opensansad/lok-sabha-qa huggingface dataset:
Lok Sabha Question No. 656 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-02-06
Subject: Darjeeling Himalayan and Nilgiri Mountain Railways
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: T.G. VENKATESH BABU

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 656 TO BE ANSWERED ON 06.02.2019

## DARJEELING HIMALAYAN AND NILGIRI MOUNTAIN RAILWAYS

## 656.    SHRI VENKATESH BABU T.G.:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Indian Railways along with UNESCO has proposed to develop  and  conserve  the  Darjeeling  Himalayan  and  Nilgiri  Mountain Railways;
- (b) if  so,  the  details  of  estimated  cost  of  the  project  and  the  special features likely to be added therein along with and the expected rise in tourism; and
- (c) the time by which the above projects are likely to be completed?

## ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS (SHRI RAJEN GOHAIN)

- (a)  &  (b):  Indian  Railways  has  entered  into  agreement  with  UNESCO in January,  2017  to  develop  a  Comprehensive  Conservation  Management Plan (CCMP) for conservation of Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (DHR) as a World Heritage Site which includes creation of a heritage conservation unit and establishment of a buffer zone along the length of the Railway Line  and  the  station  with  a  completion  period  of  two  years.  The estimated cost of the project is around 5,33,332 USD.

There is no proposal to develop Comprehensive Conservation Management Plan (CCMP) for Nilgiri Mountain Railway with UNESCO.

(c): As requested by UNESCO, the completion period of the project has been extended up to September, 2019.

*******
Lok Sabha Question No. 655 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-02-06
Subject: GPS System
Ministry: SPACE
Asked by: RODMAL NAGAR, OM PRAKASH YADAV, SUMEDHANAND SARASWATI

- 655.

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA DEPARTMENT OF SPACE

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.655

TO BE ANSWERED ON WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 06, 2019

## GPS SYSTEM

- SHRI NAGAR RODMAL: SHRI OM PRAKASH YADAV: SHRI SUMEDHANAND SARSWATI:

Will the PRIME MINISTER be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  several  shortcomings  are  being  noticed  in  the  GPS system;
- (b) if so, the reasons therefor;
- (c) the steps taken so far by the Government to remove the said shortcomings;
- (d) the  measures  taken  by  the  Government  so  far  to  make  the navigation app more effective and to provide correct information;
- (e) whether any action plan is being implemented by Government to make GPS system more transparent; and
- (f) if so, the steps taken in this regard?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF PERSONNEL, PG & PENSIONS AND IN THE PRIME MINISTER'S OFFICE (DR. JITENDRA SINGH):

- (a), (b) & (c)

GPS  is  a  satellite-based  navigation  system  maintained  by the Government of United States. India's indigenous navigation

- the

satellite system is called Navigation with Indian Constellation (NavIC). It is developed by ISRO, and is now fully functional and has no shortcomings reported.

(d),(e) & (f)

Work is in progress to popularize NavIC in various applications like mobile phones, vehicle tracking system, power-grid synchronization, IST dissemination, etc. Active discussions are being conducted along with technical support/hand-holding to chip and mobile manufacturing companies to include NavIC-based services in their upcoming products.

*****
Lok Sabha Question No. 654 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-02-06
Subject: Security at Stations
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: PARVESH SAHIB SINGH

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 654 TO BE ANSWERED ON 06.02.2019

## SECURITY AT STATIONS

## 654. SHRI PARVESH SAHIB SINGH:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a)  the  total  number  of  security  personnel  deployed  at  each  railway station in Delhi;
- (b) the steps taken by the Government to strengthen security arrangements at railway stations in Delhi during the last four years; and
- (c) the steps taken by the Government to modernize railway stations in Delhi in the last four years?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS (SHRI RAJEN GOHAIN)

(a): Presently, 1070 Railway Protection Force (RPF) personnel have been In  addition,  Government Railway Police (GRP) personnel have also been deployed at important deployed  over railway stations of Delhi. railway stations in Delhi.

(b): Security has been identified as one of the priority areas by Railways for  strengthening  and  upgradation.  Security  measures  are  initiated  to strengthen over all security of railway stations including access control at  important  railway  stations,  scanning  of  baggage  through  baggage scanners, erection of morchas,  guarding of platforms, yards and circulating areas, surveillance through Close Circuit Television (CCTV) Cameras,  operationalisation  and  upgradation  of  Security  Help  Line number 182, etc.

