Ease of Doing Business & MakeInIndia main themes for all Budget Proposals

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March 19, 2016

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Ease of Doing Business and Make in India are the two pillars running through all Budget proposals, said Mr Ram Tirath, Member (Budget), Central Board of Excise & Customs, Ministry of Finance, Government of India. MrTirath was addressing the audience at the Post Budget Interactive session with the Ministry of Finance organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry in Delhi.

He further reiterated that a number of small procedures have been eliminated in the Budget, which were so far resulting in increased cost of compliance to the Industry, while not resulting in major revenue generation for the Government. The ease of paying taxes has been enhanced, procedures cut down drastically and the Cenvat Credit Rules have been simplified and rationalised. These steps are expected to make it easier for the industry to concentrate on business and thereby generate more revenue in the long run.

In the past one year, the Government has addressed a number of areas which are prone to litigation, and issued clarifications and circulars wherever needed. The Dispute Resolution mechanism has been simplified and rationalised to a large extent, which will bring down the cost of administration to the Government, and the cost of compliance to industry, stressed Mr Tirath.

While welcoming the audience to the session, Mr Rajiv Memani, Chairman, CII National Committee on Taxation and Chairman – India Region, EY appreciated the Government for delivering a conservative and balanced Budget in times of global volatility.

“The Budget, with its prime focus on rural development, is the need of the hour, not only for the social fabric of the country, but also from a business standpoint”, said Mr Memani.

Mr Memani further applauded the Central Board for Direct Taxes as well as the Central Board of Excise and Customs for coming out with a large number of circulars and clarifications, during the last six months, which go a long way in simplifying taxes and reducing litigation. There have also been clarifications in the entire refund process, which have not happened before in recent times.

While Mr Memani appreciated the Government for accepting a lot of suggestions of the Justice R V Easwar Committee Report in the Budget, and laying down the road map for phasing out of incentives, Mr Memanisuggested that the road map for reduction in the Corporate tax rates also needs to be identified in advance, so that industry can plan its activities accordingly.

The Interactive session was also addressed by Mr V Anandarajan, Joint Secretary, TPL-II, CBDT, Mr Alok Shukla and Mr Amitabh Kumar, Joint Secretary, TRU, CBEC in the Technical session, where a number of queries raised by the audience were addressed by Ministry officials.

Transforming Law for Cybercrime Prevention

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March 19, 2016

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The government will soon provide secure mobile phones to soldiers along the international borders and in naxal affected areas, Union Minister of State for Home Affairs, Mr Haribhai Parathibhai Chaudhary at an ASSOCHAM.“You would be surprised to know that even today our soldiers do not have a mobile phone, as such on a short-term period basis, we are planning to provide mobile phones to army personnel in the border areas and naxal affected zones so that they can keep in touch with their family via 3G mobile connection,” said Mr Chaudhary while inaugurating ‘8th International Security Summit,’ organised by The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM).

“The mobile phone would not be intercepted as we would be having the telephone exchange with us that can be carried by the battalion wherever it goes,” said Mr Chaudhary.

“I had recently met a delegation of US-based company that claimed to provide us with telephone exchange in a box and instantly start over 1,000 secure mobile phone connections specifically for army personnel,” he added.

The Minister further informed that he had recently met another delegation of US-based company providing blood testing equipment that could process blood samples in just a few minutes thereby saving invaluable time of the army personnel.

Highlighting the lack of a proper law aimed at cybercrime prevention in the country, Mr Chaudhary said, “We have started a judicial process to transform the law in accordance with the technological advancement.”

“We are fully prepared to thwart all types of security challenges, be it cybercrime for which we have constituted a high level committee of IT (informational technology) experts headed by Union Home Minister, Mr Rajnath Singh,” said the Minister. “Besides, we have also constituted a committee to combat the hackers.”

He also said that about 18 countries had signed MoU (memorandum of understanding) with Gujarat Forensic Sciences University at the recent DG Conference held at Kutch and the government had as such decided to develop it as the world forensic university.

“We are training judges and IPS officers in forensic lab, we will also make smart police stations,” said Mr Chaudhary.

