Notifications & Circulars

Press Information Bureau

08.08.2018

Civil

Government E-Marketplace (Gem) Completes 2 Years

MANU/PIBU/1236/2018

Government e-Marketplace (GeM), the National Public Procurement Portal, will turn 2 years old tomorrow. It was launched on 9th August 2016, with the objective of creating an open, transparent and efficient procurement platform for government. Over its short journey, GeM has achieved many significant milestones. Some of these are:

GeM has grossed over Rs. 10,000 Crores in Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) through more than 6.16 Lacs transactions on the platform.

GeM has made over 4.2 lakh products available on its platform through a network of over 1.3 lakh sellers and service providers.

These products and services are being bought by over 25,000 government organisations (Central, State Governments and PSUs) registered on the platform

More than 40% of transactions by volume are done with MSMEs registered on the platform

Buyers from across 36 States & Union Territories (UTs) are buying on the platform. 24 States & UTs have signed a formal MoU with GeM to adopt GeM as the core procurement portal in their respective territories.

Average savings of 25% achieved across transactions on the platform

Integration with Aadhaar, Udyog Aadhaar, Ministry of Corporate Affairs 21 (MCA21), Public Financial Management System (PFMS), PAN, GSTN, Controller General of Defence Accounts (CGDA) and Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) empaneled rating agencies for robust registration process

Training of over 40 thousand buyers and sellers has been conducted across 28 States & UTs to enable them to seamlessly operate the platform

MoUs have been signed with 8 banks for payment integration (State GeM Pool Account-SGPA, Electronic Performance Bank Guarantee-ePBG, Electronic Earnest Money Deposit-eEMD) to facilitate a cashless contact less and paperless payments system on the platform.

MoU signed with MSME ministry, Common Service Centers (CSC) and industrial associations (Confederation of Indian Industry-CII, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry-FICCI, PHD Chamber of Commerce & Industry, IIA) for facilitating training, capacity building and on boarding of manufactures and vendors across the country.

Integration with Quality Council of India ( QCI) for ensuring quality compliances of the products and services offered through GeM

The platform supports many best-in-class features and functionalities to encourage and support buyers and sellers. Some of these include:

Robust catalogue management with well-defined data types for standardized seller and buyer experience.

Improved, powerful search engine with advanced filters and functionalities for seamless discovery and enabling procurement policy related guidelines.

Multi source, real time price comparison to enable informed decision making through price discovery for buyers.

Multi-cart functionality and market based bunching of products to enable time efficient buying.

Support for multiple languages to enhance openness and usability of the platform.

Advanced analytics to improve availability of rich, automated information.

Integration of demand aggregation to enable realization of greater savings for buyers.

Ratings for sellers and buyers based on performance on GeM portal.

Bunching of products to enable buyers to make easy & seamless procurement.

State Government Pool Account (SGPA) is opened and operationalized by Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. Chhattisgarh and Himachal Pradesh have notified SGPA and are in the process of opening accounts.

Customized dashboards created and communicated to all senior officers in Government of India (Secretary and Additional Secretary &Financial Advisor/Joint Secretary & Financial Advisor) and State Governments.

Rich BI using advanced analytical tools available to all GeM users.

Bids for services now enabled on the platform.

Automation of exemptions provided for Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSME), Startups through integration with Udyog Aadhar/Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion.

GeM is an end-to-end, one stop online marketplace for Central and State Government Ministries and Departments, Central & State Public Sector Undertakings (CPSUs & SPSUs), autonomous institutions and local bodies for procurement of common use Goods & Services.

Tags : E-Marketplace Completion 2 Years

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Telecom Regulatory Authority of India

08.08.2018

Media and Communication

Release of user-centric views of TRAI website and unified Mobile-apps

MANU/TRAI/0099/2018

TRAI has been striving to make the information available to the stakeholders in a transparent and easily accessible way. TRAI's website. is accessed by various stakeholders namely consumers, service providers, researchers, consultants etc. within and outside the country.

With a view to make TRAI website more friendly to the users and to enrich the browsing experience of stakeholders, a need is felt to customised it for 4 broad category of users i.e. consumers, service providers, researcher/students and consultants. This will be in addition to the existing format. Accordingly on TRAI website four new optional views has been created. These are Consumer view, Service providers view, Researcher/student view, Start up/consultant view. This can be seen at TRAI website.

