AYUSH Minister Inaugurates National Research Institute of Unani Medicine for Skin Disorders

Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for AYUSH Shri Shripad Yesso Naik inaugurated today National Research Institute of Unani Medicine for Skin Disorders (NRIUMSD) upgraded from Central Research Institute of Unani Medicine (CRIUM) at AG Colony Road, Erragadda, Hyderabad. Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Shri G. Kishan Reddy was also present on the occasion.

Speaking on the occasion, Shri Naik lauded success of the CRIUM in the treatment of vitiligo and other chronic and stubborn diseases and said that it's perhaps the only medical institution in the world which has treated more than 1.5 lakh patients of Vitiligo alone.

In his address, Shri G. Kishan Reddy called the researchers to find safe and viable solutions to prevalent health challenges, such as vector borne diseases, non- communicable diseases, cancer and tuberculosis.

Addressing the audience, Additional Secretary, Ministry of AYUSH Shri Pramod Kumar Pathak highlighted current health challenges and urged all to exploit the potential of Unani Medicine in addressing them through its cost-effective remedies.

Earlier in his welcome address, Prof. Asim Ali Khan, Director General, Central Council for Research in Unani Medicine (CCRUM) said that the NRUMSD has been upgraded from the Central Research Institute of Unani Medicine (CRIUM) to a premier institute under the CCRUM.

Indian Oil to open retail outlets in Saudi Arabia in JV with Al Jeri

Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) has entered into an equal joint venture with the Riyadh-based Al Jeri Group in order to expand its retail presence in West Asia. The first retail outlet is expected to be set within six months in Saudi Arabia.

At least 200 retail outlets are planned to be initially set by both companies. This comes at a time when the Saudi's national oil company Saudi Aramco is planning to enter into the Indian downstream market through a tie-up with Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries.

The agreement was signed during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recent visit to Saudi Arabia, between IOC's West Asian unit and the Al Jeri group, which is a local company having specialisation in transport and delivery of bulk petroleum products as well as other bulk transports.

Mr. Gurmeet Singh, IOC's director (marketing) said, "This will be a 50:50 joint venture as local regulations require a partner from Saudi Arabia for retail entry. We will also sell our lubricants in that country; we currently do that through an agent." He added that the within next six months the first outlet should be set as for now the companies are waiting for some local clearances. "We have not decided on the number of outlets that we are going to come up with," Singh further added.

Al Jeri is the biggest transporter of Aramco products in the region and at present carry more than 28 per cent of the company's products. The cross-border service is also provided by the company at all major Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) border crossings. Mr. Singh added, "There is enough local demand in both fuel and lubricant space in Saudi".

Currently, IOC has marketing subsidiaries in countries such as Sri Lanka, Nepal and Mauritius and was also looking to enter into fuel marketing and retail business in Myanmar. Myanmar Petroleum Products Enterprise (MPPE) earlier invited private companies to form a joint venture for import, storage, distribution and sale of all petroleum products and thus IOC planned its entry in the country. IOC is also in the process of laying a pipeline between Raxaul in Bihar and Amlekhgunj in Nepal for an annual capacity of 1.3 million tonnes.

Indian market has attracted many other companies including Russian giant Rosneft, French major Total, Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) and Kuwait Petroleum International (KPI) apart from Aramco. Many foreign players, including Saudi Aramco, BP, ExxonMobil and Total, are also likely to show their interest in the proposed strategic sale of government-controlled Bharat Petroleum Corporation.

PepsiCo India wins US award for saving more than 17 billion litres of water

US Secretary of State, Mr. Mike Pompeo presented the prestigious Award for Corporate Excellence to PepsiCo India in order to acknowledge the efforts of the company, as it saved more than 17 billion of litres of water through community water programs that has a positive impact on thousands of community members.

The ACE was Established in 1999 and recognizes those US companies that act as a responsible member of their communities where they do business and maintain those high standards.

"Today we honour one of PepsiCo's regional arms, PepsiCo India. It is India's largest purchaser of potatoes. And it uses this to power good, sourcing sustainably from 24,000 small Indian farmers. It also has a program aimed at replenishing water in stressed areas, through which it has restored nearly five billion litres of water", said Mr. Pompeo.

Chambers Federation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Procter and Gamble Asia Pacific in Singapore and Agilis Partners in Uganda were the other recipients of the award.

Mr. Pompeo added, "Our four winners today demonstrate the power of free enterprise. They demonstrate to our foreign partners that working with our businesses is a path to prosperity and stability."

