From: Press Information Bureau Ministry of I&B <pib.kolkata@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, Jul 2, 2010 at 3:27 PM
Subject: Releases.............pt2
Press Information Bureau
Government of India
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Ministry of Labour & Employment
The Directorate General of Employment and Training, Ministry of Labour and
Employment Today Released Its First Report to The People on Employment
New Delhi: July 2, 2010
The Directorate General of Employment and Training, Ministry of Labour and Employment released its first Annual Report to the People on Employment in New Delhi today. One of the central ideas of the Report is that high economic growth and growth of quality employment reinforce each other. Recognizing low level of earnings and poor working conditions of casual labourers and a part of self employed workers, the Report argues for increasing the share of organised sector employment in total employment of the country, particularly in the manufacturing and service sectors.
The Report strongly puts the idea of re-defining 'economic activity' for public debate so that women's contribution to economic growth could be recognised properly in economic terms and a number of social and family related barriers could be addressed through policy interventions. The Report firmly puts on the agenda to best utilize the 'demographic dividend' by focusing on generating gainful employment for youth, in general, and young women, in particular.
The Report particularly aims to focus on generating employment and enhancing employability of workers among less advantaged. It is widely believed that poverty in India, though significantly declined over the years, is continuing mainly because of non-inclusion of different less advantaged population groups in development process. The report attempts to identify some of the important sources of such exclusion in the labour market and focus on required policy measures for 'inclusive growth'.
The Report notes that given very low proportion of skilled workers at present, a suitable and workable framework to enhance the employability of workers is essential. The same can be achieved by providing training to workers at various levels with emphasis on recognizing local skills and certifying informally acquired skills along with the expansion of skill development institutions. The Report also argues for rationalization of labour laws and broadening the ambit of labour reforms for achieving equitable employment growth. It sets out short-term and medium-term strategies to ensure gainful employment opportunities for all the working people with particular emphasis on the disadvantaged groups.
The President of India in her address on 4 June, 2009 to the Joint Session of both Houses of Parliament, had announced that the Government will bring out five reports to the people on education, health, employment, environment and infrastructure. Ministry of Labour and Employment (MoL&E) has been entrusted with the responsibility of bringing out the report on employment being the nodal Ministry on employment related matters. The present Annual Report is first in the series.
The inclusion of employment as one of the themes of these reports underline the Government's commitment and priority attached to this subject and its potential for advancing the objective of inclusive economic growth and development. The present report aims to contribute to the national agenda of 'inclusive growth' by focusing on those population groups who face variety of socio-economic and institutional entry barriers and fail to earn a respectable living status despite being engaged in economic activities. This Report to the People on Employment provides a framework to understand the contemporary employment scenario.
Major Short term strategies and targets include: Employment growth to be targeted at least 2.5 per cent per annum compatible with the 9 percent growth in the economy; Promote labour intensive and high employment elasticity sectors to achieve the quantitative employment growth target; Focus on inclusion of youth, women and vulnerable groups with their specific needs of training and skill development; Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) must reach out to all poor households with 100 days of assured employment; An urban employment guarantee scheme on the lines of MGNREGA may be considered; National Floor Minimum Wage to be given statutory sanction; Statutory provisions to provide social security and improved conditions of work and remuneration of contract workers at par with the regular employees; Expand the outreach of Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) scheme to all poor households; Well calibrated withdrawal of stimulus package for labour intensive exporting enterprises e.g. textiles, handicrafts, gems and jewellery; Re-skilling the retrenched workers for redeployment; Developing Information base and e-monitoring on real time basis; and Compilation of employment/unemployment data on annual basis regularly.
Key Medium term strategies and targets are: Focus on self-employed and casual workers for improving livelihood; Enhance the scope of employment in the organised sector; Enhance regular employment for less advantaged groups and in poorer states; Comprehensive coverage of unorganised sector workers under social security schemes; Rationalisation and simplification of labour regulations and broadening the ambit of labour reforms; Promote diversification of rural workforce to off-farm and non-farm activities; Promote green technology, green jobs and encourage greening the workplace; Detailed skill mapping mechanism to be evolved; Credible and independent accreditation & certification process to be created; Upgradation of all training providing institutions and strengthening delivery through – Public Private Partnership (PPP) Mode; Creating large number of skill development institutions and pool of trainers to expand the outreach of skill development initiatives; Target regions with concentration of vulnerable social groups such as Scheduled Tribes, Scheduled Castes, minorities, women, illiterate less skilled for active labour market policies; and ISO Certification of skill development institutions and assessing bodies.
