Railways Extend Train Fare Concession to Dependent Children & Companion of Accredited Press Correspondents,

(PIB NEWS)  The Rail Travel Concession to dependent children and companion of accredited press correspondents who do not have a spouse has become effective from April 20, 2010.As announced by the Minister of Railways, Kumari Mamata Banerjee in her speech while presenting the Railway Budget 2010-11 in Parliament, the Ministry of Railways has decided to extend the Rail Fare Concession to companion of those accredited press correspondents who do not have a spouse and to dependent children up to 18 years of age of accredited press correspondents. Now accredited press correspondents can avail train fare concession for companion/children by giving an undertaking to the Chief Reservation Supervisor/Station Manager/Booking Supervisor in a revised Performa at the time of booking of ticket. The concession for companion will be extended in case of only those correspondents who do not have a spouse. This concession for the companion or dependent children is admissible only when they are traveling with the accredited press correspondent. It may be ensured that the concession to spouse/companion/children is availed only once in a financial year by the concerned press correspondent. All other terms and conditions including 50 per cent concession admissible in all classes in basic fares of Mail/Express trains and in fares of Rajdhani/Shatabdi/Jan Shatabdi trains to accredited Press Correspondents for unlimited travel on bonafide press work will remain same. The concession is also admissible to spouse of the correspondent while traveling with him/her once in a financial year. An official circular in this regard is available on Indian Railways website i.e. www.indianrailways.gov.in ( > Railway Board Directorates > Traffic Commercial > Commercial Circulars > 2010 > Circular No. CC-17)
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PM Gives Away Awards for Excellence in Public Administration,

(PIB NEWS) Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh  inaugurated the Civil Services Day, 2010 here today. Awards for Excellence in Public Administration were also presented to the winners. In his remarks, Dr. Manmohan Singh said the civil services have a major role to play in helping government fashion a suitable and adequate response to various issues that face the country. The civil servant of today should not only be alive and sensitive to the problems at hand but should also be well equipped to tackle them. He further said that Civil servants have a pivotal role in ensuring that the benefits of our programmes percolate to the farthest and remotest villages of our country. It is a daunting task that will test the endurance and mettle of our civil servants, especially that of the All-India Services. The Prime Minister urged the bureaucracy to devise innovative ways and means to harness the tools of information technology and to involve the intended beneficiaries in implementation so that complaints of leakages, complaints of corruption and complaints of lack of transparency get addressed. He said that Civil Services Day gives a unique opportunity to officers belonging to various services, and to various states, to come together to share experience and exchange views on important issues of national concern. It would not be an exaggeration to say that our civil services have lived up to this expectation, he said. ======================================================

Government Sanctions More Than 1.52 Million Houses Against the Mission Goal of Construction of 15 Lakh Houses

The Minister for Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation Kumari Selja has said that her Ministry is trying to address the issues of the urban poor, especially slum-dwellers in a comprehensive way by addressing the issues of policy, planning and programmes. Speaking at a function to give Awards for Innovations for the Urban Poor here today she said, the Government has announced Rajiv Awas Yojana with the vision of Slum-free India and the resolve to significantly improve the living conditions of the slum-dwellers. Recently, she said, the Ministry has launched the scheme of Slum-free City Planning for Rajiv Awas Yojana. This scheme is focused on Slum Survey, Development of Slum, MIS, GIS Mapping of Slums, integration of Slum MIS and GIS and preparation of Slum-free City Plans.Referring to the progress of BSUP and IHSDP components of JNNURM till March 31st this year, Kumari Selja said, the Government has sanctioned more than 1.52 million houses against the mission goal of construction of 15 lakh houses. 1422 projects of housing and basic amenities to the urban poor with an outlay of more than Rs 36,073 crores have been approved. Additional Central Assistance (Grant) of Rs. 19,920 crores are so far committed indicating more than 85% of the Mission period allocation. Cumulative release of Additional Central Assistance by the end of the financial year 2009-2010 is Rs.8,450 crores. About 2.33 lakh houses have been completed and 4.98 lakh houses are in progress as against the mid-term target of 5 lakhs units for completion or in progress. She said, while the progress of JNNURM so far is satisfactory, it is observed that there are tremendous discrepancies between States and cities. A key issue hindering the implementation of JNNURM in some States is acute capacity constraint. She said, while the challenges of urbanization are enormous, the constraint of capacity is leading to the failure of city authorities to effectively provide basic infrastructure and services to their rapidly growing urban population, especially the Aam Aadmi. Bulk of these services are lifeline services and include basic needs such as safe drinking water, sanitation, solid waste management, affordable shelter and public transportation. The Minister said, there is a dire need to address the lack of institutional and managerial capacities at city level and issues such as precarious municipal finances. There is also an issue of mindset; widespread apathy in civic officials results in deficiency in services to the urban poor. Thus, the problems of service delivery to the Aam Aadmi in urban areas have to be tackled in conjunction with reforms in municipal finances, institutional and HR capacity building and change management. Effective management of urbanization is a critical need of the hour. Kumari Selja said, urbanisation accompanies economic development. Cities in India contribute as high as 60% of the GDP. The benefits of urbanization need to be tapped to promote urban development and justice to the Aam Aadmi. In this regard, there is need to discover best practices and initiatives and promote them for wider replication. She said, on the part of her Ministry, they will strengthen their system of giving awards by Prime Minister for best-performance in the implementation of JNNURM.
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Artificial Rainfall

