Three years of Modi govt: The Lexicon

The Narendra Modi government continued to dish out slogans, acronyms and alliterations in the third year in power to create a buzz around its missions and programmes. Like in the first year and the second year , Mint updates the list with the new buzzwords and phrases that were added to the government’s lexicon in its third year.

A

Year 1

Abki Baar Modi Sarkar: This time, Modi government.

Achhe Din Aane Wale Hain: Good days are about to come.

ART: Accountability, Responsibility, Transparency—aimed at good governance.

ABCD: Avoid, Bypass, Confuse, Delay—comment on the culture within the Indian bureaucracy.

AMRUT: Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation—a programme to replace Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission.

AIM: Atal Innovation Mission— a programme to promote a network of world-class innovation hubs.

Year 2

Accessible India: To ensure universal accessibility for persons with disabilities.

Year 3

AMRIT: Affordable Medicines and Reliable Implants for Treatment

B

Year 1

Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao Abhiyaan: Mission to save and educate girl children

B2B: Bharat to Bhutan (Aimed at improving India-Bhutan ties)

Year 2

BAPU: Biometrically Authenticated Physical Uptake (aims to verify identity of beneficiaries of government schemes by scanning fingerprints)

Year 3

BHIM: Bharat Interface for Money (app for making digital transactions and payments)

Bharatamala: An umbrella program for National Highways to connect coastal/ border areas, pilgrimage sites and district headquarters

C

Year 1

Cooperative and Competitive Federalism: Aims at improving centre-state relationship through teamwork.

Year 2

Climate Change to Climate Justice: Need for change in focus in environment debate.

Creative India, Innovative India: Aims at a new national intellectual property rights policy.

D

Year 1

Digital India: Aims to transform India into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy.

3 Ds: Democracy, Demography and Demand—a comment on India’s advantage over other countries.

Year 2

DIPAM: Department of Investment and Public Asset Management—a new name for the disinvestment department.

Divyang: People with extraordinary capabilities, instead of Viklang (handicapped).

DigiLocker: Government of India’s secure cloud-based platform for storage, sharing and verification of documents and certificates, for paperless governance.

Year 3

DEEP: Discovery of Efficient Electricity Price (e-bidding web portal for electricity)

Digidhan: an event to promote digital transactions

DISHA: Digital Saksharta Abhiyan (Digital literacy mission)

E

Year 1

Ek Bharat Shreshth Bharat: One India, Best India

e-Kranti: Digitizing the delivery of government services.

Year 2

e-Boat: Solar-powered boats on river Ganga at Varanasi.

eNAM: Electronic National Agricultural Market

ePACE: Project Appraisals and Continuing Enhancements—an online portal for monitoring progress of national highways across India.

eBASTA: To make school books accessible in digital form as e-books.

3E: Enterprises, Earning, Empowerment—the motive behind Mudra Bank

Year 3

EPI: Every Person is Important (The new VIP)

Evergreen Revolution: Sustained increase in agricultural production

F

Year 1

FDI: First Develop India

5F: Farm to Fibre, Fibre to Fabric, Fabric to Fashion, Fabric to Foreign

Year 2

FASTag: Electronic tolling system introduced on all national highways across the country.

Year 3

FUTURE: F: farmer, U: underprivileged, T: transparency, technology upgradation, U: urban rejuvenation, R: rural development and E: employment, entrepreneurship.

G

Year 1

#GiveItUp: Programme to inspire consumers to give up the LPG subsidy.

GIAN: Global Initiative of Academic Networks—aimed at American academicians and scientists to teach in India at their convenience.

Year 2

GARV: Grameen Vidyutikaran

Gramodaya Se Bharat Uday Abhiyan: Aimed at increasing social harmony across villages and strengthen the Panchayati Raj.

Year 3

GEM: Government e-marketplace

H

Year 1

HRIDAY: Heritage Development and Augmentation Yojana

Hunar Hai to Kadar Hai: If you have skill, you have respect.

Himmat: A mobile application to ensure women’s safety in Delhi.

HIT: Highways, Informationways, Transmissionways—a mantra for Nepal’s development.

Year 2

HOPE: Harmony, Opportunity, People’s participation, Equality—aim of Indian constitution.

HELP: Hydrocarbon Exploration and Licensing Policy—a uniform licensing system to cover all hydrocarbons under a single licensing framework.

I

Year 1

IT + IT = IT - Indian Talent + Information Technology = India Tomorrow—part of the Digital India initiative.

