German# Nobel laureate novelist #Gunter Grass passes away

German Nobel laureate novelist Guenter Grass passed away on 12 April 2015 in Berlin. He was 87. Grass is recognized for his efforts to revive German culture in the aftermath of World War II and also had given voice and support to democratic discourse in the post war Germany.

 About Guenter Grass
 Guenter Grass was born on 16 October 1927 in Danzig-Langfuhr (now the Polish city of Gdansk) Apart from being novelist, he was poet, playwright, illustrator, graphic artist and sculptor. In 1944 at the age of 16, he had served in the Waffen-SS, the combat arm of former German dictator Adolf Hitler’s notorious paramilitary organization. Grass had made his literary reputation with “The Tin Drum” published in 1959. It was followed by “Cat and Mouse” and “Dog Years”. These novels were called the Danzig Trilogy named after his birth town. 

Awards and Honours- In 1999, he was awarded Nobel Prize for literature for his efforts to revive German literature after the Nazi era. Hermann Kesten Prize (1995). He was elected an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1993.

Text of PM’s address at the Joint Inauguration of the Indo-German Business Summit in Hannover

I am really happy to be here in the Hannover fair. It is an added pleasure to talk to you that too in the presence of Chancellor Merkel. Myself and Chancellor Merkel had a very good interaction over dinner last night. You also must have met a number of Indian companies and CEOs. I believe that the participation in Hannover fair would be very useful for both sides. I request you to visit the India pavillion and the stalls of our State Government and private companies.

You will be able to see for yourself the winds of change in India. We are very keen to develop the sectors where you are strong. We need your involvement. The scope and potential, the breadth and length of infrastructure and related developments is very huge in India. Just to give you some examples:

• We have planned to build 50 million houses by 2022. In addition, we are going to develop smart cities and mega industrial corridors.

• For this purpose, we have refined our FDI Policy in construction. We have also come up with a regulatory framework for this sector.

• We have targeted 175 Giga Watt of renewable energy in next few years. In addition to generation, the issues of transmission and distribution of electricity are equally important for us;

• We are modernizing our Railway systems including signals, and railway stations. We are planning metro rail in fifty cities and high speed trains in various corridors.

• Similar is the case with Highways.

• We are putting up new ports and modernizing the old ones through an ambitious plan called Sagarmala;

• Similar focus is on upgrading the existing Airports and putting up regional airports to enhance connectivity to places of economic and tourist importance.

• In financial services too, we are moving towards a more inclusive and faster delivery of financial products including bank loans and insurance.

• For this purpose, we opened 140 million bank accounts; increased FDI in insurance upto 49% and have set up MUDRA Bank.

• We also announced innovative schemes for insurance and pension to enhance social security for our citizens.

We also want to promote manufacturing in a big way particularly to create jobs for our youth. For this purpose, we have launched a campaign called “Make in India”.

All this is a historic opportunity for the German companies. You would already be knowing the direction of my Government and the steps we are taking. We have committed ourselves for creating and improving the business environment. I can assure you that once you decide to be in India, we are confident to make you comfortable.

Germany ranks 8th among foreign investor countries in India. About 600 Indo-German Joint ventures are presently operating in India. The purpose of my being here and participating in the Hannover Fair is to highlight that there is more potential in Indo-German economic collaboration. Though we have a vibrant relationship, our economic partnership is not as much as both countries would like to have. The flow of investments from Germany is well below the potential and less than Indian investments in Germany.

Many more German companies have the possibility of investing in India to take advantage of India’s potentials. The potential lies in Manufacturing as well as infrastructure and in skill development for that purpose. I know that the reason for this situation may not be from German side. It is from the Indian side also.

I am here to assure the German companies that India is now a changed country. Our regulatory regime is much more transparent, responsive and stable. We are taking a long-term and futuristic view on the issues.

Lot of efforts have been made and are still underway to improve the ‘Ease of Doing Business’ in the country.

• Reducing the complicated procedures, making them available at one platform, preferably online, simplifying the forms and formats has been taken up on war footing.

• Definite mechanisms for hand holding have been set up in the form of hub and spoke. Invest India is the nodal agency for this purpose.

We do believe that FDI is important and it will not come in the country without a globally competitive business environment. Therefore, in this year's budget we have rationalized a number of issues which were bothering you. In particular,

• We have removed lot of regressive taxation regimes. In our very first Budget, we said we will not resort to retrospective taxation. And if such issues do arise, they will have to be reviewed at the highest level. We have taken bold steps of not dragging the litigation in a few cases where we felt that the steps of the previous government were not on right lines. 

