Open Slogan Contest on the theme “Role of National Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction (NPDRR) in Disaster Management in India” begins tomorrow

An online slogan contest on the theme “Role of National Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction (NPDRR) in Disaster Management in India” opens tomorrow. The best entry for the slogan contest will be awarded a cash prize of Rs. 25,000/- and certificate.

Only resident Indian citizens can participate in this slogan contest. Competition will start from 10:00 AM tomorrow. Entry received through email latest by 05:00 PM of April 17, 2017 will only be considered. Entries must be submitted by email to npdrr.india-mha@nic.in along with their contact details. Any correspondence regarding the contest will be by email provided by the participant. Organisers will not be liable in case of email delivery failure.

The slogans in not more than ten words, either in Hindi or English, should bring out the essence of collective decision making platform in the form of NPDRR provided to stakeholders from government, private, non-governmental sectors, so that country can endeavor to disaster resilient.

The best entry under the slogan contest will be selected by a panel of judges comprising of four members of National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA). The best entry for the slogan contest will be provided with following awards/felicitation:

·      A cash prize of Rs. 25,000/- and a certificate from the Minister of State in MHA

·      To-and fro economy class air tickets from their place of stay in India for participating in the 2^nd meeting of NPDRR

·      Accommodation for 2 day and 2 night stay at Delhi during NPDRR for participating and presenting the view of the award winning entry in the 2^nd meeting of NPDRR

The 2^nd meeting of National Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction (NPDRR) will be held in New Delhi on April 24-25, 2017 on the theme ‘Disaster Risk Reduction for Sustainable Development: Making India Resilient by 2030’. It will have an exclusive Ministerial session besides Plenary session on the theme “National Perspective on Disaster Risk Reduction: Sendai and Beyond”. There will also be five Technical sessions  on the themes “Understanding Disaster Risk”, “Strengthening Disaster Risk Governance to Manage Disaster Risk”, “Investing in Disaster Risk Reduction for resilience”, “ Enhancing Disaster Preparedness for Effective Response and to Build Back Better in Recovery, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction” and “Sendai Framework for DRR: Monitoring”.

The National Platform aims to bring together the whole range of India's disaster risk community from Government, Parliamentarians, Local Self Governments, Media, International Organizations, NGOs, local community representatives, scientific and academic institutions and corporate businesses etc. It will help in sharing of experiences, views and ideas, present findings of research and action and explore opportunities for mutual cooperation in the field of Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR).

The multi-stakeholder NPDRR was constituted by the Government in 2013.  NPDRR is chaired by the Union Home Minister and Minister of State in-charge of Disaster Management in the Ministry of Home Affairs is the Vice Chairperson of NPDRR. The other members of NPDRR are 15 Cabinet Ministers, Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog, Minister of each State Government/ UT dealing with the subject Disaster Management; representatives of Local Self-Governments and Parliament (4 members from Lok Sabha and 2 from Rajya Sabha), ex-officio members, Heads of institutions of national importance, persons representing industry, media representatives, civil society organizations and international representatives.

Apart from members of NPDRR, representatives from State Governments (Resident Commissioners, Relief Commissioners, SDMAs, select DDMAs, select local government representatives, heads of fire service and civil defence), representatives from Central Governments, select public sector organizations, institutions of national importance, private sector, financial institutions, professional experts, NGOs, pre-event organizers are going to participate in the meeting. About 1,000 participants are likely to attend the meeting.

The output from the National Platform will offer a strategic direction and a roadmap for the formulation of our future national action plans on DRR. The NPDRR will help sensitize the participants about important initiatives at global and national level on DRR, including AMCDRR 2016, and the Asia Regional Plan 2016, Prime Minister’s 10 point agenda on DRR. Key expected outcomes include:

§ To obtain consensus of the states/UTs for conducting Multi-hazard Risk Vulnerability Assessment within specific timeframe.

§ To explore how Hazard Risk Vulnerability Analysis (HRVA) outcomes can be integrated into policy formulation.

§ To identify constraints and find out their solutions in strengthening District Disaster Management Authorities in multi-hazard risk prone districts.

§ To develop a mechanism for compliance of building codes in urban areas and to develop building codes for rural areas.

§ To suggest various measures for promoting insurance as risk mitigation tool among the general public.

§ To explore possible areas/schemes for reducing risks of earthquakes, floods and landslides.

§ To strengthen Incident Response Forces at State/Local levels for effective response.

§ To have a mechanism in place for build-back-better.

