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Schemes for welfare of BPL women
Bani residents claim to be Paharis
Floating post office back on Dal Lake
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20,000 posts created in education sector: Peerzada
Adopt modern technology to boost saffron yield, farmers told
DIG Railways reviews security arrangements
Power Grid opens toilet complex in Samba
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Schemes for welfare of BPL women
Jammu, August 23 She added that these schemes - SABLA and Indira Gandhi Matritiv Sahyog Yojana - had already been launched in Jammu district and the government would launch them in other parts of the region too. Throwing light on the features of these programmes, she said, “Under SABLA, adolescent girls in the age group of 11 to 18 years will be registered with anganwari centres to get nutritious meals, health check-up, education etc while under the IGMSY, financial assistance will be provided to BPL pregnant women who will get themselves registered with the anganwari centres. She added that the anganwari workers and helpers would also get Rs 200 and Rs 100, respectively, for each registration. Itoo directed the anganwari workers to go door-to-door and create awareness among the people about the new schemes so that the maximum number of people could be benefited. The minister also asked the officials concerned to ensure timely and full disbursement of honorarium to the anganwari workers and helpers. Later, she distributed cheques worth Rs 16 lakh among 389 students under the Minority Pre-Metric Scholarship and Rs 3.20 lakh among 32 beneficiaries under the National Family Welfare Scheme. A number of sarpanches, panches, prominent citizens, anganwari workers and a large number of beneficiaries were present on the occasion. |
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Bani residents claim to be Paharis
Jammu, August 23 The residents of Bani tehsil of Kathua have constituted a Pahari Forum to substantiate their claim that like residents of other hilly areas, they too have a claim on the ST status. Earlier, only people of the twin border districts of Poonch and Rajouri and residents of Kupwara district of Kashmir were claiming themselves as Paharis and agitating for getting ST status. For the past more than a decade, Pahari speaking people of Poonch, Rajouri and Kupwara have been struggling to get ST status. Following their demand, the state government has recommended their case before the Union Government, but decision has not been taken so far. Interestingly, during the past more than a decade, the people of Poonch, Rajouri and Kupwara had been struggling for the ST status now residents of other areas especially of Kathua district too have joined them. “We too are Pahari. Like residents of Poonch, Rajouri and Kupwara, we have the right to get ST status”, claimed Abdul Aziz, a resident of Bani. Pointing towards the topography of their area, he said thee was no logic to exclude people of this belt from the list of Paharis. Another resident, Rajesh Raina, argues that residents of Bani and adjoining localities were Pahari in real sense. “Our lifestyle, culture, language and ethos are similar to the Pahari people of Himachal Pradesh, so our claim on ST status is more than ourcounterparts in other parts of the state”, Raina argued and informed. that residents of Bani and Basholi were seriously thinking to launch a struggle to ST status and other benefits being given to the Pahari speaking people of Poonch and Rajouri. “Benefits being given to the Pahari speaking people are confined only to some particular regions. There is a need to include residents of the hilly areas in the list of beneficiaries,” he argued. The state government has constituted the Pahari Development Board, but residents of Kathua have not been included. “I don’t know what criteria the government has adopted to identify Pahari people”, asked Shabir Ahmed, another resident of Bani, He demanded that representation should be given to all hilly areas in the board. While as Pahari speaking people in Jammu and Kashmir have been agitating to get ST status, Gujjars and Bakerwals, who already have the ST status, have been opposing this demand. They argue that Pahari is not a class so there was no reason to give the ST status. |
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Floating post office back on Dal Lake
