NHAI’s projects to generate approximately 50 Crore man-days employment over next four years

NHAI’s projects to generate approximately 50 Crore man-days employment over next four years

The ongoing and targeted projects of National Highways Authority of India would generate estimated employment of approximately 50 crores man days over the next four years on a seasonal basis. This would be averaging to nearly 12.5 crore man-days yearly from 2018-2022. Of this, about 1.0 crore will be professional man-days, 3.5 crore skilled labour man-days and 8.0 crore semi-skilled and un-skilled man days. 


The NHAI currently has 282 projects having length of about 20,000 km under implementation across the country out of which 10,000 km of length is targeted to be completed over next one to two years. There are around 220 projects having length of about 31,000 km which are targeted to be awarded and completed in the next 3 to 4 years across all the States in the country under NHDP and Bharat Mala Schemes. Thus, NHAI plans to construct approximately 50,000 km Highways in next 4 years.
This will generate seasonal employment opportunities as successful and efficient execution of projects invariably requires qualified professionals, skilled and semi-skilled work force. 


In order to meet the requirement of professionals, skilled and semi-skilled work force, NHAI has undertaken an elaborate exercise for Skill Development. The Chairman, NHAI Shri Deepak Kumar, held a meeting with the officers of Ministry of skill Development and Entrepreneurship to chalk out the road map for skilling of professionals, skilled and semi-skilled workers. Various issues connected with the Skill Development were discussed in the meeting. The Chairman, NHAI asked the officers of Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship to submit detailed plan of Skill Development in tune with the requirement of NHAI projects. The plan would be finalized in discussion with the concerned stakeholders.

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‘India Playing a Leadership Role in Wildlife Management

‘India Playing a Leadership Role in Wildlife Management by Involving Local Communities’: Dr. Harsh Vardhan

India Hosts Global Wildlife Programme to Address Illegal Wildlife Trade

In an attempt to address illegal wildlife trade across 19 countries of Asia and Africa, India is hosting the Global Wildlife Programme (GWP) jointly with World Bank and United Nations Development Programme. Union Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Dr. Harsh Vardhan will inaugurate the Global Wildlife Programme on October 2. Briefing mediapersons on the Global Wildlife Programme here today, Dr. Harsh Vardhan said that India is playing a leadership role in management of wildlife through involvement of local communities. Pointing out that no programme can succeed solely because of Government policies, the Minister said that peoples’ participation at societal level can ensure its success. “Five crore people living around national parks and sanctuaries are working as partners in environment conservation”, Dr. Harsh Vardhan said. The Minister pointed out that a 15-year National Wildlife Action Plan (2017-31), with a special focus on peoples’ participation will also be launched on October 2. He emphasised that the Conference will act as a platform for knowledge exchange and coordination on the action taken on the ground to combat illegal poaching of wildlife and improve governance on wildlife conservation. Dr. Harsh Vardhan underlined the fact that the number of rhinos, tigers and elephants is in fact, increasing.

The Minister said that till now programmes and plans related to wildlife were focused on and around national parks and sanctuaries. However, the strategy and programmes will now be based on the landscape of the region. He added that the impact of such issues as global warming, climate change and disaster management on the people living around wildlife areas and on the wildlife will also be discussed.

Coinciding with the ‘Wildlife Week’, the theme of the Conference is - “Peoples’ participation in wildlife conservation”. The meeting will bring about strengthened cooperation between India and the 18 GWP countries in better management of wildlife habitats and minimizing human-wildlife conflict situations. It will also enable India to strengthen its enforcement mechanism to control illicit trade.

The GWP will hold discussions on management of wildlife habitat, securing sustainable community livelihood, enhancing enforcement, monitoring, cooperation to reduce wildlife crimes such as poaching and related threats. The Conference will provide an opportunity for India to showcase its conservation efforts through joint forest management, vana sanrakshan samitis, eco-development committees in and around Protected Areas.

The proposed outcomes of New Delhi Conference include: Reiterating Mahatma Gandhi principles to the world, as the Conference coincides with Gandhi Jayanti and UN International Day of Non- Violence on October 2, 2017; Take leadership in Wildlife Conservation by showcasing India’s conservation models for Asiatic lion, single horn rhino, tiger and Asiatic elephants; Consolidating “people’s participation for wildlife conservation”; Need to strongly address unaccounted black money generated through illegal wildlife trade at global market; Sensitise stakeholders like Governments, corporate, banks, public sectors, media, youth etc for investments in wildlife conservation and develop sustainable models for wildlife conservation thorough peoples’ participation in 19 GWP countries.