Apart from above, presently TRAI has three mobile apps namely 'DND 2.0', 'TRAI MySpeed', 'MyCall' app. The 'DND 2.0' app facilitates the consumers an easy way to register their number in DND registry and to complaints against unsolicited messages or calls. 'TRAI MySpeed' app allows the consumers to measure data speeds and crowdsource to TRAI, thus enabling TRAI to know the user experience of mobile speeds directly from the consumers. 'MyCall' App allows consumers to give feedback on the Call quality and TRAI receives the crowdsourced data and monitors the Quality of Service. Corresponding to MySpeed and MyCall data, TRAI has developed analytics dashboards. The same can be seen on analytics portals of TRAI.

With a view to bring all three TRAI apps on single platform, TRAI has launched an app namely 'TRAI Apps' on Google Play store. This one app has wrapped all the three TRAI mobile apps under the name `TRAI Apps'.

Tags : User-centric views Release Unified Mobile-apps

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Ministry of Finance

08.08.2018

Customs

Standard operating procedures for discharge of bonds executed by nominated agencies/banks under Notification No. 57/2000-Customs dated 08.05.2000

MANU/CUCR/0025/2018

1.References have been received from the exporter associations that there is an inordinate delay in release of bonds executed by the nominated agencies/banks under Notification no. 57/2000-Customs dated 08.05.2000, while importing gold for the purpose of export of gold jewellery/articles. Accordingly, the matter was examined and the reports received from the field formations confirm that there is indeed a large pendency of subject bonds.

2. In the aforementioned background, in the interest of trade facilitation, it has been decided that following standard operating procedure will henceforth be followed for the expeditious discharge of the said bonds.

(i) Nominated agencies/banks would electronically provide the prescribed documents as proof of exports as provided under Para 4.68 of Handbook of Procedures of the Foreign Trade Policy, (2015-20) (FTP) within the time period prescribed in the FTP. These documents are (i) EP copy of shipping bill, (ii) Customs attested invoice, (iii) Bank certificate of realization/eBRC.

(ii) The prescribed documents would be submitted electronically by the nominated agencies/banks to the Assistant/Deputy Commissioner of Customs using dedicated e-mail. For this purpose suitable Trade Notice specifying the said e-mail address shall be issued by the Commissioners. The e-mail may also be displayed in the public domain on the website of the field formation concerned.

(iii) The concerned officer i.e. Assistant/Deputy Commissioner of Customs would issue an electronic acknowledgement immediately within 24 hours of receipt of the documents.

(iv) If the submitted documents are found to be incomplete or additional documents are required, a deficiency memo would be issued to the nominated agency/banks for submission of missing/additional documents within 5 days of receipt of the documents.

(v) The additional documents, other than the prescribed documents, would be requisitioned only with the prior approval of the Additional Commissioner of Customs concerned.

(vi) Nominated agencies/banks would electronically provide the deficient/additional documents so required within 7 days of the receipt of the deficiency memo.

(vii) Within 7 days of the receipt of the prescribed documents or the receipt of the deficient/additional documents, as the case may be, the Assistant/Deputy Commissioner of Customs would confirm the fact of export. This can also be done by viewing the relevant documents on the ICES application of Directorate General of Systems (invoices would be available thereon once e-Sanchit is rolled out on the export side).

(viii) Assistant/Deputy Commissioner would discharge the bond of nominated agency/banks within 7 days of confirmation of the export.

3. A concerted drive may be started for the discharge of the pending bonds as it is seen that a large number of bonds are pending release. The pendency of bonds needs to be cleared within 2 months. A report regarding the discharge of the bonds may be submitted by 05.10.2018 through e-mail at dgep-dor@nic.in

4. Difficulties, if any, may be brought to the notice of the Board.

Tags : Bonds Discharge Procedure

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Ministry of Commerce and Industry

06.08.2018

Commercial

Oral Hearing in respect of anti-circumvention in respect of anti-dumping duty imposed on the imports of "Jute Sacking Bags/Sacking Cloth" in originated or exported from Bangladesh

MANU/COMM/0169/2018

1.With reference to the subject stated above, this is to inform you that Shri Sunil Kumar, Additional Secretary & Designated Authority will hold an Oral Hearing on 28th August, 2018 at 04:30 PM in the DGTR Conference Room, Jeevan Tara Building, 4th floor, 5, Parliament Street, New Delhi - 110001.

