Six Central Universities will have full fledged Yoga departments from academic session 2016-17 and the number would be raised to 20 within one year.

These six universities are Hemwati Nandan Bahugana Garhwal University, Uttrakhand (North), Viswa Bharti, West Bengal (East), Central University of Rajasthan (West), Central University of Kerala (South), Indira Gandhi National Tribal University, Amarkantak, Madya Pradesh,(Central) and Manipur University (North East).

This was stated by Smriti Zubin Irani, Union Minister of Human Resource Development

Irani said the action is in line with recommendations of a panel headed by Prof H R Nagendra, that had suggested various kind of courses ranging from certificate courses to Bachelor’s, Masters and PhDs for yogic sciences.

Irani said that academicians should come forward to establish scientific importance of Yogic Sciences through empirical evidences as has been done by IIT Khargpur recently.

She appreciated efforts of AICTE for holding workshops on Yoga in various cities across the country and IGNOU’s active participation in yoga programmes through its fifty regional centers. She said that IIM Ahmadabad, IITs, and NITs are also organizing various activities to promote Yoga as way of life.

Union HRD Minister said that in view of significant role of Yoga to develop all faculties of life, the HRD ministry has taken steps to popularize yoga from school to University level.

NCTE has been requested to work for capacity building among teachers for this purpose. She said that UGC has been asked to consider starting NET in Yogic Sciences.

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The Commerce & Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Joo Hyunghwan, the Minister of Trade, Industry & energy, Government of the Republic of Korea, on Saturday (June 18), launched Korea Plus, a special initiative to promote and facilitate Korean Investments in India.

An MOU for establishing Korea Plus was earlier signed between the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, Govt. of the Republic of Korea and Invest India, the National Investment Promotion & Facilitation Agency of India in January 2016. This MOU came as an outcome of the visit of the Indian Prime Minister to South Korea in May 2015.

The launch took place in the presence of Mr. Cho Hyun, the Ambassador of the Republic of Korea to India, officials of the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, Korea Trade Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA), Invest India team and several Korean business delegates.

Korea Plus, operationalized on June 18, 2016 comprises of a representative from the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Energy, Government of the Republic of Korea and representative from Korea Trade Investment and Promotion Agency (KOTRA) and three representatives from Invest India.

The mandate of Korea Plus covers the entire investment spectrum including supporting Korean enterprises entering the Indian Market for the first time, looking into issues faced by Korean companies doing business in India and policy advocacy to the Indian Government on their behalf.

Korea Plus will act as a mediator in arranging meetings, assisting in public relations and research/evaluation and provide information and counselling in regard to Korean companies’ investing in India.

India and the Republic of Korea relations have made great strides in recent years and Korea Plus will act as a catalyst in making these relations even more robust.

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On the occasion of the “International Yoga Day” on 21st June, Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan (NYKS) will, in collaboration with over a dozen noted social organizations, hold 1,00,260 Yoga programmes at different centres across the country, out of which 10 regional level mega events will be hosted by major cities of Varanasi, Imphal, Jammu,Vadodara, Lucknow, Bengaluru, Vijayawada, Bhubaneshwar, Shimla and Hoshiarpur.

The main programme will, however, be held at Chandigarh which will be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Announcing this at a press conference, Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh said that the Department of Youth Affairs and all the affiliated youth wings have perhaps, for the first time, undertaken such a grand initiative to engage largest possible sections of Population across the length and breadth of India, on a single day for a single theme.

Elaborating further, Dr Jitendra Singh said, even as more than 1,00,000 Yoga programmes will be held across the country, as many as 250 of such programmes will be held at district headquarters and around 1,00,000 Yoga programmes at village level with the collaboration of local youth clubs there.

In addition, Dr Jitendra Singh informed that his Ministry will be organizing Yoga day programmes in 391 Universities, 16000 colleges and 12000 schools across the country.

At the 10 locations of regional level mega events, Dr Jitendra Singh disclosed that for the last 4-5 days, regular Yoga practice is already being conducted by around 500 trainers at each centre.

In keeping with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s guiding spirit, the Department will try to ensure that these programmes are marked by an all-inclusive participation involving various social groups including NCC (National Cadet Corps), NSS (National Service Scheme), Patanjali, Art of Living, Bharatiya Yoga Sansthan, Brahma Kumaris and all other related organizations.

Dr Jitendra Singh said, International Yoga Day is not only an occasion for all of us to remind ourselves about the well-being of mind and body, but this is also an occasion to celebrate the world’s acknowledgement of time-tested Indian tradition. He recalled that after taking over as Prime Minister on 26th May 2014, exactly after four months on September 27, 2014, Narendra Modi, while addressing the 69th Session of United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), put forward the proposal to adopt an International Yoga Day and, in less than three months, on December 11, 2014, in a historic decision, out of 193 members of UNGA, a record 177 unanimously passed a resolution to observe 21st June as International Day of Yoga.

Quoting Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Dr Jitendra Singh said, “Yoga is not about exercise but to discover the sense of oneness with ourselves, the world and nature”.

In the times to come, Dr Jitendra Singh said, the Ministry of Youth Affairs and sports will come out with several more innovative and path breaking decisions to make the youth of this country a part of India’s mainstream march ahead.

