India to get it's first railway university in Vadodara .

Vadodara will be home to the country's first railway university , minister of state for railways Manoj Sinha has said. Sinha who was on a two days visit to Gujarat said that the state government was helping Indian railways identify land to set up a full fledged railway university. "The present campus for National Academy of Indian Railways (NAIR),Vadodara, will be initially used to start the railway university. After land acquisition, a full fledged university will be started here," he said. He also added that the proposal to set up the railway university had been declared by the railway ministry in December 2015.
The ministry of human resources development has worked out for this model and will soon place it in the Parliament for approval. "In the first phase the university will start offering MBA and MTech degrees, after which it will offer Diploma and BTech in railway operations," he said. NAIR, formerly known as Railway Staff College (RSC), presently acta as the apex level management development institute for the officers of Indian Railways.
This will definitely encourage the youth to join Indian Railways and help it in it's much needed development.

Driverless Metros being tested in Delhi.

Delhi metro is going through various tests the for past few months at the Mukundpur depot. The speciality of these trains being that they are driverless " The trains procured for phase 3 are driverless trains, which will initially have staff deputed for operations but gradually, they will be withdrawn to move to unattended train operations," said Anuj Dayal, spokesman for Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC).

The testing started in December last year when first set of five trains arrived at Mukundpur Depot from South Korea. Another set is expected to reach by February this year. "The trains are under commissioning that is testing, electrical fitting, etc are going on," added Dayal. Many of such trains are also being maunfactured in Bengaluru . Only 20 trains will bes shipped whereas the remaining . 61 trains  are being built in BEML factory in Bengaluru as a part of tie-up between two firms. 

"The prototype came on June 4, 2015. Since then manufacturing of 61 trains has been going on in the Indian Factory. "he added. In fact two of the "made-in India" trains have already arrived at Mukundpur depot and they are being tested. Apart from being driverless train these trains are technologically more evolved than existing trains. "These trains will be more colourful and more spacious ," said Dayal. He also said," These train are directly operated by operation control centres of the Delhi Metro system." Because these trains are driverless, DMRC is also installing platforms screen doors at all station in phase 3. Each train can accommodate a maximum of 380 passengers and can accommodate 40 more passengers as driver cabin is no longer required. 

A live feed will be available inside the train through 37-inch LCD display. The new train will have four motorised cars and two trailer cars. This will help in improving speed and offer better acceleration and de-acceleration. The speed of train also increases to 35kmph from 32kmph thus saving 12 mins on 56km on the long route said Dayal.

This will be a major leap in technology for India as these will be the first set of 'Made In India' driverless trains !

Tamil Nadu Will Become Power Surplus.

Tamil Nadu government will soon establish the state's first 800MW supercritical coal based power plant, with chief minister Jayalalithaa laying the foundation stone for Rs 6,000 crore project. Public sector BHEL has been awarded the contract for  Rs 6,376 crore which will come at Athipattu in Tiruvallur district over 250 acres of land, the government said on Sunday.
"This is the first time in Tamil Nadu that a 800MW is being installed under the supercritical technology. The project will be completed in August 2019 and 19.2 million units of power a day will be generated," an official said.
In the first phase BHEL, has been awarded a Rs 2,759 crore contract towards works relating to Boiler, Turbine and Generators, besides engineering, procurement and construction among others, he said. The official said this was part of state government's efforts to make Tamil Nadu 'power surplus', even as demand for electricity, which was key for agricultural and industrial growth, was also increasing.
This is a big step towards Tamilnadu's objective of having surplus power .

These are the twenty smart cities !

The government on Thursday announced the names of the first 20 urban areas that will be developed as smart cities. The urban development ministry had received proposal for 97 cities from the state governments out of which 20 have been selected.

" Implementation of smart cities will showcase integrating planning. The investment of Rs 50,802 crores has been proposed in selected smart cities and town during the five year period," said minister of urban development Venkaiah Naidu. He also added " A consortium of Indian companies was chosen for plan of nine cities from the 20 cities."

The selected cities will be equipped with basic infrastructure, efficient urban mobility and public transport, IT connectivity and e-governance mechanism. In the future government plans to develop 40 cities as smart cities.

