NEW DELHI, August 5 : Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology; Minister of State (Independent Charge) Earth Sciences; MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh today said that besides making governance technology driven, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also introduced innovation in governance reforms.
This is the essence of the success story of Modi’s Mantra of “reform, perform and transform”, he said.
Speaking after the launch of 16th edition of Central Secretariat Manual of Office Procedure (CSMOP) 2022, the Minister said, there is continuous innovation in reforms under Modi, who takes personal interest in all governance related issues. He also informed that some of the success stories in governance reforms implemented by Modi as Chief Minister of Gujarat are being replicated at the Centre like the abolition of interviews, prompt redressal of grievances and weeding out of obsolete laws.
Dr Jitendra Singh said, since 2014, when Modi took charge at the centre, there is a visible change in the work culture and all the Ministries are strictly adhering to timelines in execution of projects. Referring to CSMOP 2022, the Minister said, after 2019, this is the 2nd Manual prepared by DARPG within such a short time under Modi Government and this is a clear-cut reflection of continuity, consistency and innovation in reforms.
Referring to productive and result-oriented reforms in grievance redressal, Dr Jitendra Singh said, Department of Administrative Reforms & Public Grievances (DARPG) in the union Ministry of Personnel has emerged as a role model, which many of the States and UTs are trying to emulate. He also pointed out that requests are pouring in from several States and UTs for linking their grievance portal with Central CPGRAMS. He said, after Jammu and Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, several such requests are being received.
Apart from the launch of 16th edition of Central Secretariat Manual of Office Procedure (CSMOP) 2022, Dr Jitendra Singh also launched Impact Evaluation Report of the Initiative for Increasing Efficiency in Decision Making in the Central Secretariat 2022, Swachhta Assessment Report 2022 and CPGRAMS Monthly Report July 2022.
Dr Jitendra Singh said, the Central Secretariat Manual of Office Procedure 2022 is the 16th Edition of the CSMOP first published in 1955 to enable the march to a digital central secretariat. He said, the 16th Edition has focused on the 4-pronged approach of Delayering, Delegation, Operationalization of Desk Officer System, Digitization of Central Registration Units and Implementation of e-Office ver 7.0 as part of the silent transformation under way in the context of “Maximum Governance – Minimum Government”.
The Swachhta Assessment Report 2022 highlights that the Swachhta Campaign has resulted in holistic process improvement in disposal of pending matters by Central Ministries/ Departments with focus on cleanliness process adoption. The Swachhta Campaign activities are implemented on a regular basis in all Ministries/ Departments for 3 hours/ week. The success of the Campaign is highlighted by the efficient management of the space and bringing pendency down by significant margin. 12 lac sq. feet of space was freed and scrap worth Rs. 62 crore was disposed.
V. Srinivas, Secretary DARPG said that the CPGRAMS Monthly Report, is a unique initiative to present a comprehensive analysis on types and categories of public grievances in Government of India and nature of disposal along with relative performance of Ministries/ Departments. The CPGRAMS Monthly Report says that 68576 PG cases were redressed in July 2022 along with 8539 appeals. The CPGRAMS Monthly Report contains the Grievance Redressal Index which ranks Ministries/ Departments on the overall quality and timely disposal of grievances. For the month of July 2022, Department of Land Resources, Department of Public Enterprises and Department of Expenditure are the top performers in the Grievance Redressal Index for July 2022.
All the 4 reports will be available at www.darpg.gov.in.
The launch function was attended by all Senior Officers of DARPG, all Nodal Appellate Authorities, all Nodal Grievance Officers as also all Nodal Officers of the Special Swachhta Campaign in Government of India.

