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Thursday, October 24, 2013

Report of Empowered Committee examining issues of certification under Cinematograph Act uploaded on Ministry of I&B website

The Ministry of Information & Broadcasting has uploaded the Empowered Committee’s report examining issues of certification under Cinematograph Act on its official website, www.mib.nic.in. The proposed Cinematograph Bill, 2013 as submitted by the Committee has also been uploaded on the Ministry’s website. The purpose of uploading the report and related Bill is to invite suggestions from the public on the issues concerned and highlighted. The suggestions may be sent to the following email ids: jsfilms.inb@nic.in, dirfilms2-inb@nic.in.

The Empowered Committee under the Chairmanship of Sh. Mukul Mudgal, Retired Chief Justice, High Court of Punjab and Haryana that was constituted to examine issues of certification under the Cinematograph Act 1952, presented its report, along with its findings and recommendations, to the Minister of Information and Broadcasting, Sh. Manish Tewari on 9^th October, 2013. The Committee was constituted by the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting on February 4, 2013.

General Election to Legislative Assemblies of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Mizoram and NCT of Delhi 2013 - Allotment of Broadcast/Telecast time to Political Parties

At the time of General Elections to the Lok Sabha in 1998, a new initiative for State funding of recognized political parties through free use of the State owned Television and Radio was introduced under directions of the Commission vide its Order, dated 16^th January, 1998. The said scheme was subsequently extended in all the General Elections to the State Assemblies held after 1998 and General Elections to the Lok Sabha in 1999, 2004 and 2009.

With the amendments to the Representation of People Act, 1951 vide "Election and Other Related Laws (Amendment) Act, 2003" and the rules notified thereunder, equitable time sharing for campaigning by recognized political parties on electronic media now has statutory basis. In exercise of the powers conferred by clause (a) of the Explanation below section 39A of the Representation of People Act, 1951, the Central Government has notified all such broadcasting media which are owned or controlled or financed wholly or substantially by funds provided to them by the Central Government as the electronic media for the purposes of that section. Therefore, the Commission has decided to extend the said scheme of equitable time sharing on electronic media through Prasar Bharati Corporation to the ensuing General Election to the State Legislative Assemblies of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Mizoram and NCT of Delhi 2013.

The facilities of use of broadcast time and telecast time will be available only to ‘National Parties’ and ‘Recognized State Parties’ in respect of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Mizoram and NCT of Delhi.

THE SALIENT FEATURES OF THE SCHEME ARE AS FOLLOWS:

1. The facilities will be available from the Regional Kendra of the All India Radio and Doordarshan and in the headquarters of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Mizoram and NCT of Delhi and relayed by other stations within Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Mizoram and NCT of Delhi.

2. A base time of 45 minutes will be given to each National Party and Recognized State Party (recognized in respect of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Mizoram and NCT of Delhi) uniformly on the Regional Kendras of Doordarshan network and All India Radio network in the States/UT of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Mizoram and NCT of Delhi.

3. The additional time to be allotted to the parties has been decided on the basis of the poll performance of the parties in the last assembly election from the States/UT of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Mizoram and NCT of Delhi.

4. In a single session of broadcast, no party will be allocated more than 15 minutes.

5. The period of broadcast and telecast will be between the last date of filing the nominations for the first phase of poll and two days before the date of poll in the respective States of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Mizoram and NCT of Delhi.

6. The Prasar Bharati Corporation in consultation with the Commission will decide the actual date and time for broadcast and telecast. This will be subject to the broad technical constraints governing the actual time of transmission available with the Doordarshan and All India Radio.

7. The guidelines prescribed by the Commission for telecast and broadcast will be strictly followed. The parties will be required to submit transcripts and recording in advance. The parties can get this recorded at their own cost in studios, which meet the technical standards prescribed by the Prasar Bharati Corporation or at the Doordarshan/All India Radio Kendra. They can, in the alternative, have these recorded in the studios of Doordarshan and All India Radio by advance requests. In such cases, the recordings may be done at the State Capital and at timings indicated by Doordarshan/All India Radio in advance.

8. In addition to the broadcast by parties, the Prasar Bharati Corporation will organise a maximum of two panel discussions and/or debates on the Kendra/Station of Doordarshan/All India Radio. Each eligible party can nominate one representative to such a programme.

9. The Election Commission of India will approve the names of coordinators for such panel discussions and debates in consultation with the Prasar Bharati Corporation.

