E-Auction of First Batch of Private FM Radio Phase III Channels Continues;

32 Rounds of Bidding Completed at the End of Day 8

E-Auction of the First Batch of Private FM Radio Phase III Channels re-commenced today on 05^th August 2015 at 09.30 A.M. and during the day, four rounds of bidding took place. Till now, 32 rounds of bidding are over.

At the close of the eighth day of bidding, 83 channels in 56 cities became provisionally winning channels with cumulative provisional winning price of around Rs 869 Crore against their aggregate reserve price of about Rs 395 Crore. Thus the summation of provisional winning prices exceeded the total reserve price of the first batch by about Rs 319.11 Crore or 58%.  Rs 550.18 Crore is the total reserve price of the first batch.

The Auction for the first batch comprising 135 FM Channels in 69 existing cities of Phase II began on 27^th July 2015.

        The Auction Activity Requirement of 80% set at the beginning of the auction continued to remain the same on the eighth day. Daily auction report for day 8 has been put on MIB website, www.mib.nic.in. Bidding will re-commence on 6^th August, 2015 at 09.30 AM.

       The following Table summarizes first eight days of bidding:

Sl No	Date of Bidding	Status at the end of Round No	No of Provisionally Won Channels	No of Cities	Cumulative Reserve Price of Provisionally Won Channels (In Crore Rs)	Cumulative Provisional Winning Price (In Crore Rs)
1	27.07.2015	4	78	54	357	395
2	28.07.2015	8	79	55	377	479
3	29.07.2015	12	80	55	377	549
4	30.07.2015	16	80	55	391	643
5	31.07.2015	20	80	55	391	714
6	03.08.2015	24	82	56	395	779
7	04.08.2015	28	83	56	395	827
8	05.08.2015	32	83	56	395	869

Excavation Works in Oceans

Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has carried out excavation in 2007 at Dwaraka in collaboration with Indian Navy and documented the submerged structural remains in the Arabian Sea. In the forecourt of Dwarakadheesh temple, excavation was carried out over the natural bedrock which revealed-coins of copper, animal figurines of terracotta, sculptural and architectural fragments, bangles of shell, bone and glass, beads of stones and terracotta, rings, stones and variety of plain and decorated potsherds which seem to be of historical period. 

Excavation was also conducted near-shore region southwest of Samudra Narayan temple and found wooden block from a submerged circular structure. 

During the last five years, Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has not conducted any exploration/excavation work in ocean. 

The funds for oceanic excavation are provided from general funds allocated for excavation and exploration to the Archaeological Survey of India. 

This information was given by the Minister of State for Tourism (Independent Charge), Culture (Independent Charge) and Civil Aviation, Dr Mahesh Sharma in reply to an unstarred question today in Lok Sabha. 

India Foils UK Company’s Bid to Patent Use of Turmeric, Pine Bark & Tea for Treating Hair Loss

India once again has been successful in protecting its traditional knowledge by preventing an attempt made by Europe's Leading Dermaceutical Laboratory-Pangaea Laboratories Limited, to take patent on a medicinal composition containing turmeric, pine bark and green tea for treating hair loss. 

Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL), a Unit of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, located the patent application filed at European Patent office by M/S Pangaea Laboratories Limited and filed pre-grant opposition along with prior-art evidences from TKDL, proving that turmeric, pine bark and green tea, are being used as a treatment for hair loss, since long in Indian systems of medicine like Ayurveda and Unani. The above UK based company had filed the patent application at European Patent office in February, 2011. CSIR-TKDL Unit had filed evidences from TKDL on January 13, 2014 after the patent application got published on website, pursuant to which the patent application is finally deemed to be withdrawn by the applicant on June 29, 2015. Till date CSIR-TKDL Unit has achieved success in about 200 such cases without any cost. 

Recently, CSIR-TKDL Unit has foiled an attempt of M/S Colgate-Palmolive Company to patent a mouthwash formula containing herb (Nutmeg- Jayaphal) extract used in Indian traditional systems of medicine to cure oral diseases, at European Patent office. 

Traditional Knowledge Digital Library of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR-TKDL), headed by Dr. Archana Sharma, submitted proof in the form of references from ancient books in this case, which said the herb and its extracts of Myristica Fragrans were historically used for oral diseases in Indian systems of medicine. 

