GRANT OF PATENTS UP 12 PC DURING APR-DEC FY'19: DPIIT
Grant of patents during
April-December 2018-19 rose 12 per cent to 10,036 due to various measures taken
by the commerce and industry ministry to streamline patent examination process,
according to an official data. The Department for Promotion of Industry and
Internal Trade (DPIIT), under the ministry, said Indian IP (intellectual
property) office has undergone a revamp in terms of increasing manpower and
making the process paperless. It said the country had granted 8,940 patents in
the year-ago nine-month period. Examination of patent applications during the
period under review also witnessed an increase of 51 per cent to 61,768 as
compared to 40,790 during April-December 2017-18. Similarly, trademark filings
too soared by 27 per cent to 2,47,615 during the nine-month period of the
current fiscal as against 1,95,705 in the same period of 2017-18.
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SECRETARY LEGAL AFFAIRS TO HEAD COMMITTEE ON COMPREHENSIVE
INSURANCE SCHEME FOR ADVOCATES
The Government has set-up
a five member committee to examine the issues related to framing of a proper,
structured scheme for providing of insurance cover to the advocates and also
suggest modalities for the implementation of such scheme. Union Minister for
Law & Justice has set-up the committer under the chairmanship of Secretary
Legal Affairs. Other members of the committee will include a senior
representative from the Department of Financial Services and representative of
Department of legal affairs. The committee will also have one representative
each from Bar Council of India and State Bar Councils. Ravi Shankar Prasad has
directed that the committee shall recommend a comprehensive insurance scheme
for the welfare of the advocated all over India to address concerns relating to
untimely death and medical insurance It states that committee should submit its
reports within three months and if the need be the committee may take opinion
from all stakeholders including the representatives of the insurance companies
to devise the proposed scheme. The committee shall also suggest the modalities
of administration of the insurance scheme under a high powered body with
adequate representatives of all stakeholders.
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GOVERNMENT EXPECTS 1 CRORE ENROLLMENT FOR NEW PENSION SCHEME
BY END MARCH
Kumar Gangwar Friday said
the government is expecting over 1 crore workers to get enrolled into the
newly-launched Pradhan Mantri-Shram Yogi Maandhan Yojana by the end of the
month. Under this scheme, people will get many facilities and whoever enrols
will get the benefits. Up to now, more than 15 lakh people from the unorganised
sector have already enrolled. The interest is growing and by March 31 we expect
the number to reach 1 crore, Gangwar said. The scheme, launched by Prime
Minister Narendra Modi on March 5 in Ahmedabad, aims to provide pension to 42
crore workers in the unorganised sectors. We are concerned about people working
in the unorganised sector and want to see how they can get pensions, he said.
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GOVERNMENT WILL MEET FISCAL DEFICIT TARGET OF 3.4 PER CENT IN
FY'19: SUBHASH CHANDRA GARG
Subhash Chandra Garg
Friday exuded confidence that fiscal deficit target of 3.4 per cent for 2018-19
would be met as shortfall in indirect tax collection would be compensated by
lower expenditure. I am very confident (of meeting fiscal deficit target of 3.4
per cent for 2018-19), Garg said. As per the interim Budget 2019-20, the
government has pegged fiscal deficit target of 3.4 per cent for the current
fiscal year ending March 31. Our assessment at this stage is, in direct taxes,
we will probably do as per the revised estimate, indirect taxes, there might be
some shortfall, and on the expenditure side there might be some savings. On the
whole, we should be where we are, he said. In the current fiscal, direct tax
collection is pegged at Rs 12 lakh crore (revised estimate). The government had
originally budgeted to collect Rs 11.50 lakh crore in 2018-19 from direct
taxes, which include corporate tax and personal income tax. Likewise, in
2018-19, GST collection is pegged at Rs 6.43 lakh crore (RE), which is lower
than the targeted Rs 7.43 lakh crore (BE). On the indirect tax front, customs
collection in the current fiscal is pegged at Rs 1.30 lakh crore (RE). Fiscal
deficit touched 121.5 per cent of the full-year revised target of Rs 6.34 lakh
crore at the end of January on account of lower revenue collection, according
to recent data released by the Controller General of Accounts (CGA).
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MSME SECTOR ADDED UP TO 14.9 MILLION JOBS PER ANNUM IN LAST FOUR
YEARS, CLAIMS CII SURVEY
Amid all gloom over not
enough jobs being created in the country, the Confederation of Indian Industry
survey of over one lakh small and medium enterprises have shown 13.9% increase
in net jobs created in the MSME sector in last four years or 3.3% per annum.
Given that the total workforce size according to the labour bureau is estimated
at 450 million (projected for 2017-18), the overall job additions work out to
13.5 – 14.9 million per annum, CII said in the survey which it claims to be the
largest ever in recent times covering 105,347 MSME firms. According to the
survey, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Telangana have been the largest job generators
over the past four years while in the case of case of exporters, Maharashtra,
Tamil Nadu and Telangana have emerged as the top three states. As per the
survey, last four years have seen sectors like hospitality and tourism,
textiles and apparel and metal products generating more jobs while machinery
parts and transport & logistics were the next significant job creators. The
survey also indicates optimism on higher growth expectations on employment for
the next three years, which emanates from the fact that the government
initiatives like the 2% interest rate subvention given to all MSMEs and trade
receivables e-discounting system (TReDS) implemented recently would drive
future growth leading to more employment, it said. The users of government
schemes expect tangible growth benefits to accrue, particularly in the medium
term (three years), in a way that users expect to grow faster relative to
overall growth especially the interest subvention facility which it said is
expected to be the biggest growth booster. The survey, however, points out the
need for greater hand-holding of those MSMEs who are currently not using these
initiatives to help them gain from these initiatives. The survey has indeed
thrown up the most promising outcomes. There is a very healthy growth in
employment among the MSME segment of industry and with the kind of disruptions
and innovations that are likely to sweep through industry in terms of new
technologies and practices, our skills development front is also undergoing
rapid changes, Rakesh Bharti Mittal, said. The survey covered 105,347 MSMEs
located in about 350 industrial centres spread across 28 states of India. The
survey focussed on jobs generated in the sector and government initiatives for
MSMEs.
