Major Initiatives and Accomplishments of Department of Commerce(DOC)-2016

Major Initiatives and Accomplishments of Department of Commerce(DOC)-2016

Exports record a positive growth

Government E-Marketplace (GeM)  launched in August, 2016 and becomes fully functional by October, 2016.

The WTO's Trade Facilitation Agreement in Goods ratified

1st BRICS Trade Fair organised in India from October 12-14, 2016

          Vision and Mission

The long-term vision of the Department is to make India a major player in the world trade by 2020 and assume a role of leadership in the international trade organizations commensurate with India’s growing importance. DOC’s goal is to increase India’s exports of merchandise and services from the present level of 465.9 billion USD (2013-14) to approximately 900 billion USD by 2019-20 and raise India’s share in world exports from present 2% to 3.5%.

Strategic Initiatives and Priorities

• Diversification of export product basket
• Diversification into non-traditional markets and conclusion of ongoing FTA negotiations and initiating new FTAs
• Strengthening export related infrastructure
• Enhancing credit flows for exports at lower cost
• Reducing Transaction Costs
• Diversification of Services exports
• Building up a Brand Image of India
• Support to Plantation Sector
• Protection to sensitive domestic industries

            Improved export performance

·         After negative growth for 18 successive months since December 2014, export recorded positive growth in June 2016.

·         September, October and November 2016 saw positive growth in exports. Export from April to November 2016 is valued at US $ 174.9 billion against US $ 174.7 billion recorded in the corresponding period of 2015.

·         With falling international crude prices and import of gold recording a significant decline, trade deficit had been in single digits for all successive months starting from January 2016.

Government E-Marketplace (GeM) – was launched in August, 2016 and became   fully      functional by October, 2016.Presently more than 4000 products in 86 categories and hiring of transport service are available on GeM POC portal. More than 1600 product sellers and service providers and about 1500 Government officials are currently are registered on GeM. Transactions for more than Rs45 Crore have already been processed on GeM. Purchases done through GeM so far, have indicated a reduction in prices to the tune of 10-20%, and in some cases even upto 56%. GeM is a tool to promote Maximum Governance Minimum Government, Make in India, Ease of Doing Business and Digital India. By providing timely payment to vendors GeM not only ensures competitive rates but also encourages small business units/individuals to do business with government organizations.

            Trade Facilitation Agreement

·         The WTO's Trade Facilitation Agreement represents an important milestone by creating an international framework for reducing trade costs. The Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) contains provisions for expediting the movement, release and clearance of goods, including goods in transit. It also sets out measures for effective co-operation between customs and other appropriate authorities on trade facilitation and customs compliance issues. These objectives are in consonance with India’s “Ease of Doing Business” initiative. 

·         As part of Special & Differential Treatment, Developing Countries and least Developed Countries (LDCs) has to categorise all the provisions under Category “A”, “B” or “C”.  Category “A” commitments are those commitments which the notifying Country has to fulfil at the time TFA comes into force. Category “B” are those commitments for which notifying Country can ask for a transition time and for the implementation of category “C” commitments Developing and LDCs are entitled to get Technical assistance.

·         After the approval from Cabinet in February 2016, India Notified its category “A” commitments to WTO under the (TFA) in March, 2016 and later on ratified it in April, 2016. Approximately 70% of the total provisions given under TFA has been notified as category “A”. India has not categorised any provisions under category “C”.

·         The Cabinet has also approved the setting up of a National Committee on Trade Facilitation(NCTF) to facilitate both domestic coordination and implementation of the provisions under the Chairpersonship of Cabinet Secretary.

            Signing of MOU with GSTN on data sharing

·         DGFT on Oct 27, 2016 signed an MOU with the Goods and Services Network (GSTN) for sharing of foreign exchange realisation and Import Export code data. This will strengthen processing of export transactions of taxpayers under GST, increase transparency and reduce human interface.

