SALARY STRUCTURE - The `3 Cs' rule to rewarding and keeping salespeople engaged
Planning the ideal sales force incentive compensation programme is very challenging. Pay enough, and you'll energize your salespeople.
Pay too much, and you'll throw money away while turning salespeople into loafers who can get by on fewer sales.
Pay too little, and you'll drive your best salespeople away.
But how much is enough, too much or too little? How can you find the perfect balance?
Luckily, sales and marketing experts Andris A. Zoltners, Prabhakant Sinha and Sally E.Lorimer are here to help. They offer an essential map for developing and implementing the ideal compensation incentive plan for your salespeople.
According to the authors, you should begin with a budget and ask how much you can allocate to pay salespeople.
Decide what ratio of their compensation should be salary as opposed to incentives or bonuses. Do you want to vary their pay depending on performance? Ensure that bonuses or short-term incentives emphasize achievement and don't divert salespeople from their main mission. As you establish a plan, avoid complexity. Build on past successes as you keep an eye on your future sales needs.
GetAbstract recommends this instructive guide to sales managers who want to do a better job of meeting their personnel needs and, thus, their sales targets.
The authors say that a good sales incentive compensation plan should meet the "3 Cs" rule. It should be "consistent" with company strategy, "compatible" with related programmes, and "consequential"--that is, it should change sales results. However, poor sales results do not necessarily mean that the sales incentive compensation plan is flawed. The problem may come from the sales force's structure, size, training or territories. The firm may need to redraw territories, hire better managers, provide improved data and tools, or make other changes before it alters its compensation scheme.
The three authors advise that you establish the right criteria for evaluating performance before rewarding it. Measure sales results, such as gross margin, orders, collections, sales per rep, market share and value perception. Also, assess customer results. Calculate your number of repeat buyers, how deeply you have saturated the market, how much sales are increasing, and whether consumers are content and loyal. Monitor how well your reps handle prospecting, sending out proposals, serving customers and controlling account turnover. Create "objective, measurable, fair, adaptable and understandable" criteria that measure only those factors that salespeople determine by their own actions.
The book recommends that you use a commission plan if your salespeople work independently to make sales happen. Bonus plans give managers flexibility if needed, for instance, to reassign territories. Make sure that performance drives sales earnings, not individual geographic assignments.
If numerous corporate divisions share the same sales force, don't create an incentive plan with different performance metrics for each unit.
That encourages salespeople to cherry-pick the simplest process for earning their pay.
Aggregate your performance measures to ensure a "balanced selling effort". Set sales goals that build excitement.
Increase the payout rate as people come close to their objectives. Keep the plan simple, fair and encouraging.
Stay informed of the current compensation trends, suggest the authors. Weigh up "labour market values" for your sales jobs as well as past pay levels, budget, the degree of control a salesperson exerts over sales and customers, what your competitors pay, and the role each salesperson plays, internally or out in the field. Examine how much authority salespeople have to drive sales.
Consider your firm's salary standards, and local and industry compensation norms.
Seek data on pay standards when you interview prospective or departing salespeople.
Complex or highly technical sales work should earn more.
Redo your firm's sales incentive compensation plan periodically so it remains current and continues to engage and energize your salespeople.
Most firms make adjustments, at least around the edges, every year, and make wholesale changes every two-three years.
Rolf Dobelli is chairman of getAbstract. The Complete Guide to Sales Force Incentive Compensation: How to Design and Implement Plans That Work Andris A. Zoltners, Prabhakant Sinha & Sally E. Lorimer AMACOM, 2006, 496 pages List price: $65.00 ISBN13: 9780814473245
Planning the ideal sales force incentive compensation programme is very challenging. Pay enough, and you'll energize your salespeople.
Pay too much, and you'll throw money away while turning salespeople into loafers who can get by on fewer sales.
Pay too little, and you'll drive your best salespeople away.
But how much is enough, too much or too little? How can you find the perfect balance?
Luckily, sales and marketing experts Andris A. Zoltners, Prabhakant Sinha and Sally E.
Lorimer are here to help. They offer an essential map for developing and implementing the ideal compensation incentive plan for your salespeople.
According to the authors, you should begin with a budget and ask how much you can allocate to pay salespeople.
Decide what ratio of their compensation should be salary as opposed to incentives or bonuses. Do you want to vary their pay depending on performance? Ensure that bonuses or short-term incentives emphasize achievement and don't divert salespeople from their main mission. As you establish a plan, avoid complexity. Build on past successes as you keep an eye on your future sales needs.
GetAbstract recommends this instructive guide to sales managers who want to do a better job of meeting their personnel needs and, thus, their sales targets.
The authors say that a good sales incentive compensation plan should meet the "3 Cs" rule. It should be "consistent" with company strategy, "compatible" with related programmes, and "consequential"--that is, it should change sales results. However, poor sales results do not necessarily mean that the sales incentive compensation plan is flawed. The problem may come from the sales force's structure, size, training or territories. The firm may need to redraw territories, hire better managers, provide improved data and tools, or make other changes before it alters its compensation scheme.
The three authors advise that you establish the right criteria for evaluating performance before rewarding it. Measure sales results, such as gross margin, orders, collections, sales per rep, market share and value perception. Also, assess customer results. Calculate your number of repeat buyers, how deeply you have saturated the market, how much sales are increasing, and whether consumers are content and loyal. Monitor how well your reps handle prospecting, sending out proposals, serving customers and controlling account turnover. Create "objective, measurable, fair, adaptable and understandable" criteria that measure only those factors that salespeople determine by their own actions.
The book recommends that you use a commission plan if your salespeople work independently to make sales happen. Bonus plans give managers flexibility if needed, for instance, to reassign territories. Make sure that performance drives sales earnings, not individual geographic assignments.
If numerous corporate divisions share the same sales force, don't create an incentive plan with different performance metrics for each unit.
That encourages salespeople to cherry-pick the simplest process for earning their pay.
Aggregate your performance measures to ensure a "balanced selling effort". Set sales goals that build excitement.
Increase the payout rate as people come close to their objectives. Keep the plan simple, fair and encouraging.
Stay informed of the current compensation trends, suggest the authors. Weigh up "labour market values" for your sales jobs as well as past pay levels, budget, the degree of control a salesperson exerts over sales and customers, what your competitors pay, and the role each salesperson plays, internally or out in the field. Examine how much authority salespeople have to drive sales.
Consider your firm's salary standards, and local and industry compensation norms.
Seek data on pay standards when you interview prospective or departing salespeople.
Complex or highly technical sales work should earn more.
Redo your firm's sales incentive compensation plan periodically so it remains current and continues to engage and energize your salespeople.
Most firms make adjustments, at least around the edges, every year, and make wholesale changes every two-three years.
Rolf Dobelli is chairman of getAbstract. The Complete Guide to Sales Force Incentive Compensation: How to Design and Implement Plans That Work Andris A. Zoltners, Prabhakant Sinha & Sally E. Lorimer AMACOM, 2006, 496 pages List price: $65.00 ISBN13: 9780814473245
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
www.sikkimrhododendrons2010.com
International Rhododendron Festival on internet for global promotion
Click on www.sikkimrhododendrons2010.com
BIJOY GURUNG
GANGTOK, December 28: Sikkim Tourism is expected to hit a new benchmark by celebrating the Year 2010 as the Year of Tourism where the Himalayan State is offering a plethora of attractions to the tourists ranging from nature, adventure, ecotourism and pilgrimage tourism.
Ushering in the eventual year for Sikkim Tourism will be the showpiece event, the International Rhododendron Festival (IRF) 2010 scheduled to woo the nature lovers from April 25 next year.
Sikkim is the treasure trove of rhododendrons of the nation with 36 species of Rhododendrons which is 72 percent of the country's rhododendrons.
Seeking to encash on this rich natural resource, the State government has visualized and initiated the IRF whose inaugural function has been scheduled to be held at Singba Rhododendron Sanctuary in North Sikkim on April 25 and will conclude on May 15, the best season for tourism in Sikkim.
Singba Rhododendron Sanctuary in North Sikkim is the repository of over 30 species of rhododendrons which are the glory of Sikkim Himalayas.
The more areas of natural habitat of rhododendrons trails like Lachen, Zema, Thangu, Tholung Kesongla in North Sikkim, Kyongnosla Alpine Sanctuary in East Sikkim and Barsey Rhododendron Sanctuary in West Sikkim will be the major destinations covered under this festival, said State forest secretary ST Lachungpa.
The closing ceremony of the IRF would be held at Barsey Rhododendron Sanctuary in West Sikkim in April 2011.
By the year 2015, we are targeting to have 10 lakhs tourist arrivals in Sikkim annually, said Dhungel, Tourism Minister-Sikkim. He acknowledged the support of Ministry of Tourism and local stakeholders in the overall growth of tourism in Sikkim.
More than 5 lakhs tourists have visited Sikkim this year.
The IRF 2010 is aimed to generate awareness and promote conservation of Sikkim’s rich heritage of rhododendrons at a global level. The festival is slated to offer a unique eco-tourism package, to highlight cultural heritage and ‘close to nature’ experience to the visitors.
“This area of eco-tourism will facilitate the tourists to travel in undisturbed areas of uncontaminated natural beauty with specific objectives of studying, admiring and enjoying the scenery and its wild plants, flowers and animals by the nature lovers, trekkers, scholars, scientists, mountaineers and tourists of national and international level as well”, said Lachungpa. He added that Rhododendron Festival will be held annually for a period of 15-20 days from 2010.
The forest secretary pointed out that there has been a tremendous growth in forest areas, green cover, wildlife and biodiversity in Sikkim in recent years due to conservation measures of the State government.
The main events of the IRF 2010 are live rhododendron show, trekking for adventure tourists, nature camps, bird watching, wildlife watching through wildlife trail, mountain biking, angling for trout fish, food festival, exhibition of local handicrafts and culture shows.
Travel Agents Association of Sikkim (TAAS) is actively participating to make the event a success along with other local stakeholders.
TAAS general secretary Lukendra Rasaily, vice president Sailesh Pradhan and other members of the organization were also present during the website launching ceremony.
CCFs HP Pradhan and Pradeep Kumar were also present on the occasion.
Speaking on the occasion, State tourism secretary SBS Bhaduriya said that the tourism department is preparing the calendar of activities for the Year of Tourism. The calendar will be released to the media as soon as it is finalized, he said.
The website on the IRF 2010 offers all the required information to tourists and visitors seeking to know about the festival and other allied tourism activities. It also provides credible knowledge about the local rhododendron species found in Sikkim.
Click on www.sikkimrhododendrons2010.com
BIJOY GURUNG
GANGTOK, December 28: Sikkim Tourism is expected to hit a new benchmark by celebrating the Year 2010 as the Year of Tourism where the Himalayan State is offering a plethora of attractions to the tourists ranging from nature, adventure, ecotourism and pilgrimage tourism.
Ushering in the eventual year for Sikkim Tourism will be the showpiece event, the International Rhododendron Festival (IRF) 2010 scheduled to woo the nature lovers from April 25 next year.
Sikkim is the treasure trove of rhododendrons of the nation with 36 species of Rhododendrons which is 72 percent of the country's rhododendrons.
Seeking to encash on this rich natural resource, the State government has visualized and initiated the IRF whose inaugural function has been scheduled to be held at Singba Rhododendron Sanctuary in North Sikkim on April 25 and will conclude on May 15, the best season for tourism in Sikkim.
Singba Rhododendron Sanctuary in North Sikkim is the repository of over 30 species of rhododendrons which are the glory of Sikkim Himalayas.
The more areas of natural habitat of rhododendrons trails like Lachen, Zema, Thangu, Tholung Kesongla in North Sikkim, Kyongnosla Alpine Sanctuary in East Sikkim and Barsey Rhododendron Sanctuary in West Sikkim will be the major destinations covered under this festival, said State forest secretary ST Lachungpa.
The closing ceremony of the IRF would be held at Barsey Rhododendron Sanctuary in West Sikkim in April 2011.
By the year 2015, we are targeting to have 10 lakhs tourist arrivals in Sikkim annually, said Dhungel, Tourism Minister-Sikkim. He acknowledged the support of Ministry of Tourism and local stakeholders in the overall growth of tourism in Sikkim.
More than 5 lakhs tourists have visited Sikkim this year.
The IRF 2010 is aimed to generate awareness and promote conservation of Sikkim’s rich heritage of rhododendrons at a global level. The festival is slated to offer a unique eco-tourism package, to highlight cultural heritage and ‘close to nature’ experience to the visitors.
“This area of eco-tourism will facilitate the tourists to travel in undisturbed areas of uncontaminated natural beauty with specific objectives of studying, admiring and enjoying the scenery and its wild plants, flowers and animals by the nature lovers, trekkers, scholars, scientists, mountaineers and tourists of national and international level as well”, said Lachungpa. He added that Rhododendron Festival will be held annually for a period of 15-20 days from 2010.
The forest secretary pointed out that there has been a tremendous growth in forest areas, green cover, wildlife and biodiversity in Sikkim in recent years due to conservation measures of the State government.
The main events of the IRF 2010 are live rhododendron show, trekking for adventure tourists, nature camps, bird watching, wildlife watching through wildlife trail, mountain biking, angling for trout fish, food festival, exhibition of local handicrafts and culture shows.
Travel Agents Association of Sikkim (TAAS) is actively participating to make the event a success along with other local stakeholders.
TAAS general secretary Lukendra Rasaily, vice president Sailesh Pradhan and other members of the organization were also present during the website launching ceremony.
CCFs HP Pradhan and Pradeep Kumar were also present on the occasion.
Speaking on the occasion, State tourism secretary SBS Bhaduriya said that the tourism department is preparing the calendar of activities for the Year of Tourism. The calendar will be released to the media as soon as it is finalized, he said.
The website on the IRF 2010 offers all the required information to tourists and visitors seeking to know about the festival and other allied tourism activities. It also provides credible knowledge about the local rhododendron species found in Sikkim.
Poor sofa choice can lead to back pain
A combination of poorly designed chairs and lack of activity can soon lead to back pain, according to a spinal health association in Germany.
People who spend long hours without distraction before a monitor or TV are candidates for back problems, reports AGR, an organization devoted to improving spinal health. That’s why customers need to be sure when they buy upholstered furniture that they take their individual needs into account.
That means seats need to align with a person’s upper thighs and that the height of the seat can be adjusted. The seat also must be wide enough and the back needs to be adjustable and up to shoulder height.
Built-in back or lumbar supports also help, advises the AGR. But, beyond buying the right furniture, more activity is always a good idea to rid oneself of back pain or prevent it in the first place.
A combination of poorly designed chairs and lack of activity can soon lead to back pain, according to a spinal health association in Germany.
People who spend long hours without distraction before a monitor or TV are candidates for back problems, reports AGR, an organization devoted to improving spinal health. That’s why customers need to be sure when they buy upholstered furniture that they take their individual needs into account.
That means seats need to align with a person’s upper thighs and that the height of the seat can be adjusted. The seat also must be wide enough and the back needs to be adjustable and up to shoulder height.
Built-in back or lumbar supports also help, advises the AGR. But, beyond buying the right furniture, more activity is always a good idea to rid oneself of back pain or prevent it in the first place.
Arctic could go ice-free’
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has warned that the Arctic could face seasonally ice-free conditions and much warmer temperatures in the future which may lead to intensified storms and increased winter precipitation.
The USGS scientists have found evidence that the Arctic Ocean and Nordic Seas were too warm to support summer sea ice during the mid-Pliocene period, over three million years ago, when temperatures were similar to those projected for the end of this century.
They said the warm period is also used as an analogy to understand future conditions.
“In looking back 3 million years, we see a very different pattern of heat distribution than today with much warmer waters in the high latitudes,” said USGS scientist Marci Robinson.
Robinson said: “The lack of summer sea ice during the mid-Pliocene suggests that the record-setting melting of Arctic sea ice over the past few years could be an early warning of more significant changes to come.”
Loss of sea ice could have varied and extensive consequences, such as contributions to continued Arctic warming, accelerated coastal erosion due to increased wave activity, impacts to large predators like polar bears and seals that depend on sea ice cover, the USGS Website said.
The U.S. body found that summer sea-surface temperatures in the Arctic were between 10°C to 18°C during the mid-Pliocene, while current temperatures are around or below 0°C.
Examining past climate conditions allows for a true understanding of how earth’s climate system really functions.
USGS research on the mid-Pliocene is the most comprehensive global reconstruction for any warm period. This will help refine climate models, which currently underestimate the rate of sea ice loss in the Arctic.
Global average surface temperatures during the mid-Pliocene were about 3°C greater than today and within the range projected for the 21st century by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
Scientists studied conditions during the mid-Pliocene by analysing fossils dated back to this time period.
It could also intensify mid-latitude storm tracks and increase winter precipitation in western and southern Europe, and less rainfall in the American west.
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has warned that the Arctic could face seasonally ice-free conditions and much warmer temperatures in the future which may lead to intensified storms and increased winter precipitation.
The USGS scientists have found evidence that the Arctic Ocean and Nordic Seas were too warm to support summer sea ice during the mid-Pliocene period, over three million years ago, when temperatures were similar to those projected for the end of this century.
They said the warm period is also used as an analogy to understand future conditions.
“In looking back 3 million years, we see a very different pattern of heat distribution than today with much warmer waters in the high latitudes,” said USGS scientist Marci Robinson.
Robinson said: “The lack of summer sea ice during the mid-Pliocene suggests that the record-setting melting of Arctic sea ice over the past few years could be an early warning of more significant changes to come.”
Loss of sea ice could have varied and extensive consequences, such as contributions to continued Arctic warming, accelerated coastal erosion due to increased wave activity, impacts to large predators like polar bears and seals that depend on sea ice cover, the USGS Website said.
The U.S. body found that summer sea-surface temperatures in the Arctic were between 10°C to 18°C during the mid-Pliocene, while current temperatures are around or below 0°C.
Examining past climate conditions allows for a true understanding of how earth’s climate system really functions.
USGS research on the mid-Pliocene is the most comprehensive global reconstruction for any warm period. This will help refine climate models, which currently underestimate the rate of sea ice loss in the Arctic.
Global average surface temperatures during the mid-Pliocene were about 3°C greater than today and within the range projected for the 21st century by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
Scientists studied conditions during the mid-Pliocene by analysing fossils dated back to this time period.
It could also intensify mid-latitude storm tracks and increase winter precipitation in western and southern Europe, and less rainfall in the American west.
INDIAN RAILWAYS: REPORT CARD 2009-
The year 2009 has been significant for the Railways in achieving goals and targets with regard to the following:
IMPLEMENTATION OF DEDICATED FREIGHT PROJECTS
Progress has been made in the implementation of Western and Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) projects in the current year. Japanese ODA assistance for Western DFC project was sanctioned for the first loan of Rs. 130 crore for engagement of Engineering Services Consultancy services for phase-1 (Rewari-Vadodara section). Request for Proposal (RFP) for engaging Engineering Services Consultancy for Phase-I of Western DFC has also been issued by DFCCIL in October, 2009. For the remaining portion of Western DFC i.e. Phase-II, (Mumbai to Vadodra and Revari to Dadri) preparatory survey has been commenced by JICA consultants in November 2009. In case of Eastern Dedicated Freigh Corridor, Asian Development Bank (ADB) sanctioned a Project Preparation Grant of 1.5 million US Dollars for Khurja-Ludhiana section and ADB appointed consultants started feasibility studies in the section in July 2009 and final report is expected by February 2010. For the proposed World Bank funded Khurja-Mughalsarai section of Eastern DFC, important achievements include appointment of General Consultant for Khurja-Kanpur section by DFCCIL.
NEW CONVENIENT SYSTEM FOR ACCREDITED MEDIA PERSONS TO AVAIL CONCESSIONAL TRAIN FARE; FARE CONCESSION EXTENDED FOR RAJDHANI/SHATABDI TRAINS
As a follow up to the announcement made by the Minister of Railways Kumari Mamata Banerjee in her Railway Budget 2009-10 speech, for the convenience of accredited media persons, the Ministry of Railways has decided to replace the existing system of Coupon Books for accredited press correspondents by more convenient Photo Identity Card based system for availing concessional train fare. Photo identification card will be issued by Railways to accredited press correspondents instead of coupons books. Accredited press correspondent will be eligible for 50 per cent concession in the basic fares all classes of Mail/Express trains & all other charges are to be collected in full; and 50 per cent in the all inclusive fares of all classes of Rajdhani/Shatabdi/Jan Shatabdi trains. This concession will not be admissible in Garib Rath trains. The new system of concession based on Photo Identity card and the increased concession on Rajdhani/Shatabdi/Jan Shatabdi trains will be effective from 15th October 2009.
AIR-CONDITIONED ‘YUVA’ TRAINS FOR UNEMPLOYED YOUTH
The first ever ‘Yuva Trains’ which are targeted mainly for the unemployed youths of the country has been introduced between Howrah-Delhi on 30th December 2009. These ‘Yuva’ trains are being introduced to ensure that the youth of low income groups can travel at low rates between major cities. The ‘Yuva Train’ fares will be applicable to unemployed persons also between the age group of 15 to 45 years. Initially, 60 per cent of the total number of coaches will be earmarked for ‘Yuva’ category. The remaining will be earmarked for general passengers (non-Yuva). If successful, these ‘Yuva trains’ will be extended to other areas of the country. The total chargeable fare for Yuva passengers inclusive of all other charges like Reservation Fee, Superfast Train Charge and Development Charge would not exceed Rs.299/- up to a distance of 1500 kms and Rs. 399/- for distance beyond 1500 up to 2500 kms.
‘ONLY LADIES’ SPECIAL EMU TRAIN SERVICES
As announced in the Railway Budget 2009-10, the Ministry of Railways introduced ‘Only Ladies’ Matrabhumi EMU train services in Delhi, Chennai and Kolkata suburban on the pattern of Mumbai suburban as working women face considerable difficulties in traveling for work. These services will run for the convenience of women passengers during office hours.
SUPER FAST PARCEL EXPRESS TRAINS
With a view to attract high value and transit sensitive non-bulk parcel traffic, Indian Railways introduced faster parcel services/premium parcel express trains named “Tejshree Parcel Sewa” between Delhi-Howrah-Delhi, Delhi-Ahmedabad/Vapi-Howrah as a pilot project. This is envisaged as a time-tabled service from dedicated terminals with guaranteed transit time.
DEVELOPMENT OF PRIVATE FREIGHT TERMINALS
With a view to increase Railways market share of automobile traffic and to facilitate aggregation and distribution centres for automobile traffic, a scheme is under finalization for development of automobile hubs near rail heads through Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode. The Railways Minister laid the foundation stone for one such auto hub at Shalimar in West Bengal in November 2009.
A policy is under finalization to facilitate rapid development of a network of freight terminals with private investment to provide efficient and cost effective logistics services to end users including door to door services. Freight terminals can be green field facilities developed by private parties on private land or brown field facilities i.e. existing private sidings/container terminals on private a land which can be permitted to be converted to private freight terminals under the provisions of the proposed policy.
PERISHABLE CARGO CENTRES UNDER KISAN VISION PROJECT
With a view to encourage creation of facilities of setting up cold storage and temperature controlled perishable cargo centres through Public Private Partnership mode, a Task Force of representatives from the concerned ministries, Container corporation of India Ltd. (CONCOR), Central Warehousing Corporation Ltd. (CWC) and cold chain operators, has been constituted to draw up a road map for implementation of the project and identify few locations for pilot project for development of perishable cargo centres. The Pilot Project will be implemented through PSUs engaged in logistics. Foundation stone for the first pilot project under the Kisan Vision Project has been laid by the Minister of Railways at Singur in November 2009.
