PIB 17

1. apart from natural calamities, cyber disaster pose a new threat in the present day situation and there is a need to address this challenge where the DRDO and other stakeholders can contribute immensely. natural hazards affects nearly six percent of India’s population and 24 percent of deaths in Asia caused by disasters.

2. The Ministry of Road Transport & highways has issued a draft notification for implementation of BS-V and BS-VI norms for the automobile sector, covering the four wheeler category. The ministry has decided to advance the date for implementation of the higher level emission standards.

3. India re-elected as Member of International Maritime Council for coming two years (2016-17). India has been one of the earliest members of the IMO, having ratified its Convention and joined it as a member-state in the year 1959. It may also be recalled that vulnerable areas were defined as High Risk Area (HRA), characterized by piracy attacks and / or hijackings and in 2008, the HRA line in the Indian Ocean region was designated at 65 degrees East longitude. from its existing position of 78 degrees East longitude to 65 degrees East longitude. This shift will come into effect from December 1, 2015. This will result in huge savings for India’s EXIM trade and consumers on account of reduced insurance premium and consequently freight costs. It will improve safety of fishermen and fishing boats, and will also improve the security along India’s coastline.

4. As per Para 4(1) of the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution, there shall be TAC in each State having Scheduled Areas therein and , if the President should directs, also in any State having Scheduled Tribes but non-Scheduled Areas. As per provisions of Fifth Schedule, the members of TAC should be not more than 20 of whom, as nearly as may be, three-fourths shall be the representatives of the STs in the Legislative Assemble in the State. To advise on such matters pertaining to the welfare and advancement of the Scheduled Tribes in the State as may be referred to them by the Governor.

5. NITI Aayog with its mandate of cooperative federalism has been regularly engaging with States, particularly during the meetings of the Sub group of Chief Ministers constituted specifically with themes such as Rationalization of Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS), Skill Development and Swacch Bharat Abhiyan in addition to Task Forces on Agriculture and Poverty Elimination. The States were broadly in agreement with the reduced role of NITI in allocative decisions and desired that NITI Aayog should play the role of a Knowledge organization.

6. Eight Higher Educational institutions from India have been listed in the top 500 universities in the World by the QS rankings in 2015. However, since many of these ranking systems attach considerable importance to perception, despite faring well in the research, many institutions from India have not secured the ranks as per their performance. While working on their strengths, the Indian higher education institutions would need to work on improving their perception index if they have to better their global rankings. For a more objective assessment based on performance, Government has brought out the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) for Higher Education Institutions.Under this, each institution is evaluated on 5 broad parameters namely – 1) Teaching / Learning resources, 2) Research 3) Graduation Outcomes, 4) Outreach / Inclusive nature and 5) The public perception.

PIB 16

1. In PMKSY, the new funding pattern ithas been modified to 60:40 for States and 90:10 for the North Eastern States.

2. the low oil prices are a challenge to the upstream industry but it has also resulted in lowering the cost of exploration and related services and we need to convert this challenge into  opportunity to upscale production. only half of India’s sedimentary basins have been explored and there is an immense potential in the remaining half. Exploration of the remaining half should be taken up on top priority in order to curb imports by ten percent by 2022

3. consequent to higher devolution of funds to the States as per the recommendations of 14th Finance Commission, the Sub-Group of Chief Ministers on Rationalization of Centrally Sponsored Schemes was constituted and it has submitted its Report wherein it has recommended that fund sharing pattern of PMGSY will be in the ratio of 60:40 between the Centre and States for all States except for 8 North Eastern and 3 Himalayan States for which it will be 90:10.

4. He said the history of Indian journalism is intertwined with that of the freedom movement. From the time of Hickey’s Gazette which came out during the days of East India Company, the media has highlighted problems faced by the common people. Jawaharlal Nehru wrote in October 1937 in The Modern Review of Calcutta under a pseudonym and criticised himself for having dictatorial tendencies. People wondered who had dared criticize Nehru. It was only much later that people realised Nehru himself had written the article in order to encourage criticism.

