Flexibility of Funds Earmarked for SCs/STs/Physically Disabled /Minorities

The Ministry of Human Resource Development has stated that it will not let the money earmarked for SCs/STs/physically disabled/Minorities education and North-East Institutions lapse. On the occasion of the release of UGC brochures by the HRM, Dr. M.M. Pallam Raju and UGC Chairman here today, the Ministry has asked the UGC to device new schemes so that the money meant for the purpose is 100 percent utilized. These will be student-friendly schemes which will help in the purpose of not letting the money go unutilized. It will come into force in the current financial year itself.

The UGC on this occasion also brought forth its decision to launch an inspirational intervention through the establishment of Chairs in honour of Nobel Laureates who have done our country proud. The Chairs will be associated with the names of Rabindranath Tagore, C.V. Raman, Hargobind Khorana, Mother Teresa, Subramanyam Chandrasekhar, Amartya Sen and Venkatraman Ramakrishnan. It is a unique scheme which seeks to inspire the youth to take up research under the guidance of the best minds in the world.

Railways to carry relief material for Uttarakhand free of cost

The Ministry of Railways has decided that relief material, viz. food, medicines, clothes, building materials, utensils etc, will be carried to Uttarakhand free of cost by coaching trains, from any station in India, for a period of 15 days, i.e. from 25.06.2013 to 09.07.2013.

The relief material will be consigned to the District Magistrate of the concerned district on production of a certificate from the consignor that the consignment is a gift in kind or has been purchased with the funds donated by public for flood victims and has not been paid for by the Government or any of its agencies.

No claim for any loss or damage to consignment carried under this arrangement will be entertained unless it is clearly proved that the loss or damage took place due to willful negligence on the part of the Railways.

India-US Higher Education Dialogue – 2013

The HRD Minister Dr. M.M. Pallam Raju and visiting US Secretary of State Mr. John F. Kerry are to co-chair India-US Higher Education Dialogue on 25th June, 2013 in New Delhi. During the dialogue, the two sides will take up Research and Innovation Partnership under Singh-Obama Knowledge Initiative, Institutional Partnership and Skill Development as well as Promotion of Community Colleges in India and Technology Enabled Education including massive Open Online Courses. IIT – Bombay is entering into an MoU with edx. The intended outcome also includes two-way students’ mobility from India to USA and vice-versa. India and US will also take up linkage between industry and academia and faculty development. They are also expected to take up issues like post Doctoral Research and co-operation in training for the school teachers.

The HRD Minister had visited USA last month for forging linkages and collaborations in the field of Higher Education. The educational relations have intensified between India and USA after the visit of the Prime Minister of India to USA in 2009 and reciprocal visit of the President of USA Mr. Barack Obama to India in 2010. The first India-US Higher Education summit was convened at Washington DC in October, 2011.

During the dialogue, major announcements are expected. This includes Second Round of Singh-Obama Knowledge Initiative Awards which have 8 joint research programmes under it, first batch of 126 Raman Fellows, who are being sponsored by UGC to take up Post-Doctoral research in US institutions and “Connect India” Programme for US students to come to India.

To promote community colleges in India, a framework has been developed by the HRD Ministry after the first India-US Higher Education Summit and International Conference on Community Colleges. It was organized in February this year in the Indian capital. Following un-precedented response from both academia and the industry, five community college principals/leaders will be sponsored for a visit to community colleges in US for the leadership development. The two sides may also agree to promote cyber networks through IIT Delhi and University of Nebraska.

The Plenary session will be followed by three working session on students mobilities and research collaborations, community colleges and technology enabled education. The working sessions would be co-chaired by Secretary (HE) Mr. Ashok Thakur and US Under Secretary of State Ms. Tara Sonenshine.

