Notifications & Circulars

Press Information Bureau

13.06.2018

Civil

Cabinet approves MoU between India and Viet Nam on Joint issue of postage stamp

MANU/PIBU/0946/2018

The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has been apprised of the joint issue of a postage stamp between Department of Posts and Viet Nam Post. Department of Posts, Ministry of Communications and Viet Nara Post mutually agreed to jointly issue Postage Stamps on India-Viet Nam: Joint Issue on the theme "Ancient Architecture". The joint stamps were released on 25-01-2018. The Commemorative Postage Stamps on India-Viet Nam: Joint Issue depicts Sanchi Stupa of India and Pho Minh Pagoda of Viet Nam. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between postal administrations of India and Viet Nam for this joint issue on 18-12-2017.

Tags : MoU Approval Postage stamp Joint issue

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Press Information Bureau

13.06.2018

Civil

Cabinet approves Repositioning of North Eastern Council

MANU/PIBU/0947/2018

The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved the proposal of Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) for the nomination of the Union Home Minister as ex-officio Chairman of North Eastern Council (NEC) - a statutory body with Governors and Chief Ministers of all the eight North Eastern States as its Member. The Cabinet also approved that Minister of State (Independent Charge), Ministry of DoNER would serve as Vice Chairman of the Council.

Impact:

NEC implements various projects through the State and Central agencies. Under the new arrangement with Home Minister as Chairman and Minister of DoNER as Vice Chairman, NEC and all the Governors and Chief Ministers of North Eastern States as Member would provide a forum for discussing inter-state matters more comprehensively and also consider common approaches to be taken in future.

NEC can now also perform the tasks undertaken by the various Zonal Councils to discuss such inter-State issues as drug trafficking, smuggling of arms and ammunition, boundary disputes etc.

This repositioning of NEC will help it to become a more effective body for the North Eastern Region.

The Council shall, from time to time, review the implementation of the projects/schemes included in the project; recommend effective measures for coordination among the state Governments for these projects etc. The Council shall have such powers as may be delegated to it by the Central Government.

Background:

NEC was established under the North Eastern Council Act, 1971 as an apex level body for securing balanced and coordinated development and facilitating coordination with the States. Subsequent to the Amendment of 2002, NEC has been mandated to function as a regional planning body for the North Eastern Area and while formulating a regional plan for this area, shall give priority to the schemes and projects benefiting two or more states provided that in the case of Sikkim, the Council shall formulate specific projects and schemes for that State.

Tags : Repositioning Council Approval

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Press Information Bureau

12.06.2018

Goods and Services Tax

Extension of Special Refund Fortnight till 16.6.2018

MANU/PIBU/0943/2018

The Government has launched the second "Special Drive Refund Fortnight "from 31.5.2018 to 14.6.2018. During the first Refund Fortnight from 15th to 29th March an amount of Rs.5350 crore was sanctioned and during this fortnight over Rs. 7500 crore has been sanctioned. In view of overwhelming response from exporters and pending claims, the period of Refund fortnight is being extended by two more days i.e up to 16th June, 2018.

All exporters whose refunds have been held up on account of short payment are required to make the payment of IGST equal to short payment and follow the instructions of Circular No.12/2018-Customs dated 29.5.2018.

In IGST short payment cases, small exporters whose aggregate IGST refund amount for the period July, 2017 to March, 2018 is upto Rs. 10 Lakhs are required to submit self-certified copies of proof of payment of IGST to the concerned Customs office at the port of export. Others are required to submit a certificate from a Chartered Accountant including the proof of payment.

All GST refund claimants, whose claims are still pending, are being encouraged to approach their jurisdictional Tax Authority for disposal of their refund claims submitted on or before 30.04.2018. In case the jurisdiction (i.e. Centre or State) has not been defined for a particular claimant, he/she can approach either of the jurisdictional tax authorities.

All claimants may note the refund application in FORM GST RFD-01A will not be processed unless a copy of the application, along with all supporting documents, is submitted to the jurisdictional tax office. Mere online submission is not sufficient.

All IGST refund claimants may register on ICEGATE website, if not already done, to check their refund status. Customs field formations have been informed about the extension of the Refund Drive. Exporters are requested to make the best of this extended drive and avail of the opportunity to get the refunds sanctioned during this special drive. In case of any problem, exporters are advised to approach the Commissioner of Customs /Jurisdictional Tax Authorities. The Government is committed to clear all the remaining refund claims filed upto 30.04.2018 are still pending.