Highlighting that India has been importing third-grade quality of AK-47 rifles, the Minister said that there is an urgent need to manufacture military security equipment indigenously be it the firearms, night vision cameras and others.

IndianBureaucracy.com wishes the initiative the very best.

Just made a bad decision? Perhaps Anxiety is to Blame

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March 19, 2016

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Summary:Scientists have discovered a mechanism for how anxiety may disrupt decision making. They report that anxiety disengages a region of the brain called the prefrontal cortex, which is critical for flexible decision making.

Most people experience anxiety in their lives. For some, it is just a bad, passing feeling, but, for many, anxiety rules their day-to-day lives, even to the point of taking over the decisions they make.

Scientists at the University of Pittsburgh have discovered a mechanism for how anxiety may disrupt decision making. In a study published in The Journal of Neuroscience, they report that anxiety disengages a region of the brain called the prefrontal cortex (PFC), which is critical for flexible decision making. By monitoring the activity of neurons in the PFC while anxious rats had to make decisions about how to get a reward, the scientists made two observations. First, anxiety leads to bad decisions when there are conflicting distractors present. Second, bad decisions under anxiety involve numbing of PFC neurons.

The data indicates that anxiety has an exquisitely selective effect on neuronal activity that supports decision making, says Bita Moghaddam, the lead author of the study and a professor in the Department of Neuroscience within the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences. Up to now, scientists have mostly studied anxiety in animal models in the context of fear and measured how brain cells react to a threatening situation. But human anxiety is devastating, not merely because of how the person feels, but also because it can interfere with nearly all aspects of daily life including decision making, Moghaddam says.

Pitt researchers studied this aspect of anxiety by monitoring the activity of a large number of neurons as rats made decisions about which choice was most optimal for receiving a reward. They compared behavior and neuronal activity in two groups: one group that had a placebo injection and another that got a low dose of an anxiety-inducing drug.

As with many people who suffer from anxiety but go through day-to-day life and make decisions, the anxious rats completed the decision-making task and, actually, did not do too badly. But they made far more mistakes when the correct choice involved ignoring distracting information. “A brain locus of vulnerability for these anxiety-induced mistakes was a group of cells in the PFC that specifically coded for choice. Anxiety weakened the coding power of these neurons.

“We have had a simplistic approach to studying and treating anxiety. We have equated it with fear and have mostly assumed that it over-engages entire brain circuits. But this study shows that anxiety disengages brain cells in a highly specialized manner.”

Perhaps, down the line, this better understanding of the brain mechanics behind anxiety and decision making, she says, could lead to better treatment of anxiety in people and, subsequently, better outcomes in the treatment of psychiatric disorders.

Source:University of Pittsburgh(science)

Indian Railways & ISRO Sign MoU

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March 18, 2016

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With a view to use best technologies in many areas of its operations for the benefit of its passengers, in the august presence of Union Minister of Railways, Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh and Union Minister of State for Railways Shri Manoj Sinha, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) regarding “Effective Use of Space Technology in Remote Sensing and Graphic Information System (GIS) based Governance Application for Indian Railways”was signed yesterday.

Chairman, Railway Board, Shri A.K. Mital, Chairman ISRO and Secretary Department of Space, Shri Kiran Kumar Alur Seelin, Member Staff, Shri Pradeep Kumar and other Board Members, and other senior officials from both the sides were also present on the occasion. The MoU was signed by Shri Shobhan Chaudhuri, ED/Tele (Dev) on behalf of Railways whereas it was by Dr. P.G. Diwakar,Dy. Director, ISRO.

The MoU was signed in the context of Railway Minister’s special mention in his Budget Announcement regarding geospatial and enhanced use of Space technology in various sectors of governance. The MoU aimsfor developing applications in the field of Remote sensing and Geographic Information System (GIS) for remote sensing at unmanned railway crossing including ,all geospatial solutions and customized software solutions for providing reliable, efficient & optimal solutions to Railways in it various areas of operation thereby benefiting the rail user.

