Prime Minister to set Smart Cities Mission, Atal Mission, Urban Housing Mission rolling

Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi will launch three major Missions intended to transform the urban landscape of the country which in turn would enhance the quality of urban living besides driving economic growth. He will set rolling the Smart Cities Mission, Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation and Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana for urban areas besides releasing operational guidelines for the three missions. 

Under AMRUT, focus will be on providing basic infrastructure like providing tap water and sewer connections to every urban household, solid waste management, provision of roads and public transport. Promotion of urban reforms to improve urban governance will also be supported. This Mission seeks to enable urban local bodies meet service level benchmarks in respect of various services. 500 cities with a population of above one lakh each would be included in AMRUT. 

Under PMAY, it is proposed to build 2 crore houses for urban poor including Economically Weaker Sections and Low Income Groups in urban areas by the year 2022. This Mission has four components viz., In-situ Slum Redevelopment with private sector participation using land as resource, Affordable Housing through Credit Linked Subsidy, Affordable Housing in Partnership with private and public sector and Beneficiary led house construction/enhancement. Under these components, central assistance will be in the range of Rs.1.00 lakh to Rs.2.30 lakh. 

Smart Cities Mission aims at development of entire urban eco-system of cities covering physical, social, economic and institutional infrastructure. The objective is to enable better living and driving economic growth for the benefit of all sections. This will be implemented through retrofitting (enhancing infrastructure in already built up areas and adopting smart solutions), redevelopment by demolishing already built up areas with fresh layouts for intensive land use and smart solutions, Pan-city projects for the benefit of all citizens like e-governance and appropriate smart solutions. Greenfield projects can be taken up for accommodating people outside existing cities. 

Speaking to media ahead of the launch of three missions, Minister of Urban Development and HUPA Shri M.Venkaiah Naidu said that Prime Minister will be heralding a new urban era in the country with the launch tomorrow. He said, “This marks the journey of Team India towards radical transformation of urban areas required to build a resurgent India. Effective implementation of identified reforms is the key to the success of new missions. Urban governance needs to be improved substantially ensuring citizen participation, transparency and accountability and efficient service delivery to citizens.” 

Shri Naidu further elaborated that the simultaneous launch of three urban missions reflects the integrated approach of the Government to urban development and these missions have been designed to be complementary to enable urban transformation. He said that the central government has committed itself to spend about Rs.four lakh crore on these three missions over the next five to six years, which is unprecedented. 

The Minister said that the new missions have been formulated after about an year long extensive consultations with States, Union Territories and Urban Local Bodies so as to involve them at every stage of formulation so as to avoid the pitfalls of implementation of Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewable Mission (JNNURM). 

Ministers of Urban Development and Housing of States and UTs, Mayors and Municipal Chairpersons of 500 cities with population of above one lakh, Principal Secretaries from States/UTs, Municipal Commissioners will also attend the launch. The launch of three new urban missions will be followed by a two day extensive consultations with States/UTs, elected and administrative heads of municipal bodies on implementation issues relating to new missions and Swachh Bharat Mission as well. 

first Public Private Partnership model based anganwadi centre ‘NandGhar’ in Sonipat District of Haryana

smt Maneka Sanjay Gandhi inaugurates the first Public Private Partnership model based anganwadi centre ‘NandGhar’ in Sonipat District of Haryana

4000 such modern model NandGhars to be set up across the country under the new initiative

The Union Minister for Women and Child Development, Smt. Maneka Sanjay Gandhi inaugurated the first of its kind modern and model Anganwadi centre ‘NandGhar’ on PPP model at Hasanpur village in Sonipat district of Haryana today. 

The Union Ministry of Women & Child Development will set up 4000 such multifunctional NandGhars across the country to benefit over 4 lakh women and children. 

Addressing the gathering after the inauguration, Smt Maneka Sanjay Gandhi said that the 4000 NandGhars proposed to be set up under this partnership, will have all facilities that can contribute to the healthy development of children. Their whole life will be better if they are provided good care and facilities in pre-school level, the Minister said. Smt Maneka Gandhi said that each Anganwadi should be treated as a centre where children can receive some education, can be fed and take part in play activities, she said. 

The Minister explained that this place can also be used as a community centre for women of the village to share their feelings and thoughts. The centre will also act as a platform for skill development. 

Smt Maneka Sanjay Gandhi also announced that the Central Government is soon going to open ‘One Stop Crisis Centres’ for women who are under any kind of physical, mental or psychological crisis. She said that the first such centre is being opened in Raipur District of Chhattisgarh and the first centre of Haryana will be opened in Karnal district of Haryana. 

