Employment Initiatives

Oriental Insurance Company Limited Invites Applications For Administrative Officers (Scale-I) – 477 Posts

2012-01-27T22:38:00.000-08:00

Oriental Insurance Company Limited Invites Applications For Administrative Officers (Scale-I) – 477 Posts

Qualification:Any Degree, MBA, LLB, B.E/B.Tech

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Punjab National Bank invites online applications for the recruitment of 775 Management Trainee Vacancies.

2012-01-27T22:32:00.000-08:00

Punjab National Bank invites online applications for the recruitment of 775 Management Trainee Vacancies.
Opening Date for Online Registration: 31/01/2012
Closing Date for Online Registration: 13/02/2012
Payment of fee should be made from 30/01/2012 to 13/02/2012
Tentative Period of Interview: April-May 2012

For more details about age limit, educational qualification, selection process, application fee, pay scale, last date for applying and other details about Punjab National Bank Recruitment 2012 ia mentioned at the link given below…

Click here for Punjab National Bank Advt Details

Click here for Cash Voucher

Canara Bank, a leading Public Sector Bank requires 2000 Probationary Officers in Junior Management Grade Scale-I.

2012-01-27T22:29:00.000-08:00

Canara Bank Invites Applications For 2000 Posts Of Probationary Officers

Please read the advertisement carefully & ensure eligibility before paying fees / applying on-line.

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UIDAI gets 5791 cr for enrollment of 40 cr more people

2012-01-27T22:23:00.001-08:00

The government has cleared an additional amount of over Rs 5791 crore for the 'Aadhaar' scheme to enroll another 40 crore people under the scheme.Home Minister P Chidambaram told reporters after a Cabinet Committee meeting yesterday on the Unique Identification Authority of India, UIDAI that 20 crore Aadhaar numbers have already been allocated.

The Minister expressed hope that the entire exercise will be completed by June next year. He said, the Aadhaar Number would be applicable in the states where UIDAI had completed its exercise and the remaining states and Union Territories where the process was not complete, the National Population Register (NPR) number would be applicable.Replying to a question, the Home Minister did not rule out little duplication or overlapping, considering the huge population in the country.

Rate of Employment Generation

2012-01-25T23:12:00.000-08:00

Reliable estimates of employment and unemployment are obtained through quinquennial labour force surveys conducted by National Sample Survey Office. Last such survey was conducted during 2009-10. As per the two most recent surveys, employment estimated on current daily status basis has decelerated from an annual rate of growth of 2.62 per cent during 1999-2000-2004-05 to 1.02 percent in 2009-10. Unemployment rate on current daily status basis has reduced from 8.28 % in 2004-05 to 6.60% in 2009-10.

Government of India has been making constant efforts through normal growth process and by implementing various employment generation schemes to check unemployment in the country. Some of the important schemes are Swarana Jayanti Shahari Rozgar Yojana (SJSRY); Prime Minister's Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP); Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana(SGSY) and Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) besides entrepreneurial development programmes run by Ministry of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises.

According to quarterly surveys conducted by Labour Bureau, an organization under the Ministry of Labour & Employment, over all employment has shown an increase of over 20.58 lakhs during the period of October, 2008 to June, 2011. The employment declined only in two quarters of surveys so far i.e. October, 2008 to December 2008 and April, 2009 to June,2009. The state wise data is not available.

Sector-wise total employment on usual status basis is as under:

Sectors	Total employment (in million)
Sectors	2004-05	2009-10
Agriculture	268.30	247.39
Industry	83.47	99.98
Services	107.32	118.12
Total	459.10	465.48

City- wise data is not maintained.

Loss of Employment in Textile Sector

2012-01-25T23:10:00.001-08:00

To assess the impact of economic slowdown on employment, Labour Bureau, Ministry of Labour and Employment conducted a quick survey during January – March 2011 (Tenth in the series). The survey covered important sectors including textiles and handlooms.

According to the said report, 733 textile units including apparel were surveyed and noticed that the employment has declined by 1.21 lakh during the period March, 2011 over December, 2010. Similarly, of those 96 units surveyed in handloom/power loom sector and it is observed that employment has declined by 0.18 lakh during the said period.

To strengthen the textile industry and to increase the employment in the sector, Government of India has been implementing various schemes such as i) Technology upgradation Fund Scheme (TUFS); ii) Scheme for Integrated Textile Parks (SITP), and iii) Integrated Skill Development Scheme (ISDS).

Government of India is also implementing specific schemes for the development of Handloom Sector. For the development of handloom sector and welfare of Handloom weavers, five Schemes are under implementation during 11th Plan, which are (i) Integrated Handlooms Development Scheme, (ii) Handloom Weavers’ Comprehensive Welfare Scheme (iii) Marketing & Export Promotion Scheme (iv) Mill Gate Price Scheme and (v) Diversified Handloom Development Scheme.

Recently, Government has also announced “Revival, Reform and Restructuring Package for Handloom Sector”. The proposal includes reform of the financial, legal and institutional framework for the handloom weaver cooperative societies, one-time waiver of overdue loans and interest of eligible handloom cooperative societies and individual weavers as on 31st March, 2010, recapitalization of viable and potentially viable handloom cooperative societies, and provision of fresh cheap credit to handloom cooperative societies and weavers covered by waiver by providing of interest subsidy of 3% for a period of 3 years for each fresh loan with credit guarantee. The total financial implication of this package is Rs. 3884 crore, out of which Govt. of India’s share is Rs. 3137 crore and the share of the State Governments is Rs. 747 crore.

Due to implementation of the above schemes of Government, consolidation has occurred in the handloom sector. Consequently, the number of mandays worked per weaver has gone up from 197 (Census 1995-96) days to 234 days (2009-10). Likewise, share of full time weavers to the total weavers has gone up from 44% to 64% during the same period. Furthermore, share of idle looms has declined from 10% to 4%.

Employment Information Centres in Villages

2012-01-25T23:09:00.000-08:00

Employment Market Information (EMI) Programme provides information on quarterly basis in public and private sectors including urban areas to monitor changes in the levels of employment. The data collected under EMI programmes covers only the organized sector of the economy which inter-alia covers all establishments in the public sector irrespective of their size and non agricultural establishments in the private sector employing 10 or more persons while the information from non-agricultural establishments in the private sector employing 25 or more persons is collected under the provisions of Employment Exchanges (Compulsory Notification of Vacancies) Act, 1959. Data from the establishments employing 10-24 persons are collected on a voluntary basis.

The Employment Exchanges prepare Area Employment Market Reviews to indicate employment situation in the organized sector within the District. State Directors of Employment also prepare State Level Employment Reviews showing employment situation prevailing at the state level.

Ministry of Labour & Employment has not urged the State Governments to set up Employment Information Centres in every village. However, common service centers have been set up in the rural areas by Department of Information Technology which can be used as outreach centres for Employment Exchanges for online registration by job seekers.

The Employment Exchanges are already performing this activity of collecting data on vacancies or establishments under the provisions of Employment Exchanges (Compulsory Notification of Vacancies) Act, 1959.

NATIONAL RURAL EMPLOYMENT GUARANTEE ACT (NREGA ) FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQs)

