#India registers #recordproduction of #nuclearfuel

In a major milestone for the nuclear industry, India has registered a record production of over 1,252 MT of uranium bundles, manufacturing close to double the annual fuel requirement of atomic reactors in the country.

The production has also exceeded country’s annual fuel requirement of 650 MT for the Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors (#PHWRs), which means the country has surplus nuclear fuel, for at least a few months.

The Hyderabad-based Nuclear Fuel Complex, which produces fuel for nuclear reactors in the country, has produced over 30 per cent more fuel compared to its 961.023 MT production in 2013-14.

“We have gone beyond our requirement this year,” Chief Engineer of NFC, N Saibaba, told PTI here.

The news is a breather for the power reactors in the country, which for all these years had been “under- performing”, primarily because of lack of fuel.

NFC, set-up with an initial production capacity of 100 MT per year, was augmented several times to a capacity to 850 MT, to cater to the fuel requirement of all the 18 operating PHWRs and the two Boiling Water Reactors at Tarapur.

“The credit for this achievement goes to the employees. The average working hours of NFC employees have increased from 6.25 hours to 8.15 hours. Secondly, we have made changes in almost all the manufacturing processes, which saved on time,” Mr. Saibaba added.

The nuclear fuel production in the country has seen a steady increase over the last seven years. A lot has been attributed to the Indo-U.S. nuclear agreement and the subsequent ones with Nuclear Suppliers Group that made the process of acquiring uranium simpler.

In 2008-09, NFC produced 226.89 —— the year Indo—US nuclear deal was signed. In 2009-10, the figure increased to 600.91 MT. In 2013-14, it crossed its rated capacity of 850 MT for the first time and produced 961.23 MT of uranium fuel.

India produces around 5,780 MW of nuclear power. Of this, 4,780 MW of electricity is generated by fuel processed at the NFC. Fuel for the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KKNPP) unit 1 is provided by Russia, as per the bilateral agreement.

Legendary #Tamil writer #Jayakanthan passed away

Legendary Tamil writer Jayakanthan passed away on 8 April 2015 in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. He was 81. He was known for charting a new course in Tamil literature with his bold and progressive works.

Awards- Sahitya Akademi Award (1972) for his Tamil novel Sila Nerangalil Sila Manithargal, Jnanpith Award (2002), Padma Bhushan (2009). Russian government had conferred Order of Friendship (2011) on him for his translation works of Russian novelist Pushkin.



अतंर्राष्‍ट्रीय रेटिंग एजेंसी मूडीज ने भारत का दर्जा बढ़ा दिया है और अब उसका रेटिंग स्‍तर स्थिर से सकारात्‍मक बताया है। रेटिंग एजेंसी ने भारत के लिए बी ए ए 3 रेटिंग की पुष्टि की है। मूडीज के अनुसार भारत के नीति निर्धारकों द्वारा पिछले वर्षो के मुकाबले देश की आर्थिक शक्ति को बढ़ाए जाने की अधिक संभावना है।
• Rating agency #Moody's has raised the #rating outlook of India from stable to positive, saying there is an increasing probability that actions by policy makers will enhance the country's economic strength and, in turn, the sovereign's financial strength over coming years. The ratings agency affirmed India's Baa3 rating.

Human Resource and Skill Requirement Reports launched

Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Shri Rajiv Pratap Rudy here today launched the Human Resource and Skill Requirement reports across 24 sectors in India which will serve as the baseline for all skill development initiatives being planned across the country. 

According to the findings of the reports, the incremental human resource requirement across these 24 sectors is nearly 109.73* million whereby the top 10 sectors account for about 80 percent of requirements.

Speaking on the occasion, Shri Rudy said that in line with Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi’s vision of making India the skill capital of the world; this is yet another endeavour from his ministry. He said, as the old adage goes, what cannot be measured, cannot be corrected. The idea behind the Skill Gap Studies is to understand which sectors are likely to face the biggest gaps. He said, it is imperative for us to plan the skilling of future workforce of India on the basis of these reports.

The Minister said, these reports will be used for the implementation of the recently announced Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY); for State Skill Missions, and for various other skill initiatives being planned across the country.

Shri Rudy said, according to the implementation schedule for the National Skills Qualifications Framework (NSQF) (a competency based framework that organises all qualifications according to a series of levels of knowledge, skills and aptitude), after 27th December, 2016 government funding would not be available for any training, educational programme, course which is not NSQF-compliant. He said, all government funded training and educational institutions shall define eligibility criteria for admission to various course in terms of NSQF levels. Shri Rudy said, the recruitment rules of the government of India and PSUs of the Central Government shall be amended to define eligibility criteria for all positions in terms of NSQF levels. The State Governments and their PSUs shall also be encouraged to amend their recruitment rules on above lines. He said, after 27th December, 2018 it shall be mandatory for all training/educational programmes/courses to be NSQF compliant. All training and educational institutions shall define eligibility criteria for admission to various courses in terms of NSQF levels.

