GOVERNMENT DETERMINED TO SUCCESSFULLY IMPLEMENT POWER REFORMS
The Minister of State for Power, Smt. Jayawanti Mehta has said the Government is determined to move ahead and successfully implement power reforms. The Minister of State was speaking while inaugurating the World Energy Council Executive Assembly -2000, here today. The six-day Executive Assembly which began yesterday is holding a Workshop on "Performance of Generating Plants". Smt. Mehta said the country is determined to use new resources of power like solar energy, wind energy and bio-mass to bridge the gap between supply and demand.
As part of the power reforms, the Government is keen on deregulating the sector and privatizing many areas of activity. Smt. Mehta referred to Norway where 90% of its electricity is generated through hydro power where water is abundantly available. The Minister touched on a number of areas which require attention like improving plant efficiency, capacity, use of new technology to protect the environment while using fuels to produce power.
She pointed out that a scheme of awards should be implemented where plants generating near to their capacity would be rewarded while those unable to do so would be penalised. The Minister said her Ministry is concerned with the delays in starting hydro power projects and also referred to some of the problems faced in this sector in India like losses, ways to save power for which a Bill is with Parliament, how to increase Plant Load Factor (PLF) and the need to renovate and modernize existing power plants.
Concluding her inaugural address, Smt. Mehta appealed to the delegates gathered for the World Energy Council to increase co-operation, share their experiences and think of new ways to use technologies so that developing countries like India would be able to harness their resources to produce optimum power.
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SHRI NAIDU CALLS FOR GREATER COOPERATION IN TACKLING NATURAL DISASTERS
Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu, Minister for Rural Development has emphasized to prepare a comprehensive blue print for disaster preparedness and mitigation. Such a plan of action must necessarily include the measures that need to be taken to protect and preserve our heritage of natural resources.
Inaugurating the "Australia - India Disaster Management Symposium", here today, Shri Naidu said that we need to use modern and scientific methods for accessing accurate and timely forecasts regarding the likelihood of occurrence of disasters, educating the vulnerable sections of population of disasters, educating the vulnerable sections of population about the Do’s and Don’ts in a time of crisis and equipping the administrative machinery to come to the rescue of the affected population in a swift and purposeful manner. The efficient management of natural disasters is one of the fundamental responsibilities of the Government. Underlining the need of role of non-governmental institutions in the evolution of such a plan, Shri Naidu said that there are also other related areas such as upgradation of communication systems, updating of the Codes that deal with famines and floods, and affecting changes in town and country planning norms in areas known to be prone to disasters.
Listing out the efforts made by government in tackling disasters, Shri Naidu said that following the recommendations of the various Finance Commissions, State-level Calamity Relief Funds has bee constituted. A Central Sector Scheme on natural disaster management is also under implementation. Apart from the established National Centre for Disaster Management, the Central government is extending assistance to the States for setting up Disaster Management Faculties in the state level training institutions. The Symposium assumed significance at the instance of the United Nations the last decade was celebrated the world over as the International Decade for the Natural Disaster Reduction. During this decade alone, India saw the savage fury of two cyclones in Andhra Pradesh another in Gujarat and the super cyclone in Orissa last year. Annually these disasters took toll of more than 4200 human lives affected 63 million people and damaged over 15 million hectares of cropped areas and nearly 2.5 million houses.
Shri Naidu drew attention that India in particular has a high degree vulnerable to natural disasters. The long coast-line of about 8,000 kms. Is visited by frequent cyclones. While close to 70% of the crop area is drought-prone, about 40 million hectares of agricultural land is vulnerable to floods. More than half of the country’s area is open to the threat of earthquakes and nearly 140 districts have been identified as multi-disaster prone.
Shri Venkaiah Naidu admired the response from the international communities – especially the wing of the United Nations such as UNDP. He further added that USAID, the Asian Disaster Reduction Centre of Japan and the Asian Disaster Preparedness Centre in Bangkok are some of the other orgasnisations which have extended collaboration and support to India in the field of disaster management.
HE Mr. Rob Laurie, High Commissioner of Australia said that both countries should work rapidly and effectively in tackling disasters. Each country should try to develop and should try to develop and maintain an effective disaster management capability, appropriate to their needs. He stressed that there is also a necessity for coordinated global action in order to strengthen all aspects of disaster management.
