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The amounts to be appropriated to a The Centre had in mid-December de- India to initiate SAARC
corpus will be used to subsidise the cided to print Rs. 1 currency notes with satellite to aid crop pro-
premiums of vulnerable groups such as effect from January 1 this year under ductivity, tele-education
old age pensioners, BPL card-holders the provision of coinage law.
and small and marginal farmers. India moved a step closer in launching
While the Union Government has de- a Saarc satellite from Sriharikota next
The issue would be taken up by trade cided to print Rs. 1 notes, indications year after members of all Saarc coun-
unions when they meet the labour are that the cost of printing may ex- tries who met gave a positive response
minister for the pre scheduled meet- ceed the value of such notes. to the concept note shared by the In-
ing of the Central Board of Trustees. dian Space Research Organisation (Isro)
There is also no proposal before the on the proposed satellite. The idea was
Since EPFO is a custodian of this money, government to replace small currency mooted by PM during his visit to Nepal
the Centre has no right to appropriate notes with coins, Sinha added. in August 2014.
this fund even if it is unclaimed," said
AK Padmanabhan, president of the Municipalities to take up ISRO plans to launch the satellite be-
Centre of Indian Trade Unions . Even e-governance platform to fore SAARC Day on December 8, 2016.
the RSS-affiliated trade union is strictly serve online The 'Satellite for SAARC' will have 12
against the idea. KU band transponders and is expected
The urban development (UD) ministry, to provide assistance in tele-medicine,
In a letter written to the finance min- along with the Information Technology tele-education, village resource cen-
istry, as a mark of protest the All India (IT) ministry is jointly working on the e- tre, crop productivity and disaster
Trade Union Congress has gone a step municipality project that involves de- management.
forward and recommended that the signing a uniform e-governance plat-
government should itself fund the se- form to enable municipalities to serve There will be further bilateral discus-
nior citizen welfare fund. citizens online keeping in mind the PMs sions and the concept note that Isro
Digital India programme. formulated will be reframed based on
"The unclaimed amount in EPF cannot the suggestions.
be taken over rather confiscated by India's 4,041 municipalities will soon
the government legally as the indi- have to provide over two dozen basic Delhi soon to be loaded
vidual claimant or their successors can municipal services online which will in- with full Wi-Fi coverage in
claim anytime," DL Sachdeva, secre- clude providing birth and death regis- next 2 years
tary of AITUC said. tration, name and address changes,
community hall bookings, building plan Delhi will get full wifi coverage in two
15 crore Rs. 1 notes to be approvals, garbage collection, property years and around 700 wifi hotspots will
printed every year : Sinha tax payment, parking and user be set up by February 2016, state
charges, among others. government's Parliamentary Secretary
After a gap of 20 years, the Rs. 1 note Adarsh Shastri said.
is set to make a comeback. The Cen- Currently around 50 municipalities
tre has decided to print 15 crore Rs. 1 provide a few citizen services online. "We will get budgetary allocation in
notes every year, Parliament was in- Introducing online municipal services June and issue tender for wifi by July.
formed. was one of the components under the First phase comprising 600-700 wifi
Jawaharlal Nehru National Renewal hotspots will be rolled by February
However, presently there is no proposal Mission (JNNURM) but was affected by 2016. Wifi coverage in entire Delhi
to introduce a Rs. 15 note according the lack of capacity of municipalities. shall be done in 2 years," Shastri re-
to Sinha.
"Nobody counts the number of ads you run; they just remember the impression you make."
40 PR COMMUNICATION AGE August 2015
