Electrification of all routes on Broad Gauge by December 2023 Solar and wind energy to power the Railway electricity grid in a big way
Indian Railways has completed electrification of more than 40,000 RKM (63% of BG routes) 18,605 km electrification work has been done during 2014-20 compare to 3,835 km in 2009-14
365 km major connectivity work has been commissioned during even during COVID period 100 MW of Solar plants have been commissioned on roof-tops of various buildings including 900 stations; 400 MW are under different stages of execution
Indian Railway has 51,000 hectare of land potential of installing 20 GW land based solar plants One project of 1.7 MW at Bina in collaboration with BHEL has already been installed
In the Wind Energy sector, 103 MW wind-based power plants have already been commissioned; planned to set up 200 MW wind energy plants in next 2 years in Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Karnataka
100 per cent LED illumination of buildings and stations Total 505 pairs of trains have been converted to HOG, unleashing approx 70 million liter diesel/ Rs 450 crore per annum potential of saving A total of 69,000 coaches have been fitted with 2, 44,000 bio-toilets in Indian Railways Posted On: 13 JUL 2020 12:55PM by PIB Delhi
Ministry of Railways, with a goal of transforming Indian Railways into Green Railways by 2030 has taken a number of major initiatives towards mitigation of global warming and combating climate change. Railway Electrification, improving energy efficiency of locomotives & trains and fixed installations, green certification for installations/stations, fitting bio toilets in coaches and switching to renewable sources of energy are parts of its strategy of achieving net zero carbon emission.
Indian Railways has completed electrification of more than 40,000 Route km (RKM) (63% of BG routes) in which 18,605 km electrification work has been done during 2014-20. Previously, only 3,835 km electrification work was completed during the period 2009-14. Indian Railways has fixed a target of electrification of 7000 RKM for the year 2020-21. All routes on BG network have been planned to be electrified by December 2023. Indian Railways is focusing on electrification of last mile connectivity & missing links. With this in mind 365 km major connectivity work has been commissioned during COVID period.
Major connectivity commissioned during COVID period like Katni-Satna section (99 RKM) of Mumbai-Howrah via Allahabad route has been commissioned providing an alternate route to Howrah. Likewise, Pachore-Maksi (88 RKM) section on Indore - Guna-Bina route has also been commissioned providing an alternate route to Maksi-Bhopal-Bina. On Howrah/Sealdah-SVD Katra via Patna route, Bhagalpur-Shivnarayanpur (45 RKM) section has been commissioned. On the route connecting Kariakal port to coal, fertilizer & steel plants of Tamil Nadu & Andhra Pradesh, Thiruvarur - Karaikal port (46 RKM) section has been commissioned providing port connectivity to Erode, Coimbatore & Palghat.
Indian Railways has also taken a number of initiatives to promote solar energy. Indian Railways is working to harness the potential of 500 Mega Watt (MW) energy through roof top Solar panels (Developer model). Till date, 100 Mega Watt (MW) of solar plants have been commissioned on roof-tops of various buildings including 900 stations. Solar plants with a combined capacity of 400 MW are under different stages of execution. Tenders are already awarded for 245 MW and target for completion of these plants is December 2022.
Besides this, Indian Railways is trying to produce power from land Based Solar installations for running trains. Indian Railway has 51,000 hectare of land potential of installing 20 GW land based solar plants. The Solar power so generated will be fed to Central / State Grid or directly to 25 kV AC traction system. Railway Energy Management Company Limited (REMCL), a Joint Venture Company of Indian Railways (49 % Equity) and RITES Limited (51 % Equity), has been mandated for proliferation of taking up land based project.
One project of 1.7 MW at Bina (Madhya Pradesh) in collaboration with Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) has already been installed and is presently under extensive testing. This is First of its kind of solar project in the world.
