Shri Sunderlal Patwa said that rural development is a priority sector of the new Government and greater emphasis is desired towards monitoring of the programmes so that the benefits reach the intended recipients. He was speaking on the occasion of taking over as Cabinet Minister for Rural Development in Krishi Bhawan, here, today. He was accompanied by the two Ministers of State for Rural Development, Shri Subhash Maharia and Shri A. Raja who also assumed office today.

    Addressing the officials, Shri Sunderlal Patwa said that his priority was in working for the upliftment of around three-fourths of India’s population which is residing in the rural and remote areas. He expressed the hope that he and his two colleagues in the Ministry would work towards ameliorating and fulfilling the basic needs of the rural poor.

    Earlier, the senior officials of the Ministry briefed the Ministers about the various programmes and schemes for rural development being conducted by the Ministry.

    Shri Patwa is a former Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh. He was elected to the Lok Sabha for the first time in February, 1997. This is his second term as Member of Parliament. Shri A. Raja, a lawyer by profession is also a second time M.P. having won the Perambadur in Tamil Nadu in the 1996 elections also. Shri Subhash Maharia too is a second time Member of Parliament from Sikar in Rajasthan.
 

    Shri Santosh Kumar Gangwar, a multi-faceted personality was born in November, 1948 in Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh. He had his early education in Bareilly and higher education and B.Sc. and L.L.B. degree from the Universities of Agra and Rohbilkhand.

    Shri Gangwar has been taking active interest in politics since 1989. He served as a Member of the U.P. State BJP Working Committee, and also worked as a General Secretary of U.P. BJP Unit during the year.

    He was first elected to the 9^th Lok Sabha in 1989 from Bareilly Parliamentary Constituency. He served as a Member in Privileges Committee, Consultative Committee of Commerce Ministry and Consultative Committee of Transport and Tourism.

    Shri Gangwar was re-elected to the 10^th Lok Sabha from Bareilly constituency in 1991. During this period he was a whip to the BJP Parliamentary Party and served as Member, Welfare of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Committee, Estimates Committee, Government Assurances Committee and Governing body Member of I.C.A.R.

    For the third time he was elected to the 11^th Lok Sabha from Bareilly constituency. He has been serving as General Secretary of Uttar Pradesh BJP Unit since 1996. During 1996-97 he acted as chairman, Standing Committee on Agriculture.

    He was re-elected to the 12^th Lok Sabha for the 4^th time in succession from Bareilly Constituency in 1998. He was holding the portfolio of Petroleum and Natural Gas as a Minister of State from 19.03.1998 under the Prime Ministership of Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee. He has again been re-elected for the fifth time from Bareilly for the 13^th Lok Sabha and entrusted with Science and Technology as Minister of State from October 14, 1999.
 

    Shri Arun Jaitley took over as Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Information and Broadcasting Ministry here today. On the occasion, he met the senior officials of the Ministry and discussed important issues pertaining to the Ministry.
 

    Shri Shanta Kumar has assumed charge as Minister of Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution here this morning. After assuming charge, the Minister held separate discussions with the Secretaries and senior officials of the Departments under his ministry and reviewed the functioning. Later speaking to newsmen he said his ministry's main concern would be to cater to the needs of the 32 crores of people living below the poverty line.
 

    Shri V. Sreenivasa Prasad has today taken over as Minister of State for Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution. After taking over charge, the Minister held discussions with senior officials of the various departments under him, viz. Food and Civil Supplies, Sugar and Edible Oils and Consumer Affairs and acquainted himself with the functioning of the ministry.

    The President of India, as advised by the Prime Minister, has been pleased to direct that the allocation of portfolios among the members of the Council of Ministers will be as follows :-
 

