23-Sep-2020: National GIS-Enabled Land Bank System

Government has integrated Industrial Information System (IIS) portal with the GIS System of six States in first phase to provide updates on land availability and plot level information to investors anywhere in the world on real time basis and help them make informed decisions.

For the development of National Land Bank, Government intends to solicit the details of industrial land with plot level information, connectivity thereto, basic facilities, other facilities available and contact details of authorities/developer of the park.  

Government agencies are provided with unique User ID and password to upload the land details. However, the other investors can go to https://iis.ncog.gov.in/parks and simply register on the portal by creating a username and password and login to see the information available on the portal.

Jharkhand is one of the eight states in the second phase of integration of state land bank/GIS systems with the IIS portal. The state has uploaded land data manually on the portal in the past. The state is yet to align its portal as per the Standard Operation Procedures (SOP) of integration of the two systems. The technical teams of State of Jharkhand are in touch with MeitY team who are providing technical support to develop the GIS Based National Land Bank under IIS.

30-Aug-2020: It is the time to get vocal for local toys, says PM in Mann ki Baat

In the latest address of Mann ki Baat, Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi talked about his deliberations with the Children University of Gandhinagar, Ministry of Women and Child Development, Ministry of Education and Ministry of Micro-Small and Medium Enterprises on how to make new toys available to the children and how India could become a big hub of toy production. He noted that toys not only augment activity, they also give flight to our aspirations. Toys, not only entertain, they also build the mind and foster an intent too, he said.

Prime Minister recalled an anecdote about toys shared by Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore. He emphasized what Gurudev had said about toys - that the best toy is that which is incomplete, a toy that children together complete  while playing. Gurudev used to say that toys should be such that they bring out the childhood of a child and also his or her creativity, he said.

Prime Minister noted that in the National Education Policy, a lot of attention has been given on the impact of toys on different aspects of children's lives. He said there are several skilled artisans who possess expertise in making good toys and some parts of the country like Channapatna in Ramanagaram in Karnataka, Kondapalli in Krishna in Andhra Pradesh, Thanjavur in Tami Nadu, Dhubari in Assam, Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh are also developing as Toy clusters. He added that while Global Toy Industry is worth more than 7 lakh crore rupees, India currently has a very little share in it.

Prime Minister praised the work done by Shri C V Raju of Vishakhapatnam, who, by making excellent quality eti-koppakaa toys, has brought back the lost glory of these local toys. He exhorted the entrepreneurs to team up for toys, saying it is the time to get vocal for local toys.

Talking about the trend of computer games, Prime Minister suggested making games based on the ideas and concepts of our history.

28-Aug-2020: IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad Launches “Chunauti”- Next Generation Start-up Challenge Contest

Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad today launched “Chunauti”- Next Generation Startup Challenge Contest to further boost startups and software products with special focus on Tier-II towns of India. The government has earmarked a budget of Rs. 95.03 Crore over a period of three years for this programme. It aims to identify around 300 startups working in identified areas and provide them seed fund of upto Rs. 25 Lakh and other facilities.

Under this challenge the Ministry of Electronics and IT will invite startups in the following areas of work:

  1. Edu-Tech, Agri-Tech & Fin-Tech Solutions for masses
  2. Supply Chain, Logistics & Transportation Management
  3. Infrastructure & Remote monitoring
  4. Medical Healthcare, Diagnostic, Preventive & Psychological Care
  5. Jobs & Skilling, Linguistic tools & technologies

The startups selected through Chunauti will be provided various support from the Government through Software Technology Parks of India centers across India. They will get incubation facilities, mentorship, security testing facilities, access to venture capitalist funding, industry connect as well as advisories in legal, Human Resource (HR), IPR and Patent matters. Besides seed fund of upto Rs. 25 Lakh, the startups will also be provided cloud credits from leading cloud service providers. Start-ups who are in the ideation stage may be selected under the pre-incubation programme & mentored for up-to six months to evolve their business plan & solution around the proposed idea. Each intern (start-up under pre-incubation) will be paid Rs. 10,000/- per month upto a period of 6 months.

Startups can apply by visiting the website of STPI or by clicking at the link https://innovate.stpinext.in/

Union Minister also laid foundation stone of the digital training and skilling center of National Institute of Electronics and Information Technology (NIELIT) at Muzaffarpur in Bihar. This center will be developed by Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India at a cost of Rs. 9.17 Crore. The government of Bihar has allocated one acre of land for this institution. This center will be equipped with the state of the art training facility with a digital laboratory. Different courses such as O level, CCC, BCC, Programming and multimedia training will be offered from this center.

Speaking at a virtual event in presence of Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar, Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said, “I urge the young, talented innovators of India to come forward and avail benefits of Chunauti challenge of Government and create new software products and app. This launch is a bold initiative under the clarion call for Aatma Nirbhar Bharat given by Prime Minister Narendra Modi”.