Initially for the Land Based Solar Projects, Indian Railways has taken up 3 GW Solar Project in three phases. In phase I tender has been floated under developer model on 29th April 2020 for 1.6 GW capacities in railway plots for open access states. In Phase II, 400 MW capacities in railway plots will be developed for non open access States under ownership model of REMCL (captive use). For this tender has floated on 16th June 2020. In Phase III 1 GW capacity in railway plots along the tracks under developer model will be installed for open access States for which tender has been floated on 1st July2020.
In the wind energy sector, 103 MW wind-based power plants have already been commissioned. Among them, 26 MW is in Rajasthan (Jaisalmer), 21 MW is in Tamil Nadu and 56.4 MW is in Maharashtra (Sangli). Indian Railways has also planned to set up 200 MW wind energy plants in next 2 years in Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Karnataka.
Realizing its role in climate change Indian Railways has started other Green Initiatives like 100 per cent LED illumination of buildings and stations. Indian Railways has also acquired Green Certification from CIII to 7 Production Units (PUs), 39 Workshops, 6 Diesel sheds and 1 Stores depot. 14 Railway Stations and 21 other buildings/ campuses have also been Green certified. Other than this 215 Stations have been certified with Environment Management System (EMS)/ISO 14001.
Total 505 pairs of trains have been converted to Head on Generation(HOG), unleashing approx 70 million liter diesel/ Rs 450 crore per annum potential of saving. Energy Efficiency Studies of all 8 Production Units & 12 workshops have been completed under MOU with CII resulting in 15% improvement in energy efficiency.
In the field of Green Initiatives a total of 69,000 coaches have been fitted with more than 2,44,000 bio-toilets in Indian Railways.
The National Statistical Office (NSO), Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation is releasing Consumer Price Index (CPI) on Base 2012=100 for Rural, Urban and Combined for the month of June 2020 (Provisional) in this press note. The corresponding Consumer Food Price Index (CFPI) for all India Rural, Urban and Combined are also being released.
2. The Price data are usually collected from selected 1114 urban markets and selected 1181 villages through personal visits by field staff of Field Operations Division of NSO, MoSPI on a weekly roster. In view of the preventive measures and announcement of nation-wide lockdown by the Government to contain spread of COVID-19 pandemic, the price collection of Consumer Price Index (CPI) through personal visits of price collectors was suspended. During the lockdown period, prices were collected through telephonic call from the designated outlets in selected markets, which was supplemented by information collected during the personal purchase of field staff for the items being transacted from neighborhood outlets keeping in view the travel advisories.
As the various pandemic related restrictions were gradually lifted and non-essential activities started resuming operations, NSO collected prices from 1030 urban markets and 998 villages, for commodities that were available and transacted during the month of June, 2020. The data collected, however, did not meet the adequacy criteria for generating robust estimates of CPIs at the State-level.
3. In view of above, all India indices have been compiled by considering a common market at the national level in both Rural & Urban sectors separately. All-India General (all-groups), Group and Sub-group level CPI and CFPI numbers and corresponding inflation for June 2020 (P) for Rural, Urban and Combined have been compiled and presented at Annex-I. The CFPI indices for May 2020 have also been revised based on the price data additionally reported. The corresponding inflation rates are summarized below:
4. To address the non-availability of data for several sub-groups during April and May, 2020, NSO undertook a separate exercise based on the imputation methodology recommended in ‘Business Continuity Guidelines’, brought out by Inter-Secretariat Working Group on Price Statistics (ISWG-PS) (combined forum of ILO, EuroStat, OECD, UNECE, World Bank and IMF) in May, 2020. Broadly, this approach advocated imputing the missing (due to non-availability of data) sub-group index with the index computed using the index at the next higher level of aggregation, compiled based on available/observed data. A detailed ‘Technical Note’ on this methodology is available on the Ministry’s website for benefit of the users of CPI. The results are presented at Annex-II.