Speaking on the occasion, Minister of Railways Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu said that the signing of this MoU with the ISRO is of a great importance which will solve all the day to day problems of Indian Railways by using best technology provided by the ISRO. He said that Railways core activity is to run trains thus Railways has to become partner with the great organizations like ISRO for its important activities. He said that it is a big challenge for the Indian Railways to keep pace with the latest technology and Railways is nowready to adopt new technologies. He said that Railways want to keep itself modernized with the new technological innovations and some of the most difficult solutions could be found by using latest technology.

In his speech, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh signing of MoU is a breakthrough for the ISRO, Department of Space to extend technological help to the Indian Railways. He said that it is a common misperception that ISRO works only in the field of Satellite and Space etc. He said that Department of Space through ISRO has been extending its help to various organizations in wide sphere for example recent agreement by ISRO with the Ministry of Urban Development in developing smart cities. He said that ISRO can even find out suspicious activities on the Railways Stations. Thus, ISRO services can not only be taken in disaster management but also can be taken in normal course. He said that its technology is cost-effective as well as accurate. He hoped better coordination and fruitful result with this MoU.

Speaking on the occasion, Minister of State for Railways said that this is a historic day for the Indian Railways to be partner with ISRO. He said that Indian Railways is committed to provide best passenger services by using the best technology and for this purpose partnering with the different organization is most important. He said that Railways is deeply concerned to find solution of late running of trains due to fog and advised ISRO to find some solution.

BACKGROUND :

Indian Railways is one of the preferred mode of transportation. Indian Railways provides safe, efficient, affordable, customer focused and environmentally sustainable integrated transportation solutions. It aims to be a modern vehicle of inclusive growth, connecting regions, communities, ports and centers of industry, commerce, tourism and pilgrimage spread over across the country. In this regard, Indian Railways envisages use of the state of art technology in day to day operations & maintenance to ensure optimum benefit to all rail users.

The vision of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is to harness Space Technology for national development while pursuing Space science research and planetary exploration.

To leverage this, a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) is being signed between Ministry of Railways & Indian Space Research Orgnisation (ISRO) under Department of Space on 17^th March 2016 at RailBhawan, New Delhi for developing applications in the field of Remote sensing and Geographic Information System (GIS) for all geospatial solutions, including customized software solutions for providing reliable, efficient and optimal solutions to Railways in it various areas of operation thereby benefiting the rail user .

Currently, Indian Railways is using Space technology for providing connectivity to Passenger Reservation System (PRS) counters and Unreserved Ticketing System at remote and non-rail head locations, Emergency Communication using Satellite phones from disaster sites, Global Positioning System (GPS) for various applications like Remote Monitoring of Locomotives, Passenger Information System in Mumbai Sub-urban trains and synchronized clocks & WiFi facility in selected Rajdhani Express trains.

Further as per the MoU, Ministry of Railways proposes to use space technology tools in providing passenger information system in all trains indicating the next station / stoppage, real time train tracking, survey of new rail route alignments particularly in hilly and difficult terrains, conduct track vulnerability studies, mapping of assets and introducing web enabled rail user centric services.

CISCO Chairman meets PM

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March 18, 2016

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Mr. John Chambers, Chairman, CISCO called on the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi. and explained to the Prime Minister the elements of CISCO’s Country Digitization Acceleration Programme, and how it is aligned to the Prime Minister’s vision and initiatives including Digital India, Skill India, Make in India, Start-up India, Smart Cities and Cyber Security initiatives.

The Prime Minister appreciated this initiative of CISCO, and emphasized its benefits in areas such as long distance education. He said that use of digital technology has been useful in eliminating leakages in subsidy. He also discussed possibilities of cooperation in the area of cyber security.

IndianBureaucracy.com wishes the very best.

Preliminary Report on Assessment of Cleanliness Standards at Major Railway Stations

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March 18, 2016

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In the august presence of Union Minister of Railways, Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh and Union Minister of State Shri Manoj Sinha a “Preliminary Report on Assessment of Cleanliness Standards at Major Railway Stations”. Chairman, Railway Board, Shri A.K. Mital, Member Staff and Member Electrical, Shri Pradeep Kumar and other Board Members, and other senior officials were also present on the occasion.

