Shri Kapur ( AUGMUT:66) was Secretary, Parliamentary Affairs prior to his present assignment.

TABLE

    The Central Water Commission (CWC) monitors storage position of 70 major and important reservoirs spread over the country of which 25 reservoirs have significant hydro-power benefit with installed capacities of more than 60 MW. Out of these 70 reservoirs, there are presently only 27 reservoirs where this year’s storage capacity is less by 20% or more than the average of previous years. However, out of the 25 reservoirs with significant hydro-potential, there are only 16 reservoirs which a storage built up less than the average of previous years as on October 27, 2000. The combined storage capacity of these 70 reservoirs is presently 62% of the designed capacity and the present storage is 80% of the last year’s storage and 81 % of the last 10 years storage during the same period. The overall storage position is below average by 23.08% as on the above date.

    The storage position was better than the average in the rivers Godavari, Cauvery and neighbouring East flowing rivers and West flowing rivers of South as compared to previous years while it was less than 20% of the previous years in river Krishana. The basin wise storage position was however less by 20 % or more than the average of previous years in the rivers Mahi, Sabarmati, Indus and rivers of Kutch, Ganga, Narmada, Mahanadi and neighbouring East flowing river Tapi.

'8'

INDIA AND CHINA POISED TO ENHANCE EDUCATIONAL TIES

   India and China are poised to enhance educational ties between them. An eight member delegation headed by the Minister for Human Resource Development & Science and Technology, Dr. Murli Manohar Joshi is leaving New Delhi tonight for Beijing to have discussions in this regard with Chinese leaders. Among others, the delegation comprises Shri K. Venkatasubramaniam, Member, Planning Commission, Shri M.K. Kaw, Secretary, Secondary and Higher Education and Dr. Hari Gautam, Chairman, University Grants Commission.

    During the five day visit Dr. Joshi will have talks with the Chinese Minister of Education, Mr. Mme Chen Zhili and other senior officials. He will be visiting a middle school, Beijing Normal University, Qinghua University, and a Vocational Training Institute. Dr. Joshi will also have a meeting with leaders of Shanghai Municipal Government. The Shanghai Government will host a reception in honour of Dr. Joshi.

    During the talks with the Chinese leaders, commercially marketing Indian Universities in China, University to University or Institute to Institute linkages and reviving the educational protocol are expected to figure prominently. The possibilities of setting up an Indian Cultural Centre in Beijing would also be explored during Dr. Joshi's discussions with the Chinese side.

    India and China have been having annual exchange of scholarships and Chinese and Hindi teachers. There has also been regular interaction between the Indian Council of Social Science Research and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

    The Minister of State for Railways, Shri Digvijay Singh has said that the Indian Railways are committed to providing safe, reliable and efficient services to the countrymen. He was inaugurating a two-day Seminar on ‘Signalling and Telecommunication Strategies For Improving Railway Safety & Capacity in the New Millennium’ Organised by the Institution of Railway Signal and Telecom Engineers India at New Delhi today. He said that Railways have drawn an ambitious plan for improving safety and operational efficiency through state of art improvements in the signalling and telecom systems of the Indian Railways.

    Shri Singh said that signalling and telecom systems play a vital role in optimisation of the line capacity of the train operations. With the setting up of the Railtel Corporation of India Limited, the Ministry of Railways has taken a big leap in building a broad band telecom and multi-media network alongside the 62,800 km. railway tracks spread throughout the length and breadth of the country. The network will not only modernise the signalling and telecom system of the Indian Railways but will also go a long way in generating the much needed additional resources for the Railways for their infrastructure development programme. The Minister said that the business plan of the Corporation will be ready by next month. He expressed the hope that the Corporation will bring in a substantial amount of earnings for the Railways in this very financial year by providing bandwidth to the Telecom Operators and Internet Service Providers (ISP) in many significant areas of the country where IT revolution is transforming to communication scene.

    Earlier, in his key note address, the Member, Electrical, in the Railway Board, Shri N.K. Chidambaram gave a detailed account of various plans and programmes of the Railways to bring in new technology. Some of the important steps taken for better safety on Indian Railways are: Track Circuiting at stations, Last vehicle check by Axle Counters, Pilfer free AWS and Safety Devices at Level Crossings. A five year action plan (1999-2004) has been drawn to man 4449 level crossings, Interlocking of Level Crossing with signals at 1067 level crossings and provision of telephones between level crossing with nearest Station Master at 1563 level crossings. Works are progressing accordingly, he added.

