Railway Budget 2015-16: Highlights

Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu on 26 February 2015 presented the Railway Budget 2015-16 in the Lok Sabha. In his first Railway Budget, Prabhu outlined a plan to invest over 8 lakh crore rupees over 5 years. 

The size of the Plan Budget has gone up by 52 percent from 65789 crore rupees in 2014-15 to 100011 crore rupees in 2015-16.

9 thrust areas of the Budget includes
•Indian Railway to become prime mover of economy once again
•Resource Mobilization for higher Investments
•Decongestion of heavy haul routes and speeding up of trains: emphasis on gauge conversion, doubling, tripling and electrification
•Project Delivery
•Passenger Amenities 
•Safety
•Transparency & System Improvement
•Railways to continue to be the preferred mode of transport for the masses
•Sustainability

Four goals for Indian Railways to transform over next five years
• To deliver a sustained and measurable improvement in customer experience.
• To make Rail a safer means of travel.
• To expand Bhartiya Rail’s capacity substantially and modernise infrastructure: for this purpose daily passenger carrying capacity will be increased from 21 million to 30 million. Track length will also be increased by 20 percent from 114000 km to 138000 km. Annual freight carrying capacity will be grown from 1 billion to 1.5 billion tonnes.
• To make Bhartiya Rail financially self-sustainable.

PROPOSED INVESTMENT PLAN (2015-2019)

Item	Amount (Rs in crore)
Network Decongestion (including DFC, Electrification, Doubling including electrification and traffic facilities)	199320
Network Expansion (including electrification)	193000
National Projects (North Eastern & Kashmir connectivity projects)	39000
Safety (Track renewal, bridge works, ROB, RUB and Signalling & Telecom)	127000
Information Technology / Research	5000
Rolling Stock (Locomotives, coaches, wagons – production & maintenance)	102000
Passenger Amenities	12500
High Speed Rail & Elevated corridor	65000
Station redevelopment and logistic parks	100000
Others	13200
TOTAL	8,56,020

Key Highlights of the Railway Budget 2015-16
• No increase in passenger fares 
• Passengers can book tickets 120 days in advance instead of 60 days which was available till date
• Outlay for passenger amenities increased by 67 percent 
• New train sets that can save 20 percent journey time will be introduced in future. These trains will be similar to bullet trains in design but can run on the existing tracks
• The speed passenger trains across nine corridors will be increased to 160-200 km from 110 km
• SMS alert will be introduced for train timings and under this passengers will be informed in advance the updated arrival or departure time of the trains at starting or destination stations 
• Air-conditioned coaches for suburban trains will be introduced
• Wi-fi will be available at 400 railway stations 
• Railways Intends to set up an Innovation Council called Kayakalp for Purpose of Business Re-Engineering
• Railways Proposes to set up Malaviya Chair for Railway Technology at IIT (BHU), Varanasi
• Bidding system will be used for redevelopment of stations
• 10 satellite railway stations will be developed in 2015-16 
• 800 km of gauge conversion will be commissioned
• E-catering introduced in 108 trains can be accessed by ordering on IRCTC website 
• Water vending machines will be expanded on more stations
• On–board entertainment facility will be extended on Shatabdi trains 
• General class coaches will see introduction of mobile charging stations
• For benefit of the common man, more general class coaches will be added to select trains 
• Pension funds, multi-lateral banks have evinced interest in Railways
• Proposed the best operating ratio in nine years, of 88.5 per cent for 2015-16
• Track capacity will be increased by 10 percent to 1.38 lakh kilometers 
• Feasibility report of high speed train between Mumbai and Ahmedabad is expected by mid-2015
• To ease private investment, wagon-making scheme will be reviewed
• All India 24x7 grievances helpline 138 will be started
• Bio-toilets will replace more than 7000 toilets, while 650 stations will get new toilets  
• Passenger travelling unreserved can produce a ticket within 5 minutes and for this purpose Operation Five Minutes will be introduced 
• To address complaints of people Mobile application is being developed 
• Integrated tickets will be introduced 
• Hand-held devices will be introduced for ticket checkers; it is move towards paperless ticketing 
• In next 2 years, centrally managed railway display network will be introduced in over 2000 stations
• Rail-cum-road ticket to be extended in many stations
• Rail connectivity will be enhanced in North Eastern states 
• To aid expanding freight handling capacity and provide end-to-end logistic solutions, Transport Logistic Corporation of India will be set up 
• PPP model will be used to augment resources and generate more employment 
• 6608 kilometer of track will be electrified
• 96182 crrore rupees will be spent to expand capacity of 9420 km rail lines 
• For women safety, CCTVs will be introduced in selected trains and suburban trains 
• Train Protection Warning System and Train Collision Avoidance System will be installed on select routes at the earliest
• Projects for rail connectivity to many ports and mines
• Foreign Rail Technology Cooperation Scheme will be launched in order to achieve the higher quality service 
• Programme to improve design, quality and cleanliness of bed linen will be launched within the next six months

