Tamil Nadu, MP, Jharkhand, Odisha and Mizoram to improve water supply and sewerage network infrastructure under Atal Mission

Tamil Nadu, MP, Jharkhand, Odisha and Mizoram to improve water supply and sewerage network infrastructure under Atal Mission

Half of households in 5 states do not have water supply and sewerage connections

81 cities in Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Odisha and Mizoram will invest Rs.5,748 cr to enhance basic infrastructure including water supply and sewerage connections under AMRUT action plans for the year 2015-16. An inter-ministerial Apex Committee headed by Shri Madhusudan Prasad, Secretary, Ministry of Urban Development has approved State Annual Action Plans(SAAP) of these five states which account for 81 mission cities. Central assistance will be provided to an extent of Rs.2,440 cr while the rest would be contributed by state governments and urban local bodies.

With about half of the urban households in these 81 cities not having water supply and sewerage connections, Rs.4,290 cr of the total approved outlay would go into providing household water supply connections and enhancing water supply in 53 cities. Rs.1,133 cr would be spent on providing sewerage connections in 41 cities. Rs.92 cr would be invested in storm water drainage projects in 14 cities, Rs.80 cr for promoting non-motorised public transport in 22 and Rs.113 cr for providing parks and green spaces in 76 mission cities.

State Annual Action Plans(SAAP) of each state is formulated by integrating Service Level Improvement Plans(SLIP) of each AMRUT city in respective state. SLIP of each mission city is evolved after a detailed analysis of gaps in basic infrastructure,

Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) launched in July this year seeks to ensure coverage of all urban households with water supply and sewerage connections besides ensuring water supply @ 135 litres per capita per day on priority.

In these five states, extent of coverage of urban households with water supply connections ranged from 6% in Chaas(Jharkhand) to 59% in Balasore(Odisha). Only 7 cities in Madhya Pradesh i.e Chindwara, Khandwa, Mandsaur,Khargone, Neemuch, Betul and Dewas, the coverage is between 59% and 74%.

No sewerage connections are available in half of the Mission cities, while in the rest the coverage is in the range of 3% in Ratlam(MP) to 62% in Indore.

Under the SAAP approved for 2015-16 for improving basic infrastructure, Tamil Nadu with 27 AMRUT cities would invest Rs.3,249 cr followed by MP(32 cities)-1,656 cr, Odisha(9 cities)-456 cr, Jharkhand (7 cities)-Rs.313 cr and Mizoram will invest Rs.73 cr in the lone mission city of Aizawl.

Ministry of Urban Development earlier approved SAAP for 2015-16 with a total project investment of Rs.2,786 cr for Gujarat, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh which account for 89 cities.

Accordingly, AMRUT action plans for 8 states accounting for 170 mission cities stand approved with a total project expenditure of Rs.8,534 cr for improving basic infrastructure.

A total of 500 cities and towns with a population of one lakh and above each besides capitals and hill stations and those of tourism importance and locates on the stem of main river are included in Atal Mission. 

“By 2017, India should not need to Import Thermal Coal”

“By 2017, India should not need to Import Thermal Coal” -Shri Piyush Goyal

Releases the India’s Report Titled ‘The Rising Sun – Disruption on the Horizon’

Shri Piyush Goyal, Union Minister of State (IC) for Power, Coal, and New and Renewable Energy said that by 2017, India should not need to import thermal coal except for the coastal power plants. He said that era of shortages is over in coal sector. Shri Piyush Goyal said this after releasing the India’s report titled ‘The Rising Sun – Disruption on the horizon’ at ENRich 2015, KPMG in India’s annual energy conclave here today. The report was released here today by Shri Piyush Goyal, Minister of State (IC) for Power, Coal, and New and Renewable Energy and Shri Dharmendra Pradhan, Minister of State (IC) – Petroleum and Natural Gas at the conclave.