10. Time Vouchers will be available in the denomination of 5 minutes with one voucher having time allotment from 1 to 4 minutes and the parties will be free to combine them suitably. The allotment of time to different political parties is given in a statement enclosed herewith.

Friday, October 11, 2013

HRD Ministry to Open 50 Educational DTH Channels

The HRD Ministry will soon launch 50 DTH educational channels. This was stated by the Secretary (HE) Sh Ashok Thakur in New Delhi today. He said these channels will be different from the existing programmes on air including Gyan Darshan as new one will be more interactive. He said these channels will air programmes which will be live and not pre recorded. Saying that the new initiatives will be one of the largest anywhere in the world of its kind, Sh. Thakur said later on the number of the channels will be increased to one thousand. He said that the Ministry has spent more than one billion dollars for ICT. Over 400 universities and twenty thousand colleges have been linked with bandwidth. He said there is a great potential to increase its usage. Highlighting the potential of the National Programme on National Mission on Education through Information and Communication Technology (NMEICT), the Secretary said that the entire country can be made into a big classroom which will help improve quality of instructions in engineering colleges particularly belonging to the remote areas. He said that the Ministry may approach AICTE to make on-line education mandatory and integral part of education system. Asking to promote virtual lab, Sh. Thakur said it should be possible to share classes from IITs to other engineering colleges by making the system more user friendly.

Dr. S.S. Mantha, chairman, AICTE focused on promoting quality initiatives in the country. He said that rapid expansion in institutions has led to the decline in quality. The need of the hour therefore is to nurture quality in the institutions.

The one day workshop was organized by the HRD Ministry with AICTE. More than 150 engineering colleges from the National Capital Region of Delhi participated in the programme.

Powers on Autonomous Colleges

UGC Act to be Amended to Confer Degree Granting

The Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India and the University Grants Commission (UGC) held a day-long meeting with select Autonomous Colleges and State Government representatives on 7th October, 2013 at India International Centre, New Delhi to discuss their problems. This was the first exclusive meeting of the Principals of Autonomous Colleges and State Government representatives with MHRD and the UGC, after the formulation of the scheme by the UGC a few decade ago. The Secretary, Higher Education shared with them the proposed initiatives for bringing about reforms in affiliation system which has become the bane of Higher Education system in the country. He also informed them about the provisions of the recently approved Rashtriya Ucchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA), a scheme of MHRD wherein autonomous colleges desirous of converting themselves into universities can be provided with funding upto Rs.55 crores each. The total amount earmarked for XII FYP for this scheme is Rs.2475 crores.

Some of the Universities have more than 800 colleges affiliated to them with the result that their entire time is consumed by routine administrative tasks leaving little time for research and innovation. On the other hand, many of these colleges though imparting high level of education having potential for research are not allowed to grow as they are not allowed to work beyond the limits prescribed by the University system. The Secretary felt that the system of Autonomous Colleges could provide a way out of this limiting role of affiliation system. This could be done by upgrading the autonomous colleges with ‘A’ NAAC accreditation (46 out of 441 colleges are ‘A’ grade) the status of a Deemed University, State University or just give them degree granting powers by amending the UGC Act.

The colleges welcomed the efforts of the Department of Higher Education and UGC in taking up this initiative. Ban on recruitments to teaching positions by some State Governments and overlooking of their Autonomous Status by the affiliating Universities were some of the concerns expressed by the Colleges in becoming truly autonomous institutions.

The following was decided to be done in time-bound manner:-

• The UGC Standing Advisory Committee on Autonomous Colleges under the Chair of Prof. Syed Hasnain will finalize its recommendations within two months including a draft Regulations for autonomous colleges.

• The central government will explore ways to confer degree granting powers on autonomous colleges by way of amending the UGC Act.

• It was decided that at least 10% of all eligible colleges in the country will be conferred with autonomy by end of XII Plan.

• The suggestions of colleges were taken into account to finalize programmatic norms under RUSA. It was decided that 45 autonomous colleges would be converted into Universities by end of XII Plan.

• The governance structure is the crux of the reforms in RUSA. Therefore all states and autonomous colleges were exhorted to undertake governance and academic reforms.

Monday, October 7, 2013

Prohibitory Orders against Publishing details of Investigation in Hyderabad Twin Blasts Cases

For NIA Spl Court order, click here

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) Special Court in Hyderabad has issued prohibitory orders against the publishing of details of investigation in Hyderabad twin blasts cases of 21^st Feb, 2013 conducted against (1) Ahmed Zarar @ Yasin Bhatkal, (2) Asadullah Akthar @ Haddi and their associates of Indian Mujahideen, by the media houses. The court has given directions to print and electronic media not to publish any proceedings of these cases without the prior permission of the Hon’ble Court.

