April, 20182MIDNIGHT REPORTER

IAS

Babudom

The 1985 batch IAS officer of UP cadre, BhupendraSingh, who is currently posted as Chairperson, NationalPharmaceutical Pricing Authority has been appointedas Chairperson, National Authority for Chemical WeaponConvention, Cabinet Secretariat at the rank of Addi-tional Secretary.

The 2005 batch IAS officer of AGMUT cadre, Ms.Niharika Rai has been appointed as Private Secretaryto Minister of Shipping, Sh. Nitin Gadkari.

The 2008 batch IAS officer of Nagaland cadre,Anoop Khinchi has been appointed as Private Secre-tary to the Minister of State for Water Resources, RiverDevelopment & Ganga Rejuvenation, Arjun RamMeghwal.

The 1987 batch IAS officer of JK cadre, SudhanshuPandey has been given extension in the central deputa-tion tenure as Joint Secretary in the Dept of Commercefor the period of six months.

The 1985 batch IAS officer of Gujarat cadre, AnilGopishankar Mukim has been appointed as Officer onSpecial Duty to the Ministry of Mines.

The 2004 batch IAS officer of Jammu & Kashmircadre, Ms. Tasneem Maajid Ganai has been appointedas Deputy Secretary in the Dept of Social & Justice &Empowerment.

The 2004 batch IAS officer of Punjab cadre, ShrutiSingh appointed as Deputy Secretary in the Dept ofIndustrial Policy & Promotion(DIPP).

T.Krishna Prasad, IPS (RR:1986), Director General of Police, Railways & Road Safety is transferred and posted as DirectorGeneral, Road Safety Authority.

Santosh Mehra, IPS (RR:1987), Additional Director General of Police, who is waiting for posting is posted as Director, RBVRRTelangana State Police Academy vice Sri Jitender, IPS, transferred.

On transfer, Sri Rajiv Ratan, IPS (1991), is posted as Additional Director General of Police, (Organisation).

On transfer, Sri Jitender, IPS (RR:1992) is posted as Addl. Director General of Police, Law & Order, vice Sri Anjani Kumar, IPStransferred.

Sandeep Shandilya, IPS, (RR:1993) Commissioner of Police, Cyberabad on promotion, is posted as Additional DirectorGeneral of Police, Railways and Road Safety.

Dr.(Smt.) Soumya Mishra, IPS (RR:1994),Inspector General of Police, Welfare & IGP, WPC, CID (FAC) is relieved from the Postof IGP, WPC, CID.

Smt. Shikha Goel, IPS (RR:1994), Inspector General of Police, CID is transferred and posted as Addl.C.P. (Crimes and SIT),Hyderabad vice Smt. Swathi Lakra, IPS transferred.

On transfer Smt.Swathi Lakra, IPS (RR:1995), is posted as I.G.P. (Law & Order) incharge of Women Safety including SHEteams and Bharosa.

V.V. Srinviasa Rao, IPS (RR:1995), Addl.C.P. (Law & Order), Hyderabad City is transferred and posted as Chairman, TelanganaState Level Police Recruitment Board.

Anil Kumar, IPS (RR:1996), Inspector General of Police, who is waiting for posting is posted Addl.C.P. Traffic, Hyderabad City.

Devendra Singh Chauhan,IPS (RR:1997), Inspector General of Police, who is waiting for posting, is posted as Addl.C.P. (Law &Order), Hyderabad City, vice Sri V.V.Srinivasa Rao, IPS Transferred.

T.V.Sashidhar Reddy, IPS (SPS:1999), Director, Vigilance & Enforcement is transferred and posted as Addl.Director, RBVRRTelangana State Police Academy, Hyderabad.

G.Sudheer Babu, IPS (SPS:2001), Commissioner of Police, Warangal City is transferred and posted as Joint Commissioner ofPolice, Rachakonda vice Dr. Tarun Joshi, IPS transferred.

Ravi Varma, IPS (SPS:2001), Dy. Inspector General of Police who is waiting for posting is posted as D.I.G., CID.

Dr. T. Prabhakara Rao, IPS ( SPS:2001) is transferred and posted as Deputy Inspector General of Police, SIB, and will hold fulladditional charge of D.I.G. Intelligence.

Dr. V.Ravinder, IPS, (SPS:2003), Joint Commissioner of Police,Traffic, Hyderabad City is transferred and posted as Commis-sioner of Police, Warangal City, vice Sri Sudheer Babu, IPS Transferred.

Dr. Tarun Joshi, IPS (RR:2004), Joint Commissioner of Police, Rachakonda (S.P.rank) is promoted as D.I.G., and posted asJoint Commissioner of Police, Special Branch, Hyderabad City.

On transfer V. Sivakumar, IPS(SPS:2005), Commissioner of Police, Siddipet is posted as Superintendent of Police, IntelligenceDepartment.

A. Venkateshwara Rao, IPS(SPS:2007), Deputy Commissioner of Police, West Zone, Hyderabad is transferred and posted asDeputy Commissioner of Police, Madhapur Zone, Cyberabad vice Sri P. Vishwa Prasad, IPS(SPS:2005) transferred.

On transfer Sri P. Vishwa Prasad, IPS (SPS:2005), Deputy Commissioner of Police, Madhapur Zone, Cyberabad is posted asDeputy Commissioner of Police, Central Zone, Hyderabad City vice Sri D.Joel Davis, IPS(RR:2010) transferred.

A.R.Srinivas, IPS (SPS:2005), Deputy Commissioner of Police Traffic, Cyberabad is transferred and posted as Deputy Com-missioner of Police, West Zone, Hyderabad City vice Sri A.Venkateshwara Rao, IPS(SPS:2007) transferred.

M. Ramesh, IPS (SPS:2005), Group Commander, Greyhounds is transferred and posted as Deputy Commissioner of Police,East Zone, Hyderabad vice Sri C. Shashidhar Raju, Superintendent of Police(NC) transferred.

On transfer Sri C.Shashidhar Raju, DCP East Zone (SP NC) will report in Chief Office.

M. Srinivasulu, IPS(SPS:2006), Superintendent of Police, who is waiting for posting is posted as Superintendent of Police, CID

Smt. R.Rama Rajeshwari, IPS(RR:2009), Superintendent of Police, who is waiting for posting is posted as Superintendent ofPolice, Jogulamba Gadwal District vice Sri S.M.Vijay Kumar, IPS(RR:2012) transferred.

D.Joel Davis, IPS (RR:2010), Deputy Commissioner of Police, Central Zone is transferred and posted as Commissioner ofPolice, Siddipet vice V.Shiva Kumar, IPS(SPS:2005) transferred.

On transfer Sri S.M.Vijay Kumar, IPS(RR:2012), Superintendent of Police, Jogulamba Gadwal is posted as Group Commander,Greyhounds vice Sri M.Ramesh, IPS(SPS:2005) transferred.

B.Anantha Sharma, IPS(SPS), Superintendent of Police, Jagityal District is transferred and posted as Deputy Director, RBVRRTSPA.

Viswajeet Kampati, IPS(RR:2013), Superintendent of Police, Rajanna Sircilla is transferred and posted as Director, Enforce-ment, Vigilance and Disaster Management, GHMC, Hyderabad.

B.K.Rahul Hedge, IPS(RR:2014), Assistant Superintendent of Police, Eturunagaram, Jayashankar Bhupalapally District istransferred and posted as Assistant Superintendent of Police, Rajanna Sircilla and will hold FAC of SP Rajanna Sircilla District.

Sunil Dutt, IPS(RR:2014), Assistant Superintendent of Police, Bhadrachalam, is transferred and posted as Assistant Superin-tendent of Police, Jagityal District and will hold FAC of SP Jagityal District.

Ms. Apporva Rao, IPS (RR:2014), Assistant Superintendent of Police, Godavarikhani, Ramagundam Commissionerate istransferred and posted as Assistant Superintendent of Police, CID and will hold FAC of SP CID.

