Category: MIL-OSI

Source: Government of India

Posted On: 03 APR 2025 4:11PM by PIB Delhi

The Government of India has approved the initiative to develop tribal homestays under Swadesh Darshan Scheme of the Ministry of Tourism as part of ‘Pradhan Mantri Janjatiya Unnat Gram Abhiyan”. The said intervention includes development of 1000 homestays with support of upto Rs.5.00 Lakh per unit for new construction, up to Rs.3.00 Lakh for renovation and Rs.5.00 Lakh for village community requirements.

Ministry of Tourism has no specific scheme for Tribal Entrepreneurs. However, Ministry extends financial support to State Governments and Union Territories for development of tourism under its schemes of ‘Swadesh Darshan’ and ‘National Mission on Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spiritual, Heritage Augmentation Drive (PRASHAD)’ for Tourism Infrastructure Development. Tribal-circuit was identified as one of the themes for development under the Swadesh Darshan Scheme and the details of the projects sanctioned under Tribal Circuit of Swadesh Darshan is at Annexure-I.

Ministry has revamped Swadesh Darshan Scheme as Swadesh Darshan 2.0 (SD2.0) with the objective to develop sustainable and responsible destinations following a destination centric approach and has sanctioned 34 projects for Rs.791.25 Crore, including tribal experience. The details of projects sanctioned under SD2.0 scheme is at Annexure-II.

The responsibility of obtaining land for undertaking projects in Swadesh Darshan and PRASHAD schemes is that of the concerned State Governments/UT Administrations.

This information was given by Union Minister for Tourism and Culture Shri Gajendra Singh Shekhawat in a written reply in Rajya Sabha today.

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ANNEXURE-I

List of Projects Sanctioned Under the Tribal Circuit Theme of Swadesh Darshan Scheme

S. No.	State/ UT	Circuit / Sanction Year	Name of the Project	Amount Sanctioned (in ₹ Crore)
1.	Chhattisgarh	Tribal Circuit 2015-16	Development  of Jashpur-       Kunkuri- Mainpat-         Kamleshpur                 -Maheshpur                  -Kurdar                       – Sarodhadadar- Gangrel- Kondagaon– Nathiyanawagaon- Jagdalpur- Chitrakoot- Tirthgarh	96.10
2.	Nagaland	Tribal Circuit 2015-16	Development of Tribal Circuit Peren- Kohima- Wokha	97.36
3.	Nagaland	Tribal Circuit 2016-17	Development  of Mokokchung-Tuensang- Mon	98.14
4.	Telangana	Tribal Circuit   2016-17	Development of Mulugu- Laknavaram- Medavaram-   Tadvai- Damaravi- Mallur- Bogatha Waterfalls	79.87

 

ANNEXURE-II

 

List of Projects Sanctioned Under Swadesh Darshan 2.0 Scheme

 

 

Sunil Kumar Tiwari

tourism4pib[at]gmail[dot]com

(Release ID: 2118259) Visitor Counter : 21

Source: Government of India

Posted On: 03 APR 2025 4:12PM by PIB Delhi

The Ministry of Tourism under its voluntary scheme of Classification classifies hotels under the star rating system as per the extant Guidelines issued by the Ministry of Tourism. Under this system, hotels are given a rating, from One Star to Three Star, Four and Five Star with or without alcohol and Five Star Deluxe through NIDHI+ portal (https://nidhi.tourism.gov.in). The Classification exercise is undertaken by a committee, namely the HRACC (Hotel & Restaurant Approval & Classification Committee), having members from the Ministry, industry associations, hotel management institutes and State Government/UT Administration.

The number of Five Star hotels state-wise classified by the Ministry of Tourism 2019 onwards is placed at ANNEXURE-I

The number of Three Star hotels state-wise classified by the Ministry of Tourism 2019 onwards and the number of Four-Star hotels state-wise classified by the Ministry of Tourism 2019 onwards are placed at ANNEXURE-II and ANNEXURE-III respectively.

This information was given by Union Minister for Tourism and Culture Shri Gajendra Singh Shekhawat in a written reply in Rajya Sabha today.