2012-01-25T23:04:00.000-08:00

NATIONAL RURAL EMPLOYMENT GUARANTEE ACT (NREGA )
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQs)
Q.1: What is the objective of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act
(NREGA)?
Ans: NREGA is an Act to provide a legal guarantee of 100 days of wage employment
in a financial year to every rural household whose adult members volunteer to do
unskilled manual work. He/she will get the minimum wage rate notified for
agricultural labour in the State until the Central Government notifies a minimum
wage rate, which in any case shall not be less than Rs. 60 per day. NREGA came
into effect on February 2, 2006.
Q.2: Who can apply for employment under the Act?
Ans: All adult members of a rural household, resident in the area, willing to do
unskilled manual work can apply. Even if a person is already employed/engaged in
work, he/she has the right to demand employment under NREGA. Priority shall be
given to women. Atleast one-third of the beneficiaries shall be women who have
registered and requested for work under the Scheme.
Q.3: What is the process of registration?
Ans: A household interested in availing of the NREGA benefits has to make an
application for registration through the prescribed written form or orally. The
registration form and process are free of cost.
Q.4: Who should the application for registration be made to?
Ans: The application for registration has to be made to the Gram Panchayat.
Q.5: What is the role of the Gram Panchayat in the registration process?
Ans: In order to authenticate the registration, the Panchayat verifies whether
the applicant resides in that village and is an adult. The unit of registration
is the household. After verification, the Gram Panchayat will issue a Job Card
to the household.
Q.6: What is a Job Card?
Ans: A Job Card is the basic legal document, which enables the registered
household to demand guaranteed employment. The Job Card should be issued within
15 days of application and is valid for five years. The household Job Card will
have the name and photograph of each registered member. The Job Card and
photograph are free for the applicant.
Q.7: Does a Job Card automatically entitle a person to receive employment?
Ans: No. In order to get employment the person will need to apply for work.
Q.8: How can one apply for work?
Ans: To get employment, the job seeker should submit a written application to
the Gram Panchayat or Programme Officer (at block office). Within a households'
entitlement for 100 days individual members can apply for work. The demand has
to be for at least 14 days of continuous work.
Q.9: Does the applicant receive an acknowledgement of his work application?
Ans: Yes. The Gram Panchayat should issue a dated receipt for the application.
Q.10. How many days can a person get work for?
Ans: Under NREGA, a household is entitled to 100 days of work in a financial
year. This entitlement of 100 days can be shared within the household; more than
one person in the household can be employed simultaneously or at different
times.
Q.11: How will the applicant receive information on the given employment?
Ans: The Gram Panchayat/Programme Officer should send letters to the applicants
informing them where and when to report for work. A public notice displayed at
the Gram Panchayat and at the Programme Officer's block office, should provide
information on the date, place of employment and the names of those provided
employment.
Q.12: What happens if employment is not given?
Ans: If the job seeker does not get employment within 15 days of submitting the
application or from the date when work is sought, whichever is later, a daily
unemployment allowance has to be paid as per the Act.
Q.13: What happens if the applicant does not report to work within 15 days?
Ans: If the applicant does not report to work within 15 days of being notified,
he or she will not be entitled to the unemployment allowance. The applicant can
however, re-apply for work.
Q.14: Where will work be provided?
Ans: Work should be provided within 5 km of applicant's residence. If employment
is provided beyond 5 km radius of the applicant's residence then he/she is
entitled to 10% additional wages towards transport and living expenses. Persons
older in age and women shall be given preference for work nearer to the village.
Q.15: What facilities are to be made available to workers at work sites?
Ans: Work site facilities include safe drinking water, shade for children and
periods of rest, first-aid box for emergency treatment of minor injuries and
other health hazards connected with work. If more than five children below six
years are present a person should be engaged to look after them.
Q.16: What type of work will be given?
Ans: Creation of durable assets and strengthening the livelihood resource base
of the rural poor shall be an important objective of the Scheme. Work through
contractors is not permissible. The kinds of works permissible according to
priority are:
i. water conservation and water harvesting
ii. drought proofing (including afforestation and tree plantation)
iii. irrigation canals including micro and minor irrigation works
iv. provision of irrigation facility to land owned by households belonging to
the SCs and STs or to land beneficiaries of land reforms or that of the
beneficiaries under the Indira Awas Yojana
v. renovation of traditional water bodies including desilting of tanks
vi. land development
vii. flood control and protection works including drainage in water logged
areas
viii. rural connectivity to provide all-weather access
ix. any other work which may be notified by the Central Government in
consultation with the State Government.
Q.17: What wage material ratio needs to be maintained in the selection of works?
Ans: In the selection of works a 60:40 wage-material ratio has to be maintained.
Q.18: What is the role of the Gram Sabha and Gram Panchayat in the planning
process?
Ans :The Gram Sabha should identify and recommend works. The Gram Panchayat
should consolidate and send the recommendations of Gram Sabha to the Programme
Officer.
Q.19: What wages will be paid?
Ans:The labourers are entitled to the statutory minimum wage for agriculture
labourers in the State; until the Central Government notifies a minimum wage
rate, which in any case shall not be less than Rs. 60 per day.
Q.20: When will the wages be paid?
Ans:Wages should be paid every week, or in any case 'not later than a fortnight
after the date on which such work was done'.
Q.21: How will the wages be calculated?
Ans:The worker can be paid either as daily wage or as piece-rate. If wages are
paid on a piece-rate basis, the schedule of rates has to be such that a person
working for seven hours would normally earn the minimum wage.
Q.22: How are program functionaries accountable for what they do?
Ans: External and internal evaluators are continuously and concurrently
evaluating the Programme. The authority to conduct social audit is vested in
Gram Sabha. A Village Level Monitoring committee is to be set up by Gram Sabha
to oversee each work. Moreover, any contravention of the Act shall, on
conviction, be liable to fine which may extend to one thousand rupees. A
Grievance Redressal Mechanism should also be set up at the block, district and
state level.

Strategies to Enhance Mining Sector

2012-01-25T23:00:00.000-08:00

Ministry of Mines is responsible for survey and exploration of all minerals, other than natural gases, petroleum and atomic minerals; mining and metallurgy of non-ferrous metals like aluminium, copper, zinc, lead, gold, nickel etc. and for administration of the Mines and Minerals (Regulation and Development) Act, 1957 in respect of all mines and minerals other than coal, natural gas and petroleum.
New Legislation

The Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Bill, 2011 The Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Bill, 2011 prepared by the Ministry to replace the existing Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957 has been approved by the Cabinet and the bill has been introduced in the Winter Session of Parliament. The bill has been prepared after several rounds of consultation and workshop with all Stakeholders. The Bill seeks a complete and holistic reform in the mining sector with provisions to address issues relating to sustainable mining and local area development, benefit sharing mechanism to the people affected by mining operations. The Bill also aims to ensure transparency, equity, elimination of discretions, effective redressal and regulatory mechanisms along with incentives encouraging good mining practices, which will also lead to technology absorption and exploitation of deep seated minerals.

Amendment Of Rule 45 Of MCDR 1988

The Ministry of Mines has notified amended Rule 45 in Mineral Conservation and Development Rules, 1988, which stipulates mandatory registration of miners, stockists, traders, exporters, and end-users of minerals, and stringent reporting norms for ensuring end-to-end accounting of the mineral produced. In this system it is mandatory for the miners, traders, exporters, and end-users of the minerals to send a copy of the reports to State Governments also. The State Governments have also been advised to ensure that any automation in the reporting system developed at the State levels should be compliant with the amended Rule 45 of the MCDR. The registration system has already started and the Ministry of Mines is working closely with the IBM to commence the online submission of monthly and annual returns of production to be filed by the mining lessee at the earliest. The work on system of online reporting is in progress.

Strategic Plan

The Ministry of Mines is preparing a detailed Strategic Plan document “Unlocking the Potential of the Indian Minerals Sector” in order to systematize the functioning of the Ministry and align it more directly with the vision emanating from the National Mineral Policy. The Strategic plan has identified that the Indian minerals sector holds a huge potential for all stakeholders, including the central government, state government, community and the entire economy. With the right kind of support, the mining sector has the potential to significantly contribute to the GDP and also improve the revenues of royalty and taxes. The Strategic Plan has identified the six priorities to achieve the objectives. These priorities are - expanding resource and reserve base by stepping up exploration and aiding international acquisition of strategic minerals; reducing permit delays to create a more favourable policy environment; setting up core enablers for mining—infrastructure, human capital and technology; ensuring sustainable mining and development; creating an information, education and communication plan and establishing the right governance structure for effective implementation.

Geological Survey Of India

GSI with its present focus on exploration for concealed and deep seated deposits has initiated a number of baseline geoscientific data generation programmes like National Geomorphological and Lineament Mapping, Hyperspectral Mapping and National Aeromagnetic Mapping. National Geochemical Mapping and Geophysical Mapping are continuing and are proposed to be completed by the end of the XII Plan through outsourcing and GSI’s own resources.

During the Field Season 2010-12 GSI has made significant augmentation/discoveries in Gold, Molybdenum, Basemetal, Iron Ore and Manganese in the States of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Orissa respectively. GSI has also estimated coal resource of 2641.63 million tonne in the states of West Bengal, Orissa, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh and 124.6 million tonne of lignite in Tamilnadu, Rajasthan and West Bengal during 2010-12.

Information technology is being widely utilized by GSI for monitoring progress of field and project activities, accessing unpublished project reports, publications (Records, memoirs) Detailed Information Dossiers (DIDs), District Resource Maps, Geological Quadrangular Maps, Case Histories, Photo-gallery etc. The GSI Portal provides structured, logically organized information to different categories of users. GSI Portal received the Silver Award in the “Best Government Portal” Category for National e-Governance Awards 2011 by DARPG. GSI has embarked upon the Phase III of the Portal Project and Online Core Business Integrated System (OCBIS) is the essential part of this initiative.

In its modernization drive GSI is in the process of acquiring a new ocean going research vessel for execution of seabed survey and exploration of non-living resources. GSI is also engaged in the procurement of a Geotechnical vessel with drilling capabilities. GSI is in process of installing geophysical instruments onto its ‘Dhruv’ helicopter to carry out low altitude geophysical surveys.

International Cooperation

· The Ministry of Mines and the Ministry of Energy & Resources of the Province of Saskatchewan, Canada, signed a Memorandum of Cooperation for cooperation in the field of Geology & Mineral Resources, on March 15, 2011, during the visit of Saskatchewan Premier to India.

· The Ministry of Mines and the Ministry of Energy and Mines of Colombia signed a Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation in the field of Geology & Mineral Resources on May 4, 2011 at Bogota. Shri Dinsha J. Patel, Minister of State for Mines (Independent Charge) signed the MoU on behalf of the Government of India. Mr. Carlos Rodado Noriega, Minister of Mines and Energy signed the MoU on behalf of Government of Colombia.

