Day: September 27, 2012

MNS:- Union Tourism Minister Minister Shri Subodhkant Sahai will inaugurate the Second International Buddhist Conclave at Varanasi on September 29, 2012.
The conclave is being held with a view to showcasing and projecting the Buddhist Heritage of India. The Conclave invitees include the International Buddhist scholars, tour operators and media both domestic and international who actively promote Buddhist Tourism. The other states with Buddhist sites like Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha besides Bihar will be associated in the event. The Conclave is an important tourism marketing event designed to bring together international buyers from around the world particularly from the popular Buddhist destinations like Singapore, Malaysia, Japan, Korea, China etc. together, to interact, promote and sell, with the objective of increasing tourist arrivals to India and specifically to the Buddhist sites in different states.
About 130 Overseas guests including Buddhist Scholars/Tour Operators and Media representatives (mainstream media and travel journalists) from 30 countries including Australia, Belgium, Bhu tan,Cambodia,Cana da,China,France,Holland,Hun gary,Indonesia,Italy,Japan,lao s,Malaysia,Myanmar,New Zealand, Phillipines, Republic of Korea,Russia,Singapore,South Africa,Spain,Sri lanka,Taiwan,Thailand,UK,USA and Vietnam will be attending the conclave. More than one hundred Indian Tour Operators, Scholars, Media personnel from 16 States/UTs will also be attending the Conclave.
The Conclave sessions include Technical sessions on Buddhism for scholars, and travel and Tourism sessions for the media and Tour operators. The delegates will also be taken for site visits to Bodh Gaya and Nalanda.
India has a rich Buddhist Heritage, with several important sites associated with the life of Lord Buddha, which are of great interest for followers of Buddhism the world over. Buddhism originated in India and has spread to almost all the countries of the world, with the population of Buddhists estimated to be around 350 million. Countries like China, Thailand, Cambodia have a high proportion of Buddhists in their population and the religion is also becoming quite widespread in America, Australia and United Kingdom. Other Southeast Asia countries like Japan. Thailand, Korea, China, Vietnam, Srilanka etc. have sizeable Buddhist population and are important source markets for India Tourism.
Buddhist sites in India include Bodhgaya, Nalanda, Rajgir and Vaishali in Bihar, Sarnath and Sravasti in Uttar Pradesh, Ajanta & Ellora in Maharashtra, Sanchi in Madhya Pradesh, Amaravati & Nagarjuna Konda in Andhra Pradesh and many more. There is a great potential for promoting tourism to these sites and efforts are being made to drive tourist traffic to the different sites.

Read more / Original news source: http://manipur-mail.com/international-buddhist-conclave-at-varanasi/

MNS:- The Union Ministry of Rural Development and Government of Jammu and Kashmir jointly launched project Himayat in 2011 for placement linked skill development initiative for training and placement of one lakh youth from the state in next five years. So far, 2431 youth have been trained and currently 2800 trainees are undergoing training in 42 centres spread across 19 districts in Jammu and Kashmir. To encourage and to interact with the youth who were trained and given placements under Himayat outside the state, an interactive session is being organized in Chandigarh on 30-09-2012 at MBA Conference Hall, NIPER, Mohali. The Minister of Rural Development Shri Jairam Ramesh has invited the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir Shri Omar Abdullah to grace the occasion and interact with the trained youth.
The Union Cabinet has already approved 235 crore rupees for this programme. The priority will be given to youth who are school and college drop-outs and training will be provided at each of the block headquarters. The private sector institutions such as IL&FS and Don Bosco Technical Institute have been chosen to impart the training to the youth, who would be selected for the programme on the basis of applications. Once the trained youths complete their course and take up employment,

