Mar 23: The Ministry of Railways has issued orders constituting a five-Member Committee on Psycho-Technical Affairs with Executive Director (Traffic), Research Designs and Standards Organization (RDSO) as its Convenor.

The Committee, appointed with immediate effect for a period of one year, will advise and guide the psycho technical Cell of the RDSO in the areas of aptitude test and psycho tests, give final approval of the new or revalidated test batteries to be applied in aptitude test for selection or recruitment in identified categories of staff, set out direction and methodology for new areas of research, review periodically, atleast once in six months, the ongoing Research and Development (R&D) projects relating to personnel testing and development of psychological testing schemes, and review periodically the psycho testing conducted by psycho officers on Indian Railways at various centres, both for direct recruitment and departmental promotions.

The other Members of the Committee, headquartered at New Delhi, will include Director (Safety), Railway Board, Professor Gopa Bhardwaj, Professor of Psychology, Delhi University, Dr. N.K. Chadha, Professor of Psychology, Delhi University, and Professor Anand Prakash, Professor of Psychology, Delhi University. -Keralamonitor.com

 

Chairman Railway Board reviews implementation of hindi in Railways

 

Mar 23: The Chairman Railway Board, Shri R.K. Singh has said that the target of the Annual Action Plan laid down by the Ministry of Home Affairs for use of Hindi, the Official Language of the Union, in official works be achieved. Addressing the 84th Railway Board Official Language Implementation Committee Meeting here today, the Chairman asked the officials to do cent percent correspondence in Hindi with Hindi speaking States. He also asked the officials to improve office work in Hindi on computer from the existing 25 per cent in the Railway Board, Railway Production Units and Public Sector Undertakings under the Ministry of Railways. Shri Singh Said that inspection reports of senior officials should invariable contain a para on the use of Hindi as well.

Talking of the efficacy of the Official Language, Shri Singh said that recommendations of Official Language Committee of Parliament should be implemented in the Railways fully. Besides, original work be initiated in Hindi instead of depending on translation, he added.

The Representative of the Ministry of Home Affairs was appreciative of the efforts being made by the Indian Railways for all round progressive use of Hindi, which he said, was better compared to other Ministries and Departments in the Government.

The 84th meeting of the Railway Board Official Language Implementation Committee reviewed the progressive use of Hindi in the office works of the Railway Board, Production Units, Public Sector Undertakings and other outfits of Indian Railways. -Keralamonitor.com

 

National Conference on Organic Farming begins

Mar 23: A three day National Conference on Organic Farming for Sustainable Production began here today. Inaugurating the Conference, the Chairman of the Farmers’ Commission, Shri Som Pal called for adopting an eco- friendly and low cost technology of farming. He pointed out that due to over-use of chemicals, degradation of natural resources has taken place and the natural environment has come under tremendous stress. Chemical residues in food products are threatening human and animal population. He asserted that the adoption of organic farming would not lead to any loss of productivity.

In her address, the Agriculture Secretary, Smt. Radha Singh said that India is in an advantageous position to adopt organic farming on a large scale. There are many areas in the country which practise traditional methods of farming in which there is hardly any use of chemical inputs. Several States have already taken steps for promotion of organic farming. Mizoram has declared itself as totally organic. Sikkim has also decided to go completely organic in the next five years. Uttaranchal has established an Organic Commodities Board to promote organic farming. Madhya Pradesh has identified about 3300 villages where only organic farming would be practised. The Agriculture Secretary stressed the need to study the linkages between bio-technology and organic farming.

At present, the area under organic farming in the country is estimated to be about 2.5 lakh hectares which mainly covers fruit crops like pineapple and banana, vegetables and oilseed crops like mustard, groundnut and sunflower. Some plantations crops are also moving towards the organic farming system. In case of foodgrains, organic rice and wheat are being grown over small areas primarily for meeting export needs.

The export of organically grown products from India has commenced only recently. The world wide market for organic fruits is expanding at an annual growth rate of 15-30% over the last 3 years. The present global market is estimated to be US $ 26 billion i.e. equivalent to Rs.11,700 crore. The contribution of India to the export market presently is negligible at around Rs.89.42 crore.

The Conference has been organized by the Horticulture Society of India in collaboration with the Indian Council of Agricultural Research and the Central Institute for Subtropical Horticulture, Lucknow.

The participants include Vice-Chancellors of some State Agricultural Universities, representatives from NGOs, scientists, experts, farmers and representatives of some State Governments. The Conference will discuss issues like strategies for input generation for organic farming, quality and quantity of production, possibility of integration of various systems and continuous improvement in properties of soil. -Keralamonitor.com

 

5 per centOilCompanies’Government of India Special Bonds, 2009 - Press Note

Mar 23: Government of India have announced the issue of ‘5 per cent Oil Companies’ Government of India Special Bonds, 2009 for liquidating outstanding claims of oil Companies aggregating to Rs. 348.63 crore against Oil Pool Account. The Special Bonds will be issued at par to Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC) for Rs. 257.60 crore and Oil India Limited (OIL) for Rs. 91.03 crore on March 23, 2004 (Tuesday).

The investment in the Special Bonds will not be reckoned as an eligible investment for purpose of Statutory Liquidity Ratio (SLR).

The Special Bonds will be transferable and eligible for market ready forward transactions (Repo). The bonds, however, will not be an eligible underlying security for ready forward transactions (Repo/Reverse Repo) with the Reserve Bank of India. -Keralamonitor.com