Modi Government good work

Since the Western nations’ sanction on Russia, Russia has been forced to pivot towards Asia — primarily India and China. It’s an opportune time for India to bargain and lap up some stake in Russian oilfields and to increase its stake of overseas energy fields. ONGC Videsh had already acquired a 15% stake in Rosneft’s JSC Vankorneft. Now, it has increased its stake to 23.9%. A consortium of Oil India Limited, Indian Oil Corporation Limited and Bharat Petro Resources Limited (BPRL) will acquire 23.9 percent stake in JSC Vankorneft and 29.9 percent stake in LLC Taas-Yuryakh from Rosneft Oil Company, the National Oil Company of Russian Federation. It will also provide an opportunity to Indian public sector Oil and Gas companies to absorb newer technologies with Rosneft and British Petroleum (BP). BP acquired 20% stake in Taas-Yuryakh from Rosneft last year. Read on: India to acquire stake in Russian oil fields, to invest US $3.2 billion - RTN.ASIA India imports 80% of its energy need...

As much as Rs 65,250 crore of Black money was declared during the four-month compliance window of the Income Declaration Scheme+ that ended on September 30, We expect tax collection of Rs 30,000 crore from the IDS declarations.” 64,275 declarations+ were made in the four-month window and this figure could go up once all the declarations filed online and manually are compiled. The money declared totals Rs 65,250 crore, of which 45 per cent would accrue to the government as tax and penalty. The government had provided illegal income and asset holders a one-time opportunity to come clean by declaring their black money+ under the four-month window and pay 45 per cent tax and penalty. Reiterating that the one-time window was not an amnesty scheme like the 1997 one, Jaitley said the tax collected in the 1997 Voluntary Disclosure of Income Scheme (VDIS) was Rs 9,760 crore with an average declaration of Rs 7 lakh. Briefing reporters on the scheme, which was available from June 1 ti...

The move is aimed at reducing red tape in the incorporation of businesses, which currently require up to 8 forms. The Narendra Modi-led BJP government marked Labour Day by making it easier to incorporate a new business. Starting today, entrepreneurs need only fill out one form to start a business, down from the eight they had to submit until now. The new form, called INC-29, will allow make compliance and reporting easier website of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs. Name availability, allotment of Director Identification Number (DIN), company incorporation and commencement of business will now be possible through a single form. The move is in keeping with Modi’s public avowal to improve India’s global ease of doing business ranking. The red tape that businesses faces while registering themselves, including at least 8 different forms for various permissions has been a pet peeve of entrepreneurs. Currently, even for a single-person company, the forms required include separate ...

Pro-Active Governance and Timely Implementation (pragati Portal) is turning out to be quite a help for the Modi government as it tries to speed up development schemes. PM personally involved, even state governments were complying with the deadline set for projects involving them. Every project or issue taken up at Pragati meetings comes with a deadline, which government agencies have to adhere to. Officials said that with the PM personally involved, even state governments were complying with the deadline set for projects involving them. Usually, towards the end of the month, on Wednesday afternoons, Modi focuses on the social sector and immediate challenges confronting states when he sits down in South Block and tries to remove hurdles with secretaries at the Centre and state chief secretaries through a video link There are projects such as the Nangal Dam-Talwara railway line, which has been pending since 1981-82, where the Punjab government has now been advised to speed up hand...

The government plans to seal the international border with Pakistan, spread over 2,300 km, soon. Union home minister Rajnath Singh will discuss the proposal at a closed-door meeting in Jaisalmer on Friday with home ministers of Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Rajasthan and Gujarat. The Centre also plans to propose installing of radars, CCTV cameras, laser fences and motion sensors to fill the gaps on the international border. The aim is to set up round-the-clock surveillance using sophisticated technology and seal India’s western border to prevent any untoward incident. The aim is to funnel the movement of goods and people from across the border to 1-2 spots and shut down the others. Source:- http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/54684840.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst

Riding on a robust performance of all its verticals, the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) achieved a turnover of Rs. 1,506 crore in 2015-16 as compared to Rs.1,141 crore in 2014-15, registering a growth of 32 per cent. The Railways PSU's net profit was pegged at Rs. 189 crore during FY16 as against Rs. 131 crore a year earlier. The net worth of IRCTC during the fiscal was Rs. 542.07 crore while it was Rs. 444.25 crore in the previous financial year, as per the 17th Annual Report (2015-16) which was presented at the company's Annual General Meeting (AGM) held recently. Source:- IRCTC registers 32% growth

Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje launched the Lady Patrol wing from the Fateh Sagar Lake side inUdaipur city on Thursday. Smart lady cops dressed in crisp blue uniforms and helmets carrying glock pistols zoomed off on their task to patrol around the city streets on modified bikes equipped with double colored beacons, search lights, first aid boxes and other needed instruments. Impressed by the unique idea of Udaipur police, CM Raje announced that the initiative will be adopted in other cities too. Encouraging the lady cops to do their best, Raje said “ the public specially young girls, women and elderly persons will feel more secure finding women cops around them. Ladies can walk up without hesitation to share whenever they encounter any awkward situation like ease teasing or passing of lewd comments by onlookers”. IG Anand Srivastava, SP Rajendra Prasad Goyal, Additional SP Chandrasheel Thakur, Collector Rohit Gupta etc were present on the occasion.

Sweden is celebrating its tenth edition of The Sweden India Nobel Memorial Week 2016 in India between October 1 -7 with an eye on celebrating innovation which Alfred Nobel promoted and contributing to Modi government’s focus on creating innovation hub in this country. The Sweden India Nobel Memorial Week 2016 comprises a number of events ranging from seminars and panel discussions among well-known Indian and Swedish decision makers from government and business as well as academia, to competitions for student and cultural performances. These events are taking place across Indore, Pune, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Bhubaneswar, Kolkata, Guwahati and New Delhi. Source:- Sweden promotes innovation through Make in India initiative - The Economic Times

Background: Maximum speed of coaching trains has increased up to 130 kmph/160 kmph, but the average speed is hovering around 45 kmph. Maximum speed of freight trains has increased up to 75 kmph/100 kmph, but the average speed is hovering around 24 kmph. Average coaching train speeds have declined by ~1 kmph in last 5 years. Average freight train speeds have declined by ~2 kmph in last 5 years. Progress and Road Map: A cross disciplinary, Mobility directorate has been set up in April 2016 to spearhead the mission. For a focused action, Golden Quadrilateral routes along with diagonals (Delhi – Mumbai, Delhi – Howrah, Howrah- Chennai, Chennai – Mumbai, Delhi – Chennai and Howrah – Mumbai) have been taken up for initial emphasis. These are the principal routes of the railways as they carry 58% of freight traffic and 52% of coaching traffic with a share of only 15% of the network. Multi-pronged strategy has been developed to overcome the existing impediments due to fixed infrastr...

DISHA was launched by PM in Jharkhand in 2014. The programme offers two-hour, 10-hour and 20-hour courses in local languages. This will help in training the people. GOI launched a programme to invest Rs 450-500 crore on providing basic computer education to about 50 lakh people over the next three years with the help of private companies in 2014. The investment will be made under a project called Disha in certain identified districts. The computer literacy programme is critical for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pet project, Digital India , which hopes to bridge the digital divide in the country. The government will choose the districts where this programme will be run. One person would be chosen from every eligible household for training. The main objective of the programme is to declare the selected blocks and districts 100 per cent digitally literate. Computer literacy will be key to the success of the project through which the government hopes to connect 2.5 lakh gram pan...

Central Thrust of the Rail Budget NDA Govt’s Rail Budget 2016-17 comes up with a strong vision to Reorganize, Restructure & Rejuvenate the Indian Railways by New Processes & Structures, New Norms & New sources of Revenue. Great focus on passengers’ comfort and convenience, while ensuring no hike in fares. Introduction of Antyodaya Express, a long-distance, fully unreserved, superfast train service, to be operated on dense routes. Addition of 2 to 4 Deen Dayalu coaches in long distance trains for unreserved trains with facility of drinking water and high number of mobile charging points. ‘Clean My Coach’ service through SMS. Additional 30,000 bio-toilets Bio-Toilets at stations for senior citizens, divyang and women travellers Facility of cancellation through the 139 helpline. ‘Vikalp’ ( Alternative Train Accommodation System)scheme to be expanded to provide choice of trains to wait-listed passengers. Introduction of a new policy where each stall at station can p...

