CSIR Wins International Competition to Set up Wax Deoiling Technology at Numaligarh Refinery of BPCL

The Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) through its constituent laboratory Indian Institute of Petroleum (IIP), Dehradun, in association with the Engineers India Ltd (EIL) had won international competition to adopt the Wax Deoiling Technology at Numaligarh Refinery Ltd (NRL). The Wax Deoiling Plant based on such indigenously developed technology is set up with an investment of 750 crore rupees at NRL - a subsidiary of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) - situated in north-east part of India.             The first batch of Paraffin Wax has been produced and regular production of Paraffin Wax is expected to start by the end of first quarter 2015. This commercialization of indigenous technology is in line with ‘Make in India’ initiative taken by the Government of India.             The CSIR made the announcement on the eve of the national science day tomorrow.             The Wax Deoiling Technology is used to produce waxes from petroleum streams. This newly set up plant will produce 50,000 MMTPA of high value Paraffin Wax and 4,500  MTPA of Microcrystalline Wax that will help cut down the wax import by 50 per cent and  will save the foreign exchange of the order of about 500 crore rupees/annum. Besides, the production of Paraffin and Microcrystalline waxes at NRL, it will also help to add new high value wax products in refinery’s product slate and will contribute in enhancing the refinery’s profitability. Paraffin wax is used for making candles, polishes, medicines, food packaging, paints, leather etc, while Microcrystalline Wax is mainly used in cosmetic industry. Salient Features of CSIR-IIP & EIL Solvent Dewaxing-Deoiling Technology • Lower solvent-to-feed ratio with prudent filtrate recycles • Optimum solvent dilution scheme combining delayed dilution, incremental dilution   and cold dilution techniques for maximum gains • Controlled crystallization for larger crystals with narrow crystal size distribution • Low specific coke resistance and high slurry filterability • Two-stage filtration with balanced filter cycle • High wash efficiency energy efficient process with built in operational flexibility   and continuous process back-up etc. Societal Benefits             This wax plant will help to develop small-scale ancillaries and cottage industries in the nearby areas and will promote industrial development in the north-east region of India. This plant will also generate direct and indirect employment opportunities for local people, thereby improving their quality of life.

Major Reform Initiatives Undertaken by Government in Banking, Insurance and Financial Sector

Economic Survey 2014- 15 states that liquidity conditions (money supply) have remained broadly balanced during 2014-2015 except for some temporary tight conditions due to delayed government expenditure. Steps taken by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) played a positive role in managing the liquidity conditions. ·         Till January 2015, RBI had kept the policy rates unchanged. As inflationary conditions eased, RBI softened the monetary policy by cutting the Repo rates by 25 basis points in January 2015 (from 8% to 7.75%). ·         The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) also adopted new Consumer Price Index (combined) as the measure for nominal anchor (Headline CPI) for policy communication.                                      Economic Survey 2014- 15 also mentions about the many reform initiatives undertaken in the banking sector during 2014- 2015. These include 1.       Banks being allowed to raise capital from the market to meet capital adequacy norms by diluting the government’s stake up to 52 per cent. 2.      Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana launched to provide universal access to banking facilities with at least one basic banking account for every household. 3.      In April 2014, two applicants have been granted ‘in principle’ approval to set-up new banks in the private sector within 18 months. 4.      RBI released guidelines and invited applications for setting up payments banks and local area banks.                                     According to Economic Survey, FY 2014- 2015 saw some stress on the asset quality of the Scheduled Commercial Banks as there was an increase in gross NPA (Non Performing Advances) to the total gross advances. NPA increased from 4.1 %( March 2014) to 4.5 %( September 2014). As on June 2014 , five subsectors, viz. Infrastructure, Textiles, Iron & Steel, Mining and aviation hold 54% of total stressed advances of Public Sector Banks.     Actions taken by RBI to deal with NPAs 1.      Issued guidelines, prompting banks to act as soon as a sign of stress is noticed in borrower’s actions and not to wait for it to become a NPA. 2.      Tightened norms to Asset Reconstruction Companies, increasing the minimum investment in security receipts to 15% from 5%. 3.      Issued guidelines to bring flexibility in project loans to infrastructure and core industry projects.                                      2014- 2015 also saw a decline in the growth of bank credit due to high accretion of NRI deposits and also due to low deposit mobilization                                      Economic Survey points out that insurance penetration in India has grown from 2.3% in 2000 t0 3.9% in 2013. This insurance penetration level compares well with the emerging market economies. The sector registered a growth of 9.4% during 2013- 14 with Life Insurance Corporation of India registering 13.5 % growth. Ø  Reform initiatives in Insurance sector during 2014- 2015                    1.      Promulgation of Insurances Laws (Amendment) Ordinance 2014  : ·         to remove archaic and redundant provisions in insurance laws ·         empowering Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority to enable more effective regulation ·         to increase the foreign equity cap in Indian Insurance Companies from 26% to 49%           Equity Markets continue to do well for the financial year 2014- 2015 as per the Economic Survey 2014- 15. The benchmark indices, BSE Sensex and Nifty showed a general upward trend in the current year with growth rates of 29.9 % and 31.4 % year on year. Reform initiatives in financial sector during 2014- 2015       1.      Improvement in Corporate Governance norms 2.      Establishment of a foreign portfolio investor for better functioning of both primary and secondary markets                      Overall Economic Survey 2014-15 talks about increased financial inclusion, improved insurance penetration and fast growing equity markets in India. It also dwells into the problems faced by the banking sector and the major policy initiatives by the government to enable the growth of banking, insurance and financial sectors.