Following is the list of the  20 smart cities:

1. Bhubaneshwar 
2. Pune
3. Jaipur
4. Surat
5. Kochi
6. Ahmedabad
7. Jabalpur
8. Vishakapatnam
9. Sholapur
10. Davangere
11. Indore
12. New Delhi ( New Delhi municipal council area)
13. Coimbatore
14. Kakinda
15. Belagavi
16. Udaipur
17. Guwahati
18. Chennai
19. Ludhiana
20. Bhopal

The Centre has shown a lot of interest in developing such smart cities all over the country. It believes that such cities if given the proper services can boost the economy to quite an extent .

Oil refinery to be build along west coast in Maharashtra.

The demand of oil in India is increasing rapidly and most of it is imported from the Gulf countries . The Oil from gulf countries needs to be refined and then used. "Public sector oil firms will invest Rs 1.5 lakh crore in setting up India's biggest refinery on the  West coast of Maharashtra. Indian Oil Corp, nation's biggest refinery makers ,will build a 60 million tonnes a year refinery along with Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd, HPCL, and Engineers India Ltd," oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan said. He also added , " Refineries will be built in two phases 40 + 20 million tonnes , in which first phase would have more than 1 lakh investment."

The refineries will produce petrol, diesel, LPG, ATF, Feedstock for petrochemical plants in plastic, chemical and textile industries in Maharashtra. Govt of Maharashtra and Ministry of oil and petroleum will closely work for identication of land for project. IOC had recently started its 15 million tonnes unit at Paradip in Odisha. Reliance Industry hold the biggest refinery in India till now which is at Jamnagar in Gujrat with capacity of 27 million tonnes which was expanded to 33 million tonnes. It had also started another unit of export with a capacity of 29 million tonnes. 

Being on west coast will provide an advantage of easily sourcing crude oil from Middle East and Africa. Also further transportation of oil after refining would be easy.

Republic day parade 2016, a memorable affair

French Contingent

Showcase of India's military prowess and achievements in different fields , state of air defense , dominated at New Delhi's Rajpath on the country's 67th Republic Day. For the first time in history 123 member French contingents marched and presented a ceremonial salute to President Pranav Mukherjee as guest of honour French president Francois Hollande watched the performance and clapped seated next to prime minister Narendra Modi. After a gap of 26 years army dog marched along with Remount veterinary corps along with their handlers. As done every year colourful Border security force regiment consisting of 56 camels also marched.

Haryana Tableau

For the first time the parade also witnessed an ex-servicemen tableau where army veterans showcased their role in nation buildings. An Indian air force tableau themed ' Humanitarian  Assistance and Disaster relief operation by IAF : in service of nation and Beyond.' They showed model of C-17 Globemaster, C-130 Hercules etc and emphazised it's use in rescue operations. There was also folk and classical dance performance by small children from Delhi. One of the stunning event consist of stunts performed by daredevils belonging to Army Signal.

Delhi was turned into a virtual fortress as an unprecedented ground to air security cover with thousand of armed personnel. Commandos with light machine guns were deployed at 10 strategic locations and and anti aircraft guns remained position at two vantage points.
 26 January 2016 will be a great event ever held in history of India where French army took part and many new events were also organized.

INDIA TO BUILD SATELLITE MONITORING STATION IN VIETNAM

India will set up a satellite tracking and imaging center in Southern Vietnam , which will give give Vietnam access to the pictures from the Indian earth observation satellites that cover the region including China and the South China sea .
The centre has been set up at Ho Chi Minh city in southern Vietnam and will be activated soon and be linked to an existing facility at Biakin , Indonesia .
India has spent a sum of Rs 152 crores for setting up the facility . This can be seen as an important strategic asset for India in the South China Sea region which has been at the centre of tensions between China and particularly Vietnam and Philippines .
This move which could irritate Beijing , will surely deepen the ties between Vietnam and India .
India currently has 11 earth observation satellites in orbit , offering pictures with differnet rsolutions and areas .
Collin Koh a marine security expert at Singapore's S. Rajaratnam School of International studies said , " In military terms this move could be quite significant . It looks like a win-win for both sides , filing significant holes for the Vietnamese and expanding the range for the Indians."
The tracking station will be the first such foreign facility in Vietnam and is in line with the vaarios agreements signed between India and Vietnam .
India has extended a $100 million credit line to Vietnam to buy patrol boats and is training Vietnamese submarines in India while Vietnam has granted oil exploration blocks to India in waters off Vietnam that are disputed with China .