    Shri Chidambaram further said that a new device of Train Actuated Warning system to warn the road users of an approaching train is also being developed.

    In his welcome address the IRSTE President, Shri Chandrika Prasad emphasised that application of Automatic Signalling provides the most techno-economic solution for running approximately 50% more trains services on the same section of railway line. Introduction of the Train Management System in the control centres will not only improve operational efficiency but will also provide the much needed on-line train running information to the public at the Internet/Tele terminal.

    The two-day Seminar will focus on issues like technology upgradation, advances in maintenance management, advance signalling and telecom system and applications of information technology , among others. It will also provide a platform for sharing experiences by Railway officials, Production Organisations and Academic Institutions and experts to find out solutions to many of these issues.

   The Unit-4 of Rajasthan Atomic Power Project (RAPP)-a 220 MWe Pressurized Heavy Water Reactor (PHWR)-achieved criticality today (November 3, 2000) at 0353 hrs. after regulatory clearance from the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB). RAPP Unit-4 achieved criticality in less than a year of criticality of Unit-3 (December 24, 1999) which was synchronized to the grid on March 10, 2000. Thus, NPCIL has commissioned four nuclear reactors viz. Kaiga-1, Kaiga-2 and Rajasthan-1 and Rajasthan-2, with a cumulative capacity of 880 MWe, in a period of about one-year. The Unit-4 is planned to be synchronized to the Northern Grid shortly after the completion of physics experiments. With this the total number of operating nuclear reactors will go to 14 (fourteen) and the total installed nuclear power capacity in the country to 2720 MWe.

    The Rajasthan Plant design meets all the latest standards and safety features based on defence-in-depth, redundancy, diversity and ‘fall-safe’ philosophy. This Plant is equipped with most advanced, state-of-the-art computerized control and monitoring system were developed by NPCIL and other sister units of Department of Atomic Energy.

    NPCIL’s plant performance has been on the upswing during last five years. All the nuclear power plants have been operating close to world level. The average capacity utilization of these plants was 80 per cent during the last financial year (1999-2000). 80 per cent plus during the current financial year.

   The Central Government has constituted a Committee under the Chairmanship of Secretary, Department of Personnel & Training, Government of India with the Chief Secretaries of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh as its Members, to consider representations arising out of allocation of All India Service officers to the bifurcated cadres of Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh. The Union Home Secretary and the Union Secretary, Ministry of Environment & Forests will be the co-opted Members in regard to consideration of the representations of the officers of IPS & the IFS.

    Ninety three Indian Administrative Service Officers, 59 Indian Police Service officers and 110 Indian Forest Service officers have been allocated to the newly created Chhattisgarh Cadre on and from 1^st November 2000 in exercise of power vested under section 67 of Madhya Pradesh Reorganization Act, 2000. These allocations have been made on the basis of the recommendations of the Advisory Committee constituted under the same Act headed by Shri U.C. Agarwal, IAS (Retd.).

   Urban Development and Poverty Alleviation Minister, Shri Jagmohan has emphasised the need for developing the potential for pilgrim and cultural tourism in India and for taking a few other complementary steps for civic reconstruction of culturally significant cities. Inaugurating ‘Annual Travel and Tourism Summit’, organised by the Associated Chamber of Commerce and Industry, on ‘Tourism: Catalyst for Employment and Economic Growth’ here today, Shri Jagmohan said that this step alone could contribute as much as Rs. 850,000 crores to the Gross Domestic Product of the country and also create 33 million jobs every year by 2010.

   Reserve Bank of India has issued comprehensive guidelines on Risk Management Systems including Assets Liability Management of the banks but given the technological expertise of financial institutions in India, Reserve Bank should extend necessary support to enhance their risk management capabilities. This was stated by the Minister of State for Finance, Shri Balasaheb Vikhe Patil while addressing the seminar on "Risk Management for Financial Institutions and Practitioners", here today.

    Shri Krishan Kant, Vice President of India has said that Dada J.P. Vaswani has the power to single-handedly give to the society a new refinement, a new culture and direction. He said that Dada Vaswani’s singular achievement has been in turning the focus of millions of people towards the spiritual substance of life. His message of compassion is all encompassing and his urge to relieve paid and hunger, poverty and disease, misery and sorrow excludes nothing. Dada has attempted to enhance and improve our understanding of life through the instruments of sincerity, love dedication and service, he added.

