Press Information Bureau

13.02.2018

Law of Medicine

Medical Council of India (MCI) proposal to amend the Screening Test Regulations 2002, approved by Health Ministry

MANU/PIBU/0278/2018

A common National Entrance Exam viz. National Eligibility cum Entrance Test has been made mandatory for admission to all medical courses in the country. Indian students can also pursue medical education abroad and have to qualify a Screening Test called Foreign Medical Graduates Exam (FMGE), for registration to practice in India after obtaining primary medical qualification (MBBS) overseas. It has come to notice that medical institutions / Universities of foreign countries admit Indian students without proper assessment or screening of the students' academic ability to cope up with medical education with the result that many students fail to qualify the Screening Test.

In this regard, the proposal of Medical Council of India (MCI) to amend the Screening Test Regulations, 2002, making it mandatory to qualify NEET to pursue foreign medical course has been approved by this Ministry.

Thus, the Indian Citizens / Overseas Citizen of India intending to obtain primary medical qualification from any medical institution outside India, on or after May 2018, shall have to mandatorily qualify the NEET for admission to MBBS course abroad. The result of NEET shall be deemed to be treated as the Eligibility Certificate for such persons, provided that such persons fulfils the eligibility criteria for admission to the MBBS course prescribed in the Regulations on Graduate Medical Education, 1997.

Tags : Proposal Amendment Screening Test Regulations

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Press Information Bureau

13.02.2018

Commercial

Reclassification of MSMEs will help manufacturing: Textiles Minister

MANU/PIBU/0283/2018

Minister of Textiles Smriti Zubin Irani said that reclassification of MSMEs and 5 percent reduction in tax on annual turnover of companies up to Rs. 250 crore will help manufacturing and increase employability in textiles sector. Briefing media here today she said increase in customs duty on silk and manmade fibre will discourage cheap Chinese textile products from flooding the market and benefit domestic manufacturers in the power loom sector.

Of the Rs. 6000 crore special package, which was announced in 2016, for the textiles sector, Rs. 1800 crore have already been released and Rs. 300 crore will be released during the current financial year, the Minister informed. She also spoke about 100 % increase in allocation for skill development in Textiles sector. The correction in the GST rates on hand made and machine made garments has created ease of doing business in these sectors, the Minister said. GST rate has been reduced on yarn from 18% to 12% and GST on job work has been brought down from 18% to 5%. Support for merchandise scheme has been enhanced from 2% to 5% for the apparel sector. Smt. Irani attributed 16 percent growth in apparel sector to the effective implementation of subsidy schemes. Rs.138 crore has been disbursed to 28000 weavers as Mudra loan and 1.8 lakh garment workers have formally joined Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO).

The Minister further said that the second round of Hastkala Shivirs will be organised in different parts of the country with special focus on North East region from 19th to 24th of this month. She has also written to Members of Parliament to actively participate in these camps in order to encourage weavers. The Textiles Minister along with senior officials of the Ministry will be a part of these camps. In the first round, 394 camps were held in 247 districts across the country from 7th to 17th of October last year.

Tags : Reclassification MSMEs Manufacturing

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Press Information Bureau

13.02.2018

Civil

Government of India makes Amendments in Small Savings Act

MANU/PIBU/0285/2018

The Government gives highest priority to the interest of small savers, especially savings for the benefit of girl child, the senior citizens and the regular savers who form the backbone of our country's savings architecture. In order to remove existing ambiguities due to multiple Acts and rules for Small Saving Schemes and further strengthen the objective of "Minimum Government, Maximum Governance", Government of India has proposed merger of Government Savings Certificates Act, 1959 and Public Provident Fund Act, 1968 with the Government Savings Banks Act, 1873. With a single act, relevant provisions of the Government Savings Certificates (NSC) Act, 1959 and the Public Provident Fund Act, 1968 would stand subsumed in the new amended Act without compromising on any of the functional provision of the existing Act.

All existing protections have been retained while consolidating PPF Act under the proposed Government Savings Promotion Act. No existing benefits to depositors are proposed to be taken away through this process. The main objective in proposing a common Act is to make implementation easier for the depositors as they need not go through different rules and Acts for understanding the provision of various small saving schemes, and also to introduce certain flexibilities for the investors.