·         DGFT has signed MOUs with 14 state governments 2 central government agencies and GSTN for sharing of the data. At the state level, Commercial Tax Departments of 14 states have signed MoU with DGFT for receiving e-BRC data for VAT refund purposes. These are: (i) Maharashtra, (ii) Delhi, (iii) Andhra Pradesh,(iv) Odisha, (v) Chhattisgarh,  (vi) Haryana, (vii)  Tamil Nadu,  (viii) Karnataka,  (ix) Gujarat, (x)  Uttar Pradesh, (xi) Madhya Pradesh,  (xii) Kerala,  (xiii) Goa, (xiv) Bihar.

·         In addition, Ministry of Finance, Enforcement Directorate, Agricultural & Processed Food Products Export Development Authority and GSTN have signed MoU.

            Increased Trade Interaction

o   India organized the 1st BRICS Trade Fair from October 12-14, 2016 at India Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO), Pragati Maidan, New Delhi.

o   There were 397 exhibitors in the BRICS Trade Fair with participation from 14,612 business representatives.

o   A number of key sectors such as agriculture and agro processing, auto and auto components, chemicals, green energy, handicrafts, healthcare and pharmaceuticals, high technology, ICT, infrastructure, leather, machine tools, mining and textiles and apparel were represented in the Fair.

o   There were 1,601 Business to Business (B2B) meetings held during the BRICS Trade Fair.

o   The BRICS Business Forum was also held on the sidelines of the BRICS Trade Fair that discussed pertinent topics like green energy, infrastructure development and finance etc.

·         Signing of Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Ministry of Commerce and Industry of the Republic of India and the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation on expansion of Bilateral Trade and Economic Cooperation (15.10.2016).

·         Proposed Agreement on Trade, Commerce and Transit between India and Bhutan signed on 12.11.2016.

·         7th session of India-Greece JEC convened in New Delhi on 23.11.2016. Agreed Minutes of JEC signed by CS & Mr. George Katrougalos, Alternate Minister for Foreign Affairs, Hellenic Republic on 23.11.2016. Deliberations of JEC reflected and reaffirmed cordial relations between two countries.

RCEP under active negotiation. The 15th round was held in October, 2016 at Tianjin, China and 16th RCEP round in December, 2016 at Tangerang, Indonesia. There was an intersessional ministerial held on 03.11.2016 at Cebu, Philippines, wherein, positions on goods, services and investment were clearly articulated by participating countries.

            INNOPROM - 2016

INNOPROM is the largest Industrial Trade Fair in Russia held annually in Yekaterinburg.  India participated in INNOPROM 2016 held on 11-14 July, 2016 as a “Partner Country”, with 117 Indian Companies. The States of Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh and Jharkhand also participated in the event along with various Ministries / Departments / Public Sector Undertakings of Central Government such as Department of Heavy Industry, Department of Electronics & IT, Ministry of Tourism, National Institute of Design, NTPC, NHPC, NEEPCO and Power Grid Corporation.  The Trade Fair was attended by around 700 exhibitors from 95 countries. Participation in INNOPROM 2016 provided opportunities for direct interaction with the global and Russian producers, awareness of best-in-class new manufacturing technologies, international and inter-industrial networking, etc.

.           Board of Trade – re-constituted on 23rd March, 2016

·         First meeting held on 6th April, 2016. Participation by various Members of the Board and some special invitees, comprising senior officials from Government and representatives of certain sectors of trade and industry.

·         Exporters were asked to provide inputs and suggestions on possible trade policy interventions, the institutional framework and possibilities for enhancing trade competitiveness.

.           Global Exhibition on Services (GES)

·         Two editions held in April, 2015 and in April, 2016.

·         Department of Commerce organizes GES, in association with Services Export Promotion Council (SEPC) and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

·         Provides a platform to all the participants from the services industry and other related industry to interact with, and explore new business avenues. 

            Standard Conclaves – held in 2014, 2015 and 2016

·         Government is committed to transforming India into a manufacturing and exporting hub. This is possible only if India’s products are of world class standard.

·         Department of Commerce in collaboration with trade bodies and knowledge partners organizes National Standards Conclave every year.

·         Eight Standards Conclaves (three national and five regional) have been already held to generate awareness.

