Shri Ajay Sawhney IAS (Andhra Pradesh 1984) presently posted as Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas Government of India, has been given additional charge of Chairman-cum-Managing Director, Oil India Limited (OIL) Under Government of India.
IndianBureaucracy.com wishes Shri Sawhney the very best.
A Memorandum of Understanding ( MoU) between the Government of India and the Government of the United States of America was signed here today to enhance cooperation on energy security, clean energy and climate change . Shri P.K. Pujari, Secretary, Ministry of Power, Government of India and Mr. Richard R Verma, US Ambassador to India, signed MoU on behalf of Government of India & USA respectively.
Speaking on the occasion, Shri P.K. Pujari said that USA and India are already working in some areas and this MoU will help in expanding our horizon. It will provide framework to work more closely not only for betterment of our own people but also for creating a positive environment for US companies working in India. Appreciating efforts of Indian Government, Mr. Richard R Verma said that this MoU will provide momentum for cooperative work which needs to be done in fields of energy security, clean energy and climate change.
The objective of the MoU is to enhance cooperation on energy security, clean energy and climate change through increased bilateral engagement and further joint initiatives for promoting sustainable growth. These activities are intended to increase incentives for innovation including research and development, and voluntary and mutually-agreed technology transfer, as well as the deployment of clean energy technologies in both countries; contribute to a global effort to curb the rise in greenhouse gas emissions; and enhance resilience to the impacts of climate change.
The Priority initiatives under the MoU would be:
a. US-India Energy smart Cities Partnership
b. Greening the Grid.
c. Promoting Energy Access through Clean Energy (PEACE) expansion
d. Energy Efficiency including space cooling
e. Renewable energy.
f. Energy security.
g. Clean energy finance
h. U.S-India partnership for Climate Resilience
i. Air quality
j. Forestry, Landscapes and REDD+
k. Fellowships
l. Accelerating innovation on clean energy and climate change
The Union Government is ready with Universal Identity cards for the persons with disabilities. All the preparatory work has been done including design of the card by National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad. Very soon these will be passed on to the States for the distribution. State Governments have been asked to gear up themselves to identify the persons with disabilities in their respective states, so that within one and half year all the disabled persons can have universal identity cards. This was stated by the union minister for social justice and empowerment Shri Thaawarchand Gehlot while addressing State social welfare monster’s conference here today. He said that these cards will be linked with the Aadhar card and data will be available online which will ensure transparency. The Universal Identity Cards will help the persons with disabilities to avail all Government schemes and reservation. These Cards will be recognisable by all the States.
Referring various scholarship schemes for the persons with disabilities started by NDA government in 2014-15, Shri Gehlot said that the Union Government is very keen that all deserving students with disabilities are assisted with these scholarships. He urged the State governments to launch a campaign from next academic year to identify such students, to award them scholarships. He said that to avoid any delay and leakages his ministry has adopted DBT channel to pass on the scholarships.
Shri Gehlot said that his ministry has committed to provide skill training to about 25 lakh the persons with disabilities and to arrange finance through NHFDC to economically empower them. He informed that during last 2 years 46000 disabled have been provided skill training and financial support by the corporation for starting their own venture.
Shri Gehlot asked the State Government to take advantage of the scheme for providing assistive devices to the persons with disabilities. He said that his ministry will provide all possible support in this effort. He said during last 2 years, 1850 camps have already been organised and 4,40,000 persons have been benefitted.
Under Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan, States were advised to give approval for the building plan only when it has accessibility provisions for the persons with disabilities as per recently issued NBCC code. He urged State Governments to identify public utility buildings, to carry out access audit and making it disabled friendly.
The minister said that a plan has been prepared to make about 3000 identified Union Government and State Government sites accessible to the persons with disabilities. 650 such sites already have been made accessible for the persons with disabilities.
Conference deliberated upon the progress of Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan, Skill Development for the persons with disabilities and creating awareness about the scheme by the states, rehabilitation of the persons with disabilities through DDRC, scholarship schemes for the persons with disabilities, reservation in Government jobs of the persons with disabilities and issue of universal identity card. The daylong conference was attended by the Social Welfare ministers from the States/UTs. Senior officials from the Union Government and the States also participated.
Dr. Thomas Mathew IAS (KL 1983) retiring on May 31, 2016 has been appointed by the President as Additional Secretary to the President, w.e.f. the forenoon of June 01, 2016 on contract basis, for a period co-terminus with the tenure of the President of India i.e. upto 24.07.2017 or until further orders, whichever is earlier.
IndianBureaucracy.com wishes Shri Mathew the very best.
Summary:A new paper explains why some climate processes are more effective than others at warming/cooling the Earth. By accounting for these differences we can more accurately determine the most important drivers of climate change in sensitive regions like the Arctic.