However, concerns have been raised from different corners and also by print and social media that the Government aims to bring down the protection against the attachment of Public Provident Fund Account under any decree or order of any court in respect of any debt or liability incurred by the depositors. It is made clear that there is no proposal to withdraw the said provision and the existing and future depositors will continue to enjoy protection from the attachment under the amended umbrella Act as well.

Apart from ensuring existing benefits, certain new benefits to the depositors have been proposed under the bill. These are:

As per PPF Act, the PPF account can't be closed prematurely before completion of five financial years. If depositor wants to close PPF account before five years in exigencies, he can't close the account. To make provisions for premature closure easier in respect of all schemes, provisions could now be made through specific scheme notification. The benefits of premature closure of Small Savings Schemes may now be introduced to deal with medical emergencies, higher education needs, etc.

Investment in Small Savings Schemes can be made by Guardian on behalf of minor(s) under the provisions made in the proposed bill Guardian may also be given associated rights and responsibilities.

There was no clear provision earlier regarding deposit by minors in the existing Acts. The provision has been made now to promote culture of savings among children.

There were no clear provisions in all the three Acts for the operation of accounts in the name of physically infirm and differently abled persons. Provisions in this regard have now been made.

As per existing provisions of the Acts, if depositor dies and nomination exists, the outstanding balances will be paid to nominee(s). Whereas, Hon'ble Supreme Court in its judgement stated that nominee(s) is merely empowered to collect the amounts as Trustee for the benefit of legal heirs. It was creating disputes between the provisions of the Acts and verdict of Supreme Court. Hence, right of nominees have now been more clearly defined.

In the existing Acts, there is no provision for nomination with regard to account opened in the name of minor. Further, existing Acts say that if account holder dies and there is no nomination and amount is more than prescribed limit, the amount shall be paid to legal heirs. In this case, the guardian has to obtain succession certificate. To remove this inconvenience, provisions for nomination with regard to account opened in the name of minors have been incorporated. Further the provision has been made that if the minor dies and there is no nomination, the balances shall be paid to guardian.

The existing Acts are silent about grievance redressal. The amended Act allows the Government to put in place mechanism for redressal of grievances and for amicable and expeditious settlement of disputes relating to Small Savings.

The above provisions which are proposed to be incorporated in the amended Act will add to the flexibility in operation of the Account under Small Savings Schemes.

Apart from offering higher interest rates compared to bank deposits, some of the small savings schemes also enjoy income tax benefits. No change in interest rate or tax policy on small savings scheme is being made through this amendment.

Apprehension that certain Small Savings Schemes would be closed is also without basis.

Tags : Amendments Enactment Small Savings

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Press Information Bureau

13.02.2018

Civil

Ministry of Textiles Special Focus on The North East Region

MANU/PIBU/0286/2018

Development and modernization of the textile sector in the North Eastern states is being given the highest priority by the Ministry of Textiles said Smriti Zubin Irani, Union Minister of Textiles, today. This will create more jobs, especially for women of that region and also lead to enhancement of the infrastructure of North Eastern states like roads, power, water supply and construction of offices.

There are 23.77 lakh hand looms in the country of which 16.47 lakh hand looms (69.28%) are in the North East region as per the handloom census of 2009-10.

Twenty-one ready-made garment manufacturing units are fully operational in the 7 states of the North East: Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Mizoram and Tripura. These units have given a boost to the textile industry in the North East and has seen an increase in the export of ready-made garments from the North East Region. Rs. 690 crore has been utilised for the development of sericulture in the region.

Three factories have become fully operational in each of the 7 states in a record time of 2 years. Each factory employs around 1200 people, mainly women. The factories are owned by local entrepreneurs and agencies like the Clothing Manufacturers Association of India, Arvind Mills and Apparel Export Promotion Council are placing orders of ready-made garments with these units. The specific objectives of the Ministry is to increase the value of textile production, technological up-gradation, improvement in capability, better access to domestic markets and clusterization.

The Textile Ministry has provided Rs.18 crore fund to each ready-made garment manufacturing unit called "Apparel Garment Unit" (AGU). The National Building Construction Corporation has constructed the units in theses 7 states. The garments manufactured here are being exported not only to other parts of the country but also to neighbouring countries as some North East states have trade ties with Bangladesh and Myanmar. The states government provided 1.5 acres land to set-up the units.