· The Ministry of Mines of Indian and Afghanistan Government have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on cooperation in the field of Mineral Resources Development on October 4, 2011, during the visit of Afghanistan President to India. The MoU was signed by Shri Dinsha Patel, Minister of State for Mines (Independent Charge) for the Government and H.E Mr. Waheedullah Shahrani, Minister of Mines on behalf of the Afghanistan Govenrment. The signing took place in the presence of Prime Dr. Manmohan Sing and H.E. Mr. Hameed Karzai, President of Afghanistan.

· The Ministry of Mines and the Ministry of Energy & Mines, Government of British Columbia Province, Canada have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on cooperation in the field of Geology and Mineral Resources on 17th November, 2011, in the presence of Shri Dinsha Patel, Minister of State for Mines (Independent Charge) and H.E Ms. Christy Clark, Premier of British Columbia Government.

Joint Working Group Meetings

· A meeting of the Joint Working Group on cooperation in the field of Geology and Mineral Resources was held with the Province of Ontario, Canada on 1st March, 2011, through Video Conferencing.

· 7th Meeting of the India-Australia Joint Working Group on Energy & Minerals was held in Australia on 17-18 May, 2011 at Sydney, Australia. Ministry of Mines is the nodal Ministry from the Indian side for this Working Group. The Protocol signed at the end of the meeting endorsed the activities under the Action Plans on Mining and Minerals, Power, Petroleum and Natural Gas and Coal sectors.

· The 2nd Meeting of the India-Uzbekistan Joint Working Group on Geology and Mineral Resources was held in New Delhi on 15th September, 2011. A Protocol was signed at the end of the meeting listed the future course of action for furthering the cooperation programme.

· The 1st Meeting of the India-Malawi Joint Working Group on Mineral Resources Development was held in New Delhi on 17th October, 2011. The Indian side was led by Shri S. Vijay Kumar, Secretary in the Ministry of Mines, and the Malawi delegation was led by Mr. Anthony Livuza, Secretary, Ministry of Natural Resources, Energy & Environment, Government of Malawi. A Protocol was signed at the end of the meeting listing the future course of action for furthering the cooperation programme.

Exhibitions

The Ministry of Mines participated in Prospectors And Developers Association Of Canada (PDAC) 2011 and put up India Pavilion, which received the attention of large number of visitors and prospective investors. A half day ‘India Day’ was also organised, concurrently with PDAC Convention, which showcased India’s mineral wealth and capabilities and potential of the India’s minerals sector as an attractive investment destination.

The China Mining (Congress & Expo) 2011, in November, 2011, was hosted by the Ministry of Land and Resources, China and the Tianjin Municipal Government, China. It is one of the largest mineral exploration and mining trading platforms and covers the whole value chain, including geological survey, exploration development, mining rights, trading, mining investment and financing, smelting and processing technique and equipment, mining services, etc. The Ministry participated in the Congress and set up an Exhibition booth at the Expo. The Indian delegation also visited mining sites, mineral processing units and mineral laboratories.

The Ministry of Mines participated in the 22nd World Mining Congress held in September, 2011 at Istanbul, Turkey and also participated in the XXIX International Convention on Mining held in Acapulco, Mexico in the month of October, 2011.

PM’s National Skill Development Council decides to give skill development a major push in the year 2012-13 and 12th plan

2012-01-20T21:40:00.001-08:00

The Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, presided over the meeting of Prime Minister’s National Skill Development Council yesterday. Shri Ramadorai, Adviser to the Prime Minister made a presentation on the overall skill development vision for the 12th Five Year Plan. The Ministers of Finance, Labour, Human Resources Development, Rural Development, Social Justice & Empowerment, Dy. Chairman, Planning Commission and other members of the Council participated.

The Council decided to give skill development a major push in the year 2012-13 and during the 12th Five Year Plan. It was decided to increase the skill development targets so as to upscale the skill development initiative in a transformational way. Shri Ramadorai was tasked to prepare a detailed proposal for mainstreaming the skill agenda in the 12th Plan in consultation with the Planning Commission.

It was agreed that the Ministries will focus on skill development of SC/ST, minorities, backward classes, people with disabilities and women. It also agreed that National Skill Development Council will set up Sector Skill Councils, which will urgently prepare the standards required for skill training programmes in consultation with the industry.

Bharat Nirman Volunteers (BNVs) take the cake

2012-01-16T04:23:00.000-08:00

A Bharat Nirman Volunteer (BNV) is an individual who comes voluntarily from a rural household to act as an organic link between a group of families and host of various line departments with a purpose to ensure the unreached households to access benefits under various government sponsored progarmmes. In other words, they are “the last mile human connectivity between programmes and the unreached”. Till date, 31,000 volunteers have enrolled as BNVs in different states of the country and the target is to enrol around one lakh sixty thousand by March this year.

Why Bharat Nirman Volunteers ?

Government of India and the State Governments concerned have been implementing various welfare and development programmes for over many decades, however many evaluation studies have shown the gaps in implementation of the programmes affecting the delivery of benefits to the intended BPL families. The delivery mechanisms placed at different levels are limited in size and the inadequate time to reach out to the targeted rural households also make the schemes reach not only untimely but also undeserving.

Therefore, in order to provide the human face at the last mile connectivity with the rural households, it is envisaged to use the potential youth in the name of Bharat Nirman Volunteers (BNVs) to create awareness about all welfare and development programmes among rural households for better planning and quality implementation of programmes with transparency and accountability.

Why should they work voluntarily ?

Over a period of time, rural fabric has suffered a tear due to factors like mushrooming of local power groups, lack of unity among various communities, lack of awareness about issues concerning them, indifference of the service delivery sectors, nepotism , corruption, lack of awareness about procedural aspects of programme implementation, etc. Therefore, the benefits of different government programmes are not reaching the poor deserving households. Moreover, participation of rural families in the process of planning and implementation of various welfare and development programmes is found to be inadequate. Therefore, voluntary involvement of villagers themselves, particularly youth was found necessary for the following reasons.

Youth is looking for opportunities to participate in socio-economic change

Village development means development of their own households, therefore, they see their role

As they are from the same village, their work gets them a word of praise

Some of them unemployed find working in a group enjoyable and appreciative until they get employed and may even leave the village

Volunteerism gives self-respect and recognition

BNVs found perceptible change in their personality/attitudes

In the event of achieving any milestones, the feeling that “we did it” gives enormous self-esteem

The training that emphasized values and morality coupled with the objectives of all the development schemes of the govt has triggered their imagination to several of the social ills afflicting their communities from ages like alcoholism to migration to school drop outs to issues of the rural economy and issues of governance and planning. The way in which they put to good use the institutions of the gram sabha, gram panchayat and the instruments of committees for resolving issues amicably and in a disciplined and planned manner was amazing, nay unimaginable. They went to the extent of confronting the entrenched power structures and brought them to fall in line with their development agenda.

Village after village reported that they had cleaned up the streets, removed garbage, cleaned up tanks, laid out approach roads through shramdan and at times with their own hard earned money contributed. Some of them identified destitute families with single women headed households with dependents for whom the PDS rice was insufficient. The volunteers contributed the deficit amount of rice to each of these families to ensure they had three meals every day. In one of the villages, the Committee constituted by the Volunteers confronted the local politician who had been occupying the govt built community hall and was using it as his personal cattle shed and dung cake fuel storage house. They managed to retrieve the building. The politician got it cleaned, painted and handed it over to the Community. For the last twenty three years nobody could get that building back to the community despite several efforts of the successive gram panchayats’ office bearers, says the present Sarpanch.

Several of the volunteers are planning to set up alternative sources of energy for lighting up their villages seeking funds from govt schemes. Some are planning for solar street lighting and some even for solar cookers and lighting even for their homes. Long standing disputes between various sections in the village have been resolved and amity restored. In some gram panchayats political supporters of such diverse political hues of different political parties were made to toe the development agenda set up by the BNVs from plans arrived at in wards sabhas and gram sabhas conducted for identifying the needs of the habitations. The BNVs have managed to get all the departments at the mandal level to respond to the unfulfilled requests of the community. Several of them have got the administration to identify and notify place for burial grounds, play grounds and some got the buses to ply to their villages. Almost all the villages are reporting efforts to weed out belt shops (liquor vending shops) and many have succeeded in closing them down. Some have banned the sale of pan and ghutka in the village shops. Many reported a 100 % ISLs coverage.

Many have approached the administration for construction of drainage lines. One of the villages has included individual soak pits for every household as it’s goal and they are confident of achieving it shortly.In some villages open air libraries are commissioned. The magazines and newspapers are kept in a small room until the evening and they are brought to the choupal built around a tree in the evening when a large group enjoys silent reading. After they finish for the day the material is put back in the room by a BNV incharge of the task.

