Real India Rural India

Aadhaar enrolments beyond 20 crore

2012-01-27T22:17:00.001-08:00

The Cabinet Committee on Unique Identification Authority of India related issues (CC-UIDA1) today, after detailed deliberations and taking note that the purposes of UIDAI and NPR are different, agreed that the NPR and UIDAI enrolments should proceed simultaneously, with suitable provisions to eliminate avoidable overlap. The Committee approved the following modalities for the roll out of Aadhaar and NPR:

a. UIDAI will be allowed to enrol additional 40 crore residents beyond 20 crore already recommended by the EFC.

b. In States, where UIDAI has made good progress where State/UT Governments have given commitments for Aadhaar enrolments and are planning to integrate Aadhaar with various service delivery applications, Aadhaar enrolments through Non-RGI Registrars will move at full speed within the ceiling of 60 crore (20 crore + 40 crore). A suggested list of States/UTs was also approved.

c. The NPR enrolment will continue as envisaged, but if in the course of enrolment, a person indicates he/she is already enrolled for Aadhaar, the biometric data will not be captured by NPR. Instead the Aadhaar number/enrolment number will be recorded in NPR and the biometric data will be sourced from the UIDAI.

d. Detailed protocols will be worked out by Inter Ministerial co-ordination Committee (IMCC) already constituted by the Ministry of Home Affairs so as to smoothly implement this simultaneous effort.

The financial proposal relating to Aadhaar enrolments of additional 40 crore will be separately placed before the EFC. Pending this approval, UIDAI is allowed to continue Aadhaar enrolment beyond 20 crore so that the momentum of the field formations is not lost. Provision will be made in the budget for 2012-13 in anticipation thereof.

The additional cost for enrolment and logistics pertaining to printing and delivery of Aadhaar letters in respect of the 40 crore additional enrolments will be brought before the EFC for their recommendation and to the CC-UIDAI for approval.

The UID project is primarily aimed at ensuring inclusive growth by providing a form of identity to those who do not have any identity. It seeks to provide UID numbers to the marginalized sections of society and thus would strengthen equity. Apart from providing identity, the UID will enable better delivery of services and effective governance.

The modalities and detailed protocol for smooth implementation of simultaneous enrolment by the Non-RGI Registry of UIDAI and the RGI will be finalized by the IMCC within the overall directions given by the CC-UIDAI. The enrolment through Non-RGI Registrars of UIDAI will be for an additional 40 crore population.

The Unique Identification Authority` of India (UIDAI) was established in 2009 and has been mandated to issue Unique Identification (UTD) numbers to the residents of India. It may be recalled that UIDAI was constituted by the Government of India in January, 2009 as an attached office of the Planning Commission. Prime Minister`s Council of UID Authority was constituted on 30th July, 2009 and its first meeting was held on 12th August, 2009. Subsequently, the Government constituted a Cabinet Committee on Unique Identification Authority` of India related issues (CC-UIDAI) in October, 2009 to look into all issues relating to UIDAI including its organization, plans, policies, programmes, schemes, funding and methodology to be adopted for achieving the objectives of the Authority. Consequent upon the creation and establishment of the Unique Identification Authority of India in 2009 for providing unique identification to the residents across the country, an estimated 17 crore enrolments have been completed by the various Registrars of UIDAI and as on 20.1.2012, 11.90 crore Aadhaar numbers generated.

Wheat Sown in 295.30 Lakh Hectares: 3.67 Lakh Hectares More than Last Year

2012-01-27T22:16:00.000-08:00

According to the latest information, wheat has been shown in 295.30 lakh hectare against 291.63 lakh hectare last year on this date, which is 3.67 lakh hectare higher than the area sown during the corresponding period last year. Higher coverage has been reported from Madhya Pradesh (6.02 lakh hectare), Rajasthan (3.11 lakh hectare) and Jharkhand (0.65 lakh hectare).

Rice transplanting is in progress. The total area under rice is 17.64 lakh hectare against 19.27 lakh hectare during the corresponding period of last year. Higher area has been reported from Tamil Nadu (0.24 lakh hectare) and Odisha (0.13 lakh hectare).

Pulses have been sown in 145.86 lakh hectare as against 146.76 lakh hectare last year. Significantly, higher area has been reported in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat and Bihar under gram, which is a dominant pulse crop of rabi season.

Total area under oilseeds cultivation is reported to be 84.35 lakh hectare against 93.15 lakh hectare last year. Higher area has been reported under oilseed crops in Tamil Nadu (1.04 lakh hectare), Jharkhand (0.63 lakh hectare), Uttar Pradesh (0.51 lakh hectare), Gujarat (0.37 lakh hectare), and Assam (0.21 lakh hectare).

The cropped areas as on today are as follows:

lakh ha

Crop	This year’s area [as on 27^th January ]	Last year’s area [as on 27^th January]	normal area
Wheat	295.30	291.63	277.45
Rice	17.64	19.27	44.17
Coarse Cereals	58.50	59.43	65.37
Total Oilseeds	84.35	93.15	94.52
Total Pulses	145.86	146.76	122.74

Peace Process in North East

2012-01-25T23:23:00.001-08:00

A tripartite Memorandum of Settlement (MoS) was signed on 25.11.2011 between the Central Government, Government of Assam and United People’s Democratic Solidarity (UPDS) in the presence of Union Home Minister Shri P. Chidambaram and Assam Chief Minister Shri Tarun Gogoi. The Union Home Minister said that this MoS provide for enhanced autonomy for Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council in Assam and also a special package for speedier socio-economic and educational development of the area. He further stated that Government has always shown its willingness to enter into dialogue with any group, that is willing to abjure the path of violence and place its demand within the framework of the Constitution of India.

The Home Minister Shri P. Chidambaram further said that in the past violence marked the agitation of the UPDS that was intended to attract the attention of the Government towards the backwardness of the Karbi Anglong District. After realizing futility of the violence, in August 2002, UPDS came forward and expressed its willingness to give up violence and seek solution of its problems peacefully within the framework of the Indian Constitution.

In November 2009, in order to speed up the peace process, Government appointed Shri P.C. Haldar as Interlocutor/Government of India’s Representative to negotiate with the UPDS for addressing their grievances. After several rounds of discussion, negotiating team comprising the Representatives of Government of Assam, Ministry of Home Affairs and UPDS finalized tripartite agreement which has been signed. MoS provides for :- ·

· Setting up of a Committee under Assam Legislative Assembly as envisaged under Article 371B of the Constitution of India.

Renaming of existing Council as Karbi Anglong Autonomous Territorial Council (KAATC).
Increased seats in the Council upto 50 members (of which 6 will be nominated by the Governor) as against the existing 30 seats out of which 4 were to be nominated by the Governor. However, the proposed increase in seats shall be applicable for election to the Council due in 2016-17 or mid-term poll, if any, announced, whichever is earlier;
Setting up of Village Councils for deepening democratic process at the grass root level.
Transfer of additional subjects by the State of Assam to the Council along with legislative and executive powers.
Setting up of State Finance Commission (SFC) and consideration of higher fund allocation to the council to undertake viable activities;
Strict adherence to established norms of financial management, proper audit of the accounts, etc.
Additional measures for socio-economic, education, health, and cultural development;
Special economic package of Rs.350 crore (Rs.70 crore per annum) over and above the Plan Fund over the next 5 years to KAATC for identified projects;
Improvement of road connectivity, water supply and supply of power in Karbi Anglong District under existing schemes;
Providing one-time grant for capacity building in KAATC for preparation of DPR etc;
Rehabilitation of UPDS cadres; Withdrawal of cases relating to heinous crimes shall be reviewed case by case according to existing policy for withdrawal of such cases.
Action will be taken to implement the MoS and implementation of MoS will be reviewed periodically.

Empowering the Adolescent Girls - Sabla

2012-01-25T23:22:00.000-08:00

The world is home to 1.2 billion individuals aged 10-19 years generally known as the phase of ‘Adolescence’. Adolescence is a phase during which major physical and psychological changes take place in children, along with changes in their social perceptions and expectations. Adolescence is also the stage when young people extend their relationships beyond parents and family and are intensely influenced by their peers and the outside world. They are also the years of experimentation and risk taking, of giving in to negative peer pressure, of taking uninformed decisions on crucial issues, The vast majority of adolescents live in developing countries and India has the largest national population of adolescents. Studies show that millions of adolescents today do not enjoy access to quality education, basic sexual and reproductive health care, support for mental health issues and disability, protection from violence, abuse and exploitation, and forums for active participation.