National Judicial Appointments Commission Act Notified

The Government today notified the National Judicial Appointments Commission Act, 2014 and the Constitution (Ninety-ninth Amendment) Act, 2014 for bringing in a change in the existing system for appointment of Judges in Supreme Court and High Courts.

Two Bills titled 'The Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty First Amendment) Bill, 2014' and 'The National Judicial Appointments Commission Bill, 2014' were passed unanimously by the Lok Sabha on 13.08.2014 and Rajya Sabha on 14.08.2014 respectively. Subsequently these Bills were ratified by the required number of State legislatures before getting the President’s assent. The Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty First Amendment) Bill, 2014 enacted as the Constitution (Ninety Ninth Amendment) Act and the National Judicial Appointments Commission Act, 2014 were published in Gazette of India on 31st December 2014.

Both the Acts were to come into force on such date as the Central Government would notify them in the Official Gazette.

Accordingly, in exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (2) of section 1 of the Constitution (Ninety-ninth Amendment) Act, 2014, the Central Government appoints the 13th day of April, 2015, as the date on which the said Act shall come into force.

Further, in exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (2) of section 1 of the National Judicial Appointments Commission Act, 2014 (40 of 2014), the Central Government appoints the 13th day of April, 2015, as the date on which the provisions of the said Act shall come into force.

The Constitution (Ninety Ninth Amendment) Act, 2014 provides for the composition and the functions of the proposed NJAC.

The Acts provide for a transparent and broad-based process of selection of Judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts by the National Judicial Appointments Commission (#NJAC). The NJAC would be chaired by the Chief Justice of India as in the earlier collegium system. The NJAC membership would include two senior most Judges of the Supreme Court, the Union Minister of Law and Justice, two eminent persons to be nominated by a committee of the Prime Minister of India, the Chief Justice of India, and the Leader of the Opposition in the House of the People, or if there is no Leader of the Opposition, then the Leader of the single largest Opposition Party in the House of the People. With a view to ensuring that the composition of the National Judicial Appointments Commission is inclusive, the Act provides that one of the eminent persons shall be nominated from amongst persons belonging to the Scheduled Caste, the Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes, Minorities or Women. The NJAC will frame its own regulations. 

A knowledge society in the true sense of the word'

Education occupies a strategic position in India's development priorities. India's efforts to achieve universal #elementary education gained further momentum with the 86th Constitutional Amendment Act, 2002, and the enactment of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009, which became effective on April 1, 2010. The RTE Act, 2009, entitles every child in the age group of six to 14 years to a right to free and compulsory elementary education in a neighbourhood school.

India has been a keen and dedicated member of the global EFA (Education For All) initiative and a founder of its E-9 subgroup. As a follow-up to the Dakar Framework of Action for EFA, a 'National Plan of Action for Education for All', was formulated in 2002 in India, with a view to contextualise and strategise policies and programmes for achieving the EFA goals. We formulated many programmes, the most prominent being the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, which is the Indian version of Education for All.

India has made substantial progress towards the EFA goals, as is brought out in the GMR (Global Monitoring Reports) too. Several strategic approaches have been found to be effective in promoting the goals of Education for All, namely the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan and Saakshar Bharat. Mission mode implementation of these programmes has accelerated (the) efforts towards EFA goals. Under the strategies of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan - the flagship programme for universalisation of elementary education that covers about 1.4 million schools and the National Programme of Mid-Day Meals that provide mid-day meals daily to about 11 million school children - near universal access to and enrolment in elementary education has been achieved.

Significant progress has also been made in bridging social category gaps in elementary education. Facilitating community involvement in both elementary and adult education programmes has been an important strategy for accelerating progress towards Education for All goals. School Management Committees with 75 per cent membership of parents in government and government-aided schools have contributed increasingly to improved schools, community involvement in school activities and participation of local self-government bodies in planning and management of elementary and adult education programmes.

For the first time in India's literacy movement, #Sakshar Bharat, an innovative concept of "certified literate", a transparent assessment and certification system has been designed and operationalised in collaboration with the National Institute of Open Schooling. This practice has spurred demand for literacy, made the outcomes of the adult education programme measurable and significantly enhanced overall credibility of the programme. This system has opened for neo-literates avenues for vertical mobility in basic education. The Sakshar Bharat programme continues to focus on districts with low female literacy.

