15-Oct-2022: Union Finance Minister attends the International Monetary and Financial Committee in Washington DC

Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman attended the Plenary Meeting of the International Monetary and Financial Committee (IMFC) at the International Monetary Fund Headquarters during the Annual Meetings 2022 in Washington DC, today.

The Finance Minister said that the IMFC Meeting is being held at a juncture when the global economic outlook is clouded by key downside risks-growth slowdown in major economies, cross-border effects due to the on-going geopolitical situation, inflationary pressures led by escalating food and energy prices that have adversely impacted vulnerable economies.

Despite global headwinds, Smt. Sitharaman said, Indian economy will stay on course and is projected to grow at 7% in FY 2022-23. This is an outcome of the conducive domestic policy environment and Government's focus on key structural reforms to boost growth, She added.

The Finance Minister emphasised the initiatives the Indian Government has taken to protect growth while pursuing inflation management.  "We have ensured the availability of free food grains to more than 800 mn vulnerable families for the past 25 months, through the country's massive public distribution network."

Smt. Sitharaman said last mile delivery of financial services to the poor has been a key priority of the government and this has been aided by India's digital public good infrastructure. Today, the Finance Minister added, India is leading the world in terms of digital payments innovations with our transaction cost being the lowest in the world.

"I believe the IMF needs to increase resources available for emerging and low-income countries to safeguard the global financial system. Therefore, concluding the 16th GRQ by December 15th, 2023 is vital for increasing the voting rights of emerging market economies (EMES) in line with their relative positions in the world economy," Smt. Sitharaman said.

The Finance Minister stated that a key downside risk to global recovery is the exacerbated debt distress in many low-income countries.  It is, therefore, important that the Fund provides them necessary support to deal with balance of payments related vulnerabilities. In this context, Smt. Sitharaman welcomed Fund's recent initiative of a new food shock window to help countries address food insecurity'.

On climate change, the Finance Minister emphasised the importance of the multilateral approach with the principles of equity; and common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities. Smt. Sitharaman emphasised that India has set out an ambitious climate action path through our updated Nationally Determined Contributions which demonstrate India's commitment at the highest level for decoupling of economic growth from greenhouse gas emissions. The Finance Minister underlined that Transfer of climate finance and low-cost climate technologies from developed to the developing countries has assumed critical significance.

The Finance Minister sought coordinated responses of the global community to help address the strategic challenges the world faces today.

25-Jul-2022: Clearance of Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) Mandatory for The Environmental Release of Genetically Modified (GM) Crops

The Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) is the statutory committee constituted under the “Rules for the Manufacture, Use/Import/Export and Storage of Hazardous Micro Organisms/Genetically Engineered Organisms or Cells (Rules, 1989)” framed under Environment (Protection) Act, 1986. Applications are considered by GEAC as per the provisions of the Rules, 1989 and amendments thereafter. Every set of application has specific form and pre-requisite documents along with recommendations, wherever needed.

Clearance of Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) is mandatory for the environmental release of Genetically Modified (GM) crops. As per the ‘’Rules 1989’’, State/UT Biotechnology Coordination Committees and District Level Committees are responsible for monitoring instances of illegal cultivation of GM crops and taking appropriate action under Environment (Protection) Act, 1986. The Chief Secretary of State/UT is the Chairperson for the State Biotechnology Coordination Committee (SBCC). Any complaints that come to the notice of GEAC secretariat are sent to the Chief Secretary.

For the consideration of any application related to confined field trials of Genetically Modified (GM) crops by GEAC, NOC from the State/UT Government is required.

Bt cotton is the only GM crop which has been approved for commercial cultivation in India.  The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) conducted study during (2012 -2015) on impact of Bt cotton on 2700 cotton growing farmers belonging to 18 major cotton growing districts of Maharashtra and it was observed that the average seed cotton yield increased after the adoption of Bt Cotton. Also, ICAR has done the feeding studies of Bt cotton on various animals viz., broiler chickens, lambs, cows and goat which was found to be safe.

23-Mar-2018: GEAC disapproved import of GM soy

The Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) under the Environment Ministry has not allowed import of live genetically modified (GM) soy seed into India.

GEAC has requested the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) to take appropriate action and to issue suitable directives to the agencies concerned to not allow such imports.

The 'Coalition for a GM-free India' had earlier urged the government to take strict action on illegal genetically modified (GM) soybean seeds being allegedly imported in India. The coalition had said this was in violation of the Environmental Protection Act and the 2006 DGFT notification.

We have been importing soy seeds from the USA and Ukraine, for instance. The US is known to have mostly GM soyabean (94 per cent) and Ukraine has had its soy exports been reported and cancelled by Russia for having GM contamination.

27-Aug-2017: Conflict of interest in appointment of GEAC members

There is a conflict of interest in the appointment of some members of the country's biotech regulator with two of the top three positions being held by bureaucrats of the environment ministry, a parliamentary panel has said while asserting that an expert should head the body.