Speaking on the occasion, Minister of Railways said that to know the real progress/assessment of any organization is to call for feedback from the users. He said that the survey which was conducted to assess the efforts taken by the Railways towards cleanliness at Railway Stations will work as a mirror to the Railways which will show the real picture of the Railways in order to decide further steps to be taken to improve cleanliness drive. He said that the Railways has established a new Cleanliness Directorate in Rail Bhawan to closely supervise the cleanliness campaigns launched by Railways.

The salient features of the report are as under : –

Indian Railways is the third largest rail network with 66,000 route kilometre stretch covering more than 8000 stations. Consequent to the launch of ‘Swachh Bharat Abhiyan’ on 2^nd Oct’2014 by Hon’ble Prime Minister Sh. Narendra Modi, Indian Railways had also launched ‘Swachh Rail Swachh Bharat Abhiyan’ to achieve the vision of ‘Clean India’ by 2^nd Oct’ 2019, which shall be the 150^th Birthday of father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi.

In the Rail Budget presented in Feb’2015 and 2016, series of measures to improve the cleanliness on stations were announced to take forward the momentum of ‘Swachh Rail Swachh Bharat’. One of the measures given in Feb’2016 Budget is ranking of A1 and A category stations based on regular periodic third party audit and feedback from passengers. Ministry of Railway (Environment and Housekeeping Management Directorate, Railway Board) commissioned a passenger feedback survey on cleanliness at major railway stations. The task of survey was entrusted to Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), who engaged M/s TNS India Pvt. Ltd. for undertaking this work.

75 A1 category and 332 A category stations (407 stations in all) were taken up for survey on cleanliness of stations based on passenger feedback. Additionally, feedback from the non-railway survey providers at stations and Railway officials who are part of the Service Improvement Group (SIG) at stations were also captured in the survey.

The survey was conducted through interviews with respondents on the questionnaire on cleanliness indicators, which was done face to face by survey teams by visiting each of the 407 stations across 16 Zonal Railways. Every passenger was asked to rate the cleanliness of stations objectively on 40 different cleanliness parameters.

Purely based on the passenger feedback on the cleanliness of stations and the analysis there-of, 407 major stations have been given rankings in the Preliminary Report submitted by the survey agency through IRCTC to Ministry of Railways for scrutiny and further action.

Final report is expected to be submitted by IRCTC shortly, after the scrutiny of which Ministry of Railways will take further action for improving the cleanliness standards at major stations of Indian Railways.

8 crore plus LED Bulbs distributed under Ujala Scheme

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March 18, 2016

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Indian households are rapidly adopting LED bulbs in a bid to make their homes energy efficient.Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) distributed over 8 crore LED bulbs in a year across 125 cities in the country under the Government of India’s UJALA (Unnat Jyoti by Affordable LEDs for all) scheme. The milestone was achieved today afternoon. This achievement is reflective of the citizens’ contribution to becoming more energy efficient.

Efficient domestic lighting is one of the largest contributors to energy savings globally. Distribution of 8 crore LED bulbs – achieved over a period of 12 months – has led to daily savings of over 2.84 crore kWh – savings capable of lighting over 20 lakh homes for 365 days. Alongside the savings in units, the country has also benefitted from daily CO2 emission reduction of 23,000 tonnes.

Currently, the UJALA scheme is fully operational in Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, Haryana, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Puducherry, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Uttrakhand. More states and UTs will be launching the national programme shortly.

The UJALA scheme – being implemented by Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) – has been widely accepted across rural and urban areas of the country. The primary reason for this mass adoption is the capability of LED bulbs to give consistent luminosity even in low voltage, where incandescent and CFL bulbs usually fail. Also, the LED bulbs distributed under the UJALA scheme is one third the market price and these superior quality bulbs also come with a three-year free replacement warranty.

As of 18^th March the state wise distribution of LED bulbs are –

States	Distribution Numbers
Himachal Pradesh	51,98,831
Uttrakhand	20,35,770
Haryana	50
Delhi	60,06,744
Uttar Pradesh	91,70,140
Rajasthan	96,69,301
Bihar	1,45,817
Jharkhand	39,37,279
Chhattisgarh	8,17,512
Maharashtra	1,15,55,894
Andhra Pradesh	1,83,87,213
Karnataka	46,40,109
Puducherry	6,09,251
Kerala	55,99,139

Lighting sector accounts for about 20 per cent of the total consumption in India. Currently, most of the lighting need in domestic and public lighting sector is met by inefficient, conventional, incandescent bulbs.

