Press Information Bureau
Government of India
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Ministry of Finance
Customs, Central Excise and Service Tax Figures for October 2009
New Delhi: November 11, 2009
Customs, Central Excise and Service Tax Revenue (provisional) collection for the month of October 2009, along with the comparative data for the corresponding period of the previous year and growth rate over previous year is presented below:
(In Rs Crore)
| HEAD | BE | Revenue Receieved during October 2009 | Revenue Receieved during April - October | % Growth (During April-October) | % BE Achieved | |||||
| 2008-09 | 2009-10 | 2008-09 | 2009-10 | 2008-09 | 2009-10 | 2008-09 | 2009-10 | 2008-09 | 2009-10 | |
| Customs | 118930 | 98000 | 9265 | 7505 | 66621 | 45412 | 15.2 | -31.8 | 56.0 | 46.3 |
| Excise* | 136610 | 105000 | 9740 | 8952 | 64742 | 52566 | -0.3 | -18.8 | 47.4 | 50.1 |
| Service Tax | 64460 | 65000 | 6490 | 5736 | 30591 | 28926 | 13.4 | -5.4 | 47.5 | 44.5 |
| Total | 320000 | 268000 | 25495 | 22193 | 161954 | 126903 | 8.9 | -21.6 | 50.6 | 47.4 |
* Exclusive of cess not administered by Department of Revenue.
bsc/by/gn-372/09/dk/kol/16:29 hrs.
Press Information Bureau
Government of India
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Ministry of Rural Development
On the road to universal sanitation
PANCHAYATS FROM KERALA, KARNATAKA, MAHARASHTRA AND WEST BENGAL TO BE AWARDED NIRMAL GRAM PURASKAR
New Delhi: November 11, 2009
In order to meet the goal of total sanitation by 2012 and to add vigour to the Total Sanitation Campaign, in June 2003, Government of India initiated an incentive scheme for achieving fully sanitized and open defecation free Gram Panchayats, Blocks, and Districts called the 'Nirmal Gram Puraskar'. The Panchayati Raj Institutions that have attained full sanitation coverage and completely eliminated the practice of open defection are awarded the prestigious Nirmal Gram Puraskar every year. The incentive amount is related to the population of the concerned Panchayat. The incentive provision is for PRIs and individuals and organizations that are the driving for achieving full sanitation coverage in the area.
Districts and block Panchayats from Kerala, Karnataka, Mahrashtra and West Bengal have been selected for the Nirmal Gram Puraskar 2009 for achieving total sanitation in their respect areas. President, Smt. Pratibha Devi Singh Patil will felicitate the awardees from these Panchayati Raj Institutions at a function on 17 November, 2009 at Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi.
akt/sak/dk/kol/16:30 hrs.
Press Information Bureau
Government of India
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Ministry of Culture
Union Ministry of Culture Introduces Visiting Fellows in Art, Culture & Heritage Scheme
New Delhi: November 11, 2009
The Ministry of Culture introduces, with the approval of the Prime Minister in his capacity as the Culture Minister, a scheme named as the "Visiting Fellows in Art, Culture & Heritage" scheme.
This Scheme is being introduced to invigorate and revitalize the various institutions under the Ministry of Culture which have vast 'treasures' in the form of manuscripts, documents, artifacts, antiquities and paintings. It is meant to encourage serious researches into our cultural resources so that the nation stands to benefit from the results. Museums, for instance, can hardly display more than a small percentage of their entire holdings and schemes like the one that is being introduced would encourage research, scholarship and analysis of the objects that are not usually available for public viewing or use.
1. The scheme at present covers 17 of the 49 institutions or organisations under the Ministry, that are listed hereinafter, and more can be covered subsequently.
2. The scheme will be open to both Indian and foreign academics and researchers.
3. Scholars and researchers, who have sound academic or professional credentials, and have made significant contribution to knowledge in their respective field, or are persons with published creative work in any field of art or culture, are eligible.