Secretary, Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Shri Sunil Arora said, there is a changing paradigm in skill training towards demand-driven training to ensure employability and placement of the youth. While the reports give an insight on the quantitative side of human resource requirement in each of the sectors, the research has also led to useful qualitative findings in terms of highlighting key job roles in the sector, existing skill gaps in the sectors, key interventions required to map supply and demand, etc. He said, these will help the Ministry to create a strategy to bind together the islands of excellence that we already have in the country.



In his comments, MD and CEO of NSDC Shri Dilip Chenoy said, more than 1000 industry experts, 19 Sector Skill Councils, 110 training institutions and 1500+ trainees have been engaged for the studies.

The reports were commissioned by National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) and authored by consulting firm KPMG. The objective of these skill gap reports was to understand the sectorial and geographical spread of skill requirements that exist. The figures have been estimated on the basis of extensive stakeholder engagement including small, medium and large enterprises in every sector as well as Sector Skill Councils (SSCs), training providers in the skills space and academia. The skill gap studies provide a granular data on the skill gaps for two time periods- 2013-17 and 2017-22.

The 2015 #Global Monitoring Report released

The 2015 #EducationforAll (EFA) Global Monitoring Report (GMR) was released by Smt Smriti Zubin Irani, the Minister for Human Resource Development today at an event organized by the Ministry of Human Resource Development in collaboration with the UNESCO here today. The 2015 Global Monitoring Report is based on the theme ‘Education for All 2000-2015 Achievements and Challenges.

Smt. Irani highlighted the achievements made by India in reducing the Out of School Children and achieving the gender parity at the elementary level thereby contributing to the global progress in the EFA goals. Minister further elaborated the recent measures taken by the government in harnessing technology for extending quality education and using education as a means pillar for nation’s character building.

The panel presentation by the Nobel laureate 2014 Shri Kailash Satyarthi, Chairperson of the Global March against child labour focused on the issue of the challenge of reaching out to the marginalized children.

The event included a brief video address by the UN Secretary General Mr Ban Ki Moon who called upon the nations to harness the power of education to build a better future for all. The presentation by Mr Aaron Benevot, Director GMR on the key finding of the report while highlighted the unfinished EFA agenda also indicated at the progressive gains made in reducing the Out of School Children, increased enrolment at the primary level and encouraging trends in participation of the girl child.

The release event also included an exhibition put together by the National Council of Education Research and Training (NCERT) entitled’Shaping the Future Education Agenda:

#Dhanush missile successfully test-fired

 India successfully test-fired nuclear weapons-capable Dhanush missile from a ship, off the Odisha coast on Thursday.

The ship-based missile was launched at 11.02 a.m. by personnel of the Strategic Forces Command (SFC) from an Offshore Patrolling Vessel (OPV), which was deep inside the sea, for its full range of 350 km, according to Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) missile scientists.

It was a perfect mission and the missile splashed down near the target point with high degree of accuracy, they said.

Dhanush, a manoeuvring missile is a naval variant of Prithvi-II, and can carry a nuclear payload of 500 kg.

It can target both land-based and sea-based targets. The missile has already been inducted into the armed services and the SFC personnel randomly picked up the missile from the production lot for Thursday’s trial, which was carried out as part of regular user training.

Dhanush was one of the five missiles developed by the DRDO under the Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme.

Centre tells #UPSC to go ahead with #civilserviceresults based on court order on #Jatreservation

the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) has asked Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) to go ahead with the 2014 Civil Services results based on the Supreme Court order on Jat reservation, sources said on Monday.
After the Supreme Court struck down Jat reservations, the UPSC had delayed the Civil Services Mains result and sought DoPT's view on whether to withdraw reservation benefits to Jat students.
The DoPT told UPSC to go with the SC order and decide for itself on what needs to be done. In March 2015, the Supreme Court had set aside Centre's notification to extend the benefit of reservations to the Jat community.The National Backward Classes Commission in its earlier recommendation had refused to give reservation to the Jats in the OBC category.
Numerically strong, the farming community of Jats in nine North Indian states have been demanding reservation under OBC quota for a long time. Many times, they even staged violent protests in some parts of north India. Jats have a strong presence in Haryana, Delhi, Western UP, Punjab, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.
UPSC conducts the Civil Services Examination (CSE) for recruitment to Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Foreign Service (IFS), Indian Police Service (IPS), Indian Revenue Service (IRS) and Central Group A and Group B services. The format has three stages - Preliminary examination which consists of two objective-type papers (General Studies and Aptitude Test), the Main examination which consists of nine papers of conventional (essay) type followed by the Personality Test of interview).
The entire process from the notification of the Preliminary examination to declaration of the final results takes roughly one year. Civil Services are the most coveted jobs in India and the competition is extremely tough with several lakh aspirants taking the Preliminary examination out of which just a few thousands qualify for the Main examinations and just a couple of thousand are called for Personality Test.

