A two-day National Seminar on New Material and Technology in Building Industry will begin here on July 24, 1998. The seminar will discuss availability of building materials at affordable prices and appropriate cost effective construction technology, crucial to the sustained development of housing and building sector and conversion of waste products into innovative building materials alongwith a new innovative technology of construction.

    Organised jointly by Central Public Works Department (CPWD), Housing and Urban Development Corporation (HUDCO) and Building Material and Technological Promotion Council (BMTPC), under the aegis of the Ministry of Urban Affairs and Employment, the National Seminar will be inaugurated by the Minister of State for Urban Affairs and Employment Shri Bandaru Dattatreya. Engineers, Architects, Planners, Manufacturers of Building Materials, Professionals associated with Building environment belonging to Government Departments, Housing Boards, Development Authorities, Town and Country Planners organisations, Teaching and Training Institutions and Private Builders of repute will take part in the Seminar. continued.

    Five broad sub-themes will be discussed covering building components, wood substitutes, emerging concrete technologies, other innovative materials and mechanisation and relevant construction technologies. Based on extensive deliberations on the various sub-themes of the Seminar, a suitable action plan will be drawn up and sent to various concerned authorities for appropriate implementation. This will help increased utilisation of alternative and economical materials and innovative construction technology.
 
 

    Altogether 43522 houses were constructed under the Indira Awaas Yojana (IAY) in Karanataka during 1997-98. In the current financial year the number of houses constructed under the scheme upto April was 1764. During 1998-99, Rs.63.21 crore has been released to Karnataka as Central share under IAY. The physical target is yet to be finalised. This information was given by the Minister of Rural Areas & Employment, Shri Babagouda Patil in reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha today.
 
 

    Only Assam, Haryana, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Rajasthan and the Union Territory of Dadra & Nagar Haveli have so far constituted Monitoring and Vigilance Committees at the block levels to oversee the implementation of rural development and poverty alleviation programmes. The other States and Union Territories are yet to follow suit. The Centre had instructed all State Governments to constitute Monitoring and Vigilance Committees at State, district and block levels. This was stated by the Minister of Rural Areas & Employment, Shri Babagouda Patil in reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha today.
 
 

    From an Epidemiological perspective, sanitation is the first barrier to many faecally-transmitted diseases and its effectiveness improves when integrated with improved water supply and behaviour change. However, improvements in hygiene behaviours alone can result in disease reduction and can serve as a valid programme objective.

- From an implementation standpoint, sanitation should be treated as a priority issue in its own right and not simply as an add-on to more attractive water supply programmes. Sanitation requires its own resources and its own time-frame to achieve optimal results.

- Political will at every level is necessary for sanitation programmes to be effective. Communities are more motivated to change when they know that political will exists.

- Sanitation programmes should be based on generating demand, with all its implications for education and participation, rather than providing free or subsidised infrastructure.

- Govt. sanitation policy should facilitate and enhance partnership among the private sector, NGOs community-based organisations and local authorities in achieving improved sanitation.

- As in all other public health programmes aimed at preventing diseases, promoting sanitation should be a continuous activity. This is necessary to sustain past achievements and to ensure that future generations do not become complacent as diseases decrease.
 

Sources:

    Rajiv Gandhi National Drinking Water Mission, Ministry of Rural Areas & Employment

    Population Projections for India & States, 1996 - 2016 (Census of India, 1991)

    Annual Report 1996-97, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Govt. of India

    Central Bureau of Health Intelligence, 1996

    Survey of Causes of Death (Rural), India  - Annual Report, 1995 (Series-3, No.28)
 
 

    Food Ministry proposes to recommend introduction of more duty on sugar imports to provide a level playing field to domestic sugar producers. This was stated here today by Shri S.S. Barnala, Union Minister of Food and Consumer Affairs while addressing a meeting of the Consultative Committee Members attached to his ministry. This meeting of the Consultative Committee has been convened for enlightening the members about the main activities of the ministry.

    Shri Barnala informed the members that the ex-factory levy sugar price for 1997-98 sugar season marked a 2.2 per cent increase over last season's prises and the zone-wise levy prices were being notified shortly. The Government,he said would be purchasing 12 lakh tonnes of sugar from the free sale account of the sugar industry in a phased manner based on the requirement. The price of this 12 lakh tonnes of free sale sugar will be based on the valuation made by banks from extending cash credit to sugar mills, i.e., actual average freesale realisation for the preceding three months period, or the sale price in the current month, or the CIF cost of import, whichever is the lowest, in respect of each sugar mill.

