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US Investments and Tech partnerships with India set to increase

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Manohar Parrikar
Manohar Parrikar

Ahead of Indian Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar’s visit to the US, a key trade group has expressed confidence that as India continues reforms US investments and important technology partnerships with Indian industry will grow significantly.

Members of the US-India Business Council (USIBC) comprising 350 top-tier US and Indian companies hosted a Defence Policy Group (DPG) delegation from India ahead of Parrikar’s visit to the US in December. Senior Indian defence ministry officials are in the US for bilateral meetings with the US Department of Defence to discuss progress on joint initiatives such as the US-India Defense Policy Group (DPG) and Defence Technology and Trade Initiative (DTTI).

Welcoming the delegation to Washington, USIBC President Dr. Mukesh Aghi welcomed Government of India’s recent announcements allowing FDI up to 49 percent under the automatic route and beyond that with the Foreign Investment Promotion Board’s (FIPB) approval.

Former US Secretary of Defence, William S. Cohen, and board member of USIBC said he was encouraged by the unprecedented level of engagement between the two governments and the private sector in the area of defence.

“As the Government of India continues its reform effort and streamlines the defence procurement process, I am confident that US investments and important technology partnerships with Indian industry will grow significantly in support of India’s indigenization and national security goals,” he said.

Swami Iyer, Vice President, Honeywell Defense and Space, and Chair of USIBC’s Defence Executive Committee said: “With diligent collaboration, both government and industry can showcase Make in India and India’s improved ease of doing business in current and future defence procurements.”

“We believe continued success in US-India defense trade can be a great enabler for India’s economy and national security.”

The US-India bilateral defence relationship has grown in a robust manner from a mere $200 million in defence trade in 2000 to over $14 billion.

Boeing recently announced that it had won a $3 billion contract from the Indian Ministry of Defence for production, training and support of 22 AH-64E Apache attack helicopters and 15 CH-47F Chinook heavy-lift helicopters.

The order includes options to further buy 11 Apache and 7 Chinook helicopters. These aircraft are being acquired by the Indian Government on Direct Commercial Sales (DCS) basis while their weapon systems like radars and missiles would be through the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) route from the US Government.

9th edition of South Asia’s largest Poultry Expo starts in Hyderabad today

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south_asia_poultr
south asia poultr

Having rapidly gained a reputation of being amongst the world’s foremost poultry exhibitions, the 9th edition of South Asia’s largest Poultry exhibition Poultry India is all set for a high impact kick-off with its globally recognised technical seminar ‘Knowledge Day 2015 on 24th November at the Novotel Hotel & Convention Centre, HITEX. Shri. K Chandrasekhar Rao, Honorable Chief Minister of Telangana is expected to inaugurate the event.

He will be present with his senior ministers and bureaucrats, along with ministers and senior Central Government fficials. India is the second largest egg and third largest broiler-chicken producer in the world — 65,000 million eggs and 3.8 million tonne of poultry meat a year. The market is estimated to be worth about Rs 90,000 crore. Many industry watchers however believe India’s poultry players have the potential to give tough competition to major poultry producing countries if the input costs were contained. There is a huge scope to grow further from the present estimates of 11-14 percent per annum. Rural demand is picking up, which can also support the overall demand in the coming years. According to latest reports, per capita consumption of chicken meat is around 4 kg and eggs is 57 in India, way below a global per capita average of 11.2 kg meat and 155 eggs.

Harish Garware, President, Indian Poultry Equipment Manufacturers’ Association (IPEMA) member of Executive Advisory Committee (EAC) – organisers of the event said: “The Poultry Industry in India has been making constant progress, emerging as one of the largest and most significant poultry players in the world. At Poultry India our focus has always been on exploring ways and means of further accentuating this growth. Both the Poultry India exhibition and Knowledge Day are to us key pegs in this endeavour of ours. With the Poultry sector in India now well on its way of growth trajectory we at Poultry India are of the strong opinion that the leading themes should now also move towards (a) sustainable growth for all,  (b) accelerated integration with the world markets, and  (c) a far more conducive regulatory environment in the country to attain these two focus areas.”Mr. Garware was speaking at today’s Press Conference to announce the launch of this year’s event.

