Proposals from Kerala/Gujarat

Proposals from Kerala/Gujarat

The Cochin Port Trust has forwarded a proposal to the Ministry of Defence for approving an Outer Harbour Project in Cochin Port. The proposal involves construction of Northern Break water of 6676 mtrs long and Southern Breakwater of 4850 mtrs long and development of land area of 2600 acres abutting the Northern Breakwater and 650 acres abutting the Southern Breakwater.


An Inland container Depot viz., Transglobal Inland Container Services, is operating since April, 2012 at Mathilakom, 10 kms North of Kodungallur having 33000 sqft of operational covered area and is 40 kms away from the International Container Transshipment Terminal, Vallarpadam.

As per the inputs received from the Ministry of Environment and Forests, the Government of Gujarat requested the Government to consider projects for Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) clearance in low and medium eroding coastal stretches based on rapid Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) instead of comprehensive EIA Report.

A rapid EIA may not address all the environmental concerns in low and medium eroding stretches of the coast. Therefore, as per the procedure prescribed for seeking prior clearance under the CRZ notification, 2011, all project proposals in stretches classified as low and medium eroding as well as stable coasts shall be accompanied by comprehensive EIA studies. This requirement is uniformly applicable throughout the country. To conserve and protect such coastal stretches, promote development through sustainable manner based on scientific principles, it is important that comprehensive EIA studies are carried out and Environment Management Plans worked out accordingly before considering proposals in such stretches.

This information was given by Minister of Shipping, Shri Nitin Jairam Gadkari in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha today.

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Proposed Corridor

The corridor proposed between India and Central Asia and Russia is expected to substantially reduce cargo transportation time.

The International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC) is a proposed multimodal transportation system connecting the Indian Ocean and Persian Gulf to the Caspian Sea via Islamic Republic of Iran, from where it connects St. Petersburg and North Europe. It is expected that cargo by this route would reach Russia in about 25-30 days as against the present route through Suez which takes about 45-60 days. India alongwith 12 other members are parties in the agreement of INSTC.

This information was given by Minister of Shipping, Shri Nitin Jairam Gadkari in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha today.

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Port Connectivity Projects

The Government has accorded high priority to port connectivity projects. Towards this end, the Ministry of Shipping has formed a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) namely Indian Port Rail Corporation Ltd. with Major Ports and RVNL as equity partners for undertaking Port Connectivity Projects.

All Major Ports undertake tree plantation and use of renewable energy as part of green initiatives to make ports green and environment friendly.

This information was given by Minister of Shipping, Shri Nitin Jairam Gadkari in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha today.

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First National Handloom Day to be celebrated on 7th August, 2015

After considering the requests received from several quarters, the Central Government has decided to declare 7th August as National Handloom Day every year beginning from this year 2015, throughout the country. The first National Handloom Day will be launched by the Hon’ble Prime Minister in Chennai on 7th August, 2015. The Sant Kabir Awards and National Awards for the years 2012, 2013 and 2014 will be awarded and a new ‘India Handloom’ brand for better market positioning of quality handloom products would be launched on this occasion.

Observance of National Handloom Day would generate awareness about the importance of handloom industry as a part of our rich heritage and culture, promote handloom products and lead to increase in income of weavers as well as enhance their confidence and pride. Over 43 lakh persons are engaged in handloom weaving and allied activities in India as per the last handloom census. This industry is a source of livelihood to large section of rural population particularly women, and BPL families, in addition to this being a part of the rich cultural heritage and traditions of our country.

All State Governments have been requested to arrange celebration of this day all over the country by encouraging active participation of all segments of the society.

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Tribal Affairs Ministry revises the Scheme for Development of Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups

Ministry of Tribal Affairs has revised the Central Sector Scheme known as “Development of Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs)”, w.e.f. 1st April, 2015, under which the Ministry will provide 100% financial assistance through State Governments for activities including housing, land distribution and land development, agricultural development, animal husbandry, construction of link roads, installation of non-conventional sources of energy or other innovative activity, for the comprehensive socio-economic development of PVTGs, based on Conservation-cum-Development (CCD) Plan prepared by the concerned State Governments on the basis of assessment of their requirements. Under the Scheme, priority is accorded for their protection and improvement in terms of the social indicators like livelihood, health, nutrition and education, so as to decrease their vulnerability.

