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Rohtang Pass tunnel  to be renamed after Vajpayee

New Delhi (NVI): The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, today decided to honour the contribution of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee by naming the strategic tunnel under Rohtang Pass after him tomorrow, which happens to be the birthday of the late leader.
The historic decision to construct a strategic tunnel below the Rohtang Pass was taken on June 03, 2000 when Vajpayee was the Prime Minister.
The foundation stone for the access road to the south portal of the tunnel was laid on May 26, 2002.
The 8.8-kilometre long tunnel is the world’s longest tunnel above an altitude of 3,000 metres. It will reduce the distance between Manali and Leh by 46 kilometres and save crores of rupees in transport costs. It is a 10.5-metre wide single tube bi-lane tunnel with a fire proof emergency egress tunnel built into the main tunnel itself.
The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) worked relentlessly to overcome major geological, terrain and weather challenges that included the most difficult stretch of the 587-metre Seri Nalah Fault Zone. The breakthrough from both ends was achieved on October 15, 2017.
The tunnel is now nearing completion and is a step in the direction of providing all weather connectivity to remote border areas of Himachal Pradesh and Ladakh which otherwise remained cut off from the rest of the country for about six months during winters.

Performance standards being set for govt officers: Rajnath 

New Delhi (NVI): Defence Minister Rajnath Singh today said performance standards are being set for officers and mechanisms developed for greater prudence in financial management under the government’s vision of ‘minimum government and maximum governance’.
Addressing the Integrated Financial Advisors (IFA) Workshop here, Singh said the functioning of the government is being made effective and efficient under ‘minimum government maximum governance’ .
Performance standards are being established for government officials and mechanisms of prudence and accountability are being adopted in financial management, he said.
“Integrated Finance is the backbone of any ministry, desired objectives can only be achieved when a ministry and department is able to manage within its budgetary resources without compromising on operational needs,” the Defence Minister said.
He commended the Finance Division in the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and Controller General of Defence Accounts (CGDA) for meeting the needs of the three Services and other allied organisations, like Ordnance Factories, Indian Coast Guard, Border Roads Organisation and DRDO with harmony and synergy and displaying the willingness and readiness to meet new challenges.
Singh highlighted that in the last three years, MoD has been able to fully utilise its allocations, ending the trend of non-utilisation of funds due to substantial delegation of financial powers.
“Financial powers have been delegated for capital and revenue procurement so that Armed Forces are able to make their own procurement of up to Rs 300-500 crore,” he said.
“Emergency powers have also been given to the Armed Forces in view of their emergent operational needs. This has led to enhanced operational efficiency,” he added.
Singh stressed that workshops like these not only play an important role in the evaluation of the government’s policies and practices but also create a path for future policies.
“Such events instill confidence in how responsible and committed we are to our financial matters. These responsibilities and commitments help us to make our administration accountable and the country financially independent,” he added.

GeM Samvaad covers 4 states

New Delhi (NVI) : National outreach programme ‘GeM Samvaad’ has successfully covered four states of Karnataka, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh since its launch on December 19.
The outreach programme began will be on till February 17, 2020 and will cover all the states and UTs.
The programme  was launched to reach out to stakeholders across the country and also local sellers in order to facilitate on-boarding of local sellers on the marketplace while catering to specific requirements and procurement needs of buyers.
GeM senior officers including CEO are steering the programs. They are also interacting with Buyers and Sellers attending the events, an official statement said.
 Arrangements for the outreach programmes including logistics are made by the respective State Governments. The target is to reach out to all stakeholders and learn from their experiences on their usage of GeM portal.
Through this outreach programme, GeM expects to make the actual users aware about the new features and functionalities of the portal and collect feedback, which is the first step towards GeM’s ‘Voice of Customer’ initiative.
State Departments and Organizations and Public Sector Enterprises (PSEs) have been using GeM for their buying needs. Sellers from the States are also benefitting through the access to national Public Procurement market using the portal.
 Through GeM Samvaad the marketplace is looking forward to receiving feedback from users which shall be used for making improvements and advancements in the system.
GeM has more than 15 lakh products and around 20,000 services, more than 3 lakh registered sellers and service providers and more than 40,000 Government buyer organizations.
In its short journey of three years, GeM has processed more than 28 lakh orders worth Rs. 40,000 crores in Gross Merchandise Value out of which 50% has been transacted by MSMEs.

