India and Libya Sign MoU on Electoral Cooperation: Libya Seeks Training for its Election Officials and Evinces Interest in Indian Electronic Voting Machine

Press Information Bureau: Dec 03, 2012Press NoteIndia and Libya today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in New Delhi, for cooperation in the field of election management and administration, with Libyan Election Commission seeking training and electoral assistance from Election Commission of India.

The MoU was signed by the Chief Election Commissioner of India, Shri V.S. Sampath and the Deputy Chairman of the High National Election Commission of Libya, Mr. Najeeb Abdessalam Mohammed Arrabiti. Election Commissioners from India, Shri H. S. Brahma and Dr. Naseem Zaidi; Election Commissioners from Libya, Mr. Altaher Abd Allah Graf, Mr. Mohammed Alsadig Abo Hedma and Mr. Masud Amr Alnami; diplomats and senior officials of the Election Commission of India and Government of India were present at the signing ceremony.

The major aims of MoU are: promotion of exchanges of knowledge and experience in electoral processes; exchange of information, materials, expertise and training of personnel; production and distribution of materials pertaining to electoral systems, voting technology, voters’ education and awareness, and participation of women and minorities in electoral process.

Shri Sampath described the MoU as an appropriate framework for strengthening and improving mutual collaboration between ECI and the newly constituted Commission in Libya. He expressed the confidence that the MoU would facilitate sharing of best practices, skills and experiences between the two institutions for mutual benefit. He praised the HNEC for successfully conducting the July 2012 elections to the Libyan Assembly in a difficult and challenging environment. He expressed ECI’s readiness to extend all technical and training support needed by the HNEC so that it could fulfill its responsibility for establishing a strong and durable democratic process in Libya.

Mr. Arrabiti praised the expertise and experience gained by ECI in conducting the largest elections in the world in a peaceful, transparent and credible manner. He also stated that this MoU is an important step in mutual cooperation and would facilitate sharing of experience and skills. At their request, the Libyan delegation was given a detailed briefing on the Indian electoral system and management practices, and a demonstration on the working of the Electronic Voting Machine. Mr. Arrabiti requested for training facilities for the new election officials of Libya through mutual visits in near future, and by making use of ECI’s India Institute of Democracy and Election Management (IIIDEM). HNEC would shortly communicate its training requirements to ECI. Election Commissioners Shri H. S. Brahma and Dr. Nasim Zaidi and the Libyan Election Commissioners also spoke on the occasion. The four-member Libyan delegation earlier held consultations with the Indian Commission on challenges faced in the developing democratic set-up in Libya. They visited the IIIDEM and witnessed the training activities.

Election Commission of India has so far signed sixteen MOUs with Election Management Bodies and international organizations across the world. Some of the MoU signed recently are with Egypt, Venezuela, Republic of Korea and UNDP.

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Policies for Private Investment in Railways

Press Information Bureau: Dec 06, 2012A number of policies were announced during Eleventh Five Year Plan to encourage private investment in terminals and wagons. These include: Private Freight Terminal policy (PFT), Special Freight Train Operations (SFTO) policy, Automobile Freight Train Operators (AFTO) policy, Auto-hub-ancillary policy, Operation of Container Trains, R3i (Railways’ Infrastructure for Industry Initiative) and R2CI (Rail connectivity to coal and iron ore mines) policies to facilitate participation of private sector in the development of Railway Infrastructure.

While these policies will continue to be pursued during the Twelfth Five Year Plan, a revised policy for encouraging private participation in rail connectivity projects has been approved recently by the Union Cabinet.

Approval of 53 rakes have been given under Liberalized Wagon Investment Scheme, 3 rakes approval have been given for Special Freight Train Operators Scheme, notification for 8 Private Freight Terminal have been issued, 17 private container train operators have now been given permission for operation of container trains.

This information was given by the Minister of State for Railways Shri Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury in written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.

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Enhancing Cold Storage Capacity in the Country through Various Schemes

Press Information Bureau: Dec 04, 2012Government proposes to enhance existing cold storage capacity in the country by providing assistance for setting up of cold storages through various schemes listed above and by providing other concessions in service tax, excise & custom duty. The component of cold storages under these schemes is project based.