A new paper in Nature Communications explains why some climate processes are more effective than others at warming/cooling Earth. By accounting for these differences we can more accurately determine the most important drivers of climate change in sensitive regions like the Arctic.
The scientists Richard Davy and Igor Esau at the Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Center/Bjerknes Center for Climate Research in Bergen Norway bring a new perspective to understanding why some climate processes are more effective at changing the surface temperature than others in their new paper in Nature Communications. While recent works had shown that the efficacy of a climate forcing does depend upon where and when it is applied, the reason for this had not been defined. This difference in the efficacy of a forcing is especially important in the Arctic, where we have seen the fastest warming. Understanding which processes are most effective in changing the climate will allow us to re-evaluate the relative importance of different processes in the climate system, which is essential for our society in prioritising research. This is a crucial aspect of the efforts to predict how much surface temperatures will change in response to increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
There are many processes which affect the surface climate: changes to the sun’s activity, to the cloud cover, precipitation patterns, or soil water content to name just a few. Currently climate scientists relate these processes by looking at how much they change the energy budget, described by perturbations in the radiative forcing. The existing assumption is that if a given process introduces a certain radiative forcing, then there will always be the same response in the surface air temperature. However, this assumption doesn’t hold for the temperature response on climatological scales because it neglects variations in the effective heat capacity of the atmosphere.
The effective heat capacity of the atmosphere is defined by the volume of air that is heated, which is described by the depth of the boundary layer. This is the layer of air just above the ground and it is essentially separated from the rest of the atmosphere. The depth of the boundary-layer can vary from just a hundred meters in very cold conditions to several kilometres in warm conditions. Because of these big differences in the effective heat capacity, the surface air temperature has a very different sensitivity depending upon where and when a forcing occurs. So the addition of an equal amount of energy across the globe means that the places with deep boundary layers will warm less than those with shallow layers, as there is a much greater volume of air through which that heat is spread.
This is the reason that some climate forcing processes are more effective than others at warming or cooling Earth. Those processes which act in the places and times that have shallow boundary layers will trigger a stronger temperature response. By accounting for the variations in the boundary layer depth we can assess how much a climate forcing changes the amount of heat in the climate system, and so we can compare different climate forcings in a like-for-like way.
Source:Uni Research(science)
Shri Muktesh Kumar Pardesh IFS (1991) presently posted as Ambassador of India to Mexico City has been appointed as the High Commissioner of India to Belize with residence in Mexico City.
IndianBureaucracy.com wishes Shri Pardesh the very best.
Shri Loknath Behara IPS (Kerala 1985) has been appointed as DGP by the new CPI(M) Left Democratic Front (LDF) government in Kerala, took charge of his post.
IndianBureaucracy.com wishes Shri Behara the very best.
Hon’ble Union Minister of Food Processing Industries Smt. Harsimrat Kaur Badal along with Hon’ble MoS Food Processing Industries Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti held an interactive session with media and highlighted various initiatives of the Government. Hon’ble Minister said that one of the major achievements in regard to transforming Food Economy through Food Processing has been creation of huge 32 Lakh MT Capacity worth Rs.9000 crores within two years which shall reduce wastage by 10% per annum i.e. Rs.9200 crores every year.
India has started moving toward Zero Tolerance of Food Wastages. Emphasizing the need to adopt Zero Tolerance on food wastages by all departments connected to food, Smt. Badal said that initiatives of MoFPI have now started bearing fruits and her target is to bring down the food wastages to zero level. To do that she highlighted the way she piloted the 100% FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) into Multi Brand Retail of Swadeshi Food produced and manufactured in India as one of the major steps along with the creation of huge capacity by way of 37 Mega Food Parks and 134 Cold Chain projects. Further, Hon’ble Minister also announced that Ministry shall be announcing 100 Cold Chain Projects and a SAMPADA scheme focusing on seamless agri cluster development in the current year that shall take food processing industries to the next level.
Government has sanctioned 37 Mega Food Parks out of which 8 have been operationalized (6 in 2 years of NDA tenure vs 2 in 10 years of UPA tenure). Out of 134 Cold Chain Projects sanctioned 81 have been completed (44 in 2 years of NDA tenure vs. 37 during UPA tenure). Through Cold Chains alone, we have added a capacity of 1.28 Lakh Metric ton of Cold Storages/CA/MA, 53.05 MT per hour of Individual Quick Freeze (IQF), 19 lakh litres per day of Milk Processing and 240 Reefer vans, said the Hon’ble Minister.
Food Processing is an employment intensive sector and to facilitate investments, a single window facilitation cell has been created to handhold overseas and domestic investors in food processing sector.