Gender-gap in the World of Adolescents

Women constitute nearly half of the population of the country, but gender disparities in socio-cultural spheres have adversely affected a balanced equitable development. These disparities get reflected in important social development indicators such as health, nutrition, literacy, educational attainments, skill levels, occupational status etc. The same is also reflected in the situation of Adolescent girl.

The Adolescent girls in the 10–19 years constitute almost 47 per cent of the total population of Adolescents in the country. But their development is fraught with varied problems. Almost 50% of women marry before the legal age of 18 verses 10% of young men. Overall, one in six women in age group of 15-19 have begun childbearing. Early childbearing is most common in rural areas and among women with no education. Around 41% of all maternal deaths take place among those aged 15-24. 56% adolescent girls are anemic (verses 30% adolescent boys). Anemic adolescent mothers are at a higher risk of miscarriages, maternal mortality and still-births and low-weight babies. The drop-out rates among the girls are quite high. 21% adolescent girls and 8% adolescent boys have no education. Dropout rates among girls are high largely due to distance from schools, male teachers, sanitation facilities at school, early marriage and early assumption of domestic responsibilities etc.

While the world expands for boys giving them greater freedom of choice and opportunities, it contracts for girls and, more so when they are from groups,sections having biases and practicing discrimination against girls. The Adolescent Girls (AGs) are shy and find it hard to come out openly and share their problems and issues with parents, teachers, doctors, etc. As a result, they either grow without resolution of the issues or get misguided, being driven by their own perceptions.

Adolescent Girls are a core resource for national growth. Investment in their health and development is investment in the greater well-being of the country. Considering that several of these girls are out of school, get married early, face discrimination in accessing health, education and other services, work in vulnerable situation, and are influenced by peer pressure, they need special attention. The public health challenges for adolescents, which include pregnancy, risk of maternal and infant mortality, sexually transmitted diseases, reproductive tract infections, rapidly rising incidence of HIV, etc., require influencing the health-seeking behavior of AGs. They need to be looked at in terms of their needs both as a group as well as individuals as they are the productive members of the society in future. Recognizing the unmet needs of AGs, Rajiv Gandhi Scheme for Empowerment of Adolescent Girls – Sabla has been launched as a comprehensive intervention for Adolescent girls in the age-group of 11-18, with a focus on out of school girls. To begin with, the Scheme is being implemented in 200 districts of the country on a pilot basis.

Key Areas of Sabla Scheme

Using the ICDS platform, this scheme is reaching out to nearly 1crore adolescent girls between 11 – 18 years of age in 200 districts across the country with an integrated package of services. Sabla aims at all-round development of adolescent girls of 11-18 years (with a focus on all out-of-school AGs) by making them ‘self reliant’. At the Anganwadi Center, supplementary nutrition providing 600 Kcal and 18-20 g of protein and micronutrients is provided every day at the anganwadi centers either as hot cooked meal or as take home rations to out of school adolescent girls in 11-14 years and all girls between 14-18 years for 300 days in a year.
In addition, out of school adolescent girls are being provided non- nutrition services which include life skills education, supervised weekly IFA (100 mg of elemental iron and 0.5 mg of folic acid) supplementation and nutrition counselling, sexual and reproductive health education and counseling, skills in leadership, problem solving, decision making and accessing public services. In addition, older adolescent girls (16 - 18 year olds) are being given vocational training to make them self reliant. The Scheme also emphasizes convergence of services under various programmes such as Health, Education, Youth affairs and Sports, and Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRI) to achieve the programme objectives.

With the support of community-based frontline workers (anganwadi workers) and civil society groups, adolescent girls have been organized in groups called Kishori Samoohs. Each Samooh is led by a peer leader (Kishori Sakhi) and meet at least 5-6 hours a week to receive programme services and function as a peer support group. Every girl enrolled in Sabla are given a Kishori Card, an entitlement tool to monitor girls’ access to and uptake of the services under Sabla. The non-nutrition services under the Sabla programme interventions also reach out to the non-school going adolescent girls through adolescent groups i.e., Kishori Samoohs meetings. Each adolescent group comprises of 15 – 25 adolescent girls led by peer leaders i.e., Kishori Sakhi and their two associates i.e., Sahelis. The Sakhis and Sahelis are imparted training and serve as a peer monitor/educator for adolescent girls. They serve the group for one year and each girl will have a term of four months as a Sakhi on rotational basis. The AGs also participate in day to day activities of AWC like Pre School, Education, growth monitoring and SNP and facilitate the AWW in other activities. They also accompany the AWW for home visits (2-3 girls at a time) which serves as a training ground for future.

State-Specific Initiatives of Sabla

In many states like Madhya Pradesh and Orissa, NGOs are being utilised for all awareness generation activities and training of the Sakhis and Sahelis. Once a week, interactions of the school going and the non-school going adolescents is also organised so that interactions of the school and non school going adolescents are enhanced and the latter is motivated to join school. Once in three months on a fixed day i.e., on Kishori Diwas, general health checkups including measurement of height and weight and referral services are organised for all the adolescent girls by the Anganwadi worker with help from the health functionaries and referrals to specialised health care facilities for health problems that need special attention. Each adolescent girl is provided a Kishori Card which is a tool to monitor the services the adolescent girl utilises under the Sabla scheme.

With the basic framework of the scheme, State governments have undertaken special initiatives to reach out for the well being of adolescent girls. In Bihar, the state government has clubbed the vocational training of the adolescent girls 16 – 18 years and is reaching out to them through the Hunar scheme of the Education department, a special state level initiative to empower the minorities, schedule castes and scheduled tribes. Under this arrangement efforts are made to provide commercially viable training and develop employable skills among youth who have atleast passed the 8th class.

In states like Orissa, the state government has prioritized training the girls in textile craft and has tied up the vocational training with the existing cottage industries and market linked the trainings so that the older girls can be economically independent. Similar efforts are also being undertaken by the state governments of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.

In Gujarat, the state government has rolled out the Mamta-Taruni programme to ensure adequate healthcare and timely counseling to adolescent girls. The programme is aimed at providing healthcare to girls who are out of school, because there already exists a health programme especially for school students. Through this programme the young girls are also given physical and psychological counseling for the changes taking place in the body during adolescence.Every six months, the nutritional status and hemoglobin levels of the girl are achieved and they are given treatment for anemia if needed. To ensure maximum participation in the programme, the state government has introduced a small monetary provision. The idea is to ensure that maximum number of girls, especially in rural areas, scheduled castes and scheduled tribes participate in the programme. The state also gives the 'peer educator' i.e. Sakhis a small token amount of Rs 25 for every meeting so that they bring as many girls to the kishori samooh meeting as possible, and make them aware. At the same time, the Anganwadi worker is also given an incentive of Rs. 50 for calling the meeting and counseling the girls.

In Jharkhand, the state government has taken a special initiative to establish effective linkages for vocational training in order to build the technical and professional skills of adolescent girls. Linkages for the vocational training and placements have been established with the NSDC (National Skill Development Corporation) and 30 local non-government partners. The adolescent girls groups are also being linked to the existing self-help groups so that interactions with these groups can help in their economic self-reliance. The state government in collaboration with the Department of Education is in the process of designing a special curriculum to mainstream the out of school adolescent girls into the school system through specially designed educational courses that cater to their literary needs. The state government is undertaking steps to link every adolescent girl under 18 with the formal school setup; for which linkages with National Programme of Education of Girls (NPEGEL) and KGBV (Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya) scheme have been established. Child trafficking especially that of tribal girls is a major problem faced by the state. In order to address this problem, the state government of Jharkhand, through the life skills education, appropriate vocational training and enhancing literacy levels in the state, hopes that the incidence of child trafficking is reduced. In addition, under the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), funds are being utilized for creating small library and learning centre in every AWC. The state has also started a statewide social mobilization Campaign for Health and Nutrition for adolescent girls, which was inaugurated by Health minister of the state in a function where all interventions under Sabla were initiated.

Sabla endeavors to have AGs with enhanced self esteem, improved nutrition and health status with enhanced skills and the capacity to make informed choices. Through various schemes including, Sabla, the government is investing in the health, nutrition and development needs of adolescent girls to advance their rights to education, health and protection which will help to them to build a future of gender equality and justice. All this, will in turn help in building of a self-reliant and confident women citizenry.

Shale Gas

2012-01-23T04:11:00.000-08:00

Shale Gas can emerge as important new source of energy in the country. India has several Shale formations which seem to hold Shale Gas. The Shale Gas formations are spread over several sedimentary basins such as Cambay, Gondwana, Krishna-Godawari on-land and Cauvery.

