Press Information Bureau
Government of India
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Ministry of Textiles
Thiru Dayanidhi Maran to inaugurate Gujarat Eco Textile Park tomorrow
New Delhi: September 8, 2009
Thiru. Dayanidhi Maran will inaugurate Gujarat Eco Textile Park setup under the Scheme for Integrated Textile Parks (SITP) at Surat tomorrow. The Park has been set up in an area of 104 acre, at a cost of Rs. 129 crore, will attract an investment of Rs. 705 crore, and annually produce textiles products worth Rs. 850 crore, and, more importantly, will provide employment to 25,000 people.
| Targeted textiles industry | Salient Features of the Park | Centre-of-Excellence (CoE) |
| Technical Textiles Units Processing Units High-tech Weaving Units Embroidery Units Composite Units
| Common Effluent Treatment Plant of 60 MLD Solid Waste-to-Energy (Power & Steam) 10 mn kcal/hr Incinerator 12 MW Natural-gas-based Captive Power Plant with co-generation of Steam Rainwater Harvesting at Park and Individual Units Level Water Supply & Storm Water Drainage System Use of fly ash in Construction of Roads & uildings Plantation of 25,000 Trees
| Training Centre Design Centre Conference Hall R&D Centre Exhibition Hall Bank Restaurant Guest House Medical Facilities
|
Earlier in the day the Textiles Minister will address the Southern Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
rm/as/dk/kol/13:24 hrs.
Press Information Bureau
Government of India
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Prime Minister's Office
PM launches Saakshar Bharat Mission
New Delhi: September 8, 2009
The Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, launched the Saakshar Bharat Mission for Female Literacy on International Literacy Day in New Delhi today.
Following is the text of the Prime Minister's opening remarks on the occasion:-
"Our Government attaches the highest importance to human resource development. That is why some of the finest minds in our government have been chosen as Ministers for this very important and prestigious ministry. Both Shri Kapil Sibal and Smt. D. Purandeswari constitute a team of which any country can be legitimately proud of as nation builders. I am of course very happy to be here today to participate in these celebrations of the International Literacy Day. Today will also mark the launch of the Saakshar Bharat mission, our government's new programme to significantly reduce illiteracy in our country, particularly among women. I hope this new programme will be even more successful than its precursor, The National Literacy Mission.
The cause of education is indeed a worthy one. Education empowers. Education liberates. Education ennobles. Education helps nations to march forward, helps them to progress socially and economically. In our efforts to remove persistent hunger, poverty and disease, education is a very valuable instrument. And literacy is the first step in imparting education.
Our Government has started a number of progressive programmes and legislations for the empowerment and welfare of the common person, the aam aadmi. The National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, the Right to Information Act, the Rural Health Mission, the Sarva Siksha Abhiyan and the National Mid-day Meal Programme are all efforts in that direction. Literacy is central to the success of all these programmes and initiatives Female literacy is especially so. Female literacy is a force multiplier for all action for social development. This is self-evident and does not require any elaboration. In fact, many observers have seen infrastructure development in the economic sector and female literacy in the social sector as two very critical factors that impede India's steady climb to a higher and sustainable level of growth and development. Female literacy is also absolutely necessary to empower the Indian woman in her every day struggle in dealing with multiple deprivations on the basis of class, caste and gender.
We have made quick progress since independence in making India literate. From about 18% in the 1950s, the literacy rate increased to about 52% in 1991, and then to about 65% in 2001, the last year for which literacy figures are available. The decade 1991 to 2001 saw the highest decadal growth ever, due to the National Literacy Mission, which was started in 1988. But we still have a long way to go. And we must march ahead.
One-third of India's population still continues to be illiterate. About half of our women cannot still read or write. The number of illiterates in India is probably the highest among all nations of the world. We cannot therefore be satisfied with the status quo.
Persistent illiteracy, particularly among women, Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Minorities and other disadvantaged groups, is a challenge that we must face and meet head on. We must make our nation fully literate, if we want to empower the average citizen and make rapid progress.
I would like to repeat today what I have stated many times before. Our government is committed to providing good quality education to each and every child in our country. Resources will not be a constraint in the quest of achieving this goal. Today, as a result of our efforts in the last 5 years, elementary education is now within the reach of all children in our country. We have increased enrolment and significantly reduced drop-outs rate. This has helped us check further accretion to the population of illiterates. But we need to do much more to reduce and ultimately eliminate illiteracy among the adult population. We need to renew the efforts of the 1980s and the 1990s when we were able to make a significant dent in the problem of illiteracy.
The Saakshar Bharat Mission that is being launched today reaffirms our national commitment to literacy. The mission seeks to raise literacy levels, especially among women, in a phased manner.