Dr.Chetana Mylabhutala, IPS (RR:2013), Assistant Superintendent of Police, who is waiting for posting is posted as AssistantCommissioner of Police, Sultanbazar Division, Hyderabad city vice Sri G.Chakravarthy, ACP transferred.

Ms.Rakshitha K.Murthy, IPS(RR:2015), Assistant Superintendent of Police, who is waiting for posting is posted as AssistantSuperintendent of Police, Godavarikhani Division, Ramagundam Commissionerate, vice Ms.Apoorva Rao, IPS transferred.

Patil Sangram Singh Ganapatrao, IPS(RR:2015), Assistant Superintendent of Police, who is waiting for posting is posted asAssistant Superintendent of Police, Bhadrachalam Division vice Sri Sunil Dutt, IPS transferred

Telangana State : Major IPS Reshuffle

IPSThe 1984 batch IPS KS Dwivedi has been appointed

new DGP of Bihar. He originally belongs to Bundelkhand inUttar Pradesh. Presently posted as DG Training and se-lection council.

The 1996 batch IPS officer of Haryana cadre, Ms.Mamta Singh has been appointed as CVO in SecurityPrinting & Minting Corporation of India Ltd(SPMCIL), Delhiunder the Dept of Economic Affairs.

The 1995 batch IPS officer of Jammu & Kashmir cadre,Rajesh Kumar has been appointed as IG, Central PublicReserve Force(CRPF).

The 1992 batch IPs officer of MP cadre, PankajSrivastava, who has recently finished the training in CBIMinistry of Personnel and Training, Government of India,has been appointed as Joint Director CBI Kolkata (zone)Ministry of Personnel and Training Government of India.

The 1992 batch IPS officer of Bihar cadre, Ravi MParmar has been returned to his parent cadre. He is cur-rently working as Chairman, Kandla Port Trust(KPT).

The 2003 bath IPS officer of UP cadre, Sunil Emannuelha been appointed as DIG( Admin), National SecurityGuard(NSG).

K. Dharma Reddy, IAS(2012), Joint Collector & Addl.District Magistrate, Medchal- Malkajgiri is transferred andposted as Collector & District Magistrate, Medak.

T.Vinay Krishna Reddy, IAS(2013), Joint Collector &Addl. District Magistrate, Khammam is transferred andposted as Collector & District Magistrate, Jangaon.

Ch. Shivalingaiah, IAS(2013), Joint Collector & Addl.District Magistrate, Nirmal is transferred and posted asCollector & District Magistrate, Mahabubabad.

V.Venkateswarlu,IAS(2013), Joint Collector & Addl.District Magistrate, Sangareddy is posted as Collector &District Magistrate, Sangareddy.

D. Amoy Kumar, IAS(2013), Joint Collector & Addl.District Magistrate, Jayashankar Bhupalapally is postedas Collector & District Magistrate, JayashankarBhupalapally.

Smt. M. Haritha, IAS (2013)., Joint Collector & Addl.District Magistrate, Warangal Rural is posted as Collec-tor & District Magistrate, Warangal Rural.

B.Bharathi Lakpathi Naik,IAS,2007, who is waiting forthe posting is posted as Joint Secretary to Govt. PublicEnterprises Department.

Alagu Varshini V.S, IAS,2012 who is waiting for post-ing is posted as Director, Institute of Health and FamilyWelfare.

Ms.Shruti Ojha,IAS,2013 is posted as additional com-missioner ,GHMC.

K.Hymavathi,IAS,2013 who is waiting for posting isposted as Secretary to CCLA, Hyderabad.

Telangana-IAS

Public SectorAtul Srivastava took charge as Director Personnel of Steel Authority of India Ltd. (SAIL).Srivastava joined SAIL in the year 1985

as a Management Trainee (Technical) at Bhilai Steel Plant. Prior to joining as Director (Personnel) of SAIL he held the position ofExecutive Director (P&A) at SAIL’s Durgapur Steel Plant.

Gopal Singh, acting Chairman of Coal India Ltd(CIL) has been given three months extension.

As many as three officers have been appointed as Non-Official Independent Directors on the board of Aeronautics Ltd(HAL)for the period of three years. The officers are: Anil Kumar; Neelkanta Iyer and Siddharth Singh.

The 1985 batch IPS officer of Maharashtra cadre, Sanjay Bhatia ha been given additional charge of the post of Chairman,Kandla Port Trust(KPT) for the period of six months.

April, 20183MIDNIGHT REPORTER

Welcome To The ‘C Block’Daily several visitors are moving for C-Block, in which

government employees, union leaders, general public, of-ficers, media guys and public representatives are innumbers.And this rush is to meet the Chief SecretaryS.K.Joshi and hats off to his patience for meeting all ofthem, hearing to them ‘aaram sey’ and solving theirproblems.Finding the solution instantly and advising themaccordingly is a big task, but it seems the officer is enjoyingthe task.As per the sources one of the person apologies forcoming to meet him in working hours, the cool Joshi said‘Koi baat nahi mein baitha hi aap logon ke liye hoon-aapkabhi bhi aaeeyeh mein aap se mileunga”. That’s why wesaid welcome to the c-block. Amazing officer !

Chief Has A Magic WandM.Mahender Reddy, the DGP of Telangana State has a

solution for all the problems, guts to face all the challengesand intelligence to grow the image of state police in all thesegments.When it comes to the news the officer haslaunched the ‘e-Petty case’ app,which will help to track thetransformative process of petty offenders into hardcorecriminals.” This app will now help police officers registercases on the spot. The app is an evidence-based enforce-ment tool, which will help the police to register cases withevidence of petty violations, including street fights, drink-ing in public places, drunken brawls, traffic obstruction andseveral other social vices.

Arvind : Talk Of The TownAfter the big boundary the officer is on screen.Talking

about MAUD, Principal Secretary Arvind Kumar, who became‘talk of the town’ after the order issued of ‘free parking’ atmalls & multiplexes, which is really a amazing step from thegovernment and unbelievable happening for the public.LikeMAUD Minister the MAUD Prl. Secretary is also makingrounds.Based on the continuous complaints to the Ministerthe officer took over the call and have come up with thehistorical order which is a big relief for the general public.Now the officer is geared up for Charminar Pedestrian Projectand heritage restoration of MJ Market.

Anjani- New City Boss Finally Anjani Kumar took over as Commissioner of Po-

lice, Hyderabad City. City police is like come back for theofficer, as he worked here for enough time and now thesame practice is helping him to face the routine tasks. Soonafter taking the charge the officer has shown his charismaby arranging tight security during Ram Navmi & HanumanJayanti processions.He succeeded ! And the officer saysthat ‘the credit goes to his entire team and to each cop of thecity police’. It’s a news that in his regime no particular time isannounced for grievances, yes Mr. Anjani directed his secu-rity to allow the people to meet him as per their time.So, forvisitors the CP's doors are always open.

Sultania Enters CMO Officer Sandeep Kumar Sultania appointed as the Sec-

retary to Chief Minister in Chief Minister’s Office. He wasSecretary of AHDD&F earlier to the posting, as the officerworked for Finance and Transport department for enoughtime, where he gave his best performance. It’s all his bestservices that the Chief Minister thought to keep this officerin his office.It’s not a secret that the quality of officers de-serves this post in CMO. And after the duration of two yearsany officer is entering to CMO. It has to be noted that theofficer worked tremendous while he was serving in Finance& Transport dept.Kudos.

Bond With The BestThe baldiya’s bond Dr.B.Janardhan Reddy is the best

and now it’s a news that the GHMC has raised its bonds andin the first tranche Rs.200 Cr. were mobilized. Whereas theCentral government also has declared a special financialincentive of Rs.26 crore for the GHMC, in recognition of thelatter’s initiative to raise funds through issue of municipalbonds.This all happened after the ‘AA Rating’ given by creditrating agencies after studying the corporation’s economicstatus, tax collection and financial disciple.It’s all becauseof the earlier efforts of Mr.Reddy that corporation has suc-ceed to get the best rating to issue the bonds. Behind thescreen the officer is taking lots of pains for the developmentof the corporation. Kudos !

