NORTHERN RAIlWAY Gm INSPECTS MOHRI-ADARSH NAGAR RAIl SECTION
General Manager, Northern Railway Vishwesh Chaube conducted an extensive inspection of Mohri- Adarsh Nagar rail section on the Delhi- Kurukshetra route on Saturday. He was accompanied by RN Singh, Divisional Railway Manager (DRM) Northern Railway Delhi, Principal Head of Departments & Senior Divisional Railway Officers. Chaube carried out an extensive inspection of Mohri station inspecting the turn-outs and tracks in the station yard. On his onward inspection program, the General Manager undertook an inspection of Kurukshetra railway station reviewing upkeep and cleanliness of platforms, toilet facilities etc. at the station. Chaube also inspected the traffic safety training school. He also took an over-view of the railway colony at Kurukshetra and took part in the tree plantation ceremony at the station. On the onward route, he inspected level-crossing No. 73 and Curve No. 17 on the Bhaini Khurd- Karnal section before proceeding to Karnal station. He also met members of the press and media at various stations and briefed them on the progress of various rail projects in the region. He met Member of Parliament, Ramesh Chand Kaushik at Sonepat & discussed the development plan of the area.
SAIl showcases Green Initiative at Rourkela Steel Plant
For those who can’t say ‘No to Plastic’, SAIl shows a way in which the use of plastic will get a resounding YES from the environment watchers. SAIl’s Rourkela Steel Plant has initiated a new project of utilising waste plastic in construction of road, doing so for the first time in the state of Odisha. As a pilot project, a stretch of one km of road between Rourkela Club to Shaktinagar Chowk in Sector-2, Rourkelahas been constructed mixing shredded waste plastic in road tar. The dreadful consequences of the plastic waste are well known. Most of the plastics are non-biodegradable and take hundreds of years to decompose, thereby posing a serious threat to the environment. An estimate says that out of the total plastic waste generated in India, about 60% gets recycled, while the rest 40% litters and chokes the environment. Burning of plastic in the open also causes serious health hazards for the people around as it emits carcinogenic gases. Hence safe disposal of waste plastic is an imperative environmental issue. It is worth mentioning here that, at present SAIl’s Rourkela Steel Plant is carrying out massive road repair jobs in the township using in-house road tar. The use of plastic waste in road construction not only reduces the damage to the ecosystem but also leads to its gainful utilisation.
NMDC bags Mining Today-2018 Award
NMDC bagged second best exhibition stall award at the International Conference on Mining: Vision-2040 - Technology, Equipment, Machinery, Policy and Overseas (TEMPO) Mining Today-2018 organized in HITEX, Hyderabad. Dr Narendra K Nanda, Director (Technical) received the award on behalf of NMDC from the Chief Guest G Jagadish Reddy, Minister for Energy in presence of Jogu Ramanna, Minister for Forest & Environment and Backward Classes Welfare, Government of Telangana in the valedictory session of the conference on February 16. Dr Nanda also chaired one technical session of utmost importance i.e. “Mining Technology” in which he deliberated on technological advancements being taken in Mining Sector and Challenges being faced by the Mining Industry. He emphasized on R&D needs to innovate new techniques, technologies and applications for safe and sustainable mining and also on importance mineral conservation by adopting scientific mining processes.
ICICI PRU FUNDS REMAIN ATTRACTIVE EVEN POST BUDGET FOR INVESTORS
Accrual Funds: The recent Budget has ushered in positive developments for accrual funds especially credit funds. Currently, credit funds are an attractive proposition owing to Government’s recent move to allow ‘A’ graded rating paper as eligible for investment. This move is likely to help enhance the depth and liquidity of the corporate bond market. So, with the increased supply, going forward, it is likely that yields will soften. considering that currently yields are at elevated levels, it would be a good opportunity to invest lump sum into credit fund at current levels. In this category, one of funds which have consistently performed well, when compared to traditional investment avenues is ICICI Prudential Regular Savings Fund. The investment strategy followed by the fund is to invest in corporate bonds of well-researched companies and holds them till maturity and gain from potential capital appreciation as it holds papers with moderate duration.
Portfolio Strategy/Positioning: The current positioning of the Fund has an attractive combination of low duration and High Yield-to-Maturity. At present, the portfolio has high Yield to Maturity of 9.81 per cent as on January 31, 2018 in comparison to an average 1-yearYTM of 9 per cent from January 31, 2017 to January 31, 2018.Considering the market conditions, the carry rate is higher at this point of time and hence, it may be a goodtime to invest now and capture the yields at prevailing levels of YTM. The other standout aspect of the fund is its well-diversified portfolio with very low issuer concentration .The scheme predominantly invests across various credit ratings ranging between AAA to A with an aim to maintain a reasonable portfolio yield. The portfolio is invested across 77 different securities with average exposure of around 1.23 per cent to each individual issuer, thereby decreasing issuer risk.
Independent Credit Evaluation: Apart from fund managers expertise, the scheme has an independent credit evaluation , approval and monitoring process. The list of companies are shortlisted on the basis of external credit rating agency reports and these short listed companies are analysed by our independent research team which helps in generating better returns and monitoring.
AAI: a change agent moulding public perception
Cut back to the first fortnight of October 2017, in a first of its kind initiative, under the leadership of Airport Director, Aryama Sanyal, Indore Airporti nstalled Sanitary Napkin Vending Machines in female restrooms of arrival hall and departure security hold area. With accompanying instruction in English and Hindi, a lady attendant is also positioned in the area to assist women passengers in operating the machine. “Since there is no medical shop near the airport and it is impossible to move in and out from the terminal building, we started this initiative. Each facility has the capacity to stock 25 pads and the money from these machines will be utilised to maintain the stock”, said Aryama Sanyal. Airports Authority of India (AAI) has been committed to the responsibility of enhancing its passengers’ travel experience and in providing facilities for passengers’ comfort and convenience. The installation of sanitary napkin vending machines at airports realising an imminent need of better women facilitation at airports is a testimonial to the efforts taken by AAI in this direction. The ready availability of sanitary napkins at affordable prices inside the airport terminal buildings will promote hygienic practices and will also help address the deep rooted stigma attached to menstruation. Following suit, other AAI airports like Kolkata, Jaipur, Bhubaneswar, Port Blair, Trivandrum, Mangalore, Tirupati,Vishakhapatnam, Vadodara, Aurangabad, Rajkot, Pune, Guwahati, Agartala, Imphal, Shimla,Varanasi andSurathave also installed sanitary napkin vending machines inside the terminal building. These machines are easy to operate and require only acoin of `1, 5 or 10 for a pack of three. This initiative is widely appreciated by the women passengers travelling through various AAI airports.