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Pradhan Mantri National Apprenticeship Mela

 

  • The Mela will begin in 25 states covering 197 districts
  • Several local businesses have been invited to be part of the mela and provide apprenticeship opportunities to the youth

As a part of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi’s vision to boost career opportunities for India’s youth under Skill India Mission, the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) will hold the Pradhan Mantri National Apprenticeship Mela (PMNAM) on December 12th, 2022, across 197 locations in 25 states and union territories.

Several local businesses have been invited to be a part of the mela to provide local youth with the opportunity to shape their careers through apprenticeship training. The event will witness the participation of various companies from different sectors. Participating companies will have the chance to meet potential apprentices on a single platform and choose applicants on the spot and provide them with an opportunity to be a part of their organization.

Individuals can register for the mela by visiting https://www.apprenticeshipindia.gov.in/and to find the mela’s nearest location. Candidates who have passed Class 5 to Class 12 and have skill training certificates, or ITI Diploma holders or graduates can apply during this apprenticeship mela. The candidates must carry three copies of their resume, three copies of all the marksheets and certificates, photo ID (Aadhaar card/driving licence etc) and three passport size photographs to the respective venues.

Those who have already enrolled have been requested to reach the venue with all the relevant documents.Through this fair, the candidates will also earn National Council for Vocational Education and Training (NCVET)-recognized certifications, improving their employability rate after the training session.

Expressing his views on the Pradhan Mantri National Apprenticeship Mela, Shri Atul Kumar Tiwari, Secretary, Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, said “India has often been compared to other developed economies in terms of apprenticeship opportunities for the youth of today. To bridge this gap, we are trying our best to make apprenticeship opportunities reachable to trainees and students. We received a great response during last month’s apprenticeship mela from the potential youth who is eager to work hard, contribute to our economy, and help shape the future of our country. The major purpose of this programme is to encourage companies to hire more apprentices, while also assisting employers in discovering the right talent and developing their potential via training and practical experience. It is also critical to embed apprenticeship in the educational ecosystem besides building credible pathways from apprenticeship to higher education. With our continuous efforts, our goal is to raise apprenticeship opportunities in India to 10 lakhs by end of 2022, and to 60 lakhs by 2026”.

Apprenticeship melas are hosted in the country every month, wherein selected individuals receive a monthly stipend in accordance with government criteria for gaining new skills. Apprenticeship is considered the most sustainable model of skill development, and it has been getting a big boost under Skill India Mission.

The government is striving to train 1 million youth per annum through apprenticeship training and to fulfil this mission, PMNAM is being used as a platform to increase the participation of establishments and students. It is also providing awareness to the youth on various opportunities existing across the participating companies.

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Swahid Diwas in Goa

 Union Minister of Ports, Shipping & Waterways and Ayush Shri Sarbananda Sonowal paid glowing tributes to the martyrs of the historic Assam Movement in a solemn programme in Goa today marking Swahid Diwas, the martyrdom day of Khargeswar Talukdar in 1979, the first martyr of the Assam Movement. The Union Minister is on a three day visit to the coastal state. The programme held at Francisco Luis Gomes Garden in Panjim was organised by the Assam Society of Goa and was attended by members of the Assamese community and a host of dignitaries and locals. 

 

Speaking on the occasion, the Minister reminisced the valour of the martyrs of the six year long Assam Movement from 1979-1985. “Today, on the occasion of Swahid Diwas, I salute all those who made the ultimate sacrifice to protect Assam. The people of Assam took part in the six year-long movement to protect the state from illegal immigrants and 860 martyrs gave their ultimate sacrifice to protect the unity and integrity of India. These great martyrs have written an unforgettable history of unparalleled patriotism and courage The Assam Movement is a shining example of the united efforts of the indigenous people of Assam to protect the nation and its impact was far-reaching. The immortal sacrifice of the martyrs will continue to inspire the greater Assamese community and the nation forever,” the  Minister stated.

 

Shri Sonowal added, “We have to continue to work with honesty, dedication and determination to keep alive the noble ideals of the brave martyrs. We have to fulfill our national responsibility to keep our language, culture, heritage and tradition alive. If the history of student movements of the world is analysed, the Assam movement was a watershed moment. I urge the people of Assam as well as the people from different parts of the country to take the lead in building a strong India inspired by the nationalistic spirit of this movement and render dedicated service to our motherland.”

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International Workshop on Research Agenda, Social Needs and Open Science

  by Shashikant Nishant Sharma 

CSIR-NIScPR (National Institute of Science Communication & Policy Research) is involved in creating livelihood and foster skill development in rural areas through CSIR technologies. Recent cutting-edge fields are being worked on by various R&D divisions of the lab. Scientometric has been one of the institute’s strongest areas and CSIR-NISTADS (which was one of the laboratory which together with CSIR-NISCAIR merged to became NIScPR) was instrumental in bringing this area as a focus area of research and input to policy making in India. These were the words of Prof. Ranjana Aggarwal, Director, CSIR-NIScPR who was delivering a welcome address in an International Workshop on ‘Research agenda, Social needs and Open science’ organized by CSIR-NIScPR.

 

Prof. Ranjana Aggarwal, Director, CSIR-NIScPR addressing the workshop

Prof. Aggarwal highlighted that CSIR-NIScPR is the largest government organization in the nation that publishes more than 15 journals in a variety of research fields in an open access mode as there is no APC involved for publishing along with popular science magazines publications to bridge the gap between science and society. An online repository National Open Periodicals Repository (NOPR) of CSIR-NIScPR also provides to access of older papers from anywhere in the world. She concluded by emphasizing that CSIR-NIScPR is working towards solving problems under the motto “One Earth, One Family, and One Future.”