For The First Time In The CountryCashless health insurance is being implemented for the

first time in SCB in the country. Kudos to the SCB CEOSVR.Chandra Sekhar for putting efforts for the welfare ofthe employees. The board has partnered with United Insur-ance to provide cashless health insurance to nearly 500 em-ployees. Health insurance (up to a maximum of 2 lakhs peryear) would be extended to each employee, spouse and twochildren. H owever, parents are not included in the scheme.

All major hospitals, including super-specialty hospitalsin twin cities are empanelled in this scheme. The yearly pre-mium has been finalised at Rs 12,095 with the CantonmentBoard set to contribute 40 per cent of the total for Class 3employees.To make it convenient for employees to pay thepremium, the board has decided to deduct the amount in 12installments from their monthly salary.

4 April, 2018MIDNIGHT REPORTER

Smita’s Mantra - Work Till The End‘Work till the end’ is Smita Sabharwal’s mantra.As a Secre-

tary to the Chief Minister she is already in talk for her dedicationand also for the vital role playing for the government. So apartfrom the routine subjects the lady officer is placed in full addi-tional charge Secretary to Government (Rural Water Supply),Panchayat Raj & Rural Development.And for this departmentalwork the lady officer is hectic with regular meetings and meet-ings, and that’s the reason she is having late lunch or some-times even missing it. What a commitment! And the same situ-ation is being continued for many days.Dear madam you arejust amazing, but along with work you have to take care ofyourself.

Gopi Krishna : The Fire DG The senior officer M.Gopi Krishna is the new DG for Fire

Service. One of the sincere officer in the officer’s fraternity.TheFire Services is one of the major department, which not onlyplays a vital roles to response to fire calls and other emergen-cies, but also to issues NOCs to places with fire safety. Bestofficer on the right place.

Sajjanar : The Cyberabad ChiefMeet the new Cyberabad Police Chief, V.C.Sajjanar, who was

serving in SIB before the posting from enough time.Many otherofficers names were making rounds, but finally the govern-ment has endorsed him.A prestigious post with manychallenges.The officer's working style at SIB is enough to evalu-ate both his service and performance. Soon after taking thecharge he directed the cops to be punctual, committed andhonest.Women and child safety will be the top priority. Toughofficer! Many more wow stories to come in his regime !

Raghunandan Round-The-Clock

“He was on leave and still responded to a sms in less thana minute of time and after knowing the matter directs the con-cerned officer and pass on the same message to the next per-son over sms”.

That’s Ranga Reddy district Collector Raghunandan Rao,who is always round the clock on his toes to assist the peopleand at the other hand doesn’t delay for a second to warn theofficers if they are incorrect.It is his working style impact thattoday things are moving correctly and smoothly under hisadministration.The senior officer's image counts a lots at thebottom line, where things took place and if the image is cleanand tough then no question of moving from the line. It’s honorto have such an officer in the officer’s fraternity. Amazing of-ficer !

Yogita Close To HattrickAward pe award ! It’s a news that the versatile young lady

officer, the Hyderabad District Collector Yogita Rana receivedthe ‘Beti Bachao Beti Padhao’ programme award from PrimeMinister Narendra Modi at a function organised in Rajasthan aspart of International Women’s Day.Yogita received the award forher services in promoting the programme for the welfare of girlchild.

Last year the Lady Collector received the national awardfrom Prime Minister Narendra Modi for her excellence in civiladministration making the Nizamabad as Electronic NationalAgricultural Market (e-NAM). As per her working style it seemsthat in coming days the lady officer will get the award from thePM for the third time and then it will be a Hat trick for her. Bestwishes to the officer !

Raj ‘On Screen’The young officer K.Manicka Raj too enters Chief Minister’s

Office.Yes the officer who was serving as Collector forSangareddy District has been appointed as a Addl.Secretary inCMO.The officers posting is talk in the officers fraternity andthe credit goes to his vast knowledge and the working style.Theofficer entering in the CMO resembles his quality of work.Bestwishes Raj.

Awesome DivyaAdilabad Collector D.Divya is doing a fabulous job for the

people of district. A part of the regular commitments the officeris keen in checking and responding on the social media griev-ances posts. Recently. taking notice of a Face book post shesend the officers to Kolam tribes of Pataguda village where thetribes were facing the water scarcity problem.The officers vis-ited and made the alternate arrangement.

The Art Of LivingKuch Baat Hai Ki Hasti Mithti Nahin Hamari…! This line is

exclusive for Boss Anurag Sharma,the Advisor to theTelangana government (Police,Crime Control andLaw&Order).That’s the reason the officers and the staff whoworked for him still remember the officer and presently thepeople who are working for him feel to be lucky champs.That’s called the art of living.To be obedient, to be on the line,to be broad minded, to be simple and to be happy all thetime.This is the reason why government doesn’t want to leavesuch a wonderful officer and the people around him wishalways to be in touch with him.How to live , koi innse sikhe….!This is called a real art of living.

Jitender On A Big Chair The happening officer Jitender took over as the new

Addl.DGP (Law&Order) of Telangana State Police, who wasserving as the Director of RBVRR Telangana State Police Acad-emy earlier to the posting.The officer is all set and started hiswork with a commitment. He is the one officer, who believesin work wherever he sits.And now the officer got the crucialposting according to his profile and performance.He will bethe second boss of Telangana State Police.Best wishes.

No Worries :Pani Hi Pani

It’s a good news for cityresidents that there is asufficient drinking wateravailable within its watersources, to tide over thesummer season.WaterBoard MD M.Dana Kishoreis making his last effortsto provide water to the resi-dents of twin cities and tonearby villages.

In Ronald RegimeMahabubnagar IsChanging

The young officerRonald Rose is makingrounds.When it comes tohis work, the list of hisachievements at Maha-bubnagar district is quitebig and that’s the reasontoday it’s a news that thedistrict is changing. Fromschemes to employmentand from daily amenitiesto pensions, from womenempowerment to girl educa-tion and from medical facili-ties to assisting farmers allare benefiting in his regime.

Resignation: First Step Of Raajneeti !The former CBI Joint Director Lakshmi Narayana, who

had played pivotal role in YS Jagan's Disproportionate Case,has submitted his resignation. Upset over transferring himto a loop-line post by the Central government, LakshmiNarayana said to have taken this step. It is learnt that theprevailing political situation in AP is also reason behindLakshmi Narayana's resignation.An Inspector General,Maharashtra cadre from the 1990 batch of Indian Police Service, he isknown for leading the investigations like OMC Scandal, Emaar Proper-ties, Satyam Scandal and Jagan's DA case.

5 April, 2018MIDNIGHT REPORTER

Public SectorNMDC declares first Interim dividend@ 430% for the year 2017-18

NMDC’s Board decided to give 1st interim dividend@ 430% for the year

2017-18 at its Meeting held today at New Delhi. Thefirst interim dividend outgo would be Rs.1,360 crore, ofwhich Rs.985 crore would be the Government’s share.

NMDC being one of the top performing PSEs ofGovernment of India has been giving rich dividends toGovernment and its shareholders since 1991.

During the last 5 years NMDC has paid aboutRs.15,525 crore as dividend to its shareholders of whichGovernment of India share is about Rs.12,418 crore. Inaddition to dividend, NMDC has also gone for buybackof shares in 2016-17 for Rs.7,528 crore and Offer ForSale (OFS) during this fiscal which fetched Rs.980 croreto Government of India.

Shri N. Baijendra Kumar, IAS, CMD while congratu-lating Board and employees said that he is very happy for NMDC which is going to set newrecords this year is also playing a pivotal role in socio-economic growth of the country.