·         Objective of these Standard Conclaves is to find out gaps in India’s preparedness in this matter to address critical issues related to quality control and the vision of zero defect zero effect state of art manufacturing in India.

            Building the India Brand

A long term branding strategy has been conceptualised to enable India to hold its own in a highly competitive global environment and to ensure that “Brand India‟ becomes synonymous with high quality. Further, a programme to promote the branding and commercialisation of products registered as Geographical Indications and to promote their exports will be initiated within one year of this policy coming into force.

Institutional Mechanisms for Trade Promotion

The schemes for trade promotion under the Department of Commerce, namely, the Market Access Initiative (MAI) Scheme and the Market Development Assistance Scheme will continue. Efforts will be made to support the development of infrastructure for holding conventions in all major tier 1 and tier 2 States. A major convention-cum-exhibition centre will be developed at Pragati Maidan in Delhi replacing the present infrastructure. Export Promotion Councils are being strengthened, both in terms of technical capabilities and management structures.

Major Achievements of the Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation

Year End Review 2016:

Major Achievements of the Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation

Central Statistics Office(CSO)

Ø    United Nations Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics was approved for adoption by the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 04/05/2016 and was notified vide Gazette Notification dated 15/06/2016.

The main objective of the adoption of the United Nations Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics is to bring professional independence, impartiality, accountability and transparency about methods of collection, compilation and dissemination of official statistics, besides fulfilling international commitment.   As the Indian statistical system is horizontally and vertically decentralized, adoption and implementation of these basic principles by the Central Ministries / Departments as well as State Governments would help build and retain essential trust of the public in the integrity of official statistical system and honour citizens / clients’ entitlement to official statistics as ‘public good’.

Ø  Central Statistics Office released the following macroeconomic indices as per pre-decided time schedule:

·        Monthly Consumer Price Index (CPI) which is being used as a measure of inflation by many users and RBI for formulating /regulating Monetary Policy.

·        Monthly Index of Industrial Production (IIP) which is a unit free number based on data of fixed items from a fixed panel of factories that reflects short term changes in manufacturing sector. Graphical representation of Growth rates during this year as per IIP is as below :

·        Press Note on First Revised Estimate of National Income, Consumption Expenditure, Saving and Capital Formation for 2014-15 was released on 29^th January 2016.

·        Advance Estimates of National Income, 2015-16 and Quarterly Estimates of GDP for Q3, 2015-16 were released on 8^th February, 2016.

·        Press Note on Provisional Estimates of Annual National Income, 2015-16 and Quarterly Estimates of Gross Domestic Product for the Fourth Quarter (Q4) of 2015-16 with base year 2011-12 were released on 31^st May, 2016.

·        Press Note on Estimates of Gross Domestic Product for the First Quarter (Q1) of 2016-17 with base year 2011-12 was released on 31st August 2016.

·        Press Note on Estimates of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the Second Quarter (Q2) of 2016-17 with base year 2011-12 was released on 30^th November, 2016.

Ø    Two regional workshops on ‘State Income and Related Aggregates’ were organized at Guwahati and Nainital during 2016 for the benefit of officials of State/UT DESs.

Ø    MoSPI revised the Advance Release Calendar of Annual and Quarterly Estimates of GDP and policy of revision of Annual & Quarterly Estimates of GDP and related Macro-economic Aggregates. The revised release calendar has been placed in public domain. According to the revised calendar the following estimates are scheduled to be released up to March, 2017.

(i).The First Advance Estimates of GDP for the year 2016-17 on January 6, 2017.

(ii). The First Revised Estimates of GDP and related macro-economic aggregates for 2015-16 on January 31, 2017.

(iii).Second advance estimates for the year 2016-17 and Quarterly estimates for the third quarter (October – December) of 2016-17 on February 28, 2017.

Ø    The results of Sixth Economic Census (EC) were released in March, 2016. These are a data source for the number of establishments and number of persons employed therein, for both organised and unorganised sectors by geographical location, type of ownership, source of finance, etc. A workshop for discussing the results of 6^th EC with participants from States/UTs and other Central Ministries was organised in New Delhi during June, 2016. State/UT Directories for establishments employing 10 or more workers, based on Sixth EC data, were released in July, 2016.

