‘23’
RAILWAY EARNINGS REGISTER 13 PER CENT INCREASE
    Indian Railways have earned Rs.10623 crore during the first four months of current financial year which is 13 per cent more than the earnings during the same period last year. During the period ending July 1999, the Railways earnings have crossed its set target by Rs.124.55 crore. From goods sector, it has got Rs.7164.23 crore which is Rs. 799.16 crore more than the earnings of same period of 1998-99 and 101.13 crore more than the target. It has got Rs.3087.29 crore from the passenger fare, Rs.232.87 crore from other charges and Rs.138.82 crore from sundry.

    The Railways have carried 145.72 million tonnes of revenue earning freight during these four months of the current financial year which is 1.97 million tonnes more than the target and 12.01 million tonnes more than the freight carried during that period last year.
 
 
 

‘21’
PRIME MINISTER’S SHRAM AWARDS FOR 1999 ANNOUNCED
    The Government today announced the Prime Minister’s Shram Awards for the year 1999 to 26 workmen employed in the Departmental Undertakings and Public Sector Undertakings of the Central and State Governments in recognition of their distinguished performance, innovative abilities, outstanding contribution in the field of productivity and exhibition of exceptional courage and presence of mind.

    This year, one nomination has been selected for Shram Ratna Award. In addition, two entries have been selected for Shram Bhushan, six for Shram Vir and eight for Shram Shri/Shram Devi Awards. Even though the total number of Shram Awards is only 17, the number of workmen receiving the Awards is 26 (including 2 women), as some of the Awards have been given to team of workmen consisting of more than one person.

SHRAM RATNA

    This is the highest Award (one in number) among the Shram Awards and carries a cash award of Rs.2,00,000/- alongwith a `Sanad’. Shri Dilip Krishnan of Singrauli Super Thermal Power Station (NTPC), Sonebhadra ( UP) has been awarded the Shram Ratna Award.

SHRAM BHUSHAN

    The Award (two in number) carries a cash award of Rs.1,00,000/- and a ‘Sanad’ each. A team comprising S/Shri R. Venkata Subbaiah, K. Pardha Saradhi Rao and G. Dayanad Swamy (jointly) of Defence Research & Development Laboratory (DRDO), Hyderabad and a team consisting of S/Shri Ramachandran Asokan and M.S. Joseph (jointly) of Naval Dockyard, Visakhapatnam have been selected for the Shram Bhushan Award.

SHRAM VIR

    Six Shram Vir Awards carrying a cash award of Rs.60,000/- and a `Sanad’ each are being given. The Shram Vir Awardees are, a team consisting of S/Shri Potaraju Rama Rao, Ravinuthala Subba Rao, Gujja Kranth Prem Reddy, Kasula Hanumaiah, Mandala Ekanatham and Abdul Hameed Khan (jointly) of Nuclear Fuel Complex, Deptt. of Atomic Energy, Hyderabad; Shri Anil Kumar of Army Base Workshop, Delhi Cantt.., Shri Perumal Reddy Rajagopal of Electronics and Radar Development Establishment, DRDO Complex, Bangalore; a team consisting of S/Shri Sunakar Naik and Vadapalli Padmanabha Raju (jointly) of Rourkela Steel Plant (SAIL), Rourkela; Shri R.Muniswamy Naidu of Visvesvaraya Iron & Steel Plant (SAIL), Bhadrawati and Shri Kallepally Gangadhara Rao of Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd., Hyderabad.

SHRAM SHRI / SHRAM DEVI

    Shram Shri / Shram Devi Award (eight in number) carries a cash award of Rs.40,000/- and a `Sanad’ each. Two women workers viz. Ms. Padmashree S.K. of ITI Ltd., Bangalore and Ms. Kolli Sujana Sri of Defence Research & Development Laboratory (DRDO), Hyderabad have been selected for Shram Devi Awards. In addition, six workmen have been selected for Shram Shri Awards. They are, Shri Dadorao Sitaram Waghmare of Ordnance Factory, Ambajhari, Nagpur; Shri Gogineni Raja Rao of Naval Dockyard, Visakhapatnam; Shri K. R. Prasannan Pillai of Southern Railways, Salem; Shri Kamlakar G. Vedpathak of High Energy Materials Research Laboratory, Pune; Shri R.S. Peter Joseph of Visvesvaraya Iron & Steel Plant (SAIL), Bhadravati and Shri Syed Mahaboob Basha of Hindustan Newsprint Limited Kottayam.
 
 

‘46’
CITIZEN’S CHARTER OF COMPANY AFFAIRS PROMISES USER FRIENDLY SERVICES TO CORPORATE SECTOR
    The Department of Company Affairs in the Ministry of Law, Justice and Company Affairs has brought out a Citizen’s Charter for making its performance transparent, responsive and user friendly. The Charter has been drawn in pursuance of the Government’s policy to make the functioning of all the Ministries and Departments having public interface in the Government of India, transparent , open and people friendly in tune with the emerging globalisation of India.

    Main themes of Citizen’s Charter are the quality, standards, value, accountability, transparency, openness, information, non-discrimination and accessibility. The Charter has been formulated to implement the policies and procedures of the Government emanating from the Department of Company Affairs for the benefit of the public, investors and corporate sector.