Expansion of Dealership Network

Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL), a Public Sector Undertaking of Ministry of Steel, operates two schemes for dealers under its network:

(i) SAIL Dealership Scheme

(ii) SAIL Rural Dealership Scheme

With a view to widen the reach of its products, SAIL has been expanding its dealer network extensively to cover all the districts in the country. Expansion of SAIL dealer network over last few years is as given below:-

As on à	1.4.06	1.4.07	1.4.08	1.4.09	1.4.10	1.4.11	1.4.12	1.4.2013
Number of Dealers	200	653	1897	2406	2508	2649	2662	2896

After establishing a strong network of dealers spread over 629 districts of the country, SAIL launched a new “SAIL Rural Dealership Scheme” to expand its scope of business in rural areas (block/taluka) of the country with the primary objective of meeting the steel demands of the small rural consumers at block and taluka levels. As on 1^st April, 2013, SAIL has a dealer network of 2896 dealers which includes 562 Rural Dealers. SAIL plans to increase the number of rural dealers to 1000 in a phased manner. The details of the existing Dealers network, state-wise category-wise are at Annexure-I and II.

          Under the Scheme, for appointment as a Rural Dealer, as a minimum qualifying criterion, the applicant should possess an Office / Retail Outlet beside a storage space of suitable capacity.  Applications are evaluated generally on the basis of the following parameters:-

          i)       Infrastructure facilities

          ii)      Financial Standing

          iii)     Market reputation

iv)     Any other criteria which the company considers necessary to take into account while evaluating the application.

While evaluating applicants for appointment as SAIL Rural Dealer, suitable weightage may be given by SAIL to such applicants who intend to deal exclusively with SAIL products. SAIL has taken steps to expand the Dealer Network both at the District level as well as the Block and Taluka levels through its SAIL Dealership Scheme and SAIL Rural Dealership Scheme.

Scholarship Awards for Students with Disabilities Increased

Laptop to be Provided to All Students with Disabilities

The Board of Trustees of the Trust Fund for Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities increased the fresh scholarships from 1000 to 1500 per year under the Scholarship Scheme (Trust Fund) here today. The Comptroller and Auditor General of India chaired the meeting of the Board.

Laptop will be provided to all the Students with Disabilities now. The Board of Trustees decided that Laptop shall be provided to Orthopedically Handicapped (OH) students as an aids and appliances once in life time upto estimated cost of Rs.40,000/-(Rupees Forty Thousand only). Till now, this facility was available to Hearing Handicapped and Visually Handicapped students only.

It was also decided in the meeting that the advance funds for the year will be made available to NHFDC in the beginning of financial year for award of scholarships to students with disabilities without any delay.

The Scholarship Scheme for the Students with the Disabilities is being implemented by NHFDC, Department of Disability Affairs, Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment, Government of India.

The Secretary, Law & Justice and Secretary, Ministry of Finance are other members of the Trust. The Joint Secretary, Department of Disability Affairs is the Member Secretary.

CMD, National Handicapped Finance & Development Corporation (NHFDC) along with senior officials were also present in the meeting.

Pension to Aged Artists

Under the Scheme of “Financial Assistance to Persons Distinguished in Letters, Arts and such other walks of life who may be in Indigent Circumstances and their Dependents”, applications are received by the Ministry of Culture throughout the year.

The above Scheme is being implemented since 1961 and there is a continuous flow of the applications throughout the year. As on 23rd April 2013, 3410 individuals are getting financial assistance under this scheme.

Applications received under the Scheme are scrutinized and the applications found complete are forwarded to the Zonal Cultural Centers (ZCCs) for their recommendations. The reports received from ZCCs are placed before the Expert Committee for their recommendations. As on 23rd April 2013, there are 2442 applications under scrutiny in ZCCs. 148 applications received from ZCCs are pending for placing them before the Expert Committee.

The applications are received throughout the year, and the consideration of application depends upon various factors like completeness of applications, fulfillment of eligibility criteria under the Scheme, recommendation from ZCCs, availability of funds and consideration by the Expert Committee. The time frame for taking a final decision in each case varies accordingly. Efforts are made to dispose them of expeditiously.

Reimbursement of Fee under Scholarship Scheme

Under the Merit-Cum-Means based scholarship Scheme for students belonging to the notified minority communities full course fee is reimbursed in respect of the 85 Listed Institutions only. For students in other Institutions upto to Rs. 20,000/- is reimbursed.

There is no separate Merit-Cum-Means Scholarship scheme for the Other Backward Classes (OBCs). Under the existing Scheme of Post-Matric Scholarship for OBCs, there is a provision for reimbursement of compulsory non-refundable fees in addition to maintenance allowance, reader charges for blind students, study tour charges, thesis typing/printing charges, book allowances for students pursuing correspondence course, etc for complete duration of the course.