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India and Thailand have agreed to forge a closer partnership in the fields of defence and maritime cooperation. The two countries also inked two agreements in the area of culture and education.

In a press statement after delegation level talks with the visiting Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-Cha in New Delhi this afternoon, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said close Security partnership would help both the countries to secure people from rising threat of terrorism.

He said beyond terrorism, India and Thailand agreed to further deepen security engagement in the fields of cyber security, narcotics, transnational economic offences and Human Trafficking.

To welcome more tourists from Thailand, Mr Modi announced that India will soon facilitate double entry e-tourist visas for Thai citizens.

Prime Minister Modi said, India and Thailand have prioritized completion of India-Myanmar-Thailand Trilateral highway and early signing of the Motor Vehicles Agreement between the three countries.

Mr Modi said, improving access to Southeast Asia from Northeastern States benefits people of the both sides.

He said, early conclusion of a balanced Comprehensive Economic and Partnership Agreement is a shared priority for both the nations.

Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-Cha said, he and Mr Modi agreed to encourage Indian and Thai businessmen to invest in each other’s countries. He also said there is a need to expedite negotiations regarding free Trade Agreement between India and Thailand to increase volume of trade.

The visiting dignitary said he will encourage his country’s businessmen to be part of India’s Make In India programme.

Later, a joint statement said the economic relations between the two countries are deep rooted in bilateral Free Trade Agreement, ASEAN India Trade in Goods Agreement and Early Harvest Scheme.

They agreed to enhance economic relations further by striving to increase bilateral trade and engaging in bilateral and multilateral forums. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the visiting Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-Cha also agreed to encourage more investments from investors of both the sides.

Both sides also welcomed the intention to forge sister states and sister city relations between Assam and Chiang Mai and as well as Surat and Surat Thani.

Mr Modi and Mr Chan-o-Cha announced to hold festival of India in Thailand and festival of Thailand in India. Sawasdee India Year and Namaste Thailand Year will be held simultaneously in 2017 to commemorate the occasion.

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The Union Minister for Power, Coal and Renewable energy, Piyush Goyal has said that all the states have resolved to provide 24×7 power for all by March 2019 or earlier in their respective states.

Further all states, except LWE affected, have also resolved to electrify all remaining unelectrified villages by 31st December 2016 and states will award contracts in the next 30 days for this work.

Announcing this at a press conference at the state Power Ministers Conference, Goyal said that states also agreed for providing 100 percent power to all households in 18452 villages in the country in a mission mode by 1st May 2017.

The participating states also resolved to ensure that operational and financial milestones in the MOU for UDAY would also be implemented.

In a landmark decision all states resolved to procure henceforth only Smart Meters which are tamper proof and communication enabled.

The Minister said the cost of these smart meters has been brought down by 60 percent from Rs 8000 to Rs 3223 as a result of central procurement and the endeavor is to go for only such meters in the future for 25 crore consumers in the country.

The Minister also announced that one 4 digit all India number 1912 has been started for consumer complaints across the country.

Sharing the outcome of the 2 day meeting, he said it was a successful fruitful dialogue over two days and everyone worked in service of the poor and farmers in a cooperative and collaborative manner demonstrating the strength of our democracy.

Goyal said the meeting disproved the notion that different political interests cannot bring about commonality of a purpose.

The meeting also discussed Hydro power policy and sought to work out ways of reviving small (25 MW or less) stalled hydro projects with cooperation from the states to provide new thrust to the hydro sector.

He said a committee for this has been set up which will submit its recommendations by 30th September 2016.

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Fighting the menace of Black Money stashed in offshore accounts has been a key priority area for the Government.

To further this goal, the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi met with the Swiss President Johann Schneider-Ammann at Geneva on 6th June 2016 and discussed the need for expeditious Exchange of Information for combatting Tax Evasion together with an early start to negotiations on the Agreement for Automatic Exchange of Information.

As a follow up, Revenue Secretary Dr. Hasmukh Adhia and Switzerland’s State Secretary for International Financial Matters Mr. Jacques de Watteville on Wednesday (June 15) met and agreed to move towards an early agreement for the implementation of AEOI between the two countries.

It was decided that experts of both the countries will meet before mid-September, 2016 to further discuss the modalities for the reciprocal bilateral implementation of AEOI between India and Switzerland with a view to reaching an agreement at the earliest, possibly by the end of the year. Once this agreement is signed, it will be possible for India to receive from 2018 financial information of accounts held by Indian residents in Switzerland on automatic basis.

Noting the progress in bilateral tax cooperation since the last Secretary-level meeting in October 2014, the two Secretaries encouraged the competent authorities of both the countries to continue with regular bilateral meetings and contacts to further enhance the cooperation.

The issue of requests based on “stolen data” figured prominently in the talks and Revenue Secretary welcomed the decision of the Swiss Federal Council to amend the Tax Administrative Assistance Act in accordance with the OECD standard and provide administrative assistance in requests based on data obtained in breach of Swiss law.

This is particularly significant in view of the recent challenges posed bythe Panama Papers where voluminous information on offshore accounts has been placed in the public domain.

The amended proposal is now with the Swiss Parliament. An early revision of the Swiss law in respect of stolen data would take the Indo-Swiss tax cooperation to a new level.

The two sides agreed to pursue the ongoing dialogue on tax and financial matters in a spirit of mutual friendship and cooperation.

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