§ To measure and monitor the performance of India on different priority areas/ targets of SFDRR

The first meeting of NPDRR was held on May 13-14, 2013 in New Delhi on the theme ‘Mainstreaming DRR in Development: From Risk to Resilience’. The meeting was inaugurated by the then Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh. It had two plenary and six thematic sessions and four pre-events. The proceedings of the meeting were forwarded to State Governments/UTs, nodal Ministries/ Department for appropriate action. Numbers of States and Central Ministries/organizations/department have reported action taken on the recommendations of the 1^st meeting of NPDRR.

The main functions of the NPDRR are:

·  To review the National Disaster Management Policy and progress made in the field of Disaster Management from time to time.

·  To appreciate the extent and manner in which the Disaster Management Policy has been implemented by the Central and State Governments, and other concerned agencies, and to give appropriate advice in the matter.

·  To advise on coordination between the Central and State Governments/UT Administrations, local self-governments and civil society organizations for Disaster Risk Reduction.

Joshi, Pawar, Sangma conferred Padma Vibhushan

New Delhi, Mar 30 (PTI) Political stalwarts Sharad Pawar, Murli Manohar Joshi and former Lok Sabha Speaker P A Sangma, cricketer Virat Kohli and Bollywood singer Anuradha Paudwal were among the 39 people who were conferred this year's Padma awards today.

Joshi, Pawar, Sangma (posthumous) and Prof. Udipi Ramachandra Rao, former Chairman of ISRO, were conferred Padma Vibhushan, the country's second highest civilian award, by President Pranab Mukherjee at a special function held at Rashtrapati Bhavan here.

Yoga guru Swami Niranjanananda Saraswati, Thai princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn and the father of laparoscopic surgery in India Tehemton Erach Udwadia were conferred Padma Bhushan awards.

The number of Padma awardees this year is 89, which includes seven recipients each for Padma Vibhushan and Padma Bhushan.

The rest of the awardees will be conferred the awards on April 13.

LS passes GST supplementary bills

New Delhi, Mar 29 (PTI) The historic Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime today came a step closer to meet its July 1 target of rollout, with the Lok Sabha approving four supplementary legislations.

The Central GST Bill, 2017; The Integrated GST Bill, 2017; The GST (Compensation to States) Bill, 2017; and The Union Territory GST Bill, 2017 were passed after negation of a host of amendments moved by the opposition parties.

Replying to the seven-hour-long debate, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the GST, which will usher in a uniform indirect tax regime in the country, will make commodities "slightly cheaper".

He said the GST rates would depend upon whether the commodity is used by a rich person or a common man.

Jaitley said once the new regime is implemented, the harassment of businesses by different authorities will end and India will be one rate for one commodity throughout the country.

He said the GST Council, comprising Finance Ministers of Union and states, had agreed to take a decision on bringing real estate within the ambit of the new tax regime within a year of its rollout.

On the impact of GST on prices, Jaitley said: "Today you have tax on tax, you have cascading effect. When all of that is removed, goods will become slightly cheaper".

On why the Council has decided on multiple GST rates, Jaitley said one rate would be "highly regressive" as "hawai chappal and BMW cannot be taxed at the same rate".

He said currently food articles are not taxed and those will continue to be zero rated under the GST. All other commodities would be fitted into the nearest tax bracket.

The GST Council has recommended a four-tier tax structure -- 5, 12, 18 and 28 per cent. On top of the highest slab, a cess will be imposed on luxury and demerit goods to compensate the states for revenue loss in the first five years of GST implementation.

However, the Central GST (CGST) law has pegged the peak rate at 20 per cent and a similar rate has been prescribed in the State GST (SGST) law, which takes the peak rate to 40 per cent which will come into force only in financial exigencies.

Jaitley said the cess would be transient for a period of 5 years so that the proceeds can be utilised to compensate the states.

Touted as the biggest taxation reform since Independence, GST will subsume central excise, service tax, VAT and other local levies to create an uniform market. GST is expected to boost GDP growth by about 2 per cent and check tax evasion.

Balloon Flights for Scientific Expedition

Scientific Ballooning was started in India during the 1950’s by Dr. Homi J. Bhabha under the aegis of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), an autonomous body under the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) and was established in the outskirts of Hyderabad in the 1970’s. Since then, more than 490 balloon flights of various sizes have been conducted from this center till date. This is one of the unique facilities in the world where stratospheric zero pressure balloons are designed, fabricated with indigenous material, launched and the instruments recovered. The balloons designed and fabricated in this facility have also been exported to foreign scientific institutions and many foreign scientific missions have also been flown from the Hyderabad balloon facility. 