Also present at the briefing were: Ranjith Reddy, Chairman – SR Hatcheries & President, Poultry Breeders Association of Telangana; D.Ram Reddy, Managing Director – Sneha Farms, Anil Dhumal, Chairman – Dhumal Industries, P. Chakradhar Rao, Managing Director – Chakra Group among others.

Knowledge Day is estimated to attract a record of 700 delegates from across India, South Asia, Australia, Middle East and the SAARC nations. These delegates comprise poultry farmers, farm managers, poultry health & hygiene, pharma and feed associates. This event is a full-day affair beginning 9 AM and is dedicated to bringing about a change in the way farmers further the poultry sector. Some of the world’s finest minds from Europe, US, Asia and Australia will speak on the science of poultry and latest innovations in the fields of breeding, hygiene, nutrition, animal health, poultry equipment and logistics.

Knowledge Day’s keynote address will be delivered by Nadir Godrej, Managing Director, Godrej Industries and Chairman, Godrej Agrovet. While last year Knowledge Day’s focus was on valuable information about poultry industry this 9th edition will focus more on growth and the ensuing change management through its core theme of ‘Sustainable Growth for All’. Poultry India as an organisation is making a significant change and have gone beyond being called organisers of this exhibition. “We have taken up the cause to fight the problem of Protein Deficiency in the country,” Mr Garware said. “As many of you already are aware we launched the Protein Awareness Campaign in September this year and have received tremendous response from the media as they very much appreciated our efforts towards this noble cause. We have also recommended to the central government to institute a National Protein Week supported by the Prime Minister. We have said that Poultry India is willing to take the lead so that our message. We are positive we will soon hear from the Prime Ministers’ Office.

IndianBureaucracy.com wishes the event the very best.

Book ‘Legends of Indian Silver Screen’ by Publications Division released

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Arun Jaitley
Arun Jaitley

The Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting, Finance and Corporate Affairs, Shri. Arun Jaitley released a book ‘Legends of Indian Silver Screen” at the opening of IFFI 2015 here today. The book has been brought out by the Publications Division of Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. Shri Jaitley released the book in the presence of actress Sonakshi Sinha, director Kabir Khan and actress Devika Bhise.

Legends of Indian Silver Screen is the latest addition to the endeavours of the Publications Division to document the evolution of Indian Cinema through the assessment of works of those who care for and contribute to film making in India. This elegantly designed book is a compilation of essays on 23 luminaries who have been awarded the Dadasaheb Phalke Award from 1992-2014. These include Dilip Kumar, Gulzar, K. Balachander, Sivaji Ganesan, Bhupen Hazarika, Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Majrooh Sultanpuri, Asha Bhosle. Eminent writers and film critics like Saibal Chatterjee, Randor Guy, Rachel Dwyer, Jai Arjun Singh to name a few, have contributed to this anthology and have provided insightful write-ups on their personalities along with a critical evaluation of their contributions to Indian Cinema. Enriched with appropriate photographs from various sources, this book is a reader’s delight.

In the past, Publications Division has regularly brought out educative books on cinema, namely Indian Cinema: A Visual Voyage; Conscience of the Race – India’s Offbeat Cinema and Samay, Cinema aur Itihas and Great Masters of Indian Cinema.

The Publications Division, a media unit in the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, has been publishing books and journals on issues of national importance including history, art, culture, science and biographies of national leaders as part of its efforts to disseminate information and preserve Indian heritage.

A Healing Touch by Indian Navy

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Indian Navy Logo indianbureaucracy
Indian Navy Logo indianbureaucracy

Indian Navy celebrates “Navy Week” in the first week of December every year to commemorate the victory at sea during 1971 Indo Pak conflict. The aim of the Navy week celebration is to bring the Navy closer to the public and generate awareness amongst them about the Indian Navy. One of the major activities of Navy Week is a ‘Day Out’ picnic for the Special & Under Privileged children. This event is conducted by INS India, the main administrative base of Delhi Naval Area.