    The Charter is a declaration of the Government mission, values and standards and commitment to achieve excellence in the formulation and implementation of policies and procedures of Department of Company Affairs for investors and corporate sector, who are perceived as partners in progress.

    The Charter enlists 13-Point services to the people in general and the corporate sector in particular and commits the Government to carry out its tasks with integrity, judiciousness, courtesy, understanding, objectivity, transparency, promptness ,efficiency and time bound. It expects the corporate sector to be prompt and reasonable in fulfilling its duties and legal obligations and be true and honest in furnishing the information to the Government.

    The Charter stipulates four-point standards of the Department of Company Affairs, which, among others, promises that the Government shall acknowledge applications, returns and all communications within 7 days of their receipt and dispose of matters expeditiously. The Charter commits the Department to six-point endeavors including confidentiality of personal and business information disclosed to it, initiation of inspections, investigations and legal proceedings only after the Department is satisfied with prima-facie evidence. It also commits that Government will provide full information about appeal procedures and the authorities with whom appeals can be filed. Besides, all possible assistance will be rendered by the Computerised Public Facilitation Centre of the Department of Company Affairs at Shastri Bhavan. Its telephone No.3386110.

    The Department of Company Affairs administers the Companies Act, 1956, the Partnership Act, The Monopolies and Restricted Trade Practices Act, the Institute of Charted Accountants of India Act, the Institute of Cost and Works Accountant of India Act and the Institute of Company Secretaries of India. It functions in close coordination with Security and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and, above all, regulates the entire corporate sector in India.
 
 

'11'
PRIZES FOR PHOTO CONTEST ON "HEROISM IN KARGIL" DISTRIBUTED
    A photograph in a newspaper can be as much as, if not more, powerful than an editorial, said the Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Shri Pramod Mahajan here today while distributing the prizes to the award winners of photo contest on "Heroism in Kargil". The photograph can convey the message even to the illiterate persons and it also ends the monotony of a daily further said the Minister.

    Thanking the press photographers for reaching the pictures of war to the people all over the country, the Minister pointed out that the photography and that too in a war situation is a very difficult job. He also proposed that Information and Broadcasting Ministry should have a policy under which good pictures of press photographers can be regularly vetted and awarded at the end of the year. By giving awards to selected entries in the photo contest, the Ministry has tried to respect the art behind it added Shri Mahajan.

    On the occasion Shri Mahajan distributed the prizes to the award winning entries. Shri Manish Swarup of Hindustan Times, New Delhi was given the First Prize for Rs. 50,000/- for his entry in colour, Shri Kamal Kishore Kamboj was the Second Prize Winner for Rs. 25,000/- & Third Prize went to Captain Dipak Das for Rs. 15,000/-. Ten other Consolation Prizes were also awarded out of entries received for the photo contest. Shri Mahajan also announced an increase in the amount of Consolation Prizes from Rs. 1000 to Rs. 5000 at the function.

    The Photo Division had organised a unique Photo Contest on the theme of ‘A Moment of Heroism in Kargil’ by inviting entries from the photographers who participated in the coverage of Kargil Area, depicting the role of Indian Army in the recent Indo-Pak conflict along the Line of Control. The Jury members consisted of eminent photographers of India S/Shri/Smt. S. Paul, Ex. Chief Photographer of Indian Express, N.J. Krishna, P.I.O. and O.P. Jora, Director, Photo Division. Jury members had received 318 photographers in colour and black & white, out of this 38 were in black & white and 280 in colour.
 
 

‘5’

INFORMATION & FACILITATION CENTRE SET UP BY MINISTRY OF HOME AFFAIRS

    Ministry of Home Affairs has set up an Information & Facilitation Centre (IFC) with a view to providing information relating to various activities handled by the Ministry. General Public can make use of this facility on all working days. It is located near Gate No.8 of North Block near the Central Secretariat Bus Terminal. IFC provides the following information:
 
i) General information about the Ministry;
ii) Details of the public grievances received in the Ministry and status of such grievances;
iii) Names of Bharat Ratna and Padma Vibhushan Awardees alongwith the year in which the awards were given and the fields to which the awardees belong;
iv) Guidelines for conferment of the following awards: 

Bharat Ratna and Padma series of awards; Jeevan Raksha Padak series of awards; Gallantary Awards; and Kabir Puraskar.

    Members of the public are requested to make full use of the facility provided by the Ministry and also give their suggestions for further improvement of the functioning of the Centre.

    For any help of further information, members of public can contact Joint Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs on telephone no. 3015785.
 
 
 

‘34’
SUPPLEMENTARY RESULTS OF COMBINED DEFENCE SERVICES EXAMINATION,MAY 1999 ANNOUNCED
    Union Public Service Commission have announced the supplementary results of the Combined Defence Services Examination, May 1999 for admission to Indian Military Academy, Dehradun, 108th Course commencing in January 2000 and Officer’s Training Academy, Madras, 71st SSC Course Commencing in May 2000.

    The candidature of all the candidates are provisional.

    UPSC have a Facilitation Centre near ‘C’ Gate of its campus. Candidates may obtain any information/clarification regarding their examination/recruitments on working days between 10.00 A.M. to 5.00 P.M. in person or over telephone Nos.3385271 and 3381125 from this Centre.

    The result of R.No.79391 is with-held.