Shri Sahni, a mining engineer with a vast experience of over three and a half decades in the field of mining, has been working with MOIL since 1966 and was appointed as the Chief Executive of the Company in 1995.
 
 

    In one of the cases, in response to the action initiated by Chief Commissioner Disabilities, as an exemplary measure the Railway Board has transferred out of New Delhi two employees responsible for misbehaving with a person afflicted with disability.

    In response to the Chief Commissioner's yet another initiative, the Railway Board's Joint Commissioner (Traffic) has written to the concerned officers of all zones of the department not to insist on the physical presence of the handicapped persons at the time of buying tickets. Now, the disabled persons can purchase tickets through authorised representatives.

    Under the provisions of the Persons with Disability Act, Government transport is required to take special measures to adapt their facilities and amenities so as to permit easy access to persons with disability and to ensure that they are not discriminated against.
 
 

    Speaking on the occasion, Shri Badal said that India could set a modest target of at least US$500 million worth of investment from Japan for year 2000. The Minister added that the human capital base, liberal policy for foreign direct investment, the biggest emerging market and positive FDI confidence index will all help in achieving this target.

    The Minister underscored the fact that Japanese investment in India is very small when compared with their investments in other countries. Today, India has over 600 technical and 400 financial collaborations with Japan, he added.

    Averring that it was not by chance that India was able to avoid the domino effect of the Asian crisis, Shri Badal said that it was largely due to the inherent strength of our economic fundamentals. He also said that recent political developments have had little adverse effect on the reform process and the Government has taken major initiatives such as rationalization of customs duty, increased stress on infrastructure development, repeal of Urban Land Ceiling Act, PSU disinvestment etc. Accession to Paris Convention and India’s commitment to fulfil obligations under WTO are all indicative of India’s faith in the reform process, he added.

    Shri Badal released an Investment Guide in Japanese language and also launched the SIA (Secretariat for Industrial Assistance) website on Japan. Mr.Arai, Vice-Minister for Industry, Japan and Mr.Hirabayashi, Japanese Ambassador were also present on the occasion.

    The one-day meet is intended to address problems faced by investors and help build up investor confidence.
 
 

    Besides, the Department of Company Affairs has initiated a number of steps to redress investors’ grievances and filed several prosecutions for non-compliance with provisions of the Companies Act, 1956.

    Earlier, the SEBI had forwarded a list of 80 companies to the Department of Company Affairs (DCA) which according to the parameters of SEBI were not available in its Registered Offices. The DCA forwarded the list to all the Registrars of Companies (ROCs) and Regional Directors (RDs) to trace out these companies. Following investigations, ROCs have reported that 13 companies are regular in filing their annual returns to the ROCs. Of the remaining, prosecution has been launched against 60 companies and Police complaints filed against four of these companies to trace out the whereabouts of these companies and its Directors. Three companies were under liquidation and one company under BIFR proceedings. Information in respect of 3 companies is still awaited. Investigations under Section 209A of the Companies Act have also been initiated against erring companies.
 
 

    The Food Processing Park, spread over 70 acres of land would accommodate 50 small and 25 medium Units. It is designed to provide modern infrastructure facilities to food processing which include facilities for Food Preservation and Storage, Quality Control and Standardization, Regulated Power and Treated Water Supply, Modern Waste Management Systems and Training Facilities. The work of the park is expected to be completed in the year 2000. So far, the Ministry of Food Processing Industries has provided a financial assistance of Rs.2 crore for this project.
 
 

    At the same event, a CD-Rom was also launched by Shri Ravindra Gupta, which will enable conversion of text into speech, in Hindi, for the first time. This facility already available in English and European languages is of great help to visually impaired persons as synthetic voice speaks out whatever has been typed.

    A major initiative for developing technology to facilitate use of Indian languages in computers and communication technology has been undertaken by the Department of Electronics. Under the national programme of Technology Development for Indian Languages, (TDIL) a number of projects have been supported by the Department encompassing word processing, spreadsheet, database management software in Indian languages and e-mail in Hindi and other Indian languages. Machine readable corpora, bilingual and multilingual dictionaries, translation support system, text-to-speech and speech recognition systems, optical character reader for printed hand written characters, authoring system, curriculum based educational software, multi-modal content, creative writing system etc. are also being developed in Indian languages. Innovative IT products and services in India languages may include Internet TV, digital diaries, newsroom automation, domain specific electronic dictionaries, tourist guides, information kiosks, e-governance, e-business, home infotainment, IT enabled education and training, health care systems, etc.

