opensansad/lok-sabha-qa huggingface dataset:
Lok Sabha Question No. 1709 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-12-13
Subject: Shortage of Containers for Export
Ministry: TEXTILES
Asked by: Nayab Singh

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1709 TO BE ANSWERED ON 13.12.2023

## SHORTAGE OF CONTAINERS FOR EXPORT

## 1709. SHRI NAYAB SINGH:

Will the Minister of TEXTILES वस्त्र मंत्री be pleased to state :

- (a)  whether  textile  exporters  are  facing  shortage  of  containers  for  export  and  making  it difficult for them to maintain the schedule of shipments;
- (b) whether container shortage is being observed due to decline in volume of imports from China and if so, the details thereof; and
- (c) whether the shortage of containers is troubling the exporters not only at the port but also in the Inland Container Depots (ICDs) and if so, the reasons therefor?

## उत्तर ANSWER )

## वस्त्र राज्  य मंत्री ( श्रीमती दर्शना जरदोर्

## THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR TEXTILES (SMT. DARSHANA JARDOSH)

- (a) to (c): The  availability  and  supply  of  containers  depends  on  its  international  and domestic demand. No issue regarding container shortage has been brought to the notice of Ministry of Textiles by textile industry stakeholders.

*****
Lok Sabha Question No. 1705 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-12-13
Subject: GDP
Ministry: STATISTICS AND PROGRAMME IMPLEMENTATION
Asked by: S. Venkatesan

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF STATISTICS AND PROGRAMME IMPLEMENTATION

LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1705 TO BE ANSWERED ON 13.12.2023

## GDP

1705. SHRI S. VENKATESAN:

Will the Minister of STATISTICS AND PROGRAMME IMPLEMENTATION be pleased to State

- (a) whether India's GDP has surpassed $4 trillion and if so, the details thereof;
- (b) the latest figure available with the ministry on GDP; and
- (c) the projection of the Ministry regarding GDP at the end of current Financial Year?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) OF THE MINISTRY OF STATISTICS  AND  PROGRAMME  IMPLEMENTATION,  MINISTER  OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) OF THE MINISTRY OF PLANNING AND MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF CORPORATE AFFAIRS [RAO INDERJIT SINGH]

- (a) and (b): Government of India compiles estimate of Gross Domestic Product  (GDP)  only  in  Indian  Rupee  terms.  As  per  latest  available release of Press Note on Provisional Estimates (PE) of National Income for 2022- 23 released on 31st May, 2023, the nominal GDP or GDP at Current  Prices  in  the  year  2022-23  is  ₹272.41  lakh  crore.    However, some agencies like International Monetary Fund (IMF), Organization for Economic  Cooperation  and  Development  (OECD),  World  Bank  etc. publishes the GDP estimate of countries, including India, in US$ terms using  suitable  conversion  rates.  As  per  World  Economic  Outlook

Database, October 2023 of IMF the projected estimate of India's GDP for the year 2023 to 2028 are as follows:

|   Year |   Projected estimate of GDP (in US$ Trillion) |
|--------|-----------------------------------------------|
|   2023 |                                          3.73 |
|   2024 |                                          4.11 |
|   2025 |                                          4.51 |
|   2026 |                                          4.95 |
|   2027 |                                          5.43 |
|   2028 |                                          5.94 |

(c):  Ministry  of  Statistics  and  Programme  Implementation  has  not made any projection of the GDP for the current financial year.

*****
Lok Sabha Question No. 1704 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-12-13
Subject: Criteria for OSD or APS
Ministry: PERSONNEL, PUBLIC GRIEVANCES AND PENSIONS
Asked by: Bholanath (B.P. Saroj)

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

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1704

(TO BE ANSWERED ON 13.12.2023)

## CRITERIA FOR OSD OR APS

## †1704. SHRI BHOLANATH (B.P. SAROJ):

Will the PRIME MINISTER be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government servants who are 12th pass Gazetted officers or working in Rs. 5400 grade pay can be appointed to the post of Officer on Special Duty (OSD) or as an Additional Private Secretary in the personal staff of Ministers in Central Government; and
- (b) if so, the details thereof?

