Mumbai-Ahmedabad to get first Bullet train: D V Sadananda Gowda

July 8, 2014

Bullet

New Delhi, Jul 8: Railway minister DV Sadananda Gowda presented his maiden budget with a recent sharp increase in fares and freight charges.

"We want to make railways people-friendly," Gowda, who had launched a social media platform on Monday for interactions between railways authorities and "netizens", said before presenting the railway budget.

"Passengers are hoping amenities will improve. We will try to fulfil the demands."

Railways Budget

?Budget Highlights:

• Grateful to honourable PM Narendra Modi ji for having given me this opportunity and for entrusting me with this responsibility

• I can get claps from this house by announcing many new projects but that would be rendering injustice to the struggling organization

• The fare revision was tough but a necessary decision - it will bring Indian Railways an additional revenue of 8,000 crores

Increased Funds to Ensure Passenger Amenities and Cleanliness:

Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom

• It gives me immense pleasure to present my first Railway Budget flooded with suggestion for new trains, new railway lines

• We now target to become the largest freight carrier in the world

• Indian railways carry only 31% of the total freight in the country.

• 5 lakh crore required each year for the next ten years for ongoing projects alone

• 23 paisa lost per passenger per km in 2012-13

• Social obligation of Railways in 2013-14 was Rs. 20,000 crore

• Focus on sanctioning projects rather than completing them

• The more projects we add the thinner we spread our resources

• Indian Railways carries more than the entire population of Australia in a day

• Populist projects and mismanagement have brought Railways to point of funds crunch

• This state of affairs in railways needs immediate course correction

• Gross traffic receipts in 2013-14 was Rs. 1.3 lakh crore, operating ratio was 94 per cent

• Indian Railways spent Rs. 41,000 crore on laying of 3,700 km of new lines in last 10 years

• Need to explore alternative sources of resource mobilisation and not depend on fare hike alone

• Large part of the budget outlay to go to safety projects

• Maximum financial outlays for projects slated for completion in this area itself

• High priority areas - safety, cleanliness, passenger amenities and capacity augmentation

• Future projects to be financed on public-private partnership model

• Plans to attract investment from domestic and foreign players in infrastructure; focus to be on aggressive indigenisation

• FY15 Total Expenditure Pegged At Rs.1.49 lakh crore

• FY15 total receipts pegged at Rs.1.64 lakh crore

• Propose to hike budgetary plan outlay to Rs.47,650 crore

• FY15 passenger fare revenue pegged at Rs.44,600 crore

• Pre-cooked meals by reputed brands, focus on cleanliness and passenger feedback

• Outsource cleaning activities at 50 major stations, separate housekeeping wing for cleanliness and sanitation

• CCTVs to be used for monitoring cleanliness

• RO Drinking water at stations and trains

• Corporates encouraged to adopt stations for better maintenance and upkeep

Safety for Women Passengers:

• 17,000 Railway Protection Force personnel to be available soon

• Introduction of women RPF constables, coaches meant for women to be escorted for greater safety

Bullet train:

• Indian Railways on course to fulfill its long cherished dream. I propose a Bullet train on the Ahmedabad - Mumbai sector

• Higher speed for existing trains will be achieved by upgrading the present networks

Reservation system will be revamped:

• Railways to scale down market borrowings to Rs. 11,790 crore

• Reservation system will be revamped and ticket-booking through mobile phones and post offices popularised

• Wi-fi Services in all A Category stations and trains

• To Have Diamond Quadrilateral Network for High-speed Trains

• Digital Reservation Charts at stations

• Parcel traffic separated to requisite terminals, dedicated trains running on fixed timetable

• New design of parcel vans -- measures taken in order to improve earnings from the parcel system

• Special initiatives via the PPP mode for transport of fruits and vegetables and milk

• Bio-diesel upto 5% to be used in diesel locomotives

• 23 projects underway in North-East. Propose to allocate higher funds than previous year for these projects

• Future e-Ticketing to support 7200 tickets per minute and to allow 1.2 lakh simultaneous users

• Dedicated freight corridor projects will be closely monitored

• Experimental stoppages to be reviewed solely on the basis of feasibility and viability after 3 months

• Government to make e-procurement compulsory for procurements over Rs. 25 lakh

• GIS Mapping and digitisation of Railway Land

• 18 new line surveys, 10 surveys for doubling 3rd and 4th lines and gauge conversion.

• Office-on-Wheels; internet and workstation facilities on select trains.

• Setting up of logistic parks, private freight terminals on PPP model

• Connectivity to ports through PPP, procurement of parcel vans and rakes by private parties for resource augmentation

• Will offer wifi-services in all 'A' category trains and A1 stations.