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SCHEME OF FAST TRACK EXIT ROUTE FOR DEFUNCT COMPANIES EXTENDED
The Government (Department of Company Affairs) has extended the Fast Track Exit Route for defunct companies under Section 560 of the Companies Act, 1956, for a further period of one month from November 26, 2000 to December 25, 2000.The Scheme was announced earlier on September 25, 2000 by the Minister of Law, Justice and Company Affairs and Shipping Shri Arun Jaitley for a period of two months ending November 26, 2000. The Scheme allows defunct companies, which have failed to take off for various reasons, to get their names struck off from the Register of Companies maintained by Registrar of Companies under Section 560 of the Companies Act, 1956.
The Government has also waived requirement for obtaining certificate from various authorities. Now the affidavit could be signed by Magistrate or by Notary Public with seal. Originally, the Scheme required getting two affidavits, prescribed by the Department of Company Affairs (DCA), signed on a stamped paper by a Judicial Magistrate, which faced innumberable hurdles.
The other waiver of conditionalities relates to exemption from producing certificates from Income Tax Act, Sales Tax Act and Central
Excise to those companies which have not done any business since their incorporation or for a fairly long period and problems involved in getting these certificates by such companies can give an affidavit along with an indemnity bond in prescribed form on a stamped paper.
Originally, the Scheme stipulated submission of a certificate from the auditor that the company is not doing any business and does not owe any amount to Tax Authorities, Banks and financial institutions. Besides, a clearance certificate of tax dues from Income Tax, Sales Tax, Excise etc was needed.
The extension of the Fast Track Exit Rout for de-registration of defunct companies and waiver of original conditionalities follow various representations from companies, professionals, chambers of commerce and the three premier institutes of chartered, cost and works accountants and companies secretaries of India.
So far, more than seven thousand defunct companies have availed themselves of the Scheme.
With the extension of time and waiver of conditionalities granted, the Government hopes that the remaining defunct companies will come forward to avail themselves of the de-registration route.
The Fast Track Exit Rout under Section 560 of the Companies Act, 1956, is an offshort of the four month long Company Law Settlement Scheme (CLSS) 2000, which ended with a grand success on September 30, 2000, wherein 50 per cent of 2.54 lakh defunct and defaulting companies availed of the CLSS-2000. For the remaining defunct companies, the Fast Track Exit Route was resorted to initially for a period of two months since extended by one month.
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DBT TRANSFERS TO INDUSTRY TWO IMPORTANT TECHNOLOGIES CONCERNING REPRODUCTION
The Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science and Technology has transferred to the industry for commercialisation, two vital technologies concerning reproduction. The first one relates to a test system which detects the reproductive harmones in urine to monitor ovulation in In-vitro fertilisation (IVF) clinics.
The advantage of the technique is that it is non-invasive and does not require serial pricks or drawl of blood. New kits based on this technology will be available in the market soon. The current market of the diagnostic format for the reproductive harmones is around Rs.3 crore and is likely to more than double in another four to five years, with the introduction of the new technology.
The other technology transferred for commercialisation relates to detection of alphafetoprotein for the diagnosis of certain genetic disorders in pregnant women especially in late pregnancies as well as for certain types of carcinomas. The test system is easy to perform and has a global demand. It will be available in the Indian market soon.
The DBT is also planning to refine its earlier diagnostic test system for Hepatitis-A. The Department will soon introduce into the market some more indigenous diagnostic technologies for better health-care management in its bid towards evolving low-cost health-care tools based on high-quality bio-tech research.
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PATNA HEALTH 'MELA' TO CONCLUDE ON TUESDAYThe three-day Health 'Mela' being organised at Patna will conclude on Tuesday, November 21, 2000. The Mela was inaugurated by the Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare, Dr. C.P.Thakur on November 19, 2000.
The concluding function of the Mela will be held at 2.30 p.m. on November 21,2000 at Sri Krishna Memorial Auditorium, Patna. The Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, Shri A.Raja will be the chief guest at the function. Shri S.K.Modi, Leader of Opposition, Bihar Legislative Assembly; Shri Nand Kishore Yadav, State BJP President; Shri Shyam Rajak, Minister of State for Energy, Government of Bihar; Shri Navin Kishore Prasad Sinha, MLA and Shri Ram Janam Sharma, MLA will be the guests of honour on the occasion.
The Mela,which has attracted a large number of people, has provided an integrated health delivery system wherein facilities have been made available for health check ups, blood tests and proper medical treatment by qualified doctors.
