New Delhi Apr 26 PTI With 67 per cent of its expenditure on manpower becoming unsustainable the Railway Board has issued instructions to the zones to identify and surrender posts that have become redundant due to technologyThe employees in such posts should be redeployed where there is a need for manpower and if required some of the work can be outsourced the board has saidIn a letter written to the general managers of all the railway zones V K Tripathi CEO and Chairman Railway Board has said such posts should be identified and the redeployment of staff should be done within a monthHuman resources are very valuable to Indian Railways This is especially so during present times when 67 per cent expenditure is towards manpower and is showing an increasing trend which in the long term seems unsustainable for the organisationIt is imperative that the manpower is utilised effectively efficiently and wherever essentially required Therefore there is a need to rationalise manpower utilisation to improve organisational agility Tripathi has said in the letter to the GMsHe has also said employees working in categories where manpower is underutilised and non-essential can be redeployed to more essential categories where vacancies exist and the work may be outsourced if requiredHe has identified some of the categories -- bearer assistant cook watcher typist sanitary helper duftry carpenter painter assistant bellow boy laskar gardener assistant catering or salesman catering or kitchen assistant assistant catering vendor valveman etcTripathi has pointed out that employees are still deployed in the zonal railways in categories that have become redundant due to changes in technology process or policy like boiler shops and forging shopsEmployees in such categories may be suitably redeployed in categories where manpower is needed Manpower deployed in categories that are low skilled and have low promotion prospects like store khalasi painter carpenter etc can also be considered for redeployment to those areas where they are more needed and with better prospects he has saidThe letter also said due to computerisation introduction of IT applications and monitoring applications certain functional units like time office EDP department statistics department ticketing security face have reduced workload and they should be redeployed or gainfully utilised elsewhere utilising their skillsVacant posts beyond the presently applicable yardsticks may be surrendered immediately and details submitted to the board Redeployment of staff should be fast-tracked and it should be within one month the letter saidTripathi has also asked the zones to form a committee of three departmental members -- one each from accounts personnel and any other department -- at the division level to identify the categories for surrender of posts PTI ASG RC

New Delhi Apr 22 PTI The railways will invest in startups to get a headstart in procuring innovations directly from them with a promise of up to Rs 15 crore of seed money for innovative technological solutions for the national transporter according to a policy paperThe Indian Railway Innovation Policy will identify and enable Indian innovators to engage with the railways for developing cost-effective implementable scalable solutions and functional prototypes for the national transporter officials saidSince there is a major constraint of capital inadequacy in the startup ecosystem particularly in the seed and Proof of Concept developmental stage this policy aims at providing the necessary seed fund support of up to Rs 15 crore on matching contribution basis to the startups that show the capability intent and promise to produce functional prototypes based on new innovative concepts for potential use of the Indian Railways a senior official saidOne of the major objectives of the policy would be to leverage new innovative technologies developed by entrepreneurs and startups for improving operational efficiency and safety on the railway system the officials saidThe eligible organisations or beneficiaries of the support will include any Indian company incorporated under the Companies Act 19562013 primarily micro small and medium enterprises MSME as defined in the MSME Act 2006 and individual innovators The policy also encourages research and development institutions to apply for the grantThe innovators can apply through a dedicated portal which will be launched later this month and once chosen for the grant its disbursement shall be linked to pre-decided milestonesThe funding scheme has been fixed on a cost-sharing basis in equal proportions -- 5050 by the Indian Railways and the innovator The maximum amount of grant will be Rs 15 crore per innovator even in cases where the total project cost exceeds Rs 3 crore the officials saidUnder the policy the innovator will exclusively retain the ownership of the intellectual property rights generated under the project However it can be extended to include any associates as joint owners only after obtaining a prior approval from the Railway Board the officials saidThe railways shall retain the government purpose rights GPRs which shall be an exclusive transferable irrevocable licence to use the IP intellectual property for internal consumption or manufactureThe railways may use the GPRs to manufacture either directly or through sub-contractors for its use In this case the government shall pay a royalty fee for the use of GPRs in intellectual property or technology or productWith innovation through technology becoming more and more significant in the railways this policy would mean that we would have innovators vying to make products just for our use They will be the best and the latest It is a win-win situation for both the railways and the innovators While we get the latest technology they will get the railways as a client said an official PTI ASG RC

