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Showing posts with label UNESCO. Show all posts
Showing posts with label UNESCO. Show all posts

Tuesday, 4 February 2020

07:57

Introduction of MEMU Service between Coimbatore and Mettupalayam

Introduction of MEMU Service between Coimbatore and Mettupalayam
Mettupalayam, on the foothills of Nilgiris is the gateway to Nilgiri Mountain Railway. NMR, the UNESCO listed Mountain Railway System gets scores of tourist footfalls from all over the world. Coimbatore Junction, the major railhead near Mettupalayam is well connected by train services from major destinations in South India. Presently, there are 5 train services interconnecting Coimbatore and Mettupalayam that include Blue Mountain (Nilgiri) Express and 4 Passenger trains.
To handle the extra rush of passengers travelling to NMR destinations, a new MEMU service will be run between Coimbatore Junction and Mettupalayam from 01.02.2020. The details are mentioned below:
  • T.No.66622 Coimbatore – Mettupalayam MEMU service (Daily) will depart from Coimbatore Junction at 20.25 hrs and with Stoppages at Coimbatore North Junction (20.31/20.32), Tudiyalur (20.36/20.37), Periyanayakanpalayam (20.41/20.42), Karaimadai (20.52/20.53) and reach Mettupalayam at 21.15 hrs the same day.
  • T.No. 66623 Mettupalayam – Coimbatore MEMU service (Daily) will depart from Mettupalayam at 19.00 hrs and with Stoppages at Karaimadai (19.09/19.10), Perianayakanpalayam (19.19/19.20), Tudiyalur ( 19.24/19.25), Coimbatore North Junction (19.29/19.30) will reach Coimbatore at 19.50 hrs the same day.
  • Composition : 8 Car MEMU
Source:Southern Railway
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Friday, 3 February 2017

07:20

INDIA INNOVATIVE INDEX FOR RANKING LAUNCHED

INDIA INNOVATIVE INDEX  FOR RANKING LAUNCHED

Amitabh Kant launches India Innovation Index A joint initiative of NITI Aayog, DIPP and CII  States will be ranked on innovations from 2017 

To make India an innovation-driven economy, NITI Aayog, Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion (DIPP) and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) together launched a mega initiative “India Innovation Index” that will rank states on Innovations through country’s first online innovation index portal that will capture data on innovation from all Indian states on innovation and regularly update it in real time.

The India Innovation Index Framework will be structured based on the best practices followed in Global Innovation Index (GII) indicators and additionally by adding India-centric parameters those truly reflect the Indian innovation ecosystem. This initiative will be the point of reference for all international agencies to collect India’s up to date data points for global indices and analytic.

Inaugurating the portal, Mr Amitabh Kant, CEO NITI Aayog said, “This portal will be a first-of-its-kind online platform where Global Innovation Index indicators and India–centric data from various states will be coalesced and disseminated and updated periodically. This will be a one-stop data warehouse and will track progress on each indicator at the National level and the State level on real-time basis. The access to this portal will be hosted on the NITI Aayog website, and NITI Aayog will update this data periodically.”

Mr. Kant said, “I would like to congratulate Confederation of Indian Industry for creating the Global Innovation Index a decade ago and the World Intellectual Property, Cornell University for working together to further develop it and make it a global consulting document for policymakers around the world.”

Data collated on this portal will not only be used to ameliorate current data gaps w.r.t the GII, but be the prime source for the India Innovation Index, which will be jointly developed by NITI Aayog, DIPP and CII, in consultation with World Economic Forum, the World Intellectual Property Organization, Cornell University, OECD, UNIDO, ILO, UNESCO, ITU and others with the objective to rank Indian states as per their innovation prowess and provide impetus to them to build their respective innovation ecosystems and spur the innovation spirit among institutions and people.