To enlighten about the ancient form of health science- NadiVigyan and its fruitful benefits in curing various spinal disorders, Ministry of Tourism presented a webinar on ‘NadiVigyan: A complete solution for spinal disorders’ under Dekho Apna Desh webinar series. This unusual topic is a part of our culture and heritage and tourism plays a major role in showcasing these traits of a country. The ancient form of health science- Nadi Vigyan clearly highlights how incredible our country is in various aspects apart from travel destinations.
The 41st session of the Dekho Apna Desh webinar series on 11th July, 2020 was moderated by Ms Rupinder Brar, Additional Director General, Ministry of Tourism and was presented by Dr. Laxminarayan Joshi, Dean, Student Welfare, Founder and Faculty Head of Dept. of Yogic Science, Uttarakhand Sanskrit University. Accompanying him was Dr. Arpita Negi, who is Assistant Professor in Dept. of Yoga Studies and Coordinator at ICDEOL, Himachal Pradesh University, Shimla. Dekho Apna Desh Webinar Series is an effort to showcase India’s rich diversity under Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat and it is continuously spreading spirit of Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat through virtual platform.
Dr. Laxminarayan Joshi opened the webinar by informing the viewers about the subject of yogic science- Nadi Vigyan. According to Ayurveda, there are 3 doshas or three internal state of a body namely Vata (air+ether) Pitta(Fire+ water) and Kapha (Earth+ water).
Dr. Laxminarayan explained how any imbalance of these elements in the body leads to several disorders. He explained that imbalance of Vata elements can cause up to 80 disorders in the human body, similarly imbalance of Pitta element can cause up to 40 disorders and Kapha element can cause up to 20 disorders in the human body. Thus, it is being stated in Ayurveda that the diet plan of an individual should be made in consideration to the body type in sync with these elements. For example, a person suffering from hyper-acidity is due to the imbalance or excess of Pitta in the body. Therefore, he/she should take alkaline food in his diet which neutralizes the acidity and balances the Pitta element of the body. These elements can also be disturbed with age.
Nadi Parikshan (or pulse diagnosis) helps in determining the problems or disorders caused due to the imbalance of Vata, Pitta and Kapha. The origin point of Nadi is called as Kandasthana which is the nabi (navel area) of the human body as navel is the central power of the body. A baby in the mother’s womb also gets nourishment from the umbilical cord which is also connected to navel of the baby. Our body consists of 72,000 Nadis (or channels). The 72,000 nadis spring from three basic nadis – the left, the right and the central – the Ida, Pingala, and Sushumna.
The word “nadi” does not mean nerve. Nadis are pathways or channels of prana in the system. These 72,000 nadis don’t have a physical manifestation. There are 72,000 different ways in which the energy or prana moves. If the pranic energy is moving through left nasal passage i.e. through Ida Nadithen the body will be more suitable for performing subtle exercises like yoga, similarly, if the pranic energy is moving through right nasal passage i.e. through Pingala Nadi then the body will be suitable for performing energetic exercises and if the pranic energy is flowing through middle passage i.e. through Sushumna Nadi then it is suitable for spiritual exercises. All these three nadis are connected to the spinal cord of the body.
Spinal disorders are caused due to the irregular body alignment and it may cause hinderance to the functioning of other organs of the body as most of them are connected to the spinal cord. Dr. Laxminarayan Joshi explained the technique of how he instantly cures his patients from lower back pain and various other back problems.
The practice of yoga allows free flow of energy inside the nadi and helps in detoxifying them. According to Hatha yoga, we can maintain the blood flow through specific nadis by performing few asanas. Dr. Arpita Negi explained how performing various asanas like Makarasana (crocodile pose) which is also called as natural alignment pose, bhujangasana(snake pose), shavasana and bhujang shavasana which is the combination of bhujangasana and shavasana help in curing the various spinal disorders and problems.
The Uttarakhand Govt. and Uttarakhand Tourism Board celebrate the International Yoga Week from 1st to 7th March every year. Dr. Laxminarayan Joshi invited the viewers to this festival in the coming year to explore more about the NadiVigyan and other forms of health science and also to have a wholesome experience in the mesmerizing state of Uttarakhand.