INCH towards MILES: Indo-China towards Millennium of Exceptional Synergy—for the future of Indo-Sino relations.

Year 2

Iron Fist 2016: India’s show of air power.

Ishan Uday: Scholarship scheme for north-east students.

Year 3

Imprint: Impacting Research Innovation and Technology (Funding research in 10 socially relevant domains)

J

Year 1

JAM trinity: Jan Dhan-Aadhaar-Mobile—for direct cash transfer and subsidy rationalization.

K

Year 2

KVY: Kaushal Vikas Yojana

Karein Prayas, Payein Vikash: Make Effort, Gain Progress—the tagline for Standup India.

Year 3

Kayakalp: An award to promote cleanliness, hygiene and infection control practices in public health facilities

L

Year 1

Link West, Act East: Aimed at making India a part of the global value chain.

M

Year 1

MISIDICI: Make in India, Skill India, Digital India and Clean India

Mera Kya, Mujhe Kya: Modi’s comment on the attitude—what is in it for me; why should I bother—that has ruined the nation.

MUDRA Bank: Micro Units Development and Refinance Agency Bank

Mann Ki Baat: A radio programme hosted on All India Radio where the prime minister addresses the nation.

Mission Indradhanush: Achieving universal immunization with special focus on 184 high-priority districts.

Maximum Governance, Minimum Government: Simplification of official procedures and governance by leveraging technology.

Make in India: Creating the ecosystem to transform India into a manufacturing hub.

Year 2

MIS: For the first time, the Indian government organized the Maritime India Summit (MIS) focusing on investments in shipping, port and inland waterways sector.

Year 3

MODI: Mood Of Developing India

MANAS: Maulana Azad National Academy for Skills (to address skill development needs of minority communities)

N

Year 1

Namami Gange Mission: A national mission for clean-up of the Ganga.

NITI Aayog: National Institution for Transforming India—it replaced the Planning Commission.

Year 2

NAVIC: Navigation with Indian Constellation—India’s own navigation satellite.

3 Ns for Indian Railways: Nav Arjan (new revenues), Nav Manak (new norms), Nav Sanrachna (new structures)

Year 3

NIDHI: National Initiative for Developing and Harnessing Innovations

(Umbrella programme for nurturing ideas and innovations (knowledge-based and technology-driven) into successful start-ups)

O

Year 1

Operation Rahat: Evacuation effort in Yemen.

Operation Maitri: Relief operation in Nepal after the April 2015 earthquake

P

Year 1

PRASAD: Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spirituality Augmentation Drive

PAHAL: Pratyaksha Hastaantarit Laabh—direct benefit transfer of LPG subsidy.

Padhe Bharat, Badhe Bharat: India that is educated is the India that will progress.

PRAGATI: Pro-Active Governance And Timely Implementation—aimed at addressing the common man’s grievances, monitoring and reviewing of government programmes.

Per Drop, More Crop: Promoting farming through optimum utilization of water.

P2G2: Pro-People Good Governance, which the government claims to be its focus.

P4: People Private Public Partnership for good governance.

Project Mausam: To revive ancient maritime routes and cultural linkages with countries in the Indian Ocean.

Year 2

Padhe Padhaein Desh Badhaye: Study and Teach for the development of India.

Project Unnati: To mordernize major ports.

R

Year 1

ROAD: Responsibility, Ownership, Accountability, Discipline—for improving the work culture among bureaucrats.

Red Tape to Red Carpet: Facilitating the ease of doing business.

Year 2

Reform To Transform

4 Rs: Recognition, Recapitalization, Resolution and Reform—for resolving the twin balance sheet problem.

S

Year 1

Swadesh Darshan: Integrated development of theme-based tourist circuits.

Shramev Jayate: Labour reforms plank by the government.

Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas: All together for the development of all.

Swachh Bharat Abhiyan: Clean India Mission

Sagar Mala Project: Promoting port-led development along the coastal regions and communities.

SETU: Self Employment and Talent Utilisation—providing support to all aspects of start-ups from credit to incubation.

Swasth Dhara, Khet Hara: Healthy Earth for a Green Farm—aimed at boosting farm productivity.

SMART policing: Strict but Sensitive, Modern and Mobile, Alert and Accountable, Reliable and Responsive, Tech-savvy and Trained policing.

3S: Skill, Scale, Speed—what India needs to do to compete with China.

SWAYAM: Study Webs of Active-Learning for Young Aspiring Minds—for IITs, IIMs and central universities to offer free online courses.

