, 2016 at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi by the Government of India in collaboration with the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR). It will set the direction of implementation and monitoring of Sendai Framework in the region.
Short films and educational documentaries have proved to be one of the effective mediums to strengthen understanding disaster resilience by showcasing community participation, success stories and best practices on Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR). Without a greater awareness, understanding and knowledge of the challenges and opportunities of disaster resilient development, it will not be possible to achieve the overall goal of the Sendai Framework of preventing and reducing disaster risk.
A highlight event of the AMCDRR 2016, this competition aims to showcase benefits of DRR policies, communities to nations and other stakeholders and to encourage increased investments in prevention and mitigation measures. Entries were called for under three categories: Positive Human Impact of DRR, DRR for Development and Adapting to Climate Change.
The entries will be played at the venue throughout the conference duration on 3rd and 4th November, 2016. Three winners, one from each category, will be felicitated on the closing day of the Conference.
AMCDRR 2016 will focus on collaboration, consultation and partnership with governments and stakeholders to mainstream DRR in the region's socio-economic development.

SSB seized synthetic drug worth Rs.6 crores on Indo-Nepal Border

Troops of Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) 41st Battallion Ranidanga, West Bengal seized two Boxes of Methamphetamine (ICE) synthetic drug weighing 1.1 kg and apprehended one person.
On the information of SSB sources an operation was planned in the early morning today and one person, namely Shanker Ghosh, coming from Nepal with the drug, was apprehended. The seized drug is purest form of Methamphetamine, a strong stimulant, it is better than cocaine. On checking through the drug detection kit, its purity level is found to be very high.
The seized contraband and apprehended person have been handed over to the local Police and further interrogation is on.

Cabinet accords permission to Ms/. HLL Lifecare Ltd., to sub-lease 330.10 acres of Government land at Chengalpattu, Kanchipuram District (Tamil Nadu) leased to it in 2009 for setting up Medipark

The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has given its approval to M/s. HLL Lifecare Ltd., a Mini Ratna PSU under Ministry of Health & Family Welfare to sub- lease 330.10 acres of land at. Chengalpattu, located in the outskirts of Chennai, to setup a medical devices manufacturing park (Medipark) through a special purpose Vehicle. The shareholding of HLL in the project would be above 50%.
The Medipark project will be the first manufacturing cluster in the medical technology sector in the country, envisaged to boost the local manufacturing of hi-end products at a significantly lower cost, resulting in affordable healthcare delivery, particular in diagnostic services to a large section of people. The proposed Medipark would contribute to the development of medical devices and technology sector and allied disciplines in the country, which is still at a nascent stage besides generating employment and give a boost to the government's "Make in India" Campaign.
Medipark will be developed in phases, spread over seven years for completion. In the first phase, physical infrastructure will be developed and plots will be leased from third year onwards. Knowledge management center will be developed in the second phase, with grants and assistance from departments, which funds similar initiatives. HLL will sublease the land to investors, through a transparent bidding process to investors desirous to set up manufacturing units for Medical equipment and devices. In the initial phase, the land cost to the qualifying entrepreneurs from Medical Device and Equipment, Manufacturing Industry will be at a subsidized rate so as to attract others and the rate will go up gradually as the demand picks up. Thus the Medipark project will play an important role in enhancing quality health care delivery in India.
The project will reduce the dependence on imports and create a strong base for the growth of indigenous and domestic industry by providing access to state of art infrastructure and technology. The domestic manufacturing of medical devices and equipment shall not only usher in a regime of assured and affordable health care delivery but also deepen and strengthen the penetration of quality health care services.

Cabinet approves amendments to the HIV and AIDS (Prevention and Control) Bill, 2014

The Union Cabinet under the Chairmanship of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has given its approval to introduce official amendments to the HIV and AIDS (Prevention and Control) Bill, 2014.

The HIV and AIDS Bill, 2014 has been drafted to safeguard the rights of people living with HIV and affected by HIV. The provisions of the Bill seek to address HIV-related discrimination, strengthen the existing programme by bringing in legal accountability and establish formal mechanisms for inquiring into complaints and redressing grievances. The Bill seeks to prevent and control the spread of HIV and AIDS, prohibits discrimination against persons with HIV and AIDS, provides for informed consent and confidentiality with regard to their treatment, places obligations on establishments to safeguard rights of persons living with HIV arid create mechanisms for redressing complaints. The Bill also aims to enhance access to health care services by ensuring informed consent and confidentiality for HIV-related testing, treatment and clinical research.

The Bill lists various grounds on which discrimination against HIV positive persons and those living with them is prohibited.  These include the denial, termination, discontinuation or unfair treatment with regard to:

(i)           employment,

(ii)         educational establishments,

(iii)       health care services,

(iv)       residing or renting property,

(v)         standing for public or private office, and

(vi)       provision of insurance (unless based on actuarial studies). The requirement for HIV testing as a pre-requisite for obtaining employment or accessing health care or education is also prohibited.