The Global Innovation Index (GII), co-published by World-Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), Cornell University and INSEAD with CII as a Knowledge Partner since inception, has been ranking world economies including India since 2007 according to their innovation capabilities and outcomes using 82 indicators among a host of other important parameters.  It has established itself as both a leading reference on innovation and a ‘tool for action’ for policy makers.

India currently ranks 66th out of 128 countries on the Global innovation Index (GII) 2016. To improve India’s rank in GII and other international indices, NITI Aayog jointly with Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), organized the Global Innovation Index – India Roundtable on 31st January in the capital.

Mr. Ramesh Abhishek, Secretary, Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion, Government of India said, “GII gives us an opportunity to look at innovation and to rethink about our progress. This also gives an opportunity to compare with the best in the world, to look at best practices around and then learn from them. DIPP has formed a taskforce on innovation with representation from industry, academia and government, through this taskforce we are trying to improve our GII ranking.”

Speaking at the inaugural session, Mr. Ratan P. Watal, Principal Adviser, NITI Aayog said, “Regulation, fiscal incentives and R&D plays a major role in driving innovation. A lot of money is provided for R&D but unfortunately R&D money goes in silos within various government departments giving no result. Scientific departments, departments which deal with such budgets and CII have to come together and work towards it”.

The event was a first-of-its-kindintensiveconsultation exercise conducted by the government to solicit inputs from key stakeholders of the innovation ecosystem in India and abroad such as Ministry of Commerce, Department of Science & Technology, TRAI and top global agencies such as WIPO, Cornell University, World Economic Forum, UNESCO Institute for Statistics, International Telecommunications Union, International Labour Organisation to identify and understand issues and challenges related to it. This exercise was aimed at addressing India's data gaps by adopting international methodologies on critical innovation indicators at the input and output side.

Source:PIBNEWS


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Wednesday, 24 August 2016

22:36

UNESCO warns on Heritage tag of Darjeeling Toy Train

UNESCO warns on Heritage tag of Darjeeling Toy Train

Darjeeling: A UNESCO team that is working on a conservation plan for the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway today said it had got feedback that the toy train service did not meet the criteria to command heritage status and was close to being put on the “danger list”.

Paul Atkins, the technical consultant of UNESCO, who is part of the team drawing up a comprehensive conservation management plan, said the plan “was to have been drawn up within five years of the UNESCO granting world heritage status”. He said it was delayed for various reasons and the two-year project had started from March this year.

The Unesco granted world heritage status to the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway on December 2, 1999.

Today, the DHR marked 136 years of operation. On August 23, 1880, the first train ran from Siliguri to Kurseong.

If the DHR is put on the List of World Heritage Sites in Danger, it will share space with the ruined archaeological remains of the Bamiyan valley in Afghanistan, where the Taliban destroyed two statues of the Buddha in 2001. Also on the list is Aleppo in Syria, where a multinational military effort to counter the Islamic State has made the ancient city a war zone.

Atkins today said: “In the past, the UNESCO had received feedback from unofficial people but who are experts in their fields that the DHR was not meeting the criteria. Unesco had raised the matter with the Indian railways and following their assurance, it decided not to put them on the danger list. Right now, it is not on the danger list but it is getting closer.”

Atkins said the DHR should have a separate management structure. “The DHR needs an independent management unit, which along with railways should incorporate local stakeholders and civil administration. The DHR also needs special maintenance and people with special skills and knowledge of the system and this has to be passed down,” he said.

The UNESCO team believes that following the conservation plan would lead to setting up a DHR world heritage site management office.

“Excessive encroachment, illegal structures dangerously close to the tracks, loss of physical features of the DHR over the years and restructuring of the work forces are some of the challenges,” Atkins said.

Ideally, the DHR is expected to maintain a clear area of two meters from the middle of the track, which has been flouted at many places.

