Do you know the Record Road construction touches 30 km per day

Do you know the Record Road construction touches 30 km per day

February 12, 2021   Indian Newspaper Society, national highway safety administration, national highway traffic safety administr, Sanjit Bakshi,

The Road Indian construction has reached a record 30 kilometers per day, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari told Lok Sabha on Thursday.

In response to questions raised by members during Question Time, the Minister of Road Transport and Highways also said that Bharatmala Pariyojana is an important project that will change the face of the country.

“The information I received today is that our construction record is 29.6 km, that means 30 km per day ... and this is the first time that the highest record has been set by the NHAI (National Highways Authority of India) in the history of the country, ”he said.

In five years' time, the total road construction will correspond to countries such as the United States and Europe.

The government plans to build 34,800 km of roads at a cost of approximately Rs 5.35 lakh crore under the ambitious Bharatmala Pariyojna.

So far the contract has been awarded for 13,521 km and a detailed project report (DPR) of 16,500 km is being prepared. In addition, bids have been made for 4,800 km.

NHAI, he said, has also set a world record by placing 12,500 cubic meters of concrete over a span of 2.54 km.

When asked about the exemption from paying road tax to people with disabilities, the minister said that this exemption is a matter for the states and that eleven states have already renewed this exemption.

Delhi has not yet granted this exemption and "I will ask Delhi to grant an exemption from road tax to people with disabilities," he added.

As for the Char Dham project, Gadkari said the ministry has taken over the improvement and expansion of 825 km (889 existing km) of NH on the route.

This will provide improved and safer road connections from Rishikesh to Janki Chati (Yamunotri), Gangotri, Gaurikund (Kedarnath) and Mana (Badrinath), including the Tanakpur to Pithoragarh section of the Kailash-Mansarovar route in Uttarakhand for a amount of Rs 12,072 crore. under 53 separately. Projects.

The NH from Uttarkashi to Gangotri (94 km) passes through the Bhagirathi Eco-Sensitive Zone (BESZ). To date, no work has been sanctioned in this section, he said.

The development of this section will be carried out in accordance with the guidelines prescribed in the Zonal Master Plan approved by the Ministry of Environment and Forests on July 16, 2020 and the final recommendation of the High Power Committee appointed by the Supreme Court . and proposed environmental protection measures based on a rapid environmental impact assessment conducted by the ministry, ”he said.

He added that the road connectivity development project to Char Dham was initially expected to be completed in March 2020.

However, the scheduled date is mainly delayed by litigation in the National Green Court and the Supreme Court, he added.

Continue Reading

National media appreciate the FDI limit for digital news entities

National media appreciate the FDI limit for digital news entities

August 30, 2019   Alibaba Group, facebook, Indian Newspaper Society, Sanjit Bakshi, Tencent, TikTok, Twitter,

National media entities are satisfied with the decision to incorporate digital media into the FDI policy regime. The Cabinet of the Union decided on Wednesday to limit the FDI limit to "upload / transmit news and current affairs through digital media" to 26%, the same as for print media.

The president of the Indian Newspaper Society, Jayant Mammen Mathew, said: “It is a right decision for the government to limit FDI in digital media to 26%, which is in line with FDI (limit) under pressure. This ensures that Indian news sites have equal conditions with news aggregators and other digital news sites. "

Government officials said there had been a vacuum for decades in FDI policy for the sector, which led to an avalanche of news and other entity content, including news aggregators, without any control. In this context, they said, digital applications that distribute news include aggregators that "originate" or "link" news articles from multiple sources into a single user source. This news content can take the form of text, video, images, etc. and covers the entire spectrum of news and current affairs, including politics, national security, business and economics, and local urban developments.
Sensitive sector



The former secretary of the Department of Industry Promotion and Internal Trade (DPIIT) Ramesh Abhishek said: “The government has provided much needed clarity about FDI in digital media. This has kept pace with BDI in print media. This provision is likely to apply to anyone who distributes news through digital media in any form. The policy must also relate to news aggregates. "
According to official sources, FDI policy in the media is always tightly regulated, given the sensitivity of the sector.

That is why the explosive growth of news aggregators was cause for concern, especially because China has become an aggressive investor in this space with many Chinese or funded entities that create and manage content.

China, on the other hand, strictly restricts social media and social media entities in all aspects, and Facebook and Twitter are blocked by censors in mainland China.

These companies include Dailyhunt, which has 207 million monthly active users in India. The majority of the company (more than 75%) is owned by foreign entities, of which 17% in Byte-Dance, the largest Chinese news company. Indian promoters only have a 20% stake in Dailyhunt.

ByteDance also owns 100% of Helo, the fastest growing local news application in India with 50 million monthly active users. Helo wants to reach the limit of 100 million users by the end of 2019. ByteDance is also the sole owner of TikTok, the fastest growing social network in India.

Therefore, the largest Chinese news company owns or has important interests in the most important news, local language news and social networks in India without any control until the recent FDI regulation.

There are also many other Chinese news aggregators, including UCNews (owned by Alibaba), Opera (whose largest shareholder is Beijing Kunlun Tech Co. Ltd.) and NewsDog (incubated in China and funded by Tencent).

Sources said these aggregators are much larger than traditional news broadcasts and have aggressively invested in marketing and growth due to strong financial support from Chinese investors. Some of these have spent more than Rs 100 million per year on marketing alone.

Continue Reading