• To have digital reservation charts at stations.

• Working on making railway offices paperless in five years

• e-Ticketing through mobile phones will be popularized.

* Indian railways to become the largest freight carrier in the world.

* Social obligation of Railways in 2013-14 was Rs 20,000 crore.

* Gross traffic receipts in 2013-14 was Rs 12,35,558 crore; operating ratio was 94 per cent.

* Focus in past has been on sanctioning projects rather than completing them, Railway minister says.

* Indian Railways spent Rs 41,000 crore on laying of 3,700 km of new lines in last 10 years.

* Fare revision will bring in Rs.8,000 crore; need another Rs.9,000 crore for golden quadrilateral project.

* Railways also proposes to set up Food Courts at major stations.

* Need to explore alternative sources of resource mobilisation and not depend on fare hike alone, Railway minister says.

* Spend 94 paisa of every rupee earned, leaving a surplus of only 6 paisa.

* With 12,500 trains, railways move 23 million passengers every day; equivalent to moving Australia's population.

* Separate housekeeping wing at 50 major stations.

* CCTV to monitor cleanliness activities.

* Mechanized laundry will be introduced.

* Dedicated freight corridor on Eastern and Western corridors.

* 5400 unmanned level crossing removed.

* Tourist trains to be introduced to link all major places of tourist interests across the country.

* 4,000 women constables to be recruited to ensure safety of women. 17,000 RPF constables to provide safety to passengers.

* Setting up of Railway University for technical and non-technical study.

* Ultrasonic system to detect problem in track.

* Proposal to start Bullet trains in Mumbai—Ahmedabad route. Speed of important trains will be also raised.

* Diamond Quadrilateral project of high speed trains to connect all major metros.

* E-ticketing system to be improved. Future e-ticketing to support 7200 tickets per minute & to allow 120,000 simultaneous users

* Wifi in A1 and A category stations and in select trains. Internet-based platform and unreserved tickets.

* GIS mapping and digitization of Railway Land. Extension of logistics support to various e-Commerce Companies.

* Bulk of future projects will be financed through PPP mode.

* Facilitate transport of milk through rail. Special milk transportation trains in association with Amul and National Dairy Association Board.

* One ticket to reach from Delhi to Srinagar. Uddhampur to Banihal by bus and Banihal to Srinagar by train.

* Mumbai local to get 860 new, state-of-the art coaches. 64 new EMUs to be introduced.

* Train connectivity to Char Dham.

* Paperless office of Indian railways in 5 years. Digital reservation charts at stations.

* Ready-to-eat meals to be introduced in phased manners.

* 27 Express trains to be introduced.

* 5 Jansadharan , 5 Premium AC trains to be introduced.

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News Network
March 23,2020

New Delhi, Mar 23: The total number of COVID-19 cases in the country rose to 390 on Monday after 30 fresh cases were reported.

The figure includes 41 foreign nationals and the seven deaths reported so far.

Gujarat, Bihar and Maharahstra reported a death each on Sunday, while four fatalities were reported earlier from Karnataka, Delhi, Maharashtra and Punjab, the Union Health Ministry said.

The total number of active COVID-19 cases across the country now stands at 359, while 24 people have been cured/discharged/migrated.

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Agencies
May 23,2020

New Delhi, May 23: The nationwide lockdown will no longer help India in its fight against COVID-19, and in its place community-driven containment, isolation and quarantine strategies have to be brought into play, leading virologist Shahid Jameel said.

The recipient of Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology also stressed that testing should be carried out vigorously to identify coronavirus hotspots and isolate those areas.

"Our current testing rate at 1,744 tests per million population is one of the lowest in the world. We should deploy both antibody tests and confirmatory PCR tests. This will tell us about pockets of ongoing infection and past (recovered) infection. This will provide data to open up gradually and let economic activity resume," Jameel told PTI in an interview.

He stressed that testing has to be dynamic to continuously monitor red, orange and green zones and change these based on that data.

About community transmission of COVID-19 in India, Jameel said the country reached that stage long ago.

"We reached community transmission a long time ago. It's just that the health authorities are not admitting it. Even ICMR's own study of SARI (severe acute respiratory illness) showed that about 40 per cent of those who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 did not have any history of overseas travel or contact to a known case. If this is not community transmission, then what is?" he posed.

Lockdown bought India time in its fight against coronavirus, but continuing it is unlikely to yield any further dividend, Jameel said.

"Instead, community-driven local lockdowns, isolations and quarantines have to come into play. Building trust is most important so that people follow rules. A public health problem cannot be dealt with as a law-and-order problem."

The nationwide lockdown, initially imposed from March 25 to April 14, has been extended thrice and will continue at least till May 31. The virus has claimed 3,720 lives and infected over 1.25 lakh people in the country so far.