The global challenges have called for scientific research to increasingly reshape their agenda to focus more on societal problems. The reshaping can be seen prominently in the STI (Science-Technology-Innovation) policy framing of different countries and funding bodies. Responsible research and innovation, open science, open innovations are some of the key terms of new era that get space in policy articulations of different countries. Innovation System is also paying serious attention to informal, grass root and frugal innovations as they intervene to address unmet societal challenges. Cross-disciplinary interactions across different stakeholders have become important in this environment. The policy interactions need to be more evidence based to reshape the agenda and design pathways for implementation. In this context, an International Workshop on Research Agenda, Social needs and Open Science was organized on 8 December 2022 at CSIR-NIScPR. The conference was addressed by eminent scholars and policy makers from India and abroad.

 

Dr. Ismael Rafols, UNESCO Chair, Leiden University, Netherlands delivering keynote address

Dr. Sanjay Kumar Mishra, Sr. Advisor, Department of Biotechnology, put forward his initial remark about the subject of workshop as putting three oceans of knowledge set into one go, namely bibliometrics, scientometrics and infometrics. Dr. Mishra urged to take into consideration social needs of societies, countries and on global level in research and research agenda to extract maximum benefit out of scientific research to mankind. He also opined that science advisory role is as important as research output. Usually science research is in general pro urban, pro affluent, there is need to be new focus on society oriented and need for synchronization of science and society. Bibliometrics and scientrometrics tool can be used to understand the gap in the research for society by scientific communities.

Speakers of the second session focused on ‘Frugal Innovations and Openness

Dr. Sujit Bhattacharya, Chief Scientist & Dean-Policy Research, CSIR-NIScPR and Coordinator of this Workshop began his talk by giving a brief overview of STS (Science, Technology and Society), innovation studies and Scientometrics research, drawing upon the strong linkages among these fields of research. He stressed that the contemporary global challenges have called for science-technology-innovation agenda be shaped by societal needs and user driven approach.

 

Scientists, staff members and audience of the workshop

Dr. Ismael Rafols, UNESCO Chair, Diversity and Inclusion in Global Science Centre for Science and Technology Strategies (CWTS), Leiden University, Netherlands delivered the keynote address. Dr. Rafols reinforced UNESCO recommendation of diverse and inclusive matter for research agenda for benefit of whole human kind. He brought forth the usual notion that research agenda tends to favour elite and rich though not universal but true to a greater extent. He justified his argument by describing concentration of research in global north, being driven by market demands and incentivized by few narrow academic goals and social groups. Dr. Rafols highlighted that research agendas are not in sync with SDG goals in higher and middle income countries. Evidence indicates better alignment in least developing countries of research with SDGs. He emphasized upon the need for more open access to science and having more open infrastructure so that maximum benefit can be achieved by mankind. He concluded by highlighting need for inclusion of citizen in sciences to lessen the misalignment.

Prof. Saradindu Bhaduri, Associate Professor, Centre for studies in Science Policy, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi and coordinator of the Trans-Disciplinary Research Centre on frugality studies (a joint initiative of JNU with Leiden University) gave his presentation on how research agenda, innovation, regulation, and user driven research conflict with each other. He highlighted some interesting engagements between policymakers and stakeholders. He highlighted how useful and widely used appliances such as stove suffer from agencies not giving standard certification.

Dr. Vivek Kumar Singh, Professor and Head of the Computer Science Department, Banaras Hindu University (BHU), Varanasi provided an overview of open access and its various forms, such as Gold, Platinum, and Diamond open access. He highlighted the open archive available at India such as the IndiaRxiv, eprints by the Indian Institute of Science, Krishikosh by the ICAR etc. Dr. Singh correctly emphasized the need for making research accessible to society because there is a gap in knowledge access in India, and we need to seek for effective policy implementation to address this.

Dr. Kavita Shah, Professor, Purdue University, USA gave a brief insight of the changing environment she has been observing in India now. The infrastructure, and support to research and many institutions now are in India which is bringing a positive change for doing high end research. She felt that this opportunity calls for students and researchers to make their research more aligned to the challenges faced by the society.

Dr. Madhulika Bhati, Principal Scientist, CSIR-NIScPR and Dr Anurag Kanojia, Policy Fellow, Department of Computer Science, BHU as discussant drew upon the important learning from this workshop. They stressed upon the important argument and key issues that linked the different presentations together.

Dr. Shiv Narayan Nishad, Scientist, CSIR-NIScPR gave a broad overview of the ongoing project on Social Network Analysis by CSIR-NIScPR. This study led by Dr. Sujit Bhattacharya and team in which he is the Co-Principal Investigator is exploring how social network analysis can be developed as a resource material for its application in different fields of studies. The project intends to impart training and provide the resources developed in open access.

The interactive session led to many questions and comments that enriched the workshop. The large number of young researchers who were among the attendee raised many important issues related to their research and how this workshop has benefitted them to think of Open access, aligning their research in proper direction, etc. At the end of the workshop, Dr. Sandhya Lakshmanan, Scientist CSIR-NIScPR proposed vote of thanks. Dr. Kasturi Mandal, Principal Scienctist, CSIR-NIScPR anchored the whole event and young researchers who acted as rapporteurs.

Need-based skill mapping for employment and training to India’s youth

 

  • RSETIs have trained 44 lakh youths of which nearly about 31 lakh candidates have settled so far
  • Giriraj Singh says, out of 44 lakh youths trained, about 29 lakhs are women candidates (about 66%), which underlines RSETIs mandate and role for “Women Empowerment”
  • 14.28 Lakh trained candidates received cumulative credit to the tune of Rs.7200 crores from Banks and Financial Institutions at the behest of RSETIs

Union Minister of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Shri Giriraj Singh has called for need-based skill mapping for employment and training to India’s youth, mainly in the rural areas. Noting that the quality of job training is important, the Minister urged to explore means to see how best the traditional trades can be integrated with electronic, education and training, IT & BPO and tourism and hospitality sectors to create more employment opportunities for the youth in the country.

