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J&K to facilitate Ease of Doing Business

Ease of Doing Business

Jammu (NVI): J&K Chief Secretary BVR Subrahmanyam today chaired a meeting to review the measures to be taken for easing the business establishment process in Jammu and Kashmir.

During the meeting, it was informed that currently entrepreneurs face various challenges at the pre-establishment stage in acquiring various NOCs and clearances through a cumbersome process which has retarded the growth of industries in Jammu and Kashmir.

To ease the business establishment process in J&K, the Industries & Commerce Department proposed a reduction of compliance burden by doing away with certain NOCs, while relaxing several pre-requisite approval/clearances for initial 2 years.

Emphasising the importance of a pro-active engagement by the Industries & Commerce Department, the Chief Secretary urged the Department to promptly and proportionately reduce the registration-related documentation required for setting up Red, Orange, Green and White categories of business units inside the designated industrial estates.

The Chief Secretary also advised the Department to bring a proposal for providing interim permission/provisional registration to entrepreneurs on the basis of a few essential clearances including ‘consent to establish’ from the Pollution Control Board, whereas the rest can be obtained within a period of 2 years. Additionally, PCB was also asked to enhance the validity of ‘consent to establish’ from the existing 1 year to 3 years.

Apart from that, Chief Secretary asked the I&C Department to nominate SIDCO as the Nodal Agency for grant of permissions related to electricity, water, sewerage connections to the units being established inside industrial estates. For a periodic review of grant of these permissions, a committee chaired by the General Manager, District Industries Centre and respective Manager Estates, SIDCO was asked to be put in place.

The Department was also advised to evaluate the establishment of ‘J&K Enterprise Promotion Board’ under the Chairmanship of Administrative Secretary, Industries & Commerce Department to further review the issues pertaining to the establishment of Industries in Jammu & Kashmir.

Administrative Secretaries of departments of Revenue, Animal/Sheep Husbandry & Fisheries, Power Development Department, Industries & Commerce, Forest, Ecology & Environment, Labour & Employment, and Jal Shakti, besides Secretary, Pollution Control Board (PCB) and concerned HoDs participated in the meeting.

-ARK

Govt to soon launch PMKVY-3 scheme to benefit plumbing sector

plumbing sector
Representational Image

New Delhi (NVI): After the successful implementation of PMKVY (Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana) 1 and 2 schemes, the government will soon launch PMKVY-3 scheme which will support the plumbing sector in the country, Dr Mahendra Nath Pandey, Minister of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship said today.

“We need to connect the urban cities with the rural areas and the people at the grassroot level to ensure plumbing sector thrives, he added,” the Minister said while addressing the virtual curtain raiser of ‘Plumb Skills Expo’, organised by FICCI, jointly with NSDC, IPSC and Skill India.

Dr Pandey said that the government taking steps to provide highly skilled plumbers to the world and industry must focus on the vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat, Make in India and vocal for local to achieve this goal. “This is an important period for India and I urge the industry to be part of this,” he said.

The Minister also said that the government has already launched ‘ASEEM’ portal which is used as a match-making engine to map skilled workers with available jobs. He also suggested various organizations and industry to start a campaign to connect maximum number of plumbers with this platform so that more jobs are created.

He urged the industry to come forward to capitalise on the immense opportunities in India with quality products to create a vibrant plumbing sector along with skilled manpower.

“Plumbing is an important profession, and it is connected with all the major schemes being announced by the government including the construction of high-level infrastructure, smart cities mission, PM’s resolution for housing or Jal Jeevan mission. Quality plumbing plays an essential part in every scheme,” he added.

He said that through the Plumb Skills Expo, many small and new Indian industries related to the plumbing sector will also get highlighted, which will give further impetus to the Atmanirbhar Bharat campaign.

Also present on the occasion, Dr Sangita Reddy, Immediate Past President, FICCI said that COVID-19 has exposed the country to unprecedented challenges but also opened a plethora of opportunities.

“Plumb Skills Expo has been mooted by IPSC and FICCI to bring plumbing technicians and global industry under one roof to showcase the strength of Indian Plumbing sector, transforming India into a global plumbing hub and bolstering the Skill India mission, she said, adding that FICCI would be hosting 20,000+ plumbers at this virtual platform and introducing them into the digital ecosystem.