All India Coordinated Research Project on Post-harvest Technology, Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) conducted a study at National level and printed the report in September, 2012. As per the study, estimated harvest and post-harvest losses of crops and livestock produce was Rs.44143 crore at price and production value of 2007-08.

At present there are about 6488 cold storages having 303.80 lakh metric tones capacity in the country including Bihar. State wise details are annexed.

The Government is implementing following schemes under which grant-in-aid is provided to entrepreneurs for setting up of cold storages in the country including Bihar:

National Horticulture Mission (NHM) Mission for North East and Himalayan States (HMNEH) National Horticulture Board (NHB) Scheme of Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI) Scheme of Agricultural Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) Scheme of National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC).This information was given by Shri Tariq Anwar, Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Processing Industries in written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha today.

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Australian Tourism Minister Calls for Direct Air Connectivity to Boost Toursim

Press Information Bureau: Dec 05, 2012Australian Tourism Minister Mr. Martin Ferguson has called for direct air connectivity between India and Australia to boost tourism. He stated this during his discussion with Union Tourism Minister Shri K.Chiranjeevi here today. Both the Ministers also expressed their resolve to strengthen bilateral tourism cooperation. Referring to the recent road shows organized by India Tourism in Australia, Shri Chiranjeevi expressed the hope that such shows will contribute to more tourist inflow from Australia. The Minister also suggested creation of a joint Tourism forum where the Tour Operators, Hoteliers, Airlines and other tourism stakeholders form both the countries may exchange the ideas for promotion and development of tourism between both the countries. He also expressed the views that both the countries should explore the possibilities of renewing the MoU on tourism cooperation which expired in 2008.The Minister also suggested easing of visa norms to boost tourism.

India and Australia are important tourism markets for each other. Australia is one of top 10 tourist generating markets for India as far as inbound tourism is concerned. Number of Australian visited India during the last five years were :

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 135925 146209 149074 169647 186002 India tourism Office in Sydney looks after promotion and marketing of India in Australia. Overall the marketing efforts have been directed at re-enforcing the brand and creating year round traffic. India Tourism office regularly undertake comprehensive promotion, developing partnership with airlines, the travel industry, media, community groups and Government.

Ministry of Tourism in association with Indian Association of Tour Operators organized road shows in Sydney and Melbourne in October this year. The Ministry of Tourism hosted the visit of tour operators, travel agents, opinion makers, TV team, travel writers, etc. from Australia numbering 35 in 2011-12 and 16 till date during 2012-13 on familiarisation tour of India under its hospitality scheme.

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Bilateral Convention on Avoidance of Double Taxation between India and UK

Press Information Bureau: Dec 07, 2012A protocol amending the existing convention between India and the United Kingdom (UK) for the Avoidance of Double Taxation and the Prevention of Fiscal Evasion with respect to taxes on income and capital gains was signed in London on 30.10.2012, the details of which are as under:

The Protocol seeks to amend the Article on Exchange of Information by providing for exchange of banking information without domestic interest. It also provides for use of information for purposes other than taxation as allowed under the laws of both States and authorized by the competent authority of the supplying State. There is a new Article on Tax Examination Abroad, under which the competent authority may allow tax officers of the requesting State to enter the territory of the requested State to interview individuals and examine records to the extent permitted under the domestic law of the requested State. There is a new Article on Assistance in Collection of Taxes, which allows a revenue claim of a State to be collected in other State. It also provides for interim measures of conservancy by freezing assets of the person against whom the claim is made. There is a new Article on Limitation of Benefits, which provides for limitations on the benefits to prevent treaty abuse. The Protocol seeks to extend the application of the convention to members of partnership, who are resident of UK. The Protocol seeks to amend the maximum rate at which the source country can tax dividend to 15% in case of dividend paid out of income derived directly or indirectly from immovable property and 10% on all other dividends. The negotiations for amending the existing convention were initiated in pursuance to the commitment of the Government of India to vigorously pursue all necessary steps in coordination with the countries concerned on the issue of illegal money of Indian citizens stashed outside the country in undisclosed bank accounts.