The committee expressed its concerns about the “ad hocism” in the constitution of the committee and also about the criteria adopted by the environment ministry for selection of the members of GEAC, their credentials, etc. The panel said that “it would be in fitness of things if GEAC is headed by an expert from the field of biotechnology given the understanding of scientific data and analysis of research and its implication before coming to a conclusion in the matter.”

The department-related parliamentary standing committee on science and technology and environment and forest recently submitted its recommendations in its 301st report on ‘GM crop and its impact on environment’.

Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) was first constituted on May 28, 1990 and it was last re- constituted on March 11, 2013 for a period of three years. Subsequently, with the approval of the competent authority, the tenure of the committee has been extended till re-constitution of the new committee. The Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) is the apex body constituted in the Ministry of Environment and Forests under ‘Rules for Manufacture, Use, Import, Export and Storage of Hazardous Microorganisms/Genetically Engineered Organisms or Cells 1989’, under the Environment Protection Act, 1986. The GEAC is also responsible for approval of proposals relating to release of genetically engineered organisms and products into the environment including experimental field trials (Biosafety Research Level trial-I and II known as BRL-I and BRL-II).

7-Apr-2022: Union Home and Cooperation Minister Shri Amit Shah presided over the 37th meeting of the Parliamentary Official Language Committee in New Delhi

Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation Shri Amit Shah presided over the 37th meeting of the Parliamentary Official Language Committee in New Delhi today. Union Ministers of State for Home Shri Ajay Kumar Mishra and Shri Nishith Pramanik, Vice-Chairman of the Official Language Parliamentary Committee Shri Bhritahari Mahtab and other members of the Committee were also present at the meeting. On this occasion, the Home Minister unanimously approved the sending of the 11th Volume of the Committee’s report to the President of India. Shri Amit Shah said that the pace at which the current Official Language Committee is working, has rarely been seen before. He said that sending three Reports to the President of India in the same tenure of the committee is a joint achievement of all.

The Union Home Minister emphasized on three main points. These are, the Committee is requested to hold a meeting in July for implementation of the recommendations made from 1st to 11th Volume of the Report. Shri Shah said that the Secretary of the Official Language Committee should inform the members about the implementation of the volume wise report in that meeting. Under the second point, he stressed the need to give elementary knowledge of Hindi to students up to Class 9 and pay more attention to Hindi teaching examinations. Under the third point, the Union Home Minister suggested to republish the Hindi dictionary by revising it.  Shri Shah also said that after meeting with all concerned Secretaries, an Implementation Committee should be constituted to review the progress of implementing recommendations of the 1st to 11th volume of the Official Language Committee report.

The Chairperson of the Official Language Committee, Shri Amit Shah said that the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, has decided that the medium of running the government is the Official Language and this will definitely increase the importance of Hindi. He said that now the time has come to make the Official Language an important part of the unity of the country. He said that when citizens of States who speak other language, communicate with each other, it should be in the language of India. Shri Shah said that Hindi should be accepted as an alternative to English and not to local languages. He said that unless we make Hindi flexible by accepting words from other local languages, it will not be propagated.

The Union Home Minister informed members that now 70 percent of the agenda of the Cabinet is prepared in Hindi. He said 22,000 Hindi teachers have been recruited in the eight states of the North East. Also, nine tribal communities of the North East have converted their dialects’ scripts to Devanagari. Apart from this, all the eight states of the North East have agreed to make Hindi compulsory in schools up to Class X.

10-Aug-2021: Union Home Minister, Shri Amit Shah, chaired the 36th meeting of the Parliamentary Committee on Official Language, in New Delhi

The Union Home Minister, Shri Amit Shah, chaired the 36th meeting of the Parliamentary Committee on Official Language in New Delhi today. Union Minister of State for Home Shri Ajay Kumar Mishra and Deputy Chairman of Parliamentary Committee on Official Language Shri Bhartrihari Mahtab were also present at the meeting. On this occasion, the Union Home Minister said that today it is a matter of great pride for all of us that we have given approval to send the 10th Report of the Committee to the President. We will call on him to present the Report. Shri Amit Shah said that yesterday, 9th August was a historic day and this year 9th August has special significance because we are entering the 75th year of Independence. After a long period of slavery, our country became independent on 15 August 1947. He said that if these 75 years are evaluated, then it can be said that in these 75 years, everyone together has taken the roots of democracy to the villages and towns and has made democracy natural to us.

Shri Amit Shah said that he has read the history of many democratic countries. Having accepted the multiparty parliamentary system in India, we did not have any problem in taking it down to the bottom most level, it happened in a very natural way. There was no struggle. The Home Minister said there were different type of government systems in the country for centuries. There groups of vested interests and for long they also exploited society. But all changed in a single day without any bloodshed. Shri Shah said that after Independence there were many changes in power, even at that time there was no bloodshed. This shows that day by day the roots of our democracy are getting deeper and stronger and the banyan tree of democracy is growing bigger.