All the BNVs are instilled with “volunteerism” in the APARD’s training program facilitated by resource persons as varied as psychologists from Osmania University , Brahma Kumaries, the Lead India Foundation started by Abdul Kalam ,the former President of India, veteran activist journalists active and progressive sarpanches and of course our own faculty at APARD.

The most important dimension of this experiment is that all these volunteers get no financial support or honoraria from any source whatsoever. On the contrary, they spend their own money for expenses to give contributions to various causes as and when required. They have proved that village communities are not dormant nor are they incapable of solving their problems nor afraid of facing up to the power brokers’ thuggery. They have amply proved that they can actualize the long unfulfilled dreams of their community that would surely lead to improve the quality of living in rural Andhra Pradesh. One incredible development APARD noticed is the healthy working relationships that emerged between the elected representatives and BNVs contrary to the earlier apprehensions of conflicts and confrontations. The journey so far is only with commas and looking forward to hear a longer list from BNVs.

Wadhwani Foundation and Virginia Foundation for Community College Education Sign MoU

2012-01-11T00:49:00.001-08:00

The Wadhwani Foundation (WF) and the Virginia Foundation for Community College Education (VFCCE) USA signed a memorandum of understanding here today. The memorandum was signed by Dr. Ajay Kela, President and CEO of Wadhwani Foundation and Dr. Glenn DuBois, member, Virginia Foundation for Community Colleges Education and Chancellor of Virginia’s Community Colleges. Union Minister of HRD for India, Shri Kapil Sibal and Hon. U.S. Senator Mark Warner, Co-chair of the Senate India Caucus who is visiting India with his delegation were also present at the occasion.

Speaking on the occasion Shri Kapil Sibal underlined the requirement for enhanced skilled development in the country. He said that considering the high rate of growth India needs massive skill upgradation to prepare for the jobs that will be created. He congratulated the Wadhwani Foundation and Virginia Foundation for Community College Education on the signing of the MoU.

The Wadhwani Foundation and Virginia Foundation for Community College Education partnership seeks to leverage the combined expertise of Virginia’s Community College system in running industry relevant professional education sharing technical and organizational know-how, curriculum/courseware and teacher training to enhance such programmes in India.

As part of the memorandum, the VFCCE and the WF will together identify high-impact skill development programs in India that need such support. These partnerships could be forged with government or private initiatives and would involve vibrant exchange of ideas and technology transfer, adapting U.S. expertise to position Indian institutions to meet local needs. Virginia Community College experts will serve as consultants, sharing best practices. The Wadhwani Foundation will provide local support and co-funding for this capacity building.

“Virginia’s two-year community colleges play a vital and unique role in our workforce training efforts,” Senator Mark Warner said. “This partnership agreement will allow Virginia’s Community Colleges to share their expertise and materials as we work with the Wadhwani Foundation to expand skills-based job training for India’s young people” he further added.

Integrated Action Plan to Develop Tribal and backward Districts in LWE Areas

2012-01-11T00:48:00.000-08:00

At the time of presentation of the budget for the year 2010-11, the Government had announced its decision to introduce a special scheme to address the development of 33 Left Wing Extremism (LWE) affected districts. It was inter-alia, stated that the Planning Commission would prepare an Integrated Action Plan (IAP) for the affected areas and that adequate funds would be made available to support the action plan. The 33 districts (later expanded to 34) referred to in the Finance Minister’s announcement were a sub-set of the 83 LWE affected districts identified by the Ministry of Home Affairs for coverage under its Security Related Expenditure (SRE) Scheme. This sub-set consisted of those districts where more than 20% of the Police Stations experienced some incidents of naxal violence. Subsequently, West Medinipur district of West Bengal was added to the list due to the situation prevailing there, taking the total to 35 districts.

Implementation of IAP

IAP was formulated as an additional central assistance scheme on 100% grant basis in November 2010. To begin with, the Integrated Action Plan (IAP) for 60 tribal and backward districts was to be implemented with a block grant of Rs.25 crore and Rs.30 crore per district during 2010-11 and 2011-12 respectively for which the funds were to be placed at the disposal of the Committee headed by the District Collector and consisting of the Superintendent of Police of the district and the District Forest Officer.

The district level committee will have flexibility to spend the amount for development schemes according to need, as assessed by it. The Committee would draw up a Plan consisting of concrete proposals for public infrastructure and services such as School Buildings, Anganwadi Centres, Primary Health Centres, Drinking Water Supply, Village Roads, Electric Lights in public places such as PHCs and Schools etc. The concerned Development Commissioner/ equivalent officer in charge of development in the State shall be responsible for scrutiny of expenditure and monitoring of IAP.

The Planning Commission will undertake macro level monitoring of the scheme and implementation of the scheme will be reviewed and suitable decisions taken on the modalities for implementation of the scheme as a part of the 12th Five Year Plan.

Salient features of the scheme

The salient features of the guidelines are:

(i) The district level committee should draw up a plan consisting of concrete proposals for public infrastructure and services such as school buildings, Anganwadi centres, Drinking Water supply, Village Roads, electric lights in public places such as PHCs and schools etc. The schemes so selected should show results in the short term.

(ii) A suitable form of consultation is to be ensured with the local Members of Parliament on the schemes to be taken up the under the IAP.

(iii) The expenditure on the projects should be over and above the expenditure being incurred for the regular State/Central/Centrally Sponsored Schemes. The district level committee should ensure that there is no duplication of expenditure on the same project.

(iv) The State Government will release the funds directly into the bank account opened for this purpose by the District Collector or District Magistrate. The State Government will ensure that funds are transferred to this bank account within 15 days of the release of the funds to the Consolidated Fund of the State Government failing which the State Government should transfer to the district penal interest at RBI rate.

Achievements Under IAP

The implementation of the scheme commenced in the year 2010-11 and Rs.25 crore per district i.e. total Rs.1500 crore for the year 2010-11 was released in December, 2010. The districts immediately finalized the works to be taken up, completed the tender processes wherever required and the works on the ground commenced immediately in all the 60 districts. Currently, the implementation of IAP in the districts is in full swing. The total funds released so far for the year 2011-12 is Rs.1090 crore and the total funds released so far since the commencement of the Scheme is Rs.2590 crore. Against the total amount of Rs.2590 crores released so far to the 9 States, the expenditure as on 27.12.2011 is Rs.1468.83 crore i.e. 56.71% of the funds released.

Under the IAP, so far 62327 projects for an amount of Rs. 3230.02 crore have been taken up in the 9 States. These include construction of School Buildings/School Furniture, Anganwadi Centres, Drinking Water facilities, Rural roads, Panchyat Bhawan/Community Halls, Godowns/PDS shops, livelihood activities, skill development/trainings, minor irrigation works, electric lighting, health centres/facilities, Ashram Schools, construction of toilets, construction of multi-purpose chabutra, construction of passenger waiting hall, special coaching classes for students, construction of ANM centres, development of play grounds etc. 44.42% of projects taken up so far have been completed i.e., 27687 projects have been completed so far. State-wise details of physical progress as on 27.12.2011 vis-à-vis projects sanctioned are: Andhra Pradesh- 702 (1140), Bihar - 2367 (12889), Chhattisgarh - 6115 (14718), Jharkhand- 5621 (11769), Madhya Pradesh - 1446 (5352), Maharashtra - 2667 (4398), Orissa - 6829 (15087), Uttar Pradesh - 1337 (1548) and West Bengal - 603 (1272).

Parameters to Qualify under IAP

While formulating the scheme, the Planning Commission considered that the scheme should not be limited only to the severely LWE affected districts. It was proposed by them that the scheme should cover other tribal and backward districts also and the following criteria was adopted to identify districts for inclusion in the scheme:

(a) Whether the district is included in the list of 83 SRE districts identified by the Ministry of Home Affairs;

(b) Whether the tribal population exceeds 25%;

(c) Whether the forest area exceeds 30%;

(d) Whether the poverty ratio in the district exceeds 50%; and

(e) Whether the district is covered under the Backward Regions Grant Fund (BRGF).

Districts meeting four of the above-mentioned five criteria and forming a contiguous block were selected for coverage under the proposed scheme. Thus, with this criteria, a total of 60 districts were selected for coverage under the scheme.

Districts Covered

The 60 districts comprised 48 districts covered under the SRE scheme and 12 other districts not falling under the SRE scheme. The 60 districts thus selected are : Adiliabad and Khammam (2 districts) in Andhra Pradesh; Arwal, Aurangabad, Gaya, Jamui, Jehanabad, Nawada and Rohtas (7 districts), in Bihar; Bastar, Bijapur, Dantewada, Jashpur, Kanker, Kawardha, Koriya, Narayanpur, Rajnandgaon and Surguja (10 districts) of Chhattisgarh; Bokaro, Chatra, Garwha, Gumla, Hazaribagh, Kodarma, Latehar, Lohardaga, Paschim Singhbhum, Palamu, Purbi Singhbhum, Ramgarh, Saraikela and Simdega (14 districts) of Jharkhand; Anuppur, Balagahat, Dindori, Mandla, Seoni, Shahdol, Sidhi and Umaria (8 districts) in Madhya Pradesh; Gadchiroli and Gondiya (2 districts); Balangir, Debagarh/Deogarh, Gajapati, Kalahandi, Kandhamal/Phulbani, Kendujhar/Keonjhar, Koraput, Malkangiri, Mayurbhanj, Nabrangpur, Nuapada, Rayagada, Sambalpur, Sonapur and Sundargarh (15 districts) of Orissa; Sonbhadra (1 district), Uttar Pradesh; Paschim Medinipur (1 district) in West Bengal.