The meeting will host wildlife experts, leading practitioners across 19 GWP countries, government representatives from India’s forestry and conservation sectors, leading corporate associated with environmental and biodiversity conservation, civil society organisations and school children. The participating nations include – Afghanistan, Botswana, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Gabon, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Philippines, Republic of Congo, South Africa, Tanzania, Thailand, Vietnam, Zambia and Zimbabwe. In addition, representatives of World Bank, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) will also be present. Earlier, four similar Programmes had been convened at Gland (Switzerland), Hanoi (Vietnam), Nairobi (Kenya) and Liberville (Gabon). Led by the World Bank, the Global Wildlife Programme was initiated in 2015.

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Income Tax Department takes various initiatives to bring about efficiency

FM: Income Tax Department takes various initiatives to bring about efficiency, transparency, and fairness in Tax Administration; Government is committed to widen the tax base by encouraging and incentivising the new tax payers; Number of tax payers increased significantly from 4.72 crore in financial year 2012-13 to 6.26 crore during the Financial Year 2016-17;

Direct Tax Revenue Collections up to 18^th September, 2017 in the current Financial Year 2017-18 rose to Rs. 3.7 lakh crore with a growth of 15.7%.

                      The Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs Shri Arun Jaitley said that Income Tax Department of the Ministry of Finance has taken various initiatives in the last 2-3 years in order to bring about efficiency, transparency and fairness in tax administration. Highlighting the initiatives, the Finance Minister said that a Single Page ITR-1 (SAHAJ) Form was introduced for tax payers having income up to Rs. 50 lakhs. Rate of tax for individuals having income of Rs. 2.5 lakhs to Rs.5 lakhs was reduced from 10% to 5%, which is one among the lowest in the world, the Finance Minister added. The Finance Minister Shri Jaitley further said that the concept of ‘no scrutiny’ was introduced for the First Time Non-Business Tax Payers having income up to Rs. 5 lakhs so that more and more people are encouraged to join the tax net and file their IT returns and pay the due amount of taxes. The Finance Minister Shri Arun Jaitley was addressing the Second Meeting of the Consultative Committee attached to the Ministry of Finance on the subject of “Initiatives of IT Department”” in the national capital here today.

            Highlighting the other initiatives of the income Tax Department, the Finance Minister Shri Arun Jaitley said that corporate tax was reduced to 25% for companies with turn-over up to Rs. 50 crore thereby covering almost 96% of the companies. The new manufacturing companies incorporated on or after 1^st March 2016 were given an option to be taxed at 25% without any deduction. The MAT credit was allowed to be carry forward up to 15 years instead of 10 years as part of procedural reforms, the Finance Minister added.

            Highlighting the initiatives of the Department in the field of E-Governance, the Finance Minister said that 97% of the income tax returns were filed electronically this year, out of which 92% returns were processed within 60 days and 90% refunds were also issued within 60 days. The Finance Minister further said that the Income Tax Department also introduced Grievance Redressal System- E-Nivaran which integrated all the online and paper grievances and tracks them till their resolution. Every grievance is acknowledged and resolution is intimated through email and SMS. The Finance Minister said that 84% of 4.65 lakh E-Nivaran grievances have been resolved so far.

            The Finance Minister, Shri Jaitley said through E-Sahyog, all cases of information mismatch are handled in non-intrusive manner to avoid full investigation. The Finance Minister further added that about 1.9 core salaried tax payers are being informed every quarter by the Income Tax Department of the amount of TDS deposited by their employers. The Finance Minister Shri Jaitley said that all these E-governance initiatives of the Department have helped in having minimum direct interface between the tax assessing authorities and the assesses which in turn helped in minimizing harassment, curbing the menace of corruption and time saving among others.

            The Union Finance Minister Shri Arun Jaitley also highlighted the initiatives of the Income Tax Department as far as Ease of Doing Business and promoting Financial Markets are concerned. In this regard, he specifically mentioned about introduction of Presumptive Taxation Scheme for Professionals having income up to Rs. 50 lakhs. Similarly, threshold for Presumptive Taxation Scheme for business income raised from Rs. 1 crore to Rs. 2 crore and companies located in International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) have been exempted from Dividend Distribution Tax and to pay MAT @ 9% only.

