Action taken by Ministry of Health and Family Welfare for relief operations in Uttarakhand:An update

• A three member high level team from the Ministry is stationed in Dehradun to assess the public health situation and coordinate with the State Health Authorities to provide whatever assistance is needed. It consists of the Director, Emergency Medical Response, Director, National Centre for Disease Control and Joint Director, National Vector Borne Diseases Control Programme (NVBDCP).

Statistics Day Celebrations

In recognition of the notable contributions made by Late Prof. Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis in the fields of economic planning and statistical development, the Government of India has designated 29th June every year, coinciding with his birth anniversary, as the “Statistics Day” in the category of Special Day to be celebrated at the national level. The theme for this year’s Statistics Day is “Labour and Employment Statistics”. The objective of the Day is to create public awareness, specially the younger generation for drawing inspirations from Late Prof. Mahalanobis about the role of statistics in socio-economic planning and policy formulation.

Statistics Day to be celebrated on 29th June, 2013

In recognition of the notable contributions made by Late Prof. Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis in the fields of economic planning and statistical development, the Government of India has designated 29th June every year, coinciding with his birth anniversary, as the “Statistics Day” in the category of Special Day to be celebrated at the national level. 

IMC to launch short duration course in Urdu Journalism Course aimed at skill upgradation for journalists and media persons Programme to commence in next academic session

In order to promote the proficiency of working journalists in Urdu language newspapers and the capabilities of media professionals in the Urdu language, the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC) has decided to launch a short duration course in Urdu Journalism. The initiative to launch the course has been taken after Minister for Information & Broadcasting, Shri Manish Tewari had detailed discussions with working journalists and editors of Urdu language newspapers at the recently concluded All India Conference of Urdu Editors. During the discussions, the representatives of the Urdu newspapers had requested the Minister to initiate skill and capacity building measures through short term courses in the medium. 

Skill Development Needed to Fill the Significant Gap between the Actual Skills of Large Number of Candidates Passing Out from Various Schools, Colleges and Professional Institutions Across the Country and the Skills Needed in the Industry; Business and Corporate Houses Must Work Closely with NSDC to Achieve Theambitious Target of Providing Skills to 500 Million People in Ten Years: FM

The Union Finance Minister Shri P. Chidambaram said that skill development is needed to fill the significant gap between the actual skills of large number of candidates passing out from various schools, colleges and professional institutions across the country and the skills needed in the industry. The Finance Minister Shri Chidambaram said that we have set-up an ambitious target of providing skills to 500 million people in ten years meaning thereby that 50 million people are to be skilled every year, which is a huge challenge in itself. He said that Business and corporate houses must work closely with NSDC to achieve this target. The Finance Minister was addressing the Board of National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) here today. The Finance Minister Shri Chidambaram said that since NSDC works with industry, therefore, it is industry which should drive NSDC agenda and not vice versa. The Finance Minister said that the Prime Minister has set-up a Cabinet Committee on Skill Development in order to overall coordinate and monitor the progress of skill development programmes in different sectors among others. He said that the Government is committed to skilling as it helps people not only in finding-out right vocation for themselves but also helps in giving them self confidence. Dr Arvind Mayaram, Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, Shri S. Ramadorai, Chairman, NSDC and Shri S.K. Das, Additional Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs were present among others in the meeting. 

Action taken by Ministry of Health and Family Welfare for relief operations in Uttarakhand : An update

• Three Central Public Health Teams have been posted to Uttarakhand. The teams have reported to Principal Secretary (H) on 23.06.2013. Eight additional teams are also kept on standby, ready to move at short notice. 

• District units of Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP), NRHM is conducting health surveillance in all affected districts. After picking up early warning signals, Diarrhoea cases in Haridwar (Alwalpur), Uttarkashi (Udvi) and Rudraprayag (Chandrapuri) have been managed at incipient stage. No outbreak of water borne / food borne / air borne or direct contact diseases has been reported from affected areas.

CBI FILES A CHARGESHEET AGAINST EIGHT ACCUSED AND A FIRM IN AN ALLEGED BANK FRAUD TO THE TUNE OF RS.4.91 CRORE (APPROX)

The Central Bureau of Investigation has filed a chargesheet before the CJM Court, Ernakulam(Kerala) against eight accused persons and a Ernakulam(Kochi) based firm in a bank fraud case involving discounting of a forged Letter of Credit (LC) wherein the sister concern of SBI namely, State Bank of India Global Factors Ltd. (SBIGFL) was cheated to the tune of Rs.4.91 crores(approx).

Extension of Special Package of Industrial Incentive for the State of Jammu & Kashmir

The Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion (DIPP), Government of India, has extended the Special Package for Industrial Development of Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) for a further period of 5 years, upto 14th June, 2017. The earlier package of Industrial Incentive for the State of J&K was announced on 14.06.2002 for a period of 10 years upto 14.06.2012. In order to provide continuity and to maintain the enabling environment for ongoing industrial development of the state of J&K, it has been decided to extend the incentives under the special package for a further period of five years from 15.06.2012 to 14.06.2017. The package includes: 

Smt. Krishna Tirath, Minister for Women and Child Development will participate in the tenth Commonwealth Women’s Affairs Ministers’ meeting at Dhaka on 17-19 June, 2013.

The theme of the meeting is “Women’s Leadership for Enterprise”. Deliberations on the theme will enable to elaborate on strategic measures for achieving gender equality and women empowerment across the Commonwealth countries. This meeting will facilitate exchange of views on key issues of practical policy concern. 

atification of the Maritime Labour Convention, 2006 of ILO

The Union Cabinet today approved the proposal of the Ministry of Shipping for amendment of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1958 and the Ratification of the Maritime Labour Convention, 2006 of the International labour Organization (ILO). 

The Convention seeks to provide for safe and secure workplace on a ship, fair terms of employment, decent working and living conditions on ship and rights to health protection, medical care and other social protection in line with the provisions of the International labour Organization Maritime Labour Convention, 2006 (No.186). This will significantly improve the working conditions of seafarers. There are no financial implications. 

Ships will need to comply with the Convention through holding a Maritime Labour Certificate and Declaration of Maritime Labour Compliance issued by the flag state, which must be available on board for any port state inspection. (pib)