A breakthrough in technology in the area of Shale Gas has been achieved in USA. Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with USA during the visit of President of USA to India in November, 2010 for cooperation in the field of Shale Gas assessment and development. As per the MOU, United States Geological Survey (USGS) has been assisting in carrying out resource assessment for Cambay, KG, Cauvery and Damodar basins.

New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP)

2012-01-23T04:09:00.000-08:00

New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP) was formulated in 1997-98 which provides a level playing field to the private investors including foreign companies by giving them the same fiscal and contract terms as applicable to National Oil Companies (NOCs) for the exploration acreages offered. NELP became effective in February, 1999. blocks are offered under NELP bid rounds through international competitive bidding system on the basis of transparent and quantifiable Bid Evaluation Criteria (BEC) indicated in Notice Inviting Offers (NIO). Under NELP, so far, eight round of bids have been concluded and Production Sharing Contracts (PSC) for 235 exploration blocks have been signed.

In order to harness the hydrocarbon potential of the country, the ninth round of NELP (NELP-IX) was launched on 15th October, 2010 in New Delhi. A total of 34 blocks (8 deep water blocks, 7 shallow water blocks and 19 on-land blocks) covering an area of 88,807 sq. km were offered under NELP-IX. Bids were opened on 28th March, 2011. A total of 74 bids have been received for 33 blocks out of 34 blocks offered for bidding. Evaluation of bids and meeting of Empowered Committee of Secretaries (ECS) is in progress. A close monitoring on the progress is being maintained. The process of award of blocks and signing of Production Sharing Contracts (PSCs) under NELP-IX will be concluded by March, 2012.

Rajiv Gandhi Gramin LPG Vitaran Yojana

2012-01-23T04:07:00.000-08:00

The ‘Vision-2015’ adopted for LPG sector, inter-alia, focuses on raising the population coverage of LPG with the focus on rural areas and areas where LPG coverage is low. The Vision-2015 aims to achieve 75% population coverage in the country by releasing 5.5 crore new LPG connections by 2015 especially in rural areas and under-covered areas.

As the urban centres are, more or less, covered by the LPG network, future growth envisaged under the Vision-2015 will be concentrated in the rural/under-covered areas.

As a step towards this direction, the Rajiv Gandhi Gramin LPG Vitaran Yojana (RGGLVY) for small size LPG distribution agencies has been launched on 16.10.2009. Salient features of the scheme are:
The LPG agencies under RGGLVY will be of small size requiring lesser finance/infrastructure.
The distributor himself will manage the agency with the help of his/her family member and one or more employees.
Age limit for distributor to be between 21 and 45 years.
All agencies under this scheme to be in the joint name of husband and wife. In case of applications who are single the ‘spouse’ will automatically become a partner after the marriage.
Reservation for SC/ST category has also been provided for.
The selection of the distributor would be by draw of lots from amongst all candidates who have secured more than 80% marks on the criteria of financial capability and education qualifications.

To ensure that growth of LPG usage is evenly spread, PSU Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) are assessing/identifying locations in a phased manner under RGGLVY. Advertisements inviting applications for distributorships under the scheme have been released by OMCs in 26 States, namely Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Odisha, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, west Bengal and puducherry covering 3758 locations. Letters of Intents (LOI) have been issued for 1377 locations out of which 782 distributors have already been commissioned. Selection for the rest of the locations is in progress as per policy.

National Auto Fuel Policy

2012-01-23T04:04:00.001-08:00

The Auto Fuel Policy gives a roadmap for upgradation of the quality of auto fuels (Petrol and Diesel) to Bharat Stage (BS) IV in 13 identified cities (Delhi/NCR, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad including Secunderabad, Ahmedabad, Pune, Surat, Kanpur, Agra, Solapur and Lucknow) and BS-III in the rest of the country effective from 1st April, 2010. Accordingly, supply of BS-IV Petrol and Diesel commenced from 1st April, 2010 in all 13 identified cities as per the roadmap laid out in Auto Fuel Policy. BS-III fuels were introduced in the country in a phased manner completed on 22nd September 2010.

Efforts are being made to progressively expand coverage of BS-IV fuels with introduction of these fuels in 50 more cities by 2015. An ‘Industry Group of Officers’ has been formed with representatives from IOCL, BPCL and HPCL. The Group will identify these additional cities considering the pollution levels and the vehicle population. Inclusion of all State Capitals and cities with population of more than one crore will be emphasized while selecting the additional cities for extension of BS-IV auto fuels. In the first phase, the Group identified seven cities for extension of BS-IV fuels during the year 2011-12; out of which it has been introduced in Puducherry city and Mathura.

Name of the city	Proposed date of introduction of BS-IV fuels
Vapi	01.02.2012
Jamnagar	01.02.2012
Ankaleshwar	01.03.2012
Hissar	01.03.2012
Bharatpur	01.03.2012

More than 2.57 Crore Smart Cards Issued under RSBY

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

The Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY), a unique scheme launched by Union Ministry of Labour and Employment so far more than 2.57 crore smart cards have been issued till the end of December,2011. The Scheme is presently being implemented in 24 States / Union Territories, namely, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Orissa, Punjab, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, West Bengal and Chandigarh Administration.

Pudducherry Administration is going to roll out the scheme shortly. Rajasthan has initiated the process for extension of RSBY to MGNREGA, street vendors, domestic workers and beedi workers. Madhya Pradesh and Sikkim are also in the process of implementation of the Scheme.

“Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana” (RSBY) which was launched on 01.10.2007, became operational from 01.04.2008.

The objective of RSBY is to provide protection to BPL households from financial liabilities arising out of health shocks that involve hospitalization. Beneficiaries under RSBY are entitled to hospitalization coverage up to Rs. 30,000/- for most of the diseases that require hospitalization. Government has even fixed the package rates for the hospitals for a large number of interventions. Pre-existing conditions are covered from day one and there is no age limit. Coverage extends to five members of the family which includes the head of household, spouse and up to three dependents. Beneficiaries need to pay only Rs. 30/- as registration fee while Central and State Government pays the premium to the insurer selected by the State Government on the basis of a competitive bidding.

HRD Ministry puts out Citizen’s Charter

2012-01-23T03:58:00.000-08:00

The HRD Ministry has put out its Citizen Charter. The mission of the Charter includes:
Provide greater opportunities of access to higher education with equity to all the eligible persons and in particular to the vulnerable sections.

· Expand access by supporting existing institutions, establishing new institutions, supporting State Governments and Non-Government Organizations / Civil Society to supplement public efforts aimed at removing regional or other imbalances that exist at present.

· Initiate policies and programmes for strengthening research and innovations and encourage institutions – public or private - to engage in stretching the frontiers of knowledge.

· Promote the quality of higher education by investing in infrastructure and faculty, promoting academic reforms, improving governance and institutional restructuring towards the inclusion of the hitherto deprived communities.

The services to be provided and the standard for the same prescribed by the Ministry are as follows:-
Policy Formulation relating to Higher Education (including Minority Education & focus groups):- Consultation, Conference (like Vice Chancellors Level etc.), discussion, interaction session etc.
Release of Funds under various schemes of this Department details of which are available on website :- www.education.nic.in and Release of Funds to Grantee Institutions:- Within 25 working days after approval of the competent authority
Information dissemination about Higher Education:- Updation of information on website and through various publication on Higher Education.
Monitoring of the Implementation of the Policies/Programmes/

Projects:- Monthly Progress
Consultation at various forums such as Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE) to have ideas to improve the higher education sector, Parliamentary Committees:- Through Conference, Discussions, Interaction session and Meetings etc.
Grant of Scholarships to University & College students pursuing higher education:- As per Guidelines of the specific scheme available on www.education.nic.in
Collaboration with United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Foreign Governments, International Partners to keep the higher education at par with the international standards:- As per Charter

· Registration of Copyright:- Extract of Register to be sent to applicant within 15 working days of registration of the work by the Registrar of Copyright.

· ISBN Registration:- To assign ISBNs to the applicant and send the same to him/her within 7 working days of registration of the book by the ISBN Registry.

Union Rural Development Minister to review Central schemes in West Bengal

2012-01-20T21:50:00.001-08:00

Union Rural Development Minister Shri Jairam Ramesh leaves for Kolkata on Monday on a three-day visit to oversee the implementation of various schemes pertaining to the Ministry in 24 Parganas district and the naxal-affected districts of Bankura and Purulia. On January 23rd, after his arrival in Kolkata the Minister will attend a function in the morning to mark the birthday celebrations of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose. Later on, he will depart for Dongaria and 24 Parganas to meet with the officials to ascertain the implementation of various rural development schemes, besides status of water supply projects. On 24th January, Shri Ramesh will leave for Bankura to visit water testing laboratory, sanitary mart and roof-top rain water harvesting scheme at Purandarpur. On Wednesday, the Minister will visit the naxal affected district of Purulia and oversee the progress of Pradhan Mantri Grameen Sadak Yojana and water treatment plant at Raghunathpur block. He is also likely to meet the State Chief Minister Ms Mamta Banerji at Kolkata in the evening same day, before departing for New Delhi.