375 STATIONS TO BE DEVELOPED AS ‘ADARSH’ STATIONS
Ministry of Railways has decided that 17 more railway stations may be added to the existing list of 358 Adarsh Stations. With this, the number of stations selected as ‘Adarsh Stations’ goes upto 375. Railways will develop Adarsh Stations with basic facilities such as drinking water, adequate toilets, catering services, waiting rooms and dormitories especially for lady passengers, better signage and other basic facilities are universally available. Necessary work has already been commenced at various stations.
DEVELOPMENT OF MULTI-FUNCIONAL COMPLEXES
Multi-functional Complexes are being developed at 50 railway stations of serving places of pilgrimage, industry and tourist interest in different parts of the country this year. Multi-functional Complexes in station premises to provide rail users facilities like shopping, food stalls and restaurants, book stalls, PCO/STD/ISD/Fax booths, medicine & variety stores, budget hotels, underground parking etc. Responsibility for development of these facilities will be entrusted to IRCON and Rail Land Development Authority (RLDA) and Zonal Railways. The foundation stone for such first ever Multi-functional complex was laid by the Minister of Railways, Kumari Mamata Banerjee, at Siliguri in October 2009.
PROVISION OF QUALITY FOOD IN TRAINS
Instruction has been issued to Zonal Railways and Indian Railway Catering & Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) in May 2009 for improvement in quality of food in mobile catering units over Indian Railways. Janata meals priced at Rs. 10/- have been revamped on Indian Railways, to meet the catering requirement of common passengers. On an average 1.1 lakh Janata meals are sold every day on Indian Railways through refreshment rooms, food plazas and other catering stalls, etc. To meet the catering requirement of common people, Railways have plans to open Janahaar cafeteria exclusively to sell economy meals and Janta Meals at reasonable rates. Six Janahaar Cafeteria have been commissioned at Howrah, Bangalore, Secunderabad, Chennai, Lucknow and Gorakhpur railway station and five more will be set up shortly at Sealdah, Patna, Kharagpur, New Jalpaiguri and Mysore. Catering services of the similar level of Rajdhani/Shatabdi Express are being provided in newly introduced ‘Duronto’ Trains. All sleeper class passengers of Duronto Trains are also being provided meals on-board. In addition,
IMPROVING COMMUNICATION SYSTEM ON RAILWAYS
During Financial Year 2009-10, about 2500 Route km of Optic Fibre Cable OFC cable laid upto November 2009 by RailTel Corporation of Indian Limited. A total of around 37,000 Route Kms of OFC has so far been laid on Indian Railway system alongside railway track for improving communications. Works for laying 9,000 Kms of OFC further are under progress. Mobile Train Radio Communication system for communication among Train Driver, Guard, Station Master, Control Office and field maintenance staff during run of the train has been commissioned at about 700 Route Kms on Howrah –Dhanbad, Guwahati-New Bongaigaon and Mathura-Jhansi sections. Works are under progress for another 2700 Kms. Walkie-Talkie VHF communication between Guard, Driver & Stations has been provided.
‘IZZAT’ MONTHLY SEASON TICKET SCHEME LAUNCHED
As announced by the Minister of Railways, Kumari Mamata Banerjee, while presenting Railway Budget 2009-10 in the Parliament, the Ministry of Railways introduced a new scheme of uniformly priced Monthly Season Tickets (MSTs) at Rs. 25/- inclusive of all surcharges which will be issued upto a distance of 100 Kilometers to persons working in unorganised sector with monthly income not exceeding Rs. 1500/-. This new scheme is called “Izzat”. These ‘Izzat’ MSTs are being issued for journeys with effect from 01.08.2009.
EXPERT COMMITTEE FOR DEVELOPING BUSINESS MODELS AND INNOVATIVE FUNDING
An Expert Committee under the chairmanship of Dr Amit Mitra, Secretary General, FICCI for developing business models and innovative funding techniques through Public Private Partnership (PPP) instruments has been constituted. The committee has held several meetings and made recommendations which are at various stages of implementation. A five member Expert Committee under the Chairmanship of Shri Sam Pitroda, on the usage of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in the Railways has been constituted,
RAILWAYS LAUNCH HISTORIC NON-STOP ‘DURONTO’ TRAINS
Indian Railways added one more feather to its cap when it launched its new class of passenger carrying ‘Duronto’ trains in September 2009. So far seven ‘Duronto’ trains have already been introduced on various major sectors in the country. ‘Duronto’ is a non-stop superfast passenger carrying train in the history of the Railways and heralds a new era of rail travel in the country ensuring better speed, comfort and security for passengers Outer colour scheme design of ‘Duronto’ coaches is distinct. The fare of ‘Duronto’ trains includes the cost of meals.
In addition, 35 new passenger carrying trains were introduced, one Yuva train was introduced, 17 trains were extended and frequency of 8 trains was increased.
TRANSPORTATION OF DRINKING WATER & FODDER FREE OF COST TO DRAUGHT AFFECTED AREAS.
With a view to facilitate better availability of basic commodities like water and fodder to drought affected areas in the country, Ministry of Railways has decided as a special case to permit the transportation of drinking water and fodder by rail, free of charge, to the notified drought affected districts of twelve states at “no cost” to the affected States. These States are Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Nagaland, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. These instructions have come into force with effect from 01.12.2009 and remain valid upto 31.01.2010.
DREAM OF KASHMIR VALLEY PEOPLE FULFILLED
The Prime Minister dedicated to the nation the newly constructed 18 km long rail line between Anantnag and Quazigund, the last stretch of the railway line in the Kashmir Valley in October 2009. Earlier in October 2008 and February 2009, the railway lines from Anantnag to Mazhom (66 km) and Mazhom to Baramulla (35 km) were inaugurated by the Prime Minister. The entire 119 km long rail line from Baramulla to Quazigund in the valley has now become operational covering important stations like Sopore, Hamre, Pattan, Mazhom, Budgam, Srinagar, Pampore, Kakapora, Awantipura, Panjgam, Bijbiara, Anantnag and Sadura in both the directions.
FIRST EVER RAIL LINK WITH SIKKIM
Sikkim will have the first ever rail connectivity with the laying of foundation stone of the new broad gauge railway line between Sikkim’s small township of Rangpo and West Bengal’s border town of Sivok. This 52.7 km long new broad guauge Rangpo-Sivok line will be constructed at a cost of Rs. 1339.48 crore and has been declared as a ‘National Project’ for which 25 per cent of the fund would be provided by Ministry of Railways through their gross budgetary support and balance 75 per cent as an additionality by Ministry of Finance. The survey for further extension of this line from Rangpo upto Sikkim’s capital Gangtok (69 km) has also been completed recently and survey report is under examination in the Ministry of Railways.
IRCTC LAUNCHES TOLL FREE 24X7 HELPLINE
Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation Limited (IRCTC), a public sector undertaking of the Ministry of Railways, has launched a centralised Toll Free telephone No. 1800-111-139 for the convenience of railway users to suggest/grievances relating to catering services on Indian Railways. The facility is available 24x7 on this number and railway passengers can register their complaints/suggestions regarding food and catering services. Wherever possible, action is taken on real time basis for redressal of their grievances.
“139 – Rail Sampark”, the authorized enquiry for Indian Railway has recently introduced the facility of Railway enquiry through SMS which is a premium service. The users can obtain information regarding PNR status, fare, seat availability and arrival/departure by sending SMS in the specified syntax to 139.
ENHANCED FARE CONCESSIONS FOR STUDENTS, AMATEUR ARTISTS & POLICE MEDALISTS
As announced by the Minister of Railways, Kumari Mamata Banerjee in the Railway Budget 2009-10, the Ministry of Railways has decided to extend the facility of free Monthly Season Tickets (MSTs) in 2nd class in the trains to students attending Madrasa, High Madrasa and Senior Madrasa for commuting daily between the stations serving their place of residence and Madrasa. It has also decided that 60 per cent concession in the fares of Metro Rail Kolkata will be granted to both boy and girl students studying in schools/Madrasas/recognized vocational institutions upto classes academically equivalent to class XII. In addition, the Ministry of Railways has decided that amateur artists (theatrical, concert, musical, dancing and magician troups & students-artists of the National School of Drama, New Delhi when traveling alone or in group) who are presently eligible for 50 per cent concession in First Class and 75 per cent concession in Second and Sleeper Classes basic Mail/Express fares will now also be entitled to 50 per cent concession in AC Chair Car, AC 3-tier and AC 2-tier classes in Mail/Express trains and 50 per cent concession will also be granted in the all inclusive fares of Rajdhani/Shatabdi/Jan Shatabdi trains in AC Chair, AC 3-tier and AC 2-tier classes. It has also decided to enhance the concession for Police Personnel of 60 years and above who have received President’s Police Medal for Distinguished Service from 30 per cent to 50 percent for men and 60 per cent for women in the basic fares of Mail/Express trains of all classes and in the all-inclusive fares of Rajdhani/Shatabdi/Jan Shatabdi trains.
INTRODUCTION OF E-PROCUREMENT SYSTEM
E- Procurement System (EPS) is aimed at attaining total transparency in public procurement system of Indian Railways. The E-Procurement Application for Indian Railways (www.ireps.gov.in) has been successfully rolled out by CRIS for 13 Zonal Railways/Production Units. Till now Railways have uploaded over 44192 e-tenders and about 39485 e-tenders have been opened as on December 14, 2009.
UPGRADATION OF DIESEL LOCOMOTIVES, MODIFICATION IN COACHES AND USE OF CNG AND BIO-FUEL
Through indigenous efforts, the Horse Power of EMD diesel locos has been increased from 4000 to 4500 which will permit them to haul heavier loads at higher speeds. It is planned to further upgrade the EMD locos to 5000+ Horse Power. Manufacture of latest technology EMD locomotives has been stepped up to 150 locos in 2009-10. Trials have also been completed and one power car of DMU has been converted to run on dual fuel mode using CNG and further proliferation is in progress. Design for Toilet facilities in DMUs has been finalized by the RDSO. ICF will turn out all the DEMU rakes during the current year with toilets. Railways has placed orders for procurement of bio-diesel. Successful laboratory tests have been carried out by using 10% blend of bio-diesel on Trains. Introduction of these alternative fuels are environment –friendly and reduce dependency on fossil fuels. Bullet proof cabs have been provided for the first time on diesel locomotives working in Lumding – Badarpur section to thwart the threat to running staff in sensitive areas.
EXPORT OF DIESEL LOCOMOTIVES
To promote the export of Diesel Locomotives and securing a niche in the International market, a most modern, new type 3000 HP, Cape Gauge diesel locomotive manufactured by Diesel Locomotive Works (DLW), Varanasi, a production unit of Indian Railways, has been dispatched to Mozambique. This is the first ever 3000 HP locomotive built in DLW for cape gauge.
INNOVATIVE STEPS TAKEN FOR BETTER MEDICAL CARE
Ministry of Railways has decided to open Medical and Nursing Colleges on Railway land with existing Railway Hospital under PPP which will have seats for wards of railway employees. To start with, five places have been identified i.e. Kanchrapara, Kharagpur, Kolkata, Chennai & Guwahati. This will also help to meet shortage of Doctors & Nurses. To augment the medical services, introduction of Senior Residency and DNB programmes (Post Graduate Teaching) have been introduced in Railway hospitals. For procuring quality drug for our railway beneficiaries a new “Drug Procurement Policy” have been introduced. Tele medicine has been started in 18 centres and many more are in process. Hospital Information Management System is being started in Jagjivan Ram Hospital, Western Railway, Mumbai as a pilot project and will be extended to all the hospitals of Indian Railways. To provide medical facilities to retired railway employees membership for Retired Employees Liberalized Health Scheme-97 has been reopened till 31.03.2010 for those retired employees who could not join this scheme earlier.
INTRODUCTION OF LUXURY TOURIST TRAIN
Keeping in consonance with its commitment towards promotion of tourism, the Indian Railways in association with Rajasthan Tourism Development Corporation (RTDC) has launched one more luxury tourist train, Royal Rajasthan on Wheels, on a tourist circuit covering major destinations of Rajasthan besides Agra and Delhi. This is the fourth train in the series and second in association with RTDC, Two more such trains, one in association with IRCTC, called ‘Maharaja Express’ and one with Government of Punjab are in the pipeline.
PHASE-II ‘SCIENCE EXPRESS' & RED RIBBON EXPRESS
The Phase-III of the 'Science Express' which was inaugurated in October 2009 at Gandhinagar will travel to 55 locations, mostly not covered earlier, covering about 18,000 kms in seven months of its journey throughout the country. It is covering the entire length and breadth of the country. The second phase of Red Ribbon Express (RRE), which is a 10-coach exhibition train for creating awareness about HIV/AIDS in the far flung areas, was flagged off on the World AIDS Day.
The year 2009 has been significant for the Railways in achieving goals and targets with regard to the following:
IMPLEMENTATION OF DEDICATED FREIGHT PROJECTS
Progress has been made in the implementation of Western and Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) projects in the current year. Japanese ODA assistance for Western DFC project was sanctioned for the first loan of Rs. 130 crore for engagement of Engineering Services Consultancy services for phase-1 (Rewari-Vadodara section). Request for Proposal (RFP) for engaging Engineering Services Consultancy for Phase-I of Western DFC has also been issued by DFCCIL in October, 2009. For the remaining portion of Western DFC i.e. Phase-II, (Mumbai to Vadodra and Revari to Dadri) preparatory survey has been commenced by JICA consultants in November 2009. In case of Eastern Dedicated Freigh Corridor, Asian Development Bank (ADB) sanctioned a Project Preparation Grant of 1.5 million US Dollars for Khurja-Ludhiana section and ADB appointed consultants started feasibility studies in the section in July 2009 and final report is expected by February 2010. For the proposed World Bank funded Khurja-Mughalsarai section of Eastern DFC, important achievements include appointment of General Consultant for Khurja-Kanpur section by DFCCIL.
NEW CONVENIENT SYSTEM FOR ACCREDITED MEDIA PERSONS TO AVAIL CONCESSIONAL TRAIN FARE; FARE CONCESSION EXTENDED FOR RAJDHANI/SHATABDI TRAINS
As a follow up to the announcement made by the Minister of Railways Kumari Mamata Banerjee in her Railway Budget 2009-10 speech, for the convenience of accredited media persons, the Ministry of Railways has decided to replace the existing system of Coupon Books for accredited press correspondents by more convenient Photo Identity Card based system for availing concessional train fare. Photo identification card will be issued by Railways to accredited press correspondents instead of coupons books. Accredited press correspondent will be eligible for 50 per cent concession in the basic fares all classes of Mail/Express trains & all other charges are to be collected in full; and 50 per cent in the all inclusive fares of all classes of Rajdhani/Shatabdi/Jan Shatabdi trains. This concession will not be admissible in Garib Rath trains. The new system of concession based on Photo Identity card and the increased concession on Rajdhani/Shatabdi/Jan Shatabdi trains will be effective from 15th October 2009.
AIR-CONDITIONED ‘YUVA’ TRAINS FOR UNEMPLOYED YOUTH
The first ever ‘Yuva Trains’ which are targeted mainly for the unemployed youths of the country has been introduced between Howrah-Delhi on 30th December 2009. These ‘Yuva’ trains are being introduced to ensure that the youth of low income groups can travel at low rates between major cities. The ‘Yuva Train’ fares will be applicable to unemployed persons also between the age group of 15 to 45 years. Initially, 60 per cent of the total number of coaches will be earmarked for ‘Yuva’ category. The remaining will be earmarked for general passengers (non-Yuva). If successful, these ‘Yuva trains’ will be extended to other areas of the country. The total chargeable fare for Yuva passengers inclusive of all other charges like Reservation Fee, Superfast Train Charge and Development Charge would not exceed Rs.299/- up to a distance of 1500 kms and Rs. 399/- for distance beyond 1500 up to 2500 kms.
‘ONLY LADIES’ SPECIAL EMU TRAIN SERVICES
As announced in the Railway Budget 2009-10, the Ministry of Railways introduced ‘Only Ladies’ Matrabhumi EMU train services in Delhi, Chennai and Kolkata suburban on the pattern of Mumbai suburban as working women face considerable difficulties in traveling for work. These services will run for the convenience of women passengers during office hours.
SUPER FAST PARCEL EXPRESS TRAINS
With a view to attract high value and transit sensitive non-bulk parcel traffic, Indian Railways introduced faster parcel services/premium parcel express trains named “Tejshree Parcel Sewa” between Delhi-Howrah-Delhi, Delhi-Ahmedabad/Vapi-Howrah as a pilot project. This is envisaged as a time-tabled service from dedicated terminals with guaranteed transit time.
DEVELOPMENT OF PRIVATE FREIGHT TERMINALS
With a view to increase Railways market share of automobile traffic and to facilitate aggregation and distribution centres for automobile traffic, a scheme is under finalization for development of automobile hubs near rail heads through Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode. The Railways Minister laid the foundation stone for one such auto hub at Shalimar in West Bengal in November 2009.
A policy is under finalization to facilitate rapid development of a network of freight terminals with private investment to provide efficient and cost effective logistics services to end users including door to door services. Freight terminals can be green field facilities developed by private parties on private land or brown field facilities i.e. existing private sidings/container terminals on private a land which can be permitted to be converted to private freight terminals under the provisions of the proposed policy.
PERISHABLE CARGO CENTRES UNDER KISAN VISION PROJECT
With a view to encourage creation of facilities of setting up cold storage and temperature controlled perishable cargo centres through Public Private Partnership mode, a Task Force of representatives from the concerned ministries, Container corporation of India Ltd. (CONCOR), Central Warehousing Corporation Ltd. (CWC) and cold chain operators, has been constituted to draw up a road map for implementation of the project and identify few locations for pilot project for development of perishable cargo centres. The Pilot Project will be implemented through PSUs engaged in logistics. Foundation stone for the first pilot project under the Kisan Vision Project has been laid by the Minister of Railways at Singur in November 2009.
375 STATIONS TO BE DEVELOPED AS ‘ADARSH’ STATIONS
Ministry of Railways has decided that 17 more railway stations may be added to the existing list of 358 Adarsh Stations. With this, the number of stations selected as ‘Adarsh Stations’ goes upto 375. Railways will develop Adarsh Stations with basic facilities such as drinking water, adequate toilets, catering services, waiting rooms and dormitories especially for lady passengers, better signage and other basic facilities are universally available. Necessary work has already been commenced at various stations.
DEVELOPMENT OF MULTI-FUNCIONAL COMPLEXES
Multi-functional Complexes are being developed at 50 railway stations of serving places of pilgrimage, industry and tourist interest in different parts of the country this year. Multi-functional Complexes in station premises to provide rail users facilities like shopping, food stalls and restaurants, book stalls, PCO/STD/ISD/Fax booths, medicine & variety stores, budget hotels, underground parking etc. Responsibility for development of these facilities will be entrusted to IRCON and Rail Land Development Authority (RLDA) and Zonal Railways. The foundation stone for such first ever Multi-functional complex was laid by the Minister of Railways, Kumari Mamata Banerjee, at Siliguri in October 2009.
PROVISION OF QUALITY FOOD IN TRAINS
Instruction has been issued to Zonal Railways and Indian Railway Catering & Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) in May 2009 for improvement in quality of food in mobile catering units over Indian Railways. Janata meals priced at Rs. 10/- have been revamped on Indian Railways, to meet the catering requirement of common passengers. On an average 1.1 lakh Janata meals are sold every day on Indian Railways through refreshment rooms, food plazas and other catering stalls, etc. To meet the catering requirement of common people, Railways have plans to open Janahaar cafeteria exclusively to sell economy meals and Janta Meals at reasonable rates. Six Janahaar Cafeteria have been commissioned at Howrah, Bangalore, Secunderabad, Chennai, Lucknow and Gorakhpur railway station and five more will be set up shortly at Sealdah, Patna, Kharagpur, New Jalpaiguri and Mysore. Catering services of the similar level of Rajdhani/Shatabdi Express are being provided in newly introduced ‘Duronto’ Trains. All sleeper class passengers of Duronto Trains are also being provided meals on-board. In addition,
IMPROVING COMMUNICATION SYSTEM ON RAILWAYS
During Financial Year 2009-10, about 2500 Route km of Optic Fibre Cable OFC cable laid upto November 2009 by RailTel Corporation of Indian Limited. A total of around 37,000 Route Kms of OFC has so far been laid on Indian Railway system alongside railway track for improving communications. Works for laying 9,000 Kms of OFC further are under progress. Mobile Train Radio Communication system for communication among Train Driver, Guard, Station Master, Control Office and field maintenance staff during run of the train has been commissioned at about 700 Route Kms on Howrah –Dhanbad, Guwahati-New Bongaigaon and Mathura-Jhansi sections. Works are under progress for another 2700 Kms. Walkie-Talkie VHF communication between Guard, Driver & Stations has been provided.
‘IZZAT’ MONTHLY SEASON TICKET SCHEME LAUNCHED
As announced by the Minister of Railways, Kumari Mamata Banerjee, while presenting Railway Budget 2009-10 in the Parliament, the Ministry of Railways introduced a new scheme of uniformly priced Monthly Season Tickets (MSTs) at Rs. 25/- inclusive of all surcharges which will be issued upto a distance of 100 Kilometers to persons working in unorganised sector with monthly income not exceeding Rs. 1500/-. This new scheme is called “Izzat”. These ‘Izzat’ MSTs are being issued for journeys with effect from 01.08.2009.
EXPERT COMMITTEE FOR DEVELOPING BUSINESS MODELS AND INNOVATIVE FUNDING
An Expert Committee under the chairmanship of Dr Amit Mitra, Secretary General, FICCI for developing business models and innovative funding techniques through Public Private Partnership (PPP) instruments has been constituted. The committee has held several meetings and made recommendations which are at various stages of implementation. A five member Expert Committee under the Chairmanship of Shri Sam Pitroda, on the usage of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in the Railways has been constituted,
RAILWAYS LAUNCH HISTORIC NON-STOP ‘DURONTO’ TRAINS
Indian Railways added one more feather to its cap when it launched its new class of passenger carrying ‘Duronto’ trains in September 2009. So far seven ‘Duronto’ trains have already been introduced on various major sectors in the country. ‘Duronto’ is a non-stop superfast passenger carrying train in the history of the Railways and heralds a new era of rail travel in the country ensuring better speed, comfort and security for passengers Outer colour scheme design of ‘Duronto’ coaches is distinct. The fare of ‘Duronto’ trains includes the cost of meals.
In addition, 35 new passenger carrying trains were introduced, one Yuva train was introduced, 17 trains were extended and frequency of 8 trains was increased.
TRANSPORTATION OF DRINKING WATER & FODDER FREE OF COST TO DRAUGHT AFFECTED AREAS.
With a view to facilitate better availability of basic commodities like water and fodder to drought affected areas in the country, Ministry of Railways has decided as a special case to permit the transportation of drinking water and fodder by rail, free of charge, to the notified drought affected districts of twelve states at “no cost” to the affected States. These States are Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Nagaland, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. These instructions have come into force with effect from 01.12.2009 and remain valid upto 31.01.2010.
