Subjects for Comprehensive Examination

The Committee on Public Undertakings have selected the following subjects for examination during the year 2012-13:

(A)        Subjects for Comprehensive Examination

(i)                   Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited

(ii)                 Rail Vikas Nigam Limited

(iii)                Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited

(iv)               Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilizers Limited

(v)                 Bharat Electronics Limited

(vi)               National Hydro-electric Power Corporation Limited

(vii)              Hindustan Aeronautics Limited

(viii)            Food Corporation of India

(ix)               India Infrastructure Finance Company Limited

(x)                 Pawan Hans Helicopters Limited

(xi)               Indian Oil Corporation Limited

(xii)              Fertilizer Corporation of India Limited

(xiii)            Coal India Limited

(xiv)            Agriculture Insurance Company of India Limited

(B)        Subjects based on Audit Paras contained in C&AG Reports

(xv)             Audit Para No. 13.5.1 of Audit Report No. 9 of 2009-10 regarding Loss due to purchase of condensate at crude oil price by Oil & Natural Gas Corporation Limited.

(xvi)            Chapter V of Audit Report No. 10 of 2010-11: A Performance Audit of Health Insurance services provided by the four PSU General Insurance Companies, i.e. National Insurance Company of India Ltd., New India Assurance Company Ltd., Oriental Insurance Company Ltd. and United India Insurance Company Ltd.

(xvii)          Performance Audit Report on Joint Venture Operations of ONGC Videsh Limited.

(xviii)         Para No. 2.3 on Airports Authority of India (AAI) regarding implementation of Operation, Management and Development Agreement entered into by Airports Authority of India with Delhi International Airport (P) Limited.

(xix)            Para No. 2.5 on Airports Authority of India regarding unauthorized withdrawal from the Escrow Account held in fiduciary capacity on behalf of the Government of India by Mumbai International Airport (P) Limited.

(xx)             Para No. 17.2 on Metal Scrap Trading Corporation Limited (MSTC Limited) regarding export of Gold Jewellery.

(C)        Subjects for Horizontal Study

(xxi)            Corporate Governance in select CPSUs

[Including observations contained in Chapter 3 on Corporate Governance in C&AG’s (Commercial) Report No. 2 of 2011-12 on General Purpose Financial Reports of CPSEs (Compliance Audit)]

(xxii)          Corporate Social Responsibility in select CPSUs

[Including observations contained in Chapter 6 on Corporate Social Responsibility in C&AG’s (Commercial) Report No. 2 of 2011-12 on General Purpose Financial Reports of CPSEs (Compliance Audit)]

(xxiii)         Sick, Loss Making and Closed CPSUs

[Including observations contained in C&AG’s (Commercial) Report No. 30 of 2011-12 on revival of sick CPSEs (Performance Audit)]

(xxiv)        Public-Private Partnership in select CPSUs.

2.         The Committee would welcome comments and suggestions from individuals or institutions on any of these subjects and would appreciate if they forward their views in this regard to the Chairman, Committee on Public Undertakings, Parliament House, New Delhi.

Progress of Tourist Visa on Arrival Scheme in May 2012

During the month of May 2012, a total number of 812 Visa on Arrival (VOAs) were issued as compared to 865 VoAs during the month of May 2011, registering a decline of 6.1% . During the period January-May 2012, a total number of 5857 VoAs were issued as compared to 5004 VoAs during corresponding period of 2011 registering a positive growth of 17%. The number of VOAs issued under this scheme, during May 2012 for nationals of the eleven countries were Japan (218), New Zealand (137), Indonesia (130), Philippines (131), Singapore (111), Finland (40), Vietnam (26), Cambodia (7), Luxemburg (5), Myanmar (5) and Laos (2).

The number of VoAs issued, during January- May 2012 were New Zealand (1256), Japan (1392), Indonesia (940), Philippines (831), Singapore (752), Finland (483), Vietnam (76), Myanmar (41), Luxemburg (36), Cambodia (44) and Laos (6). During the period January- May 2012, the maximum number of VoAs were issued at Delhi airport (3439), followed by Mumbai (1283), Chennai (789) and Kolkata (346).