Wheat Sown in 294.07 Lakh Hectares: about 3 Lakh Hectares more than Last Year

2012-01-20T21:48:00.001-08:00

According to the latest information, wheat has been shown in 294.07 lakh hectare against 290.98 lakh hectare last year on this date. Total wheat acreage is 3.09 lakh hectare higher than the area sown during the corresponding period last year. Higher coverage has been reported from Madhya Pradesh (6.02 lakh hectare), Rajasthan (3.11 lakh hectare) and Jharkhand (0.65 lakh hectare).

Rice transplanting is in progress. The total area under rice is 12.8 lakh hectare against 13.41 lakh hectare during the corresponding period of last year, which is slightly lower than last year. Higher area has been reported from Tamil Nadu (0.29 lakh hectare), Odisha (0.13 lakh hectare) and West Bengal (0.20 lakh hectare).

Pulses have been sown in 145.12 lakh hectare as against 146.47 lakh hectare last year. The area under gram which is a dominant pulse crop of rabi season has been reported at 89.31 lakh hectare against 93.32 lakh hectare during the corresponding period last year. Significantly higher area has been reported under gram in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat and Bihar.

Total area under oilseeds cultivation is reported to be 83.80 lakh hectare against 90.36 lakh hectare last year.

The cropped areas as on today are as follows:

lakh ha

Crop	This year’s area [as on 20^th January ]	Last year’s area [as on 20^th January]	normal area
Wheat	294.07	290.98	277.45
Rice	12.8	13.41	44.17
Coarse Cereals	58.37	59.35	65.37
Total Oilseeds	83.8	90.36	94.52
Total Pulses	145.12	146.47	122.74

Andhra celebrates Kanuma

2012-01-16T04:21:00.001-08:00

In Andhra Pradesh, people are celebrating Kanuma---the festival of cattle---today on the third day of Sankranthi festival. The cattle are being worshipped today mostly in rural areas as farming community consider the importance of the cattle in the nourishment and development of the society.

Bringing back the Lost Glory of Coconut

2012-01-11T00:53:00.001-08:00

Kerala now the “God’s Own Country” in the Global Tourism Map is also known as the Land of the Coconut Trees. But in recent times many coconut farmers have shifted to cultivation of other more profitable crops. Among other reasons, the worst is dearth of coconut tree climbers. Till some time ago coconut climbing was restricted to certain strata of the society but today’s youngster’s goal for better white collar, less dangerous and better rewarding jobs, has resulted in making the coconut climbers almost an extinct species in Kerala. You cannot trace them and if you can catch hold of one they will charge exorbitantly, will pluck down even the tender coconut in most unscientific ways and whats more they will even get away with the best coconuts from your own farm as self realized favour! But not anymore, thanks to the initiatives of the Coconut Development Board(CDB), scores of youth, middle aged people and even women are acquiring coconut–tree climbing skills and their contact details are available on the Board’s website.

Shortage of labour is a general phenomenon in agriculture sector but it is all the more severe in coconut which requires skilled labour for crown cleaning, plant protection application and harvesting informed Chairman, Coconut Development Board. Understanding this fundamental problem in the sector, the Board chipped in with its “Friends of Coconut Trees” a novel concept. The Kerala Agriculture University, the Krishi Vigyan Kendras(KVKs) in the State and a few NGOs came forward to take up this challenge and to help the Board. After detailed discussions and planning the training for the “FoCT” is on track. The Board embarked on this training programme in the state of Kerala on August 17,2011 covering 11 districts in the first phase. Today there are 2651 trained FoCTs out of which 118 are women, who are adorned in their uniforms and functioning in the field . Apart from the free six day residential all round training which include yoga, safety, financial security, communication skills, coconut farming and remedies for the disease which afflict coconut trees, the Board also gives them a daily allowance, coconut climbing machine and two sets of uniforms free . The Board has even standardized the rates for FoCTs. A charge of Rs. 10 for a normal tree(40 ft high) Rs. 15 for taller as well as those trees in the city limits. A hard working trainee can earn Rs.3 lakhs per annum.

The aim is to train 5000 FoCTs in Kerala this year but the Board is also giving a helping hand to all those traditional coconut climbers who also wish to become FoCTs. Till date we have also trained 102 people from Lakshadweep.

The Coconut Development Board had been thoroughly researching on the reasons behind people shying away from coconut plucking job . One of the major reasons was the occupational risk. So Board in association with the United India Insurance Company Limited launched a pilot scheme for providing accident insurance cover for coconut tree climbers . The Scheme known as Kera Suraksha Insurance is implemented in Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Puducherry. The Board bears 75% of the premium and the climbers have to bear the rest 25%.The insured coconut tree climber is entitled to get maximum financial benefit of Rs. 1,16,750/- against accident related death, permanent total disablement, permanent partial disablement, hospital expenses reimbursement, ambulance charges, weekly compensation, bystander expenses in case of hospitalization and funeral expenses in case of death. The Premium payable per person is Rs.146/-(inclusive of service tax). But again the FoCT trainees are insured free of charge as the Board pays 100% of the Premium. They are given the insurance coverage from the very first day of the training.

FoCT project is an attempt of the Board to bring back the lost glory of coconut sector. The training is a an opportunity for an unemployed youth to realize a better income and livelihood at his own place. If he is willing and hard working he can definitely earn like a government or a private employee said Shri Jose. He also added that if the attempt succeeds in coconut sector, similar experimentation may spread to other agricultural crops too.

According to Shri Thankamani, age 51 yrs, who attended the training one month ago in Palakkad, the training has helped him to earn additional income of approximately Rs. 4000/- during the month with his limited time. He is already working in a private firm and earns 4,200/- per month. He was so much impressed by the training and the machine that he has advised many of his friends for attending the same. He said the machine is really good and does not make you feel the fatigue of climbing. Shri Thampy V A who has taken the job full-fledged earns Rs.15,000/- per month. He is planning to buy a two wheeler to reach out more. He says they are in great demand and is unable to cater all the demands. Well! That is not at all a news!!! So need not say Friends of Coconut Trees are going to flourish and just as the CDB Director believes they will bring back the lost glory of the coconut sector.

US$ 100 Million Line of Credit for Health Infrastructure Mooted

2012-01-11T00:51:00.001-08:00

India has reaffirmed its commitment to partner in the economic development of Zimbabwe. This was stated by Mr. Anand Sharma, Commerce, Industries & Textiles Minister in his meeting at Harare with Mr. Tendai Biti, Finance Minister of Zimbabwe, yesterday. He stated that India would assist Zimbabwe in reducing its infrastructural deficit. Indian PSUs like IRCON, RITES and WAPCOS which had earlier also executed infrastructure projects in Zimbabwe could participate in executing fresh projects.

Mr. Sharma further stated that India would also assist Zimbabwe in bridging the technological gaps being faced by the country. Mr. Sharma stated that a team from India would be visiting Harare next week to discuss the proposal for LOC of US $ 100 million for strengthening of health infrastructure. The two Ministers also agreed to speed up the execution of the Pan-African e-Network Project.

Mr. Anand Sharma, Commerce Minister, expressed concern over the Indigenization and Economic Empowerment Act, as it could deter further investments by Indian companies in Zimbabwe. Mr. Biti, Finance Minister of Zimbabwe assured to look into the manner of implementation of the Act. Mr. Sharma also urged on the need for simplifying the process for issue of business visas to Indian businessmen. It was suggested that a one year multiple entry visa could be issued to encourage potential Indian investors visiting Zimbabwe.

Mr. Sharma appreciated the fact that Zimbabwe have been able to stabilize its macro-economic vitals in the last three years. He stated that India, because of its strong macro-economic fundamentals, had been able to successfully withstand the various economic crisis during the last six years. Mr. Sharma stated that India shared the philosophy of the Zimbabwean Government of inclusive growth. The Indian private investment in Africa also focused on empowering the local people.

India will assist Zimbabwe in reviving its textile sector. This assurance was given by Mr. Anand Sharma, Commerce, Industries and Textiles Minister during his meeting at Harare with Prof. Welshman Ncube, Ministry of Industry & Commerce of Zimbabwe. India will provide skills training and also help in the development of textiles clusters.