New Delhi, August 5: India and China held a special round of military talks on Tuesday at the Chushul-Moldo border meeting point in Eastern Ladakh to discuss air space violations and provocations by the Chinese side in that area in the last 45 days.
The talks were held after the Indian Air Force sternly countered the Chinese attempts to provoke in the Eastern Ladakh sector by violating air space and the confidence-building measure lines which mandate that both sides should fly fighter planes within 10 Kms of the LAC.
“During the military talks, the Indian side strongly raised objections over the Chinese flying activities near Eastern Ladakh sector for over a month now and asked them to avoid such provocative activities,” government sources said.
The talks have also come at a time when the Chinese are having tense relations with multiple countries including the US over a high-profile American visit to Taiwan and its firing of ballistic missiles in the Japanese Exclusive Economic Zone.
The talks between the two sides included Air Force officers from both sides along with Army representatives.
The Indian Air Force was represented by Air Commodore Amit Sharma from the Operations branch while an equivalent rank officer came from the People’s Liberation Army’s Air Force side for the discussions.
The Indian Army was represented by a Major General-rank officer under the Fire and Fury Corps headed by Lt Gen A Sengupta, the sources said.
The Chinese have been complaining about the Indian Air Force upgrading its capability to detect Chinese Air Force aircraft operating within the territory controlled by them in the Tibet region.
The confrontation between the two Air Forces started in June last week when on June 25, a PLAAF J-11 fighter aircraft flew very close to a friction point in Eastern Ladakh around 4 AM and was picked up by both men on ground as well as radars.
The Chinese activities opposite the Chumar sector continued for over a month and the Indian Air Force responded strongly by scrambling its fighter aircraft including the Mirage 2000 and MiG-29s from its advance bases near the Ladakh region.
The sources said the Chinese had not expected such a strong reaction from the IAF which was ready for taking on any possible misadventure from the PLAAF side.
During this time, IAF was also taking precautions to ensure that there was no escalation of the matters on the ground along with keeping a close watch on their air activities, they said.
In an earlier interview with news agency a few weeks ago, IAF Chief Air Chief Marshal Vivek Ram Chaudhari had stated that “Whenever we find that Chinese aircraft or remotely piloted aircraft systems (RPAS) are coming a little too close to the LAC, we take appropriate measures by scrambling our fighters or putting our systems on high alert. This has deterred them to quite an extent,” the IAF chief said.
The Air Force elements of both countries are now likely to form part of the talks between the two countries at the Corps Commander level in future also.
India and China have held 16 rounds of Corps commander-level talks between them to deescalate the situation and tensions which started after the Chinese tried to alter the status quo on the LAC in 2020.
Till now, the talks led by the Fire and Fury Corps Commander from the Indian side have representatives from the ITBP and the Ministry of External Affairs.
The two sides have been able to resolve three frictions points in eastern Ladakh and are holding discussions to find solutions for the Hot Springs area also.
The Chinese are discussing only the issues of boundary dispute which have emerged post-May 2020 and have refused to hold talks on legacy issues.
The Indian Air Force has upgraded its detection. capabilities along the China border in the Ladakh sector also but it has to further strengthen its network and coverage to keep a close eye on the PLAAF activities near the Indian territory. (Agencies)

Murali Sreeshankar of India won silver in the men’s long jump competition at the Commonwealth Games on Thursday at the Alexander Stadium in Glasgow.

This is India’s second athletics medal at Birmingham 2022, following Tejaswin Shankar’s bronze in the high jump on Wednesday.

This medal brings India’s total medal count at the Commonwealth Games to 19 (five gold, seven silver, and seven silver).

Sreeshankar leapfrogged from seventh to second place with a superb jump on his fifth attempt of 8.08 metres.

The athlete from Palakkad, Kerala, tied for first place at 8.08 metres, but Laquan Nairn of Bahamas won the gold medal with a better second jump of 7.94 metres, compared to 7.84 metres by Sreeshankar, who had a very disappointing performance at the Tokyo Olympics. Jovan van Vuuren of South Africa took bronze with a best effort of 8.06 metres.

This is India’s first silver medal at the Commonwealth Games in men’s long jump, and its second medal in this discipline after Suresh Babu won bronze in Edmonton, Canada in 1978.

Anju Bobby George, who won the women’s long jump bronze medal at the 2002 Commonwealth Games, was the last Indian to do so.

The other Indian in the men’s long jump final, Muhammad Anees Yahiya, finished fifth with a best effort of 7.97 metres.