Every HIV infected or affected person below the age of 18 years has the right to reside in a shared household and enjoy the facilities of the household. The Bill also prohibits any individual from publishing information or advocating feelings of hatred against HIV positive persons and those living with them. The Bill also provides for Guardianship for minors. A person between the age of 12 to 18 years who has sufficient maturity in understanding and managing the affairs of his HIV or AIDS affected family shall be competent to act as a guardian of another sibling below 18 years of age to be applicable in the matters relating to admission to educational establishments, operating bank accounts, managing property, care and treatment, amongst others.    

The Bill requires that "No person shall be compelled to disclose his HIV status except with his informed consent, and if required by a court order". Establishments keeping records of information of HIV positive persons shall adopt data protection measures. According to the Bill, the Central and State governments shall take measures to:

(i)                 prevent the spread of HIV or AIDS,

(ii)               provide anti-retroviral therapy and infection management for persons with HIV or AIDS,

(iii)             facilitate their access to welfare schemes especially for women and children,

(iv)             formulate HIV or AIDS education communication programmes that are age appropriate, gender sensitive, and non-stigmatizing, and

(v)               lay guidelines for the care and treatment of children with HIV or AIDS. Every person in the care and custody of the state shall have right to HIV prevention, testing, treatment and counseling services. The Bill suggest that cases relating to HIV positive persons shall be disposed' off by the court on a priority basis and duly ensuring the confidentiality.

There are no financial implications of the Bill. Most of the activities are being already undertaken or can be integrated within the existing systems of various Ministries under training, communication and data management, etc. The Bill makes provision for appointment of an ombudsman by State Governments to inquire into complaints related to the violation of the Act and penal actions in case of non-compliance. The Ombudsman need not be a separate entity, but any existing State Government functionary can be deputed or given additional charge.

There are approximately 21 lakh persons estimated to be living with HIV in India.  Even though the prevalence of HIV is decreasing over the last decade, the Bill would provide essential support to National AIDS Control Programme in arresting new infections and thereby achieving the target of "Ending the epidemic by 2030" according to Sustainable Development Goals.

Centre approves a grant of Rs. 515 Crores for the development of Sagar Port Project in West Bengal

The Central Government has given in principle approval to a grant of Rs. 515 crores to make the development of the proposed Sagar Port project in West Bengal financially viable. This is part of the continuous efforts by the Ministry of Shipping during the last two years for the development of this port. A Special Purpose Vehicle, Bhor Sagar Port Limited (BSPL) has been incorporated for the implementation of the project, with Kolkata Port Trust holding 74% equity and the Government of West Bengal holding 26% equity. IIT, Madras has been engaged to prepare a Detailed Project Report (DPR) for the port, involving studies for shore-protection, land reclamation and physical modeling for use of dredge material. The work of preparing the DPR is underway.

Work is also underway for developing port connectivity. A road-cum-rail bridge is proposed over the river Muriganga to connect the Sagar island to the mainland. National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL) has prepared the Detailed Project Report (DPR) for this road-cum-rail bridge. The estimated cost of the bridge is Rs.1822 crores. Further, the connectivity of this road-cum-rail bridge to the National Highways network and the railway network has also been taken up in right earnest. The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has agreed, in- principle, to take up widening of NH-117 to a four-lane road from Kakdwip to Joka and up to the rail-cum-road bridge to the Sagar Island. The Railway Board has sanctioned a survey for determining the alignment to connect the Port with the mainland rail network. 

Mission Raftaar’ of Indian Railway Starts To Yield Results

Ghaziabad - Allahabad - Mughalsarai Route is Taken Up on Priority Basis Trains on this Section Now Runs With Improved Average Speed

The Mission Raftaar project of the Indian Railways has now picked up and started yielding results. Under this project measures are being taken to raise average speed of both passenger carrying trains and freight carrying trains. The Mission is being spearheaded by a cross disciplinary mobility Directorate in the Railway Board. The average speed is reckoned as one of the key indicators of all the railway productivity and efficiency in operations and utilization of assets.

Under this project the busiest Ghaziabad – Allahabad -  Mughalsarai route which was taken up on priority basis, for increasing average speed which now has been successfully implemented. This was achieved by replacement of loco hauled commuter trains with Main line Electric Multiple Units (MEMU) and Diesel Electric Multiple Units (DEMU) trains has been undertaken. MEMU / DEMU trains have a potential for average speed increment upto 20 kmph in comparison to loco driven passenger trains. The Ghaziabad - Allahabad - Mughalsarai section is now free from conventional trains.

