‘11’
ENTRIES INVITED FOR 46th NATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL, 1999
    Directorate of Films Festivals, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting invites entires for the National Awards for Films and National Awards for the Best Writing on Cinema.

    Eligibility: All 16Mm and 35MM feature and non-feature films certified by the Central Board for film certification during the calendar year 1998 are eligible for national awards for films. Books on Cinema published during 1998 and film critics who contributed critical studies, reviews or articles on cinema published in Indian newspapers, magazines etc. during the year 1998 are eligible for national awards for writing on cinema.

    Entry forms and regulations are available with the Film Industry Organisations, Offices of the Central Board of Film Certification, National Film Development Corporation, Department of Information/Public Relations/Films Development Corporations of State Governments. One may also write to:

    The Directorate of Film Festivals(NFF Cell),
    Ministry of Information and Broadcasting,
    4th Floor, Lok Nayak Bhavan,
    Khan Market, New Delhi-110003
    Telephone:4692849/4620613
    Fax: 91-11-4623430

    Last date for receipt of entry forms duly completed in all respects along with the Demand Draft for the Entry Fee of requisite amount, prints, books and articles etc. at the Directorate is 15.6.1999.
 
 

'25'
FIVE NEW NATIONAL HIGHWAYS FOR THE NORTH-EASTERN REGION
    To provide better road linkages in the North-East region, five new National Highways have been declared in January, 1999. These are: Daboka-Silchar stretch with a length of 290 km in Assam (NH-54), Aizawal-Imphal-Kohima stretch with 141 km in Mizoram, 523 km in Manipur and 36 km in Nagaland (NH-150), Baghmara-Dalu stretch of 65 km in Meghalaya (NH-62), Jowai-Dawki stretch of 55 km in Meghalaya (NH-40) and Sairang-Manu stretch with a length of 165 km in Mizoram & 65 km in Tripura (NH-44A).
 
 
'32'
CENTRAL COUNCIL OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT RECOMMENDS EMPOWERMENT OF  URBAN LOCAL BODIES
    The day long 26th meeting of the Central Council of Local Government and Urban Development held here yesterday (May 18,1999) under the Chairmanship of the Union Minister for Urban Development Shri Ram Jethmalani with all the Ministers and Secretaries in charge of Urban Local Bodies in the States and Union Territories participating therein, adopted 14 resolutions recommending to the State Governments and Union Territory administrations to identify clearly the functions assigned to three types of municipalities like Nagar Panchayat, Municipal Council and Municipal Corporation for inclusion of their functions, powers and authorities in the Municipal Acts, review the existing structure of municipal finances and introduce the financial reforms for devolution of tax and non-tax revenues and user charges and also devolve upon urban local bodies, financial powers to enable them to discharge their functions efficiently. These were needed under the Constitution (74th Amendment) Act, the resolution said.

    The other resolutions call upon the States and Union Territories to give greater autonomy to urban local bodies for fixation of tax rates, user charges and fees, besides, revising tax rates and user charges periodically atleast once in five years. The resolution further calls upon the States and Union Territories to involve actively the urban local bodies in the implementation of Central Sector Schemes like Accelerated Urban Water Supply, Swaran Jayanty Shahari Rozgar Yojana, low cost sanitation for improving conditions in urban areas and so on. It says that the amount  released by the Central Government for Centrally Sponsored Schemes should be transferred by State Governments to urban local bodies for implementation of the schemes in an efficient manner.

    Other resolutions call for conferring administrative power on elected representatives, training needs for cutting edge staff and improvement in the financial position of the municipalities through the implementation of State Finance Commission recommendations and distribution between the States and Municipalities of the net proceeds of the taxes, tolls and fees . In the area of property tax reforms, the States have been urged to emulate the Central guidelines on property tax reforms to make it simple, transparent and rationalised. It also calls upon the States to delink property tax needs from the Rent Control Act , besides steps for tax recoveries at low cost . The Council further calls upon the States and Union Territories to constitute District Planning Committees and Metropolitan Planning Committees by defining their role clearly taking into account the guidelines formulated by the Ministry of Urban Development in this regard.

    In addition, States and Union Territories have been advised to take steps for participation of private sector in urban development just to supplement totality of efforts of the Government in this regard. It further says that family planning measures should be included in the functioning of municipal and urban local bodies to check unprecedented increase in urban population. It further says that one elected representative of urban local bodies from each State and Union Territory should be represented at the Central Council of Local Government and Urban Development. It further said that experts and technical advisors in different relevant fields be appointed by the States and Union Territories to advise the Council during the course of its meetings. Lastly, the resolution calls upon the Central Government to allow Housing and Urban Development Corporation (HUDCO) to raise tax free Bonds to enable HUDCO to give loan to urban local bodies at lower rate of interest for development of urban infrastructure.
 
 

'21'
M.M. JOSHI, UMA BHARTI CONDOLE RAMESH TENDULKAR’S DEATH
    Dr. Murli Manohar Joshi, Union Minister for Human Resource Development has sent his condolences to the bereaved family of Shri Ramesh Tendulkar. Dr. Joshi has said that Shri Tendulkar not only made a valuable contribution to Marathi Literature and Poetry, he was also an immense source of inspiration to Sachin Tendulkar.

    Sushree Uma Bharti, Minisrter of State for Youth Affairs and Sports & Women and Child Development has sent her condolences to Shri Tendulkar’s family. In her condolence message, she expressed confidence that God would give strength to the bereaved family in this hour of sorrow.
 
 
 

"26"
INTRODUCTION OF FLIGHT DATA PROCESSING SYSTEM AT AIRPORTS
    A number of steps have been taken in the last few years to augment and modernise the Air Traffic Services infrastructure in the country. For automation of Air Traffic Services, Airports Authority of India have at Calcutta, Mumbai, Trivandrum, Nagpur, Ahmedabad and Varanasi introduced Flight Data Processing System (FDPS) to facilitate automatic processing of data which at present is being done manually. The FDPS is already available at Delhi and will also be available shortly at Mumbai when the new ATS facility is commissioned.

    FDPS with its automatic air traffic management system will assist the Air Traffic Controller in effective and safe control of air traffic. The FDPS is also capable of generating traffic conflict alerts, which can go unnoticed in the manual system. This enables controllers to take timely corrective action to prevent possible collision.

    Automatic Department Surveillance (ADS) system with Controller-Pilot Data Link Communication (CPDLC) facility developed indigenously has been installed at Chennai and Calcutta. This equipment would facilitate surveillance of suitable equipped air traffic over Bay of Bengal.