Mr. Sharma also informed his Zimbabwean counterpart that Indo-Zimbabwe ties would further strengthened through the setting up of a Rural Technology Park and a Food Testing Laboratory in Zimbabwe by India. This was one of the commitments made by India during the India-Africa Forum Summit held at Addis Ababa in May 2011. The two Ministers also reiterated the need for enhancing and diversifying the bilateral trade between the two countries which currently stood at US $ 128 million. The two Ministers also agreed to convene the meeting of the Joint Trade Committee within the next six months.

It was informed by Prof. Ncube that the Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (BIPPA), which was signed between India and Zimbabwe in 1999, had been ratified by the Parliament of Zimbabwe. India had forwarded the original Instrument of Ratification of BIPPA, ratified by the President of India to the Zimbabwean Government in April 2011. This ratification will help in increasing investments in both the countries.

Mr. Sharma announced that the National Institute of Design (NID) India is undertaking a project for training and exposure to craftswomen of rural Africa to empower them through design intervention in basketry making, as part of the India-Africa Forum Summit Action Plan. The initiative will cover five African countries at a cost of US $ one million over a period of three years. The project will be launched in Zimbabwe in February 2012 with the team from NID visiting Zimbabwe for identification of 25 craftswomen, who would be later trained in India, in collaboration with New Basket Workshop Foundation, an African NGO. The project aims at women empowerment through skill enhancement and appropriate marketing through leading Indian brands like Fab-India.

Later, addressing a business conference Mr. Anand Sharma announced that India would share its developmental experiences with Zimbabwe. He highlighted the critical role that Indian generic medicines had played in promoting healthcare in Africa. He stated that business persons of both countries could effectively partner each other to change the lives of the people for better. Mr. Sharma is accompanied by a high level CII business delegation led by Mr. Shyamal Gupta, Chairman, CII Africa Committee.

Patil pitches for private investment in health, edu

2012-01-09T21:47:00.001-08:00

Prez Pratibha Patil pitched for harnessing private investments in the crucial areas of health, edu and skill development at a time of "economic uncertainty" and asked the overseas Indian community to be partners in the country's development.

Addressing the valedictory session of the 10th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas in Jaipur, Patil said India has lifted tens of millions of its people out of abject poverty but the country still has a "very long way to go."

"Health, education and skill development were key areas of the strategy of inclusive development in India's 11th Plan, and they will continue to be focus areas in the 12th Plan. We must ensure that these sectors receive adequate resources and to ensure that resources are spent to achieve maximum efficiency in terms of outcomes," she told over 1,900 delegates from 60 countries across the globe.

"We also need to harness private investment in these areas at a time of economic uncertainty and profound change in the world. We will continue to actively engage with the overseas Indian community as partners in the development and progress of India," she said.

The President also presented Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Awards to 15 eminent overseas Indians, including to the Chief Guest of PBD 2012 and Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago.

PBD is celebrated every year from January 7 to 9 to commemorate the return of Mahatma Gandhi after his "successful struggle" against apartheid in South Africa, she said.

Patil also said efforts to promote greater exchanges between the youth as an important aspect of forging linkages and maintaining the tradition of close bonds should be maintained.

Lauding the contributions of overseas Indians, Patil said the footprints of the Indian Diaspora are wide-spread and its presence felt in every continent.

"The Indian overseas community is not only large, but is becoming increasingly influential in the economic, professional and political fields, in the countries in which they are now living. We are proud of their accomplishments," Patil said.

Noting that the human society faces the daunting yet inspiring task of forging "sustainability," in all its activities in this century, Patil said while meeting current human needs, the requirements of future generations are also safeguarded.

"It is a great challenge. You all can play a decisive role with the knowledge and experience you have gained as academics or scholars, scientists and technologists, professionals or businessmen," she said.

India deeply cherishes its relationship with the diaspora and the Government is keenly interested in the well-being of the people of Indian origin living overseas, she said and noted the major development in West Asia and North Africa, which is a region of great importance to India because of its traditional warm ties and also because a large number of Indian nationals live there.

"The Government of India had to evacuate about 19,000 Indian nationals from Libya and Yemen. The Government sent special aircraft and ships to these countries to bring back Indian citizens free of cost. Similarly, special flights were flown out of Egypt for more than 700 Indian tourists and Indian nationals working with various companies there," she said.

Patil also said the Indian Community Welfare Fund, originally established in 18 countries to provide timely succor to overseas Indians in distress, has now been extended to all Indian Missions and congratulated Overseas Indian Affairs Minister Vayalar Ravi and the Ministry for their "keen concern" for the welfare of Overseas Indians.

She also noted that the Know India Programme brings groups of young overseas people of Indian origin to India, with a view to promote awareness on different facets of life here and the progress made by India in various fields. "I have had the occasion to meet some of the groups coming under this Programme, and in my interaction with them, I have spoken about their abiding links with the country of their origin India," she said.

Security helpline to come up for train passengers

2012-01-08T00:18:00.000-08:00

A nationwide railway helpline number - 135- to help passengers seeking security assistance during train journeys is in the offing.
The All-India Passenger Security Helpline can be used all over the country round-the-clock", the official said, on Wednesday. "All necessary preparations for launching the helpline for security assistance are being made to launch the first of its kind all-India service," a senior Railway Ministry official involved with the project said.

The helpline will be managed by the Railway Protection Force (RPF). "There will be a control room near the Daya Basti here to receive complaints round-the-clock. The control room building is ready now," said the official, adding "a passenger can make any security-related complaint using the number."

RPF will provide necessary training to about 250 staff for the call centre job. "There will be about 30 RPF personnel deployed at the control room to receive the complaints and do the needful," the official said.

India Is Free from Bird FLU

2012-01-04T22:01:00.001-08:00

India has declared itself free from bird flu (H5N1). The declaration was made here on December 29, 2011 and notified to OIE. However, the surveillance will be continued throughout the country especially in the vulnerable areas bordering the infected countries and in areas visited by migratory birds. Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries in the Ministry of Agriculture has advised the States to maintain vigil against the disease.

Outbreak of bird flu was notified on September 8, 2011 in village Bhamondanga, part- I, Agomoni Block in Dhubri district of Assam. This was followed by another outbreak in Betai Nanshatola and Putimari Christianpara in Tehetta Block of Nadia district of West Bengal, which was notified on September 19, 2011. Thereafter, there has been no further outbreak.

The control measures adopted in the outbreaks were stamping out of entire poultry population including destruction of eggs, feed, litters and other infected materials in the radius of 3 kms. around each outbreak location, restriction on movement of poultry, poultry products to and from the area of outbreak, disinfection and cleaning up of infected premises. The final disinfection process was completed on September 29, 2011.

Surveillance was carried out throughout the country. Surveillance around the area of outbreak since completion of the operation (including culling disinfection and clean up) and surveillance in rest of the country has shown no evidence of presence of bird flu (H5N1).

The Rice Innovator of Sikkim

2012-01-02T20:52:00.001-08:00

Kailash Rana Manger, a progressive farmer from Sikkim, has been recognized as ‘Rice Innovator’ by the Directorate of Rice Research, Rajendra Nagar in Hyderabad. He received this appreciation for innovations in rice cultivation during the ‘Innovative Rice Farmers Meet 2011’ held in August at Hyderabad which was attended by 26 progessive farmers of different States of the country.

Manger hails from Chota Singtam, Saramsa had been appreciated for his innovative replacement of ‘Kalo Nuniya Dhaan’ in place of local scented variety for a high yield, fragrance and fixed black coloured grants. With 20 years of experience in farming, Mangar gave his presentation on ‘Kalo Nuniya Dhaan’ during the meet at Hyderabad. ‘Kalo Nuniya Dhaan’, a scented rice cultivar was first brought from a progressive farmer of Maal Bazaar, Jalpaiguri and is capable replacing of local rice variety Dudha and Tulsi.

Mangar does farming in 3 acres land on lease basis of Rs. 20,000 per annum and had introduced this new variety of rice last year by obtaining 3 kgs of seed from a progressive farmer of Jalpaiguri. He sowed the seeds using the System of Rice Intensification technique with guidance from Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK), Saramsa under Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR). The production was 4 quintals of rice which surprised him as it was four times more as compared to the other local varieties.

Mangar sold the produce at Rs. 8000 per quintal. He used to sale local variety at Rs. 2200-2500 per quintal. This year, Mangar is expecting a harvest of 16 quintals of rice from 6 kgs of seed. He explained that the ‘Kalo Nuniya Dhaan’ plant has 25-28 tillers per hill with panicles of 20-20 cm and 156 grains per panicle. Not only the rice, even the straw of this variety is highly demanded as it has good nutritious value and is used as fodder for cattle.