Srinagar, August 23 Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy Farooq Abdullah, Union Minister of State for Communications and IT Sachin Pilot, Minister for Tourism Nawang Rigzin Jora, Minister of State for Tourism Nasir Aslam Wani, and Chief Post Master General J&K circle John Samuel were present on the occasion. Addressing a function at Nehru Park on the occasion, the Chief Minister highlighted the importance of the floating post office for the tourists and the residents. “Your initiative to revive the facility of post office at Dal Lake is praiseworthy,” he told the Post and Telegraph Department, adding that the facility would prove a boon to the tourism sector. He said this facility which existed in the Dal Lake two decades ago diminished with the diminishing of tourism due to unfavourable and disturbing circumstances and finally came to a standstill. Omar expressed the hope that the floating post office-cum-museum would grow with the growth and revival of tourism in the state. He asked the Union Minister for enhancing IT and telecommunication facilities in the far-off and hilly backward areas. “We are providing your department a list of the areas requiring digital satellite telephone facilities”, he said, underlining the need for such facilities in the state. The Chief Minister also appreciated the one-day postal delivery service programme launched for ensuring fast delivery of mail across the state. He said with the fast development of IT, the communications and postal services went on the back foot. He stressed on working out a viable strategy to revive the glory of the Post and Telegraph Department. Omar said the proposal of adding banking facilities in the post offices would prove highly beneficial for both the department and the people. He expressed the hope that the RBI would approve the proposal in this regard. Speaking on the occasion, Farooq Abdullah emphasised the need for upgrading and improving BSNL service in the state. He appreciated the Post and Telegraph Department for reviving the post office-cum-museum and wished for its success. Abdullah said this year’s peace dividends had accrued to the people at lower levels and gave considerable fillip to their economy. He ridiculed those who nurtured agitational politics and badly tell upon the bread earning capacity of the general public by disturbing peace. “They talk of agitations but have no regard for the people who depend on daily rated wage earnings and whose entire family survives with the survival of normalcy, tourism and other economic activities”, he added. Sachin Pilot said 1,683 post offices were working in the state providing facilities to the people in the rural, hilly, far-flung and remote areas. He said the facility of the floating post office in Dal Lake was a unique facility to provide services to the tourists and the Dal dwellers. Sachin said the floating post office would provide varied functions of a post office, post shop, post office museum and mobile collection and delivery of mail. He said his department had moved a proposal to add banking facilities in 1.50 lakh post offices in the country at a cost of about Rs 19,000 crores. “This would prove a turnaround in reviving the post offices and making them viable delivering centres”, he said adding that computerisation and internet connectivity of all post offices in the country was another remarkable initiative in the offing. |
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20,000 posts created in education sector: Peerzada
Srinagar, August 23 This was stated by Minister for Education, Peerzada Mohammad Sayeed at a meeting held here recently under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah to review the centrally sponsored schemes, including Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) and Mid-Day Meals. Peerzada identified some areas requiring focused attention for giving fillip to the pace of progress under these centrally sponsored schemes, adding that better educational environment and proper imparting of education could be achieved through these programmes. In a power-point presentation, commissioner secretary, School Education, Naseema Lankar, said besides opening 10,387 new primary schools under the SSA, as many as 5,879 EGS centres had been upgraded to the primary level. She said 70 Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidhyalayas (KGBV) had also been approved under the scheme and 563 model cluster schools had been established. She said 36,820 Rehbar-e-Taleem teaches had been created under the SSA, while 6,651 teachers had been promoted. Naseema said due to the success of the SSA, enrolment in schools had increased from 14.50 lakh in 2004 to about 20 lakh in 2010-11. Similarly, dropout rate at the primary level had been reduced from 7 per cent to 5 per cent during this period. She said 5,269 primary school buildings had been constructed and 2,717 were under various stages of construction. She added that 680 middle school buildings had also been built and 380 were under construction. As many as 5,467 additional classrooms had been newly constructed, while the construction of 3,485 additional classrooms was under progress. She said 89 block resource centres and 546 cluster resource centres had been completed under the SSA, while 67 such centres were under execution. Explaining the future road map of the programme, she said 397 new primary