International Day of Yoga -2018 organised and supported by NDMC, DDA, Bhramhakumaris and Khushigram in Delhi - NCR today. Many other premier organisations like Art of Living, Patanjali Yoga Samiti, Vivekananda Yogashram Hospital, Isha Foundation, Gayatri Parivar, MDNIY, CCRH, CCRAS also participated and supported in the celebrations today.
Prominent experts and senior officials were involved in the massive exercise at various places in Delhi -- Rajpath, Nehru Park, Lodi Garden, Talkatora Garden, Dwarka, Rohini, Yamuna Sports Complex and Lal Quila.
Events were also organised at various places at Ghaziabad also. Khushigram Group organised and supported events at various places at Indirapuram. The main event was held at Swarna Jayanti Park where some other Yoga institutions also participated.
Senior officials from the Ministry of AYUSH were involved in the massive exercise: Dr DC Katosh, Advisor and Dr A Raghu, Deputy Advisor, Ayurveda, Dr Anil Khurana, DDG, CCRH, Dr RK Manchanda, DG, CCRH, Dr RC Agarwal, DDG, DR Srikant, DDG, CCRAS, Mahavir Singh, Deputy Director, P&E, Dr Shashi Ranjan Kumar Vidhyarthi, Director. Surendra Sandhu, Dr Venkateshwara Rao, Dr Mohan Rao (R.O.) & Dr Vadiraj (R.O.) and Dr Rajiv Rastogi (A>D>) were from CCRYN.
TR Meena, HP Singh, Ashok Kumar and KK Tyagi led the efforts from NDMC, Manoj Kumar Sharma, Sunil Kumar and Laxmi Narayan from DDA, BK Sapna and BK Surresh Gupta from Bhrahmakumaris, Vishal Bhandari, Rajiv and Manoj from Art of Living, Pawan Kumar, Shyam Gupta and RS Malik, from Patanjali Yoga Samiti, Acharya Vikramaditya from Vivekanand Yogashram Hospital, Patparganj, Kanan from Isha Foundation and RN Singh from Gayatri Parivar.
Taiyab Aalam, Lalit Madaan, K Doren Singh, Dr Arpit Kumar Dubey, Assistant R.O., led the MDNIY teams.
At Indirapuram in Ghaziabad district, Khushigram team participated and led the events at Government School near Cloud 9 and near Kanawani village ground in Ahimsa Khand II and finally at the Swarna Jayanti Park. The event was guide by Yogacharya Abhay Kumar and Yogacharini Jyoti. Some of the active members were Rajnish Ranjan, Vinayak Ranjan, Seema Singh, Chandra Vikash, Mukesh Kumar, Simran and Ajit Kumar.
Being the youngest, Vinayak at 4 year 4 months was the star attraction and did all the Yoga steps at both places.
Khushigram Founder, Ajit Kumar was happy at the response. "We got good feedback from Swarna Jayanti Park, Indirapuram Ghaziabad and plan to facilitate Wellness Products and Services at Reasonable rates to all residents of Indirapuram, Vaishali, Vasundhara and Kaushambi including Natural/ Organic Nutrition. Partnerships will be finalized by July end. This is as per our last fortnight meet at Emerald Apartment, Ramprastha Greens in Vaishali hosted by Dr Archana of Sustainable Integrated Development and Green Zone in by 31 July 2020 with active collaboration and cooperation with the people, institutions and the government and create sustainable livelihoods in the rural areas with backward linkage and reduce congestion and migration also."
Two UK universities are in exploring space technology to uplift farmers’ livelihood in India with partners in India.
The main goals are to:
- Build consortium with industry, academia and government partners for possible use of cryogenics in cold supply chain
- Maximize value in agri-food supply chain to help farmers raise their income
Sheffield University Management School (SUMS) and Hull University Business School (HUBS), two leading management schools in the United Kingdom are exploring possibilities to use space technology such as cryogenics to build robust agri-food cold supply chain infrastructure in India.
As a part of their future research agenda, SUMS and HUBS in partnership with Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), STFC Food Network+ and the University of Sheffield Sustainable Food Futures (SheFF) of the United Kingdom will be organizing an international workshop in New Delhi, India from 17-19 June 2018.
Pawanex Kohli, Chief Executive and Advisor of India’s National Centre for Cold-chain Development will flag off the workshop titled “Sustainable Agri-Food Supply Chain in India”, whereas Professor Ramesh Chand from NITI Aayog will be presenting the closing remarks for the workshop.
