Category: MIL-OSI

Source: Government of India

Department of Consumer Affairs, Government of India organizes ‘Workshop on e-Jagriti platform’ at Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies (NMIMS), Sarangpur, Chandigarh

Representatives from State and District Consumer Commissions and Bar Associations of Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana & Jammu & Kashmir, Chandigarh and Ladakh participates

E-Jagriti Portal Empowers Stakeholders with Tools for Efficient Consumer Dispute Resolution

Posted On: 29 MAR 2025 5:20PM by PIB Delhi

The Department of Consumer Affairs, Government of India, in association with State Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission, UT of Chandigarh organized a ‘Workshop on e-Jagriti platform’, a hands-on workshop on the e-Jagriti portal, aimed at providing in-depth training to key stakeholders at Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies (NMIMS), Sarangpur, Chandigarh today.

Shri Bharat Khera, Additional Secretary, Department of Consumer Affairs in his keynote address stated that by introducing E-Jagriti, the Department of Consumer Affairs has taken a groundbreaking step toward a fully digital, accessible, and efficient consumer grievance redressal mechanism. This initiative reduces human intervention, overcomes geographical barriers, and strengthens consumer protection in India.

Shri Anupam Mishra, Joint Secretary, Department of Consumer Affairs in his address stated that Department of Consumer Affairs, in collaboration with the National Informatics Centre (NIC), developed E-Jagriti, an integrated digital system combining e-Daakhil, Confonet, and OCMS into a single, streamlined platform simplifying access for consumers, commission officials, judges, advocates, industry experts, and mediators. He thanked the Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission, UT of Chandigarh and Director, NMIMS for smooth organization of the workshop.

Justice Raj Shekhar Attri, President, State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, UT (Chandigarh) said, that the technology has brought a sea change in efficiency and productivity. Using it for speedy disposal of cases will help serve the consumers and timely settlement of their cases. He also appreciated that GoI initiative i.e. e-Jagriti in utilizing new technology like video conferencing, AI tools to facilitate speedy disposal of consumer cases and making it accessible in remote locations. EJagriti will streamline the procedure and new tools like AI, Data Analytics will help judges in providing insights and legal precedents to make it more efficient and transparent.

Shri Shravan Kumar Nune, Member, District Consumer Commission, Leh expressed his views about the significance and potential of e-Daakhil platform (now E-Jagriti) in remote locations like Ladakh for the benefit of consumers. He observed that on the day when e-daakhil was launched in Leh, a case was registered on the portal. This highlights the important role technology can play to address the concerns of consumers in remote and hilly areas.

Ms. Monika Thatai, Advocate, Chandigarh HC, appreciated the features of EJagriti platform and the capacity building initiative of GoI. She representing the Bar Association gave various useful suggestions which would further enhance the ease of use of e-Jagriti portal.

Shri. G. Mayil Muthu Kumaran, Deputy Director General, National Informatics Centre, New Delhi during the workshop presented a presentation on the e-jagriti, enlightening the participants on how to efficiently onboard users onto the platform, file consumer complaints and grievances, and navigate the role-based access module, which defines specific functionalities for different stakeholders. The presentation also covered vital aspects such as scrutinizing and assisting in the processing of cases, generating and managing causelists, and managing virtual courtroom hearings through the platform.

The Members of the State Consumer Commissions like the Maheep Gupta, Jammu & Kashmir State Consumer Commissions along with the Hon’ble Padma Pandey, Hon’ble Rajesh K. Arya, and Preetinder Singh, Chandigarh State Consumer Commission attended the workshop. Also, President Sh. Pawanjit Singh, President, Chandigarh District Consumer Commission-I and Sh. Amrinder Singh, President of Chandigarh District Consumer Commission-II along with Members of the Chandigarh District Consumer Commission I & II attended the workshop. Sh Shravan Kumar Nune, Member, District Consumer Commission, Leh attended the workshop. The stakeholders/ participants were equipped with practical knowledge and skills to efficiently navigate and utilize various features of the E-Jagriti portal. Other stakeholders like voluntary consumer organizations and advocates also attended the workshop.

During the workshop, the stakeholders were divided into two groups and provided with the computer systems for hands-on training on various key functionalities of the e-jagriti platform. Participants were given their own login ID and were walked through each feature of the portal with live demonstrations and interactive sessions by the NIC experts team. Attendees were guided on uploading daily orders and judgments for efficient document management and were introduced to the specialized Judges module, aimed at supporting smooth adjudication of cases. The objective was to ensure that all participants were well-versed with the E-Jagriti portal’s features to improve efficiency, transparency, and accessibility for consumers and all stakeholders involved in the grievance redressal mechanism.