Mumbai, Aug 5: The Reserve Bank on Friday raised the key interest rate by 50 basis points, the third straight increase since May in an effort to cool stubbornly high inflation and defend the rupee.
The repurchase rate was raised by 50 basis points to lift the interest rate to the pre-pandemic level. The 5.40 per cent repo rate was last seen in August 2019.
Announcing the rate hike, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das did not offer any indication of a change in the stance or a possible pause in the next policy due in late September.
The Reserve Bank of India’s six-member rate-setting panel voted unanimously on the rate hike decision while sticking to its resolve to withdraw the accommodative stance.
It, however, retained GDP growth projection at 7.2 per cent for the current fiscal ending March 31, 2023, and kept the inflation outlook for the year unchanged at 6.7 per cent.
“Inflationary pressures are broad-based and core inflation remains elevated. Inflation is projected to remain above the upper tolerance level of 6 per cent through the first three quarters of 2022-23, entailing the risk of destablishing inflation expectations and triggering second-round effects,” he said.
The RBI targets inflation at 2-6 per cent.
June was the sixth consecutive month when headline CPI inflation remained at or above the upper tolerance level of 6 per cent.
Stating that there has been some let-up in global commodity prices, particularly in prices of industrial metals, and some softening in global food prices, the governor said domestic edible oil prices are expected to soften further on the back of improving supplies from key producing countries.

Further, the advance of the southwest monsoon is by and large on track and kharif sowing has picked up in the recent weeks.
“The shortfall in kharif sowing of paddy, however, needs to be watched closely, although buffer stocks are quite large. Household inflation expectations have eased but they still remain elevated,” he said.
The central bank surprised markets with a 40 bps hike at an unscheduled meeting in May, followed by a 50 bps increase in June, but prices have shown little sign of cooling off yet.
The latest increase mirrors the US Federal Reserve-led global tightening of interest rates to rein in spiraling prices, caused by supply snarls and energy price shocks following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The MPC believes “calibrated withdrawal of monetary policy accommodation is warranted to keep inflation expectations anchored and contain the second round effects,” Das said.
On the rupee depreciating against the US dollar, he said at a 4.7 per cent decline, the rupee fared much better than several reserve currencies as well as many of its EME and Asian peers.
“The depreciation of the Indian rupee is more on account of the appreciation of the US dollar rather than weakness in macroeconomic fundamentals of the Indian economy. Market interventions by the RBI have helped in containing volatility and ensuring the orderly movement of the rupee,” he said.
He said the RBI will remain watchful and maintain the stability of the rupee.
The Indian economy has been impacted by the global economic situation and is grappling with the problem of high inflation.
“Nevertheless, with strong and resilient fundamentals, India is expected to be amongst the fastest growing economies during 2022-23 according to the IMF, with signs of inflation moderating over the course of the year,” he said.
The financial sector is well capitalised and sound while the foreign exchange reserves – supplemented by net forward assets – provide insurance against global spillovers. “Our umbrella remains strong,” he said. (Agencies)

The Delhi Police have imposed Section 144 of the CrPC in the New Delhi district except Jantar Mantar, ahead of the Congress party’s call for nationwide protests against inflation and unemployment.

In the wake of a protest call given by the Congress party, the Delhi Traffic Police on Friday issued an advisory asking commuters to avoid certain roads especially of New Delhi area.

As per the advisory issued, commuters should expect heavy congestion on Sardar Patel Marg, Shanti Path, Panchsheel Marg, Tughlaq Road, APJ Abdul Kalam road, Prithvi Raj Road, Shahjahan Road, Zakir Hussain Marg, Maulana Azad Road, Rafi Marg, Janpath Road, Ashoka Road, Rajendra Prasad Road, Mother Teresa Crescent Marg, Baba Kharag Singh Marg and Mathura Road.

It also stated that traffic movement will be hardly possible on Kamal Attatuk marg, Kauttilya Marg, Teen Murti Marg, Raja ji Marg, Akbar Road, Safdarjung Road.

Even though the Delhi Police has denied the permisiion to hold the protest, the Congress party leaders has decided to go ahead and stage a pan-India protest today.

All the party general secretaries, state in-charges and state presidents have been given directions to stage the protest at all levels in their respective states. They were also told to ensure that the office-bearers of the party connect with the public for the nationwide agitation.

They have planned to hold a demonstration outside the residences of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Droupadi Murmu.

Due to special traffic arrangements, movement of buses will be restricted beyond Dhaula Kuan, Ridge Road, Shankar Road, Panchkuian Road, Chelmsford Road, Minto Road, Mathura Road, W-Point, Lodhi Road, Aurobindo Marg, Africa Road and Moti Bagh red light.

Meanwhile, there is heavy presence of police personnel outside the Congress headquarters at 24, Akbar Road.