Dr Manish Kumar, MD & CEO, NSDC said that as we come out of the pandemic there will be a spur in the economy, the demand for skills will also increase. He further said that companies must focus on using more high-end technologies to reduce their cost.

Dr RK Somany, Chairman, IPSC said that the in the expected new normal we will have to rely more ongoing digital. Plumb Skills Expo will play a vital role in bringing businesses back to normal, connecting stakeholders across the globe, bridging the supply-demand gap.

Vinay Gupta, Vice Chairman, IPSC; Mr N Rajeev, Director, IPSC; Mr MK Gupta, Director, IPSC and Maj Gen (Retd.) TK Chadha, COO, IPSC also shared their perspective on transforming India into a global plumbing hub through skilling and employment.

-ARK

J&K: 4 districts to have 100% piped water supply by April 2021

Jal Jeevan Mission
Representational image

Jammu (NVI): At least four districts in Jammu and Kashmir will have 100% piped water supply by April 2021 under the Central Government’s Jal Jeevan Mission while nine more districts will be covered under the JJM’s ‘Har Ghar Nal se Jal’ scheme, a meeting chaired by J&K Chief Secretary, B V R Subrahmanyam was today informed.

The Chief Secretary chaired the meeting to review the progress made under Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) to provide safe drinking water to all the rural population of Jammu and Kashmir.

Administrative Secretaries of Jal Shakti Department along with Chief Engineers of Jammu & Kashmir and concerned Executive Engineers also participated in the meeting.

Secretary, Jal Shakti Department apprised the Chief Secretary that efforts are underway to utilise the existing skillsets of departmental experts to achieve faster execution of projects in six districts namely Reasi, Samba, Poonch, Pulwama, Bandipora, and Shopian.

It was informed that under Phase I, universal tap water coverage has been achieved in the districts of Srinagar and Ganderbal, whereas works in the districts of Reasi and Samba are underway and will be completed shortly. It was further informed that the Department is aiming to provide Functional Household Tap Connections (FHTCs) to approximately 9.8 Lakh households by March 2021.

Moreover, works are being taken up on a war footing to install the required infrastructure in four quality affected habitations of which 2 have been completed so far; drought-prone areas, Sansad Adarsh Gram areas and SC/ST majority areas. Additionally, 4038 ‘Pani Samitis’ have been constituted at Panchayat level across Jammu & Kashmir for effective monitoring of project implementation under JJM.

The department is also in the process of finalizing the skill development strategy to train 6400 personnel in masonry, plumbing, electricity, fitting, and other skill sets.

For fast-tracking the project execution under Phase-II of JJM, Chief Secretary impressed upon the Department to right away initiate the process of tendering for works and ensure adherence to project timelines. Simultaneously, the department was advised to expedite engaging ‘Project Development and Management Consultant’ (PDMC), one each for Kashmir and Jammu province, which will supervise project execution, contract & project management and bill verification in the remaining districts to be taken up under Phase II & III.    

The Chief Secretary maintained that coordinated efforts must be put in place to achieve the target of providing every rural household with Functional Household Tap Connection (FHTC) under Phase-II by 30th September, 2022 and Phase-III by December, 2022.

Phase II will provide universal drinking water connections to 9 districts of Bandipora, Doda, Jammu, Kulgam, Kupwara, Poonch, Pulwama, Shopian, and Udhampur, whereas, phase III will cover 7 districts of Anantnag, Budgam, Baramulla, Kathua, Kishtwar, Ramban, and Rajouri.

-ARK

Prof. Neela Baloch speaks on Karima Baloch’s death and Pak atrocities in Balochistan

Prof. Neela Baloch, Chairperson of Baloch People’s Conference, Canada, speaking on Karima Baloch’s death, forced disappearances and atrocities by Pakistan army and establishment in Balochistan. She says that Karima Baloch’s voice was silenced as she exposed Pakistan’s torturous regime at the UN. Prof. Neela Baloch goes on to say that Baloch women are abducted from their homes and raped by Pakistani forces. She says that there are rape centers where such women and girls are kept, adding that around 50,000 Baloch people are under forced disappearance. A major chunk of these people is women and children.