4. Scholars who have a good project in mind could contact the head of the concerned institution and submit their project proposals. Simultaneously, the institutions that have a good research project waiting to be undertaken could be on the lookout for a suitable scholar to take up the project.
5. The Fellowships will normally be awarded for a period of two years. The Fellow selected under the scheme will be expected to attend the institution concerned, as the objective of this scheme is to provide the cultural institutions with academic expertise, to induce academic orientation in their activities and to provide interaction with visiting academics from other institutions.
6. All possible infrastructural support would be provided to the Fellows by the institutions of their affiliation and they will have the benefit of access to national cultural institutions for study and research material.
7. The scheme offers the best terms, emoluments and facilities in order to draw the best talent available from academic and research institutes, as well as to attract researchers with domain knowledge.
8. Professors, who come on 2 years' lien, would be fully compensated with pay allowances, HRA, etc. and would also be entitled to Rs.3.5 lakhs each year (for 2 years) by way of project assistance, in addition to the assistance that the cultural institutions would be extending to them.
9. Retired academics or researchers, with established credentials, would be entitled to an honorarium of Rs.80,000 per month, in addition to other financial and logistic supports.
10. Outstation Fellows would also be entitled to a 'settling-in allowance'.
11. The scheme will be taking effect from November, 2009 and the Ministry of Culture has already sent its operational details to the 17 concerned institutions, to take appropriate steps in advance.
12. Once sufficient proposals and applications are received by Ministry of Culture, either directly or through the institutions, the National Selection Committee (NSC), which would consist of renowned experts, would evaluate them and approve the Fellowships, in batches.
13. For the present, the total number of Fellowships is limited to fifteen per year and this number could be increased after the initial response becomes available.
With such favourable terms & conditions and emoluments the Ministry of Culture requests the best of academics and researchers, who have a proven track record and require a linkage with one or more of the Culture Ministry's 17 organsiations listed in the Scheme, to come forward with research proposals. The Ministry of Culture invites the best of scholars to devote 2 years to pursue research in one or more of these cultural institutions listed, so as to produce a valuable work based on the resources available in the institutions, to make it known to the wider public.
17 Participating Cultural Institutions of the Ministry of Culture
i. National Archives of India
ii. Anthropological Survey of India
iii. Archaeological Survey of India
iv. National Gallery of Modern Art
v. Gandhi Smriti and Darshan Samiti
vi. Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts
vii. Indian Museum
viii. National Museum
ix. Salarjung Museum
x. Allahabad Museum
xi. Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vaastu Sangrahalaya
xii. National Library
xiii. Victoria Memorial Hall
xiv. Rampur Raza Library
xv. Khuda Bakhsh Oriental Public Library
xvi. Raja Rammohun Roy Library Foundation
xvii. Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya
ad/db/dk/kol/16:30 hrs.
Press Information Bureau
Government of India
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Prime Minister's Office
PM's address at the Inauguration of 'National Education Day' Celebrations
New Delhi: November 11, 2009
The Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh addressed the National Education Day celebrations to commemorate the birth anniversary of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, the first Union Education Minister, in New Delhi today. Following is the text of Prime Minister's address on the occasion:
It is a great pleasure for me to participate in these National Education Day celebrations. Today we commemorate the memory of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, a great visionary, a great freedom fighter, a great scholar, an eminent educationist and the first Education Minister of Independent India.
Throughout his life, Maulana Azad served the twin causes of freedom and justice. He was a champion of liberal and secular values. He worked for the unity and integrity of India both during the freedom movement and after independence. It was he who laid the foundation of India's educational policy and planning.
Maulana Azad was also a great institution builder. He created the University Grants Commission (UGC), the National Academies-the Sangeet Natak Akademy, Sahitya Akademy, Lalit Kala Akademy, and the Indian Council for Cultural Relations. He strengthened the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and oversaw the establishment of a chain of top class technical institutions that now represent the best in the Indian Education System. Under his distinguished leadership, the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur was established in 1951, which was followed by a chain of IITs at Mumbai, Chennai, Kanpur and Delhi.