The Government of India is committed to achieving its target of replacing all the 77 crore inefficient bulbs in India with LEDs. This will result in reduction of 20,000 MW load, energy savings of 100 billion kWh and Green House Gas (GHG) reduction of 80 million tonnes every year. It is estimated that this is equivalent to establishment of roughly 5 large format thermal generation plants in the country. The country also stands to save Rs. 40,000 crore in electricity bills of consumers.

Consumers can visit www.delp.in to locate the closest distribution kiosk to their place. Every person who switches to LED bulbs will help lighting up someone’s home through the energy savings.

IAF’s Fire Power demonstration at Pokhran

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March 18, 2016

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The Indian Air Force is demonstrating its combat and firepower at Rajasthan’s Pokhran firing range in the presence of the Hon’ble President Shri Pranab Mukherjee and the Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi. During the event, the IAF would showcase its capability delivering firepower both by day as well as by night.

Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha, Chairman Chiefs of Staff Committee and Chief of the Air Staff would be welcoming the Hon’ble President and the Hon’ble PM at Pokhran. The primary objective of this exercise is to demonstrate the IAF’s capability to safeguard our national interests. During the exercise, the IAF would also project its transformational state-of-the-art combat potential for meeting challenges be it from the air, land or sea.

The event comprises six packages depicting six themes in which more than 180 fighters, transport aircraft and helicopters are participating.

First on the show, would be a flypast showing IAF’s journey over eight decades, with the aircraft of yesteryears like Tiger Moth flying along with the with the latest acquisitions of the IAF. The flypast by a mixed formation comprising MiG-21, MiG-27, MiG-29 and the mighty Su-30, would represent the transformation of the IAF over the decades.

Next package would comprise net-enabling operations aircraft. This would commence with fly past by the indigenously developed Airborne Early Warning and Control System aircraft, which would then be followed a synchronized weapon delivery demonstration comprising precision based bombing at simulated targets by Mirage-2000, Su-30, MiG-27 and the Jaguar.

After demonstrating offensive capabilities, the IAF would showcase its multi-layered Air Defence operations. It will comprise fly-past by Flight Refuelling aircraft, IL-78 FRA along with two Su-30 aircraft which will demonstrate the ability to extend on-station endurance and strategic reach of fighter aircraft. This phase would also include Surface to Air Guided Weapons like the IGLA shoulder-fired missile system and the OSA-AK missiles striking down airborne targets. Capability demonstration of the indigenously developed ‘Tejas’ aircraft to deliver Laser Guided Bomb and fire a Air-to-Air Missile and the capability of the indigenous Light Combat Helicopter to carry out rocket firing would be carried out for the first time. This would be followed by a spectacular simulation of a Combat Search and Rescue operation carried out by the IAF’s versatile helicopters such as MI-35 and Mi-17V5. The firing of Akash Missile would be undertaken for the first time in the IAF’s history of Fire Power Demonstration.

The next phase would highlight the important role played by the Indian Air Force in support of the ground forces. This phase involves striking of targets that would simulate the enemy’s vital assets which would be engaged from the air by a variety of aircraft in the IAF’s inventory. In addition, the assault landing capability of the versatile C-130J aircraft and the fire fighting capability of the Mi-17V5, would also be displayed.

After the demonstration of live weapons, an array of aerobatic displays by the Sarang Team, the Suryakiran Team and the Su-30 would add fervour to the evening. The Air Warrior Drill Team and Air Force Symphony Orchestra would then enthral the audience with their performances on Terra Firma.

As night draws down upon the desert skies, the night capabilities of the IAF would come to fore. A number of targets would be engaged in this phase by fighters, transport aircraft and helicopters using rockets as well as bombs. The Combat Free-Fall jumps during the night would showcase, how the IAF could take on insertion of troops deep into the enemy territory, undetected.