Dr Sonal Choudhary of SUMS and Rakesh Nayak of HUBS are principal investigators and co-investigators of this research initiative, which aims to develop new technology using Cryogenics and find ways to optimise the cold supply chain in agri-food sector in India.
Dr Choudhary, who is an assistant professor at the University of Sheffield said, “this is a unique and innovative research initiative where we are bringing in multiple stakeholders and multidisciplinary research team comprising of leading industry players, farmers representatives, academicians and policy makers from India and the UK to identify and understand the challenges faced by the agri-food sector and formulate strategies to mitigate those challenges and maximize value for all the stakeholders.”
The workshop, which is funded by the STFC Food Network+ and SheFF, will be participated by representatives of Amazon India, The Linde Group, The Science and Technology Facilities Council of UK, Khushigram, Go4Fresh, Mother Dairy Fruits & Vegetables, EPMCR – an IIT Madras incubated company, Centre for Sustainable Agriculture, Optel Group, GeoTraceability, Jadavpur University, Schedulers Logistics, and Farmfresh-Handpicked (FFHP) Vegetables & Fruits and Khushigram (fast growing Farm to Fork and Integrated Sustainable Initiative).
The co-investigator and lecturer at University of Hull Rakesh Nayak said, “we are building a strong consortium of researchers from multidisciplinary background coming from cryogenics, engineering, management and social sciences to investigate value chain problems in the agri-food supply chain sector in India and build future agenda to derive solutions in terms of new technologies, policies, infrastructure, capacity building, up skilling to maximise value for all the stakeholders.”
Khushigram Founder & MD, Khushi Social & Green Networks Pvt Ltd Ajit Kumar added, “this is an excellent development and will hopefully boost the farm and food sector by strengthening the systems and increasing efficiency and decreasing losses. We are trying to work in Natural & Organic Farming, Ready to Eat and drink Healthy and Nutritious Food, snacks and beverages, Smart Food Lab, Packaging, Logistics and Vehicles, Supply Chain, Training, Marketing, Innovation, Entrepreneurship, Incubation and Technology. As our business if of Sustainable Development Goals and recreating and reviving happy villages, we are proud to contribute.”
The workshop will build a platform to review current practices at farm, distribution, logistics, warehouse and retail resulting in value loss. The perspectives of stakeholder will help in identifying the scale of problems and challenges associated with lack of cold infrastructure, policy implementation and supply chain design leading to food loss and wastage from farm to fork level. Whilst assessing the impact of emerging technologies such as Cryogenics, modified atmosphere packaging, IoT and Blockchain, it aims to explore possibilities how innovative collaborations and technological applications can be used improve the existing agri-food cold value chain.
The time and aim of this innovative workshop purely aligns with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision 2022 for doubling farmers’ income in India, and aims to uplift farmers livelihood by raising their income through value maximization – while stopping post harvest losses.
Union Minister for Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, Shipping, Road Transport & Highways Nitin Gadkari released a book ‘Water productivity mapping of major Indian crops’ published by NABARD in a function at New Delhi today.
Addressing the gathering Gadkari said that there is no scarcity of water in the country but we have to improve upon the planning and management of water resources. Our Ministry and Government is thinking about innovative ways for better management of water resources. Proposal for three projects at Tuticorin, Paradip and Kandla are under consideration where sea water can be desalinised and used for irrigation and other works.
He further said that we are in a process to encourage pipelines in place of long canals. Piped and drip irrigation will definitely conserve water. We are committed for the vision of ‘Har Khet Ko Pani’ and ‘Per Drop More Drop’. He also stressed on the need of water testing like soil testing before cultivating any crop. This will improve crop yield and avoid wastage of water also.
Secretary Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation U.P. Singh emphasized on the need of short term measures also for water conservation. He said that perforated Borings should be used for quick recharge and storage for underground water.
The book ‘Water productivity mapping of major Indian crops’ is based on study of 10 important crops by a team under the leadership of leading agricultural economist Dr. Ashok Gulati. The ten important crops include rice, wheat, maize, pulses, oilseeds, sugarcane, cotton and potato etc. The book suggests to realign cropping pattern keeping in view water scarcity of irrigation, ration irrigation supplies in canal irrigation system, improve micro-irrigation and invest in water harvesting and artificial recharge and encourage participatory irrigation management through water user association and farmer’s producer organisation. Secretary Ministry of Agriculture S.K. Pattanayak and NABARD Chairman Dr Harsh Kumar Bhanwala also spoke on the occasion.