A Food Map identifying surplus and deficit areas of various agricultural and horticulture produce in the country has been made and is available on website of the ministry.
A Special Fund of Rs.2000 crores has been set up in NABARD to make available affordable credit to agro processing units in the designated food parks.
Hon’ble Minister also announced that the Ministry shall be launching a Mobile App to provide ONE STOP information to farmers/ entrepreneurs to provide necessary skill set to them for setting up food processing units.
Briefing about tax incentives Hon’ble Minister said that in last two years, Excise Duty on machinery for processing has been reduced from 10% to 6%. Pre-cold Storage services like pre-conditioning, pre-cooling, ripening, waxing, retail packing, labeling of fruits and vegetables have been exempted from Services Tax. Loans to food & agro-based processing units and Cold Chains have been classified under agriculture activities for Priority Sector Lending subject to aggregate sanctioned limit of Rs.100 crore per borrower.
Ministry has launched an ONLINE SYSTEM to file claims under flagship schemes like Mega Food Park and Cold Chains to remove human interface and improve transparency. Ministry has also simplified procedures by reducing requirement of documents/affidavits and created Grievance Redressal Mechanism so that promoters are given opportunity of Personal Hearing.
Since September 2015, 24084 persons have been trained in food processing sector under Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana.
The Hon’ble Minister pointed out that her next target is to create small and medium enterprises in food processing sector all over the country, and to give it a big push she has launched a new scheme ‘SAMPADA’ to focus on seamless development of Agri Processing clusters close to the surplus production areas. All these initiatives of the Ministry of Food Processing shall contribute in a big way in doubling farmers’ income and reducing food wastages.
The Union Minister for Urban Development, Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation and Parliamentary Affairs, Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu and the Minister of Environment, Building and Nuclear Safety, Germany, Dr. Barbara Hendricks at the Indian Smart Cities Conference, in Berlin, Germany.
ONGC Videsh Limited and SOCAR Trading SA signed an MoU at Geneva. The Objective of MoU is to explore possibilities of Joint Marketing of ONGC Videsh’s crude oil portfolio by leveraging SOCAR Trading’s experience in oil trading. The MoU was signed by S P Garg, Director (Finance) ONGC Videsh Limited and Arzu Azimov, CEO, SOCAR Trading SA.
Initially, both parties agreed to initiate discussion on Joint Marketing Agreement in respect of ONGC Videsh’s equity crude from ACG, Azerbaijan and based on the performance of this agreement both parties will mutually agree to optimise price realisation of other crudes from ONGC Videsh’s portfolio either through Joint Marketing or Joint Venture route.
About ONGC Videsh
ONGC Videsh is a wholly owned subsidiary of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC), the National Oil Company of India, and is India’s largest international oil and gas E&P Company. At present, ONGC Videsh has 36 projects in 17 countries including Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Brazil, Colombia, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Libya, Mozambique, Myanmar, Russia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Venezuela, Vietnam and New Zealand. ONGC Videsh is currently producing 179 thousand barrels of oil and oil equivalent gas per day and has total oil and gas reserves of about 632.65 mmtoe as on 31st March 2016.
For more information visit: http://www.ongcvidesh.com/
About ONGC
ONGC’s market capitalization as on 27th May 2016, was INR 1,822 billion (US$ 27.17 billion). During the financial year ended 31st March 2016, ONGC Group had produced 57.38 million tonne of oil and oil equivalent gas (mmtoe) (approx. 1.15 mmboe per day); the Consolidated Gross Turnover was INR 1,429.27 billion (US$ 21.83 billion), Consolidated Net Profit was INR 141.24 billion (US$ 2.16 billion) for the year 2015-16 and total oil and gas reserves were 2,022 mmtoe as on 31st March 2016.
For more information visit: http://www.ongcindia.com/
About SOCAR Trading SA
SOCAR Trading is the international marketing and development arm of SOCAR, the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan. SOCAR Trading was incorporated in December 2007 with a mandate to market Azeri barrels produced from the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli field and other surrounding fields in Azerbaijan.
IndianBureaucracy.com wishes the very best.
Navratna Defence PSU Bharat Electronics Ltd has established an 8.4 MW wind energy power plant at Hanumanthappa site, Harappanahalli, in the Davangere district of Karnataka for captive consumption of energy for its factory at Bengaluru.
The wind energy plant, installed by the Engineering Services, Bangalore Complex, BEL, in collaboration with Suzlon Energy Limited, will be inaugurated today, by Mr S K Sharma, Chairman & Managing Director, BEL. The 8.4 MW wind energy power plant is expected to generate around 170 to 180 lakh units of power per annum. This is in addition to about 98 lakh units power generated per annum by the existing 5.5 MW wind power plants of BEL. All these plants put together are expected to generate around 270-280 lakh units in the coming years, meeting about 90 per cent of BEL’s power consumption through renewable energy resources. The estimated reduction in carbon emission per annum is around 26,500 kgs equivalent of Co2. With this green initiative, BEL’s Bengaluru Complex is all set to achieve carbon neutral status.