    Referring to the foodgrain stock in the central pool the minister informed the members that the stock maintained by public agencies stood at 28.61 million tonnes as on 1st June, 1998 as against 22.11 million tonnes on the same date last year. The procurement of rice for the central pool so far during the current year has been to the tune of 142 lakh tonnes as against 119 lakh tonnes in the last year's marketing season. The scheme of Targeted Public Distribution Sytem (TPDS) is in operation in all States and Union Territories since 1st June, 1997 except Delhi and Lakshadweep. As regards the storage requirements the Minister informed that the Food Corporation of India and the Central Warehousing Corporation have constructed an additional capacity of 4.24 lakh metric tonnes in 1997-98 and another 4.4 lakh metric tonnes is proposed to be added during 1998-99.

    Under price monitering by the Department of Consumer Affairs, action has been recommended against hoarders and black  marketeers under Essential Commodities Act and similar other legislative measures; the Minister informed. The Department is also considering amendments to Consumer Protection Act, 1986 to make it more effective.

    Those who attended the meeting were S/Shri: Bali Ram Kashyap, Ramji Das Rishideo, Nripen Goswami, Madhab Rajbangshi, N.J. Rathwa, Abhay Singh Bhonsle, Francisco Sardinha, H.P. Singh, Banarsi Das Gupta, Ramnarayan Goswami and Lakhiram Agarwal.
 
 

    The centre proposes to take effective and punitive action against speculators, hoarders and blackmarketeers of essential commodities particularly onions, potatoes.pulses,tea,edible oils and vanaspati. In a letter addressed to Chief Ministers of all states,Shri Surjit Singh Barnala, Union Minister Of Food and Consumer Affairs urged them to take appropriate action under Essential Commodities Act,1955 and Prevention of Blackmarketing and Maintenance of Supplies of Essential Commodities Act,1980 to deal with unscrupulous traders without delay. This action has been mooted in the wake of rise in prices of a few essential commodities in different parts of the country. During the last six months,22641 raids have been conducted all over the country under the EC Act,1955,leading to the arrest of 963 persons. The number of persons convicted stands at 555 and the value of goods confiscated is about Rs. 561.31 lakhs.
 
 

    Foreign investments of Rs. 8756 crore have been approved in the various sectors of food processing since July 1991 till March, 1998. The sectors include Grain Milling and grain based products, Fruit & Vegetable products, Deep Sea Fishing, Fermentation Industry, Consumer Industry including soft drinks, confectionery/mineral water, Milk and Milk products, Meat and Poultry products etc., This information was given in Lok Sabha today by Shri Som Pal, Minister of State for Food Processing Industries in reply to a question. The Minister also informed the House that the entry of foreign companies in the food processing sector is expected to help in better utilization of the agricultural produce, generating employment, expansion of domestic as well as export market and increase in value addition.
 
 

    As per the action plan prepared by the State Governments, all the rural habitations of the country, except some parts of Rajasthan, are to be covered with drinking water facilities during the 9th Plan period, subject to availability of funds. Water supply being a State subject, the Union Government supplements the efforts of the States by providing Central assistance under Accelerated Rural Water Supply Programme. Giving this information in the Rajya Sabha in reply to a qestion, the Minister of Rural Areas & Employment, Shri Babagouda Patil gave a break-up of habitations to have been affected by various quality problems. These are as under:

    i) Fluoride - 27845 ii) Arsenic - 9003 iii) Salinity - 33552 iv) Iron - 76404
 
 

    The frequency of the Guwahati-New Delhi Rajdhani Express is being extended. The train which is a tri-weekly will now run 4 days a week and from next year it will run six days a week. This was announced by the Railway Minister Shri Nitish Kumar at a meeting of the Members of Parliament from Assam and other Northeastern states last night. A few new trains in the region will also be introduced from 15th August this year details of which are being worked out, he said.

    Explaining the constraints of the Railways Shri Nitish Kumar told the Members that at present 6000 crore rupees would be required to complete the ongoing projects in Northeast alone. To meet this huge expenditure, He felt that all Northeast projects should be made national projects so that the funds could be provided by the central exchequer. He called upon all the Members of Parliament to raise their voice in support of this demand. He reiterated that all these projects would continue to get top priority and 10 per cent of the budgetary support would be spend for Northeast only. The Minister was also of the opinion that any amount invested for Northeast should be made dividend free.

