The Union Minister for Steel & Mines, Shri Naveen Patnaik has called upon the States to minimise the delays in processing the mining proposals for prospecting licences as well as grant or renewal of mining leases. He said the State Governments would have to realise that delays affect developmental activities and therefore should be minimised by rationalising procedures and by reducing the decision making levels.

    The Minister was inaugurating the 32nd Annual General Meeting of the Federation of Indian Mineral Industries here today.

    Speaking on the occasion Shri Patnaik said that the States are the owners of the minerals and therefore they would have to be more active as the Centre's role is that of a facilitator only. He said the Central Government is trying to impress upon the States the urgency of taking decision fast by creating investment-friendly atmosphere. He pointed out that a State like Rajasthan which has made an investment-friendly atmosphere, is attracting more attention from the investors whereas some other minerals rich States which have not been able to firm up their policies as yet have not been able to attract any significant investment.

    Shri Patnaik also said that the Government would soon take a decision on the recommendations of the Committee constituted under the Chairmanship of Secretary, Mines to look into the existing law and procedures for regulation and development and to suggest steps to make them compatible with the policy changes and delegate more powers to the States.

    The Minister also disclosed that Ministry of Mines has constituted a multi-disciplinary Committee to examine the taxation regime affecting the mineral sector and to suggest appropriate tax structure conducive to the rapid development of the mining sector.

    On FIMI's suggestion to waive customs duties on imports of equipment for airborne mineral exploration where indigenous technology is lacking, Shri Patnaik responded in positive calling the suggestions " pertinent and worth considering". He assured that the suggestions made by FIMI to create a separate "Mining Areas Infrastructure Development Board" would receive due attention of the Government.

    Shri Patnaik hoped that with the liberalisation of the mining sector state-of-the-art technology for exploration would come to the country through foreign and domestic investment. This, he said, would fill a void to a great extent as the high value minerals require exploration with advance techniques involving huge investment which could not be made due to financial constraints of the Governments.

    Later Shri Naveen Patnaik presented Social Awareness Awards for 1997-98. The public sector Bailadila Iron Ore Project Deposit-5 and the Panchpatmali Bauxite Mine of the public sector NALCO received these awards which were instituted by FIMI to recognize the efforts of mining companies who are playing an active role in promoting the social well-being of people living around mining areas.
 
 

    The highlights of the new Housing and Habitat Policy and major differences with the earlier National Housing Policy 1994 are as follows:

    National Housing and Habitat Policy aims for surplus in the housing stock in the country. The aim of the earlier Policy was to reduce houselessness.

    The National Housing Policy 1994 focused primarily on housing activities. The related issues of supporting infrastructure and environment did not receive much attention. The new Housing and Habitat Policy seeks to address the whole issue of urban and rural settlements. The new Policy takes cognizance of the environmental issues and seeks to promote sustainable development of habitat. It provides for planned growth and sustainable use and consumption of natural resources.

    The erstwhile Housing Policy talked about progressive shift in the Government's role from provider to an enabler. The role of other agencies like private sector, co-operative sector etc. had not been clearly spelt out. The new Policy while re-iterating the above shift in the role goes further and provides that the  for  vulnerable sections in keeping with the National Agenda for Governance for provision of 20 lakh houses per year.

    The basic infrastructure services like water supply, sanitation, power supply etc., have been made an integral part of housing development in the new Policy. The urban planning process would include urban transport as a necessary component. The focus on these supporting services was not prominent in the earlier Housing Policy. The new Policy provides for a progressive shift from subsidy based to credit-cum-subsidy based housing schemes in the rural areas.

    The new Policy provides that the package of fiscal and other concessions would enable the private sector to take up the task of shelter delivery for the poor. These concessions are to be linked with housing for the vulnerable sections.

    The housing finance for the vulnerable group is sought to be made into an affordable and sustainable mechanism. The Shelter Fund and the Risk Fund would facilitate down marketing of credit to the poor.