DREAM OF KASHMIR VALLEY PEOPLE FULFILLED
The Prime Minister dedicated to the nation the newly constructed 18 km long rail line between Anantnag and Quazigund, the last stretch of the railway line in the Kashmir Valley in October 2009. Earlier in October 2008 and February 2009, the railway lines from Anantnag to Mazhom (66 km) and Mazhom to Baramulla (35 km) were inaugurated by the Prime Minister. The entire 119 km long rail line from Baramulla to Quazigund in the valley has now become operational covering important stations like Sopore, Hamre, Pattan, Mazhom, Budgam, Srinagar, Pampore, Kakapora, Awantipura, Panjgam, Bijbiara, Anantnag and Sadura in both the directions.
FIRST EVER RAIL LINK WITH SIKKIM
Sikkim will have the first ever rail connectivity with the laying of foundation stone of the new broad gauge railway line between Sikkim’s small township of Rangpo and West Bengal’s border town of Sivok. This 52.7 km long new broad guauge Rangpo-Sivok line will be constructed at a cost of Rs. 1339.48 crore and has been declared as a ‘National Project’ for which 25 per cent of the fund would be provided by Ministry of Railways through their gross budgetary support and balance 75 per cent as an additionality by Ministry of Finance. The survey for further extension of this line from Rangpo upto Sikkim’s capital Gangtok (69 km) has also been completed recently and survey report is under examination in the Ministry of Railways.
IRCTC LAUNCHES TOLL FREE 24X7 HELPLINE
Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation Limited (IRCTC), a public sector undertaking of the Ministry of Railways, has launched a centralised Toll Free telephone No. 1800-111-139 for the convenience of railway users to suggest/grievances relating to catering services on Indian Railways. The facility is available 24x7 on this number and railway passengers can register their complaints/suggestions regarding food and catering services. Wherever possible, action is taken on real time basis for redressal of their grievances.
“139 – Rail Sampark”, the authorized enquiry for Indian Railway has recently introduced the facility of Railway enquiry through SMS which is a premium service. The users can obtain information regarding PNR status, fare, seat availability and arrival/departure by sending SMS in the specified syntax to 139.
ENHANCED FARE CONCESSIONS FOR STUDENTS, AMATEUR ARTISTS & POLICE MEDALISTS
As announced by the Minister of Railways, Kumari Mamata Banerjee in the Railway Budget 2009-10, the Ministry of Railways has decided to extend the facility of free Monthly Season Tickets (MSTs) in 2nd class in the trains to students attending Madrasa, High Madrasa and Senior Madrasa for commuting daily between the stations serving their place of residence and Madrasa. It has also decided that 60 per cent concession in the fares of Metro Rail Kolkata will be granted to both boy and girl students studying in schools/Madrasas/recognized vocational institutions upto classes academically equivalent to class XII. In addition, the Ministry of Railways has decided that amateur artists (theatrical, concert, musical, dancing and magician troups & students-artists of the National School of Drama, New Delhi when traveling alone or in group) who are presently eligible for 50 per cent concession in First Class and 75 per cent concession in Second and Sleeper Classes basic Mail/Express fares will now also be entitled to 50 per cent concession in AC Chair Car, AC 3-tier and AC 2-tier classes in Mail/Express trains and 50 per cent concession will also be granted in the all inclusive fares of Rajdhani/Shatabdi/Jan Shatabdi trains in AC Chair, AC 3-tier and AC 2-tier classes. It has also decided to enhance the concession for Police Personnel of 60 years and above who have received President’s Police Medal for Distinguished Service from 30 per cent to 50 percent for men and 60 per cent for women in the basic fares of Mail/Express trains of all classes and in the all-inclusive fares of Rajdhani/Shatabdi/Jan Shatabdi trains.
INTRODUCTION OF E-PROCUREMENT SYSTEM
E- Procurement System (EPS) is aimed at attaining total transparency in public procurement system of Indian Railways. The E-Procurement Application for Indian Railways (www.ireps.gov.in) has been successfully rolled out by CRIS for 13 Zonal Railways/Production Units. Till now Railways have uploaded over 44192 e-tenders and about 39485 e-tenders have been opened as on December 14, 2009.
UPGRADATION OF DIESEL LOCOMOTIVES, MODIFICATION IN COACHES AND USE OF CNG AND BIO-FUEL
Through indigenous efforts, the Horse Power of EMD diesel locos has been increased from 4000 to 4500 which will permit them to haul heavier loads at higher speeds. It is planned to further upgrade the EMD locos to 5000+ Horse Power. Manufacture of latest technology EMD locomotives has been stepped up to 150 locos in 2009-10. Trials have also been completed and one power car of DMU has been converted to run on dual fuel mode using CNG and further proliferation is in progress. Design for Toilet facilities in DMUs has been finalized by the RDSO. ICF will turn out all the DEMU rakes during the current year with toilets. Railways has placed orders for procurement of bio-diesel. Successful laboratory tests have been carried out by using 10% blend of bio-diesel on Trains. Introduction of these alternative fuels are environment –friendly and reduce dependency on fossil fuels. Bullet proof cabs have been provided for the first time on diesel locomotives working in Lumding – Badarpur section to thwart the threat to running staff in sensitive areas.
EXPORT OF DIESEL LOCOMOTIVES
To promote the export of Diesel Locomotives and securing a niche in the International market, a most modern, new type 3000 HP, Cape Gauge diesel locomotive manufactured by Diesel Locomotive Works (DLW), Varanasi, a production unit of Indian Railways, has been dispatched to Mozambique. This is the first ever 3000 HP locomotive built in DLW for cape gauge.
INNOVATIVE STEPS TAKEN FOR BETTER MEDICAL CARE
Ministry of Railways has decided to open Medical and Nursing Colleges on Railway land with existing Railway Hospital under PPP which will have seats for wards of railway employees. To start with, five places have been identified i.e. Kanchrapara, Kharagpur, Kolkata, Chennai & Guwahati. This will also help to meet shortage of Doctors & Nurses. To augment the medical services, introduction of Senior Residency and DNB programmes (Post Graduate Teaching) have been introduced in Railway hospitals. For procuring quality drug for our railway beneficiaries a new “Drug Procurement Policy” have been introduced. Tele medicine has been started in 18 centres and many more are in process. Hospital Information Management System is being started in Jagjivan Ram Hospital, Western Railway, Mumbai as a pilot project and will be extended to all the hospitals of Indian Railways. To provide medical facilities to retired railway employees membership for Retired Employees Liberalized Health Scheme-97 has been reopened till 31.03.2010 for those retired employees who could not join this scheme earlier.
INTRODUCTION OF LUXURY TOURIST TRAIN
Keeping in consonance with its commitment towards promotion of tourism, the Indian Railways in association with Rajasthan Tourism Development Corporation (RTDC) has launched one more luxury tourist train, Royal Rajasthan on Wheels, on a tourist circuit covering major destinations of Rajasthan besides Agra and Delhi. This is the fourth train in the series and second in association with RTDC, Two more such trains, one in association with IRCTC, called ‘Maharaja Express’ and one with Government of Punjab are in the pipeline.
PHASE-II ‘SCIENCE EXPRESS' & RED RIBBON EXPRESS
The Phase-III of the 'Science Express' which was inaugurated in October 2009 at Gandhinagar will travel to 55 locations, mostly not covered earlier, covering about 18,000 kms in seven months of its journey throughout the country. It is covering the entire length and breadth of the country. The second phase of Red Ribbon Express (RRE), which is a 10-coach exhibition train for creating awareness about HIV/AIDS in the far flung areas, was flagged off on the World AIDS Day.
INDIA:REPORT CARD ON TOURISM-2009
Year End Review
1. Statistics of Growth in the current year:
The foreign tourist arrivals (FTA) to India up to the month of November 2009 decreased by 6.3% over the arrivals for the same period in 2008. The cumulative arrival figures for the period January to November 2009 reached 4.54 million. The downward growth is due to global economic slowdown, terrorist activities, H1N1 influenza pandemic, etc. The important source countries were US, UK, Canada, France, Germany and Japan.
The number of domestic tourist visits increased from 527 million in 2007 to 563 million in 2008.
The Foreign Exchange Earnings (FEE) from the tourism sector were Rs. 47918.00 crores during the period January-November 2009, an increase of 5.0% over the corresponding period in 2008.
2. Infrastructure Development:
Infrastructure development holds the key to India’s sustained growth in the tourism sector. Therefore, the Ministry of Tourism has been making efforts to develop quality tourism infrastructure at tourist destinations and circuits. The Ministry of Tourism has sanctioned 94 projects for an amount of Rs.394.85 crores for infrastructure augmentation including rural tourism projects in the year 2009-10 (up to November 09).
The Ministry has launched a scheme for development of nationally and internationally important destinations and circuits through Mega Projects. To date 29 mega projects have already been identified and of these 21 projects have been sanctioned. In the current year, the Ministry has sanctioned mega projects in Madhya Pradesh at Chitrakooot, as Spiritual and Wellness Destination for an amount of Rs.2401.98 lakhs. The mega projects are a judicious mix of culture, heritage, spiritual and ecotourism in order to give tourists a holistic perspective.
Ministry of Tourism is also taking initiatives with other Central Govt. Ministries, such as Railways, Civil Aviation, Road Transport & Highways, Food Processing and Urban Development and also the concerned State Governments to achieve convergence and synergy with their programmes so that the impact of investment on these destinations is maximized.
Other initiatives:
In the workshop on World Class Tourism Infrastructure organized in the Ministry of Tourism on August 19, 2009 it was decided that the Ministry will meet the expenditure on the architect’s fee upto 2% of the project cost which could be included in the cost estimates.
Ministry of Tourism has issued the guidelines for facilitating construction of heliport as a component of destination development project in hilly / remote areas.
The Ministry of Tourism has decided to consider proposals for grant of financial assistance upto Rs.5.00 crore for construction of one convention centre at any well-connected and accessible tourist destination in each State/UT for promotion of MICE Tourism.
The Caravan tourism policy announced by the Ministry of Tourism is aimed to promote and facilitate and incentivise development of
i. Caravan Parks in the public sector, private sector and PPP mode
ii. Caravans in the public sector, private sector and PPP mode
Caravan Tourism can effectively meet the growing demand of accommodation while ensuring adherence to quality, standards and safety norms.
To take up the various issues related to development and promotion of tourism in the country, Regional Conferences for North and Central States and Eastern and North Eastern States have already been held. The conference for South and Western Region is likely to be held shortly.
3. Sustainable Tourism:
The true potential of tourism lies in adopting responsible and sustainable practices on both the demand and supply sides of the tourism chain, enabling an effective response to climate change. This is closely interlinked with inclusive growth through sustainable community participation.
This ‘sustainable’ tourism route has been adopted by the Ministry of Tourism in the innovative Rural Tourism Project, by strengthening the disadvantaged but skilled rural artisan communities through support to capacity building and vernacular infrastructure, while laying emphasis on the role of women. 29 sites of the projects out of 36 sites are completed and being marketed. A project website was also upgraded showcasing these sites. 15 rural tourism sites have been selected as rural eco- holiday sites for “Visit India 2009.”
4. Overseas Marketing and Promotion:
The Ministry has consistently been working on a two-pronged strategy for marketing of Incredible India brand. The strategy includes visible branding in the outdoor media such as advertising at airports, on trams, taxis and buses and through the print, online and electronic media, as well as through participation in Travel Marts and Road Shows. For promotion of Indian Cuisine, which is an integral component of the Indian Tourism product, support has been extended to Indian Food Festivals organized in various countries. The India tourism office in New York has supported Indian Food Festivals organized in Colombia, Ecuador, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay in S. America.
Work orders have been issued for launch of print media campaigns in America, APAC and Europe regions. Advertising Campaigns have also been undertaken by the India tourism offices overseas in their respective regions. Promotional activities have also been stepped up in the overseas markets with added focus on emerging markets, for generating greater awareness about India as a tourist destination and increasing India’s share in international tourist arrivals and receipts.
2. There has been an increased focus on potential and emerging markets in East/ South East Asia, and East European countries. Road Shows, in collaboration with the Indian Association of Tour Operators, have been organized in Japan and South Korea to promote the Visit India 2009 Scheme. India tourism, Frankfurt supported & participated in Road Shows organized in the Slovak Republic, Hungary, Croatia and Slovenia in June 2009.
3. A series of promotional initiatives were taken to minimize the negative impact of the global economic slowdown and terrorist attack in Mumbai, which had an adverse effect on tourism in the country. Some of them are as under:
i. An Incredible India Evening was organized in Beijing in April 2009. More than 600 persons representing a cross section of the Chinese media, travel trade, members of the diplomatic corps, and prominent members of the Indian community attended the function. A five day “Incredible India” Food Festival was also arranged to coincide with the India Evening.
ii. The India tourism office in New York participated in a “Caribbean Conclave” organized in Port of Spain, Trinidad & Tobago in June 2009.
iii. The India tourism Offices in New York, Frankfurt, Singapore, Beijing and Tokyo have participated in major travel fairs and exhibitions in South America, CIS, East European countries, East Asia and South East Asia, including Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Russia, Romania, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, China, S. Korea, etc.
iv. Major promotional events were organised in Moscow and St. Petersburg in September 2009.
5. (I) Visit India 2009:
The initiatives taken to minimize the negative impact of the global economic slowdown included a “Visit India 2009” scheme launched in collaboration with all stakeholders including airlines, hotels, tour operators, State Governments for incentivising travel to India, organizing Road Shows in important tourist generating markets overseas, arranging familiarisation tours to India for international travel trade and media representatives to keep them updated on safety / security conditions in the country and media campaigns in the print, electronic, online and outdoor media.
(II) Other Promotional Activities:
The Ministry of Tourism, through the India tourism office in London undertook an advertising campaign in the print and outdoor media in London to coincide with the Queens Baton Relay for the Commonwealth Games 2010, which was flagged off from the Buckingham Palace on 29th October 2009.
The campaign included advertisements on hoardings, billboards, LED Screens, bus shelters, etc. at Heathrow airport and at prominent locations in London city as well as in leading dailies including The Times London, The Guardian, Daily Telegraph, Daily Mail and Evening Standard. Outdoor advertising was also undertaken on taxis in New York, Miami, Chicago, London, Edinburgh, Milan, Rome, Tokyo, on buses / cable cars in San Francisco, Seoul, Miami, Philadelphia, Chicago, Toronto, Johannesburg, Cape Town, Bahrain, Muscat, and on hoardings / billboards in Tokyo, Milan, New York, Toronto, Ottawa, Edmonton, Dubai, Nice Airport, Cannes, Singapore, etc.
Other promotional initiatives undertaken during the year include “Incredible India” Events organized in Russia in September, 2009 as part of the celebrations of the “Year of India in Russia” and a major India promotion event “India Calling” organized in association with the National Geographic Society at Hollywood Bowl and California Plaza in Los Angeles in September 2009.
Joint Promotions have been organized by India tourism offices overseas in collaboration with Tour Operators / Airlines and Wholesalers, in Rome, Dubai, Sharjah, West Palm Beach & Naples in Florida, Madrid & Barcelona in Spain, Brugge in Belgium, Basel, Bern & Zurich in Switzerland and Singapore.
The Ministry of Tourism organized a series of Road Shows in collaboration with the Indian Association of Tour Operators, Adventure Tour Operators Association of India and the PATA India Chapter to project India as a tourist destination, in the aftermath of the global economic slowdown.
India tourism offices overseas have participated in approximately 104 Travel Fairs and Exhibitions in important tourist generating markets the world over as well as in emerging and potential markets to showcase and promote the tourism products of the country. These include the major international Travel Fairs such as the Arabian Travel Market (ATM) in Dubai, PATA Travel Mart in Hangzhou, China, ITB – Asia in Singapore Top Resa in Paris, and World Travel Market (WTM) in London.
III. Ministry continued to provide Hospitality to Journalists/ tour operators/ Travel agents/ TV teams/ Photographers etc. from overseas markets. Till now Ministry has offered hospitality to 700 guests (approx.).
IV. Efforts of the Ministry to counter the effect of global economic meltdown on tourism sector:
The Ministry of Tourism has taken several steps to counter the downward trend of inbound tourism and to promote tourism to the country. These include liberalizing the Marketing Development Assistance Scheme for service providers promoting India, organizing Road Shows in important tourist generating markets overseas, arranging familiarisation tours to India for international travel trade and media representatives to keep them updated on safety / security conditions in the country, media campaigns in the print, electronic, online and outdoor media and a “Visit India 2009” scheme, in collaboration with all stakeholders including airlines, hotels, tour operators, State Governments for incentivising travel to India. Recently Government of India has decided to introduce Visa-on-Arrival scheme for tourists from five countries viz. Singapore, Finland, New Zealand, Luxembourg and Japan on a pilot basis for a period of one year.
6. Social Awareness Campaign:
Ministry continued its efforts to reinforce its brand through Incredible India campaigns. Through, Social Awareness Campaigns attempt was made to sensitize the stakeholders and masses about the importance of tourism and protection of heritage sites. Through generic campaign in the first half of the current financial year, awareness about various destinations/ sub-tourism products was generated. In the 2nd half of the financial year, Ministry continued its efforts of creating social awareness through focused campaigns.
7. Hotel Infrastructure:
The requirement of hotel accommodation in the country is estimated at 240 thousand rooms against availability of around 90 thousand rooms. It is estimated that there will be a requirement of additional 30,000 hotel rooms in Delhi. The Ministry of Tourism is therefore actively involved in monitoring the creation of additional accommodation for the games. Following initiatives have been taken for augmentation of accommodation infrastructure:
1. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has de-linked credit for hotel projects from commercial real estate, thereby enabling hotel projects to avail credit at relaxed norms and reduced interest rates. In addition, the External Commercial Borrowing (ECB) norms have been relaxed by Ministry of Finance to solve the problem of liquidity being faced by the hotel industry due to economic slow down.
The XIX Commonwealth Games are scheduled to be held in Delhi during 3rd to 14th October 2010. It is expected that around 100 thousand persons would be visiting during the Games.
The following initiatives have been taken by the Ministry to use this opportunity and showcase India as a unique and hospitable tourism destination:
i. A Task Force constituted for this purpose monitors the additional new hotel accommodation coming up in the Delhi NCR by holding regular meetings with all concerned land owning authorities, concerned Ministries / Departments. It has been decided that flats of DDA located at Vasant Kunj and Jasola will be upgraded / furnished and operated by ITDC for the Games as alternate accommodation of three star standards. It is also proposed to utilize the services of rooms available from the licensed guest houses and Bed & Breakfast units for the Games.
India Tourism Development Corporation:
(ii). Hotel Ashok, Samrat and Janpath under the ITDC have been declared as the Official Hotels for the Games. While The Ashok & Samrat would be the Games Family Hotels, Janpath would be for Press and Media. These hotels have undergone a major renovation work to prepare them for the event.
(iii). Manpower & Volunteer Development
Providing more than 3000 volunteers, trained in hospitality sector, for the games under the “Earn While You Learn” scheme.
Training more than 3000 taxi/coach and auto rickshaw drivers with an objective of making them more tourists friendly.
Training of owners and service staff of the approved guests house in Delhi so that there is a quality improvement in the services being provided.
8. Quality Human Resource Development:
It is estimated that to cater to the growing need of the hospitality sector, over 203 thousand trained manpower would be required annually. Therefore, it has been the endeavour of the Ministry of Tourism to put in place a system of training and professional education with necessary infrastructural support, capable of generating manpower to meet the needs of the tourism and hospitality industry, both quantitatively and qualitatively.
Keeping in view the acute shortage of trained manpower MOT has decided to support additional Institutes of Hotel Management (IHM) in States. New Food Crafts Institutes (FCI) are also being set up. MOT has also been providing financial assistance for modernization and capacity enhancement of IHMs and FCIs. A Scheme of Capacity Building for Service Providers is being implemented to impart hospitality training to those employed in this sector.
As a part of 100 days agenda of the Government, Ministry has taken following initiatives to provide skilled manpower in hospitality sector:
i. Skill training of youth in Hospitality sector (Hunar Se Rojgar Tak): The Institutes of Hotel Management (IHMs) have initiated a six to eight week fast track skill training programme for youth under twenty five years of age in food production and food and beverage services. About 5000 youths will be trained in the year.
ii. Skill Certification: The service providers, who are working in the hospitality sector, would undertake a five day orientation programme followed by test that would be based on practical and viva voce. Thereafter, the participants would be provided a skill certificate, which will enhance their employability in the market. About 5000 existing service providers would be certified in the year.
9. International Cooperation:
1. In the 18th Session of the General Assembly of UN WTO held from October 05th -8th 2009 in Astana, Kazakhstan, India was re-elected to the Executive Council of the United Nations World Tourism Organization for another four years term. India is a member of the Executive Council of UN WTO continuously for the last 19 years.
2. In the first Joint Working Group Meeting on Tourism between India and Indonesia in Yogyakarta, Indonesia held during 27th-28th August 2009, it was agreed to carry forward the cooperation.
3. A Joint Action Plan on Tourism Cooperation was signed between India and Singapore on 4.08.2009 in New Delhi in the presence of the visiting senior Minister of State for Trade, Industry and Education, Republic of Singapore and the Minister of Tourism Govt. of India.
4. A Joint Action Programme for the period 2009-10 for the implementation of the agreement between India and Russian Federation on Cooperation in Tourism was signed during the visit of the Russian President to India in December 2008.
10. New Initiatives:
i. Cruise Tourism:
Cruise Tourism is a relatively new but an emerging sector with a high potential for growth. With the approval of the Cruise Tourism Policy, the huge potential of this tourism product has been opened up. Together with the Port Trust Authorities and the State Governments, the Ministry is now focusing on infrastructure development as well as motivating cruise operators to use Indian ports in their itinerary.
ii. Adventure Tourism:
Adventure tourism has immense potential for growth. For experiencing the different types of adventure tourism right like rock climbing, river rafting, para gliding, mountaineering and under water diving, the Ministry has been sanctioning projects in various States.
iii. Wellness Tourism:
India, as the world knows, is a Wellness destination. The potential of wellness systems, developed through centuries of wisdom of this ancient civilization would be fully tapped. This is being done by positioning India as a centre of Ayurveda, Yoga, Siddha, Naturopathy, etc. together with the spiritual philosophy that was integral to the Indian way of life. The Ministry of Tourism has highlighted wellness in a big way through publicity and promotional activities.
11. International Recognition:
The Incredible India film shown globally in the potential tourist generating markets has won a number of prestigious international awards:-
- March 2009
- 2. Preis Das Goldene Stadttor. Int, Touristik Filmwettbewerb ITB Berlin 2009
- June 2009
- International Tourfilm festival Plock, 2009, Plock/Poland
- FIMAC- International Festival of Corporates AV Media
- July 2009
- Document.Art - The International Festival of Documentary Films, 2009, Campulung Muscel/Romania
- September 2009
Art&Tur - International Tourism Film Festival, 2009, Barcelos/ Portugal
- October 2009
- Tourfilm Karlovy Vary, 2009, Karlovy Vary/Czech Republic
- The latest being the Grand Prix Award - organized by Comite International Des Festivals Du film Touristique (CIFFT) in which the Hon’ble Minister for Tourism has received the award in Vienna on 13th November 2009.