Prevention and detection of crime and maintenance of law and order in railway station premises as well as in running trains are the statutory responsibility of State Governments, which they discharge through the Government  Railway  Police  (GRP).  Railways, through  the  Railway Protection Force (RPF), are supplementing efforts of respective States to  strengthen  security  across  Indian  Railways  including  at  railway stations of Delhi.

(c): Railways have planned for redevelopment of major railway stations by  making  'Indian  Railway  Stations  Development  Corporation  Limited' (IRSDC) as Nodal Agency, through simplified procedures and with longer lease  tenures.  Accordingly,  at  present  tendering  process  has  been initiated  for  redevelopment  of  Anand  Vihar  and  Bijwasan  railway stations in Delhi.

****
Lok Sabha Question No. 653 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-02-06
Subject: MPLADS Funds for Railway Projects
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: RAMACHANDRAN MULLAPPALLY

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.653 TO BE ANSWERED ON 06.02.2019

## MPLADS FUNDS FOR RAILWAY PROJECTS

## 653. SHRI MULLAPPALLY RAMACHANDRAN:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a)  whether  the  Government  has  taken  decision  to  provide  equal financial  assistance  to  railway  projects  taken  under  MPLADS  by hon'ble Members of Parliament in their constituencies;
- (b) if so, the details thereof;
- (c)  whether  the  Government  has  received  requests  from  hon'ble Members  of  Parliament  seeking  financial  assistance  for  railway projects taken under MPLADS;
- (d) if so, the details thereof, State-wise and the present status; and
- (e)  the  details  of  financial  assistance  provided  to  such  projects, State-wise?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## (SHRI RAJEN GOHAIN)

- (a)  to  (e):  Yes  Madam.  Many  Hon'ble  Members  of  Parliament  have expressed their desire to provide public facilities/items like Benches etc. at Railway Stations out of their respective MPLAD Funds.

Railways have also decided that whatever amount is contributed by Hon'ble Members of Parliament, an equal amount will be  provided  by  Railways  to  develop  such  facilities  at  Railway stations.

Request for provision of steel benches, as per above scheme, on equal sharing basis, has been received from 16 Hon'ble MPs.

******
Lok Sabha Question No. 652 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-02-06
Subject: Mobile Network in Railways
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: RANJANBEN BHATT

- (a) to (c): Yes, Madam.
- (i) Indian Railways has provided GSM (Global System for Mobile Communication) based mobile network along the track over 2541 Route Kilometers (RKMs).
- (ii)  As  a  part  of  modernisation  of  signalling  system,  Indian  Railways  has decided to provide LTE (Long Tern Evolution) based mobile network along the track to cover all routes over Indian Railways. In the initial phase of modernization  of  Signalling  System,  Indian  Railways  has  planned  to
- provide LTE based mobile network in following 4 sections:-
- (1)  Renigunta - Yerraguntla (South Central Railway)
- (2) Nagpur - Badnera (Central Railway)
- (3) Jhansi - Bina (North Central Railway)
- (4) Vizianagaram - Palasa (East Coast Railway)
- (iii)  A  Cabinet  Note  for  Pan  India  allotment  of  10  Megahertz  (MHz) spectrum in 700 MHz frequency band for providing LTE based system for Indian Railways has been submitted.

*****

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.652

## TO BE ANSWERED ON 06.02.2019

## MOBILE NETWORK IN RAILWAYS

## †652.  SHRIMATI RANJANBEN BHATT:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Railways proposes to develop its own mobile network;
- (b) if so, whether the Government has taken any steps in this regard; and
- (c) if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

(SHRI RAJEN GOHAIN)
Lok Sabha Question No. 650 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-02-06
Subject: Increase in Rates of Diesel
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: ANOOP MISHRA

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.650

## TO BE ANSWERED ON 06.02.2019

## INCREASE IN RATES OF DIESEL

## 650. SHRI ANOOP MISHRA:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  the  Railways  is  the  largest  consumer  of  diesel  and  sudden increase  in  the  rates  of  diesel  has  adversely  affected  its  financial resources; and
- (b)
- if so, the details thereof?

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

- (a) No, Madam.

