Civil Services Junction: Daily News Mail

200 rallies to mark 1 year of govt.

The BJP will celebrate Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s one year in office with a week-long campaign called “Jan Kalyan Parv”, or people’s welfare festival, aimed at countering a flood of charges that the government’s policies are “pro-corporate” and “anti-poor”.
The party will hold 200 rallies across the country with Mr. Modi scheduled to address the first meeting at Nagla Chandrabhan village in Mathura, the birthplace of Deendayal Upadhyaya, on May 25. All Union Ministers, BJP MPs and MLAs, and Chief Ministers of party-ruled States, besides the party’s Central and State office-bearers, will travel across the country to highlight the government’s achievements.

Order of seniority

Work will be assigned by order of seniority. Each Minister has been asked to be at a city to spearhead the campaign on May 26. Party MPs have been asked to spend a week in their respective constituencies describing their achievements. Each government department is preparing a booklet and an e-booklet for the cadres.
Besides rallies, 200 press conferences have been planned to talk about the initiatives of the government.
BJP president Amit Shah will address a press conference in Delhi on May 26, and will speak at a public rally at Karnal the same day. The next day, Mr. Shah will be in Surat and from there, he will go to Panaji on May 28. He will address press conferences in the morning and public rallies in the evening at both places.
“All Central Ministers, MPs, Chief Ministers, Ministers in States and MLAs, besides office-bearers at the Central and State levels, will address 200 big rallies and 5,000 ‘jan sabhas’ across the country till the tehsil level,” senior party leader and Union Minister Ananth Kumar said on Saturday.
He said that all Union Ministers would give three days to the exercise during which they would address three big rallies and three press conferences.The massive outreach programme to mark the NDA government’s one year in office is similar in scale to Mr. Modi’s successful Lok Sabha election campaign during which he held 5,827 public meetings across India.
In the run-up to last year’s Lok Sabha elections, the BJP had claimed that Mr. Modi had reached out directly to between 50 million and 100 million people.

India set to become water scarce by 2025: report

Although India is set to become water scarce country by 2025 due to demand-supply mis-match, the water sector is expected to see investment of $13 billion from overseas players in the next few years, a new study has said.
“With increasing household income and increasing contributions from the service and industrial sectors, the water demand in the domestic and industrial sectors increasing substantially,” says a study conducted by EA Water, a leading consulting firm in water sector.
Nearly 70 per cent of country’s irrigation and 80 per cent of domestic water use comes from groundwater, which is rapidly depleting.
However, overseas players from Canada, Israel, Germany, Italy, United States, China and Belgium see big investment opportunity worth $13 billion in the domestic water sector. “The industry is expected to receive Rs. 18,000 crore in the next three years,” the report said.
The country provides huge opportunities across the spectrum in infrastructure development for water supply and wastewater management.
The industrial market is going to be the big opportunity till 2020, with growth in wastewater recycling and industrial water treatment, the report said.
Maharashtra is emerging as a hub for the water sector. Over 12 international companies have already set up design and engineering centres in Mumbai and Pune.

Heat wave claims over 470 lives in A.P., Telangana

The heat wave claimed more lives on May 24, and no respite appears in sight as the meteorological department forecast similar conditions in the coming days. Telangana and Andhra Pradesh accounted for over 470 deaths reported in the past few days.
Till May 24, 290 have died in Andhra Pradesh and at least 186 in Telangana. Given that most of those who died were labourers, the State governments are planning to reschedule employment schemes such as the MGNREGA.
Bamrauli in Allahabad was the hottest at 47.7 degrees Celsius on May 24. Khammam district of Telangana registered 48 degrees Celsius on May 22.
“Severe heat wave conditions will continue in coastal Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and some parts of Bihar, Jharkhand and Odisha on May 25. Delhi, Haryana and Rajasthan, besides a few places in eastern Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Vidarbha and Chhattisgarh, will also remain affected,” said an India Meteorological Department official.

Dust storms likely

The weather department has forecast dust storms and thunderstorms in Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, western Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. Tamil Nadu and Puducherry may witness similar conditions on May 26 and 27.

Delhi is expected to record a maximum of 45 degrees Celsius in the coming week.

Army to get 114 Dhanush guns in three years

Army hasn’t inducted any new gun after Bofors scandal

The Army’s quest for new artillery is nearing completion with the indigenous gun upgraded by the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) clearing trials.

The Army has placed an indent for 114 guns in the first phase and these will be delivered in three years, informed sources said.

“After the Pokhran fiasco with one barrel-burst, Dhanush barrels were tested in Sikkim under cold conditions and in other temperatures — and came out with flying colours. The Army is fully satisfied,” officials said .

A Dhanush prototype suffered a barrel burst during firing trials at Pokhran in August 2013 which delayed the process.

80% indigenous

The initial deal for 114 guns is expected to cost around Rs.1,600 crore. Pleased with the performance of the gun, the Army has given strong indications of an additional order for 481 guns, sources added.

The Dhanush is an upgraded version of the Swedish 155-mm Bofors howitzers bought by India in the mid-1980s based on the original design. It is a 155-mm, 45-calibre gun with a maximum effective range of 38 km in salvo mode compared to the 39-calibre, 27-km range of the original guns.

It is 80 per cent indigenous, with the APU (auxiliary power unit), electronic dial sights and a few other small items being imported.