Public Debt Management Agency (PDMA)

A Public Debt Management Agency (PDMA) will be set-up which will bring both India’s external borrowings and domestic debt under one roof. Presenting the General Budget 2015-16 in the Lok Sabha on 28-02-2015, the Union Finance Minister Shri Arun Jaitley stated that deepening of the Indian Bond market is one vital factor in promoting investment in India. The process of bringing the Indian Bond Market at the same level as India’s world class equity market is proposed to be initiated by setting-up PDMA. 

Task Force to Establish a Sector Neutral Financial Redressal Agency to be Set Up

The Union Finance Minister Shri Arun Jaitley has proposed to create a task force to establish a sector neutral financial redressal agency that will address grievances against all financial service providers. Presenting the General Budget 2015-16 in the Lok Sabha on 28-02-2015, Shri Jaitley stated that a properly functioning capital market requires proper consumer protection. 

The Finance Minister also informed that the work assigned to the Task Forces on the Financial Data Management Centre, the Financial Sector Appellate Tribunal, the Resolution Corporation, and the Public Debt Management Agency are progressing satisfactorily. 

The Government has also received a large number of suggestions regarding the Indian Financial Code (IFC) which are currently being reviewed by the Justice SriKrishna Committee. The Finance Minister hoped that he would be able to introduce the IFC in Parliament for consideration in due course. 

Five New Ultra-Mega Power Projects to be Set Up

The Government proposes to set-up 5 new Ultra Mega Power Projects, each of 4000 MWs in the plug-and-play mode. Presenting the General Budget 2015-16 in the Lok Sabha on 28-02-2015, the Union Finance Minister Shri Arun Jaitley stated that all clearances and linkages will be in place before the project is awarded by a transparent auction system. This shall unlock investments to the extent of Rs. 1 lakh crore. Shri Jaitley said the Government would also consider similar plug-and-play projects in other infrastructure projects such as roads, ports, rail lines , airports etc. The Finance Minister announced that the second unit of Kudankulam Nuclear Power Station will be commissioned in 2015-2016. 

National Investment and Infrastructure Fund

The Union Finance Minister Shri Arun Jaitley has announced the setting up of a National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF). Presenting the General Budget 2015-16 in the Lok Sabha on 28-02-2015, the Finance Minister stated that an annual flow of Rs.20,000 crore will be ensured for the NIIF. This will enable the Trust to raise debt, and in turn, invest as equity, in infrastructure finance companies such as IRFC and NHB. The infrastructure finance companies can then leverage this extra equity, manifold. 

ATAL Innovation Mission (AIM)

The Union Finance Minister Shri Arun Jaitley has stated his intentions to establish the ATAL Innovation Mission(AIM) in NITI. Presenting the General Budget 2015-16 in the Lok Sabha on 28-02-2015, the Finance Minister stated that AIM will be an Innovation Promotion Platform involving academics, entrepreneurs and researchers and draw upon national and international experiences to foster a culture of innovation, R&D and scientific research in India. Shri Jaitley said that the platform will also promote a network of world-class innovation hubs and Grand Challenges for India. Initially a sum of Rs.150 crore wail be earmarked for this purpose. 

Self Employment and Talent Utilisation (SETU)

Government has announced the setting up of a Self- Employment and Talent Utilisation (SETU) mechanism. Presenting the General Budget 2015-16 in the Lok Sabha here today, the Union Finance Minister Shri Arun Jaitley stated that SETU will be a Techno-Financial, Incubation and Facilitation Programme to support all aspects of start up businesses, and other self-employment activities, particularly in technology-driven areas. An amount of Rs.1000 crore is being set up initially in NITI Aayog for SETU. 

Shri Jaitley stated that “we are now seeing a growing interest in start-ups. Experimenting in cutting edge technologies, creating value out of ideas and initiatives and converting them into scalable enterprises and businesses is at the core of our strategy for engaging our youth and for inclusive and sustainable growth of the country.” He said concerns such as a more liberal system of raising global capital, incubation facilities in our Centres of Excellence, funding for seed capital and growth, and ease of Doing Business etc need to be addressed to create lakh of jobs and hundreds of billion dollars in value. The Minister said, with this objective in mind, SETU is being set up. 