It is difficult to work out the impact of increase in the rates of Diesel oil  on  Indian  Railways  expenditure  as  rate  of  HSD  has  increased multiple  times  during  the  year  and  has  also  decreased  in  similar manner.

However the Average rate of HSD per Kilolitre (KL) was 58146.25 during April 2017 to Dec 2017 and the average rate of HSD per KL has been 69675.43 during April 2018 to Dec 2018.

- (b)  The total HSD issue has increased from 2359278 KLs (April 2017 to Dec 2017) to 2385061 KLs (April 2018 to Dec 2018) which is 1.09% more.

Under Ordinary Working Expenses, Indian Railways has projected an additional requirement  of 3,809 crore for Fuel  under Diesel Traction  when  the  prices  were  still  rising.  Against  this,  Indian Railways  have  been  given 2,852  crore  in  the  Revised  Estimates 2018-19,  considering  the  trend  of  expenditure  to  end  of  Nov'2018 and the fact that the rate started declining also.

******

## ANSWER (SHRI RAJEN GOHAIN)
Lok Sabha Question No. 649 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-02-06
Subject: Remote Sensing Data
Ministry: SPACE
Asked by: DODDAALAHALLI KEMPEGOWDA SURESH, NALIN KUMAR KATEEL

- (a)

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## DEPARTMENT OF SPACE

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.649

## TO BE ANSWERED ON WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 06, 2019

## REMOTE SENSING DATA

649. SHRI D.K. SURESH: SHRI NALIN KUMAR KATEEL:
2. Will the PRIME MINISTER be pleased to state:
3. (a) whether  the  Government  is  using  high  resolution  remote sensing  data  to  bring  efficiency  in  implementation  of  the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY);
4. (b)
5. if so, the details thereof;
6. (c) whether  the Government  has  achieved  the  objectives of PMFBY with the use of remote sensing services; and
7. (d) if  so,  the  details  thereof and the response of the Government thereto?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF PERSONNEL, PG & PENSIONS AND IN THE PRIME MINISTER'S OFFICE (DR. JITENDRA SINGH):

- Yes  Madam.
- (b) Usage of remote sensing for PMFBY is being implemented by Mahalanobis National Crop Forecast Centre (MNCFC) of Department  of  Agriculture,  Cooperation  &  Farmers  Welfare (DAC&FW).  Under  the  present  guidelines  of  PMFBY,  use  of

satellite  remote  sensing  data  has  been  recommended  for addressing issues like area discrepancy, yield dispute resolution,  loss  assessment,  on-account  payment  and  Crop Cutting  Experiments  (CCE)  Planning.  Accordingly,  protocols have suitably been defined and adapted by PMFBY.

The  DAC&FW,  through  MNCFC,  has  used  satellite  remote sensing data for Yield dispute resolution in few areas/ locations. Block level area estimates of major crops are being generated,  under  the  Forecasting  Agricultural  output  using Space, Agrometeorology and Land based observations (FASAL) project  of  MAC&FW  for  addressing  area  discrepancy  issues. Also 9 organisations are involved in conducting pilot studies of optimising CCEs.

## (c) & (d)

The objectives of PMFBY towards the use of satellite remote sensing and UAV data is for area estimation, yield estimation, loss assessment, risk zoning, etc., to ensure early settlement of claims to eligible farmers against their crop yield loss.

Amongst these, remote sensing-based approaches have already been  made  operational  and  protocols  have  been developed  and  included  in  the  revised  guidelines  (e.g.  area discrepancy, yield dispute resolution, risk zoning, etc.).

However, for validations of few modules/technology solutions, Government  is conducting pilot studies through different agencies, for establishing the technology solution for adoption under PMFBY.

*****
Lok Sabha Question No. 647 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-02-06
Subject: BPO Promotion Scheme
Ministry: ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: VINCENT H PALA

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.  647

TO BE ANSWERED ON: 06.02.2019

## BPO PROMOTION SCHEME

## 647.     SHRI VINCENT H. PALA:

Will the Minister of ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY be pleased to state:

- (a)     the details of the funds used out of the Rupees 50 crore allocated for the North East BPO Promotion Scheme (NEBPS);
- (b)      the  number  of  jobs  created  out  of  the  target  of  creation  of  15000  jobs  under  the  said scheme; and
- (c)    the State-wise details of the same?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE FOR ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI S S AHLUWALIA)