Swachhta Pakhwada observed at SAILSteel Authority of India Ltd. (SAIL) celebrated Swachhta Pakhwada under the theme

“Swachh SAIL, Surakshit SAIL” at all its Plants and units including the Company Headquartersat New Delhi. On the occasion, Chairman, SAIL, Shri PK Singh administered the Swachhtapledge to the SAIL collective in presence of all directors

PFC contributes Rs.51.13 Cr to SwachhBharat Kosh

Rajeev Sharma, CMD, PFC presented a token of remittance for Rs 51.13 crore towards“Swachh Bharat Kosh” to Shri HasmukhAdhia IAS, Secretary (Finance) GoI wherein, ShriParameswaranIyer IAS, Secretary, Ministry of Drinking Water & Sanitation (GoI) was alsopresent. The amount of Rs 51.13 crore also includes contributions by PFC Subsidiaries i.e.PFC Consulting Ltd., (Rs. 1.19 Cr.) PFC Green Energy Ltd (Rs. 0.66 Cr.) and PFC CapitalAdvisory Services Ltd. (Rs. 0.03 Cr.) Directors and senior officers of PFC were present on thisoccasion. PFC is committed to supporting the Government of India’s mission for SwachhBharat. As a responsible Corporate Entity, the cause of Nation building has always been highon PFC’s priorities. The SBK was set up to attract CSR funds from corporate sector andcontribution from individual philanthropists to achieve the objective of Clean India (SwachhBharat) through “Swachh Bharat Abhiyan” by the year 2019, the 150th year of birth anniver-sary of Mahatma Gandhi. The SBK is to be used to achieve the objective of improving clean-liness levels in rural and urban areas, including in schools. The allocation from the SwachhBharat Kosh (SBK) is being used to supplement departmental resources for such activities.

NHPC pays Interim Dividend ofRs. 849.80 crore

NHPC,a premier hydro power company and a ‘Mini Ratna’ Category-I Enterprise of theGovernment of India has paid an interim dividend of Rs 849.80 crore to Government of Indiafor the financial year 2017-18.

The dividend payout bank advice for an amount of Rs 849.80 crore was presented to ShriR.K. Singh, Hon’ble Minister of State (Independent charge), Power and New & RenewableEnergy, Govt. of India by Shri Balraj Joshi, CMD, NHPC on March 15, 2018 in the presence ofShri Ajay Kumar Bhalla, Secretary (Power) Government of India alongwith Shri Ratish Kumar,Director (Projects), Shri N.K. Jain, Director (Personnel) and Shri Mahesh Kumar Mittal, Direc-tor (Finance) from NHPC.

The Board of Directors of the Company in its 412th meeting held on 12th February 2018had declared an interim dividend at the rate of Rs. 1.12 per Equity share i.e. 11.20% of the facevalue. NHPC today has more than seven lakh shareholders and total interim dividend pay-outfor the financial year 2017-18 worked out to Rs 1149.05 crore.

NHPC had earned net profit of Rs. 2569.23 crore for the nine months ended FY’18 asagainst the previous period corresponding figure of Rs. 2627.17 crore. The company hadearned net profit of Rs. 2795.59 crore for the financial year 2016-17.

NBCC CMD Conferred ‘CEOof the Year’ Award

Dr. Anoop Kumar Mittal, CMD, NBCC (India) Ltd. has been conferred ‘CEO OF THE YEAR’Award by Top Rankers Management Consultants at its ‘Fore-Top Rankers Excellence Awards2018’ ceremony organised at Le-Meridian, New Delhi on 23rd February 2018. The award wasreceived by Shri S.D. Sharma, Sr. Executive Director (Engg.) on behalf of CMD. The Awardceremony was held during the 19th National Management Summit organised by Top Rankers.

Now NTPC is 52000+ MW CompanyIndia’s largest power generator NTPC Ltd. has commissioned 3rd

unit of the 800 MW Kudgi Super Thermal Power Station on March 12,2018. With this, the total capacity of Kudgi Super Thermal Power Stationhas gone up to 2400 MW.

With this commissioning, the capacity of NTPC and NTPC groupstands at 45300 MW and 52191 MW respectively.

NTPC has 20 coal based, 7 gas based, 11 solar PV, two Hydro, onewind and 8 Subsidiaries / Joint Venture power stations. The company is currently building anadditional capacity of over 20,000 MW at multiple locations in the country.

With more than 20 GW capacity under various phases of construction, NTPC is all set tocontinue energizing India’s growth in the coming years.

BHEL to make space grade cells for ISROState-run Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) would make space

grade lithium-ion (Li-Ion) cells for the Indian Space Research Organisation(ISRO) under technology transfer, the space agency said.

“We have entered into a technology transfer agreement with BHEL tomake space grade Li-Ion cells,” it said in a statement here. The agreementwas signed in the presence of ISRO Chairman K. Sivan and BHEL Manag-ing Director Atul Sobti at the space agency headquarters here.

“The Li-Ion batteries are used as power sources for our satellite and launch vehicle appli-cations due to their high energy density, reliability and long cycle life,” noted the statement.

The ISRO’s Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre at Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala has devel-oped the technology to produce space grade Li-Ion cells, demonstrated its performance undertesting conditions and established its cycle life characteristics in accelerated mode.

The cells are being used for various satellite and launch vehicle applications.The technology transfer will enable BHEL to produce space grade Li-Ion cells to meet the

country’s space programme requirements.“The technology can also be adopted to cater to the Li-Ion cell requirement for other national

needs,” the statement added.

NALCO pays interim dividend of Rs546.95 cr to Centre

The National Aluminium Company Limited(NALCO) has paid Rs 546.95 crore as interim divi-dend to the Union government, an official said onMonday.

NALCO Chairman-cum-Managing DirectorTapan Kumar Chand gave a cheque of Rs 546.95

crore as interim dividend to Union Mines Minister Narendra Singh Tomar in the presence ofMinister of State for Mines Haribhai Parthibhai Chaudhary.

The Navratna PSU has declared an interim dividend of Rs 908.48 crore for the financialyear 2017-18, on the paid-up equity share capital of Rs 966.46 crore, said an official statement.

This is the highest dividend so far declared by the company since inception.Tomar appreciated the dedicated efforts of Chand and his team for the effective functioning

of NALCO and five-fold increase in profit in the third quarter of the current financial year.Since inception, NALCO has paid a total of Rs 7,273.59 crore as dividend including Rs

5,918.39 crore as share of the Union government.

BEL pays government Rs 262 cr interimdividend

State-run Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL) said it has paidthe government Rs 262 crore interim dividend for fiscal2017-18.

“Our Chairman M.V. Gowtama presented a chequebearing the interim dividend amount to Defence MinisterNirmala Sitharaman in New Delhi,” said the company in a

statement here.The city-based listed firm declared 160 per cent interim dividend or Rs 1.60 per share of Rs

10 face value to all its shareholders for this fiscal.“This is the 14th consecutive year we have paid interim dividend. The total dividend paid to

investors, including the government on its paid-up capital was 225 per cent for the previousfiscal (2016-17),” BEL said.

The Central government equity share holding declined to 69.41 per cent after it divested 5per cent of its stake (1.11 crore shares) in February 2017 and raised Rs 1,600 crore.

6 April, 2018MIDNIGHT REPORTER

Health tips: 7 skin care rules for summer seasonWith summer comes the requirement of taking extra

care of your skin. From using the right facial oil to stayingaway from products rich in natural butter, one can maketheir skin look radiant by following some simple steps.

Mohit Narang, a skincare expert with Avon India, listssome tips to follow in summer. Facial oils are your newbuddies in 2018. It's that one companion to work in syncthroughout all seasons. This product works wonders on allskin types and is easy to apply. A light weight facial oil in ablend of natural seed oils, in summer, helps recover skinafter the harsh winter season.

Anti-ageing creams: People need to debunk the big-gest myth that anti-ageing creams are for those who have

developed fine lines and wrinkles. This year people over 25 should adopt a preventive skincare measure in whichthey use anti-ageing products in pomegranate seeds to prevent such lines to appear in the first place. Not just this,there are some really great seed-based products in Chia and grapeseed available, that protect from UV rays,pollution, dryness, smoke, urban dust etc. Increasing popularity of products with benefits of facial care and sunprotection: Consumers wear SPF before stepping out of their house and prefer to do so with only one product; SPFhas become an important parameter for consumers for brand selection in day skin care products.

