Introduction of the National Education Policy 2020 a landmark decision toward rectifying all education anomalies: Dr.Jitendra Singh

 

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 introduction of the National Education Policy 2020 was a landmark step by the Modi Government in clearing several  anomalies prevailing in the education system of the country.

Addressing a webinar on “National Education Policy-2020:Health Education Perspective” organised by Shri Vishwakarma Skill University(SVSU), Haryana in association with Indira Gandhi National Open university (Ignou) here today, MoS Dr. Jitendra Singh said that it was the strong political will of Modi Government to take out of the box decision of introducing the National Education Policy-2020 which focuses more on skill and vocational education. The Minister said that the National Education Policy-2020 is an aptitude based rather than score-based policy.  He said that this Policy will rectify all the previous anomalies prevailing the system.

MoS, Dr Jitendra Singh said that major reforms were introduced in higher education including a target of 50% gross enrolment ratio by 2035 and provision for multiple entry and exit in the National Education Policy 2020.

Speaking on the Health Education perspective, the Minister said that Corona (Covid-19) pandemic has taught us how to consider the importance of the integrity in the health education. He further said that integrity in health education will make people act like an individual health worker.

The Minister said that as the human life is at stake in health education, the changes in its curriculum should be an evolving process according the needs. Mentioning about the problem of the uneducated medical practitioners in the country, they are giving tough time to the legitimate medical practitioners and they should get their due.

Union Minister Jitendra Singh said the government's decision to set up the National Recruitment Agency (NRA) is also a game-changer in the recruitment sector. He said that it is not only a governance reform but also a socioeconomic reform and brings recruitment to the villages and towns.

While mentioning about the passage of Mission Karmayogi-a National Programme for Civil Services Capacity Building (NPCSCB) by the Union Cabinet he said that it will go a long way in creating a new future ready civil service for a New India. It is an endeavor to incarnate civil services into a real Karmayogi who is Creative, Constructive, Pro-active and Technically Empowered to face the future challenge and  this is also aimed at ending the culture of working in silos and to overcome the multiplicity of training modules, the Minister added.

He said, after the historic passage of National Recruitment Agency on 19th August 2020, the Mission Karmayogi will prove to be the largest Civil Services Reform in the world in terms of depth and spread. He added that mid-career training will be available to all services at all levels in all languages and underlined that this will help in professional delivery of services at all levels of Government of India.

Those who took part and addressed the webinar included Prof. Nageshwar Rao, Vice Chancellor, IGNOU, Shri Raj Nehru, Vice Chancellor, SVSU, Haryana, Prof. Amit Benerjee, Pro Vice Chancellor, SOA University, Bhubaneshwar, Prof. Rajendra Prasad Das, Pro Vice Chancellor, IGNOU, Dr. R. Salhan and Prof. RS Rathore, Registrar and Dean SVSU, Haryana.

Shri Piyush Goyal says country's Exports and Imports are showing positive trends; Trade deficit is narrowing

 

Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Shri Piyush Goyal met the Office-bearers of various Export Promotion Councils (EPCs), to discuss the issues concerning the country’s global trade, ground level situation, and problems being faced by the exporters. Shri Goyal has been holding a series of discussions with the EPCs, particularly since the lockdown. The Commerce Secretary Dr Anup Wadhawan, DGFT Shri Amit Yadav and other senior officers of the Ministry were present in the meeting.

In his opening remarks, the Minister said that the country’s exports as well as imports are showing positive trends. The exports are approaching the last year’s levels, after making a sharp dip in April this year due to pandemic. Regarding imports, the positive thing is that the Capital Goods imports have not declined, and the reduction in imports has been seen mainly in crude, gold and fertilizers.  He added that the trade deficit is reducing drastically and our share in the global trade is improving, thanks to our resilient supply chains, and perseverance and hard work of our exporters. The minister also said that we are trying to generate more reliable and better trade data so that nation can do better planning and frame policies accordingly.

The Minister said that 24 focus manufacturing sectors have been identified which have the potential to expand, scale-up operations, improve quality, and lead enhancement of Indian share in global trade and value chain. These sectors have capacity to do import substitution and push exports. He said that India is being seen in the world as trusted and resilient partner in global value chain.

On the issue of recent changes in the Merchandise Export from India Scheme (MEIS), the Minister said that the capping of Rs 2 Crore will not affect 98% of the exporters who claim benefit under the scheme. The Government has already announced Remission of Duties or Taxes on Export Products (RoDTEP) scheme for exporters to take the place of MEIS, and a Committee has also been set up to determine the ceiling rates under the RoDTEP scheme. This new scheme would reimburse the embedded taxes and duties already incurred by exporters.

