Pib

Pib

1. Recognizing talent and merit has been part of India’s culture and traditions: Vice President gives away Swarajya Awards 2017

The Vice President said that there is an abundance of talent, which has to be encouraged, promoted and duly recognized in all walks of life and India in ancient times controlled more than one-third of global wealth and about two centuries ago, the country’s GDP was 27 per cent of the world GDP. He further said that India is set to become the fastest growing large economy again and only the other day, the UN’s World Economic Situation Report projected India’s GDP to grow at 7.2 per cent in 2018 and 7.4 per cent in 2019. It said that the outlook for India remained largely positive, underpinned by robust private consumption and public investment as also due to the ongoing structural reforms, he added.

The Vice President said that India was known as ‘Vishwaguru’ and savants and knowledge-seekers from all over the world used to come here to study at Universities like Nalanda, Takshashila, Vikramshila, Pushpagiri and Valabhi. He further said that the Vedas speak of equality, universal peace, tolerance, non-violence, welfare and brotherhood and there is nobody superior or inferior, according the Vedas. Answers for many problems facing the world can be found in the Vedas, which provide us with guidance needed to achieve moral, economic, social and political development, he added.

2. Indian Railways holds special conclave on “Sampark, Samanvay, Samvad” to discuss and deliberate “Vision for New Railway – New India 2022”

Today’s conclave was designed to break silos (sampark), improve co-ordination (samanvay) and find solutions (samvad) to the critical issues facing Indian Railways. Free and frank discussions were held, and all officers were encouraged to give their inputs and bring forth ground realities and potential impediments to implementation of new policies and reforms.

Speaking on the occasion, Shri Piyush Goyal motivated Railway employees to think out of the box to enable game changing reforms and bring about transformational results. He emphasised on the need to gear up Railways for New India by 2022 and his vision of New Railways 2022, which would ensure speed, safety and service for consumers.

The focus of the presentations was to transform railways to serve the passengers and customers. Some of the topics covered included structural, process and cultural reforms to ensure highest standards of safety, punctuality and passenger comfort; improving the capacity and speed of trains; dynamic pricing including discounts in off peak seasons; increasing freight modal share; and improving procurement to bring transparency, accountability and speed in order to reduce time and cost. Discussions were also held on how to boost the morale of the about 14 lakh railway employees in order to improve productivity as well improve their focus on consumers.

3. Cabinet approves UNESCO Agreement to be signed for establishing International Training Centre for Operational Oceanography (ITCOocean) as Category-2 Centre (C2C)

ESSO-INCOIS is India's premier institution in operational oceanography providing several services that include the ISO 9001:2008 certified Potential Fishing Zone Advisory Service, Ocean State Forecast Service and Tsunami Warning Service. ITCOocean is currently operational with state-of-the-art facilities at ESSO-INCOIS, Hyderabad and so far, over 681 scientists including 576 from India and 105 from 34 other countries have already been trained at this center in various aspects of operational oceanography.

Establishing ITCOocean with UNESCO C2C recognition, will provide an opportunity for India to emerge as a leader in the Indian Ocean, forging cooperation among South Asian and African countries. The Centre will cater to the worldwide increasing need to build technical and management capacity in marine and coastal sustainability issues as well as efficient management and response to marine natural hazards. The Centre may thus contribute to achieving UNESCO's Sustainable Development Goal-14 (SDG 14) and fulfill commitments to support Small Island Developing States, Least Developed Countries etc.

4. President of India Lays Foundation Stone of ‘NYAYA GRAM’ Project of High Court of Allahabad

The President said that citizens have faith in the judiciary. And yet common people tend to avoid knocking on its door. It is important to change this situation. On all of us lies the responsibility of providing justice on time, making the justice system less expensive, providing judgments in a language understandable to the common citizen, and ensuring justice for women and weaker sections in society.

The President said that it is necessary to strengthen judicial infrastructure. He expressed hope that the Nyaya Gram project would prove to be a milestone in fulfilling the requirements of the Allahabad High Court.

The President said that training of judicial officers is very important to improve the efficiency and quality of the lower courts. He noted that there is a plan to establish a judicial academy on the Nyaya Gram campus. He expressed confidence that this judicial academy will make a significant contribution to the capacity of the lower judiciary in Uttar Pradesh.