The President of India, in her address to the Parliament earlier this year, had announced that the government will recast the National Literacy Mission to make every woman literate in the next five years. Today we take the first step towards fulfilling that promise to our people. But this is not a stand alone step. Our government is committed doing all that is necessary for the social, economic and political empowerment of Indian women. Our Cabinet has already decided to amend the Constitution of India to provide 50% reservation for women in panchayats and urban local bodies. The Self Help Group movement will be encouraged and expanded by restructuring and revitalizing the Rashtriya Mahila Kosh. A National Mission for the Empowerment of women is being set up.
I sincerely hope that the Saakshar Bharat Mission will fully involve the local community in its implementation, and utilize the potential and promise of the Panchayati Raj Institutions and the women's Self Help Groups. I am very happy that implementation of this programme has been entrusted to the Gram Panchayats. I would also expect the mission to make use of innovative strategies and technology to impart sustainable literacy to millions of non-literates in a reasonable period of time.
Let me conclude by greeting and congratulating all of you on your efforts and on your contributions to the noble cause of education and literacy. I wish you all success in making India fully literate. May God bless you."
akt/ad/hs/vk/dk/kol/13:24 hrs.
Press Information Bureau
Government of India
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Ministry of Culture
Presentation of Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar for the year 2008 on 10 September 2009
New Delhi: September 8, 2009
Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar for the year 2008 will be presented here by Shri Ram Niwas Mirdha, Chairman, Sangeet Natak Akademi, at a special investiture on Thursday, 10 September 2009. The ceremony will be followed by a weeklong festival of Music, Dance and Theatre etc. featuring some of the recipients of the year from 10-16 September 2009.
The 'Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar' was instituted in the year 2006 by Sangeet Natak Akademi, the National Academy of Music, Dance and Drama, an autonomous body of Ministry of Culture, Government of India and apex institution of performing arts in the country. The puraskar is meant to encourage outstanding young talents in diverse fields of performing arts and give them national recognition early in life so that they may work with greater commitment and dedication in life-long pursuit of their chosen art-form. The Puraskar is given to performing artists below the age of 35 years as on 1st April of the year and covers music, dance, theatre, puppetry and scholarship in performing arts.
The puraskar for the year 2008 was decided by the General Council of Sangeet Natak Akademi at its meeting held in April 2009, in New Delhi. 33 young artists who have made a mark in their respective fields of performing arts have been selected from all over the country.
In the field of Music, eight Puraskars to nine young artists (including one joint award) namely Rajnish Mishra & Ritesh Mishra (Joint Puraskar) and Vishal Jain for Hindustani Vocal; Jay Shankar Mishra (Tabla) and Debopriya Chatterjee (Flute) for Hindustani Instrumental Music; V.Sumitra and Manasi Prasad for Carnatic Vocal; C.S.Balabhaskar (Violin) and B.S.Purushotham (Kanjeera) for Carnatic Instrumental Music were selected.
In the field of Dance, eight outstanding artists namely Gayatri Balagurunathan, Bharatanatyam; Gauri Diwakar, Kathak; Vijaya Kumar.N., Kathakali; Bimbavati Devi, Manipuri; Rahul Acharya, Odissi; Arunima Kumar, Kuchipudi; Meernanda Barthakur, Sattriya and Purvadhanashree (Vilasini Natyam) for Other Major Traditions of Dance were selected.
In the filed of Theatre also eight outstanding artists namely Sumeet Sharma and Amitesh Grover for Direction; Vajinder Kumar and J.L.Saritha for Acting; Irawati Karnik for Playwriting; Ajay Kumar (Music for Theatre) and Govind Singh Yadav (Lighting) for Allied Theatre Arts and R.K.Sanaton Singh (Shumang Leela, Manipur) for Major Traditions of Theatre were selected.
For their work to Other Traditional/Folk/Tribal Dance/Music/Theatre and Puppetry, Ritu Verma, Pandavani (Chhattisgarh); Daya Ram, Mand (Rajasthan); Sayed Muhammed Irfan P.P., Folk Music-Dolippattu (Lakshadweep); Mayanglambam Mangangsana Meitei, Traditional Music-Pena (Manipur); Shabir Ahmad Saznawas, Soofiyana Kalam (Jammu & Kashmir); Pramoda Kumar Nahak, Prahald Natak (Orissa), Sudharshan K.V., Yakshagana Gombeyatta (Traditional String & Rod Puppetry), Karnataka and Srikanta Bose for Mime were selected.
ad/db/dk/kol/13:25 hrs.