The e-Jagriti platform has case filing, online fee payment, case monitoring modules for seamless disposal of cases by all the Commissions, has Smart search facility on archived consumer complaints / cases / judgements using AI technology for metadata and keyword creation, and Voice-to-text conversion of judgements, case history and other details using AI / ML technology. The portal is integrated with a Virtual court facility for a convenient and accessible resolution of consumer complaints, reducing the time of disposal, multiple hearings and physical court appearances bringing effective and fast decisions & disposals in all Consumer Commissions.

Shri. Sunil Kumar Mishra, Deputy Secretary, Department of Consumer Affairs in his vote of thanks extended a heartfelt gratitude to Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies (NMIMS), Sarangpur, Chandigarh, for their generous support in hosting the ‘Workshop on e-Jagriti Platform’. The provision of their state-of-the-art hall and computer systems played an instrumental role in ensuring the success of the workshop.

The Department of Consumer Affairs is committed to enhancing consumer protection and facilitating access to justice. This workshop is the first of a series of workshops that will be conducted in all the states under the broader initiative to bring technology into the consumer dispute resolution process, ensuring that consumers across the nation can resolve grievances in a faster and more efficient manner.

Inaugural programme of the Capacity Building Workshop

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Abhishek Dayal/Nihi Sharma

(Release ID: 2116605) Visitor Counter : 396

Source: Government of India

Approx. 31 lakh defence pensioners, of the total 32 lakh, onboarded on SPARSH portal

Raksha Pension Samadhan Ayojans organised at various places for those living in remote areas

Over 200 DAD offices, 16 Bank branches and nearly five lakh CSCs operational to help pensioners

Posted On: 29 MAR 2025 7:48PM by PIB Delhi

Of the total 32 lakh defence pensioners, approx. 31 lakh have been onboarded on System for Pension Administration – Raksha (SPARSH) and their pensions are being directly credited into their bank accounts. Launched in October 2020, SPARSH is a ‘Digital India’ initiative that aims to provide a comprehensive, transparent, and efficient solution for managing defence pensions, including sanctioning and disbursing pensions to the Armed Forces personnel and Defence civilians living across the country.

In order to help veterans and their families, old women and people living in remote areas where there are no computers & internet facilities, Raksha Pension Samadhan Ayojans (RPSA) are organised at various places to resolve their problems. During January 2024 to December 2024, seven RPSAs were organised in different parts of the country.

In addition, more than 90 SPARSH outreach programmes have been organised by the Defence Accounts Department (DAD) during the same period to assist veterans and their families. Department representatives also participated in ESM Rallies, Navy Veteran Meets, Air Force Veteran Conclaves organized by the Indian Defence Forces across the nation.

Ex-servicemen and their families can also get help and required information regarding their pension by calling PCDA (P) toll free number 1800-180-5325, where fully trained staff are deployed to help. So far, more than 50 lakh calls have been answered providing them help and information since its inception in December, 2014.

SPARSH is administered by the DAD through the Principal Controller of Defence Accounts (Pensions) in Prayagraj and caters to all three Services (Army, Navy, Air Force) and allied organisations.

In the erstwhile Legacy System, Pensions to the Armed Forces were sanctioned by three different Pension Sanctioning Agencies (PSAs) namely, O/o PCDA (Pension), Prayagraj; O/o PCDA (Navy), Mumbai and O/o Jt. CDA (Air Force), New Delhi to personnel of Army, Navy and Air Force respectively. The disbursement of pension was made by over 45,000 branches of Public and Private sector Banks, State Treasury offices, Post Offices and Indian Embassy Nepal.

Multiple agencies, lack of technical expertise, siloed work approach and lack of coordination led to incorrect payouts to pensioners due to delayed or incorrect or non-revision of pension with widows bearing the brunt of this problem, getting fixed at minimum pension rates. Not only were there delays in payment of monthly pensions, there was no visibility or transparency to the pensioners, regarding their data and entitlements. Grievances were not attended to by the PDAs on account of lack of knowledge or laxity.

To mitigate such problems, SPARSH was conceptualized and implemented successfully where sanctioning of the pension and its disbursement directly to the account of the pension was brought onto a single platform.

SPARSH has enabled and systematised correct revision based on data available in data-base, and reduced the time between sanction of pension and payment, revised incorrect pensions, enabled pensioners to have access to their data and entitlements and provided them with the wherewithal to reach out to the authorities with requests for data updation or grievances.