    Under TDIL programme, one of the major steps is to popularize these efforts. Indian Language Technology Meet’99 is a significant initiative which aims at consolidating all efforts to integrate into user products and services and to provide solutions for people centered development.
 
 

    The time table of the two trains will be as follows with effect from 11th August, 1999.
 
 

    The New Delhi Jammu-Tawi Rajdhani Express number 2425/2426 has also been cancelled with effect from August 13, 1999 (Friday).
 

    Addressing the Managers group, the Chairman, Railway Board, Shri V.K. Agarwal who is also the Chairman of the Corridor Task Force called upon for working towards realising global rail corridors which would provide speedier and economical alternatives for international traffic. Shri Agarwal said that globalisation of economy has provided a historic opportunity to develop partnerships in providing long distance international service transport links not only in our region but also in Europe through CIS nations. Appreciating the lead taken by UIC in conceptualising and developing the idea of global rail corridors, Shri Agarwal said that mutual understanding need to be increased among beneficiary nations for early fructification of these efforts in the shortest possible time.

    The TAR project essentially conceived of three rail-land bridges between southern China and Europe, Thailand and Europe and South Asia and Europe i.e Northern and Central and Southern Corridors. India was to form part of the Southern Corridor linking Singapore to Turkey via Myanmar, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Iran and Turkey.

    The Trans-Asian Railway route, commences from Kunming in China and Bangkok in Thailand and ends at Kapikule in Bulgaria. The total distance of this route betweeen Bangkok and Kapikule is 11,460 kms and it provides Trans-continental rail connectivity to the countries of China, Thailand, Myanmar, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Iran and Turkey.

    This route will enter India at Tamu in Manipur, bordering Myanmar and will enter Bangladesh at Mahisasan/Shahbajpur and again enter India from Bangladesh at Gede. On the West Side, this route will enter Pakistan at Atari. In India, the route from Haldia to Calcutta has also been agreed to as route of international significance under TAR to facilitate sea-cum-rail movement to Central Asia and Europe.
 
 

    The CRZ Notification imposes restrictions on the setting-up and expansion of industries and operations or processes in the CRZ and lists the prohibited and permissible activities in the CRZ. The Notification indicates the classification of the CRZ for regulating permissible development activities in the CRZ. The CRZ has been classified into four categories depending upon ecological sensitivity and level of existing development. The Notification also details the norms for development of construction activities in the different categories of CRZ areas. Guidelines for development of tourist resorts/hotels in designated areas of the CRZ have also been notified.

    The Ministry of Environment and Forests is of the view that the existing restriction on construction in some areas of the CRZ needs to be relaxed to permit infrastructure facilities and dwelling units for the local inhabitants of such areas, considering the difficulties being faced by these inhabitants. Further after deliberations with the concerned Ministries of the Government of India and the State Governments, the Ministry of Environment and Forests is of the opinion that the CRZ Notification also requires amendment to permit oil and natural gas exploration, receipt, storage and re-gasification of Liquefied Natural Gas and salt harvesting by solar evaporation of sea water in the CRZ. Therefore, the Ministry of Environment and Forests proposes to amend the CRZ Notification, 1991.

    The Ministry has recently issued a Draft Notification in this regard in the Gazette of India Extraordinary vide number S.O. 629 (E) dated 5^th August 1999. This Draft Notification invites objections or suggestions from the general public. This Draft Notification is available with Shri Baldev Raj, Section Officer, Ministry of Environment and Forests, Room No. 1019, Paryavaran Bhawan, CGO Complex, Lodi Road, New Delhi-110003. Suggestions can be forwarded in writing for consideration of the Central Government within a period of 60 days to the Secretary to the Government of India, Ministry of Environment and Forests, Paryavaran Bhawan, CGO Complex, Lodi Road, New Delhi-110003. A final notification will be issued by the Ministry of Environment and Forests, based on the feedback received.
 
 

    There are some common candidates in the lists for various courses/wings.

    The number of vacancies, as intimated by the Government is 450 for Indian Military Academy (including 39 vacancies reserved for NCC ‘C’ Certificate (Army Wing) holders, and 44 for Air Force Academy.

    The result of Medical examination have not been taken into account in preparing these lists.