As part of Indian Navy’s commitment of supporting the humanitarian organizations and providing unflinching support to the needy children, Indian Navy organised a touching event for Special children. About 55 of them were taken out for a day of fun and frolic to National Rail Museum. Children from various organizations namely ASHA supported by the Army at Delhi Cantonment, Anchal Special Education Centre, Tamanna Special School at Vasant Vihar and Navy’s supported ‘SANKALP’ at Nausenabagh I, Chanakyapuri were part of the group.

The Coordinator SANKALP, Mrs Priya Philipose graced the occasion and spent time with them as they enjoyed the joy ride and the magic show organized by the Navy. To cheer up the little ones gift hampers, refreshments and lunch were also distributed.

A similar picnic was organized on 17 Nov 15 for about 60 underprivileged children from Pratham Tyagi Memorial Trust, Patel Nagar, Saksham Bal Vikas Sanstha, Gurgaon and Shanthi Sahyog Play pre centre.

22 per cent pay hike for Central staff, could go up to 30: Proposal of pay panel

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government-office
government-office

The Seventh Pay Commission is likely to recommend a net increase of 22 per cent over the current pay package of Central government employees with a 15 per cent raise in basic pay and up to 25 per cent jump in allowances.

“The net increase is likely to be in the range of 22 per cent after subsuming the current 119 per cent dearness allowance in the new basic and grade pay scale,” sources said. They said the net figure would provide the government the leeway to add another 5-7 per cent increase — as was done on the last two Pay Commission recommendations — to take the eventual raise to nearly 30 per cent.

The final figure, however, could be a tad below the 35 per cent hike employees got on implementation of the Sixth Pay Commission in 2008. “That time the situation was different. There was buoyancy in revenue collections. Now revenue receipts have become stagnant,” an official said.

The recommendation, which will become effective after a Cabinet nod, will impact 50 lakh Central government employees and 54 lakh pensioners. Sources said they expected the entire approval process to take another four months, at least, with the likelihood of its implementation by June next year.

However, since the hike in salaries is effective from January 2016, the arrears until June could be hived off as employees’ savings into the pension fund. “The Controller General of Accounts is already considering options for investment of Seventh Pay Commission arrears,” said an official.

Sources said the Pay Commission was expected to submit the recommendations on Thursday. The Commission was unlikely to tinker with the current retirement age of 60 years, they said. Pay Commissions are meant to review the salary structure of Central government employees and are set up every 10 years. The wage revisions of Central Government employees often trigger off similar demands in states.

Vodafone ready to settle Rs 20K-cr tax dispute in India

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vodafone
vodafone

British telecom major Vodafone has offered to go for conciliation with the Indian government to resolve the eight year old Rs 20,000 crore tax dispute. “Vodafone has in a written communication expressed its desire to go for conciliation for its tax disputes with India,” Revenue secretary Hasmuskh Adhia said in a tweet .

Adhia said the Government has held one preliminary meeting to explore terms of reference of the proposed conciliation on 10th October.

“We have not yet finalised contours of Terms of Reference. There would be more follow up meetings required,” he said. The Central Board of Direct Taxes also issued a statement late Wednesday reiterating Adhia’s tweets.

ET NOW had in a report earlier in the day said the government had offered to settle the case if the company agreed to pay the principal tax amount of Rs 7,998 crore out of the total demand of about Rs 20,000 crore, waiving the penalty and interest amount.

India tax authorities and Vodafone have been locked in a bitter tax dispute for latter’s 2007 takeover of Hutchison’s Essar’s telecom operations in a $11 billion deal. The company faces a demand of over Rs 20,000 crore, of which Rs 8,000 crore is the tax due and the remainder is interest and penalty.

The government held Vodafone responsible for not withholding tax from Hutchison on grounds that even though the transaction was conducted overseas, the underlying asset was in India and tax was therefore due to the Indian government.

India’s Supreme Court overturned the demand, prompting the government to amend the income tax law in 2012 to tax such indirect transfers with retrospective effect, a widely criticised law that has been blamed for damping investment sentiment.

Vodafone subsequently served arbitration notice to Indian government under India-Netherlands Bilateral investment Promotion Agreement but both sides decided to opt for conciliation. But, conciliation offer was withdrawn in May 2014 as talks did not make any headway.