Year End Review
1. Statistics of Growth in the current year:
The foreign tourist arrivals (FTA) to India up to the month of November 2009 decreased by 6.3% over the arrivals for the same period in 2008. The cumulative arrival figures for the period January to November 2009 reached 4.54 million. The downward growth is due to global economic slowdown, terrorist activities, H1N1 influenza pandemic, etc. The important source countries were US, UK, Canada, France, Germany and Japan.
The number of domestic tourist visits increased from 527 million in 2007 to 563 million in 2008.
The Foreign Exchange Earnings (FEE) from the tourism sector were Rs. 47918.00 crores during the period January-November 2009, an increase of 5.0% over the corresponding period in 2008.
2. Infrastructure Development:
Infrastructure development holds the key to India’s sustained growth in the tourism sector. Therefore, the Ministry of Tourism has been making efforts to develop quality tourism infrastructure at tourist destinations and circuits. The Ministry of Tourism has sanctioned 94 projects for an amount of Rs.394.85 crores for infrastructure augmentation including rural tourism projects in the year 2009-10 (up to November 09).
The Ministry has launched a scheme for development of nationally and internationally important destinations and circuits through Mega Projects. To date 29 mega projects have already been identified and of these 21 projects have been sanctioned. In the current year, the Ministry has sanctioned mega projects in Madhya Pradesh at Chitrakooot, as Spiritual and Wellness Destination for an amount of Rs.2401.98 lakhs. The mega projects are a judicious mix of culture, heritage, spiritual and ecotourism in order to give tourists a holistic perspective.
Ministry of Tourism is also taking initiatives with other Central Govt. Ministries, such as Railways, Civil Aviation, Road Transport & Highways, Food Processing and Urban Development and also the concerned State Governments to achieve convergence and synergy with their programmes so that the impact of investment on these destinations is maximized.
Other initiatives:
In the workshop on World Class Tourism Infrastructure organized in the Ministry of Tourism on August 19, 2009 it was decided that the Ministry will meet the expenditure on the architect’s fee upto 2% of the project cost which could be included in the cost estimates.
Ministry of Tourism has issued the guidelines for facilitating construction of heliport as a component of destination development project in hilly / remote areas.
The Ministry of Tourism has decided to consider proposals for grant of financial assistance upto Rs.5.00 crore for construction of one convention centre at any well-connected and accessible tourist destination in each State/UT for promotion of MICE Tourism.
The Caravan tourism policy announced by the Ministry of Tourism is aimed to promote and facilitate and incentivise development of
i. Caravan Parks in the public sector, private sector and PPP mode
ii. Caravans in the public sector, private sector and PPP mode
Caravan Tourism can effectively meet the growing demand of accommodation while ensuring adherence to quality, standards and safety norms.
To take up the various issues related to development and promotion of tourism in the country, Regional Conferences for North and Central States and Eastern and North Eastern States have already been held. The conference for South and Western Region is likely to be held shortly.
3. Sustainable Tourism:
The true potential of tourism lies in adopting responsible and sustainable practices on both the demand and supply sides of the tourism chain, enabling an effective response to climate change. This is closely interlinked with inclusive growth through sustainable community participation.
This ‘sustainable’ tourism route has been adopted by the Ministry of Tourism in the innovative Rural Tourism Project, by strengthening the disadvantaged but skilled rural artisan communities through support to capacity building and vernacular infrastructure, while laying emphasis on the role of women. 29 sites of the projects out of 36 sites are completed and being marketed. A project website was also upgraded showcasing these sites. 15 rural tourism sites have been selected as rural eco- holiday sites for “Visit India 2009.”
4. Overseas Marketing and Promotion:
The Ministry has consistently been working on a two-pronged strategy for marketing of Incredible India brand. The strategy includes visible branding in the outdoor media such as advertising at airports, on trams, taxis and buses and through the print, online and electronic media, as well as through participation in Travel Marts and Road Shows. For promotion of Indian Cuisine, which is an integral component of the Indian Tourism product, support has been extended to Indian Food Festivals organized in various countries. The India tourism office in New York has supported Indian Food Festivals organized in Colombia, Ecuador, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay in S. America.
Work orders have been issued for launch of print media campaigns in America, APAC and Europe regions. Advertising Campaigns have also been undertaken by the India tourism offices overseas in their respective regions. Promotional activities have also been stepped up in the overseas markets with added focus on emerging markets, for generating greater awareness about India as a tourist destination and increasing India’s share in international tourist arrivals and receipts.
2. There has been an increased focus on potential and emerging markets in East/ South East Asia, and East European countries. Road Shows, in collaboration with the Indian Association of Tour Operators, have been organized in Japan and South Korea to promote the Visit India 2009 Scheme. India tourism, Frankfurt supported & participated in Road Shows organized in the Slovak Republic, Hungary, Croatia and Slovenia in June 2009.
3. A series of promotional initiatives were taken to minimize the negative impact of the global economic slowdown and terrorist attack in Mumbai, which had an adverse effect on tourism in the country. Some of them are as under:
i. An Incredible India Evening was organized in Beijing in April 2009. More than 600 persons representing a cross section of the Chinese media, travel trade, members of the diplomatic corps, and prominent members of the Indian community attended the function. A five day “Incredible India” Food Festival was also arranged to coincide with the India Evening.
ii. The India tourism office in New York participated in a “Caribbean Conclave” organized in Port of Spain, Trinidad & Tobago in June 2009.
iii. The India tourism Offices in New York, Frankfurt, Singapore, Beijing and Tokyo have participated in major travel fairs and exhibitions in South America, CIS, East European countries, East Asia and South East Asia, including Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Russia, Romania, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, China, S. Korea, etc.
iv. Major promotional events were organised in Moscow and St. Petersburg in September 2009.
5. (I) Visit India 2009:
The initiatives taken to minimize the negative impact of the global economic slowdown included a “Visit India 2009” scheme launched in collaboration with all stakeholders including airlines, hotels, tour operators, State Governments for incentivising travel to India, organizing Road Shows in important tourist generating markets overseas, arranging familiarisation tours to India for international travel trade and media representatives to keep them updated on safety / security conditions in the country and media campaigns in the print, electronic, online and outdoor media.
(II) Other Promotional Activities:
The Ministry of Tourism, through the India tourism office in London undertook an advertising campaign in the print and outdoor media in London to coincide with the Queens Baton Relay for the Commonwealth Games 2010, which was flagged off from the Buckingham Palace on 29th October 2009.
The campaign included advertisements on hoardings, billboards, LED Screens, bus shelters, etc. at Heathrow airport and at prominent locations in London city as well as in leading dailies including The Times London, The Guardian, Daily Telegraph, Daily Mail and Evening Standard. Outdoor advertising was also undertaken on taxis in New York, Miami, Chicago, London, Edinburgh, Milan, Rome, Tokyo, on buses / cable cars in San Francisco, Seoul, Miami, Philadelphia, Chicago, Toronto, Johannesburg, Cape Town, Bahrain, Muscat, and on hoardings / billboards in Tokyo, Milan, New York, Toronto, Ottawa, Edmonton, Dubai, Nice Airport, Cannes, Singapore, etc.
Other promotional initiatives undertaken during the year include “Incredible India” Events organized in Russia in September, 2009 as part of the celebrations of the “Year of India in Russia” and a major India promotion event “India Calling” organized in association with the National Geographic Society at Hollywood Bowl and California Plaza in Los Angeles in September 2009.
Joint Promotions have been organized by India tourism offices overseas in collaboration with Tour Operators / Airlines and Wholesalers, in Rome, Dubai, Sharjah, West Palm Beach & Naples in Florida, Madrid & Barcelona in Spain, Brugge in Belgium, Basel, Bern & Zurich in Switzerland and Singapore.
The Ministry of Tourism organized a series of Road Shows in collaboration with the Indian Association of Tour Operators, Adventure Tour Operators Association of India and the PATA India Chapter to project India as a tourist destination, in the aftermath of the global economic slowdown.
India tourism offices overseas have participated in approximately 104 Travel Fairs and Exhibitions in important tourist generating markets the world over as well as in emerging and potential markets to showcase and promote the tourism products of the country. These include the major international Travel Fairs such as the Arabian Travel Market (ATM) in Dubai, PATA Travel Mart in Hangzhou, China, ITB – Asia in Singapore Top Resa in Paris, and World Travel Market (WTM) in London.
III. Ministry continued to provide Hospitality to Journalists/ tour operators/ Travel agents/ TV teams/ Photographers etc. from overseas markets. Till now Ministry has offered hospitality to 700 guests (approx.).
IV. Efforts of the Ministry to counter the effect of global economic meltdown on tourism sector:
The Ministry of Tourism has taken several steps to counter the downward trend of inbound tourism and to promote tourism to the country. These include liberalizing the Marketing Development Assistance Scheme for service providers promoting India, organizing Road Shows in important tourist generating markets overseas, arranging familiarisation tours to India for international travel trade and media representatives to keep them updated on safety / security conditions in the country, media campaigns in the print, electronic, online and outdoor media and a “Visit India 2009” scheme, in collaboration with all stakeholders including airlines, hotels, tour operators, State Governments for incentivising travel to India. Recently Government of India has decided to introduce Visa-on-Arrival scheme for tourists from five countries viz. Singapore, Finland, New Zealand, Luxembourg and Japan on a pilot basis for a period of one year.
6. Social Awareness Campaign:
Ministry continued its efforts to reinforce its brand through Incredible India campaigns. Through, Social Awareness Campaigns attempt was made to sensitize the stakeholders and masses about the importance of tourism and protection of heritage sites. Through generic campaign in the first half of the current financial year, awareness about various destinations/ sub-tourism products was generated. In the 2nd half of the financial year, Ministry continued its efforts of creating social awareness through focused campaigns.
7. Hotel Infrastructure:
The requirement of hotel accommodation in the country is estimated at 240 thousand rooms against availability of around 90 thousand rooms. It is estimated that there will be a requirement of additional 30,000 hotel rooms in Delhi. The Ministry of Tourism is therefore actively involved in monitoring the creation of additional accommodation for the games. Following initiatives have been taken for augmentation of accommodation infrastructure:
1. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has de-linked credit for hotel projects from commercial real estate, thereby enabling hotel projects to avail credit at relaxed norms and reduced interest rates. In addition, the External Commercial Borrowing (ECB) norms have been relaxed by Ministry of Finance to solve the problem of liquidity being faced by the hotel industry due to economic slow down.
The XIX Commonwealth Games are scheduled to be held in Delhi during 3rd to 14th October 2010. It is expected that around 100 thousand persons would be visiting during the Games.
The following initiatives have been taken by the Ministry to use this opportunity and showcase India as a unique and hospitable tourism destination:
i. A Task Force constituted for this purpose monitors the additional new hotel accommodation coming up in the Delhi NCR by holding regular meetings with all concerned land owning authorities, concerned Ministries / Departments. It has been decided that flats of DDA located at Vasant Kunj and Jasola will be upgraded / furnished and operated by ITDC for the Games as alternate accommodation of three star standards. It is also proposed to utilize the services of rooms available from the licensed guest houses and Bed & Breakfast units for the Games.
India Tourism Development Corporation:
(ii). Hotel Ashok, Samrat and Janpath under the ITDC have been declared as the Official Hotels for the Games. While The Ashok & Samrat would be the Games Family Hotels, Janpath would be for Press and Media. These hotels have undergone a major renovation work to prepare them for the event.
(iii). Manpower & Volunteer Development
Providing more than 3000 volunteers, trained in hospitality sector, for the games under the “Earn While You Learn” scheme.
Training more than 3000 taxi/coach and auto rickshaw drivers with an objective of making them more tourists friendly.
Training of owners and service staff of the approved guests house in Delhi so that there is a quality improvement in the services being provided.
8. Quality Human Resource Development:
It is estimated that to cater to the growing need of the hospitality sector, over 203 thousand trained manpower would be required annually. Therefore, it has been the endeavour of the Ministry of Tourism to put in place a system of training and professional education with necessary infrastructural support, capable of generating manpower to meet the needs of the tourism and hospitality industry, both quantitatively and qualitatively.
Keeping in view the acute shortage of trained manpower MOT has decided to support additional Institutes of Hotel Management (IHM) in States. New Food Crafts Institutes (FCI) are also being set up. MOT has also been providing financial assistance for modernization and capacity enhancement of IHMs and FCIs. A Scheme of Capacity Building for Service Providers is being implemented to impart hospitality training to those employed in this sector.
As a part of 100 days agenda of the Government, Ministry has taken following initiatives to provide skilled manpower in hospitality sector:
i. Skill training of youth in Hospitality sector (Hunar Se Rojgar Tak): The Institutes of Hotel Management (IHMs) have initiated a six to eight week fast track skill training programme for youth under twenty five years of age in food production and food and beverage services. About 5000 youths will be trained in the year.
ii. Skill Certification: The service providers, who are working in the hospitality sector, would undertake a five day orientation programme followed by test that would be based on practical and viva voce. Thereafter, the participants would be provided a skill certificate, which will enhance their employability in the market. About 5000 existing service providers would be certified in the year.
9. International Cooperation:
1. In the 18th Session of the General Assembly of UN WTO held from October 05th -8th 2009 in Astana, Kazakhstan, India was re-elected to the Executive Council of the United Nations World Tourism Organization for another four years term. India is a member of the Executive Council of UN WTO continuously for the last 19 years.
2. In the first Joint Working Group Meeting on Tourism between India and Indonesia in Yogyakarta, Indonesia held during 27th-28th August 2009, it was agreed to carry forward the cooperation.
3. A Joint Action Plan on Tourism Cooperation was signed between India and Singapore on 4.08.2009 in New Delhi in the presence of the visiting senior Minister of State for Trade, Industry and Education, Republic of Singapore and the Minister of Tourism Govt. of India.
4. A Joint Action Programme for the period 2009-10 for the implementation of the agreement between India and Russian Federation on Cooperation in Tourism was signed during the visit of the Russian President to India in December 2008.
10. New Initiatives:
i. Cruise Tourism:
Cruise Tourism is a relatively new but an emerging sector with a high potential for growth. With the approval of the Cruise Tourism Policy, the huge potential of this tourism product has been opened up. Together with the Port Trust Authorities and the State Governments, the Ministry is now focusing on infrastructure development as well as motivating cruise operators to use Indian ports in their itinerary.
ii. Adventure Tourism:
Adventure tourism has immense potential for growth. For experiencing the different types of adventure tourism right like rock climbing, river rafting, para gliding, mountaineering and under water diving, the Ministry has been sanctioning projects in various States.
iii. Wellness Tourism:
India, as the world knows, is a Wellness destination. The potential of wellness systems, developed through centuries of wisdom of this ancient civilization would be fully tapped. This is being done by positioning India as a centre of Ayurveda, Yoga, Siddha, Naturopathy, etc. together with the spiritual philosophy that was integral to the Indian way of life. The Ministry of Tourism has highlighted wellness in a big way through publicity and promotional activities.
11. International Recognition:
The Incredible India film shown globally in the potential tourist generating markets has won a number of prestigious international awards:-
- March 2009
- 2. Preis Das Goldene Stadttor. Int, Touristik Filmwettbewerb ITB Berlin 2009
- June 2009
- International Tourfilm festival Plock, 2009, Plock/Poland
- FIMAC- International Festival of Corporates AV Media
- July 2009
- Document.Art - The International Festival of Documentary Films, 2009, Campulung Muscel/Romania
- September 2009
Art&Tur - International Tourism Film Festival, 2009, Barcelos/ Portugal
- October 2009
- Tourfilm Karlovy Vary, 2009, Karlovy Vary/Czech Republic
- The latest being the Grand Prix Award - organized by Comite International Des Festivals Du film Touristique (CIFFT) in which the Hon’ble Minister for Tourism has received the award in Vienna on 13th November 2009.
NEPAL: Nepal bill on Jha’s oath of secrecy
A constitutional amendment bill has been tabled in the legislature Parliament in Nepal, which would facilitate Vice-President Paramananda Jha to take oath in his mother tongue.
Mr. Jha had taken the oath of office and secrecy in Hindi, which sparked a controversy and the Supreme Court asked him to retake the oath in Nepali.
But Mr. Jha, whose mother tongue is Maithili, refused in August to do so. His designation has been inactive since then.
A constitutional amendment bill has been tabled in the legislature Parliament in Nepal, which would facilitate Vice-President Paramananda Jha to take oath in his mother tongue.
Mr. Jha had taken the oath of office and secrecy in Hindi, which sparked a controversy and the Supreme Court asked him to retake the oath in Nepali.
But Mr. Jha, whose mother tongue is Maithili, refused in August to do so. His designation has been inactive since then.
PLANNING INVESTMENT IN THE YEAR 2010
Asset allocation works. Ask those who were 100% invested in equities in 2008. Their portfolios were shattered as the year ended. However, those with a proper allocation between stocks, bonds, gold, real estate, and cash (for emergency needs) were a better lot.
Now those who talk about asset allocation generally end the discussion at these various asset classes. However, equity investors would do well to go a step even further. They can further allocate their equity portion between large caps, mid caps and small caps. While large caps are the safest of the lot, mid and small caps while being risky can generate the best returns over a long run. So a proper blend of these different categories of stocks can help you generate good yet stable returns over a 5 to 10 year period.
Now as we move into 2010, investors in small cap stocks must be the happiest lot. This is on the back of about 125% returns of BSE-Smallcap during 2009. This is higher than the returns recorded by the BSE-Midcap (106%) and BSE-Sensex (80%).
So, where will you be investing in 2010?
Large caps? Mid caps? Or small caps?
Well, the answer is - it depends on your long-term needs and risk appetite. But purely as a matter of prudence, one looking to build a portfolio from a 10 to 15 years perspective can have a 60-70% allocation to large caps and 10-15% each to mid and small caps... and quality stocks in each of these categories.
Treat this allocation as just a guide and, we repeat, allocate your equity portion using your understanding of different kinds of companies across different levels of market cap.
SOURCE: EQUITYMASTER
Food prices are really pinching the average citizen out there and pinching big time! Today's chart of the day helps throw some light on one of the fundamental reasons behind the same. As shown, the area under grain harvest in major countries has come down steadily over the years on a per capita basis. This, even as the world population rising and per capita grain consumption going up. Even elementary economics would be enough to conclude that prices have but one way to go, up. If the world has any chance to feed its huge population and that too, without any riots, as higher food prices usually cause, the only solution would be to bring about a dramatic improvement in agricultural productivity and come down hard on wastage of any kind. Otherwise, be prepared for sustained increase in food price inflation.
Source: Earth Policy Institute
Asset allocation works. Ask those who were 100% invested in equities in 2008. Their portfolios were shattered as the year ended. However, those with a proper allocation between stocks, bonds, gold, real estate, and cash (for emergency needs) were a better lot.
Now those who talk about asset allocation generally end the discussion at these various asset classes. However, equity investors would do well to go a step even further. They can further allocate their equity portion between large caps, mid caps and small caps. While large caps are the safest of the lot, mid and small caps while being risky can generate the best returns over a long run. So a proper blend of these different categories of stocks can help you generate good yet stable returns over a 5 to 10 year period.
Now as we move into 2010, investors in small cap stocks must be the happiest lot. This is on the back of about 125% returns of BSE-Smallcap during 2009. This is higher than the returns recorded by the BSE-Midcap (106%) and BSE-Sensex (80%).
So, where will you be investing in 2010?
Large caps? Mid caps? Or small caps?
Well, the answer is - it depends on your long-term needs and risk appetite. But purely as a matter of prudence, one looking to build a portfolio from a 10 to 15 years perspective can have a 60-70% allocation to large caps and 10-15% each to mid and small caps... and quality stocks in each of these categories.
Treat this allocation as just a guide and, we repeat, allocate your equity portion using your understanding of different kinds of companies across different levels of market cap.
SOURCE: EQUITYMASTER
Food prices are really pinching the average citizen out there and pinching big time! Today's chart of the day helps throw some light on one of the fundamental reasons behind the same. As shown, the area under grain harvest in major countries has come down steadily over the years on a per capita basis. This, even as the world population rising and per capita grain consumption going up. Even elementary economics would be enough to conclude that prices have but one way to go, up. If the world has any chance to feed its huge population and that too, without any riots, as higher food prices usually cause, the only solution would be to bring about a dramatic improvement in agricultural productivity and come down hard on wastage of any kind. Otherwise, be prepared for sustained increase in food price inflation.
Source: Earth Policy Institute
CHINA - Gangster trials highlight China s crime battle
The court in Chongqing, a city of more than 30 million people, is expected to reach verdicts in coming weeks on the charges against two promi nent defendants.
Wen Qiang, the former head of Chongqing s municipal jus tice department, is charged with using his official position to provide protection to organ ized-crime gangs. Li Qiang, a billionaire businessman who was until recently a member of the local legislature, faces nine charges, including organizing and leading criminal gangs, bribery and tax evasion. Officials say the two men ran an underworld empire that in- cluded prostitution rings, illegal casinos, bribery and murder.
The Chongqing crackdown is the largest local operation against organized crime in 60 years of Communist Party rule, according to Wang Li, a law professor at Southwest Univer- sity in Chongqing. Some 800 people have been formally ar rested and more than 2,000 others detained. A dozen high- ranking officials and hundreds of civil servants have been implicated.
The trials have focused na- tional attention on a scourge that has mushroomed since China began economic reforms in the late 1970s. The situation has worsened over the past decade, as rapid development combined with loosening controls on individuals, limited law-enforcement resources and widespread corruption has created an environment in which gangsters thrive, often in collusion with local authorities, say experts.
While experts say gang activity doesn t appear to have infiltrated the highest levels of China s government, it is an increasing challenge for China s Communist Party, which rates public anger about corruption as a major potential threat to its rule.
In Chongqing, Bo Xilai, a former commerce minister installed as the city s chief in 2007, has turned up the heat on the issue. The mafia crackdown is emphatically demanded by the people, as revealed to us by the numerous bloodshedding crimes, he is quoted as saying by the central Communist Party Web site.
The government says police have broken up nearly 13,000 gangs and detained 870,000 suspects since the latest nationwide crackdown began in early 2006. Some 89,000 of those had been formally arrested as of September, according to the state-run Xinhua news agency.
Organized crime in China is coming back with a vengeance, says Ko-lin Chin, a criminologist at Rutgers University who studies Chinese gangs.
In addition to infiltrating Chongqing s government, organized crime has moved into sectors from property development to privately run bus routes to pork products, officials say.
Mr. Wen s sister-in-law, known as the Godmother of Chongqing, has already been sentenced to 18 years in prison and fined around one million yuan ($146,000) after her conviction on charges including organizing and leading a criminal group, operating illegal casinos, illegal imprisonment and bribing officials. A pair of 23-year-old twins received sentences of 17 years apiece on convictions of organizing and leading a criminal group and intentional injury of others, among other charges.
Judicial and law-enforcement officials in Chongqing have declined to comment on the cases.
Since the Chongqing trials began in October, dozens of gang members elsewhere in China have also been sentenced, with at least 18 receiving death penalties.
In early December, a court in the southwestern city of Kunming sentenced five people to death for involvement in a gang that dealt in drugs, counterfeit money, fraud and racketeering. In southern China, a court in Yangjiang sentenced five men, including mob bosses nicknamed Hammerhead and Spicy Qin, to death for murder and for running a massive illegal gambling empire. In Sichuan, police arrested 85 people in what officials called the largest drug bust in China s history.
Organized crime was rampant in China before the communists took over in 1949, but was largely extinguished in the decades afterward by the totalitarian Maoist state. It has flourished since reforms began in the late 1970s.
