Financial Assistance provided to 10 Major Ports and 8 Non-Major Ports for procurement of Oil Spill Response (OSR) Equipments: Shri Mansukh Mandaviya #OSR #FinancialAssistance #Sukumarbalakrishnan

In a reply to a question in Rajya Sabha today the Minister of State for Shipping (I/C) and Chemicals & Fertilizers, Shri Mansukh Mandaviya said that the Government has developed a standard operating procedure for all ports in the country to deal with oil spills and other accidents that can damage the marine ecology surrounding the ports.

He said that the central government has formulated a scheme for providing assistance to major ports and oil handling non- major ports under state maritime Boards/State Govts. for combating oil pollution and for mitigation measures. Under the Scheme 10 Major Ports and 8 Non-Major Ports have been provided financial assistance so far for procurement of Oil Spill Response (OSR) equipment as per specifications suggested in NOSDCP-2015.

He said that the National Oil Spill Disaster Contingency Plan (NOSDCP) delineates the role and responsibility of various authorities including ports during an oil spill. Annual calendar is published for conduct of different levels of exercises involving various stakeholders for exercising their capabilities in mitigating risk of oil spills in their area of jurisdiction. As per NOSDCP, ports are required to be capable of handling tier-I level of oil spill within their jurisdiction.

MSMEs contribute 29.7 per cent of GDP and 49.66 per cent of Indian exports #MSMEs #IndianExports #Sukumarbalakrishnan

MSMEs contribute 29.7 per cent of GDP and 49.66 per cent of Indian Exports. Government has taken various initiatives to enhance the competitiveness of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) through schemes such as Credit Linked Capital Subsidy and Technology Upgradation Scheme (CLCS-TUS), Micro and Small Enterprises - Cluster Development Programme, Procurement and Marketing Support and support for MSMEs to participate in international exhibitions / trade fairs, conferences / summits/ workshops.

This information was given by Shri Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises in written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha today.

Exploration of 37 and drilling of 121 non-CIL coal blocks this year; Country to produce 810 MT of coal in FY20: Shri Pralhad Joshi #Sukumarbalakrishnan

The government has planned exploration of 37 coal blocks and 10 lignite blocks along with drilling of 121 coal blocks and one lignite block in the current fiscal in addition to exploration and drilling of coal blocks allocated to state-run Coal India Limited (CIL) informed the Coal Minister Shri Pralhad Joshi to the Parliament on Monday.

"Exploration of Non-Coal India Limited (Non-CIL) coal blocks is carried out under the Central Sector Scheme 'Exploration of Coal & Lignite' of the Ministry of Coal. Under this scheme, both regional exploration and detailed drilling of these blocks are conducted. Each year exploration programme of regional exploration & detailed drilling in Non-CIL blocks in coal & lignite is approved. The regional exploration for the year 2019-20 has been planned for 37 coal blocks & 10 lignite blocks, whereas detailed drilling has been planned for 121 coal blocks & 1 lignite block." Coal Minister Shri Pralhad Joshi said in a reply to the Rajya Sabha.

The minister also informed to the upper house that fund of Rs 937 crore (US$ 134.07 million) have been allocated for exploration and drilling of Non-CIL blocks in coal and lignite out of which Rs 120 crore (US$ 17.17 million) have to be spent on regional exploration and remaining 817 crores to be spent for detailed drilling.

In a reply to the House, the minister also informed that the country will produce 810 Million Tonnes (MT) of coal in the current fiscal for which targets for Coal India Limited, Singareni Collieries Co. Ltd and Captive & others have been set as 660 MT, 67 MT and 83 MT respectively.

In another reply, the minister informed that the focus of the Government is on accelerating domestic production of coal through allocation of more coal blocks, pursuing with State Government for assistance in land acquisition and coordinated efforts with Railways for movement of coal. He also said that in order to enhance coal production, CIL has taken many steps. This state-run Manharatna company will open 55 greenfield projects having capacity of 92 million tonne per annum (MTPA) and expand 193 brownfield projects having capacity of about 310 MTPA in next five years.
He said maximum use of technology and portal-based monitoring of on-going projects are in place to ensure timely completion of projects.

India conducts 1st night trial of nuclear capable Agni-III missile #Nuclear #Missile #Sukumarbalakrishnan

The first night trial of nuclear capable long-range ballistic missile Agni-III was conducted by India from the Abdul Kalam Island off Odisha coast on Saturday.

The first night trial of the missile was conducted by the Strategic Forces Command of the Indian Army from launch pad-IV of the Integrated Test Range in Bhadrak district at 7.17 pm, said defence sources.

As per Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), Agni-III is considered to be core of India's nuclear arsenal.
The armed forces introduced the missile in June 2011.

It has a strike range of 3,000 km to 5,000 km and is efficient of carrying both conventional and nuclear warheads weighing up to 1.5 tonnes.

The missile is powered by a two-stage solid propellant engine. It is 17 metres long with two-metre diameter and weighs around 2,200 kg.

