Food security Act: Centre to share half the burden of states in food transportation and handling

The Centre has decided to share up to 50 per cent of the intra-state transportation and handling costs of foodgrains with states under the National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013. NFSA guarantees cheap foodgrains to two-thirds of the Indian population.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Wednesday approved the expenditure and sharing pattern between the Centre and states.

“Earlier, the transportation and handling cost was transferred to the consumers. But now because of NFSA, the cost would be borne by the government,” a government official told Down To Earth.

It has also been decided to pay incentives to fair price shop (FPS) dealers to encourage the use of point of sale (PoS) devices. These are machines that enable cashless transfers by swiping cards.

Under the Act, the fixed price of rice, wheat and coarse grains stands at Rs 3, Rs 2 and Re 1 respectively. Before NFSA came into existence, Below Poverty Line (BPL) families used to get rice, wheat and coarse grains at Rs 5.65, Rs 4.15 and Rs 3 respectively. For Above Poverty Line (APL) households, the rates were Rs 8.30, Rs 6.10, and Rs 4.50 respectively.

Implementation of NFSA
The Act should have been implemented within six months since its enactment in September, 2013. However, so far, NFSA has been implemented in only 11 states and Union Territories (UTs) across the country.

The implementation of NFSA in 25 other states had to be extended twice because of the non-compliance in identification of beneficiaries on time. At first, it was extended to April 4, 2015 and now it has been extended to September 30, 2015.

“Because of the nitty-gritty, many states have not rolled out this Act. They are showing unwillingness,” the official added.

Sharing the burden
The estimated financial assistance likely to flow to states and UTs would annually stand at Rs 4,341 crore after the Centre shares the costs. At present, the estimated burden on the states’ exchequers is around Rs 8,500 crore.

According to the decision, the Union government will share the expenditure up to 50 per cent in case of general states and 75 per cent in case of 13 special category states and UTs.

The latter includes seven north-eastern states, Sikkim, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand and the UTs of Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep.

The Centre has not taken any decision regarding cash transfer as yet. However, it has decided to pay incentives to FPS dealers worth Rs 17 per quintal of grains for using PoS devices.

The decision would pave the way for documentation of the Public Distribution System (PDS), which will help the government to reduce leakages and curb corruption. 

New National Education Policy by December”

Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani recently announced that her ministry is working on a new National Education Policy (NEP) which would be formed by December 2015.

Furthermore, suggestions in this regard have been invited from the education ministers of all the states. “They have been asked to send their suggestions by November so that a universal education policy could be made for the whole country,” Irani said.

Meanwhile, the HRD Minister refuted claims that as a result of her differences with the Bharatiya Janta Party chief Amit Shah, she was dropped from BJP’s national executive committee. “No. I have no differences with him. He is like an elder brother to me. And the government has already entrusted me with a big responsibility,” she said

Dr. Jitendra Singh announces 'Brahmaputra Study Center' for Guwahati University 

Report by India Education bureau, Guwahati: The Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Development of Northeastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr. Jitendra Singh has announced the setting up of "Center for Brahmaputra studies" in the university and said, he dreams of the day when students and scholars from far and wide would come all the way to Guwahati in pursuit of specialised learning and research. He was addressing the 25th convocation of Guwahati University, in Guwahati today. 

Dr. Jitendra Singh complimented the brilliance and diligence of the scholars from this part of the country that after overcoming the constraints of inaccessibility and distance, some of them are today leaders in academic and scientific research in their respective fields. 

Citing Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi’s vision for Northeast, Dr. Jitendra Singh said, the years to come may witness the region developing as an organic capital of India and when that stage is achieved, we will find scholars from far and wide coming to Northeast for research in organic science, organic flora and organic growth. In this context, he also referred to the work undertaken by DoNER Ministry as a follow-up to Prime Minister’s announcement for setting up six Agricultural colleges in the region and Rs.100 crore allocated exclusively for organic farming in the year 2014-15. 

