TWO FLAGS.TWO GREATS.(PIB.NIC.IN)

Wednesday, March 04, 2009
	to download high quality photograph for print The Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh meeting the President of Republic of Benin, Dr. Boni Yayi, in New Delhi on March 04, 2009. Photo no.CNR - 25506

HEALTHY PM. ( ACHA BACKGROUND) pib.nic.in

Wednesday, March 04, 2009
	to download high quality photograph for print The Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh with the President of Republic of Benin, Dr. Boni Yayi at the signing ceremony, in New Delhi on March 04, 2009. Photo no.CNR - 25511

ELECTION GALORE (PIB.NIC.IN)

inter friendly page With Banner | Without Banner	Tuesday, March 03, 2009
Election Commission
Highlights of General Elections - 2009 15:34 IST GENERALELECTIONS – 2009 Backgrounder – 2 Photo-Elector Rolls: First General Elections with Photo Rolls. It is for the first time that Photo-Elector rolls are being used for Parliamentary elections. The coverage of Elector Photo Identity Cards (EPIC) has increased to 82% of total electorate thereby making identification of electors easy. Total Electors: Increase in Electorate from 671 million in 2004 Lok Sabha Election to 714 million this year. An increase of 43 million. Delimitations of Parliamentary Constituencies: First General Elections after new Delimitation. After delimitation, number of Parliamentary Constituencies reserved for SC has increased from 79 to 84 (an increase of 5 constituencies) and the number of constituencies reserved for ST has increased from 41 to 47 (an increase of 6 constituencies). In all, the General Elections to the Lok Sabha will be held in 543 Parliamentary Constituencies out of which 499 will be newly delimited constituencies. States and UTs where new delimitation has not been implemented are Jharkhand, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Nagaland, A&NI, Chandigarh, Daman & Diu, Dadra & Nagar Haveli, and Lakshadweep. Parliamentary Constituency with Highest & Lowest Electors: Parliamentary Constituency with highest number of Electors is 33-Unnao in Uttar Pradesh. The number of electors in this Constituency is 18,97,474. Parliamentary Constituency with lowest number of electors is 1 – Lakshadweep. The number of electors in this constituency is 44,424. Polling Stations: Increase in Polling Stations from 6,87,402 in 2004 Lok Sabha elections to 8,28,804 this year - an increase of 1,41,204 Polling Stations. The increase was due to increase in voter population and due to rationalization of polling stations in the interest of the voter convenience. Highest number of Polling Stations in Uttar Pradesh (1,28,112). Lowest number of Polling Stations in Sikkim (581). Polling Stations for Villages / Hamlets: 12,901 new Polling Stations have been set up for villages/hamlets having less than 300 voters following the vulnerability mapping exercise under taken by the Commission to identify the hamlets and voter segments vulnerable to threat and intimidation. (For more information about General Elections 2009, please visit PIB’s website www.pib.nic.in/elections2009) Main Election Cell-030309/2-GE-Backgrounder

WELL DONE IRCTC.(PIB.NIC.IN)

	Tuesday, March 03, 2009
Ministry of Railways
Mahaparinirvan Express wins National Tourism Award 14:53 IST Launched in 2007, Mahaparinirvan Express, a special air conditioned tourist train to the Buddhist Circuit has won National Tourism Award under ‘Most Innovative Tourism Product’ for the year 2007-2008. Mr. Rakesh Tandon, Managing Director, IRCTC received the award from Mr. P. Chidambaram, Hon’ble Union Home Minister at a function held in Hotel Ashok on 24th Feb., 2009 in New Delhi. The objective is to provide a safe, comfortable & reliable travel package for National & International travelers on the Buddhist Circuit. Tourists, Travel Agents & Media from India, Thailand, Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, China, Japan, USA, Canada, Germany, Netherland, Australia, Sri Lanka etc. have enjoyed the unmatched hospitality and seamless services rendered by the self motivated team during this 8 days trip. Starting from Delhi (Delhi Safdarjung Station), the 8 day tour covers Bodhgaya –Rajgir – Nalanda – Varanasi – Sarnath – Gorakhpur – Kushinagar – Lumbini -Sravasti and Agra. This tour provides an all inclusive package including Rail Travel, Road Travel, Hotel Accommodation, Sightseeing, All Meals, Insurance, Security, Medical Back Up etc. Coaches of the special train have been provided with modern shower cubicles and environment friendly toilets. Three classes of travel are available viz., I AC, 2 tier AC & 3 tier AC. Well trained staff on-board the train provides high quality personalized services. The train was flagged off on 6th October, 2007 and has been very well received in the international as well as domestic markets. Indian Railways is one of the world’s largest rail networks with a route length of almost 64,000 Km. It runs over 14,000 trains daily (including 8,000 passenger trains) and transports over 6 billion passengers and almost 750 million tones of freight annually. The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Limited (IRCTC), a public sector enterprise under the Ministry of Railways was established on 1st August, 2001 with the objective of professionalizing catering services and promoting domestic and international tourism. IRCTC has grown manifold in the past six years and its turnover has gone up from 09.85 Crores in 2001-02 to 433 Crores in 2006-07. There are six Zonal Offices and ten Regional Offices all over the Country for monitoring operations at ground level. IRCTC’s vision is “ To become a leading provider of high quality travel, tourism and hospitality related services in the country” IRCTC’s key products & services includes: • Rail Tourism Services • E-Tickets & I-Tickets • Call Centre Services • Budget Hotels • Packaged Drinking Water • Food Plazas • Catering Services Customer Focus: IRCTC is designed as a customer-centric enterprise and believes in fostering excellence among its employees. With its highly motivated team of professionals, the company is building a strong customer database and maintaining continuous contact with customers to raise the level of quality. In the true sense of India’s age old tradition, IRCTC is working ceaselessly to achieve the philosophy of “Atithi Devo Bhava”. AKS/HK/LK/TR

