Antony presents awards to Defence PSUs /Ordnance Factories

Shri AK Antony presented the Defence Minister's Awards for Excellence for the year 2007-08 to Ordnance Factories and Defence Public Sector Undertakings at a function here today. The list of recipients is as follows:-

Institutional Awards

(a) Excellence in Performance (Trophy) – Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd.

(b) Best Performance in Exports (Trophy) – BEML Ltd.

Division / Factory / Shipyard Awards

(a) Best Performing Division - Bharat Electronics Ltd., among DPSUs(Trophy) Hyderabad

(b) Best Performing Factory - Ammunition Factory, Khadki, of OFB (Trophy) Pune, Maharashtra

(c) Best Performing - Mazagon Dock Limited, Shipyard (Trophy) Mumbai

Group / Individual Awards (Rs. 1,00,000 each)

Import Substitution

(a) Bharat Electronics Limited, Ghaziabad for Engineering and realization of Rohini Radar D & E Model in collaboration with LRDE (The design agency).

(b) Garden Reach shipbuilders & Engineers Ltd., Kolkata for Indigenization of Centrifugal Pumps of Russian Origin for Warships/Submarines in Indian Navy.

Design Efforts

(a) MILCOM SBU unit of BEL, Bangalore for Design and development of STARS V- Mk II 5W / 25W Radio Sets and its various accessories.

(b) Ordnance Factory, Dehu Road, Maharashtra for Development of modified igniter NP- Type II Mk-1 for 455 Litre container bombs for Air Force.

Innovation

(a) Mazagon Dock Limited, Mumbai for Innovative approach in overhaul of propulsion Motor and their mounts of German origin Submarines of Indian Navy without resorting to usual practice of cutting pressure hull which is usual practice at OEM and also world over.

(b) CRL, BEL, Bangalore for Development of Hand Held Computer, part of the Shakti- Tactical Network project for Artillery of Indian Army.

Ticket Examiner and RPF staff authorised to take action against smoking in trains & at stations

Travelling Ticket Examiner (TTE) and Asstt. Sub-Inspector of Railway Protection Force (RPF) have now been authorized to take action against person found smoking in trains and at railway stations. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, as per its notification of dated 15.9.2009, has included the Travelling Ticket Examiner/Chief Ticket Inspector/Ticket Collector/Officer not below the rank of Ticket Collector or equivalent rank not below the rank of Assistant Sub-Inspector of Railway Protection Force in Railways as person authorized to take action against smoking at public place.

As per the Prohibition of Smoking in Public Places Rules 2008, the law imposes strict ban on the smoking at public places like auditoriums, hospitals, health centres, parks, hotels, pubs, Governments offices, courts, educational institutions, libraries, roads, shopping centres, malls, theaters, stadiums, bus stops, railway stations, coffee stations, bars, airport lounges etc.

PROSECUTION SANCTIONS ADVISED

Details of cases where Commission has advised issuance of
sanction for prosecution during September’2009

S.No.	Name of the Department	Name of the Accused Officer	Designation	Date of Advice
1	Corporation Bank	A H Kakkad	Br. Manager	14/09/2009
2	Deptt. of Defence Production and Supplies	P. Narsimhan	Joint GM	16/09/2009
3	Life Insurance Corpn. Of India	Barwa Francis	Admn. Officer	01/09/2009
4	Central Board of Excise and Customs	N S Ramachandran	Dy. Commissioner	30/09/2009
5	ONGC Ltd.	C.B. Subramanian	The then VP, MRPL	18/09/2009
6	ONGC Ltd.	P.S. Ravindran	The then Associate VP, MRPL	18/09/2009

List of cases where Commission has advised imposition of major penalty in the month of September’09.

Click here to view the list

Govt staff to shed grey, tired look for chic

There is a silent transformation in government offices these days. The faded and often wrinkled work uniforms worn by some government employees are now being replaced by classier corporate workwear, thanks to new cloth sourcing norms by the government’s purchase departments.

The Central Vigilance Commission office, a central regulatory authority, which decides on the rules and regulations for the government’s tendering process, has asked all public sector units, armed forces and state-governed bodies to insist on “composite mills” in their tenders for procuring any kind of textiles. Simply put, only composite mills — a textile facility where weaving,spinning and processing is integrated and done under a single roof — can bid for textile-related tenders.

The advantage of such mills is that since the three crucial stages of making textiles happens under single roof, quality is consistent even in large-scale production. Whereas, in the case of power looms the production capacities are not as big as composite ones, due to which one has to often compromise on colour or quality. Additionally, with composite mills, the customer can be supplied with cloth as per his specifications while a powerloom-made cloth cannot by uniform in its specifications. Till now, unorganised players or commission agents used to walk away with such tenders after quoting the lowest price. The cheap quotations ensured that these agents delivered inferior quality cloth often procured from individual powerlooms.

Apart from the general public and employees who will welcome the sartorial change, organised textile players are also cheering, especially as these firms had been hit by the slowdown in textiles. The CVC diktat has provided a good business opportunity for such textile mills as the size of a typical government textile tender is estimated to be over Rs 2,000 crore a year.

Nitin S Kasliwal, CEO and MD of S Kumars Nationwide said: “This move will help in checking the activities of small and medium level players who are awarded tenders due to the cost advantage. However, such players are unable to deliver on time and compromise on quality as they depend on smaller manufacturers to fulfil the order.”

SKNL is supplier to ONGC, Air India, BPCL and Indian Army. “State-owned mills will benefit since now they will have better quality textiles, but they should be more specific while floating tenders,” says RK Dalmiya, president of the Mumbai-based Century Textiles. “Often tenders are not clear about particular needs which confuse participants. This will make the process more transparent as the tender also insists on prior experience and ISO certifications,” he added.

Raghunath MB, a director with Mafatlal Fabrics says the step will help both textile mills and the government. “As all processes are done in a single location, it ensures consistent quality which is not possible otherwise. Also, such a large order scale for organised players has come at the right time.”

The Mafatlal group supplies cloth to state-owned firms such as Hindustan Aeronautics, ONGC, BPCL and Airports Authority of India.
Source:Economic Times

Issue of branded medicines to CGHS beneficiaries

F.No.25-1/09-10/CGHS/MSD/CGHS(P)

Government of India

Ministry of Health & Family Welfare

*****

Nirman Bhawan,NewDelhi-110108
Dated 30th Septmeber,2009.

Subject:- Issue of branded medicines to CGHS beneficiaries.

The undersigned is directed to state that grievance ofCGHS beneficiaries are often received regarding issue of substitute medicine by CGHS wellness centre to its beneficiaries in lieu of the branded medicine prescribed by the Government Specialists.

2.After detailed consultation with specialists of Dr. RML & Safdarjung Hospitals New Delhi, it has now been decided that:-

a. Specialists of these hospitals are advised to prescribe only those drugs which are available in the CGHS wellness centres, as far as possible, sothat immediate availability of drugs to beneficiaries can be ensured.

b. Medicines, available in CGHS wellness centre and having identical formulation and / or therapeutic values may be issued to the beneficiaries.

3. It is for the information of the CGHS beneticiaries that proprietary/branded drugs manufactured by different manufactures and having same generic composition have the same therapeutic effect.

4. The above instructions may be circulated to all concerned for information/ compliances.

5. This is in supersession of this Ministry's instructions issued vide letter NO.3- 10/2004/CGHS(VC), dated 25.04.2005 & 16.11.2005.