At present there are 75 tribal groups identified and categorized as Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs), (earlier known as Primitive Tribal Groups) located in the States/UT of AP, Bihar, Jharkhand, Gujarat, Karnataka, Kerala, MP, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Odisha, Rajasthan, TN, Tripura, UP, Uttarakhand, West-Bengal and Andaman & Nicobar Islands.

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Sarbananda Sonowal presents Arjuna Award 2014 to cricketer R. Ashwin

Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Youth Affairs & Sports Shri Sarbananda Sonowal here today presented Arjuna Award in the discipline of cricket to R. Ashwin for 2014.

R. Ashwin was not present during the Award Ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhawan on 29th August, 2014 as he was in England that time taking part in One Day Internationals.

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Plan Schemes to eradicate poverty

A number of Plan Schemes are being implemented by various Ministries/ Departments for eradicating poverty and to improve standard of living of people during the Twelfth Plan. The important Plan Schemes are: Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), National Rural Livelihood Mission, Mid-Day Meal Programme (MDM), National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP), Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS), Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), National Health Mission (NHM), Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY), Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), Indira Awas Yojana (IAY), National Rural Drinking Water Programme, Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (SBA), and National Urban Livelihood Mission. The details of Budget Allocation and releases/ expenditure in these important schemes during the last three years and the budgetary provision for the current year i.e. 2015-16 are given in annexure-A. This information was given by the Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Planning, Shri Rao Inderjit Singh in a written reply in Lok Sabha today.

The Minister said that necessary mechanisms to ensure effective implementation of programmes have been made at various levels by an effective administrative machinery through supervision, monitoring and suitable corrective measures, which is a continuous endeavour of the nodal Central Ministries/ Departments and the respective State Governments/ UTs.

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Development of Light Houses 

Director General of Lighthouse & Lightships (DGLL) has identified 66 Lighthouses to develop them as tourist spots.     Techno-economic feasibility study has been conducted for 15 Lighthouses.  Out of which 5 Lighthouses will be developed in the PPP mode. The list of the 66 Lighthouses is as below:

LIST OF LIGHTHOUSES FOR  PROMOTION OF TOURISM

GUJARAT	KERALA	ANDRA PRADESH
1.      Mandvi	28.   Chetwai	53.       Antervedi
2.      Pirotan Island N. Point	29.   Vypin (Cochin)	54.       Sacramento
3.      Samiyani Island North	30.   Mannakodam	55.       Vakalpudi
4.      Kachchigarh	31.   Vizhinjam	56.       Santapille
5.      Gopnath	32.   Thangesseri	57.       Kalingapatnam
6.      Alang	33.  Kannur
7.      Veraval	34.   Alleppy	ORISSA
8.   Dwarka	35.     Kadalur Point	58.       Puri
		59.       Paradip
MAHARASHTRA	LAKSHADWEEP	60               False Point,
9.   Uttan	36. Kadamat Island	61.        Chandrabhaga
10.  Korlai Fort	37. Thinakara Island	62.        Gopalpur,
11.  Jaigarh Head	38.  Agathi Island
12  Ratnagiri	39. Androth Island W. END
13.  Betul	40. Kavaratti Island	WEST BENGAL
14.   Umargaon	41. Suhelipar (Cheriyakara Is)	63.    Dariyapur
15.   Prongs Reef ( sea walk during low tide)	42   Minicoy
16.   Devgad	TAMILNADU	ANDMAN & NICOBAR
17.  Tolkeswar	43.   Manappad	64. North Point (Port Blair)
18. Vengular Rock ( Adventure tourism)	44.   Kilakkarai	65. North Cinque Island
19.   Kanai Creek	45.   Kodikkarai	66. Port Cornowallis
20.  Satpati	46.   Nagapattinam
21.  Kanhoji Angre	47.   Portonovo
22.  Sunk rock	48.  Pulicat
	49.    Mahabalipuram
GOA	50.  Rameshwaram
23     Aguada	51.    Kanyakumari- Muttam
KARANATAKA	PONDICHERY
24.  Bhatkal	52.  Pondicherry
25.  Suratkal
26.  Kaup
27.  Oyster Rock

This information was given by Minister of Shipping, Shri Nitin Jairam Gadkari in a written reply to a question in the LokSabha today. 