Monitoring

The Development Commissioner of the State/equivalent officer incharge of development in the State is responsible for scrutiny of expenditure and monitoring of the IAP in the State. In order to facilitate the monitoring, the States are required to send district-wise monthly progress reports in the prescribed format and also upload the information on the Management Information System(MIS) along with photographs of the works.

Regular monitoring of the IAP is being carried out by the Member-Secretary, Planning Commission through video conferences with the District Collectors/District Magistrates and Development Commissioner of the States concerned. So far 14 such video conferences/meetings have been held including the Video Conference meetings held by the Union Home Minister, Union Minister of Rural Development and MoS (Independent charge) for Environment and Forests. In addition, the Review Group headed by the Cabinet Secretary also reviewed the progress of implementation of IAP with the Chief Secretaries of 9 States through video conference meeting.

Provisions for change in IAP

The Ministry of Home Affairs has also constituted an Empowered Group of Officers with Member-Secretary, Planning Commission as its Chairperson. The Empowered Group, inter-alia, has overriding powers to modify existing norms/guidelines on implementation of various development programmes and flagship schemes in consultation with the Ministries/Departments concerned.

States’ Response to IAP

The implementation of IAP has been successful and the scheme has had a very good response. A number of requests had been received from the Chief Ministers, Members of Parliament and State Governments for inclusion of more districts under the IAP. On the basis of requests received from the State Govts., the Govt. of India has decided on 07.12.2011 to include additional 18 LWE affected districts under IAP from the financial year 2011-12 onwards and to provide block grant of Rs.30 crore to each of these districts during the current financial year.

Conclusion: The Government’s approach is to deal with Left Wing Extremism activities in a holistic manner, in the areas of security, development, rights of local communities, administration and public perception. In dealing with this decades old problem, it has been felt appropriate, after various high-level deliberations and interactions with the State Governments concerned that an integrated approach aimed at the relatively more affected areas would deliver results. With this in view, a detailed analysis of the spread and trends in respect of LWE violence has been made and 83 affected districts in nine States have been taken up for special attention on planning, implementation and monitoring of security situation and development schemes.

CBSE again asks school teachers to familiarise with CCE prog

2012-01-09T21:54:00.000-08:00

In an attempt to help schools develop a proper perspective of the CCE prog, CBSE has once again asked affiliated school teachers to familiarise themselves with the prog guidelines and sought regular interaction between school heads and teachers to remove prevailing notions.

With the revised teacher's manual on the Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) available with schools, CBSE has underlined that "teachers should use these manuals and familiarise themselves with the guidelines provided in them".

CCE was launched a couple of years back in classes to decrease the accumulated stress of board exams on the students and to introduce a more uniform and comprehensive pattern in education for the children all over the nation.

However, the programme gave rise to doubts and confusions with regards to the role of teachers in following it.

Taking this into account, CBSE in a new year circular to all affiliated schools have also asked schools heads to continuously interact with teachers to remove the established notion that the reformative measure is over-burdening them.

"It is requested that school heads to continuously interact with the teachers and discuss with them about changed role of teachers in view of the implementation of CCE. The established notion that teachers have to do everything in terms of teacher talk, asking questions and often times answering them before students can think, needs to be reviewed," CBSE said in its circular.

The teacher has to appreciate that her role is now more as collaborator and facilitator rather than instructor, the circular added.

CCE also aims to help in improving students performances by identifying their learning difficulties at regular time intervals right and employing suitable remedial measures for enhancing their learning performance.

It has reiterated that no school under the guise of enforcing discipline should mistreat any student or parent.

Schools should desist from exploiting parents by opening book shops or uniform centres which prescribe branded accessories and shoes at inflated costs as this also amounts to discrimination between children, it said.

As implementation of CCE has made involvement of parents in school affairs more feasible, the Board has advised school head to have continuous interaction with the parents and "utilise the vast resource of parent interactions for quality enhancement of schools". The Board has also encouraged innovations in schools by bringing together the best practices in education within schools affiliated to it.

Govt gives back six deallocated coal blocks

2012-01-08T00:22:00.001-08:00

The govt has given back six coal blocks of the deallocated 14 mines to firms, including Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) and Tenughat Vidyut Nigam Limited (TVNL) and NTPC.

"We have given back six coal blocks, including one of DVC, one jointly allocated to TVNL and DVC, one to Jharkhand State Electricity Board (JSEB) and three to NTPC," a top official of Coal Ministry said on Friday.

All the blocks have been given back on the condition that they would be developed within two years otherwise they would be taken back by the coal ministry, the official added.

The government had last year cancelled the allotment of 14 coal blocks and one lignite block to six public sector and three private firms for their failure to develop them within the stipulated time frame.

A committee, chaired by Additional Secretary (Ministry of Coal) Zohra Chatterji, is looking into the issue of development of coal blocks which were allocated to firms for captive use.

Five coal blocks of NTPC which were taken back by the coal ministry, includes Chatti Bariatu, Chatti Bariatu (S), Kerandari, Brahmani and Chichiro Patsimal.

Last year, Power Minister Sushilkumar Shinde wrote a letter to Jaiswal, seeking a review of the decision to de-allocate blocks to NTPC.

The Banhardih mine in Jharkhand, which was allocated to JSEB in 2006, was also taken back as implementation of all milestones under the project were pending.

Jharkhand Chief Minister Arjun Munda had last year met the Coal Minister, seeking the reversal of the ministry's decision to cancel allotment of a coal block to a state-run power utility.

In 2011, TVNL and DVC had also asked the government to reconsider its decision to deallocate the Gondulpara coal block jointly allocated to them in Jharkhand as the mine falls in a "no-go" zone.

The coal mine was allocated in 2006 to TVNL as a leader and DVC as an associate to meet the coal requirement for their joint venture power project.

To weed out non-serious players, the government had in 2010 issued notices to 84 coal and four lignite block allottees for not developing the same within stipulated time and sought explanation as to why blocks should not be cancelled. (DD-6.1)

Coal India's three projects recommended for green clearance

An Environment Ministry's panel has recommended Coal India's three projects, including one for capacity augmentation, for green clearance.

"Three coal projects of Coal India -- Samleshwari OCP, Dakra OCP and Gose OCP -- which came up for discussion during the day-long meeting of Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) held on Tuesday, were recommended for environment clearance," a source in the Coal Ministry said.

Samleshwari open cast project (OCP) at IB valley coalfields in Orissa envisages expanding production capacity to 11 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) from five MTPA.

The 11-MTPA greenfield Gose OCP of CIL subsidiary Central Coalfields in Hazaribagh, Jharkhand, had been awaiting go-ahead for past one month.

The third one MTPA Dakra OCP had been awaiting clearances for renewal of mining lease, the source said.

Earlier, CIL had said that inordinate delays in the receipt of green clearances for mining proposals have stalled the investment decisions on 67 new projects and also affected the expansion work in ongoing projects, translating into an annual production loss of 200 MT.

"Our 168 projects are pending environment and forest clearances at the Centre and State levels. Sixty-seven of these projects are greenfield and we are unable to make any investment in these. Remaining are ongoing expansion schemes, which too have been stalled," CIL chairman N C Jha had said.

As per the stipulated procedure, forest clearances should be granted within 300 days. However, as per an assessment by the company, the process is taking as long as six years in some cases.

Apart from in-principle approval, which gets delayed by up to six years, final clearance takes an equally long time, he said.

A total of 114 projects of the public sector firm are awaiting stage one clearance (in-principle approval), of which 92 projects are waiting for the green signal at the State level, while the remaining await the nod from the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF).

As far as stage two clearance (final approval) is concerned, 54 proposals are stuck, including 31 at the State level.

CIL produced 431 MT coal last fiscal. The company's output target for the ongoing fiscal was recently scaled down to 440 MT from 452 MT set earlier.

Sixth Economic Census

2012-01-04T21:51:00.000-08:00

The Sixth Economic Census is conducted on All India basis covering all the States and UTs in the country. It is scheduled to be conducted during April-Nov’2012. The Economic Census is known to be one of the most complex and massive administrative exercises in which all establishments – whether households or non-households, big or small, in the Private or Public sector – are enumerated.