Chinese police receive small salaries but enjoy almost unchecked power over the increasingly wealthy communities they oversee. As a result, bribery is common, experts say. Without protection from law enforcement, criminal organizations would not be able to develop on such a large scale and to such a high level, says Pu Yongjian, a professor at the business school of Chongqing University.
In some cases, police are discouraged by local governments from cracking down on prostitution, gambling and loan-sharking, as long as violence isn t involved, says Mr.Chin of Rutgers.
These are very profitable businesses, he says. They support the local economies and are seen as part of a transition period towards development. There is a boundary kind of an implicit understanding between local officials and mafia-like gangs.
At times, ties between gangsters and governments have eroded public trust, sometimes pushing individuals to take matters into their own hands.
In September 2008, 18-yearold Zhang Xuping, of Xiashuixi village in Shanxi province, stabbed the local party chief to death. Villagers allege the official ran a gang that used harassment and violence to take over their farmland. Mr.
Zhang s mother, Wang Hou e, had previously spent a year in detention after she complained to authorities about property damage she attributed to the party boss.
The mafia forces will not only continue to exist, but become even more rampant.
Source:live Mint
The court in Chongqing, a city of more than 30 million people, is expected to reach verdicts in coming weeks on the charges against two promi nent defendants.
Wen Qiang, the former head of Chongqing s municipal jus tice department, is charged with using his official position to provide protection to organ ized-crime gangs. Li Qiang, a billionaire businessman who was until recently a member of the local legislature, faces nine charges, including organizing and leading criminal gangs, bribery and tax evasion. Officials say the two men ran an underworld empire that in- cluded prostitution rings, illegal casinos, bribery and murder.
The Chongqing crackdown is the largest local operation against organized crime in 60 years of Communist Party rule, according to Wang Li, a law professor at Southwest Univer- sity in Chongqing. Some 800 people have been formally ar rested and more than 2,000 others detained. A dozen high- ranking officials and hundreds of civil servants have been implicated.
The trials have focused na- tional attention on a scourge that has mushroomed since China began economic reforms in the late 1970s. The situation has worsened over the past decade, as rapid development combined with loosening controls on individuals, limited law-enforcement resources and widespread corruption has created an environment in which gangsters thrive, often in collusion with local authorities, say experts.
While experts say gang activity doesn t appear to have infiltrated the highest levels of China s government, it is an increasing challenge for China s Communist Party, which rates public anger about corruption as a major potential threat to its rule.
In Chongqing, Bo Xilai, a former commerce minister installed as the city s chief in 2007, has turned up the heat on the issue. The mafia crackdown is emphatically demanded by the people, as revealed to us by the numerous bloodshedding crimes, he is quoted as saying by the central Communist Party Web site.
The government says police have broken up nearly 13,000 gangs and detained 870,000 suspects since the latest nationwide crackdown began in early 2006. Some 89,000 of those had been formally arrested as of September, according to the state-run Xinhua news agency.
Organized crime in China is coming back with a vengeance, says Ko-lin Chin, a criminologist at Rutgers University who studies Chinese gangs.
In addition to infiltrating Chongqing s government, organized crime has moved into sectors from property development to privately run bus routes to pork products, officials say.
Mr. Wen s sister-in-law, known as the Godmother of Chongqing, has already been sentenced to 18 years in prison and fined around one million yuan ($146,000) after her conviction on charges including organizing and leading a criminal group, operating illegal casinos, illegal imprisonment and bribing officials. A pair of 23-year-old twins received sentences of 17 years apiece on convictions of organizing and leading a criminal group and intentional injury of others, among other charges.
Judicial and law-enforcement officials in Chongqing have declined to comment on the cases.
Since the Chongqing trials began in October, dozens of gang members elsewhere in China have also been sentenced, with at least 18 receiving death penalties.
In early December, a court in the southwestern city of Kunming sentenced five people to death for involvement in a gang that dealt in drugs, counterfeit money, fraud and racketeering. In southern China, a court in Yangjiang sentenced five men, including mob bosses nicknamed Hammerhead and Spicy Qin, to death for murder and for running a massive illegal gambling empire. In Sichuan, police arrested 85 people in what officials called the largest drug bust in China s history.
Organized crime was rampant in China before the communists took over in 1949, but was largely extinguished in the decades afterward by the totalitarian Maoist state. It has flourished since reforms began in the late 1970s.
Chinese police receive small salaries but enjoy almost unchecked power over the increasingly wealthy communities they oversee. As a result, bribery is common, experts say. Without protection from law enforcement, criminal organizations would not be able to develop on such a large scale and to such a high level, says Pu Yongjian, a professor at the business school of Chongqing University.
In some cases, police are discouraged by local governments from cracking down on prostitution, gambling and loan-sharking, as long as violence isn t involved, says Mr.Chin of Rutgers.
These are very profitable businesses, he says. They support the local economies and are seen as part of a transition period towards development. There is a boundary kind of an implicit understanding between local officials and mafia-like gangs.
At times, ties between gangsters and governments have eroded public trust, sometimes pushing individuals to take matters into their own hands.
In September 2008, 18-yearold Zhang Xuping, of Xiashuixi village in Shanxi province, stabbed the local party chief to death. Villagers allege the official ran a gang that used harassment and violence to take over their farmland. Mr.
Zhang s mother, Wang Hou e, had previously spent a year in detention after she complained to authorities about property damage she attributed to the party boss.
The mafia forces will not only continue to exist, but become even more rampant.
Source:live Mint
A ROARING DECADE FOR INDIA
The Indian mood was glum in the early years of the first decade of the new century. Economic growth was sluggish, the stock market was still reeling from the after-effects of a burst technology bubble and there was policy paralysis. It promised to be a decade of fatigue and lethargy. But what followed was almost unbelievable. Economic growth accelerated on the back on a huge increase in investments and equity values soared. Incomes went up in tandem, as is evident from the sales of automobiles and mobile phones. The government also increased spending on education and health to help those millions who were left behind in the race to prosperity. There were the inevitable problems but this was a decade of roaring successes.
The Indian mood was glum in the early years of the first decade of the new century. Economic growth was sluggish, the stock market was still reeling from the after-effects of a burst technology bubble and there was policy paralysis. It promised to be a decade of fatigue and lethargy. But what followed was almost unbelievable. Economic growth accelerated on the back on a huge increase in investments and equity values soared. Incomes went up in tandem, as is evident from the sales of automobiles and mobile phones. The government also increased spending on education and health to help those millions who were left behind in the race to prosperity. There were the inevitable problems but this was a decade of roaring successes.
RTI covers House Indian Parliamentary Committees proceedings, rules CIC
The records with a parliamentary committee can be provided to an Right to Information (RTI) applicant once the report is tabled on the floor of the House, the CIC held on Tuesday, but exempted cases where documents are declared confidential.
The records with a parliamentary committee can be provided to an Right to Information (RTI) applicant once the report is tabled on the floor of the House, the CIC held on Tuesday, but exempted cases where documents are declared confidential.
NEW BUSINESS: HEALTHCARE PORTAL INDUSTRY
The nascent healthcare portals industry is up for a funding boost, given its attractiveness for private equity, or PE, and venture capital, or VC, investors, as well as the Unique Identification Number, or UID, project that will collate digital data on the nation s population.
The holy grail in this space would be personal medical records, says Alok Mittal, managing director at VC firm Canaan Advisors Pvt. Ltd, referring to the automation of hospital records, a possibility through the UID project.
The Apollo Hospitals group has offered to manage health records through the Nandan Nilekani-led Unique Identification Authority of India. It has also invested in a company called Health Highway that, according to group executives, connects doctors, hospitals and pharmacies who would be able to communicate with each other and access health records. Sangita Reddy, executive director (operations) at Apollo Hospitals, cites the hypothetical case of a car accident victim being rushed to a hospital emergency room.
You could physically identify who that person is but you wouldn t know his blood group, his allergies or anything about his health, Reddy says.
Whereas, if his UID number was linked to a UHID (unique healthcare identification number), and there was something called emergency access, you could go into that and identify his complete record. So, there are all kinds of instances as to how we could use this to help save lives and improve quality of care and reduce cost.
Apollo Hospitals has written to the Unique Identification Authority and to the Knowledge Commission to link the Unique Identification Number with health profiles of those provided the ID number, and offered to manage the health records, Business Standard reported in August.
Formed this year, the authority under Nilekani, cofounder of software services firm Infosys Technologies Ltd, is tasked with building a database of details on every Indian citizen.
A lot of hospitals are making a fair amount of investment in information technology for improving the efficiency of workflow management and data processing or management, says Amit Chander, investment head (healthcare and education), Baring Private Equity Partners India Ltd.
Healthcare portals that maintain electronic health records will thus play a critical role.
The industry is divided into four broad categories: firms that maintain electronic health records such as Yoscare.in and Healthizen.com; those that provide diet, fitness and nutrition counselling such as NutritionVista.com; firms that are focussed on disease management such as Wellinformed.in; and online doctor-patient consultation firms such as Healthcare Magic and online health content firms such as WebMD in the US.
Some VC firms that invested in such firms early on include Accel Partners, which put $2.5 million (Rs11.68 crore) in HealthcareMagic in February, and Seedfund, which wagered $1 million on Healthizen.com in January last year.
The technology is already in use in Bangalore, where YosCare Technologies has launched smart cards that, when swiped at a hospital, fax the holder s medical history to the hospital.
We are already in talks with the RTO (road transport organization) in Karnataka to issue Yos smart cards as driving licences, said Vijaya Verma, founder of YosCare Technologies.
Muralidharan Nair, partner (lifesciences practice), Ernst and Young Pvt. Ltd, said healthcare had caught the fancy of many investors given that healthcare reform is going to be big on state governments agendas.
Also, in terms of demand assessment there is a lack of credible health information, so to have comprehensive health information and records system would be sought after, he said, but added that healthcare portals would be an area of interest more for venture capital firms than private equity.
PE firms which provide growth capital are more likely to invest in hospitals or diagnostic centres, while VC firms are more likely to invest in technology-driven start-ups that they can associate with from the beginning.
Companies which embrace this model (of maintaining electronic health records) first will be able to build a big brand around it, says Chander. Not only will it reduce the problem of data storage but later on when it (the model) is fully developed they can run analytics on the data and use it for preventive measures. Chander also points out that while the global marketplace is overcrowded, with US-based WebMd and Google Health being key players, India has the option of customizing content for local needs.
However, a number of obstacles still remain.
Kunal Sinha, founder of Healthcare Magic, which provides patients a 24/7 interface where they can chat live with a doctor, admits that starting off was not easy. I had to convince doctors to work for a start-up rather than a hospital.
They were on my (company s) payroll. So, right from Day 1, it was capital intensive.
Market and consumer acceptance is another issue. The need to maintain health records is not immediate and important for people as of now, so it is difficult to educate them and make them aware, says Anand Anupam, founder of Healthizen, which maintains electronic health records that can be accessed anywhere.
Tie-ups with insurance firms, such as the one that HealthCare Magic has with ICICI Lombard General Insurance Co. Ltd, are also critical, since this allows access to a much larger pool.
Healthizen provides valueadded services such as diet planning or skin care to holders of specific policies of ICICI Lombard and Royal Sundaram Alliance Insurance Co. Ltd.
Low Internet penetration is another obstacle, but that is more easily overcome.
Chander argues that the mobile phone is to India what the Internet is to the US, and that an application that can be accessed via mobile phones would enable these portals to increase their reach.
The nascent healthcare portals industry is up for a funding boost, given its attractiveness for private equity, or PE, and venture capital, or VC, investors, as well as the Unique Identification Number, or UID, project that will collate digital data on the nation s population.
The holy grail in this space would be personal medical records, says Alok Mittal, managing director at VC firm Canaan Advisors Pvt. Ltd, referring to the automation of hospital records, a possibility through the UID project.
The Apollo Hospitals group has offered to manage health records through the Nandan Nilekani-led Unique Identification Authority of India. It has also invested in a company called Health Highway that, according to group executives, connects doctors, hospitals and pharmacies who would be able to communicate with each other and access health records. Sangita Reddy, executive director (operations) at Apollo Hospitals, cites the hypothetical case of a car accident victim being rushed to a hospital emergency room.
You could physically identify who that person is but you wouldn t know his blood group, his allergies or anything about his health, Reddy says.
Whereas, if his UID number was linked to a UHID (unique healthcare identification number), and there was something called emergency access, you could go into that and identify his complete record. So, there are all kinds of instances as to how we could use this to help save lives and improve quality of care and reduce cost.
Apollo Hospitals has written to the Unique Identification Authority and to the Knowledge Commission to link the Unique Identification Number with health profiles of those provided the ID number, and offered to manage the health records, Business Standard reported in August.
Formed this year, the authority under Nilekani, cofounder of software services firm Infosys Technologies Ltd, is tasked with building a database of details on every Indian citizen.
A lot of hospitals are making a fair amount of investment in information technology for improving the efficiency of workflow management and data processing or management, says Amit Chander, investment head (healthcare and education), Baring Private Equity Partners India Ltd.
Healthcare portals that maintain electronic health records will thus play a critical role.
The industry is divided into four broad categories: firms that maintain electronic health records such as Yoscare.in and Healthizen.com; those that provide diet, fitness and nutrition counselling such as NutritionVista.com; firms that are focussed on disease management such as Wellinformed.in; and online doctor-patient consultation firms such as Healthcare Magic and online health content firms such as WebMD in the US.
Some VC firms that invested in such firms early on include Accel Partners, which put $2.5 million (Rs11.68 crore) in HealthcareMagic in February, and Seedfund, which wagered $1 million on Healthizen.com in January last year.
The technology is already in use in Bangalore, where YosCare Technologies has launched smart cards that, when swiped at a hospital, fax the holder s medical history to the hospital.
We are already in talks with the RTO (road transport organization) in Karnataka to issue Yos smart cards as driving licences, said Vijaya Verma, founder of YosCare Technologies.
Muralidharan Nair, partner (lifesciences practice), Ernst and Young Pvt. Ltd, said healthcare had caught the fancy of many investors given that healthcare reform is going to be big on state governments agendas.
Also, in terms of demand assessment there is a lack of credible health information, so to have comprehensive health information and records system would be sought after, he said, but added that healthcare portals would be an area of interest more for venture capital firms than private equity.
PE firms which provide growth capital are more likely to invest in hospitals or diagnostic centres, while VC firms are more likely to invest in technology-driven start-ups that they can associate with from the beginning.
Companies which embrace this model (of maintaining electronic health records) first will be able to build a big brand around it, says Chander. Not only will it reduce the problem of data storage but later on when it (the model) is fully developed they can run analytics on the data and use it for preventive measures. Chander also points out that while the global marketplace is overcrowded, with US-based WebMd and Google Health being key players, India has the option of customizing content for local needs.
However, a number of obstacles still remain.
Kunal Sinha, founder of Healthcare Magic, which provides patients a 24/7 interface where they can chat live with a doctor, admits that starting off was not easy. I had to convince doctors to work for a start-up rather than a hospital.
They were on my (company s) payroll. So, right from Day 1, it was capital intensive.
Market and consumer acceptance is another issue. The need to maintain health records is not immediate and important for people as of now, so it is difficult to educate them and make them aware, says Anand Anupam, founder of Healthizen, which maintains electronic health records that can be accessed anywhere.
Tie-ups with insurance firms, such as the one that HealthCare Magic has with ICICI Lombard General Insurance Co. Ltd, are also critical, since this allows access to a much larger pool.
Healthizen provides valueadded services such as diet planning or skin care to holders of specific policies of ICICI Lombard and Royal Sundaram Alliance Insurance Co. Ltd.
Low Internet penetration is another obstacle, but that is more easily overcome.
Chander argues that the mobile phone is to India what the Internet is to the US, and that an application that can be accessed via mobile phones would enable these portals to increase their reach.
MOBILE TOWER BUSINESS
Manoj Tirodkar, chairman and managing director of GTL Infrastructure Ltd (GTL), India's largest independent telecom tower company, will invest Rs500 crore along with group companies to partially finance the purchase of the cellphone tower operations of Aircel Ltd for Rs8,400 crore, two persons familiar with the deal said.
The acquisition will more than double GTL's towers to 28,500 from 11,000. It is building another 20,000 towers.
One of the persons said GTL would access Rs3,500 crore from its Rs5,200 crore cash reserve and Rs500 crore from Global Holding Corporation (GHC), the group holding firm.
The second person said GTL will also inherit Rs4,400 crore of Aircel's debt as part of the deal, limiting the actual transaction to an all-cash deal of Rs4,000 crore. Both the persons declined to be named.
The Economic Times had last week reported GTL's plan to buy Aircel's tower. "I cannot comment on the development," Tirodkar said.
Aircel could not be reached.
GHC, fully owned by the promoters, have government approval to raise $1 billion (Rs4,700 crore) from foreign investors.
GTL, in which Tirodkar holds 53%, will purchase the Aircel towers at Rs45 lakh each. It will also give Aircel access to its towers for the next 15 years, gaining a ready tenant and a steady revenue.
In 2007, GTL, now a Rs3,700 crore company by market capitalisation, had raised Rs7,265 crore from bankers to build 23,700 towers by 2014.
The revenue of a tower company is linked to the number of tenants using the towers, known as tenancy ratio. At 0.99, GTL has the lowest such ratio among telecom tower companies in India, including Indus Towers, Reliance Infratel Ltd, and Bharti Infratel Ltd.
Indus, a joint venture between three cellular phone services providers--Bharti Airtel Ltd, Idea Cellular Ltd and Vodafone Essar Ltd--who share the towers, has increased its tenancy ratio to 1.55. Reliance Infratel, with a tenancy ratio of 1.5, has signed an deal to share its towers with UAE-based telecom firm Etisalat. Bharti Infratel has a tenancy ratio of 1.43.
The average tenancy ratio for the industry is expected to grow to 2.1 in fiscal 2012 from 1.4 in fiscal 2009, said Gaurav Jaitly and Abhishek Gupta, research analysts at Mumbaibased brokerage Reliance Equities International Pvt. Ltd, in a 25 September report.
India is fastest-growing telecom market and is expected to add 300 million connections in a few years.
The capital expenditure to build infrastructure to support such growth will be $45 billion, of which 60% will be tower-related, a GTL official said on condition of anonymity.
Manoj Tirodkar, chairman and managing director of GTL Infrastructure Ltd (GTL), India's largest independent telecom tower company, will invest Rs500 crore along with group companies to partially finance the purchase of the cellphone tower operations of Aircel Ltd for Rs8,400 crore, two persons familiar with the deal said.
The acquisition will more than double GTL's towers to 28,500 from 11,000. It is building another 20,000 towers.
One of the persons said GTL would access Rs3,500 crore from its Rs5,200 crore cash reserve and Rs500 crore from Global Holding Corporation (GHC), the group holding firm.
The second person said GTL will also inherit Rs4,400 crore of Aircel's debt as part of the deal, limiting the actual transaction to an all-cash deal of Rs4,000 crore. Both the persons declined to be named.
The Economic Times had last week reported GTL's plan to buy Aircel's tower. "I cannot comment on the development," Tirodkar said.
Aircel could not be reached.
GHC, fully owned by the promoters, have government approval to raise $1 billion (Rs4,700 crore) from foreign investors.
GTL, in which Tirodkar holds 53%, will purchase the Aircel towers at Rs45 lakh each. It will also give Aircel access to its towers for the next 15 years, gaining a ready tenant and a steady revenue.
In 2007, GTL, now a Rs3,700 crore company by market capitalisation, had raised Rs7,265 crore from bankers to build 23,700 towers by 2014.
The revenue of a tower company is linked to the number of tenants using the towers, known as tenancy ratio. At 0.99, GTL has the lowest such ratio among telecom tower companies in India, including Indus Towers, Reliance Infratel Ltd, and Bharti Infratel Ltd.
Indus, a joint venture between three cellular phone services providers--Bharti Airtel Ltd, Idea Cellular Ltd and Vodafone Essar Ltd--who share the towers, has increased its tenancy ratio to 1.55. Reliance Infratel, with a tenancy ratio of 1.5, has signed an deal to share its towers with UAE-based telecom firm Etisalat. Bharti Infratel has a tenancy ratio of 1.43.
The average tenancy ratio for the industry is expected to grow to 2.1 in fiscal 2012 from 1.4 in fiscal 2009, said Gaurav Jaitly and Abhishek Gupta, research analysts at Mumbaibased brokerage Reliance Equities International Pvt. Ltd, in a 25 September report.
India is fastest-growing telecom market and is expected to add 300 million connections in a few years.
The capital expenditure to build infrastructure to support such growth will be $45 billion, of which 60% will be tower-related, a GTL official said on condition of anonymity.
‘It is time India unleashed reforms in financial services sector’
Asserting that relations between India and the U.S. have rarely been better then the present, Obama Administration nominee for Assistant Secretary of State of Commerce and Director General of the U.S. & Foreign Commercial Department of Commerce, Suresh Kumar, on Tuesday said that
-it was time that India unleashed reforms in the financial services sector, open up the banking sector and partner U.S. for bringing technology to the developing countries to counter global warming threat.
Mr. Kumar,said that India needed to warm up to the idea of making improvements in foreign direct investment (FDI) and give thrust to manufacturing.
``If India has to push prosperity to the grassroots including towns and villages, it has to give a big thrust to manufacturing activity. You have to go into manufacturing in a big way and not depend on services now. India has to play on capital base now rather than the intellectual base and reach out to its people in a bigger way,” Mr. Kumar said.
Vast opportunity
Having worked with Johnson and Johnson (India) and also Unilever India, Mr. Kumar shifted his base to the U.S. in 1985.
Speaking about the Indo-U.S. trade relations, Mr. Kumar said a phenomenal opportunity stood before India and the U.S.
“Bilateral relations have rarely been better. It behoves both sides to use this goodwill and opportunity to strike gold. It is a win-win situation and it cannot be one-sided. When India and the U.S. come together in these areas, consumers from both countries will benefit,” he said.
Renewable energy
Referring to the threat of global warming and the recent Copenhagen climate change summit, Mr. Kumar said renewable energy is the future.
“India and the U.S. should come together and deliver on the issue. The U.S. had the technology and partnering the right companies in India to bring those technologies and to use it for improvement of India could be a big thing. India could emerge as the hub for such technologies for the developing countries,” he added.
Stressing that opening trade and removing barriers always helped everybody, Mr. Kumar said India had to improve on simplification of the process for setting up businesses.
The time taken for approvals, granting of licensing, attitude of the bureaucracy and encouraging foreign companies to set up base here was something that required much more improvement and effort to make India an attractive destination for doing business.
Bilateral dialogue
Referring to the constraints in the FDI sector, Mr. Kumar felt that concerns of the U.S. Government and its companies needed to be looked into. “There has to be a bilateral dialogue between the two countries on opening up of the retail sector. There could be sensitive things involved here but nothing can be achieved without understanding the problems and having a dialogue to resolve all such issues,” he said.
On opening up of the banking sector and reforms in the financial services sector, he said the network of foreign banks in India needed to be improved. “Foreign banks should be allowed to offer all their services to consumers and it would be for these banks to be viable and attractive like the nationalised banks attract the consumers. The foreign banks have to move beyond the four metros of Delhi, Chennai, Mumbai and Bangalore,” he added.