According to him, these companies highlights the America's free market values by producing good jobs in the United States and around the world, investing sustainably, operating transparently, and providing the highest quality products and services in the world.

PepsiCo India won globally for its sustainable operations in the multinational enterprise category for its sustainable farming initiative in India.

The company has worked with community water programs in order to save more than 17 billion litres of water and also replenishing over 5 billion litres of water, affecting positively around 60,000 community members.

MoU Signed between AIIA and Frankfurter Innovationszentrum Biotechnologie GmbH, Germany

An MOU has been signed between All India Institute of Ayurveda (AIIA) under Ministry of AYUSH and Frankfurter Innovationszentrum Biotechnologie GmbH (FiZ) here today. The MoU signed by Prof. Tanuja Nesari Director AIIA and Dr Christian Garbe, Managing Director of Frankfurter Innovationszentrum Biotechnologie GmbH (FiZ), was agreed at FiZ on the occasion of the event "German/Indian knowledge exchange regarding current developments in the health care sector" by Dr. Garbe with Vaidya Rajesh Kotecha, Secretary, Ministry of AYUSH, during September of this year.

One important goal of the collaboration is to research in the field of genomics and develop evidence-based guidelines supported with latest technologies like Artificial Intelligence and machine learning so as to integrate Ayurvedic principles and practises into modern medicine for the wider reach to the masses. Further, exchange of knowledge and experiences will be another component in the MoU.

Speaking after the singing of the MOU, Dr. Vaidya, Secretary, AYUSH said that the systems appear to be quite different at first glance. On deeper observation, it appears that both the sciences can support each other. Complementing the traditional Ayurveda Medicine with conventional concepts of Biotechnology is expected in generating evidences that further help in contributing to the global healthcare, he added.

On this occasion, Dr. Garbe said that for years there have been diverse contacts with India in order to foster both, share experience and know-how in our network and render technological knowledge economically usable as well. He explained that empirical medicine and precision medicine will become productive partners.

Director, All India Institute of Ayurveda Prof. Tanuja Nesari said that the Ayurveda is the time-tested science focussed upon providing healthy life through wholeness of body, mind, and soul considering different aspects including environmental factors.

Union Territory of Ladakh gets New Regional Centre of GB Pant Institute of Himalayan Environment & Development

Realizing the importance of the Indian Himalayan region and recognizing the need to study its ecology, Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Shri Prakash Javadekar approved the proposal of setting-up of a New Regional Centre of the GB Pant Institute of Himalayan Environment & Development at Ladakh.

As the setting up of the Centre is being envisaged concurrently with Ladakh being designated as a separate Union Territory (UT), the Institute is expected to have an institutional linkage with the Ladakh Administration right from its inception. This association would be mutually beneficial (i) to the Institute through the facilitation of UT government for setting-up of the centre (i.e., appropriate space for work initiation, land for own campus and technology park/demonstrations) and (ii) aligning the centre's activities with priorities and needs of newly created UT.

The setting-up of this centre would ensure Institute's Research & Development outreach in entire Trans Himalayan zone of Indian Himalaya by way of targeting following objectives:

• To promote alternative and innovative livelihoods for climate change vulnerable cold-desert communities.
• To facilitate conservation of critical/important cold desert habitats and biodiversity.
• To strengthen and establish approaches for addressing issues of water scarcity and
• To foster climate smart communities in the trans-Himalayan landscape

The GB Pant National Institute of Himalayan Environment and Sustainable Development with its Headquarters at Kosi-Katarmal (Uttarakhand) and Regional Centres (RCs) as Himachal RC at Mohal-Kullu, Himachal Pradesh. (to cover J&K and H.P.), Garhwal RC at Srinagar (to cover Uttarakhand), Sikkim RC at Pangthang, Gangtok (to cover Sikkim and W.B. hills), Northeast RC at Itanagar (to cover remaining NE States) caters to environment management, conservation of natural resources and policies for sustainable development of communities in the Indian Himalayan Region.

It is noteworthy to mention that the Trans Himalayan landscape has most of its area lying above 3,000 Mean sea level (msl) and is characterized by extreme cold climate, minimal rain (9-10cm annual, more than 300 sunny days) and with very sparse vegetation. This landscape, most often, is also termed as clod desert. The region is endowed with rich diversity of culture, unique biodiversity elements and significantly large wetlands/water bodies (lakes). The Centre will help in better understanding of its landscape components and developing strategies and implementation plans for addressing issues of environmental conservation, people's livelihoods and sustainable development under changing scenario.