The Minister, after listening to the challenges, experiences and suggestions of the EPC office-bearers, expressed thanks for their valuable feedback, saying that Macro-numbers sometimes don’t make one realize the difficulties being faced by the Exporters. He acknowledged that certain sectors, which are primarily dependent on the discretionary spending, are under severe stress. Shri Goyal promised to help the Exporters as much as possible, and take up such issues, which fall outside the ambit of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, with concerned departments. He said that SEZ issues are being taken up with the Finance Ministry. He called upon the exporters to engage with the Steering Committee set up to promote Indian manufacturing.

Ranking of states based on implementation of Business Reform Action Plan for the year 2019 declared. State rankings will help attract investments, foster healthy competition and increase Ease of Doing Business in each State

 Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman, Union Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs, today announced the 4th edition of Business Reform Action Plan (BRAP) ranking of states.

The announcements were made in the august presence of Shri Piyush Goyal, Minister of Railways and Minister of Commerce & Industry; Shri Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister for Commerce & Industry and Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs; Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Civil Aviation; and Shri Som Parkash, Minister of State in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. Chief Ministers of Uttarakhand and Tripura, LGs of J&k and Laddakh, Industry Ministers of States and Union Territories, along with senior government officials were also present.

Ranking of States based on the implementation of Business Reform Action Plan started in the year 2015. Till date, State Rankings have been released for the years 2015, 2016 and 2017-18. The Business Reform Action Plan 2018-19 includes 180 reform points covering 12 business regulatory areas such as Access to Information, Single Window System, Labour, Environment, etc. The larger objective of attracting investments and increasing Ease of Doing Business in each State was sought to be achieved by introducing an element of healthy competition through a system of ranking states based on their performance in the implementation of Business Reform Action Plan. The ranking this time gives full weightage to the feedback from over thirty thousand respondents at the ground level, who gave their opinion about the effectiveness of the reforms. State rankings will help attract investments, foster healthy competition and increase Ease of Doing Business in each State.

“India is seen taking the reform process seriously which showed when foreign direct investment in the country increased even during the Covid-19 pandemic, amid what was called world’s strictest lockdown. Some states have shown extraordinary energy in putting together action plans and making sure that reforms happen. States have embraced the true spirit behind the State Business Reforms Action Plan," said Smt Sitharaman after release of the rankings.

"The Ease of Doing Business rankings being released today are a reflection of the efforts made by states, the rankings are competitive; India is among the very few nations which has state-specific rankings, which will in turn help the nation improve its ranking," Shri Piyush Goyal said during the event.

“I would urge States to undertake steps to minimize the regulatory burden by removing renewal of licenses or extending their periodicity, simplifying application forms, introducing risk-based inspections or introduction of third-party inspections, digitizing approvals and undertaking measures to rationalize the regulatory regime,” said Shri Hardeep Singh Puri.

The top ten states under State Reform Action Plan 2019 are:

• Andhra Pradesh
• Uttar Pradesh
• Telangana
• Madhya Pradesh
• Jharkhand
• Chhattisgarh
• Himachal Pradesh
• Rajasthan
• West Bengal
• Gujarat

India's apparel exports to register 40% growth in FY21: AEPC

 

Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC) Chairman A. Sakthivel, quoted that the apparel exports from the India is likely to expand by about 40 per cent in the current financial year.While addressing the 41st Annual General Meeting of the industry body, the Chairman said: "We are working with a target to achieve a 40 per cent increase in apparel exports this financial year with major focus on new medical textiles, which will  take the total apparel exports from $15.4 billion in last fiscal to about $22 billion in 2020-21."

He also thanked Union Minister of Textiles, Smriti Zubin Irani for the initiatives taken to help this industry.

He urged the international buyers to do 'commerce with compassion' and honour their export orders.

Besides this, he facilitated the apparel into production of personal protective equipment (PPE) making India the second largest producer of medical textiles within a short period of time.

He further said the industry needs product diversification into Man Made Fibre (MMF) and plans to sign MoUs with several MMF manufacturers, including Reliance Industries Ltd, to improve the sector as MMF plays an important role in increasing India's textile exports to the global market.

Jal Jeevan Mission promotes research and development

 Jal Jeevan Mission is being implemented in partnership with States, to enable every household in villages to have functional household tap connection by 2024. This Mission aims at ensuring potable water supply in adequate quantity (@ the rate of 55 litres per person per day) and of prescribed quality to every rural household on regular and long-term basis.