- (a) to (c):  Government has launched North East BPO Promotion Scheme (NEBPS) with the aim to promote investment in IT/ITeS sector and create employment opportunities in North East  Region  by  incentivizing  setting  up  of  5,000  seats  for  BPO/ITeS  operations  with  an outlay of Rs. 50 crore. Under this scheme, 28 units have been approved to setup BPO/ITeS operations  for  a  total  of  2485  seats.The  NEBPS  reimburse  50%  of  capital  and  operational expenditures  upto ₹ 1  lakh/seat  as  Viability  Gap  Funding  (VGF).      In  order  to  claim financial support under NEBPS, units have to attain minimum employment target viz. 50% of employment target.  As units become operational and attain minimum employment target, it can claim VGF support under NEBPS. Till now, VGF claim of Rs. 11,27,798.19  has been received from one unit under NEBPS and has been approved. The State wise seat allocation is as under:

| State             |   Seat allocation |
|-------------------|-------------------|
| Arunachal Pradesh |               100 |
| Assam             |              1160 |
| Manipur           |               350 |
| Meghalaya         |               350 |
| Nagaland          |               450 |
| Tripura           |                75 |

*******
Lok Sabha Question No. 646 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-02-06
Subject: Attacks on Indian Fishermen by Sri Lanka
Ministry: EXTERNAL AFFAIRS
Asked by: PARASURAMAN K.

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.646

TO BE ANSWERED ON 06.02.2019

## ATTACK ON INDIAN FISHERMEN BY SRI LANKA

646. K. PARASURAMAN:

Will the Minister of EXTERNAL AFFAIRS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether   the   Government   has   recently   received   any   representations   regarding continuous attacks by Sri Lanka on Indian fishermen and capture of their properties;
- (b) if so, the details thereof and the total number of attacks on Indian fishermen by Sri Lanka reported during the last three years; and
- (c) the details of actions taken by the government to protect Indian fishermen in high sea?

ANSWER THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS [GEN. (DR) V. K. SINGH (RETD)]

(a) & (b) Government has received letters from the State Governments of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry and also from fishermen associations regarding alleged attacks on Indian fishermen and confiscation of their boats by Sri Lanka Navy. During the past three years there have been occasions when the arrested Indian fishermen have complained of assault by Sri Lanka Navy.

(c) The fishermen issues have been raised at the highest level, including by the Prime Minister with the Sri Lankan Prime Minister during the latter's visit to India in October 2018. It was reiterated that Sri Lankan Government may consider the fishermen issue as a purely humanitarian and livelihood concern and both sides should ensure that there was no use of force   under   any   circumstances.   A   total   of   1915   fishermen   and   380   boats   have   been released since May 2014.

Following   the   2+2   initiative   in   November   2016   when   the   Foreign   and   Fisheries Ministers of the two countries met in New Delhi, a bilateral Joint Working Group mechanism and meeting of the Ministers for Fisheries of the two countries were institutionalized to address   the   fishermen   issues   with   Sri   Lanka.   Government   continues   to   take   various measures to diversify our fishermen from the ecologically unsustainable method of bottom trawling   to   deep   sea   fishing   using   tuna   long-liners.   Government   has   initiated   the 'Assistance for Deep Sea Fishing' scheme to support the fishermen in this pursuit. Prime Minister had unveiled the scheme in the Palk Bay area in July 2017. Several batches of fishermen have been trained so far in deep-sea fishing, long-lining and onboard handling and processing of fish.

*****
Lok Sabha Question No. 642 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-02-06
Subject: Assembling of Satellites
Ministry: SPACE
Asked by: K. ASHOK KUMAR

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## DEPARTMENT OF SPACE

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.642

## TO BE ANSWERED ON WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 06, 2019

## ASSEMBLING OF SATELLITES

642. SHRI K. ASHOK KUMAR:

Will the PRIME MINISTER be pleased to state:

- (a) whether ISRO has roped in three partners to help it assemble 27 satellites at a quick pace over the next three years;
- (b)
- if so, the details thereof;
- (c) whether ISRO expects 27 spacecrafts ready by July, 2021; and
- (d) if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF PERSONNEL, PG & PENSIONS AND IN THE PRIME MINISTER'S OFFICE (DR. JITENDRA SINGH):

- (a) Yes Madam, it is for 21 Units.
- (b) The memorandum of understanding is to carry out Assembly, Integration  and  Testing  (AIT)  of  I-1000  Kg  to  I-3000  Kg  class communication/ remote sensing/ navigation satellites.