India to invest Rs 1 trillion in setting up 100 new airports by 2024

As per the people with knowledge of the matter, to revive economic growth in Asia's 3rd largest economy, India is planning to start 100 additional airports by 2024. Along with this the proposal includes the 1,000 new routes which is going to be connected with smaller towns and villages, the sources said last week. The plan was discussed in a meeting to review infrastructure needed by 2025, as stated by sources, as the discussion is private, asking not to be identified. Steps to start a plane-lease financing business in the country was also discussed, they said.

With economic activity at a six-year low and probability of further slowdown looming, to revive the growth and achieve a target of making India a US$ 5 trillion economy by 2025, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is keen to double down on infrastructure projects. To compete with the likes of Vietnam and Indonesia for investments amid global trade tensions, Government of India cut the corporate tax rates last month, putting India on par with some of the lowest in Asia.

India's plan to expedite development of airport still trails that of China's, which has a goal of having 450 commercial airports by 2035, which is almost double the number at the end of 2018.

According to the people, proposal by India's think tank also includes enhancing the number of locally trained pilots to 600 a year and double the domestic aircraft fleet to 1,200 during the period. To build airports in next 5 years, Government of India has committed the investments of Rs 1 trillion.

Three years back from now, only 75 of India's 450 runway were functional, as airlines avoided flying to smaller, World War-era airstrips in smaller towns. But with the support of Modi's subsidy program, which partly funds the airlines who losses while capping fares on remote routes and at the starting of 2019, has also helped by adding 38 airports to nation's aviation map, although, the contracts were given to airlines to start flights to a further 63 airports with no or limited connectivity.

While the lure of India, with an emerging middle class flying for the first time, has attracted companies such as Singapore Airlines Ltd. and AirAsia Bhd. to set up local units, provincial taxes in the nation make jet fuel one of the most expensive in the world. The government is aware of the high taxation burden and higher jet fuel prices and will rationalize the tax regime as soon as next year, the people said.

They also said, India will also encourage the use of drones, for which the policy has been announced by government this year allowing unmanned vehicles to fly beyond the line of sight, and sees the number of legal drones reaching a million by 2024. By 2021, country will prepare the drone corridors and by 2023, will allow delivery of goods by drones.

India signs MoU with Saudi Arabia to launch RuPay card in Gulf Kingdom

To launch the RuPay Card in county, India signed an agreement with Saudi Arabia on Tuesday making it 3rd nation in the West Asia to initiate the India's digital payment system which will benefit not only the 2.6 million Indians in Gulf Kingdom but also in Haj and Umrah Pilgrims.

RuPay Card is the first-of-its-kind Indian Domestic Debit and Credit Card payment network and also accepted at ATMs, POS device and on e-commerce websites.
RuPay Card is introduced in 2012 to achieve the vision of Reserve Bank of India i.e. to have a domestic, open and multilateral system of payments.
As India has already launched RuPay Card in UAE, Bahrain, Singapore and Bhutan.

During Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit, an MoU was signed to launch the RuPay cards in Saudi Arabia, said a joint statement issued at the end of his visit.
In Saudi Arabia, over 2.6 million Indians are working, which is the largest expatriate community in the country. Every year around 2 hundred thousand Haj pilgrims and over 3 hundred thousand Umrah pilgrims visit to Saudi Arabia from India and the acceptance of RuPay Card allow them to transact at cheaper rates.

RuPay is a highly secure network that protects against cyberhacks and is India's version of Master Card and Visa.

Currently, in India, there are around 500 million RuPay Cards in circulation.

To enhance its international acceptance RuPay has tied-up with international players like Discover, Japan Credit Bureau and China Union Pay. It has also achieved a milestone of issuing 25 million RuPay Cards.

India's relations with Saudi Arabia have been on an upswing over the last few years based on burgeoning energy ties besides cooperation in several other areas. Prime Minister Modi's first visit to Riyadh in 2016 put bilateral ties on a new trajectory.

Strategic Partnership Council Agreement with Saudi Arabia would further strengthen the robust bilateral relations, says Prime Minister Narendra Modi

The signing of the agreement on the Strategic Partnership Council by India and Saudi Arabia would strengthen the already robust relations between the two countries, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said.

Prime Minister who is visiting the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was speaking to the Arab News.

This is second visit of Prime Minister Modi to the Kingdom in three years.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the two countries have been working together within the G20 to reduce inequality and promote sustainable development.
Saying stable oil prices are crucial for the growth of the global economy, he praised the Kingdom’s role as an important and reliable source of India's energy requirements.