BOMBAY CENTRAL FIRST TO GET GOOGLE'S WI-FI CONNECTIVITY

Bombay Central station will be the first railway station in India to get the Google's Wi-Fi connectivity starting from 22nd January 2016.
Google has collaborated with RailTel Corp. of India to provide Wi-Fi connectivity at 407 stations across India . Google will be covering about 100 stations by the end of 2016 .
Google CEO , Sundar Pichai had announced this project , extending his support to the digital India initiative . The railway officials said that the project was on track and will meet it's deadline.
Sundar Pichai had mentioned in his blog that the connectivity will be many times faster than what most people in India have access to today.
This facility will be available for users and can be used to do anything from reading books , watching videos to researching about their destination .

24 Hours open malls and restaurant to soon be a reality

Having access to malls,restaurants,theaters  and local markets 24x7 is a great idea , especially for people who get free time only during the night .This demand may soon be fulfilled as government is considering to make this dream a reality  .In the current scenario these places get closed by 10-11pm . Often people complain about the rush they face during the working hours  especially during offer times . Beside this the malls will also get a fair chance for competition like that of the e-commerce sites .Since e-commerce has the luxury of operating all the time, the same will be available for malls as well.Seeing the current growth of India , it is sure that the standards of living of people is certainly going to increase and there is no doubt that this act of government will turn out to be fruitful.
Let us provide you with some stats :-

• India’s retail industry is growing at 15 percent and it's one of the fastest growing in the world.
• Estimates say that it is expected to touch $1 trillion by 2020 current is $600 billion which is more than 60% growth an awesome figure.
• The share of market of bricks and mortar stores (mall) will get more than double within a span of 5 years from 8% to 20%

So the above points clearly indicate that this move will be a step in the right direction .
Let us know if you have certain recommendations and suggestions! !

MADHYA PRADESH GOVERNMENT DEVELOPS HANUWANTIYA ISLAND

The Madhya Pradesh Government has developed the Hanuwantiya islands which is located in the reservoir of Indira Sagar Dam on river Narmada to boost water tourism in the state .
The island was developed at a cost of 8 crore rupees . The government will be organizing a Water Festival at the island from February 12 to 21 . For this the plan is to set up a tourism tent city with over 120 tents .
An official of the public relations department said , " State Tourism Development Corporation has developed the island as an attractive tourist destination . It has 10 cottages for tourists . One cruise and two motor boats have also been arranged .The tourism corporation has constructed a boat club and a restaurants . A water sports complex is also being set up.
"In the days to come it will emerge as the most favored spot for adventure and water tourism enthusiasts .Water sports , kite flying ,volleyball and other competitions will be held apart from Food and Craft Bazar" , he added .

NEW GUIDELINES TO BE FORMULATED FOR DIALYSIS CENTERS

Responding to the complains of many patients taking treatment at the dialysis centres , the Maharashtra government has decided to formulate a new policy for such centres , the guidelines of which will need to be strictly adhered to .
The state health minister , Deepak Sawant told that the new policy will be ready in 3 months .
"The first meeting on framing the guidelines was held yesterday . We were periodically receiving complaints that patients are being handled carelessly by dialysis centres" , Sawant told PTI.
Sawant said that the centers will be told to restrict the no. of dialysis to three in a day .
There is also a severe staff shortage in these centers upon which he said , "There is a need to increase the number of technical staff , but before that the number of nephrologists has to be increased "
"While providing good service to the patients , the atmosphere and the standard parameters should be followed by these centres . At present a centre handles more than 3 patients in a day and the standard time to do dialysis of a patient is 3.30 hours . But many times , each patient does not get more than two and a half hours" , he said.
Hence the 3 patients limit will be set . Along with this the use of dialyser will also be have to limited to a specific period of time .
This can be definitely be seen as a people-friendly step take by the Maharashtra Government and will make the dialysis process more hassle free and effective . 