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ANNEXURE-I

State-Wise Details of 5 Star Hotels Classified 2019 Onwards

 

S. No.	STATE/UT	COUNT
1.	Andaman and Nicobar Islands	2
2.	Andhra Pradesh	22
3.	Arunachal Pradesh	0
4.	Assam	5
5.	Bihar	5
6.	Chandigarh	2
7.	Chhattisgarh	6
8.	Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu	2
9.	Delhi	54
10.	Goa	70
11.	Gujarat	76
12.	Haryana	28
13.	Himachal Pradesh	6
14.	Jammu and Kashmir	1
15.	Jharkhand	2
16.	Karnataka	66
17.	Kerala	94
18.	Ladakh	3
19.	Lakshadweep	0
20.	Madhya Pradesh	24
21.	Maharashtra	86
22.	Manipur	0
23.	Meghalaya	1
24.	Mizoram	0
25.	Nagaland	0
26.	Odisha	8
27.	Puducherry (Pondicherry)	2
28.	Punjab	15
29.	Rajasthan	37
30.	Sikkim	2
31.	Tamil Nadu	43
32.	Telangana	23
33.	Tripura	2
34.	Uttar Pradesh	32
35.	Uttarakhand	10
36.	West Bengal	32

Note: Data is provisional as some hotels are under the process of reclassification.

 

ANNEXURE-II

State-Wise Details of 3 Star Hotels Classified 2019 Onwards

 

S. No.	STATE/UT	COUNT
1.	Andaman and Nicobar Islands	0
2.	Andhra Pradesh	36
3.	Arunachal Pradesh	2
4.	Assam	18
5.	Bihar	4
6.	Chandigarh	0
7.	Chhattisgarh	31
8.	Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu	0
9.	Delhi	5
10.	Goa	4
11.	Gujarat	120
12.	Haryana	11
13.	Himachal Pradesh	1
14.	Jammu and Kashmir	0
15.	Jharkhand	0
16.	Karnataka	11
17.	Kerala	607
18.	Ladakh	0
19.	Lakshadweep	0
20.	Madhya Pradesh	6
21.	Maharashtra	69
22.	Manipur	0
23.	Meghalaya	0
24.	Mizoram	1
25.	Nagaland	0
26.	Odisha	11
27.	Puducherry (Pondicherry)	0
28.	Punjab	4
29.	Rajasthan	9
30.	Sikkim	0
31.	Tamil Nadu	7
32.	Telangana	9
33.	Tripura	0
34.	Uttar Pradesh	2
35.	Uttarakhand	2
36.	West Bengal	36

Note: Data is provisional as some hotels are under the process of reclassification.

 

ANNEXURE-III

State-Wise Details of 4 Star Hotels Classified 2019 Onwards

 

S. No.	STATE/UT	COUNT
1.	Andaman and Nicobar Islands	0
2.	Andhra Pradesh	14
3.	Arunachal Pradesh	0
4.	Assam	2
5.	Bihar	1
6.	Chandigarh	0
7.	Chhattisgarh	22
8.	Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu	1
9.	Delhi	23
10.	Goa	10
11.	Gujarat	61
12.	Haryana	9
13.	Himachal Pradesh	0
14.	Jammu and Kashmir	0
15.	Jharkhand	2
16.	Karnataka	23
17.	Kerala	420
18.	Ladakh	0
19.	Lakshadweep	0
20.	Madhya Pradesh	2
21.	Maharashtra	36
22.	Manipur	1
23.	Meghalaya	2
24.	Mizoram	0
25.	Nagaland	0
26.	Odisha	5
27.	Puducherry (Pondicherry)	0
28.	Punjab	5
29.	Rajasthan	2
30.	Sikkim	0
31.	Tamil Nadu	19
32.	Telangana	11
33.	Tripura	0
34.	Uttar Pradesh	7
35.	Uttarakhand	2
36.	West Bengal	25

Note: Data is provisional as some hotels are under the process of reclassification.