Stephanie Schedel, director Training at Malu Wilz, too has some inputs to share:One should stay away from products with oils and rich natural butters as they might clog your pores or form

a sweaty film on your skin. Proper cleansing is very important so that pores do not get clogged by sweat andsebum. Use a cleanser with excellent cleansing actions such as foam cleansers or gels.

Use a toner with clarifying and cooling ingredients such as neem oil and aloe vera to refresh your skin and tobring it back to balance. Men can use the toner instead of an after shave and use a light cooling gel as final care.

Puffiness under the eyes is a typical skincare concern for summer time. Put tea bags in your fridge and placethem on your eye lids in the morning for an immediate decongestant effect. Follow by light gel which moisturise theskin without leaving any oily residues. Aloe Vera, panthenol and allantoin are great ingredients for eye products insummers because of their moisturising and soothing effect.

Centre’s Ayushman Bharat to be modeled onTelangana healthcare

Niti Aayog, the planning and implementing body for National Health Protection Scheme (NHPS), popularlyknown as Ayushman Bharat, is studying healthcare schemes being implemented in Telangana State to absorb thebest practises into the upcoming universal health coverage scheme. The entire architecture of different healthschemes in the State, including concept designs, medical records, maintenance of patient data and the way thehealth schemes are being implemented are under thorough study by Niti Aayog officials

Senior health officials here said Niti Aayog is laying a lot of emphasis on developing a health insurance schemethat will be based on the best available technology in the country.

“State government has already shared the entire IT source code of its several health programmes with theCentre. They wanted to study how we have successfully leveraged IT and implemented various health schemesin the State,” health officials here said.

Successful modelsThe health department has developed several successful models in healthcare, including mother and child

tracking system under KCR Kits scheme, Health and Wellness Centres for Employee and Journalists HealthSchemes (EHS/JHS) and the Arogyasri insurance health scheme, which provides health insurance to white cardholders.

Telangana Govt. Tata Trusts signMoU for high quality cancer care

T h eTelangana gov-ernment andTata Trusts onT h u r s d a ysigned an MoUto deliver highquality afford-able cancercare and de-velop academicand researchcapabilities in

the state. As part of the three-tier model, two apex super specialty hospi-tals in Hyderabad -- the MNJ Institute of Technology and the Nizam Insti-tute of Medical Sciences -- will be upgraded to handle complex cases on areferral basis.

Medical colleges in Adilabad, Nizamabad, Mahbubnagar and Warangalwill be strengthened so that they can offer diagnosis and treatment ofcancer cases.

District hospitals in Karimnagar, Khammam and Nalgonda will be de-veloped to offer diagnostic and standardised day care chemotherapy.

"Thereby, a state-wide cancer care network will get created to taketreatment closest to patients, through beefing up the existing public healthsystem and infrastructure," said a statement from Tata Trusts.

Red Cross organizedfree health camp

The Indian Red Cross Society con-ducted a free multi-specialty health camp

at Oglapur village in Warangal Rural district, said Indian Red Cross SocietyState chairman B.V. Papa Rao.

“About 2,000 people from 15 villages of Atmakur and Damera Mandalshave benefited.They have been treated as a part of the health camp. Apartfrom a medical check-up, medicines also distributed free-of-cost. Aware-ness programmes are currently being held in these villages regarding thehealth camp,” he said.

The Power Grid Corporation of India is collaborating with the IRCS toconduct the health camp.

A game-changer for higher educationThe Union Cabinet’s decision recently to not only continue with the Rashtriya

Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA) - ‘a Centrally sponsored scheme launched in2013 to provide strategic funding to eligible State higher educational institutions’ - butalso give it due importance augurs well for the system of higher education in India.That the government is backing the scheme speaks volumes about the robustnessand relevance of the scheme.

Ground realitiesIndia is estimated to have over 800 universities (over 40,000 colleges are affili-

ated to them). About 94% of students of higher education study in 369 State universi-ties. But the Central government’s slant toward premier institutions has continuedever since the Eleventh Five Year Plan (2007-12), where in spite of a nine-fold in-crease in Budget allocation State institutions have been left to fend for themselveswith funding mainly directed towards starting more Indian Institutes of Technology(IITs), Indian Institutes of Management and Central universities. Today about 150

Centrally-funded institutions (less than 6% of students study in them) - corner almost the entire funding by theMinistry of Human Resource Development (MHRD). To make things worse, investment by State governmentshas been also dwindling each year as higher education is a low-priority area. The University Grant Commission’ssystem of direct releases to State institutions which bypasses State governments also leads to their sense ofalienation. Though they are the face of higher education in India, State institutions have been getting short shrift.

It was to address these critical concerns that the MHRD launched RUSA. The scheme is largely based on theconditional release of funds linked to reforms in the key areas of governance, learning-teaching outcomes,reaching out to the unreached and infrastructure support. Unlike other schemes which are foisted on Stategovernments in a one-size-fits all manner, under RUSA, States and institutions have to give an undertakingexpressing their willingness to the idea of reform and agreeing to meet the States’ share of the cost.

RUSA is a process-driven scheme. Its design and conceptualisation were finalised through extensive consul-tations with all key stakeholders, especially State governments. Preparatory grants were released to States tohave the required systems, processes, and the technical support in place. Despite being voluntary, all Statesexcept a Union Territory (Lakshadweep) are a part of RUSA. All the State Higher Education Perspective Plans forfive/10 years have been prepared after extensive stakeholder consultations. RUSA began with a modest alloca-tion of ?500 crore, but over time has seen its resource allocation being increased.

For the current year, Rs.1,300 crore has been provided. Since funding is conditional to performance, it iscritical to have a robust monitoring and evaluation system in place. In this regard, geo-tagging, introduction of apublic financial management system, a fund tracker and reform tracker system and regular video conferenceshave proved effective tools, since 2015.

Achievers’ Day Celebratedat GITAM

School of Technology (SoT) and GITAM Hyderabad Business School(GHBS) of GITAM deemed to be University, Hyderabad celebrated Achiev-ers’ Day to hand over the offers of appointments to selected students ofEngineering and Management streams at its Campus. A total of 600 stu-dents have been placed through the institute’s Campus Placements pro-cess. About 100 companies participated in the final placements. GITAMITESbagged more than 125 multiple offers.

About 82% students of B.Tech, M.Tech and MBA were selected in thecampus recruitment drives, which were organized by both IT and corecompanies. VMWare selected three GITAMITEs with a salary of Rs.11lakh per annum, Commvault Rs.10 lakhs, Byju’s Rs.9.5 lakhs, TeradataRs.7.5 lakhs, Karvy Rs.7.42 lakhs, Zoho Corporation Rs.6.5 lakhs, perannum. About 15 companies offered CTC of more than Rs.5 lakh pack-ages.

IBM recruited 70 engineering students from GITAM Hyderabad Cam-pus. Companies like Amazon (79), Genpact (50), NTT Data (47), ValueMomentum (27), Virtusa (23) recruited students from GITAM Hyderabad.Other companies like Rockwell Collins, Mindtree, Portware, TechAspect,LiquidHub, FactSet, Reliance Jio, Times Group, Oracle, Aditya Birla, AsianPaints and Mahindra Finance visited GITAM and selected the buddingengineers as per their choice.

The Achievers’ Day Celebration began at 2.30 PM. Students heardmessages from the Chief Guest, Hon’ble Pro Vice-Chancellor and Direc-tors. Dr. Nukala Narendar Reddy, Ph.D, Air Commodore, Deputy DirectorGeneral, National Cadet Corps Directorate, Andhra Pradesh and Telanganagraced this occasion as chief guest. He said that students need to focus ontheir skill sets. Dr. N.N.Reddy advised the achievers, they try to be anemployer in future and they have grown as job creators but not the jobseekers. “It is an honour to be with young achievers. The youth is the futureof the country and education the only weapon that will stay lifelong with you.I’m glad to be here” he added.