## 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) & (b):   Government Servants with a Graduate Degree from a recognized University are eligible for appointment as Additional Private Secretary in the personal staff of Ministers of the Union Government, which is a post carrying the Grade pay of Rs.6600 (VI th Central Pay Commission scale). The educational qualification for personal staff of Ministers should be similar to the corresponding/comparable posts in the Government.

*****
Lok Sabha Question No. 1701 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-12-13
Subject: Global Innovation Index
Ministry: PLANNING
Asked by: Keshari Devi Patel, Ranjanben Dhananjay Bhatt

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF PLANNING

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1701

TO BE ANSWERED ON 13.12.2023

## GLOBAL INNOVATION INDEX

## 1701.   SHRIMATI KESHARI DEVI PATEL: SHRIMATI RANJANBEN DHANANJAY BHATT:

Will the Minister of PLANNING be pleased to state:

- (a) whether India's position in the Global Innovation Index has improved over the years; and
- (b) if so, the details thereof along with the discernible changes that can be observed on the ground particularly in terms of the availability and affordability of innovative solutions?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) OF THE MINISTRY OF STATISTICS AND PROGRAMME IMPLEMENTATION; MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) OF THE MINISTRY OF PLANNING AND MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF CORPORATE AFFAIRS

## (RAO INDERJIT SINGH)

- (a) Yes, Sir. India's ranking in the Global Innovation Index has improved over the years.
- (b) India  has  continuously  improved its  rank  in  the  Global  Innovation  Index  -  from  81  in 2015 to 40 in 2023 - as illustrated below:

|   2015 |   2016 |   2017 |   2018 |   2019 |   2020 |   2021 |   2022 |   2023 |
|--------|--------|--------|--------|--------|--------|--------|--------|--------|
|     81 |     66 |     60 |     57 |     52 |     48 |     46 |     40 |     40 |

Discernible changes, because of the above illustrated improvement in India's ranking in the  Global  Innovation  Index,  have  been  observed  on  the  ground  in  terms  of  the availability  and  the  affordability  of  innovative  solutions.    They  include  India's  recent strides in the following sectors:

- (i) Space sector.
- (ii) Renewable Energy sector.
- (iii) Defence  sector,  especially  the  indigenous  development  and  production  of  defence equipment of various types.
- (iv) Biotechnology sector, especially the indigenous development and production of vaccines and oxygen concentrators to combat the Covid 19 pandemic.
- (v) Online learning tools for affordable education.

*****
Lok Sabha Question No. 1700 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-12-13
Subject: Private Companies in Indian Space Sector
Ministry: SPACE
Asked by: Sanghamitra Maurya

(a) & (b)

Yes  Sir.  The  government  has  announced  the  Indian  Space  Policy 2023, which enables end to end participation of NGEs in all domain of space activities. Due to incentives and reform in the space sector, following are the developments and impact:

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA DEPARTMENT OF SPACE

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1700

TO BE ANSWERED ON WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2023

## PRIVATE COMPANIES IN INDIAN SPACE SECTOR

## 1700.  DR. SANGHMITRA MAURYA:

Will the PRIME MINISTER be pleased to state:

- (a) whether there is dawn of a new era in the Indian Space Sector after  opening  window  of  opportunity  to  the  Private  Sector Companies; and
- (b) if so, the manner in which the said step is likely to work as a force factor in this regard?

## ANSWER

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

****

O.I.H.

-  The investment in Indian Space Start-Ups has increased to $ 124.7 Million in 2023 Year to Date (YTD).
-  Some  NGEs  launched  their  own  satellites.  Many  other Space Industries and Start-Ups are also building their own Satellites & constellations. These satellites shall contribute to applications in agriculture, disaster management, environmental monitoring, etc.
-  One NGE launched their sub-orbital launch vehicle.
-  A private launchpad and mission control center established within the ISRO campus for the first time by an  NGE.  Sub-orbital  launch  by  that  NGE  is  scheduled shortly.
-  Satellite integration and testing facilities are coming up in private sector.
-  The local manufacturing of the satellite subsystems and Ground systems are being taken up by private sector.
-  Indian private space companies are increasingly entering into  collaborations  and  partnerships  with  international space organizations and companies.

