Following decisions of the Government to fund infrastructural development in displaced persons' colonies in West Bengal in 1976, a total number of 103157 plots for refugees were developed covering 612 colonies at a cost of Rs.23.85 crores.
    The various components of development in the refugees'colonies included provision of water supply, drainage, roads and pathways, sanitation and other facilities.

    In the first phase, 12000 plots were taken up for infrastructural development at a cost of Rs.2 crore during 1976-82. The second phase of infrastructural development was approved in 1982 for developing 29825 plots at a cost of Rs. 7 crores.
    In 1985, a revised ceiling cost of Rs.17,777 per plot for development was approved. A reimbursement of Rs.2.33 crore to the State Government of West Bengal and a provision of Rs.78 crore in the Central budget to be released to West Bengal Government as grant for completing action on the balance 44025 plots in phased manner were also approved.
 
 

    The cost of the system varies with the vendor/manufacturer and the quantities ordered. The approximate installation cost of ACAS-II would be US$ 60,000 (Sixty Thousand US dollars). The Airborne Collision Avoidance System helps in preventing mid-air collisions by alerting the pilots as soon as two aircraft come dangerously close to each other. It gives visual and audio warnings, and also advises the crew of the corrective action required to be taken for preventing an impending mid-air collision.
 
 

    Shri Ramamurthy is accompanied by a high-level delegation. The delegation will take part in the meeting of the Indo-Russian Working Group on Petroleum in preparation for the annual session of Inter-Governmental Indo-Russian Joint Commission on trade, economic, cultural, defence, scientific and technical cooperation. The joint working group will discuss a number of proposals including the participation of National Oil Company of India in exploration projects in Russia with a particular reference to onshore and offshore blocks in Sakhalin area, Tatarstan and the joint participation of Russian and Indian companies in exploration and development projects in other Countries, particularly, in Caspian Sea. The joint working group meeting is also expected to discuss acquisition of equity holding by the ONGC Videsh Ltd. in one of the major oil companies of Russia. The produce from this company could be used by India through a swap arrangement.

    The two sides will also deliberate on GAIL’s participation in developing gas pipeline projects and gas processing facilities for production of gas based value added products. The cooperation in this area could also involve the possibility of production of gas to liquids, for their exports to India. The developmental activities are continuing in Russia to increase their gas production to more than 750 billion cubic metres in next few years from 500 billion cubic metres per annum in 1997 which is more than 20 times of the gas production achieved in India. Indian side is also expected to put forth the GAIL’s interest to associate with Gazprom in Iran for development of gas resources and gas processing facilities.

    The Indian side is also expected to apprise their counterpart about the vast resources of Coal Bed Methane (CBM) in India and the initiative planned in the country for its exploitation. As the exploitation of CBM is quite complex and requires sophisticated technology, Russian experience in this area could be significant for India.
 
 

     It has been reported in a section of Media today that Ministry of Labour is considering to amend the Law to increase working hours from 8 to 12 hours. It is clarified that this is only a recommendation of the Information & Technology Task Force set up by the Government at the national level. There is no such proposal being considered by the Ministry of Labour.

    It is further clarified that proposals for amending Trade Union Act, 1926, Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, Payment of Wages Act, 1936, Minimum Wages Act, 1938 and Contract Labour (Regulation & Abolition), 1970 are under consideration of the Government.
 
 

    The Ministry of Food Processing Industries has authorised ANZ Grindlays Bank limited  for acting as Global Advisor to advise and assist the government in disinvestment/strategic sale of a part of government share holding in Modern Food Industries (India) Limited (MFIL).

    MFIL, a Public Sector Undertaking under the administrative control of the Ministry of  Food Processing Industries is one of the PSUs recommended in the first phase by Disinvestment Commission for disinvestment/strategic sale of government equity. With the signing of the agreement here yesterday between ANZ Grindlays Bank Ltd. and the  Ministry of Food Processing Industry, MFIL has become the first PSU to select the Global Advisor.
 
 

    The Railway Board Chairman Shri V.K. Agarwal has urged the Chief Public Relations Officers of different Railway Zones and Production Units to properly project the achievements of the Railways and inform the people the steps taken for safe and comfortable travel by trains. He said that stories on achievements of Railways, the second largest railway network of the world should be included in the curriculum of primary and secondary schools to create an awareness and liking of the people for the Indian Railways. Shri Agarwal was addressing the Conference of Chief Public Relations Officers here today. He stressed on involving Television network, cinema and other audio-visual aids to give wide publicity to the railway activities.

    The Chairman assured all infrastructural help to the CPROs to carryout their work  effectively. He urged them to give wide publicity to the Railway heritage in India like Fairy Queen. He also asked CPROs to concentrate on promotion of railway tourism. He also emphasized on more transparency in giving out news to the Press.

    The Member Traffic, Shri Shanti Narain advised to develop institutional  arrangement to collect information and develop positive way of communication. The constraints of Railways and steps to solve those problems should be projected, he said. The Member Mechanical, Shri Ashok Kumar urged to launch an educational campaign to inform and educate the Indian mass on railway systems, services and aminities.