Referring to some of the recent initiatives of DoNER Ministry, he spoke of “Ishaan Uday” - special scholarship scheme for students of the region and “Ishaan Vikas” - a scheme to provide apprenticeship facility to students of the region in IITs, NIITs and NIFTs of other parts of the country. In this regard, he assured that DoNER Ministry will make every possible effort for comfortable and safe hostel accommodation for such students in other cities of India. 

Dr. Jitendra Singh called upon the Vice Chancellor and the senior faculty members to prepare a list of potential students capable of pursuing specialist course or higher studies and the DoNER Ministry will try to facilitate their entry into such universities. However, he appealed to the students that after pursuing their higher studies in leading universities in other parts of the country, they should come back to their respective States. 

Expressing concern over the exodus of students and youth in search of jobs and higher studies outside Northeast, Dr. Jitendra Singh said, he proposes to work in close tandem with the HRD Ministry and requested to depute renowned faculty for universities in the Northeast by providing them extra incentives and perks. Similarly, he said, he has a plan to arrange Job Fairs and campus interviews by renowned Multi National Companies in the capital cities of eight States because this experiment he had even tried in his own constituency and the results were amazingly encouraging as more and more youth found employment at their doorstep and also placement in their respective native zones. 

As a DoNER Minister, Dr. Jitendra Singh said, he would try to work out the feasibility of student exchange programmes with some of the leading foreign universities and referred to his meeting with the Vice Chancellor of Cambridge University who also happens to be a medical professional. 

The Governor Assam, Shri P.B. Acharya and the Chief Minister of Assam, Shri Tarun Gagoi are also present on the occasion. 

GLOBAL PACT ON CLIMATE CHANGE - India Wants Climate Talks to Focus on Efforts Prior to 2020

Urmi Goswami

New Delhi:





Emphasises that onus to deal with global warming is more on developed countries

India wants a global agreement that will address intensified efforts to tackle climate change between 2015 and 2020 and has questioned the single-minded focus on finalising a global compact for the post-2020 period, which is to be inked in Paris in December.With barely nine months left for the crucial climate change meeting in Paris, the pressure on countries to draw plans to reduce the amount of carbon produced after 2020 has increased. New Delhi has told the UN climate change body that there needs to be equal focus on the pre-2020 period, arguing that without active efforts to tackle climate change between 2015 and 2020, slowing down the rate of global warming will be different. Sources said India has submitted a written request to the chairs of the negotiations being held under the aegis of the United Nations to consider an agreement that will spell out the efforts to reduce the amount of carbon being produced and to adjust to the impacts of climate change.
At the talks in Geneva in February, Indian negotiators had raised the issue that countries, especially the industrialised nations, need to do much more to address rising emissions and the impact of unchecked climate change between 2015 and 2020.
“We have given it in writing to the chairmen of the ad hoc working group on the Durban Platform.
In 2011, when countries decided to craft a new agreement to address climate change, it was also decided to accelerate efforts to tackle global warming in the period up to 2020.But now the discussions are solely focused on the post-2020 agree ment. The Durban Platform is both about the pre-2020 period and the post-2020 period,“ a senior member of the government said.
The Durban Platform agreed to in 2011 at the annual UN-sponsored climate change negotiations has two planks of action -accelerating and intensifying efforts to address climate change in the pre-2020 period and finalising the new global agreement by 2015, which would be implemented after 2020.
In the pre-2020 period, the onus of reducing the amount of carbon produced is on the industrialised countries, with developing countries taking steps on a voluntary basis. Industrialised countries are required to provide financial support, which was agreed in 2009 and 2010 to be to the tune of $100 billion a year, and were also committed to provide technology to developing countries to address climate change.India's demand has the broad support of developing countries. At Geneva, where negotiators from 193 countries met for a week to finalise a draft of the post-2020 global compact, representatives of countries including China, South Africa and other African countries and small islands consistently stressed on the need to focus on increasing the efforts being made to tackle climate change before 2020.
Developing countries have argued that the lack of attention to the pre-2020 efforts only serve to transfer the burden of action to poor countries.
The new agreement that comes into effect in 2020 is applicable to all countries, unlike the current regime, where the onus of action rests with the industrialised countries.
Scientists and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change maintain that delayed action will prove to be more expensive and many of the efforts that can be taken to slow global warming will be ineffective if not implemented as soon as possible.