            The Finance Minister informed that India has entered into Foreign Collaboration with 148 countries as far as Exchange of Information for tax matters is concerned and with 39 countries for criminal matters. He said that changes in the Double Taxation Avoidance Agreements (DTAAs) with Mauritius and Singapore have been incorporated to allow for source based taxation of capital gains on shares and interest income of banks.

            As far as the drive against black money is concerned, the Income-tax Department has taken various initiatives since the present Government came to power. In this regard, the Finance Minister mentioned about the enactment of the Black Money Act, 2015, Comprehensive Amendments to the Benami Act 1988 and Operation Clean Money among others. The Finance Minister said that after the intense follow-up of demonetization data from 9^th November 2016 to 10^th January, 2017, about 1100 searches were made resulting into seizure of Rs. 610 crore including cash of Rs. 513 crore. He said that undisclosed income of Rs. 5400 crore was detected and about 400 cases have been referred to ED and CBI for án appropriate action. 

            In order to promote less cash economy and digital transactions, the Finance Minister said that the Income Tax Department took various initiatives including penalty for cash receipt of Rs. 2 lakh or more, limit of cash donation to charitable trusts reduced from Rs. 10,000/- to Rs. 2000/- and no cash donations of Rs. 2000/- or more to political parties.

            Highlighting the impact of demonetization and the proactive initiatives of the Income Tax Department, the Finance Minister said that the revenue collections in case of direct taxes rose to Rs. 8,49, 818 crore during the Financial Year 2016-17 at a growth rate of 14.5 per cent. The Finance Minister further said that net collections up to 18^th September, 2017 in the Current Financial Year 2017-18 rose to Rs. 3.7 lakh crore with a growth of 15.7%. He said that the number of tax payers increased significantly from 4.72 crore in financial year 2012-13 to 6.26 crore during the Financial Year 2016-17.

            Earlier, the Chairman CBDT, Shri Sushil Chandra made a presentation about the initiatives of the Income Tax Department before the Committee.

            Participating in the discussions, the various members of the Consultative Committee gave various suggestions in order to improve both the revenue collections and the overall performance of the Department.  The members congratulated the Finance Minister for making historical tax reforms both in case of direct and indirect taxes. Some of the members suggested that some more incentives be given to the new tax papers so that more and more people are encouraged to file tax returns and pay due taxes which in turn would help in widening the tax base. They appreciated the initiatives of the Department to reduce the tax rate from 10% to 5% in case of individual tax payers having income of Rs. 2.5 lakh to Rs. 5 lakh per annum. Some members also suggested for reducing the tax slabs in order to give incentive to the people to pay their due taxes. They appreciated the initiatives of the Income Tax Department for issuing Appreciation Letters to the honest tax payers. Some of the members suggested reducing the banking or transaction charges in order to promote digital transactions. They said that only by reducing or waiving off these charges moré and more people will be encouraged to go for digital transactions. The members also suggested that more time be given to the people living in those areas where there is either frequent power failures or having no internet facilities to file their returns. Some of the members also suggested that more searches may be conducted against the black money holders as still many people are transacting in black money.

Along with the Union Finance Minister, Shri Arun Jaitley, the meeting was also attended among others by Shri S.P. Shukla, Minister of State for Finance, Finance Secretary, Shri Ashok Lavasa, Revenue Secretary, Dr. Hasmukh Adhia, Secretary, DIPAM, Shri Neeraj Kumar Gupta, Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs(DEA), Shri S.C. Garg, Chief Economic Adviser (CEA) Dr. Arvind Subramanian, Chairman, CBDT, Shri Sushil Chandra and other senior officers of the Ministry of Finance.

The Members of the Consultative Committee who participated in the Meeting today include Shri Anirudhan Sampath, Shri Jayanta Jai Panda, Shri J. Jayasingh Thyagraj Natterjee, Shri Kalikesh Narayan Singh Deo, Shri Pratapsinh Chauhan, Shri Ram Charitra Nishad, Shri, S.P.Y. Reddy, Shri Sharad Kumar Maruti Bansode, Shri Subhash Chandra Baheria, Dr. Udit Raj and Shri Yerram Venkata Subareddy (all Members of Lok Sabha); Shri Anil Desai, Shri N. Gokulakrishnan, Shri Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Shri Sanjay Seth and Kumari Selja (all Members of Rajya Sabha) .

