The Ministry of Women & Child Development, Government of India, is organizing a series of webinars during the Third Poshan Maah being celebrated in September 2020. The first webinar on Best Practices and Success Stories from POSHAN Abhiyaan was organized on 7^th September. The second webinar was held today on the topic of Nutrient Requirement for Children and Mothers during first 1000 days. The webinars were presided over by Smt. Smriti Zubin Irani, Union Minister of Women & Child Development and Textiles. Participants included Smt Debasree Chaudhuri, Union Minister of State for Women & Child Development, Shri Ram Mohan Mishra, Secretary, Women & Child Development, Government of India, representatives of Partner Ministries and State Governments, representatives from International Organisations and Development Partners, PRI members, ICDS functionaries, State WCD representatives, Domain experts, Nutritionists, Ministry officers and others.

Addressing the webinars, Smt Smriti Zubin Irani, Union Minister, appreciated the efforts of the coordinating ministries and appealed to all to promote Jan Bhagidari in making all-out efforts to make the POSHAN Abhiyaan a success. She said that the Ministry of Women & Child Development plans to compile best practices and success stories into an E-book.

The thematic agenda for the Webinar on Best Practices and Success Stories of POSHAN Abhiyaan yesterday included discussion on the need for renewed focus on nutrition during COVID-19, need for innovation and agro-diversity in nutrition, sharing of best practices and success stories in establishing Nutri-gardens in Lakshadweep Anganwadi Centres, online tracking and adoption of Severely Acute Malnourished (SAM) Children in Gujarat, revamping supplementary nutrition preparation & distribution and inclusion of Millets in Odisha, adoption of SAM children by Government officials in Uttarakhand, and identification drive for SAM children in the UTs of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, which have predominantly tribal population and high prevalence of malnutrition amongst the children.

The agenda for today’s webinar had guest lectures by two eminent medical professionals. The first lecture titled “Apt Nurturing: The First 1000 Days are Crucial” was delivered by Dr. H.P.S. Sachdev, Professor of Pediatrics and Clinical Epidemiology, in which he stressed that nutrition from the time of conception to two years of age is crucial for a good start to productive life. In the second lecture titled “Nutrient requirements for Children and Mothers: first 1000 days”, Professor AV Kurpad, former Head of Physiology, St John’s Medical College, advised that normal, affordable, diverse home cooked diets are adequate to meet nutritional requirements and the diet should be carefully designed to avoid the risk of both under- or over-feeding. He stressed on exclusive breast-feeding for the first 180 days of a new-born’s life.

The Vice President of India, Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu today said organ donation was one of the noblest causes and appealed to everyone to participate in eye donation and inspire others.

Addressing the valedictory function of ‘National Eye Donation Fortnight’ organised by SAKSHAM (Samadrishti, Kshamata Vikas Evam Anusandhan Mandal), a charitable organization that works for the empowerment of the persons with disabilities, the Vice President described Netra Daan (eye donation) as Sreshth Daan (best donation).

Terming visual impairment as one of the major health challenges, the Vice President highlighted the fact that around 46 lakhs people suffer from blindness in India and most of them are in the 50+ age group.

Calling corneal blindness as the second leading cause of blindness after cataract with about 20,000 cases every year, Shri Naidu expressed concern as most of the people affected in this category were young adults and children. He called for adopting preventive measures, early treatment and corneal transplantation surgery to address the challenge of visual impairment.

As corneal transplantation surgery requires cornea donors, Shri Naidu emphasised the need to increase the number of eye donations to enable eventual eradication of corneal blindness in the country.

Drawing attention to the low numbers of organ donors in the country, he called for changing this mindset by spreading awareness as well as building adequate medical infrastructure for organ harvesting and transplantation at district level.

He cited the examples of king Shibi and sage Dadhichi who had donated their bodies for the welfare of others and called for redefining the values and narratives in modern context to inspire people and promote organ donation. By donating an organ, one sets an example for others to work towards the larger good of the society, he said and called upon every citizen, especially the youth to overcome apprehensions and pledge to donate their organs.

