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Devices to avoid Accidents at Unmanned Railway Level Crossings

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Railway had developed Train Actuated Warning Device (TAWD) to warn road users about approaching trains at unmanned level crossing gates. However the equipment is not vandal and theft proof. As such its availability 24×7 at unmanned gate location could not be ensured, defeating the very purpose of its requirement.

Further, following steps have been taken to develop vandal and theft proof warning system at unmanned level crossing gates:-

i) RDSO in association with Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur is developing prototype vandal and theft proof equipment.

ii) ISRO has also taken up a project based on satellite communication system to warn road users at unmanned level crossing gates. This is currently under development.

Equipments will be deployed in a phased manner at unmanned level crossing gates after a suitable tamper and theft proof equipment is developed.

Chief of the Naval Staff ,Admiral Sunil Lanba to visit Indonesia

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Admiral Sunil Lanba_indianbureaucracy
Admiral Sunil Lanba_indianbureaucracy

The Chief of the Naval Staff, Admiral Sunil Lanba, PVSM, AVSM, ADC is proceeding on an official tour to Indonesia from 09-13 Aug 16. The visit aims to consolidate existing Maritime Cooperation initiatives with Indonesia as well as explore new avenues in accordance with India’s ‘Act East Policy’. During the visit Admiral S Lanba is scheduled to hold discussions with the Indonesian Defence Minister, Chief of Defence Forces, Chief of Indonesian Navy, besides other Senior Dignitaries and Naval Officers.

India and Indonesia have historical linkages which date back centuries. In the modern era, India and Indonesia have been co-founders of the Non Aligned Movement besides mutually beneficial collaborations in multilateral forums such as, ARF, ADMM+, G20, WTO etc. Defence co-operation between India and Indonesia is robust and has seen ascendency through regular ships, aircraft and military delegation visits, training exchanges etc. Both countries had also signed the Defence Cooperation Agreement in 2001. Indonesia have adjoining Maritime Search and Rescue regions and Exclusive Economic Zones and share similar maritime challenges such as long coastline, extensive EEZ, coastal security, large coastal shipping and fishing fleet, wherein both navies have opportunities to learn from each other’s experiences. In addition, common ground exists for cooperation on a number of issues common to both navies.

IONSWith shared maritime boundary, Maritime Cooperation between the Indian and Indonesian navies has been robust and one of the strong pillars of bilateral Defence cooperation. Indian Navy and Indonesian Navy are partners in the Indian Ocean Naval Symposium (IONS), a maritime cooperation construct conceptualised and pioneered by Indian Navy in 2008. Both countries have been conducting Coordinated Patrols along the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL) since 2002 and 27 editions of coordinated patrols have been completed till date. Both countries had also conducted the first Bilateral Maritime Exercise in Oct 2015. Warships of both countries visit each other’s portsregularly.

Staff Talks and IFR 2016 Both navies also engage in Navy to Navy Staff Talks which commenced in 2007. The 8th round of staff talks are scheduled to be held in 2017. Indonesian Navy was one of the first countries to confirm their participation in the International Fleet Review 2016 held at Visakhapatnam and participated in the review with a Ship. The Chief of the Indonesian Navy Admiral Ade Supandi also attended the Review and held bilateral discussions with the Chief of Naval Staff. Indian Navy too participated in the International Fleet Review conducted by the Indonesian Navy in Apr 2016 as well as the Multilateral Exercise Komodo (MNEK) conducted by the Indonesian Navy.

Admiral’s Cup at INA  The Indonesian Navy for the first time participated in the Admiral’s Cup Sailing Regatta conducted by the Indian Navy in 2015 at Indian Naval Academy, Ezhimala from 03-13 Dec 15.

M Venkaiah Naidu launches Swachh Survekshan of 500 cities

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M.Venkaiah Naidu
M.Venkaiah Naidu-indianbureaucracy

Minister of Urban Development Shri M.Venkaiah Naidu today launched ‘Swachh Suvekshan-2017’ to assess and rank 500 cities and towns based on levels of sanitation and efforts made by respective urban local bodies and also to capture progress towards achieving ‘Open Defecation Free’ status.  The Minister also released in New Delhi today various publications and mobile applications to help the 500 cities and towns prepare for the survey to be conducted in January next year.