 

 

The Minister was speaking after opening the new campus of the National Academy of Rural Development and Self Employment Training Institute (RUDSET) – NAR at Kumbalagodu in Bengaluru on today.

Chief Minister of Karnataka, Shri Basavaraj Bommai, Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti, Union Minister of State for Rural Development, Consumer Affairs, Food, and Public Distribution, Sri Faggan Singh Kulaste,

Union Minister of State for Rural Development and Steel, Dr. C N Ashwath Narayan, Minister of Skill Development, Entrepreneurship, and Livelihoods of Karnataka State, Sri S T Somasekhara, Minister of Co-operation of Karnataka State and Dr. Dr. Veerendra Heggade, MP and President, NAR joined the inaugural event.

Shri Giriraj Singh said, the Rural Self Employment Training Institutes – RSETIs have a significant role in building India into a major human resources hub and added that RSETIs have trained 44 lakh youths of which nearly about 31 lakh candidates have settled so far. The Minister also informed that of the total candidates trained, about 29 lakhs are women candidates, over 66 %, which proves that RSETIs are giving lot of importance to “Women Empowerment”.

 

 

Dr Giriraj Singh cited a United Nation’s report that says in the coming 20 years, India’s work force would grow by 32 per cent while the overall global manpower would dip by four per cent. He said that RSETIs are following up with the Banks and Financial Institutions to make available required credit to the trained candidates for their successful settlement. 14.28 Lakh trained candidates were credit linked and the cumulative credit disbursed is to the tune of Rs.7200 crores. The average level of credit linkage of RSETI trained candidates is 51%, the Minister added.

A sum of Rs 25 crores has been approved for the project of new campus of NAR in Bengaluru. The State Government has allotted 3.5 acres of land. At present, there are 590 RSETIs functioning covering 572 districts spreading over 27 States and six Union Territories. These include 33 RSETIs in Karnataka having trained 3.49 lakh unemployed youths so far. RSETIs are sponsored by 24 banks including banks in public, private, co-operative sectors and Garmin Banks.

In 1982, Canara Bank, erstwhile Syndicate Bank and SDME Trust, Dharmasthala pioneered the unique concept of Rural Development and Self Employment Training Institute (RUDSET) to address the problem of unemployment amongst the rural youth in the country under the leadership of Dr. D. Veerendra Heggade, Dharmadhikari, Sri Kshetra Dharmasthala. The Ministry of Rural Development has since replicated RUDSETI model across the country and advised banks to set up Rural Self Employment Training Institute (RSETI) in each of their Lead District. The National Academy of RUDSETI-NAR, set up in 2008 entered a Memorandum of Understanding with the Rural Development Ministry in 2011 for providing training to youths in self-employment ventures.

 

 

Earlier, Shri Giriraj Singh formally opened the Hostel Block while Shri Bommai inaugurated the Admin Block of the new campus. The Chief Minister also addressed the gathering.

 

Shri Shailesh Kumar Singh, Secretary, Rural Development, Government of India, Shri Karma Zimpa Bhutia, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Rural Development, senior officers of Government of Karnataka and top bank executives attended the event.

An experience sharing session of successful RSETI trainees and distribution of bank loans to entrepreneurs also formed part of the programme.

 

Kashi Tamil Sangamam Express

 Union Minister of Railways,Communications and Electronics & Information Technology Shri Ashwini  Vaishnaw  has announced a new train service Kashi Tamil Sangamam Express between Kashi and Tamil Nadu to commemorate the event. He interacted with the delegates from Tamil Nadu who were invited to witness the Kashi Tamil Sangamam. He also inspected the redevelopment plan of Varanasi Junction Railway Station.

Shri Ashwini  Vaishnaw interacted with the delegates of the eighth batch. The delegates shared their experiences in the tour and how they were well taken care of. He lauded the efforts of the Ministry of Railways & IRCTC team who helped in making this event successful. He said that such people-to-people exchange will bring the traditions, knowledge and culture closer together, while building an understanding of shared heritage and strengthen ties between the people of these two regions.

 

Shri Vaishnaw announced a new train service Kashi Tamil Sangamam Express between Kashi and Tamil Nadu to commemorate the event. He said the service will commence soon.

The Union Minister of Railways also reviewed the redevelopment plans of Varanasi Junction Railway Station. He suggested planning the redevelopment of the station keeping future traffic increases in mind.

 

While inspecting the Varanasi Junction Railway Station, the Minister said redevelopment of this station into a world class railway station is in line with the PM’s vision of making the railway station to look like an airport terminal. He added that about Rs 7000 crore would be spent in revamping the station to make it one of the best in the world.

 

Shri Vaishnaw said that the redevelopment would be done planning for 50 years ahead. He said that in order to ease the heavy footfall of passengers in the stations in Varansi city, Integrated development of all the railway stations in the region would be made. He also said that sleeper Vande Bharat manufacturing would commence soon to provide modern amenities to the passengers.

Kashi Tamil Sangamam is a month-long programme organized by the Ministry of Education, as a part of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav. Delegates from various walks of life are invited to witness this festival in Kashi. The Ministry of Railways and IRCTC ferried the invited delegates to Kashi, Prayagraj and Ayodhya and provided hospitality to them.