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People have right to know how decision

People have right to know how decision-making happens at the highest level and what national security entails: Vice President

Releases book ‘Securing India: The Modi Way'

The Vice President of India, Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu has said that Indian people have the right to know how decision-making happens at the highest level and what national security entails. He was addressing the gathering after releasing the book ‘Securing India: The Modi Way' authored by Shri Nitin Gokhale, here today. The Minister of State for Defence, Dr. Subhash Ramrao Bhamre and other dignitaries were present on the occasion.  

 
 The Vice President said that the book provides the most intimate and sweeping account yet of the NDA Government’s approach to national security and foreign policy initiatives. He further said that drawing on internal memos, as yet classified information, meeting notes and hundreds of hours of interviews with key players in the national security team, Shri Gokhale brings alive inside stories of decision-making at the highest levels in the government.


The Vice President said that the book details hitherto unknown aspects of the planning and execution of the surgical strikes, revamping of New Delhi's policy towards China and Pakistan, India's renewed global policy focus on Middle East, Prime Minister Modi's attempt to leverage the Indian diaspora worldwide, besides focusing on some small but far-reaching steps taken to secure India in every possible way - on land, space, cyber and maritime domains.


 The Vice President said that the issue of terrorism is at the fore front of government’s foreign policy world over. He further said that terrorism has no religion; it’s a threat to humanity and it should be curbed and we must be humane and sensitive in our approach while interacting with others. If there is tension there can’t be attention towards development, this should bear the basic principle, he added.
 The Vice President said that in democracy violence has no place and bullet cannot bring change where as ballot can. The policy of government should be zero tolerance towards terrorism and corruption both will eat away the vitals of our system, he added.


 Following is the text of Vice President’s address:
 “I am pleased to release the book ‘Securing India: The Modi Way', written by senior journalist, Shri Nitin Gokhale.


 Normally, matters relating to defence and security aspects are kept shrouded in a veil of secrecy and not put in public domain by most nations the world over. Understandably, in most cases utmost precautions are taken not to make public important decisions and their processes in order to protect security and national interests.


 No doubt, legitimate security concerns could be the reason for maintaining complete secrecy in such matters. However, a balanced view has to be taken on the extent to which such information could be made available to the public as complete lack of transparency would give scope to corruption.


In this background, the book by Shri Gokhale  provides the most intimate and sweeping account yet of the NDA Government’s approach to national security and foreign policy initiatives.


 Drawing on internal memos, as yet classified information, meeting notes and hundreds of hours of interviews with key players in the national security team, Shri Gokhale brings alive inside stories of decision-making at the highest levels in the government.


Painstakingly researched, the book details hitherto unknown aspects of the planning and execution of the surgical strikes, revamping of New Delhi's policy towards China and Pakistan, India's renewed global policy focus on Middle East, Prime Minister Modi's attempt to leverage the Indian diaspora worldwide, besides focusing on some small but far-reaching steps taken to secure India in every possible way --on land, space, cyber and maritime domains.


 The book provides an authentic account of the Modi government' decision making process on vital issues. This is by no means an analytical document. In fact, it is mostly factual and narrated from the point of view of those involved. In that respect, some might view this book as an incomplete account. It’s a start nevertheless. Till then, read the book for what it is: a journalistic record of some of the bold and unconventional decisions taken by the Modi government since 2014.


 There is no denying the fact that this book has gained immensely by the trust reposed in the author by people in very sensitive appointments. For the first time, people holding sensitive positions have spoken on record about some major incidents like the Pathankot Operation, the two surgical strikes - one in Myanmar and one in PoK - and the standoff at Doklam.


 The book contains interviews with Former Defence Minister, Shri Manohar Parrikar, the National Security Adviser, Shri Ajit Doval, current and former Army Chiefs, Special Forces officers and men, NSG commandos and IAF personnel.  


 By writing this book, Shri Gokhale has brought the complicated subject of national security to the common citizen. Indian people have the right to know how decision-making happens at the highest level and what national security entails. This book provides rare insight into that process. I commend the author for accomplishing this task in a short time and bringing to light some of the unknown aspects of governance.