As a facilitative measure to attract more foreign tourists to India, Government launched a Scheme of “Visa on Arrival” (VoA) in January 2010 for citizens of five countries, viz. Finland, Japan, Luxembourg, New Zealand and Singapore, visiting India for tourism purposes. The Government extended this Scheme for the citizens of six more countries, namely Cambodia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Philippines, Laos and Myanmar in January 2011.

Road Map for Panchayati Raj

The national level plan for improving the functioning of PRIs is chalked out in the Roadmap for Panchayati Raj (2011-2017). It contains a series of recommendations for a wide number of issues in Panchayati Raj. It logically delineates the issues and specific action plans within the larger governance framework for creating an effective Panchayati Raj structure. It highlights key aspects for empowerment, enablement and accountability of the PRIs for better governance and faster development including devolution of functions, funds and functionaries as envisaged in the Constitution, Capacity Building of the Panchayats and Functionaries, decentralized planning, effective implementation of PESA, empowered elected village councils in the Sixth Scheduled Areas and changes in the constitutional and legal framework. This national Roadmap is enabled and assisted by the Government by the provision of funds under several schemes. The Backward Regions Grant Fund (BRGF) provides untied grants to the Panchayats in the backward regions in order to reduce development deficits of the country, with the requirement that the District Plans for utilization of the grant be prepared by the involvement of the Gram Sabhas.  The Rashtriya Gram Swaraj Yojana (RGSY) which aims at Capacity Building and Training of the Elected Representatives of Panchayati Raj Institutions as well as the Functionaries.

States have been incentivized to devolve funds, functions and functionaries (3Fs) to Panchayats.. MoPR has also supported Capacity Building and Training (CB&T) of Elected Representatives and Panchayat functionaries through its schemes Rashtriya Gram Swaraj Yojana (RGSY), Backward Regions Grant Fund (BRGF) and Panchayat Mahila Evam Yuva Shakti Abhiyan (PMEYSA). Under e-Panchayat Mission Mode Project, four applications have gone live. Six more applications have been launched in April, 2012 on the occasion of National Panchayat Day.

Foreign Tourist Arrivals and Foreign Exchange Earnings in May 2012

Foreign Tourist Arrivals (FTAs) during the Month of May, 2012 was 3.72 lakh as compared to FTAs of 3.55 lakh during the month of May, 2011 and 3.32 lakh in May, 2010. There has been a growth of 4.6% in May 2012 over May 2011 as compared to a growth of 3.3% registered in April 2012 over April 2011. FTAs during the period January- May 2012 were 28.05 lakh with a growth of 7.8% as compared to the FTAs of 26.02 lakh with a growth of 11.4% during January- May 2011 over the corresponding period of 2010.

Foreign Exchange Earnings (FEE) during the month of May 2012 were Rs. 5562 crore as compared to Rs. 5047 crore in May 2011 and Rs 4358 crore in May 2010. The growth rate in FEE in rupee terms in May 2012 over May 2011 were 10.2% as compared to 15.8.% in May 2011 over May 2010. FEE from tourism in rupee terms during January- May 2012 were 37275 crore with a growth of 25.4% as compared to the FEE of 29723 crore with a growth of 11.6% during January- May 2011 over the corresponding period of 2010.

FEE in US$ terms during the month of May 2012 were US$ 1023 million as compared to FEE of US$ 1124 million during the month of May 2011 and US$ 951 million in May 2010. The growth rate in FEE in US$ terms in May 2012 over May 2011 was -9% as compared to the growth of 18.2% in May 2011 over May 2010. This decline was partly due to depreciated value of Indian Rupee in May 2012 as compared to May 2011. FEE from Tourism in terms of US$ during January- May 2011 were US$ 7297 million with a growth of 10.6%, as compared to US$ 6598 million with a growth of 13.3% during January- May 2011 over the corresponding period of 2010.

Ministry of Tourism compiles monthly estimates of Foreign Tourist Arrivals (FTAs) and Foreign Exchange Earnings (FEE) from tourism on the basis of data received from major airports.