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Universal Health Coverage Day 2022

 Smt. Anandiben Patel, Hon’ble Governor, Uttar Pradesh virtually inaugurated the two-day conclave of Universal Health Coverage (UHC) at Rudraksh Convention Centre, Varanasi today, in the presence of Union Minister of Health & Family Welfare Dr. Mansukh Mandaviya. The event was also graced by several Health Ministers from States. These included Minister of State, Uttar Pradesh Dr Daya Shankar Mishra, Smt. Vidadala Rajni (Andhra Pradesh), Shri Banna Gupta (Jharkhand), Dr. Prabhuram Choudhary (Madhya Pradesh), Shri Dhan Singh Rawat (Uttarakhand), Shri Ravindra Jaiswal (Uttar Pradesh), Smt. Chandrima Bhattacharya (West Bengal), Dr. Sapam Ranjan (Manipur) and Dr M K Sharma (Sikkim).

 

Speaking at the occasion, Hon. Governor, Uttar Pradesh praised the work of Ayushman Bharat Health and Wellness Centers in providing last mile delivery of healthcare services. “I am happy to learn that more than 1.33 lakh HWCs have now become operational and are working as hubs of teleconsultations services”, she stated. She further encouraged the medical professionals at these Centers to create awareness regarding screening for various diseases among the  local population, emphasizing that collaborative effort is essential for eradicating the nation of diseases. Applauding the spirit and progress of the initiative Nikshay-Mitra, she said “With collaborative effort of Centre, States, communities and individuals, we can easily  achieve goal of TB – mukt Bharat by 2025. Let us all come forward and become a Ni-kshay Mitra to support TB patients.”

 

 

At the outset, Dr. Mansukh Mandaviya thanked the Community Health Officers (CHOs) for their selfless service and commitment to duty exhibited especially during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Union Health Minister praised the significant impact of e-Sanjeevani, flagship initiative of Govt of India in digital health, elaborating that it has successfully saved 21.59 km per health visit to the patient, and enabled savings of Rs 941.51 in terms of direct and indirect cost per health visit leading to a saving of Rs 7,522 crore across the country. These teleconsultations are available at AB-HWCs. To build on this momentum and spread awareness regarding the 12 healthcare services being provided at HWCs, he urged that once a month Health Mela should be organized for comprehensive drive on integrated health and wellness through screening, diagnostics and treatment.

 

 

The theme of the UHC day 2022 is “Build the World We Want: A Healthy Future for All”. Highlighting the importance of health coverage in building a healthy future for all, UHC strives to ensure that all people have access to quality health services without suffering financial hardship when paying for these services. In light of its significance, UHC also features as a key priority in G20 India Health track and comprises as a key target for the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of 2030.

 

On day one of the conclave, states/UTs were awarded for best performances under the following categories:

  1. Achievement of HWCs Operationalization against target,
  2. Tele consultation), and
  3. ABHA ID Generation.

A Ministeral Session on implementation of PM- Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission (PM-ABHIM) and 15th Financial Commission was also held today.

The event was also attended by Dr R S Sharma, CEO, NHA, Shri Rajesh Bhushan, Union Health Secretary, Ms. Roli Singh, AS&MD (NHM), senior officers from Centre, States, UTs, and representatives from development partners.

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IYOM & Mega Food Event 2023

 Secretary, FPI chaired a roundtable interaction with Resident Commissioners on Thursday 8th December 2022 at 11:00 AM. The agenda of the roundtable was to apprise the Ministry’s plan of action for the proposed Mega Food Event to States / UTs and discuss possible areas of collaborations.

During the keynote address, Secretary, FPI informed the RCs that the mega event would be organized in October 2023 and is being envisaged on a much larger scale than the event earlier organised by the Ministry. This event would be providing a platform for the States and UTs to showcase State / UT-specific opportunities, interact with global and domestic business leaders, suppliers, purchasers, and technology providers for collaborations, and generate investment & sourcing interests across the value chain of food processing and food retail sectors.

All States / UTs were requested to share feedback / suggestions to make the event a grand success. They were also requested to participate actively in the event, as well as support the Ministry in creating awareness, ensuring participation of senior policy makers, agri-food companies, FPOs / SHGs and all relevant stakeholders in the mega food event.

The participants were also informed that as part of ‘International Year of Millets’, a series of activities are being planned by the Ministry to create awareness about the many benefits of millets and millet based value-added products.

All participating RCs assured support to MoFPI in activities planned throughout the year 2023 and during the Mega Food Event 2023. Some of the suggestions / feedback included requirements of focused campaigning of the mega food event as well as benefits of millets domestically & in international expos, organising district level summits in addition to planned summits and expos in State Capitals which would help in onboarding micro entrepreneurs, FPOs, SHGs; showcasing of traditional aspects, possible association with tourism industry for promotion of the mega event etc.

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The Investment Facilitation Cell (Invest India) was advised to coordinate with the States and UTs for implementing the identified plan of action and ensuring necessary support to enable active participation of States / UTs.

Secretary, FPI urged all States and UTs to engage with the Ministry for showcasing the strength of Indian food processing sector as well as actively participate in to avail the maximum benefits of the mega event.

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Ministry of Culture organises ‘Story Telling’ as part of Kalanjali campaign

 Main Highlights:

  • On 10th December, 2022, Shri Rajiv Tambe and Kshama Sharma presented story in an interactive manner.
  • The 2 day event will be organized on 11th of December 2022 also.

Under the aegis of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav, Sahitya Akademi, an autonomous organisation of the Ministry of Culture, Government of India, organized Storytelling  at the India Gate Lawns in New Delhi as a part of campaign named Kalanjali, a unique culture spectacle, under which cultural programmes are being organised at Amphitheatre Central Vista, India Gate every week.

 

On 10th December, 2022 ,Shri Rajiv Tambe and  Kshama Sharma presented story in an interactive manner which  held  the interest of both children and adults. Shri Rajiv Tambe is  a writer of children’s stories and a Sahitya Akademi Awardee for Children’s Literature. His style is unique and immersive. Besides being a writer, he also works with few select non-government organizations (NGOs) and the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund. He has to his credit 80 published books in Marathi, Hindi, Gujarati and English.

