Governance Community

The Union Cabinet has decided to provide 4G mobile services in over 7000 villages across Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Maharashtra and Odisha, said Union Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports, Anurag Thakur on Wednesday. The estimated expenditure in this scheme will be Rs 6,466 crore, he added. Briefing the media about Union Cabinet’s decision, Thakur said, “In over 7000 villages of 44 aspirational districts across Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Maharashtra and Odisha, mobile towers connectivity will be provided. It has been decided to provide 4G mobile services. Project is expected to be worth Rs 6,466 crore.” The Union minister further said that with this project, people will be able to utilise the benefits of e-governance. Speaking about the details of another scheme, the minister said that roads will be built under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY), which will benefit areas affected by “Left-Wing Extremism” across the country. “Areas that were not covered for road connectivity under phases 1 and phase 2 of Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana or the Left-Wing Extremism affected areas and the tribal areas are going to be benefitted. Roads will be built through dense forests, mountains and rivers,” he said. “The total expenditure on this project is estimated to be Rs 33,822 crore,” the minister added. Source: ANI

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has tasked his council of ministers with improving the efficiency of his government. The Modi government is aiming to rope in young professionals, seek suggestions from retiring officials and make the most effective use of technology for project monitoring, besides various other steps to be overseen by eight different groups comprising of members from the entire Council of Ministers, sources said. The 77 ministers are divided into eight groups to develop technology-based resources, create a pool of professionals for recruiting in their teams and other similar initiatives to be adopted in the offices of all ministers’ offices to bring more transparency and further improve and efficiency of the Modi government, the sources said. This exercise of dividing the ministers into eight groups was done following ‘Chintan Shivirs’ (brainstorming sessions) of the entire council that were chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, with each meeting lasting for nearly five hours. A total of 5 such sessions were held – one each on Personal Efficiency, Focused Implementation, Ministry Functioning and Stakeholder Engagement, Party Coordination and Effective Communication, and the last one was on Parliamentary practices. The last brainstorming meeting was also attended by the Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu. All these meetings primarily focused on improving the efficiency and also the delivery system of the Modi government. The forming of groups is another step in this direction, broadly focusing on overall improvement in the governance by making ministers more hands-on approach, the sources said. All the 77 ministers in the council are a part of one of these eight groups, each comprising nine to ten ministers with one Union minister designated as a group coordinator, sources said. Developing a portal in each minister’s office that provides updates on the performance of the Centre’s flagship schemes and policies, a dashboard for monitoring decisions made by the respective ministers and a system to schedule meetings and managing correspondence are among the tasks assigned to these groups. They have also been asked to make profiles of all districts, states and ministries and develop stakeholder engagement programmes. One of the groups has been assigned to line up a mechanism for creating a team of a minimum of three young professionals with command over research, communication and other key areas, the sources said. Similarly, a group has been assigned to form a portal that maintains feedback and experiences of the retiring employees, sources said. Union Ministers Hardeep Singh Puri, Narendra Singh Tomar, Piyush Goyal, Dharmendra Pradhan, Smriti Irani, Anurag Thakur are among the ministers who are the coordinators of their respective groups, the sources said. They have been given this responsibility so that they can share the good practices of their respective offices with other cabinet colleagues. Most of the ministers who had given presentations during the Chintan Shivirs have been given the responsibility of coordinating their respective groups. Meanwhile, for attending these brainstorming sessions, Union ministers on the instruction of Prime Minister Modi did carpooling with their cabinet colleagues from different ministries and hailing from different states. Source: PTI