It is a Central Sector Scheme, with 100% Central Assistance and is to be conducted in all the States and Union Territories of the country, in collaboration with State/UT Governments. The Scheme proposes to provide up-to-date information on operational and other characteristics, viz., number of establishments; number of persons employed; source of finance; type of ownership, religion code and social group of propriety establishments, according to their industrial activity including their distribution at all-India, State, district, village/ward levels for comprehensive analysis of the structure of the economy which will be used for micro level/ decentralized planning and also for undertaking detailed follow up sample surveys to assess contribution of various sectors of the economy in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

2. Background

2.1 The Central Sector scheme on Economic Census (EC) and Follow-up Surveys was for the first time formulated by the then Central Statistical Organization (CSO) way back in 1976 with the following two main objectives:

(a) To provide a frame (list) of all establishments in the country from which samples could be drawn for collecting detailed information on operational and economic variables for any specific industry; and

(b) To compile information on these variables/parameters of all the establishments of the country including their distribution at All-India, State/District etc., levels for comprehensive analysis of the structure of the economy.

2.2 Since then five such EC’s have been conducted so far, during the years 1977, 1980, 1990, 1998 and 2005. The Economic Census data, over the years, have provided a base for under taking follow up surveys by NSSO and other governmental and non-governmental agencies to study the structure and composition of the various industrial sectors and their contribution. Further, the data from ECs have been used by the Office of Development Commissioner (Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises) in the formulation of sample design for collecting data from the unregistered SSI sector in the third census as well as in the recently conducted Fourth All-India Census cum Sample Survey of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (2008-09).

3. The main objectives for conducting the 6^th EC are as under:

a) To provide detailed information on operational and other variables, activity wise, of all the establishments (excluding crop production, plantation, public administration, defence and compulsory social security) of the country including their distribution at all- India, State, district, village/ward levels for comprehensive analysis of the structure of the economy (macro, micro, regional levels) and for benchmark purposes;

b) To provide updated Directory of Establishments employing 10 or more workers up to the village/ward level for local level planning purposes and use the same as an input for the development of National Business Register, which would be useful for estimation of District Domestic Product;

c) To provide an up to date frame (list) from which samples could be drawn for collecting detailed information.

4. Implementation of Scheme:

4.1 The Sixth Economic Census will be a joint effort of CSO and DES’s in States/UTs. The overall responsibility of organization and conduct of Census will rest with CSO, Ministry of Statistics and PI while the field work and its supervision, scrutiny and coding of data will be done by DESs of the respective States/UTs.

4.2 The field work of Sixth EC is to be undertaken with the help of grass root officials named as ‘enumerator’, possessing at least Senior Secondary education, posted in State/UT Govts., on honorarium basis or by hiring persons on contract basis, in both rural and urban areas depending upon the States’ strength of field staff vis-à-vis their work load.

4.3 The supervision of field work will be entrusted to the respective supervisory officers of the concerned Deptt./ Agencies. The work of 2/3 enumerators would be supervised by a supervisor, who is atleast a graduate in qualification.

4.4 The work of Supervisors would be monitored by Charge Officers (Tehsildar, BDO etc.) the progress of the work at state level would be controlled and monitored by District Statistical Office under the overall guidance of District Collector, who is also the Chairman of the District level Monitoring committee constituted by the State Govt. for Sixth EC.

4.5 Further the Director, State/UT DECs is the over all in-charge for the conduct of Sixth EC in the State/UT, who works under the guidance and directions of the Chief Secretary/Planning Secretary or Senior Officer nominated by the Chief Secretary.

4.6 Necessary arrangements for two days training to primary enumerators and Supervisors will be made before the conduct of Field work. This training will be preceded by the training of master trainers from the State DESs.

4.7 The scanning/ data entry, processing of data & tabulation at state level will be undertaken by Data Processing Agencies to be decided by the CSO. Aggregation of some specified economic characteristics and estimates at Tehsil and at Distt. Level based on a quick scanning and tabulation (utilizing the services of primary enumerators & staff of DSO & DSEs) will be undertaken. Thereafter, provisional results at state level & all India level will be released quickly by CSO. Overall guidance in data processing, tabulation at all India level, development of unified software for data processing, designing of tabulation plan etc, will be responsibility of CSO besides conducting national level (all-India) training for master trainers at State level and also supervising the State/District level training in the States.

4.8 The scheme envisages to cover all the 24.7 lakh Population Census (2011) Enumeration Blocks, each consisting of about 600 persons and it will cover all the 24 crore households of the country. In addition it will cover approximately 50 million enterprises/establishments. The field work of the Census will be taken up between April-Nov’ 2012. For the Census 12.36 lakh field staff will be deployed and trained through 20785 training programmes.

4.9 In the Census about 5 Crore ICR enabled Schedules will be canvassed, scanned and processed. Thereafter, a) Quick Results, b) All India Report and State wise reports, c) State wise Directories of Establishments, will be released within 2 months, one year and 15 months respectively, of the completion of field work. The total process will be completed in a period of 30 months i.e. by June, 2014. The total cost of Census is estimated at Rs. 763.49 crore.

NATIONAL RURAL EMPLOYMENT GUARANTEE ACT (NREGA )

2012-01-02T21:52:00.000-08:00

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQs)
Q.1: What is the objective of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act
(NREGA)?
Ans: NREGA is an Act to provide a legal guarantee of 100 days of wage employment
in a financial year to every rural household whose adult members volunteer to do
unskilled manual work. He/she will get the minimum wage rate notified for
agricultural labour in the State until the Central Government notifies a minimum
wage rate, which in any case shall not be less than Rs. 60 per day. NREGA came
into effect on February 2, 2006.
Q.2: Who can apply for employment under the Act?
Ans: All adult members of a rural household, resident in the area, willing to do
unskilled manual work can apply. Even if a person is already employed/engaged in
work, he/she has the right to demand employment under NREGA. Priority shall be
given to women. Atleast one-third of the beneficiaries shall be women who have
registered and requested for work under the Scheme.
Q.3: What is the process of registration?
Ans: A household interested in availing of the NREGA benefits has to make an
application for registration through the prescribed written form or orally. The
registration form and process are free of cost.
Q.4: Who should the application for registration be made to?
Ans: The application for registration has to be made to the Gram Panchayat.
Q.5: What is the role of the Gram Panchayat in the registration process?
Ans: In order to authenticate the registration, the Panchayat verifies whether
the applicant resides in that village and is an adult. The unit of registration
is the household. After verification, the Gram Panchayat will issue a Job Card
to the household.
Q.6: What is a Job Card?
Ans: A Job Card is the basic legal document, which enables the registered
household to demand guaranteed employment. The Job Card should be issued within
15 days of application and is valid for five years. The household Job Card will
have the name and photograph of each registered member. The Job Card and
photograph are free for the applicant.
Q.7: Does a Job Card automatically entitle a person to receive employment?
Ans: No. In order to get employment the person will need to apply for work.
Q.8: How can one apply for work?
Ans: To get employment, the job seeker should submit a written application to
the Gram Panchayat or Programme Officer (at block office). Within a households'
entitlement for 100 days individual members can apply for work. The demand has
to be for at least 14 days of continuous work.
Q.9: Does the applicant receive an acknowledgement of his work application?
Ans: Yes. The Gram Panchayat should issue a dated receipt for the application.
Q.10. How many days can a person get work for?
Ans: Under NREGA, a household is entitled to 100 days of work in a financial
year. This entitlement of 100 days can be shared within the household; more than
one person in the household can be employed simultaneously or at different
times.
Q.11: How will the applicant receive information on the given employment?
Ans: The Gram Panchayat/Programme Officer should send letters to the applicants
informing them where and when to report for work. A public notice displayed at
the Gram Panchayat and at the Programme Officer's block office, should provide
information on the date, place of employment and the names of those provided
employment.
Q.12: What happens if employment is not given?
Ans: If the job seeker does not get employment within 15 days of submitting the
application or from the date when work is sought, whichever is later, a daily
unemployment allowance has to be paid as per the Act.
Q.13: What happens if the applicant does not report to work within 15 days?
Ans: If the applicant does not report to work within 15 days of being notified,
he or she will not be entitled to the unemployment allowance. The applicant can
however, re-apply for work.
Q.14: Where will work be provided?
Ans: Work should be provided within 5 km of applicant's residence. If employment
is provided beyond 5 km radius of the applicant's residence then he/she is
entitled to 10% additional wages towards transport and living expenses. Persons
older in age and women shall be given preference for work nearer to the village.
Q.15: What facilities are to be made available to workers at work sites?
Ans: Work site facilities include safe drinking water, shade for children and
periods of rest, first-aid box for emergency treatment of minor injuries and
other health hazards connected with work. If more than five children below six
years are present a person should be engaged to look after them.
Q.16: What type of work will be given?
Ans: Creation of durable assets and strengthening the livelihood resource base
of the rural poor shall be an important objective of the Scheme. Work through
contractors is not permissible. The kinds of works permissible according to
priority are:
i. water conservation and water harvesting
ii. drought proofing (including afforestation and tree plantation)
iii. irrigation canals including micro and minor irrigation works
iv. provision of irrigation facility to land owned by households belonging to
the SCs and STs or to land beneficiaries of land reforms or that of the
beneficiaries under the Indira Awas Yojana
v. renovation of traditional water bodies including desilting of tanks
vi. land development
vii. flood control and protection works including drainage in water logged
areas
viii. rural connectivity to provide all-weather access
ix. any other work which may be notified by the Central Government in
consultation with the State Government.
Q.17: What wage material ratio needs to be maintained in the selection of works?
Ans: In the selection of works a 60:40 wage-material ratio has to be maintained.
Q.18: What is the role of the Gram Sabha and Gram Panchayat in the planning
process?
Ans :The Gram Sabha should identify and recommend works. The Gram Panchayat
should consolidate and send the recommendations of Gram Sabha to the Programme
Officer.
Q.19: What wages will be paid?
Ans:The labourers are entitled to the statutory minimum wage for agriculture
labourers in the State; until the Central Government notifies a minimum wage
rate, which in any case shall not be less than Rs. 60 per day.
Q.20: When will the wages be paid?
Ans:Wages should be paid every week, or in any case 'not later than a fortnight
after the date on which such work was done'.
Q.21: How will the wages be calculated?
Ans:The worker can be paid either as daily wage or as piece-rate. If wages are
paid on a piece-rate basis, the schedule of rates has to be such that a person
working for seven hours would normally earn the minimum wage.
Q.22: How are program functionaries accountable for what they do?
Ans: External and internal evaluators are continuously and concurrently
evaluating the Programme. The authority to conduct social audit is vested in
Gram Sabha. A Village Level Monitoring committee is to be set up by Gram Sabha
to oversee each work. Moreover, any contravention of the Act shall, on
conviction, be liable to fine which may extend to one thousand rupees. A
Grievance Redressal Mechanism should also be set up at the block, district and
state level.