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STARTUPS MOP UP $7 BN FROM PES, VCS IN 2018
E-commerce and consumer
Internet companies have raised over $7 billion in private equity and venture
capital funds in 2018, says a report. Of the total investment, startups such as
Oyo, Swiggy, Byjus, Paytm Mall, Pine Labs, Zomato, Udaan, Policybazaar and
Curefit collectively raised the lions share of $4.6 billion in 2018, says an EY
report. A few large deals included Walmarts acquisition of Flipkart for USD 16
billion, Alibabas investment in Bigbasket and Paytm, Tencents investment in
Dream11, and Naspers investment in Byjus and Swiggy.
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GOVT SECTOR PENSION MONIES: PFRDA WANTS PE/VC INDUSTRY TO
KNOCK GOVT DOORS
The Pension Fund
Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) on Friday advised the Private
Equity (PE) and Venture Capital (VC) industry to talk to the Government about considering
some pension monies in PE/VC funds which are similar to those done for
non-Government National Pension Scheme (NPS) monies. As on date, only
non-Government NPS monies—a small proportion of 15 per cent of the overall
corpus of Rs 3 lakh crore—are permitted to be invested in Alternates (including
PE/VC funds). The Government has still not come around on the issue of
permitting Government employees NPS monies to flow into PE/VC although PFRDA
had made out a case for allowing this. So far they (Government) have not
budged. They have been steadfast in their views that this kind of relaxation is
not in the interest of Government employees. So this is something that has to
be taken up strongly with the Government by industry. We have done our bit,
Contractor said. The contractor laid out the agenda for the GP community, the
Indian Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (IVCA) for the next 3-4
years. Elaborating on the issues that need to be tackled to ensure surge in
pension monies flows into PE/VC funds, Contractor said that IVCA should also
improve awareness of pension fund managers (PFMs) on the benefits of investing
in PE/VC funds.
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E-COMMERCE, CONSUMER INTERNET COMPANIES RAISED $7 BILLION IN
PE/VC CAPITAL IN 2018: EY REPORT
E-commerce and consumer
internet companies have raised more than $7 billion through private equity and
venture capital funding in 2018, according to a report by Ernst & Young
(EY). This includes 200 deals of which $5.9 billion raised as early stage
capital and $1.3 billion was invested as growth capital. The hyperLocal segment
attracted the maximum capital followed by travel and hospitality, the report
said. A majority of the funding was towards building supply chain, expanding
into new segments, global expansion, acquisition or consolidation, and bringing
innovative product offerings to the market.
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UP, BIHAR CONTINUE TO BE DOWN IN THE DUMPS IN HDI: REPORT
Uttar Pradesh and Bihar
continue to languish on the human development index (HDI) front, while others,
including Haryana and Himachal, have shown an improvement in the past 27 years,
says a report. The industrially progressive Gujarat and Maharashtra have slipped
in the HDI ranking between 1990 and 2017, while Haryana has improved the most,
finds SBI Research. Southern states continue to lead the pack on the crucial
measure, where the country is ranked 130th globally, but are staring at a
different trouble, the report notes. Both UP and Bihar have continued to remain
at the bottom in the past 27 years, notes the report, acknowledging some
strides undertaken by these states since 2014. Rajasthan, UP, Odisha and MP
have seen the largest jump in HDI value among the 25 major states, it said.
Interestingly, the report says one cannot establish a direct co-relation
between social sector spends and HDI, which points to the presence of institutional
bottlenecks, lack of awareness and implementation issues. From perspective of
spending public funds, Nagaland is at the bottom with a growth of 12.7 percent
per annum over the past 27 years, while Haryana witnessed the fastest growth at
15.7 percent. Bengal had a 13.3 per cent growth in social sector spends ranking
19th, which is a slip of two notches since 1990, it said. Gujarat slipped to 14
in 2017 from 12 in 1990, while Maharashtra slipped by one notch to 9, it said.
The list is topped by Kerala, followed by Goa. The report expect Ayushman
Bharat scheme, which seeks to provide health cover to the poor, can help
improve HDI value both at the national and sub-national level in the coming
years if rolled out properly and rolled out across the states.
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WHY THE ECONOMY IS LACKING JOSH
After a new round of
revisions, the CSO recently declared that India’s GDP growth averaged 7.6 per
cent in the last five years, doing much better than the 6.7 per cent expansion in
the preceding five years. But this bit of good news was met with a huge yawn of
indifference by the citizenry. One can’t blame them. Lately, there’s been a
marked lack of the josh in the economy that usually accompanies such GDP growth
numbers. When India reported 7-8 per cent growth (according to the new
back-series) in 2006-07 or 2010-11, consumer confidence was high, India Inc’s
profits were growing in double-digits and the farm economy was in a happier
place. Sceptics of the new GDP series attribute this disconnect to flaws in the
CSO’s GDP measurement. But there’s another possible explanation too. That
India’s subdued nominal GDP growth in the last five years is hurting consumers,
borrowers and India Inc. Economists like to measure a country’s achievements in
terms of real output and dismiss price increases as artificial props to growth.
