Day: August 19, 2012

The National Mission on Education through Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has been envisaged as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme to leverage the potential of ICT, in teaching and learning process for the benefit of all the learners in Higher Education Institutions in any time any where mode.
This is expected to be a major intervention in enhancing the Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in Higher Education by 5 percentage points. The Mission has two major components – providing connectivity, along with provision for access devices, to institutions and learners; and content generation.
The Mission aims to extend computer infrastructure and connectivity to over 25000 colleges and 2000 polytechnics in the country including each of the departments of 419 universities/deemed universities and institutions of national importance as a part of its motto to provide connectivity up to last mile. LAN of up to 400 nodes on average has also been envisaged to be provided to the universities under the NMEICT scheme.
The Mission, in addition to utilize the connectivity network of service providers, shall explore the possibility to provide connectivity utilizing Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT), Virtual Private Network (VPN) and EduSat channels.
An amount of Rs. 4612 crore was allocated by the Planning Commission during the XI Five Year Plan for the National Mission on Education through ICT. During the current financial year (2012-13), there is budget provision of Rs. 850.00 crore.
The Minister of Human Resource Development unveiled a low cost access-cum-computing device (LCAD) “Aakash on 5th, October, 2011.
The price of the LCAD is $ 49.98 / unit which include taxes, levies, and charges like freight and insurance, servicing and documentation etc. This price also includes one-year free replacement warranty from the manufacturer.
About 404 Universities and 18374 colleges have been provided connectivity under NMEICT Mission. LAN of up to 400 nodes is also being provided to the Universities under the Mission.
Under the NPTEL programme, web and video courses for engineering subjects and humanities streams are being developed. Over 250 courses are complete and made avialble in NPTEL phase-I and another 996 courses in various disciplines in engineering and science are getting generated in phase-II of NPTEL. E-contents for 77 Postgraduate subjects and 86 undergraduate subjects are also being developed under the Mission.
A strong Laboratory component is at the heart of all the Engineering Disciplines. It is a challenging job to provide an effective lab experience to engineering students. Under the Mission, almost 150 Virtual Labs are under development in various disciplines of engineering. Nearly 800 experiments are up and running.
Under the Mission, through NLIST programme, access to more than 3,100 e-journals and 80,000 e-books to all degree colleges except colleges imparting education in engineering, management, medical, nursing, pharmacy and dentistry.
The aim of the Mission is to freely make available knowledge in the form of e-content to learners across the country. To do so, in Mission Document, provision of 1000 DTH channels & other video based programme including iPTV for e-learning has been envisaged. Department of Space (DOS) has agreed to provide two Ku band transponders of 36 MHz each on GSAT-8. With this 50-60 education channels are being planned to be started immediately.
The Minister of Human Resource Development has also desired tht the NMEICT Mission should expand to the school education also during the XII Plan period. This ministry has suggested to Planning Commission that NMEICT scheme may be converted into Central Sector Scheme from Centrally Sponsored Scheme. For the XII Five Year Plan fund requirement of Rs. 22830 crore has been projected.
(PIB Features.)
Inputs from the Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Human Resource Development.

Read more / Original news source: http://manipur-mail.com/national-mission-on-education-through-ict/

The Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) sector has emerged as a highly vibrant and dynamic sector of the Indian economy over the last five decades. MSMEs not only play crucial role in providing large employment opportunities at comparatively lower capital cost than large industries but also help in industrialization of rural & backward areas, thereby, reducing regional imbalances, assuring more equitable distribution of national income and wealth. MSMEs are complementary to large industries as ancillary units and contribute enormously to the socio-economic development of the country.
The Ministry promotes the development of micro and small enterprises in the country with the objective of creating self-employment opportunities and upgrading the relevant skills of existing and potential entrepreneurs. In order to promote establishment of new enterprises and creation of new entrepreneurs the Ministry has been implementing various schemes and programmes.
Entrepreneurship development is one of the key elements for promotion of micro and small enterprises, particularly, the first generation entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurship, and resultant creation of employment and wealth, is a major means for inclusive development. Hence, entrepreneurship development has been one of the priorities in countries the world over.
In order to ensure that young entrepreneurs are encouraged and suitably equipped to go into new ventures, the Ministry has been providing assistance for establishment of Training Institutions/ Entrepreneurship Development Institutes (EDIs) for imparting entrepreneurship and skill development training. These EDIs have been providing entrepreneurship and skill development training to the first generation entrepreneurs and helping and supporting them in the establishment of their enterprises. The Government makes consistent and concerted efforts to accelerate and promote entrepreneurship by providing support for strengthening of training infrastructure as well as programme support.
The Ministry has set up three National level Entrepreneurship Development Institutes namely National Institute for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (NIMSME), Hyderabad; National Institute for Entrepreneurship and Small Business Development (NIESBUD), Noida and Indian Institute of Entrepreneurship (IIE), Guwahati to undertake the task of entrepreneurship and skill development on a regular basis.
The Ministry has also been supporting the efforts of State Governments/ Union Territories, Industry Associations, Financial Institutions, Technical/ Management Institutions, other Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), etc. for establishment of new training institutions as well as strengthening of the infrastructure of existing training institutions.
The Scheme for Assistance to Training Institutions envisages financial assistance for establishment of new institutions (EDIs), strengthening the infrastructure of the existing EDIs and for supporting entrepreneurship and skill development activities. The main objectives of the scheme are development of indigenous entrepreneurship from all walks of life for developing new micro and small enterprises, enlarging the entrepreneurial base and encouraging self-employment in rural as well as urban areas, by providing training to first generation entrepreneurs and assisting them in setting up of enterprises.
The assistance is provided to these training institutions in the form of capital grant for creation/strengthening of infrastructure and programme support for conducting entrepreneurship development and skill development programmes.
Assistance to National level EDIs is provided under the scheme for creation or strengthening/expansion of infrastructure, including opening of new branches/ centres and meeting revenue deficit, if any, to national level EDIs [presently 3 namely – National Institute for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (NiMSME), Hyderabad; National Institute for Entrepreneurship and Small Business Development (NIESBUD), Noida and Indian Institute of Entrepreneurship (IIE), Guwahati].
Assistance to Other EDIs (other than National level EDIs) is provided under the scheme to proposed new EDIs or existing EDIs for creation or strengthening/expansion of their infrastructure.
The central assistance under this scheme would be only catalytic and supplementary to the contributions and efforts of the other stakeholders e.g. the concerned Institute, States/UT Governments and other developmental agencies/NGOs/Institutions etc.
Here, the applicant Institution should possess clear title on the land required for setting up of the proposed/existing institute. In case the land is obtained on lease hold, the tenure of the lease deed should be for at least 30 years.
The financial assistance is for specific needs of each case for construction of building, purchase of training aids/equipments, office equipments, computers and for providing other support services e.g. libraries/data bases etc.
Assistance for Training Programmes is provided under the scheme to Training Institutions, for conducting Entrepreneurship Development Programmes (EDPs) and Entrepreneurship cum Skill Development Programmes (ESDPs) and Training of Trainers (ToTs) programmes in the areas of Entrepreneurship and/or Skill Development.
National level EDIs (including branches),
Training Institutions established by Partner Institutions (PIs) of national level EDIs,
Training/Incubation centres of NSIC,
Training cum Incubation Centres (TICs) set up by Franchisees of NSIC and
Other Training institutions with proven professional competency, capacity and experience, approved under the scheme.
Assistance is normally provided for short term courses/training programmes (non residential) only, i.e. ESDPs for 1 to 3 months (100 to 300 hours of training inputs), EDPs for 2 weeks (72 hours of training inputs) and ToT programmes (300 hours of training inputs).
The progress of the scheme is regularly monitored by the Screening Committee/Secretary (MSME) from time to time to ensure the highest quality.
(PIB Features.)
Inputs from the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises.