A Tunnel found near Qutub Shahi Tombs site

During excavation work a tunnel unearthed near Quli Qutub shah Tombs. It is a US sponsored project taken up by Agha Khan Trust for Culture, doing excavations with the permission of Archaeology and Government of Telangana.It is believed that this tunnel lead to underground palace which  was used to to  accommodate  Qutub Shahi rulers.

Medical Education

Under the Medical Education, Training and Research an amount of Rs.7032.56 crore has been earmarked for the year 2015-16.

The Central Government has granted permission for renewal of MBBS courses for the academic year 2015-16 in respect of seven Government Medical College after obtaining Undertaking from the concerned State Government. A list of seven Government Medical College is given below:

LIST OF MEDICAL COLLEGES  GRANTED RENEWAL PERMISSION ON THE BASIS OF UNDERTAKING SUBMITTED TO THE CENTRAL GOVERNMENT FOR ACADEMIC YEAR 2015-16
Sl No.	State	Place	College Name
1	Kerala	Palakkad	Govt. Medical College, Palakkad
2	Kerala	Idukki	Govt. Medical College, Idukki
3	Maharashtra	Dhule	Sri Bhausaheb Hire Govt. Medical College
4	Maharashtra	Latur	Govt. Medical College, Latur
5	Maharashtra	Solapur	Dr. Vaishmapayan Memorial Govt. Medical College
6	Maharashtra	Akola	Govt. Medial College, Akola
7	Maharashtra	Yavatmal	Sri Vasantrao Naik Govt. Medical College

List of valid applications received by the Government from States/UTS including Kerala to start M.D. Radiotherapy in Government medical colleges and action thereof by this Ministry is given below:

SL No.	State	College Name	Seats	Action Taken by the Ministry
1	Punjab	Sri Guru Ram Das Institute of Medical Sciences & Research, Sri Amritsar	5 new seats	Forwarded to MCI
2	Punjab	Guru Gobind Singh Medical College, Faridkot	Increase of seats 03-06
3	Kerala	Amala Institute of Medical Sciences,	2 new seats
4	Kerala	Govt. TD Medical College Alappuzha	2 new seats
5	Rajasthan	Geetanjali Medical College & Hospital, Udaipur	3 new seats
6	Karnataka	A.J Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Centre, Mangalore	2 new seats

The Health Minister, Shri J P Nadda stated this in a written reply in the Lok Sabha here today.

Aadhar to NRIs

Aadhar enrolment activities are proposed to be expanded to cover all Resident Indians, Non-Resident Indians, OCI/PIO persons and visa holding visitors to empower them with a unique identity/identifier that can be authenticated on a digital platform anytime from anywhere. In a written reply in Lok Sabha today, the Minister of State for Overseas Indian Affairs General V.K. Singh (Retd.) said that following this decision, initiated by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has been taking necessary action for the purpose. The NRI population is estimated to be over 1.13 crore, most of whom may be eligible to avail of this facility, he added.

Suicides in the Country

As per information compiled by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), the total number of suicides during 2012 to 2014 and the breakup of suicides is as follows:-

Year	Total No. of suicides	Suicide committed by self employed in farming / agriculture activities	Suicide committed by housewives	Suicide committed by students	Suicide committed due to bankruptcy or indebtedness	Suicide committed due to insanity / mental illness
2012	135445	13754	21904	6654	2357	7769
2013	134799	11772	22742	8423	2678	8006
2014	131666	5650*	20148	8068	2308	7104

*Farmers

The data on persons self-employed in agriculture /farming activity, housewives and students committing suicides due to economic reasons, mental stress and provocation by kith or kin is not maintained separately by the Bureau.

Major mental health problems like depression, schizophrenia, addiction to alcohol, affective disorders, drug dependence, adjustment disorders, mood and personality problems have been identified among those committed or attempting suicides. The Government has approved implementation of the District Mental Health Programme in some of the districts of the country with added components of suicide prevention services, work place stress management, life skills training and counseling in schools and colleges.

This was stated by the Minister of State for Home Affairs, Shri Haribhai Parathibhai Chaudhary in a written reply to a question by Shri C.P. Narayanan in the Rajya Sabha today.

Quality of Ph.D. Research

While no dedicated study for assessing the quality of Ph.D research in the country has been undertaken, as informed by the University Grants Commission (UGC), the UGC Review Committee constituted by the Central Government in July, 2014 has observed that there is a Mushroom growth of substandard Ph.D. degrees. The report of the Committee further observed that acquiring Ph.D. degree has now become a necessity in view of the minimum qualification for recruitment at entry level and requirements for promotion. 