SAMAVAY: Skill Assessment Matrix for Vocational Advancement of Youth—to allow multiple entry and exit options between vocational and formal education courses.

Year 2

Sahayak: New name for railway coolies.

StandUp India: Promoting entrepreneurship among SC/ST and women.

SWIFT: Single Window Interface for Facilitating Trade

Startup India: To encourage the startup ecosystem in India.

Setu Bharatam: Programme to build bridges for safe travel on national highways.

SAGARMALA: To connect all seven coastal states through ocean and sea routes.

Shipping Samvad: A new portal for submitting innovative ideas for shipping sector.

3S: Speed, Simplicity, Service—the desirable elements in technology.

SRESHTA: Special Railway Establishment for Strategic Technology and Holistic Advancement—a special unit for conducting in-house research in railway.

SMART: Specially Modified Aesthetic Refreshing Travel—specially designed railway coaches.

Year 3

SOLVE: System for Online Vigilance clearance Enquiries (Online platform for vigilance clearance for board-level appointments in central public sector enterprises)

SUPREMO: Single User Platform Related To Employees Online (Integration of seven different software for central government employees)

SHAKTI: Scheme to Harness and Allocate Koyla (Coal) Transparently in India (New coal linkage policy)

Setu Bharatam: For building bridges for safe and seamless travel on National Highways

SAMADHAN: (the new anti-Maoist strategy): Smart Leadership to convert failure into success—Aggressive Strategy, Motivation and Training, Actionable Intelligence, Dashboard Based KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) and KRAs (Key Result Areas), Harnessing Technology, Action plan for each Theatre and No access to Financing.

SEVA: Saral Eindhan Vitaran Application ( App to ensure transparency and accountability in coal dispatch for power sector consumers)

SAMPADA: Supplement Agriculture Modernise Processing And Decrease Agriwaste (Scheme for Agro-Marine Processing and Development of Agro-Processing Clusters)

SAUNI: Saurashtra Narmada Avtaran Irrigation Yojna

SANKALP: Skill Acquisition and Knowledge Awareness for Livelihood Promotion program

T

Year 1

Tax Terrorism: Comment on aggressive tax policies including retrospective amendment of tax laws.

5Ts: Talent, Tradition, Tourism, Trade and Technology, aimed at building Brand India.

Year 2

Twin Balance Sheet problem: The impaired financial positions of public sector banks and some large corporate houses.

Year 3

TIES: Trade Infrastructure for Export Scheme (Scheme to build export infrastructure at state level)

Tarang: Transmission App for Real Time Monitoring and Growth (monitoring tool to track the progress of Inter-State & Intra-State transmission systems in the country)

U

Year 1

USTTAD: Upgrading Skills and Training in Traditional Arts/Crafts for Development

Unnat Bharat Abhiyan: IITs and NITs providing technological resources to rural areas for sustainable development.

Year 2

UJALA: Unnat Jyoti by Affordable LEDs for All

UDAY: Ujwal Discom Assurance Yojna

Udaan scheme: Aims to provide skills training and enhance the employability of unemployed youth of Jammu and Kashmir.

Year 3

URJA: Urban Jyoti Abhiyaan (To improve consumer connect on electricity related issues)

UDAN: Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik (regional air connectivity scheme)

V

Year 2

Vidyut Prabhah: Portal provides power availability in the country on real-time basis.

Year 3

Vidyanjali: A school volunteer programme

Z

Year 1

Zero Effect, Zero Defect: Aimed at improving the quality of goods produced in India

Key Achievements and Initiatives of Department of Financial Services for providing Social Security and Credit to various sections of society and ensuring Financial Inclusion

Key Achievements and Initiatives of Department of Financial Services for providing Social Security and Credit to various sections of society and ensuring Financial Inclusion

Through its Major Schemes, Department of Financial Services is ensuring financial inclusion, providing social security to the people as well as providing credit to various sections of the society. The major achievements of various schemes under the Department are highlighted below.

1.      Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY)

The deposit base of PMJDY accounts has expanded over time. As on 05.04.2017, the deposit balance in PMJDY accounts was Rs. 63,971 crore in 28.23 crore accounts. The average deposit per account has more than doubled from Rs. 1,064 in March 2015 to Rs. 2,235 in March 2017.  22.14 crore RuPay cards have been issued under PMJDY.

The Bank Mitra network has also gained in strength and usage. The average number of transactions per Bank Mitra, on the Aadhaar Enabled Payment System operated by Bank Mitras, has risen by over eightyfold, from 52 transactions in 2014-15 to 4,291 transactions in 2016-17.