Tags : Focus Region North-east

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Press Information Bureau

13.02.2018

Civil

Skill India Initiative by Ministry of Railways - Training of Apprentices, Targets training of 30 thousand Apprentices in its 16 Zonal Units and 7 Production Units

MANU/PIBU/0282/2018

As part of Skill India initiative, Ministry of Railways has been contributing in a big way to provide training to Apprentices in various disciplines training in categories like Fitter, Turner, Machinist, Welder, Painter, Carpenter, Electrician, Refrigerator and AC Mechanic, Mechanic (Motor Vehicle/Diesel) etc., since long. Ministry of Railways has kept a target of training of 30 thousand Apprentices in its 16 Zonal Units and 7 Production Units.

For the year 2017-18, about 26,000 training slots for Apprenticeship training have been notified. This is in addition to over 4000 persons already undergoing training in various establishments. An Employment Notification has been issued earlier in the week for recruitment of 62,907 staff in Level 1 pay scale and out of these, apprentices trained in Railway establishments will be given preference to the tune of over 12,000 vacancies which is in line with the recent amendments made in the Apprentices Act, 1961.

With a large set up of Workshops and Production Units, Indian Railways has been in the forefront of implementation of the Apprentices Act, 1961. Railway Workshops have been imparting Apprentices. A large number of Apprentices were turned out from these Workshops and Production Units every year who were certified and granted the NCVT (National Council for Vocational Training) Certificate, making them employable for jobs in industry as well as for posts in Railways. In this way, the Indian Railways is contributing to Skill India.

Railway recognizes that skill development of the labour force is an important component of development of Human Resources. It is crucial for the industrial development of the country. Skill training imparted through formal institutions alone is not sufficient to make the labour force fully skilled. This needs to be supplemented by training in the actual work place.

Apprentices' Training consists of Basic Training and On-the-Job Training/Practical Training at workplace. Basic training is an essential component of apprenticeship training for those who have not undergone any institutional training/skill before taking up on-the-job training/practical training. It counts for 20-30% of overall duration of Apprenticeship Training. The component of on-the-job training is performed and undertaken in the establishment itself.

Tags : Initiative skill India Training

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Press Information Bureau

13.02.2018

Civil

Annual Assessment of Liveability Standards in Cities - An ambitious national project

MANU/PIBU/0280/2018

Shri Hardeep Puri, Minister of State (I/C) for Housing & Urban Affairs has informed that his Ministry has planned to conduct an 'Annual Assessment of Liveability Standards in Cities - an ambitious national project what will involve yearly survey and compilation of a large number of datasets across the various indicators, analysis of such datasets, development of indexes and ranking of cities and hoped that the implementation of this framework will help cities to understand their baseline and pursue tangible outcomes over time. He was inaugurating a National Orientation Workshop on Assessment of Liveability Indices for 116 Cities in India organized here today.

Shri Durga Shankar Mishra, Secretary, Dr. Sameer Sharma, Additional Secretary, State Principal Secretaries/Mission Directors, Municipal Commissioners of cities selected for liveability index and CEOs of Smart City SPVs, representatives of multi-lateral/bilateral agencies were also present at the Workshop.

Addressing the participants, the Minister said that the purpose of this Workshop is to make the States and Cities understand the complete process for assessment of liveability indices by the selected agency and deliberate on various issues and get feedback on the proposed methodology.

The Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs has developed a set of liveability standards in cities which was launched in June 2017 with an objective of developing these standards to generate a liveability index and rate cities against these standards to facilitate a competitive environment amongst cities and result in systematic improvement in the quality of life of citizens. All these standards are also strongly linked to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The assessment of liveability standards will help India to track and achieve these SDGs. These indicators have been adapted from various national/international indicator sets and service level benchmarks and after extensive consultations with State/City Governments, citizen through MyGov portal and peer review by sector experts. There are 79 indicators that have been organized in 15 distinct 'Categories' covering aspects such as Governance, Health and Education, Safety, Identity and Culture, Economy, Pollution, Mixed Land Use and Compactness, Open Spaces, Urban Mobility and various Core Urban Services, and contribute to the 4 essential pillars of comprehensive development namely: Institutional, Social, Economic and Physical.