In its order, the NIA Spl Court observed …“it is just and necessary to give direction to the print and electronic media not to publish any of the proceedings in this case in RC No. 1/2013 and RC 2/2013 of National Investigation Agency, Hyderabad including the publishing and telecasting in any manner touching the documents of on going investigation of this case without prior permission from this Court.”

The print and electronic media are advised to note the directions of the Court for compliance.

Schedule for General Election to the Legislative Assemblies Five States

The terms of the Legislative Assemblies of Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram, Rajasthan and Delhi are normally due to expire as follows:

Chhattisgarh 04.01.2014

Madhya Pradesh 12.12.2013

Mizoram 15.12.2013

Rajasthan 31.12.2013

Delhi 17.12.2013

Assembly Constituencies

The total number of Assembly Constituencies in the States of Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram, Rajasthan and Delhi and seats reserved for the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes, as determined by the Delimitation Commission under the Delimitation Act, 2002 are as under: -

States	Total No. of Assembly Constituencies	Reserved for SCs	Reserved for STs
Chhattisgarh	90	10	29
Madhya Pradesh	230	35	47
Mizoram	40	-	39
Rajasthan	200	34	25
Delhi	70	12	-

Creation of a new state of Telangana

The Union Cabinet today approved the creation of a new State of Telangana by bifurcating the existing State of Andhra Pradesh.

1. The city of Hyderabad will function as the common capital for both the States for a period of ten years. The Union Cabinet has approved the setting up of a Group of Ministers(GoM) to work out the various legal and administrative measures to ensure the safety and security of the residents of all the regions of the State including the guarantee of the Fundamental Rights.

2. The Union Cabinet further approved that the GoMwill go into the various issues which concern both the States and suggest appropriate measures to address them.

3. The GoM will also work out the modalities for the provision of special financial disbursements required for the setting up of a new capital for the residuary State of Andhra Pradesh and to meet the special needs of the backward regions and districts of the two States.

Cabinet Gives Nod to Flagship Programme for Higher Education- RUSA

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs last evening approved about one lakh crore Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA). It is a new centrally sponsored scheme for higher education which will spread over two plan periods (XIIth and XIIIth). It will focus on state higher educational institutions. It will be a new flagship scheme of the government that will pave the way for far reaching reforms at the state level. A total of 316 state public universities and 13,024 colleges will be covered under RUSA.

The key objectives of RUSA are to improve access, equity and quality in higher education through planned development of higher education at the state level. It is proposed to improve the Gross Enrolment Ratio from 19% at present to 30% by 2020. It will help create new academic institutions, and expand the existing institutions, that are self-reliant in terms of quality education and professional management.

They shall be characterized by greater inclination towards research and provide students with education that is both relevant to them as well as the nation as a whole.

The funding will be provided by the Central and State Governments respectively in the ratio of 90:10 for North-Eastern States and Jammu &Kashmir, 75:25 for Other Special Category States (Sikkim, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand) and 65:35 for Other States and UTs. Funding will be made available to private government-aided institutions also, subject to their meeting certain pre-conditions for permitted activities based on laid down norms and parameters.

RUSA will adopt a completely new approach towards funding higher education in state universities. The key principles for RUSA funding will be performance-based funding, incentivizing well performing institutions and decision making through clearly defined norms.

These principles will help establish and rely upon a management information system to gather the essential information from institutions.

RUSA will aim to provide greater autonomy to universities as well as colleges and have a sharper focus on equity-based development, and improvement in teaching-learning quality and research.

The reforms initiated under RUSA will build a self-sustaining momentum that will push for greater accountability and autonomy of state institutions and also to unleash the potential of the state universities.

In order to be eligible for funding under RUSA, states will have to fulfill certain prerequisites which include creation of a State Higher Education Council, creation of accreditation agencies, preparation of the state perspective plans, commitment of certain stipulated share of funds towards RUSA, academic, sectoral and institutional governance reforms, filling faculty positions etc.