The celebration of Maulana Azad's birth anniversary as the National Education Day is a befitting homage to one of our greatest leaders. Today is also an occasion when all of us should re-dedicate ourselves to the cause of education, and through it to building India as a modern, knowledge society.
As you all know, education has received the highest priority from the Central Govt. in the last 5 years or so. Our commitment to this important area of national endeavour has seen the strengthening and expansion of the education system at all levels – primary, secondary, higher, professional and technical education. We had earlier taken important steps in providing quality education to all children through our flagship programme of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. Now we have extended our initiatives to the secondary level. The objective of the Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) is to achieve an enrolment ratio of 75% for classes IX-X within five years and to provide universal secondary education by the year 2017. The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act 2009 creates a legal entitlement for compulsory and free education for all our children between the ages of 6 and 14 years. We have recently launched a new literacy initiative, SAAKSHAR BHARAT, on the International Literacy Day on 8th September, 2009.
In higher education, the outlay has been increased by 10 times in the Eleventh Five Year Plan as compared to the Tenth Five Year Plan. A number of new institutions - Indian Institutes of Technology, Indian Institutes of Management, Indian Institutes for Science Education & Research, Indian Institutes of Information Technology and others - are being established.
I am also very happy to note that a National Mission on Education through ICT has been launched in February 2009 with an outlay of about Rs. 5000 crore. This will provide internet connectivity to about 20,000 colleges and educational institutions and will be a major harbinger of use of modern technology in the field of education. As UNESCO plays a very important role as a global clearing house of ideas and knowledge and creation of knowledge based societies, I would like to offer our willingness to share with them the e-learning material prepared under this technical mission by the Indian Institutes of Technologies (IITs).
Improving access to education is not enough. It should be accompanied by efforts to ensure equity and improve quality. Our Government stands committed to provide good and quality education to each and every child in our country, especially those who belong to the underprivileged sections of our society. It is with this end in view that we have started a number of scholarship schemes for those who cannot afford to study on their own - the SCs/STs/Minorities and other such disadvantaged groups. We especially recognize the importance of educating women and they are being given special attention in the SAAKSHAR BHARAT mission.
Improvement in quality at all levels is also receiving increasing emphasis. In higher education this will be achieved through structural reforms on the basis of the recommendations of the National Knowledge Commission and the Yashpal Committee.
The realization of the Right to Education does not depend merely on expansion of educational infrastructure but, equally importantly on availability of trained and qualified teachers with commitment to their profession. UNESCO in its Oslo Declaration 2008 relating to Education for All, has projected a requirement of 18 million new primary teachers throughout the world in the next seven years to achieve universal primary education at the global level. In India too, we would need an extra 1 million teachers to implement the Right to Education Act. For this purpose, apart from the need of augmenting teacher's training institutes and use of ICT for mass learning, it is necessary to restore the prestige and status of the teaching profession in our society.
The importance of good teachers cannot be over-emphasized. Good teachers not only educate- they also inspire. Good teachers make good students. Good teachers make good citizens. We must therefore find ways and means of improving the quality of our teachers. We must find ways of attracting the best talent as faculty in our premier institutions. We today face difficulty in finding top level professors and lecturers in the newly created IITs, IISERs and other such institutions. This state of affairs cannot be allowed to persist and I urge all of you to work to address these problems of deficiency in the quality of teaching in our schools, in our colleges, and in our universities.
A system of education which is built on the premises of quality and equity is central as it must be to India's rapid progress as a modern, dynamic society. Let me reaffirm today our government's commitment to the cause of education. But in the mammoth task that lies ahead, we will need the contribution of all our citizens and all actors in the civil society. I urge all of you to work for this noble cause with renewed energy and vigour that will be a befitting tribute to the memory of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad.
With these words, I wish your celebrations all success. I also wish all of you the very best in your efforts to make our educational system stronger, better and more equitable.
akt/sh/vk/dk/kol/16:30 hrs.
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