***

Sunil Kumar Tiwari

tourism4pib[at]gmail[dot]com

 

(Release ID: 2118260) Visitor Counter : 19

Source: Hong Kong Information Services

A total of 365 HIV infection cases were reported last year, the ninth consecutive year of declines since 2015, the Centre for Health Protection announced today.

Despite the continuing drop in the number of HIV infection cases, the centre said the proportion of late presenters among newly reported cases has reached as high as 40% to 50% in recent years, and advised the public to use condoms consistently and properly to reduce the risk of infection.

Of last year’s HIV cases, 297 were reported in males and 68 in females.

A total of 216 cases involved homosexual or bisexual contact, 96 were via heterosexual contact, and the transmission route of the remaining cases was not reported.

The cumulative total of infection cases is 12,403 since 1984.

Since 1985, a cumulative total of 2,557 confirmed AIDS cases have been reported in Hong Kong.

Source: Hong Kong Information Services

The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government today announced the donation of over 20 tonnes of relief supplies to Myanmar in response to the recent earthquake.

Chief Secretary Chan Kwok-ki attended a ceremony at Hong Kong International Airport, with the supplies being handed over to the Consul-General of Myanmar in Hong Kong.

The assistance items, which include including food, drinking water, medical kits and temporary accommodation materials, are being delivered immediately to the disaster-stricken areas.

Mr Chan said the Hong Kong SAR Government fully supports disaster relief efforts in Myanmar, adding that he sincerely hopes people there can resume a normal life as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, the Disaster Relief Fund mechanism has been activated and approval given in principle for grants totalling about $30 million to seven relief organisations with extensive experience in implementing disaster relief projects.

Source: Hong Kong Information Services

The Health Bureau announced today that users can now view radiology reports saved into their eHealth accounts by the Hospital Authority, the Department of Health and private healthcare providers (HCPs) through the eHealth app.

In general, users can view the reports through the “Investigations” function on the app 14 days after the reports are released. The app’s information centre will also issue notifications.

The bureau stressed that the new function allows citizens to access their own radiology reports anytime, eliminating the inconvenience of storing paper reports and saving costs on redundant tests. This also facilitates authorised HCPs in conducting analysis and comparison, thereby providing a seamless and personalised care journey for citizens.

To enable the building of comprehensive electronic health records, the bureau advised patients that when selecting private HCPs for examinations they should first enquire as to whether the HCPs can store examination records into their personal eHealth accounts.

Currently, all public HCPs, and over 115 private HCPs, involving more than 550 service locations in total, are technically ready. If patients have given “sharing consent” to private HCPs, their radiology reports can then be kept in their eHealth accounts for access by themselves and by authorised healthcare professionals.

As of the end of February, 40 private HCPs have deposited radiology reports into the eHealth accounts of over 3.1 million citizens after obtaining their authorisation.

Source: Hong Kong Information Services

The Transport Department announced today that the application periods for both new and renewal applicants under the Northbound Travel for Hong Kong Vehicles scheme will be extended to 13 calendar days from April 14.

The current designated application period for balloted new applicants is three calendar days, while that for renewal applicants is six calendar days.

The department said the enhancement will allow sufficient time for applicants to prepare the necessary application documents.

The eligibility, procedures and balloting of applications under the scheme will remain unchanged.

Click here for details.

Source: Government of India

Ministry of Education reaffirms its commitment to inclusive education by strengthening support systems for children with autism spectrum disorder in schools

Strengthening Inclusive Education: Block Resource Centres under Samagra Shiksha provides Essential Therapy Services for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Posted On: 02 APR 2025 4:45PM by PIB Delhi

On the occasion of World Autism Awareness Day (April 2, 2025), the Ministry of Education, Government of India reaffirms its commitment to inclusive education by strengthening support systems for children with autism spectrum disorder in schools.

Through Block Resource Centres (BRCs), the government is ensuring that children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) receive essential therapy services, specialized interventions, and learning support to help them reach their full potential.

Supported under the centrally sponsored scheme- Samagra Shiksha, the BRCs serve as dedicated resource centers, offering essential therapy-based interventions to support the physical, cognitive, and communicative needs of CwSN.