But for most ordinary folk, nominal growth matters more, as income and wealth
are their yardsticks of prosperity. On this count, with India’s consumer
inflation rate halving in the last five years, nominal GDP growth has sharply
moderated Between FY10 and FY14, averaging 15.3 per cent, India’s nominal GDP
growth had even shot up to 19.9 per cent in FY11. But in the last five years to
FY19, it has averaged just 11.2 per cent, never managing to top 13 per cent. There
are four ways in which subdued nominal GDP growth has proved to be a wet
blanket for the economy. Plenty has already been said about how falling food
prices have pruned agricultural income and put marginal farmers on the road to
penury. But industrial and service workers have taken their share of pay hits
too, thanks to falling inflation. Tracing the employee expenses for the 1400
NSE-listed companies provides evidence of this. During the boom years from FY04
to FY08, their aggregate wage bill galloped at over 20 per cent a year. Between
FY10 and FY14, as inflation remained high, it still increased at 14 per cent a
year. But in the last four years (until FY18) the growth in employee expenses
was just 8.8 per cent a year. Now, 8.8 per cent may still look like a decent
enough increase, at a 4-5 per cent inflation rate. But then, one needs to
remember that the increase in aggregate wage bill for firms captures both new
additions to the workforce and pay increases to existing employees. Assuming
that half the increase in India Inc’s wage bill was due to new hires, employees
have, in effect, had to make do with pay increases of 4-5 per cent in the last
five years, compared to the 10-12 per cent earlier. While listed companies
represent only a section of the economy, it is unlikely that smaller firms
handed out higher pay hikes than the leading lights of the economy. This
slowdown in pay increases in the formal sector, coming on top of deflating farm
income, is bound to have a dampening effect on consumer sentiment. High
inflation inflicts pain on savers and consumers, but benefits borrowers by
making their debt look less burdensome over time. Therefore, India’s
high-inflation spell until FY14 had convinced many retail folks that even if
they stretched their finances to take on home, car or personal loans, those
EMIs would turn quite manageable over time, with hefty pay increases. RBI data
show that between FY14 and FY19, consumers were on a loan-taking binge, with outstanding
retail loans for banks more than doubling from ₹10 lakh crore to over ₹21
lakh crore. But lately, these loan-takers have had to face the double-whammy of
slower pay growth, co-existing with stubbornly high interest rates. This is
another contributor to flagging consumer sentiment. Nominal GDP growth has a
direct bearing on India Inc’s ability to expand its top-line. In the heyday of
FY04-FY07, net sales for the NSE-listed companies grew at over 20 per cent year
after year. After the jolt from the global financial crisis, this slowed to
13.5 per cent in FY10-FY14. But the last four years have seen India Inc really
struggle to expand its sales, with growth averaging barely 3 per cent. The last
three quarters of FY19 have brought signs of revival, with sales growth
returning to the double-digits. But profit growth has remained elusive as
companies have found it difficult to pass on raw material increases to their
customers. Historically, listed companies in India enjoyed considerable pricing
power, but the low nominal growth seems to have upset that dynamic. The lack of
a credible turnaround in corporate profits has made investors wary of high
stock valuations in the ongoing bull market. It has also held back India Inc
from announcing new investment plans. This has contributed to the stock
market’s sideways crawl, after the big bull phase from 2012 to 2017. When the
private sector is in no mood to invest, governments in usually pick up the
slack by splurging on welfare schemes and infrastructure projects. But in
stepping up public spending, the Indian government also needs to make sure that
its fiscal deficit doesn’t overshoot the red line drawn by the FRBM rules. Given
that FRBM rules peg the fiscal deficit at 3 per cent of nominal GDP, the size
and growth of nominal GDP sets boundaries to how much the government can spend
to revive the economy’s animal spirits. Between FY09 and FY14, India’s fiscal
deficit in absolute terms galloped by 49 per cent, from ₹3.36
lakh crore to ₹5.02 lakh crore (Budget actuals). But fiscal deficit as a
proportion of GDP fell from 6.1 to 4.5 per cent, a good 1.6 percentage point
reduction. Deficit reduction got a leg-up from the brisk growth in nominal GDP
which more than doubled in this period. Between FY15 and FY19 though, the
absolute deficit has grown at a far slower pace of 24 per cent (₹5.1
lakh crore to ₹6.34 lakh crore). But deficit reduction has proved an uphill
task, with fiscal deficit as a proportion of GDP falling by just 0.8 percentage
points, from 4.1 to 3.4 per cent. The lack of nominal GDP growth, which
expanded by just 50 per cent in the last five years, has been the key villain
of the piece. Overall, it is time policymakers at the Centre and the RBI
realised that too little inflation, in the Indian context, can be as bad for
the economy as runaway inflation. Instead of over-zealous one-way efforts to
cool inflation, they need to reorient their policy-making to ensure that
consumer price inflation stays in a moderate zone (say, 5-6 per cent) that is
neither too hot to singe consumers, nor too cold to freeze income and
investing.
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SWACHH SURVEKSHAN AWARDS 2019: MUMBAI SLIPS TO 49TH PLACE ON
CLEANLINESS INDEX
Mumbai has slipped to 49th
place in the central government's cleanliness survey, while only Navi Mumbai
town from Maharashtra has made it to the top 10 list. The Swachh Survekshan
awards 2019 were conferred by President Ram Nath Kovind on Wednesday in New
Delhi where Indore city in Madhya Pradesh was adjudged India's cleanest city
for the third year in a row, while Bhopal bagged the cleanest capital award. According
to the survey report, Mumbai, which was ranked 18th in 2018, dropped to 49th
place this year. Even the neighbouring Thane city slipped to 57th place from
40th position last year. But, Navi Mumbai scored better and rose to 7th
position from last year's 9th place. The Mira-Bhayandar town also jumped to
27th place from 47th and Vasai-Virar stood at 36th position as compared to 61st
place in 2018. While the New Delhi Municipal Council area was given the
'Cleanest Small City' award, Uttarakhand's Gauchar was adjudged the 'Best Ganga
Town'. Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's (BMC) nodal officer for Swachh
Bharat Abhiyan, Kiran Dighavkar, attributed the megacity's low ranking to
stringent parameters and lack of participation by residents in voting for the
competition. We could not get three-star ranking due to several reasons. We
also lost marks in the citizens' feedback category as compared to last year,
Dighavkar said. However, a Mumbai resident criticised the BMC for the city's
poor show on the cleanliness index.
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WOMEN GET A SPECIAL FOCUS UNDER SKILL INDIA MISSION
Ministry of Skill Development
and Entrepreneurship has undertaken several initiatives to achieve women
empowerment through skill development Increase of women participation in
workforce can give further boost to our economy and Skill India mission is
committed to facilitate this through equipping women with market relevant
skills and lead them to a path of self-sufficiency through entrepreneurship. Following
initiatives have been undertaken to facilitate skill development among women
and spur entrepreneurship.