Shri L.K. Advani	Home Affairs
Shri Ananth Kumar	Culture, Youth Affairs & Sports
Shri T.R. Baalu	Environment & Forests
Ms. Mamta Bannerjee	Railways
Shri George Fernandes	Defence
Shri Jagmohan	Urban Development
Dr. Satya Narayan Jatiya	Urban Employment & Poverty Alleviation
Shri Ram Jethmalani	Law, Justice and Company Affairs
Shri Manohar Joshi	Heavy Industries & Public Enterprises
Shri Murli Manohar Joshi	Human Resources Development and Science & Technology
Shri R. Kumaramangalam	Power
Shri Pramod Mahajan	Parliamentary Affairs and Water Resources
Shri Murasoli Maran	Commerce & Industry
Shri Ram Naik	Petroleum & Natural Gas
Shri Nitish Kumar	Surface Transport
Shri Jual Oram	Tribal Affairs
Shri Ram Vilas Paswan	Communications
Shri Naveen Patnaik	Mines & Minerals
Shri Sunder Lal Patwa	Rural Development
Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu	Chemicals & Fertilizers
Shri Kashiram Rana	Textiles
Shri Shanta Kumar	Consumer Affairs & Public Distribution
Shri Jaswant Singh	External Affairs
Shri Yashwant Sinha	Finance
Shri Sharad Yadav	Civil Aviation

Ms. Maneka Gandhi	Social Justice & Empowerment
Shri Arun Jaitley	Information & Broadcasting
Shri M. Kannappan	Non-Conventional Energy Sources
Shri Dilip Ray	Steel
Ms. Vasundhara Raje	Small Scale Industries, Agro & Rural Industries
Shri N.T. Shanmugam	Health & Family Welfare
Ms. Uma Bharti	Tourism

Shri Ramesh Bais	Chemicals & Fertilizers
Ms. Bijoya Chakravarty	Water Resources
Shri Shriram Chauhan	Parliamentary Affairs
Shri Bandaru Dattatraya	Urban Development
Shri Santosh Kumar Gangwar	Science & Technology
Shri Jaysingrao Gaikwad-Patil	Human Resources Development
Prof. Chaman Lal Gupta	Civil Aviation
Shri Syed Shahnawaz Hussain	Food Processing
Dr. Vallabh Bhai Ramjibhai Kathiria	Heavy Industries & Public Enterprises
Shri Faggan Singh Kulaste	Parliamentary Affairs
Shri V. Dhananjaya Kumar	Finance
Shri Bangaru Laxman	Planning & Programme Implementation
Ms. Sumitra Mahajan	Human Resources Development
Shri Subhash Maharia	Rural Development
Shri Babu Lal Marandi	Environment & Forests
Ms. Jayawanti Mehta	Power
Shri Muni Lall	Labour & Employment
Shri Omar Abdullah	Commerce & Industry
Shri Ajit Kumar Panja	External Affairs
Shri Harin Pathak	Defence
Dr. Debendra Pradhan	Surface Transport
Shri E. Ponnuswamy	Petroleum
Shri A. Raja	Rural Development
Shri O. Rajagopal	Law, Justice & Company Affairs
Dr. Raman	Commerce & Industry
Shri Gingee N. Ramachandran	Textiles
Shri Chennamaneni Vidya Sagar Rao	Home
Shri S.B.P.B.K. Satyanarayana Rao	Agriculture
Shri Bachi Singh Rawat	Defence
Shri Tapan Sikdar	Communications
Shri Digvijay Singh	Railways
Shri Th. Chaoba Singh	Culture, Youth Affairs & Sports
Shri V. Sreenivasa Prasad	Consumer Affairs & Public Distribution
Shri I.D. Swami	Home
Dr. (Smt) Rita Verma	Mines & Minerals
Shri EV alias Balasahed Vikhe Patil	Finance
Shri Hukumdeo Narayan Yadav	Agriculture

    Ministries that have remained unallocated, will be looked after by the Prime Minister.

    Ms. Vasundhara Raje, in addition to her charge will be MOS assisting the Prime Minister in the Ministry of Personnel & Public Grievances and Pension, Department of Atomic Energy and Department of Space. Shri Dilip Ray and Shri Santosh Gangwar will assist Minister of Parliamentary Affairs in addition to their other responsibilities.
 

    Shri Jagmohan today met senior officials of the Urban Development Ministry and discussed progress of the various programmes and policies of the Ministry. Shri Jagmohan was the Urban Development Minister in the last ministry also. He has held several prestigious offices. He was the youngest Lt. Governor of Delhi and held this office for two terms. Earlier, he served in a number of key assignments, including that of Chief Executive of Delhi Development Authority for over seven years and as Lt. Governor of Goa, Daman and Diu.

    Shri Jagmohan has been awarded Padma Shri for "making significant contribution to the formulation and implementation of the Delhi Master Plan for playing a pioneering role in planning and implementation of projects". He was also awarded Padma Bhushan for his "exceptionally meritorious services to the country".