    The Indian Railways has launched an online dynamic website as yet another benefit for the travelling public. The address of the site is 'www.indianrail.gov.in.' and it will given information on reservation,fare,refund and related services. The travelling public can also check the reservation status from the site by putting in the PNR number.

   The Financial Commissioner for Railways, Shri N.P.Srivastav has urged the Zonal Railways and Production Units to earn more and spend wisely to enable the railways to face the resource crunch. In his opening remarks at the Conference of Financial Advisers and Chief Accounts Officers of the Railways and Production Units in New Delhi, Shri Srivastav said that if incremental earnings are not materialised as per the targets set, the Railways will have to adopt stringent austerity measures to cover the resource gap. He pointed out that the internal resources of Railways have been considerably constrained by the huge outstanding dues of Rs.2000 crore to be recovered from Power Houses, State Electricity Boards, Public Sector Units and others. Shri Srivastav also stressed the need to achieve the revenue targets set for non-traditional sources like land and air-space exploitation.

    The Chairman of the Railway Board, Shri Ashok Kumar in his address asked the Financial Advisers and Chief Accounts Officers to aggressively pursue realisation of the outstanding dues . He asked them to prioritise works for ensuring that the ongoing projects are completed expeditiously and resources are not spread thinly.

'21’

CENTRE ACCORDS HIGH PRIORITY TO CREATION OF SKILLED LABOUR FORCE

    Centre has accorded a very high priority to the creation of a skilled labour force in the country. This was stated by the Labour Minister Dr. Satya Narayan Jatiya while addressing the meeting of the Parliamentary Consultative Committee attached to his ministry here today. He said the Prime Minister has several times emphasised that upgrading the skills of labour force is essential to help them take advantage of globalisation process. Seeking the cooperation of the industry in this regard Dr. Jatiya said that it has become imperative to modernise and improve the quality of training to keep pace with technological changes taking place all over the world. He said said this is essential to improve efficiency and ensure relevance of training system to labour market requirements. The Labour Minister said that at present the country has a network of 4,172 Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) which constitute an important base for creating a skilled workforce. He said that 1575 ITIs are in government sector run by the state governments, many of whom face a resource crunch. The Labour Minister called for a shift of responsibility in terms of financing and management of vocational training from government towards employers. Emphasizing on greater industry-institute interaction Dr. Jatiya said that industry needs to replace its advisory inputs into ITIs with managerial inputs. Dr. Jatiya said that our endeavour should be to create a trained workforce that could take a job anywhere in the world.

    The Minister of State for labour and Employment Shri Muni Lall stressed on the importance of modern training for self-employment. He said this would help in solving the problem of unemployment particularly in rural areas.

    The Labour Secretary Shri Vinod Vaish said that government is concerned about improving the health of ITIs. He said that training methods and means need to be changed to be in line with changing technologies. Shri Vaish said that the Labour Ministry would, for greater impact, interact with other Ministers and Departments involved in building skills.

    Mr. P. Rajandaran, M.P. said that education should be made job oriented and everybody must be given an opportunity for ensuring full growth of ones talents. He said that globalisation process was initialed without preparing the industry for it.

INDIA AND MALAYSIA REVIEW PROGRESS OF VARIOUS PROJECTS OF MUTUAL COOPERATION IN HYDROCARBON SECTOR

   The Minister for Petroleum & Natural Gas, Shri Ram Naik, emphasised the need to accelerate the implementation and identification of specific projects to further enhance cooperation between India and Malaysia in oil and gas sector. At a meeting held here today between Shri Ram Naik and Mr. Azizan Zainul Abidin, Chairman of Petroliam Nasional Berhad (Petronas), the National Oil Company of Malaysia, progress of various projects of mutual interest was reviewed. Petronas and IOC, a Navaratna PSU, are pursuing activities/cooperation covering areas of LPG import, Refinery, Petrochemicals, Exploration & Production and LNG import and are jointly pursuing projects in hydrocarbon sector in other countries.

    The Scientific Advisory Committee to the Cabinet (SAC-C) has approved an expert group report relating to critical technologies. At its second meeting here today, it also cleared other reports connected with private sector initiative in higher science and technology education, India Millennium Mission 2020, simplification of administrative and financial rules and procurement in scientific ministries and departments as also the report on maximal utilisation of the human resource potential of women scientists and technologists.