Five Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) under Petroleum & Natural Gas Ministry will be joining International Solar Alliance (ISA)’s Coalition for Sustainable Climate Action (ISA-CSCA) as Corporate Partners. In his inaugural Speech at the First World Solar Technology Summit organized by ISA, Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Shri Dharmendra Pradhan said that Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC), Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL), Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) and GAIL (India) Limited will be contributing to ISA’s Corpus Fund.

Shri Pradhan said that increasingly and rightly so, Indian Oil & Gas companies are actively taking part in this clean energy transition.  “In order to reduce carbon footprint, these companies will be focusing more on green energy investments such as renewables, biofuels and hydrogen going forward. We are also actively encouraging industry in general, and Oil & Gas companies in particular, become participants to this solar transition.”, he added.

On the achievements made in the sector so far, Shri Pradhan said that our oil & gas companies are also making efforts to deploy solar panels across the value chain of their operations, and current installed solar power capacity is 270 MW. “Additional 60 MW solar capacity will be added in the coming year. We have taken up the mission of solarizing about 50% of fuel stations owned by Public Sector oil companies in the next five years. More than 5000 fuel stations of Indian Oil, the largest Public Sector Oil Marketing company, were solarized last year. A substantial amount of solar PV capacity was also added by Oil & Gas companies during the last few years.”

The Minister said that Oil & Gas PSUs are increasingly evaluating new opportunities in the solar and RE space for diversification. Recently, French major Total has also announced investments for buying about 2 GW operating PV plants in India. “Despite the Covid-19 pandemic presented challenges, we are in the process of overhauling India’s supply chains and reduce overdependence on imports for solar modules. Under the ‘Atma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan’ or Self-Reliant India reforms announced by Hon’ble Prime Minister Narendra Modi, our country has received proposals from various players for over 10 GW of fresh solar equipment manufacturing. In line with Hon’ble Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call to action for developing low-cost indoor solar cooking solutions, our company IOCL has tied up with M/s Sun Bucket System, a US-based start-up working in the niche area of solar energy-based products. We are encouraging Indian oil & gas companies to develop such innovative and scalable tie-ups in solar sector, which have the potential to make nationwide impact”, he added.

Lauding the role of the ISA for making rapid strides since its launch at the UN Climate Change Conference in Paris on 30 November 2015 by Hon’ble Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the then French President, Shri Pradhan said that as the latest inter-governmental international organization with its headquarters in India, ISA is not only a testament to India’s unwavering faith in multilateralism but also a commitment to a better, sustainable and greener future. He said that the Alliance reflects the vision and the firm belief that the beneficence of the Sun could be used to bring together the peoples of this planet for a shared solution to our energy needs.

Shri Pradhan said that there has always been a vision to make solar energy accessible and affordable for the poor by addressing the various financial and technological factors that currently impede such access. “The platform provided by ISA perfectly fits and matches growing energy needs of countries across the globe. The Oil & Gas companies in India will work closely with ISA to explore opportunities for implementation of solar-based projects within India as well as in other countries particularly other developing countries where ISA is focusing for faster development of solar energy infrastructure”, Shri Pradhan emphasized.  

Expressing the confidence that larger energy partnership of Indian oil & gas industry will pave the way for a new era of solar development not only within India but also outside, Shri Pradhan said that the key to this transformation and transition is advances in solar technologies and their deployment at affordable prices globally. He said that with a clear vision and augmentation of sufficient resources, there is a need for collective efforts at all levels -Governments, industry leaders, innovators and academia and technology developers, to ensure that benefits of solar revolution become accessible to all countries across the globe.

National Jal Jeevan Mission, Ministry of Jal Shakti held a webinar today on the planning, implementation, and monitoring of outputs & outcomes of the flagship programme, Jal Jevan Mission. The webinar was attended by about 2,500 State, district and block officials of Public Health Engineering Departments/ Rural Water Supply Departments of various States/ UTs.

Jal Jeevan Mission is under implementation in partnership with States with an aim to ensure every rural household of the country gets assured drinking water supply in adequate quantity and of prescribed quality on regular and long-term basis at affordable service delivery charges leading to improvement in their living standard. The major objectives of the mission are to ensure water supply to every home as well as focus on functionality of water supply systems on long-term basis, decentralized operation & management arrangements and water quality surveillance by the local community.