Press Information Bureau
Government of India
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Ministry of Rural Development
Rural Development Ministers Meeting on Wednesday to discuss National Rural Livelihood Mission (NLRM) and NREGA
New Delhi: September 8, 2009
The Ministry Of Rural Development has convened one day conference of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Ministers from the States & Union territories on Wednesday, 9th September, 2009 at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi to discuss the features of the proposed National Rural Livelihood Mission (NLRM) and the emerging issues in NREGA. Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh will deliver the keynote inaugural address while the Minister of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, Dr.C.P. Joshi would underline the high points of the Mission.
High on the agenda would be the discussion on poverty reduction strategies and the restructuring of the existing Swarna Jayanti Grameen Swarojgar Yojana (SGSY) as the National Rural Livelihood Mission(NLRM) . The meeting would provide the forum to seek the views of various stakeholders in finalizing the details of the NLRM for having a focused approach on poverty eradication in a time bound manner. The other important issue on the agenda would be streamlining the implementation and monitoring of NREGA to strengthen the delivery mechanism.
The meeting assumes significance in the backdrop of the decision taken by the Ministry of Rural Development to re-design and re-structure the on going Swarnjayanti Gram Swarojgar Yojana (SGSY) into National Livelihood Mission (NRLM) as the cornerstone of national poverty reduction strategy. The objective of the Mission is to reduce poverty among rural BPL by promoting diversified and gainful self-employment and wage employment opportunities which would lead to an appreciable increase in income on sustainable basis. In the long run, it will ensure broad based inclusive growth and reduce disparities by spreading out the benefits from the islands of growth across the regions, sectors and communities.
Under the re-structured program it is proposed to aim for universal mobilization of the rural poor communities into SHGs i.e. to bring at least one member from each BPL family into the SHG fold in a time bound manner, in order to correct the even spread of formation of SHGs among the states and also to ensure widespread social and economic empowerment of the rural poor, especially of rural women. It will also be attempted to further federate the SHGs at village and block levels for collective actions. A dedicated implementation structure is proposed to be put in place with the National Rural Livelihood Mission is to National level supported by similar apex bodies at the state, district and sub-district levels in the states for inducting professionals/domain experts and dedicated support staff, lack of which has been a major drawback under SGSY. It is proposed to enhance the subsidy under the program to bring it in line with the increased cost indices. In addition, it is proposed to introduce interest subsidy for ensuring availability of credit at prime lending rate to the swarojgaris from public sector banks. It is also proposed to up-scale Special Projects to focus on innovative projects placement linked skill development projects in order to provide wage employment by tapping the opportunities arising at the lower end of the skill base in the sunrise sectors of the economy like textiles, construction, hospitality, security, automobile, health, services etc,.
In addition to utilizing the existing infrastructure in the states for skill training and capacity building of rural poor, a major initiative has been taken for involving the public sector banks for setting up Rural Self Employment Training Institutes, at least one in each district in the country, for skill training and handholding of the rural BPL youth both for self employment and wage employment. 500 such institutes are proposed to be set up by 2012. Steps are also proposed to be taken to create pools of Community Resource Persons and Master Craftsmen for capacity building and skill development training of the SHG members. Skill training to be imparted will be aimed exploiting the employment opportunities both in local areas and also elsewhere.
The on going Swarnjayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY) has been under implementation since April, 1999. The scheme involves selection of key activities, planning of activity clusters, organization of the poor into Self Help Groups (SHGs) through social mobilization and building their capacities through training and skill development, creation of infrastructure, technological and marketing support, etc. The scheme is implemented through District Rural Development Agencies (DRDAs) with active involvement of Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs), banks, line Departments of the state governments and Non-Government Organizations (NGOs). Since the inception of the program and up to March, 2009, 34 lakh Self Help Groups have been formed of which 23 lakh SHGs are women SHGs which is about 67.64% of the total number of SHGs formed under SGSY. During this period a total number of 120.88 lakh Swarozgaris have been assisted with a total investment of Rs. 27183.03 crores.
It is also proposed to induct dedicated professionals at various levels for implementation of the program. Special emphasis would be on technology inputs. Under the scheme, focus would be on providing assistance to the swarojgaris from the deprived sections of the society including the SC/STs,, women , minorities and the disabled.
NREGA to strengthen other hand has been instrumental in providing succor to the rural poor through additional income by guaranteeing them employment for at least 100 days in a year. In 2008-09 under NREGA, employment was provided to nearly 4.5 crore households. Of those employed nearly 50 percent were women and over 55 percent comprised of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe workers. In the three-and-a-half years of its implementation the Central Government has released over Rs 50,000 crore to the State Governments. Of which nearly two-thirds have been paid as wages to NREGA to strengthen. The average notified wage has risen from Rs. 65 per day in 2006-07 to Rs. 87 in 2009-10. The State Governments are being encouraged to make wage payments under the Program through bank and post office accounts. Nearly 7.8 crore such accounts have been opened. The works being undertaken in NREGA to strengthen water conservation, water harvesting, drought proofing, restoration and rejuvenation of water bodies, plantation and afforestation, land development and rural connectivity lead to the rejuvenation of the natural resource base and contribute towards sustainable rural livelihoods. Efforts are now being made to ensure convergence between programs and schemes of the Ministries of Agriculture, Water Resources, Environment and Forest for achieving synergies and also forging backward and forward linkages. Government is also encouraging implementation of the program through Panchayats, wherever possible.
