10 billion cu-mt of water
Nearly 53.1 million people in northern China have benefited from the country’s massive water diversion project which has so far transferred 10 billion cubic meters of water from the south to the draught-prone north, authorities announced Tuesday.
The water pumped from the Yangtze River has gone to Beijing, Tianjin and the provinces of Henan and Hebei along the middle route of the water diversion project, according to the South-to-North Water Diversion Office under the State Council.
The middle route of the project carries water through canals and pipes from Danjiangkou reservoir in central China’s Hubei Province. It came into operation in late 2014.
The project has supplied 2.7 billion cubic meters of water to Beijing, serving 11 million people.
Currently about 70 percent of Beijing’s water supply comes from the project. The city’s per capita water resources have increased from 100 to 150 cubic meters. Previously the city’s water supply came mainly from underground water.
Tianjin got 2.2 billion cubic meters of water while Henan and Hebei provinces got 3.5 billion cubic meters of water and 1.1 billion cubic meters of water respectively.
Officials with the office said the project has played “an indispensable strategic role” in helping the north ease water shortage, improve water quality and ecology, build a resource-conserving society and prevent natural disasters.
NITI Aayog’s Global Entrepreneurship Summit
Global Entrepreneurship Summit 2017 to be Held in Hyderabad, November 28-30
A high-level delegation from the Government of India and the United States met today, at NITI Aayog to plan the 2017 Global Entrepreneurship Summit, which will be held November 28-30 at the Hyderabad International Convention Centre in Hyderabad, India.
The Summit will be inaugurated by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi and Advisor to the President, Ivanka Trump, who leads the U.S. delegation.
The GES is the preeminent annual gathering of emerging entrepreneurs, investors, and business leaders from around the world. Through networking, mentoring, and workshops, the GES empowers entrepreneurs to pitch their ideas, build partnerships, secure funding, and create innovative goods and services that will transform societies. This year, the focus will be on women entrepreneurs and the tremendous potential women bring to entrepreneurship.
GES 2017 will create an environment that empowers innovators, particularly women, to take their ideas to the next level. Women represent tremendous promise for economic growth and prosperity — but in both developing and developed countries, also face tremendous barriers to building businesses. This year’s theme is “Women First, Prosperity for All” to celebrate the entrepreneurial spirit in all its strengths and diversity.
GES 2017 will be attended by over 1600 delegates, including entrepreneurs and investors, CEOs of major knowledge-based industries, representing the full measure of entrepreneurial talent from diverse backgrounds across the world. The participants will be truly global, representing 160 countries, with representation from every region of the world. Entrepreneurs will represent a diverse range of geographies, industries, business size and scalability. Investors and representatives from organizations that support entrepreneurs will be hand-picked to catalyze investment, networking and mentoring. There will be special emphasis on empowering young and women entrepreneurs and the role they play in making communities more prosperous and secure through enterprise.
NITI Aayog is taking the lead in organising this Summit for the Government of India. Amitabh Kant, CEO NITI Aayog stated that this is a unique opportunity for Indian Startups and Innovators to interact and network with the finest entrepreneurs of the world. He acknowledged the support of Government of Telangana in hosting the Summit at Hyderabad, and said “India, the oldest civilization, welcomes civilizations from across the world to GES 2017. We need to harness technology to solve some of the most pressing problems in healthcare delivery, education, energy, safe drinking water and agriculture, among others for the benefit of communities at large. Innovation and entrepreneurship will play a decisive role towards this end. I am sure this will be a unique opportunity for entrepreneurs to interact with the best.”
Jennifer Arangio, Senior Director at the National Security Council, The White House, said “The United States is proud to partner with India for this year’s GES. Uniting under the theme Women First, Prosperity for All, the Summit will highlight the Trump Administration’s commitment to the principle that when women are economically empowered, communities and countries thrive. Hosting GES in India is a signature of the broad and enduring partnership between our two countries. We thank our co-host, the Government of India, for their support, energy and hospitality, and look forward to a high-impact Summit that brings together ground-breaking U.S. entrepreneurs and investors with their counterparts from around the world.”