Long Term Skill Development
Training via Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs)
Through a wide network of
15,042 ITIs, spanning the country, over 22.82 lakh candidates have been
enrolled (in the trades of one year and two-year duration) and special focus is
laid on enrolment of women. There is nearly 97% increase in admissions in 2018
as compared to 2014 to reach 173,105 women trainees from 87,799.
Short Term Skill
Development Training
The flagship program of
the Ministry, Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana strives to promote increased
participation of women in the workforce through appropriate skilling and gender
mainstreaming of skills. Close to 50% of the candidates enrolled and trained
under PMKVY are women; out of the total 56 lakh candidates who have benefited
from the scheme. The efforts are made to continually revise job roles taking
into account market demand and are cognizant of industry requirements for
female professionals. Skill India has partnered with Government Initiatives
like Ayushman Bharat, Swachh Bharat Mission, Smart City Mission etc. to align
skill development efforts to these national missions by ensuring a steady flow
of skilled workforce.
Recognition of Prior
Learning (RPL)
Under the Recognition of
Prior Learning (RPL), more than 4 lakh women candidates have been oriented in
different skill areas, recognizing their existing skills through a formal
certificate and giving them a means to earn better livelihood.
Apprenticeship Training
The comprehensive reforms
that have been made to the Apprenticeship Act 1961 has opened up opportunities
for apprentices in the service sector. Skill India, through NSDC, is conducting
focused pilot program with UNDP and Society of Development Alternatives (DA),
to benefit more than 50,000 women in 7 states/UTs over a duration of 15 months.
Policy Interventions
The National Skill
Development Policy focuses on inclusive skill development, with the objective
of increased women participation for better economic productivity. To achieve
this, emphasis has been laid on creating additional infrastructure both for
training and apprenticeship for women; flexible training delivery mechanisms
such as mobile training units, flexible afternoon batches along with on local
need-based training to accommodate women; and ensuring safe and gender
sensitive training environment, employment of women trainers, equity in
remuneration, and complaint redressal mechanism. Besides these, the Common
Norms approved by Ministry for various skill development programs provide
special support for women candidates such as provision of boarding and lodging
facilities.
Special Women-Centric
Projects
NSDC, through its training
partners such as Mann Deshi Foundation, Shri Mahila Sewa Sahkari Bank Limited
and Sri Sarada Math Rasik Bhita are working exclusively on skill development of
women, especially in rural areas. The training constitutes imparting digital,
accounting and entrepreneurial skills so as to facilitate the possibility of
setting up their own business. NSDC in collaboration with the Ministry of
Drinking Water and Sanitation is also driving skill development of workers for
Swachh Bharat Mission.
Partnerships with Private
& Non-Government Organizations to boost skill development
Some of the collaborative
efforts with private players include organizations such as Airbnb to support
homestay services by providing training in hospitality and tourism sectors. Under
a PMKVY project, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham is targeting remote villages to
foster women empowerment through skill development and creation of occupational
opportunities. The project is focused towards vulnerable and marginalized
groups and tribal population. With over 50% participation from women, the
project has been implemented in Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Jharkhand, Kerala and Tamil
Nadu. Partnership with HumaraBachpan Trust in Odisha aims to give employment
& entrepreneurship opportunities to about 1500 women belonging to the
economically disadvantaged sections. Partnership with Industree Crafts
Foundation, a formation of producer group companies, is helping in training and
supporting women targeted to benefit 1500 women in Karnataka. Partnership with
Youthnet Home Stay Project in North East (Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh) is
improving the quality of homestays and providing a source of income to 200
residents.
Projects in Pradhan Mantri
Mahila Kaushal Kendra (PMMKK)
Recently, more than 6000
training targets have been allocated to train women in 4 PMMKKs. The crèche
facility is also available at these centers so as to facilitate the new mothers
to take up skill training. Trainings are being conducted for Self Employed
Tailor, Beauty Therapist, Customer Care Executive, Hair Stylist, Yoga Trainer,
etc.
Future jobs and
industry-oriented courses
Aligned to NSQF, there are
nearly 450 job roles which are concentrated towards skill training of women. Skill
India is encouraging participation of women in new-age job roles aligned to
Industry such as Artificial Intelligence, 3D printing, Data Analytics etc. and
has witnessed increased participation of women in hard skills like welding,
automobile mechanics etc. Skill India has also partnered with global industry
leaders like SAP, Adobe, IBM to create skill development programs aligned to
the needs of Industry.
Entrepreneurial Initiatives
MSDE is committed to
facilitate growth of women entrepreneurs in the country. NIESBUD under the MSDE
has designed Entrepreneurship Development Programs for the rural women, with
the objective to inculcate entrepreneurial values, attitude and motivation among
the Rural women to take up challenges to set up an enterprise/Group
Enterprises. The Livelihood Business Incubation (LB I) approach is also used to
promote woman entrepreneurs by the Institute.
Out of 33 companies which
received awards, 12 were solely owned by women and in another two, a woman was
a co-founder. Linkage of Skill India and Mudra Yojana has been achieved. Since,
women comprise about 78% of the beneficiaries of Mudra Yojana, this linkage
will further give boost to aspiring women entrepreneurs.
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GOVERNMENT ACHIEVES 87 PER CENT OF 8 CRORE FREE LPG
CONNECTIONS TARGET
Dharmendra Pradhan said 7
crore connections have been realised in last 34 months under the Pradhan Mantri
Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) which translates into nearly 69,000 connections per day.
PMUY was launched on May 1, 2016, with a target to give 5 crore connections to
women member of poor households by March 2019. The target was later raised to 8
crore connections by 2021 and now envisages giving all households a connection.
