Bill will be a game changer in the Indian maritime sector,specially for bringing more investments: Shri Mansukh Mandaviya
Posted On: 11 DEC 2020 2:26PM by PIB Delhi
Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways has circulated draft of Indian Ports Bill 2020 for public consultation which will repeal and replace the Indian Ports Act, 1908 (Act No. 15 of 1908)
The draft Indian Ports Bill, 2020, seeksto,inter alia, enable the structured growth and sustainable development of ports to attract investments in the Port sector for optimum utilisation of the Indian Coastline byeffective administration and management of ports. The proposed Bill will provide measures to facilitate conservation of ports, taking into account the prevalent situation with respect to the high number of non-operational ports. It shall further ensure greater investment in the Indian maritime and ports sector through the creation of improved, comprehensive regulatory frameworks for the creation of new ports and management of existing ports.
The Bill also seeks to, inter alia, create an enabling environment for the growth and sustained development of the ports sector in India through the following broad methods:
Constitution of Maritime Port Regulatory Authority
Formulation of the National Port policy and National Port plan in consultation with Coastal State Governments, State Maritime Boards and other stakeholders.
Formulation of specialised Adjudicatory Tribunals namely Maritime Ports Tribunal and Maritime Ports Appellate Tribunal to curb any anti-competitive practises in the port sector and act as a speedy and affordable grievance redressal mechanism.
The up-to-date provisions of the proposed Bill would ensure safety, security, pollution control, performance standards and sustainability of Ports. The Bill ensures that all up-to-date conventions /protocols to which India is a party, are also suitably incorporated. This will promote marine safety and security in the true sense. The Bill will fill up the gapsfor achieving scientific development of Ports and Port Network.
The Bill seeks to provide increased opportunities for public and private investments in the Indian maritime and ports sector by way of removing barriers to entry, simplifying processes and establishment of agencies and bodies to plan and enable growth of the ports sector. Enhancing “Ease of Doing Business’,it will provide greater impetus to a self-reliant domestic investment climate in the maritime sector, towards Atamanirbhar Bharat initiatives of the Government.
Minister of State (I/C)Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, Shri Mansukh Mandaviya,said,“We are working on creation of a National Port Grid.This Bill will be a game changer in the Indian maritime sector specially for bringing more investments. TheBill will bolster structured growth and sustained development of Ports and ensure achieving this objective on fast track basis. Consequently, it will result into revolutionary maritime reforms transmuting the Indian maritime set-up entirely in the times to come.”
Indian Railways has launched another major IT initiative towards according priority for the well-being of its work force. TheHospital Management Information System (HMIS) has been launched by Dr. B. P Nanda, Director General, Railway Health services, Railway Board through virtual meanstoday i.e. on 11th December, 2020 in the presence of Sri Gajanan Mallya, General Manager, South Central Railway. Sri Puneet Chawla, Chairman and Managing Director, Rail Tel Corporation of India, Dr. Prasanna Kumar, PCMD, SCR participated in the programme.
Speaking on the occasion, Dr. B.P.Nanda stated that the dream of providing best health care facilities to the work force with the help of information technology has come true. The HMIS will bring a paradigm shift in the health care systems maintained by Indian Railways. The new system will improve the quality of health services and aid in utilization of resources in a transparent manner. Patients waiting time at the hospitals will be minimized and medical records will be available to the team of doctors at all the times. Shri Nanda appreciated the efforts of South Central Railway for its pioneering contribution in the launch of Unique Medical Identification (UMID) over Indian Railways and the launch of new IT initiative HMIS.
Shri Gajanan Mallya, General Manager, SCR stated that it is a proud moment for SCR to be part of HMIS project, which is one more IT application being launched on Indian Railways for the benefit of the huge workforce and their beneficiaries. SCR pioneered several IT initiatives like e-Office, e-Drawaing Approval System, UMID, etcwhich have been implemented across the Railways. He opined that implementation of HMIS will develop good amount of data (like Electronic Medical Records) and will help the medical fraternity not only in curative procedures but also preventive medical systems. It is expected to economize the drug management and better utilization of resource management.
Shri Puneet Chawla, Chairman and Managing Director, RailTel Corporation stated that implementation of HMIS will benefit all the stake holders with the integration of head quarter hospitals and ancillary centres. The project is likely to have more than 20 modules and will immensely benefit the medical fraternity and hospital beneficiaries.
About HMIS IN Railways:
The HMIS in Railways has been developed by Indian Railways in coordination with RailTel Corporation Limited. The objective of the HMIS is to provide a single window of clearance of hospital administration activity such as clinical, diagnostics, pharmacy, examinations, industrial health etc.The primary objectives of envisaged solution are:
Effectively manage all the health facilities & its resources
Monitor performance of hospitals across the administrative channel
Impart quality health care services to its beneficiaries
Improve the patient turn-around time
Generate and maintain EMR (electronic medical records) of all patients
Presently, 3 Modules of HMIS – Registration, OPD Doctor Desk & Pharmacy – arebeing taken up implemented. These three modules are going to be implemented on trial basis at Central Hospital, Lallaguda and will progressively be implemented across all Health Units over SCR.
Registration Module covers the integration of UMID with automatic validation of beneficiary in a seamless manner without any difficulty to the patient. OPDDesk Module covers all the process of Patient Examination and Diagnosis details which will help in generating the Electronic Medical Records. The Pharmacy Module seamlessly connects to easily dispense the medicines prescribed by the doctor and optimise inventory management.