3rd Tortoise Festival organised at Hajong Lake in Assam

3rd Tortoise Festival was organised at Hajong Lake in Dima Hasao district of Assam on 21 February 2015. The festival was organised to create awareness among people on the endangered tortoise species by Environment and Forest Department of Dima Hasao. 

The day-long festival saw various activities like discussions, presentation and others aimed at protection of the species. 

About Hajong Lake
• The lake is a unique tortoise habitat and is situated in the Langting Mupa forest reserve at a distance of around 300kilometres from Guwahati 
• The lake is the only natural tortoise home in Assam 
• Hajong Lake that is popularly known as the tortoise lake is a habitat of few varieties of Hill Terrapins (a rare species)
• At present, around 400 to 500 tortoises are dwelling in the Hajong Lake

87th Academy Awards (Oscar Awards 2015)

87th Academy Award, popularly called Oscar Awards, was conferred on 22 February 2015. The award ceremony was held at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles.

The Oscar Awards for the year 2015 were presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in 24 categories.

The awards were produced by Neil Meron and Craig Zadan and directed by Hamish Hamilton. Actor Neil Patrick Harris hosted the ceremony for the first time.

The list of winners of 87th Academy Awards

• Best Picture: Birdman
• Best Director: Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu for Birdman
• Best Actor: Eddie Redmayne for The Theory of Everything
• Best Actress: Julianne Moore for Still Alice
• Best Supporting Actor: JK Simmons for Whiplash
• Best Supporting Actress: Patricia Arquette for Boyhood
• Achievement in Costume Design: Milena Canonero for The Grand Budapest Hotel
• Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling: Frances Hannon and Mark Coulier for The Grand Budapest Hotel
• Best Foreign Language Film: Ida directed by Pawel Pawlikowski
• Best Live Action Short Film: The Phone Call
• Best Documentary Short Subject: Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1
• Original Screenplay: Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Nicolas Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, Armando Bo for Birdman
• Achievement in Sound Mixing: Craig Mann, Ben Wilkins, Thomas Curley for Whiplash
• Achievement in Sound Editing: Alan Robert Murray Bub Asman for American Sniper
• Achievement in Visual Effects: Ian Hunter, Scott Fisher, Andrew Lockley and Paul Franklin for Interstellar
• Best Animated Short Film: Feast directed by Patrick Osborne and Kristina Reed
• Best Animated Movie: Big Hero Six 6
• Achievement in Production Design: Adam Stockhausen and Anna Pinnock for The Grand Budapest Hotel
• Achievement in Cinematograph: Emannuel Lubezki for Birdman
• Achievement in Film Editing: Tom Cross for Whipalsh
• Best Documentary Feature: Citizen Four directed by Laura Poitras
• Best Original Song: John Stephens and Lonnie Lynn for Glory
• Best Original Score: Alexandre Desplat for The Grand Budapest Hotel
• Best Adapted Screenplay: Graham Moore for The Imitation Game

Number of sugar mills in the country

As per information available with Directorate of Sugar, Ministry of Consumer Affairs,

 Food and Public Distribution, there are 513 sugar mills in the country operating in 

cooperative, private and public sector. As per the sugar season 2013-14, highest

 number of mills i.e 159 were operating in Maharashtra followed by 

Uttar Pradesh -119 and Karnataka- 61.

State-wise number of sugar mills operating during the sugar season 2013-14 

were as follows:

STATE		Public Sector	Private Sector		Coop. Sector		Total
Andhra Pradesh	-			16	8	24
Bihar	2			9	-	11
Chattisgarh	-			-	3	03
Goa	-			-	1	01
Gujarat	-			4	15	19
Haryana	-			4	10	14
Karnataka	2			39	20	61
Madhya Pradesh	-			12	3	15
Maharashtra	-			58	101	159
Odisha	-			2	3	05
Puducherry	-			1	1	02
Punjab	-			7	9	16
Rajasthan	1			-	-	01
Tamil Nadu	2			24	16	42
Telangana	-			10	-	10
Uttar Pradesh	1			95	23	119
Uttrakhand	3			5	1	09
West Bengal	-			2	-	02
Total	11			288	214	513

India – based Neutrino Observatory

The India-based Neutrino Observatory (INO) Project is a multi-institutional effort aimed at building a world-class underground laboratory with a rock cover of approximately 1200 meter. The underground laboratory, consisting of a large cavern of size 132m × 26m × 20m and several smaller caverns, will be accessed by a 1900 m long and 7.5 m wide tunnel. INO project is jointly supported by Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) and Department of Science & Technology (DST) with DAE acting as the nodal agency. 