Shri Piyush Goyal said that given the kind of structural changes, massive thrusts in bringing highest level of probity in the system, the economies of scale, the country stands to benefit from and the large scale roll out of programmes and plans to bring benefits to the people, that the nation has witnessed in last 18 months, I am very much convinced that the Indian Economy is picking up at a great speed. Shri Goyal said that in near future people will witness an unparalleled upswing in the nation’s economy which will take India to a new level of development. Shri Piyush Goyal assured that his ministry will contribute in the country’s holistic development by ensuring speed to the wheels of progress through energy security. He hoped that the last man in the bottom of the pyramid will receive fruits of this development very soon.

While speaking at the conclave, the Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas (IC), Shri Dharmendra Pradhan said “Energy security and accessibility is important for the overall well-being of the nation. It is important that we identify the energy requirements and accordingly come up with a vision plan, making it our focus for the coming years. A comprehensive energy policy is the need of the hour.”

The report highlights that solar could scale up substantially to be a significant energy source by 2025, with the market penetration of solar power expected to be 5.7 per cent (54 GW) by 2020 and 12.5 per cent (166GW) by 2025. India aims to reduce emission intensity of its GDP by 33 to 35 per cent by 2030 from 2005 levels, and solar power is likely to contribute 4 per cent towards this target, the report states. The report talks about how the scale up and competitiveness of solar power could disrupt the traditional generators. The disruptive force is expected to start being felt from 2017 and may accelerate post 2020. In some states which are promoting solar (and also wind power) aggressively, conventional coal generators could see their Plant Load Factors (PLFs) fall by as much as 10-15 per cent by 2020, as solar replaces coal-fired generation in the daytime hours. This effect may speed up post 2020 with the annual addition of large amounts of solar (estimated to exceed by 20GW per year by 2022-23).

The report highlights that the price for solar power has seen a decline; today, in India, solar prices are within 15 per cent of the coal power prices on a levelised basis and, it is expected that that by 2020, solar power prices would be approximately 10 per cent lower than coal power prices. The solar rooftop power, today, is already competitive compared to grid power for many consumers and, as per the report, if combined with storage, it could be cheaper than grid power after 2022 for a large section of the consumers and drive a considerable shift to rooftop power. A ‘Solar House’ that is self-sufficient in energy terms could be a reality within the coming decade. 

Affordable Medicines and Reliable Implants for Treatment (AMRIT)

Health Minister opens AMRIT outlet at AIIMS for selling affordable drugs for cancer & heart diseases

AMRIT will go a long way in reducing financial burden on patients: Shri Nadda

With the aim to reduce the expenditure incurred by patients on treatment of cancer and heart diseases, the Union Minister for Health & Family Welfare, Shri J P Nadda inaugurated the Affordable Medicines and Reliable Implants for Treatment (AMRIT) outlet at AIIMs, here today. The retail outlet will sell drugs for the two ailments at highly discounted rates at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) to begin with.

AMRIT will be launched in all Central Govt hospitals soon, Shri Nadda stated. He further added “What we launched today in the form of AMRIT pharmacy reflects our strong commitment to reduce the cost of treatment for the patients. Lakhs of patients will benefit from this initiative. The AMRIT pharmacy would be selling 202 cancer and 186 cardio-vascular drugs, and 148 types of cardiac implants at very affordable prices. Patients can buy medicines and implants at 50 to 60 percent cheaper prices than the open market from AMRIT outlet in AIIMS.”

The project has been floated in a tie-up with government-owned HLL Lifecare Ltd (HLL) which is deputed to establish and run the AMRIT chain of pharmacies across the country.

“This is certainly an innovative initiative. The government is pinning a lot of hope on it, given that it is an IT-enabled system,” Shri Nadda said. “We are exploring the possibility of scaling up the facility and also making it accessible to larger number of people in various parts of the country.”

Initially, AMRIT pharmacy will retail cancer drugs, based on authentic prescriptions from doctors. By this month-end, cardiovascular drugs will be dispensed in line with medicines sold for cancer. Based on the outcome of the AIIMS outlet, this initiative will be taken to other central government hospitals and Regional Cancer Centres.