The entire event would showcase more than 22 types of platforms and Weapons systems. Frontline fighter aircraft including Sukhoi 30, Mirage 2000, Jaguar, MiG-29, Attack helicopters, Remotely Piloted Aircraft(RPA) and high tech AWACS would display their potential during the show. Light Combat Aircraft ‘Tejas’ and LCH the prestigious indigenous projects, would also be a part of air display. Transport aircraft like the An-32, Embraer, IL-76, IL-78 and C-130J would participate in all their glory while medium lift helicopters(Mi-17, Mi-17 1V. Mi-17V5) and attack helicopters(Mi-25, Mi-35) would also showcase their capabilities.

FCI Food Grain Management and Distribution Online launched

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March 18, 2016

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Online System to automate all the operations of FCI depots launched by Shri Ram Vilas Paswan, Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution.Capturing data online on a real time basis, the system will bring total transparency in the working of FCI. It would help in better monitoring and supervision to reduce leakages and losses. The system will provide various types of data regarding stock position, movement, quality and quantity on line. It will generate SMS alerts to depot officials, area manager and other decision making authorities. All the data will be available on dashboard also for top management to monitor centrally and help in automatic reconciliation and generating of MIS reports about foodgrain management.

Launching the “Online Depot System” Shri Ram Vilas Paswan said that sustain efforts by the Government have resulted in significant reforms in PDS. He said bringing depots online is a historic step towards improving functioning of FCI. He said by July this year operations of all the FCI depots will be online and by March, 2017 remaining Depots which include CWC, SWC and hired one will also be online. Shri Paswan said his Ministry is in touch with the State Governments also to bring operations of their procurement agencies and distribution network online so that from procurement to delivery of foodgrains to the fair price shop become online.

Highlighting recent initiatives to make the foodgrain management more efficient, Shri Paswan said that almost 100% cards have been digitized and about 80,000 Fair Price Shop (FPS) have been provided with bio-metric “Point of Sale Device” for distributing subsidized foodgrains. Such devices will be installed at 3 lakh FPS by March 2017 and by March 2019 all the ration shops in the country will have these devices to make Public Distribution System totally leak proof. He said 45% ration cards have been seeded with a Aadhar cards and in next 2 years remaining cards will also be seeded with the Aadhars wherever available.

Shri Paswan announced that all the labours working in FCI, including contact labours, will be given free uniform and masks. He said welfare of workers and labours is very high priority for his Government.

FCI is engaged in procurement and storage of more than 600 LMT of wheat and rice and movement of 450 LMT of food grains across the country through almost 1900 Godowns.

“Depot Online” is an important project under Digital India initiative of Government.

Highlights of the Depot Online System

The system will automate/streamline all the activities during the stock inflow/outflow by road.
The system will provide an efficient way to monitor & track the movement of items by rail.
Godown operation such as dumping management, stack management, spillage management, stack suggestion, storage loss calculation etc. will be automated. Stock position/occupancy of the shed will also be available on real time basis.
The application will integrate with the weighbridge installed within the depot.
The system will track chemical spraying, fumigation & procurement quality check.
The system will keep track of all the millers/Agency that are associated with the depots. Miller/Agency will be able to log in into the system & enter required details.
System will provide Dash board for managerial staff along with basic MIS reports such as daily stock receipt, daily stock issue, quality related reports etc.
Facilitate the depot management for FCI, help in speeding up operations, Free up manpower from laborious data collation and report preparation. Thus, saving operational costs by proper planning & optimizing the administrative.
Integrated view of end to end processes, use of workflow, notification and alerts and seamless connection between depots and district/regional offices of FCI.
Capture data at source and in real time through Handheld Devices, reduce redundancy.
SMS alerts will help field staff to take timely action.
Will help save costs and prevent leakages.

“Depot Online” project is an important milestone in the overall modernization of FCI and improvement of Food Supply Chain.

Important Links:

https://fcidepotonline.gov.in/login

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuFtbl6d3zQFfxIKzfyVMgQ

https://mygov.in/sites/default/files/master_image/Food%20Corporation%20of%20India.pdf

Smartphones to improve Skin Cancer Detection in Developing Countries ??