I am a happy that issue of terrorism is at the fore front of government’s foreign policy world over.
Terrorism has no religion; it’s a threat to humanity. It should be curbed and we must be humane and sensitive in our approach while interacting with others but at the same time we must be firm in assuring and maintaining Indians unity, integrity and internal security.


If there is tension there can’t be attention towards development, this should bear the basic principle. We have to secure our borders and also assure the internal security so that the government and the administration can focus on development.


 In democracy violence has no place. Bullet cannot bring change where as ballot can. This has been witnessed world over. The policy of government should be zero tolerance towards terrorism and corruption both will eat away the vitals of our system.

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Change in Tariff Value

Change in Tariff Value of Crude Palm Oil, RBD Palm Oil, Others – Palm Oil, Crude Palmolein, RBD Palmolein, Others – Palmolein, Crude Soyabean Oil, Brass Scrap (All Grades), Poppy Seeds, Areca Nuts, Gold and Silver Notified

In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (2) of section 14 of the Customs Act, 1962 (52 of 1962), the Central Board of Excise & Customs, being satisfied that it is necessary and expedient so to do, hereby makes the following amendment in the notification of the Government of India in the Ministry of Finance (Department of Revenue), No. 36/2001-Customs (N.T.), dated the 3^rd August, 2001, published in the Gazette of India, Extraordinary, Part-II, Section-3, Sub-section (ii), vide number S. O. 748 (E), dated the 3^rd August, 2001, namely:-

In the said notification, for TABLE-1, TABLE-2, and TABLE-3 the following Tables shall be substituted namely:-

TABLE-1

Sl. No.	Chapter/ heading/ sub-heading/tariff item	Description of goods	Tariff value (US $Per Metric Tonne)
(1)	(2)	(3)	(4)
1	1511 10 00	Crude Palm Oil	743
2	1511 90 10	RBD Palm Oil	780
3	1511 90 90	Others – Palm Oil	762
4	1511 10 00	Crude Palmolein	785
5	1511 90 20	RBD Palmolein	788
6	1511 90 90	Others – Palmolein	787
7	1507 10 00	Crude Soya bean Oil	851
8	7404 00 22	Brass Scrap (all grades)	3602
9	1207 91 00	Poppy seeds	2485

TABLE-2

Sl. No.	Chapter/ heading/ sub-heading/tariff item	Description of goods	Tariff value (US $)
(1)	(2)	(3)	(4)
1	71 or 98	Gold, in any form, in respect of which the benefit of entries at serial number 356 and 358 of the Notification No. 50/2017-Customs dated 30.06.2017 is availed	413 per 10 grams
2	71 or 98	Silver, in any form, in respect of which the benefit of entries at serial number 357 and 359 of the Notification No. 50/2017-Customs dated 30.06.2017 is availed	541 per kilogram

TABLE-3

Sl. No.	Chapter/ heading/ sub-heading/tariff item	Description of goods	Tariff value (US $ Per Metric Tonne )
(1)	(2)	(3)	(4)
1	080280	Areca nuts	3858

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Permission to display revised MRP due to Implementation of GST

Permission to display revised MRP due to Implementation of GST extends up to 31st December, 2017: Shri Ram Vilas Paswan

On account of implementation of GST w.e.f. 1st July, 2017, there may be instances where the retail sale price of a pre-packaged commodity is required to be changed. In this context, Hon’ble Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution had allowed the manufacturers or packers or importers of pre-packaged commodities to declare the revised retail sale price (MRP) in addition to the existing retail sale price (MRP), for three months w.e.f. 1st July 2017 to 30th September, 2017. Declaration of the changed retail sale price (MRP) was allowed to be made by way of stamping or putting sticker or online printing, as the case may be.

Use of unexhausted packaging material/wrapper was also been allowed upto 30th September, 2017 after making the necessary corrections.

Considering the requests received to extend the permission for some more time it has been extended to display the revised MRP due to implementation of GST by way of stamping or putting sticker or online printing for a further period of three months, i.e. up to 31st December, 2017.