These include:

• Occupational Therapy: Helps children develop fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination, and independence in daily activities.
• Physiotherapy: Supports children with mobility challenges, improving posture, muscle strength, and physical coordination.
• Speech and Communication Therapy: Supports children with delayed speech, difficulty in communication, or social interaction challenges, especially beneficial for children with autism.
• Psychological & Behavioural Support: Provides emotional and behavioural counselling to enhance confidence, social interaction, and well-being.

BRCs are staffed with trained resource persons, special educators, and therapists who work closely with parents, teachers, and caregivers to create personalized intervention plans for children.

These centres also organize regular screening camps, parent counselling sessions, orientation/teacher training programs, assistive devices, appropriate Teaching-Learning Material (TLM), and aids & appliances etc. to ensure a holistic approach to inclusive education.

As envisioned in the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, the government is continuously strengthening these inclusive learning environments by integrating therapy services with classroom learning and ensuring accessible infrastructure, assistive devices, and digital learning solutions for CwSN across the country.

State and district education authorities are encouraged to maximize the utilization of Resource Centres and also collaborate with local health and social welfare departments to further expand support for children with diverse needs.

On this World Autism Awareness Day, the Ministry appeals to schools, educators, and parents to optimally utilise the services of BRCs for CwSN and also work together to promote awareness, acceptance, and meaningful inclusion of children with autism spectrum disorder.

******

MV/AK

MOE/DoHE-DoSEL/2 April 2025/7

(Release ID: 2117857) Visitor Counter : 29

Source: Government of India

Posted On: 02 APR 2025 4:54PM by PIB Delhi

Several parts of the country, including States like Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, are likely to be severely impacted by heat, and as per the recent report by the World Bank, the rising temperatures are expected to cause India to lose up to 5% of its Gross Domestic Product by 2030. Heat is recognized as a severe threat, and the State Disaster Management Agencies of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu have prepared State heat action plans in 2016 and 2019, respectively, to manage the heat stress. Also, the State Planning Commission has set up the heat action network to advance efforts for inter-departmental and intersectoral engagement toward heat mitigation.

As per the State-wise statement of Climate Report-2023 published by,   (https://imdpune.gov.in/Reports/Statewise%20annual%20climate/statewise_annualclimate.html)   the India Meteorological Department (IMD)  a significant increasing trend of +0.68°C/100 years is observed in the Tamil Nadu State averaged annual mean temperature series for the period 1901-2023. The increasing trend is relatively higher in the case of maximum temperature (+0.84°C/100 years) compared to that in the case of minimum temperature (+0.51°C/100 years). The five warmest years on record for the state of  Tamil Nadu are 2019 (temperature anomaly of +0.848°C), 2016(+0.837°C), 2017(+0.624°C), 2020(+0.493°C) and 2023(+0.432°C). Under the changing climate, various parts of the country, including Tamil Nadu, are projected to experience increased heatwaves.

Due to climate change, annual temperatures are increasing globally and the impact of the same is reflected in the rising frequency and intensity of heatwaves in various parts of the globe, including India. The Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) also reflects the same observations (https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/syr/downloads/report/IPCC_AR6_SYR_SPM.pdf). Addressing the root causes of global climate change is essential to mitigate the impact of heat waves. This involves international cooperation to reduce green house gas emissions, transition to renewable energy sources, and implement sustainable practices across all sectors. Various initiatives have been undertaken by the Government of India with the help of States to reduce the impact of heatwaves in the coming years. The National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) and State Action Plan on Climate Change (SAPCC) are one of the major initiatives in this direction. Additionally, India has taken a proactive role in fostering international collaborations through initiatives such as the International Solar Alliance and the Coalition for Disaster-Resilient Infrastructure. India is committed to pursuing low-carbon strategies for development and is actively pursuing them, as per national circumstances.