Telangana, AP need to raise spending onkey sectors

Ever since Parliament passed the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Act, which pre-scribes limits for deficits and outstanding liabilities of Centre and States, state governments have largely beenconservative spenders, limiting their spending far more effectively than the Union government. This trend seemsto be reversing in recent years, with the aggregate fiscal deficit of states rising at a time when the aggregate fiscaldeficit of the Union government has been declining.

In 2015, the 14th Finance Commission recommended that states continue to maintain a fiscal deficit at 3% oftheir GSDP. Over the period between 2012-13 and 2017-18, most states maintained their fiscal deficit within therange recommended by the Finance Commission. States that crossed the recommended limit include Jammu andKashmir (4.7%), Punjab (5.6%) and Andhra Pradesh (2.8%).

On the other hand, Madhya Pradesh (1.5%), Maharashtra (1.6%), and Telangana (1.2%) had the lowest fiscaldeficit, according to the analysis of ‘State of State Finance Report 2018’ and individual State budget documents.

Usually, at the beginning of a year, the states estimate the total expenditure proposed to be incurred during theyear. However, the actual spending may vary from the budget estimates. Between 2011-12 and 2015-16, most ofthe Indian states missed their spending targets consistently by 7%, implying that the actual spending was lowerthan the budget estimate.

7MIDNIGHT REPORTER April, 2018

K Stands for Komal& ‘K Design Studio’

‘K Design Studio’ is a full service Inte-rior designing firm located in Hyderabad,India. They offer interior designing servicesto the residential, office spaces, retail andhospitality sectors. K Design Studio wasfounded in 2012 by Komal Jain. ‘K DesignStudio’ Comprises of a team of design pro-fessionals and resources necessary to vi-sualize the project from concept to design.

Komal said ‘K Design Studio’ is youngdynamic place where we make things hap-pen, keeping it simple. The phrase out ofthe box is completely justified with the kindof result the firm delivers. Comfort, styleand function are always given.”

“We invest time in getting to know eachof our clients and deliver what will enhancetheir lives. We work with our clients to cre-ate great spaces through the disciplineddelivery of specialized strategic servicesand design services .” She added.

8 April, 2018MIDNIGHT REPORTER

Publisher/Printer/Editor/Owner: Dr. CHAITANYA SINGH, Printed at COLOUR GRAPHICS, 3-1-351, Nimboliadda, Kachiguda Station Road, Hyderabad - 500 027, Telangana State.Published at H.No. 13-6-249/3, Jafferguda Post Kulsumpura, Karwan, Hyderabad-06, Telangana State. Cell : 8008175000. E-mail : mrnewseditor@yahoo.com.

April Announcement

Big blockbuster of Bollywood is on cards and for location finalizationthe Big B production company is on toes.And the special team consistingof Anand & Vibha Mehta,Kabir,Ratan & Suman Mulani and Sanjay & AparnaMulchandani were on foreign trip to identify the exceptional locations, asthe Mehta family has a vast knowledge of beautiful place all over globe.

Ali Asgar aur riding ! Ho nahi sakta, buthua bai.Yes last month Ali Asgar has been forsolo ride for Bengaluru for the secret meetingwith Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.The subject and the discussion betweenthem is again a secret.As per the sources itwas a business meeting as Ali is planning toset up his business at Karnataka Statealso.Best wishes Ali.

Finally SAB TV got three starts from the townfor their Trideviyaan part 2. After the hit of part onethe TV channel was planning to come up with apart-2 in South Indian languages.After the longwait and after checking several profiles three la-dies Neetika Singh, Neeru Mohan & Bhavna Baggawere finalized for the roles.Hope till now the girlshave also signed the agreement.So, what next !Excited to see three of them on television.

Something good and big isgonna happen and for theblessings Kavita Reddy visitedto Shirdi recently.We wish forthe good happening.May be tar-get 2019 general elections !

Sarita Agarwal, expert in brown-ies collaborated with an Interna-tional firm to export in large quan-tity. The credits goes to its softnessand yummy taste and why not thepeople who have tasted will under-stand well the magic behind thisassociation it’s not too late for theones who are yet to give it a try,justorder, or else in coming time onehas to import.

Shaniya Mishra, is making rounds andsoon she will be on big screen. The story lineand the release is not yet announced, but theenthusiasm of Shaniya shows that now shewill not look back.She will go a long way, hersocial media posts are getting viral , which is asign of good big happenings. Kya baat !A newactress enters the industry.

Sushmita Lahoti Totla wish to fly and the day willcome soon.It's not revealed , but now it’s no more asecret that the lady is coming out with a butterfly parkat KBR, in fact the government has also sanctioned theland and a hand full of budget.Not to be surprised thatin coming days she will be one to fly with butterfliesand for the same project she is coming - out with newthoughts and the above picture says the same story.

Swetha Reddy is coming up with a big mall in thetown and to discuss the same the versatile lady isseen with the group of ladies to discuss the latesttrends and demands.Best wishes Swetha !

Krups Raja- the new face fromthe glamour industry. These daysshe is in dilemma whether to be-gin her career from Tol lywood orfrom Bollywood. it’s a buzz thatshe liked one of the scripts, buthow come she takes a call is amystery. Soon she will be seenon big screens. Authentic one!Wishes.

Big one ! The top toy companyfrom Los Angeles has approachedRhea Melwani to associate withthem to push their toys in the In-dian market.In fact Rhea will be han-dling business operations in Indiaon behalf of the company.As per thesources soon she will be on boardof the company.Lots of wishes !

Wow ! It’s a news that Anika & Disha were an-nounced as brand ambassadors of Starbuck forSouthern region.Great to associate with such aninternational brand. So, from now onwards friendscan meet them at Starbuck, that to on a reservedtable and with a complimentary coffee.For snacksone need to pay.Anika & Disha congratulations ! Month of April : Take it easy

9MIDNIGHT REPORTER April, 2018

Lona’s BirthdayThe art lover and famous international pho-

tographer Lona Logan launched MidnightReporter’s March online edition at Australia.Itwas a big boom in social media. CoincidentallyLona also celebrated her birthday and herfriends, especially from the town and in factfrom other cities also wished her and postedbirthday wishes.Happening Lona.

Kudos - A Symbolic Gesture‘ Earth Hour - Lights Off ’ is a symbolic gesture to protect the planet from

Global Warming.And for this gesture number of people gathered at People’sPlaza with candle light. Participants from all age group participated at theevent and discussed about global warming. In the picture Bonnya LahiryChattopadhyay ,Soumya Gomase, Nehar Amir and Alka Manoj were seenwith the candles.

Birthday CelebrationsRraxshmi Tthakur,the diva who is the winner

of Miss Asia International celebrated her birthday with family & friends.It was a amazingevening, great arrangements and eminentgathering.Best wishes !

My New Journey :Jhanvi Bajaj

“A dream doesn't becomea reality through magic. Ittakes sweat, determination,hard work and love & supportof loved ones. And here I am,more confident than ever andready to face the world, fulfill-ing my long standing desireof participating in Mrs India .Ibelieve that journey of thou-sand miles starts with one stepand this is my first towards mynew journey.” Best wishes -Jhanvi Bajaj.

Lights,Camera & FashionHere comes Studio Hitesh-Designer

Wear Store for Men at Abids, where onecan get readymade, classic fabrics & be-spoke tailoring too.

Specialised in Designer Sherwani's,Tuxedo Suits, Jodhpuris, Indo Western ,Pathani's, Designer Kurtas & WaistCoats.

Best Collection in Designer Fabricssuch as Velvet's,Brocades,Jute, Linens, Ital-ian, Suitings & Shirtings. Ramesh Jashnani& Hitesh Jashnani are popular & stylishfather son due & style icons in men’s fash-ion industry .They cater to city’s top so-cialites , industrialists ,cricketers, actors,jewelers and at businessmen.