RAJYA SABHA

Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs
Press Communique 12:35 IST The Rajya Sabha which adjourned sine die on the 26th February, 2009 has been prorogued by the President on the 2nd March, 2009. Parliament of India, Rajya Sabha Secretariat New Delhi, Phalguna 12, 1930; March 03, 2009

spot ur Karnataka Rep ( PIB.NIC.IN)

Tuesday, March 03, 2009
	to download high quality photograph for print The delegates attending the seminar being organized to discuss the findings of the Report in “Elected Women Representatives of Panchayats”, calling on the President, Smt. Pratibha Devisingh Patil, at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi on March 03, 2009. The Union Minister for Panchayati Raj and Development of North Eastern Region, Shri Mani Shankar Aiyar is also seen. Photo no.CNR - 25495

Wahh; Great PIB (thanks pib.nic.in)

PIB brings out Reference Handbook on General Elections Simultaneously Launches Special Website
	19:4 IST

The Press Information Bureau today released ‘General Elections 2009 - Reference Handbook, a compendium on past elections and the latest provisions relating to the general elections, coinciding with the announcement of the general elections by the Election Commission. The Bureau also simultaneously launched a website devoted to General Elections, 2009 - pib.nic.in/elections2009. By providing all relevant information at one place, the Handbook seeks to help journalists and analysts in writing news-stories/articles in the run up to the general elections 2009. The Handbook includes State-wise and party-wise information about the 1999 and 2004 general elections. For example, it contains information about the performance of National Parties in 1999 and 2004, their performance in SC and ST constituencies in 2004 elections, and close contests in 2004. It goes as far back as the first general election in providing various trends seen in the past general elections. An entire section has been devoted to the latest guidelines, instructions and legal provisions relating to the general elections. It gives important provisions of Representation of the People Act 1951, the Model Code of Conduct for Political Parties and Candidates, Guidelines for Conduct of Exit/Opinion Polls during the Elections, Press Council’s Guidelines on Election Reporting and other information useful for journalists covering this mammoth exercise. The Handbook also contains a section giving frequently asked questions (FAQs) on the electronic voting machines and the election process. Latest data of interest available on the date of announcement of general elections, such as the new constituency-map and data about the 14th Lok Sabha members, has been included in the handbook. The Reference Handbook has drawn upon its own archives and data from the Election Commission and the Lok Sabha secretariat. This volume of the Handbook will be followed by 2nd and 3rd volumes, which will be compiled subsequently only as web-editions and will contain information about the candidates in the fray, and the results with analysis. The Handbook is available at the election website pib.nic.in/elections2009. This website has been created by the Bureau to provide an exhaustive range of information on the elections, primarily to cater to the needs of the media. Presently this website contains handouts and photos issued till date, graphics and relevant links, besides the Reference Handbook. It will keep adding latest announcements and releases, photos and graphics as the election process progresses. Online accreditation of media persons for covering elections will also be facilitated through this website. Main Election Cell- 02032009

AT LAST ; ALL THE THREE.(THANKS PIB.NIC.IN)

The Chief Election Commissioner, Shri N. Gopalaswami announcing the schedule for the Lok Sabha polls, at a Press Conference, in New Delhi on March 02, 2009.
The Election Commissioners, Shri Navin B. Chawla and Dr. S.Y Qureshi are also seen.

Photo no.CNR - 25486

EVENT THAT U MAY USE

Workshop on Web Usability

Start date: 14 March, 2009

End date: 14 March, 2009

Organizer: TiE New Delhi

Summary
The TiE Special Interest Group on Internet in collaboration with TVD is organising a one day workshop on Web Usability where online publishers will get to learn how to enhance their web presence and bring about an 'amazing' customer experience leading to higher conversions and revenues.

Venue: New Delhi, India Habitat Centre, Lodhi Road

Contact: Nitin Agarwal