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The Minister for Non-Conventional Energy Sources, Shri M. Kannappan has said that renewable energy technologies have the capability of addressing the conflicting objectives of both development and reduction of Green House Gases (GHG) emissions. These technologies may not be able to substitute or replace conventional energy in its totality. However, they were capable of supplementing conventional power and provide for the energy requirements of large sections of the population in developing countries. The Minister said this while delivering the inaugural address, here today, at the Workshop on "Energy, Environment and Climate Change: Policy Issues for Sustainable Development in India in the 21st Century".
Elaborating further, Shri Kannappan said that the supply and use of fossil fuels namely, coal, oil and natural gas are estimated to account for about 75% of carbon dioxide emissions, about one-fifth of methane and significant quantity of other gases. The industrial sector, barring power generation, accounts for one-third of global carbon dioxide emissions the residential and commercial sector too accounts for one-third while transport sector about one-fifth. Energy related essential activities leading to economic development are thus largely responsible for GHG emissions.
In the international scenario on climate change, the Minister said, it has now been accepted that the developed countries will have to reduce their GHG emission levels. Also the developing countries needed to be helped both technologically and financially so as to adopt modern technologies that were energy efficient and less polluting. As regards the environment, the developing countries like India were faced with a conflicting task of generating huge amount of energy to sustain the development by using less polluting technologies.
Speaking on the Indian scenario, the Minister said India despite its low level of per capita income the need for economic growth and the consequential energy input was immense. About 40% of energy demand in India today is met through sources such as biomass, cow-dung and wood. The present cumulative generation capacity in India was around 96000 MW with 71% being contributed by thermal sources, 25% by conventional hydropower, 2.5% from nuclear sources and the rest 1.5% from renewable sources. The demand for electricity is growing by 8% annually.
The Minister also emphasised the need to select appropriate technologies and economic models and polices which were conducive to the people living in rural areas. India today, presented a situation where only 86% of the villages had access to electricity and only 31% of the rural-households use electricity. Most of these areas were far-flung and had low load densities. Policy formulation could not ignore this reality if development was linked to raising the quality of life of the people.
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60 KISAN MELAS IN REMOTE AREAS TO EDUCATE FARMERS
28 States and one Central Agricultural University is being provided Rs. 34 lakhs as grants in-aid by the Directorate of Extension (DoE), Department of Agriculture and Cooperation, Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India to organize 60 kisan melas (farmers fairs). These kisan melas will be organized in the remote, tribal and agriculturally backward areas of the country to expose and educate farmers of these areas to the new and emerging agricultural technologies during the current year (2000-2001). Last year about 50 such kisan melas were organized.Prior to 1999-2000 kisan melas were being organized by the agricultural universities at their headquarters. In such fairs farmers from the adjoining areas only got opportunities to know about the new farm technologies and the farmers from remote areas seldom visited these melas. To remove this lacuna/shortcoming it was decided for the first time in 1999-2000 that agricultural universities would hold kisan melas away from the precincts of their headquarters to the backyards of farmers of agriculturally disadvantaged areas to encourage them to adopt new technologies in agriculture and allied areas for boosting production. The universities will be organizing these melas in collaboration with DoE, the state departments of agriculture, other like departments, various agencies of the central and state governments, cooperative and corporate sectors including small traders dealing with agricultural inputs, and the non-governmental agencies (NGOs).
While each state agricultural university is expected to hold at least two melas, one each during Rabi and Kharif seasons in their respective areas, the central agricultural university at Imphal (Manipur) will organize 12 melas in the six north eastern states, other than Assam. In Assam, the Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat will organize this event. The number of melas to be organized by a particular university can, however, be increased or decreased on the basis of performance of each university.
The Directorate of Extension is the nodal agency at the national level for the development, promotion and coordination of agricultural extension services in the country including transfer of crop and area specific agricultural technologies to the farmers’ fields and training of extension functionaries.
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NEW ZEALAND MINISTER MEETS OMAR ABDULLAH
Mr. Jim Sutton, Minister of Trade Negotiations of New Zealand, met Shri Omar Abdullah, Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, here today and discussed bilateral trade cooperation. At a luncheon meeting hosted by Shri Abdullah for the New Zealand delegation headed by Mr. Sutton, the two Ministers underlined the need to expand bilateral trade by diversifying the respective basket of export items and stepping up investments in various sectors. Shri Abdullah pointed to the need for enhanced market access for Indian agricultural items in the developed countries in general as also for increased access to the New Zealand market for products of specific interest to India such as textiles and footwear. Proposals for cooperation between India and New Zealand in the area of food processing also figured in the discussions. Bilateral trade between India and New Zealand in 1999-2000 stood at US $ 160.48 million showing an increase of over 10 per cent over 1998-99, but the balance of trade continues to be in favour of New Zealand. Mr. Sutton is on an official visit to India from 14 to 20 November, 2000. Shri Prabir Sengupta, Commerce Secretary and Shri V.K. Duggal, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Commerce & Industry participated in the discussions with the New Zealand delegation.