Shri Venkaiah Naidu addressed Mayors, Municipal Chairpersons, Municipal Commissioners and other concerned officials of 500 cities and towns to be surveyed via video conferencing. He informed the city officials that cities will be ranked based on the reports by urban local bodies on the progress made towards construction of toilets, feedback of citizens and independent observation of sanitation levels. Cities with a population of one lakh and above each, heritage and tourism cities, capital cities with less than one lakh population are included in this survey, the second since the launch of Swachh Bharat Mission.

Referring to the stress being laid by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi on creating a ‘Jan Andolan’ (Mass movement) to ensure ‘Swachh Bharat’ by 2019, Shri Naidu launched a web portal ‘Swachhata App’ and ‘Swachhta Helpline 1969’ to enable citizens associate more and more with Swachh Bharat Mission in urban areas. Citizens can post photos of unhygienic places in urban areas on Swachh Aap and they will be informed of action taken by respective urban local bodies in specific time period. Using toll free Helpline Number 1969, citizens can seek information about the ways of participating in cleanliness mission and can also enquire the status of their applications for construction of toilets.

Stressing on the need for behavioral change in favour of using toilets, Shri Venkaiah Naidu launched ‘Asli Tarakki’ campaign highlighting the need for construction of toilets and using them well. This campaign to be mounted on TV channels and in print media soon brings out that having two wheelers, air coolers, TV sets etc., is not ‘Asli Tarakki’ (real  development) if such people did not either have toilets or don’t use them.

 Shri Naidu said that since the launch of Swachh Bharat Mission by Prime Minister in October, 2014, there has been a huge positive upsurge of attitudes towards cleanliness and urged city officials to rise to the occasion and meet the aspirations of the people by helping them in construction of toilets.  He gave some instances of attitudinal change further to the launch of Swachh Bharat Mission, which include:

1.Kunwar Bai, an old woman of 104 years of age belonging to Damtari district of Chattisgarh sold her  goats  to build a toilet;

2.An old woman in Gujarat visiting households in Ahmedabad every day morning to find out if they had dustbins to throw the waste into and urging them not litter public places with household waste;

3.Growing  instances of young women refusing to get married into households without toilets;

  1. A mother-in-law in a muslim family in Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh only recently presenting a toilet to her new daughter-in-law stating that she did not want her daughter-in-law suffer the way she did for long;
  2. Lakhs of children urging their parents and grandparents not to chew tobacco and spit in the open;

6.Millions of school students telling fellow students not to throw chocolate wrappers and other waste in the open urging them that ‘Modi will not like it’;

  1. A doctors couple in a village in Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh dedicating themselves continuously for over an year now working with people promoting the culture of sanitation.
  2. In SangamVihar in New Delhi, as reported only a couple of days back, about 45 families coming together to convert municipal waste being generated by them into compost, instead of throwing it in the open as was being done for long.

Emphasizing on the importance of sanitation workers, Shri Naidu felicitated three such workers for their exemplary contribution to ensure cleanliness in respective cities. These were: Shri T. Venkataiah, a garbage collector of Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation for working without taking a leave for 16 years, Shri N. Gaurav of Guwahati Municipal Corporation for similar commitment and Shri B. Nagaraj of Coimbatore Municipal Corporation for his sincerity to the cause besides contributing Rs.50,000/- for the education of poor children.

 Adar C. Poonawalla, who contributed Rs.100 cr to Pune Municipal Corporation towards sanitation measures besides Tata Chemicals and Mahindra & Mahindra were honoured for donations for cleanliness initiatives.

Highlighting the role of Resident Welfare Associations to ensure cleanliness, Jawaharnagar RWA of Kochi in Kerala for promoting bio-degradable waste, Raj Hans RWA of Surat for promoting organic waste conversion and DLF Garden City RWA of Indore for promoting compost making, were felicitated by Shri Naidu.