The Report solicits valuable comments and suggestions from the people on major issues highlighted in this Report specially those relating to the employment of youth, women and the disadvantaged groups. The Report is uploaded on the website of Ministry of Labour & Employment at http://labour.nic.in and comments/suggestions may be sent at the following address:
E-mail id : rpemp-feedback@nic.in
Fax : 011- 23351878, 011- 23350896
Postal Address : Joint Secretary / Director General Employment & Training,
Ministry of Labour & Employment,
Shram Shakti Bhawan, 2-4, Rafi Marg, New Delhi- 110001
ysk/pm/dk/kol/15:20 hrs.
Press Information Bureau
Government of India
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Ministry of Water Resources
Storage of Important Reservoirs in the Country
New Delhi: July 2, 2010
Central Water commission (CWC) under Ministry of Water Resources is monitoring storage position of 81 important reservoirs spread all over the country, of which as many as 36 reservoirs are having significant hydro-power benefits with installed capacities of more than 60MW each. The combined live storage in these 81 reservoirs at the beginning of monsoon i.e. June 01, 2010 was 13% of their designed capacity and stood at 12% of designed capacity as on June 24, 2010. The present storage is 131% of last year's storage and 89% of last 10 years average storage during the same period. Out of these 81 reservoirs there are presently 43 reservoirs where this year's storage is 80 % or less than the average of previous 10 years and in remaining 38 reservoirs the storage is more than 80% of the average of previous 10 years. In order to derive the best possible benefits from the available water, Central Water Commission is keeping in touch with the Department of Agriculture and Co-operation and providing information of the weekly storage position to the Crop Weather Watch Group for evolving suitable crop strategies and also appraising the situation to various Departments and Ministries involved in Water Resources Planning.
Basinwise storage position as on June 24, 2010 is as follows:
§ The storage position in Narmada, Cauvery and NEFRs and Krishna basins are better than average of previous 10 years, West Flowing Rivers of South and Rivers of Kutch are flowing close to normal and storage position in Ganga, Indus, Mahanadi & NEFRs, Tapi, Sabarmati, Mahi and Godavari basins are deficient.
Out of 36 reservoirs with significant hydro potential 27 reservoirs have storage build up less than the average of last 10 years capacity.
sk/dk/kol/15:21 hrs.
Press Information Bureau
Government of India
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Ministry of Rural Development
Connecting Rural Roads in Tamil Nadu
New Delhi: July 2, 2010
The Ministry of Rural Development has released grant in aid worth Rs. 79,81,00,000 crore (Rs. Twenty Two Crore Eighty One Lakhs and Eighty Thousand only) as part payment of 2nd installment of Phase-V, for construction of rural roads in Tamil Nadu under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY).The sum is from the special window created in NABARD (National Bank for Agriculture & Rural Development) under RIDF as grants in aid to the Tamil Nadu Rural Housing & Infrastructure Development Cooperation (TNRHIDC). TNRHIDC is the agencies executing the works taken up under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) in the state.
Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana is a 100 % centrally sponsored scheme to provide road connectivity in the rural areas of the country. PMGSY envisages connectivity to all habitations with a population of 500 persons and above in the rural areas and about 250 persons and above in respect of the hilly states, tribal areas and desert areas through good and all weather roads.
akt/st/bs/dk/kol/15:21 hrs.
Press Information Bureau
Government of India
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Ministry of Road Transport & Highways
Government Accepts Experts Committee Report on ETC Technology; Nationwide Operations to Begin by May 2012
New Delhi: July 2, 2010
The Government has accepted the Report of Shri Nandan Nilekani led Experts' Committee on Electronic Toll Collection (ETC). Speaking to the press here today, the Minister for Road Transport & Highways Shri Kamal Nath, announced this and said that the RFID technology will ensure seamless travel across the country. Earlier, the Chairman of the Committee along with other members submitted the report, providing a road map for efficient electronic toll collection system, to Shri Nath. The Committee has recommended adopting RFID technology (based on EPC, Gen-2, and ISO 18000-6C Standards) for electronic toll collection on National Highways in India. As per the expected timelines given by the committee for implementation of ETC, the nationwide operation of the technology is likely to begin by May, 2012. The technology will enable seamless travel on national highways in the entire country by providing a uniform inter-operable ETC system for paying tolls. The 5 member experts committee was constituted by the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways on April 20th this year to propose a suitable technology, architecture, and methods for ETC in India.