 

Kshama Sharma has received the Sahitya Akademi Award for her contribution to Children’s Literature. An eminent writer in Hindi, she has to her credit over 50 published works. She has also been associated with the editing of several children’s magazines. She will be presenting her story with interesting dialogues.

The 2 day event will be organized on 11th of December 2022 also. On 11th December Kamaljit Neelon and Devendra Mewari,will present their stories.

Oral traditions have always been popular in India. It is a way of preserving the culture and beliefs of a tribe or community and passing them down to the next generation. That is the real significance of oral traditions. However, storytelling does not need to be limited to oral recitation. It can take form through drawings, paintings, dance or even puppet shows. India’s storytelling traditions are as diverse as the culture of the country,

Narrating stories is a means used to teach lessons, morals and to entertain people, particularly in rural areas. Before TV, the internet and smartphones, people were coming together to hear stories about their history, folklore and current events. India being a land of diverse cultures, every state follows its own style of storytelling. While some narrate, others employ props like puppets, masks and even musical instruments. There are some that are told through the medium of dance and music.

Katha is an Indian style of religious storytelling, performances of which are a ritualistic event in Hinduism. It often involves professional storytellers who recite Hindu religious texts such as Puranas, The Ramayana or Bhagavata Purana, followed by an explanatory commentary. South India has a long tradition of storytelling and religious discourse. Religious scholars were knowledgeable in the scriptures used for discourse in temples and monasteries. Purana-Pravachana is a lecture about scriptures in which the pauranika is a spiritual interpreter of the scriptures. These stories generally have a religious theme, usually the life of a saint or a story from an Indian epic.

Wall paintings in temples and shrines across India also serve the purpose of interpreting and storytelling with a religious theme.

Kamaljit Neelon  is the recipient of the Sahitya Akademi Award for Children’s Literature. A well-known name in Punjabi children’s literature, her writings incorporate cultural and social values, which motivates both children and adults to move towards a positive direction. Nine albums of Punjabi songs written by her continue to be aired by Doordarshan and other television channels. She will be presenting her stories with the musical accompaniment of the Dhapli and Harmonium.

 Devendra Mewari is a recipient of the Sahitya Akademi Award for Children’s Literature. A distinguished writer in Hindi, he has 25 published books to his credit. He has also worked on a rare genre of audio plays in Hindi on Science and Technology. His presentation will be innovative and interesting.

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Human Rights Day Celebration Organised by the National Human Rights Commission

 The President of India, Smt Droupadi Murmu graced and addressed the Human Rights Day celebration, organised by the National Human Rights Commission, in New Delhi today (December 10, 2022).

Speaking on the occasion, the President said that it is an important occasion for the whole of humankind, as it was on this day in 1948 that the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (HDHR). She noted that the text of the UDHR has been translated into more than 500 languages, which makes it the most translated document in history. She said that still, when we consider the sad developments that keep taking place in many parts of the world, we wonder if the declaration has been read at all in some of those languages. The fact remains that human rights are a work in progress around the world.

The President said that in India, we can take solace in the fact that the National Human Rights Commission has been making the best possible efforts to spread awareness about them. Now in its 30th year, the NHRC has done a commendable job of protecting as well as promoting human rights. It also participates in various global forums for human rights. India is proud of the fact that its work has been appreciated internationally.

The President said that developing sensitivity and sympathy is the key to promoting human rights. It is essentially an exercise of the faculty of imagination. If we can imagine ourselves in the place of those who are treated as less than human, it would open our eyes and compel us to do the needful. There is a so-called ‘golden rule’, which says “Treat others as you would like them to treat you”. That sums up the human rights discourse beautifully. 

The President noted that today is the beginning of the worldwide, year-long celebrations of the 75 years of the UDHR. And the United Nations has chosen ‘Dignity, Freedom and Justice for All’ as the theme of the year 2022. She said that over the past few years, the world has suffered from a high number of natural disasters caused by unusual weather patterns. Climate change is knocking on the doors. People in the poorer nations are going to pay a heavier price for the degradation of our environment. We must consider the environmental dimension of justice now.

The President said that the challenge of climate change is so enormous that it forces us to redefine ‘rights’. Five years ago, the High Court of Uttarakhand held that the Ganga and Yamuna rivers have the same legal rights as human beings. India is a land of sacred geography, with countless holy lakes, rivers and mountains. To these landscapes, the flora and fauna add rich biodiversity. In old times, our sages and seers saw them all as part of a universal whole, along with us. So, just as the concept of human rights exhorts us to consider every human being as no different from us, we should treat the whole living world and its habitat with respect.

The President shared that she wonders what the animals and trees around us would tell us if they could speak, what would our rivers say about human history and what would our cattle say on the topic of human rights. She said that we have trampled on their rights for long, and now the results are before us. We must learn – rather re-learn – to treat nature with dignity. This is not only a moral duty; it is necessary for our own survival too.

Please click here to see the President’s Speech – 

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5th European Union-India Competition Week 2022 Inaugurated

 The European Union-India Competition Week, 5th edition, was inaugurated today at the Competition Commission of India (CCI) HQ by Dr. Sangeeta Verma, acting Chairperson, CCI, and Mr Seppo Nurmi, Deputy Head of Delegation of the EU to India & Bhutan. The Competition Week is scheduled to be held during 5-7 December 2022.

In her opening remarks, Chairperson, CCI appreciated the relevance of the Competition Week for capacity building of CCI officers. Dr. Verma also highlighted the ongoing cooperation between CCI and Directorate General for Competition of the European Commission under the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed by the two authorities in November 2013. Further, she pointed out that this technical cooperation program has provided a platform for dialogue and exchange of good practices between competition authority officials and experts from the EU and India. She remarked that the topics on the agenda are not only of great contemporary relevance and significance but also quite futuristic. 

