Rail Ministry swings into safety mode
official said the minister is laying emphasis on safety in railway operations for which the Railway Board has been directed to collaborate with international experts on this subject and identify the best practices in this filed.
Ferrovie Dello Stato Italiane Group (FS Group) is a fully owned company of the Italian government working in the railway sector and is under Ministry of Treasure, Italy. The group, with its technical and managerial railway expertise, widely recognised at international level, is one of the most advanced global players in many fields, such as design and realisation of high seed and conventional lines, safety systems, certification, training and operation and maintenance. The group employs about 69,000 persons and operates over 7,000 trains per day, carrying over 600 million per year of passengers and 50 million tonnes of freight on a railway network of more than 16,700 km.
The group, through its con- trolled companies, has been working in more than 60 countries.
FS Italiane has controlled companies in many countries including France, Germany and Serbia, among others. It is to be noted that a High Level Safety Review Committee (HLSRC) under the chairmanship of Anil Kakodkar, former chairman, Atomic Energy Commission, was constituted in 2011 to look into all technical and technology related aspects for safe running of trains. The committee submitted its report in February 2012. However, the then UPA II government did nothing on this recommendation. However, Prabhu been laying emphasis on safety ever since he has joined office. Now, with these fresh initiatives, train journey, hopefully, will become safer. The ministry is also working on other measures like Train Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) on high density network, elimination of unmanned level crossings in a phased manner. TCAS is a radio communication based system with continuous update of movement authority. This system is aimed at providing capability of preventing train accidents caused due to signal passing at danger or non-observance of speed restrictions by train drivers. The Union Budget 2017-18 has brought good news for the minority communities in the country, with an overall 10% increase in the budget of the Ministry of Minority Affairs. Addressing the media, Union Minister of State for Minority Affairs (Independent Charge) & Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said that the Narendra Modi government’s focus is on educational and skill development of minorities which is why the maximum part of this budget would go for educational empowerment and skill development of the minorities.
The Budget of the Ministry of Minority Affairs has been increased to Rs 4195.48 crore for 2017-18 compared to Rs 3827.25 crore last year. With a difference of Rs 368.23 crore, it has increased about 9.6%. According to the ministry, over Rs 2,600 crore has been provided for various scholarships and skill development schemes such as “Seekho aur Kamao”, “Nai Manzil”, “Nai Roushni”, “Usttad”, “Garib Nawaz Skill Development Centre” and “Begum Hazrat Mahal Scholarship for Girls”. Naqvi said that with an increase of Rs 141 crore, this year Rs 1,200 crore has been allocated under the Multisectoral Development Programme (MsDP), which will also be utilised for various educational development activities. The MsDP scheme provides basic infrastructure for minority concentrated areas such as schools, hospitals, roads, multipurpose community centres “Sadbhav Mandap” etc. Naqvi said that Rs 393.54 crore has been given for merit-cum-means based scholarship; Rs 950 crore for pre-matric scholarship; Rs 550 crore for post-matric scholarship; Rs 250 crore for “Seekho aur Kamao” (with an increase of Rs 40 crore compared to the last budget); Rs 176 crore for “Nai Manzil” (with an increase of Rs 56 crore compared to the last budget); Rs 113 crore for Maulana Azad Education Foundation and Rs 170 crore as equity for NMDFC.
Naqvi said, “For 2017-18 we have set a target to provide scholarships to about 35 lakh students. The PM’s new 15-point programme has been playing a key role in socio-economiceducational empowerment of the minorities.”