This information was given by the Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment, Shri P. Balram Naik in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha  on 30th April 2013

Clinical Trials on Children at Safdarjung Hospital, Delhi

There is no report regarding the conduct of clinical trials on children particularly on new borns  by foreign pharmaceutical firms at Safdarjung Hospital, New Delhi.

Research in the area of drug discovery leads to newer, safer and more efficacious drugs being made available in the country.  Clinical trials are the only way of establishing the safety and efficacy of any new drug before its introduction in the market for human use.  Clinical trials (with safeguards) are necessary for introduction of new drugs for a country like India, considering its disease burden and emergence of new variants of disease.  The trials in the long run benefit the country and its patients. However, lesser number of clinical trials are taking place in the country as compared to the trials in other countries. As on 20-03-2013, as per the information available in www.clinicaltrials.gov of National Institute of Health, United States of America (USA), a total number of 1,42,239 clinical trials of different countries worldwide were registered.  Out of these, 67,881 are from USA, 38,473 from Europe, 10,702 from Canada, 2,645 from Japan, etc.  Only 2,178 clinical trials were registered from India.

Banning clinical trials, whether local or global, will not be in the interest of drug discovery and research in the country. However, there is a need to effectively monitor these trials so as to avoid irregularities therein. The Government has been continuously making efforts at strengthening the regulatory provisions  and the monitoring mechanism of clinical trials in the country and to avoid irregularities therein. The provisions in the Drugs and Cosmetics Rules, 1945 relating to clinical trials have recently been amended as follows:

(i)         Amendment vide Gazette Notification G.S.R. 53 (E) dated 30-01-2013 specifying procedures  to analyse the reports of Serious Adverse Events occurring during clinical trials and procedures for payment of compensation in case of trial related injury or death as per prescribed timelines.

(ii)        Amendment vide Gazette Notification G.S.R. 63(E) dated 01-02-2013 specifying various conditions for conduct of clinical trials, authority for conducting clinical trial inspections and actions in case of non-compliance.

(iii)       The registration of the Ethics Committees has been made mandatory in the Drugs & Cosmetics Rules vide Gazette Notification G.S.R No. 72(E) Dated 08.02.13 specifying requirements and guidelines for registration of Ethics Committee.

This information was given by the Minister for Health & Family Welfare Shri Ghulam Nabi Azad in written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha on 30 April 2013

Permission to Doctors with Foreign Degrees to Practice in India

Medical practice in India is possible only when a person is given enrollment by a State Medical Council or the Medical Council of India (MCI) on the basis of the medical qualification recognized under the Indian Medical Council Act 1956. When an Indian citizen obtains medical qualification from any medical institution in any country outside India, which is recognized for enrolment as medical practitioner in that country, he/she shall be entitled for enrollment on any medical register maintained by a State Medical Council or to have his/her name entered in the Indian Medical Register only after qualifying the Screening Test prescribed for the purpose by the Medical Council of India (MCI).

As per the information furnished by MCI, they have not conducted any detailed survey about medical syllabi of foreign countries. However, in the recent past the Central Government had sent delegations, which included members from MCI, to China and Russia for assessing the standard of medical education in those countries.

This information was given by the Minister for Health & Family Welfare Shri Ghulam Nabi Azad in written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha on 30th  April

Illegally Operating Hospitals

“Health” is a State subject and it is primarily the responsibility of the State Governments to regulate and monitor hospitals in the States. No such information regarding illegally operation of hospitals is maintained centrally.

However, Clinical Establishments (Registration and Regulation) Act, 2010 has been enacted for registration and regulation of the Clinical Establishments and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto, as also with a view to ensuring minimum standards of facilities and services in the clinical establishments and provision of proper healthcare by them. Further, the Act envisages to regulate the rates of procedures and services charged by Clinical Establishments in the States. The Act has come into force in the States of Arunachal Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Mizoram and Sikkim and all Union Territories with effect from 1-3-2012. The States of Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Bihar and Jharkhand have adopted this Act. The State of Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Bihar and Jharkhand have adopted this Act. Other State Governments have also been requested to adopt this Act. A web portal for this Act has been developed in consultation with NIC and provisional registration of Clinical Establishments has been made possible through this web portal.