Tags : Refund Extension IGST

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Reserve Bank of India

12.06.2018

Banking

RBI cautions job aspirants on 'Recruitment related communication received from sources other than the RBI website'

MANU/RPRL/0052/2018

It has come to the notice of the Bank that certain unscrupulous persons posing as RBI officials are sending electronic communication through fake email addresses and false letterheads, advising job aspirants to appear for tests/ interviews/ interactive sessions purportedly as a part of the recruitment exercise for appointment in the RBI. RBI clarifies that all recruitment related information, viz., advertisement, procedure for submitting application, schedule of examination, list of examination centers, admit card, result, etc. is disseminated only through the RBI website https://www.rbi.org.in. The members of public are, therefore, cautioned against entertaining and falling prey to such communication received from other sources, on matters related to recruitment in the RBI.

Tags : Job aspirants Caution Communication

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Press Information Bureau

12.06.2018

Commercial

Release of Request for Qualification (RFQ) for Technology Transfer of Lithium-ion Cell by ISRO to Indian Industries

MANU/PIBU/0944/2018

One of the major Centres of ISRO, Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), is offering to transfer the in-house developed Li-ion cell technology to competent Indian Industries on non-exclusive basis to establish Li-ion cell production facilities in the country.

This initiative is expected to enable Zero Emission Policy of India and accelerate the development of indigenous electric vehicle industry.

Towards the transfer of Li-ion cell technology, an RFQ to qualify and shortlist suitable industries in India is available in VSSC, ISRO and NITI Aayog websites.

Interested parties may please visit any of the following websites for more details.

1. www.vssc.gov.in

2. www.isro.gov.in

3. www.niti.gov.in

Tags : Technology Transfer Request Release

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Press Information Bureau

11.06.2018

Civil

Smart City Centers helping in improved and efficient delivery of public services: Puri Consultative committee meeting held in Surat

MANU/PIBU/0941/2018

Shri Hardeep S Puri, Minister of State(I/C) for Housing & Urban Affairs has stated that Smart City Center project is a unique component of the Smart City Mission which is helping in improved and efficient delivery of public services. He was speaking while chairing the Consultative Committee meeting attached to the Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs held at Surat on 8th June, 2018. Shri K.R.P. Prabhakaran, MP-LS, Shri Raghav Lakhanpal, MP-LS, Shri Rattan Lal Kataria, MP-LS, Shri Santokh Singh Chaudhary, MP-LS, Shri Durga Shankar Mishra, Secretary and senior officers of the M/o HUA attended the meeting.

During the meeting presentations were made by the CEO/representatives of Smart cities from Surat, Bhopal, Ahmedabad, Pune, Visakhapatnam, NDMC & Bhubaneshwar. The presentations showcased the progress made by projects in various sectors like Smart class rooms (Visakhapatnam & NDMC), Social Equity Centre (Bhubaneshwar), Mayor's Express (Bhopal), Disaster resilience mechanism adopted in smart cities located in coastal areas etc. The members of Consultative Committee were also shown some of the projects in Surat Smart City like Bamroli Tertiary Treatment Plan, Althan Water Treatment Plant, Visible Improvement of area-Smart Road, Affordable Housing projects, Vertical Garden, BRTS (Gujarat Gas Circle), Surat Fort and SMAC Centre.

Currently nine Integrated Control and Command Centre at Ahmedabad, Kakinada, Visakhapatnam, Nagpur, Pune, Rajkot, Surat, Vadodara and Bhopal have become operational. Sh. Puri said that it has been observed that the cities are becoming cleaner due to monitoring of cleaning work through CCTV cameras leading to reduction in instances of thrown garbage, littering, urination in public and nighttime burning of garbage while increase in traffic challans issuance indicates an orientation for better traffic discipline. He further informed that Intelligent Transit Management System has helped Ahmedabad to improve its operational efficiency by reducing its operational cost while improving the service levels. He further said that Smart City Centers are also providing technological support in ensuring better safety of women on our streets, environment sensitivity of people, faster response and better preparedness for emergencies and disasters.

