Day: September 28, 2012

MNS:- The President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee received at Rashtrapati Bhavan today (September 28, 2012) a group of 40 children belonging to the Tamana special school, New Delhi led by its Principal Dr. Shayama Chona. The children included differently abled as well as children from underprivileged families who are attending the school as part of a process of reverse integration. The children performed dances for the President and spent an hour exploring the Mughal Gardens.
Speaking on the occasion, the President complimented Dr. Chona for having turned a mother’s need to find a school for her differently abled daughter into an opportunity for so many other children to benefit from. He called upon other members of society to emulate Dr. Chona’s example.

Read more / Original news source: http://manipur-mail.com/president-opens-the-doors-of-rashtrapati-bhavan/

MNS:- On August 6, 2012, the Union Finance Minister Shri P.Chidambaram had made a statement on the economic situation and on the policy measures that were under consideration of the Government. Referring to the fiscal situation, the Finance Minister had said:
“We intend to unveil, shortly, a path of fiscal consolidation. I would like to make it clear that the burden of fiscal correction must be shared, fairly and equitably, by different classes of stakeholders. The poor must be protected and others must bear their fair share of the burden. Obviously, adjustments must be made both on the revenue side and on the expenditure side. We have asked Dr. Vijay Kelkar, Dr. Indira Rajaraman and Dr. Sanjiv Misra to assist the Government in formulating the path of fiscal consolidation and we expect that the work will be completed in a few weeks.”
The aforesaid Kelkar Committee submitted its report on September 3, 2012.
The Committee has reached certain conclusions and has made a number of recommendations.
The main conclusion of the report is that “We cannot over-emphasize the need and the urgency of fiscal consolidation.”
The report is under consideration of the Government and the Government has not yet taken a view on the report or on any of the recommendations.
The Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, Shri Arvind Mayaram said that some recommendations appear contrary to the declared objective of the Government of ‘sustained and inclusive growth’. He said that the Government is of the view that in a developing country where a significant proportion of the population is poor, a certain level of subsidies is necessary and unavoidable, and measures must be taken to protect the poor and vulnerable sections of the society. It is in this view that the Government has reiterated its intention to implement the promise of food security for all, he added. The Secretary Shri Mayaram further said while taking a final view on the various recommendations of the report, the Government will bear in mind that the goal is to achieve high growth, inclusive development, and economic and social justice for all.
The Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, Shri Arvind Mayaram said that the Government welcomes an informed debate on the report submitted by the Kelkar Committee. Hence, this report is being uploaded on the website of the Ministry of Finance at www.finmin.nic.in, he informed. Shri Mayaram said that the Government invites all sections of the people to send their comments to the email address: feedbackonkelkar-mof@nic.in.

Read more / Original news source: http://manipur-mail.com/kelkar-committee-report-uploaded-on-finance-ministry-website/

MNS:- Thrust to Improve Targeting & Reduce wastage & leakages and increase transparency
In a move to cut down wastage, duplication and leakages and enhance efficiency, the Prime Minister has given a major push to transfer individual benefits from the Government directly into the bank accounts of beneficiaries. This is to be done in a fast-track, accelerated mode to be achieved in a time bound manner. The idea is to move to a completely electronic Cash Transfer System for the entire population.
In order to accelerate the process, which currently is being tried in pilots on a small scale and whose results are very encouraging, the Prime Minister has set up the architecture for moving to electronic Cash Transfers leveraging Aadhaar.
1. Architecture for Cash Transfers
In order to speed up activity and ensure that the shift to electronic Cash Transfers can be rolled out rapidly, the Prime Minister has set up the Architecture for Cash Transfers which will be the coordination mechanism. This architecture will consist of:
i. National Ministerial Committee – under the Prime Minister with membership of all concerned ministers (Finance, IT, Social Justice, HRD, Minorities, Labour, Health, Food, P&NG, Fertilizers, Planning Commission, UIDAI,). This committee at the highest level would ensure coordination and decision-making at the highest level and impart the necessary urgency to the program.
ii. National Executive Committee – with the Secretaries of all concerned Ministries as members. This committee would meet frequently to coordinate action, ensure adherence to time lines and sort out hitches in the program as it is rolled out.
iii. Implementation Mission and Committees – to work on and finalise all operational and implementation details relating to the design and operation of the transfer system. There is a lot work needed to have a smooth roll-out and has to be done in a Mission mode with multiple agencies acting in a coordinated manner. The Mission will have the following sub-committees:
a. Cash Transfer Mission – Technology Committee -to focus on the technology, architecture and IT issues.
b. Cash Transfer Mission – Financial Inclusion Committee – to focus on ensuring Universal Access to Banking and achieving complete Financial Inclusion.
c. Cash Transfer Mission – Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) Committees – to work out the details relating to EBT such as data bases, transfer rules, controls, audits, etc. There would be one for each Ministry which is engaging in benefit transfers.
The milestones and timeliness for each of these Committees will be clearly laid down. The National Executive Committee will monitor progress and ensure timely roll-out. This scheme will have a momentous impact on the government`s various social programmes and help million of beneficiaries.
2. Background to Aadhaar:
With the rapid rollout of Aadhaar, now covering 20 crore people and rapidly growing to 60 crores, and with the National Population Register covering the other half, it is possible to move to a system of transferring cash benefits directly to the poor.
A Cash Transfer System can be used for transferring cash benefits such as NREGA Wages, Scholarships, Pensions, Income support of other types and Health Benefits. Electronic Transfer of Benefits (ETB) is a simple change as the transfers are already taking place and the only modification that would be involved is a movement from a paper based, cash driven system to an electronic direct transfer system.
Cash Transfer System would improve targeting, reduce corruption, eliminate waste, control expenditure and facilitate reforms.
3. Pilots
The results of pilots are encouraging. Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) has already begun in many cases. The Government and RBI have issued Guidelines to Banks for implementation of EBT. Pilots are under implementation, including in AP, Chhattisgarh, Punjab, Rajasthan, TN, WB, Karnataka, Puducherry and Sikkim.