The Railway Ministry is working on a target to do this kind of replacement on all identified routes viz., Delhi – Mumbai, Delhi –Howrah, Howrah-Chennai, Chennai – Mumbai, Delhi – Chennai and Howrah – Mumbai (Diamond Quadrilateral routes along with diagonals). These are the principal routes of the railways as they carry 58% of freight traffic and 52 of coaching traffic with a share of only 15 of the network.

For implementing this target  on the above six routes, 1048 MEMU coaches and 136 DEMU coaches are required. To achieve this target in three years, action plan has been drawn out to ramp up the production of MEMU to 400-500 per annum in next three years as against the present level 190 per year at present.

Background:

·         Maximum speed of coaching trains has increased up to 130 kmph/160 kmph, but the average speed is hovering around 45 kmph. Maximum speed of freight trains has increased up to 75 kmph/100 kmph, but the average speed is hovering around 24 kmph.

·         Average coaching train speeds have declined by ~1 kmph in last 5 years. Average freight train speeds have declined by ~2 kmph in last 5 years.

We reckon average speed as one of the key indicator of the overall railway productivity and efficiency in operations and utilization of assets. Hence, raising average speeds has been taken up as a mission area.

Progress and Road Map:

• A cross disciplinary, Mobility directorate has been set up in April 2016 to spearhead the mission.
• For a focused action, Golden Quadrilateral routes along with diagonals (Delhi – Mumbai, Delhi – Howrah, Howrah- Chennai, Chennai – Mumbai, Delhi – Chennai and Howrah – Mumbai) have been taken up for initial emphasis. These are the principal routes of the railways as they carry 58% of freight traffic and 52% of coaching traffic with a share of only 15% of the network.
• Multi-pronged strategy has been developed to overcome the existing impediments due to fixed infrastructure, movable infrastructure, operational practices and institutional mechanisms.

Thrust of the strategy:

• To move in the direction in which these routes are developed in a unified way making them seamless and free from congestion points. So far such development works have been largely guided and governed by needs of individual division/ zone due to which the works were dispersed/ distributed/ discontinuous and speed gain commensurate to the inputs could not be realized.
• To establish operating systems in which the trains technically have the best capability to achieve maximum possible speed in least time along with quickest acceleration and deceleration capability so that the transit time is reduced.

Action Taken:

• Replacement of loco hauled commuter trains with MEMU/DEMU trains: MEMU trains have a potential for average speed increment of up to 20 kmph in comparison to loco driven passenger trains.  Recently, the busiest Ghaziabad- Allahabad – Mughalsarai route has been made free from conventional trains by replacement by MEMU. The punctuality of this route has shown significant improvement.

Target is to do replacement on all routes. We require 1048 MEMU coaches and 136 DEMU coaches to implement this on these six routes. To achieve this target in three years, action plan has been drawn out to ramp up the production of MEMU to 400-500 per annum in next three years as against the present level 190 per year at present.

• Introduction of Twin Pipe Air Brake System on freight trains: Twin piped braking system saves on an average ~90 seconds in every event of braking. Hence over a long distance this feature in the trains has a big potential for reducing the transit time and accelerating average speed. Board has decided that all new freight stock will have twin pipe system and the existing stock will be retrofitted with twin pipe. About 2lac wagons have to be retrofitted. 7000 will be done in the current year. Approval for another 20000 has been done, which is under process of sanction. In the budget 2017-18 sanction for another 60000 wagons will be planned. Effort will be made to achieve the target by accelerating the progress.

• Right Powering of freight trains: Ratio of Horsepower of the locomotive to the trailing load of the train. (HP/TL ratio). Appropriate HP/TL ratio saves about 10 to 12 minutes in the time taken to attain the maximum speed level. Internationally this ratio is between 2-2.25. On Indian Railways, due to increase in trailing load from 2400 ton/3200 ton  in year 1970 to 5308 ton in year 2016, HP/TL ratio has dropped from a level of 1-1.30 to a level of 0.94-1.13 over the same period. Board has decided to implement a powering arrangement for freight trains with a ratio of 1.5-2.0. Action plan is being finalized for achieving the implementation in next three years.

• Review of time table:

• To avoid traction change and loco reversals at busy stations/ terminals.
• Increase time tabled average speed by eliminating slacks and taking into account speed increases which have taken place on the section

• Review of coaching trains and freight stocks running at less than maximum permissible speeds

• Removal of constraints in the fixed infrastructure on these routes is considered a high priority. These routes are having about 9100 route kilometres. Major impediments have been identified and following areas have been finalized for focused action.

·         Raising of Sectional Speed to minimum 130 kmph: Out of 9100 route km, 6400 km (~70%) is having sectional speed of less than 130 kmph.

·         Removal of Level Crossings: There are 2736 level crossings on 9100 route km averaging one LC every 3-4 km.  931 are already sanctioned for elimination.