Read more / Original news source: http://manipur-mail.com/skilled-manpower-scheme-for-assistance-to-training-institutions/

Anil Kumar Saxena ADG (M&C), PIB, New Delhi.
India is one of the fastest growing economies of the world and now ranks as the fourth largest economy. In 1991 India opened its economy and integrated with global powers. One of the Key drivers of the economy is the rail transportation network and Indian Railways is one of the biggest rail networks in the World under single management. The rapid economic growth averaging at 8.45% per annum for last 10 years has put huge demand on existing rail infrastructure. The core sector of Indian economy like Power, Coal mining, steel, cement production, fertilizer, petroleum have great dependence on railways and in consonance railways sets a target of 1850 million tons of freight in its 2020 vision document. To supplement the rapid development railways have identified its high density freight routes of golden quadrilateral for line capacity enhancement. The golden quadrilateral which is just 16% of rail network carries 58% of total freight traffic. A momentous decision was taken by the Government in 2005 to segregate freight and passenger business and to construct Dedicated Freight Corridors for movement of freight trains. In the Year 2006, Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Limited (DFCCIL) was established and registered as a special purpose vehicle under the Companies’ Act 1957.
The DFC project is a marvel of Planning, engineering, design and technology. In the first phase of this mega project, DFCCIL has taken up two corridors at an estimated cost of Rs 88,000 cr. The Eastern Corridor with a route length of 1839 km from Ludhiana (Punjab) to Dankuni (West Bengal) and The Western Corridor with a distance of 1534 km from JNPT (Mumbai) to Dadri. The Eastern corridor will ease the movement of coal to power plants, steel, petroleum, fertilizer and food grains while the Western corridor will cater to achievement of India’s strategy of transformation to global export hub. The Western Corridor will also help in domestic movement of industrial production from western India to northern part of the country through containers. The preliminary Engineering and Traffic survey for four more corridors in the next phase has also began and is likely to be completed within two years.
The prime objectives for building these dedicated freight corridors are to create additional rail infrastructure to cater to increased transport demand as well as to reduce unit cost of transportation. DFC will provide seamless end to end solution to the customers and segregate freight infrastructure for focused approach on both passenger and freight business of Railways. To accrue the benefits of DFC, the Government has started Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor Corporation of India which will industrialised the area along DFC and bring in $100 billion investment to the region.
Keeping in view future perspective of development of next gen infrastructure, the DFCC is one of the largest ever infrastructure project being undertaken by railways since Independence. Freight corridor envisages long haul operation with trailing loads to increase from 5000 to 15000 tonnes and container capacity will go up to 400 per train. The new DFC will be high speed freight corridor increasing the speed from 75 at present to 100 kmph. For the first time in the history of Railways history the Mobile radio communication & GSM based tracking of trains will be used. All these features make it one of the safest rail systems in our country.
The Dedicated freight corridors are capable to hold the burden of double stack containers which is its USP and DFC is the pioneer in operation of double stack containers on electrified routes. The operation cost is expected to be half as compared to present railway system. Availability of land holds the key for faster construction of Dedicated Freight Corridors. DFC will use about 6000 hectares of available railway land and acquire 10750 hectares of land. Further the main cities and towns have been bypassed to avoid any inconvenience to the population due to land acquisition and other issues. DFCC has already acquired about 7500 hectares of land and it hopes to complete acquisition by Dec 2012. Apart from compensation, the rehabilitation package offered by DFC is unique in a way that it provides for the cost of resettlement and re-building of assets of effected people. The Eastern and the Western Freight Corridors passes through nine states, 60 districts and 2500 villages.
The DFC had undertaken detail study on green house emission to develop a long term low carbon road map which will enable DFC to generate more carbon foot print and also adopt more energy efficient and carbon friendly technologies, process and practices. The DFC project has followed green guidelines to the maximum possible extent and has used technologies which save energy and recourses as much as possible.
The flow of uninterrupted finance is the key for this kind of mega projects. The DFCC has made foolproof arrangement for timely and un interrupted flow of finance as the eastern corridor is financed by World bank and the entire funding for WDFC is provided by Japan (JICA).The World Bank has agreed to provide a long term loan of $ 950 million for 1190 km long Ludhiana-Mughalsarai section and the loan agreement has been signed in October 2011.The JICA IS providing a loan of 679 billion Yen for construction of entire Western Dedicated Freight Corridor. The DFCC project is likely to be a key driver of Indian Economy and a game changer project. The DFC project will reduce the transit time to 1/3rd and will bring new State of Art terminals, with improved customer service. The target for completion of both Eastern and Western Corridor is 2017-18. (PIB Features.)

Read more / Original news source: http://manipur-mail.com/dfc-carrying-india-to-new-height/