TV artists Ms. Deepika Singh, Ms. Dhriishti and Ms. Jennifer were also honoured for contribution towards generation of awareness about cleanliness.

Shri Naidu informed that since the first Swachh Survekshan Survey among 73 cities with population of million and above each in January this year, 115 cities have become ‘Open Defecation Free’ and another 793 cities and towns are set to become so by March next year. Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala will become ODF by March, 2017.

The Minister stated that since the launch of Swachh Bharat Mission in October, 2014, construction of 21 lakh household individual toilets has been completed and construction of another 21 lakh toilets is in progress. The mission target in this regard is construction of 1.04 cr toilets by 2019.

Quality Council of India which conducted the last Survey in 73 cities will conduct the survey in 500 cities and towns.

IndianBureaucracy.com wishes the very best.

NIDM campus in Andhra Pradesh

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NIDM_indianbureaucracy

To honour the mandate of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014, the Government has approved setting up of the National Institute of Disaster Management (Southern Campus) in Andhra Pradesh at a total cost of Rs. 70.87 crores during 2016-17 and 2017-18.

A budget provision of Rs. 20 crores has been kept for this purpose during 2016-17.

IndianBureaucracy.com wishes the very best.

J P Nadda presides over 1st Convocation of Nursing Education, PGIMER, Chandigarh

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“The government has given high priority for improving the Nursing and Midwifery cadre through skill development and continued professional development, stated Shri J P Nadda, Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare.” He was speaking at the 1st convocation ceremony of National Institute of Nursing Education’, PGIMER, Chandigarh, here today. He stated that the government have undertaken major expansion of nursing and technical education leading to a three-fold increase in the numbers of nursing institutions and in the number of students passing out of these institutions.

While addressing the gathering, Shri Nadda mentioned that some of the initiatives undertaken for strengthening of nursing cadre are; establishment of ANM/GNM Schools, Upgradation of institutions from School of Nursing to College of Nursing, Training of Nurses, Development of eleven one year specialisation courses, Revision of curriculum for all nursing programs, New ‘Nurse Practitioner courses, Nurse Practitioner in Critical Care Program, Nurse Practitioner in Primary Healthcare Program, Nurses registration Tracking System (Live Register), and establishment of national PhD consortium for Nursing Research. The proposed ‘Nursing Practice Act’ will empower nurses and more reforms can be done in Nursing regulation, the Health Minister elaborated.

His visit is marked by addition of very important and valuable facilities in the premium Medical Institute of North India today. In the morning, he dedicated two more AMRIT (Affordable Medicines and Reliable Implants) outlets at PGI. One in Nehru Hospital for providing generic medicines and orthopedic surgical implants and another in the Advanced Cardiac Centre  (ACC) for providing affordable cardio vascular medicines and implants making total number of such outlet three at PGI. The first shop which was established in April, 2016 has already crossed Rs.5 lakhs per day mark of value of drugs dispensed.

Health Minister also inaugurated SLEEP LAB in the Department of ENT for the diagnosis and surgical treatment of Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA). This Lab is the first   to be started in ENT Department of North India. This Lab is designed to evaluate, diagnose, treat and help patients to manage OSA. The sleep study is a painless process conducted on the patient at night. In the next day he will received a complete sleep report with diagnoses of sleep related problems. Advanced Eye Center of PGI has been equipped with the femtosecond laser technology today which would ensure fast, accurate and predictable cataract surgery. This procedure commonly called as “Blade-less Cataract Procedure”/”Robotic Cataract Procedure”. Femtosecond Cataract Surgery helps to reduce the surgical complications and enhance the post-operative outcome in the complicated and challenging cataract cases. He specifically told that this facility is first of its kind in India which has been installed at the cost of Rs.7 crores. Health Minister also dedicated Kitten MRI/Mock MRI Scanner at PGI which is specifically designed to make MRI scanning safer and more child friendly. In this facility children will be exposed to the environment of MRI scanning before they are actually taking first scanning. This facility has been acquired at approximate cost of Rs.13 crores.