On completion of 1st year of Jal Jeevan Mission, announced by the Prime Minister in his Independence Day address to the nation from the ramparts of Red Fort on 15th August, 2020; in the whole country, 2 Crore households have been provided tap water connection in this period. More than 1 lakh families are given tap water connections daily.

The rural drinking water supply is a complex subject with various social, environmental and technical challenges like geo-genic and anthropogenic water quality issues, long-term portable water supply in harsh edaphoclimatic conditions and disaster-prone areas, measurement and monitoring of water service delivery, behaviour change management, cost-effective grey-water treatment and reuse etc. Thus, given the challenges and the knowledge gaps being faced while implementing the Jal Jeevan Mission with speed and scale along with the future of rural water security, there is a pressing need for significant research and innovation in the water supply sector.

Now, more than ever, National Jal Jeevan Mission will be supporting, promoting and cultivating research and innovation to solve the issue faced by water supply sector in rural areas. National Jal Jeevan Mission is inviting proposals from young innovators, researchers, academia, entrepreneurs, start-ups working in this sector to provide cost-effective solutions and fill knowledge gaps.  Further, the Department/ National Mission/ SWSM will conduct action research and concurrent evaluation studies for adopting evidence-based technical intervention to manage rural water supply efficiently, effectively and economically.  These R&D projects under Jal Jeevan Mission will facilitate in building partnership with scientists and R&D institutions, innovators, entrepreneurs and create useful knowledge that will help in in addressing various challenges in the drinking water sector so as to improve the lives of people.

The R&D guidelines is available on the Departmental portal i.e. https://jalshakti-ddws.gov.in/. All interested individual/ agencies/ institutions may use this opportunity and apply their proposals.

Shri Piyush Goyal says that New-age entrepreneurs are going to change the fortune of India.

 

Union Minister of Commerce and Industry & Railways Shri Piyush Goyal has said that New age ideas will help us to prepare India to contribute in a much bigger way to global supply chains. Addressing CII's event on ‘Launch of India's Future Business Group’ today, he said that New-age entrepreneurs are going to change the fortune of India. He said, “We need to build a platform with like-minded countries and trusted partners to promote new-age businesses in India.” India can engage with other countries and build up a platform with trusted partners to promote new-age businesses, he added.

The minister said that it is the youngsters, who are going to change the fortune of India, create jobs & bring prosperity to the people. “We have a huge start-up ecosystem in India. It's more about recognizing our capabilities, uplifting our entrepreneurs. Some of the ideas that youngsters have come up with are truly revolutionary.” He suggested that Colleges should look at entrepreneurship or other courses around new-age businesses. We can also look at more vocational training & assessment process to see what is in the young person's mind, he added.

Talking about the improvement in India’s rank from 52 to 48 in the Global Innovation Index, Shri Goyal said “Let us all work together to truly make India the innovation hub. We have a huge start-up ecosystem. I have no doubt that the spirit of the industry will even encourage even Government to proactively go forward with new ideas & processes to make it easier & simpler to do business in India.  No power on earth can stop us from succeeding”

Speaking about the innovation in Railways, Shri Goyal said that in the last six years, our Indian coach making factories have not only stopped making old coaches, we are now making better LHB coaches. As a result of this, in the last 17 months, not even a single Railway passenger has died because of Railway accident:

Shri Goyal said that the real start-up entrepreneur with ideas is the Prime Minister. Narrating an anecdote, Shri Goyal said that while discussing the need of fencing the railway tracks for the high-speed trains, Shri Narendra Modi suggested bidding solar projects along Railway tracks, which will bring in Low-cost power, Private investment, make the track secure and also Railways eco-friendly.

Shri Goyal called upon the senior business leaders to become mentors, not only to their own family or businesses but also to the new age & young entrepreneurs. He said “I would appeal to them to allocate quality time for this. It will really encourage the youngsters”.

The Minister referred to the Aatmanirbhar Bharat as only the beginning of India's self-realization of its own potential to grow which will contribute to the global economy from a position of strength and trusted partner in resilient global supply chains. He said that India has tremendous potential for new businesses. He said “The objective is to get growth back in India. We will all have to work collectively to achieve that. Prime Minister had once said, "We have a million problems but at the same time, we have a billion minds." Our industry has truly demonstrated the capabilities of the intelligent Indian entrepreneur and the ability to surpass traditional businesses to promote new age businesses. India has immense capability & strength to grab the future. We will overcome the pandemic faster than anybody imagines.”

Prime Minister Delivers Special Keynote Address at the US-India 2020 Summit of US-ISPF

 

Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi today delivered the Special Keynote Address at the US-India 2020 Summit through video conference.

The US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF) is a non-profit organization that works for the partnership between India and the U.S.