Ø    On 29^th June, 2016, the 10^th Statistics Day was celebrated all over India by the Ministry, State Governments, Offices of National Sample Survey Office spread throughout the country, Indian Statistical Institute, Universities/Departments, etc. by organizing Seminars, Conferences, etc. At national level, the main function was held in New Delhi at Vigyan Bhawan under the presence of many dignitaries like Hon’ble Minister of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Shri Radha Mohan Singh, then Hon’ble Minister of Statistics & PI (I/C) Gen. Dr. V.K. Singh, Chairman, National Statistical Commission and Secretary, Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation. The P.V Sukhatme Award was conferred on Prof. T J Rao on this occasion for his lifetime contribution to Statistics. The theme selected for the 10th Statistics Day was ‘Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare’ in view of the recent initiatives and measures taken by Government of India, particularly by Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare to focus on farmer centric programmes and promote the development of relevant agricultural and rural statistics.

Ø    Besides the regular training programmes for Indian Statistical Service and Subordinate Statistical Service officers and other activities, the National Statistical Systems Training Academy (NSSTA) of the Ministry has successfully organised one International Workshop on Data and Statistics for Sustainable Development Goals in collaboration with Statistical Institute for Asia and the Pacific during 05th -09th September, 2016 at Greater Noida.

Ø    MoSPI organized 7th Technical meeting of representatives of BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) in Delhi during 24th to 26th February, 2016 to discuss collaborative data dissemination system and preparation and finalization of BRICS, Joint Statistical Publication 2016 i.e. BRICS, JSP 2016. It was released by Hon’ble Prime Minister of India at BRICS Summit held at Goa during 15 and 16 October, 2016. Further, the Ministry organised 8th Meeting of Heads of National Statistics Offices (NSOs) of BRICS countries during 3rd and 4th November, 2016 at Jaipur (Rajasthan) to discuss Statistical measurement for assessing performance of Industrial Sector.

Ø      The 8^th Meeting of Heads of SAARC Statistical Organizations (SAARCSTAT) held during 29-31 August 2016 in New Delhi, was inaugurated by Shri D.V. Sadananda Gowda, Hon’ble Minister for Statistics and Programme Implementation. The meeting was hosted by India and attended by delegates from all SAARC member states except Afghanistan. Besides member States, representatives from SAARC Secretariat Kathmandu and International Organizations viz., FAO, PARIS 21 (Partnership in Statistics for Development in the 21^st Century) and ADB also attended the meeting. The theme of this year’s meeting was “ Trade Statistics-Merchandise & Services”. The objective of the SAARCSTAT is to support regional cooperation and Initiatives in the field of official statistics among SAARC member States.

Ø    Support for Statistical Strengthening Project (SSSP) is being implemented in 33 States/UTs, including the 8 NE States. Now, the Scheme has been shifted from being a Centrally Sponsored Scheme to a Central Sector Scheme.The Ministry is in the process of finalizing the State Programmes in consultation with the respective State DES officials.

Ø    The new website of the Ministry was launched by the Hon’ble Minister for Statistics & PI on 25^th October, 2016 which is designed and developed as per the Guidelines for Indian Government Websites (GIGW) to facilitate the users.  First workshop on International Household Survey Network (IHSN) toolkit to sensitize the all DESs of State/UTs was organized in October, 2016 at New Delhi. The second such workshop was organised in December, 2016. Documentation of Sixth Economic Census Micro-data & Meta-data in an international standard format using IHSN Toolkit for States/UTs completed.

Ø    A web-based Survey Data Catalogue/ Micro Data Archive of the unit-level data has been created covering the data sets available with the Ministry. These include the data of Annual Survey of Industries, Economic Census, and the National Sample Surveys. The micro data archive is being accessed by various national and international users to download metadata and various reports uploaded on the website. Every month more than one lakh users are accessing the metadata from one source having international standard.