Improvement in Female Literacy and Educational Challenges

There has been a marked improvement in female literacy as per Census 2011. Though the male literacy is still higher at 80.9 percent than female literacy at 64.6 percent, the increase has been 10.9 percent compared to 5.6 percent of the males. The new Scheme Beti Bachao Beti Padhao, for promoting survival protection and education of girl child aims to address the issue of declining figures through a mass campaign targeted at changing social mindset and creating awareness. The right of Children to free and compulsory Education (RCE) act 2009 implemented under Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan aimed to increase the quality as well as accessibility of elementary Education in India. Economic Survey points out that the overall Standard of Education in India is below global Standards. The Programme for International Students Assessment (PISA) which measures the knowledge and skills of 15 year-olds has rated Tamil Nadu and Himachal Pradesh only higher to other States in the Country. There is a considerable scope for Post-Secondary Education and Training System, as well as for places, to improve the Proficiency of young People. The inadequacy of human capital at the base of the pyramid leading to a huge backlog in basic skills put become a big impediment in India’s growth as a result of the changing demography and declining child population. The Padhe Bharat Badhe Bharat initiative to create a base for reading, writing, and math fluency can be effective if the local administration is fully involved and sensitized in it. India has about 100 million young people in the age group of 15-18 years, majority of which could land up in unorganized sector as there are educational and age requirement for entry into most vocational skills Programmes. There is a need for research into the type of knowledge or skills required to address this issue. In order to build capacity in secondary schools on par with expanded primary enrolments, several schemes like the Mid-Day Meal scheme, Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan, Model School Scheme and Saakshar Bharat/Adult Education have also been implemented in the country. To strengthen the cadre of teacher educators by providing early career choice to prospective teachers and to fill the vacancies in teacher education institutions, a new four-year integrated programme, i.e. BA./Bed, and BSc./Bed. has been introduced. The Indian higher education system is one of the largest in the world with 713 universities, 36,739 colleges, and 11,343 diploma-level institutions. To make Higher Education to be futuristic envision areas that will generate future employment opportunities, there is a need to match the supply with demand and dovetail education policy to employment opportunities.

Mission Indradhanush will Provide Immunization Against 7 Life-Threatening Diseases

The Government has launched “Mission Indradhanush” on 25th December, 2014 with an aim to cover all those children who are partially vaccinated or unvaccinated. Mission Indradhanush will be a nationwide programme with the special focus on 201 high focus districts. These districts account for nearly 50% of the total partially vaccinated or unvaccinated children in the country. Mission Indradhanush will provide immunization against seven life-threatening diseases (diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, polio, tuberculosis, measles and hepatitis B). In addition, vaccination against Japanese Encephalitis and Haemophilus influenza type B will be provided in selected districts/states of the country. Vaccination against tetanus will be provided to the pregnant women. The Mission focuses on interventions to rapidly increase full immunization coverage of children by approximately 5% annually and to expand full immunization coverage from 65% in 2014 to at least 90% children in the next five years. Four special vaccination campaigns will be conducted between March and June 2015 and this will cover all children under two years of age and pregnant women for tetanus toxoid vaccine. This immunization campaign will be conducted for a period of 7-10 days every month for four consecutive months. The government has sought technical support from various external agencies like WHO, UNICEF and Rotary to achieve the goals of this programme.