According to reports, ten central trade unions will conduct a series of protests starting Thursday. These protests will continue after the two-day nationwide strike during the Budget session of the Parliament. The trade unions that will participate in the protests are the Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC), the Hind Mazdoor Sabha (HMS), the Centre for Indian Trade Unions (CITU), and the All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC). The demonstrations and strikes are happening due to the government planning to either fully or partially privatize the public sector units (PSU’s). The protesters believe that privatizing the PSU’s will affect the working class of the entire nation. Although multiple trade unions are participating in the protest, Bhartiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS), the labour union affiliated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), will not participate in any of these strikes. The central trade unions issued a joint statement saying that these protests will aim to inform the people about the repercussions of the government’s disinvestment policy. The national convention of trade unions on Thursday is the first in the series of demonstrations against the central government’s policy to reach out to the people of the nation. The unions added that this convention will be followed by a series of state-level protests all over India. As per a media report citing the statement issued by the trade unions, Thursday’s national convention will be “followed by a two-day countrywide general strike during the Budget Session in 2022.” Meanwhile, November 26 has been fixed as the nationwide protest day, since the date marks the anniversary of the National General Strike of trade unions and the ‘Kisan March’ (farmers’ foot march) to Delhi. Source: Hindustan Times

Images of Chhath devotees bathing in toxic foam floating in Yamuna river in Delhi has triggered a full-scale war of words between the Bharatiya Janata Party and the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). The BJP has alleged that the Arvind Kejriwal government has received crores to clean the river, however, the money has apparently been used by the city government in promoting itself through advertisement. Amit Malviya, in-charge of BJP’s national information and technology department, on Wednesday, tweeted a copy of a letter dated July 1, 2021, from Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat to Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal that talked about Centre granting over Rs 2,000 crore to the Delhi government for cleaning of Yamuna. “The central government has provided Arvind Kejriwal 2,419 crore rupees so far for cleaning the Yamuna. Let alone clean, Yamuna is dirtier than ever before. Where did all the money go? Has Arvind Kejriwal spent all the money in putting out more ads just to promote himself? Shame” Malviya said in his tweet. On Tuesday, Shekhawat said, “Both Kejriwal and the Delhi government are running away from their responsibility of cleaning the Yamuna river. It is unfortunate that rather than cleaning the river, they are asking women not to celebrate Chhath (on its banks). Kejriwal is disrespecting the voters of Delhi.” In an apparent attempt to dodge questions over the polluted Yamuna, Delhi Water Minister Satyendar Jain said the BJP and the Congress did nothing to save the Yamuna in 75 years. Jain asserted that AAP will keep its promise of cleaning the river by the end of 2024. “Before elections, we said we will clean the Yamuna by 2024. The work got delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic but we stand firm on our promise. The Yamuna did not become ‘maili’ (polluted) today. It has been like this for 75 years. The BJP and the Congress were in power in Delhi, but they did nothing to clean the river,” Jain alleged. Facing intense criticism over frothing Yamuna during Chhath Puja, the Delhi government deployed 15 boats to remove the toxic foam with the help of ropes. Frothing in certain stretches of the Yamuna river, such as near ITO and Okhla Barrage, has become an annual phenomenon now in winters when the temperatures are low and flow in the river less. Source: IndiaTV