We do seek to endeavour to improve quality outcomes in education, through the Pade Bharat Bade Bharat initiative, to ensure targeted learning levels in the foundational years of education.

Recognising the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, of making education a pillar for the nation's character building, a new paradigm of education that fosters knowledge with analytical skills, logical reasoning and the ability to imagine beyond the given and stimulating life-long learning, is being adopted. Achieving excellence by improving the quality and relevance of education and enabling all children to achieve expected/specified learning outcomes remains a key goal. Our focus, therefore, is to build an education system with the highest educational and ethical standards that encourages young people to be productive and socially responsible citizens.

With a view to harness technology for education the use of ICT (information and communications technology) in education, the introduction of massive open online courses (MOOCs), Swayam (Study Webs of Active-Learning for Young Aspiring Minds) as a massive platform for on-line learning, have been under taken in a mission mode. Emphasis on skill development for (the) 'Make-in-India' campaign, quality of education, #Unnat Bharat Abhiyan and initiatives for inclusive education are being accorded high priority.

The 2015 GMR provides an opportunity to the international community to put in place a co-operation mechanism to facilitate achievement of the goal of education for all within the shortest possible time period. I would like to take this opportunity to reiterate India's commitment to support the global effort to achieve the goal of education for all and promote enhanced cooperation with developed and developing countries for advancing the post-2015 education development agenda.

In conclusion, I would like to take this opportunity to convey our appreciation to UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization), UNICEF (United Nations Children's Fund) and other EFA co-convening agencies for leading the co-ordination of the development of the Post-2015 education agenda, and the development of the corresponding Framework for Action. We must continue to work together to ensure completion of the unfinished EFA agenda and prepare the spring board for the post 2015 agenda.

With winds of change sweeping through continents at a rapid pace, it is important that we join hands to ensure that we become a knowledge society in the true sense of the word - that no child remains without access to quality education; and no adult remains without access to basic literacy and life skill development and that we nurture innovation and skill building to enable youth to livelihood skills and foster economic development. The challenge before us is one of commitment and relentless perseverance. I take this opportunity to invite all of you to together join hands and strengthen the efforts of the national governments in their endeavour to realise the dreams of all our children and young people.

India & France Sign An Mou to Establish a Marine Biology Institute

A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed yesterday in the presence of Prime Ministers of India & France during the visit Shri Narendra Modi to France, for establishing an Institute for frontier Marine Science & Technology Research in the five years.

Under the MOU India’s Department of Biotechnology would  join hands with the Université Pierre Et Marie Curie (UPMC) and the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (France’s National Centre for Scientific Research- CNRS) to set up a the National Institute of Marine Biology and Biotechnology in India. As a part of this France would contribute expertise in developing high standard marine stations for collaborative research programmes, train manpower, facilitate setting up efficient research infrastructure, facilities & technologies. Indian would bring interest & proficiency in cell & molecular biology & biotechnology. It will also provide Indian researchers access to the French marine stations with extraordinary technical capabilities.

The Institute will carry out fundamental science research with a multidisciplinary approach and will collaboratively address the most important topics in marine biology and marine biotechnology.

India’s several marine zones offer immense resources which can be tapped for biology and biotechnology research. Applications of molecules and bio-materials discovered from marine sources are also numerous. But most of the resources remain poorly charted and relatively untouched. The country can boast of a handful of talented biologists, who can rapidly chart our marine and island diversity, make discoveries and apply them to human and animal welfare. They can be potential leaders in this venture.

The charting of our Island diversity will soon be accomplished in collaboration with ISRO and the deep sea exploration will be done in collaboration with the Earth Sciences Ministry.

This collaboration is expected to address this challenge by upgrading human resources, boosting capacity and sophisticated technology needed to explore high-speed and high-quality Ocean and island- biology at the highest international level.

The French have a chain of the world’s best marine stations (Roskoff, Banyuls and Villefranche) and these are linked to other European marine stations. Harnessing the expertise they have developed in the area, can help speed up the process which would take years to develop independently.

The collaboration will help set up a high-tech hub and two major ‘spokes’ in mainland India. These centres will train a new generation of marine biologists and bio-technologists in the use of the best scientific methods and techniques. In parallel, India will develop its own marine stations while learning from this collaborative hub. The smaller stations will be set up in chosen locations from the Andamans to Kutchand Lakshadweep escalating the development of the country’s own programmes.