    Shri Jagmohan was also given a cultural award by the Australian Government in1975. His published works inlcude over 200 articles in leading newspapers and journals and four books : Rebuilding Shahjahanabad : The Walled City of Delhi; Island of Truth; The Challenge of Our Cities; and My Frozen Turbulence In Kashmir.

    Shri Jagmohan has held the office of the Governor of Jammu and Kashmir, twice.
 

    The Minister of State for Urban Development, Shri Bandaru Dattatraya today met senior officials of the Urban Development Ministry. He discussed with them various programmes and policies of the Urban Development Ministry. Shri Bandaru Dattatraya was Minister of State for Urban Development in the last Ministry also.

    The Department of Posts (DoP) today observed the Postal Life Insurance (PLI) Day as part of the week long Postal Week from 9^th to 15^th October, 1999. To mark the occasion, the Special Secretary (Insurance), Shri B.K.Chaturvedi, gave away trophies, cash prizes and certificate to various Heads of Circles for their overall best performance in PLI/RPLI business. First prize in this category was awarded to the CPMG, Gujarat circle for doing maximum business. The second prize was bagged by the CPMG, Tamil Nadu circle and the Special Trophy for PLI was presented to Addl. DG, APS. Gold certificates and cash prizes were also given.
 

    The Impressive growth of Indian Telecom Sector and the plans of the Government for faster growth under New Telecom Policy-1999 (NTP-99) have generated big investors' interest at the Telecom'99 + Interactive'99 being held at Geneva from October 10-17, 1999. The Indian delegation led by Secretary, Department of Telecommunications (DoT), Shri Anil Kumar informed the international telecom community that big investment opportunities under liberal NTP-99 policy regime are in the offing with Domestic Long Distance to be opened up from January 2000 and new licenses to be given shortly for basic as well as cellular mobile services. Shri Kumar said that there are vast opportunities for setting up ISPs and various IT enabled services for which a very liberal policy framework has already been set in place.

    India National Pavilion set up at the Telecom'99 + INTERACTIVE'99 showcased the state of the art technologies of C-DOT as also the telecom systems developed by the Indian telecom companies. A large number of visitors from the developing nations evinced keen interest in C-DOT exchanges and various other systems and software development by Indian Telecom Companies.

    The Mega event has been organized by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) at Geneva. This is the biggest telecom show organized by the ITU once every four years. The theme of the last show of this millennium is "JOIN THE WORLD". Along with the DoT, prominent public and private telecom companies are participating in TELECOM'99. These include ITI, HTL, TCIL, VSNL, Tata Phones, HFCL, Shyam Telecom, HCL Parot System, etc.

    Shri N.T. Shanmugam has been sworn in as the Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare (Independent Charge) on October 13,1999. He has assumed the august office of the Union Minister of State.

    Born on June 1,1947 at MELARASAMPET village, Vellore Taluk, Tamil Nadu to Shri N. Thanji Gounder and Smt. Salammal.

    As a lawyer, he was committed to the poor and the downtroden and through his legal profession he entered the field of social service. With his 25 years’ experience in the legal profession he served the cause for social justice through his participation in various struggles of the social movement. He is the State Vice President , PMK (Pattali Makkal Katchi) and the loyal follower or the social reformer of Tamil Nadu and the founder-leader of the party Dr. S. Ramadoss.

    He inherited the aptitude for social service from his hardworking farmer father who was the village panchayat president, the community leader and the popular social worker. He married Smt. Sargunam and has been blessed with one daughter and two sons. His brother is a practising doctor in Vellore, owning a private multi-speciality hospital and the former state president of Indian Medical Association, Tamil Nadu.

    He has been representing the people of Vellore to Lok Sabha from 1998.

Shri Ram Naik has been elevated as a cabinet Minister in the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas. In the outgoing Ministry, he was Minister of State for Railways (Independent Charge), Home Affairs and Planning & Programme Implementation. He was also a Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs upto April 1999.

Shri Ram Naik who represents North Mumbai Lok Sabha constituency from Maharashtra as a BJP MP has a track record of getting elected successively five times. Earlier he got elected as an MLA for three consecutive terms. In the recently conducted elections, he secured 5,17,941 votes which is the highest secured by any M.P. in Maharashtra. He has also created a new record of getting elected successively eight times from Mumbai which has six Lok Sabha seats.