Later, Brig. Gen. Pyi Sone, Minister for Commerce of Myanmar, called on Shri Abdullah. Both sides endorsed the need to put in place an institutional mechanism for promoting bilateral trade and agreed to work out the modalities for the establishment of a Joint Trade Committee as well as a Joint Business Council between India and Myanmar.
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SHRI RAM NAIK, CONGRATULATES ONGC ON THEIR GAS DISCOVERY IN THE KRISHNA GODAVARI DEEPWATER
ONGC has made a maiden gas strike in the well KD-1-1 in the deep water of Krishna Godavari (KG) Basin off East Coast of India. Shri Ram Naik, Minister (P&NG) congratulated ONGC on this major break through in the country’s search for oil and gas in the deep water.
The well-1-1 is located at a water depth of 844 meter and was drilled by ONGC’s own upgraded rig "SAGAR VIJAY" from 27.6.2000. The gas was found on 18-19 November, 2000 at a depth of 2525 meter from mean sea level. While detailed production testing is in progress, the flow rate of gas from the well is around 0.4 million cubic meter per day through half inch choke. ONGC proposes to drill another well shortly in the deep sea location KDAB on a separate fault block on the same structure. Minister Shri Naik observed that this gas find has opened the KG Deepwater offshore as a potential, commercial habitat for hydrocarbons and exhorted ONGC to intensify their efforts.
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PRINCIPAL STAFF OFFICER TO COAS APPOINTED
Appointment Committee of the Cabinet has approved the appointment of Lt. Gen. Hari Uniyal, Additional Director General (Personnel), Army Headquarters as Engineer-in-Chief and Principal Staff Officer to COAS, Army Headquarters. Lt. Gen. Uniyal succeeds Lt. Gen. A.N. Sinha, who has retired recently. Commissioned in December 1962 in the Corps of Engineers, Lt. Gen. Uniyal has had a distinguished career.
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RAILWAY MINISTRY ACCEPTS MOST OF THE KHANNA COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATIONS
HIGH LEVEL COMMITTEE ON SECURITY TO FINALISE ITS REPORT SOON
RAILWAY’S PARLIAMENTARY CONSULTATIVE COMMITTEE MEETS
The Ministry of Railways has accepted most of the major recommendations contained in Part I of the Report of the Railway Safety Review Committee headed by Justice H.R. Khanna. This was informed to the Members of the Parliamentary Consultative Committee attached to the Ministry of Railways at its meeting in New Delhi today. The meeting was presided over by the Railway Minister, Ms. Mamata Banerjee.
The Committee was also informed that the High Level Committee on Security on Railways has prepared its draft report which has been circulated to all the States for comments and concurrence. It is expected that the report will be finalised by the Committee during its next meeting sometime during the third week of this month. The High Level Committee is headed by the Chairman, Railway Board and comprises of the Member, Staff, Railway Board; DG, (RPF); Special Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs; Chief Secretaries of Maharashtra and West Bengal; Principal Secretaries (Home) of Andhra Pradesh and Punjab; Home Secretary of Bihar and D.G. (Police) of Assam with the I.G. (RPF) as its Secretary. It was set up by the Railway Minister earlier this year with a view to study the various aspects of enhancing security on the Railways and ensuring a better level of cooperation and coordination between the Railways and the State Governments.
Earlier, welcoming the Members, Ms Mamata Banerjee said that Railways accord a very high priority to ensuring safety in train operations and have taken a number of steps which include managerial, operational and technical aspects of the problem, besides the human factor. Similarly, with regard to ensuring greater security to the Railway passengers as also the Railway property, there was a need to review the relations that prevailed between the Railway Protection Force, a watch and ward organisation of the Railways and the GRP which is a State Government organisation, for ensuring security on Railways.
Detailed audio-visual presentations were made before the Members on these aspects of the Railway operations. The presentation on Safety highlighted various aspects of train accidents as also the declining trend in the number of accidents that is being witnessed over the years. It also gave an overview of the various steps that have been taken up by the Railways to improve safety through better man-machine interaction, easier operating systems and reducing the need for human interference in maintenance activities. The presentation on Railway Security highlighted different problems arising out of inadequate allocation for modernisation of GRP by the State Governments and the limitations of the Railway Protection Force in dealing with crimes on Railways. The Members were informed that despite these limitations, the RPF has been playing a pro-active role. It has deployed its personnel in sensitive areas of Punjab, Jammu &Kashmir, Andhra Pradesh and Assam. It is also involved in anti-sabotage measures at railway stations. Presently, 355 passenger trains are being escorted by the RPF to help the GRP.