Rs 1,03,492 crore gross GST revenue collected in the month of November 2019 #GST #Sukumarbalakrishnan

The gross GST revenue collected in the month of November, 2019 is Rs 1,03,492 crore (US$ 14.81 billion) of which CGST is Rs 19,592 crore (US$ 2.80 billion), SGST is Rs 27,144 crore (US$ 3.88 billion), IGST is Rs 49,028 crore (US$ 7.02 billion) (including Rs 20,948 crore [US$ 3 billion] collected on imports) and Cess is Rs 7,727 crore (US$ 1.11 billion) (including Rs 869 crore [US$ 0.12 billion] collected on imports). The total number of GSTR 3B Returns filed for the month of October up to 30th November 2019 is 77.83 lakh.

The government has settled Rs 25,150 crore (US$ 3.60 billion) to CGST and Rs 17,431 crore (US$ 2.49 billion) to SGST from IGST as regular settlement. The total revenue earned by Central Government and the State Governments after regular settlement in the month of November 2019 is Rs 44,742 crore (US$ 6.40 billion) for CGST and Rs 44,576 crore (US$ 6.38 billion) for the SGST.

After two months of negative growth, GST revenues witnessed an impressive recovery with a positive growth of 6 per cent in November 2019 over the November 2018 collections. During the month, the GST collection on domestic transactions witnessed a growth of 12 per cent, highest during the year. The GST collection on imports continued to see negative growth at (-)13 per cent but was an improvement over last month's growth of (-)20 per cent. This is the eighth time since the inception of GST in July 2017 that monthly collection has crossed the mark of Rs one lakh crore (US$ 14.31 billion). Also, November 2019 collection is the third highest monthly collection since introduction of GST, next only to April 2019 and March 2019 collections.

Third Edition of Khelo India Youth Games Logo Launched in Guwahati #IndiaYouthGames #Sukumarbalakrishnan

The third edition of Khelo India Youth Games-2020 Logo was launched in Guwahati today by Shri Sarbanada Sonowal, Chief Minister of Assam in presence of Shri Kiren Rijiju, Union Minister of State (I/C) for Youth Affairs and Sports. The Mascot, Jersey and Theme song of the event was also launched at Karmabir Nabin Chandra Bordoloi Indoor Stadium, Sarusajai.

Speaking on the occassion Shri Kiren Rijiju said that Guwahati has now emerged as one of the top sporting cities in India. This is a big opportunity for everyone to make Guwahati a top sporting region in India. The Minister stated with as many as 11,000 participants taking part in the event, the Youth Game will be the biggest sporting event in the history of India. He urged everyone to cooperate and work hand in hand to make the Youth Games a successful event. He also appreciated the efforts of the Government of Assam for such magnificent arrangement for the upcoming sporting extravaganza. "This is also a great opportunity for us to showcase the culture and heritage of Assam in front of the world", he added.

Shri Rijiju said that Assam now have many talented youths in the field of sports and the present initiative of the Government in organising youth games in the state will help in encouraging more talented youth of Assam and the rest of the Northeast to excel in the field of sports.

Shri Sarbananda Sonowal, Chief Minister of Assam said in his speech that each and every individual of this state will ensure the success of this grand event. This event is being possible only because of the cooperation of people of Assam and the far sightedness of the Prime Minister of Assam, he added. The youth of Assam needs to work hard in the field of sports to establish themselves as a powerful contender in front of the rest of the world.

The Khelo India programme has been introduced to revive the sports culture in India at the grass-root level by building a strong framework for all sports played in our country and establish India as a great sporting nation.

The 3rd edition of Khelo India Youth Games will start from 10th January 2020 and will continue till 22nd January. The event will be held in 20 disciplines with participation of 37 states and Union Territories. Khelo India programme’s inaugural edition was held in New Delhi in 2018, while Pune hosted 2nd edition in 2019.

2020 Games will be conducted in partnership with Indian Olympic Association (IOA), School Games Federation of India (SGFI) & Assam as host State. The event will see a participation of over 12000 athletes and officials from all over country.

Every year best performing 1000 participants are given an annual scholarship of Rs 5,00,000 (US$ 7154) for 8 years to prepare them for international sporting events.

India becomes first Asian country to participate as 'Guest of Honour' in the Book Fair #AsianCountry #Sukumarbalakrishnan

Shri Sanjay Dhotre, Union Minister of State (MoS) for Human Resource Development (HRD) inaugurated the India Pavilion at the International Book Fair at Guadaljara, Mexico. India is the 'Guest of Honour Country' in this book fair, and it is the first Asian country to have received this honour.

This fair, which is called Feria Internacional del Libro de Guadaljara in Spanish, is the biggest book fair in the Spanish-speaking world. Shri Sanjay Dhotre delivered the inaugural address at the book fair during its opening yesterday. The National Book Trust (NBT), an autonomous body under the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) Government of India (GoI), is participating as the nodal agency of the GoI in this book fair.