A plan for cheaper Metros for Tier 2 cities

                                                                                                 (PC:DMRC)

Metros have become a necessity in the modern India . While the bigger cities have the luxury of using them  , most of the smaller ones don't have the metro facility yet .  A very important and crucial breakthrough has been made ; this is regarding the development made by Delhi metro rail co-operation . They have developed a metro system which will cost them  70% less than   the one which are currently built in the country . This is suitable for tier 2 cities and is far more economical . Due to which a large number  of cities will be benefited

 and in this way a well established network of Metro will be available . This plan is under consideration and the report of this development have been submitted to urban development minister Venkaiah  Naidu . In the response of the report Naiduji  said , "We will study it and will decide on implementing it". Metros provide a lot of advantage due to which government is keenly interested in development of it on a large scale and if this proposal is accepted than surely this will revolutionize the Metro system not only for public welfare but also for the government . Some of the advantages of Metro are it does not produce pollution and helps in avoiding traffic congestion . Specially when India has claimed that it will reduce its CO emission to 33% ;this technology is the key. The more important thing to note is that the undergoing Kochi metro project is being completed well before it's deadline . Usually such projects in India miss multiple deadlines .The first coach was delivered 5 months before time and almost 70% of the part has been built in India showing India’s current development in such kind of Technology . Soon , people will be able to use the metros in smaller cites as well .

MAHARASHTRA GOVERNMENT TO WAIVE TAXES FOR ELECTRIC VEHICLES

(PC Indianautosblog)

Keeping in mind the growing pollution levels in Mumbai , the Maharashtra government will provide various tax waivers to electric vehicle buyers . Mumbai is following Delhi's footsteps when it comes to air pollution . The tax waivers may include waiving value added tax , road tax and registration charges .

The Union Power Minister Piyush Goyal said , " I am committing to you publicly that Maharashtra will waive VAT , road tax , registration for all electric vehicles in the state ".He also said that initially the scheme will be launched in a few cities of Maharashtra , he had discussed this issue with the Union Government and was hopeful of implementing it .
He added , "I can assure you we will make that happen . We want to see faster roll out of electric vehicles . Not only Reva , but all electric vehicles in the country ."

On 21st December , particulate matter at four places in Mumbai exceeded 300 micrograms per cubic meter . For air quality to be good , the limit is 100 micrograms . More of such efforts should be taken by the government in the near future until the situation goes out of hand . Delhi has recently started the odd-even car plan to curb the pollution levels .

Online Kidney Donation : A simple and powerful process

Kidney transplant has become a serious issue in India with a huge gap between the numbers of donors and no of patients.Beside this no coordination between the government and the health Organization is adding oil to the fire and hence black marketing is been seen in various parts of India.So in order to overcome these problems and for the betterment of the patients Government has came up with a new DRAFT.

What does the DRAFT suggests?

Some of the key features of the Drafts are

• Patient should register centrally through a web portal.
• The registration will be approved by a Kidney advisory Committee.
• The person should be less than 65 years old.
• The person should have gone for dialysis for more than 3 months before the transplant
• Patients with no dialysis access will be urgently listed.
• Patients with end stage renal disease will be given high priority.
• An agreement will be signed between the State Government and Health Organization for better coordination.

What will be the possible outcome?

Well considering the current scenario this is a great move as patients will get priority according to the situation of patients and will benefit them on a long term.Also a well coordinated system will ensure that there will no black marketing .Currently the donation process which is a big legal maze will is supposed to get simplified through this draft.This is surely going to ensure that needed patients get the organ at the  right time.This will add transparency in the process of organ donation.Various states will be linked and if there is no receiver in that state than organ will be transported to the state will there is a need,this is a much needed approach.However a green channel should be developed to make this more efficient.

Budget of solar roof-top installations scaled up to Rs 5,000 cr

The government has scaled up the budget of roof-top solar installations from 600 cr to a massive 5,000 cr . This approved amount will be used for the implementation of 'Grid Connected Rooftops ' systems over a period of five years upto 2019-2020 under the National Solar Mission .
About 4,200 MW solar roof top systems will be set up by this money . 30% subsidy will be given to the general category states / UTs  and 70% for special category states i.e. the North Eastern states including Himachal Pradesh , Uttarakhand ,  Sikkim , Jammu & Kashmir and  Andaman & Nicobar , Lakshwadeep islands under the NSM .No subsidy will be provided to the commercial & industrial establishments of the private sector .
The current Government has shown immense interest in using Solar Energy as a great energy source all over India . It had earlier revised the target of the National Solar Mission from 20,000 MW to an ambitious 1,00,000 MW by 2022 . Out of that , 40,000 MW power will come from grid connected solar roof top systems .