During the course of the meeting, the Minister further informed that around 1350 projects worth Rs. 50,000 crore have been tendered in the Smart City Mission, of which work has begun or has been completed in 950 projects costing Rs. 30,675 crore. Another 400 projects costing about Rs. 20,000 crore are at tendering stage. Other projects being implemented in the mission are Smart Roads which optimize the utilization of space and are adding universal accessibility in 31 cities. 47 cities are implementing more than 120 MW of solar projects promoting cleaner energy. Development of public spaces like riverfront, water fronts, rejuvenation of city lakes and ponds are a priority of the mission, he said. One innovative feature of the mission, is that our municipal bodies need to leverage their financial resources by municipal bonds, value capture finance, PPP, multi-lateral loans etc. It is noteworthy that 98 projects costing Rs. 6,000 crore are under implementation with Public Private Partnership (PPP). PPP projects are getting good responses not only in the big cities but even in the smaller towns.

Dwelling on the way forward, the Minister informed that making Urban Local Bodies financially self-sufficient is very important for sustainable development. The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has also started a campaign to do the credit rating of cities, which has been completed in 412 cities. He informed that 155 cities have "investment grade".

Tags : Centers Delivery Public services

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Reserve Bank of India

11.06.2018

Banking

RBI releases draft guidelines on Loan System for Delivery of Bank Credit

MANU/RPRL/0051/2018

The Reserve Bank of India today released draft guidelines on loan system for delivery of bank credit which stipulate a minimum level of 'loan component' in fund based working capital finance and a mandatory Credit Conversion Factor (CCF) for the undrawn portion of cash credit/ overdraft limits availed by large borrowers, with a view to enhancing credit discipline among large borrowers.

Banks provide working capital finance by way of cash credit/overdraft, working capital demand loan, purchase/discount of bills, bank guarantee, letter of credit, factoring, etc. Cash credit (CC) is by far the most popular mode of working capital financing. While CC has its benefits, it also poses several regulatory challenges such as perpetual roll overs, transmission of liquidity management from the borrowers to banks/RBI, hampering of smooth transmission of monetary policy, etc.

Comments on the draft guidelines are invited from banks and other stakeholders by June 26, 2018. The Comments/Feedback on the draft guidelines may be forwarded to:

The Chief General Manager in-Charge, Reserve Bank of India

Department of Banking Regulation

12th Floor, Main Building

Shahid Bhagat Singh Marg,

Mumbai - 400001

Or by email with subject line "Feedback on draft guidelines on Loan System for Delivery of Bank Credit" on the email.

Tags : Guidelines Release Loan System

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Press Information Bureau

11.06.2018

Labour and Industrial

Government Takes Measures to Bring More Transparency In Employment Related Data Releases

MANU/PIBU/0942/2018

Government has taken measures in recent past to bring in more transparency in data releases. It would like to present a proper perspective on these issues so that the end users and public at large become aware of the processes involved in generation of these estimates.

Labour Bureau conducts two major surveys on employment scenario i.e Annual Employment-Unemployment Survey (EUS) and Quarterly Employment Survey. So far, five Annual Employment-Unemployment Surveys have been conducted by Labour Bureau and reports on all five surveys have been released. The field work of Sixth Annual Employment Unemployment Survey (2016-17) has been completed and data entry validation work is in progress. The report pertaining to 6th Annual EUS is to be completed by September, 2018.

On the recommendations of Task Force on Employment, chaired by Dr. Arvind Panagariya, the then Vice-Chairman of NITI Aayog the Annual Employment Unemployment Survey has been replaced by Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) being conducted by Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation (MoSPI). The Periodic Labour Force Survey would not only have annual data on employment-unemployment on rural sector but will also have quarterly data on employment-unemployment on urban sector based on larger sample size. Therefore, the corresponding AEUS data set would be comparable.

The Quarterly Employment survey (New Series) is an enterprise based survey, carried out with an objective to measure relative change in employment situation over successive quarters for the establishments having 10 or more workers. The QES has several limitations and some of the important ones include i.e (i) enterprise data of the 6th Economic Census (January, 2013 - April, 2014), therefore, does not include the new units which have been added after April 2014 and (ii) takes into account the enterprise having more than 10 workers and does not cover employment in establishments having less than 10 workers. As a result, the QES effectively, captures the employment size of about 2.40 crore workers only as against the total workforce of about 47 crore.

Therefore, the Government has constituted a Technical Committee under the Chairmanship of former Chief Statistician Prof. T.C.A Anant to look into the above aspects and submit its report at the earliest.

The Employees Provident fund Organization (EPFO), a statutory organization under Ministry of Labour & Employment has commenced releasing of payroll data on monthly basis. Under Pradhan Mantri Rojgar Protsahan Yojana, 46.36 lakh new employees covering 58,400 establishments have been enrolled under PMRPY and an amount of Rs. 855 crore has been spent.

Tags : Measures Transparency Employment Data Releases

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