Northeastern states | Business Upturn

Post-Air India privatisation, paramilitary forces encounter seat availability crisis on vital routes

Gowri Jagadish — Tue, 20 Feb 2024 07:23:19 +0000

Following Air India’s privatisation, the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) have been suffering hurdles due to the lack of a state-owned carrier. Particularly, they are having trouble acquiring seats on approved price bands and dealing with issues related to coordination and funding for air courier services.

The Home Ministry made a significant change to the convoy rule after the terror attack in Pulwama in January 2019, which resulted in the deaths of forty Jawans of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF). This change allowed low-ranking personnel to travel by air on certain routes, such as Delhi-Srinagar, Srinagar-Delhi, Jammu-Srinagar, and Srinagar-Jammu.

However, since privatisation, officials have disclosed that it has become more difficult to get seats on flights, particularly on the vital Srinagar-Jammu-Delhi route, because of capacity constraints. Paramilitary forces now have difficulty travelling, especially those stationed in Jammu & Kashmir and the northeastern states.

Seat availability is a recurring problem that was discussed at a recent meeting presided over by CRPF Director General Anish Dayal. Concerns about coordination issues and financial barriers between different places were raised by officials regarding the difficulties air courier services are facing. These issues affect personnel stationed in J&K, areas hit by Naxal attacks, and the Northeastern states.

A primary concern brought up during the deliberations was the limited accessibility of Air Charter Service (ACS) on the Delhi-Kolkata-Aizawl route, which is offered exclusively on Saturdays. This limitation presents difficulties for employees who need greater flexibility with their travel schedules.

Moreover, air courier services on the Dibrugarh-Guwahati-Delhi route have been suspended, resulting in considerable disruption for individuals travelling from difficult places.

Authorities also reported disruptions on the Kolkata-Imphal-Kolkata route, which they linked to Manipur’s increased use of force. To meet the increasing number of soldiers stationed in the region, there was a requirement to increase the frequency of air flights from three to five days.

Since the Ministry first decided in 2019 to offer air courier services to employees in Jammu & Kashmir, it has expanded the programme to all industries to shorten the time security personnel must travel while on leave.

Flight routes that have been approved are Kolkata-Aizawl-Silchar-Kolkata, Kolkata-Agartala-Kolkata, Kolkata-Imphal-Kolkata, Delhi-Srinagar-Delhi, Srinagar-Jammu-Srinagar, Delhi-Leh-Delhi, Delhi-Dibrugarh-Guwahati-Delhi, and Delhi-Raipur-Jagdalpur-Raipur-Delhi.

Ministry of Defence achieves landmark ₹1 lakh crore in transactions on government e-marketplace (GeM)

Gowri Jagadish — Thu, 15 Feb 2024 12:11:40 +0000

The Government e-Marketplace (GeM) platform has seen more than ₹1 lakh crore in transactions from the Ministry of Defence (MoD). As the first central government agency to accomplish this feat, the MoD is setting a pattern for efficient public spending within the Defence sector with this milestone, also known as Gross Merchandise Value (GMV).

The Ministry of Commerce and Industry released a press statement stating that the GeM site has been instrumental in simplifying and meeting the MoD’s various procurement requirements. These range from basic store items like eggs to vital defence acquisitions like missile systems.

A paradigm shift in the defence procurement landscape has occurred as a result of the MoD’s early adoption of GeM and its interaction with Defence Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs), which have greatly improved sales and procurement procedures.

The MoD granted transactions through GeM worth about ₹45,800 crore alone in the current fiscal year, showing the platform’s efficiency in accelerating procurement procedures and boosting efficiency in government transactions.

This noteworthy accomplishment demonstrates the Ministry of Defence’s commitment to transformation and its role as a driving factor behind Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi’s vision of an independent India.

In keeping with GeM’s central goal of maximising social inclusion, MoD buyers have given Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs) ₹60,593 crore or 50.7% of the overall orders. This moves India closer to becoming self-sufficient while also fostering the expansion of MSEs.

The MoD has been an early adopter of GeM since its founding, winning the confidence of about 19,800 MoD consumers nationwide, including isolated regions like the Northeastern States, Leh-Ladakh, and several island territories.

