NATIONAL AUGUST 2013

NATIONAL AUGUST 2013

• Union Minister of Science and Technology and Earth Sciences, S.Jaipal Reddy informed to Rajya Sabha for a question on 26 August, that the government has launched the National Monsoon Mission to set up a state-of-the-art climate model for (a) improved prediction of monsoon rainfall on extended range to seasonal time scale (16 days to one season) and (b) improved prediction of temperature, rainfall and extreme weather events on short to medium range time scale (up to 15 days). 
  
• The National Food Security Bill, a historic initiative for ensuring food and nutritional security to the people was passed by Lok sabha on 26 August. According to the amendments approved by the house State Governments’ existing food grain entitlements will be protected legally subject to it being restricted to average annual off take during last three years. Earlier it was proposed to be protected by an executive order. The definitions of the ‘meal’ for mid day meal and ICDS programmes has also been amended. Now ‘meal’ means hot cooked or pre-cooked and heated food and not the packaged food. This amendment has been made to remove the apprehensions of misuse of the earlier provision for supply of packaged food in large quantity. Another amendment now provides one year to states for implementation of the Food Bill instead of six months. 
  
• Removing all apprehensions of the States regarding their say in the implementation of the ambitious Bill, the other amendment says that the Central Government will make rules in consultation with the State Governments to carry out the provisions of Food Security Act. Total ten amendments have been approved by the Lok Sabha in the National Food Security Bill which was introduced in the house on August 7, 2013 by Union Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Minister, K.V. Thomas to replace the National Food Security Ordinance, 2013 promulgated on 5th July, 2013 The Bill proposes to provide wheat and rice at Rs 2 and Rs 3 per kg to about 81 crore people, while under the existing Targeted Public Distribution System only 2.5 crore Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) families or about 32.5 crore persons (assuming 5 as the average household size) are getting food grains at these prices. Thus, population getting food grains at these highly subsidized prices as their legal right will increase to 67% from existing 27%. 
  
• Ministry of Minority Affairs has constituted a committee to evaluate the process of implementation of the recommendations of the Sachar Committee Report and their impact on socio-economic and educational status of the Muslim population. The first meeting of the Committee was held in New Delhi on 27th August, 2013 where Minister of Minority Affairs, K. Rahman Khan addressed the members of the Committee. Prof. Amitabh Kundu of Jawaharlal Nehru University will be the Chairman of the committee with other 8 members drawn from various streams. The other members of the Committee include Dr. AmirUllah Khan, P.A.Inamdar, Dr.ManzoorAlam , Smt. Jeemol Unni , Smt. Farah Naqvi , Professor Abdul Shaban, P. C. Mohanan and Ali Ahmed Khan – Member Secretary. The committee is expected to submit its Report within a period of six months. The committee will primarily look at the impact of the implementation of the recommendations of the Sachar committee in its report, the institutional reforms and programmatic shifts. Besides, it would assess the programmes executed by the various Ministries especially the schemes aimed at educationally empowering the minorities particularly the Muslims. The Committee will also recommend interventions and corrective measures to be launched at the level of policies, programme and schemes. 
  
• The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009 mandates eight years of elementary education to all children in the 6 to 14 years age group. While supply side provisioning is being done by the Government, at the same time creation of demand in a rights based perspective is also of utmost importance. Different media tools have been used in this regard and the RTE Anthem is an attempt to do it in a joyful and child friendly manner, wherein children will imbibe the RTE message from popular public figures in a creative melody. 
  
• The melodious RTE Anthem was launched on 29 August, by Union Minister for HRD Dr. M.M. Pallam Raju, in the presence of MoS for HRD, Dr. Shashi Tharoor and also the lyricist and MP Javed Akhtar. National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) supported the Ministry in creating the Anthem, which has been written by renowned lyricist Javed Akhtar and sung by Sonu Nigam and Sunidhi Chauhan. The Anthem depicts child-centered principles and entitlements and has been shot in government schools. The anthem will be dubbed in English and 15 regional languages (Assamese, Bengali, Bhojpuri, Dogri, Gujarati, Kannada, Kashmiri, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Naga, Oriya, Punjabi, Tamil and Telugu) to generate constructive awareness among the community and stakeholders for the implementation of RTE. 
  
• The High Power Committee (Running & Safety) headed by D. P. Tripathi, former Secretary to the Government of India, Ministry of Food Processing, has submitted its final report to Arunendra Kumar, Chairman, Railway Board. Other three Members of the Committee which was constituted by the Ministry of Railways were V.K. Manglik, former General Manager, West Central Railway, Amar Nath, former General Manager, Chittaranjan Locomotive Works and M. S. Khan, former Additional Member/Budget, Railway Board, The Committee was constituted to look into pending demands of Labour Federation regarding working hours of Running Staff (Guards and Drivers) and review of Safety Categories staff over Indian Railways. The Committee conducted wide ranging consultation with Railway Administrations, Federations and staff all over Indian Railways and prepared a comprehensive report as per terms of reference. The Ministry of Railways shall be examining the report for implementation of the recommendations of the Committee. 
  