#NPCIL and France’s #AREVA Sign Pre-Engineering Agreement for #Jaitapur Nuclear Power Project

NPCIL and France’s AREVA Sign Pre-Engineering Agreement for Jaitapur Nuclear Power Project

Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd. (NPCIL), a PSU under the Department of Atomic Energy, Government of India, and M/s AREVA of France have entered into a Pre-Engineering Agreement (PEA) on April 10, 2015 in connection with the proposed Jaitapur Nuclear Power Project for setting up of two EPR (Evolutional Pressurised Reactor) rectors of 1650 MWe each to be set up in collaboration with France.

The PEA mainly pertains to assessment of licenseability of the EPR project as per Indian laws, codes, guides, regulations, manuals, practices and general acceptability, as well as an informed understanding of the EPR technology itself.

The PEA will, therefore, facilitate NPCIL to obtain details of the EPR technology, make a detailed safety assessment of the plant and take up the licensing process with Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB), as soon as the Jaitapur Nuclear Power Project is taken up for implementation.

The PEA will also contribute to explore the most efficient and cost-effective pathways for project implementation, and to maximise the scope of localisation of different components of the power plant, with a view to not only make the project economical, but also enhance India’s domestic capabilities in line with the campaign for “Make in India”.

These preparatory steps are going to be necessary whenever the Jaitapur Nuclear Power Project is taken up, thus saving precious time and cost in the implementation of the project.

EPR is an advanced Light Water Reactor (LWR) technology. Understanding the nuances of this technology will also be to our advantage as NPCIL strives to augment its capability in the LWR domain.

The signing of PEA with AREVA is an important reflection of India’s abiding interest in partnering with France in the civil nuclear power sector.

The Department of Atomic Energy also welcomes the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed between the Indian company L&T and M/S AREVA of France on April 10, 2015 for cooperation to maximise localisation for the EPR nuclear reactors in India. The collaboration, through transfer of technology, is expected to facilitate manufacturing in India of many critical components for the proposed Jaitapur Nuclear Power Project, which otherwise either are not accessible to India or would have to be imported. The collaboration is expected to have a multiplier effect in enhancing India’s manufacturing capabilities with cutting edge technology, not only in nuclear power sector, but in other areas as well, such as petrochemicals and infrastructure. The MOU is in accord with the “Make in India” campaign of the Government aimed at enhancing indigenous technological and manufacturing capabilities of Indian industries. 

Knowledge Based Information” To Farmers: Technology Based Initiatives in #Agriculture Sector

The Government is implementing a Centrally Sponsored Scheme “National e-Governance Plan in Agriculture (NeGP-A)” in the entire country. This centrally sponsored Mission Mode Project (MMP) was introduced during the last quarter of the 11th Plan Period from 2010-11 in 07 selected States (Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra & Madhya Pradesh) in Phase-I of this Project and have now been extended to cover all the remaining 22 States and 07 UTs during the current Plan Period starting from 2014-15.  The  Programme aims to achieve rapid development of agriculture in India through ICT enabled multiple delivery  channels such as Internet, Government Offices, Touch Screen Kiosks, Krishi Vigyan  Kendras , Kisan Call Centres,  Agri-Clinics, Common Service Centers, Mobile Phones (Broadcast, IVRS, interactive messaging using unstructured Supplementary Service Data and Voice Recognition for ensuring timely access to agriculture related information for the farmers of the country.  A number of applications in agriculture and allied sector have been developed under the project for providing integrated ICT based services to farmers.

Knowledge based information is being provided to farmers through a number of web and mobile based applications including the Farmers’ Portal (www.farmer.gov.in) (in beta version at present), mKisan Portal (www.mkisan.gov.in) and Kisan Call Centres (KCC). These Portals are facilitating knowledge based information and advisories to farmers through an integrated web portal and mobile based platforms respectively.

Details of the activities in these applications include:

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Interventions:

Department of Agriculture & Cooperation has developed 80 portals, applications and websites (primarily in collaboration with the National Informatics Centre) covering both the headquarters and its field offices/ directorates. The important portals include SEEDNET, DACNET, AGMARKNET (prices and arrivals in Mandis), RKVY (Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana), ATMA, NHM (National Horticulture Mission), INTRADAC, NFSM (National Food Security Mission) and APY (Acreage, Productivity and Yield). 

