International Dam Safety Conference
- India will be hosting the International Dam Safety Conference – 2018 at Thiruvananthapuram on January 23-24.
- The key recommendations emerging from the deliberations of the conference will be circulated to stakeholders as well as policy makers for implementation. Select technical papers received for the conference will be published as a compendium to provide a permanent reference in the libraries of the State Agencies responsible for design, construction, operation and maintenance of dams.
Dam Rehabilitation and Improvement Project (DRIP)
- DRIP is a project involving 9 implementing agencies (IAs) across seven states of India (Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Uttarakhand, and Jharkhand) and targets rehabilitation of about 225 dam projects across the country.
- The objective is to improve the safety and operational performance of selected existing dams in the territory of the participating states to sustainably manage dam safety administration.
- The project DRIP consists of three main components;
- Component I: Rehabilitation of selected dams and their appurtenances;
- Component II: Institutional Strengthening;
- Component III: Project Management.
- Institutional Strengthening includes capacity building in the DRIP Implementing Agencies through national and international training, equipping selected premier academic institutions in dam safety areas so that their expertise can be utilized to provide solutions to dam safety issues, assisting in the development of Emergency Action Plans (EAP) for dams, developing the software tool ‘Dam Health and Rehabilitation Monitoring Application (DHARMA)’, Seismic Hazard Mapping for the entire Country and development of Seismic Hazard Assessment Information System (SHAISYS), preparation of Guidelines and Manuals, strengthening of Dam Safety Organisations etc.
- Dam safety conferences are organized as an annual event under the Dam Safety Rehabilitation and Improvement Project (DRIP) project being run by the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation (MoWR, RD & GR) in the seven states of Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, and Uttarakhand.
- Launched in the year 2012 with a financial outlay of Rs. 2100 Crores, this World Bank aided project aims at the rehabilitation of old dams in the country that may be experiencing distress and are in need of attention for ensuring their structural safety and operational efficiency.
- The project aims to strengthen the institutional capacity and project management in this area. As part of this exercise, DRIP has been engaged in bringing greater awareness on dam safety issues and finding novel solutions to address them by pooling the best technologies, knowledge and experience available around the world. In this direction, Dam Safety Conferences are being organized as annual events in the different DRIP states.
- Dam professionals, academicians, scientists, as well as industries assemble to deliberate on the problems associated with the dam safety and share the concepts, techniques, instruments, materials etc. available to address the design and construction of new dams, and also for monitoring, surveillance, operation, maintenance, rehabilitation along with disaster mitigation measures for existing dams.
Dam Health and Rehabilitation Monitoring Application (DHARMA)
- A software Programme DHARMA will also be launched during the conference.
- DHARMA is a web tool to digitize all dam related data effectively.
- It will help to document authentic asset and health information pertaining to the large dams in the country, enabling appropriate actions to ensure need based rehabilitation.
- It is a new stride in asset management aspect by India.
Homeopathy Research Institute in Jaipur
Context
- The Minister of State (IC), for AYUSH, Shri Shripad Yesso Naik laid the foundation stone for Central Research Institute (CRI) in Jaipur on 22nd January 2018.
Details
- It will be the third CRI under the aegis of Central Council for Research in Homoeopathy (CCRH), an autonomous body of Ministry of AYUSH for undertaking scientific research in Homoeopathy, with 23 institutes across the country.
- The institute is also contributing to the Swasthya Rakshan Program at five adopted villages i.e. Chharsa, Kumbhawas, Sakatpura, Khoraladkhani, Hanutpura. Under National Health Mission, 19 villages under Amber block are being catered to for the program “Healthy Teething in Children through Homoeopathy”.
Significance
- Strengthening of infrastructure of research institutes meant more quality research, and therefore, more evidence-based information on Homoeopathy.
ASEAN – India Business and Investment Meet and Expo
- The inaugural plenary, on the theme of ‘Promoting Mutual Trade and Investment for Shared Prosperity’ covered discussions on strengthening India’s economic relations with the countries in the East with both sides aiming to scale up bilateral trade and investment in the region.
- The session focused on trade facilitation measures taken to promote trade between India and ASEAN countries in manufacturing sector, promoting SME ecosystem to enhance entrepreneurship quotient in the region and startup culture to create new pipeline of ideas.
- ASEAN India Expo showcases the best in trade and services in India and ASEAN region.
- Buyers and exhibitors across the sectors such as Infrastructure, manufacturing, manufacturing & engineering, ICT, healthcare, Tourism, Environment, Agriculture, Science & technology, Finance and Banking, Logistics and Retail are participating in the Expo.
Zero scrap balance
- Earnings from sale of Railway scrap not only augments Railways revenue but also helps in keeping the Railway track, stations, workshops, depots neat and tidy. In this regard, Ministry of Railways has directed all Zonal Railway & Production units to achieve Zero scrap balance by end of March 2018.
- General Managers of all the Zonal Railways/PUs have been advised to regularly monitor this activity and to intensify supervision at senior officers’ level so as to promptly identify scrap and offer it for e-auction.
Details
- Indian Railways have been selling its internally generated scrap entirely through online e-auction. Majority of the scrap material comprises of worn-out rails and track fittings released from track renewal/gauge conversion, steel scrap generated in course of overhaul /repairs of rolling stocks, other non-ferrous and miscellaneous
- The e-auction module is part of the IREPS (Indian Railways E-Procurement System) which is a single portal of Indian Railways handling all procurements tenders and e-auctions digitally.
- All the Zonal Railways and Production Units use this single platform for online sales of scrap.
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