• The Minister of State for Tourism, K. Chiranjeevi in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha informed that the Government has proposed to set up the Central Institute of Hotel Management, Catering Technology and Applied Nutrition in the country. The said IHM will be set up at Jagdishpur (Sultanpur Dist.), Uttar Pradesh. Uttar Pradesh presently has only one IHM which is located at Lucknow. The institute is expected to play a pivotal role in employment generation for Jagdishpur area. 
  
• The Union Minister for Human Resource Development M. M. Pallam Raju was presented a report on “Geospatial Education” by Dr K. Kasturirangan, Member of Planning Commission who headed the National Task Force on ‘Evolving Geospatial Strategy’ in New Delhi on 30 August. Speaking on the occasion, the Minister said that XII Five Year Plan has a vision of rapid, sustainable and more inclusive growth and to meet the ambitious targets enlisted in Plan document and beyond, harnessing and augmenting Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is the need of the hour. Geospatial Technology assumes special importance as it facilitates planning, implementation, and monitoring of projects of national importance, the HRM added. 
  
• Kasturirangan highlighted the salient points of the report. He said that National Task Force has given a four-pronged recommendations on Geospatial Strategy which includes (i) School Geospatial Education Project (SGEP) led by the Department of School Education, MHRD; (ii) Geospatial University Networking Project (GUNP) led by the Department of Higher education, MHRD; (iii) Geospatial Training and Outreach Project (GTOP) led by Department of Science & Technology (DST); and (iv) National Institute of Geospatial Knowledge, Engineering and Management (NGKEM) led by MHRD and DST. He further mentioned that a high-level management council is also recommended with Minister, MHRD as Chair and Member (Science), Planning Commission as Co-chair, with various Secretaries as Members and experts as Members, for guiding and supervising the implementation of recommendations. 
  
• Avani Riverside Shopping Mall, Kolkata, will become the first ever shopping mall in the country to get a BEE 5 star label. It is being recognized by the Government for its endeavour towards incorporating energy efficiency measures resulting in award of a 5 star label. Director General, Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) will present the 5 star label to the shopping mall in a ceremony on 31st August, 2013 at Kolkata. This mall has achieved an EPI(Average Annual Energy Performance Index) value of 185.62 kWh/sq. m/annum in comparison to the general shopping mall EPI of 400 kwh/sq. mtr/ per annum by implementing various energy efficiency measures like integration of day light, use of sensors and controllers, waste energy recovery wheel etc. The mall has also adopted energy management system and performance indicators for facility management staff for energy saving through awareness among renters and shopkeepers in the mall. Shopkeepers and occupiers in the mall would be benefitted by reduced electricity bills and enhancing their business profitability. BEE, a statutory body under the Ministry of Power, has developed a voluntary Star rating programme for commercial buildings, which is based on the actual performance of a building in terms of its specific energy usage in kwh/sqm/year. 
  
• With the objective to prevent women and children from all types of violence, United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government has introduced an awareness and women empowerment program “Ahimsa Messenger” on 31 August,. The UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi launched this program in an event in the presence of Women and Child Development Minister Krishna Tirath, which was organized by Ministry of Women and Child Development at New Delhi. 
  
• The 'Ahimsa Messenger' programme aims at preventing violence against women and children and generating awareness about basic legal rights, procedures and provisions amongst women and children at the grassroots, said Gandhi while launching this tough law. This initiative by the Ministry of Women and Child Development addresses violence against women in all forms through a mass movement by creating numerous Ahimsa Messengers in various parts of the country, till the grassroots level. 
  
• Given the spate of violence against women and children in the current context, a full-fledged programme is being started which has the following dimension: a series of awareness building programmes across the nation on gender issues, a series of training and sensitization programmes for grass root level functionaries across the nation, developing and introducing a gender sensitive module/ curriculum which is now being introduced in various training institutes across states. 
  
• The programme involves both men and women including youths to address and eliminate all forms of violence against women and children at grassroots and facilitate social/community mobilization to fight social evils.This programme will be implemented through all Anganwadi Centres, all Panchayati Raj Institutions, Sabla Girls (in the age group of 16-18 years) and Poorna Shakti Kendras (PSK) coordinators under the National Mission for Empowerment of Women (NMEW) will be trained as Ahimsa Messengers.
  
• The Supreme Court collegium on 19 August, has recommended that the acting Chief Justice of the Madras High Court Rajesh Kumar Agrawal be made its Chief Justice. Justice Agrawal assumed office as acting Chief Justice on February 7 this year. The senior most judge of the High Court, Justice R. Banumathi, has been recommended to be appointed as the Chief Justice of the Jharkhand High Court. Justice N.V. Ramana, acting Chief Justice of Andhra Pradesh High Court, will be the new Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court. At present, there is no judge from the Andhra Pradesh High Court holding the post of Chief Justice in any High Court. Justice P.C. Pant, senior most judge of the Uttarakhand High Court, is being elevated as the Chief Justice of the Meghalaya High Court. This is the first time an Uttarakhand High Court judge is occupying the position of Chief Justice. These recommendations received by the Law Ministry are being processed and the appointments will be completed in two-three weeks, according to informed sources.
  