Asserting that relations between India and the U.S. have rarely been better then the present, Obama Administration nominee for Assistant Secretary of State of Commerce and Director General of the U.S. & Foreign Commercial Department of Commerce, Suresh Kumar, on Tuesday said that
-it was time that India unleashed reforms in the financial services sector, open up the banking sector and partner U.S. for bringing technology to the developing countries to counter global warming threat.
Mr. Kumar,said that India needed to warm up to the idea of making improvements in foreign direct investment (FDI) and give thrust to manufacturing.
``If India has to push prosperity to the grassroots including towns and villages, it has to give a big thrust to manufacturing activity. You have to go into manufacturing in a big way and not depend on services now. India has to play on capital base now rather than the intellectual base and reach out to its people in a bigger way,” Mr. Kumar said.
Vast opportunity
Having worked with Johnson and Johnson (India) and also Unilever India, Mr. Kumar shifted his base to the U.S. in 1985.
Speaking about the Indo-U.S. trade relations, Mr. Kumar said a phenomenal opportunity stood before India and the U.S.
“Bilateral relations have rarely been better. It behoves both sides to use this goodwill and opportunity to strike gold. It is a win-win situation and it cannot be one-sided. When India and the U.S. come together in these areas, consumers from both countries will benefit,” he said.
Renewable energy
Referring to the threat of global warming and the recent Copenhagen climate change summit, Mr. Kumar said renewable energy is the future.
“India and the U.S. should come together and deliver on the issue. The U.S. had the technology and partnering the right companies in India to bring those technologies and to use it for improvement of India could be a big thing. India could emerge as the hub for such technologies for the developing countries,” he added.
Stressing that opening trade and removing barriers always helped everybody, Mr. Kumar said India had to improve on simplification of the process for setting up businesses.
The time taken for approvals, granting of licensing, attitude of the bureaucracy and encouraging foreign companies to set up base here was something that required much more improvement and effort to make India an attractive destination for doing business.
Bilateral dialogue
Referring to the constraints in the FDI sector, Mr. Kumar felt that concerns of the U.S. Government and its companies needed to be looked into. “There has to be a bilateral dialogue between the two countries on opening up of the retail sector. There could be sensitive things involved here but nothing can be achieved without understanding the problems and having a dialogue to resolve all such issues,” he said.
On opening up of the banking sector and reforms in the financial services sector, he said the network of foreign banks in India needed to be improved. “Foreign banks should be allowed to offer all their services to consumers and it would be for these banks to be viable and attractive like the nationalised banks attract the consumers. The foreign banks have to move beyond the four metros of Delhi, Chennai, Mumbai and Bangalore,” he added.
Powering a dynamic, multipolar Asia
Brahma Chellaney
Given that the balance of power in Asia will be determined by events as much in the Indian Ocean rim as in East Asia, India and Japan have to work together to promote peace and stability.
The visit of the new Japanese Prime Minister, Yukio Hatoyama, is part of Japan’s growing economic and strategic engagement with India. Japan and India indeed are natural allies because they have no conflict of strategic interest and actually share common goals to build stability, power equilibrium and institutionalised multilateral cooperation in Asia. There is neither any negative historical legacy nor a single outstanding political issue between them. If anything, each country enjoys a high positive rating with the public in the other state.
Mr. Hatoyama’s year-end visit, fulfilling a bilateral commitment to hold an annual summit meeting, shows he is keen to maintain the priority on closer engagement with India that was set in motion by his predecessors, Junichiro Koizumi, Shinzo Abe and Taro Aso of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), now in the opposition. Mr. Hatoyama came to office vowing to reorient Japanese foreign policy and seek an “equal” relationship with the United States. But he and his Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) had said little on India.
Today, just when America’s Sino-centric Asia policy has became unmistakable, Mr. Hatoyama’s government has put Washington on notice that Japan cannot indefinitely remain a faithful servant of U.S. policies. With Tokyo seeking to rework a 2006 basing deal with the U.S., besides announcing an end to the eight-year-old Indian Ocean refuelling mission in support of the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan, Japan no longer can be regarded as a constant in America’s Asia policy. This has been further highlighted by Mr. Hatoyama’s re-examination of a secret agreement between the LDP and the U.S. over a subject that is highly sensitive in the only country to fall victim to nuclear attack — the storage or trans-shipment of U.S. nuclear weapons in Japan.
Against this background, New Delhi must be pleased that Mr. Hatoyama’s visit signals continuity in Tokyo’s India policy. It also shows that at a time when Asia is in transition, with the spectre of power disequilibrium looming large, Tokyo wishes to invest in closer economic and strategic bonds with India.
As Asia’s first modern economic success story, Japan has always inspired other Asian states. Now, with the emergence of new economic tigers and the ascent of China and India, Asia is collectively bouncing back from nearly two centuries of historical decline.
The most far-reaching but least-noticed development in Asia in the new century has been Japan’s political resurgence — a trend set in motion by Mr. Koizumi and expected to be accelerated by Mr. Hatoyama’s efforts to realign the relationship with the U.S. With Japanese pride and assertiveness rising, the nationalist impulse has become conspicuous at a time when China is headed to overtake Japan as the world’s second largest economy by the end of next year.
Long used to practising passive, cheque-book diplomacy, Tokyo now seems intent on influencing Asia’s power balance. A series of subtle moves has signalled Japan’s aim to break out of its post-war pacifist cocoon. One sign is the emphasis on defence modernisation. Japan’s navy, except in the nuclear sphere, is already the most sophisticated and powerful in Asia. China’s rise has prompted Japan to strengthen its military alliance with the U.S. But in the long run, Japan is likely to move to a more independent security posture.
Although the two demographic titans, China and India, loom large in popular perceptions on where Asia is headed economically, the much-smaller Japan is likely to remain a global economic powerhouse for the foreseeable future. Given the size of Japan’s economy — its GDP was just under $5 trillion in 2008 — annual Japanese growth of just 2 per cent translates into about $100 billion a year in additional output, or nearly the entire annual GDP of small economies like Singapore and the Philippines. Still, given China’s rapid economic strides, Japan has been readying itself for the day when it is eclipsed economically by its neighbour.
Leading-edge technologies and a commitment to craftsmanship are expected to power Japan’s future prosperity, just as they did its past growth. Its competitive edge, however, is threatened by the economic and social implications of a declining birth-rate and ageing population. With a fertility rate of just 1.37 babies per woman in 2008 — America’s is 2.12 — Japanese deaths have started surpassing births in recent years. Permitting immigration on a large scale is no easy task for the Japanese homogenised society. But just as Japan has come to live with the discomforting fact that today’s top sumo wrestlers are not Japanese, it will have to open its research institutions and factories to foreigners in order to raise productivity.
India and Japan, although dissimilar economically, have a lot in common politically. They are Asia’s largest democracies, but with messy politics and endemic scandals. Mr. Hatoyama, in office for just three months, has already come under pressure following the indictment of two former secretaries over a funding scandal. In both Japan and India, the Prime Minister is not the most powerful politician in his own party. Fractured politics in both countries crimps their ability to think and act long term. Yet, just as India has progressed from doctrinaire nonalignment to geopolitical pragmatism, Japan — the “Land of the Rising Sun” — is moving toward greater realism in its economic and foreign policies.
Their growing congruence of strategic interests led to the 2008 Japan-India security agreement, a significant milestone in building Asian power stability. A constellation of Asian states linked by strategic cooperation and sharing common interests is becoming critical to ensuring equilibrium at a time when major shifts in economic and political power are accentuating Asia’s security challenges. After all, not only is Asia becoming the pivot of global geopolitical change, but Asian challenges are also playing into international strategic challenges.
The Indo-Japanese security agreement, signed when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visited Tokyo in October 2008, was modelled on the March 2007 Australia-Japan defence accord. Now the Indo-Japanese security agreement has spawned a similar Indo-Australian accord, signed when Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd came to New Delhi last month. As a result, the structure and even large parts of the content of the three security agreements — between Japan and Australia, India and Japan, and India and Australia — are alike.
Actually, all three are in the form of a joint declaration on security cooperation. And all of them, while recognising a common commitment to democracy, freedom, human rights and the rule of law, obligate their signatories to work together to build not just bilateral defence cooperation, but also security in Asia. They are designed as agreements to enhance mutual security between equals. By contrast, the U.S.-India defence agreement, with its emphasis on arms sales, force interoperability and intelligence sharing — elements not found is Australia-Japan, India-Japan and India-Australia accords — is aimed more at undergirding U.S. interests.
The key point is that the path has been opened to adding strategic content to the Indo-Japanese relationship, underscored by the growing number of bilateral visits by top defence and military officials. As part of their “strategic and global partnership,” India and Japan are working on joint initiatives on maritime security, counterterrorism, counter-proliferation, disaster prevention and management, and energy security. But they need to go much further.
India and Japan, for example, must co-develop defence systems. India and Japan have missile-defence cooperation with Israel and the U.S., respectively. There is no reason why they should not work together on missile defence and on other technologies for mutual defence. There is no ban on weapon exports in Japan’s U.S.-imposed Constitution, only a long-standing Cabinet decision. That ban has been loosened, with Tokyo in recent years inserting elasticity to export weapons for peacekeeping operations, counterterrorism and anti-piracy. The original Cabinet decision, in any event, relates to weapons, not technologies.
As two legitimate aspirants to new permanent seats at the U.N. Security Council, India and Japan should work together to persuade existing veto holders to allow the Council’s long-pending reform. They must try to convince China in particular that Asian peace and stability would be better served if all three major powers in Asia are in the Council as permanent members. Never before have China, Japan and India all been strong at the same time. Today, they need to find ways to reconcile their interests in Asia so that they can coexist peacefully and prosper.
(Brahma Chellaney is professor of strategic studies at the Centre for Policy Research in New Delhi and the author of Asian Juggernaut: The Rise of China, India and Japan, with a new U.S. edition scheduled for release in March.)
Brahma Chellaney
Given that the balance of power in Asia will be determined by events as much in the Indian Ocean rim as in East Asia, India and Japan have to work together to promote peace and stability.
The visit of the new Japanese Prime Minister, Yukio Hatoyama, is part of Japan’s growing economic and strategic engagement with India. Japan and India indeed are natural allies because they have no conflict of strategic interest and actually share common goals to build stability, power equilibrium and institutionalised multilateral cooperation in Asia. There is neither any negative historical legacy nor a single outstanding political issue between them. If anything, each country enjoys a high positive rating with the public in the other state.
Mr. Hatoyama’s year-end visit, fulfilling a bilateral commitment to hold an annual summit meeting, shows he is keen to maintain the priority on closer engagement with India that was set in motion by his predecessors, Junichiro Koizumi, Shinzo Abe and Taro Aso of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), now in the opposition. Mr. Hatoyama came to office vowing to reorient Japanese foreign policy and seek an “equal” relationship with the United States. But he and his Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) had said little on India.
Today, just when America’s Sino-centric Asia policy has became unmistakable, Mr. Hatoyama’s government has put Washington on notice that Japan cannot indefinitely remain a faithful servant of U.S. policies. With Tokyo seeking to rework a 2006 basing deal with the U.S., besides announcing an end to the eight-year-old Indian Ocean refuelling mission in support of the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan, Japan no longer can be regarded as a constant in America’s Asia policy. This has been further highlighted by Mr. Hatoyama’s re-examination of a secret agreement between the LDP and the U.S. over a subject that is highly sensitive in the only country to fall victim to nuclear attack — the storage or trans-shipment of U.S. nuclear weapons in Japan.
Against this background, New Delhi must be pleased that Mr. Hatoyama’s visit signals continuity in Tokyo’s India policy. It also shows that at a time when Asia is in transition, with the spectre of power disequilibrium looming large, Tokyo wishes to invest in closer economic and strategic bonds with India.
As Asia’s first modern economic success story, Japan has always inspired other Asian states. Now, with the emergence of new economic tigers and the ascent of China and India, Asia is collectively bouncing back from nearly two centuries of historical decline.
The most far-reaching but least-noticed development in Asia in the new century has been Japan’s political resurgence — a trend set in motion by Mr. Koizumi and expected to be accelerated by Mr. Hatoyama’s efforts to realign the relationship with the U.S. With Japanese pride and assertiveness rising, the nationalist impulse has become conspicuous at a time when China is headed to overtake Japan as the world’s second largest economy by the end of next year.
Long used to practising passive, cheque-book diplomacy, Tokyo now seems intent on influencing Asia’s power balance. A series of subtle moves has signalled Japan’s aim to break out of its post-war pacifist cocoon. One sign is the emphasis on defence modernisation. Japan’s navy, except in the nuclear sphere, is already the most sophisticated and powerful in Asia. China’s rise has prompted Japan to strengthen its military alliance with the U.S. But in the long run, Japan is likely to move to a more independent security posture.
Although the two demographic titans, China and India, loom large in popular perceptions on where Asia is headed economically, the much-smaller Japan is likely to remain a global economic powerhouse for the foreseeable future. Given the size of Japan’s economy — its GDP was just under $5 trillion in 2008 — annual Japanese growth of just 2 per cent translates into about $100 billion a year in additional output, or nearly the entire annual GDP of small economies like Singapore and the Philippines. Still, given China’s rapid economic strides, Japan has been readying itself for the day when it is eclipsed economically by its neighbour.
Leading-edge technologies and a commitment to craftsmanship are expected to power Japan’s future prosperity, just as they did its past growth. Its competitive edge, however, is threatened by the economic and social implications of a declining birth-rate and ageing population. With a fertility rate of just 1.37 babies per woman in 2008 — America’s is 2.12 — Japanese deaths have started surpassing births in recent years. Permitting immigration on a large scale is no easy task for the Japanese homogenised society. But just as Japan has come to live with the discomforting fact that today’s top sumo wrestlers are not Japanese, it will have to open its research institutions and factories to foreigners in order to raise productivity.
India and Japan, although dissimilar economically, have a lot in common politically. They are Asia’s largest democracies, but with messy politics and endemic scandals. Mr. Hatoyama, in office for just three months, has already come under pressure following the indictment of two former secretaries over a funding scandal. In both Japan and India, the Prime Minister is not the most powerful politician in his own party. Fractured politics in both countries crimps their ability to think and act long term. Yet, just as India has progressed from doctrinaire nonalignment to geopolitical pragmatism, Japan — the “Land of the Rising Sun” — is moving toward greater realism in its economic and foreign policies.
Their growing congruence of strategic interests led to the 2008 Japan-India security agreement, a significant milestone in building Asian power stability. A constellation of Asian states linked by strategic cooperation and sharing common interests is becoming critical to ensuring equilibrium at a time when major shifts in economic and political power are accentuating Asia’s security challenges. After all, not only is Asia becoming the pivot of global geopolitical change, but Asian challenges are also playing into international strategic challenges.
The Indo-Japanese security agreement, signed when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visited Tokyo in October 2008, was modelled on the March 2007 Australia-Japan defence accord. Now the Indo-Japanese security agreement has spawned a similar Indo-Australian accord, signed when Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd came to New Delhi last month. As a result, the structure and even large parts of the content of the three security agreements — between Japan and Australia, India and Japan, and India and Australia — are alike.
Actually, all three are in the form of a joint declaration on security cooperation. And all of them, while recognising a common commitment to democracy, freedom, human rights and the rule of law, obligate their signatories to work together to build not just bilateral defence cooperation, but also security in Asia. They are designed as agreements to enhance mutual security between equals. By contrast, the U.S.-India defence agreement, with its emphasis on arms sales, force interoperability and intelligence sharing — elements not found is Australia-Japan, India-Japan and India-Australia accords — is aimed more at undergirding U.S. interests.
The key point is that the path has been opened to adding strategic content to the Indo-Japanese relationship, underscored by the growing number of bilateral visits by top defence and military officials. As part of their “strategic and global partnership,” India and Japan are working on joint initiatives on maritime security, counterterrorism, counter-proliferation, disaster prevention and management, and energy security. But they need to go much further.
India and Japan, for example, must co-develop defence systems. India and Japan have missile-defence cooperation with Israel and the U.S., respectively. There is no reason why they should not work together on missile defence and on other technologies for mutual defence. There is no ban on weapon exports in Japan’s U.S.-imposed Constitution, only a long-standing Cabinet decision. That ban has been loosened, with Tokyo in recent years inserting elasticity to export weapons for peacekeeping operations, counterterrorism and anti-piracy. The original Cabinet decision, in any event, relates to weapons, not technologies.
As two legitimate aspirants to new permanent seats at the U.N. Security Council, India and Japan should work together to persuade existing veto holders to allow the Council’s long-pending reform. They must try to convince China in particular that Asian peace and stability would be better served if all three major powers in Asia are in the Council as permanent members. Never before have China, Japan and India all been strong at the same time. Today, they need to find ways to reconcile their interests in Asia so that they can coexist peacefully and prosper.
(Brahma Chellaney is professor of strategic studies at the Centre for Policy Research in New Delhi and the author of Asian Juggernaut: The Rise of China, India and Japan, with a new U.S. edition scheduled for release in March.)
FIR must for all complaints
Delhi circular after Ruchika tragedy
ANANYA SENGUPTA
New Delhi, Dec. 28: Police will now have to file an FIR on every complaint, the Union home ministry said today, ending the decades-old practice of lodging general diaries that allowed the law-keepers to sit on complaints without investigation.
The move is a fallout of the high-profile Ruchika Girhotra molestation case where Haryana police had initially refused to file an FIR (first information report), apparently because the accused was a senior officer.
The ministry is expected to send a circular to all the states by early next week, making it mandatory for station house officers to register FIRs on virtually every complaint. The SHOs must also state their reasons for registering any FIR —or not registering one if they felt a complaint was obviously false — to their superiors in writing, sources said.
The police can therefore no longer use the device of the diary, where they jotted down complaints and forgot all about them. Registering an FIR means the police must report to a magistrate, who then monitors the progress of investigation. The case cannot be closed without the magistrate’s permission.
A diary allows the police to avoid the trouble of investigation, arrests, chargesheets and prosecution.
From now on, sources said, even if a complaint is false, the police will be expected to probe it before they drop it.
Indian police are notorious for refusing to lodge FIRs, especially if the complainants are poor, as in the Nithari serial child rapes and murders. (See chart)
A Right to Information application from an NGO has forced Delhi police to admit lodging FIRs in only 9.5 per cent of child disappearances even after Nithari. The NGO has also found out that less than 12 per cent rape complaints are turned into FIRs. This despite victims’ families often sitting in front of police stations for hours — even days — imploring the cops to act.
Neetu Srivastav, a day labourer in Ghaziabad, told The Telegraph that for the past one year, she had been travelling to the local police station every day and pleading in vain for an FIR to be filed to trace her missing daughter Pallavi, now 14. Another RTI plea has found out that at least 800 complainants in Lucknow had to fight court cases to get FIRs registered in 2006 and 2007.
Under the Raj, almost every complaint was expected to lead to an FIR but practices changed as cases burgeoned after Independence.
Delhi circular after Ruchika tragedy
ANANYA SENGUPTA
New Delhi, Dec. 28: Police will now have to file an FIR on every complaint, the Union home ministry said today, ending the decades-old practice of lodging general diaries that allowed the law-keepers to sit on complaints without investigation.
The move is a fallout of the high-profile Ruchika Girhotra molestation case where Haryana police had initially refused to file an FIR (first information report), apparently because the accused was a senior officer.
The ministry is expected to send a circular to all the states by early next week, making it mandatory for station house officers to register FIRs on virtually every complaint. The SHOs must also state their reasons for registering any FIR —or not registering one if they felt a complaint was obviously false — to their superiors in writing, sources said.
The police can therefore no longer use the device of the diary, where they jotted down complaints and forgot all about them. Registering an FIR means the police must report to a magistrate, who then monitors the progress of investigation. The case cannot be closed without the magistrate’s permission.
A diary allows the police to avoid the trouble of investigation, arrests, chargesheets and prosecution.
From now on, sources said, even if a complaint is false, the police will be expected to probe it before they drop it.
Indian police are notorious for refusing to lodge FIRs, especially if the complainants are poor, as in the Nithari serial child rapes and murders. (See chart)
A Right to Information application from an NGO has forced Delhi police to admit lodging FIRs in only 9.5 per cent of child disappearances even after Nithari. The NGO has also found out that less than 12 per cent rape complaints are turned into FIRs. This despite victims’ families often sitting in front of police stations for hours — even days — imploring the cops to act.
Neetu Srivastav, a day labourer in Ghaziabad, told The Telegraph that for the past one year, she had been travelling to the local police station every day and pleading in vain for an FIR to be filed to trace her missing daughter Pallavi, now 14. Another RTI plea has found out that at least 800 complainants in Lucknow had to fight court cases to get FIRs registered in 2006 and 2007.
Under the Raj, almost every complaint was expected to lead to an FIR but practices changed as cases burgeoned after Independence.
Plains groups get ready to bust blockades
- 48 hrs for govt to act against protesters
Source:Telegraph
Vidyarthi Morcha members at the four-hour road blockade at Sevoke Bazar on NH31, around 15km from Siliguri, on Monday. Picture by Kundan Yolmo
Siliguri, Dec. 28: Anti-Gorkhaland forces today threatened to remove by force blockades set up by the Gorkha Janmukti Vidyarthi Morcha if the government did not intervene within 48 hours. The threat comes as the hill outfit picketed on three national highways for the third day today.
“It is surprising to see that the state government is sitting idle, albeit witnessing the inconvenience faced by thousands of people in the past two days,” said Mukunda Majumdar, the president of Bangla O Bangla Bhasa Bachao Committee.
“They have made some arrests in Alipurduar but not in Darjeeling district. Nothing has been done so far to deter the Morcha supporters from blocking the highways and the rail tracks. We want to make it clear that if the state government continues to remain silent for another two days and similar blockades continue, we will organise rallies and reach the spots to clear the roads and rail routes on our own.”
Much like yesterday, the blockades continued on NH55 at Panchnoi, located on the outskirts of Siliguri, while NH31 and NH31A were blocked at Sevoke Bazar, Sevoke Coronation Bridge and Rangpo. The bridge is the junction of NH31 leading to the Northeast and NH31A that connects Gangtok.
Some supporters sat on the level crossing in Sevoke Bazar. Trains running on this route from 12 noon to 4pm were halted at some stations.
Morcha supporters lay siege to the Darjeeling police station on Monday. Picture by Suman Tamang
“We have come to know of the blockade and thus, trains are being regulated and detained at different stations like Katihar, New Jalpaiguri and Siliguri Junction. This will make the trains run late by three to four hours,” said G.D. Mondal, the station manager of New Jalpaiguri.
According to Northeast Frontier Railway sources, at least three long-distance Up trains — Mahananda Express, Capital Express and the Ranchi-Alipurduar Express — were affected because of the blockade, as were the local trains that ply between New Jalpaiguri and Alipurduar.
All three express trains that take the Dooars track from Siliguri Junction station between 12 noon and 3pm and enter Alipurduar within 4pm to 6pm were delayed by four hours.
“There wasn’t any need to reach home early but I had to take a vehicle from Siliguri at 8 in the morning just to escape the blockade and reach Kalimpong before noon,” said Supriya Poudyal, a resident of the hill town.
Sikkim Nationalised Transport buses plying from Siliguri to the Himalayan state left by 9.30am.