Source:RailNews
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Sunday, 26 June 2016

22:03

Climate Change Poses Urgent Threat to Poor of Coastal Bangladesh

Climate Change Poses Urgent Threat to Poor of Coastal Bangladesh

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
  • Nearly 12 million people live in poverty in the coastal region of Bangladesh.
  • Poor households in coastal Bangladesh will confront increasingly severe challenges from climate change through heightened cyclonic inundation, rising river salinity, and increased soil salinity.
  • The World Bank is working with the Government of Bangladesh to enable poor households to adapt to the impacts of climate change.

Nearly 12 million people live in poverty in the coastal regions of Bangladesh. The climate already poses a challenge to the lives and livelihoods of these households, seen vividly in the damage caused by Cyclone Roanu a few weeks ago. New projections published by the World Bank suggest climate change will pose an even more severe challenge over the next three decades.   

“Climate change is a major issue for all of us, but particularly the poor and vulnerable”, said Research Director Asli Demirguc-Kunt, who recently hosted a Policy Research Talk on the issue. “It’s been leading to crop failures, natural disasters, and the spread of water-borne diseases, and it’s an important push factor for migration.”

Lead Environmental Economist Susmita Dasgupta, the main speaker at the event, presented the results of a seven-year body of research projecting the likely impact of climate change in coastal Bangladesh through 2050. Dasgupta’s projections highlight three current and growing risks with severe consequences for the poor: cyclonic inundation, river salinity, and soil salinity.

Perhaps the most visible of all threats, cyclones destroy lives and livelihoods with alarming regularity in coastal Bangladesh: severe cyclones strike every three years on average. Rising sea levels—a direct result of climate change—will increase the land surface exposed to high levels of cyclonic inundation by more than 50 percent.

Rising river salinity presents a less visible but equally damaging threat. River salinity increases health risks, causes a scarcity of drinking water and water for irrigation, and reduces the number of fish species—a critical source of protein for many households. Dasgupta projects a more than doubling of the number of poor exposed to saline rivers.

Increases in soil salinity will challenge a country where 48 percent of the labor force works in the agricultural sector. Dasgupta projects that soil salinity levels will exceed a critical threshold resulting in large yield losses in at least 24 sub-districts of Bangladesh by 2050, a pattern that is already evident in some sub-districts.          

The World Bank has been working closely with the Government of Bangladesh and other development partners on critical measures to enable poor households in coastal Bangladesh to adapt to the impacts of climate change. These include strengthening coastal embankments, construction of multipurpose emergency shelters, and improving early warning and evacuation systems.

But based on this new body of research, Dasgupta warned that more needs to be done. Many working-age adults have already been migrating out of threatened areas, and Dasgupta called for more efforts to provide vocational training and assistance to cope with the process of out-migration.

Another option is investment in roads outside the critical biodiverse areas of the UNESCO World Heritage Sundarbans. Those who remain in threatened areas will be able to take advantage of better connections to market centers.

“Bangladeshi households are in the forefront of climate change. Their behavior and their path to adaptation can help us understand how millions of households around the world will behave in the future,” said Dagupta. “Climate change is going to create severe poverty traps. Unless we address the climate change problem now, sustainable poverty reduction will remain a dream.”

Stéphane Hallegatte, a Senior Economist in the Climate Change Group of the World Bank, added that “if you can find a solution that works in coastal Bangladesh, it will be very useful for other coastal regions where the challenge is not as severe.”

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Thursday, 29 October 2015

06:28

First mountain railway in the country that came up with the rack and pinion system

First mountain railway in the country that came up with the rack and pinion system

Nilgiri Mountain Railway (NMR) completed 106 years and chugged into its 107th year on October 15, also observed as NMR Day. Passengers were greeted with flowers and sweets on the occasion and there was even a cake to mark the special day. The NMR acquired a world heritage status awarded to it by UNESCO in 2005.

Nilgiri Mountain Railway Day was celebrated at the Udhagamandalam railway station with K. Natarajan (left), founder of Heritage Steam Chariot Trust, welcoming the tourists on ThursdayNMR is the first mountain railway in the country that came up with the rack and pinion system. The rack and pinion system is used to cover the steep gradient the train chugs through in its journey from Mettupalayam to Udhagamandalam.