This information was given by the Minister for Health & Family Welfare Shri Ghulam Nabi Azad in written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha on 30 April

Census 2011: Abstract- Primary Data Released

Shri Sushil Kumar Shinde, Union Home Minister released the Primary Census Abstract-Data Highlights of Census 2011 in a function organized by the Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India here today.

On this occasion Union Home Minister congratulated all stake holders for completing the 2011 Census and said that the results of efforts to improve the quality by new methods of training, data collection, data processing and data dissemination are there before all of us. The provisional data was published within 3 weeks of the completion of Census and the final housing Census data was brought out within 1 year of the provisional release. Today, the final results of the Population Enumeration are being released again a year ahead of schedule.

Shri Shinde also expressed his happiness that the growth rate of population has come down during the last decade and literacy has increased significantly, particularly the female literacy. He further said that all this information would go a long way in assessing the ongoing schemes and planning appropriate interventions in rural and urban areas.

On the occasion, Union Home Minister distributed Census Medals to Shri G. K. Pillai, former Union Home Secretary and the officers of the Census Organization in recognition to the outstanding services rendered by them during Census 2011.

Some of the salient features of the data released are as below:-

Total population of the country is 1.21 billion showing an increase of 181.96 million persons in absolute numbers of population in India during the decade 2001-2011. During this decade, population of India grew by 17.7% as against 21.5% in the previous decade.

As per Census 2011, 833.5 million persons live in rural areas and 377.1 million persons lives in urban areas. Thus, more than 2/3rd of total population of India lives in rural areas.

Density of population as per current Census is 382 persons per sq.km. against 325 persons per sq.km. in 2001.

Child population in the age group 0-6 years in 2011 Census is 164.5 million as against 163.8 million showing an increase of 0.4% in the last decade.

Sex ratio in Census 2011 is 943 females per 1000 males as against 933 in 2001 Census.

Population of Scheduled Castes in this Census is 201.4 million as against 166.6 million in 2001 registering an increase of 20.8% whereas Scheduled Tribes population increased to 104.3 million in 2011 from 84.3 million in 2001.

As per Census 2011, number of literates is 763.5 million as against 560.7 million in 2001.

NIFT Centres

There are 15 Centres of National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) currently functioning in the country located at:

S. No.	Name of the Centre	Establishment Year
1	New Delhi (Delhi)	1986
2	Chennai (Tamil Nadu)	1995
3	Gandhinagar (Gujarat)
4	Hyderabad (Andhra Pradesh)
5	Kolkata (West Bengal)
6	Mumbai (Maharashtra)
7	Bangalore (Karnataka)	1996
8	Raebareli (Uttar Pradesh)	2007
9	Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh)	2008
10	Kannur (Kerala)
11	Shillong (Meghalaya)
12	Patna (Bihar)
13	Kangra (Himachal Pradesh)	2009
14	Bhubneshwar (Orissa)	2010
15	Jodhpur (Rajasthan)

Facts at A Glance- Karnataka

Election -Poll Date:- 05 May, 2013

	Item	Number of Assembly constituencies going on poll in Phase -224
1	Total Electors (State Total)	Male        2,22,73,618 Female:  2,13,41,263 Total        4,36,14,881
		Total :     4,36,14,881
2	Total Number of Candidates	2948
3	Total Numbers of Female Candidates	170
4	No. & Name of Assembly Constituency with . maximum number of candidates	94-Bellary City-29 Candidates
5	No. & Name of Assembly Constituency with minimum  number of candidates	10-Yenkanamaradi-5 candidates           19-Mudhol-5 candidates.
6	Assembly constituency where more than one women candidate	39 ACs
7	Party-wise list of candidates	BSP-175, BJP-223, CPI-08, CPI (M)-17, INC-224, NCP-24, JD (S)- 222, Regional Political Parties- 832, IND-1223
8	Number of EVMs to be used in the Election (In the State)	BU- 79364, CU- 61338
09	Largest assembly constituency (area wise) (In the State)	76- Haliyal Assembly Constituency
10	Largest assembly constituency (Electorate wise) (In the State)	176- B’lore South- 447914 Electors
11	Smallest assembly constituency (Electorate wise) (In the State)	5- Kudachi- 147749 Electors
12	No. & Name of assembly constituencies where there is straight contest	NIL
13	Total No. of polling station	52034