5. The first South Asian Annual Disaster Management Exercise (SAADMEx -2015) hosted by Government of India, was successfully conducted from 23rd to 26th November 2015 in the National Capital Region. The dimensions, frequency, and complexity of natural disasters are increasing. No country is immune from this trend. In such a scenario – local, national, regional and international cooperation and coordination are more vital than ever before(in matters of disaster risk reduction and sharing of best practices). “One SAARC, One Response” & “Collective response better than individual response”

6. National award winning film ‘I Cannot Give You My Forest’ inspired by the issues of Niyamgiri Adivasis(Kondh tribes). It highlights environmental issues and focus on struggle of tribals in day-today life. Nandan Saxena and Kavita Bahl’s film

7. Seeking to improve basic infrastructure in urban areas, the Ministry of Urban Development today approved an investment of Rs.3,120 cr for enhancing water supply, sewerage network services, storm water drains, non-motorised transport and availability of public spaces in 102 cities, under Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT).

8. Today we need to develop such strategies that will lead to sustainable productivity gains and also profitability of farming. Indian agriculture was given begging bowl status in the world. out foodgrain production that was 82 MT in 1960-61 has touched 264 MT by 2013-14. The success of green revolution in India proved wrong the theories of Malthus and economists who said that India would suffer on account of poverty and technological backwardness. . The rainfed areas today contribute about 60% to the agricultural production. Therefore, we need to focus on water management and conservation in these areas. It is time for second green revolution in the country and we believe that this can happen from the eastern states of our country.

9. DRDO is developing many state-of-the art technologies, some of these can be adopted for future disaster management solution. It may be noted that due to variations in geography and climates, India is susceptible to various calamities/disasters like earthquakes, floods, droughts, tsunamis, cyclones, landslides and avalanches which may be man-made or of natural origin. Apart from these, vulnerability to emergencies arising out of Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) material also exists. Disaster management broadly comprises the pre-disaster phase which includes prevention, mitigation and preparedness, while the post-disaster phase includes response, rehabilitation, reconstruction and recovery. DRDO has in the past contributed to the various disaster management operations like Tsunami disaster in 2004, Uttarakhand flash floods in 2013 and J&K floods in 2014.

10. SAARC Regional Workshop on Sharing Best Practices on "Disaster Risk Reduction" inaugurated. He said that countries responding collectively are more important than responding individually. fund- mobilization is not an issue these days, which used to be for decades earlier.. Now different countries pledge funds in case of disasters. at the time of appraisal of a project, Disaster Risk Impact should be done along with the environment and social impact assessment. Our target should be to prevent the future risk and mitigate the existing risk. If the ‘recovery and reconstruction’ issue is addressed, less efforts will be required in future for response.

11. NITI Aayog has been given the mandate of developing a long-term “Integrated Energy Policy” for India.

PIB 15

1. Prime Minister expressed hope for a positive outcome from the forthcoming COP-21 Summit that was equitable, balanced and guided by the principles and provisions of the UNFCC, especially the principle of common but differentiated responsibility and respective capabilities. It should also provide for enhanced technological, financial and capacity building support to the developing and Small Island Developing countries to enable them to take even more ambitious climate action.

2. IPRs are now being used not only as a tool to protect creativity and generate revenue but also to build strategic alliances for socio-economic and technological growth.

3. India is one of the leading producers of fish in the world, occupying the second position globally in terms of production. 21stNovember, 2014 we celebrated the World Fisheries Day for the first time in the country. Coming to Aquaculture, India is the second largest producer (42. 10 lakh tonnes) of fish from aquaculture which contributes about 6.3 per cent to global aquaculture production. Coming to Aquaculture, India is the second largest producer (42. 10 lakh tonnes) of fish from aquaculture which contributes about 6.3 per cent to global aquaculture production

4. India’s water challenges are complex and include quantity, allocation, quality and management issues. Increasing competition for water among industry, agriculture, energy, domestic use and the environment has highlighted the importance of managing water on a river basin, and multi- sectoral basis in a sustainable manner. The agricultural sector is currently India’s largest user of water, however, as urban and other demands multiply, less water is likely to be available in order to meet the nation's irrigation and individual needs. Therefore proper allocation – management of the demand and efficient measures are urgently needed. management at the river basin scale and integrated water management.