Talking about the excellent personal relations between him and the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia HRH Mohammad Bin Salman, the Prime Minister said, "Since my first visit to the Kingdom in 2016, I have personally witnessed a remarkable growth in our bilateral relations. I have met His Royal Highness (HRH) Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman five times. I recall with warmth my previous meetings with him and look forward to meeting him again during this visit.

I am confident that under the leadership of His Majesty King Salman and HRH Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, bilateral relations between India and Saudi Arabia will only grow stronger."

Prime Minister said, "Neighbourhood First" continues to be the guiding vision for my government's foreign policy. India's relations with Saudi Arabia are one of the most important bilateral relationships in our extended neighbourhood."

On the agreement on Strategic Partnership Council, which is going to be signed during this visit, he said, "will begin a new era of cooperation across sectors. Our ties across various dimensions such as trade, investment, security and defense cooperation are robust and deep, and will only strengthen further."

"I believe that Asian powers like India and Saudi Arabia share similar security concerns in their neighborhood. In that respect, I am happy that our cooperation, particularly in the field of counterterrorism, security and strategic issues, is progressing very well. My national security adviser just visited Riyadh for a very productive visit."

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that India and Saudi Arabia have a Joint Committee on Defence Cooperation that holds regular meetings and that the two nations have identified several areas of mutual interest and cooperation in the field of defence and security.

"We are also in the process of entering into agreements on security cooperation, collaboration in defence industries, and also agreed to hold a comprehensive security dialogue mechanism between the two countries", he said.

On the question of turmoil in several regions of West Asia, the Prime Minister called for 'a balanced approach to resolve the conflicts, while respecting the principles of sovereignty and non-interference in each other's internal matters'.

He said, "India shares excellent bilateral relations with all the countries in the region, and a very large Indian diaspora, numbering over 8 million, resides in the region. A dialogue process that encourages the participation of all stakeholders is important to bring peace and security to this very important region."

On his outlook on the current global economy, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, "The global economic outlook is strongly dependent on the path chartered by the large developing countries such as India. As I mentioned in my speech at the UN General Assembly in September, we sincerely believe that we need collective efforts, for the growth of all, with everyone's trust."

He said, "Economic uncertainty is an offshoot of unbalanced multilateral trade systems. Within the G20, India and Saudi Arabia have been working together to reduce inequality and promote sustainable development. I am happy to note that Saudi Arabia will be hosting the G20 Summit next year and India will host it in 2022, which is also the 75th anniversary of our independence."

On the question of the current sluggishness in the Western Economies and the role of India and Saudi Arabia in such a scenario, the Prime Minister said, "India has undertaken many reforms to create a business-friendly environment, and to ensure that we remain a major driver of global growth and stability. Our reforms for ease of doing business and introducing investor-friendly initiatives have contributed to improving our position in the World Bank's Ease of Doing Business Index from 142 in 2014 to 63 in 2019."

"A number of major flagship initiatives, like Make in India, Digital India, Skill India, Swachh Bharat, Smart Cities and Startup India, are offering a lot of opportunities to foreign investors. Similarly, I am happy to note that Saudi Arabia too has embarked upon a reform program as part of their Vision 2030."

On the long-term energy relation with Saudi Arabia, which is the largest Oil supplier to India, he said, "India imports around 18 percent of its crude oil from the Kingdom, making it the second-largest source of crude oil for us. From a purely buyer-seller relationship, we are now moving toward a closer strategic partnership that will include Saudi investments in downstream oil and gas projects."

"We value the Kingdom's vital role as an important and reliable source of our energy requirements. We believe that stable oil prices are crucial for the growth of the global economy, particularly for developing countries. Saudi Aramco is participating in a major refinery and petrochemical project on India's west coast. We are also looking forward to the participation of Aramco in India's Strategic Petroleum Reserves."

On the question whether India would like Saudi Arabia's participation in the massive Smart City projects announced by the Government, Prime Minister Modi said, "One of the major areas of cooperation between India and Saudi Arabia is in investments in our infrastructure projects. During his visit to India in February 2019, the crown prince had indicated an intent to invest in excess of $100 billion in India across various sectors."

"We welcome greater Saudi investments in our infrastructure projects, including the Smart Cities program. We also welcome Saudi interest in investing in the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund."

Talking about the areas other than energy, in which India and Saudi Arabia can cooperate, the Prime Minister said, "I am happy to share with you that during my visit this time, India and Saudi Arabia plan to enter into agreements in various areas, including defense, security, renewable energy etc."