·         Removal of Speed Restrictions: On these routes, there are speed restrictions at about 730 locations existing since long due to various factors pertaining to design and maintenance of fixed assets. There is a restriction every 15 km on these routes.

·         Raising of Speeds on Turnouts: At present ~10% turnouts on these routes have a speed of less than 30 kmph and all are less than 50kmph.

Strategy and institutional mechanism for implementation:

We have decided for a paradigm shift in approach to works. Route to be the primary unit for decision about works as against existing practice of zonal/ divisional jurisdiction. This fundamental shift will prove to be a game changer for achieving unified development of the routes essential for achieving Mission Raftaar goals.

Key Elements of the decision:

• Planning and Sanction of Works: Only one work for each route clubbing all activities.  Works to be planned centrally.

• Financing: Works to be financed through EBR-IF as there is high likelihood of favourable ROR on the route basis.

• Execution: Route wise execution. The work of each route to be entrusted to one execution authority for accountability and expeditious execution by deploying state-of-the-art engineering technology/machines. There is a big role of technology in saving the execution time and minimizing the requirement of interruption to train flow in traffic block. This is very important because chosen routes are very busy hence the objective will be to cause minimum inconvenience to the passengers and setback to operations. A Traffic Block Optimization System on an IT platform is being developed to provide a congenial environment for execution of works required to achieve mission goals.

Board has decided to implement this approach initially on Delhi – Mumbai and Delhi- Howrah routes.

• Human capital is our key resource. Thrust will be given to training, skill development of the staff involved in operations and maintenance of assets so that they maintain pace with the new machines and technology.

President meets Athletes of Paralympics, 2016

The President, Shri Pranab Mukherjee received the participants of the recently concluded Rio Paralympics at the Rashtrapati Bhawan yesterday . Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Youth Affairs & Sports, Shri Vijay Goel was among those present on the occasion. The athletes included Shri Devendra Jhajharia and Shri Mariappan, gold medalists of Rio Paralympics, Ms Deepa Malik, silver medalist and Shri Varun Singh Bhati, Bronze medalist.

Last week, the para-athletes had met the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi.

PM’s post on the Chinese social media platform, Weibo

Mr.Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India wishes gretting to the people of Chine on the occasion of their National Day and expressed that "Our relations date back to centuries, encompassing spiritualism, learning, art, trade and respect for each other’s civilisation and shared prosperity. As I have said earlier, both our countries reflect, in many ways, similar aspirations, challenges and opportunities, and can be inspired by each other’s successes. At a time when the world looks towards Asia, the progress and prosperity of China and India, and our close cooperation, have the potential to shape a peaceful and stable future for Asia. This is a vision I share with President Xi and Premier Li.

In recent times, we have deepened our engagement across the full spectrum of our ties, and laid emphasis on deepening mutual trust and confidence, and expansion of people-to-people ties. And we will continue our endeavours in this direction.

Public release of 8th batch of 25 declassified files relating to Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose on Web Portal

The 8^th batch of 25 declassified files relating to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose were released online on web portal www.netajipapers.gov.in. today by Shri N.K. Sinha, Secretary, Ministry of Culture. The present batch of 25 files pertains to Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), inclusive years 1951-2006.

It may be recalled that first lot of 100 files relating to Netaji, after their preliminary conservation treatment and digitization, were put in the public domain by the Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi on 23 January 2016, on the occasion of the 119^th birth anniversary of Netaji. Subsequently, 175 files were released in 6 more batches between March and August, 2016.  In all, 275 files belonging to the Prime Minister’s Office (58 files), Ministry of Home Affairs (37 files), Ministry of External Affairs (171 files) and the Cabinet Secretariat (9 files) have been put in the public domain in the portal www.netajipapers.gov.in.

The present release of 25 files will further meet the continued public demand to access these files and this will also facilitate scholars to carry out further research on the doyen of the freedom movement.      

These files having passed the scrutiny of the specially constituted Committee having experts from the field of Archives which looks into the aspects such as:

1.      To ascertain the physical conditions of the files and carry out necessary repair and conservation wherever needed, through Conservation Unit.

2.      To verify the quality of digitization for enabling the digitized records to upload in the web portal ‘www.netajipapers.gov.in’.

3.      To check if there is any duplication in the files that are being released on the internet for use by the researchers and general public.

It may be reiterated that in 1997, the National Archives of India had received 990 declassified files pertaining to the Indian National Army (Azad Hind Fauj) from the Ministry of Defence. Further, in 2012, 271 files/ items pertaining the Khosla Commission, and 759 files/ items of Justice Mukherjee Commission of Inquiry, in total 1030 files/ items were received from the Ministry of Home Affairs. All these files/ items are already open to the public under the Public Records Rules, 1997.