Addressing the gathering on the occassion, the Women and Child Development Minister, Government of Haryana, Smt. Kavita Jain said that the state Government will provide all support including land and administrative support for development of these centres in the state of Haryana. She said that it will set a commendable example of partnership between the Government and corporate sector for the development of society. Smt Kavita Jain said that Haryana Government is functioning in the direction of achieving the target of ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padao’ scheme of the Government of India and ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padao Cell’ has been established by Haryana Government for this purpose. 

These Anganwadis have been named as “NandGhar” by the Prime Minister and a singular design will be followed for these centres at all locations. NandGhar initiative adds to the existing Anganwadi model of the Ministry’s ‘Integrated Women and Child Development Scheme’ and this centre will act as a focal area for immunization, gender sensitization and maternal care. 

The integrated Anganwadi model ‘NandGhar’ will provide smart education, mobile vans, Health Awareness and Skill training. The ‘NandGhar’ centres are proposed to be run as a shared space in which 50% of the time will be devoted to children’s education and the remaining half will support women’s skill development. 

The NandGhar structure has low lifetime maintenance cost, is spacious with ample light, and is fire, dampness and earthquake proof. NandGhar offers amenities of smart education through interactive graphics, Hygienic toilets, Safe drinking water, a dedicate kitchen and storage space and will run on Solar Panel Power. 

In this unique partnership, the Union Ministry of Women & Child Development and Vedanta will share the cost of construction of the buildings, which are prefab structures. The land for the Anganwadis will be provided by the Gram Panchayats and the construction will be undertaken by NBCC. 

The Member of Parliament from Sonipat, Shri Ramesh Chandra Kaushik, Shri Anil Agarwal ji, Chairman of Vedanta Group, senior officials of the Union Ministry of Women and Child Development and Government of Haryana were also present on the occasion. 

Eastern and Western Dedicated Freight Corridor Project

Approval of Revised Cost Estimate (RCE) of Eastern and Western Dedicated Freight Corridor Project

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, has given its approval for the revised cost estimate of Rs. 81,459 crore for the Eastern and Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) Project, including land costs and financing plan.

The revised cost estimate of Rs. 81,459 crore comprises of construction cost of Rs. 73,392 crore of the Eastern and Western DFC  (Eastern DFC - Rs. 26,674 crore and Western DFC- Rs. 46,178 crore).  The land acquisition cost will be Rs. 8,067 crore. This excludes the cost of the 534 kms Sonnagar- Dankuni section proposed to be implemented through the Public Private Partnership (PPP) route. 

Out of the total requirement of Rs. 81,459 crore for the Eastern and Western DFC project, Rs. 76,143 crore funding will be required during project construction, as interest during construction of Rs. 5,316 crore for the Western DFC  would need to be paid by the Ministry of Railways to the Ministry of Finance, after the moratorium period of 10 years. Rs. 52,347 crore would flow from debt from JICA and World Bank. Equity requirement from the Ministry of Railways (including land) for the project is Rs. 23,796 crore.

The Eastern and Western DFC passes through the States of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Rajasthan.

The Eastern and Western DFC project will add substantial transportation capacity, help in reducing unit cost of transportation and would provide efficient transportation services to benefit power houses, mines, ports, trade and industry and the container sector. It will benefit the environment as traffic from road will move to rail resulting in reduction in 457 million tonnes of CO₂ over a 30 year period. The Eastern DFC is expected to carry 153 million tonne of traffic in 2021-22, which will increase to 251 million tonne in 2036-37. The Western DFC is expected to carry 161 million tonnes of traffic in 2021-22, which will increase to 284 million tonnes in 2036-37.

For the Eastern DFC, the commitment of World Bank loan is for US $ 2.725 billion and the loan agreement for US $ 975 million to cover the first package of 343 km from Khurja to Kanpur was signed in October 2011. For the second package of 402 km from Kanpur to Mughalsarai, the loan of US $ 1100 million was signed in December 2014. For the third package covering the 447 km Dadri-Khurja-Ludhiana section, negotiations were finalised with World Bank for a loan of US$ 650 million.

For the Western DFC, the commitment for the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) loan is for 550 billion Japanese Yen and the first tranche loan agreements of 230 billion Japanese Yen for both Phase-I and Phase-II, have been signed.

Background:

The Eastern DFC is planned to be implemented in parts; EDFC-1 of 343 km, from Khurja-Kanpur; EDFC-2 of 402 km, from Kanpur-Mughalsarai; EDFC-3 of 447 km from Ludhiana-Khurja-Dadri. The 126 km, Mughalsarai-Sonnagar has already been taken up for implementation with Government funds; and the 538 km, Sonnagar-Dankuni section will be implemented through PPP. The Western DFC is planned to be implemented in two phases. Phase-1 of 963 km, from Rewari-Vadodara and Phase-2 of 557 km, from Vadodara-Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) and Rewari-Dadri. The completion of the Eastern and Western DFC is targeted in phases from 2017 to 2019.