5. “India and Bangladesh recently settled their maritime boundary using the mechanism of UNCLOS. India hopes that all parties to the disputes in the South China Sea will abide by the Declaration on the Conduct on South China Sea and the guidelines on the implementation. Parties must also redouble efforts for early adoption of a Code of Conduct on the basis of consensus,” the Prime Minister said.

6. We have to delink religion from terror. The only distinction is between those who believe in humanity and those who do not.

7. correctly identify the beneficiaries, digitize the list with Aadhaar seeding. end-to-end computerization of TPDS operations and FPS automation, robust grievance redressal mechanism. The Government is providing both technical and financial support to enable the State Governments to computerize TPDS operations. Further, Central Government is also providing assistance in meeting expenditure on intra-State transport and handling of foodgrains and fair price shop dealers’ margin.

8. any government programme has to incorporate DRR(Disaster Risk Reduction) in their framework as a policy matter. Shri Kiren Rijiju, MoS (Home) inaugurates SAADMEx-2015. "South Asian Annual Disaster Management Exercise" (SAADMEx) – 2015

9. the approach was mostly project centric and sources based without much emphasis on the ecological and pollution aspects. This has resulted into water over-use, water pollution and unhealthy competition amongst multiple sectors. Therefore, proper allocation management of the demand and efficient measures for use are urgently needed”. India’s water management is becoming increasingly difficult task day by day due to increasing and competing demand from various sectors. increasing competition for water among industry, agriculture, energy, domestic use and the environment has highlighted the importance of managing water on a river basis and multi–sectoral basis in a sustainable manner. The Indo-European Water Forum will provide the platform for policy makers and stakeholders to discuss key issues surrounding water resources management in India, as well as transferring the lessons from the experience and implementation of European Water Policy.

PIB 14

1. in the Global Hunger Index 2015, which combines the three indicators of under-nourishment, child under-weight and child mortality, India is ranked 80th out of 104 countries. This is totally unacceptable. The President said time is ripe for new measures for sustainable intensification of agriculture. These include irrigation and continuous seed and breed improvement. Research needed to ascertain the dynamics of toxic elements in the soil-crop system and to develop appropriate mechanisms for bio-remediation for safe use of water. Steps to enhance water harvesting, water-use efficiency and conjunctive use of water are necessary. These would result in net increase in irrigation potential. Our policies must address water productivity in totality.

2. CCI Imposes Penalties Upon Airlines for Concerted Action in Fixing Fuel Surcharge (FSC) on Cargo Transport. resulted in indirectly determining the rates of air cargo transport. such conduct in the air cargo industry undermines economic development of the country and ultimately acts to the detriment of end-consumers.

3. the joint military exercise between India and Russia, INDRA-2015 is presently underway

4. Under Atal Mission, construction of storm water drains(considering water logging problem during floods) has been prioritized after provision of basic infrastructure relating to water supply and sewerage connections. Central assistance to the extent of 50% of project costs will be extended to cities with a population of below 10 lakhs each and one-third of project cost if the population is above ten lakhs.

5. Studies have indicated that one percentage growth in agriculture sector is two to three times more effective in reducing poverty than one percentage growth in other sectors. higher growth rate in agriculture through sustainable development. soil health card scheme, ‘Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana’, through ‘Pradhanmantri Gram Sinchai Yojana’; enhanced water efficiency through ‘Per Drop More Crop’ and continued support to employment guarantee schemes, creation of a unified national agriculture market to boost the incomes of farmers.