In order to serve national purpose of maintaining standards of Higher Education and to bring uniformity in the procedure of award of M.Phil / Ph.D. Degree UGC has framed UGC (Minimum Standard and Procedure for the awards of M.Phil/Ph.D. Degree), Regulation 2009. These Regulations have been notified in the Gazette of India dated 11th-17th July, 2009 and are available at UGC website www.ugc.ac.in . The UGC has written, on 6th July, 2015, to the Vice-Chancellors of all Universities that it has come to the notice of the UGC that some Universities are hiring the services of the Supervisors who do not happen to be the regular teachers of the Universities or its affiliated Post Graduate (PG) colleges/ Institutes awarding the M.Phil/ Ph.D. degree. It has been observed that this practice is in violation of UGC (Minimum standards and procedure for award of M.Phil/Ph.D. Degree) Regulations, 2009. 

The UGC has advised the Vice-Chancellors that Universities shall allocate the supervisor from amongst the regular faculty members in a department or its affiliated PG Colleges/ Institutes depending on the number of students per faculty member, the available specialization among the faculty supervisors and the research interest of the student. It has been further clarified by the UGC that any Ph.D. / M.Phil degree awarded by a University under the supervision of a Supervisor who is not a faculty member of the University or its affiliated PG Colleges/ Institutes would be in violation of UGC (Minimum standards and procedure for award of M.Phil./ Ph.D Regulations, 2009.) 

This information was given by the Union Human Resource Development Minister, Smt. Smriti Irani in a written reply to the Lok Sabha question. 

Doctors Protest Against NCERT’s Social Science Book

The Indian Medical Association (IMA) has mainly objected to the content on page 26 in the Chapter 2, “Role of the Government in Health”, of the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) Social Science Textbook for Class VII, Social and Political Life-II under sub-heading “Healthcare and equality”, which was published in February, 2007 and has been in circulation since the academic session of 2007-08: 

“In order to earn more money, these private services encourage practices that are incorrect. At times cheaper methods, though available, are not used. For example, it is common to find doctors prescribing unnecessary medicines, injections or saline bottles when tablets or simple medicines can suffice.” 

It has also objected to the content on ‘The cost of a cure’ on pages 22-23, which indicates the difference in the cost of treatment in private and Government hospitals. 

Complaints have been received from the office bearers of the IMA and some of its State branches. These complaints have been forwarded to NCERT for taking appropriate action. 

This information was given by the Union Human Resource Development Minister, Smt. Smriti Irani in a written reply to the Lok Sabha question. 

Water Recycling Plants at Railway Stations

Water Recycling Plants (WRPs) are already functioning at 29 major water consumption centres on Indian Railways. In addition, 32 railway stations handling large volume of passenger traffic and falling under ‘A-1’ & ‘A’ category have been identified during the current financial year for provision of WRPs duly considering techno-economic viability, out of which works of provision of WRPs at 24 stations have already been sanctioned. The details of 32 stations identified for setting up of WRPs, State-wise are as under:-

State	Stations (with category) identified for provision of WRP
Andhra Pradesh (2)	Tirupati (A-1) & Visakhapatnam (A-1)
Bihar (2)	Katihar (A) & Rajendra Nagar (A)
Chhattisgarh (1)	Raipur (A-1)
Delhi (1)	New Delhi (A-1)
Jharkhand (1)	Tata Nagar (A-1)
Karnataka (3)	Hubli (A), Mangalore Central (A) & Mysore (A)
Kerala (3)	Palakkad (A), Shornaur Jn. (A) & Trivandrum Central (A-1)
Madhya Pradesh (1)	Itarsi (A)
Maharashtra(5)	Bandra Terminus (A-1), CST Mumbai (A-1), Lokmanya Tilak (T) (A-1), Pune (A-1) & Solapur (A-1)
Rajasthan (2)	Ajmer (A-1) & Kota (A-1)
Tamil Nadu (5)	Coimbatore (A-1), Erode Jn. (A), Madurai (A-1), Tiruchchirappalli (A) & Villupuram (A)
Telangana (2)	Hyderabad (A-1) & Kacheguda (A-1)
Uttar Pradesh (2)	Jhansi (A-1) & Lucknow (A-1)
West Bengal (2)	Howrah (A-1) & Sealdah (A-1)

This information was given by the Minister of State for Railways Shri Manoj Sinha in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha yesterday.