K E R A L A M O N I T O R N E W S February 10, 2003 RS. 13.82 Crore foodgrains released to Kerala, West Bengal
The Ministry of Rural Development has released Rs. 13.82 crore as second instalment of central fund to the state governments of Kerala and West Bengal under Sampoorna Grameen Rozgar Yojana (SGRY) for the year 2002-03. The Ministry has released Rs.11.29 crore to Purulia and Birbhum districts of West Bengal. An amount of Rs. 2.53 crore has been released as second instalment of central fund to three districts of Kerala during 2002-03. The expenditure and implementation of the programme with regard to cash component is to be shared on 75:25 basis between the Centre and the State Government.
PRIME MINISTER TO LAY FOUNDATION FOR NEW RAILWAY ZONE COMPLEX AT HUBLI
The Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee will be laying the foundation stone for the new South Western Railway Zone Headquarters at Hubli on February 14, 2003. The function to be presided over by the Railway Minister, Nitish Kumar and will be attended, among others, by the Union Urban Development Minister, Anantha Kumar and the two Ministers of State for Railways, Bandaru Dattatraya and A.K. Moorthy. The Chief Minister of Karnataka, S.M. Krishna will be the Chief Guest.The South Western Railway at Hubli will comprise three Divisions, such as, Hubli, Mysore and Bangalore. The new Zone will become functional with effect from April this year.
Of the seven new zones carved out of the original nine zones on Indian Railways, two zones, namely, East Central Railway at Hajipur and North Western Railway at Jaipur have already become functional with effect from October 1, 2002. The remaining five zones will become fully operational from April this year. The territorial jurisdiction of all the seven new zones have since been finalized and notified alongwith residual jurisdiction of existing zones.
The objective of new zones is to improve efficiency of Railways. The reorganization of Railways by creating new Zonal Railways is intended to provide relief to the existing heavily worked Zonal Railways to improve efficiency and to provide better service to the people. Smaller Zones are going to be more efficient. The two new zones already functioning at Hajipur and Jaipur have proved the point in terms of improved efficiency of Railways in their jurisdiction. Looking at the large size of operation of Railways with a heavy turn over, a small increase in efficiency will give rich dividends. It far outweighs the one time investment. In the current year’s budget the outlay for new zones is Rs.29.77 crores. The creation of new zones on Indian Railways, now in its 150th year, is a step in the direction to prepare the Railways to serve the needs of the national economy adequately and efficiently.
A SIGNIFICANT BREAKTHROUGH IN NANO-TECH TIFAC EVOLVES STRATEGY FOR STEEL-PLANT WASTE MANAGEMENTA significant breakthrough has been achieved in nano-technology, which converted into applications can influence many areas. Prof. Ajay Sood of Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, recently discovered that when a liquid passes over carbon-nano tube a voltage is generated across the two ends of the tube. This work being patented, will have far-reaching effects in enhancing the efficiency of several technologies. This information was revealed at a function organised here today to observe the 15th Foundation Day of TIFAC i.e. the Technology Information Forecasting and Assessment Council of the Department of Science & Technology (DST).
The Chairman of TIFAC and the Principal Scientific Advisor to the Government of India Dr. R. Chidambaram, released on the occasion a state-of-the-art TIFAC Report on ‘Management of Steel Plant Solid Wastes’, while the Secretary, DST Prof. V S Ramamurthy released another Report on ‘Transgenic Animal Models’. Dr. Chidambaram also inaugurated a Seminar on ‘Knowledge Management for Developed India’ organised to mark the TIFAC Day. He said India can be called a developed country only when the quality of life in non-urban areas becomes comparable with that of the urban areas. That means, he said the focus should be more on the development of rural areas with suitable technologies. There has to be a rural bias in all our endeavours, especially in the S&T environment and the industry environment. He described TIFAC as a unique instrument of national development and a catalyst. The former Executive Director of TIFAC Y.S. Rajan delivered the keynote address. He said TIFAC will soon come out with more reports on bio-degradable plastics, technology forecasting for the cement industry and bio-chips.
Referring to the report on steel plant wastes Dr. Chidambaram said that waste generated in all the model plants have been analysed and measures suggested for eliminating or minimising dumping. Establishment of community ferruginous waste processing plants based on currently available technologies will go a long way in the implementation of zero-waste programme in steel industry, Dr. Chidambaram said.
On ‘Transgenic Animal Models’, Prof. Ramamurthy said that since setting up of state-of-the-art and certified laboratories is an expensive proposition, the Report suggests that national facilities may be created for generation and maintenance of transgenic lines. Further research and development on those transgenic lines could be undertaken at biotech incubators. Such incubators could be a part of common infrastructure being set up at various biotech parks in different parts of the country, he said.
ATIONAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON TOURISM MEETS
SIX SUB-COMMITTEES TO PREPARE TIME BOUND ACTION PLAN IN VARIOUS TOURISM SECTORS PROPOSED
National Advisory Council constituted to review issues related with tourism and advised to the Government on various policy matters related to the sector had its first Meeting here today. The Council proposed five sub-committees to prepare time-bound Action Plans. This includes Committee On Heritage and Culture Tourism, Committee on Eco-Tourism which will also have village tourism, hill tourism, nature, back waters and island tourisms, Committee On Adventure Tourism which will include river, sports, mountains and cruise tourism, Committee On Health, Ayurveda and Yoga Tourism and Committee On Pilgrimage and Tourism. These Committees will have experts from concerned sectors to prepare time-bound action plans.
The Meeting chaired by the Minister for Tourism and Culture Jagmohan was attended by Members of Parliament, State Tourism Ministers, Secretaries, senior officials of Finance Ministry, Planning Commission, Civil Aviation, Department of Culture, representatives of industry associations and travel and tourism organisations. Inaugurating the meeting Jagmohan said that the new thrust was being given to integrate culture and clean civic life because Indian tourism is culture-based tourism. A number of new initiatives had been taken in near past to upgrade infrastructure which include setting up of 35 Hub of culture, tourism and civic governance with improved infrastructure. He would approach Finance Ministry to consider tax incentives for investment in and around these hubs. Beside this, State Governments have been requested to enact law to regulate maintenance of pilgrimage places so that these can be developed and kept neat and clean on the pattern of Vaishno Devi, Jagmohan added. He also informed that Government has launched an electronic media campaign through National Geography Channel, BBC and CNN. The campaign being run at the prime time by the channels at the cost of Rs. 10 crore will be followed by internet and media campaign very soon to project India high value and upmarket destination.
On the occasion Secretary, Tourism said that visa on arrival at the moment was not possible because of security concern but the government is making all efforts to make the process smooth. Several steps were being taken to make the stay of tourists more friendly. Guidelines for tourist guides have been revised recently, special training programmes were also being developed. Besides, State Governments have been asked to strictly monitor activities of unlicensed guides. He expressed the hope that tourism allocation would get significant hike in coming budget as Government now consider tourism as an economic activity.
Participating in the discussion representatives of various sectors including State Government, officials, Members of Parliament suggested that Government and industry should make combine efforts to improve tourism infrastructure and attract more tourists. They said focussed approach for regional markets should be adopted especially growing Chinese market should be tapped. Small airfields should be opened for private airlines to provide feeder services for tourism destinations in small towns. They were also of the view that youth should be involved to promote domestic tourism and Government should sponsor school children for this purpose. -keralamonitor.com February 10, 2003
K E R A L A M O N I T O R N E W S