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Development of Inland Waterways 

The National Transport Policy Committee (NTPC) had estimated in  1980, that rivers, canals, backwaters, creeks and lakes of total length about 14,500 km, including about 5600 km for navigation by mechanized vessels, as potentially navigable.  Out of this, 4382 km of inland waterways have been declared as National Waterways (NWs), as per details given below:

(i)  Ganga-Bhagirathi-Hooghly river system (Allahabad-Haldia-1620 km) in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal as NW-1, declared in 1986.

(ii)  River Brahmaputra (Dhubri-Sadiya – 891 km) in the state of Assam as  NW-2 declared in 1988.

(iii)West Coast Canal (Kottapuram-Kollam) along with Udyogmandal and Champakara Canals – (205 km) in the state of Kerala as NW-3 declared in 1993.

(iv)Kakinada- Puducherry canals along with Godavari and Krishna rivers (1078 km) – in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Union territory of Puducherry as NW-4 declared in 2008.

(v) East Coast Canal integrated with Brahmani river and Mahanadi delta rivers (588 km)  in the states of West Bengal and Odisha  as  NW-5 declared in 2008.

Out of these five NWs, first three waterways have already been substantially developed and made operational for movement of cargo & passenger vessels. For the remaining two waterways, process is on to develop and make them operational.

The total revenue earned from first three NWs during the last three years and current year state-wise are as follows:

(Amount in Rs.)

           

Note:- (*) As on 30.06.2015

A bill for declaration of 101 new waterways as National Waterways (NWs) was introduced in the Lok Sabha during the Budget Session of 2015 which has been sent for examination to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism & Culture.

         The investment required for development of the proposed waterways will depend on the Techno Economic Feasibility (TEF) studies followed by preparation of Detailed Project Report (DPR) for each waterway.

The consultant will prepare Techno Economic Feasibility (TEF) studies/ Detailed Project Reports (DPRs) for these proposed waterways. The study report will provide divertible traffic projection from road & rail to IWT mode and the information on revenue generation.

This information was given by Minister of Shipping, Shri Nitin Jairam Gadkari in a written reply to a question in the LokSabha today. 

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Measures to improve the growth performance of all the States 

The per capita income level of States depend on a number of factors which include resource endowments, historical background of development, infrastructure and various other state specific factors. The per capita income, measured in terms of per Capita Net State Domestic Product (NSDP), for all the States/UTs for the year 2013-14 is given in Annexure. The per capita NSDP at current prices is lowest for Bihar (Rs. 31,199) and highest for Goa (Rs. 2,24,138) in 2013-14.   This information was given by the Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Planning, Shri Rao Inderjit Singh in a written reply in Lok Sabha today.

The Minister said that the Government has taken several measures to improve the growth performance of all the States in a balanced manner. The policy instruments in this regard include plan and non-plan transfer of resources from Centre to States favouring less developed States, tax incentives for setting up of private industries in the backward regions, etc. A number of programmes like Hill Area Development Programme/Western Ghats Development Programme, and Border Area Development Programme had been in operation to reduce income disparity between States. In addition, several Centrally Sponsored Schemes and state specific schemes are being implemented which are expected to improve the income levels in different States.

Per Capita Net State Domestic Product at current prices (In Rupees) are as follows:

Sl. No.	State\UT	2013-14
1	Andhra Pradesh	81397
2	Arunachal Pradesh	85468
3	Assam	44263
4	Bihar	31199
5	Chhattisgarh	58547
6	Goa	224138
7	Gujarat	106831
8	Haryana	133427
9	Himachal Pradesh	92300
10	Jammu & Kashmir	58593
11	Jharkhand	46131
12	Karnataka	84709
13	Kerala	103820
14	Madhya Pradesh	51798
15	Maharashtra	114392
16	Manipur	41573
17	Meghalaya	61548
18	Mizoram	76120
19	Nagaland	77529
20	Odisha	52559
21	Punjab	92638
22	Rajasthan	65974
23	Sikkim	176491
24	Tamil Nadu	112664
25	Telangana	95361
26	Tripura	69705
27	Uttar Pradesh	36250
28	Uttarakhand	103716
29	West Bengal	70059
30	Andaman & Nicobar Islands	107418
31	Chandigarh	156951
32	Delhi	219979
33	Puducherry	143677

                     

        Source: Central Statistics Office, Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation

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