Shri Ram Naik, a seasoned Parliamentarian was the Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee in 1995-96. He was the chief whip of BJP in the last three Lok Sabhas. He has also contributed significantly in the Parliamentary debates as well as in important committees like Joint Parliamentary Committee for Security Scam and Empowerment of Women, Railway Convention Committee. He was also a member of the Chairman’s panel to preside over the Lok Sabha proceedings.

On the organisational wing of the party, he worked as organising Secretary of Mumbai city for the erstwhile Bharatiya Jan Sangh for the period 1969 to 1977. He was also President of BJP Mumbai unit for four terms. Presently he is the member of the BJP National Executive.

Shri Ram Naik is a unique personality, known for his awareness and his eye for the details, he is widely respected for his honesty, wide networking and public contact, as also his remarkable competence. He has been presenting to his constituency every year Performance Report on his work.

Shri Ram Naik is a graduate in Commerce and Law. He started his career in the Accountant General’s Office and also worked as a Company Secretary and Management Consultant till 1969 . He was a fulltime organising Secretary of Bharatiya Jan Sangh.

Shri Ram Naik
9, Teen Murti Marg
New Delhi
Phone: 301 7111
            379 3080
Fax: 301 7112
 
 

    Mr. Arun Jaitley was born on 28^th December, 1952. He passed his schooling from St. Xavier School, New Delhi 1969-70. He graduated in Commerce from Sri Ram College of Commerce, New Delhi (1973). He passed his Law from the Faculty of Law, University of Delhi in 1977. During his career as a student he was the recipient of several distinctions for his outstanding performance both in academics and extra curricular activities. He was President of Students Union of Delhi University (1974). During the period of proclamation of Internal Emergency (1975-77) when civil liberties were suspended, he was under preventive detention for a period of 19 months. He was a prominent leader of movement against corruption launched in the year 1973 by Late Shri Jai Prakash Narayan. He was the Convenor of the National Committee for Students and Youth organisation appointed by Late Shri Jai Prakash Narayan.

    He has been practising law before the Supreme Court and several High Courts in the country since 1977. He is a designated Senior Advocate, (equivalent to Q.C in England). He was the Additional Solicitor General of India for the Government of India in the year 1990. He has authored several write-ups on legal and current affairs. He has recently presented a Paper on Laws relating to Corruption and Crime in India before the Indo British Legal Forum. He was a delegate on behalf of the Government of India to the United Nations General Assembly Session in June 1998 where the Declaration on Laws relating to Drugs and Money Laundering was approved. He is currently also a Member of the National Legal Services Authority of India, a statutory authority which organises legal aid in the country. He has also been connected with the educational institutions. He was the Chairperson of the Governing Body of Kamla Nehru College, Delhi (1993-1998). He is also currently on the Board of Governors of the Bangalore Law School, a leading institute in legal education in the country.

He is a Member of the Bhartiya Janta Party which is currently the ruling party in India. He has been a Member of the National Executive, i.e. the principal decision making body of the party since 1991. He also represents his party as a Spokesperson on various forums.

He is married with two children.

    Mrs. Maneka Gandhi assumed charge of the office of Union Minister of Social Justice & Empowerment this morning, a position she held in the outgoing Ministry also.

    She was sworn in as a Minister of State with independent charge along with other Members of the Council of Ministers in yesterday's swearing-in ceremony held at Rashtrapati Bhavan.

    Born on August 26, 1956, Mrs. Maneka Gandhi is a multi-faceted personality having interests in the fields of environment & ecology, social welfare and media. In the past, she has held portfolio of Environment and Forest of the Union of India in two successive Governments. Founder and Chairperson of People for Animals, a registered Trust, she is an internationally known champion of the cause of animal welfare. For over two decades she has been closely associated with a large number of national and international bodies working in the area of protection and conservation of plant and animal life.

    Besides being author of several books, she has also richly contributed through the widely read Syndicated Column on Animal Welfare issues, simultaneously published in 15 national Dailies.

    Shri Nitish Kumar took over as Minister of Surface Transport, here today. Soon after taking over, he held a meeting with the Senior Officials of the Ministry to update himself on all important issues. He asked them to expedite the pending matters which he will review at frequent intervals. Shri Nitish Kumar had earlier held additional charge of Ministry of Surface Transport while he was Minister for Railways.
 