"Other major initiatives include the proposal to launch the RuPay card in the Kingdom, which will facilitate payments and remittances by the Indian diaspora; integration of the e-Migrate and e-Thawtheeq portals, which will facilitate the process of migration of Indian labor into the Kingdom; and an agreement on training diplomats in our respective academies."

"India is known for its world-class capacity-building centers, and there are many initiatives to provide training to the Saudi youth in different fields. We are also discussing cooperation in the field of space research."

In his message to the Indian Diaspora in Saudi Arabia, the Prime Minister said, "Nearly 2.6 million Indians have made Saudi Arabia their second home, contributing to its growth and development. Many Indians also visit the Kingdom every year for the Hajj and Umrah pilgrimage, and for business purposes."

He said, "My message to my fellow citizens is that your country is proud of the place that you have made for yourself in the Kingdom, and your hard work and commitment have helped to generate a lot of goodwill for the overall bilateral relationship."

"I am confident that you will continue to remain the binding force in our ties with the Kingdom, and further contribute to the strengthening of the historic ties between the two countries, which are based on people-to-people contacts over several decades."

During the present visit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will have bilateral discussions with King Salman and delegation-level talks with the crown prince. These discussions will be in addition to Modi delivering the keynote address at the third Future Investment Initiative (FII) forum, widely seen as the most important economic forum in the Middle East.

Prime Minister Modi's visit is expected to further strengthen and expand bilateral ties in various areas such as security and strategic cooperation, defence, energy security, renewable energy, investments, trade and commerce, small and medium enterprises, agriculture, civil aviation, infrastructure, housing, financial services, training and capacity building, culture and people-to-people engagement. Nearly a dozen government-to-government agreements related to these areas are expected to be signed, as well as several government-to-business agreements.

One of the most important outcomes of the visit is expected to be the establishment of a Strategic Partnership Council (SPC) between the two countries. India will become the fourth country with which the Kingdom has formed a strategic partnership, the others being the UK, France and China.

The SPC will have two parallel tracks: Political, security, culture and society, headed by both countries' foreign ministers; and economy and investment, headed by India's commerce and industry minister and the Saudi energy minister.

Energy security is one of the prime areas of India's engagement with Saudi Arabia. New Delhi appreciates the Kingdom's vital role as a reliable source for India's long-term energy supplies; the Kingdom supplies 18 percent of India's crude oil requirements and 30 percent of its liquefied petroleum gas needs. Both countries are keen to transform the buyer-seller relationship in this sector into a much broader strategic partnership based on mutual complementarity and interdependence.

Companies have spent Rs 50,000 crore on CSR in 5 years: Government

President Ram Nath Kovind stated, every fiscal year since 2014-15, the corporate sector has set aside over Rs 10,000 crore (US$ 1.43 billion) towards the corporate social responsibility. He added that the companies act was amended in 2013-14 made it mandatory for companies with over certain profit levels to spend 2 per cent of it on social welfare.

On Tuesday, he gave away the first CSR award which is instituted by the Corporate Affairs Ministry.
Over the last 5 years, companies have contributed more than Rs 50,000 crore (US$ 7.15 billion) towards the CSR (Corporate Social Responsibilities) activities, said Mr. Anurag Thakur, MoS Finance.

Corporate affairs secretary Injeti Srinivas also said that on social welfare activities companies have spent Rs 50,000 crore (US$ 7.15 billion) cumulatively over the last 5 years.

India companies lead the world on disclosing CSR spends: Study

India has witnessed a marginal dip in corporate responsibility-related reporting by the top- 100 companies, but continues to be among the best in the world in this aspect, a 49-country study has found.
It also tops in the list of countries with highest rate of corporate responsibility (CR) related information in annual reports, it said, adding 98 per cent of the top 100 companies have the details.
As against a 100 per cent compliance observed in 2015, the reporting rate dipped marginally to 99 per cent for 2017, the study by global consultancy major KPMG has said.
It can be noted that under the amended Companies Act, 2013, corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting has been made mandatory for companies.
Interestingly, it said regulation is driving reporting on human rights as well, it said.
"The Business Responsibility Report (BRR), an annual disclosure mandated by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), requires the top 500 listed companies to report on nine core principles, one of which focuses on human rights," Santhosh Jayaram, KPMG's partner for sustainability services, said.
India is ranked the highest, with 95 pf the top 100 companies acknowledging human rights in their CR reporting, the study said.
From a global perspective, it said companies in the mining space have been found to be the most likely to acknowledge human rights in their reporting.