Rs. 5405 cr disbursed as pre/post matric scholarshiships in last 4 years, 30 lakh ST students benefitted every year
70000 tribals currently enrolled with Tribes India for sale of products, numbers expected to increase to 1.5 lakh soon
A National Tribal Museum along with a National Level Tribal Research Institute is proposed to be set up at Delhi by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs. Briefing mediapersons on four years of initiatives and achievements of the Tribal Affairs Ministry, the Minister of Tribal Affairs Jual Oram said that the Museum will showcase the rich tribal culture and heritage using state-of-the-art technologies. The proposal to set up the Museum and TRI has already been sent to the Niti Ayog.
The Ministers of State for Tribal Affairs Jaswantsinh Bhabhor and Sudarshan Bhagat were also present at today’s briefing. As per the announcement made by the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi in his Independence Day Speech on 15th August, 2016, MoTA is setting up six Tribal Freedom Fighters Memorials including two of national importance ie. Narmada (Gujarat) and Birsa Munda Central Jail (Ranchi), the Minister disclosed.
The Minister also talked about the amendments in the Allocation of Business Rules in 2017 whereby Ministry of Tribal Affairs was given the mandate for monitoring STC funds of Central Ministries. An online monitoring system (www.stcmis.gov.in) has been put in place for monitoring of expenditure vis-à-vis allocations, physical performance and outcome monitoring. He further added that the funds allocated to various Ministries and Departments under the Schedule Tribe Component has seen a 94% increase in the last 4 years from Rs. 19437 crores in 2014-15 to Rs. 37803 crores in 2018-19.
Jual Oram disclosed that the students of Eklavya Model Residential Schools are performing well in competitive examinations. In the current year, 146 EMRS students have cleared NEET, 253 have cleared JEE Mains Examination and 8 have cleared CLAT. The Minister also highlighted the achievements of EMRS students in the field of sports including Kho Kho, Karate, Badminton, Volleyball and Basketball. The Ministry is also planning to organize a National Level EMRS Sports Meet in December 2018.
The Ministry also finances states in establishing Ashram Schools. Till date, the Ministry has funded establishment of 1205 Ashram Schools with a capacity of around 1,15,500 seats. The Minister highlighted the recent scaling of Mount Everest by students of Ashram Schools from Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh.
In some of the other important achievements highlighted by the Minister, Rs. 5405 crore worth scholarships have been disbursed in the last four years, benefitting around 30 lakh ST students every year under Pre/Post Matric Scholarships. Implementation of Post Graduate Fellowship scheme has been taken over from UGC and made online and DBT compliant. National Overseas Scholarship scheme has been made student-friendly, with online application process and allowing for flexibility in course choices and changes.
He said that through the sustained developmental work undertaken by the Government, the number of Left Wing Extremism affected tribal districts has gone done considerably.
Secretary, Leena Nair said that of the 115 Aspirational Districts as identified by Niti Ayog, MoTA is focussing on 40 tribal dominated Aspirational Districts. She also highlighted the Van Dhan Yojana launched by the Prime Minister this year for generating livelihood for tribals by harnessing non-timber forest produce having an estimated value of Rs 2 lakh crore per year. For this purpose, Van Dhan Vikas Kendras are being set up in various tribal districts across the country, she explained.
MD TRIFED, Pravir Krishna informed that TRIFED has achieved record sales of Rs. 20cr in 2017-18, a significant jump from sales of Rs. 11.37 cr in 2016-17. He also informed about the launch of Tribes India banner on major e-commerce portals and m-Tribes mobile app. He informed media persons that currently around 70,000 tribal artisans are enrolled with Tribes India for supply of products, and this number is expected to be increases to 1,50,000 soon. He also added that 40 major Aadi Mahotsavs are proposed to be organized this year, which may see participation of around 25000 tribals.
In pursuit of cooperative and competitive federalism, NITI Aayog has been laying emphasis on developing indicators on various social sectors. In February 2018, NITI Aayog had released a report on “Healthy States, Progressive India” which covered the ranking of States/ UTs in various health parameters. As a step further in direction and keeping in view the criticality of water for life, NITI Aayog has prepared a report on Composite Water Management Index (CWMI). The Report was launched today by Nitin Gadkari, Minister of Minister for Road Transport & Highways, Shipping and Water Resources and Dr. Rajiv Kumar, Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog.
Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog and Secretaries/ senior officials of Ministry of Water Resources, Drinking Water & Sanitation and Rural Development were also present at the launch event.