services Sector Clocks Double Digit Growth

Economic Survey says Services Sector Negotiations at WTO Crucial, Seeks Removing Market Access Barriers and Domestic Regulations

India’s dynamic Services Sector clocked double digit growth rate of 10.6 per cent as per the Advance Estimate during the current financial year, as compared to 9.1 per cent in the last fiscal (FY 2013-14). Contributing almost 72.4 per cent of the growth in the GDP, in the year 2013 India had the second fastest growing Services Sector, next only to China. The Economic Survey notes that this Sector accounts for more than half of India’s Gross Value Added (GVA) growth and including Construction, a borderline Service, the Services share is 59.6 per cent with a growth rate of 8.1 per cent. The Services Sector also has the highest share of 54.6 per cent in the Gross Capital Formation (GCF) of Rs. 35.4 lakhs in 2013-14. The growth rate of Services GCF at 3.1 per cent has also been higher than the total GCF growth of 1.4 per cent, offsetting the negative GCF growth in Agriculture, Industry and Manufacturing. The 10.6 per cent estimated growth in the Services Sector is mainly due to better performance in Financial, Real Estate and Professional Services besides Public Administration, Defence and Other Services. There was also good growth in Trade, Hotels, Transport, Communication and related Services. The Services Sector also continues to dominate the FDI equity inflows into the country. During 2014-15 (April to November), the FDI inflows into Services grew by 105.8 per cent compared to 22.2 per cent growth in overall FDI inflows. In the first half of 2014-15, Services exports grew by 3.7 per cent to US $ 75.9 billon while import of Services grew by 5.0 per cent to US $ 39.9 billon, resulting in net Services growth of 2.4 per cent. Net Services has been a major source of financing India’s trade deficit in recent years. India’s major Services exports in 2013-14 are Computer Services with 45.8 per cent share and Other Business Services making up 18.8 per cent share. However, in the first half of 2014-15 export growth decelerated further for Computer Services and was negative for Other Business Services. But, growth was robust for Travel at 18 per cent with pick up in Foreign Tourist Arrivals. The Services Sector is also the dominant sector in most states of India with a share of more than 40 per cent in the Gross State Domestic Product in FY 2013-14 except for Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim. The major Services in most of the states with high share are trade, hotels and restaurants followed by Real Estate, ownership of dwellings and Business Services. In 2013-14, Bihar had the highest Services growth of 17.3 per cent and Uttarkhand the lowest of 5.5 per cent. Bihar has been recording double-digit growth in the Services Sector in the last five years due to high growth in trade, hotels and restaurants. The Economic Survey identifies Services Sector negotiations at WTO as bearing special significance to India and calls for removing many market access barriers and domestic regulations to realize the full potential of India’s Services Sector