-ARK

Div Com Jammu reviews progress of work on IIM Campus

Jammu
Jammu Divisional Commissioner Sanjeev Verma (File photo)

Jammu (NVI): Jammu Divisional Commissioner, Sanjeev Verma, today reviewed the progress of work on the construction of permanent campus of Indian Institute of Management (IIM) during a meeting here and sought timely completion of different components of the project.

The campus of the prestigious institution is coming up at Jagti in Nagrota.

Threadbare discussions were held on various issues pertaining to the project, according to an official statement. The concerned officers apprised the Divisional Commissioner about the status of work on different components of the project undertaken by their respective departments. It was informed in the meeting that the work on all the key components is in progress and is at different stages of completion.

The meeting also discussed the bottlenecks and the DC resolved most of the issues which were hampering the work progress.

The Divisional Commissioner directed all the concerned departments to formulate monthly work plans and expedite the pace of work for timely completion of all the undertaken works on the prestigious project. He also set timelines for completion of the works including boundary wall, cutting of trees, shifting of utilities and asked the concerned officers to complete the work within fixed timelines.

The meeting was attended by Chief Engineer CPWD, Vivek Bansal; DFO Jammu, Alok Kumar Maurya; Chief Engineer, PMGSY, Manzoor Hussain; ACR Jammu, Vijay Sharma; Chief Town Planner, Jagdish Raj besides senior officers of JPDCL, JKFDC, Jal Shakti, IIM and other concerned departments.

-RJV/ARK

Bird flu: States advised to maintain sufficient stock of PPE kits, accessories

Bird flu
File photo

New Delhi (NVI): The Central Government today asked the states to maintain sufficient stock of PPE kits and accessories required for culling operations in the wake of bird flu that has been confirmed in 10 states so far.

According to the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying, Delhi, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana and Gujarat have confirmed the outbreak of bird flu.

In a statement on the status of bird flu in the country, the Ministry said that till January 12, additional cases of Avian Influenza (H5N8) has been confirmed among dead crows in HCL-Khetri Nagar in Jhunjhunu district of Rajasthan.

Further case of Avian Influenza (H5N1) has been confirmed in dead crows and pelican in zoological park, Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh and in dead crows in Jagnoli and Fatehpur village in Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh, it said.

Also, confirmation of Avian Influenza (H5N1) in poultry sample from Jhabua district of Madhya Pradesh has been received today from NIHSAD (National Institute of High security Animal Diseases-Bhopal).

The Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying has also issued advisory on testing protocol to states, encouraging them to undertake screening at state level ensuring suitable bio secure facilities. After the confirmation of spread of Avian Influenza in Maharashtra through samples of dead birds, a central team has been deputed to visit Maharashtra and Gujarat to monitor the epicentres of AI outbreak in those states, the Ministry said.

Apart from that, constant efforts to generate awareness about Avian Influenza and how to deal with the situation is being shared among the general public through various media platforms including social media platforms like Twitter, the Ministry said.

-RJV/ARK

Over 1.5 lakh Covid complaints resolved using Swachhata app 2.0

Swachhata app

New Delhi (NVI): Over 1.5 lakh Covid complaints have been resolved using the revised version of the Swachhata App, relaunched by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs in the wake of Covid-19 pandemic, to enable citizens to get their COVID-related complaints redressed by their respective Urban Local Bodies (ULBs).

Swachhata app 2.0 was launched soon after the first phase of the lockdown, with nine additional categories of complaints specific to COVID-19.

“Over 1.5 lakh COVID related complaints have been resolved on the App with a resolution rate of 87%,” the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs said in a statement.

The version 2.0 of the Swachhata App is intended to strengthen the services to be rendered to the citizens. According to MoHUA, the overall investment incurred in Urban Transformation from 2014 to 2021 is up by 627 per cent in comparison to 2004 to 2014.

An amount of INR 12 lakh crore has been invested for the upgrading of urban infrastructure and ease of living in comparison to a mere 1.5 lakh crore from 2004 to 2014.

Notably, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has remained at the forefront of managing Covid crisis across the country in a very diligent manner. The ministry utilised its pet project- Smart City Mission across the country in several states to monitor and manage the Covid crisis leveraging technology.

The Integrated Command and Control Centers (ICCC) in several smart cities were converted to Covid War-rooms in order to sync several departments dealing with Covid response, as per the Ministry.