    Shri Ram Jethmalani took over as the Union Minister for Law, Justice and Company Affairs here today. Immediately after his assumption of office, he listed priorities before the Government in the areas of law, justice and corporate governance and directed the officials of his Ministry to work for realisation of the objectives of the National Agenda for Governance.

    Shri Sharad Yadav took over as the Union Minister of Civil Aviation here today. Shri Chaman Lal Gupta also took over office as the Minister of State for Civil Aviation.

    After assuming charge, the Ministers had discussion with the Secretary and senior officials of the Ministry. Later, speaking to the newsmen, Shri Yadav said that his concern would be to expedite the issues pending before the Ministry.

    Shri Yashwant Sinha today assumed charge as the Union Finance Minister. He was received by the Finance Secretary, Shri P.G. Mankad and other senior officials in the Ministry. Later speaking to news men, Shri Sinha said that his government's priority will be to bring fiscal deficit down to 2 per cent. He said that his government would take strict measures to control expenditure and implement financial sector reforms. The Minister said that a discussion paper is being worked out for second generation of reforms, which will cover all sectors from rural economy to international trade.

    Referring to Inflation, Shri Yashwant Sinha said that his government has brought down inflation to a record low despite the kargil crisis and expressed confidence that in the coming days prices would be under control.
 
 

    Dr.Murli Manohar Joshi today took charge as Cabinet Minister for Human Resource Development(HRD) Smt. Sumitra Mahajan and Shri Jaysingrao Gaikwad Patil, both Ministers of State for HRD also took charge and met Dr. Joshi today.

    Immediately upon assuming charge, Dr. Joshi along with the Ministers of State, took a meeting of senior officials of the Departments of Education and Women and Child Development. During the meeting, Dr. Joshi discussed the various pending cases and policy issues and asked the officials to draw up plans for their finalization within 100 days. He also held discussions, with the officials, on finding ways to reduce delay in disbursement of funds to the states.

    65-year-old, Dr. Murli Manohar Joshi, a former Professor of Physics has been elected to the Lok Sabha from Allahabad in U.P. This is his 3^rd term as a Cabinet Minister (He was HRD Minister in the previous Government). Dr. Joshi was first elected to the Lok Sabha in 1977 and in 1991 he took over as president of the BJP. Besides contributing nearly 100 research papers in scientific journals, Dr. Joshi was convenor "Forum of Parliamentarians on TRIPS and GATT issues" and also Chaired the International Conference on TRIPS in New Delhi in 1996.

    Smt. Sumitra Mahajan also a member of the BJP has been elected to the Lok Sabha for the 5^th time. She is an MP from Indore in Madhya Pradesh. Shri Jaysingrao Gaikwad Patil is a BJP MP from Beed in Maharashtra.
 

    Shri T.R. Baalu assumed charge as the Minister of Environment & Forests while Shri Babu Lal Marandi took over as Minister of State in the Ministry of Environment & Forests, here today. Immediately after taking over, both the Ministers held discussions with the Secretary, Shri Vishwanath Anand and other senior officials in the Ministry. The Ministers were apprised of the various initiatives, programmes and activities of the Ministry.

    Trader and industrialist, political and social worker and engineer by profession, Shri T.R. Baalu was born in Thalikottai in District A.T. Paneerselvam of Tamil Nadu on June 15, 1941. He was educated at New College, Madras University and Central Polytechnic, Madras. Shri Baalu was Member of Rajya Sabha from 1986-92 and was elected to Lok Sabha in July 1996 and held the portfolio of Petroleum and Natural Gas as Minister of State. An ardent social worker, Shri Baalu is re-elected to the 13^th Lok Sabha from Madras South constituency of Tamil Nadu.

    Born on January 11, 1958 in a tribal family at village Kodai Bank, Shri Babu Lal Marandi hails from Giridih district of Bihar.  He was the Minister of State for Environment and Forests in the 12^th Lok Sabha and was re-elected to the 13^th Lok Sabha from Dumka parliamentary constitutency of Bihar.

    Shri O. Rajagopal assumed the office of Minister of Stare for Law, Justice & Company Affairs here this afternoon. Immediately after joining, Shri Rajagopal took a meeting of all the Secretaries, senior officials of the Ministry and directed them to expedite various pending works in the areas of legal reforms, justice and corporate governance in keeping with the postulates of the National Agenda for Governance.
 