Read more / Original news source: http://manipur-mail.com/march-of-jk-youth-for-placements-under-himayat-continues/

of Trainers
MNS:- The National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) under the Union Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation is holding a two-day All India Training of Trainers for the NSS 70th Round of Socio Economic Survey. The NSSO and the State Directorates of Economics & Statistics will carry out the 70th Round survey for the Central and State samples respectively for a period of one year starting from 1st January, 2013.
The training programme was inaugurated here today by Prof. T. C. A. Anant, Chief Statistician of India and Secretary, Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation. Dr. Sudipto Mundle, Chairman, National Statistical Commission, Dr. A. Vaidyanathan, Chairman, Working Group for 70th Round, Shri S. K. Das, DG&CEO, NSSO and Members of the National Statistical Commission and Working Group on 70th Round. Senior officers of Central Statistics Office (CSO), NSSO, as also the State Directorates of Economics & Statistics and representatives from Central Ministries/Departments were among those who attended the inaugural function. The schedules and instructions designed for the purpose of detailed investigation and other operational aspects of the survey programme will be discussed by the participants for their effective implementation during the survey. The participants of this All India Training of Trainers, in turn, will impart training to the field functionaries at the Regional Training Camps in various States in December 2012 before the survey is launched from 1st January, 2013.
The NSS 70th Round will be devoted to the subjects “Land & Livestock Holdings, Debt & Investment and Situation Assessment Survey of Agricultural Households”. The objectives and scope of the survey are briefly given below:
Land and Livestock Holdings: The objective of the “Land and Livestock Holdings Survey” is to assess various aspects of land ownership holdings and operational holdings as well as livestock holdings. Particulars of land, irrespective of whether owned, leased-in, otherwise possessed or leased-out are collected separately for each plot. The particulars will include area, tenurial form, land use pattern, irrigation practices, drainage facilities, etc.
Debt and Investment: The survey on “Debt and Investment” provides an opportunity to study both the demand and supply sides of credit in the household sector. Information on assets, economic activities, particulars of credit operations and the incidence of indebtedness in the rural and urban areas are to be collected in the survey. Further, data on the extent and mode of opera¬tions of different credit agencies are also collected to examine the supply side of the credit.
Situation Assessment of Agricultural Households: Agriculture is important for the very existence of life. Its growth and development is integral to the quest for food and nutrition security. The farmers of India have made significant contributions in providing food and nutrition to the nation and provided livelihood to millions of people of the country. During the six decades of planned economic development, India has moved from food-shortage and imports to self-sufficiency and exports. Food security for people and well being of farmers being major areas of concern of the planners of Indian agriculture, this survey will provide a snapshot picture of the farming community. The impact of the transformation induced by public policy, investments and technological change on the farmers’ access to resources and income as well as well-being of the agricultural households are also expected to be analysed.
The Survey will cover the whole of the Indian Union except some inaccessible areas of Nagaland and Andaman and Nicobar Islands. All the State Governments and Union Territories (except A & N Islands, D&N Haveli, Chandigarh, Lakshadweep and Daman & Diu) will participate in this survey with a common set of schedules and sampling design.
The National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) under the Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation was established in 1950, with the objective of obtaining comprehensive and continuing information relating to social, economic, demographic, industrial and agricultural statistics through sample surveys on countrywide basis. It has been, therefore, instrumental in developing a strong database that has helped the Central as well as State Governments in development planning and policy formulations.
The National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) functions under the overall direction of National Statistical Commission (NSC). The National Statistical Commission has the requisite independence and autonomy of decision making in the collection; processing and the publication of NSS data. The autonomy includes the choice of subjects or items on which data have to be collected in a given field of investigation or in a given period, the frequency with which the data on any item are to be collected, the preparatory or pilot work to be undertaken on different subjects, the sample design to be adopted, the tabulation to be prepared, the form in which the data are to be collected and processed and the analysis and publication of results.
Every year NSSO conducts not only large-scale sample surveys in the form of NSS Rounds covering a variety of socio-economic topics, but also other important surveys in the field of Industrial Statistics (Annual Survey of Industries), Agricultural Statistics and Retail Prices.

Read more / Original news source: http://manipur-mail.com/70th-round-of-socio-economic-survey/