Kidney related Medicine to become CHEAPER in Maharashtra

Good news for the people of Maharashtra came in at the end of the year when government of Maharashtra decided to waive off the sales tax on kidney related medicines .During the Budget session, Finance Minister Sudhir  Mungantiwar had announced that taxes in medicines used for dialysis and kidney related ailment would be waived off .Acting accordingly  this Wednesday 13 generic medicines and related equipment were announced tax free. The sales tax department had sought the list of medicines and equipment required for dialysis from the public health department and list has been finalized .It will be notified soon to everyone. This step is of government is of great relief for the 4 lakh patient suffering from chronic kidney disease. There are 65000 patients undergoing dialysis. This New Year will surely be a sort of happy one for them.

(DNA)

CHANGES TO BE MADE IN THE MATERNITY BENEFIT ACT

The Modi government is considering to give an option of 'work from home' for 2 years for mothers under the maternity benefit act . Not only this , it also wants to double the maternity leave for every working women to 26 weeks . The amendments will be applicable to the Private sector also .
In a cabinet note , the labor ministry has proposed the changes to the Maternity Act . An official from the ministry said , " The first two years of a child's life with a mother are very important .So, we want the companies to be flexible in this regard ."
At present the Maternity leave is restricted to 3 months in the private sector . Whereas the Central government employees can take a maternity leave for upto 6 months . 

Mega plan for startups on 16 January

In recent years India has soon a lot of potential for the startup all over The World. Modi Government realizing the potential is now trying to boost  the startup. This plan is been carried with a view to create an Eco-system for the startup and nurture innovation. The plans for the startup will be disclosed on 16th January . This announcement of the Government has create a high voltage excitement  among the startup firm and is appreciated  all over India.

Some of the benefits of   this plan may include easier process for business registration ,fast approval and easy funding . A panel will be appointed to check the whether  given idea can qualify for the benefits . All  these tasks will be carried out under the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) the meetings will be held frequently to decide on proposal.

One of the official said that Innovation will be key to any idea . Modiji in his "Mann ki baat" said , that Startup India,Standup India  supporting programme will be launched  on 16 January and with be connected to all the youths in  IIT , NIT, IIM and central funded university .
So wait for the date till then if you have an innovative idea be ready.

GOVERNMENT PLANNING TO GIVE INCENTIVES TO ORGAN DONORS

In a first , organ donation may move beyond just being a donation and involve incentives and concessions for the family of the donors.
The National Organ And Tissue Transplantation Organization , a central government Body which coordinates and promotes organ transplants has called for public views regarding what kind of incentives can be offered to the donor's
family . Doctors have hailed this move and have suggested various incentives like queue free railway ticket bookings , educational waivers for children of the donor , concessions in utility bills , waiver of hospital bills up to a certain amount , etc.  At present, once the family of the patient who is declared brain dead gives consent for organ donation, the hospital bill from that moment onwards is waived off for them. However there is no other benefit or incentive involved for the family of the donor. The present law does not include any monetary concessions for the organ donor families .

- Mumbai Mirror

Chennai students benefitted by e-learning during the floods

Internet one of the powerful thing in the present world helped the Chennai students to continue with their school work during the extended holiday due to recent rain and ensuring floods.Chennai schools have internet facilities for their students.Some schools have installed softwares or signed in popular e-learning platform to provide homework and assignments. However the students having power supply were only able to reap the benefits. As the exams are approaching Internet Has proved to be of best use for connecting. Schools even texted and mailed model paper and solutions to the students. Classes were conducted using Skype. The students from the less affected area helped others of severely affected by sharing their hard copy.However government school students were not benefitted even though they had laptops.It was a relief for those students who got these opportunity and were very thankful to their teachers and school staffs also they are helping their other friends who didn't get this advantage.
(The Hindu )