    The Minister of State for Railways Shri Ram Naik informed the meeting about the subsidy for entrepreneurs for supplying raw materials and other commodities in Northeast. He also expressed Railways commitment for the development of the region.

    In response to various demands, the Members were assured that work for the gauge conversion of Lumding-Silchar line was on schedule. Rail buses have already been ordered and delivery is expected by this year end. With the networking of Guwahati-Calcutta-Delhi-Secunderabad completed, it will now be possible to get return tickets from any station within this area. The Minister also promised continuous monitoring of all major trains in the region to ensure punctual running.

    Earlier, Members from Assam and Northeastern states participating in the meeting spoke about the various problems of the region. Their demands included increasing the frequency of Rajdhani Express, allotting more quota for the region, gauge conversion, building up new railway lines, construction of Rail Yatri Niwas in Guwahati and steps to reduce late running of trains. 27 Members from Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha attended the meeting. Among them were the Minister of State for Communication Shri Kabindra Purakayastha and Minister of State for Tourism Shri Omak Apang and two former Union Ministers Shri Pawan Singh Ghatwar and Shri Tarun Gogoi. The Chairman, Members and senior officers of the Railway Board were present in the meeting.
 
 

    The Union Human Resource Development Minister, Dr. Murli Manohar Joshi felicitated the team of India students on their outstanding performance at the 39th International Mathematical Olympiad held at Taipei from 10th to 21st of July, 1998. He met the team consisted of six students here today and congratulated them for winning 3 Gold Medals. He said India is proud of their performance. He hoped that next year they would bring home more Gold medals. He said Indian's have a good mathematical brain and we are capable of coming first in such competitions.

    The Indian team comprising of six students participated in the event. Three of them Masters. Chetan Balwe (Pune), Abhinav Kumar (Jamshedpur) and N.V. Tejaswi (Bangalore) have won the Gold Medals. Masters. Soham Mazumdar (Ranch), Hariharan Narayanan (Mumbai) and Rishi Raj (Ranchi) have won Silver Medals. With a view to identifying and nurturing talent in mathematics at school level, the International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) is held every year. India has been regularly participating in IMO since 1989.

    In the 9 previous participation, India had won only 2 Gold Medals. On the aggregate scores of all the contestants at the 39th Olympiad, the Indian team was placed 7th behind Iran, Bulgaria, Hungary, USA, Taiwan and Russia. About 80 countries had participated in the event. India's best team ranking before 39th Olympiad was 10th in the year 1991. The Indian students team was led by Dr. Shailesh Shirali of Rishi Valley High School (A.P.) and Dr. C.S. Yogananda of National Board for Higher Mathematics (Olympiad Cell, Bangalore) as Deputy Leader.

    Mr. Raghunathan, Chairman, National Board of Higher Mathematics, Mr. Chidambaram, Secretarty, Science & Technology were also present and Government will give all possible help to move up. Nobel Prize should be the aim.
 
 

    We need to develop a healthy and constructive attitude towards woman and the girl child. This was stated by Dr. Murli Manohar Joshi, Minister for Human Resource Development while addressing the State Ministers and Secretaries attending the two-day conference, here today. It is also necessary to chalk out programmes to help the women of India to develop an independent personality and a strong economic base.

    He said it is this Government's policy that there should be no discrimination against women and the girl child. We need an integrated scheme on women issues. At present, the problem is that different schemes dealing with women's development and other issues are with different departments and Ministries. He said that the Government has decided that education for girls till B.A. will be made free of cost. This will be done in a phased manner. He asked the Ministers of various states to give suggestions for an Action Plan to ensure that the girl child has a strong economic base from childhood to adulthood. He mooted the idea of a Fund, which can be used by her for taking loans to start small enterprenuership projects.

    Expressing concern for the attitude towards the girl child, he said that there were Commissions for minorities, SC/STs and women but none for the children. The Government has decided to form a National Commission for Children which will promote the interests of children in general and the girl child specifically, he said. He congratulated the personnel for the success of the schemes that had earned international acclaim.

    Women are considered second class citizens in our society today and there is need to bring about awareness not only among men but women also who differentiate between the male and female child, Dr. Joshi said. In order to secure a dignified status for women, education and gainful employment are the tools he said.

    Addressing the delegates, he asked the Ministers to be as involved in policy making as in its implementation. The two-day conference of state Ministers and Secretaries organised by the Department of Women and Child Development will discuss and deliberate on issues relating to the development of women and children and the implementation of various programmes like the Balika Samriddhi Yojana, National Nutrition Policy, ICDS etc.