                                                                     

2.      Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY)

As on 12^th April, 2017, Cumulative Gross enrolment reported by Banks subject to verification of eligibility, etc. is about 3.1 Crore under PMJJBY. A total of 63291 claims were registered under PMJJBY of which 59770 have been disbursed. 

3.      Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY)

As on 12^th April, 2017, Cumulative Gross enrolment reported by Banks subject to verification of eligibility, etc. is about 10 Crore under PMSBY.  A total of 12816 claims were registered under PMSBY of which 9646 have been disbursed. 

4.      Atal Pension Yojana (APY)

As on 31^st March, 2017, a total of 48.54 lakh subscribers have been enrolled under APY with a total pension wealth of Rs. 1,756.48 crore.

5.      Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana     

Under the scheme a loan of upto Rs. 50000 is given under sub-scheme ‘Shishu’; between Rs. 50,000 to 5.0 Lakhs under sub-scheme ‘Kishore’; and between 5.0 Lakhs to 10.0 Lakhs under sub-scheme ‘Tarun’.

As per latest data, loans extended under the Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY) during 2016-17 have crossed the target of Rs. 1,80,000 crore for 2016-17. Sanctions currently stand at Rs. 1,80,528 crore. Of this amount, about Rs. 1,23,000 crore was lent by banks while non-banking institutions lent about Rs. 57,000 crore.

Data compiled so far indicates that the number of borrowers this year were about 4 crore, of which over 70% were women borrowers. About 18% of the borrowers were from the Scheduled Caste Category, 4.5% from the Scheduled Tribe Category, while Other Backward Classes accounted for almost 34% of the borrowers.

6.      Stand Up India Scheme

The Scheme facilitates bank loans between Rs.10 lakh and Rs.1 crore to at least one Scheduled Caste/ Scheduled Tribe borrower and at least one Woman borrower per bank branch for setting up greenfield enterprises. This enterprise may be in manufacturing, services or the trading sector.

As on 11^th April, 2017, Rs 5807.7 crore has been sanctioned in 28444 accounts. Of these, women hold 22708 accounts with sanctioned loan of Rs 4740.11 crore, Scheduled Caste persons hold 4487 accounts with sanctioned amount of Rs 825.17 crore while Scheduled Tribe persons hold 1249 accounts with a sanctioned amount of Rs. 242.43 crore.

7.      Varishtha Pension Bima Yojana (VPBY)

The revived Varishtha Pension Bima Yojana (VPBY) was formally launched by the Finance Minister on 14.08.2014 based on the budget announcement made during 2014-15 and has been opened during the window stretching from 15^th August, 2014 to 14^th August, 2015. Thus all those who subscribe to the VPBY during this period will receive an assured guaranteed return of 9% under the policy. As per LIC, a total number of 3,23,128 policies with corpus amount of Rs. 9073.20 crore have been subscribed to the Scheme.

8.      Other Initiatives

The Government of India in the Interim Budget of FY 2014-15, announced the setting up of Venture Capital Fund for Scheduled Castes under the head Social Sector Initiatives in order to promote entrepreneurship among the Scheduled Castes (SC). The scheme is operational since 16.01.2015 with a present corpus of Rs. 290.01 crore contributed by Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Govt. of India (Rs. 240.01 crore) and IFCI Ltd. as sponsor and investor (Rs. 50 crore).  As of 15.03.2017, IFCI Venture Capital Fund Ltd. has sanctioned and disbursed Rs. 236.66 crore and Rs. 109.68 crore to 65 and 32 beneficiaries, respectively under the scheme since launch of the scheme.

The Credit Enhancement Guarantee Scheme (CEGS) for Scheduled Castes (SCs) was announced by Govt. of India in the Union Budget of 2014-15 wherein a sum of Rs.200 crore was allocated towards credit facility cover for young and energetic start-up entrepreneurs, belonging to SCs, who aspire to be part of neo middle class category with an objective to encourage entrepreneurship in the lower strata of the society resulting in job creation besides creating confidence in SCs.

Banks have undertaken Financial Literacy programmes through 718 Financial Literacy and Credit Counselling Centres (FLCCs). A total of 17,422 skilling centres have been mapped with branches and literacy centres, and financial literacy imparted to 7 lakh students. The literacy materials have been developed in regional languages and disseminated.

