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.