Shri Dhotre, while speaking at the inaugural ceremony, highlighted the deep literary connection between India and Mexico and referred to the legendry Mexican poet Nobel Laureate Octavio Paz's first visit to India in 1952. He said, "Paz took deep interest in the culture and heritage of India, and he wrote poems on Vrindavan, Shiva-Parvati, and on Amir Khusro. Shri Dhotre also said that India and Mexico are in opposite directions on the world map and are thousands of miles away from each other, but both the countries have great similarities in terms of their people, biodiversity, family and cultural values, and even climatic conditions. He added that both the countries represent very old civilisations, and both have undertaken a sustained struggle to get independence from the colonial rule.

Referring to the 150th anniversary celebration of the birth of the Father of Nation Mahatma Gandhi, Shri Dhotre said that Mahatma Gandhi's philosophy 'Let Our Lives Be Open Books' is the theme of the India pavilion in the fair, as it represents, among other things, an atmosphere of interaction and communication provided by the platforms such as book fairs.

Shri Dhotre expressed hope that this book fair will provide platform for an accelerated literary, academic and cultural exchange between the two countries, and great literary pieces of both the countries will be translated into Indian languages and Spanish. He also invited all the publishers having gathered from across the world to the World Book Fair being organised by NBT in New Delhi, during January 2020.

This is the 33rd edition of Guadaljara International Book Fair will continue till 8 December 2019.

India reaches electricity generation capacity of 365 GW: Power Minister #ElectricityGenerationCapacity #Sukumarbalakrishnan

The installed power generation capacity in India reached 364.9 gigawatts, that is adequate to meet the country's electric demand.
Furthermore, the peak alongside with the energy requirement deficit was less than one per cent during the first seven months of 2019-20, Minister of States for Power and New and Renewable Energy Mr. R K Singh said.

"As on 31.10.2019, the installed generation capacity in the country is around 3,64,960 megawatt (MW), which is sufficient to meet the electricity demand in the country. It may be seen that the gap between demand and supply of power during the current year 2019-20 (up to October 2019) both in terms of energy and peak is less than 1 per cent," he added.

The gap is mainly because of reasons other than the shortage of power availability in the country such as restraints in sub-transmission and distribution network, financial constraints of state power utilities to purchase power, Mr. Singh said.

He added that if there is any shortage in meeting power requirement, distribution companies can also purchase power from power exchanges on a daily basis.

"The government is supporting the states/UTs in augmenting and strengthening the intra-state transmission and distribution network through various schemes including Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana and Integrated Power Development Scheme," the minister said.

The coal stock in power plants as on November 21 stood at 23.1 million tonnes (MT) for 14 days as against 12.1 MT for 7 days on the same day last year, the minister said.

Roadmap developed for increasing Indian port capacity to 3300+ MTPA by 2025: Shri Mansukh Mandaviya #Sukumarbalakrishnan

In a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today the Minister of State for Shipping (I/C) and Chemical & Fertilizers Shri Mansukh Mandaviya informed that an analysis of nation-wide end-to-end logistics flows of all key commodities (~85 per cent of all commodities) at ports was carried out based on which the National Perspective Plan (NPP) for the Sagarmala Programme was prepared in April 2016.

The Minister informed that as a part of the NPP, a roadmap is developed for increasing Indian port capacity to 3300+ MTPA by 2025. Master Planning of 12 Major Ports has been carried out and 95 capacity expansion and port modernizations projects have been identified. Major ports capacity has been re-rated with respect to global benchmarks as per berthing policy 2016 and effective capacity has increased by 293 MTPA after re-rating. Global benchmarks have been adopted to improve the efficiency and productivity for major ports and 116 initiatives have been identified to unlock 100 MTPA of capacity at major ports

He Further said, an Action Plan for Coastal Shipping has been prepared by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in September 2019. This action plan includes recommendations with respect to infrastructure creation required to increase the use of coastal shipping in India.

Ministry of Sipping has approved 67 projects (cost: Rs 5702 crore [US$ 815 million]) under Sagarmala Programme for financial assistance of Rs 1,491 crore [US$ 213.34 million] for improving port infrastructure and port connectivity.

ONGC raises US$ 300 million under ECB route #ONGC #Sukumarbalakrishnan

Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has raised US$ 300 million under the External Commercial Borrowing route for meeting its capital expenditure needs.

"The bonds will bear a coupon of 3.375 per cent and will mature in 2029. This is the tightest coupon for 10 year or longer tenor offering from India ever achieved by any Indian Corporate," an ONGC statement said.

"The mix of investors is diverse, from across Singapore, HK, London, Taiwan, Japan and Middle East which includes 77 per cent bid from Asian investors and 23 per cent from EMEA investors. The Bankers to the deal were - Citi, DBS Bank Ltd, MUFG, SBICAP and Standard Chartered," the statement added.

ONGC Chairman Mr. Shashi Shanker said that the company finances its operations from internal accruals, and it has capacity to do the same in future too. But the offering of US$ bond was important to set a benchmark for ONGC group. It is anticipated that once the benchmark is set, it will facilitate group entities to raise funds at a competitive price, the statement said.