Card acceptance infrastructure: To augment card acceptance infrastructure for use of debit cards, a major drive was undertaken between December 2016 and March 2017, resulting in an increase in the number of Point of Sale (PoS) terminals by an additional 12.54 lakh, up from 15.19 lakh as on 30.11.2016. Further, to improve such infrastructure in villages, 2.04 lakh PoS terminals have been sanctioned from the Financial Inclusion Fund by NABARD.

Dhola-Sadiya: A Bridge of New Hope for the North East

Dhola-Sadiya: A Bridge of New Hope for the North East

Road connectivity in the North-East will see a major transformation when Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi inaugurates the country’s longest river bridge –the Dhola- Sadiya Bridge in Assam tomorrow. This new, three lane, 9.15 kilometre bridge has been built over river Lohit, a tributary of the Brahmaputra, linking Dhola to Sadiya in Assam . The bridge will fill a huge connectivity gap that has existed in the region. Till now, the only means to cross the Brahmaputra at this location has been by ferry only in day-time and even this is not possible during floods. The last bridge over the Brahmaputra was the Kalia Bhomora Bridge at Tejpur. This will however change from tomorrow with the Dhola-Sadiya bridge ensuring 24X7 connectivity between upper Assam and Eastern part of Arunachal Pradesh.

The bridge will also reduce the distance from Rupai on NH- 37 in Assam to Meka/Roing on NH-52 in Arunachal Pradesh by 165 KM. The travel time between the two places will come down from the current six hours to just one hour – a total five hour reduction. This will result in saving of petrol and diesel worth Rs 10 Lakh per day.

The Dhola-Sadiya bridge promises to usher in prosperity in the North-East. It will provide efficient road connectivity to remote and backward areas which have poor road infrastructure. This bridge will also give a major boost to overall economic development of the areas north of Brahmaputra in upper Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. It will also cater to the strategic requirements of the country in the border areas of Arunachal Pradesh, besides facilitating numerous hydro power projects coming up in the state , as it is the most sought after route for various power project developers.

The total length of the Dhola-Sadiya Bridge project, including the approach roads on each side, is 28.50 km. The length of the bridge itself is 9.15 Km. It has been constructed on BOT Annuity basis at a total cost of Rs 2,056 crore, as part of the Arunachal Package of Roads and Highways under the Ministry’s SPECIAL ACCELERATED ROAD DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME for NORTH EAST (SARDP-NE). The objective was to bring the people of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh closer to each other.

“ISA can act as a medium to achieve universal energy access target set up before 2030”

“ISA can act as a medium to achieve universal energy access target set up before 2030”- Shri Piyush Goyal

Shri Piyush Goyal, Minister of State (IC) for Power, Coal, Mines and New & Renewable Energy said that International Solar Alliance ( ISA) can act as a medium to spread lessons on energy security which can help achieve universal energy access target set up in SDGs before 2030. He was speaking at the launch of “Scaling Solar MiniGrids” by France and India on the sidelines of 52nd Annual Meeting of the African Development Bank (AfDB) in Ahmedabad yesterday. 

 

Speaking on the occasion, Shri Goyal called for deeper Indo-African cooperation. He said that Indian renewable energy sector offers lessons such as lower and innovative financing models, risk reduction, setting up large scale solar projects through energy parks. “India has achieved grid parity in solar tariffs”, he added. 

 

Shri Piyush Goyal also said that Scaling Solar MiniGrids shall work in tandem with ISA’s over all objectives and already existing two programmes, namely Scaling Solar Applications for Agricultural Use and Affordable Finance at Scale launched on 22nd April, 2016. The main activities under the programme shall include-design and deploy small grids, adopt common standards, aggregate demand, help establish global credit enhancement and de-risking mechanisms, call for expression of interest, assess demand and costs requirement for mini grid projects, identify/develop attractive payment models for consumers, and persuade member countries with overseas assistance budgets to earmark a portion of their soft loan for the Third Programme.

 

The objective of the event is to cater to the energy needs of ISA Member states in identified areas with unreliable or no grid(s), and in island member states having abundant potential to tap solar energy. Such participating member countries can take advantage of the available solutions to promote universal energy access and reduce electricity costs and tariffs through introduction and promotion of mini, micro, and nano grids with smart features for harnessing solar power, in a time bound manner.

 

Mr. Ahmed Said Hassaini Djaffar, Vice President of the Republic of Comoros in his address welcomed the ISA initiative and stated that Africa is a solar resource rich region and can help achieve targets in solar energy.  