• The Congress launched its ambitious food security programme in Delhi, Haryana and Uttarakhand on 21 August, on the occasion of Rajiv Gandhi’s 69th birth anniversary, as the ordinance on the scheme is still in operation though the Lok Sabha once again failed to push the Bill through. Indeed, with the Opposition mounting an attack on the government on the missing files related to the coal blocks allocation scam, the subject was not even discussed in the House. For the Congress leadership, which is determined to pass the Food Security Bill, time is running out this session, which ends on August 30. Now, if the Bill is not legislated by then, the government will have two options — to re-promulgate the ordinance or revert to the Public Distribution System in the three Congress-ruled States, where the programme was inaugurated with much fanfare.
  
• The government on 23 August 2013 announced the national e-mail policy to protect privacy of email users in India. In the proposed policy all government departments and Indian embassies are being asked to use NIC server for their email correspondence. The NIC server is located in India and it cannot be accessed by any foreign agency. The government is working to enhance its capacity to protect data and information flows by building better cyber and telephony infrastructure and by evolving new cyber and telecom security practices. The government is also promoting Indian players in the information technology sector to develop and offer Internet services by their servers located in India.
  
• A major fire broke out on board INS Sindhurakshak at the Naval Dockyard in Mumbai on 14 August 2013. An explosion on board damaged the submarine. The fire was doused in time and prevented from spreading to other vessels docked in the vicinity.INS Sindhurakshak is the ninth of the ten Sindhughosh-class diesel-electric submarines of the Indian Navy. On 4 June 2010, the Indian Defence Ministry and Zvezdochka shipyard signed a contract worth US $ 80 million to upgrade and improve the submarine. The submarine suffered two fire incidents, a minor one in 2010 and a major one on 14 August 2013, which led to in its sinking at Mumbai's naval dockyards. Sindhurakshak was constructed in Admiralty Shipyard, St. Petersburg. Construction of the submarine started in 1995 and submarine was launched in June 1997 and delivered in December 1997. A fire broke out aboard Sindhurakshak while the vessel was in Visakhapatnam in February 2010.
  
• The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) asked all the state governments for establishing the fund as well as formulating the scheme for the purpose of providing compensation to the victims of crime. The compensation would be given to the crime victims who suffered injury or loss due to crime. The Ministry of Home Affairs declared that the action was aimed for providing help to victims of all sorts of crimes, especially acid attack victims. The MHA Advisory declared that all the state governments as well as UT administration was required to prepare the scheme for facilitating funds for providing compensation to the victims or dependents of the victims. For the purpose of finalising the scheme, the consultation of Union Government of India could be taken. MHA, in the meanwhile, also declared that draft scheme need to be prepared within a time period of just 4 weeks.
  
• The Union Cabinet cleared a proposal to scrap the collegium system of appointing judges to the Supreme Court and High Courts on 22 August 2013. A Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) will be set up which will replace the collegium system of appointing judges to Suprecme Court and High Courts. According to the proposal, the government will set up a panel headed by the Chief Justice of India (CJI) to appoint and transfer senior judges. The other members of the proposed Commission will comprise the Law Minister, two judges of the Supreme Court, two eminent persons as members and Secretary (Justice) in the Law Ministry as Member Secretary. Moreover, the Leader of the Opposition of either House of Parliament will be part of a committee which will be set up to nominate two eminent persons to the JAC. The committee will also include the CJI and the Prime Minister as other members. A constitutional amendment bill will be tabled in Parliament to approve the proposal. The move to set up JAC will require amendments to Articles 124, 217, 222 and 231 of the Constitution and insertion of Article 124 A.
  
• Minister of State in the Ministry of Civil Aviation, K. C. Venugopal informed the Lok Sabha on 23 August, that the Government of India has granted "in-principle" approval for setting up of a Greenfield airport at Kannur in Kerala. The project is to be implemented on Build Own and Operate (BOO) model. The State Government of Kerala has appointed M/s Kerala Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (KINFRA) as a nodal agency for the construction of the Kannur Airport. M/s KINFRA has formed a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), namely M/s Kannur International Airport Limited (KIAL), for the development of the airport. Ministry of Environment & Forest has granted necessary environment clearance to the project. M/s KIAL has acquired 1278 acres of land so far. M/s KIAL has requested for financial assistance under Viability Gap Funding (VGF) scheme. Ministry of Civil Aviation has supported the request of M/s KIAL and requested Ministry of Finance to grant the VGF.
• Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram unveiled the National Skill Certification and Monetary Reward Scheme that will be implemented on pan-India basis on 17 August. The scheme was first proposed by the Finance Minister in the last Union Budget to allocate Rs. 1,000 crore for a scheme that will motivate the youth of this country to acquire a vocational skill. The scheme is expected to benefit a million people in the first year of its implementation. The scheme that is branded as STAR (Standard Training Assessment and Reward) for promotional purposes envisages that a monetary reward that will in essence financially help those who wish to acquire a new skill or upgrade their skills to a higher level. The National Skilling Mission envisages adding 500 million skilled Indians by the year 2022. 
  
