Infrastructure targets for FY 2013-14 finalised by PM

A meeting was held by the Prime Minister today ( June 28 , 2013 ) to finalise infrastructure targets for 2013-14. The meeting was attended by the Finance Minister, Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission and Ministers and Secretaries of key infrastructure Ministries, i.e., Power, Coal, Railways, Roads, Shipping and Civil Aviation.

The Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission made a presentation bringing out the performance of the six infrastructure ministries in achieving their targets in 2012-13 and the details of the targets that have been set for this year, i.e., 2013-14. These targets were set through a detailed process, first in the Planning Commission by Member (Infrastructure) and later revised through a second round of meetings in PMO.

The sectoral highlights of the Prime Minister's review and the targets for 2013-14 are:

(i) Civil Aviation

a) Two new International Airports at Bhubaneswar and Imphal.

b) 50 new Low Cost Small Airports will be taken up by Airports Authority of India.

c) 8 Greenfield Airports are to be awarded this year in PPP mode: Navi Mumbai, Juhu (Mumbai), Goa, Kannur, Pune (Rajguru Nagar Chakan), Sriperumbudur, Bellary and Raigarh.

d) Airport operations and maintenance through PPP contracts will be introduced in AAI airports. Airports being considered are Chennai, Kolkata, Lucknow, Guwahati, Jaipur and Ahmedabad.

New Low Cost Airports by AAI

Andhra Pradesh: Vijayawada, Nellore, Kurnool, Kadapa, Nizamabad, Tirupati, Anantapur & Karimnagar

Jharkhand: Dhanbad, Bokaro & Hazaribagh

Bihar: Muzaffarpur, Chapra & Sasaram

Punjab: Ludhiana, Jalandhar & Firozpur

Uttar Pradesh: Agra, Allahabad, Moradabad, Saharanpur, Meerut, Aligarh, Muzaffarnagar, Bijnor & Azamgarh

Arunachal Pradesh: Tezu, Momdila & Along

Assam: Silchar, Jorhat & Tezpur

Madhya Pradesh: Gwalior, Singrauli, Burhanpur,Khandwa, Jabalpur, Sidhi & Shahdol

Odisha: Brahmpur, Raurkela & Kendujhar

Rajasthan: Ajmer, Kota, Bhilwada & Alwar

Maharashtra: Kolhapur, Nasik, Jalgaon, Solapur & Amarawati.

(ii) Ports

a) The two new PPP ports at Sagar (West Bengal) and Durgarajapatnam (Andhra Pradesh) approved by Cabinet will be awarded.

(iii) Railways

a) An Inter-Ministerial Group of Railways, Finance and Planning will be formed with the task of coming up with a creative financing-cum-implementation mechanism in two months for clearing the large backlog of sanctioned projects of over Rs 200,000 crores in a prioritized and time-bound manner.

b) The proposal for creating a Rail Tariff Authority will be accelerated and brought to Cabinet soon.

c) The flagship projects of railways such as the two Loco Manufacturing Projects, Elevated Rail Corridor, the Dedicated Freight Corridor and Station Redevelopment will be closely monitored for award in the next six months.

(iv) Roads

a) The slowdown in the award of road projects should get reversed in view of the large number of relaxations that have already been provided to PPP road projects.

b) Expressways will get focused attention and the Planning Commission will work with the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways to suggest an implementation mechanism for expressways.

(v) Power

a) The Ministry will work with Planning Commission and Finance Ministry to resolve remaining issues in the power sector and improve generation and transmission capacity.

b) Ministry of Power is working on a separate provision to operationalise open access.

(vi) Coal

a) New policies for ramping up coal production will be put in place.

In addition to the targets, the Prime Minister highlighted the need to ramp up investment in infrastructure to revive investor sentiment. For this purpose, a target of rolling out PPP projects of at least Rs 1 lakh crores in the next six months was set. A steering group is being formed to monitor the award and implementation of projects from among the following on priority:

1) Mumbai Elevated Rail Corridor- Rs. 30,000 crore

2) Two Locomotive projects- Rs. 5,000 crore

3) Accelerating E-DFC- Rs. 10,000 crore

4) One of the two port projects- Rs. 10,000 crore

5) Two airport projects- Rs. 20,000 crore

6) Power & Transmission projects- Rs. 40,000 crore

Total- Rs. 1,15,000 crore

The Prime Minister concluded by reiterating that a lot of work still needs to be done and there should be no slackening of the pace of work.

PM dedicates to the Nation the Banihal - Qazigund Rail Line in Jammu and Kashmir on June 26, 2013.