59th Meeting of Central Advisory Board of Education : Summary Record of Discussion

            The Fifty Ninth Meeting of the Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE) was held here, today under the Chairmanship of Shri Kapil Sibal, Union Minister of Human Resource Development. Smt. Krishna Tirath,   Union Minister of State (I/C) for Women & Child Development, Dr. Narendra Jadhav, Member (Education), Planning Commission along with 18 Ministers-in-charge of Education from various States/UTs attended the meeting. Smt. Anshu Vaish, Secretary, Department of School Education & Literacy, Shri Ashok Thakur, Secretary, Department of Higher Education and Member Secretary (CABE),  Dr. M. K. Bhan, Secretary, Department of Biotechnology, Dr. T. Ramasami, Secretary, Department of Science and Technology, eminent educationists, authors, artists, linguists etc. apart from Heads of different autonomous organizations and senior officials of different departments of the Government of India attended the meeting as its members.

2.         The CABE is the highest advisory body to advise the Central and State Governments in the field of education. The previous meeting i.e. 58^th meeting of CABE was held on 7th June, 2011. The minutes of the previous meeting were confirmed today along with the Action Taken Note on them.

3.         In his opening remarks, Shri Sibal  indicated that this august body would be charting the course of action in the education sector. While making policy prescriptions, the child’s interest is of paramount importance and this should be the foremost consideration for all of us.  Education is one sector which greatly impacts the socio economic fabric and the changes that are taking place in the society are such as were never envisaged earlier. The challenge therefore is how to cope with these changes and address the issues of access, inclusion and quality that concern this sector. The multilayered problems require a holistic approach. 

Shri Sibal highlighted the importance of teacher and teacher education in the society as also the use of ICT in education. He said that we propose to have a National Mission mainly to address the quality related issues.  Teacher is no longer the sole repository of knowledge and inputs of information flow from different sources.  Therefore, we should have a national mission to address issues relating to teacher education in a holistic manner. Referring to the higher education sector, HRM mentioned that a major challenge before us is to increase our GER which is less than the global average.  To achieve higher GER, we need to explore newer ways of access as the existing conventional models would not be adequate and concept of Meta University needs to be considered.   He also proposed to set up a Credit Guarantee Fund to facilitate larger numbers of students to gain access to higher education.  HRM also highlighted the use of ICT in education and appreciated the work done by the CABE Committee on ICT in School Education which has submitted its report.

The HRD Minister also thanked the outgoing members of the previous CABE Committee for their valuable contributions and stated that he looks forward to this august body in furthering the course of action to give every child the opportunity for a quality education.

4.         Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Women & Child Development Smt. Krishna Tirath in her speech thanked the Shri Sibal  for his endeavour in educational development of the country particularly of the girl child.  She highlighted various issues related to education of girls and women, both at school and higher education levels. 

5.         Dr. Narendra Jadhav, Member (Education), Planning Commission expressed delight in participating in this august forum and mentioned that Education and skill development have been identified as a priority area in the Approach Paper to the XII Five Year Plan.  Highlighting the broad contours of the XII Plan as far as the education sector is concerned, he said that we need to align education to the growing aspirations of a large youth population as well as with the economy and labour market.  The three Es of Expansion, Equity and Excellence in both school and higher education call for a holistic approach.

6.         After deliberations on all the agenda items, the CABE resolved as under:-

(i)           CABE decided to constitute a Committee for assessment and implementation of Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) in the context of the no detention provision in the RTE Act.  While there was agreement that Board Examinations are not required, guidelines for implementation of CCE need to be evolved for examining and testing the child during the elementary education cycle.  The CABE Committee would be chaired by Smt. Geeta Bhukkal, Minister of Education, Haryana which will include other State Education Ministers with representation from academics and civil society.  The Committee will submit its report in 3 months after consulting State Governments and other stakeholders.  

(ii)         CABE appreciated the initiative to launch the National Mission on Teachers and Teaching.  It was decided to constitute a CABE Committee for developing the framework and processes of the National Mission on Teachers and Teaching.  The CABE Committee would be headed by Dr. D. Purandeswari, Minister of State for HRD.  The Committee will include other State Education Ministers with representation from academics and society.  The Committee will give special focus on Teacher Educators and developing teachers for inclusive education for children with special needs.  