## (c) & (d)

It is for 21 units for all the three parties together. One unit is equal to one number of I-1000 Kg satellite. These 21 units will be completed by July, 2021. The satellites will be decided with respect to their delivery schedules.

*****
Lok Sabha Question No. 640 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-02-06
Subject: Telecom Infrastructure
Ministry: COMMUNICATIONS
Asked by: K. GOPAL

## 640. DR. K. GOPAL:

Will the Minister of COMMUNICATIONS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether it is true that the Government has spent Rs.60,000 crore between 2014 till June, 2018 on telecom infrastructure;
- (b) if  so,  the  details  thereof  including  the  segment-wise  amount  spent  during  the  above period;
- (c) whether it is also true that the Government has doubled mobile base transceiver stations from 7.9 lakh to 18 lakh and optical fibre cable laid from 7 lakh Km. to 14 lakh Km.; and
- (d) if so, the details thereof?

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS

## LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.640 TO BE ANSWERED ON 6 TH  FEBRUARY, 2019

## TELECOM INFRASTRUCTURE

## ANSWER

## THE MINISTER OF STATE (IC) OF THE MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS & MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS (SHRI MANOJ SINHA)

(a) & (b) Expenditure on telecom infrastructure is made by Government as well as service providers.  Rs.  18355.56  Crore  has  been  disbursed  from  2014  till  June  2018  under  various USOF schemes to provide Telecom Infrastructure in rural and remote areas of the Country. The scheme wise details are as appended below:

## Details of disbursement of Funds under various USOF schemes from 2014 to June 2018

|   Sl. No. | Schemes                                                        |   Rs. in Crore |
|-----------|----------------------------------------------------------------|----------------|
|         1 | BharatNet                                                      |       15697    |
|         2 | Left Wing Extremism Affected Areas                             |        2266.76 |
|         3 | Shared Mobile Infrastructure Schemes                           |          13.43 |
|         4 | Augmentation, Creation and Management of Optical Fiber Network |          63.64 |
|         5 | Augmentation of Satellite Bandwidth                            |          12.78 |
|         6 | Setting up of Wi-Fi Hotspot                                    |         301.98 |
|         7 | Total                                                          |       18355.6  |

(c) & (d) The number of mobile base transceiver stations in the country has more than doubled from 7.9 Lakhs to 18.62 Lakhs during the period March 2014 to September 2018.  During  the  same  period,  more  than  3  Lakh  Kms  Optical  Fibre  cable  (OFC)  has been laid under the BharatNet project, and about4 Lakh Kms OFC has been laid by the service  providers,  taking  the  total  length  of  OFC  in  the  country  to  more  than  14  Lakh Kms.

************
Lok Sabha Question No. 639 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-02-06
Subject: Quota/Reservation for Contractual Workers
Ministry: PERSONNEL, PUBLIC GRIEVANCES AND PENSIONS
Asked by: GOPALAKRISHNAN CHINNARAJ

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF PERSONNEL, PUBLIC GRIEVANCES AND PENSIONS (DEPARTMENT OF PERSONNEL AND TRAINING)

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 639

(TO BE ANSWERED ON 06.02.2019)

## QUOTA/RESERVATION FOR CONTRACTUAL WORKERS

## 639. DR. C. GOPALAKRISHNAN:

Will the PRIME MINISTER be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Union Government has any proposal to make quota/reservation for contractual work and part time jobs in all Central and State Government jobs;
- (b) if so, the details thereof;
- (c) the time by which the said proposal is likely to be implemented; and
- (d) if not, the reasons therefor?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF PERSONNEL, PUBLIC GRIEVANCES AND PENSIONS AND MINISTER OF STATE IN THE PRIME MINISTER'S OFFICE (DR. JITENDRA SINGH)

- (a):    The services under the State come under the List-II i.e. 'State List' of the Constitution, which are within the jurisdiction of the Government of respective States.

Presently, there is no proposal to make quota/reservation for contractual work and part time jobs in Central Government jobs.

- (b) to (d):     Do not arise, in view of reply to part (a) above.

******