 

ISA’s third programme is an attempt to address the challenges in integrating solar energy into insular or unconnected electricity grids. The challenges mainly include iniquitous electricity tariff regimes, small and disaggregated size of the markets, building up of local skill sets, lack of access to low cost capital, effective interconnection to grids in rural, remote and urban areas etc. In addition management of variability, intermittency and its impact on the stability of small-scale electricity systems also add to the woes.

 

Recently Expression of Interest have been received from Indian companies to install 664,000 solar pumps, install 56 MW of Minigrids and train 5400 solar mechanics in the African countries who have signed and ratified the ISA Framework Agreement. Government of India is extending a US $ 10 billion line of credit for undertaking developmental work in African countries. On the request of ISA, Government of India has agreed to earmark 15-20% of this line of credit for undertaking solar related projects. H.E. Mrs.  Ségolène Royal, Minister for Environment, Energy and Marine Affairs of France, in charge of International Relations on climate change, was the main architect and motivator to launch this programme during such a short period. Delegation from the French Embassy was present too on this occasion.

 

The International Solar Alliance is an initiative jointly launched by the Honourable Prime Minister of India and Honourable President of France on 30th November 2015 at Paris, in the presence of the Secretary General of the UN, on the side lines of COP21. The main objective of ISA is to undertake joint efforts required to reduce the cost of finance and the cost of technology, mobilize more than US $ 1000 billion of investments needed by 2030 for massive deployment of solar energy, and pave the way for future technologies adapted to the needs of 121 countries lying fully or partially between the Tropics. So far 31 countries have signed the Framework Agreement of the ISA, which is the first international and intergovernmental organization to be headquartered in India.

 

 

Continental ties - India's outreach to Africa 

Continental ties - India's outreach to Africa

he African Development Bank’s decision to hold its annual general meeting in India this month is a signal of the importance African countries attach to New Delhi’s growing role in its development. It was nearly a decade ago, in 2008, that India made a serious attempt for a strategic partnership with all of Africa, instead of just the nations it traded with, at the first India-Africa Forum Summit. At that time, India’s efforts seemed minimal, a token attempt at keeping a foothold in a continent that was fast falling into China’s sphere of influence. New Delhi had its work cut out, building a place for India as a partner in low-cost technology transfers, a supplier of much-needed, affordable generic pharmaceuticals, and a dependable donor of aid that did not come with strings attached. Over the past few years the outreach to Africa has also been driven by visits of President Pranab Mukherjee, Vice-President Hamid Ansari and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. As Mr. Modi pointed out in his speech to the AfDB in Gandhinagar on Tuesday, every country in Africa has by now been visited by an Indian Minister, highlighting the personal bonds India shares. During the India-Africa summit held in Delhi in 2015, the Centre announced a further $10 billion export credit and a $600 million grant which, despite being a fraction of the aid Africa received from China and blocs such as the European Union, was a significant sum for India.

Having established its credentials and commitment over time, the Centre is now taking its partnership beyond dollars and cents to a new strategic level. To begin with, India is working on a maritime outreach to extend its Sagarmala programme to the southern coastal African countries with ‘blue economies’; it is also building its International Solar Alliance, which Djibouti, Comoros, Cote d’Ivoire, Somalia and Ghana signed on to on the sidelines of the AfDB project. In its efforts, India has tapped other development partners of Africa, including Japan, which sent a major delegation to the AfDB meeting. It has also turned to the United States, with which it has developed dialogues in fields such as peacekeeping training and agricultural support, to work with African countries. It is significant that during the recent inter-governmental consultations between India and Germany, both countries brought in their Africa experts to discuss possible cooperation in developmental programmes in that continent. It will take more heavy-lifting to elevate India’s historical anti-colonial ties with Africa to productive economic partnerships. But it is clear that at a time when China is showcasing its Belt and Road Initiative as the “project of the century” and also bolstering its position as Africa’s largest donor, a coalition of like-minded countries such as the one India is putting together could provide an effective way to ensure more equitable and transparent development aid to Africa.

 

3 year progress of communicatio

India becomes second largest network in the world with crossing the landmark of one billion telephone subscribers: Shri Manoj Sinha

Total broadband connection till March 2017 crosses 276.52 million: Shri Sinha

Mega spectrum auction fetches highest ever upfront payment of Rs. 32434 crore against 965 MHz of spectrum since 2012: Shri Sinha

India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) launches two branches in Raipur and Ranchi: Shri Sinha

129 Post Office Passport SevaKendras (POPSKs) in various parts of the country has been agreed with MEA, 50 Operationalized till now: Shri Manoj Sinha

Shri Manoj Sinha, Union Minister of State for Communications held a Press Conference today to brief about the initiatives and reforms done by the Ministry in last three years. Shri Manoj Sinha said that the Ministry of Communications achieved significant mile stones since May 2014. A number of initiatives were taken for efficient implementation of policies through Department of Telecomm and Department of Post. Shri Sinha said that interests of consumers who use services provided by the ministry are high on the agenda of the Government.