The Centre has finished Air India’s monopoly over flying millions of government employees after its privatization, however, a large part of the employees’ ticketing requirements will now be handled by three public sector companies. Under the new framework, government officials can purchase Air India tickets in real money or decide to book some other Indian airlines through the three public area organizations that are probably going to procure office commissions and tagging charges from the enormous pool of government employees, assessed to run into a few millions. On November 2, department of investment and public asset management secretary Tuhin Kanta Panda said it won’t be mandatory for government employees to go in Air India after its privatization. Air India, as well, has quit offering them the credit facility for acquisition of air tickets, inciting the money service to request that all services clear the airlines’ dues. The old framework required government employees to book with the previous public transporter in areas it overhauled. “For different spots, where there were no Air India [flights] or its auxiliaries, we needed to take earlier consent for purchasing tickets,” said a senior official, who didn’t wish to be named. Be that as it may, while Air India has lost an enormous hostage client base, three PSUs, Balmer Lawrie, Ashoka Travels and Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) get to do all ticket reserving for government employees. Balmer Lawrie, an organization under the petrol service, gives coordination support and a large group of other business while Ashoka Travels and Tours Ltd is under the government’s catering arm India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC). The third element, IRCTC works a movement entrance, gives ticket booking and obliging Indian Railways. Both IRCTC and Balmer Lawrie are recorded organizations. India has eight airlines serving in different areas separated from some provincial transporters that are basically centred around certain courses under the government’s Udaan conspire. Aside from Air India, Vistara, Air Asia, Spice Jet, Go First, Indigo and Air India express and Alliance Air are working in the country. A circular of the Lok Sabha secretariat dated November 5, said, “All the officers are thereby requested to purchase air tickets in cash from Air India/Indian Airlines counter or from three agents, i.e. Balmer Lawrie and Co. Ashoka Travels and Tours Ltd and IRCTC, authorised by the ministry of finance for the official journeys to be performed.” The Lok Sabha circular, referring to the General Finance Rules, additionally let officials know that all air ticket bills should be submitted inside the specified period. “Henceforth, no request to honour the TA/DA claim after the stipulated time limit shall be entertained in any case,” it added. The Union government offered ailing Air India to Tata Sons last month after a few failed endeavours and expansion of cut-off times. Tata Sons purchased the national carrier for ₹18,000 crore in a deal that will no longer see hefty bailout packages for the carrier that was widely seen as a burden on tax revenue and government intervention in an otherwise competitive market. Source: Hindustan Times

Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu on Monday emphasised that good governance must percolate right down to the bottom level, according to an official statement. Presiding over the 67th annual meeting of general body of the Indian Institute of Public Administration (IIPA) here through video-conferencing, he said that the govt. has been making policies and designing programmes that are intended to enhance the standard of living of the people by fast-tracking development. Naidu said the IIPA, as a premier institution dedicated to the idea and practice of public administration, must play a pivotal role in bridging the capacity gaps within the delivery system, said the statement issued by the Personnel Ministry. “IIPA is a fit organization to catalyse the new wave of governance reforms in the country,” he added. Referring to the varied initiatives by the govt., like the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, Ayushman Bharat and also the recently announced 100 lakh crore national infrastructure master plan ‘Gati Shakti’, Naidu said India is clearly on a transformative path. “We are focusing on people, their hopes and aspirations, their needs and entitlements, their duties and responsibilities. We are making each Indian an active agent of social change,” he added. The government is involving the private sector and also the civil society in a very big way as partners in shaping the India of tomorrow, he said. In his address, Minister of State for Personnel Jitendra Singh said that during a landmark decision, the IIPA membership, which was earlier open only to retired officers, has now been thrown open even to the serving officers. The government, he said, will train 2 crore government servants from top to bottom and not only the top civil servants for capacity-building of civil servants. He said that despite the crippling effects of COVID-19, IIPA has not only being successful in conducting 66 training programme in 2020-21 and trained 8,353 officials, but it’s also completed 60 research studies and conducted 46 webinars on topics of current relevance, the statement said. Source: PIB

Tata Sons have purchased Air India Airlines again to save it from its losses. The government on Monday signed a share purchase agreement worth Rs 18,000 crore with Tata Sons for the sale of the national carrier Air India. In this months timeline, the government had accepted an offer made by Talace Pvt. Ltd., a unit of the holding company of the salt-to-software conglomerate, to pay ₹2,700 crore cash and take over ₹15,300 crores of the airline’s debt. However, on October 11, 2021, a Letter of Intent (LoI) was issued to the Tata Group, confirming the government’s willingness to sell its 100% stake in the airline. Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) Secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey tweeted, “Share Purchase Agreement signed today by Government with Tata Sons for strategic disinvestment of Air India.” Based on the agreement, the sale also includes the ground handling arm of Air India– AISATS. In the bid race, Tatas beat the Spicejet promoter Ajay Singh and the reserve price of Rs 12,906 crore set by the government for the sale of its 100% stake in the loss-making carrier. This deal will be the first privatisation since 2003-04, Air India will be the third airline brand under Tatas Umbrella. The company already holds a majority interest in AirAsia India and Vistara, a joint venture with Singapore Airlines Ltd.