Mangar pointed out that many farmers have given up agriculture due to increasing labour costs. Farmers who have small holdings can go for this variety of rice which is much profitable, he said. This package of practices is standardized by the farmers and the cultivar is being adopted by farmers of different villages of the East District. The demand of Kalo Nuniya Rice is very high in other States as the farmers from Mumbai, Delhi, and Hyderabad already demanded him for seeds, he revealed.

Mangar’s hard work is not only limited to agriculture as he also does horticulture cultivating cabbage, cauliflower, Broccoli, Baby Corn and other vegetables. He has been able to sell Baby Corn produce worth Rs. 11,000. He is earning Rs. 1.5 lakhs per annum through farming.

The farmer is also a beneficiary of Department of Biotechnology Project of the KVK. He was provided seeds of ginger and Large Cardamom of tissue culture by the KVK. His farming methods are being monitored by the KVK which also extends technical support and seed material to him.

Backward Regions Grant Fund

2012-01-02T20:50:00.001-08:00

The Backward Regions Grant Fund Programme (BRGF), launched by the Prime Minister at Barpeta in Assam on 19^th February 2007, signifies a new approach to addressing persistent regional imbalances in development. The programme subsumed the Rashtriya Sama Vikas Yojana (RSVY), a scheme earlier being administered by the Planning Commission. The BRGF Programme covers 250 districts in 27 States, of which 232 districts fall under the purview of Parts IX and IX-A of the Constitution dealing with the Panchayats and the Municipalities, respectively. The remaining 18 districts are covered by other local government structures, such as Autonomous District and Regional Councils under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution and state specific arrangements as in the case of Nagaland and the hill areas of Manipur.

Objectives

The Backward Regions Grant Fund is designed to redress regional imbalances in development by way of providing financial resources for supplementing and converging existing developmental inflows into the identified backward districts, so as to:

· Bridge critical gaps in local infrastructure and other development requirements that are not being adequately met through existing inflows,

· Strengthen, to this end, Panchayat and Municipality level governance with more appropriate capacity building, to facilitate participatory planning, decision making, implementation and monitoring, to reflect local felt needs,

· Provide professional support to local bodies for planning, implementation and monitoring their plans,

· Improve the performance and delivery of critical functions assigned to Panchayats, and counter possible efficiency and equity losses on account of inadequate local capacity.

The BRGF programme represents a major shift in approach from top-down plans to participative plans prepared from the grassroots level upwards. The guidelines of the Programme entrust the central role in planning and implementation of the programme to Panchayats in rural areas, municipalities in urban areas and District Planning Committees at the district level constituted in accordance with Article 243 ZD of the Constitution to consolidate the plans of the Panchayats and Municipalities into the draft district plan. Special provisions have been made in the guidelines for those districts in J&K, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura which do not have Panchayats, where village level bodies and institutions mandated under other frameworks such as the Sixth Schedule are to plan and implement the programme. The conviction that drives this new locally driven approach is that grassroots level democratic institutions know best the dimensions of poverty in their areas and are, therefore, best placed to undertake individually small, but overall, significant local interventions to sustainably tackle local poverty alleviation

There are three features of BRGF that make it truly unique among central initiatives to combat backwardness. First, the approach of putting the Panchayats and the Municipalities at the centre stage of planning and implementation. Second, no Central funding stream is as ‘untied’ as the BRGF – the funds can be applied to any preference of the Panchayat/ Municipality, so long as it fills a development gap and the identification of the work is decided with people’s participation. Third, no other programme spends as much funds, nearly 11 percent of the total allocation, for capacity building and staff provisioning.

District planning, which commences from the level of each local body and is finally concluded at the district level through the consolidation of these local Panchayat and Municipality based plans by the District Planning Committee into the draft district plan, is expected to better strategise both local and more wide ranging interventions into a composite strategy document.

Creation of capacity for effective planning at district and lower level is a key-pre-requisite to participative planning. Hence the BRGF contains a specific component for the capacity building of Panchayati Raj Institutions of Rs. 250 crore per year. A framework that looks upon capacity building in a very comprehensive fashion, encompassing training, handholding and providing ongoing support to Panchayat elected representatives has been developed for States to follow, while undertaking capacity building.

The planning process under BRGF is based on the guidelines for district planning issued by the Planning Commission in August 2006 and January, 2009. The process of integrated development commences with each district undertaking a diagnostic study of its backwardness and a baseline survey by enlisting professional planning support, to be followed by a well-conceived participatory district development perspective plan to address this backwardness during the period of the Eleventh Five Year Plan. Such plans would integrate multiple programmes that are in operation in the district concerned and, therefore, address backwardness through a combination of resources that flow to the district.

BRGF Development Grants

District Plans received from the various States indicate that the untied fund allocated to the districts are generally being used for filling infrastructural gaps in drinking water, connectivity, health, education, social sectors, electrification, etc. The basket of works taken up includes construction of school buildings /class rooms, health sub-centres, drinking water facility, sanitation facilities, anganwadi buildings, Panchayat buildings, irrigation tanks/channels, street lights, link roads, culverts, soil and water conservation measures, etc.

BRGF Capacity Building Grants

The BRGF has adopted the National Capability Building Framework (the NCBF) which envisages strengthening of institutional arrangements, including the infrastructure as well as software support for capacity building of elected representatives, the functionaries and other stakeholders of PRIs and thereby improving the vigour of grassroots level democracy.

During the current financial year, district plans have been received from 223 districts. Except for Jharkhand, where DPCs have been constituted only in the month of December, 2011, all States having BRGF districts have forwarded plans duly approved by the DPC or a body at the district level mandated under the BRGF guidelines to approve the plans. BRGF funds are being used for critical gap filling in respect of infrastructure and human development indices. As on date, Rs.1830.13 crores for both Development Grant and Capacity Building have been released for 2011-12, another Rs.110.25 crores has been sanctioned while an amount of Rs.428.5 crores is under process.

In 2009, the World Bank conducted an independent evaluation of the BRGF programme in 16 districts in 8 States. The key findings of the evaluation were that though the funds allocated under BRGF are small, meaningful investments are made by the communities in projects that are chosen in a decentralised participatory manner. The evaluation report pointed out that the BRGF funds are the single most important source of discretionary funds available to the Panchayats. The study also suggested that outlays should be enhanced in order to be more effective.

Human Resource Development

2012-01-02T20:49:00.000-08:00

The Education sector in India is expanding rapidly to meet the increasing demand resulting from rise in the Gross Enrolment Ratios. Human Resource Development processes have gained high significance in India during the last few years. There is a need for expansion while ensuring excellence and equity. The challenge ahead is large. The ministry of Human Resource Development is seeking reform in the education sector both at the school education level and at the higher education level. At the school education level, the implementation of the Right to Education Act is the largest area of attention. At the higher education level, the reform is being driven by the process of legislation which aims at putting in place a structure which encourages autonomy and growth, with an adequate regulatory framework to check malpractices.

The National Commission for Higher Education and Research

The Higher Education and Research Bill, 2011 was introduced in the Rajya Sabha on 28^th December, 2011. This Bill proposes to create a National Commission for Higher Education and Research which will be an over-arching body to maintain and coordinate the standards in higher education in the country. The Bill seeks to promote autonomy of higher educational institutions and universities for free pursuit of knowledge and innovation and to provide for comprehensive and integrated growth of higher education and research keeping in view the global standards of educational and research practices. The Commission will facilitate determination, co-ordination, maintenance and continued enhancement of standards of higher education and research including university education, vocational, technical, professional and medical education other than agricultural education. There are four salient elements envisaged in this Bill:

National Commission for Higher Education and Research:

2. A General Council:

3. The Collegiums of Scholars:

4. Board for Research Promotion and Innovation

Progress under RTE

Since the commencement of the RTE Act, 38,754 primary schools, 11,918 upper primary schools and 4,98 lakh additional classrooms have been sanctioned under SSA. On National Education Day(Nov 11), a year long community mobilization programme was launched to generate awareness about the Act and the rights it vests in the people.

In another development in this regard,, guidelines have been issued to exempt Madrasas, Pathshalas and other institutions imparting religious instruction from the provisions of Right to Education Act. There are about 3,000 vedic pathashalas (schools) in India and thousands of madarsas spread across country. Although the HRD ministry had earlier said these religious schools were not covered citing Constitutional safeguards for religious institutions, a decision has now been taken to insert an explicit provision in the RTE law to have clarity.