Gurudwara Rakabganj to be developed as major pilgrimage centre

New Delhi (NVI): The Gurdwara Rakabganj Sahib complex in the heart of Delhi will be developed as a major Sikh pilgrimage centre.
 The gurdwara is associated with 9th Sikhism Guru Tegh Bahadur.
According to Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) President Manjinder Singh Sirsa, the holy well of the gurdwara complex will be revived and rejuvenated by building recharge structures through leveraging technology and eco-friendly methodologies which is likely to be  completed by next three months.
“The sacred water of this holy well was used for undertaking yogurt bath for   dismembered body of Guru Tegh Bahadur Sahib ji before his creamation in  November 1675  at Raisina hill  Village where  magnificent  Gurdwara Rakab  Ganj Sahib  was constructed in the year  1783  at a cost of 25 lakh rupees in  12 years time period,” he said.
“Round shape well will be excavated around 80 feet deep with active assistance of geohydrologist  experts on natural water resource management  to ensure  fresh water from the well  from all sides round the year,” he added.
 “Around 1000 year-old well, which has been lying idle and dry from last 100 years, will be revived by next three months and the magical water drawn from the well, having healing properties, will be distributed to visiting devotees as ‘jal prasad (holy water) through ‘Chhabil’ constructed near entry gate of gurdwara,” he further added.
“The  Sword associated with  Ninth Guru Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur ji and other articles of artifacts like Stamp  belonging to Guru Sahib which are kept in Gurdwara Rakab Ganj Sahib  will be highlighted in proper perspective to teach and educate  younger generation  about glorious history of Sikh Religion,” he said in a statement.
“Services of renowned  archaeologists  will be hired for conservation of this extremely rare sword who was used by Sikh Guru  in the battle of Kartarpur in the year  1635,” he added.
He also said that it has been decided that   new building  structures  will be constructed at  Gurdwara Rakab Ganj Sahib to develop modern amenities and latest facilities to the visiting devotees for which around 2.5 crore rupees will be spent to construct  5000 square feet new  eco friendly double storey buildings.
“A new Chhabil has been constructed this year in Gurdwara complex for providing clean water to visiting devotees under which water tanks having 5000 litres storage capacity with RO facilities  have been set up  to meet drinking water needs of the gurdwara devotees,” he said.
“The present management has added many new facilities for visiting pilgrims to facilitate their visit and enhance their stay at the holy shrine,” DSGMC president informed.
He further informed that round-the-clock langar service has been in operation to provide hot tasty food to the needy, poor and visiting  devotees keeping  the best traditions of the sikh religion intact.

Delhi  air remains “very poor”, cold wave conditions in north India 

New Delhi(NVI):  The air quality in national capital today remained in the “very poor” category for the third consecutive day.
According to System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR),the Air Quality Index (AQI) in the national capital stood at  339 which falls in the “very poor” category.
The worst affected areas are Dhirpur, Delhi University, Chandni Chowk, Pusa, Lodhi Road, Mathura Road, IGI Terminal 3 and the neighbouring Noida.
Meanwhile, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said that cold to severe cold conditions will prevail over the entire north India for the next few days.
The weatherman said that today Delhi records ‘cold day’ as the minimum temperature will be around 5.3 degree Celsius today which is two degree below normal. The maximum temperature will be around 14.3 degree Celsius.
‘Cold day’ conditions are declared when the day’s maximum temperature is below normal by more than 4.4°C.  A ‘severe cold day’ is when mercury remains more than 6.4°C below normal through the day.
“Haryana, Chandigarh, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi will remain under the ambit of the cold wave,” the IMD stated in its All India Weather Warning Bulletin.

Pak-born Muslim woman gets Indian citizenship

Poonch (NVI): A Pakistan-born Muslim woman, who has married a local here in Jammu and Kashmir, was today granted Indian citizenship.
Poonch District Development Commissioner Rahul Yadav handed over a Certificate of Registration granting Indian Citizenship to Khatija Praveen, wife of Mohammad Taj.
She was granted Indian Citizenship on the basis of marriage to an Indian under section 5(1) (c) of the Citizenship Act, 1955, an official statement said.
Khatija Praveen along with her husband expressed happiness and gratitude on receiving the Certificate of Registration from the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, it said.