• The Union Cabinet gave its nod to the proposal for establishing the International Centre for Drinking Water Quality in Kolkata on 13th August. The Centre will be registered as a Society under the Societies Registration Act, 1860, with the requisite manpower, building and support infrastructure. 
  
  The aim of the Centre is to work in the area of identification, mitigation and management with focus on research and development on drinking water quality related problems in India (both urban and rural) with a focus among other contaminants, also on arsenic and fluoride. 
  
  The Centre will also provide policy advice on request to the Central and State Governments as also to other countries on demand on water quality issues. The Centre will benefit the entire population of the country through provision of safe and quality drinking water. All States/ districts in the country will be covered as bacteriological contamination is more or less evenly spread and focus will also be made on drinking water quality affected habitations in the States/districts. The total cost of the project will be Rs. 176.64 crore. 
  
• Janata Party was merged with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) following a meeting of Janata Party President Subramanian Swamy and BJP President Rajnath Singh on 11th August. Subramanian Swamy had served as member of the Planning Commission of India. He was also former Cabinet Minister at the Centre and has been a five-time MP. He has been an ardent proponent of Hindutva philosophy and was active in exposing the 2G Spectrum scam. He was a former member of the Jana Sangh. The Janata party was officially launched on 23rd January 1977 when the Janata Morcha, Charan Singh's Bharatiya Lok Dal, Swatantra Party, the Socialist Party of India (Raj Narain and George Fernandes), and the Bharatiya Jana Sangh (BJS) came together, merging their separate identities. Morarji Desai was elected the first party chairman. 
  
  Ramakrishna Hegde was appointed the party general secretary and Lal Krishna Advani became the party spokesperson. Janta Party won the 1977 parliamentary elections but started disintegrating after coming to power and lost the 1980 mid-term election. Slowly and gradually it faded away from the limelight and continued its small existence in the politics of the state of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Maharashtra, Chandigarh, Delhi and at the national stage under the chairmanship of Subramanian Swamy. 
  
• The Union Government has constituted of a High Level Committee on 17th August, to prepare a report on the socio-economic, health and educational status of the tribal communities of India. In keeping with the special status accorded to Scheduled Tribes (STs) in the Constitution of India, the Union Government has affirmed its commitment to improving their socioeconomic status and has taken initiatives that encompass policy, programmatic and legislative interventions. The HLC shall suggest policy initiatives as well as effective outcome-oriented measures to improve development indicators and strengthen public service delivery to STs and other tribal populations. 
  
  The High Level Committee has the following composition: 1. Prof. Virginius Xaxa - Chairman 2. Dr. Usha Ramanathan - Member 3. Dr. Joseph Bara - Member 4. Dr. K.K. Misra - Member 5. Dr. Abhay Bang - Member 6. Ms. Sunila Basant - Member 7. Secretary, M/o Tribal Affairs - Member Secretary .The above HLC will be provided all possible assistance by all Ministries/ Departments and other bodies under the Government to ensure timely collection of data and information to facilitate their task. All pertinent reports available with the Government on tribal and related issues including the reports of Bhuria Committee, Mungekar Committee and of the National Commission of Scheduled Tribes will be made available to HLC. All existing data (including RGI and NSSO data) and data collected by above mentioned Committees will also be made available to HLC. 
  
• The Rashtriya Uchattar Shiksha Abhiyan proposes to put a ceiling of maximum number of colleges to be affiliated to any university at two hundred. The proposal has been submitted following several State Universities having a large number of colleges affiliated to a single university. For example Osmania University has 901 colleges affiliated to it while 811 colleges are attached to Pune University. This phenomenon negatively affects the academic quality of the University. It is imperative that States create more universities so that affiliation does not result in large number of colleges being tied academically to one university. 
  
  The one lakh crore rupees scheme when implemented will lead to setting up and upgradation of new colleges and universities. The scheme may also facilitate increased number of students from secondary to higher education. The Rashtriya Uchchatar Abhiyan is a new centrally sponsored flagship umbrella scheme aimed at providing strategic funding to State higher and technical institutions. States will develop comprehensive state higher education plans that utilize an interconnected strategy to address issues of expansion, equity and excellence together. Central funding will be linked to academic, administrative and financial reforms of state higher education. 
  