The Government has proposed to review the India-Mauritius treaty to incorporate changes in the Double Taxation Avoidance Convention (DTAC) and for this purpose a Joint Working Group (JWG) comprising the members from the Government of India and the Government of Mauritius was constituted and the JWG has had eight rounds of meetings. Next round of meeting is yet to be scheduled.

This was stated by the Minister of State for Finance Shri S.S. Palanimanickam in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha today.

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Railway Revenue Earnings up by 19.23 Per Cent During April- November 2012

Press Information Bureau: Dec 10, 2012The total approximate earnings of Indian Railways on originating basis during 1st April to 30th November 2012 were Rs.78868.17 crore compared to Rs. 66150.48 crore during the same period last year, registering an increase of 19.23 per cent.

The total goods earnings have gone up from Rs. 43891.25 crore during 1st April – 30th November 2011 to Rs. 54487.10 crore during 1st April – 30th November 2012, registering an increase of 24.14 per cent.

The total passenger revenue earnings during 1st April – 30th November 2012 were Rs. 20423.31 crore compared to Rs. 18742.83 crore during the same period last year, registering an increase of 8.97 per cent.

The revenue earnings from other coaching amounted to Rs. 2061.30 crore during April-November 2012 compared to Rs. 1860.49 crore during the same period last year, registering an increase of 10.79 per cent.

The total approximate numbers of passengers booked during 1st April – 30th November 2012 were 5700.57 million compared to 5517.86 million during the same period last year, showing an increase of 3.31 per cent. In the suburban and non-suburban sectors, the numbers of passengers booked during April-November 2012 were 2964.50 million and 2736.07 million compared to 2886.10 million and 2353.95 million during the same period last year, showing an increase of 2.72 per cent and 3.96 per cent respectively.

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Foreign Exchange Earnings from Tourism Shows an increase of 22 percent Foreign Tourist Arrivals also goes up by 20 Lakh

Press Information Bureau: Dec 11, 2012Foreign Tourist Arrivals ( FTAs) in the country registered an increase of 20 lakh during the November 2012 over the figure of November 2011.Similarly Foreign Exchange Earnings (FEEs) from Tourism during the same period also showed an increase of 22.4%.

The following are the important highlights regarding FTAs and FEEs from tourism in India during the month of November 2012.

Foreign Tourist Arrivals (FTAs): FTAs during the Month of November 2012 were 6.90 lakh as compared to FTAs of 6.70 lakh during the month of November 2011 and 6.08 lakh in November 2010. There has been a growth of 3 % in November 2012 over November 2011 as compared to a growth of 10.1% registered in November 2011 over November 2010. FTAs during the period January- November 2012 were 58.99 lakh with a growth of 5.9%, over the same period in 2011, as compared to the FTAs of 55.72 lakh with a growth of 9.4% during January- November 2011 over the corresponding period of 2010. Foreign Exchange Earnings (FEEs) from Tourism FEEs during the month of November 2012 were Rs.9,723 crore as compared to Rs.7,941 crore in November 2011 and Rs.6,516 crore in November 2010. The growth rate in FEEs in rupee terms in November 2012 over November 2011 was 22.4% as compared to 21.9% in November 2011 over November 2010. FEEs from tourism in rupee terms during January- November 2012 were Rs.83,938 crore with a growth of 22.1% over the same period in 2011, as compared to the FEEs of Rs.68,721 crore with a growth of 18.8% during January-November 2011 over the corresponding period of 2010. FEEs in US$ terms during the month of November 2012 were US$ 1,776 million as compared to FEEs of US$ 1,566 million during the month of November 2011 and US$ 1,448 million in November 2010. The growth rate in FEEs in US$ terms in November 2012 over November 2011 was 13.4% as compared to the growth of 8.1% in November 2011 over November 2010. FEEs from tourism in terms of US$ during January- November 2012 were US$15,806 million with a growth of 6.3% over the same period in 2011, as compared to US$ 14,876 million with a growth of 17.7% during January- November 2011 over the corresponding period of 2010.

Ministry of Tourism compiles monthly estimates of Foreign Tourist Arrivals (FTAs) on the basis of data received from major ports and Foreign Exchange Earnings (FEEs) from tourism on the basis data available from Reserve Bank of India.

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