The Union Home Minister said that I do not know whether the country has been able to fulfill the dreams of Freedom Fighters or not. Maybe our pace may be a little slow but I can say with certainty that our path is right and we will definitely reach our goal. Shri Amit Shah said that our local languages ​​and especially the official language Hindi has the biggest contribution in this. He said that the values ​​of democracy are not new in our country, we had the first democracy in the world and we cannot preserve this culture without language. During the Freedom Movement, importance was given to our languages ​​by our leaders and they showed awareness that English should not be dominant, that is why our languages ​​are rich today. Local languages ​​are also prosperous and day by day the official language Hindi has also been enriched. The Home Minister said that neither the original script nor language has survived in many countries, but he is proud that after Independence, we have preserved and the dialects that were there and saved as many languages ​​as they were. At the same time, all the scripts are also progressing under the auspices of Devanagari. This did not cause any rift in the unity and integrity of the country, the local languages ​​and the official language have worked to unite the country. For this reason, in his opinion, the Official Language Committee is the most important committee of Parliament.

Shri Amit Shah requesting members of the committee said that we should create an environment in which the development of the Official Language Hindi should take place easily as a friend of local languages. He said that it should not be done through imposition, if it was imposed, Hindi would have been rejected and would have died. If Hindi has not died, it is because we never tried to impose itself. For example, there cannot be competition between Gujarati and Hindi and Kannada and Hindi and other languages ​​because both of them are like friends or sisters. If we move forward with this spirit, then only we will be able to take this work forward.

The Union Home Minister said that under the leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, the work of translating the entire curriculum of technical education and medical education into the official language has been started and change is about to come in the country. If syllabus of technical education and medical education is translated into official language, then children studying in Hindi can complete the process of medical examination and become a doctor in and they can also do research in Hindi. He said that in the same way, the curriculum of all the disciplines of engineering in technical education would also be translated. Research in local languages will fulfill Acharya Vinoba Bhave's dream. Shri Amit Shah said that many leaders in the freedom movement like Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Patel, Nehru, Rajendra Babu and Vinoba Bhave were prominent in this mission. They kept the aspects of official language and Devanagari script in front of the people of every state. Official language is the link to connect this country, but at the same time the importance of local languages should not be diminished. We are moving in this direction at a fast pace and will be able to fulfill the resolve of the Freedom Fighters in the times to come. Shri Shah said that Narendra Modi has associated the official language with nation. Swabhasha, Swadeshi and Swaraj were the three foundations of our freedom movement. The sacraments of Swaraj can be imagined only from Swabhasha and Swadeshi. The idea of Swaraj transformed into Independence on 15 August 1947. Rajendra Babu had said that our official language Hindi is the mother of the collective consciousness of the nation, this concept is going to come true today.

Shri Amit Shah said that Hindi should be used even within justice and discussion with jurists should be done for it. The role of official language Hindi in the freedom movement should be the theme on 75 years of independence. It should be presented before the Parliament of the country that how much our local languages and official language have contributed to the country's development. The Home Minister said that the local litterateurs wrote literature to give impetus to the movement. It should be the collective effort of all of us that the theme of the regional conferences and the national conferences should be based on this. By calling experts and litterateurs a message should be sent to the whole country that how big a contribution of local languages and official language has been in our freedom movement. Along with this, regional history should also be properly translated in the official language. Lal Bahadur Shastri had made special efforts in this direction but after that efforts are progressing at a slow pace. For example, if a child from Gujarat has to read about the Vijayanagara Empire, then there is no choice but to read it in English, there are examples of many other such states.

Union Home Minister Shri Amit Shah said that after discussing with the MPs of various parties, a list of local language books of local history should be made and the Culture Department of the Government of India should translate the books  and make them available in good libraries of the country. There should also be a system for their sale. He said that if the history of every part of the country from Kashmir to Kanyakumari becomes available in the official language for children studying history, then automatically the promotion of the official language will increase and this will enrich the knowledge of children.

The Union Home Minister said that there is similarity between our languages, there is also an invisible dialogue and it can be understood only after experiencing it. He said that many words of every language in the country are associated with some another language, the root of grammar is also the same.

Shri Amit Shah stressed that the acceptance of Hindi should be with consent and only then we will be able to make the official language the formula of national unity which was espoused by our freedom fighters. Shri Shah said that the government is ready to accept every good suggestion. The Union Home Minister said that when we are going to enter the 75th year of Independence, both the relevance and utility of our committee increases a lot. He called upon everyone to make Hindi more popular through collective efforts. He said that the Prime Minister has also promoted and spread our language by speaking in Hindi on international forums. He said that all speeches given by the Prime Minister in Parliament are also in Hindi and the committee should take inspiration from this.