    Shri Ramesh Bais, who was sworn-in as the Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilizers yesterday, assumed charge of his office here today.

    Born on August 2^nd 1947 at Godhi village in Raipur district of Madhya Pradesh, Shri Bais was the Minister of State for Steel and Mines in the previous government. He is a four-term member of the Lower House of Parliament and is an agriculturist by profession. His father was the late Shri Khom Lal Bais. Shri Bais completed his education in Bhopal and was elected Councilor of the Municipal Corporation, Raipur in 1978. In 1980 he was a Member of the Estimates Committee and Library Committee of the Madhya Pradesh Assembly. In 1989 he was elected to the Lok Sabha for the first time, and was a member of the Public Accounts Committee and the Consultative Committee for the Ministry of Steel and Mines. In 1996 he was re-elected to the 11^th Lok Sabha. In 1998, Shri Bais was once again re-elected to the 12^th Lok Sabha. He was elected for the fourth time to the Lower House of Parliament in 1999.

    Shri Bais has served as the Vice President of the Madhya Pradesh BJP, during the periods 1989-90 and 1994-96. Shri Bais has been actively associated with health camps, eye camps, rural development programmes and sports events in his constituency, Raipur. His special interests are woodcrafting, painting, interior decoration and gardening.

    Shri Bais is married to Smt. Rambai Bais and has one son and two daughters.

    The New Telecom Policy-1999 (NTP-99) will be implemented in a time bound manner with special focus on North-East and Tribal areas. Special emphasis will be laid on providing telecom facilities as well as improving quality of services in rural areas through reliable media by the year 2002. These remarks were made by the Minister of Communications, Shri Ram Vilas Paswan to the media persons after assuming the charge of the Ministry of Communications. Shri Tapan Sikdar also took over as Minister of State.

    Immediately after assuming office both the Ministers held discussions with Secretary, Department of Telecommunications (DoT), Shri Anil Kumar and the Secretary, Department of Posts (DoP), Shri R.U.S.Prasad alongwith senior officials. The Ministers were apprised of the various initiatives, programmes and activities of the Departments of Telecommunications as well as Posts.

    Answering questions from the press persons, the Communications Minister said that increased use of Internet in rural and small towns through Internet Dhabas will be encouraged. In this connection, he said that officials have been directed to formulate a scheme within a month to offer Internet facilities to rural areas. Shri Paswan said that policy initiatives will be put in place to encourage Information Technology (IT) enabled services which are a major employment generator. Improvement of customer services will be another priority area and towards this end Information Technology will be fully utilised, he added.

    Referring to the postal sector Shri Ram Vilas Paswan said that postal network will be expanded in order to meet the basic communication needs of the common man in the rural areas. Modernisation of postal services to improve quality of service and to make it customer friendly will receive special emphasis, he added.

    A man of wide political and administrative experience Shri Ram Vilas Paswan was born on 5^th July 1946 and was first elected to Lok Sabha in 1977. Since then he has held important portfolios as Union Minister for Labour, Welfare and Railways. Shri Paswan is one of the pioneers of the oppressed and weaker section of the society. He was elected to 13^th Lok Sabha from Hajipur constituency of Bihar.

    Shri Tapan Sikdar hails from Malda district of West Bengal. In 1989 he was elected President of the State BJP Union. Shri Sikdar was elected to the 13^th Lok Sabha from Dum Dum constituency of West Bengal.
 

    India needs to gear up to meet the quality standards in the face of challenges from expanding markets; said Shri Shanta Kumar, Union Minister of Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution. Inaugurating the Seminar on Building Standards organised by the Bureau of Indian Standards on the occasion of World Standards Day here today, the Minister said that with the growing pressure of population, a tendency has emerged for pushing spurious and fake products in the market.

    The Minister expressed concern that adulteration and lowering of quality in building materials has led to major devastation and loss of human life. He called upon the industry to take up firm resolve to produce only quality products and accept this as a national duty. He also suggested stringent action against those who violate the norms and rules.

    Speaking on the occasion Shri V. Sreenivasa Prasad, Minister of State for Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution urged the Bureau of Indian Standards to create awareness for implementation of building standards and provide technical specifications wherever needed in this field.

    In his keynote address Shri K. Srinivasan, Secretary, Department of Consumer Affairs drew attention towards the need for environmental protection in the housing and construction sector. He laid emphasis on adherence to basic norms for control of pollution, collection and disposal of liquid and solid wastes.

