Telecom Regulatory Authority of India

26.07.2017

Media and Communication

Extension of last date to receive participation in Pilot to establish nation-wide, pay-as-you-go PDOs

MANU/TRAI/0056/2017

1.The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAl) issued a document inviting participation of entities to be part of a Pilot to establish Nation-wide Public Data Offices (PDOs) dated 07.07.2017. The last date for applying was initially 25th July, 2017.

2. On request from stakeholders during the workshop held in Bengaluru on 25th July, 2017, it has been decided to extend the last date for applying for participation in the Pilot to 31st July 2017.

3. Any interested entity (company, proprietorship, societies, non-profits, etc.) registered in India can apply to TRAI latest by 31st July 2017.

4. Copy of the full text of the document is available on TRAI website.

Tags : PDOs Date Extension Participation

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Press Information Bureau

26.07.2017

Commercial

Steps to enhance competitiveness of capital goods sector

MANU/PIBU/0882/2017

A Scheme for enhancement of competitiveness in the Indian Capital Goods Sector is in operation since 2014. The Scheme has infrastructural components for setting up Centre of Excellence (CoE) for technology development, Integrated Industrial Infrastructural Facility, Common Engineering Centre and Test and Certification Centre. The Scheme also provides for financial intervention through Technology Acquisition Fund Programme for acquisition or transfer of technology in Capital Goods Sector. Under different components of the said Scheme, so far, 14 proposals have been approved, which are under different stages of implementation with active participation of the Industry. Details of the Scheme is available at the website of the Department of Heavy Industry at dhi.nic.in.

Other than the above Scheme, Government has unveiled a National Capital Goods Policy in 2016. The Policy aims to make India one of the top Capital Goods producing countries and a net exporter of Capital Goods by increasing production, raising export level and improving technology depth. A copy of the Policy may be seen in the website of the Department of Heavy Industry at dhi.nic.in . This Policy envisages supporting all units including MSMEs with technology, skills, common engineering facilities and export promotion.

Under the Capital Goods Scheme, an Integrated Machine Tool Park of global standard is coming up at Vasanthanarasapura near Tumkur in Karnataka in collaboration with the Government of Karnataka. The park envisages to have facilities for manufacturing chain in Machine Tools which will benefit MSMEs supplying raw materials and components to machine tools manufacturers. The Government is supporting Common Engineering Facilities for textile engineering industry at Bardoli, Surat, Gujarat and TAGMA Centre of Excellence and Training for Dies & Moulds Industry at Chakan near Pune, Maharashtra. The major beneficiaries are MSMEs engaged in manufacturing engineering around the Surat and Pune industrial clusters respectively. In addition, technology development at various Centers of Excellence (COEs) / technology acquisition facilitated by DHI will facilitate technology development/acquisition, in general. Most of the participating industries/ beneficiaries are MSMEs .

Under CoE component of the Scheme technology development is being carried out in several technological institutions/ Research Development Centre of national reputes with Industry partners. CoE funded by department, under the scheme, include:

(1) Development of Hi- tech shuttle less looms in Central Manufacturing Technological Institute, Bangalore;

(2) Development of 11 Machine Tool Technologies in Indian Institute of Technology, Madras in Chennai;

(1) Development of 3 welding technologies in PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore and

(2) Development of Smart Submersible Pump in Si'Tarc, Coimbatore.

Tags : Competitiveness Enhancement Capital goods

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Press Information Bureau

26.07.2017

Indirect Taxation

Benefits of GST for the Transport Sector

MANU/PIBU/0881/2017

The transport sector stands to benefit from the recently rolled out GST in several ways. Pre- GST, the complex tax structure and paper work forced the transport industry to spend a lot of resources on tax compliance and deposit of interstate sales tax. Monitoring and collection of sales tax at interstate check posts led to major traffic congestion at these points, resulting in slower movement of freight and passenger, and consequently higher costs and pollution. An average Indian truck covers only about 50,000-60,000 km a year as against 3 lakh km done by a truck in US.