• As a part of its social commitment to make Railways friendlier towards specially-abled passengers, Indian Railways has decided to provide Braille stickers in coaches to facilitate visually impaired passengers. Presently coaches are provided with signage, instructions, seat numbers etc. which are mostly in the form of vinyl stickers/metallic plates and have no Braille characters and can not be read by visually impaired passengers. Now it is planned to use stickers with metallic base with printed characters embedded into it. Integral Coach Factory (ICF), a production unit of the Indian Railways has developed the specification for integrated Braille signages in coaches in consultations with Blind associations and input received from Research Design & Standards Organization (RDSO) and issued to Railways. The first prototype coach is expected to be turned out from ICF in October 2013 for feedback. This is expected to be a major step for facilitation of visually impaired passengers during journey in trains. 
  
  Braille printing will be superimposed on these stickers and same can be used by both a person with normal vision and visually impaired person. With embedded picture/characters, there would not be any defacing even on repeated contacts/rubbing. 
  
• The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA)on 2 August, has approved the collaboration project of Indian Institute of Technology, Hyderabad (IITH) under the Official Development Assistance (ODA) loan by Government of Japan and grants by Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), Government of India. The project costing Rs. 1776.50 crore will be financed out of the ODA loan of Rs. 1501.72 crore from the Government of Japan. The balance of Rs. 274.77 crore represent 15.5% non-eligible portion of the project as the Indian portion to be met from grants by MHRD over a period of four years starting from 2013-14 to 2016-17. The project would create value addition through collaborative interactions with academics and the industry of Japan and exchange of students and faculty. This will enhance cooperation between the two nations in the area of science & technology and human resource development. For the Indian side, the project would also help in creation of a number of basic infrastructure facilities and faster scaling up of a quality institution viz. IIT, Hyderabad with benefits for the Indian economy. The IIT, Hyderabad is one of the eight new IITs established by the GOI in 2008 at an estimated cost of Rs.760 crore based on the Cabinet’s approval in July, 2008. The IIT, Hyderabad and Japan collaboration is an externally aided central sector project emanating from the broader Indo-Japan Collaboration and agreement between the Prime Ministers of India and Japan for a Japanese loan to fund the specific projects of IIT, Hyderabad. 
  
• The quarterly newsletter of the National Archives of India entitled e-Abhilekh was launched by the Secretary, Ministry of Culture, Ravindra Singh in New Delhi on 1st August. This news bulletin has been planned with the objective of disseminating information for the development of Archives. The inaugural issue provides information about the activities of National Archives of India, States/Union Territories Archives, Archives of Business and other learned institutions for the period April-June 2013. 
  
• The Cabinet gave its nod to amend the Right to Information (RTI) Act to keep political parties out of the ambit of transparency law on 1st August. The decision to change the RTI Act was taken during a cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, official sources said. The move followed after the Central Information Commission (CIC) had in June held that six national parties - Congress, BJP, NCP, CPI-M, CPI and BSP - have been substantially funded indirectly by the central government and were required to appoint Public Information Officers (PIOs) as they have the character of a public authority under the RTI Act. The decision from transparency watchdog evoked sharp reactions from political parties, especially Congress which has been credited with bringing in the transparency law but is opposed to the CIC's directive. The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), which acts as nodal department for the implementation of the RTI Act, in consultation with Law Ministry decided to amend the law. The government seeks to change the definition of public authorities mentioned under Section 2 of the RTI Act to keep all recognized political parties out of the jurisdiction of RTI, the sources said. The government will have to introduce a Bill in this regard in the monsoon session of Parliament beginning Monday, they said. 
  
• Congress and the UPA unanimously decided to create a separate Telangana State carving out of Andhra Pradesh on 30 July 2013.The Congress Working Committee (CWC), the highest decision-making body of Congress Party, on 30 July 2013 decided to recommend to the Central Government to form the 29th State which will comprise of 10 districts. The districts that will be a part of the new State are Hyderabad, Adilabad, Karimnagar, Khammam, Mahaboobnagar, Medak, Nalgonda, Nizamabad, Rangareddy and Warangal.Hyderabad, the central point of the Telangana, will be the common capital of the newly proposed State and the other regions, Rayalaseema and Andhra for a period of 10 years. A new capital for Andhra will be identified in Seemandhra region within this period. Telangana State will have a geographical area of 10 of the 23 districts of undivided Andhra Pradesh. Out of 42 Lok Sabha seats and 294 Assembly seats in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana is likely to have 17 Lok Sabha seats and 119 Assembly seats.
  
• Andhra Pradesh government extended the ban on CPI (Maoist) and its several front organisations on 8th August for a period of one year from August 17. The government had declared the top Naxal outfit as an unlawful association in 2005 for one year and has been extending the ban every year since then."The government has reviewed the matter and is of the opinion that the Communist Party of India (Maoist) is continuing to indulge in unlawful activities," a G.O. issued by the Chief Secretary said here. "Its unlawful activities, if not stopped, will constitute a serious danger and menace to public order, peace and tranquility," it said. The front organisations against whom the ban has been extended include the Radical Students Union, Radical Youth League and Rythu Coolie Sangham, among others. 
  