Over 36,700 Gram Panchayats covered by optical fibre so far It is said that the Indian Government has so far laid out 36,738 optical fibre connections in Gram Panchayats across the country and targets to reach the 50,000 mark by March. Now pay online while booking LPG cylinder Consumers can now make online payment for the cooking gas or LPG cylinders at the time of booking.The payment facility can be availed at My LPG.in | Home which can be accessed in 13 Indian languages. Read more:- eGovWatch: Now pay online while booking LPG cylinder Free public Wi-Fi service at Mumbai Central goes live Making Internet available to commuters who travel through railway stations everyday, the Indian Railways’ arm RailTel which provides Internet services as RailWire via its fiber network, has announced the launch of free public Wi-Fi service in partnership with Google at Mumbai Central. Read More:- eGovWatch: Free public Wi-Fi service at Mumbai Central goes live

A girl, who was harassed on a running train, tweeted to the Railway Ministry for help following which the accused was arrested, a railway police official said here on Saturday. The girl was travelling in Shramjeevi Express from New Delhi to Patna. "Finding her alone, the accused started misbehaving and passed objectionable comments," the official said. After the girl tweeted, the railway police was directed to help her immediately after which the accused was arrested.

Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu has announced that the Railways would start country's first-ever double decker Shatabdi Express that would ply between Mumbai and Goa. "One double decker AC train between Mumbai and Goa should run as Shatabdi. We will make it happen as soon as possible. This would become the first-ever double decker Shatabdi," Prabhu said on the sidelines of an event at the Goa University yesterday. On demand of a special Goa Rajdhani Express train, he said he will "definitely look into it". Residents of Goa seeking Rajdhani luxury train services have to rely on the Trivandrum Rajdhani which passes through Goa and makes a halt at Margao in South Goa. Residents of Goa seeking Rajdhani luxury train services have to rely on the Trivandrum Rajdhani which passes through Goa and makes a halt at Margao in South Goa. Responding to concerns to allow more tourists to make train journeys into Goa, Prabhu said the Railways can also start holiday train f...

Barring air-condition (AC) and a few non-AC sleeper coaches, majority of coaches currently don't have dustbins resulting in problems in disposing garbage by the passengers in moving trains.  All the 60,000 coaches in Indian Railways will soon be provided with user-friendly dustbins . All the 60,000 coaches will be provided with dustbins and the target will be reached as soon as possible,” Prabhu said, reminding about the promise made in the Railway Budget this year,  Stating that a lot of progress has been made in making passenger coaches more user-friendly, he laid emphasis on clean toilets, linen, curtains and making the seat, the ladders to climb the berths more user-friendly. Keeping this facts in mind, he said, the emphasis should be on “designing the entire architecture of services catering to all including the poor”. He said the National Institute of Fashion Technology and National Institute of Design are also making progress in design of the coach interiors. ...

To provide better amenities to passengers, Railways unveiled a new AC 3-tier coach in New Delhi with state-of-the-art facilities including CCTV cameras, bio-toilets and improved safety features. The interiors of the coach, with better security and comfort features, have been designed aesthetically, said Railway Board Member (Mechanic) Hemant Kumar. While CCTV cameras have been installed at the entrance of the coach on both the sides to strengthen the security system, fire-retardant materials have been used to prevent fire as a safety measure. Manufactured at the Integrated Coach Factory (ICF) in Chennai, the AC coach is equipped with wider stainless steel ladder with hand-holds for easy climbing to upper berths. Besides, the coach has also been fitted with braille stickers for the convenience of visually-impaired passengers. Asked about the cost of the enhanced features, Mr Kumar said an additional Rs. 7.2 lakhs were spent to upgrade the coach with better amenities. For fast...

Those passengers who boarded the Chandigarh-Delhi Shatabdi Express on Thursday morning were in for a surprise. At the back of every seat was a slick touchscreen entertainment unit, a facility that Indian passengers currently enjoy mostly on aircraft. All those boarding the Shatabdi Express in areas under the Northern Railway are in for infotainment on wheels. Passengers can watch films and television serials directly via satellite on these entertainment units. The passenger will be spoilt for choice as there are blockbusters, classics, reality shows, music and games that one can choose from. It’s a commercial publicity model for which we will charge a 20 per cent licence fee from the advertisers,” Neeraj Sharma, chief public relations officer, Northern Railway, said. The Railways will earn Rs 1 crore per train in five years, the official said. A ‘live TV’ section is also a part of the format, which will ensure that the passengers on long journeys can follow all major sporting e...