It is expected that private sector will independently take up end to end solution in satellite manufacturing, launch vehicle manufacturing, provide satellite  services,  and  manufacture  ground systems.

****
Lok Sabha Question No. 1697 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-12-13
Subject: Network of Incubators and Accelerator
Ministry: ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: Vinod Chavda

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1697

TO BE ANSWERED ON: 13.12.2023

## NETWORK OF INCUBATORS AND ACCELERATOR

## 1697.  SHRI VINOD L. CHAVDA:

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

- (a) whether  the  Government  proposes  to  increase  the  network  of  incubators  and accelerators under SAMRIDH Scheme and if so, the details thereof;
- (b) the details of the additional steps  taken by the Government in this regard;
- (c) whether the Government is likely to promote electronics manufacturing particularly Electronics Research and Design (ERD) in the country; and
- (d) if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE FOR ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI RAJEEV CHANDRASEKHAR)

(a) to (d):The Ministry of Electronics of Information Technology (MeitY) has undertaken various initiatives and measures to promote a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship in the country. The Startup Accelerator of MeitY for Product Innovation, Development, and Growth (SAMRIDH) programme was launched in August 2021 for a period of three years to  accelerate  around  300  Startups  (cohort  size  of  5-10  Startups)  through  existing  and upcoming  Accelerators.    In  the  first  round  of  cohort,  22  potential  Accelerators  spread across  12  states  have  been  identified  and  supported  with  a  mandate  to  accelerate  175 startups  under  SAMRIDH  programme.  MeitY  has  also  launched  an  umbrella  scheme GENESIS (Gen-Next Support for Innovative Startups) with a budget of 490 Crores for a period of 5 years to discover, support, grow and accelerate tech startups in smaller cities and  towns  for  inclusive  techno-socio-economic  development.  Ministry  of  Electronics  & Information Technology (MeitY)supports more than 100 projects in Research, Design and Development of projects at academia, industry (including Start-ups/ MSMEs) and R&D organizations in identified areas of Electronics Systems Development & Application.

******
Lok Sabha Question No. 1696 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-12-13
Subject: Shortage of Technical Staff
Ministry: MINES
Asked by: Vijay Kumar Hansdak

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF MINES

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1696

ANSWERED ON 13.12.2023

## SHORTAGE OF TECHNICAL STAFF

1696. SHRI VIJAY KUMAR HANSDAK:

Will the Minister of MINES be pleased to state:

- (a) the number of technicians and supervisory staff working across different mines in India, State-wise;
- (b) whether there is an acute shortage of technical staff in the mines across the country and if so, the details thereof; and
- (c) the measures taken by the Government to encourage educated and well trained individuals into the mining industry?

## ANSWER

## THE MINISTER OF MINES, COAL AND PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (SHRI PRALHAD JOSHI)

- (a):    The provisions for employment of geologists and mining engineers have been incorporated under Chapter VII of the Mineral Conservation and Development Rules, 2017.  The  State-wise  provisional  average  daily  employment  in  mines  under  the jurisdiction of Indian Bureau of Mines, a subordinate office of Ministry of Mines, during 2022-23 as reported by the lease holders is at Annexure .
- (b):    The technical staff are employed by the respective lease holders in accordance with the statutory provisions and as per their requirements.
- (c):    In order to encourage employment of mining engineers in mines, the Ministry of Mines has amended the Mineral Conservation and Development Rules, 2017 with effect  from  03.11.2021  by  relaxing  the  qualification  of  mining  engineers  to  be employed in mines. Subsequent to the amendment, persons having diploma in mining and mine surveying granted by a duly recognised institute along with a second class certificate of competency or a foreman certificate of competency issued by the Director General of Mines Safety are eligible to be employed as mining engineers.

