Union Minister of State (IC) for Power, Coal, New & Renewable Energy and Mines, Shri Piyush Goyal while addressing the media here today, said that the allocations have been increased for social sectors across the board including affordable housing, infrastructure, rural development.

The Union HRD Minister Shri Prakash Javadekar signed MoU for Technical Education Quality Improvement Programme (Phase- III) with 18 States and 1 UT in New Delhi today. The Union HRD Minister expressed his happiness on the occasion as the programme is implemented in assistance with World Bank in a sustainable way to improve over all standard and quality of technical institutes.

Andy
McDonald MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Transport, welcoming the
resolution of the train drivers’ dispute with Southern Rail, said:

“This
is great news. At long last an agreement has been reached. While the full
details are yet to emerge, it is essential that any safety concerns have been
comprehensively addressed and resolved.  

“Sadly,
trust between Southern management and the workforce has reached an all-time
low, but hopefully this agreement marks the beginning of a more inclusive way
of conducting industrial relations in the future.

“Southern’s
long suffering passengers will be delighted at this news, but equally they need
to see the appalling standards of service, which they have endured for far too
long, greatly improve, and do so quickly.”

China is set for the first working day of the Year of the Rooster as the week-long Spring Festival holiday ends Thursday.

It will be an energetic start for people and their families to achieve their dreams, and the nation will take a step closer towards the dream of creating “quanmian xiaokang,” a moderately prosperous society in an all-round way by 2020.

However, this year’s steps are set to be challenging, particularly for the Communist Party of China, which was founded in the Year of the Rooster, 1921 to be precise.

The Party will convene its 19th national congress this year, and it needs to accomplish several missions so that the Year of the Rooster is one of good luck.

After lifting more than 700 million people out of poverty in the past 38 years, the country still has about 45 million people living in poor conditions.

Poverty relief is high on the agenda for governments at all levels. Not a single family living in poverty will be left behind, but the closer the country gets to fully eliminating poverty, the more difficult the final steps become.

China’s 13th Five-Year Plan outlines priorities for national development from 2016-2020 and proposes support for poor villages to develop signature products and services. Guidelines were also issued calling for enhanced collaboration between developed eastern regions and under-developed western regions to meet poverty-reduction targets.

These efforts have been translated into encouraging signs. At least a further 10 million people will become members of the well-off society this year.

This year is also a crucial year for pushing forward reform across the board.

Hundreds of measures were designed and released during the past four years to address issues such as urbanization, innovation and the market’s role in resource allocation. Now the roadmap has taken shape and the focus for the coming years will be on delivery.

Supply-side structural reform will continue to be an economic goal for 2017, including cutting excess capacity, implementing agricultural reforms, boosting the real economy and nurturing new growth.

The restructuring of China’s economy and the upgrading of industry is expected to generate huge new demand.

Time is of the essence for reforms in state-owned enterprises as well as in finance and social security. Such sectors concern the development of the country, whose GDP growth stood at 6.7 percent in 2016, a three-decade low, but outpacing most other major economies.

In major political reform, China will establish a national supervisory commission and create a law on national supervision.

Amid efforts to build a clean CPC, the fight against corruption has gained “crushing momentum,” netting both “tigers” and “flies,” with no letup expected in the future.

On the global stage, China will stick to its commitment to encourage globalization and cooperation, despite difficulties.

In troubled times with a sluggish world economy and a changing geopolitical order, the wise choice is to move forward together.

China is preparing for a host of events of global significance this year, including a Belt and Road forum for international cooperation in Beijing in May, and the ninth BRICS leaders’ summit, in southeast China’s coastal city of Xiamen in September.

The attitude of openness, inclusivity and sharing is in sharp contrast to the retreat into protectionism and isolation from certain western countries.

This year will be a test of the wisdom needed to maintain sustained, stable and better growth in China-U.S. relations. Although the Trump administration has yet to formulate its China policy, the general trend of cooperation is irreversible and the only right choice for both countries.

Any conflict or trade war could deal a blow to the development of the world’s two largest economies. The bottom-line is respecting each other’s core interests.

Believing in a shared destiny for mankind, China will continue to expand its circle of friends.

As Michael Moller, head of the United Nations Office at Geneva, put it: “If things go well for China and the Chinese people, the chances are it’s going to go well for a lot of other people around the planet.”

Coincidentally, the first working day of the Chinese new year is “lichun,” or the beginning of spring, the first of the 24 solar terms in the Chinese ancient calendar.

As we wave goodbye to winter, China stands with the world in wishing for a great spring.

Statistics released today by the
Department for Transport show there has been an increase in the number of road
users either killed or seriously injured. The number of killed or seriously
injured casualties (KSIs) increased by 6 per cent last year – to 25,160. By
DfT’s own admission, this change is statistically significant.

Between July and September
2016, the change was even more pronounced – KSI casualties increased by 8 per
cent when compared to the same period in 2015.

All road user groups saw an increase
in the number of people killed or seriously injured: car occupants,
pedestrians, motorcyclists and pedal cyclists. There were also 2,070 children
killed or seriously injured in the year ending September 2016 – an increase of
8 per cent.

Daniel
Zeichner MP, Labour’s Shadow Transport Minister, responding to
statistics released today by the Department of Transport, said:

“These statistics are worrying. We
want everyone to feel safe on the roads, whether they are walking, in a car, on
a bike, on a bus, or using a motorcycle. It’s hugely concerning to see the
increase in the number of children killed or injured in road collisions.

“Funding cuts to the police by
this Tory Government have seen resources being diverted from road policing
which inhibits the effective enforcement of penalties for dangerous drivers. If we are to make our roads safer, it’s crucial that road
safety targets are reinstated and that police forces have the resources they
need.”