“Normally the buses leave at hourly intervals from 7am and the last bus from here departs at 1.30pm. Since yesterday, we have been sending all the buses by 9.30 in the morning so that they cross Rangpo by 11am. There is no dearth of passengers though, as they arrived here early so as not to miss the buses. Some of the buses coming here from Sikkim were stranded in the blockade yesterday,” said Tulsi Prasad Sharma, the traffic inspector of SNT in Siliguri.
Tour operators said visitors on packages were leaving ahead of schedule. “Four to five groups of tourists who had opted for three and four day tour packages left a day early as they apprehended problems in the region. A honeymoon couple from Mumbai missed their train to Calcutta yesterday because they were stranded at Rangpo. They took a bus to Calcutta instead. The Christmas and New Year week is a peak tourist season and strikes and these blockades hamper tourism,” said Bhaichung Bhutia, the sales-manager of Blue Sky Tours and Travels in Gangtok.
Keshav Raj Pokhrel, the general secretary of the Vidyarthi Morcha, said the blockade would be for five hours from tomorrow from 10am to 3pm, as a mark of protest for arrests made in Dalsinghpara.
Asked about Sikkim, he said: “We have nothing against Sikkim but incidentally, a portion of NH31A comes under our proposed territory of Gorkhaland. We have no alternative but to raise blockades.”
- 48 hrs for govt to act against protesters
Source:Telegraph
Vidyarthi Morcha members at the four-hour road blockade at Sevoke Bazar on NH31, around 15km from Siliguri, on Monday. Picture by Kundan Yolmo
Siliguri, Dec. 28: Anti-Gorkhaland forces today threatened to remove by force blockades set up by the Gorkha Janmukti Vidyarthi Morcha if the government did not intervene within 48 hours. The threat comes as the hill outfit picketed on three national highways for the third day today.
“It is surprising to see that the state government is sitting idle, albeit witnessing the inconvenience faced by thousands of people in the past two days,” said Mukunda Majumdar, the president of Bangla O Bangla Bhasa Bachao Committee.
“They have made some arrests in Alipurduar but not in Darjeeling district. Nothing has been done so far to deter the Morcha supporters from blocking the highways and the rail tracks. We want to make it clear that if the state government continues to remain silent for another two days and similar blockades continue, we will organise rallies and reach the spots to clear the roads and rail routes on our own.”
Much like yesterday, the blockades continued on NH55 at Panchnoi, located on the outskirts of Siliguri, while NH31 and NH31A were blocked at Sevoke Bazar, Sevoke Coronation Bridge and Rangpo. The bridge is the junction of NH31 leading to the Northeast and NH31A that connects Gangtok.
Some supporters sat on the level crossing in Sevoke Bazar. Trains running on this route from 12 noon to 4pm were halted at some stations.
Morcha supporters lay siege to the Darjeeling police station on Monday. Picture by Suman Tamang
“We have come to know of the blockade and thus, trains are being regulated and detained at different stations like Katihar, New Jalpaiguri and Siliguri Junction. This will make the trains run late by three to four hours,” said G.D. Mondal, the station manager of New Jalpaiguri.
According to Northeast Frontier Railway sources, at least three long-distance Up trains — Mahananda Express, Capital Express and the Ranchi-Alipurduar Express — were affected because of the blockade, as were the local trains that ply between New Jalpaiguri and Alipurduar.
All three express trains that take the Dooars track from Siliguri Junction station between 12 noon and 3pm and enter Alipurduar within 4pm to 6pm were delayed by four hours.
“There wasn’t any need to reach home early but I had to take a vehicle from Siliguri at 8 in the morning just to escape the blockade and reach Kalimpong before noon,” said Supriya Poudyal, a resident of the hill town.
Sikkim Nationalised Transport buses plying from Siliguri to the Himalayan state left by 9.30am.
“Normally the buses leave at hourly intervals from 7am and the last bus from here departs at 1.30pm. Since yesterday, we have been sending all the buses by 9.30 in the morning so that they cross Rangpo by 11am. There is no dearth of passengers though, as they arrived here early so as not to miss the buses. Some of the buses coming here from Sikkim were stranded in the blockade yesterday,” said Tulsi Prasad Sharma, the traffic inspector of SNT in Siliguri.
Tour operators said visitors on packages were leaving ahead of schedule. “Four to five groups of tourists who had opted for three and four day tour packages left a day early as they apprehended problems in the region. A honeymoon couple from Mumbai missed their train to Calcutta yesterday because they were stranded at Rangpo. They took a bus to Calcutta instead. The Christmas and New Year week is a peak tourist season and strikes and these blockades hamper tourism,” said Bhaichung Bhutia, the sales-manager of Blue Sky Tours and Travels in Gangtok.
Keshav Raj Pokhrel, the general secretary of the Vidyarthi Morcha, said the blockade would be for five hours from tomorrow from 10am to 3pm, as a mark of protest for arrests made in Dalsinghpara.
Asked about Sikkim, he said: “We have nothing against Sikkim but incidentally, a portion of NH31A comes under our proposed territory of Gorkhaland. We have no alternative but to raise blockades.”
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Do you believe economic numbers coming out of China?
If yes, the dragon nation has just displaced Japan to become the world's second largest economy. The 2009 GDP numbers for China are likely to be US$ 4.75 trillion. This will be around 3% higher than Japan's GDP.
So, what has helped China outpace Japan in the GDP race? Call it the former's abundant natural resources and low cost manufacturing for all items ranging from toys to airplanes.
China is now eyeing the top spot that is currently occupied by the US. But our calculations show that it will take around 20 years for it to catch up with the latter. This is when Chinese economy continues to grow at 8% per year while the US manages a mere 2% annual GDP growth.
Data: CIA Factbook
And where does India stand in this race? If our economy were to grow by around 7.5% consistently for the next 20 years, we will just reach where China is today! So there's a long-long way to go.
If yes, the dragon nation has just displaced Japan to become the world's second largest economy. The 2009 GDP numbers for China are likely to be US$ 4.75 trillion. This will be around 3% higher than Japan's GDP.
So, what has helped China outpace Japan in the GDP race? Call it the former's abundant natural resources and low cost manufacturing for all items ranging from toys to airplanes.
China is now eyeing the top spot that is currently occupied by the US. But our calculations show that it will take around 20 years for it to catch up with the latter. This is when Chinese economy continues to grow at 8% per year while the US manages a mere 2% annual GDP growth.
Data: CIA Factbook
And where does India stand in this race? If our economy were to grow by around 7.5% consistently for the next 20 years, we will just reach where China is today! So there's a long-long way to go.
2009: Report Card of Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region.
2009: Report Card of Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region.
During the year 2009, the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region has carried forward its commitment to the people of North East for overall development of the Region. The Ministry has taken many new initiatives for development of the North East Region.
In the month of January, the 5th Plenary Session of North Eastern Council was held at New Delhi under the Chairmanship of Shri Mani Shankar Aiyar, the Minister for DoNER, also Chairman, North East Council, NEC. The Governors and Chief Ministers of North Eastern States, Members of NEC, Planning Commission and State Governments of the North Eastern Region participated. Various issues related to the development of North Eastern Region were discussed. Some of the decisions taken include:
(i) The proposed 11th Five Year Plan of the North Eastern Council could be redrafted by incorporating the views of Member States.
(ii) The NEC should directly negotiate with Air India to work out for the dedicated airlines in the North Eastern Region.
(iii) It was decided to take up the scheme for promotion of art and culture in the NEC plan in October, 2009.
(iv) The Council endorsed the report of the task force and advised that North Eastern Council Secretariat and Ministry of DoNER should process the recommendations with the concerned authorities in Government of India.
(v) NEC needs to earmark funds in their Plan for engagement of consultants for preparation of DPRs for various development projects.
(vi) NEC should be adequately strengthened so as to act a statutory body for regional planning.
A meeting to review the progress made by the Nodal Officers of the Ministry with the line Ministries/Departments was taken by the Minister for DoNER. The issues discussed and decisions taken include :
(i) Line Ministries may be requested to nominate one Nodal Officers from each Ministry/Department so as to enable Nodal Officers of Ministry of DoNER to liaison in a focused manner with the concerned officers of that Ministry/Department.
(ii) The Nodal Officers should collect information relating to major schemes/programmes being implemented by the line Ministries/Departments under 10% of their GBS.
(iii) Ministries and Departments which are not exempted from spending/earmarking 10% of their GBS for NE Region as also important activities of those who are exempted from this clause such as Department of Atomic Energy & Space should be enlisted and progress may be reviewed.
During the month, an amount of Rs. 32.39 crore was released under NLCPR Programme of the Ministry to the North Eastern States for several infrastructure projects.
In the month of February, Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) in its endeavour to attract investment and forge linkages in critical sectors like infrastructure, agro-industries, tourism, commerce & industry in the North Eastern Region held ASEAN-North East India Investment & Trade Opportunities Summit at Ho-Chi-Minh City (HCMC), Vietnam from 12th to 14th February, 2009. It is in the series of such events held earlier- North East Investment Opportunities Week from 1st-4th October, 2007 at Bangkok and North East India Investment Conference on 26th September, 2007 at New York as a part of India@60 event.
The HCMC Summit which was organized by M/o DoNER partnering with Indian Chambers of Commerce (ICC), Kolkata, was attended by 140 participants from India and nearly 200 participants from Vietnam and neighbouring ASEAN countries. The Govt. of India delegation was led by Secretary, M/o DoNER and attended by Ministers from Sikkim, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland. Ministers from Cambodia and Vietnam also participated along with their officials. Representatives of State Governments, Central Organisations, PSUs, entrepreneurs from India and Vietnam and business chambers-Vietnam Chambers of Commerce, Taiwan Chambers of Commerce in Vietnam, Ambassador of India and Indian Consul General in Vietnam, Asian Development Bank (ADB), North Eastern Council (NEC) and Cane & Bamboo Technology Centre (CBTC) also participated in the Summit.
The Summit ended with high note of optimism wherein 10 MOUs were signed and 60 positive Expression of Interests (EOIs) were received by ICC, Kolkata. The major areas included construction, tourism, agro-products, handloom & handicrafts sector, power generation, packaging, IT & IT-Enabled Services, health services and consultancy firms. Mr. Sok Sopheak, Director General of International Trade, Ministry of Commerce, Govt. of Cambodia, mentioned that India is 7th largest trading partner of ASEAN and trade volume during 2007 was to the tune of US$ 640 billions. He suggested that simplification of procedures for trade, tourism, aviation and visa should be considered to upscale the gains of this Summit.
On the sidelines of the Summit, there was a meeting on Cambodia-Laos-Vietnam Development Triangle (CLV-DT) in the afternoon of 14th February, 2009 which was the second day of the Summit. It was chaired by Shri Jarnail Singh, the then Secretary, DoNER and attended by Ministers from Sikkim, Mizoram, Meghalaya and officials from state governments. Cambodia was represented by Mr. Sok Sopheak, Director General of International Trade, Ministry of Commerce, Govt. of Cambodia and Vietnam was represented by Mr. Tran Quan Huy, Deputy Director General, South-West Asia & Africa Deptt., Ministry of Industry & Trade, Govt. of Vietnam. The Joint Statement which was signed on 21st January, 2009 between H.E. Mr. Cham Prasidh, Senior Minister of Commerce, Cambodia and Shri Mani Shankar Aiyar, the Minister for DoNER, Panchayati Raj & Chairman, NEC, was discussed.
A meeting was chaired by Secretary, DoNER on 17th February, 2009 with Heads of Missions of some of the Latin American and Caribbean countries to acquaint them about possible linkages in handicraft & handloom sector as it exist in the North Eastern Region. The Ambassadors of Brazil, Venezuela, Paraguay and Peru and representatives from Uruguay, Dominican Republic and Ecuador participated in the meeting. A presentation was given about the efforts being made by North Eastern Handloom & Handicrafts Development Corporation (NEHHDC) highlighting the strengths of the 8 North Eastern states. Having regard to the vibrant handicraft & handlooms industry which is based on natural produces, possibilities were expressed to take R&D and exchange programmes with some of the Latin American countries which have striking similarities in certain produces. A consensus emerged amongst the foreign dignitaries to visit North Eastern Region to assess the potential of the region for such partnership in future. Ministry of DoNER and NEHHDC will provide logistic support and facilitate such visit which may take place in next couple of months.
A North East Trade Expo was held in New Delhi. The Expo was sponsored by Ministry of DoNER and organized by National Small Industries Corporation (NSIC), a PSU under Ministry of Medium & Small Enterprises (MSME). Another Expo which was 3rd in the series, was held at Hyderabad from 19th February, 2009 to 1st March, 2009, organized by North East Handloom & Handicrafts Corporation Ltd. (NEHHDC). The main objectives of the Expos is to provide as exclusive platform to all the NE states to showcase their unique products to discerning national and international clientele and to open new avenues for trade, commerce and investment opportunities. The Expo also portrays the Region in a positive light, displaying its diverse strength, tourism potential, etc. Till 2006, the NE Trade Expo was conducted as a single event organized by the India Trade Promotion Organization (ITPO) at Pragati Maidan during March every year.
The NLCPR Committee of the Ministry approved 40 projects in the 8 North Eastern States with an estimated cost of Rs. 401,73 crore. An amount of Rs. 73.59 crore was released during February, 2009 to the North Eastern States under NLCPR Scheme
In the month of March, the Minister for DoNER held extensive discussions with the officials of the Ministry on 24th – 25th March, 2009 and reviewed the progress made in streamlining mandatory allocation/spending by Central Ministries in the North Eastern Region. As part of this process, 25 Ministries (out of a total of 50 such Ministries) have already nominated issues such as progress on NER Vision 2020, setting up of a world-class Music School, Finance Minister’s Rs. 500 crore Package for the NER and other pressing matter were discussed.
It was informed several Heads of Missions from Nordic countries, Czech Republic, Italy, Latin American and Caribbean countries has visited in the past and this Ministry has coordinated these visits with appropriate support. More recently, British High Commissioner – Sir Richard Stagg visited North East and Indian Chambers of Commerce (ICC), Kolkata was asked by us to coordinate the visit. The High Commissioner spoke about combating climate change, creation of knowledge economy, development of which are playing a bigger role in the economy than ever. The ASEAN Ambassadors from Indonesia, Brunei Darussalam and Cambodia have visited Assam and Tripura from 23-27 March, 2009.
The Ministry’s initiative to promote tourism in the North East through several relaxations made for government employees to visit North East on Leave Travel Concession (LTC) orders for which were issued on 2nd May, 2008, has brought extremely positive results as the Region has so far seen unprecedented number of visitors which has exceeded 4 Lakh government employees and their family members to the North Eastern Region. From very modest assessment, nearly Rs. 40 crore have gone into the Region through these travelers directly to the humble segments of the Region comprising taxi owners, drives, tour guides, dhaba and tea-stall vendors, hotel proprietors and so on. It also gave fillip to the mushrooming of tourism infrastructure as can be seen at Tawanng which is now becoming a tourist hub of the Region.
One of the main constraints for the development of infrastructure in the region is lack of sufficient data. In this regard, the Ministry has taken up steps for computing district level infrastructure indices for the North Eastern States. The States have been requested to provide district-wise data on 16 broad indicators relating to infrastructure.
The Ministry has provided Rs. 25 crore to the Power Grid Corporation of India (PGCI) to prepare Detailed Project Report, DPRs for transmission, sub-transmission and distribution networks in the NER as a follow-up fo the decisions arrived at the Special Sectoral meeting on power sector held in Pasighat, Arunachal Pradesh.
The 67th Meeting of the Non-Lapsable Central Pool of Resources (NLCPR) Committee was held on 2nd March, 2009. The Committee recommended sanction of 17 new projects with an estimated cost of Rs. 150.63 crores. During the month, an amount of Rs. 244.94 crore was released to the North Eastern states for infrastructure under the NLCPR Scheme. Like previous year, the Ministry has been able to spend the budgeted amount of Rs. 660.39 cores during 2008-09 in the Scheme of NLCPR.
During the month of April, the Ministry is making efforts to harness the advantages offered by strategic location of the North-East Region as a bridgehead to the countries of South and Southeast Asia for the Region’s own economic development as well as that of the rest of the country. One of the tasks in this endeavour is the development of related infrastructure. In this regard, meetings were held with the representatives of the Central Ministries concerned and State Governments to lay down specific timeframes for development of various infrastructure activities. The important issues which were discussed included facilities at Land Custom Stations (LCSs), border trade through Integrated Check Posts (ICPs), and time frames for completion of ICPs, bus service to neighbouring countries, air connectivity, cultural contacts, arrangements for teaching Southeast Asian languages in the NE Universities and improvement in telecommunication and IT connectivity in NE region. The Ministries/Departments concerned and the State Governments have to take further necessary action in the matter.
During the month, action has been initiated for simplifying guidelines for sanction of schemes under Non-Lapsable Central Pool of Resources (NLCPR), release and utilization of funds by the states so as to increase the NLCPR fund utilization capacity.
The German Development Bank (Kfw) is considering extending a concessional loan for climate change adaptation projects for the North Eastern Region. The project profiles prepared by five North Eastern States namely Assam, Nagaland, Manipur, Tripura and Sikkim were discussed and forwarded to the Department of Economic Affairs, who are now awaiting the outcome of the Annual Indo-German Consultations, 2009 for further action.
The Ministry has reviewed the progress of the proposed North East Rural Livelihood Project to be funded in four States of Nalgaland, Mizoram, Sikkim and Tripura with the officials of the World Bank. The Ministry is in the process of setting up as autonomous society for detailed project preparation and implementation.
In the month of May, the newly appointed Minister for DoNER, Shri B.K. Handique, assumed the charge of the Ministry on 22nd May, 2009. Immediately after, he took a series of meeting with the officials of the Ministry and the North Eastern Council to get himself acquainted with the programmes of the Ministry. As per his directions the Ministry has organized a Conference of Chief Ministers and senior officials of the NE States and Central Ministries on 24th June, 2009 to discuss the strategy for the development of the NER. The Conference will also provide an opportunity for reviewing the existing guidelines and funding arrangements and implementation of various schemes such as works under NLCPR, NEC.
The NE Region does not merely suffer from inadequate physical communication but it lags behind the rest of the country in terms of telecommunication network. In this regard the Ministry had early organized a Special Summit on IT & Telecommunication sector at Kohima. Following up on the deliberations arrived at he Summit, a detailed presentation on Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) was arranged by the Ministry for the benefit of the North-East States. The States were requested to nominate a nodal officer and to provide logistics support to the DoT and BSNL for taking advantage of the USOF for expansion of tele-connectivity in the Region.
A joint team of officials of the World Bank, IFAD and this Ministry visited Kohima and Agartala to discuss with the respective State Governments the implementation arrangements for the North East Livelihood Project to be funded by the World Bank. The main feature of the Project is social and economic empowerment of rural communities. A similar project has earlier been implemented in some districts of Assam, Manipur and Meghalaya and has been a huge success.
At the initiative of the Ministry, the Central Government has relaxed LTC rules for Central Government employees availing LTC for traveling in the NER. The Ministry has now taken up the matter of allowing travel by helicopter by Govt. employees availing LTC for NE States for tourist places which are not properly connected.
In the month of June 2009, the Minister for DoNER, Shri B.K.Handique released the agenda of the Ministry for the first 100 days of the new Government. The agenda inter-alia includes taking measures to finalise new guidelines for NLCPR, enhancing connectivity in the NER, translating NER Vision 2020 into reality, to bring NER on forefront and overhauling the functioning of the organizations under the Ministry.
The Minister for DoNER has chaired a meeting of the Chief Ministers of the NE States at Shillong on 24th June 2009. The meeting was attended by the Chief Ministers of Meghalaya, Nagaland, Tripura, Manipur, senior Ministers and officials from the States and Central Ministries. The Agenda included the revision of NLCPR guidelines and procedures, objectives monitoring of the Projects included in the PM’s socio-economic packages announced from time-to-time for NE States and increasing fund absorption capacity of the NE States.
In the month of July, the Ministry has begun regular monitoring of its 100 day’s Agenda launched on 22nd June, 2009. In this regard, Minister, DoNER, has already held two meetings with the officials of the Ministry and its sister Organisations. Action points on each of the issues are being worked alongwith the time-lines.
The Ministry has submitted a proposal for the extensions of the North East Region Community Resource Management Project to the Planning Commission. It is now proposed to cover a total of 2200 villages in six districts of Meghalaya, Manipur and Assam, 2 districts of Arunachal Pradesh and 2 hill districts each in Manipur and Nagaland. The fund requirement would be Rs. 600 crore over a period of 6 years. The Planning Commission has suggested some modifications. The NEC is working on incorporating the suggestions of the Planning Commission where after the proposal would be resubmitted to them for in-principle approval.
The Ministry has identified a total of 15 projects (Assam-3, Arunachal Pradesh-2, Sikkim-2, Manipur-2, Tripura-1, Mizoram-1 & Meghalaya-2) involving a cost of Rs. 586 crore as a follow up of Union Finance Minister’s Special Provision of Rs. 500 crore for specific infrastructure projects in the NER in his Budget Speech of 2008-09. The States have been requested to submit concept notes on these projects so that “In principle” approval of the Planning Commission could be obtained. One project costing Rs. 26 crore pertaining to Arunachal Pradesh has already been approved on 2nd July, 2009 and an amount of Rs. 10 crore has been sanctioned as the first installment. Concept notes in respect of 4 other Projects have been received.
The Ministry has devised a format for the 27 important infrastructure projects identified in the NER by the PMO for reviewing their status.
In the month of August, 2009 to streamlining the process of sanction and completion of projects under Non-Lapsable Central Pool of Resources (NLCPR), the guidelines for administration of NLCPR have been revised and issued. The revised guidelines provide specific time limits for sanction of schemes, award of work by the State Governments and completion of projects in time. These guidelines were prepared based on the discussions held in the meeting of the Chief Ministers on 24th June 2009 at Shillong.
The Minister of DoNER reviewed the progress of two projects of Ministry of Water Resources on with Chairman, Brahmaputra Board and officials of Central Water Commission and Government of Assam. These two projects are included in the 27 infrastructure projects of NE Region which have been entrusted to this Ministry for monitoring under DMU by the PMO. Minister (DoNER) has also fixed a meeting on 8th September 2009 at Lumding for review of six projects of the Ministry of Railways which will be attended by representatives of Ministry of the Railways and Ministry of Home Affairs along with the representatives of the State Governments concerned.
Three meetings of the Non-Lapsable Central Pool of Resources (NLCPR) Committee took place during the month. Eleven infrastructure projects with a total approved cost of Rs. 190.52 crore were sanctioned under the Scheme for the NE States. Further, 63 projects with a tentative cost of Rs. 525.81 crore have been retained for techno-economic examination. The Ministry has released as amount of Rs. 62.79 crore during the month for different projects in the NER under NLCPR.
In the month of September, the Minister for DoNER took stock of the progress of important railway projects in the North-East Region, particularly the broad guage conversion of Lumding-Silchar-Jiribam railway line, at Lumding, Assam. The meeting was attended by senior officers of the Northeast Frontier Railways, DONER, Minister of Home Affairs, Government of Assam and security agencies.
The Lumding-Silchar-Jiribam guage project, sanctioned in 1996-97, was declared a National Project in 2004. The total length of the line is 368.48 km. The critical activities in the project include Dayang bridge, tunnel no. 10 between km 100.6 to 103.8, bridge no. 543 at km. 143.5 and bridge no. 572 on river Barak. Dayank bridge is the longest bridge in the section with span configuration of 11x61 mtr and pier height of 55 mtr. The longest tunnel in the section is tunnel no. 10 with a length of 3235 mtr.