*****

## State-wise provisional average daily employment in mines under the jurisdiction of Indian Bureau of Mines, during 2022-23

| States           |   Total No. of Staff |
|------------------|----------------------|
| Andhra Pradesh   |                 2329 |
| Assam            |                  122 |
| Bihar            |                  174 |
| Chhattisgarh     |                13426 |
| Goa              |                  196 |
| Gujarat          |                 2516 |
| Himachal Pradesh |                  574 |
| Jammu & Kashmir  |                    0 |
| Jharkhand        |                 9505 |
| Karnataka        |                11693 |
| Kerala           |                  127 |
| Madhya Pradesh   |                12463 |
| Maharashtra      |                 7980 |
| Meghalaya        |                  459 |
| Odisha           |                35570 |
| Rajasthan        |                18544 |
| Tamil Nadu       |                 1759 |
| Telangana        |                 1125 |
| Uttar Pradesh    |                  315 |
| Uttarakhand      |                    0 |
| West Bengal      |                    0 |
| Total            |               118877 |

*****
Lok Sabha Question No. 1695 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-12-13
Subject: USOF
Ministry: COMMUNICATIONS
Asked by: Sanjay(Kaka) Ramchandra Patil, Thirumaa Valavan Thol

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1695 TO BE ANSWERED ON 13 TH  DECEMBER, 2023

## USOF

## 1695.   SHRI SANJAY KAKA PATIL: SHRI THIRUMAAVALAVAN THOL:

Will the Minister of COMMUNICATIONS be pleased to state:

(a) the details of progress made under the Universal Service Obligation Fund Scheme which aims at providing affordable access to a reliable and ubiquitous telecommunications network to all rural Indians, State/UT-wise;

(b) whether the Government is taking any other measures to provide reliable telecommunications network to rural India;

- (c) if so, the details thereof; and
- (d) if not, the reasons therefor?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE FOR COMMUNICATIONS (SHRI DEVUSINH CHAUHAN)

(a) to (d) Government has undertaken various schemes for providing high bandwidth capacity, mobile  services  and  broadband  connectivity  and  other  telecommunication  services  in  rural  and remote areas of the country. The details of the projects are as below:

- (i) Under BharatNet, 2,07,346 GPs have been connected in the country. BharatNet scope has been recently expanded to cover all the inhabited villages at an outlay of ₹ 1.88 lakhs  crores.  State/UT-wise,  details  of  Service  Ready  GPs  under  BharatNet  is available on DoT website .
- (ii) Government has planned to provide the telecom coverage to all uncovered 54,808 villages at an outlay of more than ₹ 41,331 crores for installing 41,160 towers in the country  under  various  USOF  schemes.  6,394  Mobile  towers  have  already  been commissioned covering 7,535 villages/locations and rest are in progress. Details of the same are available on DoT Website .
- (iii) To improve connectivity in islands, submarine Optical Fibre Cable (OFC) of 2,313 Km from Chennai to Port Blair and further to seven other islands of A&N namely Swaraj Deep (Havelock), Long Island, Rangat, Little Andaman (Hutbay), Kamorta, Car Nicobar & Great Nicobar (Campbell Bay) has been commissioned in August, 2020.    A  Submarine  OFC  project  for  extending  connectivity  between  Mainland (Kochi)  and  Lakshadweep  islands  covering  all  inhabited  11  islands;  Kavaratti, Kalpeni,  Agatti,  Amini,  Androth,  Minicoy,  Bangaram,  Bitra,  Chetlat,  Kiltan  and Kadmath is in progress.

- (iv) For making available high quality and high-speed internet access to the States of North Eastern Region, two Internet International Bandwidth links each of 10 Gbps (Giga Bits Per Second) have been hired in November, 2021 and April, 2022 from Bangladesh  Submarine  Cable  Company  Limited  (BSCCL),  Bangladesh  via  Cox Bazar/Kuakata to Agartala.