The participation of Defence PSUs on the GeM platform has changed the procurement environment even more by facilitating sales growth in addition to procurement.

PM Narendra Modi to meet the northeastern states’ CMs on COVID-19 situation

Bhaswati Sengupta — Tue, 13 Jul 2021 05:56:31 +0000

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will chair a virtual meeting with the Chief Ministers of the eight northeastern states. The meeting is conducted to discuss the COVID 19 situation in the regions.

Three out of every five districts that reported a test positivity rate of over 10 percent in the past week to belong from the northeast.

Data traced by the Union Health Ministry portrayed that among 58 districts that reported a positivity rate of more than 10 percent from July 5 to July 11, 37 are from the northeast region of the country.

However, the absolute number in the northeast is less as compared to the other large states. The overall weekly positivity in India was around 2.21 percent as of Sunday.

As per reports, the Health Ministry sent individual letters to the Northeastern states underlining its concerns on July 6. Following which a video conference took place among officials involving Union Health secretary Rajesh Bhushan and union Home Secretary AK Bhalla. During the video conference, the officials directed the states to ramp up testing with a high proportion of RT-PCR tests, execute effective containment measures, and augment hospital bed capacity if occupancy surpasses 40 percent.

According to certain official data cited by ‘The Indian Express’, portrayed a disproportionately large share of Rapid Antigen tests that are significantly less accurate than the gold standard RT- PCR tests and further tend to produce a large number of false negatives.

Therefore, it suggests that the situation in the region might be much worse than what the test indicates. A bigger section of the population might get contracted with the virus.

Manipur

The state reported a weekly positivity rate of 14.69 percent. In 16 districts, 19 percent of tests on average were RT-PCR tests.

Tengnoupal, Bishnupur, Kakching, Thoubal, Imphal East and West, Churchandrapur, and Kangpokpi are the state that exhibited a positivity rate of more than 10 percent.

The Center enquired the state to analyze the rising death in the districts of Imphal East, Imphal West, and Bishnupur.

Meghalaya

The state marked a weekly positivity of 14.77 percent. In 11 districts, 17 percent RT-PCR tests on average were conducted.

North Garo Hills, Ri Bhoi, East Khasi Hills, South Garo Hills, West Jaintia Hills, East Jaintia Hills, West Khasi hills are the seven states that showed more than 10 percent positivity.

The Centre notified that East Khasi Hills have recorded 26 death during June 28- July 4, leading to a 53 percent rise in weekly death as compared to the past weeks.

Arunachal Pradesh

The state showed a weekly positivity of around 6.74 percent. Nearly 3 percent of RT-PCR tests on average were carried out in the state.

Kurung Kumey, Kamle, East Siang, Dibang Valley, and Anjaw are the states that yielded more than a 10 percent positivity rate.

Sikkim

The state put forward a weekly positivity of 24.98 percent. Around 73 percent of RT-PCR tests were conducted.

West district, East District, South District, North District had over 10 percent positivity rate.

The Center raised concerns about the mortality reported in the East district.

Assam

The state exhibited a weekly positivity of 4.41 percent and 12 percent of tests were RT-PCR tests.

Charaideo, Jorhat, Lakhimpur, Golaghat are the four districts that showed over 10 cent positivity rate.

The Center emphasized the rising number of deaths in the past four weeks in Jorhat and Sivasagar.

Tripura

Weekly positivity in the state is around 9.39 percent. 28 percent of tests were RT-PCR tests.

Khowai, Unakoti, Dhalai reported a more than 10 percent positivity rate.

The center raised concern about the increasing number of death in West Tripura.

Mizoram

The state portrayed a weekly positivity of 8.15 percent. 17 percent of the test conducted were RT-PCR.

Lawngati, Lunglei, Aizwal are the three districts that put forward an over 10 percent positivity rate.

Nagaland

The weekly positivity of the state is 7.14 percent. Around 37 percent of RT-PCR tests were carried out.

Longleng, Kohima, and Tuensang are the districts that exhibited over a 10 percent positivity rate.