The scheme together with a government push to replace polluting firewood in
kitchens has led to LPG coverage rising to 93 per cent of the population from
55 per cent in May 2014, he said. As many as 42 per cent of the total
connections have gone to SC/ST. The maximum 1.26 crore connections have been
released in Uttar Pradesh followed by 78 lakh in West Bengal and 77.51 lakh in
Bihar. As many as 63.31 lakh connections have been released in Madhya Pradesh
and 55.34 lakh in Rajasthan. Pradhan said nearly 6,800 new distributorships
have been added to strengthen the rural supply chain. As many as 23 crore
refills or about 4 cylinders of 14.2-kg each have been bought by PMUY
beneficiaries in a year, he said rejecting criticism of the scheme that
households reverted to firewood and other mediums of cooking once the initial
free LPG cylinder was exhausted.
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SURESH PRABHU ADDRESSES WOMENNNOVATORS ON INTERNATIONAL
WOMEN’S DAY
Suresh Prabhu, said that
for achieving the development objectives of growth with equity that will transform
Indian society It is essential to encourage women entrepreneurs. Commerce
Minister said that the rising numbers of female business owners is a global
trend specially in developing countries. The Minister said that women should be
given the freedom to do what they can do and what they want to do. Suresh
Prabhu further said that the Government of India has taken a number of
initiatives to strengthen the ecosystem for women entrepreneurs. Women specific
initiatives includes identifying and awarding women, providing knowledge and
skills, mentoring and networking, incubation and accelerated support and
international exposure to women entrepreneurs. Government of India is committed
to enact policy, physical regulatory and other support measures for skill
development, innovation and entrepreneurship training at all levels including
rural and semi urban areas. The Commerce Minister also referred to one of the
important initiatives that is bringing together key stakeholders on the
national procurement portal of Government e-Market (GeM) place. Since its
inception more than 13 lakh orders worth Rs. 19000 crore has been processed in
GeM. He informed that GeM is launching a dedicated section on its platform for
woman entrepreneurs. Suresh Prabhu said that 103 airports will also have GI
stalls for GI products which are mainly manufactured by women artisans.
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EMPOWERING WOMEN, CHANGING LIVES : PM UJJWALA YOJANA AND MUCH
MORE
As a measure towards
empowerment of poor women in the country who are bereft of access to clean
cooking gas, Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas has launched Pradhan
Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) in the form of a social movement, enabling social
change and irreversible empowerment of women. Today we have achieved another
milestone under PMUY Scheme by adding 7-croreth beneficiary in the Ujjwala
family. Ujjwala yojana is empowering women to lead smoke-free lives, leading to
a healthier lifestyle, saving them time by greatly reducing drudgery and
enabling them to pursue other income enhancement and socially rewarding
pursuits. To take this initiative forward, Pradhan Mantri LPG panchayats as
peer learning platforms, are providing support, catalysing behaviour changes in
Ujjawala beneficiaries and also encouraging safe and sustainable use of LPG. As
many as 87,876 LPG panchayats have been conducted across the country. Ujjwala
Didi, a CSR handholding initiative aims at creating a force of 10,000 grassroot
educators who can take the three messages till the last mile, viz.
(i) Clean Cooking Fuel is
to be universally available,
(ii) Clean Cooking fuel is
affordable and
(iii) LPG is safe to use
and insured.
Ujjwala Didis will
facilitate refill, address any fear around LPG safety, help in resolving any
grievances and facilitate new connections. Thus these empowered women will
contribute to overall women empowerment in their panchayats. Ujjwala Didis are
a living testimony of the highest possibilities of inclusive development. Ministry
of Petroleum and Natural Gas has been at the forefront in encouraging women to
strive forward without fear or discrimination and promoting women in leadership
roles in challenging environment and difficult remote locations including
offshore platforms. At the world's highest Indane LPG bottling plant situated
at 11,800 ft. in Phey Village of Ladakh district, it is women power that is
playing a key role in the running of the plant. The plant is operated by 11
courageous Indian Oil women in very harsh weather conditions. In an endeavour
to provide better sanitation coverage and bridge gender disparity, the Ministry
has proactively undertaken an action plan to provide separate toilet facilities
at all retail outlets of Oil Marketing Companies. More than 37,000 ROs are
already having separate toilet facilities for men and women. Under the Swachh
Vidyalaya Abhiyan, to reduce the drop-out rate among girl students due to
non-availability of separate toilet facilities, Oil CPSEs/JVs have constructed
more than 20,187 school toilets. These toilets are used by more than 5 lakh
girl students. More than 95% of the toilets have been constructed in rural
areas. In an effort towards creating awareness on Menstrual Hygiene, CPSEs
under Ministry of Petroleum, have taken initiatives towards installing
sanitarily napkin vending machines and incinerators in various schools across
India.
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MRP OF 390 ANTI-CANCER NON-SCHEDULED MEDICINES REDUCED UP TO
87%
The National
Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA), under Ministry of Chemicals &
Fertilizers, put out list of 390 anti-cancer non-scheduled medicines with MRP
reduction up to 87%. The revised prices would come into effect from 8th March,
2019. On 27th February, 2019, NPPA had put 42 anti-cancer drugs under 30% Trade
Margin cap. Manufacturers and Hospitals were directed to convey revised MRP, to
be effective from 8th March, 2019, based on the Trade Margin (TM) formula. 390
brands i.e. 91% of the 426 brands reported by manufacturers, showed downward
price movement. The average out of pocket expenditure for cancer patients is
2.5 times that for other diseases. This move is expected to benefit 22 lakh
cancer patients in the country and would result in annual savings of approx.
Rs. 800 crores to the consumers. The Trade Margin rationalisation for 42 anti
cancer drugs was rolled out as Proof of Concept, stressing on the new paradigm
of self-regulation by the Industry. The manufacturers of these 42 drugs have
been directed not to reduce production volumes of brands under regulation.