One of the major breakthrough achieved by the PGI today is in the form of Telemedicine facility with three remote locations, namely Community Health Centre, Pooh in District Kinnour of Himachal Pradesh; Pampa Hospital, Sabrimala in Kerala and Sheshnag base camp on way to Amarnath Shrine. Minister told that these three telemedicine nodes in remote areas have been established by Ministry of Health & Family Welfare in collaboration with Department of Space. These centres which have been connected with Telemedicine node at PGI to provide remote health care over telemedicine platform. Health Minister reiterated the resolve of his Government to strengthen Tertiary Health Care in all its premium institutions by inducting State-of-Art technology, training and capacity building of human resource and providing affordable and convenient tertiary health care through various steps.

IndianBureaucracy.com wishes the very best.

Expansion and upgradation of Konkan Railways

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Konkan Railway
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Konkan Railway Corporation Limited (KRCL) has made a request to all its shareholders to infuse additional equity to fund its expansion plans, such as doubling of various sections in phases, splitting of critical block sections, etc. based on the operational requirements.

Upgradation of passenger facilities is an ongoing activity on KRCL. This includes, inter-alia, provision of benches, Escalator/Travelator, new platforms, foot over bridges, modular shelter, food court, bio-toilets, new halt station etc. Sanctioned works of capacity expansion include: Doubling of Roha – Veer (46.89 km), electrification of Konkan Railway route from Roha to Thokur (740 Km), construction of 11 additional crossing stations and additional loop lines at 8 stations.

IndianBureaucracy.com wishes the very best.

HRD Minister inaugurates IIT Raipur

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prakash javadekar

Union HRD Minister, Shri Prakash Javedkar inaugurated IIT Raipur in Chhattisgarh at the campus of Government Engineering College, Raipur. Inaugurating the IIT, Shri Javedkar said that the institute will have its own campus by the time first batch of students obtains degree. He said that to crack IIT entrance test is difficult task, hence all the students who got admissions in IIT deserve congratulations.

Appreciating the ‘Prayas Avasiya Vidhyalaya’ initiative of Chhattisgarh Government, led by Dr. Raman Prasad Singh, Union HRD Minister said that it is a successful and meaningful example of imparting quality education to all specially those who come from disadvantage sections of society. He said Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi has emphasized on quality education for all to ensure all round development of the country.

The Minister had interaction with students of Prayas Vidyalaya. He said that it is remarkable that the talented students of Naxal affected districts are being given free coaching in 11th and 12th standards for appearing in PMT, JEE and other competitive exams.

IndianBureaucracy.com wishes the very best.

BHEL commissions 500 MW Thermal Unit in Chhattisgarh

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BHEL

New Delhi: Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) has successfully commissioned the second 500 MW thermal unit at Marwa Thermal Power Station in Chhattisgarh. Located in Janjgir-Champa district of Chhattisgarh, Marwa TPS has been set up by Chhattisgarh State Power Generation Company Ltd. (CSPGCL).

The first unit of Marwa TPS was also commissioned earlier by BHEL. BHEL has been associated with power projects of CSPGCL (and the erstwhile Chhattisgarh State Electricity Board), from the time when the 120 MW Korba TPS Extension-I was commissioned in March 1976. Significantly, BHEL has a share of 94% in the installed capacity of CSPGCL and has so far commissioned 11 thermal sets and 3 hydro sets for the state utility. In Chhattisgarh, BHEL has contributed a total of 12,500 MW to the state’s installed power generation capacity, including Central and Private sector utilities. The successful commissioning of the unit has reinforced BHEL’s leadership status in execution of thermal power projects involving supply of state-of-the-art equipment, suited to Indian coal and Indian conditions.