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/centre-tells-upsc-to-go-ahead-with-civil-service-results-based-on-court-order-on-jat-reservation/538262-3.html

Trust deficit in land acquisition A 'public purpose validation commission' may well bridge the trust deficit

Nobody trusts anybody where forcible land acquisition is concerned ostensibly under “public purpose”, “eminent domain” or “greater common good”. This is at the heart of all the angst and clamour against the amendments in the land Bill. Of the four key pillars that hold up the land Bill edifice, namely, compensation, resettlement and rehabilitation, social impact assessment and consent, it is the last one where all the controversy is focused.

Civil society, particularly, does not trust the state. It has reason not to. The notorious colonial era Land Acquisition Actof 1894 had been thoroughly misused. Under its catch-all “public purpose” window, the state was the biggest culprit. Jairam Ramesh, the principal architect of the Land Acquisition Act, is on record saying:

• “Across India, land has been acquired by government and it remains unutilised even after 30-40 years of acquisition. The government itself was the biggest squatter”.
   
• “PSUs have been the worst defaulters in terms of their poor record of resettlement and rehabilitation.”
   
• “Over the decades, over 4 crore (40 million) tribals had been displaced without rehabilitation and compensation, and could possibly be a prime cause for left-wing extremism in affected parts of the country.”

It led to forcible, heartless acquisition programmes as well as “lazy acquisitions” where acquired land was hugely in excess of needs or just left unutilised. More dangerously, the licence to define anything as ‘public purpose’ resulted in crony-capitalism in land deals. It is reported to have peaked at the height of the SEZ (special economic zone) fever resulting, as we all know, in a spate of protests. The other route cleverly followed was for private sector to sign JVs with statal entities, giving the state a minority stake in a project and then getting the state to forcibly acquire land at notified low prices.

But the state does indeed have a role to play in a democracy in making up its mind on behalf of the people it represents as to when “public purpose” kicks in. In an article in the Hindustan Times on August 15, 2009, noted economist (and one-time chief economic advisor to the government),Kaushik Basu wrote: “Modern economic theory sheds light on this; and, somewhat unexpectedly, comes out on the side of government intervention. As a consequence, even some of the most aggressively market-oriented nations in the world, such as the US, have provisions that allow the state to intervene and acquire land for large-scale industrial or commercial use. The economic argument shows that, left entirely to voluntary transactions, many socially desirable industrialisation projects would never get implemented. This so-called ‘hold-up problem’ was briefly touched upon byAmartya Sen in this Penguin Lecture on ‘Justice and India,’ in Kolkata on August 5, though he did not elaborate on it.” Among the three classical factors of production — government plays a pivotal role in developing and regulating capital and labour markets. It cannot excuse itself from the land market.

The recent amendments to the land Act, as promulgated in the ordinance, seek to broaden the ambit of “public purpose” vis-à-vis the United Progressive Alliance (UPA)’s Act — where public purpose was more tightly defined. A tighter definition, resulted inevitability in having to seek “consent” for projects of national importance. This is what the current government believes goes against its agenda of speedy economic development and job creation.

So, we have a classic dilemma — that a society is being asked to put its finger, through democratic processes, on a shade of grey between the black and white of “individual rights” and “greater common good.” The problem gets compounded by the fact that nobody quite knows who in thesarkari system actually defines “public purpose.” Is it the prime minister, the chief minister or the district magistrate ? And how is such a weighty and complex decision taken, which results in forcible acquisitions and displacement of a settled way of life?

So the “trust deficit” has two clear components. One, historically not trusting the state in defining “public purpose”; and two, the lack of clarity on the processes by which such a decision is sought to be arrived at in the present. The UPA government tried to bridge this chasm by putting most acquisitions under the “consent” clause. The current government argues that it severely hurts speedy economic development.

Is there a solution?

Here is a suggestion. It would be worthwhile considering setting up an independent and credible “public purpose validation commission” at the central and state levels as an acceptable via media between the contentious extremes of “80 per cent consent” and “forcible acquisition.” Such a commission could well be structured with eminent citizens across different walks of life who can be trusted by the public at large to validate or not validate the government’s claim for forcible acquisition for public good.

This could well forge an agreement between warring political parties as well as provide reassurance to the people of India at large. It would certainly be more impactful and relevant than the proposed quasi-judicial authority — the Land Acquisition Rehabilitation and Resettlement Authority, which is supposed to hold hearings in places where acquisition is taking place. The nation wants an ex-ante body for endorsing “public purpose.” Not an ex-post body for cleaning up the mess.