Balloons supplied by this facility are used to measure vertical wind profiles at SDSC-SHAR before launch of satellites by ISRO and also for qualifying many instruments in near space environments before being incorporated in satellites. This facility is also involved in experimental strategic programs of the armed forces. Experiments carried out on the earth’s atmosphere have also helped in rain prediction as well as pollution monitoring and control. Any scientific institution which desires to conduct scientific balloon flights can approach Balloon Facility, Hyderabad and send the proposal for conducting the scientific experiment. TIFR ensures that all the concerned agencies are kept informed about the flights, their expected trajectory and their likely recovery area. 

At the time of the balloon flights, all Air Traffic Controllers (ATCs) in the corridor allotted for balloon flights are kept informed by TIFR well in advance of the trajectory of the balloon flight. During the balloon flight, the ATCs are kept informed of the actual position of the balloon on minute by minute basis. The police stations in the vicinity of the expected landing of the instruments are also informed. Pamphlets regarding the instruments are attached to the instruments in various local languages and the persons to contact in case these instruments are sighted by any person, are prominently displayed. Also, an advance party of TIFR technicians is always following the balloon trajectory in a vehicle so as to reach the landed instrument in the shortest possible time. Care is taken to try and release the payload in sparsely inhabited areas of the corridor and only in broad daylight so that the instrument descending on a brightly colored parachute is easily visible to any person on the ground.

In addition, for every flight window season, the Balloon Facility communicates with the Chief Secretary of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, Police Wireless of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra for awareness of balloon drift and instrument recovery. In the case of balloon flights conducted for Government funded and private institutions, the cost is recovered from the institution concerned. With regard to in-house experiments and research and with regard to improving balloon design and efficiency and for procuring equipment for safely conducting balloon flights, funding from the Government (DAE) in terms of Plan Funds is about Rupees One crore per year.

This information was provided by the Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Development of North-Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh in written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.

Quality Control of Processed Food Items

The Food Safety and Standards (FSS) Act was enacted in 2006 to establish the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI). FSSAI has the mandate for laying down science based standards for articles of food and to regulate their manufacture, storage, distribution, sale and import and to ensure availability of safe and wholesome food for human consumption. The work relating to implementation and enforcement of the FSS Act, 2006 and regulations thereunder has primarily been entrusted to the Food Safety Departments of the States/Union Territories. Appropriate structures have been established in the States/Union Territories for enforcement of the Act. 

Regulation 2.2 of the Food Safety and Standards (Packaging and Labelling) Regulations, 2011 prescribes the general requirements for labelling of pre-packaged food which includes the clause regarding nutritional information on food labels. 

Regular surveillance, monitoring, inspection and random sampling of food products is undertaken by the officials of Food Safety Departments of the respective States/ UTs to ensure that food products comply with the laid down standards. In cases, where food samples are found to be non-conforming to the prescribed standards, recourse is taken to penal provisions under Chapter IX of the FSS Act, 2006. 

The Minister of State (Health and Family Welfare), Sh Faggan Singh Kulaste stated this in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha here today. 

Automobile Safety Standards

India is a signatory of UNECE, WP-29, 1998 agreement and takes active part in the formulation of Global Technical Regulations. As such all safety norms prescribed under CMVR 1989 are based on UN regulated international standards. 

Although government has not put any mechanism in place to monitor and redress manufacturing defects, Indian Auto Industry has proactively, on a voluntary basis put in place ‘Voluntary Recall Policy’ since June 2012. 

This information was given by Minister of State in the Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises Shri Babul Supriyo in reply to a written question in the Lok Sabha today. 

Prez race: Cong rejects Bhagwat's name; says will announce its nominee soon

New Delhi, Mar 28 (PTI) The Congress today said it did not support Shiv Sena's suggestion of making RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat as the next President as it "opposed the saffron ideology", adding that the party would come out with its candidate after holding internal discussions.

"It is very clear that we do not support RSS ideology," Congress spokesperson Gaurav Gogoi told reporters when asked if the party supported the Sena's suggestion.

Asked whether the Opposition party would rise above politics to arrive at a consensus in choosing the successor of President Pranab Mukherjee, he said the party will hold internal discussions before coming out with its view.

"When it comes to appointing our President...at the right time, we will, of course, have our own internal discussion first and then announce the nominee," he said.

Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut had put forth a suggestion that Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat would be a good choice for President to make India a "Hindu Rashtra".

"Somebody with a clean image should occupy it. We have heard that Mohan Bhagwat's name is being discussed for President. If India has to be made a 'Hindu Rashtra', Bhagwat will be a good choice for President," he had said.

Incumbent President Mukherjee is due to retire on July 24.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will host a dinner for all NDA MPs tomorrow, a move aimed at seeking their support for the NDA Presidential candidate.

No legal slaughterhouse is being targetted in UP: Naidu

New Delhi, Mar 27 (PTI) Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu today said that it is wrong to give a "communal" colour to the Uttar Pradesh government's decision to shutdown the illegal slaughterhouses in the state.