The webinar held today used short audio-visual clips and power point presentations explaining the vision and ethos of Jal Jeevan Mission. The key note address was delivered by Additional Secretary and Mission Director, National Jal Jeevan Mission, Shri Bharat Lal, who elaborated the essence of the ambitious programme that aims to improve the lives of people living in rural areas.

‘This program is different from earlier programmes and requires innovation and a focussed approach’- mentioned Shri Lal and then stressed on the salient features of the mission thereby emphasising on the responsibility of various stakeholders. The Ministry officials made a detailed presentation on the targets & achievements of the Mission. It was noted that the country has around 5.35 Crore rural families enabled with tap water connection; and 100% tap connections in 47,00 villages, 351 blocks and 9 districts. In the whole country, more than 2 Crore households have been provided tap water connection in last one year since the launch of the mission i.e. 15 August, 2019. More than 1 lakh families are given tap water connections on daily basis. The speed and scale of work being done under Jal Jeevan Mission was discussed in detail. As of now, more than 28% rural homes are getting piped water supply, which has not only reduced the drudgery of rural women, but assured their security and dignity.

While all the States/ UTs are competing with each other to achieve 100% FHTC status; Bihar, Goa, Telangana and Puducherry are emerging as frontrunners to accomplish the target by 2021 itself.  The healthy competition among States/ UTs to outperform each other was discussed. The presentation also talked about the various issues, challenges as well as opportunities for the mission.

As envisaged under the mission, the local village community/ Gram Panchayats and or its sub-committee i.e. Village Water & Sanitation Committee/ Paani Samiti to be involved in planning, implementation, management, operation and maintenance of water supply systems in villages to ensure long-term sustainability of the ongoing efforts to achieve drinking water security. It was explained in details the importance of Village Action Plan, District Action Plan and State Action plan. Retrofitting and augmentation of existing Piped water supply (PWS) systems was highlighted and States were asked to start the works in all such villages in a campaign mode, so that the remaining households belonging to poor and marginalized people in villages/ habitations can get tap water at earliest. Officials were asked to focus on priority areas like aspirational districts, water quality-affected areas, drought & desert prone areas, SC/ ST dominated habitations, Sansad Adarsh Gramin Yojna villages, etc.

It was highlighted that every source needs to be tested once for chemical parameters and twice for bacteriological contamination in a year as a part of water quality monitoring. State was asked to carry out the testing of all water sources accordingly. It is required to upgrade and to obtain NABL accreditation of all the laboratories in the State, it was urged to plan for obtaining NABL accreditation for maximum possible number of laboratories during 2020-21.It was also told to open water quality laboratory facilities to general public.

The Department of Drinking Water & Sanitation has a robust integrated management information system (IMIS). It was explained in details how the JJM-IMIS can evolve as a potent tool for planning & monitoring. It was also mentioned that IMIS will be helpful to avoid wasteful expenditure and can be useful in measurement and monitoring of water service delivery. Further, it was presented in detail the relevance of IoT based sensors in measurement and monitoring of water supply. The importance and modalities of Public Grievance Redressal system was underlined. Few States like Kerala, Gujarat and Odisha are already using ‘1916’ helpline number; other States were urged to adopt similar mechanism to resolve various public grievances related to drinking water supply in rural areas.

Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has undertaken settling of contractors’ issues, including dues, through arbitration in big way to not only ensure ease of doing business but also to boost stakeholder confidence in building quality road infrastructure in country. Conciliation Committees have been formed consisting of Independent Experts (CCIEs) for this purpose. All contractors are being called for conciliations for expeditious settlement of their claims and get their payments released immediately. 47 cases involving claims of Rs. 14,248 Crore have been settled during this year. Discussions are underway on another 59 cases.

The annual Annuity obligations for NHAI are approx. Rs 5000 crore. All Annuities payments are made in time. In HAM projects, NHAI provides 40 per cent of the Bid Project Cost as Construction Support based on achievement of Milestone. Whenever the milestones are achieved, payments are made quickly. The Grant /VGF towards BOT (Toll) Projects are paid as per the terms of the Concession Agreement and depends on many factors including physical progress, equity and debt infusion. There are no overdue payments pending with NHAI. Various systems have been introduced for immediate payment of dues. Special efforts were made and over Rs ten thousand crore were disbursed towards various payments in the first nine days of nationwide lockdown.

