PIB Press Releases


		6th March, 2003


		Ministry of Commerce & Industry Additional standard input-output norms for 25 new export items notified The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) has issued Public Notice No. 66 dated 4/3/2003 notifying additional standard input-output norms for 25 new export items and amendments/ corrections / deletions in the standard input-output norms for 43 existing export items....................... Ministry of Commerce & Industry Rudy to attend 4th BIMST-EC Trade Ministerial Meeting in Colombo Shri Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Minister of State for Commerce & Industry, is leading the Indian delegation to attend the 4th BIMST-EC (Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand Economic Cooperation) Trade/Economic Ministerial Meeting, which is being held on 7th March in Colombo, Sri Lanka....................... Ministry of Railways Disaster Management Institute No independent Disaster Management Institute for Railways has been set up...................... Ministry of Railways Gauge Conversion Projects in Madhya Pradesh The work of conversion of Jabalpur-Gondia including Balaghat-Katangi line from narrow gauge to broad gauge is in progress...................... Ministry of Railways Increase in frequencies of Rajdhani Expresses Frequency of Rajdhani services between New Delhi and Guwahati will be increased from five days a week to daily...................... Ministry of Railways Misuse of travel concession given to MPs A few cases of misuse of reservations made on the basis of Identity Cards issued to Members of Parliament have come to notice during the course of ticket checking but no separate statistics or details are maintained for the same...................... Ministry of Railways Packaging and marketing of Railneer The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has carried out inspections and have collected water samples for Railneer for testing at their end....................... Ministry of Railways Rakes for transportation of animal fodder in Gujarat The Ministry of Railways have issued instructions for transportation of fodder and water free of charge to notified drought affected districts of various states, including Gujarat, from August 31, 2002 to June 30, 2003....................... Ministry of Steel Steel production up 5.8 per cent The total production of finished steel during April 2002 to January 2003 has been provisionally estimated at 26.6 million tonnes as against the production of 25.2 million tonnes during the same period last year showing an increase of 5.8 per cent....................... Ministry of Rural Development National Workshop on Land Resource Management A National Workshop on Policy Framework for Land Resource Management is being organized by the Ministry of Rural Development in collaboration with Agricultural Finance Corporation on 7-8th March 2003 at New Delhi....................... Ministry of Railways Rescheduling Guwahati and Howrah Rajdhani Expresses The Railway Minister Shri Nitish Kumar announced in the Lok Sabha today that the frequencies of 2423/2424 New Delhi-Guwahati-Rajdhani Express via Patna would be increased to 5 days a week as against 3 days a week....................... Ministry of Defence Acquiring of Auto-Pilot System The attention of the Government has been drawn to the news-item captioned, "Auto Pilot System : Indian Air Force upgradation projection hangs fire" appearing in the Indian Express dated Feb 05, 2003....................... Ministry of Defence Acquisition of DSRV All Indian Navy submarines have the capability to allow escape of crew from about a depth of 120 meters, using escape suits. Submarines have rescue hatches....................... Ministry of Defence Separate Budget for DRDO The Government has approved creation of a separate head in budget for Defence Research and Development Organisation in view of the importance of research and development in the field of sophisticated arms capacity....................... Ministry of Defence Construction of houses The government has decided to construct lakhs of houses for the armed forces personnel....................... Ministry of Defence Development of planes and jets for civil aviation National Aerospace Laboratories, Bangalore has developed an all composite two-seat training aeroplane "Hansa-3" and is in the process of developing a 14-seat Light Transport Aircraft "SARAS"....................... Ministry of Defence Diversification of weapon suppliers It is a fact that India is keen on diversification of weapon suppliers and joint co-production ventures...................... Ministry of Road Transport and Highways Road accidents The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways does not compile accident and casualty data for other countries and hence inter-country comparison is not possible...................... Ministry of Road Transport and Highways Compensation for acquiring land for roads The land for National Highways is acquired as per provisions of either the National Highways Act, 1956 (as amended in 1997) or the Land Acquisition Act, 1894...................... Ministry of Road Transport and Highways Road tax for transport vehicles About seventeen per cent of the estimated five crore vehicles pay road tax annually...................... Ministry of Labour & Empowerment Steps taken by Government to check exploitation