In the backdrop of the rapidly changing and evolving digital landscape that is posing new challenges for competition law enforcers and questioning the traditional parameters of competition regulation, she highlighted the need for competition agencies to develop innovative perspectives on how to apply the existing instruments suitably and devise new tools, where necessary.

The practical insights shared by experts from the EU in designing and implementing their digital regulations will lead to very engaging discussions, she added.  

The Deputy Head of the EU delegation, Mr Nurmi, highlighted the India-EU relations that date back to the early-1960s. In reference to the agenda items to be covered in the ongoing India-EU Competition Week, he stated that topics such as experiences in applying antitrust laws to the digital economy/markets, introduction of the EU’s Digital Markets Act, investigating hub-and-spoke agreements & other atypical cartels and competition law & sustainable co-operation; are timely for sharing the views of EU experts. He further stated that the 5th India-EU Competition Week provides a platform to share views from two key economies on antitrust action in digital and technology markets as we attempt to find answers to these challenges and provides an opportunity to discuss how regulation can supplement competition enforcement, as the EU has set the Digital Markets Act in motion.

A short meeting on the sidelines of the competition week was also held between the Deputy Head of the EU delegation and Chairperson, CCI along-with the Secretary and other officials.

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Conference on “Women Leading Change in Health and Science in India

 Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology; Minister of State (Independent Charge) Earth Sciences; MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh will inaugurate a conference titled, “Women Leading Change in Health and Science in India” in New Delhi tomorrow.

Dr. Bharti Pravin Pawar, Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, Ms. Melinda French Gates, Co-chair and Trustee Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Ms. Amie Batson, Executive Director, WomenLift Health will also address the conference.

The conference being organized by Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India and Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC), a PSU of DBT, in collaboration with WomenLift Health and Grand Challenges India will highlight and promote the importance of women’s leadership in health and science and seek to identify attainable pathways and goals to strengthen the representation of women in leadership positions in India and Global health ecosystem.

This conference honours and celebrates Indian women’s accomplishments in overcoming unprecedented challenges over the past few years and advancing STEM innovation and healthcare with their indefatigable resilience and unwavering perseverance.

Speaking ahead of the conference, Dr Rajesh S. Gokhale, Secretary, Department of Biotechnology& Chairperson, BIRAC said “Women’s leadership throughout centuries has been transformative. I congratulate all women, and I believe that this is the time we need to empower more women in leadership positions so that India becomes the superpower that our Prime Minister dreams of.”

Dr Alka Sharma, Senior Adviser, DBT & Managing Director, BIRAC, said, “Women’s leadership is now recognized at the highest level and is steadily on the rise. Through various schemes and programs of BIRAC, the researchers and entrepreneurs are being promoted and supported across the country”. She further added that “this conference is certainly going to help in building a national focus on women’s leadership”.

The global healthcare workforce is predominantly women and yet they remain underrepresented in leadership and decision-making positions, especially at the higher executive or board levels. Under-representation in STEM is also one of the major concerns. In India, even though the healthcare workforce participation is somewhat similar between men and women, there are fewer women in leadership roles.

Recognizing the importance of this issue, BIRAC has been working to advance scientific and technological research to alleviate India’s most critical health and development issues.

Initiatives in agriculture, food, and nutrition are centered on improving health outcomes for women by mitigating maternal and child health issues. Initiatives like BIRACTiE Women in Entrepreneurial Research focus on Women in Entrepreneurial Research- strongly promote and recognize women in science and entrepreneurship.

Co-host WomenLift Health works to accelerate the advancement of talented women into senior leadership by investing in mid-career women and influencing the environments in which they live and work.

The esteemed panel of speakers at this conference includes Dr Soumya Swaminathan, former Chief Scientist World Health Organization, Dr Renu Swarup, former Secretary, Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science and Technology, Dr Vinod Kumar Paul, Member, NITI Aayog, and Dr Rajiv Bahl, Director General of the Indian Council of Medical Research, and Secretary, Department of Health Research, Dr. Tessy Thomas, Director General of Aeronautical Systems, Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and many other prominent names working in health and science.

About DBT

The Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Ministry of Science and Technology, boosts and augments the development of biotechnology ecosystem in India, through its expansion and application in agriculture, healthcare, animal sciences, environment, and industry.

About BIRAC

Set up by the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Government of India, Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC), is a not-for-profit Section 8, Schedule B, Public Sector Enterprise, which acts as an Interface Agency to improve and encourage the evolving biotechnology industry to execute strategic research and development activities in context to Nation’s product development needs

About WomenLift Health

The WomenLift Health conference is an initiative of Stanford University and is organized since 2017 to provide a forum for established and emerging leaders across the global health community to meet and work together to advance gender equity in health leadership, contribute to the growing momentum to advance diversity and women’s leadership in global health and expand understanding of the opportunities and challenges across countries, sectors, and disciplines for women’s leadership.
 

 

                                                                       


Marked Reduction in Aggregate Technical and Commercial losses of DISCOMs in FY22

 Aggregate Technical and Commercial Loss (AT&C Loss) and ACS-ARR Gap are key indicators of DISCOM performance. In the last 2 years, the AT&C loss of the DISCOMs of the country was hovering at 21-22%.  Ministry of Power instituted a number of measures to improve the performance of utilities.  Preliminary analysis of data for FY2022 of 56 DISCOMs contributing to more than 96% of input energy, indicates that the AT&C losses of DISCOMs have declined significantly to ~17% in FY2022 from ~22% in FY2021.

Reduction in AT&C losses improves the finances of the utilities, which will enable them to better maintain the system and buy power as per requirements; benefitting the consumers.  The reduction in AT&C losses has resulted in reduction in the Gap between Average Cost of Supply (ACS) and Average Realizable Revenue (ARR).  The ACS-ARR Gap (on subsidy received basis, excluding Regulatory Income & UDAY Grant) has declined from Rs. 0.69/kWh in FY2021 to Rs. 0.22/kWh in FY2022.