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SANTOSH KUMAR GANGWAR PERFORMS BHUMI PUJAN OF ESIC NAGAR,
ANDHERI (WEST), MUMBAI
Santosh Kumar Gangwar, performs
Bhumi Pujan of ESIC Nagar, Andheri (West), Mumbai (Maharashtra). Minister
stated that the ESI Corporation is committed to work for the welfare of workers
as well as for its employees For providing better living conditions and healthy
atmosphere for its employees, ESI Corporation is going to develop ESIC Nagar
for them in D.N. Nagar, Andheri (W), Mumbai in plot area of 6.52 acres with an
estimated project cost of Rs. 121 crore. In first phase, about 228 staff
quarters in multi-storied 03 towers along with 285 numbers of proposed car
parking shall be constructed. The staff quarters and allied facilities shall be
constructed in two phases. Nearly 1.50 lakh factories and establishments have
been brought under the purview of the ESI Act, 1948. A total No. of 42.00 lakh
employees are covered under the Scheme and receiving various benefits under the
ESI Scheme. Further a total No. of 1.73 crore family members of the Insured
Persons are receiving various benefits under the ESI Scheme across the
Maharashtra State. The Primary & Secondary care is provided through 854
Insurance Medical Practitioners (IMPs), 52 Dispensaries and 15 Hospitals, out
of which 03 Hospitals are run directly by ESIC. Further, in order to give Super
Speciality Treatment to the Insured workers, the ESIC has made tie- up
arrangement with 251 Govt. and Private Hospitals spread across the Maharashtra
State. The Act now applies to over 10.33 lakh factories and establishments across
the country, benefiting about 3.43 crores family units of workers. As of now,
the total beneficiary population of ESI Scheme stands over 13.32 crores. Ever
since its inception in 1952, the ESI Corporation has, so far, set up 154
Hospitals 1500/148 ESI dispensaries/ISM Units, 815 Branch/Pay Offices, 64
Regional/Sub-Regional Offices.
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ADANI GETTING CONTROL OF 6 AIRPORTS? UNCERTAINTY LOOMS AS
MATTER MISSING ON CABINET’S AGENDA
With the formal proposal
of handing over the six airports recently won by Adani Enterprises through an open
bid not figuring on the Union Cabinet’s agenda on Thursday, a cloud of
uncertainty hangs over the prospects of the group’s foray into airports. The
group’s flagship, Adani Enterprises had recently bid aggressively and won the
bids for the privatisation of all of the six airports put out by the Airports
Authority of India. According to the concession agreement, the facilities were
to be handed over to Adani Enterprises for a period of 50 years under the
public-private partnership model, only after the approval of the Union Cabinet.
Since Thursday’s Cabinet meeting was supposed to be the last one in which major
policy-related decisions could be approved before the dates for the general elections
are announced and a model of conduct prohibits government from giving such
approvals, speculation is rife that Adani group may have to wait till after the
elections to get the control of the airports. Decision vests in the government.
If it decides to accord Cabinet approval to the bids won by Adani Group it can
do so even after the model code of conduct comes into effect but only after
taking the approval of the Election Commission, the official said. In such
cases, the government needs to put up a case that all major decision-making was
done before the conduct came into force and granting the final nod is a mere
formality. It also needs to convince the Election Commission that the decision
in no way is directly linked to poll prospects of the ruling party. However,
the official declined to tell whether the government has decided to approach
the Election Commission on this issue as the final proposal for approval has
not reached the Cabinet level yet.
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STAR RATING PROGRAMME LAUNCHED FOR MICROWAVE OVENS AND WASHING
MACHINES
Ministry of Power,
expanded its ambitious Standards & Labelling (Star Rating) program for
Energy Efficient for Appliances to cover the Microwave Ovens and Washing
Machines (with revised parameters) in the country. The Star Labelling Programs
has been formulated by Bureau of Energy Efficiency. The program will now
include these two appliances for grant of Star Rating in terms of their energy
performance. Initially, the program for above two appliances will be implemented
on a voluntary basis and will be valid up to 31st December 2020. A. K. Bhalla,
emphasised the need to improve energy efficiency in household appliances to
reduce energy bills of common consumers. We have estimated savings of over 3.0
Billion Units of electricity at consume-end through adoption of Star Rated
Microwave Ovens and Washing Machines by 2030. This would be equivalent to Green
House Gases (GHG) reduction of 2.4 Million-ton of CO2 by the year 2030 through these
initiatives. The size of Indian Microwave Oven market stood at 1.21 million
units in year FY 2017-18 and is projected to grow at a Compound Annual Growth
Rate (CAGR) of around 2%. Whereas, the size of Indian Washing Machine market
stood at 6.1 million units in year FY 2017-18 and is projected to grow at a
CAGR of around 8% fuelled by a growth in urbanization. Therefore, it is
important to optimize energy performance of Microwave Ovens and Washing
Machines.
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SURESH PRABHU LAUNCHES GI WEBSITE & TUTORIAL VIDEO ON IPR
Suresh Prabhu, launched a
tutorial video on Intellectual Property Rights for school students and the GI
website in New Delhi. The tutorial video is available on CIPAM’s You Tube
Channel and will form part of the existing resource pool on CIPAM’s official
website www.cipam.gov.in which is freely available for public. Suresh Prabhu
said that India’s huge geography and ancient history has given rise to a
diverse and distinct identity and CIPAM has the mandate to protect and promote
this diversity through GI. The website will help in promoting creativity and
motivate more of India’s skilled artisans to apply for GI registration. Commerce
Minister further said that GI is a manifestation of India’s deep knowledge and
skill in various crafts and protecting this knowledge will further encourage
people to invent, create and innovate Ministry of Commerce and Industry has put
in place a new regime which will lead to India transforming into a knowledge
based society.
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UNION MINISTERS LAY FOUNDATION STONES FOR RS 1 LAKH CRORE
DELHI-MUMBAI, DWARKA EXPRESSWAYS
Sushma Swaraj, Arun
Jaitley and Nitin Gadkari Friday laid the foundation stones for two high-speed
highway corridors -- Rs 90,000 crore Delhi-Mumbai Expressway and Rs 9,000 crore
Dwarka Expressway. The ministers also dedicated the Rs 1,217 crore Jaipur Ring
Road to the nation. These expressways will improve overall development. The
greenfield Delhi-Mumbai Expressway will be India's longest expressway at 1,320
km and would reduce the travel time between the metropolises to 13 hours from
the present 24 hours, he said. Delhi-Mumbai will be India's most environment
friendly expressway with a tree cover of 20 lakh trees and rainwater harvesting
system at every 500 metres, Gadkari said.