-ARK

Gadkari launches Khadi Prakritik Paint

Khadi Prakritik Paint

New Delhi (NVI): Union Minister Nitin Gadkari today launched Khadi Prakritik Paint – India’s first cow dung paint – developed by Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC).

The eco-friendly, non-toxic paint, is a first-of-its-kind product, with anti-fungal, anti-bacterial properties.

Furthermore, based on cow dung as its main ingredient, the paint is cost-effective and odorless and has been certified by Bureau of Indian Standards.

Speaking at the launch function, the Minister said the step is aligned with the Prime Minister’s vision of increasing farmers’ income. The step, he said, is part of an effort to improve the rural economy to such an extent that reverse migration begins from the cities to rural areas.

Pointing out that the paint is priced at only Rs 120 per litre for the distemper and Rs 225 per litre for the emulsion, he said this is less than half the price charged by big paint companies.

The project was conceptualized by Chairman KVIC in March 2020, and later developed by Kumarappa National Handmade Paper Institute, Jaipur (a KVIC unit).

In addition to this, the paint is free from heavy metals like lead, mercury, chromium, arsenic, cadmium and others. It will be a boost to local manufacturing and will create sustainable local employment through technology transfer.

-CHK

India gears up for ‘world’s biggest vaccination campaign’

COVID
Representational image

New Delhi (NVI): With flights ferrying Covid-19 vaccine across India, the country is gearing up for the launch of ‘world’s biggest vaccination campaign’ to vaccinate 1.3 billion people from January 16.

In the mass immunisation drive, the aim is to vaccinate 30 crore people over the next six to eight months, according to the Health Ministry.

First to get the vaccine will be 30 million health workers, from both government and private sector, frontline workers, police and paramilitary, home guards, disaster management volunteers and other jawans in civil defence.

Second stage of vaccination will include those above 50 years of age and those below 50 years of age with comorbidities.

In addition to this, state governments will not have to bear any cost towards vaccinating 30 million health-care workers and front-line workers.

Furthermore, approved vaccines are highly cost-effective in comparison to other vaccines from across the world, as per the Health Ministry.

A digital platform, Co-Win, will be used to store real-time data related to the vaccine. Co-Win will assist in the vaccination drive and issue digital vaccination certificates.

Beneficiaries will be identified with the help of Aadhaar cards and a timely second dosage will also be ensured.

Pertinent to mention here that the country’s drug regulator (DCGI) has granted emergency approval to two vaccines — Covishield by Serum Institute of India and Covaxin developed by Bharat Biotech.

-CHK/ARK

South Africa to close land borders to curb new COVID variant

South Africa
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa (File photo)

New Delhi (NVI): South Africa will close 20 land borders with neighbouring countries for entry and departure to curb the spread of the new coronavirus variant, according to reports.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa made the announcement while addressing the nation about the developments in relation to the country’s response to COVID-19.

“To reduce congestion and the high risk of transmission, Cabinet has decided that the 20 land ports of entry that are currently open will be closed until February 15 for general entry and departure,” he said.

This includes the border posts like Beitbridge border port with Zimbabwe, Lebombo with Mozambique, Maseru Bridge with Lesotho and Oshoek with Eswatini.

However, the decision was taken because the huge congestion at border posts has exposed many people to COVID-19 infections as they wait to be processed.

Ramaphosa also pointed out that the exceptions for entry include South African nationals, permanent residents, valid visa holders, diplomats, daily commuters who attend cross-border schools and those who require emergency medical attention.

He further said that the research undertaken by our scientists has shown that the massive increase in infections is largely driven by a variant of the coronavirus known as 501.v2 and we do know that this new variant of the virus spreads much faster than the earlier variants.

South Africa has also decided to maintain the country on adjusted alert level 3 and most of the measures that were announced on December 28, 2020 will therefore remain in place.

The current measures were due to expire on January 15 and now include closing beaches, lakes and public parks and banning the sale of alcohol.

Under the new measures, only 50 people will be allowed to attend a funeral and the nationwide curfew will also be extended from 9 pm to 6 am.

So far, South Africa has reported 1,246,643 coronavirus cases, including 33,579 deaths, the Johns Hopkins University data shows.

-RJV

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