The government’s move comes amid statistics that peg Indians diagnosed with cancer at 700,000 every year. About 2.8 million people have cancer at any point of time and half a million die of the disease each year. The annual figure of women being diagnosed with breast cancer in India is 145,000, according to the World Health Organisation. A significant number of patients (nearly over 50 per cent) stop visiting hospitals after two or three cycles of chemotherapy due to unaffordable costs.

global conference on traffic safety

global conference on traffic safety

Minister for Road Transport &Highways and Shipping, Shri Nitin Gadkari leaves for Brazil today to attend the two day “2nd High Level Global Conference on Traffic Safety – Time of Results” in Brasilia on the 18th and 19th of November, 2015. The conference is slated to be one of the most important discussions in the world on traffic safety, and aims to reaffirm the international community’s commitment towards reduction of traffic accidents that are responsible for 1.2 million fatalities every year.

One of the major objectives of the event is to review the progress made by countries in implementing the Global Plan for the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020, which aims to save five million lives on the planet through the adoption of policies, programs, actions and legislations to increase safety on the roads especially for pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists .

The First Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety was held in Russia in 2009.. Thereafter, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted a resolution for "Improving Global Road Safety", in 2014. The resolution expresses a concern about the fact that only 7% of the global population is protected by appropriate traffic laws, which provide mandatory use of helmets, seat belts and protective devices for children in vehicles, prohibition of driving under the influence of alcohol, speed control and prohibition of the use of mobile phones while driving, including sending text messages, which are the five key-factors of risk on transit

According to WHO’s Global Status Report on Road Safety 2013, 35 countries, accounting for nearly 10% of the world population, have passed laws tackling one or more of the five key-factors of risk between 2008 and 2011. However the number of countries with comprehensive legislation about all five key-factors of risk remained constant at 28 (representing 7% of the world population, or 449 million people) since the last WHO report in 2009. The goal of the Global Plan is that, at the end of the Decade of Action, the number of countries with comprehensive legislation on the subject increase by 50%.

The 2nd High Level Global Conference on Traffic Safety – Time of Results emerges from the UN resolution on “Improving Global Road Safety”. Led by the World Health Organization (WHO) , the conference aims to strengthen the commitment of the international community around policies, legislations, measures and actions that can halt the factors that cause 1.2 million deaths worldwide and physical trauma to another 30 to 50 million people due to traffic accidents every year,. The fatalities primarily affect children and young people from 5 to 29 years, and young men are the main victims.

India, along with host country Brazil is one of the Friends of the Decade of Action for Road Safety - an informal group committed to the success of the global plan. Others in the group are the Russian Federation, the United States, Spain, France, Australia , Argentina, Costa Rica, , Mexico, Morocco, Nigeria, Oman, Philippines, South Africa, Sweden, Thailand, Turkey, Uruguay, World Health Organization, the World Bank, the Economic Commission for Europe, the Global Commission for Traffic Safety (linked to the International Automobile Federation) and the Global Security Partnership in Traffic (linked to the International Federation of the Red Cross and the Red Crescent).

India and Bangladesh sign Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to operationalize agreement on coastal shipping.

India and Bangladesh sign Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to operationalize agreement on coastal shipping.

India and Bangladesh signed the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) in New Delhi today, to operationalize the “Agreement on Coastal Shipping” signed between the two countries in June, 2015. The SOP was signed by the Joint DG (Shipping) Ministry of Shipping, Government of India and Chief Engineer and Ship Surveyer, Department of Shipping, Government of Bangladesh in the presence of Shri Nitin Gadkari, Minister of Shipping and Road Transport and Highways. Speaking on the occasion Shri Gadkari said that once it is operational, the Coastal Shipping Agreement will enable a huge saving in logistic costs of EXIM transport between the two countries.   The SOP has been framed as per the terms and conditions of the Agreement on Coastal Shipping and both India and Bangladesh have agreed to its provisions. Shri Rajive Kumar, Secretary Shipping Government of India and Shri Shafique Alam Mehdi, Secretary Shipping Government of Bangladesh were also present on the occasion. 