The journey starts at 1,069 ft above Mean Sea Level and travels up to a height of 7,228 ft. The rack and pinion system begins a little after Kallar station and goes up to Coonoor.

The line between Mettupalayam and Coonoor was first laid in 1898 and then it was extended up to Udhagamandalam in 1908. NMR has had Swiss x locomotives and then refurbished engines from the Golden Rock Workshop in Tiruchirapalli; it has travelled a long way from the steam fired engines using coal to the latest furnace oil fired locomotives that haul the mountain train.

In its 100 odd years of existence, the mountain railway has had its share of woes. Bridges and tracks have been washed away, landslides have disrupted its journeys and it has been considered economically unsound. But, the tracks were always restored as soon as possible after natural calamities and railway ministry or the board has always intervened to stem any talk of discontinuation of the NMR and ensure its continued services at any cost.

On Thursday, at a function organised by the Heritage Steam Chariot Trust at Udhagamandalam, founder of the trust K. Natarajan, former Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission M.R. Srinivasan and Nilgiris District Collector P. Shankar greeted the tourists who arrived by the train and congratulated them for having chosen to travel on a day of historic significance to the NMR.
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05:57

Indian Railways in Collaboration with Unesco Preparing a Comprehensive Management Plan for Bandra


Indian Railways in Collaboration with Unesco Preparing a Comprehensive Management Plan for Bandra

Unesco Submits the First Report on Urban Design Strategy of Bandra Station

The Move to Give a Boost to Preservation of Rich Heritage of Mumbai.

Indian Railways has initiated a comprehensive proposal in collaboration with The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to revamp Mumbai’s Bandra Sub-Urban Station with a view to not only transform this station into an efficient transportation hub but also to reinforce its status as a heritage landmark. This would be in line with Bandra precinct’s highly cultural and cosmopolitan character.

Under an agreement between Indian Railways and UNESCO, a comprehensive management plan is being prepared for Bandra Station which is hailed as “queen of suburbs” of Mumbai.  A century old railway station, Bandra is home to some of the oldest religious shrines, Portuguese Fort, film studios, East Indian Christian Settlements, Anglo-Indian bakeries and art galleries. This station epitomizes and exemplifies the heritage and has been recognized as a Grade-I heritage property with an excellent blend of Victorian Gothic and the Vernacular style of architecture.

UNESCO has now submitted their first report focusing on Urban Design strategy with an Action Plan for improvements in circulating area of Bandra sub-urban Railway Station to Minister for Railways Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu. This report proposes to develop a high quality and culturally relevant public realm, a diverse and vibrant space as well as a community asset. Priority will be given to the pedestrians and universal access while creating an attractive and comfortable environment. The main features of the UNESCO’s recommendations include realigning approaches and relieving congestion, streamlining the movement at entry/exit of station for effective access and transfer and public realm enhancements to reinforce civic significance.  The report also contains a series of steps to improve disabled-accessibility. 

The second and the final report by UNESCO for Bandra station focusing on conservation and management plan of the station building is expected next month. Western Railway (Headquarters Mumbai) has already chalked out the implementation plan.  The implementation of these reports will completely transform the experience of passengers and other visitors to this unique station and give a boost to preservation of rich heritage of Mumbai.

Minister of Railways Shri Suresh Prabhu has been taking keen interest in the effort to redevelop Bandra Station to provide enhanced facilities to customers while reinforcing the grandeur and magnificence of this landmark station building. Acknowledging the enthusiasm of the Railways, UNESCO took merely 3 months to come out with the report since an agreement to prepare the reports was signed between Shri Manu Goel, Executive Director, Railway Board and Mr. Shigeru Aoyagi, Director, UNESCO, New Delhi on 26th June, 2015. Indian Railways is also the proud custodian of four world heritage sites – Mumbai Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminal (formerly Victoria Terminus), Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, Nilgiri Mountain Railway and Kalka Shimla Railway.