Innovations developed by entrepreneurs have transformed the world’s economies by creating jobs, increasing productivity, and improving the quality of life for people everywhere. The summit will primarily focus on four thematic sectors: Energy & Infrastructure, Healthcare & Life Sciences, Financial Technology & Digital Economy, and Media & Entertainment sectors.
The GES 2017 agenda consists of breakout sessions, master classes, and workshops. Three networking sessions are planned in the schedule to enhance opportunities to interact with other GES 2017 participants. The summit will have Breakout Sessions where panelists will discuss key themes, innovative industries, and other aspects of entrepreneurship that are being highlighted in GES 2017. Master Classes are immersive, and typically focus in depth on a certain topic. Workshops invite more hands-on, interactive conversations on a chosen topic between the panelists and the audience.
NITI Aayog and the U.S. Embassy are planning a series of ‘Road to GES’ events in collaboration with different agencies to generate enthusiasm and attract the attention of different stakeholders.
As part of the summit, there will be a virtual exhibition of India’s innovative prowess in collaboration with the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion. It is also proposed to showcase India’s heritage, social entrepreneurship and craftsmanship in collaboration with the Ministry of Rural Development and Ministry of Culture.
For more information, visit www.ges2017.gov.in and www.ges2017.org
“Golden Week” tourism boom
With millions of Chinese visiting tourist sites and shops at home and abroad during the October “Golden Week”, their consumption power shows that tourism is one sector that China, as well as the world, could look to for more economic benefits.
In the first two days of the National Day holiday which runs from Oct. 1 to 8, China has reported double-digit growth in tourism revenue.
Some 114 million tourists spent 94 billion yuan (about 14 billion U.S. dollars) on Monday alone, up 9.9 percent and 10.9 percent respectively from the same day last year, according to data from the China National Tourism Administration (CNTA).
The previous day tourism income of 96.5 billion yuan was posted by 113 million domestic tourists, up 12.2 percent and 10.5 percent year on year, respectively.
Most Chinese have chosen to indulge in food, cultural and rural tourism this year. Theme parks, museums and traditional culture streets have also seen an obvious growth in the number of visitors, according to the CNTA.
One of China’s two “Golden Weeks”, the National Day holiday sees a surge in passenger flows, tourist revenue and retail sales. This year it has been extended by one day as the Mid-Autumn Festival falls on Oct.4.
Travel demand appears to be stronger this year, possibly because the Mid-Autumn Festival is a time for family reunion.
China Railway Corporation said that more than 15 million passenger trips were made on Sunday, the first day of the eight-day holiday, a new record high compared to 14.4 million trips made on the same day last year.
Around 710 million trips are expected be made from Oct. 1 to 8, with national tourism revenue set to reach 590 billion yuan, up 10 percent and 12.2 percent respectively on the same period last year, according to predictions by the CNTA.
Popular domestic destinations include Beijing, Sanya, Kunming and Lanzhou, according to a survey by Ctrip, China’s leading online travel agency.
At a time when traditional growth drivers are losing steam, China has pinned hopes on services, including tourism, for new impetus to drive consumption and employment, support economic growth and restructuring.
China’s domestic tourism industry earned about 3.9 trillion yuan in 2016, and the country plans to raise tourism revenue to 7 trillion yuan by 2020.
Chairman NHAI launches new website and PMIS Mobile App
Chairman NHAI launches new website and PMIS Mobile App
Soon it will soon become possible for the public to rate National Highways and view the real-time status of any NH project
The Chairman of National Highways Authority of India Shri Deepak Kumar launched a world class, new multilingual website of the organization today. He said that within two months it will be possible for the general public to rate National Highways through this website. He also launched a Project Monitoring Information System (PMIS) Moblie App that will facilitate close, in-house monitoring of NHAI projects on a mobile phone. Shri Deepak Kumar said that the NHAI also plans to soon launch a public interface of the PMIS desktop and App versions, so that the general public will be able to view the real-time status of any project across the Highway network.
The NHAI website has been developed using state-of-art technologies and provides a centralized platform wherein NHAI’s different software and applications are stitched together and available for browsing in a user friendly manner. Complete information about the organization, HR, projects, policies, videos and project photographs are available on the website. To maintain transparency, the information is in the public domain. Apart from this, as a single point repository of all relevant information, the enterprise applications are mapped to the website, which are for internal use of NHAI.