The National e-Governance Division (NeGD) created by the Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY) has been playing a pivotal role in supporting the Ministry in conducting of the Dekho Apna Desh Webinars by providing technical assistance directly with a professional team thereby ensuring effective citizen engagement and communication with all stakeholders using the digital experience platform.
What is a fiscal council? Fiscal councils are independent public institutions aimed at strengthening commitments to sustainable public finances through various functions, including public assessments of fiscal plans and performance, and the evaluation or provision of macroeconomic and budgetary forecasts.
Fiscal councils are now part of the institutional fiscal apparatus of over 50 countries, including several emerging and developing economies.
Composition and How should they function? (Recommendations by 14th FC) The 14th Finance Commission recommended that an independent Fiscal Council should be established through an amendment to the FRBM Act, by inserting a new Section mandating the establishment of an independent Fiscal Council to undertake ex ante assessment of budget proposals and to ensure their consistency with fiscal policy and Rules.
The council is supposed to be appointed by, and report to, Parliament and should have its own budget.
The functions of the council include ex ante evaluation of the fiscal implications of the budget proposals which includes evaluation of how real the forecasts are and their consistency with the fiscal rules and estimating the cost of various proposals made in the budget.
The ex post evaluation and monitoring of the budget was left to the CAG.
Why India needs a fiscal council? Various cesses and surcharges are becoming disproportionate proportion of overall divisible revenue. There should be some mechanism to ensure that the basic spirit of the devolution process should not be undercut by clever financial engineering or taking recourse to traditions.
There is a need for coordination between the finance commission as well as the GST Council. GST Council has no clue of what the Finance Commission is doing and Finance Commission has even lesser clue of what the GST Council is doing.
Also, for state government liabilities, Article 293 (3) provides a constitutional check over borrowings. But there is no such restriction on the Centre.
Therefore, it is time to have an alternative institutional mechanism like Fiscal Council to enforce fiscal rules and keep a check on Centre’s fiscal consolidation.
How COVID 19 pandemic has made it more relevant? The government needs to borrow and spend more now in order to support vulnerable households and engineer economic recovery.
But that will mean a steep rise in debt Which will jeopardise medium-term growth prospects, an issue prominently flagged by all the rating agencies in the recent evaluations.
Expert committee recommendations on fiscal council: In India, two expert committees have advocated the institution of such a council in recent years.
In 2017, the N.K. Singh committee on the review of fiscal rulesset up by the finance ministry suggested the creation of an independent fiscal council that would provide forecasts and advise the government on whether conditions exist for deviation from the mandated fiscal rules.
In 2018, the D.K. Srivastava committee on fiscal statisticsestablished by the National Statistical Commission (NSC) also suggested the establishment of a fiscal council that could co-ordinate with all levels of government to provide harmonized fiscal statistics across governmental levels and provide an annual assessment of overall public sector borrowing requirements.
These recommendations follow similar recommendations from the 13th and 14th finance commissions, which also advocated the establishment of independent fiscal agencies to review the government’s adherence to fiscal rules, and to provide independent assessments of budget proposals.
The Union Labour and Employment Ministry has published the draft rules framed for the implementation of the Code on Wages Act, 2019.
Highlights: The latest draft rules are similar to the preliminary draft published in November 2019 with one major change. The Ministry has changed the work requirement for eligibility for minimum wages and other benefits from nine hours to eight.
The latest draft clarified the issue as the nine hours mentioned earlier included one hour of rest, which has now been mentioned separately from the eight working hours.
Criteria for determination of minimum wages: A net intake of 2,700 calories per day per consumption unit, 66 metre of cloth per year per standard working class family, which includes a spouse and two children apart from the earning worker – an equivalent to three adult consumption units.
Housing rent expenditure to constitute 10% of the food and clothing expenditure; fuel, electricity and other miscellaneous items of expenditure to constitute 20% minimum wage and expenditure for children education, medical requirement, recreation and expenditure on contingencies to constitute 25% of minimum wage.