The CWMIis an important tool to assess and improve the performance of States/ Union Territories in efficient management of water resources. This has been done through a first of its kind water data collection exercise in partnership with Ministry of Water Resources, Ministry of Drinking Water & Sanitation and all the States/ Union Territories.The index would provide useful information for the States and also for the concerned Central Ministries/Departments enabling them to formulate and implement suitable strategies for better management of water resources.Simultaneously a web portal on the subject has also been launched.
The report released today ranks Gujarat as number one in the reference year (2016-17), followed by Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra. In North Eastern and Himalayan States, Tripura has been adjudged number 1 in 2016-17 followed by Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim and Assam. In terms of incremental change in index (over 2015-16 level), Rajasthan holds number one position in general States and Tripura ranks at first position amongst North Eastern and Himalayan States. NITI Aayog proposes to publish these ranks on an annual basis in future.
CWMI has been developed by NITI Aayog comprising 9 broad sectors with 28 different indicators covering various aspects of ground water, restoration of water bodies, irrigation, farm practices, drinking water, policy and governance (Box-1). For the purposes of analysis, the reporting states were divided into two special groups – ‘North Eastern and Himalayan states’ and ‘Other States’, to account for the different hydrological conditions across these groups.
Concession Agreement Signed for development of sewage infrastructure through Hybrid Annuity based public-private partnership in Mathura
An Integrated Sewerage Infrastructure with one city one operator concept adopted for the first time in India
Promoting Waste-To-Wealth approach in sewage sector, agreement signed with IOCL for the reuse of 2 Crore litres of treated waste water for Mathura refinery
Union Minister for Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, Shipping, Road Transport & Highways Nitin Gadkari, presided over the signing of a tripartite Concession Agreement between National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG), UP Jal Nigam and Triveni Engineering & Industries Ltd. for developing an Integrated Sewage Infrastructure for Mathura on the Hybrid Annuity-based PPP mode, in New Delhi today. Dharmendra Pradhan, the Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas and Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, MoS for Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, Dr. Satya Pal Singh and MoS for Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation and Parliamentary Affairs Arjun Ram Meghwal were also present on the occasion.
An agreement was also signed between NMCG and Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) for the reuse of 2 crore litres per day of treated sewage water by IOCL’s refinery in Mathura, which has so far been using water from the over stressed Yamuna.
The Mathura sewage project is special in three respects. This is the country’s first Integrated Sewage Infrastructure project based on One City – One-Operator concept, which means that the project integrates building of new STPs and maintenance of the existing infrastructure under one operator for the whole city. Secondly, under this project the treated sewage water is going to be reused by IOCL , and thirdly, the project is based on Hybrid Annuity Mode, the third of this kind in this sector after the HAM based STPs being developed in Haridwar and Varanasi.
The components of the Mathura project include construction, operation, and maintenance of a 30 MLD STP in Masani, the work for which has been awarded to the Triveni Engineering & Industries Ltd. at an estimated cost of Rs. 437.95 crore on Hybrid Annuity Mode.Other components of the project include development and rehabilitation of Masani Sewerage Infrastructure, upgradation and rehabilitation of the existing Masani STP with a capacity of 6.8 MLD, upgradation and rehabilitation of two existing STPs (14.5 MLD and 16 MLD) in the Trans-Yamuna region of Mathura, leading to a total sewage treatment capacity of 67.3 MLD.
A 20 MLD Tertiary Treatment Plant (TTP) will also be set up for the supply of treated wastewater to Mathura refinery of IOCL. The cost for the development and operation of the TTP for 15 years is Rs. 162.38 crore. IOCL will bear the entire operations and maintenance cost of the TTP amounting to Rs. 82.38 crore for a period of 15 years. Over and above this, IOCL will pay Rs. 8.70 per kilo litre towards the partial capital cost for the development of the TTP. This will save 2 crore litres per day in the water-stressed Yamuna river which was earlier being used by IOCL. This will also promote the market for recycle/reuse of treated waste water in India, which will further help in sustaining the operation of the infrastructure created, a need-of-the-hour in the sewage sector.
Speaking on the occasion Nitin Gadkari expressed happiness that his Ministry and IOCL had taken this important step forward in creation of wealth from waste. He said this step would not only help in abating pollution, but would also bolster the economy . He said that in another example of waste to wealth, Power Ministry is making it mandatory for the power plants along Ganga to use treated waste water. He also said that he is trying to get the Railways to use treated waste water to wash their wagons .
