The Minister of Communications and IT, Shri Kapil Sibal says India with its vibrant IT industry and adoption of IT in Government, is uniquely positioned to immensely benefit from cloud computing. Shri Sibal was delivering the keynote address at the day-long Open House on “India as a Hub for Cloud Services” held in New Delhi today, organised by the Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DietY).

The government has come out with draft rules to amend the Registration and Licensing of Industrial Undertakings Rules, 1952. The rules were published in the Gazette of India on August 8, 2012. The gazette publication is for information of all persons likely to be affected thereby, and notice is hereby given that the said draft will be taken into consideration on or after the expiry of a period of thirty days from the date on which copies of the Gazette of India in which this notification is published, are made available to the public;

The union Minister of Commerce, Industry & Textiles Shri Anand Sharma today reviewed the export performance with the Export Promotion Councils and leading Chambers of Commerce and Industry in the backdrop of a visible slow down in exports. The Minister noted that the performance in July 2012 has been worrisome as exports have dipped by 14.8% as compared to last year. The first four months of the current financial year have seen exports reaching US$ 97.6 billion as compared to US$ 102.8 billion during the same period last year.

The Defence Minister Mr AK Antony, today dedicated the Indian Navy’s Financial Information System (FIS) to the Nation.

Lauding the Navy’s initiative as a major initiative in the field of financial management Mr Antony said “I hope other two services and all the other departments of the Government of India will follow this timely and useful initiative of the Indian navy. I would like to congratulate the navy for taking this timely initiative”.

The Union Minister of Commerce, Industry and Textiles, Shri Anand Sharma will hold stakeholder consultations next week in the light of recent IIP figures and the evolving industrial situation. The Minister is regularly reviewing the situation with the senior officials and has expressed concern over the drop in industrial performance in recent months.

The 36th International Geological Congress will come to India in 2020 after a period of 56 years. The last International Geological Congress was held in India in 1964 in Delhi. Dr. Vishwapati Trivedi, Secretary, Ministry of Mines today presented the bid before the International Union of Geological Science (IUGS) Council consisting of 121 member countries and 128 votes were cast in favour of India against 51 votes to Canada, which had offered Vancouver as the venue of IGC 2020.