When the rate of wages for a day is fixed, then such amount shall be divided by eight for fixing the rate of wages for an hour and multiplied by twenty six for fixing the rate of wages for a month and in such division and multiplication the factors of one-half and more than one-half shall be rounded as next figure and the factors less than one-half shall be ignored.
About the Code on Wages Act: The code will amalgamate the Payment of Wages Act, 1936, the Minimum Wages Act, 1948, the Payment of Bonus Act, 1965, and the Equal Remuneration Act, 1976. The wage code universalises the provisions of minimum wages and timely payment of wages to all employees, irrespective of the sector and wage ceiling.
It ensures the “right to sustenance” for every worker and intends to increase the legislative protection of minimum wage from existing about 40% to 100% workforce.
It also introduces the concept of statutory floor wage which will be computed based on minimum living conditions and extended qualitative living conditions across the country for all workers. While fixing the minimum rate of wages, the central government shall divide the concerned geographical area into three categories – metropolitan area, non-metropolitan area and the rural area.
Wages includesalary, allowance, or any other component expressed in monetary terms. This does not include bonus payable to employees or any travelling allowance, among others. The minimum wages decided by the central or state governments must be higher than the floor wage.
Payment of wages: Wages will be paid in (i) coins, (ii) currency notes, (iii) by cheque, (iv) by crediting to the bank account, or (v) through electronic mode. The wage period will be fixed by the employer as either: (i) daily, (ii) weekly, (iii) fortnightly, or (iv) monthly.
Advisory boards: The central and state governments will constitute advisory boards. The Central Advisory Board will consist of: (i) employers, (ii) employees (in equal number as employers), (iii) independent persons, and (iv) five representatives of state governments.
State Advisory Boards will consist of employers, employees, and independent persons. Further, one-third of the total members on both the central and state Boards will be women. The Boards will advise the respective governments on various issues including: (i) fixation of minimum wages, and (ii) increasing employment opportunities for women.
Context: National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has pulled up the Rajasthan government for its new guidelines on elementary education.
What’s the issue? NCPCR said the new guidelines “violate” the Right to Education Act of 2009 and deny children from economically weaker sections the right to free education in nursery classes.
The guidelines state that admissions to private schools under the RTE Act, 2009, for the 2020-21 academic year will take place only from class 1 or above, and that the law’s provisions will not be applicable for pre-schoolers.
This is in contravention of the RTE Act 2009, which states that private schools will have to admit, “to the extent of at least twenty five per cent of the strength of that class, children belonging to weaker section and disadvantaged group in the neighbourhood and provide free and compulsory education till its completion.”
The guidelines also violate the RTE Act insofar as they recommend the age of admission to be “5 years or above but less than 7 years as of 31st March 2020.” However, under the Central law there is no such restriction and a “male or female child of the age of six to fourteen years” can seek admission.
Powers of NCPCR to inquire into such complaints: Under the RTE Act, 2009, the NCPCR can: inquire into complaints about violation of the law. summon an individual and demand evidence. seek a magisterial enquiry. file a writ petition in the High Court or Supreme Court. approach the government concerned for prosecution of the offender. recommend interim relief to those affected.
About NCPCR: Set up in March 2007 under the Commission for Protection of Child Rights Act, 2005. It works under the administrative control of the Ministry of Women & Child Development.
The Commission’s Mandate is to ensure that all Laws, Policies, Programmes, and Administrative Mechanisms are in consonance with the Child Rights perspective as enshrined in the Constitution of India and also the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Composition: This commission has a chairperson and six members of which at least two should be women. All of them are appointed by Central Government for three years. The maximum age to serve in commission is 65 years for Chairman and 60 years for members.
Context: China has said it will impose tit-for-tat measures after the United States slapped sanctions on Chinese officials for their involvement in a crackdown on Muslim minorities, raising tensions between the superpowers.