6. Confiscation of property of offenders not only serves as punishment but also discourages commission of crime. In fact, Kautilya in his ‘Artha Shastra,’ had suggested confiscation of illegitimate income as one of the punishments for corrupt public servants.

7. with diverse resource base, high literacy rates, huge hydel power potential, vast potential for promoting horticulture, flori-culture, organic crops, cross border trade, North-East could be enabled to rise to its potential through necessary reforms and by promoting private investments

8. Ken-Betwa river link project to impact Panna Tiger Reserve: EAC . The Environment Ministry gives green nod to 'A' category projects based on the recommendations of its Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC).

9. India needs innovation to tackle various challenges in the fields of Education, Health care, Financial Inclusion and Service delivery. We face the challenge of scalability and mass applicability of solutions to the problems of public concern. The solution lies in harnessing the digital revolution backed by innovations. The digital revolution has in a way decentralized governance.

10. the full potential of SAARC is yet to be realized. As I have often said, we can change our friends but not our neighbours. It is for us to decide if we want to live in a state of perpetual tension or develop together in an atmosphere of peace and harmony. We must look at a shared future leaving behind the divisions of the past.

11. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was one of the greatest saints of the Bhakti movement. He was responsible for the popularity of Vaishnavism in Bengal through his Kirtans, which were unparalleled in lyricism and beauty.

12. The Ministry for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship has partnered with World Bank to strengthen States implementing skill training schemes through financial support

13. The Interlinking of Rivers Programme is critical for enhancing water and food security of the country especially in the water short, drought prone and rainfed farming areas. The Supreme Court in its judgment of February 27, 2012 has held the ILR programme to be in national interest and has directed for its early implementation. The Detailed Project Reports (DPR) of Ken – Betwa Link Project, Damanganga – Pinjal Link Project and Par-Tapi-Narmada link project have been completed. The various clearances in respect of Ken-Betwa link project, Phase-I are in the advanced stage of processing.

PIB 13

1. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, our first Prime Minister used to repeatedly tell V. Shankar, the doyen of Indian Cartoonists, "Don’t spare me, Shankar”. He would often drive down to Shankar’s house for a cup of coffee and a chat about the subject of the cartoon. This open mindedness and appreciation of genuine criticism is one of the lovable traditions of our great nation, which we must preserve and strengthen.

2. Prestigious awards such as these are a public recognition, of talent, merit and hard work, by peers and leaders in the profession. Such awards should be cherished and valued by those who receive them. Sensitive minds sometimes get disturbed by some incidents in society. But, expression of concern over such events should be balanced. Emotions should not overrun reason, and disagreement should be expressed through debate and discussion.

3. The President said the media must act as a watchdog of public interest and give voice to the marginalized. Journalists must bring to public notice the array of ills and deprivations that continue to beset large number of our people. The power of the media should be used to reset our moral compass and promote liberalism, humanism and decency in public life. While opinion is free, facts should be sacred. Caution should be exercised in passing judgements, especially on matters where the due process of law is yet to be completed. We must never forget that careers and reputations take years to build but only minutes to demolish. He said the media fraternity of India are not only providers of news, but also educators who empower our citizens and strengthen the democratic framework of our country-President on the occasion of National Press Day Celebrations

4. The cartoonist captures the mood of the time and his art lies in being able to lampoon without hurting, caricature without distorting and to say with a few strokes of the brush what lengthy articles fail to express.

5. In its broadest sense, terrorism is any act designed to cause terror.[1] In a narrower sense, terrorism can be understood to feature a political objective. The word terrorism is politically loaded and emotionally charged. But, we also see the changing character of terrorism: global links, franchise relations, home-grown terrorism and use of cyber space for recruitment and propaganda. We don't have a comprehensive global strategy to combat terrorism. The world must speak in one voice and act in unison against terrorism, without any political considerations. International cooperation in intelligence and counter-terrorism should increase.