The conference would be attended by the Union Ministers of State for Rural Development Shri Pradeep Jain Aditya, Shri Shishir Adhikari and the Ministers of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj from various states/UTs. It is aimed at sharing and discussing the implementation of employment generation schemes in the rural areas for the benefit of the people to achieve broad based inclusive growth objective of the 11th five year plan.
akt/st/sak/dk/kol/13:25 hrs.
Press Information Bureau
Government of India
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Ministry of Mines
Mineral production during June 2009
New Delhi: September 8, 2009
The mineral production from mining and quarrying sector in June 2009 was higher by 0.07% compared to that of the preceding month. However the mineral sector has shown a positive growth of 7.27% during the current financial year i.e. April-June 2009-10 as compared to that of the previous year. The mineral production in June 2009 was higher by 15.47% as compared to that of the corresponding month of previous year.
The total value of mineral production (excluding atomic & minor minerals) in the country during June 2009 was Rs. 8803 crore. The contribution of coal was the highest at Rs. 3158 crore (36%). Next in the order of importance were: iron ore Rs. 1980 crore, petroleum (crude) Rs. 1533 crore, natural gas (utilized) Rs. 1081 crore, lignite Rs. 254 crore and limestone Rs. 214 crore. These six minerals together contributed about 93% of the total value of mineral production in June 2009
Production level of important minerals in June 2009 were: coal 397 lakh tonnes, lignite 31 lakh tonnes, natural gas (utilized) 3472 million cu. m., petroleum (crude) 28 lakh tonnes, bauxite 989 thousand tonnes, chromite 381 thousand tonnes, copper conc. 8 thousand tonnes, gold 164 kg., iron ore 190 lakh tonnes, lead conc. 12 thousand tonnes, manganese ore 182 thousand tonnes, zinc conc. 112 thousand tonnes, apatite & phosphorite 135 thousand tonnes, dolomite 381 thousand tonnes, limestone 182 lakh tonnes and magnesite 24 thousand tonnes.
In June 2009, the output of gold increased by 25.19%, chromite 24.75%, lead conc. 18.38%, zinc conc. 15.33%, copper conc. 10.73%, magnesite 10.28% natural gas (utilized) 4.99%, and dolomite 2.39%. However the production of limestone decreased by 0.94%, petroleum (crude) 1.08%, coal 2.38%, iron ore 3.93% lignite 5.47%, apatite & phosphorite 5.57%, manganese ore 6.6% and bauxite 14.91 percent.
nsk/ak/dk/kol/13:25 hrs.
Press Information Bureau
Government of India
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Ministry of Commerce & Industry
Import of sensitive items during April-June 09
New Delhi: September 8, 2009
The total import of sensitive items for the period April-June 09 has been Rs.13509 crore as compared to Rs.9608 crore during the corresponding period of last year thereby showing an increase of 40.6%. The gross import of all commodities during same period of current year was Rs.248171 crore as compared to Rs.334191 crore during the same period of last year. Thus import of sensitive items constitutes 2.9% and 5.4% of the gross imports during last year and current year respectively.
Imports of automobiles, products of SSI and alcoholic beverages have shown a decline at broad group level during the period. Imports of all other items viz. edible oil, fruits & vegetables (including nuts), cotton & silk, rubber, spices, marble & granite, milk & milk products, tea & coffee and food grains have shown increase during the period under reference.
In the edible oil segment, the import has increased from Rs.2572.24 crore last year to Rs.5546.53 crore for the corresponding period of this year. The imports of both crude edible oil as well as refined oil have gone up by 108.2% and 168.2% respectively. The increase in edible oil import is mainly due to substantial increase in import of crude palm oil and its fractions.
Imports of sensitive items from Indonesia, China P RP, Myanmar, United States of America, Malaysia, Ukraine, Japan, Canada, Brazil, Argentina, Benin, Cote D' Ivoire, Australia etc. have gone up while those from Korea RP, Germany, Thailand etc. have shown a decrease.
IMPORT OF SENSITIVE ITEMS-PROVISIONAL ESTIMATES enclosed……..
rj/mrs/dk/kol/13:24 hrs.
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