The objective of INO is to conduct basic research on the elementary particle called neutrino. Presently 21 research institutes, Universities and IITs from all over the country are involved in this project. INO is expected to galvanise interest in basic science research in the whole country and particularly in and around Theni and Madurai districts of Tamil Nadu. Science students across the country will have opportunity to pursue cutting edge research in the field of particle physics while being located in India. 

The observatory will be located underground so as to provide adequate shielding to the neutrino detector from cosmic background radiation. Tunnel construction is very common and will not have any impact on environment, water sources or dams in the region. The project has all the required clearances from various Central and State Government authorities. A detailed geotechnical studies was also carried out by the Geological Survey of India (GSI). 

The operation of INO will have no release of radioactive or toxic substances. It is not a weapons laboratory and will have no strategic or defence applications. Certain sections of media in the recent past have reported that the INO underground laboratory and the tunnels will be used for storing nuclear waste. Such reports are not factual and are baseless. Department of Atomic Energy strongly refutes such erroneous and malicious reports. It categorically states that no nuclear waste will be stored there at any time and INO laboratory will be used only for the purpose of basic science research in the field of neutrino physics. 

Capitals, Governors and Chief Ministers of Indian States

States	Capitals	Governors	Chief Ministers
(1) Andhra Pradesh	Hyderabad	Mr. E. S. L.Narasimhan	Mr. N. Chandrababu Naidu
(2) Arunachal Pradesh	Itanagar	Lt. General (Retd) Nirbhay Sharma	Mr. Nabam Tuki
(3) Assam	Dispur	Mr. J. B. Patnaik	Mr. Tarun Gogoi
(4) Bihar	Patna	Mr. D. Y. Patil	Mr. Nitish Kumar
(5) Chhattisgarh	Raipur	Mr. Balram Das Tandon	Dr. Raman Singh
(6) Goa	Panaji	Ms. Mridula Sinha	Mr. Laxmikant Parsekar
(7) Gujarat	Gandhinagar	Mr. Om Prakash Kohli	Ms. Anandiben Patel
(8) Haryana	Chandigarh	Mr. Kaptan Singh Solanki	Mr. Manohar Lal Khattar
(9) Himachal Pradesh	Shimla	Mr. Kalyan Singh  (Additional charge)	Mr. Virbhadra Singh
(10) Jammu and Kashmir	Srinagar (Summer) Jammu (Winter)	Mr. N. N. Vohra	Governor’s rule
(11) Jharkhand	Ranchi	Dr. Syed Ahmed	Mr. Raghuvar Das
(12) Karnataka	Bengaluru	Mr. Vajubhai Rudabhai Vala	Mr. K. Siddaramaiah
(13) Kerala	Thiruvananthapuram	Mr. P Sathasivam	Shri. Oommen Chandy
(14) Madhya Pradesh	Bhopal	Mr. Ram Naresh Yadav	Mr. Shivraj Singh Chauhan
(15) Maharashtra	Mumbai	Mr. Kateekal Sankaranarayanan	Mr. Devendra Fadnavis
(16) Manipur	Imphal	Dr. K. K. Paul (Additional charge)	Mr. Okram Ibobi Singh
(17) Meghalaya	Shillong	Mr. Krishan Kant	Mr. Mukul A. Sangma
(18) Mizoram	Aizawl	Dr. K. K. Paul	Mr. Lal Thanhawla
(19) Nagaland	Kohima	Mr. P. B. Acharya	Mr. Neiphiu Rio
(20) Odisha	Bhubaneswar	Mr. S. C. Jamir	Mr. Naveen Patnaik
(21) Punjab	Chandigarh	Mr. Shivraj V. Patil	Mr. Parkash Singh Badal
(22) Rajasthan	Jaipur	Mr. Kalyan Singh	Smt. Vasundhara Raje
(23) Sikkim	Gangtok	Mr. Shriniwas D. Patil	Mr. Pawan Chamling
(24) Tamil Nadu	Chennai	Mr. K Rosaiah	Mr. O. Panneerselvam
(25) Tripura	Agartala	Mr. Padmanabha Acharya (Additional charge)	Mr. Manik Sarkar
(26) Telangana	Hyderabad	Mr. E.S.L.Narasimhan	Mr. K. Chandrasekhar Rao
(27) Uttarakhand	Dehradun	Dr. Aziz Qureshi	Mr. Harish Rawat
(28) Uttar Pradesh	Lucknow	Mr. Ram Naik	Mr. Akhilesh Yadav
(29) West Bengal	Kolkata	Mr. Keshari Nath Tripathi	Ms. Mamata Banerjee