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March 18, 2016

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Summary:Smartphone microscopy could enhance the detection of skin cancer in developing countries, new research suggests. When it comes to the diagnosis of cancer, smartphone microscopes are reasonably accurate, according to a study.

Everyone knows smartphones can be used as calendars, calculators, radios and cameras. But, did you know they can also be used as microscopes that have the potential to save lives?

They are called smartphone microscopes and dermatologists at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) think these devices could improve the detection of skin cancer in developing countries.

“Doctors in some remote areas don’t have access to the high-powered microscopes we use to evaluate skin samples,” said Richard Jahan-Tigh, M.D., assistant professor of dermatology at John P. and Kathrine G. McGovern Medical School at UTHealth. “Doctors there could conceivable use their smartphones to photograph growths and forward them for examination.”

When it comes to the diagnosis of cancer, smartphone microscopes are reasonably accurate, according to a study conducted by Jahan-Tigh and colleagues at McGovern Medical School and Harvard Medical School. Findings appear in the ARCHIVES of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine.

“We did a head-to-head comparison with a traditional light microscope and while the smartphone microscope wasn’t as accurate it resulted in the detection of about 90 percent of the non-melanoma skin cancers,” said Jahan-Tigh, the paper’s lead author. “With the smartphone microscope, the detection rate for melanomas was 60 percent.”

The incidence of both non-melanoma and melanoma skin cancers has been increasing in recent decades, the World Health Organization reports. Between 2 and 3 million non-melanoma skin cancers and 132,000 melanoma skin cancers occur globally each year.

“This is a good first step to show that smartphone microscopy has a future in dermatology and pathology,” Jahan-Tigh said.

A smartphone microscope can be made with a 3 mm ball lens, a tiny piece of plastic to hold the ball lens over the smartphone lens and tape to grip everything in place. A ball lens costs about $14 at an electronics store and is typically used for laser optics.

Here is how a smartphone microscope works. A doctor or technician holds a smartphone microscope over a skin sample that has been placed on a slide and waits for the sample to come into focus. The doctor then either reads the sample if he or she is a pathologist, or takes a photo and emails it to a pathologist for interpretation.

Researchers examined 1,021 slides of specimens, which had a total of 136 basal cell carcinomas, 94 squamous cell carcinomas and 15 melanomas. The smartphone microscope was used to pick up 95.6 percent of the basal cell carcinomas and 89 percent of squamous cell carcinomas.

Jahan-Tigh said additional studies are needed to enhance the detection rate.

Jahan-Tigh used a smartphone microscope to evaluate the specimens and the conventional microscope was operated by Ronald Rapini, M.D., chairman of the Department of Dermatology, Marvin E. Chernosky, M.D. Endowed Distinguished Chair in Dermatology and Josey Professor in Dermatology with McGovern Medical School.

Both men are dermatologists and dermatopathologists, which means that in addition to being able to screen patients for skin cancer they can examine biopsied tissue to determine if it cancerous.

Rapini was the paper’s senior author and Garrett M. Chinn, M.D., of Harvard, a co-author.

In their conclusion, the authors wrote that mobile phone-based microscopy has excellent performance characteristics for the inexpensive diagnosis of non-melanoma skin cancers in a setting where a traditional microscope is not available.

“This is just the tip of the iceberg,” Jahan-Tigh said.

Source:University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston(science)

SJVN awarded the Blue Dart –Global CSR Excellence Leadership Awards

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March 18, 2016

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SJVN is conferred with Blue Dart –Global CSR Excellence Leadership Awards in the category of Best CSR Practices. The award was received by Sh. D.P. Kaushal, Additional General Manager and Sh. Awadhesh Prasad, Senior Manager . On this Occasion Sh. Nand Lal Sharma Director (Personnel), SJVN told that SJVN has introduced various innovative practices besides institutionalization of the CSR. The innovative CSR practices of SJVN have helped in establishing its unique identity amongst stakeholders.

He further added that SJVN has made efforts to align the initiatives of Corporate Social Responsibility with the social environmental and economic needs of the society. CSR initiatives have been broadly classified into six verticals namely education & skill development, infrastructure & community asset development, health care & welfare, promotion & preservation of local culture, sports, sustainable development, assistance during natural disasters. This helped SJVN to channelize its energy and resources into the direction wherein SJVN Corporate Social Responsibility matches with the national issues of importance.