SMS Portal/mKisan Portal

Officers, Scientists and Experts from all over the country are using  this Portal for disseminating information on various agricultural activities, giving topical & seasonal advisories and providing services through SMSs to farmers in their local languages.  SMSs classified into three categories, viz. information, services and advisories.  The content may include information about the Schemes, Advisories from Experts, Market Prices, Weather Reports, Soil Test Reports etc.  The farmers registered for receiving SMS messages have been grouped    based    on the   State, District, Block and the Crops/Activities selected by respective farmers.   The SMS Portal provides a platform for integration of service delivery under different sectors viz. Agriculture, Horticulture, Animal Husbandry and Fisheries. 

Mobile based services for farmers and other stakeholders being delivered through organisations, Departments and offices of Central & State Govts. down to the Block level (including State Agriculture Universities, Krishi Vigyan Kendras, Agro-Meteorological Field Units) have been brought together under a single umbrella viz. mKisan portal of the Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India. The URL is www.mkisan.gov.in.  mKisan Portal subsumes all mobile based initiatives in the field of Agriculture & allied   sectors.

Interactive Voice Response System, Unstructured Supplementary Services of Data or USSD (which is essentially Interactive SMS and can facilitate data entry and query on Web Portals without internet), Mobile Apps and Services.

Kisan Call Centres            

Kisan Call Centres have been functioning since 21 January, 2004 and working in 14 different locations covering almost all the states.   All KCC locations are accessible by dialing single toll free number 1800-180-1551 from 6.00 AM to 10.00 PM on all 7 days a week nationwide.  With the improvement in the quality of KCC services due to state of the art infrastructure and new technological features such as Voice Media Gateway, Dedicated Internet Bandwidth, Provision of Voice Mail during call waiting period and SMS to farmers (conveying gist of advisories given), number of calls flowing in to the Kisan Call Centres has increased.

Strengthening of IT Apparatus in Agriculture and Cooperation in the States and Union Territories    of which one  of the component is AGRISNET.

Department of Agriculture & Cooperation, Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India is implementing a Central Sector Plan Scheme “Strengthening/ Promoting Agricultural Informatics & Communications” of which one  of the component is AGRISNET. The objective of AGRISNET  is to provide improved services to the farming community through use of   Information & Communication Technology(ICT). 

As has been informed in a written reply in Rajya Sabha on 20^th March 2015 by Minister of State for Agriculture, Shri Mohanbhai Kundaria, information on natural calamities, weather forecast and agromet advisories is being disseminated to farmers  through multiple delivery channels including mKisan Portal(through SMSs), Kisan Call Centres (KCCs)  of the Department of Agriculture and Cooperation and Gramin Krishi Mausam of the India Meteorological Department.

Information relating to the  natural calamities  are being provided to district level under a number of initiatives taken by the Ministry and the India Meteorological Department (IMD):

Weather based Information regarding natural calamities disseminated to farmers under different programmes.

ü  Weather based information on natural calamities like drought etc. is one of the identified services under NeGP-A pertains to “Providing information on Forecasted Weather” and aims at providing disaggregated District level information in each agro-ecological sub-region on forecasted weather and agro-met advisories through multiple service delivery channels to the farmers (including SMS) .

ü  Weather related advisory service to farmers under Gramin Krishi Mausam Sewa (GKMS) is being implemented by the Department of Agriculture, Government of Maharashtra and India Meteorological Department (IMD), Ministry of Earth Services (MoES), Govt. of India.

ü  Development of need based content on weather information and advisories to farmers has been initiated by IMD, Department of Agriculture, Government of Maharashtra and GIZ, New Delhi under the  project on “Climate Change Knowledge Network – Indian Agriculture (CCKN-IA)”.

ü  Mahalanobis National Crop Forecast Centre (MNCFC) regularly (on monthly basis) carries out drought assessment at District/sub-district level using satellite based remote sensing data, rainfall data and ground information with respect to sowing progression, irrigation percentage, under the National Agricultural Drought Assessment and Monitoring System (NADAMS) programme etc. These assessments are communicated to concerned Departments in States including Maharashtra and are also available online on MNCFC website (www.ncfc.gov.in). 

ü  IMD in consultation with SAUs, State Department of Agriculture (including Maharashtra) carries out monitoring of drought and other calamities at district level based on the observed rainfall and other parameters like Aridity Index, Standardised Precipitation Index, NDVI etc.

Under the National Agricultural Drought Assessment and Monitoring System (NADAMS) programme, the Mahalanobis National Crop Forecast Centre (MNCFC) carries out drought assessment at District/sub-district level using satellite based remote sensing data, rainfall data and ground information with respect to sowing progression, irrigation percentage, etc. These assessments are communicated to concerned Departments in States and are also available online on MNCFC website (www.ncfc.gov.in).