5. Agriculture continues to remain a major sector of the Indian economy. It contributes to 60 per cent of employment and continues to be the primary source of living for 70 per cent of the population. Technological progress in agriculture is, therefore, crucial for the overall economic development of the country.

6. Amur Falcons, which come to roost every year at Doyang lake(Nagaland)during their flight from Mongolia to South Africa. Until recently, Naga tribesmen used to hunt thousands of Amur falcons for meat. But last year, after a vigorous campaign by wildlife activists, they pledged to protect the bird and since then, not a single bird has been hunted in the area.

7. The Mega Food Park will have strong backward linkage and three Primary Processing Centres (PPCs) will be set up at Medchal, Medak and Nalgonda. The timely completion of this Mega Food Park project will not only provide a big boost in the growth of food processing infrastructure in Telangana but also help in providing better prices to farmers, reduce wastage of perishables, add value to agricultural produce and create huge opportunities for entrepreneurship and employment in the State.

8. The Government has declared the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Khaplang), NSCN (K), all its formations and front organizations as a terrorist organization under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967.

9. Under the Policy every Central Government Ministries, Departments and Public Sector Undertakings shall procure minimum of 20 per cent of their total annual value of goods or services from Micro and Small Enterprises.

10. to address the existing duplicity of mandate between Mentor Councils and Sector Skill Councils. Presently, any individual skilled in short term courses being imparted under various schemes of the Government of India finds it difficult to move ahead in his/her journey in vocational education. However, with the establishment of Sector Mentor Committees, all existing curricula in short-term and long-term skill competency based courses would be aligned with corresponding National Occupation Standards (NOSs), Qualification Packs (QPs) and National Skill Qualification Framework (NSQF).

11. significance of linking skills with entrepreneurship to enable a constructive framework bridging the existing gap between skills and employment. MUDRA and other financial scheme. Quoting the World Bank Study which mentions that only 5168 patents were granted in India as compared with 172113 in China, shri Rudy urged young individuals to look at the challenges and build innovative solutions to address them

PIB 12

1. Civil society is seen as a social sphere separate from both the state and the market.

2. Article 39A of the Constitution gives mandate to offer free legal services for the poor. Remembering Late Justice V.R.Krishna Ayyar’s belief that “Society is guilty if anyone suffers unjustly.” Goal 16 of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, which is dedicated to the promotion of peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, the provision of access to justice for all, and building effective, accountable institutions at all levels. One of the first steps taken towards this goal would be to address the issue of the 68% of under trial prisoners lodged in various prisons. The Government joins hands with NALSA towards addressing this issue.

3. The Union Cabinet approved the Ujjwal Discom Assurance Yojana, UDAY in its meeting last week, newly unveiled debt restructuring plan for DISCOMs.UDAY provides for the financial turnaround and revival of Power Distribution companies (DISCOMs). the weakest link in the power value chain is distribution, wherein DISCOMs in the country have accumulated losses. Discoms were trapped in a vicious cycle with operational losses being funded by debt. The new scheme UDAY lays thrust on four initiatives for financial turnaround of Discoms. (i) Improving operational efficiencies of DISCOMs; (ii) Reduction of cost of power; (iii) Reduction in interest cost of DISCOMs; (iv) Enforcing financial discipline on DISCOMs through alignment with State finances. The energy efficiency under UDAY would be achieved by reduction in interest rate, reduction in aggregate technical and commercial losses, increase in coal availability, improving billing and collection efficiency, and better demand side management

4. Paris agreement to be based on equity and Common But Differentiated Responsibilities and Respective Capabilities (CBDR & RC). We strongly believe that there can be no Action Holiday in the pre-2020 period. While post-2020 Finance has to be predictable and scaled up from USD 100 Billion onwards, The commitment to provide finance by developed countries is based on their historical responsibilities and not only on their economic capacities. Any attempts, therefore, to enlarge the donor base by ‘countries in a position to do so’ or ‘countries willing to do so’, will not be appropriate from our perspective.

