28-Aug-2019: India Launches World’s First Ever Facial Bio-Metric Data Based Seafarer Identity Document
India has become the first country in the world to issue Biometric Seafarer Identity Document (BSID), capturing the facial bio-metric data of seafarers. Shri Mansukh Mandaviya, MoS (I/C) Shipping and Chemical & Fertilizers launched the project in New Delhi. He also handed over the new BSID cards to five Indian seafarers.
The new facial biometric technology is a marked improvement over the two finger or iris based bio-metric data, with modern security features. It will make the identification of the SID holder more reliable and efficient, while protecting their dignity and privacy. India had made a presentation on this technology at ILO .
The country is moving ahead rapidly under the leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi. The shipping sector is seeing major developments in the areas of coastal shipping, inland waterways and other maritime activities. This is leading to generation of employment in the sector, which is evident in the growing number of Indian seafarers in the international shipping industry. The total number of Indian seafarers who were employed on Indian or foreign flag vessels increased from 154349 in 2017 to 208799 this year, showing an unprecedented increase of 35%.
Today's development is very significant against the backdrop of the increase in seafaring activities . The new document will give a foolproof identification to our seafarers which will facilitate their movement, provide ease of getting jobs and help in identifying them from any location in the world.
The new card is in confirmation of the Convention No. 185 of the International Labour Organisation on BSID. India ratified the Convention in October 2015.
The BSID introduces modern security features. It will have a biometric chip embedded in it. The security of the BSID card is ensured at various levels and through different methods. At the time of data capturing the live face is cross matched through passport photo using a face matching software. The card has two optical security features- Micro prints/micro texts and Unique Guilloche pattern. A software has been developed for capturing the facial biometrics and its authentication through the public key infrastructure.
A record of each SID issued will be maintained in a national database and its related information will be internationally accessible.
In India the BSID project has been taken up in collaboration with Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (CDAC), Mumbai. The Government notified the Merchant Shipping (Seafarers Bio-metric Identification Document) Rules in 2016. The issuance of SID involves the collection of biometric and demographic details of the seafarers, their verification and then issuance of the card to them.
Nine data collection centers have been setup at Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Noida, Goa, New Mangalore, Kochi, Vizag & Kandla for issue of BSID. Every Indian seafarer who possesses a valid Continuous Discharge Certificate issued by the Govt. of India will be eligible for issue of a BSID. The total number of existing Indian seafarers who will be required to be issued BSIDs is around 3,50,000. All the existing seafarers will be given BSID within the next 2 years. After this, it is estimated that around 15000 new seafarers will be issued BSIDs annually.
26-Aug-2019: 7th Community Radio Sammelan to be held in Delhi from 27 to 29 August
The Seventh Community Radio Sammelan will be held at Dr. BR Ambedkar Bhawan, New Delhi from 27th to 29th August, 2019. The Sammelan, being organized by Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, will witness participation of all operational Community Radio Stations across the country.
The theme of this year’s Sammelan is ‘Community Radio for SDGs’. The representatives of the Community Radio Stations will discuss experiences and possibilities of programming for better public awareness on the Sustainable Development Goals.
The Sammelan will also witness discussion on various flagship schemes of the Government like the Jal Shakti Abhiyaan and efforts for Disaster Risk Reduction. Research, production, broadcasting, dissemination of social welfare messages through Social Media and content management for Community Radio Stations will also be discussed.
On the second day of the Sammelan i.e. 28th August, Union Minister Shri Prakash Javadekar will give awards to Community Radio Stations for their achievements in broadcasting development programmes in various genres including Promotion of Local Culture, Most Creative and Innovative Content, Community Engagement Awards, among others.
29-Aug-2019: Campaign Angikaar & E-Course on Vulnerability Atlas Launched.
Shri Hardeep S Puri, Minister of State (I/C) for Housing and Urban Affairs launched “Angikaar” a campaign for change management and e-Course on Vulnerability Atlas of India.
In line with the vision of Prime Minister, Angikaar has been launched for social behaviour change, focusing on issues such as water & energy conservation, waste management, health, tree plantation, sanitation and hygiene for beneficiaries of completed houses under PMAY (U), through community mobilisation and IEC activities. For this purpose, the campaign will converge with schemes and Missions of other Ministries dealing with these subjects. The convergence would especially focus on Ujjwala for gas connection and Ayushman Bharat for health insurance to the beneficiaries of PMAY (U).
Under PMAY (U) about 88 lakh houses has been approved till now as against demand of 1.12 crore. The Angikaar aims at reaching out all the beneficiaries of the Mission in phased manner. The campaign will be initiated in all target cities on 2nd October 2019 commemorating 150th Gandhi Jayanti after preparatory phase and culminate on the occasion of Human Rights Day, 10th December, 2019. The campaign will include door to door activities, ward and city level events.
The e-course on Vulnerability Atlas is offered by the Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs in collaboration of School of Planning & Architecture (SPA), New Delhi and Building Materials & Technology Promotion Council (BMTPC). It is a unique course that offers awareness and understanding about natural hazards, helps identify regions with high vulnerability with respect to various hazards (earthquakes, cyclones, landslides, floods, etc.) and specifies district-wise level of damage risks to the existing housing stock. The e-course will be a tool for effective & efficient disaster mitigation & management in the field of Architecture, Civil Engineering, Urban & Regional Planning, Housing & Infrastructure Planning, Construction Engineering & Management and Building & Materials Research.
At the inauguration of Construction Technology India (CTI-2019), Hon’ble Prime Minister gave a mandate to enable “Ease of Living” for PMAY (U) beneficiaries and emphasized the need to incorporate hazard safety provisions in all construction works. In this direction, as a part of 100 days agenda the Ministry has launched these initiatives.