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EESL to procure 10,000 Electric Vehicles from TATA Motors

Tender awarded through an International Competitive Bid

Electric Vehicles to be procured in 2 phases; first 500 cars to be on road by November 2017

Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL), under the administration of Ministry of Power, Government of India (GoI), will procure 10,000 electric vehicles from Tata Motors Limited. The company was selected through an international competitive bidding aimed at increased participation. Tata Motors won the tender and will now supply the Electric Vehicles (EVs) in two phases – first 500 e-cars will be supplied to EESL in November 2017 and the rest 9,500 EVs will be delivered in the second phase. 


The tender floated by EESL is the world’s largest single electric vehicle procurement. Three leading manufacturers – Tata Motors Limited, Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) and Nissan participated in the tender and the bids for TATA Motors Limited and Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M) were opened. 


EESL is driven by the objective of facilitating faster adoption of disruptive technology solutions while balancing economic development and environmental sustainability. With this specific initiative EESL seeks to create the market for electric vehicles, a technology which is poised to boost e-mobility in the country; through its unique business model of aggregation of demand and bulk procurement. EESL is seeking to leverage the immense potential of replacement of existing vehicles in the government departments for initial demand aggregation.   


Tata Motor Limited quoted the lowest price of Rs. 10.16 Lakh exclusive of GST in the competitive bidding. The vehicle will be provided to EESL for Rs. 11.2 Lakh which will be inclusive of GST and comprehensive 5 year warranty which is 25 % below the current retail price of a similar e car with 3 year warranty. 


EESL’s EV programme is a comprehensive solution to facilitate adoption of the disruptive technology in the country. Along with procurement of 10,000 EVs through international competitive bidding, EESL will also identify a service provider agency. This agency, also appointed through competitive bidding, will carry out end-to-end fleet management of the procured vehicles for the concerned government customer. Apart from continuing to aggregate demand, EESL will also be responsible such as co-ordination between appointed agencies, monitoring and supervision, reporting, complaint redressal and payments. These cars will be used to replace the petrol and diesel cars used by Government and its agencies over a 3-4 year period. The total number of vehicles used by the Government and its agencies  is estimated to be 5 lakhs. 


As per the report published in May 2017 by Niti Aayog, making India’s passenger mobility shared, electric, and connected can cut its energy demand by 64% and carbon emissions by 37% in 2030. This would result in a reduction of 156 Mtoe in diesel and petrol consumption for that year & at USD 52/bbl of crude, this would imply a net savings of roughly Rs 3.9 lakh crore in 2030. The shift to EVs through this programme will reduce dependence on oil imports and promote power capacity addition in India thereby enhancing energy security of the country and will also lead to reduction in GHG emissions from the transport sector.

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DoPT installs Sanitary Napkin Coin

DoPT installs Sanitary Napkin Coin-Vending & disposal machines in ladies washrooms of North Block under Swachhata Hi Seva campaign

Under the ongoing “Swachhata Hi Seva” (SHS) campaign, Department of Personnel & Training (DoPT) has installed Sanitary Napkin Vending and Disposal machines in the three ladies washrooms (Ground floor, 1st floor & 2nd floor) of DoPT area of North Block. This is as per the action plan of the Department for the ongoing SHS initiated by the Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation.

Smt. K. Kipgen, Joint Secretary and Smt. G. Jayanthi, Joint Secretary, DoPT inaugurated the Napkin Vending Machine and Napkin Disposal Machine respectively at the first floor of ladies washroom. Smt. Manjula Juneja, Under Secretary, DoPT and a large number of women employees were present on this occasion. All the three vending machines are having the feature of putting a five rupee coin/different denominations for getting a napkin which will be operated on “no profit and no loss” basis. Besides, the disposal machines are having the feature to dispose of the used napkins in an environment friendly manner. Such machines would also be installed very soon in two other buildings of this Department i.e. Lok Nayak Bhawan and old JNU Campus.

The women employees present on this occasion thanked the Department for taking a good step which concerns the health and hygiene of a women employee which is a part of ‘Swachhata’. They also hope that the other Departments of Govt. of India will follow the same.