Ø    The final results of ASI 2013-14 have been released in e-media in the month of March, 2016. Vol-I containing summary statements, is available in the Ministry’s website (www.mospi.gov.in), While Vol- II is available in CD on payment basis. The bi-annual journal - “The Journal of Industrial Statistics” is being brought out regularly to provide a platform for the experts, researchers and data-users to publish research and analytical articles, and also to bring out important national and international indicators on industrial statistics. Two issues i.e.  March 2016 issue, and Sept 2016 issue, have been brought out during the year. Seventh national seminar on Industrial Statistics was organized on 26^th September, 2016 in Kolkata

Ø    Index of Industrial Production (IIP) is an important short-term indicator of industrial growth. The current series of IIP is being compiled with an old base of 2004-05. MoSPI has already undertaken the base revision exercise of all-India IIP with 2011-12 as the new base year and a proposal for the same has been placed before the Committee of Secretaries after inter-ministerial consultation.

Ø    Technical assistance in the form of training was provided to State DES officers for compilation of State IIP with new base year 2011-12, in the Zonal review workshops held in Kolkata during August 2016 to September 2016.Issues related to compilation of State level IIP was deliberated with senior officers of State Governments in the National Consultation Meeting chaired by Secretary, MoSPI on 20^th December, 2016 in Delhi.

Ø    MoSPI organized a National Workshop on developing a monitoring framework for the SDGs with the Central Ministries/Departments and State Governments in September 2016

Ø     MoSPI is the nodal agency for component 3 of Country Strategic Plan (CSP) 2015-18 signed between Government of India and WFP on elimination of hunger, which relates to food and nutrition security analysis etc. In furtherance of the same, MoSPI signed the Annual Work Plan 2017 with WFP.

Ø    Central Statistics Office also published/released the following publications during 2016:

·  SAARC Social Charter India Country Report – 2016

·   Fourth edition of the adhoc publication ‘Elderly in India 2016’

·  Compendium of Environment Statistics – India

·  Energy Statistics 2016

·  Statistical Year Book 2016

·  National accounts Statistics 2016

National Sample Survey Office (NSSO)

Ø    National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) will be launching nation-wide Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) with the primary objective to measure quarterly changes of various statistical indicators of the labour market in urban area as well as to generate the annual estimates of different labour force indicators both in rural and urban areas. The survey is expected to start in last quarter of 2016-2017 and will continue thereafter on quarterly basis. For this, the required number of posts has already been created. The process of engaging required contractual manpower and procuring tablets is at advance stage of completion. For the launch of PLFS, NSSO with the technical assistance of World Bank has developed software, viz., Computer Assisted Personal Interviewing (CAPI) solution which will replace the paper schedule of NSSO surveys with the tablet based schedule data collection and validation. This will help in faster data processing and will further reduce the time gap between completion of survey and release of results.

Ø    The Swachhta Status Report 2016, based on the findings of a nation-wide rapid survey to assess the sanitary conditions in rural and urban areas conducted by National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) during May-June, 2015, was released and uploaded on the Ministry’s website in April, 2016. The survey aimed at giving a snapshot of the situation on the availability/accessibility of toilets, solid waste and liquid waste at sample village/ward and household levels aggregated at State and country levels. This report made available at one place the relevant information from different programmes undertaken under Swachh Bharat Mission by different agencies of the Government and other data/findings from Census and National sample Surveys.

Ø    NSSO successfully completed its 73rd round survey (July, 2015 – June, 2016) on the subject ‘Unincorporated Non-agricultural enterprises in Manufacturing, Trade and other services (excluding Construction)’ in June 2016. Thereafter, NSSO launched its 74th round survey (July, 2016 – June, 2017) on ‘Survey on Services Sector’ during July, 2016

Ø    NSSO, based on its 68th, 70th, 71st and 72nd rounds, released following reports during 2016:

i.                    Based on NSS 68^th round on (i) Employment-Unemployment and (ii) Consumer Expenditure:

1)   NSS Report No. 568 - Employment and Unemployment Situation Among Major Religious Groups in India

ii.                  Based on NSS 70^th round on (i) Debt and Investment (ii) Land & Livestock Holdings and (iii) Situation Assessment Survey of Agricultural Households:

1)    NSS Report No. 570 - Household Assets and Liabilities in India

2)    NSS Report No. 572 - Livestock Ownership in India

3)    NSS Report No. 573 - Some Aspects of Farming in India

4)   NSS Report No. 576-Income, Expenditure, Productive Assets and Indebtedness of Agricultural Households in India

5)    NSS Report No. 577 - Household Indebtedness in India

6)   NSS Report No. 578 - Household Assets and Indebtedness among Social Groups in India

iii.                Based on NSS 71^st round on Social Consumption: Health and Education: NSS

1)      NSS Report No. 574-Health in India

2)      NSS Report No. 575 - Education in India

iv.                Based on NSS 72^nd round on Domestic Tourism Expenditure, Household Expenditure on Services and Durable Goods and Household Consumer Expenditure:

1)      Key indicators of Household expenditure on Services and Durable Goods.

2)      Key indicators of  Domestic Tourism in India

Ø    NSSO, apart from its regular reports, also brings out its technical journal called ‘Sarvekshana’. Two issues of Sarvekshana have been released in the calendar year 2016.

Ø    NSSO also organized two-day National Seminar on NSS data on the subjects covered during its 68^th & 69^th rounds during 26-27 May 2016 at Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research (IGIDR), Mumbai.

Programme Implementation (PI) Wing

Ø    Under MPLADS, an amount of Rs. 2295.00 crore was released and an expenditure of Rs. 2585.91 has been incurred up to 30.11.2016 in the current financial year 2016-17. A new integrated MPLADS website developed on state-of-the-art Microsoft platform with built in security features in under implementation. This new website will provide single point of reference for all stake holders including Members of Parliament and District Authorities. All MPLADS fund releases are being made only through this website. This Ministry is regularly organizing training programme for the district officials on the new website. For Central Sector Projects, the monitoring is done through the mechanism of Online Computerized Monitoring System (OCMS).

Department of Science and Technology – Year End Review 2016

Major developments/ achievements of Department of Science and Technology – Year End Review 2016

Major developments/ achievements/ Main highlights of the activities of Department of Science and Technology(DST), Ministry of Science & Technology during the Year 2016 are as following:

v  National Initiative for Developing & Harnessing Innovation (NIDHI), a programme to address the complete chain of innovation ecosystem right from scouting to  mentoring to scaling up  innovations.  launched by DST.  Establishment of a research park at IIT Gandhinagar has been supported at a cost of Rs.90 cr.

v  Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB) has initiated a new scheme viz.  Visiting Advanced Joint Research (VAJRA) Faculty Scheme. The scheme envisages to associate distinguished international faculty as Adjunct/Visiting Faculty in Indian institutions for a period of 1-3 month in a year. 

v  Overseas Doctoral Fellowship scheme aimed to impart research training of Ph.D. Scholars in Indian institutions for collaborative research abroad was launched by SERB. Fellowship would be for a period upto 12 months.  

v  ‘Technology Vision 2035’ document was released by Hon’ble Prime Minister, on 3^rd January 2016 during 103^rd session of Indian Science Congress, held at Mysore University, Mysuru.

v  Devasthal Optical Telescope, an Indo-Belgian venture,  successfully established by Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES), Nainital was technically activated by Hon’ble Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi and Hon’ble Prime Minister of Belgium, Mr. Charles Michel, remotely from Brussels.

v  Surya Jyoti: Photovoltaic integrated Micro Solar Dome, is the simple innovative technology developed to meet the lighting need for people who do not have access to reliable supply of electricity. The product has been included for subsidy under Off Grid and decentralized solar application scheme of Ministry of New and Renewable energy. The Ministry of Rural Development has informed to all States and Union Territories to explore the possibility of adopting this innovative technology of Surya Jyoti for the houses constructed under Prime Minister Awas Yojana-Gramin.

