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Cong walkout over Shiksha Mitras issue
Femina Miss India finalist Kriti Kapoor seeks votes
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As expected, Nishank presents poll Budget
Highlights Stamp duty As part of tax reforms and rationalisation of tax rates in the budget, stamp duty for purchase and sale of immovable
property has been reduced to 5 per cent from the existing 6 per cent. Exemption of 25 per cent stamp duty will be given to handicapped persons for the purchase of immovable property up to the cost of Rs 5 lakh. To minimise evasion of stamp duty and to give relief to the common man, e-stamping facility will be introduced in four districts of Haridwar, Dehradun, Udham Singh Nagar
and Nainital. Medical
facilities The Budget also calls for the construction of rain baseras (night shelters) near selected specialised hospitals in the state for the attendants of the patients. New nursing colleges at Almora, Pauri, Tehri, and Pitthoragarh are being opened and a new government medical college at Dehradun will also come up. Chief Minister Nishank said that the government was giving top priority to the construction of medical colleges at Almora and Rudrapur. He also announced the construction of a mother-child welfare hospital at Dehradun at Rs 30 crore. Lauding the 108 emergency service, Dr Nishank also announced a new toll free 104 service for free-of-cost medical consultation over the phone. A Unani medical college at Bhagwanpur, Haridwar and homoeopathic college at Srinagar has also been announced.
Dehradun, March 22 In the Budget, the total estimated receipts are pegged at Rs 18,340.95 crore for 2011-2012 thereby registering an increase of Rs 3,519.24 crore in comparison to the last financial year’s budget estimates. Presenting a revenue surplus Budget amid din caused by Opposition Congress MLAs, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, who also holds the finance portfolio, reiterated his government’s commitment to ensure speedy development of the state. The total expenditure in the Budget for 2011-12 is estimated to be Rs 19,366.91 crore, which is Rs 3,914.96 crore more than the Budget estimates of 2010-2011, which was Rs 15,451.95 crore. Similarly, under plan expenditure, Rs 5,117.38 was estimated in 2010-11 which has now been increased by 28.27 per cent to Rs 6,564.29 crore for 2011-12. A provision of Rs 12,802 crore as against last year’s Rs 10,334.57 crore has been made in the non-plan expenditure head in the
present Budget - an increase of 23.88 per cent from the last Budget. A revenue surplus to the tune of Rs 309.90 crore has been estimated against last Budget’s revenue surplus of Rs 162.10 crore. The state’s tax revenue has been increased to Rs 7,715.05 crore from last year’s figure of Rs 6,368.90 crore - an increase of 21.14 per cent. For the all-important infrastructure development, the Budget has made a provision of Rs 1,374.47 crore for PWD for 2011-12. As much as Rs 521.97 crore to ensure clean drinking water to the citizens, Rs 90.06 crore for industrial development and Rs 835.88 crore has been provided for irrigation facilities. Under social sectors, Rs 7,056.77 crore expenditure has been estimated which is 26.26 per cent more than the previous year’s estimate. Under the Scheduled Caste sub-plan, Rs 873.17 crore has been provided. Similarly, under the tribal sub-plan, Rs 227.71 crore has been provided. As part of its commitment to gender budgeting, the Budget has made a provision of Rs 1,833 crore as gender Budget as against Rs 1,417 crore last year. Women state government employees will now get a two-year leave to look after their children during their entire service period. The Chief Minister also announced the setting up of the first girls engineering college in Uttarakhand. He also said the students who secured more than 80 per cent marks in the intermediate examination would be presented with a laptop each. Setting up of a Himalayan museum to showcase the rich Himalayan cultural heritage, an international Ayush research institute and the office of the Director-General for Ayush are have also been proposed. Significantly, Opposition MLAs went to the well of the House as the Uttarakhand Chief Minister started his Budget speech. The din continued throughout the speech as Opposition members rented the air with slogans. Some Congress MLAs also threw papers in the air as a mark of protest.
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The steps taken in the realm of education are astounding, like giving laptops to students who get 80 per cent or above marks in intermediate examination, coaching facilities for students appearing for entrance examination for engineering and medicine. I hope these should not be mere announcements. What I sorely missed out was lack of any policy for the farmers of the hills.
As per the Budget, a slew of education and health institutes will be opened in the state, but that will turn out to be hollow if these institutes will demand capitation fee or security amount ranging 12-15 lakhs. People from poor or low middle class cannot afford the high fees. The state government must ensure that the fee structure should be kept reasonable and some seats be allocated for the poor strata free of any fees, in these institutes.
I am quite disappointed with the Budget, as it did not bring any good news for wholesalers. It also did not mention anything about establishing wholesale markets in the hills that was a dire need for the region, as it faces a huge crisis in disposing of and selling the collected harvest due to topical difficulties.
The Budget is nothing but a set of trappings to lure public for the coming Assembly elections. How the state government, which had always been crying hoarse on the matter of the depleting funds and approaching the Centre for release of financial help, will manage whopping expenditure on establishment of various hospitals or institutes is an enigma. This makes the Budget look like a mere election gimmick.
I welcome the relief given through VAT exemption in the Budget. Increment of 46 per cent for developmental projects is equally heartening. The other announcements such as exemption of 25 per cent stamp duty to handicapped persons for the purchase of immoveable property up to Rs 5 lakh cost is another laudatory step.
The gender Budget, meant to empower women, was increased Rs 433.80 crore, which is praiseworthy. The setting up of the first State Women Engineering College will prove beneficial for women. Many steps have been taken to reform health and education sector, but the farmers have been neglected. I wish the state government would have taken care of the farmers of the state in the Budget and gives them some good subsidy packages.