The Theme of the 5-day Summit that began on the 31st of August is “US-India Navigating New Challenges”.

Addressing the Summit, Shri Narendra Modi said the global pandemic has impacted everyone and that it is testing our resilience, our public health systems, our economic systems.

The current situation demands a fresh mind set. A mind set where the approach to development is human centric. Where there is a spirit of cooperation between everyone, he said.

Talking about the way ahead the Prime Minister said that the country is focussing on ramping up capacities, securing the poor and future proofing our citizens.

Referring to various steps taken to ramp up facilities for fighting COVID and to increase awareness amongst the citizens, the Prime Minister said all such early measures ensured that the country with 1.3 billion people and limited resources has one of the lowest death rates per million in the World.

He expressed his happiness that India’s business community, especially the small business has been proactive. Starting from almost nothing, they made us the second largest PPE kits manufacturer in the World, he said.

Referring to various reforms the Prime Minister said that the pandemic failed to impact the aspirations and ambitions of 1.3 billion Indians.

He said there have been far reaching reforms in the country in recent times which have made the business easier and red-tapism lesser.

Shri Narendra Modi said that work is actively underway on the world's largest housing program and that the renewable energy infrastructure is being expanded.

Prime Minister also referred to the boosting of the Rail, road and air connectivity.

He said India is creating a unique digital model to build a national digital health mission.

We are using the best of fin-tech to provide banking, credit, digital payments and insurance to millions. All these initiatives are being taken using world-class technology and global best practices, he said.

Shri Modi said that the pandemic has shown the world that decision on developing global supply chains should be based not only on costs. They should also be based on trust. Along with affordability of geography, companies are now also looking for reliability and policy stability. India is the location which has all of these qualities.

Owing to these, he said, India is becoming one of the favourable destinations for Foreign Investment.

He said be it America, the Europe, Australia or the Gulf the world believes in us. We have received over 20 billion dollars of foreign investment flows during this year. Google, Amazon and Mubadala Investments have announced long-term plans for India.

Prime Minister referred to the transparent and predictable India offers and how the system encourages and supports honest taxpayers. He said, India’s GST is unified, fully enabled indirect tax system.

Shri Modi referred to the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code which reduces risk for the entire financial system. He also dwelt on the Comprehensive Labour Reforms that reduce compliance burden for employers and how it provides social security protection to the workers.

Prime Minister discussed the importance of investment in driving growth and how India is tackling both demand and supply side of it.

He said this is being done by making India one of the lowest tax destinations in the world and with further incentive for new manufacturing units.

Prime Minister referred to the mandatory e- platform based ‘faceless assessment’ and said it will go a long way in helping citizens along with the Tax-payers charter. The continued regulatory reforms in bond markets ensure improved ease of access for investors.

He said FDI into India rose by 20 percent in 2019, when the global FDI inflows fell by 1 Percent and that this shows the success of our FDI regime.

Shri Modi said all the above steps will ensure a brighter and more prosperous tomorrow. They will also contribute to a stronger global economy.

Referring to the mission embarked by 1.3 Billion Indians to make an AatmaNirbhar Bharat or Self-Reliant India, Prime Minister said it merges the local with the global and that India’s strengths act as global force multiplier.

He said it is about transforming India from being just a passive market to an active manufacturing hub at the heart of global value chains.

Prime Minister said the road further ahead is full of opportunities especially in Private and Public sectors and referred to the opening of sectors such as Coal, Mining, Railways, Defence, Space, and Atomic Energy.

He also referred to Production Linked Incentive schemes launched for- mobile & electronics, medical devices, pharma sectors along with reforms in Agriculture.

Prime Minister told the summit that for the challenges in India there is a Government that believes in delivering results, a government for which ease of living is as important as ease of doing business.

He described India as a young country with 65% population less than 35 years old which is aspirational and decided to take the nation to new heights. He said India is a country with political stability and political continuity and that it is committed to democracy and diversity.

Electricity demand improves to 98% of pre-Covid-19 level in August: ICRA

 

Electricity demand in India has recovered on account of the recovery in rural areas and the increase of demand for electricity in the country. ICRA rating agency has stated that the growth has improved to about 98 per cent of pre-COVID-19 level in August. The electricity demand recovery on an all-India level has largely been led by northern and eastern states with a year-on-year (y-o-y) increase of 6-13 per cent in demand in July 2020, it said. "The rise in demand was mainly driven by rural consumption though it continues to be lower as compared to the pre-COVID-19 levels," it said.