The Narendra Modi-led government, which promised a stable and non-adversarial tax regime, did not reverse the retrospective amendment, which would have cancelled the tax demand on Vodafone, but put in place measures to ensure that the clause does not cause more damage.

Vodafone external affairs director guy Mathew kirk was in India to hold the first of these exploratory meetings.

A Vodafone spokesperson said : “Whilst I will not comment on specific enquiries, I will say – as a more general comment – that we have always made clear our openness to discussing the possibility of settlement, but that the content of any discussions we may have with the Indian Government remains confidential.”

Censor Board not mouthpiece of government: Rajyavardhan Rathore

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Rajyavardhan Rathore
Rajyavardhan Rathore

The Centre on Saturday sought to distance itself from the raging debate over Censor Board’s moves, saying the Board is an autonomous body and its decisions do not reflect the government’s viewpoint.

Union Minister of State for Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore said the Censor Board is “not a government mouthpiece”. His comments assume significance after the Board’s chief Pahalaj Nihalani shortened the length of kissing scenes and cut some words in James Bond movie “Spectre”, drawing ire on social media and from his colleagues.

Rathore, who inaugrated the Indian Panorama section at the ongoing International Film Festival of India (IFFI) here, said, “I spoke to the industry. Censor Board is not a government mouthpiece. It needs to provide certification and not censor stuff. We are very firm. “It’s an autonomous body and I want to advise them to work as a board. An individual’s views need not be propagated and censorship should be in tandem with the Constitution,” he said.

NRDC and DIPP Launch Pan India IPR Awareness Programmes

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NRDC_indianbureaucracy
NRDC_indianbureaucracy

National Research Development Corporation, (NRDC), an Enterprise of the Department of Scientific & Industrial Research, Ministry of Science & Technology in association with the office of the Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trademarks (CGPDTM), under Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion (DIPP), Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Govt of India is launching series of IPR awareness and capacity building workshops in 25 Universities/Institutions in 21 States of the country, starting from 24th November 2015.

The objective of this IPRs campaign is to create awareness about IP in the academia in the wake of new IPR policy being launched by government of India and connecting IPRs to the Make in India and Start up India programs of Government of India. These one day programs will specifically target students, research scholars, teaching faculty and scientists. They are designed in such a way that lectures provide an insight in to different forms of IPRs, innovation ecosystem, procedural requirements for protection, maintenance, enforcement, commercialization, licensing and transfer of IPRs, about challenges faced by the IP ecosystem stakeholders and institutional mechanisms available for protecting IPR. This campaign will be an opportunity for participants to learn about the mechanism of accessing and using IP information for further research and development in developing new products and processes and for their use.

The Chairman & Managing Director, NRDC Dr. H. Purushotham said that NRDC has so far licensed patents/technologies to more than 4800 entrepreneurs/ companies in the country in almost all sector of industry. Providing facilitation and techno-financial support for filing patent application in India is one of the important promotional activities of NRDC. Over the years NRDC has filed more than 1600 patents for innovations from different segment of society including SMEs/ researchers/ scientists/ students and individual inventors and it has sensitised approximately 50,000 SMEs/ researchers/ scientists/ students and individual inventors through conducting IPR workshops/ seminars etc. NRDC also established an Intellectual Property Facilitation Centre (IPFC) with the financial support from MSME at Bangalore.

In today’s globally competitive environment, intellectual property is a key driver for building and sustaining competitive advantage and achieving superior performance. IPRs are now being used not only as a tool to protect creativity and generate revenue but also to build strategic alliances for socio-economic and technological growth.

Afghanistan to collaborate with India for Skill Development

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Shri Rajiv Pratap Rudy
Shri Rajiv Pratap Rudy

An Afghanistan delegation led by their Deputy Foreign Minister Mr. Hekmat Khalil Karzai, met the Union Minister for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Rajiv Pratap Rudy to explore possible collaborations between the countries to strengthen the skill ecosystem of Afghanistan.