“आज हम इंजीनियरिंग के एक ऐसे हैरतअंगेज़ नमूने को क़ौम और मुल्क के नाम वक्फ़ करने जा रहे हैं जिसे रेलवे के तकनीकी माहिरीन और कारकुनान ने अज़ीमतरीन हिमालय से तराशा है। यह बिलाशुबह एक बहुत बड़ा यादगार मौका है।

जम्मू-ऊधमपुर-कटरा-काज़ीगुण्ड-श्रीनगर-बारामूला रेल राब्ता, एक क़ौमी ख़्वाब है। आपमें से कुछ लोग जानते हैं कि ये ख़्वाब किसी और ने नहीं बल्कि महाराजा प्रताप सिंह ने आज से बहुत साल पहले 1898 में देखा था। तब से यह ख़्वाब तमाम दुश्वारियों के रास्ते से गुज़रा है। इस हकीकत के बावजूद कि इस राब्ते के लिए एक प्रोजेक्ट को आज से काफी पहले यानी 1905 में ही मंजूरी मिल गई थी, इसे अमलीजामा अभी तक नहीं पहनाया जा सका। मुल्क की तकसीम के बाद जम्मू भी बक़िया भारतीय रेलवे नेटवर्क से कटकर रह गया था। 1971 में जम्मू को तो भारतीय रेलवे के बाकी नेटवर्क से एक ब्रॉडगेज लाइन के ज़रिए पठानकोट के रास्ते से जोड़ा था, ये श्रीमती इंदिरा गांधी का एक सपना था जो उन्होंने पूरा किया लेकिन, जम्मू के शुमाल की जानिब की लाइन पर कोई पेशरफ्त नहीं हो सकी।

आख़िरकार श्रीमती इंदिरा गांधी जी ने इस बेहद अहम लाइन पर 1983 में काम शुरू करवाया। हम तब से अब तक एक लम्बा सफर तय कर चुके हैं और मुझे बहुत खुशी है कि हमारे पुराने ख़्वाब को अमलीजामा पहनाने का काम बहुत अच्छे ढंग से तकमील की तरफ आगे बढ़ रहा है। इस अहम और बिलाशुबह खूबसूरत रेलवे प्रोजेक्ट के बहुत से हिस्से मुकम्मल हो चुके हैं। मैं बज़ाते खुद सन् 2005 में इस रेलवे राब्ता के जम्मू-ऊधमपुर हिस्से के इफ्तेताह से वाबिस्ता रहा हूं। बादअजां 2008 में अनन्तनाग और माज़होम के दरम्यान रेल राब्ता कायम हो गया। माज़होम-बारामूला सेक्शन 2009 में मुकम्मल हुआ और इसके बाद काज़ीगुण्ड-बारामूला के दरम्यान 119 किलोमीटर तवील रेलवे लाइन बिछाई गई।

आज शुरू हो रहे बनिहाल-काज़ीगुण्ड रेल राब्ते को पाय-ए-तकमील तक पहुंचाने में तमाम लोगों ने दुश्वार गुज़ार जुग़राफियाई हालात और बरअक्स मौसम की चुनौतियां का सामने करते हुए जबरदस्त जद्दोजहद की है। पीरपंजाल में 11 किलोमीटर तवील सुरंग, जो भारत में सबसे तवील सुरंग है, को मुकम्मल करने में 7 बरस लगे। ये सिर्फ इंजीनियरिंग का एक हैरतअंगेज नमूना ही नहीं है बल्कि इसकी अहमियत कहीं ज़्यादा है। पूरे साल राब्ते की सहूलत वादी-ए-कश्मीर के लोगों को बाकी हिन्दुस्तान में होने वाली इक़्तेसादी तरक्की से वाबिस्ता करके उन्हें बहुत फायदा पहुंचाएगी। राब्ते की ये सहूलत जम्मू-कश्मीर में रूनुमा होने वाली इक़्तेसादी पेशरफ्त को हिन्दुस्तान की तरक्की का एक अटूट हिस्सा बना सकेगी। ये राब्ते खुशहाली और रोज़गार फराहिम कराएगा। जम्मू व कश्मीर में बनने वाले साज़ोसामान और चीज़ें मुल्क के बाकी हिस्से में पहुंचेंगी और इसी तरह मुल्क के दीग़र हिस्सों में बनने वाले साजोसामान यहां लाए जा सकेंगे। आम लोगों के आने-जाने, मुताल्या और तिजारत का सिलसिला जोर पकड़ेगा। मुल्क की इस सबसे खूबसूरत रियासत में सैयाहत को और बढ़ावा मिलेगा जिसके नतीजे में रोज़गार और रोजी रोटी को भी फरोग़ हासिल होगा। अब वादी-ए-कश्मीर के दोनों जानिब के अवाम् को पूरे साल बाहम जोड़े रखने वाला एक किफायती ज़रिया कायम हो जाएगा।