The decline of 5% in AT&C losses and 47 paise in the ACS-ARR Gap in one year is the result of a number of initiatives taken by the Ministry of Power. On 04th September 2021, the Ministry of Power revised the prudential norms of PFC and REC, the lending agencies for the power sector to provide that loss making DISCOMs will not be able to avail financing from PFC and REC until and unless they draw up an action plan for reducing the losses within a specific timeframe and get their State Government’s commitment to it.  The Ministry of Power also decided that any future assistance under any scheme for strengthening of the distribution system by the DISCOMs will be available to a DISCOM which is making losses only if it undertakes to bring its AT&C losses / ACS-ARR Gap down to specified levels within a specific timeframe and gets their State Government’s commitment to it.  The Revamped Distribution Sector scheme lays down that funding under the scheme will be available only if the DISCOM commits to an agreed loss reduction trajectory. The Ministry of Power made a series of presentations before the 15th Finance Commission as a result of which 15th Finance Commission provided for an additional borrowing window to States contingent on their taking steps to reduce to their DISCOMs losses.  The Ministry of Power issued Regulations on 07th October 2021 providing for mandatory energy accounting and energy auditing for all DISCOMs.  On 03rd June 2022, the Ministry of Power issued Late Payment Surcharge Rules which provide that unless the Distribution companies promptly pay for the power drawn from the ISTS, their access to the power exchange will be cut off.  While putting all these in place; the Ministry of Power also worked with the distribution companies to provide the necessary finances under the RDSS for undertaking the loss reduction measures.

The above improvement is a result of the concerted efforts of the Ministry of Power, the State Governments as well as Distribution companies to implement the reforms and adoption of best practices. As a result – the viability of the power system has improved. This was necessary because the demand for power has been growing and further investments will be necessary for the power sector to expand to meet the growing demand; and the investments will only come if the power sector remains viable.

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National Conference on Soil Health Management for Sustainable Farming

 Union Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister, Shri Narendra Singh Tomar today inaugurated the National Conference on Soil Health Management for Sustainable Farming. On this occasion, Shri. Tomar said that due to chemical farming and other reasons, soil fertility is getting eroded and climate change is going to be a big concern for the country as well as the world. He said Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has concerns about climate change and from time to time prepares plans and keeps working on these plans. He said Prime Minister Shri Modi is committed towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

On the occasion of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav and World Soil Day, NITI Aayog in collaboration with GIZ affiliated to the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), Germany, Chief Guest Shri Tomar said that the lack of organic carbon in the soil is a serious concern for us. To meet this serious challenge and for better soil health, we have to promote natural farming, which is beneficial for the environment. He said that to promote natural farming, the Government of India under the leadership of Prime Minister Shri Modi is working with the States. The Government has re-adopted the Indian Natural Farming System for Agriculture. Natural Farming System is an ancient technique used by farmers for farming and at that time people also knew how to live in harmony with the nature, he added. States like Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu etc. have made many innovations to promote natural farming. During the last year, an additional area of 4.78 lakh hectares has been brought under natural farming in 17 States. To promote natural farming, the Central Government has approved the National Mission on Natural Farming as a separate scheme with an expenditure of Rs. 1,584 crores, Shri Tomar said. Under the Namami Gange programme, the project of natural farming is going on along the banks of the Ganges, while the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and all Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs), Central and State Agricultural Universities and Colleges are making all-round efforts to promote natural farming.

Shri Tomar said that the Government of India is also working through Soil Health Card. In two phases, more than 22 crore Soil Health Cards have been distributed to farmers across the country. Infrastructure development is also being done by the Government under the Soil Health Management Scheme, in which there is a provision to set up different types of Soil Testing Laboratories. So far, 499 permanent Soil Testing Laboratories, 113 Mobile Soil Testing Laboratories, 8,811 Mini Soil Testing Laboratories and 2,395 Village-level Soil Testing Laboratories have been established. He said that there was a time when the policies were production-oriented, due to chemical farming, agricultural yield increased, but now the situation has changed, and with climate change, keeping soil health intact is a big challenge. He said that if an attempt is made to exploit the earth contrary to the principles of nature, the consequences can be dangerous. Today, due to chemical farming, the soil’s fertility is being eroded, the country and the world should avoid this and fulfill our environmental responsibility.

In the conference, Vice Chairman of NITI Aayog, Shri Suman Berry, Member Prof. Ramesh Chand, CEO Shri Parameswaran Iyer, Senior Advisor Ms. Neelam Patel, Central Agricultural University Vice Chancellor of Jhansi, Dr. A.K. Singh and Mr. Drik Steffis, along with several scientists, policymakers and other stakeholders were present. Various technical sessions were addressed by experts at the conference.

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India as a key Global Player in the Space sector

 Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology; Minister of State (Independent Charge) Earth Sciences; MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh today described India as a key Global Player in the Space sector and reiterated that under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India is keen to take its Space cooperation with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to newer heights.

Addressing the Opening Ceremony of the UAE summit, “Abu Dhabi Space Debate”, Dr Jitendra Singh acknowledged the presence of the UAE President, Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed at the Opening Ceremony and conveyed PM Modi’s warm greetings to him and the people of UAE.

 

Dr Jitendra Singh is leading the official Indian delegation to United Arab Emirates (UAE) at the “Abu Dhabi Space Debate”, a 2-day international meet. Apart from Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of Israel, Isaac Herzog, and Diplomats from several countries attended the opening ceremony.

Dr Jitendra Singh greeted the people of the United Arab Emirates on the occasion of the celebration of 51 years of the formation of this great country on behalf of the people of India. He said, another laudable achievement for the UAE this year is completion of the silver jubilee of its space odyssey with several golden milestones.

