Ram Vilas Paswan asks street food vendors to evolve self regulations for safe food

Ram Vilas Paswan, Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution has asked the street food vendors to evolve self regulatory code and a set of guidelines for safe and hygienic food to win confidence of common man. He has said the Government can extend its help in this venture.

Taking a round of National Street Food Festival at Nehru Stadium in Delhi today, the Minister said that Indian street food is popular all over the world for its range of flavors. There is need to create awareness about hygiene and best practices among food vendors. He said Department of consumer Affairs in collaboration with industry is already working on it through “Surkhit Khadya Abhiyan” .

Shri Ram Vilas Paswan appreciated the concept of the street food festival for showcasing diversity of the India’s street food at one place. Organized by National Association of Street Vendors of India (Nasvi), the three-day festival, from December 11 to December 13, 2015, has more 800 hundred food stalls from 26 states.

Link:http://pib.nic.in/newsite/erelease.aspx?relid=133120

Use of Regional Languages in High Courts

The Government of Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Chhattisgarh had sent requests to the Government seeking the previous consent of the President of India under Article 348 (2) of the Constitution of India, for the use of the regional language in the proceedings of the High Courts of their States. Government had taken up these requests with the Chief Justice of India. The Full Court of the Supreme Court considered the requests in its meeting held on 11th October, 2012 and reiterated the earlier similar resolutions of the Full Court adopted in 1997 and 1999 to not accept the requests. The Government has abided by this decision.

Based on another request received on 10th June, 2014 from the Government of Tamil Nadu, the Government has again written to the Chief Justice of India on 4th July, 2014 in this regard. A similar request from the Government of Karnataka has also been received for the use of Kannada language in the proceedings of the Karnataka High Court. This request has also been forwarded to the Supreme Court. The Hon’ble Supreme Court has informed that the matter will again be put up for consideration of the Full Court.

This information was given by Union Minister of Ministry of Law & Justice, Shri D. V. Sadananda Gowda in a written reply in Lok Sabha today. 

Reservation in Promotion

The reservation in promotion is provided to Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) at the rate of 15% and 7.5% respectively in posts and services under the Central Government. As on 1.1.2013, the representation of SCs and STs was 17.55% and 7.72% respectively.

The Hon'ble Supreme Court, on 19.10.2006, in the matter of M. Nagaraj & Ors. V/s Union of India, while upholding the validity of the Constitutional Amendments made in favour of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, inter-alia, observed that the State will have to collect quantifiable data of backwardness, inadequacy of representation before providing reservation in promotion.

In order to provide impediment free reservation in promotion to SCs and STs, the Constitutional (One Hundred and Seventeenth Amendment) Bill was introduced in the Rajya Sabha by the Government in September , 2012. The Bill was passed by the Rajya Sabha on 17.12.2012 and transmitted to the Lok Sabha for consideration and passing. The Bill could not be considered in the 15th Lok Sabha and lapsed on the dissolution of 15th Lok Sabha. The issues emanating from the Hon'ble Supreme Court's judgment dated 19.10.2006 in M. Nagaraj case is under examination.

This was stated by Minister of State in the Personnel, Public Grievances and pensions and Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office Dr. Jitendra Singh in Rajya Sabha today in a written reply to a question by Shri K. Rahman Khan. 

‘Guidelines Governing Adoption of Children 2015’ will help expand adoption programme in the country and address delays in adoption process: Smt Maneka Sanjay Gandhi

This information was given by the Minister of Women and Child Development, Smt Maneka Sanjay Gandhi in reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha today.  

The main features of the ‘Guidelines Governing Adoption of Children 2015’ include: provisions for linking the orphan/abandoned/surrendered children of all Child Care Institutions (CCIs) to the adoption system, making the entire adoption process online, treating NRI Prospective Adoptive Parents (PAPs) at par with the domestic PAPs and reducing the timeframe for completion of Home Study Report of the PAPs from two months to one month. 

The major objectives sought to be achieved through these Guidelines are: expanding adoption programme in the country and addressing delays in the adoption process with an IT enabled platform of Child Adoption Resource Information and Guidance System (CARINGS). 

The Guidelines were brought into effect to make the entire adoption process hassle free by minimizing delays at various levels. The provisions include declaring orphan, abandoned and surrendered children legally free for adoption by Child Welfare Committee(CWC) in a time bound manner, enabling online registration of PAPs for referral and matching, conducting Home Study Reports of the PAPs within a period of one month, mandating District Child Protection Unit(DCPU) to expedite placement of all adoptable children including setting up of linkage between Specialised Adoption Agency(SAA) and Child Care Institution(CCI) to reach all adoptable children etc.