Some statistical indicators

Sl No	Item	States
1	Notification of State RTE Rules	Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Manipur, Orissa, Sikkim, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Mizoram, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Punjab, Tripura, Tamil Nadu, U.P. Delhi, Bihar, Puducherry, Jharkhand and Kerala have notified their State RTE Rules; A&N Islands, Chandigarh, Lakshwadeep, Daman and Diu, Dadra & Nagar Haveli have adopted Central RTE Rules Gujarat, Goa, Karnataka, Uttarakhand, West Bengal . They have not so far notified state RTE Rules.
2	Constitution of SCPCR/ REPA	Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Karnataka, Goa and Orissa notified.
3.	Prohibition of detention, expulsion	A&N Islands, Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chandigarh, Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, J&K, Jharkhand, Kerala, Lakshwadweep, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa, Puducherry, Punjab, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Uttarakhand, West Bengal
4	Prohibition of corporal punishment, mental harassment	A&N Islands, Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, Chandigarh, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, J&K, Jharkhand, Kerala, Lakshwadweep, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Nagaland, Orissa, Puducherry, Punjab, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal
5	No board examination till completion of elementary education	A&N Islands, Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, J&K, Jharkhand, Kerala, Lakshwadweep, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Orissa, Puducherry, Punjab, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, West Bengal

Low Cost Access-cum –Computing Device

Shri Kapil Sibal, the Union Minister for Human Resourced Development launched ‘Aakash’, a low cost access cum computing device, in October. This device was also distributed among 500 children on the occasion. The final landed price of $49.98/unit of this device (which translated to INR 2276 at the exchange rate at the time of the order) includes taxes, levies, and charges like freight and insurance, servicing and documentation etc. The Government will also be providing price subsidy to the students on this price. The device will be distributed to students through the institutions at which they are studying.

This current phase is a pilot to procure 100,000 devices. This pilot aims to help in sorting out the production related issues. These devices are now being distributed to students all over the country so that they can be extensively tested in various climatic and usage conditions. The feedback obtained from the testing will form an input into the design of the next version of the device.

Entrance Exam Reforms

The report of the Ramasami committee for a country-wide common examination for admission to undergraduate programmes in sciences and engineering submitted its report which was deliberated at the IIT council.. The basis for reform in the examination process that reduces dependency on coaching, aligning the testing process to Class XII syllabus, reducing the multiplicity of tests to one was considered. Weightage would be given to the marks obtained by a student in Class XII Board examinations would be given after scientific statistical normalization of the performance vis-à-vis the average performance of other students appearing in the respective Board examinations, whether CBSE or State Boards. There could be a single national examination to test for aptitude and advanced domain knowledge or for aptitude alone to supplement the weightage given to performance in Class XII. Six options were placed before the Council for consideration and views of the members were sought. Based on the views expressed, the report would be finalised by Dr Ramasami in a month. The report would also be placed before CABE and State Education Ministers for a final decision so that the new system could be put in place by academic session 2013-14. later, in its meeting, the Council of NITs considered the proposal formulated by Dr. T. Ramasami Committee on Alternate System for Admission to undergraduate programmes in Science and Engineering in the country as presented before the IIT Council and endorsed the same.

The CBSE, For the 11th AIEEE to be held in 2012 after the success of Online Exam on pilot basis last year, and to give students a flexible schedule of examination, has decided to conduct Online Examination (i.e. CBT Mode) from 7th – 25th May, 2012 in 22 cities. In these cities, the exam will only be in an online mode. :

AICTE in order to reduce the burden of students attending to multiple examinations launches the first National level Common Management Admission Test (CMAT)-2012 and facilitate institutions to select suitable students for admission to all management programs approved by AICTE for year 2012-13. This initiative has been taken to address the issue of physical, mental and financial stress being imposed on the students through number of entrance examinations conducted by the institutions for admission to Management Programs in AICTE approved institutions based on relevant judgments in the Hon’ble Supreme Court.

· The National level test will be conducted online for nine days from 20th to 28th February in two shifts at 61 cities/locations.

· The common admission test will reduce the burden on candidates due to appearance in multiple tests.

· CMAT scores will help students get admissions in AICTE approved Institutes/University Departments in all management programmes catering to more than four lakh sanctioned seats of AICTE approved management institutions.

IIT Reforms

A Committee constituted under the chairmanship of Dr Anil Kakodkar, to prepare a roadmap for taking IITs to global excellence, was presented to the IIT Council. After detailed deliberations on the recommendations in which various opinions were expressed, the Council decided to constitute an Empowered Task Force for implementation of the recommendations for enhancing the autonomy of the IIT system with the intention of expanding the research output of IITs to produce 10,000 Ph.D graduates annually from around 1000 presently and increase faculty strength from around 4000 presently to 16000 by 2020. This would enable a large pool of researchers in technology to be fostered along with developing advanced technology manpower needs for promoting economic growth. The Council felt that a national benefit has to be derived from the investment through public funds on each IIT student. Therefore, every student at the time of obtaining employment after graduation could enter into an agreement with the IIT for agreeing to pay back part of the expenditure made on him or her over a suitable period. Students who do not obtain any employment or who proceed for a career in research shall not be expected to arrive at such agreement. In so far as modifications to the governance structure are concerned, the Council felt that the issue would be revisited in the next meeting. Each IIT was requested to prepare an accountability mechanism for regulating the exercise of administrative autonomy.

IIM Reforms

Every three years there should be an external review of each IIM which could be discussed in the IIM-Council. This was decided in a meeting of the IIM council chaired by Shri Kapil Sibal, Union Minister of HRD. IIMs Calcutta, Lucknow, Kozhikode have put the annual work plan system and teaching requirements along with faculty peer review in place in different ways. In IIM Bangalore, the process of devising a faculty review system after consultations is underway.

In order to expand the search for management solutions in problems of relevance to the nation and society, it was felt that IIMs have to take the lead in conducting programmes and organize curricula in areas such as energy management, academic institution management, health management, agriculture management etc. in the meeting of IIM Directors, it was decided to set up a Task Force for establishing the contours of such programmes.

National Vocational Education Qualification Framework

Vocational education has been an important area of concern in providing choices to youth for skills development in relation to the needs of the economy. The Coordination Committee set up by the Ministry, with the involvement of the National Skill Development Corporation and the Institute of Applied Manpower Research (an institution under the Planning Commission) has prepared a National Vocational Education Qualifications Framework. Round Tables in several sectoral areas (automobile sector, media and entertainment sector and communications & IT sector, in the area of hospitality and tourism and on infrastructure & construction sector ) have been held. Committees were constituted to define course curricula in these sectoral areas to dovetail with NVEQF. A committee of ministers of education of nine state governments, headed by the HRD minister of Bihar, Shri PK Shahi, was constituted to prepare a roadmap for implementation of the National Vocational Education. Qualification Framework. The committee has submitted its report and it has been accepted.

First Indo-US Higher Education Summit in Washington

Shri Sibal, Union Minister for Human Resource Development and the US Secretary of State, Ms. Hilary Clinton launched the expanded U.S.-India Higher Education Dialogue as an annual bilateral event to map out strategies for partnership in the field of education between the two countries, in Washington, in October. The two sides endorsed the resolve of the stakeholders from academia, government, and industry to take forward the following areas of consensus arrived at during the Summit:

* .A continued expanded U.S.-India Higher Education Dialogue with representatives from government, academia, and business that would interact on a periodic basis to inform and underpin the Dialogue.

* Support for the following goals:

• Promoting strategic institutional partnerships for further strengthening and expansion of collaboration in the priority areas of higher education, including science and engineering, social sciences, and humanities, and addressing societal challenges in areas such as cyber security, energy, environment, health and agriculture;

• Encouraging expansion and deepened collaboration in research and development in the above areas between academic institutions of the two countries through existing initiatives;

• Fostering partnerships in the areas of vocational education and skills enhancement to meet the needs of today’s world;

• Exploration of models for ‘educational institutions for the 21st Century’ (such as ‘meta’ universities);

• Further strengthening programs for student and faculty enrichment and exchange, and development of leadership in academia at all levels;

• Welcoming the involvement of the private sector in the two countries to support and deepen collaboration with the higher education community, faculty exchanges, skills development, and institutional partnerships.

* .India announced its intention to set up an India-U.S. higher education platform as a means to pursue these goals.

*.Strengthening educator enrichment and exchange programs (with the Government of India indicating its intention to sponsor initially up to 1,500 faculty and junior scholars to leading universities and research institutes in the United States) to promote development of human resources while also enhancing broader interaction between the two countries.