    Earlier in his welcome speech Shri P.S. Das, Director General, BIS informed that Bureau of Indian Standards is laying greater stress on harmonization of Indian Standards with International Standards more so with globalisation of the Indian economy.

    Shri Syed Shahnawaz Hussain has assumed charge as Minister of State for Food Processing Industries here today.

    Talking to media persons after assuming charge, the Minister said that under the proposed policy of the ministry, adequate infrastructure for processing fruits and vegetables would be created in order to ensure remunerative prices to farmers besides offering quality products to consumers at reasonable prices.
 
 

    An eminent social worker, a vibrant youth leader and an astute politician Ms. Mamata Banerjee has the distinction of being the second woman Railway Minister of India. Earlier, Mrs. Mohsina Kidwai was the Minister of Transport for a brief period in 1986 which included Ministry of Railways. Ms. Banerjee, Chairperson of All India Trinamool Congress has been elected in the recently concluded Lok Sabha Election (1999) from Calcutta South (West Bengal) Constituency by defeating her nearest CPM rival Shri Subhankar Chakravorty by a margin of 214008 votes. She was elected to the Lok Sabha for the first time in 1984. She was re-elected to the Lok Sabha in 1991, 1996, 1998. From June 1991 to September 1993, she held the post of Union Minister of State, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Department of Youth Affairs, Sports and Women and Child Development. During her parliamentary tenure she has been Member of many Standing Committees, Public Accounts Committees and Consultative Committees of different Ministries.

    Born on January 5, 1955, Ms. Banerjee started her social work and political activities right from her student days. She was the General Secretary of Mahila Congress (I), West Bengal Unit during 1970-80. Then she was the Secretary, West Bengal Provincial Trade Union Congress from 1981-1987 and Secretary INTUC Women’s Wing during 1983-86. She became All India General Secretary of Indian Youth Congress(I) during 1985-87.

    Before the 1998 General Elections for the 12th Lok Sabha, she founded a new party West Bengal Trinamool Congress (WBTC) which was later re-named as All India Trinamool Congress (AITC).

    Besides politics Ms. Banerjee also takes keen interest in music and writing. She has several published books to her credit namely ‘Upalabdhi’, ‘Janatar Darbare’, ‘Maa’ ‘Manabik’, ‘Struggle for Existence’, ‘Mother Land’, ‘Crocodile Island’,‘Pallabi’ and ‘Trinamool’. She is also connected with different social and cultural organisations. She has been providing free legal aid to the poor people and working for protection of human rights. A post graduate from Calcutta University, Ms. Mamata Banerjee has M.A,B.Ed. and LL.B degrees to her credit.

    During her political career she has travelled widely as part of important delegations which include visits to Kualalampur, Bangkok, Moscow, Vietnam, Angola, France, USA, UK, Bangladesh, Mauritius, Sri Lanka and Maldives.
 
 

    Ms. Mamta Banerjee and Shri Digvijay Singh took over as the Railway Minister and Minister of State for Railways respectively in Rail Bhavan today.

    Both the Ministers met the Chairman and Members of the Railway Board and senior officials of the Railway Ministry who     briefed them regarding the activities of the Ministry.

    The Union Power Minister, Shri P.R.Kumaramangalam today met senior officials of the Power Ministry and the Chairmen of various public sector units. Power Secretary, Shri V.K.Pandit and other senior officers of the Ministry welcomed the Minister who has once again assumed the charge of Power Ministry. The Minister reviewed the power situation in the country.

    Smt. Jayawanti Mehta, also took over the charge of Minister of State for Power today. She met the Secretary and other senior officers of the Ministry.
 
 

    Shri M. Kannappan, Hon'ble Minister of State (Independent Charge) took over the charge of the Ministry of Non-Conventional Energy Sources on October 14, 1999. On the first day of assuming his charge of the Ministry Shri Kannappan took a meeting with Secretary and senior officers of the Ministry. The Secretary, Shri N.N. Mookerjee, briefed the Hon'ble Minister about current status of the renewable energy sector in the country, including the functions & responsibilities of the Ministry. Shri Kannappan in his first address to the senior officers of the Ministry stressed on urgent need of speeding up of the development process for harnessing the renewable energy sources particularly wind, solar, hydro, bio-energy, etc. through the efficient and reliable renewable energy technologies.