(iii)       The report of CABE Committee on ICT in School Education and the draft National Policy on ICT were unanimously adopted.  Suggestions were made on making available digital version of test books on Akaash Tablet for use by both teachers and students in schools, focus on capacity building of teacher educators and need for States to review their current ICT Policy and strategies in light of the provisions of the National Policy.

(iv)       The proposed concept of Meta University as a collaborative platform for a network of universities with a view to utilise create and synergise between different programme activities and institutions providing credit based multi disciplinary courses was appreciated by members.  It was felt that the States universities and other state institutions could take similar innovative measures to bring a paradigm shift in higher education.

(v)         Members endorsed the initiative to create a Credit Guarantee Fund to ensure better flow of credit to deserving students.

Railway Revenue Earnings up by 19.88 Per Cent During April- May 2012

The total approximate earnings of Indian Railways on originating basis during 1st April - 31st May 2012 were Rs. 19878.89 crore compared to Rs. 16581.96 crore during the same period last year, registering an increase of 19.88 per cent.

The total goods earnings have gone up from Rs. 11337.52 crore during 1st April - 31st May 2011 to Rs. 14150.01 crore during 1st April - 31st May 2012, an increase of 24.81 per cent.

The total passenger revenue earnings during first two months of the financial year 2012-13 were Rs. 4940.02 crore compared to Rs. 4553.00 crore during the same period last year, registering an increase of 8.50 per cent.

The revenue earnings from other coaching amounted to Rs. 505.10 crore during April-May 2012 compared to Rs. 470.66 crore during the same period last year, an increase of 7.32 per cent.

The total approximate number of passengers booked during April-May 2012 were 1380.73 million compared to 1336.25 million during the same period last year, showing an increase of 3.33 per cent. In the suburban and non-suburban sectors, the number of passengers booked during April-May 2012 were 700.38 million and 680.35 million compared to 687.29 million and 648.96 million during the same period last year, showing an increase of 1.90 per cent and 4.84 per cent respectively.

Khadi Institutions

Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) provides assistance to the khadi institutions as per the norms of its various schemes for promotion and development of the khadi sector. Khadi institutions are set up by non-governmental organizations/individuals as trusts, societies, etc.   

Under the Scheme of Funds for Regeneration of Traditional Industries (SFURTI), 76 clusters have been developed in khadi and village industries sector generating employment for about 51,000 persons and 20 clusters have been developed in coir sector generating employment for about  7791 persons.

As per the budget proposals, 49 new clusters in the khadi and village industries sector and 2 new clusters in the coir sector are envisaged to be taken up during the current financial year  2012-13.

The State Education Ministers’ Conference : Summary Record of Discussions

The Conference of State & UT Education Ministers’ was held on 5th June 2012 with Shri Kapil Sibal, Minister for Human Resource Development, Communications and IT, Government of India in the Chair. Shri E. Ahamed, Minister of State for Human Resource Development, 20 Ministers of Education representing various State Governments and Union Territories, Smt. Anshu Vaish, Secretary, Department of School Education & Literacy, Shri Ashok Thakur, Secretary, Higher Education, Prof. Sanjay G. Dhande, Director, IIT-Kanpur, Prof. Damodar Acharya, Director, IIT-Kharagpur, Prof. Gautam Barua, Director, IIT-Guwahati, heads of autonomous institutions, and senior officials of the Central and State Governments were present.

In his opening remarks, Shri Kapil Sibal, Minister for Human Resource Development (HRD) emphasized the centrality of State Governments both in policy formulation as also in their effective implementation. The HRD Minister recalled the cooperation extended by the State Governments in the education sector during the last three years and thanked all the State Education Ministers for the same. He stated that Education being a Concurrent subject, consultations and continuous dialogue with the States becomes crucial in a federating structure. These interactions have been extremely useful in shaping the initiatives and policies of the Ministry, ranging from the Right to Education, continuous and Comprehensive evaluation, reforms in higher education etc.