• The Ministry of Communications and Information Technology inaugurated Data portal of India in New Delhi on 8 August 2013. The portal - www.data.gov.in - is aimed at sharing more and more data as it empowers and connects to policy making. It will also help in bringing more transparency in the system and continuing the information revolution which started with the RTI act. The information revolution that started with the Right to Information Act has brought us to a stage where government is now willing to share data with everybody because we realised that is the absence of data you cannot yet appropriate decision making. Open Data Application and Data portal is a part of Manmohan-Obama Initiative which allows plugging in all type of data.
  
• The Rajya Sabha passed the much-awaited Companies Bill on 8th August, replacing the decades old Companies Act, 1956. The Bill had been passed by the Lok Sabha in December last year. 
  
  Here are the top 10 facts about the Bill: 
  
  1. Now that both houses of Parliament have passed the Bill, it will go to President Pranab Mukherjee for his assent before it becomes law, following which the Ministry of Corporate Affairs will issue a notification.
  2. The new rules make the earmarking of funds by companies for corporate social responsibility (CSR) spending mandatory. Companies are required to spend at least 2 per cent of their net profit on CSR. The companies will also have to give preference to the local areas of their operation for such spending. If they are unable to meet CSR norms, they will have to give explanations and may even face penalty.
  3. To help in curbing a major source of corporate delinquency, the Bill introduces punishment for falsely inducing a person to enter into any agreement with bank or financial institution, with a view to obtaining credit facilities.
  4. The new legislation has more provisions to guard the interests of employees. It mandates payment of two years' salary to employees in case a company shuts operations.
  5. The appointment of auditors for five years shall be subject to ratification by members at every annual general meeting. Also, the limit in respect of maximum number of companies in which a person may be appointed as auditor has been proposed as 20.
  6. Independent directors shall be excluded for the purpose of computing "one-third of retiring directors".
  7. The maximum number of directors in a private company has been increased from 12 to 15, which can be increased further by special resolution.
  8. The financial year of any company can end only on March 31 and the only exception is for companies which are holding/subsidiary of a foreign entity requiring consolidation outside India.
  9. It also makes auditors subject to criminal liability if they knowingly or recklessly omit certain information from their reports.
  10. The Bill has a provision that keeps tabs on exorbitant remunerations for the board of directors and other executives of the companies. This will protect the interest of shareholders as well as employees.
• The National Green Tribunal restrained sand mining activity on riverbeds across the country, which is being carried out without obtaining environmental clearance from the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests on 5th August. The tribunal stated that besides violations of law, the mining activity is being carried out on a large scale, causing state revenue loss which may be running into lakhs of crores of rupees. The five-member bench headed by tribunal chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar directed the states to reply by 14 August 2013.The bench stated that the contention is that majority of people carrying out the mining activity of removing mineral from the river bed have no license to extract sand. In the meanwhile, the Tribunal restrains any person, company, authority to carry out any mining activity or removal of sand, from river beds anywhere in the country without obtaining environmental clearance from environment ministry and license from the competent authorities.
  
• The hand-woven Pashmina shawls of Kashmir were accredited with the Geographical Indication (GI) mark. The Chief Minister of Kashmir Omar Abdullah, on 5 August launched the Kashmir Pashmina GI mark, which will now be imprinted on all hand-woven Pashmina Shawls, in the form of label. 
  
  This GI Mark will be imprinted at Testing and Quality Certification Centre. The Centre was inaugurated on 5th August 2013 by Omar Abdullah at Craft Development Centre. The GI Mark labels will be attached to Pashmina shawl after it has been tested on weaving technology, spinning method, originality of fabric as well as fineness of thread. The mark of Kashmir Pashmina will also provide details of the manufacturer as well as quality of shawl. The label will also carry a number, which will be verifiable from official website. 
  
  This move will help in restoring the handicrafts of Kashmir. It will also help in economic prosperity of the artisans. The Government of Kashmir has already achieved the GI for six handicrafts, which will have same testing facilities. 
  
• The National Museum Institute in New Delhi on 7 August, launched ‘Yuva Saathi’, the Young Visitor Programme in the National Museum. The programme was launched by the Minister of Culture Smt. Chandresh Kumari Katoch. She also awarded certificates to the volunteers participated in the Pathpardarshak and Yuva Saathi training programme. Yuva Saathi is a pioneering programme in India aimed at engaging young minds in a dialogue with the National Museum. The Programme envisages the deployment of Volunteer guides, Yuva Saathi, to provided guided tours to school children. The programme intends to make National Museum a place of learning and fun for the young visitors and their teachers. Yuva Saathis are undergraduate students from various colleges of Delhi trained specifically to guide children in the National Museum. It is for the first time that a guide programme exclusively for children is being launched in an Indian Museum. The programme caters solely to School Groups.
  
