The Gist of Press Information Bureau (PIB): December 2016

The Gist of Press Information Bureau: December 2016

Birth certificates and AADHAR Cards to street children

The Minister of Women and Child Development, Smt Maneka Sanjay Gandhi held Regional consultations with Civil Society Organizations on the draft ‘Trafficking of Persons Bill, 2016’ in Chennai. The NGOs came forward with important suggestions for the Bill. They suggested that the timelines for repatriation of trafficked victims should be included in the Act itself. Similarly, begging is an important area where trafficking is rampant and should be taken up seriously under the Act. Abhayam is an initiative of the NGO Dayaa Foundation established by Smt Latha Rajinikanth for safety, rescue and rehabilitation of children in the city of Chennai. Addressing on the occasion, Smt Maneka Sanjay Gandhi said that the WCD Ministry will be starting a new initiative for providing birth certificates and AADHAR Cards to street children. This landmark initiative will help street children obtain an identity for their future use to move ahead in life.

The Minister appreciated the recently launched initiative of Dayaa Foundation to establish a Citizen Council for child safety, which will be the first of its kind initiative of bringing citizens together for protecting children. It is a very good initiative and I would like to see it extended to other states also, the Minister said. Smt Maneka Sanjay Gandhi also spoke about the measures being taken by Government for safety, protection and care of children including the children’s helpline i.e. Childline, initiative with railways on missing children, the new Juvenile Justice Act, New Foster Care programme and complete reform of Adoption System.

BARC develops portable kit for detection of Chromium contamination of water

Chromium is widely used in various industries like leather, steel, chrome plating, paint manufacturing, wood preservation etc. Untreated effluents from these industries cause widespread contamination of water as been reported in several parts of the country. Chromium in the environment primarily exists as Trivalent Chromium Cr(III) and Hexavalent Chromium Cr(VI). The later is toxic and the World Health Organization has classified it as carcinogenic and can cause stomach ulcers and cancers and severe damage to kidneys and liver. As per Indian standard IS10500 for drinking water, the maximum permissible concentration of Cr(VI) in drinking water is 50 microgram per litre. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recommends a still lower permissible concentration of 10 microgram per liter.

Detection of Cr(VI) at such low levels is not only technically challenging but also expensive and time consuming since it involves collection of water samples from affected areas, transport to laboratory, storage and finally analysis. The method can be used for limited water samples with errors due to conversion of Cr(III) to Cr(VI) and vice versa during transport and storage.

BARC has developed a simple, user friendly, quick and cost effective kit for onsite determination of Cr(VI), which meets IS10500 as well as EPA criterion. It provides the much needed solution to measure the level of Chromium contamination in drinking water and tap water, lakes, rivers as well as ground water. The procedure involves adding a specified amount of specific reagents to the water sample and identifying the developed colour.

The colour develops within 5 minutes and the distinction can be made with naked eye. For ease of comparison a colour chart is provided with the kit. Water samples can be immediately categorized as being safe or toxic for drinking from Chromium(VI) point of view. The kit provides several advantages including onsite detection and instantaneous results, elimination of use of sophisticated instruments for analysis, low investment on infrastructure for production of the kit, easy availability of raw materials and very good accuracy for the intended purpose.

India set to seize big opportunity in logistic costs saving through Sagarmala

Augmenting operational efficiency of ports & optimizing logistics evacuation can give boost to Indian trade and help seize the big opportunity of growth in Indian cargo traffic at ports which is estimated to increase to 2.5 bn MMTPA by 2025, says a report prepared under the Sagarmala port-led development programme of Ministry of Shipping. The Origin Destination study on cargo traffic projections & logistics bottlenecks emphasis on the need for creation of efficient infrastructure at requisite demand and logistic chain centres.