Three Years Achievement of the Department of Telecommunication

1. Physical performance

·         The Indian telecom sector has made rapid strides during the last few years because of several reforms and initiatives undertaken by the Department of Telecommunications. 

·         India now has the second largest network in the world, next only to China. India crossed the landmark of one billion telephone subscribers in the year 2015-16.

·         Total subscription now stands at 1194.99 million as on 31.3.2017.

·         501.81 million connections are in rural areas and 693.18 million in the urban areas. 

·         The wireless telephony constitutes 97.96% (1170.59 million) of all subscriptions whereas share of the landline telephony now stands at 2.04% (24.40 million) at the end of March, 2017.

·         261.97 million telephones were added during April 2014 to March, 2017 as compared to 86.69 million net addition during the April, 2011 to March 2014.

·         Mobile phone addition touched 266.07 million during the period from April 2014 to March 2017 as compared to 92.92 million during the April 2011 to March 2014

·         Total internet connections as on December 2016 was 391.5 million. Total broadband connection till March 2017 stood at 276.52 million.

·         139.91 million Internet connections have been added during March 2014 to December 2016.

·         Data traffic in India has shown a six fold increase from 561 million GB in the first quarter to 2988 million GB in the third quarter of 2016-17.

·         FDI equity inflow in telecom sector from April, 2016 to March, 2017 has reached US $ 5564 million which is more than four times the average inflow of about 1.3 billion annually (since 2013-14). 

2. Spectrum reforms

·         The mega spectrum auction was held in October, 2016 sold 965 MHz of spectrum in different bands.  The auction fetched highest ever upfront payment of Rs. 32434 crore since 2012.

·         Reforms such as spectrum sharing, trading, and harmonistaion have been done in the year 2016 to facilitate rationalization and optimum use of resources.

3. Other policy reforms

·         The ‘Aadhaar based E-KYC services’ for issuing mobile connections has been prescribed from September, 2016.  Under this, a subscriber can authenticate himself using his biometrics at the point of sale.

·         One Nation - Full Mobile Number Portability (MNP) has been allowed since 3^rd July 2015.

4. Projects

·         The flagship BharatNet program is being implemented to link each of the 2.5 lakh Gram Panchayats of India through Broadband optical fibre network.

·         As on date OFC has been laid in 202675 km covering 90027 Gram Panchayats (GPs). OFC pipes have been laid   in 2,24,340 km covering 100934 GPs.

·         Comprehensive Telecom Development Plan for North-East Region (NER) has been approved to provide mobile coverage to 8621 uncovered villages, installation of 321 mobile towers along National Highways and strengthening of transmission network

·         Proposal to setup 25,000 Public Wi-Fi Hotspots using the block-level infrastructure of BSNL’s Telephone Exchanges in rural areas has been approved.

·         A proposal for setting up of 5000 Wi-Fi Chaupals at Gram Panchayat levels in the 18 states of the country by CSC-SPV, at an estimated cost of`100 crore, to be funded from USOF, has  been approved.

·    An agreement is proposed to be signed with RailTel for setting up Wi-Fi hotspot at 200  at rural railway stations.

5. Consumer centric measures

·         Mobile phones sold in India now come with a dedicated “panic button” and Global Positioning System( GPS).

·         Department of Telecom has launched Tarang Sanchar, a web portal for Information sharing on Mobile Towers and EMF Emission Compliances. The portal can be accessed at www.tarangsanchar.gov.in

·         DoT had launched 1955 Interactive Voice Response System (IVRS) in 5 states on 23/12/2016 and in remaining states on 12/1/2017 and 16/03/2017 for obtaining public feedback on call drops

·         Both Government and TRAI are taking all possible steps and pursuing with the TSPs to address the problem of call drop and bring it down within the permissible limit.

·         Department has launched “Twitterseva” on 2^nd August 2016 for obtaining feedback/grievances related to Telecom issues and services from the public.