The payment structure has been further simplified under the Atm-Nirbhar Bharat scheme, and contractors’ payments are being made every month instead of Milestone achievement basis. This has proved extremely beneficial towards timely completion of National Highway projects in the country.

The Ministry has also extended a number of relief packages for its contractors and concessionaires owing to COVID-19 scenario. Retention money (which is a part of the Performance Security till construction period) is being released in proportion to the work already executed in accordance with the Contract specification, and retention money for upto six months’ period is not deducted from the Bills raised by the Contractor. For HAM/ BOT Contracts, Performance Guarantee is released on pro-rata basis. Out of total 1253 applications under 1155 projects for this relief, Rs 3527 crore has been released, while over Rs 189 crore is under process.

Extension of Time is being given to Contractor/ Concessionaire for meeting their obligation under the Contract for upto six months depending on site conditions. Out of total 207 applications under 196 projects for this relief, Rs 34 crore has been released, while Rs 15 crore is under process.

Relaxation is given in Schedule H to provide monthly payment to the Contractor for the work done and accepted as per the specification of the contract during the month EPC/HAM Contract. Out of total 863 applications under 774 projects for this relief, Rs 6526 crore has been released, while over Rs 2241 crore is under process.

Direct payment is made to approved Sub-Contractor through Escrow Account. Out of total 21 applications under 19 projects for this relief, Rs 241 crore has been released, while over Rs 27 crore is under process.

Waiver of penalty for delay in submission of Performance Security/ Bank Guarantee in new Contract entered into during March, 2020 to September, 2020. Out of total 17 applications under equal number of projects for this relief, Rs nine crore has been released.

Extension of Time is allowed to Consultants i.e, I.E/A.E for 3 to 6 months depending on site condition. During this Force Majeure Event, they may be considered as if they were on duty. Out of total 31 applications under equal number of projects for this relief, Rs two crore has been released, while Rs one crore is under process.

BOT/ TOT Concessionaire: Before CoD, the concession period of BOT contracts is being extended by a period equal in length to the duration of 3 to 6 months.  Further, for loss in collection of user fee, the concession period is extended by a period in accordance with the Contract till the time daily collection is below 90% of the average daily fee. An application for this relief of Rs two crore is under process.

For all National Highway Tolling Contracts, loss in collection of fee (remittances) is compensated in accordance with the Contract. An application for this relief is under consideration.

More than 5 crore tests have been conducted so far, which take India to the second highest position in terms of testing. More than 10 lakh tests have been conducted daily in this week. At the same time, the number of recovered patients is more than 33 lakhs now, and, the highest single day recovery of 73,642 patients has also been recorded in the last 24 hours. This has been stated by the Union Health Secretary Shri Rajesh Bhushan, in course of a media briefing on the actions taken, preparedness and updates on COVID-19, held at New Media Centre today. The Case Fatality Rate of the country is also continuously declining, added the Health Secretary.

Although the cases are on the rise in terms of absolute numbers, India still has 3,102 cases per million, which is one of the lowest in the world. Within a span of two weeks, the national average figure of tests per million has increased from 26,016 to 36,703. More than 10 lakhs 47 thousand 471 tests have been conducted in average on a daily basis, while more than 11 lakh tests have been conducted on the 3rd and 4th September. With the rise in testing capacity and also of recoveries, the gap between active and recovered cases is continuously widening. As on today, while there are around 8 lakhs 83 thousand active cases, the number of recoveries have crossed 33 lakhs. India’s death per million is 53, which falls amongst the lowest in the world. Along with this, the case fatality rate in the country is continuously declining and stands at 1.70% as on date. The Health Secretary gave full credit to the healthcare workers, including doctors, paramedics, treating clinicians, hospital support staff among others. Government of India has issued a standard treatment protocol for the benefit of health care workers and it is being followed in most of the states, stated the Health Secretary.

Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu are the five states which account for 62% of the active cases. Maharashtra’s share is around 27% of the total active cases, which in terms of absolute numbers is 2.37 lakhs. On the other hand, there are 14 states and UTs which have less than 5,000 active cases at present. There are also 20 states and UTs where the number of active cases are between 2,000-5,000. This apart, nearly 70% of the COVID-19 related deaths are also being reported from 5 states, that is, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. “The states where active cases are mostly concentrated are also, more or less, accounting for most of the deaths”, stated the Health Secretary. Hence, from the perspective of public health, it is important to take targeted actions in these states, both by the state and Central Governments. “That is why we specially remain in touch with these states. A detailed interaction through video conferencing was held on last Saturday with these states where the Health Secretaries and District Chief Medical Officers of the highly affected districts participated. Certain successful strategies for fighting against COVID-19 were shared with them”, stated the Health Secretary. This apart, 28 States & UTs have a Case Fatality Rate which is lower than the national average, further stated Shri Bhushan.

Dr. V.K Paul, Member (Health), NITI Aayog said, our COVID-19 case numbers are looking big since we are testing in a very liberal manner, which has in turn helped us to reduce mortality rate. He further said, we should create an environment where no one is afraid of testing, it is dangerous to the individual and also to the system if one does not test despite experiencing symptoms. “We should be afraid of the virus, not of testing; we should create a culture where everyone who experiences symptoms proceeds to get oneself tested”, appealed Dr. V.K. Paul.

The Member (Health), NITI Aayog further said, as economy has been opened, if we adopt lax behaviour and do not practise discipline, it makes it easier for COVID-19 virus to spread; hence, we all should wear masks, maintain social distancing, avoid large gatherings and take immunity boosting measures all the more. These still remain the key of slowing and controlling a pandemic.  “We are getting complaints from State governments that people have become lax in following COVID-appropriate behaviours”, he informed. It is even more important today that we continue to follow precautionary behaviours against COVID-19, cautioned Dr. Paul. He added, it is primarily an individual’s responsibility to keep the virus away from one’s self, while the system’s responsibility is to carry out containment measures, contact tracing, surveillance and so on. He further said, “Our treatment protocols have been evolved in a very good manner, based on our progressive understanding of the pandemic; we have now become confident of our protocol; hence, we appeal that the treatment protocol is followed meticulously by everyone. Especially for people residing in rural areas, it is more important that the patient and family take prompt action to do testing, on appearance of symptoms”. Dr. Paul also appealed to the media persons to spread this message further.

In reply to a media query, Dr. Paul said, Russia has requested India’s help in manufacturing of vaccine by Indian companies and conduct of Phase-III studies in India. India attaches high importance to the request from a special friend and on both fronts, there has been considerable progress. “We are working with this vaccine candidate for manufacture as well as trial and regulatory facilitation, in the spirit of partnership and science for humanity”, he said.  The outreach has been extended to the vaccine manufacturers in India. About four of them have already come forward, the others are in talks with the Russian counterparts and the Government is facilitating that process of creating a connect. There may be specific outcomes very soon in that regard. This is a win-win situation for India and the world, indeed. India can manufacture that vaccine in large and significant quantities. On the regulatory front, Indian scientists have looked at the data. There would be a need for Phase III trials in normal course of things, stated Dr. Paul.

The Ministry of Tourism’s DekhoApnaDesh Webinar series titled “Punjab- A historic perspective” on 05^th September 2020 took the participants on a journey through the history and prominent tourist places in the state with focus on Virasat-e- Khalsa Museum, an architectural marvel commemorating the 550-years of culture and tradition of Punjab and Sikhism and the Partition Museum-world’s first museum on the largest human migration. DekhoApnaDesh Webinar Series is an effort to showcase India’s rich diversity under Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat programme.

Presented by Mr. Harjap Singh Aujila, Civil Engineer with extensive experience in Town Planning, Dr.Lipika Kaur Guliani, Assistant Professor, University Institute of Hotel and Tourism Management, Punjab University, Ms. Kishwar Desai, Chairperson, The Partition Museum/ The Arts and Cultural Heritage trust and Mr. Jaswinder Singh, Assistant Professor, the webinar showcased the charming Cities and towns of Punjab dotted with numerous ancient monuments, gurudwaras, temples, ashrams, serene lakes, sacred shrines, museums and wildlife sanctuaries.