The committee considered the different ETC technologies being used world over such as
Dedicated Short Range Communications (DSRC), Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), Global Navigational satellite System/ Cellular Network systems (GNSS/CN) and Vehicle Identification System using number plates. It recommended adopting RFID technology which is maintenance-free, as the passive tag that is used does not require a battery, and has a long life. It is simple to install (an RFID tag can be simply stuck on the windscreen of a vehicle), and the reliability of identification is high. Most importantly, the cost of the passive RFID tag for the vehicle owner is a fraction of the cost of the other alternatives. It costs about Rs 100 per Tag and about Rs 2 Lac per Reader as compared to other technologies which cost Rs. 1000 to Rs 2000 for On Board Unit (OBU) and Rs. 2 to 5 lakhs for the reader. RFID is the only technology (besides DSRC Passive Microwave) which has multiple suppliers. It allows tamper resistant "stickers "which are small, light, very cheap and with almost unlimited life. The technology is being used successfully in USA, Mexico, Chile, Argentina and Dubai.
The Committee also recommended a prepaid system for toll collection similar to the prepaid phone cards which is people friendly. With prepaid systems, a vehicle owner can "recharge" the account for the vehicle (the account number will be the RFID tag number), and when the vehicle passes through the ETC lane of any toll plaza across the country, appropriate toll will be debited from the account. All Toll plazas on the National Highways will be equipped with systems to read the tags. Road users can buy / top up Tags at wide network of designated locations. In order to manage the financial transactions relating to toll collection (recharging, toll debiting, payment to the toll concessionaires, etc.) a Central Toll Clearing House (CTCH) has been proposed. A suitable software client will run at all toll plazas, which will be connected to the Clearing House through a WAN. Tag holders will be able to query account details through web, email and mobile phones. The RFID Tag system has additional advantages as it can be used for other applications like vehicle tracking, parking, traffic enforcement etc.
As per the expected timelines for implementation of ETC on NHs in India, the nationwide operations of the technology will begin by May, 2012. After acceptance of the Report, MoRTH will engage a suitable agency (by August, 2010) for preparation of RFP document for engaging an international Consultant (October, 2010) for implementation of ETC in India. The selected international Consultant would: <br><br>
(a) Prepare ETC Blueprint covering Standards/ Guidelines, Technical specifications etc.
(b) Prepare Bid documents for procurement of ETC systems and setting up of Central Clearing House.
(c) Supervise installation / commissioning of ETC systems at Toll Plazas, setting up of Central Clearing House etc
(d) Conduct System Acceptance Testing
(e) Monitor / technical assistance for a period of 12 months during operation period.
This will be followed by the various steps for bidding, preparation of ETC Blueprint / Bid documents for procurement of Hardware / Software and setting up of CCH , award of contract for procurement of hardware / software and setting up of CCH, supply, installation / commissioning of ETC systems at toll plazas and setting up of CCH and Networking of all Toll Plazas.
The Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) ,a technology that allows electronic payment of highway tolls, use vehicle-to-roadside communication technologies to perform an electronic monetary transaction between a vehicle passing through a toll plaza and the toll collection agency. ETC systems can replace a human toll collector who manually collects tolls at tollbooths. Such a system can work across toll plazas run by different operators and allow transactions to be performed while vehicles travel at near highway speed enabling seamless travel by the road users along National Highways
It is expected that the ETC system will be beneficial to users, toll operators and NHAI. It will increase user convenience (from payment without stopping at toll plazas), lead to savings on fuel and reduction of emissions from idling and repeated stops for vehicles, reduce traffic congestion and time to commute. It would mean less operating cost for toll operators, better audit control through centralized user accounts, improve transparency of toll transactions and reduces revenue leakages.
rs/dk/kol/15:21 hrs.
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Palash Biswas
Pl Read:
http://nandigramunited-banga.blogspot.com/
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