    The Conference will discuss the issue based publicity campaign, improvement in quality, training of PR staff and officers, Human Resources Development planning and infrastructure development.
 
 

    A team of officers from the Union Ministry of Food has left for Punjab to make an on the spot assessment of damage caused to crops due to unseasonal rains in the recent past. The team headed by Shri B.B. Patnaik Joint Commissioner, Storage and Research in the Ministry of Food and Consumer Affairs and comprising officers from Food  Corporation of India will visit the Mandis in Punjab to take stock of the extent of damage caused to foodgrains crop.

    The decision to send a team to Punjab for estimating the extent of damage came as a sequel to a request from the Punjab Chief Minister Shri Prakash Singh Badal who met the Prime Minister and Shri S.S. Barnala, Minister of Food and Consumer Affairs here yesterday seeking a financial package to compensate farmers who have suffered the losses. The team will submit its report within two days.
 
 

    The Ministry of Home Affairs has taken up the matter with the State Governments/UT Administrations to improve the quality of investigation so that more cases registered under the SC/ST Acts result in conviction. The Central Government bring down the pendency of cases of atrocities against SCs/STs in the courts.

    The Ministry has expressed concern over the poor Conviction-Acquittal Ratio and the large number of cases of atrocities pending in the courts. The conviction rate varied between 9.5% and 14% during the period 1993 to 1996. The number of cases pending in the courts increased from 34378 in 1993 to 1.18 lakhs in 1996.

    However, the cases registered under the Protection of Civil Rights Act have gone down from 2681 in 1993 to 1304 in 1997. Similarly, the cases registered under the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 have gone down from 20684 in 1993 to 8657 in 1997.

    The Central Government is implementing a scheme to provide financial assistance to the SC/ST victims of offences committed against them under the Protection of Civil Rights Act, 1995 and the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989. Under this scheme, the Central Government shares 50% of the cost incurred by the Stated Governments in providing financial relief to such victims.
 
 

    The Prime Minister was speaking here today at the first meeting of the Parliamentary Consultative Committee attached to the Ministry of Agriculture. Shri Vajpai said that the present scheme of the Comprehensive Crop Insurance has given some valuable experience and at the same time has been found to be inadequate. The scheme requires to be strengthened and its coverage expanded.

    Shri Vajpai said that India’s farmers as well as predecessor Governments have contributed to the self-sufficiency achieved in food grains production. Pointing to the problems and risks faced by Indian farmers the Prime Minister said that from whichever angle one looks at the agricultural scene, it was beset with difficulties :-

• Farmers are able to get only 15 percent of their credit requirements  from banks.
• Only 10 percent of the requirement of seed is met by the Seed Corporation and only 25-30 percent farmers benefit from extension services.
• Agriculture is heavily dependant on rains.
• Every year extensive damage is caused to crops due to floods.
• According to an estimate 10 percent of the crops get destroyed every year after harvest.
• Farmers have to bear the brunt of both the pre and post – monsoon damages caused to crops for a variety of reasons.

    The Minister of State for Agriculture, Shri Sompal in his opening remarks said the unseasonal rains in the past few days has made the need for an all-encompassing insurance scheme more obvious.

    Referring to the Comprehensive Crop Insurance Scheme (CCIS), the Minister of State said it is only available to loanee farmers and the coverage is only upto to the amount of the crop loan subject to a maximum of Rs. 10,000 per farmer. The scheme also covers only a limited number of crops.

    Shri Sompal said the broad features of the proposed Modified Crop Insurance Scheme (MCIS) would be that it would cover all farmers. It would ultimately cover all crops. It is proposed to establish an Insurance Corporation to exclusively look after this scheme. It would be staffed by professionals in this field.

    Members felt that the individual holding should be considered as a unit while assessing damage, premium should be based on acreage and for different crops during the rabi and kharif seasons. Another suggestion was for the creation of a separate department of Crop Insurance in the Agriculture Ministry. This would help in proper implementation of the scheme.

    Winding up the consultations the Prime Minister said that the details of the Modified Crop Insurance Scheme (MCIS) would be finalised after widespread discussions as the Government would like the scheme to be truly comprehensive. He said the suggestions received from Members would be useful and would be used as inputs to achieve the goal.

    The following Members were present at the meeting:- S/Shri Jagdambi Prasad Yadav, Bhanu Pratap Singh Verma, Tejvir Singh, M.Master Mathan, Gordhanbhai Javia, S. Malikurajunaih, Bhajan Lal, K.A. Sangtam, M.C. Damotharan, Bir Singh Mahato, Mehboob Zahidi, Ram Krishna Suryabhanji Gavai, Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, Onkar Singh Lakahawat, Suryabhan Patil Vahadane, W.Angou Singh, R.K. Malviya, Balvinder Singh Bhundar, S. Agniraj and Dr. Asim Bala.