The electricity demand in large industrial states witnessed a 6-15 per cent fall in July 2020 on a y-o-y basis, on the back of slower recovery in industrial activity. Also, the recovery in the all-India demand in August 2020 is on a lower base, considering the demand decline witnessed as compared to same month last year. ICRA Sector Head and Vice President (Corporate Ratings) Girishkumar Kadam stated that while the monthly demand recovered from 85 billion units in April 2020 to 112 billion units in July 2020, it remained lower on a year-on-year basis. While the peak demand recovered from 133 gigawatts (GW) during April 2020 to 171 GW in July 2020, it remained lower by 3.3 per cent compared to July 2019. "This was also because of the re-imposition of lockdown restrictions in many parts across the country, due to rise in COVID-19 infections. Given the energy demand trends so far across the key states, ICRA continues to maintain its outlook for about 5-6 per cent decline in the all-India electricity demand in FY2021 over FY2020.”

 

He added that the decline in demand is expected to supress the thermal plant load factor (PLF) on an all-India level to about 50-51 per cent in 2020-21 against 56 per cent in 2019-20. ICRA said the decline in demand has adversely impacted revenues and cash collections for the power distribution companies (discoms), especially given that the bulk of the consumption decline has come from high tariff-paying industrial and commercial consumers. "The consequent revenue gap for the discoms at all-India level is estimated to increase by about Rs 42,000-45,000 crore in FY2021," it said. "Nonetheless, the discoms' ability to make timely payments in a sustained manner towards the generating companies continues to remain a key monitorable, which would be dependent on the demand recovery from industrial and commercial consumers in the near term," its Associate Head and Assistant Vice President Vikram V said. Besides, it will also depend upon the efforts to address the structural issues confronting the distribution segment, he added.

NASA congratulates Indian astronomers on Star Galaxy discovery

 

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has congratulated Indian astronomers on the discovery of one of the farthest Star galaxies in the universe estimated to be located 9.3 billion lightyears away from Earth. NASA described this discovery as an effort that will further humankind's understanding.

NASA's Public Affairs Officer Felicia Chou stated, "Science is a collaborative effort around the world, and discoveries like these help further humankind's understanding of where we come from, where are we going, and are we alone." India's first Multi-Wavelength Space Observatory "AstroSat" detected extreme-UV light from a galaxy located 9.3 billion lightyears away from Earth. The galaxy called AUDFs01 was discovered by a team of astronomers led by Dr Kanak Saha from the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA) Pune.

India's AstroSat/UVIT was able to achieve this unique feat because the background noise in the UVIT detector is much less than one on the Hubble Space Telescope of US-based NASA. Director of IUCAA, Dr Somak Ray Chaudhury, stated that the discovery offers a very important clue to how the dark ages of the Universe ended and there was light in the Universe. "We need to know when this started, but it has been very hard to find the earliest sources of light," he said. India's first Space Observatory AstroSat, was launched by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) on September 28, 2015.

Another milestone for farm sector: Now, Kharif acreage at lifetime high; bumper harvest likely. After a bumper rabi harvest, the acreage of the Kharif crops has skyrocketed to a lifetime high in the current year.

 

With a favourable monsoon this year, the agriculture sector has drawn the silver linings on the dark clouds of India’s severe economic stress. After a bumper rabi harvest, the acreage of the Kharif crops has skyrocketed to a lifetime high in the current year. The area sown for Kharif crops surged 7.2 per cent in only a year to 108.2 million hectares by 28 August 2020, according to the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy. The area sown this Kharif season is higher by almost two million hectares, compared to the normal acreage for the Kharif season, which is 106.6 million hectares. On top of it, the sown area is likely to rise further by 2.5 to 3.5 per cent this year.

Good pre-monsoon rainfall; the normal onset of monsoon and its rapid advancement over the country; and overall satisfactory progress of rainfall during the monsoon season so far contributed to the increase in area sown during this Kharif season, CMIE added. The acreage under all major pulses like arhar, green gram, and black gram has also crossed the normal acreage for the season.

While the construction sector has halved in the first quarter and the manufacturing sector has nosedived amid the nationwide lockdown, the agriculture sector remained almost unaffected from the curse of the pandemic. The farm sector recorded a growth of 3.4 per cent against the overall GDP contraction of 23.9 per cent in Q1 FY21.

Meanwhile, the sharp expansion in acreage across most major crops and the strong revival in monsoon in August indicate a bumper harvest this season. However, continued heavy rains pose a threat to the Kharif crop. Rainfall at over 40 per cent above the long period average (LPA) was recorded during week-ended August 19 and week-ended 26 August, CMIE underlined. Also, the rising cases of coronavirus in rural areas also pose risk to the flourishing farm sector.