He informed that SJVN has launched SJVN Silver Jubilee Merit Scholarship Scheme in the year 2012 which aims at inculcating competitive spirit amongst students and to nurture their academic talent. Beside this in the health vertical 10 mobile health vans in collaboration with HelpAge India have been deployed in project affected areas to provide health care facility to the people at their doorsteps.

The CSR initiatives undertaken by SJVN demonstrate long term sustainability and reflect continued commitment of SJVN. The CSR programs are implemented in a manner that it ensures its active compliance with the spirit of the law, ethical standards, and international norms.

About SJVN: SJVN Limited, a Mini Ratna & Schedule ‘A’ CPSU under the Ministry of Power, Govt. of India, is a joint venture between the Govt. of India & Govt. of Himachal Pradesh. Incorporated in the year 1988, the Company is fast emerging as a major power player in the country. The present authorized capital of SJVN is INR 7000 crores.

http://sjvn.nic.in/index.htm

Web Portal on Coal Allocation & Monitoring System

By

saurabh

-

March 18, 2016

0

In a step towards consumer friendly approach and increasing transparency in business operations of Coal India Limited (CIL), Shri Piyush Goyal, Union Minister of State (IC) for Power, Coal New and Renewable Energy, launched a Web Portal for distribution of coal by State Nominated Agencies (SNA), here. Shri Goyal said that this portal symbolizes the level of transparency that Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has promised to the people of India and represents corporative federalism of all the stakeholders. Appreciating the web portal, the Minister urged Coal India Limited to create its mobile application. He also suggested tying up with Railways for coal rake booking of smaller quantities through the portal. Shri Goyal also heard feedback from the stakeholders at the event.

Shri Anil Swarup, Secretary, Ministry of Coal, said that this web portal will revolutionize the way coal business is done in the country. Motivating states for paperless communication, Shri Swarup said that digitizing information and putting it public purview will save time and energy of Government departments.

The Web portal would provide small and medium consumers access to information about SNAs, availability, booking/supply distribution of coal in public domain. The portal offers facility of online registration to consumers. The web portal also provides monitoring of sales margins of SNAs and platform to the consumers for feedback.

Small and Medium sector consumers like, paper, rolling mills, cokeries, brick kilns, refractories, glass, electrical and machinery units, textiles, soft coke manufacturing units etc., having annual requirement up to 4200 metric tonnes and not having Fuel Supply Agreement (FSA) with coal company may source coal under New Coal Distribution Policy (NCDP) through agencies nominated by the State Government. 8 Million Tonnes of coal is earmarked by Coal India to consumers under this category under NCDP.

While the State Governments would work out their requirement, the distribution would be through agencies nominated by the States. Fuel Supply Agreements (FSAs) would be signed between SNAs the coal company. Under the scheme SNA is entitled to charge actual freight and up to 5% margin as service charge from the consumers. It would be the responsibility of State Government to ensure distribution of coal in a fair and transparent manner.

CIL, in the interest of its consumers and for the ease of business has brought about certain modifications and changes in the business clauses. The earlier clause of quarterly quantity to be supplied within the same quarter has now been extended to carry over the booked quantity till the end of the contract. Two more clauses – coal that could not be supplied due to the Railway Failure which was considered as deemed delivery and termination of FSA if the level of lifting is less than 30% have been done away with. These changes provide the consumers greater liberty to exercise their choice of lifting the coal at any time during the contract period. The tenure which was earlier one year is modified now to 2 years or less, corresponding to the period for which the nomination is received.

Further actions envisaged are integrated payment gateway – consumer to SNA and SNA to Coal Company; automated SMS/mail service alerts and end to end activities integration through ERP.

On the occasion several Members of Consultative Committee attached to Ministry of Coal, Dr. A K Dubey, Special Secretary (Coal), Shri Sutirtha Bhattacharya, Chairman, CIL and other senior officers of Coal Ministry and Coal India and several representatives of State Governments and consumers were present.

IndianBureaucracy.com wishes the very best.

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