• The Defence Minister A.K. Antony in a written reply to H.K. Dua in Rajya Sabha on 7 August, that the Government is aware of the development of Gwadar Port in Pakistan with Chinese funding and of the reports of handing over the control of port operations to a Chinese firm. The port could be used for military purposes in future. Government keeps a constant watch on all developments concerning our national security and commercial interests and takes all necessary measures to safeguard them in accordance with the prevailing security situation and strategic considerations. China has also participated in the Indian Ocean Region in development projects like ports, deep sea mining, ocean research as well as anti-piracy operations. 
  
• The Minister of Culture Chandresh Kumari Katoch has informed in a written reply in the Lok Sabha on 6th August that the two nomination dossiers namely the Hill Forts of Rajasthan from State Government of Rajasthan and the Qutb Shahi Monuments of Hyderabad from State Government of Andhra Pradesh were received and forwarded to the World Heritage Centre (WHC). Out of these, the Hill Forts of Rajasthan has been inscribed on the World Heritage List. No proposal has been received from the State of Odisha. Katoch said, two members ICOMOS Advisory Mission visited India in November, 2012 for evaluation of Hill Forts which has been inscribed on the World Heritage List during 37th Session of World Heritage Committee held in Cambodia in June, 2013. The proposals on Qutb Shahi Monuments of Hyderabad, Majuli Island (Assam) and Rani-ki-Vav, Patan (Gujrat) under Cultural Category and the Great Himalayan National Park (Himachal Pradesh) under Natural Category have been submitted to WHC. Conservation of all World Heritage monuments/sites under Archaeological Survey of India are being preserved and maintained by the department and are in a good state of preservation, the Minister added.
  
• Minister of State for Civil Aviation, K.C. Venugopal informed Lok Sabha on 8th August, that Kolkata and Chennai airports have been modernized at a cost of Rs. 2,325 crore and Rs. 2,015 crore respectively. The Task Force on Financing Plan for development of airports constituted under the Planning Commission has recommended that operations and management of Chennai and Kolkata Airports could be taken up through Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode. Airports Authority of India (AAI) has suggested that management, maintenance and operation of these two airports be undertaken by formation of JVs with world class Airport Operators, with AAI being lead partner. As a first step, an Inter Ministerial Group (IMG) has been constituted to evolve, recommend and monitor the implementation of the appropriate model for achieving the desired objectives of operation and management of these airports with private participation. 
  
• Government has released the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) on June 30, 2008. NAPCC comprises, inter alia, of eight National Missions in specific areas of Solar Energy, Enhanced Energy Efficiency, Sustainable Habitat, Water, Sustaining the Himalayan Eco-system, Green India, Sustainable Agriculture and Strategic knowledge for Climate Change. This was stated by Jayanthi Natarajan Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Environment and Forests, in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha on 8 August. The Minister further stated that as a follow-up to the announcement made by Prime Minister in the State Environment Ministers’ Meeting held in August, 2009, States have been advised to prepare the State Action Plan on Climate Change (SAPCC) in-line with the objectives of the NAPCC. 22 states namely, Andaman and Nicobar, Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Delhi, Jammu & Kashmir, Kerala, Karnataka, Lakshadweep, Madhya Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Odhisa, Punjab, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tripura, Uttrakhand, Himachal Pradesh and West Bengal have prepared the SAPCC. Jharkhand State is yet to submit the SAPCC report to the Ministry of Environment and Forests, the Minister added. 
  
• Union Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Minister, K.V. Thomas on 7 August, introduced National Food Security Bill in Loksabha to replace the National Food Security Ordinance, 2013 which was promulgated on 5th July, 2013.The National Food Security Bill is a historic initiative for ensuring food and nutritional security to the people. It gives right to the people to receive adequate quantity of food grains at affordable prices. The Bill has special focus on nutritional support to poorest of the poor, women and children. In case of non-supply of food grains now people will get Food Security Allowance. The bill provides for grievance redressal mechanism and penalty for non compliance by public servant or authority. 
  
  Other features of the Bill are as follows:
  Coverage of two thirds population to get highly subsidized food grains up to 75% of the rural population and up to 50% of the urban population will have uniform entitlement of 5 kg food grains per month at highly subsidized prices of Rs. 3, Rs. 2, and Rs. 1 per kg for rice, wheat and coarse grains respectively. It will entitle about two thirds of our 1.2 billion population to subsidized food grains under the Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS). 
  
  Poorest of the poor continue to get 35 kg per household 
  The poorest of poor households would continue to receive 35 Kg food grains per household per month under Antyodaya Anna Yajna at subsidized prices of Rs 3, Rs. 2 and Rs. 1. It is also proposed to protect the existing allocation of food grains to the States/Uts, subject to it being restricted to average annual off take during last three years.
  
  Eligible households to be identified by the States
  Corresponding to the coverage of 75% rural and 50 % of urban population at all India level, State wise coverage will be determined by the Central Government. The work of identification of eligible households is left to the States/UTs, which may frame their own criteria or use Social Economic and Caste Census data, if they so desire.
  