New Delhi Apr 22 PTI A propagandist newspaper distributed on board the Bangalore-Chennai Shatabdi Express has snowballed into a controversy drawing political reactions and prompting the IRCTC to initiate an enquiry in the matterThe IRCTC has admitted that the paper -- The Aryavarth Express -- was unauthorisedThe matter was raised by passenger Gopika Bakshi a gender justice campaigner on TwitterThis morning I boarded the Bangalore-Chennai Shatabdi Express only to be greeted by this blatantly propagandist publication on every other seat - The Aryavarth Express Had never even heard of it How is IRCTCofficial allowing this Bakshi wrote on the microblogging site on FridayCongress MP B Manickam Tagore also questioned how such a newspaper found its way on board a trainWill Honble Rail minister order an inquiry into it Whether its the proved policy of the RailMinIndia to allow propaganda material in the Shatabdi express Will write and raise the issue in LoksabhaIndiaAgainstHate he tweetedAnother Congress MP Karti Chidambaram also questioned how such a newspaper got into the list of the publications subscribed by the IRCTCSources said the IRCTC the ticketing-and-catering arm of the railways has approved Deccan Herald and one other local paper as the two publications to be distributed on board trains in the region These newspapers are distributed on board by IRCTC licenseesWe have ordered an enquiry into this and action will be taken against those found responsible This paper is not among the IRCTC-approved publications IRCTC spokesperson Anand Jha saidThe divisional railway manager Chennai said an enquiry in the matter is being conducted by the DRM BangaloreThe latest update is that DRM Bangalore is investigating the issue on how an unauthorised newspaper found its way into the train We like to inform everyone that the train belongs to Bengaluru division and the incident happened there We are sure they would take appropriate action he said in a tweetIn a tweet later IRCTC said the newspaper in question was found inside the regular approved newspapers as an insertThe newspaper vendor has been strictly advised to avoid any such inserts in future Onboard monitoring staff will keep a strict vigil of the same The licensee of the train has also been counselled it saidIn a reply to the IRCTC tweet Bakshi countered the claim made by the rail subsidiary saying it was not an insert - it was on my seat when I boarded Deccan Herald was on the next seat PTI ASG RC

New Delhi Mar 30 PTI Accusing the BJP of shedding crocodile tears over the last decade demanding statehood for Delhi TMC MP Mahua Moitra hit out at the Centre on Wednesday as it moved the Delhi Municipal Corporation Amendment Bill 2022 which she alleged will take away the last vestiges of autonomy from the people of the national capitalOpposing the bill in the Lok Sabha Moitra listed a timeline of the BJPs demand for statehood for Delhi at various forums from 1996 to 2014 and its vision documentsThis is a classic example of hypocrisy of the central government that after years of crying crocodile tears over the lack of statehood for Delhi today the same party seeks to do away with the last vestiges of autonomy for the citizens of Delhi and its state Assembly she saidThe Trinamool Congress TMC member said the bill had no place in Parliament and it should be brought in the Delhi AssemblyI ask you this question Modi hai to mumkin hai -- we accept it You have just won four states Go ahead call the elections in Delhi win the state and then call the municipal polls Win the municipal polls and then bring this bill in the state Assembly Who is stopping you Do it the right way Do not do it by the backdoor she saidMoving the bill which proposes a reunification of the three municipal corporations of Delhi for consideration and passage Union Home Minister Amit Shah suggested that the trifurcation of the MCD was done in a hurry for political reasons which led to an imbalance between the income and liabilities of the civic bodiesMoitra further said the move to bring the bill follows a consistent pattern of blatant disregard for cooperative federalism by the governmentShe pointed out that the substitution of the word government which currently means the government of NCT with the word central government in several provisions of the bill strikes a blow to federalism and accountabilityThe timing of the introduction of the bill in the backdrop of the delay by the Union government in conducting the municipal elections in Delhi tells a contradictory tale The central government is seeking to usurp the power of the superintendents hitherto vested in the government of Delhi and assuming this power for itself Moitra allegedQuoting Urdu poet Mirza Ghalib she said everyone thinks they are god when they sit on the throne but warned the ruling party against falling into a trap and urged it to do the right thing I urge the minister not to overstep his brief and send the bill where it belongs namely the state assembly the TMC leader said PTI ASG RC

New Delhi Oct 31 PTI While the Kisan Rail has come as a boon for farmers across the country the railways has been left with a burden of about Rs 40 crore in the form of unpaid reimbursements from the Ministry of Food Processing Industries MoFPI for running these trains for a year at a 50-per cent rebateFrom October 14 2020 to October 10 2021 the Indian Railways has provided a subsidy of around Rs 95 crore to farmers for ferrying their goods on Kisan Rail trainsUnder the Operation Greens - TOP to Total scheme of the MoFPI a 50-per cent subsidy in freight is granted on transportation of fruits and vegetables through Kisan Rail trainsThe MoFPI which is to bear the burden of the subsidy is yet to compensate the Ministry of RailwaysSince the services began in October 2020 the railways has run 1455 Kisan Rail trains on 129 routes carrying 478 lakh tonne of consignment worth Rs 18246 crore and has offered a subsidy of Rs 9492 crore according to official figuresHowever the national transporter has so far received only around Rs 55 crore as reimbursement from the MoFPI officials saidThey said both the Railway Board Chairman and the Member Operations and Business Development have written to the MoFPI highlighting the need to increase the corpus for the Kisan Rail scheme to at least around Rs 150 crore to meet the increasing demand for the servicesWe will continue to run the services till we get a reply from the food ministry on its ability to pay for the subsidies If it expresses its inability to do so we will take a decision on the matter an official told PTIAccording to official figures in 2020-2021 from October 2020 to March 2021 the railways ferried freight worth Rs 5322 crore on Kisan Rail trains and granted a subsidy of Rs 2779 croreIn the current year April to October 15 2021 it has moved freight worth Rs 12925 crore on Kisan Rail trains and has granted a total subsidy of Rs 6713 crore to farmers PTI ASG RC