The businesses in India are now seeking government support to meet up the Electric Vehicle target. The target to make all vehicles electric is by 2030 in the country. The businesses are now expecting support from the government to help them meet the mark, which is merely a decade away. More than 25 companies, including automakers Mahindra & Mahindra and Volvo, oil giant Shell, and clean mobility startups, demand India set strict targets and frame supportive policies for the transition from fuel vehicle to electric vehicles, as per the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD). For the first time that companies in India have made this push to switch towards clean mobility. This demand was raised weeks ago at the United Nations conference on climate change- which will be an important event to bring out more commitments to stop global warming. Joe Phelan, director at the WBCSD in India, said, “after the rapid growth in India’s renewable energy sector, transport decarbonization is India’s next ample opportunity to deal with the issue of climate change. Source: economicstimes.com

Uttar Pradesh and Kerala Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Pinarayi Vijayan held an emergency meeting to resolve the coal crisis that led to a power shortage problem. About the same, Kerala Electricity Minister K Krishnakutty said the decision on a power cut in the state would be taken after 19th October. Currently, Kerala is facing a shortage of 100 MW and trying its best to bridge the demand-supply gap through an automated management system and buying electricity at a higher price. Yogi Adityanath had directed the UP-Power Corporation Chairman M Devaraj to do a detailed review of the supply of coal to the state’s power plants; he referred to take all essential steps to ensure enough coal supply. Many other states have also raised the concern of power blackout due to a shortage of coal. The Union Ministry of Power said it had directed state-run NTPC and Damodar Valley Corporation to ensure power supply to Delhi. Ministry also claimed that many states are not supplying enough power to their public and imposing load shedding to sell electricity in power exchange at a higher rate. The distribution companies have been instructed to not sell power in the power exchange at a higher rate, as it is their duty first to ensure 24X7 electricity supply to their customers. Source: Monetcontrol.com

The India-UK tussle over vaccine recognition has been going on after the UK government raised a few issues with India’s inoculation authentications. India too made 10-day quarantine obligatory for travelers coming from the UK. Indian travelers completely vaccinated with the two portions of Covishield won’t need to be quarantined in the United Kingdom, beginning from October 11, British high magistrate to India Alex Ellis tweeted on Thursday, stopping the continuous India-UK tussle over acknowledgment of immunization against Covid-19 in the two the nations. “Good evening! From Monday, 11th October, travellers from India to the UK, double jabbed by Covishield or any other vaccine recognised by the UK regulator does not have to quarantine. So it will easier and cheaper to enter the UK. This is great news,” Alex Ellis said in a video message, saying thanks to the Indian government for the nonstop collaboration with the UK government. The UK is open for Indian travelers for quite a long time and handled a large number of visas to understudies, business travelers, and vacationers, the British high official said in his message. “Some of the noise about this issue in the last few weeks just shows how keen people are to travel to the UK and I am delighted by that… Let’s open up more flights between the countries…” he said. The issue began after the UK changed its movement rules from October 4 and didn’t at first notice Covishield in the rundown of its acknowledged immunizations against Covid-19. Then, at that point, the UK government acknowledged the Covishield antibody as it is a definition of the Oxford-Astrazeneca immunization, currently perceived by the UK administrative position, yet didn’t acknowledge India’s immunization endorsements, produced by Cowin. A few rounds of talks were held among India and the UK government to end this impasse as not perceiving India’s antibody testament implies travelers vaccinated with the two portions of Covishield need to go through the required quarantine in the UK. While the discussions went on, India likewise forced a comparable limitation on individuals coming to India from the UK. It said independent of the immunization status, all UK travelers in India should be quarantined for 10 days. Serum Institute of India CEO Adar Poonawalla had communicated his mistake with the UK’s Covishield check. The public authority emphasized that there was no issue with either Covishield or the immunization testament. While the endorsement holds fast to the worldwide principles, India exported Covishield to the UK, the government said. Source: thehindustantimes.com