5. 6th Asian Ministerial Energy Roundtable:the issue of equitable access to affordable energy; only then can the growth be termed as truly inclusive. Unfortunately, a vast cross-section of India’s population still does not have access to energy simply on account of lack of purchasing power. I believe that an opportune time has now come when this “Energy Poverty” must give way to “Energy Justice”. In order to do so, the oil suppliers must make earnest efforts for a Responsible & Reasonable Pricing which will be sustainable. He also reiterated the demand to end the practice of charging “Asian Premium” and instead provide “Asian Dividend” to countries like India. He advocated that to achieve a more stable oil market large buyers and large sellers of oil need to develop mutual investment linkages.

6. The objective behind abolition of interviews for such posts is that it will curb corruption, ensure more objective selection in a transparent manner and substantially ease the problems of the poor and resourceless aspirants. This will not only enable giving more weightage to the merit but also supplement the government’s resolve for “Maximum Governance, Minimum Government”.

7. Implementation framework given 30% weightage, Result orientation-20%, Citizen participation-16%, smartness of solutions-10%, SWOT analysis based strategic plan-10%.second stage of ‘City Challenge Competition’

8. To stimulate growth, we need to enhance public investments, not just rely on monetary policy. G20 efforts must be aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals, adopted this year, particularly with the number one goal of elimination of all poverty by 2030.

9.Manipur has a literacy rate of over 79 per cent which is higher than the average all-India literacy rate. But, in spite of this, its per capita income is lower than the average per capita income at all-India level. One of the reasons for this, he said, is inadequate utilization of the State’s human and non-human resources, as a result of which, there is a mass exodus of youth to other parts of the country and the vast woman potential also remains under-utilized in spite of the level of female emancipation and literacy being higher in comparison to other States of the country.

10. India and Bangladesh signed the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) in New Delhi today, to operationalize the “Agreement on Coastal Shipping” signed between the two countries in June, 2015. Rapid growth in bilateral trade between India and Bangladesh has led to congestion on the road at Indo-Bangladesh border and at the Land Custom Stations/integrated Check Posts.  The traffic congestion at “Petrapole” and “Benapole” on the Bangladesh side has emerged as one of the biggest impediments to the movement of EXIM cargo. Due to such congestion, the exporters/importers on both sides have been facing undue increase in the transportation cost. The present connectivity through sea route with Bangladesh is through ports of Colombo and Singapore. The long sea route adds significantly to the transportation costs of EXIM trade. There is no significant cargo movement between sea ports of Bangladesh and India as it is not profitable for the big vessels to operate between these sea ports.  Under such circumstances there is a need for smaller ships to provide direct connectivity of eastern sea ports of India with Chittagong and other ports in Bangladesh. This, besides improving the connectivity will also provide competitive freight rates.

PIB 11

1. what is urgently needed is a binding Code of Conduct (CoC) to replace the voluntary 2002 Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DoC).

2. He mentioned the PRAGATI interactions with various Ministries and States that he chairs every month, to resolve issues in pending projects

3. cyber security needs to be ensured for the success of the initiatives taken by the Prime Minister, such as Digital India, Make in India and Smart Cities. The crimes related to cyber world can be multi-layered, multi-location, multi-lingual, multi-cultural and multi-legal, that’s why it is difficult to investigate and reach to the criminal. The Cyber security experts need to be alert specially towards the ‘online radicalization’,

4. NITI Aayog has been tasked with preparing the draft Nutrition Strategy by the end of December 2015, in consultation with both the concerned ministries, sectoral experts, States and other relevant stakeholders.

5. The objective of the Gold Monetization Scheme  to make gold as a productive asset so that people can earn interest on deposit. Any Entities participating in Gold monetization Scheme can earn up to 2.50 per cent interest rate on their idle gold. The long-term objective of the scheme is to reduce the country's reliance on the import of gold to meet domestic demand and to give a boost to the Indian economy. The mobilized gold will also supplement RBI’s gold reserves and help in reducing the government's borrowing cost.  It will also provide a fillip to the gems and jewellery sector in the country by making gold available as raw material on loan from the banks. In fiscal year 2014-15, gems and jewellery constituted 12 per cent of India's total exports and the value of gold items alone was more than about 13 billion dollars.