Under the scheme, an initial amount will be provided to the State governments to prepare them for complying with the above requirements. Once eligible for funding under RUSA, after meeting the prerequisite commitments, the States will receive funds on the basis of achievements and outcomes. The yardstick for deciding the quantum of funds for the states and institutions comprise the norms that reflect the performance in key result areas (access, equity and excellence). The State plans will capture the current position of the states and institutions with respect to these indicators, as well as the targets that need to be achieved. The State Higher Education Council will undertake this process of planning, execution and evaluation, in addition to other monitoring and capacity building functions.

At the national level, the scheme will be implemented by the RUSA Mission Authority and assisted by the Project Advisory Group, Technical Support Group and Project Directorate. The main agency through which RUSA will work in the States will be the State Higher Education Council (SHEC), an autonomous body that will function at an arm’s length from the state and central governments. SHEC will be assisted by State Project Directorate and Technical Support Group. In every institution, the Governing Body and a Project Monitoring Unit will oversee the project progress.

Revision in Fare of AC Classes of Duronto Express Trains at par with Rajdhani-Shatabadi Express for Comparable Classes with Effect from 10th October,2013

Ministry of Railways has decided to further revise the fares of AC classes of Duronto Express trains at par with Rajdhani-Shatabadi Express for comparable classes. There shall be no change in the fares of sleeper class and non-AC chair car classes of Duronto Express. The new changes in fares of Duronto Express shall come into force w.e.f. 10th October, 2013 in the case of tickets already issued at pre-revised rate, the difference in fare and other charge will be recovered for journeys undertaken on or after 10th October, 2013 either by TTEs on the trains or by the booking/reservation offices before the commencement of journey by passenger. The detail revised fare table is available on the Indian Railways website namely www.indianrailways.gov.in.

Saturday, August 24, 2013

‘New Media Wing’ in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting

Establishing a ‘New Media Wing’ in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting for publicizing Government’s Initiatives through Multiple Social Media platforms.

The Union Cabinet today approved the proposal for establishing a ‘New Media Wing’ in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting for publicizing Government’s Initiatives through Multiple Social Media platforms. The New Media Wing in the Ministry would address the communication and dissemination requirements of the Government on social media platforms. The wing would integrate the communication tools horizontally and vertically through various social media platforms. The proposal for establishment of New Media Wing has been drawn on the basis of the experience of the initiative undertaken by the Ministry recently, on a pilot basis to position itself on the social media platforms such as Youtube, facebook and Twitter.

The New Media Wing would be headed by a senior officer of JS level and will work under his overall supervision, direction and guidance. The administrative and operational support will be provided by a Media Unit under the Ministry i.e. Research Reference & Training Division which would be the New Media Wing. The expenditure for establishing the New Media Wing and the recurring expenditure thereon would cost the exchequer an amount of Rs. 22.5 crore during the 12th Five Year Plan (1012-17) which has been approved by the CCEA under Development Communication & Information Dissemination plan scheme of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.

UNESCO World Heritage List

shri Sharad Kumar Appointed as Director General, National Investigation Agency

Shri Sharad Kumar has been appointed as Director General of National Investigation Agency. Shri Kumar is an IPS (HY:79) officer and presently working in the cadre.

I&B Min to Organise National Workshop on ‘Single Window Clearance Mechanism’ for Shooting Films in India

In a major initiative to discuss the modalities of implementing the ‘Single Window Clearance’ mechanism for shooting films in India, the Ministry is organizing the first National Workshop tomorrow. The workshop to be attended by key stakeholders involved in the process will be inaugurated by Secretary, Information & Broadcasting, Shri Bimal Julka at Vigyan Bhawan Annexe tomorrow.

The National Workshop is expected to discuss a whole range of issues related to the single window clearance mechanism. These include the steps required to take the process forward including the implementation of “Standard Operating Procedures” for obtaining permission for film shooting in India by both foreign and Indian film producers. It is expected that the workshop would be able to identify key deliverables so as to enable the promotion of India as “Filming Destination”. The workshop will also review the experiences of the past and the obstacles that many a times led to delays in providing timely clearances/ permissions. The workshop is expected to be attended by stakeholders including senior officers from key departments involved at the central level, state government representatives, film producers/ line producers and bodies such as FICCI.

The workshop is being convened in the backdrop of the constitution of the ‘Inter- Ministerial Committee on Promotion and Facilitation of Film Production in India’. The Committee which was notified in April 2013 under the Chairmanship of Secretary (I&B), includes senior officials from key ministries such as Home Affairs, Tourism, External Affairs, Culture, Railways, Civil Aviation, Defence, etc.