PIB Press Releases


		18th February, 2003


		Prime Minister's Office PMO denial Prime Minister’s Office today denied reports in a section of the media that Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee, while addressing the BJP Parliamentary Party meeting here today, said that the United Nations could "die a moral death if it succumbs to pressure from Washington" and that "there is fear that the UN becomes ineffective and dies a moral death if it takes any step under US pressure."....................... Ministry of Railways Railways performance ending December 2002 The Railways earned a cumulative sum of Rs.30070.74 crores during the first nine months of the current financial year ending December 2002 as against the target of Rs.30377.44 crores fixed for the period, showing a shortfall of Rs.306.70 crores...................... Ministry of Mines & Minerals Aerial survey locates minerals Satellite imagery, aerial photography and multi-sensor aerial surveys have been successfully used as a supporting tool for locating suitable structures favourable for mineral deposits in the country...................... Ministry of Mines & Minerals NALCO Drinking Water Project for ash pond breach affected people National Aluminium Company, a public sector unit of the Ministry of Mines is supporting a drinking water project for ash pond breach affected people....................... Ministry of Mines & Minerals GSI study on impact of earthquake in Gujarat Geological Survey of India (GSI) has carried out extensive post damage micro-seismic surveys of the earthquake affected areas in Gujarat...................... Ministry of Mines & Minerals No industrial licence for new mineral based plants Setting up of mineral-based industries depends upon availability of minerals, adequate infrastructure support, assessment of market potential of the industrial product and investor friendly policy and procedures....................... Ministry of Human Resource Development Over 3.32 crore children benefit from ICDS Over 3.32 crore children have benefited from the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) Scheme in the current year upto September 2002....................... Ministry of Commerce & Industry Jaitley emphasises boosting of trade & investment ties with Australia Shri Arun Jaitley, Minister of Commerce & Industry and Law & Justice, has emphasised the need for boosting of trade and investment between India and Australia from the current level....................... Ministry of Coal New mining projects in tenth plan Coal India Limited (CIL) has planned an outlay of Rs.6343.92 crores for the projects to be taken up in X Plan period....................... Ministry of Coal Closure of mines of CIL Closing mining activities in coal mines and opening of new coal mines is an ongoing process....................... Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution Malaysian Minister calls on Shri Sharad Yadav Datoseiro Dr. Lim Keng Yaik, Malaysian Minister for Primary Industries called on Shri Sharad Yadav, Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution here today and apprised him of the possible high demand and low availability of palm oil from Malaysia in the coming years....................... Ministry of Home Affairs Illegal immigration The Lok Sabha was today informed that the problem of illegal influx is mainly from Bangladesh....................... Ministry of Home Affairs Infiltration from North East Border There have been reports that nationals of some of the neighbouring countries bordering North-Eastern States managed to enter illegally into the territory of India....................... Ministry of Home Affairs ISI activities on Indo-Nepal Border The Government of India has been aware and concerned about Pakistan and its intelligence agencies exploiting the open India-Nepal border for activities inimical to India’s interest with the help of Indian extremist elements....................... Ministry of Science & Technology India's nuclear performance surpasses previous records The performance of India’s nuclear power plants is all set to achieve a new record....................... Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilizers Availability of urea sufficient for Kharif 2003 season The requirement of Urea for the ensuing Kharif 2003 season (1^st April to 30^th September) has been assessed at 106.30 lakh Mts. The production of urea during Kharif 2003 is estimated at about 96 lakh MTs....................... Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilizers Sale of Nimesulide Nimesulide has not been banned in almost all countries....................... Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment Dr. Satyanarayan Jatiya calls for including all backward classes genuinely deserving reservation in OBC list The Minister for Social Justice & Empowerment Dr. Satyanarayan Jatiya has called for including all such backward classes that genuinely deserve reservation but have not been included so far in OBC lists....................... Election Commission Constituency Wise Electors in Himachal Constituency wise electors in Himachal Pradesh as on 1st January, 2003 is as follows:....................... Ministry of Labour & Empowerment Government is commited to the process of consultations and discussions on the sensitive issue of Labour Reforms - Dr. Sahib Singh Union Labour Minister, Dr. Sahib Singh said that the Government is committed to the process of consultations and discussions on the sensitive issue of labour reforms....................... Ministry of Water Resources Projects on interlinking of rivers to cost tentatively Rs. 5,60,000 crores The Ministry of Water Resources, formerly known as the Ministry of Irrigation, formulated a National Perspective Plan (NNP) for water resources development in 1980 which envisages inter linkages among Peninsular Rivers and Himalayan Rivers for transferring water from water surplus basins to water deficit areas for optimum utilisation of water resources....................... Ministry of Water Resources Mobilisation of resources for river linking projects A Task Force on Inter-Linking of Rivers under the Chairmanship of Shri Suresh P. Prabhu, Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha has been constituted on 13.12.2002....................... Ministry of Water Resources Progress in Sutlej-Yamuna Link Canal The Government of Punjab, which had executed the works so far and under whose control the works are vested at present, has been requested to provide the details of works, the revised costs involved and the construction schedule....................... Ministry of Urban Development & Poverty Alleviation 11 Govt. of India Presses to be modernized The Government has taken a decision to close/merge/transfer/modernize various Government of India Presses. For modernization, an expenditure of about Rs. 21.94 crore will be incurred out of the Depreciation Reserve Fund already available with the Ministry of Urban Development....................... Ministry of Urban Development & Poverty Alleviation Central Scheme to provide shelter for homeless in urban centers With a view to ameliorate the hardships faced by footpath dwellers/homeless in urban areas due to adverse weather conditions, government is implementing a scheme under which central government provides a subsidy for construction of composite night shelters at the rate of 50% of the cost of construction subject to the ceiling of Rs. 20,000 per bed for night shelter....................... Ministry of Environment & Forests Humane approach towards lab animals called for Shri T.R. Baalu emphasizes rehabilitation of used animals "Animals being used in laboratory experiments are rendering yeomen service to humanity and in turn they deserve a humane approach" said the Environment & Forests Minister, Shri T.R. Baalu while inaugurating an "International Conference on Alternatives to Use of Animals in Research & Education", here today....................... Ministry of Civil Aviation Airport security expenditure rises by 86 percent during 2001-02 The expenditure on airport security has gone up by 86 percent during the financial year 2001-2002 as compared to the expenditure incurred during 2000-2001....................... Ministry of Finance & Company Affairs Finance Commission holds Meeting of Economists and Economic Administrators The 12^th Finance Commission under the Chairmanship of Dr. C. Rangarajan held a meeting of economists and economic administrators on various aspects of the terms of reference of the Commission, here today....................... Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas New exploration by ONGC Subsequent to the announcement of the Krishna Godavari basin gas finds by the consortium of Reliance Industries Limited and Niko Resources Limited in October 2002, ONGC has found leads at 4 new locations....................... Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas Oil Refineries at Bhatinda and Bina The Minister of State for Petroleum & Natural Gas, Shri Santosh Gangwar, informed the Rajya Sabha in a written reply that 1,992 acres of land for the Refinery Project at Bhatinda (Punjab) has been acquired and boundary wall constructed....................... Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas Consumption of petroleum products The consumption of petroleum products during 2003-2004 and 2004-2005 is estimated to be around 107 MMT (Million Metric Tonne) and 111 MMT respectively....................... Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas Potentiality of oil and gas in Himalayan Region Since last 50 years, National Oil Companies (NOCs), namely Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC) and Oil India Limited (OIL) have carried out exploration activities in the Himalayan region with the basic objective of identifying prospective areas for hydrocarbons....................... Ministry of Environment & Forests Water Cess on industry to increase three times The Lok Sabha today passed a Bill that proposed a three fold increase in water cess to be paid by all categories of industries.......................