6. MTNL

·         MTNL has launched a special program to progressively increase the fibre length by redeploying the broadband nodes (DSLAMS) near to the subscriber premises in Delhi and Mumbai thereby reducing copper length and enhancing the quality of broadband service.

·         MTNL is in the process of expansion of mobile network by adding 1080 new 3G sites for upgrading Data handling capacity to 10 Gbps.

·         Provided Wi-Fi Hotspots with more than 100 Access points at various locations in Delhi including 7 tourist places i.e. Red Fort, QutubMinar, Lodhi Garden, Humayun Tomb, PuranaQila and 5 market places i.e. Nehru Place, HauzKhas, Defence Colony, Arobindo Marg, Green Park.

·         Provided connectivity to set up 500 Wi-Fi Hotspot by Government of Maharashtra, Project commissioned on 9^th January, 2017.

·         MTNL provided connectivity at 133 locations for Area Traffic Control Project of Mumbai Traffic Police for Road Traffic Monitoring.

·         The free night calling facility was introduced for all landline customers for making local calls to any network in Delhi and Mumbai between 10 PM to 7 AM.

·         Launched Android based “My MTNL”APP.

·         Introduced single Pan India Customer Care No.1130.

7.  BSNL

·         Present Market Share of BSNL is 9.95% (as on 31.12.2016) which was 8.16% as on 31.12.2015.  The total income increased by 7.05% upto third quarter w.r.t. previous year same period.  EBIDTA of BSNL which was (-) 691 CR in 2013-14 has become (+) 672 CR in 2014-15 & further (+) 3855 CR in 2015-16.

·         Till date BSNL has provided 5000 Wi-Fi hotspots (approx) in more than 1000 locations.

·         BSNL is in process of setting up 40,000 Wi-FI hotspots with Mobile data off loading shortly to provide 4G experience to 2G/3G customers.

·         BSNL is planning to provide 25,000 hotspots in each of its 25,000 rural exchanges in 2016-17.

·         BSNL has provided Night free calling (between 9 PM to 7 AM) to all networks for BSNL customers.  Sunday free calling has also been extended.

·         In Maharashtra Circle 500 villages in Nagpur SSA were provide with internet facility through Public Wi-FI hotspots with Fund support of State Govt.

·         ECR CONE (Enhanced Capacity & Resilience of Core Network) has been planned with an estimated cost Rs.1000 Cr. for higher Data speed Broadband services, leasing of High capacity Bandwidth to Telecom Operators/ISP’s which will includes implementation of the Super Highway Transport Network with 100 Gbps line capacity.

Three Years Achievement of the Department of Posts

1-     IT Modernization Project

With a total outlay of Rs. 4909 Crore, the IT Modernization Project of Department of Posts is being carried out and as a result (a) Data Centre is operational at NaviMumbai, (b) Disaster Recovery Centre (DRC) has been powered on at Mysore on 15^th May, 2015, (c) So far 23277 Post Offices for Core Banking Solution (CBS) and 25406 Post Offices for Core Insurance Solution (CIS) have been migrated. Automated Teller machine (ATM) Services-installed at 980 locations, (d) ATMs are inter-operable w.e.f. 31-12-2016 and (e) 28252 locations have been networked on a single Wide Area Network (WAN) and connected to Data Centre.

2-     India Post Payments Bank (IPPB)

The India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) has launched two branches in Raipur and Ranchi. IPPB aims to catalyze financial inclusion in India, by ensuring that everyone has equal access to financial services, no matter who they are, what they earn and where they live. IPPB will take basic banking to the un-banked and the under-banked across all cross-sections of society.

3-     Setting up of Post Office Passport SevaKendras (POPSKs)

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and the Department of Posts (DOP) have agreed to utilize the Post Offices in the various States as Post Office Passport SevaKendras (POPSKs) for delivering passport related services to the citizens. In current phase, setting up of 129 Post Office Passport SevaKendras (POPSKs) in various parts of the country has been agreed with MEA. Out of 129, POPSKs at 50 locations have been inaugurated till 19.05.2017 including Metagalli Post Office, Mysuru in Karnataka and Dohod Head Office in Gujarat which were the first to commence operations.

4-     Mobile Money Transfer Service:-

Mobile Money Transfer is a service that enables instant money transfer from one place to another using mobile, through Indian Post Offices. The consumer just needs to have a mobile phone while the actual transmission of the money is initiated by the Postal Assistant, using his/her special handset. This service is a boon for those sections of our society who regularly remit money to their homes at faraway places and who have no access to any other financial instrument like bank account, etc. except mobile phones