At the outset the Minutes of the State Education Ministers Conference held on 22nd February 2012 were confirmed and the Action Taken Report was noted. Thereafter the following issues were deliberated.

1. A presentation on the reforms proposed in the entrance examinations for admission to engineering institutions was made by Prof Sanjay G. Dhande, Director, IIT Kanpur. The process adopted in consulting various stakeholders and the details of the decision arrived at the meeting of the Joint Council of IITs, NITs and IIITs in its meeting on 28.5.2012 was explained in detail. The percentile normalisation process and the modalities for organisation of the common test were explained by Directors of IIT-Guwahati, Prof Gautam Barua and IIT-Kharagpur, Prof Damodar Acharya. The representative from Maharashtra stated that a consultation with various stakeholders had been organised by the State Government, where the overwhelming opinion was in support of the common test. The Minister from Gujarat stated that they have written to the Central Government supporting the common test. It was explained that States would have the freedom to join in the common examination system and have the autonomy to determine their own relative weightages to normalized Class XII Board marks, performance in JEE-MAIN and JEE-ADVANCED.

On queries raised by States, it was clarified that the Academic Body to be constituted for the JEE-MAIN test would have representation from States in an appropriate manner. It was also clarified that where the State intends to join in the common test for admission to engineering institutions in the State, the exam papers would be also available in the regional language of the State in addition to English and Hindi. On a query raised on the syllabus for the JEE-MAIN, it was clarified that the Council of all Boards of Secondary Education had, in 2010, adopted a core curriculum in Sciences and Maths and the examination would be based on the core curriculum so adopted.

After detailed deliberations, the proposal for a common examination process for admission to engineering programmes was supported unanimously. The States were of the opinion that IITs should also adopt the same format as other central educational institutions in the longer term. The States were requested to convey their decision on the year of joining in the common admission process and the relative weightages to normalized Class XII Board marks, performance in JEE-MAIN and JEE-ADVANCED by 30th June to enable preparations to be made accordingly.

2. A presentation was made by the Shri R.D. Sahay, Joint Secretary, on the draft Bill for establishment of IIITs and the implementation of the Scheme for IIITs on public-private partnership mode. The draft Bill was discussed in detail and States unanimously supported the Bill. There was a demand from States that the Bill should be moved at the earliest for Parliamentary approval. It was informed that the Central Government intends to introduce the Bill in the Monsoon Session of Parliament. The Scheme for establishment of IIITs was discussed in detail and various suggestions were offered by the States. On a query from some States, it was clarified that the States were expected to provide land free of cost under the Scheme. A suggestion was made by the Minister of Rajasthan that the private partner need not necessarily be from industry. A suggestion was made by the Minister of Bihar for allowing State or Central PSUs to be accepted as industry partners. It was agreed that the following modifications to the Scheme could be considered:-

(i) To allow Central and State Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) to be accepted as industry partners for establishment of IIITs; and

(ii) Giving States the flexibility to bring in one or more industry partners instead of limiting the no of partners to three.

3. Smt. Archana Chitnis, Minister of Education Madhya Pradesh presented the Report of the Group of Ministers on the “Concept and Frame work of the Community College Scheme” in the Conference. The Report was unanimously accepted by the States and UTs. While welcoming the setting up of Community Colleges, the State Education Ministers agreed that the concept of Community Colleges will be paradigm shift leading to skill development and energisation of the community and the youth will be educated not only for taking employment, but more importantly for becoming self-employed. It was decided to start 200 Community Colleges on a pilot basis in 2012-13 and then scale up gradually. The States were requested to identify local skill requirements linked to local needs which could form the basis of opening community colleges and forward proposals to the Central Government by June 2012.

4. A presentation was made by Financial Advisor on the recommendations of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) for adoption of accounting standards for educational institutions. An accounting system that presents a true and correct picture of the state of affairs of an educational institution is an important requirement for transparency and accountability besides assisting in prevention of malpractices. Educational institutions are set up as trusts or societies and adopt different accounting systems. Adopting a common accounting standard would assist States in evaluating the expenditure of schools and estimate the reimbursement to be provided to private schools under RTE Act. The adoption of common accounting standards by educational institutions was endorsed unanimously. While States may consider adoption of the accounting standards in the school system according to their convenience, the adoption of these standards in the higher education sector through instructions issued by the concerned regulatory authorities was supported. It was also decided that the accounting formats prepared by ICAI be circulated to all States and States would revert on these formats at the earliest. States would also be supported for capacity building in implementation.