To ensure timely delivery of its projects, the NHAI is now digitally monitoring them through a state-of-the-art Project Monitoring Information System (PMIS), which has been developed in-house along with The Boston Consulting Group. PMIS has a comprehensive database with over 180 data fields being tracked for each project, and a further 500 fields specifically for complex PPP projects, covering all key progress matrics such as design progress, contracting progress, construction progress, land acquisition, compensation disbursement, toll and traffic information and concession / contract information.
A series of Executive Dashboards have been designed to provide updated progress on all these data fields at various levels, such as national, Regional Office (RO) level, Project Implementation Unit (PIU) level & project level. The data for these dashboards is submitted at an individual project level by the responsible Project Director, and is reviewed at regular frequency at the level of the NHAI Chairman and NHAI Members. An in-built algorithm automatically highlights focus projects with key pending issues, so that focused interventions for these projects can be discussed during these reviews. Apart from dashboards views of data, the PMIS is also enabled with Geographical Information System (GIS), which provides a geographical visualization of all NHAI projects on an India map. This is a unique feature of PMIS, which enables geo-visualization of projects rather than searching through a database.
The PMIS has enabled significant progress, with a 32% increase in construction in 2016-17 over the previous year, and with over 60% of the projects identified in 2016 with issues, now being back on track.
To facilitate access to the PMIS, which was so far available as a desktop version, NHAI has now launched a PMIS App in coordination with the Boston Consulting Group. The App, available in both Android and Apple versions, will be accessible to all of its officers in the Field and Headquarters, and will enable access to any project dashboard in just two clicks of a button. The App also comes with a host of additional features – a Task Manager, so that tasks can be assigned and tracked through the organization; a Photo Upload functionality, so that Project Directors can click photos at project site and upload the latest status on PMIS; a Check-In feature, so that every visit to a site by an RO / PD can be tracked; and quick access to Stalled Issues, which are issues flagged with projects that have not been resolved in 30 days.
MoU between India and Switzerland
MoU between India and Switzerland on Technical Cooperation in Rail Sector
The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been apprised of the Memorandum of Understanding between Ministry of Railways, Government of India and the Federal Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications of Swiss Confederation on Technical Cooperation in Rail Sector. The MoU was signed on on 31stAugust, 2017.
The MoU will enable technical cooperation in the following areas:-
- Traction Rolling stock
- EMU and train sets
- Traction Propulsion Equipments
- Freight and Passenger Cars
- Tilting Trains
- Railway Electrification Equipments
- Train scheduling and operation improvement
- Railway Station modernization
- Multimodal transport
- Tunneling technology
Background:
Ministry of Railways have signed MoUs for technical cooperation in the Rail sector with various foreign Governments and National Railways. The identified areas of cooperation include high-speed corridors, speed raising of existing routes, development of world-class stations, heavy haul operations and modernization of rail infrastructure, etc. The cooperation is achieved through exchange of information on developments in areas of railways technology & operations, knowledge sharing, technical visits, training & seminars and workshops in areas of mutual interest.
The MoUs provide a platform for Indian Railways to interact and share the latest developments and knowledge in the railway sector. The MoUs facilitate exchange of technical experts, reports and technical documents, training and seminars/workshops focusing on specific technology areas and other interactions for knowledge sharing.
No CCTVs in Las Vegas Hotel
No CCTVs in Las Vegas Hotel, Streets and Other Lapses
October03, 2017 (C) Ravinder Singh progressindia2015@gmail.com
First difference between India and USA is that India invests in CCTVs but doesn’t keep them in working order or doesn’t link CCTV to Hotel Security & Police as in 2008 Mumbai Attack, USA doesn’t believe in CCTV technology – that allowed lone gunman to Spray Bullets on vary large open gathering of 20,000 from about 100 meter height.
Both failed to stop attackers until ammunition attackers carried was finished.