BNIs Big Boundaries"Bharath Shah Cricket Trophy-2018 ", is talk

of the town, organized in the memory of BNI, EDSri Bharath Shah, the big man who made thou-sands of entrepreneurs in the state. 16 teamsparticipated, BNI Legend won the trophy, whereasBNI ,Artha Chapter was the runners up.Check-out the click of BNI-Artha team Captain ManishAgarwal & Vice-Captain Vijay Rathi with the frameof Bharath Shah & trophy.The show of all fours& sixes was quite entertaining.

Life Has Only One Rule: Never QuitEducation is not merely meant for you to

write and pass exams. Helping 2 Hands The ARfoundation supported the less privileged or-phans, distributed model papers and questionbanks for Telugu and English Medium for thecause.They have been doing this for consecu-tive 6 years. Abdur Rahman is the Founder &President of the Foundation. He has been do-nating in different forms to the less privilegedof Rainbow homes, Aman Vedika, Happy Spe-cial School and many more.Let’s applaud forhis service to humanity.

Raat Baki Baat BakiHappening couples group

called as Dazzlers planned aget together ( Kitty ) at Airlive,where Tarkash Band made thenight so memorable.It was like‘sone pey suhaga’. Hosted bycouple Romal & Isha Khanuja.On screen couples Prashant &Sonia Sobti and Rohit & RavinaBajaj. The show went on tillmidnight, but still dil mangeymore, so raat baki baat baki.

A’La Liberty Now @ Hi-Tech City Most of the vegetarians/shakahari’s already know-

ing that another destination of the favorite food A’LaLiberty opened their restaurant at Hi-Tech City,CyberGrub,Opp to Raheja Mindspace.Let’s see what themanagement says “Thank you for trusting us andhelping us grow into a huge success and your trustis a gift we will always treasure. We look forward toyour love and support in the years to come.”

Exclusively For FeminineElysian- a grooming affair, a two day workshop to be

held for women in the second week of this month. First ofit's kind in Hyderabad by Abhimanika entertainment con-cepts that has expert panel lined up for multiple sessionsbased on Fitness / Nutrition session by X60 Crossfit. Skinand Hair session by Alexander Group of Sessions, Dancesession by Sai Ronak and team of Hydance Studios ,Women wellness session by Naari NGO, Makeup by Ce-lebrity makeup artist Sandy and a complete Makeover /Styling/ Presentation / Communication/Posture / Walk /Etiquette session by SUPER MODEL NayanikaChatterjee.Wishes to Abhimanika Tavi !

10 April, 2018MIDNIGHT REPORTER

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blds vykok IykfLVd dh cksry can ikuh esa i�yhçksikbyhu] uk;y�u vkSj i�yhbFkkbZyhuVsjsiFkkysV tSls inkFkZ feys gSaA fjlpZj us crk;k fd bu lHkh dk bLrseky cksry dk<Ddu cukus esa gksrk gSA ;s vo�ks�k cksry esa ikuh Hkjrs le; ikuh esa �kkfey gks tkrsgSa] tks LokLF; ds fy, gkfudkjd lkfcr gks ldrs gSaA mUgksaus crk;k fd bl v/;;uesa gesa tks 65 izfr�kr d.k feys gSa os okLro esa VqdM+s ds :i esa gSa u fd Qkbcj ds :iesaA fjiksVZ esa dgk x;k gS fd ,d cksry esa bu IykfLVd ds d.kksa dh la[;k �kwU; ls ysdj10]000 ls vf/kd rd gks ldrh gSA

11 April, 2018MIDNIGHT REPORTER

Tourism

Vietnam witnesses 30% rise in Indian tourist arrivalsNguyen Quy Phuong, Director General, Travel Industry Management Department, Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, talks about the growing volume of Indian arrivals to Vietnam

in an interview with Irene Susan Eapen. Nguyen Quy Phuong, Director General, Travel Industry Management Department, Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT), revealsstatistics on the Indian arrivals into the country in the recent past. “We have experienced a tremendous growth from the Indian market, around 85,000 Indians visited Vietnam last year, whichis a 30% increase compared to the preceding year. Vietnam has extended e-visa for Indian nationals

from January 2018 so Indian travellers are now eligible for a 30- day single entry electronic visa. We have also noticed that a major chunk of the Indian traffic to Vietnam now is businesstravel.” “The growth from here is likely to grow once we have direct flights from India to Vietnam. With direct connectivity, they need not spend long hours transiting at Bangkok or Singapore.We heard the Vietjet, a domestic carrier of Vietnam, is planning to start a direct flight from New Delhi to Ho Chi Minh City from March 2018; this is definitely going to boost Vietnam Tourism.”

Promotional Plans- VNAT recently organized roadshows in New Delhi and Mumbai and also plans to hold some more roadshows in other cities in the future.Segments- Vietnam has 3,000 km of coastline with pristine beaches and luxury resorts to cater to leisure travellers. From Ha Long in the North to the Southern Islands of PhuQuoc, with

Da Nang at the Centre, the country offers variety in terms of experiences. We are mainly known for our vast culture, beaches, Eco tourism and city breaks. We are targeting on FITs, MICE,weddings, honeymooners, anti ageing spa treatment package, beach lovers package, family groups, golf tours, Vietnam rice terrace field tours, coffee plantation inspection, industrial visits,student groups, adventure and culinary, etc.

Spending and stay patterns- Most of the travellers visit places like Hanoi, Ha long, Ho Chi Minh City and stay 7-8 days and spend 800- 900 USD per person on an average.Destinations- Some of the unique destinations promoted to the Indian market are Hanoi city, the capital of Vietnam; Ha Long Bay which is a World Heritage site; Hue, the former capital of

Vietnam; Hoi An, another World Heritage site; beach destinations like Danang, Ninh Binh, Nha Trang and Phan Thiet and Ho Chi Minh City. The Ha Long Bay is located in Quang Ninh Provincein the Northeast of Vietnam, 165 km from the capital. Phu Quoc is also another island destination that is becoming popular.

Tourism Malaysia starts promoting VisitMalaysia 2020 in India

With the Malaysian government declar-ing 2020 as the Visit Malaysia Year, Tour-ism Malaysia India Office has startedstrong promotions across cities starting withthe unchartered territories such as Kolkata,Bhubaneswar and the neighbouring nationBangladesh capital, Dhaka.

It is a key development towards therealisation of the Malaysia Tourism Trans-formation Plan goals that by the year 2020,Malaysia will welcome a total of 36 milliontourists and register RM168 billion in tour-ist receipts. The Visit Malaysia 2020 initia-tive not only aims to rally all industry play-ers towards this common goal but is a call

to welcome tourists from all over the world to experience Malaysia’s warm hospitality anddiverse tourist attractions. India has always been a key market for Malaysia. Amidst toughcompetition from the likes of Thailand, Singapore etc, Malaysia had to gear up its strength andgo all out to get the fair share of the Indian outbound pie.

As sales mission is one of the latest trends to directly connect with the city travel trade thatholds the nerve of the outbound travel from any city, 16 top members of the Malaysian Asso-ciation of Tour and Travel Agents (MATTA) are currently on a sales mission to India andBangladesh to tap this potential.

Sulaiman Suip, Director (North & East India) told India Outbound, “India is one of ‘the’ mostimportant markets for our tourism industry. Last year our arrivals from this market droppedslightly, by 13 pc. But this year we are very much upbeat in terms of our promotional campaignsand strategies and we are targeting at least one million Indian tourists by the end of the year. Wehave not been very aggressive in the eastern part of India which is strategically closer toMalaysia. This year we will go to more Tier II and Tier III cities.”

Abu Dhabi completes Indian mission toboost tourism

The Department of Culture andTourism - Abu Dhabi completed afour-city roadshow to India alongwith partners and stakeholders tohelp promote the emirate.

The delegation includes repre-sentatives from Rotana Hotels, YasExperience, Royal Arabian Desti-nation Management, Royal RoseHotels, Etihad Airways, Jet Air-ways, Lama Tours, Air Travel En-terprises, Anantara Hotels, Re-sorts and Spas, and Holiday InnHotels.