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Cong walkout over Shiksha Mitras issue
Dehradun, March 22 Raising the issue after the recess, Opposition leader Harak Singh Rawat accused the state government of betraying the unemployed of the state. He said by appointing them as Shiksha
Mitras, the state government had left a large population of these unemployed youth in the lurch. He said it would have been better had these youth not got employed as Shiksha Mitras as they would have then searched for alternative jobs.
Rawat also criticised the arrest of agitating Shiksha Mitras and their subsequent release on the outskirts of the city. Responding to concerns of the Opposition, Uttarakhand Education Minister Govind Singh Bisht informed the House that the Shiksha Mitras had withdrawn their agitation after an appeal of the state government. He said all the Shiksha Mitras would be regularised in a phased manner. It is noteworthy that the Shiksha Mitras were appointed by the BJP Government on a contractual basis to make up for the shortage of teachers in the state. These teachers have long been demanding their
regularisation.
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Femina Miss India finalist Kriti Kapoor seeks votes
Dehradun, March 22 Mother Bhakti Kapoor, while advocating the cause of reining in female foeticide and encouraging gender equality, said her daughter had all the reasons to win the contest for her fearlessness, quick wit and deadly combination of beauty with brains. “My daughter has risen to this level on her own without any support. We too as parents never imposed any restrictions on her and let her do her own thing which is why she has blossomed into a multi-talented person,” she said. Kriti has won many laurels during her school and higher education days in singing, dancing and modelling competitions. She also won Miss Pune contest. “These days she is honing her skills by taking dance classes in Shaimak Davar's institute, acting classes in Anupam Kher's institute and working on her other faculties”. Father Vineet Kapoor elucidated that Kriti was keen to join fashion designing as an alternate career.
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Sangat gets busy in sewing covers for Jhanda Sahib
Dehradun, March 22 The sangat has begun sewing white cotton, satin and darshani cloth, which is offered at the Darbar Sahib. The cloth is used to cover the mast on which the flag is hoisted. Unlike last year, the mast will not be removed. More than 1,000 covers made of thin muslin
cloth and measuring 26 metre in length and 1.5 metre in width will adorn the Jhanda Sahib. These are laboriously stitched and offered for wish-fulfilment and thanksgiving. “I have come with my family members from Ropar to pay obeisance at the Darbar Sahib. We will stay at a nearby dharamshala and offer our services in the kitchen,” said Satwant Singh. In keeping with the tradition, soon after the devotees make the offering, the covers will be removed and only 40 will remain tied to the Jhanda Sahib. Altogether 20 persons will be tying the satin scarf (the second cover). They hail from different parts of the country. “I have deposited the token amount for the cover and am very happy that my turn has come after six long years of wait,” said Dharamveer, a resident of Ludhiana. This year, the honour for tying the sacred scarf, called the Darshani cover, has been reserved for Jasbir Singh Saini, a resident of New Delhi. As is the practice, the advance bookings for Darshani covers have already been made till 2082. “The muslin covers are brought by devotees and they stitch these here, while the satin and Darshani covers are arranged by the shrine authorities. A token amount of Rs 5,000-8,000 and Rs 10,000 for the Darshani covers is paid by the devotees,” said BP Saklani, Manager, Shri Guru Ram Rai Darbar Sahib.
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Experts predict bumper litchi crop Dehradun, March 22 However, this does not seem to be the case with the mango, as the trees of this fruit seem to be affected by powdery mildew and grasshopper. “The prevailing weather will boost flowering of litchi trees. As the flowering becomes more profound in the coming days, the farmers will have to take an additional care, especially in the wake of a hailstorm. But, we have advised farmers to spray moncrotophos to prevent the tree from the grasshopper attack. The farmers should also keep the orchard clean by ploughing it regularly,” said Dr SK Singh, District Horticulture Officer. He said the powdery mildew was one of the most serious crop diseases affecting almost all the mango varieties. The disease causes approximately 20 per cent crop loss. Sometimes as high as 70-80 per cent crop loss has been recorded on an individual plant basis. The symptom of the disease is the formation of white superficial powdery fungal growth on leaves, stalks of panicles, flowers and fruit. The affected flowers and fruit drop prematurely. Rain or mist accompanied by cooler nights during flowering aid the spread of the disease. “We advise farmers to spray rogar and other fungicides at a 15-day interval for an effective control of the disease,” said Dr Singh.
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ITM cruise to 7-wicket victory
Dehradun, March 22 All ITM bowlers did a commendable job. Harminder, Amit Semwal, Nadeem, Parmod and Dilsher all got two wickets each. ITM didn’t face much hostility from ONGC bowlers and ITM achieved the target by scoring 129 runs in 16.1 overs easily. Abid (54*) and Shivam (31*) remained unbeaten. Shanawaz and Manmohan got two and one wicket, respectively, for ONGC. Tomorrow, Agriculture will face
SDBM.
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Security A, Centre Store in final
Dehradun, March 22 In the semifinals, Security A beat Security B 25-19, 15-25, 15-10 and Centre Store defeated CSD 25-15, 25-7 to reserve their final berths. Earlier in the quarterfinals, CSD surpassed Frontier Basin 25-22, 18-25, 15-11 and Security B got past Headquarter Black 25-22, 15-25, 15-9. Security A beat ONGC Green 25-14, 25-15 and Centre Store beat ONGC Union 25-25, 25-13.
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Deepak Rawat, an advocate
Sanjay Bhatt, a businessman
Hari Krishan Aadhti, a wholesaler
Poonam Nethani, a working woman
Bharti Panday, a social activist
Savita Kapoor, wife of Speaker Harbans Kapoor