Vedanta - Silence! Mind at Work

YOGI ASHWINI





The mind and brain control the human body and they , in turn, are controlled by the desire of the soul. Just close your eyes and see what is going on inside the brain.... You will find so many thoughts related to children, family , spouse, business, emotions.... All the thoughts indicate desire of the soul. And it is because of these thoughts or desires that you are unable to go beyond human existence. All that is physical is temporary and what is temporary is painful.... The pain that you experience day in and day out, is in the pursuit of these desires.When the mind is engaged in worldly thoughts, you cannot think of anything beyond,... because the mind can only think of one thing at a time.
Thoughts of the physical world tie you to the physical world, your thoughts are dissipated and the force of your consciousness is unable to perform.
So, when we talk about going beyond, it is nice to read books, but it is completely redundant as far as your spiritual journey goes because the book is somebody else's thought, somebody else's experience.Then you will get carried away in somebody else's thought process, not yours.
Only when you will silence your mind will you be able to go beyond.
When you silence your mind, higher centres of the brain get activated. When you still your mind, you are able to access those higher energies and then revelations come to you.Then you are called a jnani, not a knowledgeable person.

No Indian study says tobacco causes cancer: Parl panel head

New Delhi: PTI





As India is set to defer its April 1 deadline for increasing size of pictorial warnings on tobacco products after pressure from various lobbies, head of a Parliamentary panel on Monday said there was no Indian study to confirm that use of tobacco products leads to cancer.Dilip Gandhi, head of Parliamentary panel on subordinate legislation examining the provisions of Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act, 2003 which had sought deferment of the move, on Monday said all studies have come from abroad and one should consider the Indian aspect too.
The Parliamentary Committee, which Gandhi -a BJP MP from Maharashtra -heads, had “strongly“ urged the government to keep on hold its proposal to increase the size of pictorial warnings on tobacco packets from 40% to 85%.
“All agree on the harmful effects of tobacco. Cancer does not happen only because of tobacco. We have to study the Indian context, as four crore people in states like Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh are dependent on bidi-making,“ Gandhi said. The panel said a large number of representations expressing “serious“ apprehensions from MPs as well as other stakeholders against the proposed notification.
Gandhi had also written to health minister J P Nadda in this regard.

2^ND HR SUMMIT AND INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ONEMERGING CHALLENGES FOR HR

INDIAN INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT RAIPUR, INDIA

 

2^nd HR SUMMIT AND INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON

Emerging Challenges for HR: VUCA Perspectives

August 21-22, 2015
Raipur, India

CALL FOR PAPERS

Last date for abstract submission is April 15, 2015

Indian Institute of Management, Raipur (IIMR), is happy to announce the 2^nd HR Summit and International Conference on Emerging Challenges for HR: VUCA Perspectives. The objectives of the conference are: 

·      to provide a special forum to present and discuss research in HR and allied areas, with special reference to the  VUCA world  more so, in the emerging markets of India.

·      to facilitate sharing research based knowledge among academicians and practitioners on  several other areas of Research in HR and allied areas.

 

This will be achieved through multi-disciplinary research-based idea generation and discussions. The attempt is to bring about richness in discussion by encouraging contributions from researchers across academic institutions and industry worldwide. 

The Conference is scheduled from August 21-22, 2015 at the IIMR campus. For details of the conference please visit our website:    

Conference Brochure

CONTACT: Summit Secretariat, 2nd HR Summit & International ConferenceIndian Institute of Management-Raipur.
GEC Campus, Sejbahar, Raipur -492015, India
Email: hrsummit2015@iimraipur.ac.in;
Website : http://www.iimraipur.ac.in/hrsummit2015
Tel: +91-7583032416/ +91-7581803576/ +91-7566515003
Fax: +91-771-2772102