वादी-ए-कश्मीर की रेलवे लाइन अभी तक एक जज़ीरे की तरह है। जैसे-जैसे यह प्रोजेक्ट तेजी से आगे बढ़ेगा, हम इस लाइन को हिन्दुस्तान के बाकी नेटवर्क से जोड़ते जाएंगे। कटरा-ऊधमपुर सेक्शन पर काम चंद महीनों में मुकम्मल हो जाएगा और इसके बाद सिर्फ ऊधमपुर और बनिहाल के दरम्यान के हिस्से पर काम बाकी रहेगा, जो सबसे चुनौती भरा है। 359 मीटर ऊंचा चिनाब पुल दुनिया में मेहराबदार रेलवे पुलों में सबसे बुलंदतरीन रेलवे पुल होगा। मैं महकमा-ए-रेलवे से कहना चाहता हूं कि वो इस हिस्से के काम को जितनी जल्दी मुमकिन हो सके मुकम्मल करने की भरपूर कोशिश करें ताकि हम वादी-ए-कश्मीर को मुल्क के बाकी हिस्सों से हर मौसम में इस्तेमाल के लायक आमदोरफ्त के निज़ाम से जोड़ सकें।

जिस रेल राब्ते का आज इक़तेताह किया जा रहा है वो जम्मू-कश्मीर की तरक्की के लिए मरकज़ी यूपीए हुकूमत की कोशिशों का एक हिस्सा है। आपको याद होगा कि 2004 में जब मैं यहां दौरे पर आया था, तो मैंने जम्मू-कश्मीर के लिए तामीर-ए-नो के एक मंसूबे का ऐलान किया था। मुझे आपको इत्तला देते हुए खास मसर्रत हो रही है कि तामीर-ए-नो के इस मंसूबे में शामिल 67 प्रोजेक्टों में से, 34 मुकम्मल हो चुके हैं और बकिया के निफाज़ के सिलसिले में अच्छी पेशरफ्त हो रही है। इस सिलसिले में 7215 करोड़ रुपए की रकम जारी की गई है। मुकम्मल किए गए चंद अहम प्रोजेक्टों में, रियासत में 1 हजार Micro Hydro-Electric प्रोजेक्टों का कयाम, ख़ानाबल-पहलगांव और नरबल-तंगमर्ग सड़कों की तामीर, 14 नए डिग्री कालेजों का आग़ाज़, 9 नए आई टीआई इदारों का कयाम, श्रीनगर हवाई अड्डे पर मुसाफिर और बुनियादी ढांचे की जदीद सहूलतों की फराहमी और इस हवाई अड्डे को एक International हवाई अड्डे की शक्ल देना, रियासती पुलिस में 5 इज़ाफी India Reserve Battalions का कयाम, बारह Toursim Development Authorities का कयाम वगैरह शामिल हैं।

इसके अलावा, तकरीबन 1 हजार करोड़ रुपए की लागत के प्रोजेक्ट, जम्मू और लद्दाख खित्तों की खुसूसी ज़रूरियात पूरी करने के लिए, लागू किए गए हैं। जम्मू-कश्मीर के नौज़वानों को हुनरमंदी की तरबियत देने और उन्हें मुफीद रोज़गार फराहम कराने के लिए लागू की जा रही हिमायत और उड़ान स्कीमों के हौसला अफज़ा नतीजे सामने आने लगे हैं। जम्मू कश्मीर में खुसूसी वज़ीफे की स्कीम रियासत के नौज़वानों की हौसला अफज़ाई करने के साथ उन्हें इस काबिल बना रही है कि वो मुल्क के दीगर हिस्सों में दस्तयाब तालीमी सहूलतों का फायदा हासिल कर सकें।

मैं आपको यकीन दिलाना चाहता हूं किहिन्दुस्तान की मरकजी सरकार जम्मू और कश्मीर के Development को आगे बढ़ाने के लिए हर तरफ से तआवन देगी। आख़िर में, मैं भारतीय रेलवे को इस बहुत मुश्किल काम को कामयाबी से मुकम्मल करने के लिए दिली मुबारक़बाद पेश करता हूं। साथ ही साथ मैं जम्मू और कश्मीर के अवाम को भी इस मौके पर मुबारकबाद देता हूं। मुझे पूरी उम्मीद है कि काम के बाकी हिस्से को तयशुदा निशानों के तहत जल्द अज जल्द मुकम्मल किया जाएगा। ताकि जम्मू और कश्मीर के अवाम् साल के बारह महीनों के दौरान मौसम के बरखिलाफ होने के ख़तरे से बेनियाज़ होकर इस रेल राब्ते से मुस्तफीद हो सकें।” 

Safe City Project : MHA

The Centre proposes to launch a Rs 2,000 crore project to make six big cities, including the national capital, safe. Besides Delhi, the other cities under the project are Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Bangalore and Hyderabad .