BHEL’s scope of work in the contract envisaged design, engineering, manufacture, supply, erection and commissioning of Steam Turbines, Generators and Boilers, along with associated Auxiliaries and Electricals, besides state-of-the-art Controls & Instrumentation (C&I) and Electrostatic Precipitators (ESPs). BHEL-make 500 MW sets of this rating class today form the backbone of the Indian power sector and have been performing much above the national average as well as international benchmarks. BHEL has already established its engineering prowess in the past through successfully delivering higher rated units such as 600 MW, 660 MW, 700 MW and 800 MW thermal sets having a high degree of indigenization.

Medical Aid Facilities in Indian Trains

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Medical Aid_trains_indianbureaucracy

All passenger carrying trains are provided with the First Aid Boxes containing essential drugs and dressing materials. In addition, Augmented First Aid Boxes with wide range of medicines, disposable medical material, etc. have been provided with the Train Superintendents/ Guards of Rajdhani/Shatabdi Express trains and some nominated trains. Front line staffs deployed on trains are also trained in rendering First Aid. Trains can also make unscheduled halts, if necessary, at the stations en-route in emergencies. The Station Masters of all stations have details of doctors, clinics & hospitals, both Government and Private, in the vicinity of the station, so that their services could also be availed, in emergencies. Ambulance service of both Railway hospitals and State Governments are utilized when required.

A three digit number “138” has been allotted for “Railway help line other than Security”. Passengers can dial this number from their mobile phones during emergencies and contact the Divisional Control for the help/ assistance required.

IndianBureaucracy.com wishes the very best.

Dipa Karmakar becomes 1st Indian Gymnast to Qualify for Olympic Final

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Dipa Karmakar_indianbureaucracy_rio_olympics_2016_gymnast

In the ongoing 2nd day of Rio Olympics, artistic gymnast Dipa Karmakar’s fate to advance in Vaults final is hanging by thread, whereas Indian Women’s Hockey team played a draw in their first match, the Archery women’s recurve team lost out a close battle in the quarter-finals, shooters Manavjit Singh Sandhu and Kynan Chenai have moved to the 2nd day of qualification in Men’s trap event while Hina crashed out of the women’s 10m air pistol qualification round by finishing.

In a historic first, Dipa Karmakar became the lone Indian ever to qualify for the finals of Artistic Gymnastics. In her specialty, the Vault apparatus, with average score of 14.850, Dipa made the country proud, as she grabbed the 8th position to advance to the finals.

She will now be seen in the finals action on Sunday evening. Top eight from each apparatus qualify for finals. There were overall five sub divisions and Dipa competed in the third sub division.

Earlier, Dipa was the the first ever Indian female gymnast to qualify for the Olympics.

In Hockey, Indian eves brought joy as they came from a two goal deficit to end the match in a draw.

Playing their opening encounter against Japan, they were down Nil-2 at the end of second quarter. Japan scored through Emi Nishikori in the 15th minute and Mie Nakashima in 28th minute.

But the Indians made a valiant fightback as Rani Rampal hit the board in 31st minute and Lilima Minz in 40th minute scored the equaliser.

The women’s hockey squad, which has qualified for the Olympics after 36 years, showed a lot of grit in the face of adversity and staged a grand rally in the second half to hold higher-ranked Japan to a 2-2 draw.

The women’s recurve archery team lost in the quarter finals after a close match against Russia. The trio of Laishram Devi, Laxmirani Majhi and Deepika Kumari took 4 to 2 set lead but a sloppy last set gave Russia the equaliser. At the end of regulated sets the match was equally poised at 4-4 and went to tie breaker.

The match went down to last arrow and India needed a perfect 10 to equalise the tie breaker. But luck was not on Deepika’s side as she hit the 8 mark zone. In the end Russia beat India 25-23 in the tie breaker.

Earlier, India had edged out Colombia 5-3 to enter the quarter finals.
From shooting arena, Manavjit Singh Sandhu and Kynan Chenai have moved to the 2nd day of qualification in Men’s trap event.

Manavjit is placed 17th while Chenai at 19th out of 33 shooters. The duo will return in the evening today for second day of qualification where there will be two more rounds of 25 targets each.