of child labour Government is taking various steps to check the economic exploitation of child labourers in the country...................... Ministry of Labour & Empowerment Steps taken by Government to provide employment to unemployed persons Government is implementing special programmes for eradication of poverty and generation of employment....................... Ministry of Labour & Empowerment Tendu Leaves Policy framed by the State Government is beneficial to beedi workers Madhya Pradesh Government had decided to collect and trade tendu leaves through Co-operative societies since 1989....................... Ministry of Information & Broadcasting Government to expand AIR network in North East The Government have undertaken six All India Radio projects to expand the existing network in North Eastern States, especially in Assam....................... Ministry of Textiles Shri Rana calls upon EPCs to achieve targets The Minister of Textiles, Shri Kashiram Rana, has said that the comprehensive textile package announced in the Budget proposals for 2003-04 would ensure revival and technological upgradation of the textile industry....................... Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas Adulteration in petrol and diesel Shri Ram Naik, Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas, informed Lok Sabha today while replying to a question that the Government has been making all out efforts to curb adulteration and other malpractices in the distribution of petroleum products in the country ....................... Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas Coal Bed Methane in Bokaro Shri Santosh Gangwar, Minister of State for Petroleum & Natural Gas, informed the Lok Sabha in a written reply today that the Government has awarded a Coal Bed Methane (CBM) block in Jharia coal field in Bokaro District of Jharkhand including the Parvatpur Sector ....................... Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas Civic permission for construction of Petrol Pumps Shri Santosh Gangwar, Minister of State for Petroleum & Natural Gas, informed the Lok Sabha in a written reply today that the Oil Companies apply to the District Magistrates for 'No Objection Certificates' (NOCs) before starting the construction of retail outlets ....................... Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas Impact of CNG on Diesel/Petrol Market Shri Santosh Gangwar, Minister of State for Petroleum & Natural Gas, informed the Lok Sabha in a written reply today that so far Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) has been introduced in Transport Sector in Delhi and Mumbai only ....................... Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas Shri Ram Naik condoles the death of Shri A.P. Ram Shri Ram Naik, Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas has expressed profound grief on the sudden demise last night of Shri A.P. Ram, Advisor (Refineries) in the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas ....................... Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas Gas and Oil Reserves in Himalayas Shri Santosh Gangwar, Minister of State for Petroleum & Natural Gas, informed the Lok Sabha in a written reply today that the Government has awarded one exploration block ....................... Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation Completion of Projects Two hundred and thirty nine projects costing Rs. 20 crore and above which were on the monitor of the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation have been completed during April, 1999 to March, 2002 ....................... Ministry of Finance and Company Affairs Government announces procedural Modifications in Duty drawback to facilitate Exports The Ministry of Finance and Company Affairs has made procedural modifications in the area of duty drawback. These modifications are based on the recommendations made by the Kelkar’s Task Force ....................... Ministry of Science & Technology More Indo-French Research Labs in the offing India and France are to set up more joint research labs and also take up networking of research programmes in areas of mutual interest ....................... Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment States provide over ten thousand crore rupees under Special Component Plan for Economic Development of Scheduled Castes Over ten thousand crore rupees have been provided by 23 States and Union Territories out of their plan allocations for the Special Component Plan (SCP) during the current financial year ....................... Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment Social Justice Ministry allocates over two crore rupees for rehabilitation of destitute children in Gujarat The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment has sanctioned over two crore rupees for rehabilitation of children rendered destitute due to communal roits in Gujarat ....................... Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment Countries in South-East Asia Region seek help from neighbours for education and training of persons with disabilities An Inter-country Meeting on promoting employment opportunities in South-East Asia Region has recommended that the UN Standard Rules on Disability should be used as a common reference point for all countries in absence of uniform legislation .......................