The members appreciated the steps taken by the Ministry of Railways. However, they said that the senior officers should assume greater responsibility and be more responsive to the complaints and concerns of the public with regard to security and safety of passengers. They also pointed out that the Khanna Committee in its report had mentioned that Rs. Fifteen thousand crores are required to upgrade the railway tracks, signalling and other infrastructure to ensure greater safety. They wondered, from where the railway is going to manage this huge amount without enhanced budgetary support. Responding to this, Ms Mamata Banerjee said that the Railways is a transport system, which is primarily used by the poor and unprivileged sections of the society and there is an urgent need to have increased budgetary allocations for the Railways to enable the organisation to serve the country in a better way and fulfil the people’s aspirations and expectations. She urged the Members to extend their full cooperation in ensuring greater budgetary support for the Railways. The Members were unanimous with the views of the Minister and expressed their full cooperation in this regard.
The Committee felt that security and safety were very important issues and needed a greater discussion and consideration by the Members. It was decided that the Committee would meet again sometime during the ensuing session of Parliament to have more indepth interaction on these issues.
The Members who took part in the deliberations included : Shri Sudip Bandyopadhyay, Smt. Sheela Gautam, Shri Kirit Somaiya, Shri Girdhari Lal Bhargava, Shri A Narendra, Smt. Jayaben B. Thakkar, Smt. Bhavnaben Chikbalia, Shri D.C. Srikantappa, Shri Chandra Pratap Singh, Shri Ram Prasad Singh, Dr. Prasanna Kr. Patasani, Shri Suresh Pasi, Shri Ch. Suresh Reddy, Shri Prakash Ambedkar, Shri Anil Basu, Shri Satyavrat Chaturvedi, Col Sona Ram Choudhary, Shri Denzil B. Atkinson (All Members from the Lok Sabha) and Shri S. Sivasubramanian, Shri V. Venkat Rao, Ms Mabel Rebello, Shri Mool Chand Meena, Shri Manmohan Samal (All from the Rajya Sabha)
The Chairman, Railway Board, Shri Ashok Kumar, Members of the Board and other senior Railway Officials were also present.
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BIO-DATA OF SHRI SUNDAR LAL PATWA, UNION MINISTER OF MINES
Shri Sundar Lal Patwa elected from Hoshangabad Constituency to the 13th Lok Sabha, was appointed Union Minister of Rural Development on October 13, 1999 and assumed additional charge of Agriculture Ministry on March 6, 2000. He was appointed Minister of Chemical and Fertilizers on September 30, 2000. After the recent reshuffle on November 8, 2000 he has been given the charge of the Mines Ministry.
Shri Patwa, son of Late Shri Mannalal Patwa was born on November 11, 1924 in the village Kukdeswar in Mandsaur district of Madhya Pradesh. Starting his political career from Indore Rajya Sabha Mandal in 1941, he joined Rastriya Swayam Sevak Sangh (RSS) in the successive year and since then has been an active worker of the Jana Sangh Party and later the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).He has been elected eight times as a member of Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly (1957, 1962, 1977, 1980, 1985, 1990, 1993, 1998).
Shri Patwa served as the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh twice, the first time from January 20, 1980 to February 17, 1980 and later from March 5, 1990 to December 15, 1992.
He was the General Secretary of Madhya Pradesh Jana Sangh Party in 1975 and was the President of Madhya Pradesh State unit of BJP since 1986. He was also elected as a Member of Parliament from the Chhindwara Parliamentary Constituency in Madhya Pradesh in 1997.
He was the Chief Whip of the Opposition in Madhya Pradesh Assembly between 1957 and 1967 and was the leader of opposition in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly after he was elected as an MLA in 1980 from Sehore constituency. He has served as the Chairman of the Mandsaur District Cooperative Bank (1967-1974), Director of State Cooperative Bank, and MP Marketing Federation, Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee and of the MP State Assembly. He was the member of several committees of the MP State legislature.
Shri Patwa has received the "Vidhan Gaurav" award in 1989 for excellence as a Parliamentarian. He was jailed for his active participation in the peaceful agitation against the imposition of Emergency during 1975-1977.