Directive issued for speedy construction of bunkers on Pak border

Jammu (NVI): Amid tensions between India and Pakistan, the District Commissioners of Jammu Division were today directed to ensure expedious construction of individual and community bunkers along the International Border.
The directive was given by Jammu Divisional Commissioner Sanjeev Verma as he chaired a meeting with DCs of border districts to review the progress on construction of bunkers along international border and other related issues in Jammu Division.
The Deputy Commissioners apprised the Divisional Commissioner about the progress of works on under-construction individual and community bunkers in their respective districts.
The meeting was informed that a total of 5538 bunkers have been completed so far in the division, including 5035 individual bunkers and 503 community bunkers, an official statement said.
It was informed that 1234 bunkers, including community and individual bunkers have been completed in Samba district, 918 in Jammu district, 1193 in Kathua district, 1744 in Rajouri district and 449 in Poonch district.
The meeting was further informed that remaining bunkers are also under different stages of construction.
The concerned officers informed about the number of bunkers at foundation level, superstructure level, and slab level.
The directive came amid frequent firing and shelling by Pakistani army on Indian civilian areas, which is retaliated by the Indian forces.

Shringla named new Foreign Secretary of India

New Delhi (NVI) : India’s Ambassador to the US Harsh Vardhan Shringla was today named the new Foreign Secretary of India.
He will succeed Vijay K Gokhale and will take over from him on January 29, according to a government order.

Shringla is a senior Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer who has served in the External Affairs Ministry in various capacities.

AIIMS Bathinda OPD services inaugurated

Bathinda (NVI): OPD services were started at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) here in Punjab which will provide world class subsidised healthcare in the government sector to the people of the Malwa region  for the first time since independence.
While inaugurating the facility, Union Health Minister Harshvardhan said work was underway on 22 AIIMS in the country and six had been completed.
Besides this, 157 new Medical Colleges are coming up in the country and are in various stages of completion, he said.
Services are also being upgraded in the Patiala and Faridkot Medical Colleges in Punjab, he added.
Describing the start of AIIMS, Bathinda, as one of the most important events of her life, Akali Dal leader and Union Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal said Punjabis are now assured of world class medical facilities and specialised treatment for deadly diseases like cancer and hepatitis.
“I am sure with the establishment of AIIMS, Bathinda, the Cancer Express, which used to ferry patients from here to Bikaner, will be a thing of the past,” she said.
Speaking about the project, Badal said she was thankful to former Finance Minister Arun Jaitely who “first planted the seed of the institute and Prime Minister Narendra Modi and former Chief Minister S Parkash Singh Badal who nurtured it. “
She also recounted how she had to strive to get all requisite permissions to ensure it was among the first functioning new AIIMS in the country.
She also said that the city would receive a tremendous boost with the start of the AIIMS institute. Earlier Atal Behari Vajpayee gave us the Bathinda refinery. Sardar Badal brought in the Central University.
“Now AIIMS has taken ground. I am sure this mix of industry, education and health land marks will also boost the economy of the city,” she added.

ADB gave $ 2mn for clean energy

asain development bank
Asain Development Bank
Mumbai (NVI): Asian Development Bank (ADB) has provided an aid of $2 million to the government of India to enable it to adopt clean energy measures like ethanol and biomass supply chain.
Vijay Sharma, Director in the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, said there is a need to save future generations from increasing pollution of air and water, and the increasing global heat which has caused rise in sea water level.
“Percentage of carbon emission of developed countries is more than the developing countries, but the need of the hour is to adopt security norms by developing countries too,” he said.
“Compressed Natural Gas (Methane produces from west of sugar cane) is a fuel that can be used in place of gasoline, diesel fuel and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG),” he informed.
 He said the Sustainable Alternative Towards Affordable Transportation (SATAT) scheme has provided facilities to recreate power from waste substances like cow dung, waste of sugar and food waste.
“Biogas is produced naturally through a process of anaerobic decomposition from waste andbio-mass sources like agriculture residue, cattle dung, sugar cane press mud, municipal solid waste, sewage treatment plant waste, etc,” Sharma said.
“After purification, it is compressed and called CBG, which has a pure methane content of over 90%,” he added.
“SATAT was launched with a four-pronged agenda of utilizing more than 62 million metric tonnes of waste generated every year in India, cutting down import dependence, supplementing job creation in the country and reducing vehicular emissions and pollution from burning of agricultural and organic waste. Since 2018, 67 SATAT were launched all over the country,” he further added.
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