175 Officers Commissioned into the Indian Air Force

2011-12-29T23:44:00.000-08:00

A total of 175 Flight Cadets including 30 Women Flight Cadets passed out of the Air Force Academy, Dundigal, Hyderabad, as newly commissioned officers to join the Indian Air Force in respective branches today.

General VK Singh, Chief of the Army Staff was the Reviewing Officer for the Combined Graduation Parade which marked the culmination of basic as well as professional training of the flight cadets, who underwent training at Air Force Academy Dundigal, Hyderabad, Air Force Administrative College, Coimbatore, Air Force Station Hakimpet , Air Force Station Yehlanka and Air Force Station Begumpet.

In his address to the newly commissioned officers, General VK Singh, impressed upon building up of intrinsic qualities of leadership, by placing the highest value to honor, integrity and selflessness. He exhorted, the newly commissioned officers to place the interest of the country, the service and subordinates before one’s own, always and every time He also emphasized on transcending all ethnic, religious and regional differences in order to promote a stronger India through an integrated approach.

Flying Officer Varun Agarwal, who commanded the parade, was awarded the President’s Plaque and Chief of Air Staff ‘Sword of Honour ’ for standing first in overall order of merit in Pilot Course. Flying Officer Kamal Kumar Mishra was awarded the President’s Plaque for standing first in overall order of merit in Ground Duties Branch. Flying Officer Prasun Kumar Singh was awarded the President’s Plaque for standing first in overall order of merit in Navigation branch.

The Parade also saw the participation of Air Warrior Drill Team which thrilled the audience by its smart and synchronized drill movements. There was a traditional fly past by Hawk, AN-32, Dornier and Kiran aircraft. An exhilarating and outstanding low level aerobatic display by SU-30 aircraft, kept the audience spell-bound. A breath taking dare devil display by Akashganga paratroopers was appreciated by one and all. A large number of retired and serving defence officers, civilian dignitaries, service personnel and their families witnessed the colourful grand parade.

General VK Singh had arrived at Air Force Academy on 28 Dec 11 and was received by Air Marshal D Kukreja, Air Officer Commanding- in-Chief, Training Command, and Air Marshal PR Sharma, Commandant, Air Force Academy. He attended a ceremonial Guest Night with passing out Flight Cadets and their parents wherein he awarded the trophies and medals to the cadets who excelled in their respective branches, as has been the custom.

Pranab Mukherjee lays foundation of NIT in Rourkela

2011-12-25T22:36:00.000-08:00

Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Sunday laid the foundation of a Rs 60 crore building of the prestigious National Institute of Technology (NIT) in Rourkela. The 13-storeyed building equipped with sophisticated gadgets and modern facilities would be constructed coinciding with the golden jubilee of NIT. The building is scheduled to be completed in two years.

Mukherjee, on a two-day visit to the steel city, praised the role being played by NIT in imparting high quality technological education.

The finance minister also inaugurated the 84th annual conference of Nikhila Bharat Banga Sahitya Samilana where more than 1,000 delegates from different parts of the country participated.

Highlighting the significant role played by language in national integration and harmony, Mukherjee said the bond among people gets strengthened through literature which transcends geographical barriers.

New Cells in Employment Exchange for Girls

2011-12-22T22:33:00.000-08:00

Data about women job-seekers is already being maintained by the Employment Exchanges. Moderanisation and computerization of employment exchanges provides online facilities for registration, etc, which eliminates the need for separate cells in employment exchanges for girls. However, some State Governments have opened such cells keeping in view the local needs.

(a) There is no such proposal under consideration of the Central Government.

(b) Some State Governments like Maharashtra, Gujarat, UP, etc have made provisions for horizontal reservation in government jobs for women.

Compilation of Data Regarding Unemployment

2011-12-22T22:26:00.001-08:00

Directorate General of Employment and Training (D.G.E.&T.) under Ministry of Labour & Employment has been entrusted with the responsibility of compiling information on employment and unemployment at monthly intervals at national level on the basis of returns rendered by a network of 966 employment exchanges located throughout the country. D.G.E. & T. is thus compiling and maintaining administrative statistics on employment and unemployment. Employment exchanges are providing employment assistance to the job seekers by registering them with the employment exchanges. Job seekers are treated as unemployed persons. However, all those registered with the employment exchanges may not necessarily be unemployed. The Employment Exchange (Compulsory Notification of Vacancies) Act., 1959 provides that all establishments in the public sector and establishments employing 25 or more in the private sector are required to compulsorily notify all the vacancies (except exempted under the Act.) to the employment exchanges. Establishments not coming within the preview of the Act are also notifying vacancies to the employment exchanges voluntarily. Candidates selected out of sponsored by the employment exchanges against the vacancies notified by employers are shown as placed through the employment exchanges.

Increasing Unemployment due to Low Production

2011-12-22T22:24:00.001-08:00

Reliable estimates of employment and unemployment are obtained through quinquennial labour force surveys conducted by the National Sample Survey Office. Last such survey was conducted during 2009-10 according to which the number of unemployed persons has come down from 3.47 crore in 2004-05 to 2.85 crore in 2009-10 on current daily status basis.

Government have taken several steps to reduce unemployment. The focus is on productive employment at a faster pace in order to raise the incomes of masses of the rural population to bring about a general improvement in their living conditions. The job opportunities are likely to be created on account of growth in Gross Domestic Product (GDP), investment in infrastructure development, growth in exports etc. Government of India has also been implementing various employment generation programmes, such as Swarana Jayanti Shahari Rozgar Yojana (SJSRY); Prime Minister`s Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP); Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana(SGSY) and Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) besides entrepreneurial development programmes run by Ministry of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises.

Extension of Credit Facilities to Farmers and Small Industries

2011-12-20T22:14:00.001-08:00

As per Dr. Rangarajan Committee Report on Financial Inclusion (2008), 51.4 per cent farmer households in the country do not access credit, either from institutional or non-institutional sources. In terms of Reserve Bank’s extant guidelines on lending to priority sector, a target of 40 per cent of Adjusted Net Bank Credit (ANBC) or Credit Equivalent amount of Off-Balance Sheet Exposures (OBE), whichever is higher, as on March 31 of the previous year, has been mandated for lending to the priority sector by domestic scheduled commercial banks, both in the public and private sector, Within this, a sub-target of 18 per cent of ANBC or Credit Equivalent amount of OBE, whichever is higher, as on March 31 of the previous year, has been mandated for lending to agriculture sector.

The Government of India has taken several measures for the availability of credit to farmers through banks. These include:

(i) The Interest Subvention Scheme is being implemented by the Government of India since 2006-07 to make short-term crop loans up to Rs. 3 lakh for a period of one year available to farmers at the interest rate of 7 percent per annum. The Government of India has since 2009-10 been providing additional interest subvention to prompt payees farmers, i.e., those who repay their loan in time. The additional subvention was 1% in 2009-10 and 2% in 2010-11. This is being increased to 3% in 2011-12.

(ii) The Agricultural Debt Waiver and Debt Relief Scheme (ADWDRS), 2008 has de-clogged the lines of credit that were clogged due to the debt burden on the farmers

(iii) Banks have been advised to dispense with the requirement of “no dues” certificates for small loans up to Rs.50,000 to small and marginal farmers, share-croppers and the like and instead obtain a self-declaration from the borrower

(iv) RBI has advised banks to waive margin/security requirements for agricultural loans up to Rs 1,00,000.