    The new Policy recognises the role of technology in the housing sector. Energy efficiency and energy saving building materials, waste recycling, waste as raw material, use of locally available raw materials are emphasised. It also provides for use of wasteland for growing timber with fast recycling period for housing construction, increasing the life of bio-mass based houses, promotion of non-conventional and eco-friendly energy sources in settlements. A mission approach for use of housing technology in rural areas would be adopted.

    The new Policy focuses on the need for skill upgradation, training and employment in the housing construction. Building industries is one of the largest employer of women workers and their biggest exploiter in terms of wage disparity. The Policy recognises the role of women workers in the construction sectors and provides for their training, skill upgradation, adequate safety in hazardous construction activities and their induction at supervisory level. The exploitation of children in the construction sector will be strictly band and steps would be taken to provide them with educational and other facilities.

    The new Policy takes congnizance of the threat to the housing stock by major natural calamities like floods, earthquakes and cyclones. It advocates pre-disaster mitigation techniques by construction/retrofitting of dwellings in disaster-prone regions to prevent or minimise loss of life and shelter. This is sought to be carried out through the Vulnerability Atlas and Techno-legal Regime. The new Policy places strong emphasis on legal and administrative reforms in the housing sector. It spells out the streamlining of various regulatory procedures and provides for time-bound approval of projects.
 
 

    In the first quarter of 1998-99, the originating revenue earning freight loading on Indian Railways has registered a drop of about 7.29 million tonnes as compared to the target. Against a target of 106.65 million tonnes, the loading came to 99.36 million tonnes, which is 3.97 million tonnes less than the loading achieved in the corresponding period last year. Against a monthly target of 35.85 million tonnes, only 33.06 million tonnes could be achieved, during June 1998 leaving a shortfall of 2.79 million tonnes.

    `The main items loaded included 16.25 million tonnes of coal, 0.83 million tonnes of iron and steel, 2.93 million tonnes of cement, 1.91 million tonnes of foodgrains, 2.03 million tonnes of fertilizers and 2.50 million tonnes of Petroleum Oil and Lubricant during June 1998.

    The Railways have fixed a loading of 450 million tonnes for the year 1998-99. During the last financial year, the actual loading was 429.37 million tonnes. This year, drop in demand from the major core sectors of the economy which includes Power, coal, foodgrains, cement, fertiliser, steel and Petroleum has been responsible for the fall in the loading level. In this connection, Ministry of Railways is maintaining continuous close liaison both with the rail-user organisations as well as the concerned Ministries and Departmentsss for maximising movement of traffic by rail. Also close monitoring is being done to ensure smooth movement of freight traffic.
 
 

    The Department of Post issued a special postage stamp on the occasion of 125 years of Vidyasagar College, here today. The stamp is in the denomination of Rs.2/-.

    Vidyasagar college was founded by the illustrious Pundit Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar as "Metropolitan Institution" in the year 1872. It was rechristened as "Vidyasagar College" in the year 1917.

    Vidyasagar college has been a unique institute of higher education, conceived, established and managed by Indians only, during the British rule in India. Its object was to impart higher education to Indian students, and inculcate in them a patriotic outlook. It also sought to make higher education affordable to the economically weaker students.

    During its existence for the last one hundred and twenty five years, Vidyasagar college has made remarkable contributions to the country in the field of education, literature, sports, culture and above all, freedom movement. This is particularly relevant and worth remembering, when India is celebrating its 50th year of independence.

    Vidyasagar college was the cradle of the national freedom movement. A number of eminent people including Rabindranath Tagore, Surendranath Bannerjee, Chittaranjan Das, Narendranath Dutta (Swami Vivekananda), Acharya P.C. Roy, Gostha Paul, Babu Jagjivan Ram, Ram Manohar Lohia, etc. were associated with the college. Four undergraduate colleges, namely, the Seuri Vidyasagar College, the Nabadwip Vidyasagar college, Vidyasagar college for Women and Vidyasagar Evening College have taken their origin from this college.

    The First Day Cover and Information Sheet is available on sale at all Philatelic Bureaux/Counters and at a select Post Offices.
 