After coming to power, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has ordered closure of illegal slaughterhouses and strict enforcement of the ban on cow smuggling to fulfil a key electoral promise.

Referring to a 2016 report, Naidu said the newly formed state government is not targetting any legal slaughterhouse.

"In Uttar Pradesh, the action is only being taken against illegal slaughterhouses. No legal slaughterhouse is being targetted. There is a report saying only one slaughterhouse has valid permit out of 126 in UP. This report is of April 27, 2016," he said at the launch of online film certification system of CBFC.

The Information and Broadcasting Minister requested people to not give the crackdown a communal colour.

"I request people to not create a hue and cry and create unnecessary doubts in the minds of people. Giving this a political and communal angle is not right and opportunist. On behalf of the government I wanted to tell the truth to the people," he said.

The Uttar Pradesh government has also stressed that it was acting only against the illegal abattoirs.

In a series of tweets, Naidu said, "In April '16, UP Pollution Control Board informed NGT (National Green Tribunal) that only 1 of 126 slaughterhouses in the state is operating with valid permission.

"#UP PCB further told NGT in Aug' 16 that it would not allow slaughterhouses to run without valid consent under Water Act & Air Act." 

Meat sellers across the state today went on an indefinite strike against the crackdown on illegal and mechanised slaughterhouses.

Training module by WCD Ministry for capacity building of Internal Complaints Committees

The fist training programme for heads of ICCs to be organized next month: Smt Maneka Sanjay Gandhi

The Ministry of Women and Child Development has developed a standardized and detailed training module for capacity building of Internal Complaints Committees of all Central Ministries and Department. These Committees have been formed under Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition & Redressal) Act, 2013. The module has been developed in consultation with Institute of Secretariat Training and Management of DoPT, Government of India. 29 institutions in Government as well as private sector have also been identified and empanelled who are capacitated to undertake training programmes on Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition & Redressal) Act, 2013 for any organization.

The Minister of Women & Child Development, Smt Maneka Sanjay Gandhi had called a meeting of the Heads of Internal Complaints Committees (ICCs) of the Central Government Ministries/Departments in October, 2016. One of the issues discussed during the meeting was that the heads of ICCs often do not have clear understanding of the legal nuances and administrative issues involved in cases of sexual harassment at workplace.  Accordingly, it was decided that a training module will be developed by the Ministry, and the heads of ICCs of Central Government Ministries/Departments will be called for training on these issues. It was also decided that a network of institutions will be capacitated to undertake trainings for other organizations also.

Smt Maneka Sanjay Gandhi has said that the first training programme for the heads of ICCs of the Central Government Ministries/departments will be organized in the Ministry during the second half of April, 2017. The Minister said that the WCD Ministry will ensure that all the heads of ICCs of all Central Government Ministries are trained by June 2017.

The training module and the details of the institutions can be seen at the following links.

Training Module: http://wcd.nic.in/act/training-module-two-day-workshop-sexual-harassment-women-workplace-prevention-prohibition-and

Details of institutions: http://wcd.nic.in/act/recommended-panel-institutes-or-organizations-under-sexual-harassment-women-workplace

Govt may table GST Bills in Parliament tomorrow

New Delhi, Mar 26 (PTI) The government is likely to table supplementary goods and services tax legislations in Parliament tomorrow.

Sources said C-GST, I-GST, UT-GST and the compensation law are likely to be introduced in the Lok Sabha tomorrow and could be taken up for discussion as early as March 28.

Also, amendments to the excise and Customs Act to abolish various cess as well as furnishing Bills for exports and imports under the new GST regime will be placed before the House.

The Business Advisory Committee of the Lok Sabha is likely to meet tomorrow to decide on the duration of discussion on the Bills, the sources added.

According to the sources, the government is looking at passage of the GST Bills in the Lower House by March 29 or latest by March 30.

Then, these will move to the Rajya Sabha and this gives the government enough time to bring back any amendment adopted by the Upper House to the Lok Sabha. The amendments can either be rejected or incorporated by the Lok Sabha.

The current session of Parliament ends on April 12.

Although the legislations will be introduced as Money Bills, the government wants discussion in both the Houses, the sources said.

The government has set a target of July 1 for rollout of GST, which will subsume excise, service tax, VAT and and other local levies.

Once these Bills are cleared by Parliament, the states will then take the state GST (S-GST) Bill to their respective assemblies. S-GST has been prepared as a model of the central GST (C-GST), with each state incorporating state-specific exemptions.

The integrated GST (I-GST) deals in taxation of inter-state movement of goods and services while the Union Territory GST (UT-GST) Bill covers taxation in UTs.