The roadshow began inChandigarh in northern India be-

fore moving on to Ahmedabad, Mumbai and ending in Pune.Last year, more than 360,000 Indians stayed in Abu Dhabi’s 162 hotels and hotel apart-

ments, an increase of more than 11 percent compared to the previous year. India is currentlythe emirate’s second largest international source market behind China.

Mubarak Al Nuaimi, director promotions and overseas offices at DCT Abu Dhabi, said:"India is a vital tier one source market for us which is providing more and more hotel guests forus each year and helped us reach a record of more than 4.9 million numbers of guests lastyear. In 2017 we recorded spectacular double-digit growth from India and we are alreadyrecording further progress from the Indian market since the turn of the year.

"We see great potential from this sector and are now running a succession of roadshowsto cities across India highlighting the emirate and its attractions as we seek to capitalise on thisuplift. We have excellent air connectivity, with 282 flights a week to Abu Dhabi from 13 Indiandestinations, meaning it has never been easier to come and visit the emirate."

Govt rejects Google street imagery planThe Narendra Modi government has rejected Google's plans to roll out its Street View

service in India. Google Street View provides panoramic street-level imagery by stitching to-gether a series of 360-degree pictures shot by a drive-through vehicle that traverses a labyrinthof roads and lanes in a city.

The service, which melds features of Google Maps and Google Earth, is available in morethan 80 countries, including the US, the UK, France and Japan though many others havebaulked at the idea because of privacy concerns.

"The government has not agreed to the proposal," Union minister of state for home HansrajGangaram Ahir said in reply to a question raised in the Lok Sabha.

The $109-billion Google had first sought permission to launch its Google Street View in Indiaway back in 2015 but it was turned down in 2016 because of security concerns. However,Google continued to lobby for permission.

12 April, 2018MIDNIGHT REPORTER

Ileana D’Cruz named Tourism Fijibrand ambassador

Actress Ileana D’Cruz has been appointed Tourism Fiji’s brand ambassador for the Indiamarket. She says the warmth and hospitality there makes her feel like it’s “home”.

Following a successful campaign with Ileana in 2017, Tourism Fiji witnessed a spike ininterest from Indian travellers for the destination. Now aims to showcase more of its uniqueofferings to potential travellers from India through more engagements with Ileana.

The actress, known for films like “Barfi!”, “Rustom” and the latest “Raid”, will be travellingto Fiji to experience a wide range of activities next month.

“I’m so happy to be associated with a beautiful country like Fiji. The warmth, hospitality,and love the Fijian people have shown me make me feel like I’m home. I cannot wait to go backand explore more of this lovely paradise,” Ileana said in a statement. Fiji has been receivingsteady positive growth in visitor arrival numbers from India over the past five years. For theyear ending December 2017, Fiji saw 30 per cent increase in arrivals from India as comparedto 2016. Fijian Minister for Industry, Trade, Tourism, Lands and Mineral Resources FaiyazSiddiq Koya said: “Fiji and In dia share an age-old connection with over 40 per cent of Fiji’spopulation being of Indian origin. “We celebrate Indian festivals such as Diwali and GaneshChaturthi in Fiji too. Now tourism is fast becoming a key point of connection for both countries.With Ileana D’Cruz as our brand ambassador, we hope to get more Indians to come andexperience the diverse and refreshing culture of our island country.”

Ladakh’s soaring popularity asa tourist paradise has left thearid region water-starved

Reaching Pangong Lake feels like reaching the edge of the world. It is six hours from Leh,Ladakh’s district headquarters in Jammu and Kashmir, crossing the Changla Pass, the sec-ond highest motorable road in the world. The deep blue lake stretches for 120 km, of which60% lies in China. The endless brown mountains contrast with the blue and makes the lakecome alive. Only the flapping of Buddhist prayer flags and the bone-chilling howling of thewinds offer company.

Ajanta & Ellora among 12 iconic Indiantourist sites

The tourism ministry hasidentified Ajanta and Ellora cavesamong 12 sites for developmentunder the Iconic Tourist SitesProject.

This comes in the wake ofthe finance minister’s proposalin this year’s Union Budget toconvert 10 prominent touristdestinations into iconic andmodel destinations. The ancientcaves in Aurangabad now fig-ure among the biggest iconictourist sites in India and are rightafter Taj Mahal in the list.

“The site (Ajanta and Ellora)was selected because it is truly iconic. The idea was to pick the top 12 destinations from thecountry and do whatever it takes to make them world class. The Ajanta and Ellora caves areone of the greatest heritage of mankind. The idea is to move towards holistic development -connectivity, access and quality of infrastructure - of the site,” said Suman Billa, joint secretaryin the tourism ministry. He told that this will be done not only through the tourism ministry, butalso by roping in other ministries like the national highways, civil aviation and skills develop-ment. The aim is to enhance road and air connectivity and ensure training the local people tocreate more employment avenues.

Four tourism projects in Kerala underCentre’s consideration

The Central Government is ac-tively considering four new tourismprojects submitted by the Kerala Gov-ernment, Satyajeet Rajan, DirectorGeneral, Tourism, said on Saturday.They include the Malanad-Malabarcruise tourism, Athirappilly-Malayattoor-Kalady-Kodanad circuit, apilgrim tourism circuit showcasing thelife and vision of Sree Narayana Guruand the Nila river tourism project.

Of these, the Centre has askedKerala to restructure two of the projects- the Malanad-Malabar cruise tourismand the pilgrim tourism circuit show-

casing the life and vision of Sree Narayana Guru - to fit in with Central norms which stipulate thatthe cost estimate should not exceed Rs 100 crore, Satyajeet Rajan said.As per the currentproposal submitted by the state government, the Malanad-Malabar cruise tourism project isestimated to cost Rs 325 crore and the Sree Narayana Guru project, which covers places likeSivagiri, Advaita Ashram and Chempazhanthi, Rs 302 crore. Satyajeet Rajan said the Rs 90crore Pathanamthitta-Gavi-Wagamon-Thekkady eco-tourism project, the Rs 192 crore spiritualcircuits that include the Padmanabha Swamy Temple and the Sabarimala shrine and the Rs 40crore Prasad project for Guruvayur would be completed by June this year.

Goa now a popular tourist destination inmonsoon too

The image of Goa seems to be changing to a ‘monsoon destination’, from being a popularsummer hot-spot till now for vacationers. This is so because there has been a 60 per cent rise inthe number of visitors to the coastal state during the rainy season in 2017, a Goa tourism officialsaid. Till sometime back, the state, known for its scenic beaches, used to receive foreign touristsmostly in the summer months while the monsoon time was traditionally a lean period.

However, as by data released by the state tourism department last week, there was a 60 percent rise in the number of tourists during the last year’s monsoon season -between June andSeptember. This is a phenomenal rise as compared to 22 per cent growth in the number ofvisitors in the same period in 2016, state tourism director Menino D’Souza said. A total of 19.15lakh tourists arrived in Goa in 2017 between June and September, as against 11.93 lakh in 2016during the same period. “A total of 18.55 lakh domestic tourists visited the state during themonsoon season last year as compared to 11.48 lakh in 2016. Besides, there were 60,161foreign tourist footfalls in that period last year as against 45,437 in 2016,” D’Souza said. As per theofficial data, the state recorded a 30.75 per cent growth in tourist arrivals in June 2017, 61.44 percent in July, 71.39 per cent in August and 94.55 per cent in September. There has been a rise infootfalls because the Goa government is aggressively marketing and promoting the state as a“365-day tourism destination” with a focus on the monsoon months, D’Souza said.

“The monsoon time is now a preferred season for travel by both domestic and foreigntourists. This increasing attraction to the state can be attributed to the pleasant weather condi-tions during those months, scenic landscapes and adventure activities like white water raftingand trekking,” he said. During the last two to three years, the Goa tourism department has triedto turn the off-season (June to September period) into a bustling time for tourism stakeholders,and the hotel and hospitality industry, he said.