 

    The Minister of State for Communications, Shri Kabindra Purkayastha has said that highest priority will accorded to improve communication links between the NorthEast region and the rest of India. He said that efforts are on to strengthen effective telecommunication services in the border areas, insurgency infested pockets and hilly regions of the North-East. Shri Purkayastha further said that connectivity of villages in the North-East will be improved by exploring appropriate technologies like MARR-DIGITAL and satellite system of telecommunications. The Minister was responding to the various problems outlined by the North-Eastern Members of Parliament in a meeting held here, late last evening. The Members of Parliament were invited by him to discuss various matters pertaining to development of the North-Eastern region in respect of Telecommunications and Post.

    Agreeing to the suggestion of a Member that adequate telecom facilities should be provided for the forthcoming national games in Manipur in October, the Minister said that all necessary telecom facilities with STD and ISD connectivity will be in position to meet the requirements of the event.

    Shri Purkayastha stated that concrete action will be taken in the Postal sector to upgrade the postal services in the North-East region and do away with the existing deficiencies. A concerted effort will be made to remove the bottlenecks which inhibit delivery of mail on time. He further said that steps will be taken to widen the network of speed post services in the region. The Minister said that expansion of postal network, buildings for staff and employees and modernisation of postal services will continue to have high priority. Delivery of postal mail to remote and other inaccessible areas will also be streamlined to meet the needs of the people, he added.

    A number of other problems raised by the Members of Parliament related to Postal and Telecom facilities include improvement of billing system, completion of pending communication projects, a perspective plan for five years with clearly defined priorities, efficient utilisation of financial allocation of the North-East, meeting the targets of direct exchange lines and STD/ISD/PCOs, systematic deployment of staff and reduction of waiting list of telephones. Some of the Members said that Fax and Telex services should be improved not only to meet the needs of the people but also of the media. The Members also stressed the need for Telecom and Postal Training Centres, attitudinal change in the Telecom and Postal employees with a customer-friendly focus. A section of the Members felt that there is a need to reorganise Telecom Districts to meet the needs of the people of the area effectively. The Minister said that all the suggestions will be examined with despatch and promptitude and practical and effective solutions will be worked out to reduce the problems being faced by the people of the region.

    Commenting on the suggestion for a Training Centre, Shri Purkayastha said that such a centre is likely to be started in Guwahati for which land acquisition process has started. A few more training centres are also being planned in other States for training junior cadre staff, he added.

    Earlier, addressing the meeting, Shri Purkayastha said that it is proposed to connect all telephone exchanges with reliable media (Optical Fibre and Microwave Links) by the year 2000 which will be ahead of all India target of having reliable media connectivity to all exchanges by 2002. In order to achieve the aim of Universal Service Availability, it is proposed to open about 25 new exchanges in the State of Assam and 54 new exchanges in the rest of the six States. It is also proposed to install 1000 village Public Telephones (VPTs) in the remaining six State of North East apart from 2900 VPTs in the State of Assam.

    The Minister said there are about 600 telephone exchanges spread all over the seven States of the North-Eastern region which are all electronic. The telecommunication network in the North Eastern region has a capacity of 3.6 lakh lines serving about 2.8 lakh customers. It is planned to provide 82,000 new telephone connections during the current financial year. This will considerably reduce the waiting period for new telephone connections. It is also proposed to make Telephone On Demand available in the State capitals during the current financial year.

    Outlining the other items on the agenda for the year, the Minister said that it is proposed to provide about 1250 route Kms. Of Optical Fibre, about 1000 Route Kms. Of Digital Microwave and 15 MCPC VSAT terminals; all new services in the North Eastern region is also proposed. Cellular services have already started in Guwahati and it is likely to be started in Shillong soon. Paging service is also available in Guwahati. Internet services have been introduced in Guwahati with a base of 300 subscribers and it is likely to be started in other State capitals and a few District Headquarters during this financial year. Further, data facilities like I-net services are also available in Guwahati.

    As for the postal sector is concerned, Shri Purkayastha said that the Department has planned a number of projects during the current financial year including 50 Extra Departmental Branch Offices to be opened in Assam circle; deployment of and modernisation and computerisation of mail services; 4 mail offices will be modernised; and computerised customer care in three Head Post Offices will be opened.