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AYODHYA ROW: WE MUST END LONG-STANDING CONFLICTS, SAYS SRI SRI
RAVI SHANKAR
Spiritual guru Sri Sri
Ravi Shankar, appointed by the Supreme Court as a member of a panel to mediate
the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid land dispute case, on Friday said everybody
must move together to end long-standing conflicts Respecting everyone, turning
dreams to reality, ending long-standing conflicts happily and maintaining
harmony in society - we must all move together towards these goals.
#ayodhyamediation, he tweeted.
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SRI SRI RAVI SHANKAR'S APPOINTMENT IN AYODHYA PANEL
REGRETTABLE: ASADUDDIN OWAISI
Asaduddin Owaisi Friday
said Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, a member of the Supreme Court-appointed panel to
mediate the Ayodhya dispute, was not a neutral person and claimed that he had
made controversial comments on the issue in the past. Ravi Shankar had made
controversial statements on November 4, 2018 on the Ayodhya issue and
threatened that India may become like Syria if Muslims do not give up their
claims on the disputed land, Owaisi told. He had also said Muslims as a
goodwill gesture should give up their claim on the disputed land, Owaisi said,
adding he expected that Ravi Shankar should now act as a neutral person without
keeping anything in mind. When he is connected with the subject matter, when he
had made his position clear on which party's side he speaks. This is
regrettable that such a person who is not neutral has been appointed by the
supreme court, he said. It would have been better had the Supreme Court
appointed a neutral person. Even then I feel that Muslims should go to them (mediators),
Owaisi said.
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NO BAN ON USE OF DIESEL AGRICULTURE PUMPS
It has come to notice that
some unscrupulous elements have been spreading the message among farmers in the
NCR that use of diesel agriculture pumps have been banned by the Hon’ble
National Green Tribunal (NGT). They are apparently harassing the farmers and
forcing them to buy new pumps. There has been no such order so far by Hon’ble
NGT and it is clarified that Hon’ble NGT vide its order dated April 07, 2015 in
OA No. 95 / 2014 had directed that all diesel vehicles (heavy or light) which
are more than 10 years old, will not be permitted on the roads of National
Capital Region(NCR), Delhi. Therefore, it is made abundantly clear that
aforesaid order relates to diesel vehicles and not to agriculture pumps using
diesel. This is also for the information of all State Governments and the
enforcement agencies to make sure that such misinformation campaign should not
be allowed to continue and to ensure that farmers are not harassed.
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INDIAN CAN EXPORT 50 LAKH BALES OF COTTON, SAYS CAI
The fall in cotton prices
below the government set level of minimum support price giving excellent export
parity to Indian cotton, the trade is confident about achieving export target
of 50 lakh bales of 170 kg each. At present the current rate of 29mm
(milimetre) good quality cotton is Rs. 42,000 per candy in the spot trade,
which was Rs. 41,000 per candy during same period of previous year. At this
rate Indian cotton is having good parity for export. If this rate continues for
another 45 days, we will achieve our export target of 50 lakh bales very
easily, said Atul Ganatra, president, Cotton Association of India (CAI). As on today
our Indian cotton quality wise rate is ruling from Rs.40,000 to Rs.42,000 per
candy for 27mm to 29 mm cotton. At this rate Indian cotton is the cheapest
cotton available in the world due to which, there is a good demand for Indian
cotton from across the world. Since past many years, India has been a net
cotton exporting country, said Ganatra of CAI. As per the Cotton Association of
India crop committee’s last meeting held on 1st March 2019, the committee has
estimated Indian crop size of 328 lakh bales of 170 kgs against previous
month's estimate of 330 lakh bales. Compared to last year’s 365 lakh bales,
Indian crop sie in the current year will be lower by 37 lakh bales, down by
10.13%.
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JOURNALIST BODIES CONDEMN AG’S COMMENTS ON THE HINDU’S PROBE
Several journalists’
bodies, including the Editors Guild of India, on Thursday unequivocally
condemned the Attorney General’s remarks before the Supreme Court — pertaining
to the documents based on which The Hindu has carried a series of reports on
the Rafale deal — saying any attempt to use the Official Secrets Act against
the media is as reprehensible as asking journalists to disclose their sources. The
Editors Guild of India denounced threats against the media in the matter and
urged the government to refrain from initiating any action that might undermine
the media’s freedom and independence. Simultaneously, a joint statement by the
Press Club of India (PCI), the Indian Women’s Press Corps (IWPC) and the Press
Association expressed deep concern over the AG’s averments which insinuated
that the reports in The Hindu were based on stolen documents. The Editors Guild
of India unequivocally condemns the Attorney General’s comments before the
Supreme Court pertaining to the documents based on which the media, including
The Hindu, had reported on the Rafale deal, said a statement issued by the
Guild. Attorney General KK Venugopal had on Wednesday sought dismissal of a
petition seeking review of the Supreme Court’s earlier judgment on the
allegations over the Rafale deal, on the ground that the fresh petition had
relied on documents that were stolen from the Defence Ministry and that
investigations were on to find out if it was a crime and in violation of the
Official Secrets Act. Although the AG later clarified that investigation and
contemplated action would not be initiated against journalists or lawyers who
used these documents, the Guild is perturbed over such threats, the statement
said. These will intimidate the media in general and curb its freedom to report
and comment on the Rafale deal in particular, the Guild said.