Jameel has expertise in the fields of molecular biology, infectious diseases, and biotechnology. He is the CEO of Wellcome Trust/Department of Biotechnology's India Alliance and is best known for extensive research in Hepatitis E virus and HIV.

He said COVID-19 will eventually be controlled through herd immunity, which is acquired in two ways – when a sufficient fraction of the population gets infected and recovers, and with vaccination.

"It is estimated that for SARS-CoV-2 at least 60 per cent of the population would have to be infected and recovered, or vaccinated. This will happen over the course of the next few years," Jameel said.

Herd immunity is reached when the majority of a population becomes immune to an infectious disease, either because they have become infected and recovered, or through vaccination. When that happens, the disease is less likely to spread to people who aren't immune, because there just aren't enough infectious carriers.

"India has 1.38 billion people, a population density of about 400/sq km and a healthcare system ranked at 143 in the world. If we allow 60 per cent people to get infected quickly in the hopes of herd immunity, that would mean 830 million infections," Jameel said.

"If 15 per cent need hospitalization that means about 125 million isolation beds (we have 0.3 million). If five per cent need oxygen and ventilatory support, this amounts to about 42 million oxygen support and ICU beds; we have 0.1 million oxygen support beds and 34,000 ICU beds. This would overwhelm the healthcare system causing mayhem," he said.

Jameel said if the population level mortality is 0.5 per cent that would mean 40 lakh deaths. "Are we prepared to pay this price for herd immunity in the short term? Clearly not," he said.

He said it is unlikely that a vaccine would be available by the end of the year.

"Even then, we don't know yet how long it would give protection – weeks, months, one year, a few years? I don't think we will return to pre-coronavirus days for at least the next 3-5 years. This is also a chance to evaluate if we want to return to those unsustainable, environment-damaging ways. COVID-19 is a timely warning to reform our way of living," he said.

Jameel said it is hard to predict but plausible that COVID-19 would return in second or third wave.

"Later waves come when we don't understand the disease and become lax. A comparison to Spanish Flu is not entirely valid because in 1918 no one knew what caused it. No one had seen a virus till the mid-1930s as the electron microscope needed to view those was invented in 1931," he said.

"Today we know a lot more about the pathogen, its genetic makeup, how it transmits and how to prevent it. We need to be sensible and follow expert advice," he said.

If there is any scientific evidence linking deforestation, rapid urbanisation, climate change with pandemics like COVID-19, he said zoonotic viruses -- those that jump from animals to humans -- happen so when wild animal–human contacts increase.

"Deforestation destroys animal habitats bringing them closer to humans. When you cut forests, bats come to roost on trees closer to human habitations. Their viruses in secretions/stool get transmitted to domestic animals and on to humans. This happened clearly with Nipah virus outbreak in Malaysia in 1997-98 from fruit bats to pigs to humans," he said.

"COVID-19 possibly arose in wet animal markets due to dietary habits that bring all kinds of live and dead wild animals in close contact with humans," Jameel added.

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coastaldigest.com news network
May 6,2020

New Delhi, May 6: The government on Wednesday said no data or security breach has been identified in Aarogya Setu after an ethical hacker raised concerns about a potential security issue in the app.

The app is the government's mobile application for contact tracing and disseminating medical advisories to users in order to contain the spread of coronavirus.

On Tuesday, a French hacker and cyber security expert Elliot Alderson had claimed that "a security issue has been found" in the app and that "privacy of 90 million Indians is at stake".

Dismissing the claims, the government said "no personal information of any user has been proven to be at risk by this ethical hacker".

"We are continuously testing and upgrading our systems. Team Aarogya Setu assures everyone that no data or security breach has been identified," the government said through the app’s Twitter handle.

The tweet gave point-by-point clarification on the red flags raised by the hacker.

"We discussed with the hacker and were made aware of the following... the app fetches user location on a few occasions," it said, but added that this was by design and is clearly detailed in the privacy policy.

The app fetches users’ location and stores on the server in a secure, encrypted, anonymised manner - at the time of registration, at the time of self assessment, when users submit their contact tracing data voluntary through the app or when it fetches the contact tracing data of users after they have turned COVID-19 positive, it said.

On another issue that users can get COVID-19 stats displayed on the home screen by changing the radius and latitude-longitude using a script, Aarogya Setu said that all this information is already public for all locations and hence does not compromise on any personal or sensitive data.

"We thank the ethical hacker on engaging with us. We encourage any users who identify a vulnerability to inform us immediately...," it said.

Responding to Aarogya Setu's clarification, Alderson tweeted, "I will come back to you tomorrow".

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