More power: The 2.1 MW wind turbine generator with each blade size of 47 mts in length and covering a gigantic 97-mt rotor diameter, can generate 25-30 per cent more energy compared to the earlier 2.5 MW plants (5 numbers of 500 KW with a height of 50 mts and rotor diameter of 47 meters) and 3 MW plants (2 numbers of 1,500 KW with a height of 78 mts and rotor diameter of 82 mts) installed by BEL. The life of the machine is 20 years.
BEL is the first company to have placed an order on Suzlon Energy Limited for developing a wind energy power plant of 8.4 MW capacity with all these features in Karnataka. BEL has established a systematic approach for conservation of natural resources with focus on saving power and water and preserving greenery.
IndianBureaucracy.com wishes the very best.
Summary:As much as 47 percent of the edible US seafood supply is lost each year, mainly from consumer waste, new research suggests. The findings come as food waste in general has been in the spotlight and concerns have been raised about the sustainability of the world’s seafood resources. In the U.S. and around the world, people are being advised to eat more seafood, but overfishing, climate change, pollution, habitat destruction and the use of fish for other purposes besides human consumption threaten the global seafood supply.
As much as 47 percent of the edible U.S. seafood supply is lost each year, mainly from consumer waste, new research from the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future (CLF) suggests.
The findings, published in the November issue of Global Environmental Change, come as food waste in general has been in the spotlight and concerns have been raised about the sustainability of the world’s seafood resources. In the U.S. and around the world, people are being advised to eat more seafood, but overfishing, climate change, pollution, habitat destruction and the use of fish for other purposes besides human consumption threaten the global seafood supply.
“If we’re told to eat significantly more seafood but the supply is severely threatened, it is critical and urgent to reduce waste of seafood,” says study leader David Love, PhD, a researcher with the Public Health and Sustainable Aquaculture project at the CLF and an assistant scientist at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
The new study analyzed the food waste issue by focusing on the amount of seafood lost annually at each stage of the food supply chain and at the consumer level.
After compiling data from many sources, the researchers estimated the U.S. edible seafood supply at approximately 4.7 billion pounds per year, which includes domestic and imported products minus any exported products. Some of the edible seafood supply is wasted as it moves through the supply chain from hook or net to plate. They found that the amount wasted each year is roughly 2.3 billion pounds. Of that waste, they say that 330 million pounds are lost in distribution and retail, 573 million pounds are lost when commercial fishers catch the wrong species of fish and then discard it (a concept called bycatch) and a staggering 1.3 billion pounds are lost at the consumer level.
The researchers found the greatest portion of seafood loss occurred at the level of consumers (51 to 63 percent of waste). Sixteen to 32 percent of waste is due to bycatch, while 13 to 16 percent is lost in distribution and retail operations. To illustrate the magnitude of the loss, the authors estimate this lost seafood could contain enough protein to fulfill the annual requirements for as many as 10 million men or 12 million women; and there is enough seafood lost to close 36 percent of the gap between current seafood consumption and the levels recommended by the 2010 U.S. Dietary Guidelines.
The 2010 U.S. Dietary Guidelines recommended increasing seafood consumption to eight ounces per person per week and consuming a variety of seafood in place of some meat and poultry. Yet achieving those levels would require doubling the U.S. seafood supply, the researchers say.
Waste reduction has the potential to support increased seafood consumption without further stressing aquatic resources, says Roni Neff, PhD, director of the Food System Sustainability & Public Health Program at CLF and an assistant professor with the Bloomberg School of Public Health. She says that while a portion of the loss could be recovered for human consumption, “we do not intend to suggest that all of it could or should become food for humans.”
“It would generally be preferable for the fish that becomes bycatch to be left alive in the water rather than eaten, and due to seafood’s short shelf life, it may be particularly challenging compared to other food items to get the remaining seafood eaten or frozen before it decays,” she says. Instead, focusing on prevention strategies involving governments, businesses and consumers can reduce seafood loss and create a more efficient and sustainable seafood system.
The researchers offer several approaches to reduce seafood waste along the food chain from catch to consumer. Suggestions range from limiting the percent of bycatch that can be caught at the production level to packaging seafood into smaller portion sizes at the processing level to encouraging consumer purchases of frozen seafood. Some loss is unavoidable, but the researchers hope these estimates and suggestions will help stimulate dialogue about the significance and magnitude of seafood loss.
Source:Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health(science)
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