Highlighting a major concern of unskilled workforce and the migration of trained individuals from other countries to Afghanistan, the Deputy Foreign Minister informed that Afghanistan is undertaking significant reforms to structure its labour markets and develop a skilled workforce for its economic development. In this regard, the delegation sought support from the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship to undertake a skill gap study of the workforce in its county to identify the potential sectors where skill development courses could be initiated.

Sharing his keen interest in providing full cooperation to Afghanistan, Rudy informed the delegation about the National Skills Qualification Framework (NSQF) that provides the approach to skill development trainings in the country. He invited the delegation to nominate students from its country who could come and undertake 1 year skill development courses in India. Expressing the need to build enterprises in both the countries, Rudy further offered Afghanistan with a platform where students could be enrolled in entrepreneurship development courses through the International Technical and Economic Cooperation Programme of the National Institute for Entrepreneurship and Small Business Development (NIESBUD).

The Skills Minister proposed the delegation to visit some of the premium skill development institutes of India to have a holistic understanding of the approach for training adopted in the country.

The two sides highlighted the importance of such a collaboration to establish the formal skill development framework and suggested that a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) could be signed between the two sides through which a Joint Working Group (JWG) would be constituted to take things forward.

Govt committed to ensure independence of CBI: Dr Jitendra Singh

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Dr. Jitendra Singh indianbureaucracy
Dr. Jitendra Singh indianbureaucracy

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 has said that the Government is committed to ensure the independence of CBI. Addressing the valedictory function of the 21st Conference of CBI and Vigilance Bureaus as chief guest, here today, Dr Jitendra Singh said the Government will provide an environment which enables the officials of CBI and other intelligence bureaus to discharge their duty with absolute professionalism and to the best of their ability and potential.

Dr Jitendra Singh said, as the war against corruption, crime and terror assumes diverse proportions, the strategies and skills to be applied by the intelligence officials also call for constant update to meet the new challenges. In this regard, he referred to the decision to set up a state-of-the-art “Institute of Excellence in Investigation” as an upgraded and reincarnated version of India’s premier interrogation centre.

Reiterating the government’s resolve to fight against corruption, crime and terror with seriousness and sincerity, Dr Jitendra Singh referred to yesterday’s meeting of Union Cabinet which approved the fast track implementation of “Crimes and Criminals Tracking Network System” project by fixing the deadline of March 2017. He said that it was pertinent to mention that this project had been initiated by the UPA government in 2009 but failed to make the expected headway even after six years.

Quoting from the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi’s inaugural speech at the conference yesterday, Dr Jitendra Singh said, the present government’s priority to fight against corruption is evident from the fact that within days of being sworn in on May 26, 2014, an SIT (Special Investigation Team) was constituted to look into the issue of black money deposited in foreign banks.

Dr Jitendra Singh referred to important legislative Bills from the Department of Personnel & Training (DoPT) including “Prevention of Corruption Act” and “Whistleblowers Act” which were repeatedly listed during the last session of Parliament but could not be taken up because of the disruption of the House. We are determined to push forward these Bills once again in the forthcoming session of Parliament beginning 26th November, he added. Similarly, in case of Lokpal Bill, we hope that the Standing Committee will soon send its report so that the process can be carried forward, he said.

Earlier, Director CBI Shri Anil Sinha, enumerated several new plans that CBI has envisaged for the coming years to upgrade its infrastructure and technical know-how. On the occasion, meritorious intelligence officers were presented Indian Police Medals by Dr. Jitendra Singh.

PM Modi’s Imran Khan declines job offer for senior government post

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Shri Narendra Modi,
Shri Narendra Modi,

Imran Khan, who got his share of attention after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s mention while addressing the Indian diaspora in Wembley, has declined a job offer by the Rajasthan government. According to reports, he politely declined the job saying that no other post is greater than the current profile of being a teacher.

The Department of Science and Technology of the state had offered him a job at the post of a project officer. He further said that he would lose the chance of serving the country if he takes the job. Imran Khan was praised by PM Modi for his contribution in the education sector. He has developed several educational apps, out of which, he donated 52 apps to Human and Resource Development Ministry with the goal of facilitating self study throughout the nation.