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Celebrating Science for New India

Dr. Harshvardhan Addresses a Curtain-Raiser Press Conference on IISF 2017

Science is for the masses and it needs to communicate with people and identify and solve the problems, said the Minister of Science & Technology, Earth Science and Environment, Forest & Climate Change, Dr. Harshvardhan, today, while addressing the media in the Curtain-Raiser Press Conference to the India International Science Festival(IISF), 2017 to be held from 13-16 October, 2017 in Chennai. 
The Minister apprised the media about the events organized during the upcoming IISF-2017.  The Minister informed that CSIR has more than 250 new technologies in pipeline which they have readied to solve public problems.  He said that IISF 2017  is striving to be the World’s largest science festival with the motive of ‘Science for the masses’. The series of India International Science Festivals (IISF) is an integral part of India’s long term vision in developing and widening the spectrum of scientific temper in India and abroad. 
The Minister also informed about the series of events to be held during IISF 2017 which include: 
Science and Technology Ministers conclave

• S&T Partnership for Addressing Societal Challenges on a bilateral and multilateral level.
• The focus will be on capacity building through mechanisms such as fellowships, internships, training, data sharing, joint projects and technology transfer.
• Co-develop and deploy affordable and innovative technologies that provide solution to societal problems will also be a common agenda for the Conclave.
• Participants: S&T Ministers of  Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Nepal & Portugal

Sensitizing Students and Youth to Flagship Programs of Government
SYPOG

• Young scientists across the country (state and central universities, R&D labs) will be made aware of the important flagship programmes of the Government of India such as Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, Swastha Bharat, Digital India, Make in India, Bio-diversity etc.

Science Village 

• Parliament to Panchayat: Students and teachers to be nominated by Hon’ble Members of Parliament from their adopted villages under Pradhan Manthri Sansad Aadarsh Gram Yojna.
• Mass representation of Rural India: Cultural integration, social interaction and exchange of scientific knowledge through science activities; experiencing ‘Unity in Diversity’; 

Women Scientist & Entrepreneur’s Conclave
As a unique programme of IISF 2017, a Women Scientist & Entrepreneur’s Conclave titled “Game Changers Driving Science for New India” is being organized to promote science and entrepreneurship among the young women. 
Industry (MSMEs) Academia Interaction 

• Representatives from industry and scholars from academic background will have a good opportunity to discuss the changing trends on management principles, scientific advancement and technological assimilation in Industry and economy. The interaction meet also aims at Industry – Academic Institutional tie ups on research and development and improve efficiency in production and manufacturing. 

Grassroots Innovators’ Summit

• National Innovation Foundation (NIF) will showcase about 100 innovative technologies from all states of the country.
• Aims to strengthen the grassroots technological innovations and outstanding traditional knowledge. 

Start-Up Summit 

• “Start-up Contest - 2017” is framed under the Start-up Summit event to scout, award and support best start-ups happening in academic institutions across the country. 

National Science Teachers’ Workshop with special focus on North East:

• To orient the teachers on novel Teaching Methodologies in Science; upgrade and refine level of teaching; knowledge dissemination through innovative practices; showcase the innovative teaching-learning practices in Science Education 

Science Film Festival – Science Fiction Focus
Films on science focusing on science fiction from India and 9 foreign countries (South Korea, France, Germany, Sweden, UK, Australia, Norway, Italy and USA) will be screened. 
Round Table Meet On Mass Communication

• Science communicators, science journalists, social media and electronic and print media communicators dealing with science and passionate science students will be invited to discuss the various aspects of mass communication .

Mega Science, Technology &  Industry Expo 

• It will showcase the remarkable Contribution of India in the World of Science & Technology. The expo would highlight the Govt. Missions.
• Various Theme Pavilions will highlight the achievements of Indian Space, Defence, Advanced Technologies, Rural Development, Energy, Agriculture, Healthcare, Industry/Trade, EDP/MSME, Environment/ Climate Change, Ocean, Bio Sciences/ Biotechnology, Women Empowerment, Education, Urban Development, Tourism/ Culture, and soon, serving in the main domain of Societal growth. 

Guinness Book of World Records

• Conduct the “Largest Biology Lesson” involving a group of 1000 school students.   
• The event will include a short power-point presentation about Cell Biology. It will be followed by a demonstration of the process of isolation of DNA from papaya fruits.

Ideas for Bharat Nirman 

• Three socially relevant challenges faced by the society across the nation have been posed before the general public for deriving the most feasible solutions.

Special Session on Deep Ocean Research

• The Govt of India is launching a National Mission on Deep Ocean Research which will bring in huge economic benefits by harnessing the ocean resources (water, energy and minerals).
• A special thematic session on Deep Ocean Research will also be held.

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