 Source :PIBNEWS.

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Friday, 26 June 2015

23:18

MOU SIGNED WITH UNESCO IN PRESENCE OF HON'BLE MINISTER FOR RAILWAYS SHRI SURESH PRABHU

2015/06/PR
26-06-2015
Mumbai

MOU SIGNED WITH UNESCO IN PRESENCE OF HON'BLE MINISTER FOR RAILWAYS SHRI SURESH PRABHU

A MoU was signed in the presence of Hon'ble Minister for Railways, Shri Suresh Prabhu, with a vision to develop Bandra Heritage Station into a tourist and cultural quarter between Ministry of railways & UNESCO in a function held at Bandra Rly station o­n Friday, 26th June 2015. This Memorandum of Understanding was jointly signed by Mr Shigeru Aaoyagi, Director of UNESCO in India & Shri Manu Goyal, Executive Director (Heritage) of Railway Board. In the beginning, Shri S K Sood, General Manager, Western Railway welcomed all the guests present o­n this occasion. Shri Gopal Shetty, Hon'ble Member of Parliament; Shri Ashish Shelar, Hon'ble MLA; Ms Alka Kerkar, Hon'ble Dy Mayor of Mumbai;  Shri Shailendra Kumar, Divisional Railway Manager of Mumbai Central division and various senior railway officers were also present o­n this historic occasion. The function was compered by Shri Gajanan Mahatpurkar, Sr. Public Relations Officer of Western Railway. A short film depicting various heritage aspects of Bandra station was also displayed o­n this occasion.

Bandra Railway station in Mumbai is a listed Grade I heritage building and o­ne of the key landmarks of the area. As part of the study, a conservation plan will be developed to restore the heritage building, as well as a strategic plan to redesign the surrounding public spaces to improve traffic flow, signage, pedestrian paths, public amenities and cultural vibrancy. The study will begin in July next month and will be complete by end of this year.

National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad has also been approached to have a 3D Simulation/Walkthrough of the main station building, highlighting the heritage aspects and unique features of architectural design.

Bandra Railway station is o­ne of the finest suburban railway stations of Mumbai. Viewed from outside it projects a distinctive 19th century architectural form with its cascade of roof line. Thus it has rightly been notified as a grade I heritage structure in the Government of Maharashtra's heritage regulations of 1995. This station is o­ne of the sixteen heritage railway structures which feature an independent heritage list covering Western India region prepared by the Western Railway.

More than a century old railway station, an excellent architectural blend of Victorian Gothic and the Vernacular style, stands out as a prominent landmark on its site. Bandra Station was opened on 28th November, 1864. However, the magnificent heritage Bandra Station Building was built 24 years later in1888.

Over a century, some changes had been made to customize it according to the need of the day, like temporary rooms built, stone masonry painted etc. It was later decided to get back the original grand look of the station by carrying out restoration work. A conservation Consultant/Expert was appointed and restoration work completed in 2009, with the approval of Mumbai Heritage Conservation Committee. Some of the restoration work carried out was structural repairs, restoration of Eaves board, steel and masonry components of the station building, anti-termite treatment to wooden work etc. Additions and alteration of the original building were largely demolished to restore the original look of the building.

Western Railway aims to reinforce the urban landmark image of Bandra station as the entry point into the queen of suburbs and develop it into a vibrant destination for heritage and culture and restore it to its original pristine glory and showcase it as a treasured Heritage Asset.

In the month of April, this year a 4 day long photo exhibition was held at Bandra station, showcasing the history of Bandra, alongwith model of miniature Bandra station. The exhibition received a very good response with thousands of rail enthusiasts, students etc thronging the site and appreciating the exhibition. The station building too has been lit up since then to bring to the fore the grandeur of the building.
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