He also met the Education Minister of the state, Vasudev Devnani and said that his aim for creating apps was to enhance learning among students and hoped to get support from the government in making the vision of better learning possible in subjects like Maths, Science and English.

Earlier, the Telecom Minister, Ravi Shankar Prasad had directed BSNL to provide free internet services to Khan for his efforts in building education. Delighted with the appreciation from the government, Khan tweeted, “‘Thanks my India! Thank you very much Respected PM Sir Narendra Modi, Smriti Irani, RS Prasad for accepting my little efforts.”

Khan is a 37-year old school teacher in Alwar, Rajasthan whose educational apps are being used by 20 lakh students in the country. Citing his contributions, PM Modi said, “My India is in that Imran Khan from Alwar.”

India to host the First South Asian Annual Disaster Management Exercise from Monday

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SAARC-indianbureaucracy
SAARC-indianbureaucracy

The prevalent geo-climatic conditions as well as increased frequency of natural calamities in the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Region, especially in the wake of the recent disasters in the region, calls for enhanced levels of preparedness and risk resilience as well as collaborative action amongst member countries to individually and jointly deal with such disaster situations to prevent loss of lives and assets. Prime Minister of India Shri Narendra Modi stated at the last (18th) SAARC Summit in Kathmandu on November 26, 2014 that India’s expertise in Disaster Management would always be available to South Asia, and that, equally, as India reaches out to Indians caught in conflicts and disasters around the world, India would always be there for all South Asian citizens.

The Government of India has taken the initiative to organize the first “South Asian Annual Disaster Management Exercise” (SAADMEx-2015) to provide a platform for strengthening Regional Disaster Response Mechanism amongst the SAARC countries. The main focus of SAADMEx-2015 is to test coordination efforts, create synergy and synchronize efforts to institutionalize Regional Cooperation on Disaster Response among the member countries. The Advance Coordination Conference (ACC) for this Exercise was successfully conducted with the participation of representatives from SAARC member countries on September 3-4, 2015 where the modalities and requirements of the common exercise were discussed.

The common exercise is going to commence from Monday, November 23, 2015 with the participation of delegations and rescuers from each of the eight SAARC Nations, – Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The Exercise will be conducted by the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) in Delhi – National Capital Region. On the first day, during the Table Top sessions, different kinds of disaster situations will be simulated and individual and joint response measures will get discussed. On the second day, response for Collapsed Structure Search and Rescue (CSSR) will be carried out at Ghaziabad to demonstrate the CSSR capabilities of participating nations which will be followed by a demonstration on Chemical Emergency Response at Greater Noida on the third day. During the course of the exercise, various types of latest gadgets and equipments as well as varied Disaster Response skill sets will be demonstrated by the teams of the participating nations. On the last day, debriefing and After Action Review (AAR) will be conducted to gather important lessons learnt which would assist the countries to augment current and joint levels of disaster response and coordination.

Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Shri Kiren Rijiju will inaugurated the SAADMEx-2015 in New Delhi on Monday, November 23, 2015. Union Home Minister Shri Rajnath Singh will be the Chief Guest in the valedictory session on Thursday, November 26, 2015 to discuss the outcomes of the exercise and provide guidance for future improvement. Secretary General-SAARC, representatives from Embassies/High Commissions of SAARC Nations in Delhi, Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), NDRF, National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM) and Senior Officials from the relevant Ministries will be attending the Exercise. Officials from the States, particularly from State Response organizations will be attending the SAADMEx as well.

The Joint Exercise will be followed by a day-long SAARC Regional Workshop on Sharing Best Practices on “Disaster Risk Reduction” due to be held in New Delhi on Friday, November 27, 2015. The Regional Workshop will be inaugurated by Dr. P.K. Mishra, Additional Principal Secretary to Prime Minister of India. This workshop is also an outcome of one of the announcements made at the Conference of Cabinet Secretaries of SAARC Nations.

The aim of the Regional workshop is to provide a platform to member countries for sharing best practices in the field of Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR), experience sharing on Nepal Earthquake of April, 2015 as well as deliberating upon the outcomes of the SAADMEx. The workshop will have senior officials from all SAARC Nations, relevant Ministries of Government of India and various State Governments.