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Employers covered under ESI Act to link UAN numbers of EPF covered employees via ESI portal by 31st July 2022.

The Bombay Chamber of Commerce & Industry released EnablHERs of Change, a book on Diversity, Equity & Inclusivity, at the monthly Board Meeting held at the Royal Bombay Yacht Club on July 21.

The publication, which focuses on women as enablers of economic growth, covers the conclave which was held on April 20, 2022 and includes articles from members of the industry, on a range of topics such as Financial Inclusivity, Empowering Women to become Enablers of Change, SEWA’s role in transforming the livelihoods of women working in the salt pans, Women’s Education, among others.

The Board Meeting also saw Mr Rajiv Jalota, Chairman, Mumbai Port Trust present a riveting account of the formation of the Bombay Port Trust and the role of Bombay Chambers in it, along with ongoing and planned projects as part of Maritime India Vision 2030 and Vision 2047.

Karnataka, Manipur and Chandigarh have topped in their respective categories in the third edition of NITI Aayog’s India Innovation Index 2021.

While Karnataka has topped again in the ‘Major States’ category, with Telangana, Haryana, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu in the top five, Manipur is leading the ‘North East and Hill States’ category. Chandigarh is the top performer in the ‘Union Territories and City States’ category.

Karnata was also the top recipient state in terms of FDI, with 38% of the total FDI equity inflow, followed by Maharashtra (26%) and Delhi (14%).

The index was released today by NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Suman Bery in the presence of Member Dr VK Saraswat, CEO Parameswaran Iyer and Senior Adviser Neeraj Sinha, and Institute for Competitiveness Chairman Dr Amit Kapoor.

The India Innovation Index, prepared by NITI Aayog and the Institute for Competitiveness, is a comprehensive tool for the evaluation and development of the country’s innovation ecosystem. It ranks the states and the union territories on their innovation performance to build healthy competition amongst them. The Covid-19 pandemic drew importance on the need for crisis-driven innovation across all sectors.

The Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD), Government of India launched the National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM) by restructuring Swarnajayanti Gram Swarojgar Yojana (SGSY) with effect from 01st April 2013 (RBI Circular No. RBI/2012-13/559 dated 27 June 2013). NRLM was renamed as DAY-NRLM (Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana – National Rural Livelihoods Mission) w.e.f. March 29, 2016. The DAY-NRLM is the flagship program of Government of India for promoting poverty reduction through building strong institutions of the poor, particularly women, and enabling these institutions to access a range of financial services and livelihoods. DAY-NRLM adopts a demand driven approach, enabling the States to formulate their own State specific poverty reduction action plans.

The Government of Maharashtra has issued a notification dated 18th July 2022 publishing the draft Maharashtra Occupational Safety, Health and
Working Conditions (Factories and Other Ports) Rules, 2022.

Any Objection or suggestion, which may be received by Director, Industrial Safety and
Health, Kamgar Bhavan, E-Block, C-20, Opp. Reserve Bank, Bandra-Kurla Complex, Bandra (East), Mumbai-400 051 or on email dirdish.mum-mh@gov.in from any person with respect to the said draft within 45 days of publication of the draft rules will be considered.

The Government of Maharashtra has issued a notification dated 18th July 2022 publishing the draft Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions (Labour) Rules, 2022.

Any Objection or suggestion, which may be received by Director, Industrial Safety and Health, Kamgar Bhavan, E-Block, C-20, Opp. Reserve Bank, Bandra-Kurla Complex, Bandra (East), Mumbai-400 051 or on email dirdish.mum-mh@gov.in from any person with respect to the said draft within 45 days of publication of the draft rules will be considered.

Tata Steel has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with BHP, Australian multinational mining, metals and petroleum public company, to jointly study and explore low carbon iron and steelmaking technology. Under the partnership, Tata Steel and BHP will collaborate on ways to reduce the emission intensity of the blast furnace steel route, via two areas – the use of biomass as a source of energy and the application of carbon capture and utilization (CCU) in steel production.

The technologies explored in this partnership can potentially reduce the emission intensity of integrated steel mills by up to 30 per cent. Further, these projects demonstrate how abatements applied to the blast furnace iron-making process, which contributes to more than 60 per cent of India’s steel production, can materially reduce the carbon intensity of the existing capacity.