(PIB NEWS) A number of cloud seeding programmes have been carried out by commercial firms working under contract with a variety of sponsors both from the Government covering large areas as well as by Private Trusts at a local scale. The States of Karnataka, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh have undertaken cloud seeding operations till last year by hiring private firms and these operations were funded by the respective State Governments. Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM) Pune, is conducting a National multi-year program viz. “Cloud Aerosol Interaction and Precipitation Enhancement Experiment (CAIPEEX)” during 2008-2012. It is proposed to carry out cloud seeding experiment for producing artificial rainfall during July-August 2010 in the research mode over the rain-shadow regions of peninsular India, consisting the parts of the States of Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. However, there are no plans under this programme for conducting this over Mumbai area. This was stated by Shri Prithviraj Chavan, Minister of State (I/C) for Science and Technology and Earth Sciences in the Lok Sabha today.
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Use new technologies to fight corruption: PM to civil servants

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Wednesday asked civil servants to use information technology (IT) to fight corruption and ensure that the poor get equitable benefits of the government’s developmental schemes.“It is incumbent upon us to ensure that no area of our country is denied the benefits of our ambitious developmental programmes,” Manmohan Singh said, addressing a function here on the occasion of Civil Services Day.He asked civil servants to use technology tools to address the complaints of corruption and lack of transparency.“It is up to you to devise innovative ways and means, to harness the tools of IT and to involve the intended beneficiaries in implementation so that complaints of corruption and complaints of lack of transparency get addressed.“Every effort must be made to make full use of the potentialities of the Panchayati Raj System for effective decentralized and socially just development,” the prime minister said.India, according to global corruption watchdog Transparency International’s latest survey, is perceived as a highly corrupt nation in the world ranked 84 among 180 countries on the integrity score. The ranking means that 83 other countries are less corrupt than India.

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Need to monitor welfare schemes: Khurshid

Government-sponsored welfare schemes need to be monitored so that the benefits reach the targeted sections effectively, Minority Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid said Tuesday. “Wherever there are schemes for the welfare of people, especially for the poorer sections of the society, their implementation needs to be monitored so as to ensure that the benefits actually reach the people in an effective way,” Khurshid said.He was inaugurating an orientation-cum-training programme organised for monitoring of the implementation of various schemes of the minority affairs ministry and its allied organizations.The programme was held for National Level Monitors (NLMs) appointed by the ministry. Khurshid said the role of NLMs becomes more important as “they will have to monitor not only the quantity, but also the quality of the schemes ”.Secretary Vivek Mehrotra said the minority affairs ministry was one of the very few to have independent monitoring of its programmes.The reports of NLMs would provide information and data enabling mid-course corrective measures to ensure effective implementation of the schemes, he said.In order to implement the mechanism of appointing NLMs effectively, the ministry signed an agreement with National Productivity Council of India, a society under the aegis of the commerce and industry ministry, in December last year.The tasks of advertising, selection, training and deployment of NLMs and making analyzed presentations on their findings to the ministry are being carried out by the NPC.The NPC will engage 223 NLMs for the purpose.
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‘Over 2,400 corruption cases against officials since 2007′