The unified tax regime has obviated the need for inter state check posts. This will result in reducing the travel time of long haul trucks and other cargo vehicles by at least one-fifth. This, coupled with the proposed E-way bill that will require online registration for movement of goods worth more than Rs. 50,000, will ease the movement of freight further, and bring in more transparency in the whole process. Efficient freight movement will also boost the demand for high tonnage trucks, which will in turn reduce the cost of transportation of freight.

A single GST also means an optimized warehousing structure. Earlier, companies had to maintain warehouses in every state due to different taxation slabs. GST does away with the need to have a separate warehouse for every state. This means a leaner and smarter logistics chain. This will also encourage more investment in the warehousing business. Pre- GST, the statutory tax rate for most goods worked out to about 26.5%. Post GST most goods are expected to be in the 18 % tax range . India currently has very high logistics cost - about 14% of the total value of goods as against 6-8% in other major countries. GST will serve to bring down the logistics cost to about 10-12 % by facilitating efficient inter-state flow of goods and accelerating the demand for logistics services.

According to Shri Nitin Gadkari, the Minister for Road Transport & Highways and Shipping, India's logistics sector would gain the most from the Goods and Services tax as costs would fall by almost 20%. He has also said that logistics parks are being set up at various places across the country to act as freight aggregation and distribution hubs. These logistics parks will enable long haul freight movement between hubs on larger sized trucks, rail and waterways. This will not only reduce freight transportation costs, but also throw open many employment opportunities and reduce pollution levels. The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has prepared a booklet on the benefits of GST for the transport sector.

Tags : GST Benefits Transport Sector

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Press Information Bureau

25.07.2017

Civil

Pharmacopoeias and Formularies containing monographs and formulations of AYUSH drugs are being published by the Government: Shri Shripad Naik

MANU/PIBU/0877/2017

The Government has established Pharmacopoeia Commission for Indian Medicine and Homoeopathy under the Ministry of AYUSH. Prime mandate of the Pharmacopoeia Commission is to steer the work of developing quality standards of Ayurvedic, Siddha, Unani and Homoeopathic drugs and publish and revise Ayurvedic & other Pharmacopoeias, Formularies and regulatory compendia of these drugs. Pharmacopoeia Committees and Pharmacopoeia Laboratories of Indian Medicine and Homoeopathy are in place for development of respective standards and to undertake quality analysis of Ayurvedic, Siddha, Unani and Homoeopathic medicines.

National Medicinal Plants Board is established under the aegis of Ministry of AYUSH to coordinate and support cultivation, conservation, resource augmentation and sustainable development of medicinal plants for making available quality raw materials to the AYUSH drug industry. Financial assistance is provided for these activities through Central Sector Scheme and Centrally Sponsored Scheme of National AYUSH Mission and technical guidelines have been published and disseminated to promote scientific development, cultivation and harvesting of medicinal plants.

Government has published Pharmacopoeias & Formularies containing standards of drugs and Good Manufacturing Practices are prescribed under the provisions of Drugs & Cosmetics Act, 1940 and Rules, 1945, both of which are mandatory for the industry to comply in the manufacturing of Ayurvedic, Siddha, Unani and Homoeopathic medicines. Ayurvedic pharmacopoeia contains monographs of 645 single drugs and 202 compound formulations; Unani Pharmacopoeia contains monographs of 298 single drugs and 150 compound formulations; Siddha pharmacopoeia contains monographs of 139 single drugs and Homeopathic Pharmacopoeia contains 1117 monographs. Similarly, Ayurvedic Formulary contains 985 standardised formulations, Unani Formulary contains 1229 standardised formulations and Siddha Formulary contains 399 standardised formulations.

Tags : Pharmacopoeias Formularies Monographs Publication

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Press Information Bureau

25.07.2017

Civil

Mobile App for Packaged Products

MANU/PIBU/0871/2017

In the interest of consumers, the Government, in cooperation with GS-1 India, has launched a new Mobile App "Smart Consumer" in December, 2016. Using the App, the consumers can scan the bar code on the package and read the product related information including the labelling information of a packaged commodity. The size of the letters printed on pre-packaged commodities have been increased through an amendment in the Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules, 2011 vide GSR 629 dated 23rd June, 2017. The said amendment will come into force w.e.f. 1st January, 2018 to enhance consumer protection.

