PIB Press Releases


		3rd March, 2003


		Ministry of Railways Construction of bridge over Kosi river The work of construction of mega bridge over river Kosi with link lines between Nirmali and Bhaptiahi (Saraigarh) in Bihar has been included in the Railway Budget 2003-2004. ...................... Ministry of Railways Suburban railway system The Indian Railways will provide a total Rs. 4499.26 crores as its share to augmentation of suburban railway system in the States of West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra. ...................... Ministry of Commerce & Industry India, Slovenia to increase and diversify bilateral trade India and Slovenia have agreed to increase and diversify bilateral trade on a mutually beneficial and balanced basis, taking note of the considerable scope for increasing the volume of trade ...................... Ministry of Commerce & Industry SEZs to promote investment in export oriented activities Special Economic Zones (SEZs) are being established in various parts of the country in order to promote investments in export oriented activities. ...................... Ministry of Science & Technology Plan outlay for scientific departments up by 5 to 50 percent The Central Plan Outlay 2003-04 for various scientific departments have gone up anywhere between 5 to 50 percent. ...................... Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment Over forty crore rupees allocated to National Minorities Development & Finance Corporation during last two financial years Forty crore and twenty six lakh rupees were released to the National Minorities Development & Finance Corporation (NMFDC) by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment during the last two financial years. ...................... Ministry of Tribal Affairs Growing social unrest in tribal areas There has been an increase in Naxalite activities in the States of Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Orissa, which have a fairly large population of tribals. ...................... Ministry of Tribal Affairs Kidney trade in Kerala The Government of Kerala had informed the Ministry that 17 persons had sold their kidneys at the National Hospital and the Baby Memorial Hospital Kozhikode. ...................... Ministry of Tribal Affairs Implementation of Orissa Tribal Empowerment and Livelihood Programme The Orissa Tribal Empowerment and Livelihood Programme (OTELP) Loan Agreement has been signed between the Government of India and International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD) on December 18, 2002. ...................... Ministry of Water & Resources Private participation in River-Linking Project A Task Force on Inter-Linking of Rivers under the Chairmanship of Shri Suresh P. Prabhu, Member of Parliament has been constituted on 13.12.2002. ...................... Ministry of Water & Resources Declaration of 2003 as Fresh Water Year Government of India has declared 2003 as 'Freshwater Year' in keeping with the United Nations' Resolution declaring the year 2003 as "International Year of Freshwater". ...................... Ministry of Steel Problems of ferro alloys industry Basic customs duty on ferro alloys has remained unchanged since 2001-2002. ...................... Ministry of Steel Production of rails by SAIL The target set for the production of rails by Bhillai Steel Plant during the year 2001-02 and 2002-03 was 480,000 tonnes and 650,000 tonnes of Ultimate Tensile Strength (UTS-90) rails respectively. ...................... Ministry of Steel Market for Inidan steel In the first nine months of the current financial year, most of the steel companies have achieved a higher sales turnover as compared to that of the last year. ...................... Ministry of Law & Justice Permanent Lok Adalat There is no proposal to review the Legal Services Authorities (Amendment) Act,2002 on permanent Lok Adalat. ...................... Ministry of Law & Justice Advisory Body on use of modern technology in Judicial System The Department of Information Technology has constituted an Advisory Body with the approval of the Hon'ble Chief Justice of India ...................... Ministry of Law & Justice SC and ST Judges in Supreme Court and High Courts Appointments of Judges of the Supreme Court of India and the High Courts are made under articles 124 and 217 of the Constitution of India respectively which do not provide for reservation for any caste or class of persons. ...................... Ministry of Law & Justice Setting up of Fast Track Courts Apart from the existing Courts, a set of additional courts , known as Fast Track Court(FTCs) have been set up for speeding up disposal of long pending cases. ...................... Ministry of Food Processing Industries Use of edible oil Ministry of Food Processing Industries has given grant to CFTRI, a research institution under the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research for a number of R&D projects. ...................... Ministry of Food Processing Industries Use of synthetic flavours/colours in soft drinks As per the provisions of Fruits products Order, 1955, only permitted artificial/synthetic colours or a mixture thereof can be used in specified fruit products including soft drinks in specified quantities. ...................... Ministry of Rural Development Rs. 794 lakh released to Madhya Pradesh for watershed development The Ministry of Rural Development has released Rs.794 lakh to fourteen districts of Madhya Pradesh as Central share of assistance for planning & development of watershed projects for implementation of Drought Prone Areas Programme (DPAP) during 2002-2003. ...................... Ministry of Railways New members traffic and electrical assume office in Railway Board Shri Kamal Kishore Agarwal, a member of Indian Railway Traffic Service (IRTS), took over as Member Traffic in the Railway Board and ex-offcio Secretary to the Government of India in the Ministry of Railways here today. ...................... Ministry of Rural Development Uttar Pradesh gets Rs. 28 crore and foodgrains under SGRY The Ministry of Rural Development has released Rs.28.56 crore as second instalment to twelve districts of Uttar Pradesh under Sampoorna Grameen Rozgar Yojana (SGRY - 1st stream) for the year 2002-03. ...................... Ministry of Rural Development Rs. 60 crore released for rural housing to Andhra Pradesh The Ministry of Rural Development has released Rs.60.35 crore as centre's share under Indira Awaas Yojana (IAY) for rural housing to twenty two districts of Andhra Pradesh. ...................... Ministry of Heavy Industry & Public Enterprises 66 per cent increase in profit in CPSEs during 2001-02 According to the Public Enterprises Survey 2001-02, laid in the Parliament today, there has been improvement in the overall performance of Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs). ...................... Ministry of Finance & Comany Affairs Repayment of Government stock The outstanding balance of 11.40 percent Government of India Compensation (Project Exports to Iraq) Bonds, 2003 ...................... Ministry of Law & Justice Press communique In exercise of the powers conferred by clause (1) of article 217 of the Constitution of India, the President is pleased to appoint Shri Justice Devinder Gupta, ......................