Over 2,400 corruption cases have been registered against public servants since 2007, parliament was informed Wednesday.“The CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) has registered 2,439 cases under the PC Act (Prevention of Corruption Act) against public servants, including senior officers, during the last three years – 2007,2008, 2009 and the current year (up to March 2010),” Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office Prithviraj Chavan told the Lok Sabha Wednesday.Chavan was responding to a query by Pratap Narayanrao Sonawane on wheteher the government was aware of public servants and senior officers indulging in corrupt practices and the action taken against erring officials.“Whether a person is guilty or otherwise can only be decided by court after trial. However, in CBI cases under PC Act,732 cases have ended in conviction during the last three years and the current year,” Chavan said.“The government is fully committed to implement its policy of zero tolerance against corruption and is moving progressively to eradicate corruption from all spheres of life by improving transparency and accountability,” Chavan  said.   ======================================================

Swami Nityananda arrested from Himachal village

Swami Nityananda, who faces charges of rape, criminal intimidation and cheating and has been on the run for over a month, was Wednesday arrested along with four others from a Himachal Pradesh village, police said.The Karnataka-based Nityananda has been on the run since March 23 when the Karnataka High Court rejected his plea for anticipatory bail and quashing of criminal cases against him.He was nabbed from a village near Arki town in Solan district, about 50 km from here.“Swami Nityananda was arrested by a joint team of the Himachal Pradesh and Bangalore police from a village near Arki in Solan district. He was staying in a house for the past few days,” Additional Director General of Police I.D. Bhandari told Two of the arrested people belong to Delhi.“Himachal police got a fax from the Karnataka police April 17 that they had information that Nityananda was hiding in Himachal Pradesh. Subsequently two deputy superintendents of police reached Shimla for investigation,” Bhandari said.“The Karnataka police came to know about Nityananda’s whereabouts through a mobile call he had made,” he added.“The accused might be taken back to Karnataka Thursday morning,” Bhandari added.More than five mobile phones were recovered from the possession of the five arrested people.Video footage telecast in early March showed Nityananda in bed with two women. He denied any wrongdoing and has not been seen in public since then.After the Karnataka High Court rejected his anticipatory bail plea, Nityananda had quit as head of his ashram, Dhyanapeetam, located about 35 km from Bangalore.In a related development, the Karnataka Crime Investigation Department (CID) has sought information from all those affected by Nityananda’s actions.
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Heatwave conditions prevail in Andhra Pradesh,

Hyderabad, Apr 21: Heatwave conditions prevailed over Adilabad and Mahabubnagar Districts of Telangana, with the highest maximum temperature of 44 degrees Celsius being recorded at Adilabad.The maximum temperatures rose at a few places over Rayalaseema, at one or two places over Coastal Andhra Pradesh and changed little over Telangana. They were significantly above normal at a few places over remaining districts of Telangana and at one or two places over Coastal Andhra Pradesh and Rayalaseema, the Met department said today. Isolated rain/thundershowers may occur over Rayalaseema while mainly dry weather would prevail over Coastal Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Maximum and Minimum temperatures in and around Hyderabad would be 42 and 28 Degrees Celsius respectively.
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Three govt officials convicted in ACB cases

Hyderabad, Apr 21: Special Judge for ACB Cases,Visakhapatnam, has sentenced Senior Assistant in the office of Vizianagaram District Educational Officer Manem Ramam to one-year rigorous imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rupees 1,000 for the offences under section 13(2) r/w 13(1)(d) of the P.C. Act, 1988.In case of default in payment of fine, the accused would have to undergo simple imprisonment for four months. The judge also ordered a six-month rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs 500 and in default of payment of fine to suffer simple imprisonment for 2 months under section 7 of The P.C.Act, 1988. Both the sentences were ordered to run concurrently, a press release here said. Earlier, the accused was trapped by ACB officials on December 3, 2004 when he accepted bribe of Rs 8,000 from a Secondary Grade Teacher of Purryavalasa Village, Cheepurupalli Mandal,Vizianagaram District for regularization of the suspension period of the complainant. Meanwhile, the Special Judge for SPE and ACB Cases at Vijayawada sentenced Former Gorantla Village Panchayat Secretary K Subba Reddy and Village Sarpanch B.China Sivaiah to undergo simple imprisonment for one year and fine of Rs 2,000/- each u/s 13(1) r/w 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988. The judge also ordered simple imprisonment for six months and to pay a fine of Rs. 1,000/- each under section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988. Earlier, they were trapped by ACB officials on February 26, 2005 when they accepted bribe of Rs 7,000 from the complainant.
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