5. A Presentation was made by Dr. Amarjit Singh, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Human Resource Development on Revised Centrally Sponsored Scheme on Teacher Education. In the presentation revised guidelines pertaining to financial sharing between Centre and States, provisions for strengthening of SCERTs, Colleges of Teacher Education, Institutes of Advanced Studies in Education, DIETs, establishment of Block Institutes of Teachers Education (BITEs) were explained in detail. The States were requested to submit proposals under the scheme for strengthening teacher education. They were requested to fill up vacancies in the teacher education cadre, provide in their respective budgets to meet the State share for the scheme, strengthen management of teacher education institutes, increase the use of ICT, strengthen mechanisms for ensuring quality civil works, grant more autonomy to the teacher education institutions and strengthen monitoring mechanisms.

6. A presentation on Two Years of RTE-SSA was made by Shri Pramod Tiwari, Director, School Education. The presentation gave an overview of the progress made by the States in regard to the implementation of Right to Education Act – Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and the areas of concern were highlighted. The issues related to availability of funds, construction of buildings, PTR norms, teaching hours, etc. were discussed at length. There was unanimous view that all these concerns are genuine and need to be addressed at various levels in order to facilitate the implementation of RTE Act by the States. The State Education Ministers also raised the issue of funding of reimbursement of cost of education of 25% children admitted to private schools under Section 12 of RTE Act.

7. Discussions were also held on UGC Regulations on Prevention of Discrimination and Establishment of Ombudsman, setting up of Model Schools under Public Private Partnership and Saakshar Bharat. It was decided to circulate the UGC Regulations to States for their comments.

India and Turkey signed an MoU for Enhancing Cooperation in the Field of Sports and Youth Activities

India and Turkey has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for further developing relations in the field of sports and youth activities in order to promote and strengthen existing friendly relations and cooperation in the field of sports.

The MoU was signed by Shri Ajay Maken, Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Youth Affairs & Sports on behalf of Government of India and by Mr. Suat Kilic, Turkish Minister for Youth & Sports, on behalf of the Government of the Republic of Turkey in Ankara (Turkey) today. Sh. Maken is currently on 3 days official visit to Turkey.

The MoU provides the framework for advancement of linkages and cooperation through sports and youth agencies of the respective Governments. The MoU also states that the Parties shall encourage and support exchanges of programmes, experiences, skills, techniques, information and knowledge in the several areas of cooperation in sports and youth activities, namely, training and competition of athletes and teams, training and technical assistance for coaches, exchange programmes and visits of sports leader, sports administrators, professional, technicians and sports support personnel and experts in the field of youth and sports, fostering youth tourism, organizing joint youth camps and friendly sports events and training, exchange and assistance programmes for sports sciences personnel and development of sports science.

The MoU further states that the cooperation under this shall be through exchange of sports experts, government officials, coaches and athletes and students in field of sports, exchange of teaching and curriculum materials on sports, collaboration on curriculum development, joint development and publication of materials and exchange of youth delegations to get acquainted with youth organizations and youth development programmes.

While speaking on the occasion, Sh. Maken expressed his hope that this MoU will pave the way for further enhancing traditional ties between both the countries especially among youth populations. Sh. Maken also congratulated Turkey on the Istanbul being shortlisted for Olympics 2020.