Meanwhile, Heena Sidhu crashed out of the women’s 10m air pistol qualification round by finishing way behind the leaders in the 14th position out of 44 competitors. Heena will now try to make amends when she competes in the 25m pistol event, scheduled to be held tomorrow.

News Courtesy: NewsOnAir

Looking forward to GST becoming a reality: FICCI

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FICCI
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Industry body FICCI today said it is looking forward to introduction of the much-awaited Goods and Services Tax (GST), saying it would be a very significant step in the field of indirect tax reforms in India.
The government has circulated official amendments to the GST bill to drop 1 percent additional tax and include a definite provision in the statute for compensating states for revenue loss for 5 years as it gears up to discuss the long-pending bill in Rajya Sabha tomorrow.
The 2014 bill authorized the GST Council to decide upon the modalities for resolution of disputes.
Less burden on consumers
“From the consumer point of view, the biggest advantage would be in terms of a reduction in the overall tax burden on goods, which is currently estimated at 25 to 30 percent. The introduction of GST would make Indian products competitive in the domestic and international markets. Studies show that this would instantly spur economic growth,” FICCI said. “By amalgamating a large number of Central and State taxes into a single tax, it would mitigate cascading or double taxation in a major way and pave the way for a common national market,” it added.
Mixed bag for SMEs
However, Leader Indirect Tax BMR & Associates LLP, Rajeev Dimri said: “Irrespective of the bright side of upcoming GST, small and medium enterprises must be mindful of its accompanying challenges such as increase in compliance costs and alignment of IT systems with new processes. For the SMEs, GST throws up a mixed bag of opportunities and challenges”.
Under the modified provisions of GST Constitutional Amendment Bill circulated among the members today, GST Council will be required to establish a mechanism for adjudication of disputes, which could arise between the Centre and states or among states themselves. With these amendments, the government has partially met the demands of the Congress party.

Centre assures States of no discrimination in award of Rural Roads

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PMGSY
PMGSY

The Center said that it will not discriminate against any state in allocation of funds for construction of rural roads under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana, PMGSY. Replying to the half an hour debate on PMGSY in the Lok Sabha, the Rural Development Minister Shri Narendra Singh Tomar said that so far 65 percent of the rural habitations have been connected with all-weather roads and remaining 35 percent will be completed by March, 2019. He informed the members that out of 1, 83,599 habitations, 151,098 had already been sanctioned which 82 percent of the total for rural road connectivity.

The Minister allayed the apprehensions of the members regarding cut in central allocation and said that while the budgetary provision for the PMGSY was around Rs 9,000 crore in 2012-13, it had been enhanced to Rs 19,000 crore in 2015-16. Shri Tomar added that after the 14th Finance Commission, the States are now getting 42 percent funds, while earlier they used to get only 32 percent. So, there is no dearth of funds for this project. The Minister said that from 2011 to 2014, 73 kilometers road was built per day, while at present 100 kilometers of roads is being built each day and the target of the Ministry is to take it to 133 kilometers in near future.

Shri Tomar informed the members that in the 2nd Phase of PMGSY up gradation 50,000 kilometers road will be built at a cost of Rs 33,000 crore. He also informed the members that Gujrat, Punjab and Haryana will complete the 2nd phase by March next year. Referring to the use of “Green Technologies” and non-conventional materials for construction of PMGSY roads like waste plastic, cold mix, cell filled concrete, geo-textiles etc. more than 2500 kilometers of roads have been constructed.

On the question of monitoring of the PMGSY, the Minister said that the Government has recently announced the formation of District Development Coordination and Monitoring Committee (DDCMC) called “Disha” for effective development coordination and monitoring of 28 Central Schemes. He appealed to the MPs to actively take part in the first meeting of Disha to be held on 13th August, 2016 and provide positive feedback to the Government. He said, the meetings of the Disha committee would be held once in every Quarter mandatorily (Third Saturdays of April, July, October and February).