August 2014 Monthly Progress Report: Fill & Download for Free

Is it true that road construction started only after Modi came to power? :I believe I am qualified to answer this question having worked in the field of Highway Construction for more than 15 years.Groundwork for the massive strides in Highway Construction ( We are talking of National Highways here) was done by the P V Narasimha Rao government when it was decided to open up the sector for private investments. Land Acquisition is one issue which actually can not be addressed by the private companies so the essential changes were made in the National Highways Act to facilitate the transfer of land for highway construction purpose.The work actually took off during the tenure of Sh. Atal Bihari Vajpayee.He is the person who should be credited with the growth in Highway Sector. During his tenure work proceeded at good speed on Golden Quadrilateral and North South Corridor and thus we had 4 lane connectivity on the portions of roads where more than 60% of the national traffic plies.PMGSY ( Pradhan Mantri Gramin Sadak Yojna) for rural roads was also started in this period.Taking a cue from the central government, many state governments started their own State Highway projects. In this Gujarat did extremely well.When UPA came to power, priority for Highway Sector remained the same.In fact once the ball is set rolling, it was sustained by all the Governments and Mr. Modi is doing the same. He is carrying the torch.Surely roads were constructed before Mr. Modi came to power at National Level and roads will be constructed when he no longer is at the helm.Delays in Road Projects :Some of the answers here mention that projects were delayed during UPA reign due to lack of decision making and corruption. Now the targets are being achieved due to fast decision making in Modi Government.I differ.I have seen the delays and the actual reasons of delay from close quarters. It is the decision making processes of the NHAI ( National Highway Authority of India) and the inefficiency of the contractors which leads to the delays. Politics is a very minor part of it.Some Examples of Delay :Pune Satara 6 Laning : This project commenced in year 2009 with a timeline of 30 months. It is not completed yet. If the delay was due to UPA, then BJP government had more than 4 years already to correct the mistakes. Four years is more than the original time span fixed for completion.Panipat Jalandhar 6 Laning : Work on this project started in May 2009. Time period was 30 months. UPA government went out in 2014. Part of the project is still not complete for land acquisition. BJP government also had 4 years to do what was required. Many meetings have been held but the resolution of issues takes time whatever the Government.Pink City Express — Delhi Jaipur : This project also started along with the above two. Few of the proposed flyovers have finally been abandoned as land could not be arranged for those structures in all these years.Solapur- Maharashtra/Karnataka Border : The foundation stone for this 100 km long 4 laning project was laid by Sh. Narendra Modi in August 2014. Again the time for completion was 30 months. Road is nowhere near completion and the quality of work is extremely poor.There are many more projects which are extraordinarily delayed due to decision making by the government ( UPA or BJP ) and it is not possible to list all the delays here. Naturally, you should not be expecting the Minister or the government showcasing the delays. They will only talk of achievements and accomplishments some true and some false.False Claims :The figures about number of Kilometers completed every month are brandied about quite often to show the progress.Well, I can say from experience that these figures are distorted.I had been reporting these figures for my projects and I know how correct these were. Almost every Project Director of NHAI reports higher figures than is actually achieved. Same figures are then compiled and presented by the Authority and the Minister.For one of the projects, more than 20 km length got damaged and was not repaired for years. It was never omitted from the completed length. If it happens at one place, others too would not be different.What the public sees is the Surface.Base below the surface is generally done in two layers. So we have 3 layers of Bitumen Road. Traffic is sent on the road as soon as one layer of base course is done.And as soon as that is done, it is reported as completed though there are 2 layers yet to be done. In some projects, it took more than 2 years to get to next layers due to some unexpected problems. All the while those road lengths were reported as completed.To Summarize :Mr. Modi has as much role in Highway sector as any previous Prime Minister. Nothing more and nothing less.There is no discernible change in decision making though the Government will claim otherwise.Projects were delayed earlier and projects keep getting delayed now. It is the same story.Figures were faked earlier and figures are faked now also. Nothing has changed in the reporting systems.Inferior quality works was being carried out earlier and same inferior quality is being implemented now. This is one aspect no one talks about.I have answered the question to the best of my knowledge based on personal experiences and information.Thanks for reading.Image Source : Google Images

Hi Tamal. I will explain to you what I did when I gave up my CSIR fellowship and you can utilize whatever details seem helpful because I don’t know the minutiae of your situation.I joined BITS Pilani-Hyderabad campus in October,2013 as a project-JRF because I believed that it would be the right place to register for my Ph.D. The very next week, I came to know about my rank and CSIR-JRF scholarship award when the results of June-2013 exam were announced. I sent my application for fellowship with the authorization of the supervisor and the institute in January,2014. I finally got official sanction of fellowship by June-2014 and by which time I had almost decided to resign because of difficulties I faced there. August 31,2014 was my official last working day and I got two months of fellowship amount (which anyway I used up to pay for the BITS hostel where I didn’t stay that term - I was depressed and in a hurry to run away from the place). It is sufficient to say that while I disagreed with my supervisor only in scientific areas and the projected path of my Ph.D. work, he was always a gentleman and a good person. This made it easier to resign and we parted on neutral terms.I came back after a few months to submit the CSIR report of my work because it would help in the return of the remaining funds sanctioned for my fellowship back to CSIR. My guide had no problem in signing the requisite documents after making sure there were no problems in said documents and reports.If you have the required attendance and you have worked in the lab, there shouldn’t be a problem. I have checked your other questions here, and I can tell you that you can send the report a few days after the year is completed. You may have to check the CSIR website for details and/or the institute where you worked.Please message me on Quora if you would like to discuss further.Edit 1 : Contrary to what the other answer says, I remember that CSIR said in its terms and conditions that once the CSIR fellowship is sanctioned for a scholar at a specific institute with a specific supervisor, you need his/her signature to transfer to another guide and/or institute. I know someone who has done that too.

Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana = Basic Savings Bank Deposit AccountBasic Savings Bank Deposit Account (BSBDA) was a no-minimum-balance service with all facilities of a normal banking account, except that withdrawals were limited to four a month, according to this Reserve Bank of India (RBI) circulardated 17 August 2012. The accounts came with an automated teller machine (ATM)-cum-debit card too.The BSBDA accounts were also meant for beneficiaries of government programmes, according to this answer in the Rajya Sabha (upper house of Parliament) on 13 December 2012.Under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), launched on 28 August 2014, an accident insurance cover of Rs 1 lakh, overdraft facility up to Rs 5,000 after six months, and a life insurance of Rs 30,000 were added to BSBDA accounts.Unlike BSBDA, PMJDY accounts had a credit limit of Rs 1 lakh because of which pension reimbursements were getting rejected, The Financial Express reported on 8 September 2016.While BSBDA covered only villages with above 2,000 population, PMJDY has been extended to all areas–rural as well as urban.Prem Singh Azad, deputy general manager, Allahabad Bank, who is involved in the bank’s financial inclusion programme saysThey are more or less the same. All accounts opened prior to 28 August 2014, were BSBDA. Since then, they have all become PMJDY accounts. It’s only a change of nomenclature.Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao Yojana = National Girl Child Day programmesThe Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA)-I declared 24 January as the National Girl Day in 2008-09 and several objectives associated with previous continuing programmes were adopted as targets.Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao Yojana (BBBPY), launched in January 2015 under the ministries of women and child development, health and family welfare and human resource development, was a consolidation of old programmes scattered across schemes and ministries under the UPA government.For instance, the girl child education programme of BBBPY was a repackaging of older education schemes such as the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, according to this February 2016 report by the Centre for Development and Human Rights, a research and advocacy organisation in New Delhi.Similarly, BBBPY’s objectives of improving the child sex ratio and reducing school dropout rates among girls were already present in the UPA’s Dhanalakshmi and Sabla schemes, respectively. Dhanalakshmi was later discontinued as states already had better schemes in place.Swach Bharat Abhiyan = Nirmal Bharat AbhiyanIn September 2014, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government approved a proposal that Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan scheme be restructured into Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, according to this government release.Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan was the new name adopted for the Total Sanitation Campaign on 1 April 2012 under UPA-II, according to the Abhiyan’s guidelines.Total Sanitation Campaign was the new name given to the Central Rural Sanitation Programme – launched by the Congress in 1986 – in 1999, according to the drinking water and sanitation ministry’s website.Sardar Patel National Urban Housing Mission = Rajiv Awaas YojanaThe Pioneer reported on 10 October 2014, quoting Housing and Poverty Alleviation Minister Venkaiah Naidu:The government is shortly going to launch a comprehensive programme named Sardar Patel National Housing Mission by merging and improving existing urban housing schemes.Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana (Gramin) = Indira Awaas YojanaA parliamentary standing committee report – submitted on 31 August 2016 – pointed out that Congress’s Indira Awaas Yojana was “rechristen[ed]” Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana (Gramin).The “Guidelines”, “Scheme Allocation” and “FAQs” on the Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana (Gramin) website still open as Indira Awaas Yojana documents.Deen Dayal Upadhyay Gram Jyoti Yojana = Rajiv Grameen Vidyutikaran YojanaThe UPA’s Rajiv Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana was “subsumed” under Deen Dayal Upadhyay Gram Jyoti Yojana, according to this government release on 23 July 2015.Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation = Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal MissionNDA’s urban development minister Venkaiah Naidu had said on assuming office that they would replace Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) with their own urban renewal schemes, The Hindu reported on 29 May 2014.Subsequently, Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT), smart cities Mission and Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana (Urban) were launched on 25 June 2015.JNNURM was launched on 3 December 2005, for an initial period of seven years and then extended for two years up to March 2014, according to this Rajya Sabha answer on 6 December 2012.A comparison of some key objectives of the two programmes shows that under the NDA government, the targets of UPA’s umbrella programme have been spread over several schemes.The “sectors covered under JNNURM and AMRUT and other urban development programmes overlap significantly,” according this March 2016 report by PricewaterhouseCoopers, a global consultancy .“[V]arious urban sector components [that] were earlier addressed through a single mission (JNNURM) … have now been split across missions [such as AMRUT, Smart Cities Mission and Swachh Bharat Mission],” the report said.Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana = Accelerated Irrigation Benefits ProgrammeThree older programmes – Accelerated Irrigation Benefits Programme of the water resources ministry, Integrated Watershed Management Programme of the land resources ministry and the On Farm Water Management of agriculture and cooperation department – were merged to create the NDA’s Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana, according to Yojana’s website.Claim 9: BJP’s neem-coated urea = Congress’s neem-coated ureaNeem-coated urea was included in the Fertiliser (Control) Order of 1985 in 2004, according to government-owned National Fertilizers’ website, and was notified on 2 June 2008, according to this government communication.It was finally included in the 1985 Order through an amendment on 6 February 2017.Soil Health Card scheme = National Project on Management of Soil Health and FertilityA soil health card was “added” to the National Project on Management of Soil Health and Fertility, according to the Outcome Budget 2015-16 of the agriculture and cooperation department.The Centre would earlier provide support to states for issuing soil health cards under the central scheme, according to Lok Sabha (lower house of Parliament) answers Under theUPA government, soil health cards were also issued under the National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture, one of its several organic-farming programmes, according to the Outcome Budget 2015-16. This scheme was also merged with NDA’s renamed Soil Health Card programme.Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana = Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana and other programmes“Some existing components … have been clubbed together as a cluster based programme and named Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana,” according to the Outcome Budget 2015-16 of the agriculture and cooperation department, FactChecker reported on 22 July 2015.Pradhan Mantri Matritva Vandana Yojana = Indira Gandhi Matritva Sahyog YojanaThe ministry of women and child development’s website does not use the new name –Pradhan Mantri Matritva Vandana Yojana – for the maternity benefit programme (see the latest release dated 19 May 2017) but archives releases under the Indira Gandhi Matritva Sahyog Yojana under the same head.A senior ministry official was quoted as saying the name had been hanged, Hindustan Times reported on 25 May 2017.Atal Pension Yojana = Swavalamban YojanaEven as the Modi government folded Congress’s Swavalamban Yojana – a pension scheme for unorganised sector workers launched on 29 September 2010 – under its Atal Pension Yojana, the features of the two schemes remain the same, according to this comparison by the Rajiv Gandhi Institute For Contemporary Studies, a think tank in New Delhi.Pradhan Mantri Jan Aushadhi Yojana = Jan Aushadhi schemeThe decision to launch the Jan Aushadhi scheme, a programme to supply unbranded medicines at lower prices, was taken on 23 April 2008.The first store under the scheme was opened on 25 November 2008, according to the Bureau of Pharma PSU in India, established under the department of pharmaceuticals on 1 December 2008, to coordinate the scheme through government-owned companies.The scheme is now called Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Janaushadhi Pariyojana, according to this Lok Sabha answer on 14 March 2017.Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana = Comprehensive Crop Insurance SchemeThe 1985 Comprehensive Crop Insurance Scheme concluded in 1999, according to this report of the agriculture and cooperation department.Make In India = National Manufacturing PolicyThe Make In India website not only summarises the scheme as Congress’ “National Manufacturing Policy” but even the broken download link unsuccessfully directs you to a 2011 document of the older policy.Digital India = National eGovernance PlanThe National eGovernance Plan is “now subsumed under Digital India”, according to this government release on 30 November 2016.Both the Congress (click here and here) and the BJP schemes talk about building infrastructure for delivering government services electronically.Skill India = National Skill Development ProgrammePrevious skill development programmes were relaunched as Skill India with new branding, according to this government release on 15 July 2015.The older programmes – National Skill Development Corporation and National Skill Development Fund (launched in 2009), and National Skill Development Agency (launched in 2013) – were brought under a new department of skill development and entrepreneurship on 31 July 2014, according to this government release.The department became a ministry on 9 November 2014.Mission Indradhanush = Universal Immunisation ProgrammeMission Indradhanush is the new name for special immunisation weeks, which were being conducted in areas of low immunisation under the Universal Immunisation Programme, FactChecker reported on 23 July 2015.Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana = National Rural Livelihood Mission“The Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana … is a part of the National Rural Livelihood Mission,” according to the programme website.PAHAL = Direct Benefits Transfer for LPGLaunched on 1 June 2013, the “Direct Benefit transfer of LPG scheme PAHAL (Pratyaksh Hanstantrit Labh) [was] re-launched in 54 districts on 15 November 2014 in the 1st phase and will be launched in the rest of the 622 districts of the country on 1.1.2015,” according to this government release on 31 December 2014.BharatNet = National Optic Fibre NetworkThe National Optic Fibre Network, approved on 25 October 2011, aims to provide “Broadband connectivity to Panchayats”.BharatNet merely repeats the claim: “to digitally connect all the Gram Panchayats (GPs) and Villages of India”, according to this September 2016 Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay report on the second phase of the programme.