International Conference on Education

The Ministry of Human Resource Development organized a three-day International Conference on “Women’s Literacy for Inclusive and Sustainable Development’ from 8-10^th September. The President Smt. Pratibha Devisingh Patil inaugurated the Conference. Fourteen countries including India participated in the Conference, essentially the SAARC nations and the E-9 countries. These countries included: Brazil, China, Indonesia, Egypt, Nigeria, Mexico, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Bhutan and Nepal besides India.

The three-day Conference had sessions on subjects such as Centrality of Women’s Literacy to Inclusive and Participative Development, Emerging International Perspective on Adult Education and Lifelong Learning, Innovations in Design & Delivery of India’s Adult Literacy Programme and International Cooperation for Promoting Adult Education. An Outcome Document was put out at the conclusion of the conference.

Districts Under the Multi-Sectoral Development Programme (MSDP) for the Welfare of Minorities

2011-12-29T23:54:00.000-08:00

90 Minority Concentration Districts (MCDs) have been included under the Multi- sectoral Development Programme (MsDP) for the welfare of Minorities. A State-wise list is given below. The funds under MsDP are allocated to the States/Districts for the entire 11th Five Year Plan and not year wise. The allocation for the 11th Five Year Plan, the funds released to the States and utilization by them is also given below.

The Minority Concentration Districts were selected for implementation of MsDP on the basis of specified backwardness parameters and concentration of minority population. None of the districts in Rajasthan was eligible for identification as MCD under the MsDP as per these criteria.

List of Districts included under MsDP

Sl.No.	State	District
1	Andaman & Nicobar Islands	Nicobar
2	Arunachal Pradesh	East Kameng
3	Arunachal Pradesh	Lower Subansiri
4	Arunachal Pradesh	Changlang
5	Arunachal Pradesh	Tirap
6	Arunachal Pradesh	Tawang
7	Arunachal Pradesh	West Kameng
8	Arunachal Pradesh	Papum Pare
9	Assam	North Cachar Hills
10	Assam	Kokrajhar
11	Assam	Dhubri
12	Assam	Goalpara
13	Assam	Bongaigaon
14	Assam	Barpeta
15	Assam	Darrang
16	Assam	Marigaon
17	Assam	Nagaon
18	Assam	Cachar
19	Assam	Karimganj
20	Assam	Hailakandi
21	Assam	Kamrup
22	Bihar	Araria
23	Bihar	Kishanganj
24	Bihar	Purnia
25	Bihar	Katihar
26	Bihar	Sitamarhi
27	Bihar	Pashchim Champaran
28	Bihar	Darbhanga
29	Delhi	North East
30	Haryana	Mewat
31	Haryana	Sirsa
32	Jammu & Kashmir	Leh (Ladakh)
33	Jharkhand	Ranchi
34	Jharkhand	Gumla
35	Jharkhand	Sahibganj
36	Jharkhand	Pakaur
37	Karnataka	Gulbarga
38	Karnataka	Bidar
39	Kerala	Wayanad
40	Madhya Pradesh	Bhopal
41	Maharashtra	Buldana
42	Maharashtra	Washim
43	Maharashtra	Hingoli
44	Maharashtra	Parbhani
45	Manipur	Senapati
46	Manipur	Tamenglong
47	Manipur	Churachandpur
48	Manipur	Ukhrul
49	Manipur	Chandel
50	Manipur	Thoubal
51	Meghalaya	West Garo Hills
52	Mizoram	Lawngtlai
53	Mizoram	Mamit
54	Sikkim	North
55	Orissa	Gajapati
56	Uttar Pradesh	Lucknow
57	Uttar Pradesh	Saharanpur
58	Uttar Pradesh	Muzaffarnagar
59	Uttar Pradesh	Meerut
60	Uttar Pradesh	Baghpat
61	Uttar Pradesh	Ghaziabad
62	Uttar Pradesh	Bulandshahar
63	Uttar Pradesh	Budaun
64	Uttar Pradesh	Barabanki
65	Uttar Pradesh	Kheri
66	Uttar Pradesh	Shahjahanpur
67	Uttar Pradesh	Moradabad
68	Uttar Pradesh	Rampur
69	Uttar Pradesh	Jyotiba Phule Nagar
70	Uttar Pradesh	Bareilly
71	Uttar Pradesh	Pilibhit
72	Uttar Pradesh	Bahraich
73	Uttar Pradesh	Shrawasti
74	Uttar Pradesh	Balrampur
75	Uttar Pradesh	Siddharthnagar
76	Uttar Pradesh	Bijnor
77	Uttarakhand	Udham Singh Nagar
78	Uttarakhand	Hardwar
79	West Bengal	Uttar Dinajpur
80	West Bengal	Dakshin Dinajpur
81	West Bengal	Maldah
82	West Bengal	Murshidabad
83	West Bengal	Birbhum
84	West Bengal	Nadia
85	West Bengal	South 24-Parganas
86	West Bengal	Barddhaman
87	West Bengal	Koch Bihar
88	West Bengal	Haora
89	West Bengal	North 24Parganas
90	West Bengal	Kolkata

The allocation for the 11^th Five Year Plan, the funds released to the States

and utilization by them:

S. N.	State/UT	Allocation for 11th Plan (Rs. in lakh)	Release by the Ministry during the last three years ( up to 31.03.2011) (Rs. in lakh)	Utilization by State/UTs during the last three years (upto 31.03.2011) (Rs. in lakh)
S. N.	State/UT	Allocation for 11th Plan (Rs. in lakh)
1	Uttar Pradesh	101570.00	62984.72	26109.31
2	West Bengal	68610.00	50972.27	22474.10
3	Haryana	4920.00	3047.85	2359.76
4	Assam	70350.00	29030.44	12574.00
5	Manipur	13910.00	9387.28	4059.30
6	Bihar	52320.00	24429.28	6830.82
7	Meghalaya	3050	2606.65	798.17
8	A&N Island	1500.00	622.76	0.0
9	Jharkhand	18140.00	9963.28	3840.63
10	Orissa	3130	2558.48	992.24
11	Kerala	1500.00	718.13	52.00
12	Karnataka	3990	2709.58	634.60
13	Maharashtra	6000	5180.70	1541.60
14	Mizoram	4590.00	1859.82	351.48
15	J & K	1500.00	599.58	446.02
16	Uttrakhand	5950	3041.47	609.3
17	Madhya Pradesh	1500.00	1398.30	700.00
18	Delhi	2210	203.75	0.0
19	Sikkim	1500.00	568.87	0.0
20	Arunachal Pradesh	11800.0	4319.49	0.0
	Grand Total	378040.00	216202.7	84373.33

PM declares 2012 as “National Mathematical Year”

2011-12-25T22:41:00.000-08:00

Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh declared year 2012 as "National Mathematical Year" to mark 125th birth anniversary of mathematical genius S. Ramanujan. The Prime Minister also announced that December 22 will be celebrated as National Mathematics Day every year.

Dr. Singh was inaugurating the 125th birth anniversary celebrations of mathematics genius Srinivasa Ramanujan at the University of Madras today.

The Prime Minister arrived in Chennai last evening on a two-day visit to Tamil Nadu. He met DMK President M. Karunanidhi at Raj Bhavan this morning to discuss the Mullaperiyar issue.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa also met Dr. Singh last evening and submitted a memorandum to him on six issues. It includes the Mullaperiyar dam, the National Food Security Bill, protection of the traditional fishing rights of Indian fishermen in the Palk Bay and a special package for Tamil Nadu to overcome the present financial crisis.

Jayalalithaa also urged the Prime Minister to advise Kerala not to venture upon the construction of a new dam, since the retrofitted dam is safe and functioning well.

Reducing MEP of Non-basmati Rice to Boost Export

2011-12-22T22:40:00.000-08:00

The EGoM in its meeting held on 9.2.2011 permitted the export of 1,00,000 MTs of Sona Masuri (from Chennai & Vishakhapatnam port), 25,000 MTs of Ponni Samba (from Tuticorin port) and 25,000 MTs of Matta rice (from Kochin port) which was notified through notification no. 21 dated 10.2.2011 and Public Notice No. 36 of 1.3.2011. A Minimum Export Price (MEP) of USD 850 per MT (PMT) for such exports was notified through Public Notice No. 37 dated 08.03.2011 and Public Notice No. 44 of 31.03.2011. During April, 2011 to July, 2011, 1.10 lakh tonnes of non-basmati rice has been exported. However, to remain price competitive in the international markets, the MEP of USD 850 was reduced to USD 600 PMT through Public Notice No. 72 dated 12.08.2011.

The EGOM, in its meeting held on 8.9.2011, permitted the export of non-basmati rice through all Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) ports only to be effected by the private parties out of privately held stocks without any explicit quantitative restriction or MEP.