Under its flagship 'Safe City' Project, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has asked these major cities to focus on Technological Advancement rather than recruitment of manpower. The present form of policing is dependent more on manpower and less on tech

Another suggestion made by the MHA is to impart safety education to children on the lines of western countries. It would be ideal if different boards of education at the Centre and states could be impressed upon to include a chapter on basic concept of community safety and security, community policing, response on emergency situations in the school curriculum.

The project will also focus on attitudinal change in policemen through soft skills training.

Setting up of  Fusion Centre  on the lines of western countries — where details like Pan Card number, vehicle registration number, Unique Identification number of suspects will be stored and can be accessed by the police — is another ambitious aspect of the project .

Over all , The Safe city Project will include technical & non-technical aspect . Technical part will include - CCTV Surveillance, Command Control Center ,Dial 100 System  , Fusion Center / Data Center , Highway Patrol Cars , Aerial Surveillance  ( UAV / Helicopters etc ) while Non-Technical Part will include - Community Policing  , Reaching out through Educational System  ,Training in Soft Skill / Attitudinal Change in Police Men & Women Police .

A catastrophe called disaster : Santosh Desai

India seems to be at its most naked at a time of disaster. With time and relative affluence, there are many parts of India that seem to have been transformed. The road network has improved, the airports look like they could be from anywhere in the world, private high-end hospitals boast marble floors and receptionists, and malls can be found in most small towns, exuding their brand of shininess. Thanks to these, it is possible to cobble together a passable sense of change.

    But come a disaster, and things falls apart. The veneer of efficiency disappears and familiar heartrending stories of despair and hopelessness return. In a flash, it seems as if nothing has changed, that in India, anything that can go wrong will do so in a way that is particularly pitiful. The current Uttarakhand calamity is deeply aggravating because it is so familiar. That the calamity was virtually preordained is no secret. In fact, similar scenes have been witnessed before (so much so that, as someone pointed out, some images on television seemed to have been identical to last year’s scenes), and there is little doubt that, after the mandatory two-week news cycle expires, things will go back to normal till the next time, we see an eerie replay of the mayhem we are seeing today.

    While preparing for a disaster like this would have been extremely valuable, the truth is that when calamities strike, it is the existing system that needs to kick into action. Because of its unpredictability in terms of precise timing, location and scale, disasters are designed to catch us at our most unprepared. In a sense a disaster thrives on reality as it exists without any dressing up. It tests all our systems and instincts at their rawest, which is why it exposes so much. More importantly, a preemptive effort to minimize the chance of a disaster is the most critical action point, particularly when the area is known to be disaster-prone. This means well thought-out legislation and diligent enforcement. It means adherence to a long-term plan of development which factors in all the consequences of the choices one makes. In an ecologically sensitive geographical terrain like the hills, once flooding takes place, it is difficult to contain the extreme nature of consequences that follow. Roads will be washed off, landslides will be triggered, fragile structures will get decimated.

    The problem is that for India to be better prepared to meet disasters, it needs to levitate into becoming another kind of country. In the case of Uttarakhand, for instance, it is clear that what we have seen is part of a larger problem that will continue, with escalating consequences, to bedevil the hills. Unchecked commercialization and rampant corruption has led to the kind of development that will eventually be catastrophic. This is something that cannot be brushed aside or escaped from; it is simply a matter of time. The nature of the political process and its impact on the kind of administration provided is wired in a way that makes change very difficult. In the case of the hills, the version of development that has been embraced is the kind that almost exclusively feeds the needs of local interest groups. When those who should act as guardians for the long-term interest of their own state, find it more profitable to leverage whatever assets are at their disposal for short-term gain, and when that implicit collusion across the political spectrum results in the absence of any meaningful and politically significant alternative, the impetus for change just does not exist.