SPARSH is a transparent system, which speaks the truth. It faithfully shows to Veterans and their families, the mis-match/deficiency in data of pensioner [ie Name, Aadhar Number, PAN Number, Date of Birth, Family Details, Mobile Number etc] and also enables them to view their pension eligibility and details in real-time on the portal, which was not possible in the Legacy System.

Such access to information has enabled the pensioners to apply for correction of their data or flag other issues relevant to them by means of online grievance system available on SPARSH. While this has led to an increase in the number of grievances, on the positive side it has provided the pensioners an opportunity to correct their data, which was not possible earlier.

Apart from correcting the data received through complaints, DAD is also taking suo-motu cognizance of data discrepancies and updating the data at its own level so that pensioners do not face any kind of problem related to pension and their pension or family pension continues smoothly.

In order to ensure last mile connectivity for each SPARSH pensioner, SPARSH Service Centers have been set up to help pensioners, especially those who are not tech-savvy, navigate the SPARSH landscape by making available services to them through these centres. These include addressing technical queries/issues, identification, registering Grievances, reporting Causalities (Death/Missing/Conviction etc.), giving IT Saving & Declarations

At present, 201 offices of the DAD, Branches of 16 Banks including IPPB and 4.63 lakh CSCs are operational across the length and breadth of the country to help pensioners.

Due to poor quality of data available with the erstwhile PDAs, the migration of some pensioners has resulted in such data being onboarded on SPARSH. Data updation exercise is being carried out on a war footing for completion at the earliest.

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VK/Savvy

(Release ID: 2116648) Visitor Counter : 601

Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region

Hong Kong Customs on March 25 detected a suspected air freight gold bullion smuggling case, and seized about 145 kilograms of suspected gold bullion with an estimated market value of about $110 million, at Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA). This is the largest gold bullion smuggling case detected by Customs on record in terms of the seizure volume and market value.

Based on risk assessment, Customs on that day examined an outbound air cargo consignment, declared as carrying plastic luggage departing for Japan, at the Customs Cargo Examination Compound at HKIA. Upon inspection, Customs officers found a batch of luggage in 14 carton boxes, and a total of about 145kg of suspected smuggled gold bullion concealed therein.

An investigation is ongoing. The likelihood of arrests is not ruled out.

Customs will continue to take stringent enforcement actions against all kinds of smuggling activities through risk assessment and intelligence analysis.

Smuggling is a serious offence. Under the Import and Export Ordinance, any person found guilty of importing or exporting unmanifested cargo is liable to a maximum fine of $2 million and imprisonment for seven years.
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Members of the public may report any suspected smuggling activities to Customs’ 24-hour hotline 182 8080 or its dedicated crime-reporting email account (crimereport@customs.gov.hk) or online form (eform.cefs.gov.hk/form/ced002/).

Source: Government of India

Freight Revenue Rises by ₹54,805 Cr in 4 Years from ₹1.13 Lakh Cr in 2019-20 to ₹1.68 Lakh Cr in 2023-24

Passenger Revenue Increases by ₹20,024 Cr in 4 Years from ₹50,669 Cr in 2019-20 to ₹70,693 Cr in 2023-24

Posted On: 29 MAR 2025 5:33PM by PIB Delhi

Revenue generated by Indian Railways from Freight and Passenger operations during the last five years is as under: –

 

Financial Year	Revenue (₹ in Cr)
	Freight	Passenger
2019-20	1,13,488	50,669
2020-21*	1,17,232	15,248
2021-22*	1,41,096	39,214
2022-23	1,62,263	63,417
2023-24	1,68,293	70,693

* COVID years.

 

Revenue earned by Indian Railways on account of flexi fare, tatkal and premium tatkal during 2019-20 to 2023-24 is approximately 5.7% of the total revenue earned from passenger services. Amount credited on account of Cancellation of tickets is not maintained separately.

 

As on 01.04.24, there are about 79,000 coaches being utilized for running train services. The details are as under:

      

Class	No. of coaches	No. of seats
General and non-AC Sleeper	~56,000(70% of total)	~51 lakhs
AC Coaches	~ 23,000	~14 lakhs
Total	~ 79,000	~ 65 lakhs

Details of passenger seats and revenue during the period 2019-20 to 2023-24 is as below:

Class	Avg %share of total seats during  2019-20 to 2023-24	Avg % share of total passenger revenue during 2019-20 to 2023-24
Non-AC coaches (General / Sleeper etc.)	~ 82%	~  53%
AC Coaches	~ 18%	~  47%

                       

This information was given by the Union Minister of Railways, Information & Broadcasting and Electronics & Information Technology Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw in a written reply in Rajya Sabha yesterday.

