The Anemia Mukt Bharat- intensified Iron-plus Initiative aims to strengthen the existing mechanisms and foster newer strategies for tackling anemia, focused on six target beneficiary groups, through six interventions and six institutional mechanisms; to achieve the envisaged target under the POSHAN Abhiyan.

The strategy focuses on testing & treatment of anemia in school going adolescents & pregnant women using newer technologies, establishing institutional mechanisms for advanced research in anemia, and a comprehensive communication strategy including mass/mid media communication material. A web-portal anemiamuktbharat.info has also been developed as part of the monitoring mechanism of the strategy, which would provide survey data on anemia across beneficiary groups, target prevalence of anemia as per POSHAN Abhiyan and quarterly HMIS based reporting of programme implementation coverage upto the district level.

The Home-Based Care of Young Child (HBYC) programme has an objective to reduce child mortality and morbidity by improving nutrition status, growth and early childhood development of young children through structured and focused home visits by ASHAs with the support of Anganwadi workers (AWWs).

The programme is envisaged to be implemented as an extension to the existing HBNC programme and will be rolled out in a phased manner. In the first phase (F.Y 2018-19) the programme will be rolled out in all the identified Aspirational Districts. In the second phase, all the remaining districts under Poshan Abhiyan will be included and in the third phase programme this shall be expanded to cover all the districts in the country. Under the HBYC programme, five additional home visits (in every three months) by ASHAs are proposed after the last visit on 42nd day, as in the existing HBNC programme. Thus, the contact of new-born with the health system is extended till 2nd year of birth.

ASHA will ensure exclusive breastfeeding till 6 months of life, adequate complementary feeding after 6 months, Iron and Folic Acid supplementation, full immunization of children, regular growth monitoring, appropriate use of ORS, appropriate hand washing practices and age appropriate playing and communication for children during each home visit.

Shri S.S. Ahluwalia, Hon’ble Minister of State for Electronics and IT launches C-DAC Information Media Server (CIMS) for enhancing Good Governance.

C-DAC Information Media Server is a dedicated computer appliance having specialized application software to provide audio and video on demand. This low-cost affordable system is built with single board computer having powerful and energy efficient multi-core processor. It does not require any special purpose internet service provider or data connectivity. The common feature includes displaying text, images for viewing, video streaming, e-brochure; for viewing or downloading for offline reference .

Shri Ahluwalia said “Our Government is focussed towards providing Good Governance to every citizen of our country and has a dream of making them full aware with the various governmental schemes like Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, Pradhan Mantri MUDRA Yojana (PMMY), Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY), Atal pension Yojana (APY), Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY), Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY), Make in India, Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, Soil Health Card Scheme, Digital India, Skill India Program, Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao Yojana, Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY), Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT), One Rank One Pension Scheme through this system that will be available on all types of electronic and mobile platform.

Tourism sector can change the destiny of India: Shri Piyush Goyal India is among the fastest growing tourist destinations in the world: Shri K J Alphons

The Union Minister for Railways and Coal, Shri Piyush Goyal inaugurated the ‘first ever’ India Tourism Mart (ITM 2018) in the presence of Union Tourism Minister, Shri K J Alphons and the Tourism Minister of Morocco, Mr. Mohamed Sajid, in New Delhi today. The India Tourism Mart is being organized by the Ministry of Tourism from 16th to 18th September 2018, in partnership with the Federation of Associations in Indian Tourism and Hospitality (FAITH) and with support of State /UT Governments. The function was held in presence of the Secretary, other senior officials of Tourism Ministry and Chairman/members of FAITH and also delegates from India and across the world.

Inaugurating the event, Shri Piyush Goyal wished the best to the Tourism Ministry to reach the ambitious goal of US$100 billion FTA receipts/year within 5 years. The Minister said that unless the infrastructure/fundamentals are set up, India can’t come up as a well sought after destination and he said that the present government has been developing these like ensuring 24 hour power supply, promoting renewable energy forms, and improving connectivity by effectively connecting the remotest destinations.

The Minister also added that the most important element that will help promote Tourism in a complete way is the Government’s cleanliness drive, the Swachhta Abhiyan, which will ensure India becoming a preferred destination for all international tourists. Mentioning the income multiplier effect in the Tourism sector, the Minister said that Tourism generates a number of employment opportunities in formal and informal sectors and can change the destiny of the country. The Railway Minister added that the youth of the country can be entrepreneurs, service providers, interpreters etc in the sector and ascertained that India with its varied features has tremendous potential and we just need to leverage from it.

Speaking at the event, the Tourism Minister announced that ITM will be an annual event hereafter in line with other International Tourism Marts and it will be held in the month of September. The Minister said that India is so vast that there will be something new for everyone to see and experience in this country with its varied geography, culture, traditions, architectural marvels, religions. Shri Alphons also added that visiting the country has become easier with the new e-visa regime which is now open to 166 countries.

India Tourism Mart (ITM) is being held for the first time and the Tourism industry stakeholders are coming together for such a large scale event with Ministry’s support. FAITH is the apex organization of all the important trade and hospitality associations of the country with all the 10 major Tourist organizations like FHRAI, HAI, IATO being involved in this mega event and India Convention Promotion Board (ICPB) is coordinating the whole event. This is a Business to Business Event. The objective of the event is to create an annual Global Tourism Mart for India in line with major international travel marts being held in countries across the world. The Mart provides a platform for all stakeholders in the tourism and hospitality industries to interact and transact business opportunities.

The ITM 2018 has a participation of around 225 hosted international buyers and Media personnel across the world such as North America, West Europe, East Asia, Latin America, CIS countries etc. The international delegates from overseas markets will interact with Indian seller delegates and the buyers will include current buyers who are already marketing India as a tourist destination as well as potential buyers who are not marketing India as a tourist destination at present but have shown interest in the country.

The event also provides an opportunity to the buyers to see the world class tourism facilities available in our country such as Airports, Hotels, Tourist destinations, upcoming facilities, MICE facilities, possibility in the field of adventure tourism and other niche products.

Around 225 stalls have been provided to the sellers to enable them to interact with the buyers. These include pavilion for States & Union Territories to showcase their unique tourism destinations and products. The B2B meetings between buyer and seller delegates are being held during these 3 days.

The FAITH and State Governments is also offering a pre and post event FAM trips (Familiarization trips) for the buyer delegates from overseas.

Exercise Yudh Abhyas 2018 a joint military exercise of Indian and US armies, commenced this morning at Chaubattia, Uttarakhand with a short yet impressive opening ceremony that saw the unfurling of the national flags of both countries to the strains of "Jana Gana Mana” and “The Star Spangled Banner". Indian and US soldiers stood side by side, and gave a ceremonial salute to the two senior most officers of the US and Indian side reviewing the ceremony.