What’s the issue? The latest Chinese response followed a US announcement of visa bans and an assets freeze on three officials, including Chen Quanquo, the Communist Party chief in Xinjiang and architect of Beijing’s hardline policies against restive minorities.
Witnesses and human rights groups say that China has rounded up more than one million Uighurs and other Turkic Muslims in Xinjiang in a vast brainwashing campaign aimed at forcibly homogenising minorities into the country’s Han majority.
But, China counters that it is providing education and vocational training in a bid to reduce the allure of Islamic radicalism following a spate of deadly violence.
Background: The United Nations estimates that more than a million Muslims have been detained in camps in the Xinjiang region. The U.S. State Department has accused Chinese officials of subjecting Muslims to torture, abuse “and trying to basically erase their culture and their religion.”
Who are Uighurs? Uighurs are a Muslim minority community concentrated in the country’s northwestern Xinjiang province. They claim closer ethnic ties to Turkey and other central Asian countries than to China, by brute — and brutal — force.
Why is China targeting the Uighurs? Xinjiang is technically an autonomous region within China — its largest region, rich in minerals, and sharing borders with eight countries, including India, Pakistan, Russia and Afghanistan.
Over the past few decades, as economic prosperity has come to Xinjiang, it has brought with it in large numbers the majority Han Chinese,who have cornered the better jobs, and left the Uighurs feeling their livelihoods and identity were under threat.
This led to sporadic violence, in 2009 culminating in a riot that killed 200 people, mostly Han Chinese, in the region’s capital Urumqi. And many other violent incidents have taken place since then.
Beijing also says Uighur groups want to establish an independent state and, because of the Uighurs’ cultural ties to their neighbours, leaders fear that elements in places like Pakistan may back a separatist movement in Xinjiang.
Therefore, the Chinese policy seems to have been one of treating the entire community as suspect, and launching a systematic project to chip away at every marker of a distinct Uighur identity.
It was first constructed as a cathedral in the Christian Byzantine Empire but was converted into a mosque after the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople in 1453.
It is a historic house of worship located in Istanbul.
It is revered by Christians and Muslims alike. In 1935, in the early days of the modern secular Turkish state under Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, it became a museum. It is a UNESO world heritage site.
Why in News? Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has declared Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia open to Muslim worship after a top court ruled that the building’s conversion to a museum by modern Turkey’s founding statesman was illegal.
The Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) has launched ‘Aatmanirbhar Skilled Employee Employer Mapping’ (ASEEM) portal to help skilled people find sustainable livelihood opportunities.
The Artificial Intelligence-based ASEEM will provide employers a platform to assess the availability of skilled workforce and formulate their hiring plans.
It is an annual flagship event organised by India Inc., a London based media house to re-energise and ignite optimism at global level.
It brings about an action-oriented focus by giving a forum to global deliberations from geopolitics to business, arts & culture to emerging technologies, banking and finance, pharma, defence and security, social impact and the diaspora dividend.
Theme: Be The Revival: India and a Better New World. Objective: Explore business, strategic and cultural opportunities, understand the challenges and make informed decisions as the world looks ahead to a better, brighter future beyond Covid-19.
National Fish Farmers Day 2020: Observed on 10th July every year in honour of scientists Dr. K. H. Alikunhi and Dr. H.L. Chaudhury.
These two scientists had successfully demonstrated the technology of induced breeding (Hypophysation) in Indian Major Carps.
In India, the major carps, Catla (Catla catla), Rohu (Labeo rohita) and Mrigal(Cirrhinus mrigala) are the mainstay of freshwater aquaculture. The major carps are the most preferred farm fishes because of their fast growth and higher acceptability to consumers.
It is an initiative of the Smart Cities Mission, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs to inspire and support Indian cities to quickly implement cycling-friendly initiatives in response to COVID-19.
The Challenge aims to help cities connect with their citizens as well as experts to develop a unified vision to promote cycling.
Who can apply? Cities with a population of more than 5 lakh. Capital cities of states/UTs. Cities under the Smart Cities Mission.