v  The National Award for the successful commercialization of indigenous technology was presented to SMITA Research Lab, IIT Delhi for the commercialization of N9 Pure Silver by , the Hon'ble President of India, during the Technology Day function on 11^th May 2016. Technology was jointly developed by  M/s RESIL Chemicals Private Limited and ARCI, Hyderabad under Nano Mission of DST.

v  Deployment of a mobile RO unit: DST has supported quick deployment and demonstration of a mobile water purification unit developed by CSIR-CSMCRI for producing portable water for drinking. It was  demonstrated in Latur, Marathwada region which  was facing severe scarcity of drinking water during this year’s drought period.

v  Dielectric Barrier Discharge (DBD) based plasma system for portable water purification: A technology developed at CEERI Pilani through support by DST’s Water Technology Initiative (WTI)  for Dielectric Barrier Discharge (DBD) based plasma system for disinfection has been successfully transferred for commercialization to Turners Pvt. Ltd. Jaipur.

v  The Water Quality Laboratory at Kohima, Nagaland: The Referral Water Laboratory, fully equipped with the in house sophisticated analytical equipments for Water Quality analysis was inaugurated by the Hon’ble Union Minister of Science and Technology Dr. Harsh Vardhan at NASTEC, Kohima, Nagaland,

v  Solar Energy Research Institute for India and the United States (SERIIUS): The Indo-US consortium has developed the crucial prototype test loop that demonstrate the multiscale aspects of the supercritical CO₂ Brayton cycle (s-CO2) at IISc Bangalore for development of high temperature concentrated solar power in the country.

v  BRICS STI Cooperation: To further strengthen the collaboration amongst the BRICS countries in the areas of Science, Technology and Innovation (STI), the 4^th BRICS Science, Technology and Innovation Ministerial Meeting was convened on 8 October, 2016 at Jaipur.

v  DST and RC-UK have agreed to launch India-UK Clean Energy R&D Centre on solar energy, storage and integration with an investment of £ 5 million from each side.

v  Building upon the Thames-Ganga Partnership and recognising the importance of clean and portable water, DST and RCUK have agreed to launch a new collaborative programme on Improving Water Quality and Reusing Waste Water.

v  DST-Intel Collaborative Research for Real-Time River Water and Air Quality Monitoring: Recognizing the importance of developing the online River Water and Air Quality Monitoring systems, DST and Intel has initiated a joint programme at a cost of Rs.33 cr on a 50:50 cost sharing basis in Public-Private Partnership (PPP) mode.

v  A new programme on Interdisciplinary Cyber Physical Systems (ICPS) to foster and promote R&D in this emerging field of research has been launched. A Cyber Physical System (CPS) is a mechanism controlled or monitored by computer-based algorithms, tightly integrated with internet and its users. It is an engineered system that are built from and depend upon, the seamless integration of computational algorithms and physical components.

v   Collaboration with the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL), UK: Initiated to access its neutron facility for carrying out research in Nano Science and Technology.

v   DST constituted ‘Standing Committee for Promoting Women in Science’ to address a low representation of women in Science & Technology (S&T) domain. To provide opportunities to women scientists and technologists for pursuing research in basic or applied sciences,  227 projects were recommended for support. Twenty nine projects to women scientist were supported for finding out solutions to  challenges/issues at the grassroots level for social benefit. To create opportunity of self employment and/or also sustainable career for the women scientists, one year internship in the domain of Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) to  111 women was provided during the year.  

v  Technology  demonstrated  for  cyber-digital-physical  reconstruction  of  Hampi heritage  structures. Plans for covering 100 monuments are under formulation.

v  DST-STI Policy Fellowship at post-doctoral level was initiated to generate a critical mass of policy researchers.

v  In the context of Start-up India initiative of the Government,  INSPIRE Awards scheme has been revamped to foster culture of innovation among school children of class VI to class X.  The scheme has been rechristened as INSPIRE Awards-MANAK (Million Minds Augmenting National Aspiration and Knowledge). The 6^th National Level Exhibition & Project Competition was organized during December 10-11, 2016 along with India International Science Festival (IISF) at CSIR-NPL, New Delhi.