    At a deeper level, the belief that any regulatory or rational long term view is a constraint that needs to be gamed creates an inbred sense of legitimacy about circumventing not just rules, but also a sane view of the future. The relief at making things work in a historically unsupportive environment, and finding a way around obstacles, is so entrenched that no distinction is made about the nature of the infraction involved. Any ‘way around a problem’ is seen as being presumptively good. Anything that sort of works is worked beyond the limits of its capacity and without regard for any long-term consequences. The belief that one can infinitely postpone any final consequences, by gaming the system in one small way or another neutralizes the fear of catastrophic outcomes. The short term is real and immediate and the long term mere speculation, which in any case can be ‘managed’ when the time comes.

    By valorizing solutions, regardless of what they might be and what impact they might eventually have, any intolerance for failure is played down. The regularity with which natural calamities occur, the predictable nature of fires, building collapses and stampedes, with the familiar scenes of chaos and anguish that surround these, point to a tacit acceptance of these as a fact of life. However, at some level, this is what is beginning to change. Increasingly, there is an expectation that the state response to such situations be more professional, an expectation that the media has helped foster. But this intolerance is still shallow, for it loses steam after the event, and life goes on.

    In all such disasters, the only institution that routinely covers itself with credit is that of the armed forces. Trained in the idiom of action, organized in a way that is purposeful, and acting without a trace of self-interest, the armed forces deliver what every self-respecting profession, in an ideal world, should. The army masks the extent of the problem that exists by its efficiency and commitment. As for the rest, the Uttarakhand tragedy tells us that the system cannot be endlessly gamed; that there are final consequences that cannot be manipulated or wished away. This kind of disaster will happen next year, and the year after in the hills and elsewhere. 

Kerala’s Riches & Rapes : One of India’s most Progressive State, but Crime Data is Shockingly Bad

Kerala is supposed to be a socialist paradise with the best social and gender indicators, frowning on economic growth and globalisation. But a look at the latest crime data suggests that even Kerala's image as a civilised paradise for women is much exaggerated.

Of all states, Kerala has the highest crime rate of 455.8 per lakh people, over twice the national rate of 196.7. India's Crime Capital is Kochi (817.9) followed by Kollam (637.3).

Now, crimes are underreported in India, especially in the north. So, Kerala's high crime figures represent, in part, proper recording of crimes. Even so, the figures look uncomfortably high.

Crimes Against Women

Kerala has the highest female-male ratio (1084:1000 against the national 940:1000) and the highest female literacy rate (92%). This is attributed to a historical lead in education, matrilineality and enlightened gender attitudes.

Yet crimes against women in Kerala are shockingly high. The rape rate in Kerala (2.9) is almost one and a half times the national rate (2.1). The rate of assault on women with intent to outrage their modesty is 10.7 in Kerala, thrice as high as the national average (3.7). The rate of insults related to the modesty of women is 1.4, against the national 0.8.

Kerala does far better than India overall in dowry deaths: its rate 0.1 against the national 0.7. Yet cruelty to women comes in at the rate of 15 per lakh population, almost double the national 8.8.

The highest rates for cruelty are in two other Marxist strongholds — Tripura (23.4) and Bengal (21.9). Can this be attributed entirely to Marxist transparency in reporting ? Nobody will believe the very low rate of 3.7 in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, who are clearly guilty of gross under-reporting.

Kerala has a relatively low rate of murder and theft, but its cheating rate is almost double the national average. It is the champion in criminal rioting (31.4 against the national 6.2). This may explain the state's extraordinarily high rate of criminal hurt (60.7 against the national 27.7) and arson (1.6 against 1.0). We need more research on these subjects.

Crime data are an additional reason to rethink the famed Kerala model of socialist development. For decades, Amartya Sen and Mahbub ul Haq (creator of the Human Development Index) lavished praise on Kerala for achieving high social indicators through government intervention while being poor and growing slowly. New research shows this to be substantially illusory.

Rethinking the Model

Despite land reform and Marxist pretensions, the state is virtually the most unequal in India (with a Gini coefficient of 0.392 against the national 0.336). True, it has the highest Human Development Index, Life Expectancy and Literacy, and the Lowest Fertility and Infant Mortality Rate. But these have not arisen by emphasising welfare over GDP or economic growth.

Kerala has been among the richest five states (measured by per capita income) since 1980-81. It has the Highest Per Capita spend in rural and urban areas. It is among the fastest-growing states, with a peak growth rate of 10.4% in 2007-08. This owes a lot to rising remittances from overseas Keralites, which now account for 32% of state GDP. So, Kerala's high social indicators are correlated not with poverty or lack of economic growth, but with rising Mammonisation.

~ THE ECONOMICS TIMES