6. focus was being given on sectors such as Pharma/ IT/ ITES/Gems & Jewellery/ Textiles/ Fruits & Vegetables/ meat Exports etc to improve India’s exports to China. China has been making efforts to stall India’s exports through non-tariff barriers such as Phytosanitary stipulations, standardisation issues etc.

7. Government decides to impose a Swachh Brarat Cess at the rate of 0.5% on all serviceS presently liable to service tax, with effect from 15th November 2015; Proceeds from this cess to be exclusively used for Swachh Bharat initiatives

8. The National Institute for Entrepreneurship and Small Business Development (NIESBUD) is an apex Institute engaged in promotion of entrepreneurship and development of micro and small enterprises through different interventions of training, research, incubation, consultancy etc.

9. Taking forward what Prof. C.N.R. Rao had said on 4th November, I would like to make a suggestion – let us segregate the initiatives which do not require any funds and are within the control of the institutions themselves from the ones which need additional funding. Some of these are regular up-dation and revision of the curriculum, improving the quality of teaching by adopting new methods, imparting education that will build the character and value system of the students, better maintenance and utilization of the existing infrastructure, etc. For the new initiatives which need additional funds, I am sure reasonable demands will be met by the MHRD. To produce good quality research and meet the acute shortage of faculty, we have to give a further push to the award of PhDs. While I do see intensification of the involvement of alumni in the governance structure of the CHEIs,  there is still a need to widen the area of interaction through sponsored research, endowment, setting up of chairs, donations, and in catalysing faculty recruitment. The progress made in setting up centres of excellence is slow. However, a welcome development in this area is that the central ministries are now coming forward to fund centres of excellence to address the needs of sector-specific technologies. The state governments are also showing interest in setting up such centres.  Innovator, entrepreneur and financier are the three crucial players of an innovation eco-system. I am grateful to all the CHEIs for their overwhelming response to my call for setting up innovation clubs and incubators, industry interface cells, inspired teachers network and community development cells. In the context of “Start-up India, Stand-up India”, entrepreneurship acquires a new dimension. Our institutes of higher learning must have a governance mechanism that supports growth, collaboration and innovation.

10. The Union Cabinet has approved a new program titled Global Initiative of Academic Networks (GIAN) in Higher Education. Objective: To arrange Guest Lectures by international renowned experts. we could think of launching of Global Research Interactive Network (GRIN) as follow up to GIAN for funding research collaborations.

11. We have received some very good suggestions on the engagement of CHEIs with the community and society for sustainable and inclusive development. Some of the suggestions made include   i.            Assigning students to teach in nearby government schools for at least 12 hours annually or one hour per month. Given the student base at the tertiary level, this could potentially create 35 crore teaching hours. Besides helping to mitigate the existing shortage of teachers at primary and secondary levels, it will create in the minds of students a desire to enter the teaching profession ii.            Students may be deployed to undertake community-based projects to uplift the condition of people residing in nearby areas. iii.            Students may study and identify problems faced by villages in the vicinity. Inter-disciplinary teams can then work on innovative solutions which blend modern technology to local practice.

12. Kashmiriyat, Jamhooriyat (democracy), Insaniyat.

13. the Minister appreciated the efforts put in by all the State Education Ministers in achieving hundred per cent result in constructing separate toilet for boys and girls in schools during a period of one year.

14. The Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987 has created Legal Services Institutions at the National, State, District and Taluk Levels to provide Legal Services to the marginalized sections of the society in order to ensure that they are able to avail their rights and entitlements. Apart from providing court related services, the Legal Services Institutions are also mandated to undertake awareness programmes and preventive and strategic legal aid programmes.