Beyond these projects, Tata Steel and BHP have committed to ongoing knowledge exchange that will see both parties explore further collaborations, ecosystems, and business opportunities in the steel value chain and the research and innovation sectors in both India and Australia.

Tata Steel has also signed an agreement with Shell India Markets Private Limited to evaluate and co-develop short- and long-term options for improvement in energy efficiency, optimisation of demand around carbon-intensive products and services and others. Additionally, Tata Steel and the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) have signed an MoU to collaborate on CCUS, for joint development of advanced technologies with 38 CSIR labs across the country.

The Jawaharlal Nehru Port (JNP) has become the first 100% landlord port in India, with all ports operated under the PPP model. One of the leading ports in the country, JNP is ranked 26th among the top 100 global ports (as per Lloyd’s List Top 100 Ports 2021 Report).

The Jawaharlal Nehru Port Container Terminal (JNPCT) has 2 berths with a total length of 680m and a 15m draft which will be handed over under the PPP contract, along with a backup area of 54.74 hectares, for 30 years. As per Union Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, Sarbananda Sonowal, the project will improve the utilization of crane and berth productivity of the terminal. Further, the total handling of JNPCT will increase to 1.8 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) from the present handling capacity of 1.5 million TEUs in 2020-21.

JNPCT currently handles 9000 TEUs capacity vessels. With the upgrade, its capacity will increase to 12200 TEUs capacity vessels. There are also plans to increase the RMQC rail span from 20 meters to 30.5 meters at the port. The concessionaire will upgrade, operate, maintain and transfer this terminal on a PPP basis. The total investment for the project, which will be carried out in two phases, will be Rs 872 crores.

India’s agricultural and processed food products export has risen by 14 percent in the first three months of the current FY 2022-23 (April-June) compared to the corresponding period of FY 2021-22, as per the Quick Estimates data released by the Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics (DGCI&S).

The Government had set an export target of USD 23.56 billion for the agricultural and processed food products basket under APEDA, for the year 2022-23. Riding on the back of the initiatives taken by the Ministry of Commerce & Industry, 25 percent of the total annual export target has been achieved in the first three months of the current fiscal.

The overall export of products under the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) increased to USD 5987 million in April-June 2022 from USD 5256 million over the same period of the last fiscal. The export target for April-June 2022-23 was USD 5890 million. The APEDA basket excludes tea, coffee, spices, cotton and marine exports.

Export of fresh fruits & vegetables registered 8.6 percent growth, while processed food products like cereals and miscellaneous processed items reported a growth of 36.4 percent (April-June 2022-23) compared to the corresponding months of the previous year. In April-June, 2021, fresh fruits and vegetables were exported to the tune of USD 642 million which increased to USD 697 million in the corresponding months of the current fiscal. Other cereals’ exports increased from USD 237 million in April-June 2021 to USD 306 million in April-June 2022 and the export of meat, dairy and poultry products increased from USD 1023 million in April-June 2021 to USD 1120 million in April-June 2022.

Rice exports witnessed a growth of 13 percent in the first three months of FY 2022-23, while the export of meat, dairy & poultry products increased by 9.5 percent and the export of other cereals increased by 29 percent.

The Government has taken multiple initiatives to increase export of agricultural and processed food products, including organizing B2B exhibitions in different countries, exploring new potential markets through product-specific and general marketing campaigns by the active involvement of Indian Embassies, promoting products having registered geographical indications (GI) in India by through virtual Buyer Seller Meets on agricultural and food products with the United Arab Emirates and on GI products, including handicrafts with the USA.

The Government has also recognized 220 labs across India to provide testing services to ensure seamless quality certification of products to be exported.

The Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Narendra Singh Tomar, launches the Platform of Platforms (POP) under the National Agriculture Market (e-NAM) in Bengaluru. The Agriculture Ministry also released an equity grant of over Rs 37 crore to 1,018 Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs), benefiting about 3.5 lakh farmers.

The POP will enable farmers to sell the produce outside their state borders, thereby increasing farmers’ digital access to multiple markets, buyers and service providers and bringing transparency in business transactions, to improve price search mechanism and quality commensurate price realization.

The POP covers 41 service providers from different platforms, facilitating various value chain services like trading, quality checks, warehousing, fintech, market information, transportation etc. The PoP will create a digital ecosystem, which will benefit from the expertise of different platforms in different segments of the agricultural value chain.

Source : PIB