The project has achieved significant progress. Over 84 percent of land has been acquired with land compensation award of over Rs. 6,900 crore declared according to the provisions of the Railway Amendment Act, 2008. Civil construction contracts and other contracts for about 1526 km on the two corridors and 54 bridges on the Western DFC have been awarded at a total value of over Rs. 20,000 crore. Contracts are being awarded on design build lump sum basis. The systems works for signaling and electrification packages and the balance civil works are also at an advanced stage of tendering. To proceed with project implementation and enter into commitments approval of the revised cost estimates would be essential.

Earlier, the CCEA in Feb, 2008, gave approval for implementation of the Eastern and Western DFC projects and so far, expenditure of over Rs. 13,000 crore has been made

Setting up of a National Memorial at the birth place of Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan in Bihar

Setting up of a National Memorial at the birth place of Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan in Bihar

The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, today gave its approval to the proposal of the Ministry of Culture for setting up of a National Memorial at Lala Ka Tola, Sitab, Diara, District Chhapra (Saran) in Bihar - the birth place of Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan. The Memorial will also house a virtual museum and an institute to undertake study and research on (a) democracy, (b) enhancing the role of Panchayats in nation building, (c) Gandhian thoughts, and (d) centre for Khadi and constructive work keeping in view the thoughts of Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan, along with Lok Nayak Khadi Gaurav Samvardhan Kendra at the same place for making national flags by women cluster(s).

Bharat Ratna Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan’s contribution as an exemplary leader of Indian independence movement, a freedom fighter, social reformer and a visionary political leader will be commemorated through these decisions. As sentinel of Indian democracy, his contribution to redeem democracy will be remembered for long. After proclamation of National Emergency, on the mid-night of 25th June, 1975, Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan was arrested and kept as a detenu at Chandigarh.

Jai Prakash Narayan’s call for a Sampoorna Kranti (Total Revolution) for upholding and defending civil liberties at a very critical juncture in the post-independence history of India, ushered a new democratic movement for India and contributed to strengthen the roots of democracy.




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Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday congratulated spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravi Shankar for being honoured with Colombia's highest civilian award.

"Congratulations to @SriSri ji on being conferred 'Orden de la Democracia Simon Bolivar en el grado de cruz Caballero' by Colombia," Prime Minister Modi said on twitter.

"We are very proud of the excellent work @SriSri ji is doing across the world. His noble efforts have always created a major impact globally," he added.

A letter sent by the president of Colombia's House of Representatives, Fabio Raul Amin Saleme, had recognised the spiritual leader's contribution in spreading the message of peace in society, inter-mediation in war, reducing stress and combating violence through yoga and breathing exercises.

Establishment of six new Indian Institutes of Management

Establishment of six new Indian Institutes of Management

The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, today gave its approval for setting up of six new Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) in the country.

These new IIMs will be located at Vishakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh), Bodh Gaya (Bihar), Sirmaur (Himachal Pradesh), Nagpur (Maharashtra), Sambalpur (Odisha) and Amritsar (Punjab). These IIMs will begin functioning from assigned temporary campuses and shift to their permanent sites after construction of their campuses. It is intended that these six new IIMs will commence their first academic session from 2015-16. Each Institute will start with an intake of 140 students in the Post Graduate Programme (PGP) courses. It is expected that the annual intake will increase to reach a level of 560 students each year by the end of seven years.

The PGP in Management would be the flagship programme of these institutions. Admission to the PGP will be through the open and competitive Common Admission Test (CAT) being conducted by the IIMs.

The Institutes would train young graduates to undertake management responsibilities and carry out research and consultancy in the field of management and allied areas. Their programmes will provide the country, potential leaders in diverse fields of endeavour and enterprise.

Background 

A commitment was made by the Government of India in the Budget speech of the Finance Minister in July 2014 to establish five new IIMs in Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha and Punjab. In addition, the reorganization of the State of Andhra Pradesh into the two States of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana has necessitated the setting up of an IIM in Andhra Pradesh, consequent to and in pursuance of the Andhra Pradesh Re-organization Act, 2014.