2. Please intimate your interest in this hearing and name(s), address(es), E-mail Id(s) and phone number of the person(s) who are likely to attend the hearing on your behalf. No person other than those representing the interested party shall be allowed to attend the hearing. You will be required to submit three copies of the written submissions of the views expressed at the hearing within a time schedule to be indicated on the date of the hearing.

Tags : Anti-circumvention Oral Hearing Imports

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Press Information Bureau

06.08.2018

Civil

New Defence Production Policy

MANU/PIBU/1210/2018

In the Budget Speech 2018, Government has announced that it will bring out an industry friendly Defence Production Policy 2018 to promote domestic production by public sector, private sector and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). Consequent to this, a draft Defence Production Policy 2018 has been prepared which provides a focused, structured and significant thrust to development of defence design and production capabilities in the country. The draft policy has been shared with all concerned stakeholders for their views before notification.

The salient features of the Draft Policy which is already placed in public domain for consultation with stakeholders is as follows:

Creation of a dynamic, robust and competitive defence and aerospace industry as an important part of the 'Make in India' initiative.

Creation of a tiered defence industrial ecosystem in the country.

Reducing current dependence on imports and strive to achieve self-reliance in development and manufacture of weapon systems / platforms.

The Policy mandates for Transfer of Technology or enhanced Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) for domestic production in the event of non-availability of manufacturing capabilities in the country.

The policy envisages that Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) should focus on system integration, design and development, and actively engage domestic vendors in the private sector for other assembly work.

Tags : Defence Production Policy

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Press Information Bureau

06.08.2018

Civil

Model Shops and Establishments Act

MANU/PIBU/1211/2018

The salient features of the Model Shops and Establishments (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Bill, 2016 are:

(i) The Model Bill applies to shops and establishments employing ten or more workers except manufacturing, (ii) freedom to operate 365 days in a year and opening/closing of establishments, (iii) women to be permitted during night shift, if the provisions of shelter, rest room, ladies toilet, adequate protection of their dignity and transportation etc. exist, (iv) no discrimination against women in the matter of recruitment, training, transfer or promotions, (v) online one common Registration through a simplified procedure, (vi) power to appropriate Government to make rules regarding adequate measures to be taken by the employer for the safety and health of workers, clean and safe drinking water, first aid, lavatory, crèche and canteen by group of establishments, in case it is not possible due to constraint in space or otherwise by individual establishments, (vii) five paid festival holidays in addition to national holidays etc.

A shop or an establishment may work on all days in a week subject to the conditions that every worker shall be allowed weekly holiday of at least twenty four consecutive hours of rest. If workers is denied weekly holiday, the compensatory leave in lieu thereof shall be given within two months and if the workers is required to work on a day of rest, he shall be entitled to wages at the rate of twice his ordinary rate of wages.

No Adult workers shall be required or allowed to work in a shop or establishment for more than 48 hours in any week and nine hours in a day and no worker shall be asked to work continuously for more than 5 hours unless he has been given a break of not less than half an hour. Sufficient penalty provisions have been made in the Bill for non-compliance of these provisions.

No women shall be required or allowed to work in a shop or establishment for more than 48 hours in any week and except between hours of 6 A.M. and 9 P.M. Women workers to be permitted to work during night shift if the State Government is satisfied that adequate provisions of shelter, rest room, ladies toilet, night crèche, adequate protection of their dignity, honour and safety and transportation etc. exist.

Tags : Act Model Shops Establishments

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Press Information Bureau

06.08.2018

Education

Notification issued by UGC for regulation of online courses

MANU/PIBU/1212/2018

University Grant Commission (UGC) has recently issued a notification on 04.07.2018 for the regulation of Online Courses. This regulation lay down the minimum standards of instruction for the grant of Certificate or Diploma or Degree, through online mode, delivered through interactive technology using internet.

In this regulation, UGC has defined eligibility criteria for higher educational institutions for offering online courses, application for the online courses or programmes, approval process, operation of the Online Courses and programmes, Course or Programme Monitoring and renewal, Quality Assurance.

Tags : Notification Regulation Online courses

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