Region in Parliament: Notify PU Senate poll: Tewari to Centre

The Centre should notify the Senate elections as soon possible said Congress Member of Parliament Manish Tewari during the Zero Hour in Lok Sabha today. Tewari said the government needed to notify the elections at the earliest to dispel rumours that the Centre wanted to abolish the Senate. The university is run by a Senate according to the Panjab University Act 1947. The term of the previous body ended on October 31, 2024. As per the Act, it should have been notified at least 240 days before the elections which was February 2024. In wake of no notification for the poll, rumours were rife that there was a move to end the Senate.

Over Rs 53 cr development works okayed for border areas

The Centre has initiated at least 500 works worth over Rs 53 crore in the border areas of Gurdaspur and Pathankot districts under the Border Area Development Programme (BADP) said the Minister of State for Home, Nityanand Rai, in reply to a question by MP Sukhjinder Randhawa in the Lok Sabha. The list included as many as many as 351 works with an outlay of Rs 42.08 crore in Gurdaspur and 144 works with an outlay of Rs 11.02 crore in Pathankot.

Punjab withholding SC scholarships: Athawale

No instance of withholding the degree of SC students eligible for the Post Graduate Scholarship Scheme has been received from any state or union territory government in the country except Punjab said Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Ramdas Athawale in reply to a question by MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal in the Lok Sabha. Certain students have not been awarded degrees and the matter was sub-judice in Punjab.

Flights from Amritsar to Hazur Sahib soon

Flight services will resume shortly from Amritsar to Takht Hazur Sahib in Nanded, Maharashtra, said Union Minister of Aviation Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu in reply to a question by MP Satnam Singh Sandhu during the Question Hour of the Rajya Sabha. The airline service from Adampur to Nanded Sahib has already started. Besides, there are currently, 80 mail express and 13 passenger trains from different parts of the country to Hazur Sahib.

IIT-Kharagpur to study poor paddy output claims

Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kharagpur, has been told to conduct a study with regard to claims of less profit to farmers with a “lesser out-turn ratio” of rice from certain new hybrid varieties of paddy grown in Punjab, said Minister of State for Agriculture Ramnath Thakur in reply to a question by MPs Sher Singh Ghubaya and Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa. On a question whether rice millers in Punjab had refused to process paddy due to issues related to poor rice yield and space shortages, the minister said as many as 4,800 millers have been registered and allocated paddy by the state government agencies under joint custody and milling.

Farm fires not sole reason for bad air, give farmers Rs 2,500 per acre: Chadha

• AAP MP Raghav Chadha on Tuesday said while farmers are glorified during most part of the year and called “annadata” and what not, but they face flak during the month of November on account of stubble burning and its impact on the environment.
• Raising the issue during Zero Hour in the Rajya Sabha, Chadha said stubble burning alone do not lead to deterioration in the AQI. There are also other reasons for the malady.
• Chadha said the problem of stubble burning could be solved in the short term by giving the farmers Rs 2,500 per acre so that they could deploy machines to rid the land of stubble.