The Standard Operating Procedure will pave the way to promote coastal shipping between India and Bangladesh and would enhance bilateral trade between the two countries by bringing down the cost of transportation of EXIM cargo. The SOP contains provisions which stipulate that India and Bangladesh shall render same treatment to the other country's vessels as it would have done to its national vessels used in international sea transportation. The two sides have also agreed upon the use of vessels of  River Sea Vessel (RSV) category for Indo-Bangladesh coastal shipping.

The two countries will also hold Shipping Secretary level talks on 16^th Nov, 2015 which will cover the issues relating to MoU on passenger and cruise vessel movement, discussion on the protocol to operationalize the MoU on use of Mongla and Chittagong ports, payment of transit fees and bank guarantee, dredging of rivers in the protocol route using Regional IDA Assistance of World Bank Assistance, discussion on various upcoming port projects in Bangladesh.

India and Bangladesh have a Bilateral Protocol on Inland Water Transit and Trade (PIWTT) for operation of inland vessels on the river protocol routes between river ports of Haldia, Kolkata, Pandu, Karimganj and Silghat in India and Narayanganj, Khulna, Mongla, Sirajganj and Ashuganj in Bangladesh.  This protocol between the two countries has facilitated the movement of EXIM trade as well as cargo bound for the North Eastern states of India. Out of a total of 1.8 million tonnes of cargo moved on Indo-Bangladesh protocol route during 2013-14, about 98% is fly ash which is transported from Kolkata to various river ports in Bangladesh.  During the current financial year, India for the first time is using the Indo-Bangladesh river protocol to transport food grains via Ashuganj to Tripura.  However, the quantum of cargo has not picked up because of low draft in the upper reaches of Bangladesh rivers and also because of certain non-trade barriers. 

            Rapid growth in bilateral trade between India and Bangladesh has led to congestion on the road at Indo-Bangladesh border and at the Land Custom Stations/integrated Check Posts.  The traffic congestion at “Petrapole” and “Benapole” on the Bangladesh side has emerged as one of the biggest impediments to the movement of EXIM cargo. Due to such congestion, the exporters/importers on both sides have been facing undue increase in the transportation cost. 

The present connectivity through sea route with Bangladesh is through ports of Colombo and Singapore. The long sea route adds significantly to the transportation costs of EXIM trade. There is no significant cargo movement between sea ports of Bangladesh and India as it is not profitable for the big vessels to operate between these sea ports.  Under such circumstances there is a need for smaller ships to provide direct connectivity of eastern sea ports of India with Chittagong and other ports in Bangladesh. This, besides improving the connectivity will also provide competitive freight rates. 

            The biggest impediment in commencing coastal shipping between India and Bangladesh was the non-availability of River Sea Vessel class of vessels in Bangladesh. Bangladesh has foreign going vessels of higher technical and manning standards which are not cost effective for coastal voyage between the two countries.  The matter was discussed with Bangladesh side during the Secretary (Shipping) level discussion in Dhaka in July, 2012 and again in Delhi in February, 2013. 

            Several Joint Technical Committee (JTCs) meetings have also taken place between India and Bangladesh on the issue of coastal shipping.  The previous engagements finally culminated in a broad understanding on coastal shipping on 24^th June, 2014 in Dhaka. Thereafter, an Agreement on Coastal Shipping between Bangladesh and India was finalized and signed on 6^th June, 2015 during the visit of Hon'ble Prime Minster of India to Bangladesh. The cooperation in coastal shipping between the two countries would be based on the principles of national sovereignty, mutual benefits as per national laws and international conventions.

Advantages of  the Agreement:

1) The opening of coastal shipping between India and Bangladesh would enable the movement of cargo to the North East through coastal shipping upto Chittagong and thereafter by road/inland waterways.