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YOU WILL BE IN TROUBLE IF ANYTHING IS DONE TO ARAVALLI, SC
WARNS HARYANA GOVT
The Supreme Court warned
the Haryana government Friday that it will be in trouble if it has done
anything with Aravalli hills or forest area by passing amendments to an Act to
allow construction there. A bench of Justices Arun Mishra and Deepak Gupta
observed this after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who was appearing for
Haryana, said he will satisfy the court that amendments in the Punjab Land
Preservation Act (PLPA), 1900 were not done to help somebody. We are concerned
with Aravalli. If you are doing anything with Aravalli or Kant Enclave (where
the top court had ordered demolition of buildings due to illegal constructions
in forest area) you will be in trouble. If you are doing anything with forest,
you will be in trouble. We are telling you, the bench told Mehta. On March 1,
the bench had come down heavily on the Haryana government for passing
amendments to the law and said the state would not act on it without the
court's permission. Haryana Chief Minister M L Khattar had said that the Punjab
Land Preservation (Haryana Amendment) Bill, 2019, was the need of the hour, and
had added that it was a very old Act and much has changed over a period of
time. During the brief hearing on Friday, Mehta told the bench that the
Assembly has passed the bill but it has not become an Act yet. He also said
that media reports which claimed the amendments was passed by the state
government to favour real estate developers were not correct. The orders and
notifications issued under the provisions of the act extend to approximately
10,945 sq km, accounting roughly for about 25 per cent area of Haryana and it
covers, wholly or partly, 14 out of the state's 22 districts.
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SHAHPURKANDI DAM PROJECT TO REDUCE FLOW OF RIVER WATER TO
PAKISTAN: AMARINDER SINGH
The Shahpurkandi dam
project will reduce the outflow of the Ravi river water to Pakistan once it is
completed, Amarinder Singh on Friday said. The Rs 2,700 crore Shahpurkandi dam
project, being set up on the Ravi river, will generate 206 MW of power, besides
having the potential to irrigate 5,000 hectares of land in Punjab and 31,000
hectares of land in Jammu and Kashmir's Sambha and Kathua districts. This
water, which was supposed to irrigate fields in Punjab and J-K, was going
towards Pakistan. This project will reduce the water flowing into Pakistan
drastically and will help save the critical water resources of the state, Singh
said. Singh said as many as 230 families ousted as a result of the project were
offered jobs and another 34 would be given jobs shortly.
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CONGRESS LEADER SELJA KUMARI ALLEGES PM MODI ONLY PAID
LIP-SERVICE TO WOMEN ISSUES IN 5 YEARS
Selja Kumari Friday
alleged Prime Minister Narendra Modi has only paid lip-service to the issues
concerning women in the last five years, with no progress been made on Women’s
Reservation Bill pending for passage in Parliament. She said the Congress, if
voted to power, will ensure the passage of the Bill. The Bill provides for 33
per cent reservation to women in Parliament and state legislatures. Stating
that the Bill was passed by Rajya Sabha in 2010 during the regime of Congress
on the directions of UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Selja said the efforts made
by the party towards empowering women was incomparable and urged those
attending the event to ask the Modi government what it has done to address the
concerns and issues related to women.
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DEVENDRA FADNAVIS RULES OUT SNAP ELECTIONS IN MAHARASHTRA
Devendra Fadnavis on
Thursday ruled out calling snap polls in Maharashtra, along with the Lok Sabha
elections due in April-May. Fadnavis told in Nagpur that he could give it in
writing that there won’t be simultaneous Lok Sabha and assembly polls in
Maharashtra. The chief minister’s remarks follow speculation in political
circles about a possible recommendation to the governor by the state cabinet on
Friday seeking dissolution of the state assembly. Previously, too, Bharatiya
Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah and Fadnavis have ruled out simultaneous
polls in Maharashtra and insisted that the BJP-Shiv Sena government will
complete its full term which ends in October.
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THOSE WHO FAIL TO CREATE HISTORY MAKE ATTEMPTS TO DISTORT IT:
PM MODI
Those who fail to create
history try to distort it, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Thursday as he
stressed on the need for accepting history as it is and not allowing it to be
distorted by any ideology. There are efforts to weigh history on the scale of
ideology and these efforts many a time lead to distortion of history. I believe
history should be accepted as history. It should not be bound by your ideology
or mine and we should not make changes in it. The debate will go on he said. Those
who cannot create history they sometimes want to paint history in their own
colours because they do not have the capacity to create history. Instead of
painting history in these colours, we should accept history as it is and then
we will be of great service to the country, he said. He further said that while
history can be interpreted in various ways, the facts cannot change.
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KUMMANAM RAJASEKHARAN QUITS AS MIZORAM GOVERNOR, LIKELY TO
RE-ENTER KERALA POLITICS
Kummanam Rajasekharan has stepped
down from his post, fuelling speculation that he will be fielded as the BJP
candidate in the Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha constituency. Assam Governor
Jagdish Mukhi has been given temporary charge of the Aizawl Raj Bhavan. A
Rashtrapati Bhavan press communique said the President had accepted Mr.
Rajasekharan's resignation. Sources in the BJP said moves were on to declare
him as the party's nominee for the Lok Sabha election from the State capital,
signalling his return to active politics.
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USFDA ISSUES WARNING LETTER TO JUBILANT LIFE FOR ROORKEE
FACILITY
Drug firm Jubilant Life
Sciences Friday said the US health regulator has issued a warning letter to the
company for its Roorkee facility in Uttarakhand. The United States Food and
Drug Administration (USFDA) may withhold approval of any new applications or
supplements till the company addresses all issues raised by the agency,
Jubilant Life Sciences said in a filing to the BSE. The company did not provide
any details about the issues raised by the USFDA in its warning letter. However,
we believe that the existing manufacturing and sale of products from this
facility will not be impacted. US revenues from the facility is about 4 per
cent of the total revenues of the company, Jubilant Life Sciences said. The
company is committed to implementing the necessary corrective actions required
to address USFDA concerns and is in the process of providing a thorough and
comprehensive response to the USFDA within 15 working days, it added.
#For Source of Information copy and paste the heading in google.
Thanks & Regards,
CS Meetesh Shiroya
Thanks & Regards,
CS Meetesh Shiroya
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