*****
Lok Sabha Question No. 1694 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-12-13
Subject: Unmanned Level Crossings
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: Gajanan Chandrakant Kirtikar, Krupal Balaji Tumane

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA

UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1694

TO BE ANSWERED ON 13.12.2023

## UNMANNED LEVEL CROSSINGS

†1694. SHRI GAJANAN KIRTIKAR:

SHRI KRUPAL BALAJI TUMANE:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a) the number of deaths reported at the unmanned level crossings, State-wise  and  the  kind  of  assistance  provided  to  the  families  of those who have been killed at these crossings;
- (b)  the  details  of  the  total  number  of  railway  under  bridges  and railway  over  bridges  constructed  since  2015  till  date  to  do  away with unmanned level crossings, year and State-wise;
- (c)  the  details  of  the  total  expenditure  incurred  on  elimination  of unmanned level crossings; and
- (d)  the  scheme  formulated  by  the  Ministry  to  eliminate  all  the unmanned level crossings within the stipulated time period?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF RAILWAYS, COMMUNICATIONS AND ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW)

- (a) to (d): All Unmanned level crossings (UMLCs) on running lines of Broad Gauge (BG) network of Indian Railway have been eliminated by  31.01.2019.    Since  1 st   April  2019,  no  death  case  has  been reported on UMLCs over Indian Railways.

Total 8,583 Nos. Road under Bridges (RUBs) & 1599 Road over Bridge (ROBs) have been constructed since 2015-16 (up to Oct'

2023) over Indian Railway which includes construction of RUBs/ROBs in lieu of Unmanned Level Crossings (UMLCs). 36,652 Crores have been  spent for Road  Safety  Works (ROB/RUB & Level Crossings) including amount spent for elimination  of  UMLCs  over  Indian  Railway  since  2015-16  (Up  to

Oct'2023).

*****
Lok Sabha Question No. 1693 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-12-13
Subject: Import of Electric Vehicles
Ministry: COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY
Asked by: K. Subbarayan

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMERCE & INDUSTRY DEPARTMENT FOR PROMOTION OF INDUSTRY AND INTERNAL TRADE

## LOK SABHA

UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1693.

TO BE ANSWERED ON WEDNESDAY, THE 13 TH  DECEMBER, 2023.

## IMPORT OF ELECTRIC VEHICLES

## 1693.  SHRI SUBBARAYAN K.::

## Will the Minister of COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY be pleased to state: वाणिज्य एवं उद्योग मंत्री

- a) whether it is a fact that the Government has a proposal under consideration  to exempt Tesla and other multinational car companies from local value addition of cost  in  heavy  batteries,  semi-conductors  and  even  magnetic  parts  and  also subsidy on the import duty on the import of electric vehicles in India;
- b) if so, the details thereof;
- c) whether it is a fact that these concessions are not going down well with the players like  Mahindra  and  Mahindra, Tata Motors, Maruti Suzuki, Toyota, Hyundai, Kia, etc.; and
- d) if so, the details and reasons therefor and the Government's reaction thereto?

## ANSWER

## वाणिज्य एवं उद्योग मंत्रालय में राज्य मंत्री ( श्री सोम प्रकाश ) THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF COMMERCE & INDUSTRY (SHRI SOM PARKASH)

- (a) to (d): Government  has  taken  series  of  policy  initiatives  and  measures  to  create conducive ecosystem to promote  industrialisation  and  domestic  value addition and to make India globally competitive. Government has also taken various steps to boost domestic and foreign investments in India to enhance local value addition under  Make  in  India  initiative.  These  include  the  introduction  of  Goods  and Services Tax, reduction in corporate tax, improving ease of doing business, FDI policy reforms, measures for reduction in compliance burden, measures to boost domestic manufacturing through public procurement orders, Phased Manufacturing Programme (PMP) and QCOs (Quality Control Orders), to name a few.

Apart from above, government has launched the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme for Automobile and Auto component industry with a budgetary outlay of Rs. 25,938 crore to provide financial incentives to boost domestic manufacturing of Advance Automotive Technologies (AAT) products (including electric vehicles and their components). The Government has also approved Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme, "National Program on Advanced Chemistry Cells (ACC) Battery  Storage'"  with  a  budgetary  outlay  of  Rs.  18,100  crore.  The  scheme incentivises the establishment of Giga scale ACC manufacturing facilities in the country for 50 Giga Watt hour (GWh).

Presently, there is no proposal either to provide exemption from local value addition cost or to provide subsidy on import duty on import of electric vehicle in India.

******