Dharmendra Pradhan said that "I am happy that Water Ministry and IOCL have collaborated for the cause of Ganga rejuvenation and I assure that all support will be extended from Petroleum Ministry and IOCL for future projects."
Pradhan also said that similar Waste-to-Wealth projects will be taken up in important towns along Ganga like Allahabad, Varanasi, Patna, Haridwar etc. Referring to how the Ganga Rejuvenation project can synergize with Skill Development, Shri Pradhan added that such projects will not only clean the river but will also create employment opportunities.
Gadkari reiterated his commitment to clean Ganga as also his priority for Yamuna and other tributaries for which many steps have been taken. Giving details of the projects on Yamuna and other tributaries he said that 14 projects are going on. These include 10 in Delhi, 2 in Uttar Pradesh and 2 in Haryana – at Sonipat and Panipat. In addition 20 new towns on Yamuna and its tributaries (Hindon and Kali) have been identified for pollution abatement. 8 of these towns are on Yamuna (Kalpi, Loni, Auriya, Kairana, Etawa, Bagpat, Tundla and Firozabad), 4 on Hindon (Saharanpur, Muazaffarnagar, Khora and Muradnagar) and 6 on Kali river (Meerut, Hapur, Deoband, Modinagar, Budhana and Autrauli). He said that six sewerage management projects in Delhi have been awarded and two are under tendering for Yamuna.
He also added: "It is my vision to develop a world class ecological and environment friendly River Front park on 35km stretch of river Yamuna in Delhi."
The Minister also extended his satisfaction at the performance of the STP at Sisamau drain in Kanpur which is one of the biggest sources of pollution of Ganga. Shri Gadkarisaid that 140 MLD of waste water was flowing into Ganga from this drain out of which 80 MLD has been tapped and it is being diverted to STPs for treatment. Very soon the remaining 60 MLD untreated water will also be tapped and no sewage water from Sisamau drain will go into river Ganga. He also mentioned that one STP for Ayodhya has been sanctioned and we have begun the process of cleaning river Saryu. Referring to the industrial pollution, Minister said that strict action will be taken against anyone who is polluting Ganga and its tributaries.
The Hybrid Annuity model marks a paradigm shift in the sewerage sector. An important feature of HAM is that both the Annuity and Operation and Maintenance payments are linked to the performance of the STP, which was not the case earlier when the projects were implemented under EPC or DBOT mode. This would ensure continued performance of the sewage infrastructure assets created due to better accountability, ownership and optimal performance. More sewage treatment projects under Hybrid Annuity mode (HAM) are to be awarded soon. The upcoming projects which are at various levels of implementation under HAM are STPs at Naini, Jhusi, and Phaphamau at Allahabad (72 MLD), STPs at Unnao, Shuklaganj, and Bithoor along with Kanpur (21.4 MLD), STPs at Digha and Kankarbagh in Bihar (150), STPs at Kolkata and Howrah (141 MLD) STPs at Farukhabad (30 MLD), STP at Bhagalpur (65 MLD).
In a bid to use the extensive Yes Bank network across India, Namami Gange has partnered with Yes Bank for display of Clean Ganga messages on their ATMs and branches. This is a first-of-its-kind initiative by NMCG to have partnered with the banking set-up to reach out to people at large through the bank’s extensive reach to engage them in the Clean Ganga Mission. Yes Bank has more than 1,700 ATMs across the country and a good number of them are in the Ganga basin. Country-wide, Yes Bank has 40 branches on which Namami Gange messages will be displayed through an arch on the main entry of the each branch.
The National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) had organized a photo contest on social media platforms during the ‘Ganga Swachhta Pakhwada’ 2018 which was observed from 16th March to 31st March 2018. On social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, more than 1900 entries were received from across the country. Some of the entries were of a very high quality and depicted various facets of the Ganga.
Gadkari felicitated the winners of the contest who are from various walks of life and different parts of the country.
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21/06/18
International Day of Yoga -2018 organised and supported by NDMC, DDA, Bhramhakumaris and Khushigram in Delhi - NCR
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16/06/18
UK universities to explore space technology and partnerships to uplift farmers’ livelihood in India
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14/06/18
Nitin Gadkari releases NABARD publication on Water Productivity Mapping of major Indian crops
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14/06/18
National Tribal Museum proposed to be set up at Delhi- Jual Oram
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14/06/18
Release of the Report on the Composite Water Management Index
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13/06/18
Integrated Sewerage Infrastructure with one city one operator concept adopted for the first time in India
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Increase digitization a source for consumer satisfaction: Dr. Jitender Singh at PHD Chamber