FOREIGN TRADE POLICY

FOREIGN TRADE POLICY The Foreign Trade Policy, 2015-20 (‗FTP‘) was announced by the Hon‘ble Minister of Commerce and Industry, Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman on April 1, 2015. The FTP has been announced in the backdrop of several measures initiated by the Government of India such as ‗Make in India‘, ‗Digital India‘ and ‗Skills India‘, among others. Objectives: The FTP has been introduced,  to double India‘s share in world trade by the year 2020.  to rationalize the general provisions regarding imports and exports and also, various promotional measures offered by the Commerce Ministry  to offer a mechanism for resolving quality complaints and trade disputes. Key Highlights of the FTP  FTP is to be aligned with Make in India, Digital India & Skills India initiatives.  It has been outlined that higher level of support for export of defence, farm produce and eco-friendly products would be provided.  The benefits of the erstwhile FTP have now been consolidated into two new schemes for export of merchandise and services, i.e., Merchandise Export from India Scheme (‗MEIS‘) and Service Export from India Scheme (‗SEIS‘).  MEIS o Objective of MEIS is to offset infrastructural inefficiencies and associated costs involved in export of goods, which are produced/manufactured in India, especially those having high export intensity, employment potential and thereby enhancing India‘s export competitiveness.  SEIS o SEIS is made available to ―Service Providers located in India‖ as against the existing Served Form India Scheme available to ―Indian Service Providers‖. o Objective of SEIS is to encourage export of notified Services from India.  The benefit of MEIS and SEIS has been extended to units located in Special Economic Zones – This step is imperative to boost the SEZ sector. P a g e | 23 Vajiram and Ravi  MEIS and SIES schemes provide rewards to importers and exporters in terms of duty free scrips.4  Additional Ports are now allowed to export and import which include Calicut Airport, Kerala and Arakonam ICD.  Boost to "MAKE IN INDIA" o FTP has reduced Export Obligation5 (EO) for domestic procurement in order to promote domestic capital goods manufacturing industry. o There are higher level of rewards under MEIS for export items with high domestic content and value addition.  Status Holders o Business leaders who have excelled in international trade and have successfully contributed to country‘s foreign trade are proposed to be recognized as Status Holders and given special treatment and privileges to facilitate their trade transactions, in order to reduce their transaction costs and time. o The nomenclature of Export House, Star Export House, Trading House, Star Trading House, Premier Trading House certificate has been changed to One, Two, Three, Four, Five Star Export House. o The criteria for export performance for recognition of status holder have been changed from Rupees to US dollar earnings.  Centre for Research in International Trade – is a new institution being established not only to strengthen India‘s research capabilities in the area of international trade, but also to enable developing countries to articulate their views and concerns from a well-informed position of strength.  The policy also said that two institutional mechanisms are being put in place for regular communication with stakeholders – the Board of Trade and the Council for Trade Development (CTD) and Promotion.  While the Board of Trade will have an advisory role, the CTD would have representation from State and UT governments. CTD will be an institution between the Centre and the states with the objective of to ensure participation of state government into central government policy making, implementation and monitoring. 4 Duty free scrips are explained later. 5 Export Obligation” means obligation to export products in terms of quantity, value or both, as specified by Regional or competent authority. P a g e | 24 Vajiram and Ravi  FTP also promotes e Commerce focusing on job creation.  Unlike the annual reviews of the past, the FTP will be reviewed after two-andhalf years to ensure continuity in the trade policy. What are duty-free scrips? Duty free scrips are paper authorizations that allow the holder to import inputs that go into manufacture of products that are to be exported. Such goods are imported without paying duties equivalent to the printed value on the scrip. For instance, if a duty free scrip is valued at Rs 10 lakh, the holder can use it to import such goods without paying duties up to Rs 10 lakh. Who gets duty-free scrips? Duty free scrips are given to exporters under various export promotion schemes of the government. Under these promotional schemes, incentives are given for exporting identified products and targeting specific markets fixed at a certain percentage of the export value. It is also used to reimburse duties on imported inputs as mentioned in the exmple given above

Kayakalp”

Kayakalp”- An initiative for Awards to Public Health Facility Objective: The objectives of the award scheme are to promote cleanliness, hygiene and infection control practices in public health care facilities, to incentivize and recognize such public healthcare facilities that show exemplary performance in adhering to standard protocols of cleanliness and infection control, to inculcate a culture of ongoing assessment and peer review of performance related to hygiene, cleanliness and sanitation, to create and share sustainable practices related to improved cleanliness in public health facilities linked to positive health outcomes. Benefits:  Kayakalp initiative will encourage every public health facility in the country to work towards standards of excellence to help the facilities stay clean and hygienic.  The initiative will help to develop and put in place systems and procedures for activities such as bio-waste disposal or protocols etc.  This initiative will provide an opportunity and incentive to strengthen intersectoral coordination in improving health systems at the state level. Features: Five awards will be given under this scheme: Best two district hospitals in each state (Best district hospital in small states), best two community health centres/sub district hospitals (limited to one in small states) and one primary health centre in every P a g e | 99 district.Based on the set criterion, prize winners will receive a cash award with a citation. Criteria: The awards would be distributed based on the performance of the facility on these parameters- sanitation and hygiene, infection control, hospital upkeep, waste management, community participation. Assessment would be done sequentially through a three tier system - internal assessment followed by peer assessment and then external assessment.