Currently 95% of India’s trade by value and 70 % by volume take place through maritime transport. Globally, maritime nations such as China, South Korea and Japan have effectively used their coastline for ‘port-led development’. It is therefore essential for India to optimize logistics cost and identify capacity additions required at different ports to prepare for future traffic flow. Focusing on the total demand and supply situation of major EXIM flow of key commodities currently being handled by ports, the report suggests i) the opportunities to optimize logistics cost for existing and future cargo capacities and ii) Capacity additions or reconfigurations needed at various ports to prepare for future traffic flow, including new ports development. The study estimates the potential to save around INR 35,000-40,000 Crores per annum by optimizing logistics flows for key commodities by 2025. Some of the key drivers identified for this are promoting coastal shipping of bulk commodities like coal, setting-up coastal clusters for bulk commodities like cement & steel and providing last-mile connectivity of ports with National Highways and Railway network. Identifying the opportunity of increase in cargo traffic to 2.5 bn MMTPA by 2025, the report suggests various enablers for unlocking this opportunity under Sagarmala. Establishing new transshipment port, creating dedicated coastal berths ports for coastal shipping, setting up storage capacities at origin-destination ports to shorten turnaround time and developing adequate ship-repair facilities in the maritime states are some of these key enables suggested in the study.

It also captures the overall opportunity with India to save on logistic costs, make Indian goods more competitive in the global markets and hence drive its port-led-development agenda under Sagarmala. The programme aims to change the way logistics evacuation happens in India, save logistics costs nationwide for cargo handled and evacuated through seaports, boost overall economic development through ports and empower coastal communities. The vast scope of Sagarmala implies that partnership with and support from key stakeholders is essential for success of the programme. Aligning with the government’s ‘Make in India’ campaign, private-sector participation through PPP models will be explored for developing port infrastructure, railway infrastructure and coastal shipping. The Ministry is also reaching out to relevant stakeholders through workshops and meetings with the project development consultants for alignment on proposed ideas under the programme.

BRICS Disaster Risk Reduction meet adopts Udaipur Declaration

A two-day meeting of BRICS Ministers on Disaster Management ended in Udaipur, Rajasthan with the adoption of the Udaipur Declaration. The meeting laid bare the common thread of challenges on disaster issues faced by all the BRICS nations. The Minister of State for Home Affairs, Shri Kiren Rijiju termed the meeting as a new milestone in collaboration and cooperation among BRICS countries in the field of disaster management. The roadmap for implementation of the three-year Joint Action Plan (JAP) for BRICS emergency services (2016-18) was also finalised. The JAP was agreed upon at the first meeting of BRICS Ministers for Disaster Management at St. Petersburg in Russia earlier this year. Shri Rijiju said that this meeting has agreed on a road map for implementation of the Joint Action Plan where all of us have resolved to work together on exchange of Information/ experiences on disaster management, research & technology exchange on forecasting and early warning for floods and extreme weather events and capacity building of stakeholders for disaster management.

BRICS nations have made a clear move from relief-centric to a holistic approach to disasters with a greater emphasis on prevention, mitigation and preparedness. This highlights the importance of forecasting and early warning systems to help authorities in alerting the communities as well as responding swiftly to a situation. The meeting discussed the advances in technology and knowledge sharing amongst member countries to enable them leverage it to reduce disaster risk. India, the current BRICS chair, will host the 8th BRICS Summit in Goa in October, 2016.

BRICS convention on Tourism to be held in Khajuraho

Ministry of Tourism organised the “BRICS Convention on Tourism” on September 01-02, 2016 in Khajuraho Madhya Pradesh as a precursor to the The BRICS Summit to be held in Goa on October 15-16, 2016. Delegation from the BRICS Countries are expected to participate in the Convention. It comprise of inter- Governmental exchange of views and ideas, Panel discussions on Technology, Innovation in Tourism, and Cooperation between the BRICS countries for promoting intra-regional tourism. B2B meetings between the India Travel Trade and their counterparts from the BRICS countries will also be organised. Elements of Culture, handicrafts and cuisine from different regions of India will be showcased during the convention.

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