'20'

SHRI RAM NAIK RECEIVES DIVIDEND CHEQUE FROM IBP

   The Minister for Petroleum & Natural Gas, Shri Ram Naik, received a cheque of Rs. 6.07 crore dividend paid by the IBP Company Limited to the Government for the Financial Year 1999-2000. The dividend cheque was presented to Petroleum Minister by Shri S.N. Mathur, CMD, IBP Co. Ltd. The total dividend pay out by the Company to all the shareholders works out an impressive rate of 46 per cent. The company earned a net profit after tax of Rs. 41.70 crore during the year. The Government has 59.58% holding in the Company.

    Shri Justice Ashok Ahaiendra Desai has been appointed Judge of the new High Court of Uttaranchal. He is presently a judge of the Allahabad High Court. His appointment will become effective from 9^th November 2000.

    The Principal Seats of Uttaranchal and Jharkhand High Courts have also been notified today. While it will sit at Nainital with effect from 9^th November 2000 in case of Uttaranchal, for Jharkhand it will be at Ranchi w.e.f. 15^th November 2000.

    The Pulse Polio Immunisation Programme in Bihar will be held on 12^th November 2000. It was originally slated for 5^th November along with the ten other States.

    Following the State Government's request the Pulse Polio Immunisation Day has been revised in Bihar. Almost 2 crore children who are less than 5 years of age will be administered oral vaccine.

    During the first special round held in September 2000, average percentage coverage of Pulse Polio Immunisation in Bihar was estimated at 107.74. In rural areas the average percentage coverage was 108.45, whereas in urban areas it was 106.64%.

    Polio surveillance is very good throughout the country. The total number of polio cases during January to September 2000 has come down to 264 from 1942 in the corresponding period of the previous year.

PRESIDENT CONFERS GALLANTRY AND DISTINGUISHED SERVICE AWARDS

    President, Shri K R Narayanan conferred two Kirti Chakras, nine Vir Chakras and ten Shaurya Chakras on those Armed Forces personnel, who displayed conspicuous gallantry, indomitable courage and extreme devotion to duty, at a solemn ceremony in Rashtrapati Bhawan, here today.

1. Lt Gen Yuvraj Kumar Mehta (IC-12803), Engineers
2. Lt Gen Surinder Bir Singh Kochar (IC-13247), Infantry
3. Lt Gen Dharambir Singh (IC-12552), Electrical and Mechanical Engineers
4. Lt Gen Sudhir Kumar (IC-12850), Signals
5. Lt Gen Satish Chandra Chopra (IC-13963), Infantry
6. Lt Gen Hind Ravi Singh Mann (IC-12813), Infantry
7. Lt Gen (Retd) Satish Chandra Verma (MR-02482), Army Medical Corps
8. Vice Admiral Pramod Chander Bhasin (50155-N)
9. Surgeon Vice Admiral (Retd) Jagdish Chandra Sharma (75524-W)
10. Air Marshal Thrunillayi Ramaswamy Janakiraman (7058), Aeronautical Engineering (Mechanical)
11. Air Marshal Satish Govind Inamdar (7189) Flying (Pilot)
12. Air Marshal Sayed Shahid Hussain Naqvi (7193), Flying (Pilot)

1. Lance Naik Ram Chander Bhatt (5849569), 2/9 Gorkha Rifles (Posthumous)
2. Maj Joginder Singh Tanwar (IC-47194), 1/3 Gorkha Rifles, 32 Rashtriya Rifles