Tags : Mobile App Packaged Products

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Press Information Bureau

25.07.2017

Civil

National Policy on Handling Mentally ill Patients

MANU/PIBU/0868/2017

The Hon'ble Supreme Court of India vide order dated 14/02/2017 directed that the Union of India shall assist the Court, in finalizing the norms, that should be adopted in the entire country, with reference to persons who have been cured of their mental illness, but are continued to be housed in mental nursing homes/hospitals. Pursuant to the order of the Court, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare formulated the "Guidelines for discharge of 'mentally cured' or 'fit for discharge' patients from Mental Health Institutions". The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment has formulated the guidelines for "Rehabilitation of Persons who have been cured of Mental Illness" and submitted the same to the Hon'ble Supreme Court.

Tags : Policy Mentally ill Patients

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Press Information Bureau

24.07.2017

Civil

Centre Mandates Trucks with Air Conditioned Cabins for Drivers

MANU/PIBU/0846/2017

The Central Government has mandated vide its notification no G.S.R 1034(E) dated 02nd November, 2016, that with effect from 01st day of April, 2017 all goods vehicles of Category N2 and Category N3, have to be fitted with an air conditioning system for the cabin. Implementation date has been extended to 31st December, 2017 vide S.O 2056(E) dated 30.06.2017. As per the data reported by Police Department of all States/UT's during the calendar year 2015, Trucks, Tempos, MAV and Tractors caused 98,897(19.7%) road accidents and resulted in 37,458 (25.6%) deaths. Buses caused 41,832 (8.3%) road accidents and resulted in 12,133 (8.3%) deaths. However, in terms of road users killed in road accidents during the calendar year 2015, the share of users of trucks and buses were 16,611 (11.4%) and 10743 (7.4%) respectively out of 1,46,133 number of total road accident deaths in the country.

Tags : Air Conditioned Cabins Drivers Mandatory

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Press Information Bureau

24.07.2017

Civil

Measures taken to check irregularities in MGNREGA

MANU/PIBU/0852/2017

The Government today said that the launching of National Electronic Fund Management System (NeFMS) in 21 States and one UT for direct transfer of wages into workers account, eFMS, Direct Benefit Transfer, Aadhaar based payment System are among the several measures being taken to tackle issues like misappropriation of funds, corruption and other irregularities under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) from time to time. Replying to a question in the Rajya Sabha, the Minister of State for Rural Development Shri Ram Kripal Yadav said that since the responsibility of implementation of MGNREGA is rested with the State Governments, all complaints received in the Ministry are forwarded to the concerned state Governments for taking appropriate action including investigation, as per law.

The Minister said that adequate measures for assuring transparency and accountability have been built in the MGNREG Scheme. There are provisions of Social Audit, Grievance Redressal Mechanism, State Quality Monitor(SQM), National Level Monitors (NLM). Moreover, information pertaining to all transactions are in public domain (www.nrega.nic.in) and the payments to the workers are made through Bank/Post Office account. The e-Muster system has been introduced to avoid bogus attendance and to check instances of tampering and misuse of muster rolls.

Tags : Irregularities MGNREGA Measures

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Press Information Bureau

24.07.2017

Civil

Global Conventions on Child Labour

MANU/PIBU/0848/2017

After the enactment of the Child Labour (Prohibition & Regulation) Amendment Act, 2016, Government has recently ratified the International Labour Organization (ILO) Conventions No. 138 concerning minimum age for employment and No. 182 concerning prohibition and elimination of worst forms of child labour.

Sustainable Development Goal 8.7 stipulate to take immediate and effective measures to eradicate forced labour, end modern slavery and human trafficking and secure the prohibition and elimination of the worst forms of child labour, including recruitment and use of child soldiers, and by 2025 end child labour in all its forms. In order to achieve Sustainable Development Goal with respect to eradication of child labour, Government has already strengthened the legislative framework by completely prohibiting child labour upto 14 years in all forms and prohibiting employment or work of adolescent in hazardous occupations & processes. Subsequently the ratification of two core ILO Conventions regarding child labour would further strengthen the commitment of Government for effective enforcement of the provision of Child & Adolescent Labour (Prohibition & Regulation) Act, 1986.

Tags : Child Labour Convention Global

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