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Dharmendra Tewari/Shatrunjay Kumar

(Release ID: 2116609) Visitor Counter : 327

Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region

     A woman who went missing in Tseung Kwan O has been located.

     Tung Kit-yu, aged 22, went missing after she left her residence on Kai King Road on March 23 night. Her family made a report to Police on March 25.

     The woman was located at Tseung Kwan O Station last night (March 28). She sustained no injuries and no suspicious circumstances were detected.

 

Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region

Overall Wage and Payroll Statistics
 
     According to the figures released today (March 28) by the Census and Statistics Department (C&SD), the average wage rate for all the selected industry sections surveyed, as measured by the wage index, increased by 3.5% in nominal terms in December 2024 over a year earlier.
 
     About 63% of the companies reported increase in average wage rates in December 2024 compared with a year ago. A total of 33% of the companies recorded decrease in average wage rates over the same period. The remaining 4% reported virtually no change in average wage rates.
 
     After discounting the changes in consumer prices as measured by the Consumer Price Index (A), the overall average wage rate for all the selected industry sections surveyed increased by 1.8% in real terms in December 2024 over a year earlier. 
 
     As for payroll, the index of payroll per person engaged for all the industry sections surveyed increased by 3.4% in nominal terms in the fourth quarter of 2024 over a year earlier. 
 
     After discounting the changes in consumer prices as measured by the Composite Consumer Price Index, the average payroll per person engaged increased by 2.0% in real terms in the fourth quarter of 2024 compared with a year earlier.
 
     The wage rate includes basic wages and other regular and guaranteed allowances and bonuses. Payroll includes elements covered by wage rate as well as other irregular payments to workers such as discretionary bonuses and overtime allowances.  The payroll statistics therefore tend to show relatively larger quarter-to-quarter changes, affected by the number of hours actually worked and the timing of payment of bonuses and back-pay.
 
Sectoral Changes
 
     For the nominal wage indices, year-on-year increases were recorded in all selected industry sections in December 2024, ranging from 3.0% to 4.1%.
 
     For the real wage indices, year-on-year increases were also recorded in all selected industry sections in December 2024, ranging from 1.3% to 2.3%.
 
     The year-on-year changes in the nominal and real wage indices for the selected industry sections from December 2023 to December 2024 are shown in Table 1.
 
     As for the nominal indices of payroll per person engaged, year-on-year increases were recorded in all selected industry sections in the fourth quarter of 2024, ranging from 1.7% to 4.3%.

     For the real payroll indices, year-on-year increases were also recorded in all selected industry sections in the fourth quarter of 2024, ranging from 0.3% to 2.8%.
 
     The year-on-year changes in the nominal and real indices of payroll per person engaged for selected industry sections from the fourth quarter of 2023 to the fourth quarter of 2024 are shown in Table 2. The quarterly changes in the seasonally adjusted nominal and real indices of payroll per person engaged in the same period are shown in Table 3.
 
Commentary
 
     A Government spokesman said that wages and labour earnings saw increases in all surveyed industries in the fourth quarter of 2024 over a year earlier, alongside the tight labour market.
 
     The average wage rate for all selected industries rose by 3.5% in nominal terms in December 2024, at a similar pace of increase in September 2024. After discounting for inflation, the average wage rate increased by an accelerated 1.8% in real terms.
 
     Payroll per person engaged, which includes basic wage, discretionary bonuses and other irregular payments, recorded a steady increase of 3.4% in nominal terms and faster growth of 2.0% in real terms in the fourth quarter of 2024. All selected industries saw increases in payroll per person engaged in both nominal and real terms.
 
     Looking ahead, continued economic expansion should render support to the labour market, as well as wages and labour earnings in the near term, though some industries may be affected by the United States’ trade protection measures and other external uncertainties.
 
Other Information
 
     Both wage indices and payroll indices are compiled quarterly based on the results of the Labour Earnings Survey (LES) conducted by C&SD. Wage index only covers employees up to the supervisory level (i.e. not including managerial and professional employees), whereas payroll index covers employees at all levels and proprietors actively engaged in the work of the establishment.
 