During the course of the Workshop, Ms. Trisha Suresh, Senior Consultant at the Economist Intelligence Unit presented EIU's experience in undertaking liveability rankings globally and specifically outline how this has been leveraged by cities for planning and management. Ms. Deepa Karthykeyan, Director, Athena Infonomics presented the approach for the liveability assessment of the 116 Indian cities. She explained the key categories of the indicators, the associated weightages and the formula for calculating the rankings (Ex: relative vs absolute benchmarks, city categories based on population, core vs supporting indicators etc.).

The Session on Liveability Indicators, Data Sources and Collection Strategies focused on delving into every one of the 79 metrics, helping acquaint the city with the definition of the metrics and provide information on potential data sources. Immediate feedback will be sought on each metric through an audience response system on the availability of data to support the metric and on the city's level of comfort in terms of definitional clarity. The presentation focussed on the role that citizen perception and primary surveys is likely to play in informing the index calculation and the audit protocols associated with every data input provided by the city.

Tags : Project Yearly Survey Ranking Cities

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Press Information Bureau

12.02.2018

Civil

Women Government employees commissioning Surrogacy to get maternity leave: Dr Jitendra Singh

MANU/PIBU/0274/2018

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 said that the women Government employees who have commissioned surrogacy will now be entitled to maternity leave. He also said that divorced daughter will be eligible for family pension if divorce case has been filed before the death of pensioner/family pensioner, even though the judgment has been passed after the death of the pensioner/family pensioner. He was briefing media at a press conference organised by the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, here today. He also announced that Constant Attendant Allowance on disability pension has been increased from Rs 4,500 per month to Rs 6,750 per month. The Minister said that these are the revolutionary steps forward and will promote gender equality and provide equal financial benefit to women. These are not only financial reforms, but also social reforms keeping in mind the futuristic society, he added.

Briefing the media, Dr Jitendra Singh said that the emphasis of the Government led by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has been on the welfare of weaker sections. The focus of the Budget this year has been on the senior citizens, he added. The Minister also highlighted other initiatives of the Government such as Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana, Start up India, Stand up India and Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yoajna. Various achievements of DoPT were highlighted on the occasion e.g. electronic-Human Resource Management System (e-HRMS) launched on Good Governance Day i.e. 25th December, 2017, launching of Online System for Monitoring of Disciplinary Proceedings launched for expediting the proceedings against government employees involved in corruption cases and Certificates of Excellence for RTI Request & Appeals Management Information System in various categories, among others.

Secretary (DoPT), Shri Ajay Mittal, Secretary, DARPG & Pensions, Shri K V Eapen and senior officers of the Ministry of Personnel were also present on the occasion.

Tags : Employees Surrogacy Maternity leave

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Telecom Regulatory Authority of India

12.02.2018

Media and Communication

Telecom Regulatroy Authrority of India "Trai Conducts Consumer Outreach Programme"

MANU/TRAI/0026/2018

One of the important objectives of TRAI is to create awareness and safeguard consumer interests. Towards this objective, TRAI organizes consumer outreach programmes, regional workshops on capacity building of Consumer Advocacy Groups (CAGs) registered with TRAI and seminars on issues of consumer interest and protection. In this series, TRAI organized a dedicated Consumer Outreach Programme (CoP) on 7th February, 2018 at National Law University (NLU), Dwarka, Delhi to educate the student community about various initiatives taken by TRAI to safeguard consumer interests. Besides students and faculty of NLU, representatives of telecom service providers participated in the programme.

2. Dr. Sushila, Assistant Professor, NLU, Delhi welcomed the participants to the CoP and impressed upon the need for protection and promotion of consumer rights. She thanked TRAI for its initiative to reach out to student community and make them aware of their rights granted as a telecom consumer.

3.TRAI officers made a presentation on various aspects of consumer centric regulations including Mobile Data Services, Value Added Services (VAS), Unsolicited Commercial Communications (UCC), Mobile Number Portability (MNP), Complaint Redressal Mechanisms of TSPs, benefits of Mobile Apps viz TRAI Myspeed, TRAI My Call, DND 2.0 developed by TRAI. Faculty and students were also briefed on various recommendations of TRAI viz. Net Neutrality, In Flight Connectivity, Cloud computing etc. The presentation was followed by a lively interactive session wherein students raised questions related to various aspects of telecom services which were suitably responded to by TRAI team lead by Advisor (CA&IT). Faculty and students were also requested to participate in the TRAI's consultative process actively and become a part of policy making process.

Tags : Programme Awareness Consumer interest

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