Second difference is that while in Taj Hotel CCTVs could track movement of attackers precisely who were mainly killing Guests in Rooms, Lobby and Restaurants inside hotel and their location but lacked Well Armed & Equipped Force and that too was controlled by seniors from police headquarters and response was not well coordinated – Shooter in Mandalay Bay Hotel was holed out in a room and firing from two broken Windows.
Third difference is that even in 2008 entry to Taj Hotel was through metal detectors & physical checking and attackers entered through service entry for staff & stores, in Mandalay Bay Hotel attacker booked room and came with 10 large luggage without attacking any search or suspicion.
Fourth difference is that it took hours for Lightly Armed Unprotected Police to get deployed at Taj Hotel, Trained Force was sent from Delhi – Hemant Karkare shared Police vehicle with 6-7 juniors and were killed in a burst of fire. In case of Las Vegas shootout Large Well Armed Force in scores of vehicles was deployed in minutes but was largely helpless.
Lapses
Media made us believe Police Failed to differentiate between Fireworks and Gun Fire – but Trained Police know it instantly. For trained force 100-200m distance is within its fire power.
Power supply to entire area should have been switched off for 1-2 minutes – in dark even a small Light or Spark is visible from long distance. This would have slowed down Attacker from loading and aiming weapons.
Either Fire Alarm [Smoke Detectors] was disabled or Mandalay Bay Hotel ignored WARNING which was precise location of the Shooter.
Sniffer Dogs may have run straight to the source of Gun Fire Smoke in 30 seconds.
Ravinder Singh, Inventor & Consultant, INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGIES AND PROJECTS
Y-77, Hauz Khas, ND -110016, India. Ph: 091- 8826415770, 9871056471, 9718280435,
Ravinder Singh* is a WIPO awarded inventor specializing in Power, Transportation,
Smart Cities, Water, Energy Saving, Agriculture, Manufacturing, Technologies and Projects
Annu Kapoor in his next Muavza – Zameen Ka Paisa
Catch the whole new avatar of veteran actor Annu Kapoor in his next Muavza – Zameen Ka Paisa.
Muavza – Zameen Ka Paisa is an Indian Hindi language drama film. Directed by Girish Juneja and produced by Jagdish Gupta under the banner of Jagson Entertainment Company’s Film. The film features Annu Kapoor along with many other known faces in lead role. After playing an advocate from Jolly LLB 2 to a village man Bechu Bai here is the veteran actor’s next that is all set to hit the screens. Recently Anu Kapoor with the director and the producer promoted Muavza – Zameen Ka Paisa in Le Meridien, Delhi.
The fact that the never-ending expansion of the Northern belt has engulfed its neighboring towns & villages, and how it has changed the lives around these lands is what the story revolves around. On this premise, Muazva – Zameen Ka Paisa is rib-tickling, super sarcastic, unique story of razor-sharp wit focusing on the lives of Nouveau riche of New Delhi. The story revolves around the lifestyles, before and after, their identity crises and their raw approach to everything.
Annu Kapoor on being asked about the film and the experience said, “The movie is small but it was the true effort of the team to bring in light a very serious and sensitive issue. There is also a teaching in this film that when you get the Muavza then you should stay away from people like Bechu Bhai so that your money stays safe.”
The director on the issue said, “Only 10% people utilised the given money. Rest 90% wasted their money on penny things. The movie has been endorsed by a known minister of Gujjar community. Moreover, I assure you that there is no negative portray of the Gujjar brothers otherwise Mahendra Pratap ji would have not endorsed it and overall it is a complete entertainment film.”
The producer when asked about the reason to invest in the film said, “It is very difficult to disseminate a message and teaching through comedy. Annu has done a great job and after reading the script I realised that this is an important matter and people from all over the world and specially Delhi should be aware of it.”
Annu Kapoor plays the protagonist, the role of the shrewd Bechu Bhai, who makes the villagers aware about the governmental compensation for their otherwise worthless lands. Based on the lives and times of a section of the Gujjar community, ‘Muavza-Zameen Ka Paisa’ trailer is bound to tickle your funny bone as Annu Kapoor cunningly traps people in plans to reap personal benefits.
The movie is slated to release on 6th October 2017 worldwide.
our pick