schools, upgradation of 330 primary schools to upper primary schools, engagement of 1,784 Rehbar-e-Taleem teachers and 1,007 seasonal centres had also been approved. She said construction of 447 primary schools, 2,112 additional classrooms, 7,938 separate sanitation units for girls in schools, free textbooks to 8,40,138 students had been sanctioned. In addition, financial support of Rs 5,000 per primary school and Rs 7,000 per upper primary school for 31,808 schools, maintenance grant at Rs 5000 to Rs 10,000 per school for 21,691 schools and teacher’s grant for 85,201 teachers had been approved. She said tendering process for third party evaluation of civil works was on progress, while school mapping, rationalisation of teachers, engagement of resource persons and completion of ongoing works were on fast track. |
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Adopt modern technology to boost saffron yield, farmers told
Farooq A. Lone, director, Agriculture, Kashmir, accompanied by the chief agriculture officer, Pulwama, and other officers of the department recently visited various saffron-growing areas of Gundbal, Wuyan, Indrosa and Frestabal, where replanting is in progress, to monitor the implementation at the ground level. It was found that saffron growers are quite enthusiastic and the digging of corms, grading and chemical treatment with recommended fungicides and replanting of the corms as per the latest technology was in full swing. The field functionaries of the department were found imparting guidance to the growers in their fields in all villages, an official spokesperson said. The director appreciated the zeal and commitment of the officials and impressed upon them to work with greater dedication so that the objectives of the mission were achieved in full. While interacting with farmers at various places, the director impressed upon them to adopt modern and scientific technology to boost production and productivity of saffron that would lead to their economic upliftment. The farmers were advised to strictly adhere to the technical advice disseminated by the field functionaries of the Agriculture Department. Emphasis was laid on maintaining spacing and proper corm size free from diseases so that optimum yields could be realised. The chief agriculture officer, Pulwama, informed the director that out of the targeted area of 3,200 hectares under the mission, about 500 hectares would be brought under rejuvenation and replanting of corms during the current year of which about 20 hectares had already been covered during the past few days. In order to accomplish the targets, nearly 200 officials had been deployed to keep vigil for successful implementation of the programme. The department is providing about 700 quintals of urea, 660 quintals of DAP, 415 quintals of MOP and 2,500 quintals of vermicompost, 25 quintals of mencozeb and 8 quintals of carbendizim during the season to the farming community under the mission among other incentives in the Pampore area of Pulwama district. The farmers of the area have expressed satisfaction about the implementation of the mission by the Agriculture Department. |
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DIG Railways reviews security arrangements
Srinagar, August 23 This information was given to deputy inspector-general (DIG) of the Railway police, security, Jammu and Kashmir, AK Atri, on Wednesday during his visit to the Railway police posts of Kakapora, Panzgam, Bijbehara, Sadora, police station Anantnag and Qazigund, under the jurisdiction of the Railway sub-division, Anantnag. The DIG was accompanied by Mushtaq Ahmad, SDPO, Railway, Anantnag. The DIG reviewed security arrangements on the railway track in these locations. The SDPO, GRP, Anantnag, submitted firsthand information to the DIG Railway during the interaction at these
stations. The DIG Railways stressed upon all officers and officials to ensure the security of passengers, trains, stations and tracks. At Qazigund, the DIG also held a darbar of GRP personnel in which 60 officers participated. The participants were asked to remain extra vigilant in performing their duties. They were told that there should be no compromise on the security and every effort should be made to thwart any attempt of anti-national elements, an official spokesperson said. |
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Power Grid opens toilet complex in Samba
Jammu, August 23 The complex was constituted under the policy of the corporation to contribute for the social sector. MLA Samba Yashpal
Kundal, Deputy Commissioner, Samba, Mubarak Singh, deputy general manager, Power Grid, Samba, SC
Bhardawaj, and other senior citizens were present on the occasion. On the request of the Samba district administration, Power Grid has taken up the construction of two toilet complexes. |
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Srinagar, August 23