1. Maj Gen (Retd) Deepak Varma (IC-12809), Artillery
2. Maj Gen Mohan Chandra Bhandari (IC-17615), Infantry

1. Lt Gen (Retd) Shankar Prasad Datta (MR-01815), Army Medical Corps
2. Air Marshal Proteep Kumar Ghosh (7106), Aeronautical Engineering (Electronics)
3. Maj Gen Anil Sawhny (IC-13888), Engineers
4. Maj Gen Sudesh Kumar Kaushal (IC-15947), Artillery
5. Maj Gen Sarvjit Singh Chahal (IC-16240), Infantry
6. Maj Gen Charanjit Singh Brar (IC-16261), Armourd Corps
7. Maj Gen Bhopinder Singh (IC-16272), Infantry
8. Maj Gen Bittianda Karriappa Bopanna (IC-22834), Infantry
9. Maj Gen Rajinder Bir Singh (IC-16618), Infantry
10. Maj Gen Vijay Joshi (MR-02033), Army Medical Corps
11. Surgeon Vice Admiral Hara Prasad Mukherjee (75091-K)
12. Rear Admiral Arun Saxena (50180-W)
13. Rear Admiral Krishnan Narayanan (50245-T)
14. Rear Admiral (Retd) Sampath Pillai (00615-Y)
15. Air Vice Marshal Arunachalam Saibaba (9996), Administration
16. Maj Gen Avinash Walter Ranbhise (IC-17265), Infantry
17. Brig Arun Kumar Chopra (IC-17674), Infantry
18. Brig Kuldip Singh Jamwal (IC-19001), Infantry
19. Brig Gaganjit Singh (IC-26878), Armoured Corps
20. Brig Rama Krushna Sahoo (IC-17930), Engineers
21. Air Vice Marshal Puzhankara Ambalavattam Hari Mohan (9723), Flying (Pilot)
22. Air Commodore Prakashchandra Khandubhai Desai (10078), Aeronautical Engineering (Mechanical)
23. Air Commodore Bhushan Nilkanth Gokhale (11630), Flying (Pilot)
24. Chief Engineer (Civil) (Retd) Harbhajan Singh (GO-0459M)

1. Hav Shatrughan Singh (4268525), 1 Bihar
2. Maj Baleyada Muthanna Cariappa (IC-54977), 5 Para
3. Sepoy Tsewang Morup (9924742), Ladakh Scouts, Karakoram Wing
4. Hav Satish Chander (9085536), 12 Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry
5. Hav Bhim Bahadur Dewan (9415981), 1/11 Gorkha Rifles (Posthumous)
6. Maj Gautam Shasikumar Khot (IC-47707), Army Aviation, 23 Recce & Observation Flight
7. Lt Praveen Kumar (IC-57455), 14 Sikh Regiment
8. Naik Kaushal Yadav (13618411), 9 Parachute(SF) (Posthumous)
9. Capt Kul Bhushan Upreti (IC-57684), Army Service Corps, 19 Mahar

1. Rifleman Ram Bahadur Thapa (5452662), 5/5 Gorkha Rifles (Frontier Forces) (Posthumous)
2. Asstt Commandant Kartar Singh (AR-180), 19 Assam Rifles
3. Rifleman Jayanta Kumar Rabha (193499), 19 Assam Rifles
4. Maj Sangram Singh (SS-36034), 10 Para (Special Force)
5. Lt Deepak Singh Pathania (04004-Z), Indian Navy
6. Lance Hav Dev Bahadur Thapa (5245388), 1/3 Gorkha Rifles (Posthumous)
7. Lance Naik Maluk Chand (3986604), 16 Dogra (Posthumous)
8. Lt Col Natraj Vijay Raghavan (IC-40300), 15 Kumaon (Posthumous)
9. Lance Naik J Veerabhadrudu (2600934), 28 Madras
10. Subedar Mohan Singh Rawat (JC-224169), Guards, 21 Rashtriya Rifles

    The Vice President, Shri Krishan Kant, Home Minister, Shri L K Advani, Defence Minister, Shri George Fernandes, Minister of State for Defence Production and Supplies, Shri Harin Pathak, Chief of Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal A Y Tipnis, Chief of Army Staff, Gen Sundararajan Padmanabhan, Defence Secretary and senior officials of Armed Forces and Defence Ministry were also present on the occasion.

BHARAT ELECTRONICS LTD PRESENTS DIVIDEND CHEQUE WORTH FIFTEEN CRORE

    Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL) a defence public sector undertaking of the Ministry of Defence has paid a dividend of 25 per cent for the year 1999-2000. Chairman &Managing Director, BEL Dr V K Koshy presented a dividend cheque worth Rs 15,17,24,000 Crore to Minister of State for Defence Production &Supplies Shri Harin Pathak in New Delhi today.

GARDEN REACH SHIPBUILDERS & ENGINEERS LTD PRESENTS DIVIDEND CHEQUE WORTH Rs 1.17 Cr

    Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers Ltd (GRSE), a defence public sector undertaking of the Ministry of Defence has presented a dividend cheque worth Rs 1.17 crore to Minister of State for Defence Production & Supplies Shri Harin Pathak in New Delhi today. The dividend cheque for the financial year 1999-2000, was presented by acting Chairman & Managing Director of GRSE Cmde (Retd) JS Brar.