Planning Commission likely to grant Rs.1500 crore for PURA 2.0 -Jairam

Union Rural Development Minister Sh Jairam Ramesh said that Planning Commission has agreed to provide Rs-1500 Crore in the 12th Five year plan for developing infrastructure in rapidly urbanizing areas known as census towns in the new version of PURA (Provision of Urban Amenities in Rural Areas). Talking to reporters here, the Minister informed that the number of Census Towns in India has increased from 1,362 in 2001 to 3,894 in 2011, while the number of villages and the statutory towns have remained the same. A Census town is described as a town having more than 5,000 populations with a density of 400 people per square kilometer and where the male population engaged in non-agricultural activities is more than 75 percent. Shri Ramesh said that 10 to 15 projects will be taken up this year in the states like West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh in a public-private partnership mode to build and improve upon the physical infrastructure. Expression of Interest for the private parties has already been notified and the private companies in consultation with Gram Panchayats, which will be the nodal agency, can take up projects like sanitation, water supply, street lighting, roads and solid and liquid waste management on user-charges basis in the census towns. Each project is likely to cost about 150 crore rupees with Rural Development Ministry providing a grant of 40 to 50 crore rupees; 70 to 80 crore rupees will be mobilized by ongoing central schemes, while the private sector is expected to bring in about 20 crore rupees. The Private Company in consulation with the Gram Panchayat will get the lease of 10 years for the physical infrastructure to be developed in such towns to recover the investment. Shri Ramesh said two projects each in Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh and one each in Puducherry and Uttarakhand are awaiting final approval. The Ministry had already launched two such schemes in Kerala in February this year under PURA 2.0, which is different from PURA 1.0, conceived by the former President Dr A.P.J.Abdul Kalam as that one principally related to knowledge connectivit

Central Assistance to Odisha Sanctioned under PYKKA

The Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports has sanctioned Rs. 25.75 lakh to the Government of Odisha on account of reimbursement of expenditure incurred by the State Government on conducting sports competition during 2011-12 under the Panchayat Yuva Krida Aur Khel Abhiyan (PYKKA).

PYKKA which aims at development and maintenance of playfields in village and block panchayats across the country and organizing annual sports competitions from block to national levels is implemented through the State Government /UTs.

Nominations Invites for Kabir Puraskar

Nominations have been invited for Kabir Puraskar Awards for promotion of Communal Harmony. State Governments have been requested to send nominations to Ministry of Home Affairs. The last date for receipt of nominations by the State Governments is 30th June, 2012 and by Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India by 16th July, 2012.

The Kabir Puraskar Scheme was introduced in 1990. Under this a National Award designated as “KABIR PURASKAR” has been instituted is in three grades. These are: Grade-I Rs. 2,00,000/- (Rupees Two lakh only), Grade-II Rs, 1,00,000/- (Rupess One Lakh only) and Grade III Rs. 50,000/- (Rupees Fifty Thousand only). A certificate with suitable citation is also awarded to the recipients.

The Puraskar is given for the conspicuous acts of physical/moral courage displayed under circumstances of danger to the life of the rescuer in saving the lives and properties of member(s) of another community, caste or ethnic group during communal riots, caste conflicts or ethic clashes.

Interested persons have to approach the respect State Governments/UTs for their nominations as the Puraskar is given by the Ministry of Home Affairs on the basis of the nominations received from the respect State Governments/UTs. The award is announced on 2nd October each year.

The details of the scheme are available on the website of Ministry of Home Affairs (http://mha.nic.in/Organisational set up/Human Rights Division/more/Kabir Puraskar).

Government spot the need to support Textiles Industry at this time of crisis

The Textiles Industry Association seeks ministry intervention to support sick Textile industry by providing a 2 year moratorium on long term loans, special dispensation by Reserve Bank of India in its NPA rules working capital term loans. The Textiles Minister said that the total outstanding debt of textiles sector is Rs. 155,809 crores of which debt of Rs. 35000 crores needs restructuring. Government directions to banks to consider this on priority would be issued in this regard.

Textiles Minister Anand Sharma said that there was agreement with the Ministry of Finance that the debt restructuring package would be considered on a case to case basis by Individual Banks. Ministry of Finance would examine in consultation with Reserve Bank of India for a 2 year moratorium on term loans, special provision in NPA norms to avoid asset reclassification and working capital eroded to be converted into working capital term loans repayable over a period of 3-5 years.

An inter-ministerial committee of senior officials would be constituted to coordinate with Industry-Banks in expeditious restructuring.