Steps Taken to Reduce IMR and MMR

As per Sample Registration System (SRS), 2013 reports published by Registrar General of India the Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) of India is 40 per 1000 live births and as per Sample Registration System (SRS), 2011-13 reports Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) is 167 per 1,00,000 live births in the Country. Under the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 4 target is to reduce Child Mortality by two-third between 1990 and 2015. In case of India, it translates into a goal of reducing Infant mortality rate from 88 per thousand live births in 1990 to 29 in 2015. Under the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 5, the target is to reduce Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) by three quarters between 1990 & 2015. This translates to reducing the MMR from 560 in 1990 to 140 in 2015. State/UT-wise infant mortality rate and maternal mortality ratio is given below:- States/UTs-wise status of infant mortality rate (IMR) and maternal mortality ratio (MMR) in India Sr. No States/UTs IMR (SRS 2013) MMR(SRS  2011-13) 1 A & N Islands 24 - 2 Andhra Pradesh 39 92 3 Arunachal Pradesh 32 - 4 Assam 54 300 5 Bihar 42 208 6 Chandigarh 21 - 7 Chhattisgarh 46 221 8 Dadra & Nagar Haveli 31 - 9 Daman & Diu 20 - 10 Delhi 24 - 11 Goa 9 - 12 Gujarat 36 112 13 Haryana 41 127 14 Himachal Pradesh 35 - 15 Jammu & Kashmir 37 - 16 Jharkhand 37 208 17 Karnataka 31 133 18 Kerala 12 61 19 Lakshadweep 24 - 20 Madhya Pradesh 54 221 21 Maharashtra 34 68 22 Manipur 10 - 23 Meghalaya 47 - 24 Mizoram 35 - 25 Nagaland 18 - 26 Odisha 51 222 27 Puducherry 17 - 28 Punjab 26 141 29 Rajasthan 47 244 30 Sikkim 22 - 31 Tamil Nadu 21 79 32 Telangana 39 92 33 Tripura 26 - 34 Uttar Pradesh 50 285 35 Uttarakhand 32 285 36 West Bengal 31 113 India 40 167 Source: Sample registration System (SRS), RGI office, 2013 & 2011-13 reports Under National Health Mission, the following interventions are being implemented to reduce infant mortality rate and maternal mortality ratio in the Country: Promotion of institutional deliveries through JananiSurakshaYojana. Operationalization of sub-centres, Primary Health Centres, Community Health Centres and District Hospitals for providing 24x7 basic and comprehensive obstetric care services. Name Based Web enabled Tracking of Pregnant Women to ensure antenatal, intranatal and postnatal care. Mother and Child Protection Card in collaboration with the Ministry of Women and Child Development to monitor service delivery for mothers and children. Antenatal, intranatal and postnatal care including Iron and Folic Acid supplementation to pregnant & lactating women for prevention and treatment of anaemia. Engagement of more than 8.9 lakhs Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs) to generate demand and facilitate accessing of health care services by the community. Village Health and Nutrition Days in rural areas as an outreach activity, for provision of maternal and child health services. Adolescent Reproductive Sexual Health Programme (ARSH) – Especially for adolescents to have better access to family planning, prevention of sexually transmitted Infections, Provision of counselling and peer education. Health and nutrition education to promote dietary diversification, inclusion of iron and folate rich food as well as food items that promote iron absorption.   10.  JananiShishuSurakshaKaryakaram (JSSK) entitles all pregnant women delivering in public health institutions to absolutely free and no expense delivery including Caesarean section.  The initiative stipulates free drugs, diagnostics, blood and diet, besides free transport from home to institution, between facilities in case of a referral and drop back home.  Similar entitlements have been put in place for all sick infants accessing public health institutions for treatment. 11.  Universal Immunization Programme (UIP): Vaccination protects children against many life threatening diseases such as Tuberculosis, Diphtheria, Pertussis, Polio, Tetanus, Hepatitis B and Measles. Infants are thus immunized against seven vaccine preventable diseases every year. The Government of India supports the vaccine programme by supply of vaccines and syringes, cold chain equipment and provision of operational costs. 12.  Strengthening Facility based newborn care: Newborn care corners (NBCC) are being set up at all health facilities where deliveries take place; Special New Born Care Units (SNCUs) and New Born Stabilization Units (NBSUs) are also being set up at appropriate facilities for the care of sick newborn including preterm babies. 13.  Home Based Newborn Care (HBNC):  Home based newborn care through ASHA has been initiated to improve new born practices at the community level and early detection and referral of sick new born babies 14.  Capacity building of health care providers: Various trainings are being conducted under National Health Mission (NHM) to build and upgrade the skills of health care providers in basic and comprehensive obstetric care of mother during pregnancy, delivery and essential newborn care. 15.  Management of Malnutrition: Nutritional Rehabilitation Centres (NRCs) have been established for management of severe acute malnutrition in children. 16.  India Newborn Action Plan (INAP) has been launched to reduce neonatal mortality and stillbirths. 17.  Newer interventions to reduce newborn mortality- Vitamin K injection at birth, Antenatal corticosteroids for preterm labour, kangaroo mother care and injection gentamicin for possible serious bacillary infection. 18.  Intensified Diarrhoea Control Fortnight was observed in August 2014 focusing on ORS and Zinc distribution for management of diarrhoea and feeding practices. 19.  Integrated Action Plan for Pneumonia and Diarrhoea (IAPPD) launched in four states with highest infant mortality (UP, MP, Bihar and Rajasthan).