2) The deep draft ports on the eastern coast of India can be ‘hub ports’ for the onward transportation of cargo to Bangladesh via the coastal mode through RSV category of vessels.

3) The Indian ports will attract enhanced cargo and also the overall transportation cost to Bangladesh will get reduced.

4) The Indian ports serving as trans- shipment ports for Bangladesh cargo will derive benefits by way of enhanced throughput as a result of Indo-Bangladesh coastal trade

Main statement by PM in the BRICS Leaders' Meeting

Main statement by PM in the BRICS Leaders' Meeting

Excellencies,

We can take pride in the economic initiatives of the BRICS. These will not onlystrengthen BRICS economies, but will also benefit the developing world.

As BRICS, we must place our priorities on the agenda and activities of G20.

One, in the area of development, G20 must place priority on

• effective implementation of Sustainable Development Agenda 2030 and ensure adequate funding for it.

Two, in the area of global finance, G20 should focus on

• Implementation of the decisions to restructure global economic institutions.

• Greater collaboration between multilateral and regional financial institutions.

• Enhanced long term finance for infrastructure in developing countries.

• Developing next generation, climate resilient infrastructure. This would also include converting waste into inputs for infrastructure.

• lower the cost of global remittances well before 2030

• close coordination on preventing corruption and cooperation on freezing of unaccounted money hoarded abroad and its repatriation.

Three, in the area of trade, we should focus on

• Strengthening the rule-based global trading system and ensuring that new trading blocs do not lead to division of the global trade regime.

• speeding up the completion of the Doha Development Agenda.

• promotinggreater mobility of skilled professionals and creating a global skill force market.

Four, in the area of climate change,G20's priorities should include

• a successful outcome at the COP21 based on the principles of UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, including the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities.

• Facilitate climate finance and technology transfer to developing countries.

• enhance research and development on clean and renewable energy to increase access, efficiency and affordability of clean energy.

• support development of next generation and climate resistant infrastructure.

• Support the India-proposed international solar alliance.

Five, G20 should promote stronger global action to address security challenges, including through

• comprehensive global strategy to put an end to finance, supplies and communication channels of the terrorists.

• stopping the flow of arms and explosives to terrorist groups.

• Creating special international legal regime to disrupt terrorist activities.

• cooperation in preventing the use of cyber networks by terrorist groups.

• early adoption of Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism.

I am confident that BRICS economies will continue to be strong and stable and will remain a source of strength for the global economy.

Excellencies,

The Strategy for BRICS Economic Cooperation, which we endorsed in Ufa, is an important framework document.

The Contact Group on Trade and Economic Issues and Business Council should prepare a Work Plan for implementation of the Strategy in a time-bound manner.

Each BRICS member country should take the lead in at least two priority areas listed in the Strategy.

It would be appropriate if the first joint meeting is held during the Russian Chairmanship.

The joint sitting may also work on a Roadmap for Trade, Economic and Investment Cooperation till 2020.

Excellencies,

We hope that the New Development Bank will start its operations quickly. As I said in Ufa, its first project should be on clean energy, preferably across all BRICS countries.

We need to create a supporting mechanism, such as a New Development Bank Institute or NDBI, which should function as bank of ideas, a storehouse of experience and a knowledge powerhouse. It can also provide inputs for the Contingency Reserve Arrangements.

Excellencies,

India will continue to work closely with our BRICS partners in the spirit of mutual trust, respect and transparency.

I had shared some ideas at Ufa. These included trade fairs; agriculture research; railway research; digital initiative; energy efficient technologies; cooperation between states, cities and local bodies; promoting films and sports exchange.

We will be building upon them and putting more new ideas on the BRICS agenda.

We will work with you to further strengthen the institutional mechanisms of BRICS.

I look forward to seeing you in India for the 8th Summit next year.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi proposes 7-point agenda on ‪#‎ClimateChange‬; calls for target date before 2030 to reduce high costs of transferring remittances.