The India Meteorological Department, in coordination with various research centers across the country, has taken multiple steps to improve monitoring and early warning systems, which has helped minimize loss of life and property during extreme weather events, including heat waves. These include:  

• Issuing seasonal and monthly outlooks, followed by extended-range forecasts of temperature and heatwave conditions. The early warning and forecast information are disseminated through the website,  various social media,etc., for timely public outreach.
• District-wise heatwave vulnerability Atlas over India to help State Government authorities and disaster management agencies for timely planning.
• The hot weather hazard analysis map over India includes daily temperature, winds, and humidity conditions.
• Heat Action Plans (HAPs) in 23 States that are prone to heatwave conditions were jointly implemented by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) in collaboration with the State Governments.
• A series of National and State-level heatwave preparedness meetings are conducted much before the start of the summer season, with regular review meetings from time to time during the season.

IMD has launched seven of its services (Current Weather, Nowcast, City Forecast, Rainfall Information, Tourism Forecast, Warnings, and Cyclone) with the ‘UMANG’ Mobile App for use by the Public. Moreover, IMD has developed a mobile App, ‘MAUSAM’ for weather forecasting, ‘Meghdoot’ for Agromet advisory dissemination, and ‘Damini’ for lightning alerts. The common Alert Protocol (CAP) developed by the NDMA is also being implemented to disseminate extreme weather warnings by the IMD.

This information was given by Dr. Jitendra Singh, Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Science & Technology and Earth Sciences, in a written reply in the Lok Sabha today.

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NKR/PSM

(Release ID: 2117827) Visitor Counter : 44

Source: Government of India

Posted On: 02 APR 2025 4:57PM by PIB Delhi

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has planned new radars across the country. Tentative sites where the radars are planned to be installed are given below:

• 12 no. of C-Band Doppler Weather Radars (DWRs) tentatively at Raipur, Mangalore, Ranchi, Lakshadweep, Malda, Aurangabad, Balasore, Sambalpur, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Rupsi, & Port Blair.
• 12 no. of X-Band DWRs tentatively at Pune, Kolkata, Purnea, Varanasi, Wayanad, Bhubaneswar, Dharwad, Lahaul &Spiti, Aligarh (GoUP), Azamgarh (GoUP), Jhansi (GoUP), Lucknow (GoUP).
• 10 no. of X-Band DWRs for North East tentatively at Jorhat, Tezpur, Aizawl, Namsai, Silchar, Imphal, Dimapur, Mandala Top, Central Arunachal Pradesh, & Guwahati.
• In addition, 53 radars (8 S-Band, 20 C-Band, and 25 X-Band) are also planned to be installed across the country under the Mission Mausam so that the entire country is brought under radar coverage.  

The locations of the DWRs have been arrived upon considering the gap areas in the coverage of the existing DWR network.

In addition to the proposed improvement in the radar coverage mentioned above, other observation systems like wind profilers, radio sonde/radio wind, microwave radiometers, etc., are also planned under the Mission Mausam. Along with the improvement in the observational network, deployment of high-performance computing infrastructure, advanced Earth system models, integration of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) technologies, etc, under the Mission Masuam will help improve in forecasts on various timescales, especially in location-specific nowcast (forecast up to a few hours) to short-range forecast up to 3 days. The implementation of the Mausam Mission is likely to help (i) in capturing and monitoring all the weather events happening in the country so that no weather system will go undetected (ii) improve the frequency of nowcasting extreme weather such as thunderstorms, lightening, strong winds, etc. from 3 hrs. to 1 hr. (iii) improve the short and medium range weather forecast accuracy by about 5-10% and (iv) improve air quality forecasts by about 5-10% in the major metro cities.

The entire country will be under radar coverage within the next 2-3 years.

This information was given by Dr. Jitendra Singh, Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Science & Technology and Earth Sciences, in a written reply in the Lok Sabha today.

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NKR/PSM

(Release ID: 2117832) Visitor Counter : 43

Source: Government of India

Ministry of Earth Sciences

PARLIAMENT QUESTION: FUND ALLOCATED FOR INSAT-3DS

Posted On: 02 APR 2025 4:58PM by PIB Delhi

(Release ID: 2117833)