     Apart from the differences in employee coverage, wage statistics are conceptually different from the payroll statistics.  Firstly, wage rate for an employee refers to the sum earned for his normal hours of work. It covers basic wages and other regular and guaranteed allowances and bonuses, but excludes earnings from overtime work and discretionary bonuses, which are however included in payroll per person engaged. Secondly, the payroll index of an industry is an indicator of the simple average payroll received per person engaged in the industry. Its movement is therefore affected by changes in wage rates, number of hours of work and occupational composition in the industry. In contrast, the wage index of an industry is devised to reflect the pure changes in wage rate, with the occupational composition between two successive statistical periods being kept unchanged. In other words, the wage index reflects the change in the price of labour. Because of these conceptual and enumeration differences between payroll and wage statistics, the movements in payroll indices and in wage indices do not necessarily match closely with each other.
 
     It should also be noted that different consumer price indices are used for compiling the real indices of wage and payroll to take into account the differences in their respective occupation coverage. Specifically, the Composite Consumer Price Index, being an indicator of overall consumer prices, is taken as the price deflator for payroll of workers at all levels of the occupational hierarchy.  The Consumer Price Index (A), being an indicator of consumer prices for the relatively low expenditure group, is taken as the price deflator for wages in respect of employees engaged in occupations up to the supervisory level.
 
     Detailed breakdowns of the payroll and wage statistics are published in the “Quarterly Report of Wage and Payroll Statistics, December 2024”. Users can browse and download the publication at the website of C&SD (www.censtatd.gov.hk/en/EIndexbySubject.html?pcode=B1050009&scode=210).
 
     For enquiries on wage and payroll statistics, please contact the Wages and Labour Costs Statistics Section (1) of C&SD (Tel:  2887 5550 or email: wage@censtatd.gov.hk).

Source: Government of India

 Indian Railways uses Covered wagons for bulk onion transportation; 271 onion rakes loaded in 2023-24

In 2023-24 Indian Railways through CONCOR transported 27771 refrigerated containers for temperature-sensitive cargo including fruits and vegetables

Posted On: 29 MAR 2025 5:33PM by PIB Delhi

For bulk transportation of onions, covered wagons are already being utilized over Indian Railways.  271 onion rakes were loaded during 2023-24.  

However, no request has been received from the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution regarding the deployment of trains with refrigerated wagons for onion transportation.

Indian Railway is providing rail based refrigerated container services through Container Corporation (CONCOR) to facilitate movement of cargo that requires temperature-controlled environment, including fruits and vegetables. During 2023-24, a total of 27,771 refrigerated containers were moved through Rail by CONCOR.

The temperature-controlled storage facilities of CONCOR have been established at Nashik, New Azadpur, Dadri and Sonipat at a total investment of about Rs 129 crore.  

This information was given by the Union Minister of Railways, Information & Broadcasting and Electronics & Information Technology Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw in a written reply in Rajya Sabha yesterday.

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Dharmendra Tewari/Shatrunjay Kumar

(Release ID: 2116608) Visitor Counter : 291

Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region

Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region

The following is issued on behalf of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority:
 
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) today (March 28) published the March 2025 issue of its Quarterly Bulletin and Half-Yearly Monetary and Financial Stability Report.
 
The Quarterly Bulletin carries a feature article entitled “The Hong Kong Bond Market in 2024”. The Half-Yearly Report provides detailed analyses of the global and local economy, as well as the monetary and financial conditions in Hong Kong. It also examines the recent performance and risks of the local banking sector.
 
The Quarterly Bulletin and the Half-Yearly Report can be viewed on and downloaded from the HKMA website.

Source: Government of India

Indian Railways Holds about 4.90 Lakh Hectares of Land as of March 2024

Surplus Railway Land Leased for Commercial Development While Retaining Ownership

Posted On: 29 MAR 2025 5:35PM by PIB Delhi

As on 31.03.2024, the total land in possession of Indian Railways is about 4.90 lakh hectares out of which 8812 Ha land has been leased for various purposes. This includes railway land leased/licensed for passenger facilities, cargo related facilities, commercial development, etc. Zone-wise details of total railway land, total leased land are as under:

(Figures in hectares)

 

The land in possession of Indian Railways is utilized for providing fixed infrastructure such as tracks, stations, terminals, workshops, production units, etc. In addition, railway land is also leased/licensed to Government departments, Kendriya Vidyalaya, public service utility providers, private sectors for railway related activities like passenger facilities, cargo related facilities, etc. keeping ownership with Railways as per the extant policy.

The surplus vacant railway land which is not required for operational purpose in near future is entrusted to Rail Land Development Authority for leasing the railway land for commercial development. The ownership of commercially developed railway land always remains with Railways.

This information was given by the Union Minister of Railways, Information & Broadcasting and Electronics & Information Technology Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw in a written reply in Rajya Sabha yesterday.

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Dharmendra Tewari/Shatrunjay Kumar          

(Release ID: 2116610) Visitor Counter : 350