(v) To extend the reach of banking facilities to the rural hinterland, banks have identified approximately 73,000 villages with population of more than 2000 to provide banking facilities by March, 2012. As per reports received from State Level Bankers Committee (SLBC) Convener Banks, over 45,000 such villages have been covered upto October, 2011.

(vi) General permission has been granted to domestic Scheduled Commercial Banks (other than RRBs) to open branches/mobile branches/Administrative Offices/CPCs (Service Branches): (i) In Tier 2 to Tier 6 centres (with population upto 99,999) and (ii) in rural, semi urban and urban centres of the North-Eastern States and Sikkim, subject to reporting. RBI has advised banks that while preparing their Annual Branch Expansion Plan (ABEP), the Banks should allocate at least 25 percent of the total number of branches proposed to be opened during a year in unbanked rural (Tier 5 and Tier 6) centres.

Need To Harmonize Skill Development Programme Initiated Under Skill Missions and the NCVT

2011-12-17T02:26:00.000-08:00

Union Labour & Employment Minister Shri Mallikarjun Kharge has stressed for a need to harmonize skill development programme initiated under skill missions and the NCVT and a holistic approach which will be necessary to impart training according to national standards, quality assured to meet the specific needs of various sectors of economy. Shri Kharge was chairing the 40th meeting of the National Council for Vocational Training (NCVT) here in New Delhi today.

The Council was established in 1956 and since then it has been advising Government in framing the vocational training policies for expansion of National Vocational Training System and in maintaining high standards of training in the country. Over the years, it has emerged as a “brand” in itself.

Shri Kharge said “Skills Development” is an essential input for achieving the objective of decent work both by increasing the productivity and sustainability of the enterprises and improving employability of persons. UPA government is giving due importance to build human resources through appropriate Skill Development, specially to take advantage of demographic profile of the country.

He said, the Directorate General of Employment & Training (DGE&T) has taken many initiatives for expansion of Skill Development both in Qualitative and Quantities terms, during XI Plan period. With able guidance of members and support from all stake holders, we were able to achieve most of these targets. I am happy to inform you that ITIs are growing with an average rate of 10% every year during last five years. At present there are 9404 ITIs with seating capacity of around 13.21 lakh . In Government Sector, there are 2244 ITIs with seating capacity of 4.69 lakh and in Private Sector, total ITIs are 7160 with seating capacity of 8.62 lakh. I am told that the sub-committee of NCVT meets regularly to grant affiliating to these rapidly growing ITIs . I appreciate cooperation extended by all the members in this regard.

The minister said that Central Government, with the help of State Governments, has launched two major Schemes for upgradation of all the existing Government Industrial Training Institutes in the country. Under the first Scheme, 500 ITIs are being upgraded. Out of which 100 ITIs have been upgraded into Centres of Excellence through domestic funding at a cost of Rs 160 crore and other 400 ITIs are being upgraded under the Vocational Training Improvement Project assisted by World Bank at a cost of about Rs 1581 crore.

The second Scheme is for upgradation of the remaining 1396 Government ITIs in PPP mode at a total cost of about Rs. 3550 crore . We have been able to associate Industry Partners in the process of upgradation of 1107 Govt ITIs, so far covered under the scheme. The Central Government has released around Rs.3713 crores to State Govts for upgrading ITIs under above said two Schemes so as to bring out qualitative changes in the ITIs. We have to ensure that funds released are utilized in best possible manner to upgrade the hard and soft infrastructure of these ITIs. A proper monitoring system must be in place at State as well as Central levels. Recently a survey was done by Quality Council of India and it was revealed that ITIs which have been upgraded are performing better and placement rate has reached a level of 81 to 99 % in these it is, the minister added.

As the National Policy on Skill Development has set a target for training of 500 million persons by year 2022 and the target for Ministry of Labour and Employment is 100 million. Therefore, a lot more work has to be done by Ministry to achieve the target. However, a holistic approach to skill development is necessary so that training imparted is according to national standards, quality assured and can meet the specific needs of various sectors of economy. Many States have now constituted State Skill Development Missions.

DGE&T is initiating following new schemes to facilitate an accelerated and sustainable transformation and for expansion of outreach of the skill development and vocational training to difficult areas such as Skill Development in 34 districts affected by left Wing Extremism , to create skill development infrastructure closer to people living in these areas, Enhancing Skill Development Infrastructure in North Eastern States and Sikkim, Kaushal Vikas Yojana – under which 1500 ITIs and 5000 SDCs in PPP mode are proposed to be set up in the country and finally, Expansion of Trainers Training infrastructure through Establishment of 15 ATIs and 12 RVTIs.

While effort to increase seating capacity will continue, focus must be given to qualitative improvement and training of instructors in large numbers. During last meeting, a decision was taken that Instructor Training Institutes may be set up by State/UT Governments as well as private sector. In order to maintain quality and standards of instructor training in all such institutes, it was also decided that such institutes should be affiliated to NCVT so that the trainees after completion of training are trade tested and successful trainees could be awarded Craft Instructor Certificates under the aegis of NCVT. A complete manual for setting of “Institute for Training of Trainers” has been prepared and up loaded on DGET web site for end-users.

The Minister said we want to improve our affiliation system in such a manner that training providers do not face any difficulty and at the same time, it should be fast, transparent and user friendly. Therefore, during 39th Meeting we have suggested an agenda for involvement of Quality Council in Affiliation of ITIs. As desired by members, the matter has been discussed in two meetings of Su-committee of NCVT and now concrete proposal is placed before the council to take a decision on the issue.

He said it is necessary to improve affiliation, assessment and testing system of NCVT. It is also necessary to start accreditation of ITIs, so that performance is and recognised. I am very happy to note that many other important issues have been taken up in the agenda for discussion and I hope that this council will deliberate constructively in detail on all agenda points and take decisions which will lead to the qualitative improvement and further strengthen the Vocational Training system in the country.

On this occasion Shri Kharge also presented two awards in the areas of Skill Development in the Craftmenship . The award for the best institution went to M/s BOSCH while the award for best state was given to Maharashtra.

The meeting later discussed the following issues: Engagement of Quality Council of India (QCI) for Accreditation of Government and Private Industrial Training Institutes (S), Granting Affiliation from NCVT to Government and Private ITI(S) for Limited Period of Time,. Approval of Dual System of Training Scheme in Government and Private ITI(S), To Implement Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation Scheme, Introduction of Computer Based Instruction Material (CBIM) to IMPART Theoretical Instructions; and Web Bases Testing System (WBTS) for Evaluation of Trainers, INT Roduction of Diploma Level Training Courses by NCVT, Grouping of Existing CTS Trades, Qualification of the Instructor for the Subject ‘Employability Skills’, Setting up of a Computer Lab as an Infrastructure Resource at all the Industrial Training Institutes Affiliated to NCVT, Delegation of Approval and Declaration of Results of the DGE&T Field Examinations, to their Respective HOD(S), A Draft Model on “Article of Memorandum of Association” for Registering the State Council of Vocational Training (SCVT) as Society, Blue Print of ‘Format for Website’, Introduction ofRevised Format for ‘Annexure III’

Indo-US Higher Education Summit

2011-12-17T02:24:00.001-08:00

The First India-U.S. Higher Education Summit was held in Washington D.C. on October 13, 2011. The Summit was jointly organized by the Government of India and the Government of United States and was attended by government officials and academics as well as individuals from the private sector who are involved in higher education sector. It was jointly inaugurated by Hon’ble Minister of Human Resources Development Shri Kapil Sibal and the US Secretary of State Ms Hillary Clinton. The objective of the summit was to further strengthen higher education collaboration and exchange between institutions in India and the United States. The summit also highlighted the importance of education as a pillar of the India-U.S. Strategic Dialogue.

The following issues were discussed during the summit:-

i. Student Exchange

ii. Faculty Collaboration and Scholarship

iii. Models of collaboration: institutional footprints

iv. Understanding the environment: quality and flexibility

v. National development and solving global challenges

vi. Building Capacity through private sector/academic-industry research partnerships

vii. Enabling Innovation and Promoting Economic Growth

viii. Looking to 2020: Partnerships for workforce development and expanding access.

A joint statement was issued at the end of the Summit where the two sides have agreed to:

(i) Promote strategic institutional partnerships for further strengthening and expanding collaboration in the priority areas of higher education;

(ii) Encourage expansion and deepened collaboration in research and development;

(iii) Foster partnerships in the areas of vocational education and skills enhancement;

(iv) Further strengthening programme for student and faculty enrichment and exchange; and

(v) Welcome involvement of the private sector in the two countries to support and deepen such collaboration.

The Summit provided a platform for industry leaders, academia and government officials from both countries for evolving further collaboration for mutual benefit in the areas of student and faculty exchange, collaborative research, skill development and innovation.