Read more / Original news source: http://manipur-mail.com/prime-minister-sets-up-the-architecture-for-cash-transfers/

MNS:- The Union Culture and HUPA Minister Kumari Selja has said that there is an increasing need to create enhanced sensitivity and capacity building at local, national and global levels for World Heritage and Sustainable Development. Inaugurating a consultative workshop on UNESCO Category-II Centre for World Heritage here today she said, the target audiences should include governments, non-governmental agencies, civil society members and other parastatals for maintaining heritage properties. She said, professional training and capacity building, awareness-raising among local populations and stakeholders are among the very important and immediate steps to be taken. It is equally important to impart World Heritage education targeted towards the youth and local populations and this is a key area where we need to work together.
The Minister said, in recent years, most Asian countries have accelerated the introduction of new laws on heritage protection which seeks to critically and comprehensively address the many aspects of heritage conservation. She said, in this context, India has recently taken an important step by reinforcing the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites & Remains Act (AMASRA, 2010), for protection of the National Monuments and World Heritage Properties under the ASI. A new National Monuments Authority has been created with the aim of defining a new paradigm for urban planning. A heritage sensitive perspective is being built in as a mandatory factor in development of spaces around heritage monuments.
Kumari Selja said, India being a member on the World Heritage Committee, has an increasing responsibility towards implementation of the World Heritage Convention. She said, India aims to take a lead and facilitate training and capacity building activities in the region. She said that the establishment of this Category-II Centre in India will facilitate development of competencies in training, research and partnerships.
The Minister said, the World Heritage aspects for India are now guided by a specially created Advisory Committee on World Heritage matters under the Ministry of Culture. This Committee, comprising of experts drawn from the fields of natural heritage, conservation, urban planning, risk analysis, tourism promotion etc., has already initiated the task of revision of India’s Tentative List through an extensive process of consultation.
The two-day consultative workshop has been organised jointly by the Archaeological Survey of India, Ministry of Culture, India and the Wildlife Institute of India, Ministry of Environment and Forest, India. Besides senior officials of the Ministry of Culture and Ministry of Environment and Forest, ASI, Wildlife Institute of India, Members of the Indian Advisory Committee on World Heritage, the workshop has participation of UNESCO officials from World Heritage Centre, Paris, members of Advisory Bodies of UNESCO such as ICOMOS, ICCROM and IUCN, government officials from countries of Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh along with eminent Indian experts on World Heritage.
During the two days workshop, the participants will dwell upon the key issues and concerns regarding Conservation and Management of World Heritage Sites in Asia region. Some of the key issues identified as priority for this region that will be discussed in the workshop are: implementation of management plans forworldheritage sites, Disaster risk reduction and risk preparedness, Better regional cooperation, Community involvement, Regional gap analysis and thematic studies on Tentative Lists for World Heritage.
Several case studies of World Heritage Sites from India and participating countries will be presented and discussed. The advisory bodies and World Heritage Centre officials will dialogue with the participants on ways to resolve the key concerns in management of such sites through specific training modules that can be evolved for Category 2 Centre, an Institute with UNESCO recognition. The Category 2 Centre (C2C) proposed by India has been envisioned to be a centre of excellence for the conservation of natural and cultural heritage in Asia Pacific Region. It will perform a catalytic role in India and the countries in the Asia.

Read more / Original news source: http://manipur-mail.com/kumari-selja-inaugurates-consultative-workshop-on-unesco/