  Special focus on nutritional support to women and children 
  There is a special focus on nutritional support to women and children. Pregnant women and lactating mothers, besides being entitled to nutritious meals as per the prescribed nutritional norms will also receive maternity benefit of at least of Rs. 6000. Children in the age group of 6 months to 14 years will be entitled to take home ration or hot cooked food as per prescribed nutritional norms. 
  
  Food Security Allowance in case of non supply of food grains
  The Central Government will provide funds to States/UTs in case of short supply of food grains from Central pool, In case of non-supply of food grains or meals to entitled persons, the concerned State/UT Governments will be required to provide such food security allowance as may be prescribed by the Central Government to the beneficiaries.
  
  States to get assistance for intra-State transportation and handling of food grains In order to address the concern of the States regarding additional financial burden, Central Government will provide assistance to the States towards cost of intra-State transportation, handling of food grains and FPS dealers’ margin, for which norms will be developed. This will ensure timely transportation and efficient handling of food grains.
  
  Reforms for doorstep delivery of food grains 
  The Bill also contains provisions for reforms in PDS through doorstep delivery of food grains, application of information and communication technology (ICT) including end to end computerization, leveraging ‘Aadhaar’ for unique identification of beneficiaries, diversification of commodities under TPDS etc for effective implementation of the Food Security Act. Some of these reforms are already underway.
  
  Women Empowerment-- Eldest women will be Head of the household
  Eldest woman of eighteen years of age or above will be head of the household for issue of ration card, and if not available, the eldest male member is to be the head of the household.
  
  Grievance redressal mechanism at district level 
  There will be state and district level redressal mechanism with designated officers. The States will be allowed to use the existing machinery for District Grievance Redressal Officer (DGRO), State Food Commission, if they so desire, to save expenditure on establishment of new redressal set up. Redressal mechanism may also include call centers, helpline etc. 
  
  Social audits and vigilance committees to ensure transparency and accountability
  Provisions have also been made for disclosure of records relating to PDS, social audits and setting up of Vigilance Committees in order to ensure transparency and accountability. 
  
  Penalty for non compliance
  The Bill provides for penalty to be imposed on public servants or authority, if found guilty of failing to comply with the relief recommended by the District Grievance Redressal Officer (DGRO). 
  
  Expenditure
  At the proposed coverage of entitlement, total estimated annual food grains requirement is 612.3 lakh tons and corresponding estimated food subsidy for 2013-14 costs is about Rs.1,24,724 crore. 
  
  K. Rahman Khan, the Union Minister for Minority Affairs launched a dedicated toll free Helpline - with brand name “Khidmat”, in New Delhi on 8 August. Dedicating “Khidmat” helpline to the minority people of India, the Minister expressed hope to fulfill the dream of Father of Nation Mahatma Gandhi for inclusive growth of all sections, particularly deprived sections of Society. Speaking on the occasion K. Rahman Khan said that the service will empower minorities through up to date information. With helpline being operational, initially, it will remain open from 9:00 a.m. to 6.00 p.m. on all working days he, added. Depending on success and demand, the Ministry may go even for 24X7 helpline with upgraded facilities. 
  
  In the changing India, when phone services and mobiles have reached every nook and corner, the dedicated helpline would be a better idea to spread information about development and welfare programmes and related complaints. The right information in time is the power, the Ministry through “Khidmat” helpline endeavours to hand over power to the minority people of all levels equally, the Minister added. This helpline would not only help in inclusive growth of minorities but will also increase transparency and efficiency in governance. With launch of this helpline, a student sitting in a village or remote area can get instant information at his or her leisure about scholarship schemes. An unemployed minority youth can get instant information about skill development training programmes run by Ministry and employment opportunities. 
  
• Ministry of Rural Development has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Pradan, a non-governmental organization to undertake developmental and training activities in hard core naxal affected districts in the country. Briefing the media after the signing of the agreement, the Minister for Rural Development Jairam Ramesh said in New Delhi on 6 August, that the scheme will be implemented in some of the naxal affected districts of Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Jharkhand and Odisha in the first phase. The Minister said that organization like Pradan should work in these difficult areas as government agencies face a lot of problems in implementing developmental projects due to naxal threat. 
  
  He said, two projects will be taken up initially by setting up NRLM ( National Rural Livelihoods Mission) support organization on Livelihoods, besides extensive training of the women self help groups. In the first project, 18,000 families will be helped through production and marketing of Tasar Silk in Jharkhand, Bihar, Odisha, Chhattisgarh and West Bengal in the coming three years with a budget of Rs 50 crore. 
  
  The second project will be Mahila Kisan Sashaktikaran Pariyojana and it will be implemented in the states of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Odisha with a budget of Rs. 20 Crore. The Project is likely to benefit 18,000 families, where sustainable agriculture will be promoted through women headed households and it is estimated that income of the self help gropus will increase by 15 to 20 per cent by cutting on harmful chemicals and pesticides. Third component of the Programme will be training of the girls for alternative sources of livelihood. The Minister said the fourth issue is about the health and malnutrition problems that will be tackled by mobilising local communities.