Dr Jitendra Singh said, development of the Space sector is one of the priority areas for the leaders of both India and the UAE and added that India started its space journey seven decades back from a scratch and is today acknowledged to be a leading space power. He said, the highlight of India’s journey has been its thrust on indigenous development through dedication and hard work of its scientists guided by the commitment of the leaders.

 

 

Dr Jitendra Singh said, the indigenously developed Space sector of India and the fast-growing Space sector of the UAE have a lot of complementariness that can be harnessed. He said, if we want to ensure that the Space remains a sector to serve our shared humanity, it is important to bring all the stakeholders together to discuss and deliberate about the Space and in this regard, this platform has the potential to shape the future of the Space sector.

The Minister said, the Indian space industry today is renowned across the globe for two things – reliability and economy. India is proud to have the maximum success ratio in the world for its flagship space launching vehicle – Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle or PSLV. Just a few weeks back, India’s PSLV launched 36 satellites including for countries from both the developed and developing world.

Dr Jitendra Singh said, the list of achievements of India’s Space industries is quite long and informed that Indian Space Research Organization or ISRO has launched more than 100 satellites so far and has immense in-house satellite building capabilities for GSAT, Earth Observation Satellites and Space based Satellite Navigation Systems. He proudly stated that India has also developed its own GPS, which we call the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System or IRNSS. Besides the successful launch of India’s Mars orbiter mission in 2013, India has twice attempted to send its Mission to the moon known as Chandrayaan 1 and Chandrayaan 2. The third satellite mission to the moon, the Chandrayaan 3 will be launched next year, thr Minister informed.

Dr Jitendra Singh said, India’s other flagship space programmes also include Human Space Flight Centre or what we call in India as Gaganyaan project under which we are planning to send our first crewed flight in space in 2024.

Dr Jitendra Singh said, in the light of the Indian philosophy of Vasudeva Kutumbakam which means – the World is one family, India wants to share the fruits of space development to reach all countries and bring closer cooperation between governments and private entities in the space sector. He said, with this idea, India has recently brought landmark reforms leading to policy initiatives to tap the best of our research potential as well as participation of the private sector.

 

The Minister said, India is also keenly promoting development of start-ups in the space sector to facilitate entry of foreign government and private sector entities. In this regard, India has established a dedicated organisation called Indian Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre or IN-SPACe which is tasked with the objective of hand-holding our nascent private entities in the Space sector, he added.

Dr Jitendra Singh recalled that among the several pioneering initiatives of His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed is the Abu Dhabi Space Debate which reflects his commitment and vision for the Space sector. He said that much of this vision has already become a reality with the UAE sending a space mission to Mars orbit, thereby becoming the sixth such country demonstrating its prowess in the space sector and on top of that, the UAE became the only second country, other than India, to successfully launch a Mars orbiter in its very first attempt.

The Minister also congratulated the UAE for planning its second human space mission next year by sending four astronauts in space for six months. The launch of Rashid Rover, UAE’s Moon Mission in the near future, and creation of the Space fund are milestones which reflect the commitments and determination of the UAE to excel in the Space sector. He shared that India’s active space partnership with the UAE dates back to 2017, when our PSLV launched UAE’s first nanosatellite – ‘Nayif-1’ meant for collecting environmental space data.

Dr Jitendra Singh appreciated the thrust of the Abu Dhabi Space Debate for building the role of Governments in empowering space business and technology. He said, the list of discussions in ADSD on the role of the space sector to solve the climate issues, bringing accountability to environmental commitments, threats to and from space to the political discourse and making the presence of private sector and space innovation people driven that serve humankind; are very relevant to our time and are eye-opening topics, setting apart this initiative from any other such gathering in Space sector in the past.

Dr Jitendra Singh concluded by saying that he is confident that the Abu Dhabi Space Debate will grow in stature in the coming years and become a pre-eminent platform for discussions in space related matters and take India-UAE space cooperation into an entirely different and much higher spatial orbit. Lastly, as India assumed the chairmanship of G-20 on Dec 1, the Minister once again welcomed the UAE to the G-20 Summit and G-20 meetings in the period of India’s chairmanship.

Investors reward well-governed corporates: NFRA Chairperson

 Speaking at the conference on “Financial Reporting and Corporate Governance in the Corporate Sector”, Dr Ajay Bhushan Prasad Pandey, Chairperson, NFRA, said here today that Sound Corporate Governance is bedrock of corporate sector that contributes to the sustainable growth and development of the Nation as whole. He further said that investors reward the well-governed corporates.

Dr Pandey mentioned about a number of path breaking reforms initiated by Indian Policy Makers during last few years, both for enabling growth and development of business sector and society such as Digital Reforms like Aadhar, UPI, GST and Tax Reforms. He also mentioned about several institutional building reforms like NFRA, IBC, NCLT etc. 

Dr Pandey said need of the hour for the Finance Community and Directors is to take measures to prevent frauds and failure of internal financial controls such as developing Case Study of Register of Frauds. Perhaps it is time to go Back to Basics of Internal Financial Controls as not all the corporate frauds were committed by very sophisticated designs but by age old methods of fictitious sales and loans and advances, over invoicing of purchases, related party transactions and due to failure of basic internal controls.

In relation to building trust and meeting stakeholders expectations, Dr Pandey mooted idea of crowdsourcing of risk related matters and matters of emphasis for auditor consideration. He also suggested consideration of UK Brydon report recommendation of publication of Directors Risk Report before the audit scope is decided by The Audit Committee which can evaluate stakeholders inputs on that Risk Report.

On the Sustainability Reporting Standards, he said it is better to align with those of International Sustainability Standards Board of IFRS Foundation.

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