The Minister for DoNER Shri B.K. Handique has emphasized the need to overcome all the hurdles with a view to complete the project by 2012.
A meeting was convened by the Secretary, Ministry of DoNER, to discuss the progress of implementation of PM’s Announcements pertaining to Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur and Tripura. He also took meetings to review the status of 27 key infrastructure projects identified by the PMO for expeditious implementations.
The Ministry has sanctioned eleven new infrastructure projects with a total approved cost of Rs. 91.57 crore during the month under NLCPR. An amount of 102.63 crore was released during this period of the NE States against the total budgetary provision of 700 crore under the Scheme. The Ministry has also retained 7 projects for techno-economic examination.
In the month of October, the Minister for DoNER reviewed the progress of implementation of important road sector projects being monitored by the Delivery Monitoring Unit in the PMO in a meeting on 28th October 2009. in addition, the progress of Special Accelerated Road Development Programme-NE (SARDP-NE) was also discussed.
The eight road sector projects in the 27 key infrastructure projects in the NER which are being monitored by the PMO are given below:
Trans-Arunachal Highway
Dhola-Sadiya bridge and Numali-Gohpur bridge (Assam)
Alternate route to Sikkim
Upgradation of NH-31-A to Gangtok
Lumal-Tashigong, Bile-Migging and Taliha-Tato roads (Arunachal Pradesh)
Four-laning of NH-37 on the Nagaon-Jorhat-Dibrugarh stretch
Upgradation of NH-52, NH-53 and NH-54
The main reasons of delay include issues relating to land acquisition, forest and environmental clearances, non-availability of resourceful contractors, inter-state coordination. It was decided that each of the issues would be taken at the appropriate level with the appropriate authority. This Ministry will also facilitate inter-state coordination and issuance of clearances.
The Ministry released an amount of Rs. 12.08 crore for different infrastructure projects in Assam and Nagaland during the month under its Scheme of Non-lapsable Central Pool of Resources. With this the cumulative releases for the financial year stand at Rs. 235 crore. With the recent streamlining of the NLCPR guidelines, the entire process of sanction and release is likely to get a fillip.
In the month of November, at the instance of the Ministry, the North East Development Finance Corporation (NEDFi) has taken a number of steps to harness the full potential of the upcoming Assam Gas Cracker Project. They have carried out an elaborate study proposing an Action Plan for promoting downstream plastic and allied industries in Assam and other States of the North East. The Ministry itself has trained a large number of youth in plastic technology and entrepreneurship and is, through NEC, exploring to set up a plastic park in the State of Assam.
The Ministry has prepared a document entitled “North Eastern Region District Infrastructure Index”. It provides a useful insight into intra-State and inter-State disparities within the NE Region and is proving to be quite handy in prioritizing projects under the Non-lapsable Central Pool of Resources. The document has also been circulated to the State Governments.
During the month, the Ministry has sanctioned 5 new projects with an approved cost of Rs. 31.38 crore under NLCPR. Apart from these, forty three projects, with a tentative cost of Rs. 534 crore, have been retained for techno-economic examination. An amount of Rs. 29.39 crore was release to the States during November 2009 under the scheme.
NSK/DB/AK
During the year 2009, the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region has carried forward its commitment to the people of North East for overall development of the Region. The Ministry has taken many new initiatives for development of the North East Region.
In the month of January, the 5th Plenary Session of North Eastern Council was held at New Delhi under the Chairmanship of Shri Mani Shankar Aiyar, the Minister for DoNER, also Chairman, North East Council, NEC. The Governors and Chief Ministers of North Eastern States, Members of NEC, Planning Commission and State Governments of the North Eastern Region participated. Various issues related to the development of North Eastern Region were discussed. Some of the decisions taken include:
(i) The proposed 11th Five Year Plan of the North Eastern Council could be redrafted by incorporating the views of Member States.
(ii) The NEC should directly negotiate with Air India to work out for the dedicated airlines in the North Eastern Region.
(iii) It was decided to take up the scheme for promotion of art and culture in the NEC plan in October, 2009.
(iv) The Council endorsed the report of the task force and advised that North Eastern Council Secretariat and Ministry of DoNER should process the recommendations with the concerned authorities in Government of India.
(v) NEC needs to earmark funds in their Plan for engagement of consultants for preparation of DPRs for various development projects.
(vi) NEC should be adequately strengthened so as to act a statutory body for regional planning.
A meeting to review the progress made by the Nodal Officers of the Ministry with the line Ministries/Departments was taken by the Minister for DoNER. The issues discussed and decisions taken include :
(i) Line Ministries may be requested to nominate one Nodal Officers from each Ministry/Department so as to enable Nodal Officers of Ministry of DoNER to liaison in a focused manner with the concerned officers of that Ministry/Department.
(ii) The Nodal Officers should collect information relating to major schemes/programmes being implemented by the line Ministries/Departments under 10% of their GBS.
(iii) Ministries and Departments which are not exempted from spending/earmarking 10% of their GBS for NE Region as also important activities of those who are exempted from this clause such as Department of Atomic Energy & Space should be enlisted and progress may be reviewed.
During the month, an amount of Rs. 32.39 crore was released under NLCPR Programme of the Ministry to the North Eastern States for several infrastructure projects.
In the month of February, Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) in its endeavour to attract investment and forge linkages in critical sectors like infrastructure, agro-industries, tourism, commerce & industry in the North Eastern Region held ASEAN-North East India Investment & Trade Opportunities Summit at Ho-Chi-Minh City (HCMC), Vietnam from 12th to 14th February, 2009. It is in the series of such events held earlier- North East Investment Opportunities Week from 1st-4th October, 2007 at Bangkok and North East India Investment Conference on 26th September, 2007 at New York as a part of India@60 event.
The HCMC Summit which was organized by M/o DoNER partnering with Indian Chambers of Commerce (ICC), Kolkata, was attended by 140 participants from India and nearly 200 participants from Vietnam and neighbouring ASEAN countries. The Govt. of India delegation was led by Secretary, M/o DoNER and attended by Ministers from Sikkim, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland. Ministers from Cambodia and Vietnam also participated along with their officials. Representatives of State Governments, Central Organisations, PSUs, entrepreneurs from India and Vietnam and business chambers-Vietnam Chambers of Commerce, Taiwan Chambers of Commerce in Vietnam, Ambassador of India and Indian Consul General in Vietnam, Asian Development Bank (ADB), North Eastern Council (NEC) and Cane & Bamboo Technology Centre (CBTC) also participated in the Summit.
The Summit ended with high note of optimism wherein 10 MOUs were signed and 60 positive Expression of Interests (EOIs) were received by ICC, Kolkata. The major areas included construction, tourism, agro-products, handloom & handicrafts sector, power generation, packaging, IT & IT-Enabled Services, health services and consultancy firms. Mr. Sok Sopheak, Director General of International Trade, Ministry of Commerce, Govt. of Cambodia, mentioned that India is 7th largest trading partner of ASEAN and trade volume during 2007 was to the tune of US$ 640 billions. He suggested that simplification of procedures for trade, tourism, aviation and visa should be considered to upscale the gains of this Summit.
On the sidelines of the Summit, there was a meeting on Cambodia-Laos-Vietnam Development Triangle (CLV-DT) in the afternoon of 14th February, 2009 which was the second day of the Summit. It was chaired by Shri Jarnail Singh, the then Secretary, DoNER and attended by Ministers from Sikkim, Mizoram, Meghalaya and officials from state governments. Cambodia was represented by Mr. Sok Sopheak, Director General of International Trade, Ministry of Commerce, Govt. of Cambodia and Vietnam was represented by Mr. Tran Quan Huy, Deputy Director General, South-West Asia & Africa Deptt., Ministry of Industry & Trade, Govt. of Vietnam. The Joint Statement which was signed on 21st January, 2009 between H.E. Mr. Cham Prasidh, Senior Minister of Commerce, Cambodia and Shri Mani Shankar Aiyar, the Minister for DoNER, Panchayati Raj & Chairman, NEC, was discussed.
A meeting was chaired by Secretary, DoNER on 17th February, 2009 with Heads of Missions of some of the Latin American and Caribbean countries to acquaint them about possible linkages in handicraft & handloom sector as it exist in the North Eastern Region. The Ambassadors of Brazil, Venezuela, Paraguay and Peru and representatives from Uruguay, Dominican Republic and Ecuador participated in the meeting. A presentation was given about the efforts being made by North Eastern Handloom & Handicrafts Development Corporation (NEHHDC) highlighting the strengths of the 8 North Eastern states. Having regard to the vibrant handicraft & handlooms industry which is based on natural produces, possibilities were expressed to take R&D and exchange programmes with some of the Latin American countries which have striking similarities in certain produces. A consensus emerged amongst the foreign dignitaries to visit North Eastern Region to assess the potential of the region for such partnership in future. Ministry of DoNER and NEHHDC will provide logistic support and facilitate such visit which may take place in next couple of months.
A North East Trade Expo was held in New Delhi. The Expo was sponsored by Ministry of DoNER and organized by National Small Industries Corporation (NSIC), a PSU under Ministry of Medium & Small Enterprises (MSME). Another Expo which was 3rd in the series, was held at Hyderabad from 19th February, 2009 to 1st March, 2009, organized by North East Handloom & Handicrafts Corporation Ltd. (NEHHDC). The main objectives of the Expos is to provide as exclusive platform to all the NE states to showcase their unique products to discerning national and international clientele and to open new avenues for trade, commerce and investment opportunities. The Expo also portrays the Region in a positive light, displaying its diverse strength, tourism potential, etc. Till 2006, the NE Trade Expo was conducted as a single event organized by the India Trade Promotion Organization (ITPO) at Pragati Maidan during March every year.
The NLCPR Committee of the Ministry approved 40 projects in the 8 North Eastern States with an estimated cost of Rs. 401,73 crore. An amount of Rs. 73.59 crore was released during February, 2009 to the North Eastern States under NLCPR Scheme
In the month of March, the Minister for DoNER held extensive discussions with the officials of the Ministry on 24th – 25th March, 2009 and reviewed the progress made in streamlining mandatory allocation/spending by Central Ministries in the North Eastern Region. As part of this process, 25 Ministries (out of a total of 50 such Ministries) have already nominated issues such as progress on NER Vision 2020, setting up of a world-class Music School, Finance Minister’s Rs. 500 crore Package for the NER and other pressing matter were discussed.
It was informed several Heads of Missions from Nordic countries, Czech Republic, Italy, Latin American and Caribbean countries has visited in the past and this Ministry has coordinated these visits with appropriate support. More recently, British High Commissioner – Sir Richard Stagg visited North East and Indian Chambers of Commerce (ICC), Kolkata was asked by us to coordinate the visit. The High Commissioner spoke about combating climate change, creation of knowledge economy, development of which are playing a bigger role in the economy than ever. The ASEAN Ambassadors from Indonesia, Brunei Darussalam and Cambodia have visited Assam and Tripura from 23-27 March, 2009.
The Ministry’s initiative to promote tourism in the North East through several relaxations made for government employees to visit North East on Leave Travel Concession (LTC) orders for which were issued on 2nd May, 2008, has brought extremely positive results as the Region has so far seen unprecedented number of visitors which has exceeded 4 Lakh government employees and their family members to the North Eastern Region. From very modest assessment, nearly Rs. 40 crore have gone into the Region through these travelers directly to the humble segments of the Region comprising taxi owners, drives, tour guides, dhaba and tea-stall vendors, hotel proprietors and so on. It also gave fillip to the mushrooming of tourism infrastructure as can be seen at Tawanng which is now becoming a tourist hub of the Region.
One of the main constraints for the development of infrastructure in the region is lack of sufficient data. In this regard, the Ministry has taken up steps for computing district level infrastructure indices for the North Eastern States. The States have been requested to provide district-wise data on 16 broad indicators relating to infrastructure.
The Ministry has provided Rs. 25 crore to the Power Grid Corporation of India (PGCI) to prepare Detailed Project Report, DPRs for transmission, sub-transmission and distribution networks in the NER as a follow-up fo the decisions arrived at the Special Sectoral meeting on power sector held in Pasighat, Arunachal Pradesh.
The 67th Meeting of the Non-Lapsable Central Pool of Resources (NLCPR) Committee was held on 2nd March, 2009. The Committee recommended sanction of 17 new projects with an estimated cost of Rs. 150.63 crores. During the month, an amount of Rs. 244.94 crore was released to the North Eastern states for infrastructure under the NLCPR Scheme. Like previous year, the Ministry has been able to spend the budgeted amount of Rs. 660.39 cores during 2008-09 in the Scheme of NLCPR.
During the month of April, the Ministry is making efforts to harness the advantages offered by strategic location of the North-East Region as a bridgehead to the countries of South and Southeast Asia for the Region’s own economic development as well as that of the rest of the country. One of the tasks in this endeavour is the development of related infrastructure. In this regard, meetings were held with the representatives of the Central Ministries concerned and State Governments to lay down specific timeframes for development of various infrastructure activities. The important issues which were discussed included facilities at Land Custom Stations (LCSs), border trade through Integrated Check Posts (ICPs), and time frames for completion of ICPs, bus service to neighbouring countries, air connectivity, cultural contacts, arrangements for teaching Southeast Asian languages in the NE Universities and improvement in telecommunication and IT connectivity in NE region. The Ministries/Departments concerned and the State Governments have to take further necessary action in the matter.
During the month, action has been initiated for simplifying guidelines for sanction of schemes under Non-Lapsable Central Pool of Resources (NLCPR), release and utilization of funds by the states so as to increase the NLCPR fund utilization capacity.
The German Development Bank (Kfw) is considering extending a concessional loan for climate change adaptation projects for the North Eastern Region. The project profiles prepared by five North Eastern States namely Assam, Nagaland, Manipur, Tripura and Sikkim were discussed and forwarded to the Department of Economic Affairs, who are now awaiting the outcome of the Annual Indo-German Consultations, 2009 for further action.
The Ministry has reviewed the progress of the proposed North East Rural Livelihood Project to be funded in four States of Nalgaland, Mizoram, Sikkim and Tripura with the officials of the World Bank. The Ministry is in the process of setting up as autonomous society for detailed project preparation and implementation.
In the month of May, the newly appointed Minister for DoNER, Shri B.K. Handique, assumed the charge of the Ministry on 22nd May, 2009. Immediately after, he took a series of meeting with the officials of the Ministry and the North Eastern Council to get himself acquainted with the programmes of the Ministry. As per his directions the Ministry has organized a Conference of Chief Ministers and senior officials of the NE States and Central Ministries on 24th June, 2009 to discuss the strategy for the development of the NER. The Conference will also provide an opportunity for reviewing the existing guidelines and funding arrangements and implementation of various schemes such as works under NLCPR, NEC.
The NE Region does not merely suffer from inadequate physical communication but it lags behind the rest of the country in terms of telecommunication network. In this regard the Ministry had early organized a Special Summit on IT & Telecommunication sector at Kohima. Following up on the deliberations arrived at he Summit, a detailed presentation on Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) was arranged by the Ministry for the benefit of the North-East States. The States were requested to nominate a nodal officer and to provide logistics support to the DoT and BSNL for taking advantage of the USOF for expansion of tele-connectivity in the Region.
A joint team of officials of the World Bank, IFAD and this Ministry visited Kohima and Agartala to discuss with the respective State Governments the implementation arrangements for the North East Livelihood Project to be funded by the World Bank. The main feature of the Project is social and economic empowerment of rural communities. A similar project has earlier been implemented in some districts of Assam, Manipur and Meghalaya and has been a huge success.
At the initiative of the Ministry, the Central Government has relaxed LTC rules for Central Government employees availing LTC for traveling in the NER. The Ministry has now taken up the matter of allowing travel by helicopter by Govt. employees availing LTC for NE States for tourist places which are not properly connected.
In the month of June 2009, the Minister for DoNER, Shri B.K.Handique released the agenda of the Ministry for the first 100 days of the new Government. The agenda inter-alia includes taking measures to finalise new guidelines for NLCPR, enhancing connectivity in the NER, translating NER Vision 2020 into reality, to bring NER on forefront and overhauling the functioning of the organizations under the Ministry.
The Minister for DoNER has chaired a meeting of the Chief Ministers of the NE States at Shillong on 24th June 2009. The meeting was attended by the Chief Ministers of Meghalaya, Nagaland, Tripura, Manipur, senior Ministers and officials from the States and Central Ministries. The Agenda included the revision of NLCPR guidelines and procedures, objectives monitoring of the Projects included in the PM’s socio-economic packages announced from time-to-time for NE States and increasing fund absorption capacity of the NE States.
In the month of July, the Ministry has begun regular monitoring of its 100 day’s Agenda launched on 22nd June, 2009. In this regard, Minister, DoNER, has already held two meetings with the officials of the Ministry and its sister Organisations. Action points on each of the issues are being worked alongwith the time-lines.
The Ministry has submitted a proposal for the extensions of the North East Region Community Resource Management Project to the Planning Commission. It is now proposed to cover a total of 2200 villages in six districts of Meghalaya, Manipur and Assam, 2 districts of Arunachal Pradesh and 2 hill districts each in Manipur and Nagaland. The fund requirement would be Rs. 600 crore over a period of 6 years. The Planning Commission has suggested some modifications. The NEC is working on incorporating the suggestions of the Planning Commission where after the proposal would be resubmitted to them for in-principle approval.
The Ministry has identified a total of 15 projects (Assam-3, Arunachal Pradesh-2, Sikkim-2, Manipur-2, Tripura-1, Mizoram-1 & Meghalaya-2) involving a cost of Rs. 586 crore as a follow up of Union Finance Minister’s Special Provision of Rs. 500 crore for specific infrastructure projects in the NER in his Budget Speech of 2008-09. The States have been requested to submit concept notes on these projects so that “In principle” approval of the Planning Commission could be obtained. One project costing Rs. 26 crore pertaining to Arunachal Pradesh has already been approved on 2nd July, 2009 and an amount of Rs. 10 crore has been sanctioned as the first installment. Concept notes in respect of 4 other Projects have been received.
The Ministry has devised a format for the 27 important infrastructure projects identified in the NER by the PMO for reviewing their status.
In the month of August, 2009 to streamlining the process of sanction and completion of projects under Non-Lapsable Central Pool of Resources (NLCPR), the guidelines for administration of NLCPR have been revised and issued. The revised guidelines provide specific time limits for sanction of schemes, award of work by the State Governments and completion of projects in time. These guidelines were prepared based on the discussions held in the meeting of the Chief Ministers on 24th June 2009 at Shillong.
The Minister of DoNER reviewed the progress of two projects of Ministry of Water Resources on with Chairman, Brahmaputra Board and officials of Central Water Commission and Government of Assam. These two projects are included in the 27 infrastructure projects of NE Region which have been entrusted to this Ministry for monitoring under DMU by the PMO. Minister (DoNER) has also fixed a meeting on 8th September 2009 at Lumding for review of six projects of the Ministry of Railways which will be attended by representatives of Ministry of the Railways and Ministry of Home Affairs along with the representatives of the State Governments concerned.
Three meetings of the Non-Lapsable Central Pool of Resources (NLCPR) Committee took place during the month. Eleven infrastructure projects with a total approved cost of Rs. 190.52 crore were sanctioned under the Scheme for the NE States. Further, 63 projects with a tentative cost of Rs. 525.81 crore have been retained for techno-economic examination. The Ministry has released as amount of Rs. 62.79 crore during the month for different projects in the NER under NLCPR.
In the month of September, the Minister for DoNER took stock of the progress of important railway projects in the North-East Region, particularly the broad guage conversion of Lumding-Silchar-Jiribam railway line, at Lumding, Assam. The meeting was attended by senior officers of the Northeast Frontier Railways, DONER, Minister of Home Affairs, Government of Assam and security agencies.
The Lumding-Silchar-Jiribam guage project, sanctioned in 1996-97, was declared a National Project in 2004. The total length of the line is 368.48 km. The critical activities in the project include Dayang bridge, tunnel no. 10 between km 100.6 to 103.8, bridge no. 543 at km. 143.5 and bridge no. 572 on river Barak. Dayank bridge is the longest bridge in the section with span configuration of 11x61 mtr and pier height of 55 mtr. The longest tunnel in the section is tunnel no. 10 with a length of 3235 mtr.
The Minister for DoNER Shri B.K. Handique has emphasized the need to overcome all the hurdles with a view to complete the project by 2012.
A meeting was convened by the Secretary, Ministry of DoNER, to discuss the progress of implementation of PM’s Announcements pertaining to Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur and Tripura. He also took meetings to review the status of 27 key infrastructure projects identified by the PMO for expeditious implementations.
The Ministry has sanctioned eleven new infrastructure projects with a total approved cost of Rs. 91.57 crore during the month under NLCPR. An amount of 102.63 crore was released during this period of the NE States against the total budgetary provision of 700 crore under the Scheme. The Ministry has also retained 7 projects for techno-economic examination.
In the month of October, the Minister for DoNER reviewed the progress of implementation of important road sector projects being monitored by the Delivery Monitoring Unit in the PMO in a meeting on 28th October 2009. in addition, the progress of Special Accelerated Road Development Programme-NE (SARDP-NE) was also discussed.
The eight road sector projects in the 27 key infrastructure projects in the NER which are being monitored by the PMO are given below:
Trans-Arunachal Highway
Dhola-Sadiya bridge and Numali-Gohpur bridge (Assam)
Alternate route to Sikkim
Upgradation of NH-31-A to Gangtok
Lumal-Tashigong, Bile-Migging and Taliha-Tato roads (Arunachal Pradesh)
Four-laning of NH-37 on the Nagaon-Jorhat-Dibrugarh stretch
Upgradation of NH-52, NH-53 and NH-54
The main reasons of delay include issues relating to land acquisition, forest and environmental clearances, non-availability of resourceful contractors, inter-state coordination. It was decided that each of the issues would be taken at the appropriate level with the appropriate authority. This Ministry will also facilitate inter-state coordination and issuance of clearances.
The Ministry released an amount of Rs. 12.08 crore for different infrastructure projects in Assam and Nagaland during the month under its Scheme of Non-lapsable Central Pool of Resources. With this the cumulative releases for the financial year stand at Rs. 235 crore. With the recent streamlining of the NLCPR guidelines, the entire process of sanction and release is likely to get a fillip.
In the month of November, at the instance of the Ministry, the North East Development Finance Corporation (NEDFi) has taken a number of steps to harness the full potential of the upcoming Assam Gas Cracker Project. They have carried out an elaborate study proposing an Action Plan for promoting downstream plastic and allied industries in Assam and other States of the North East. The Ministry itself has trained a large number of youth in plastic technology and entrepreneurship and is, through NEC, exploring to set up a plastic park in the State of Assam.
The Ministry has prepared a document entitled “North Eastern Region District Infrastructure Index”. It provides a useful insight into intra-State and inter-State disparities within the NE Region and is proving to be quite handy in prioritizing projects under the Non-lapsable Central Pool of Resources. The document has also been circulated to the State Governments.
During the month, the Ministry has sanctioned 5 new projects with an approved cost of Rs. 31.38 crore under NLCPR. Apart from these, forty three projects, with a tentative cost of Rs. 534 crore, have been retained for techno-economic examination. An amount of Rs. 29.39 crore was release to the States during November 2009 under the scheme.
NSK/DB/AK
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)