Green Punjab

Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal will launch the “Green Punjab” mission from Hoshiarpur and Fazilka on July 1 to generate awareness among the masses on the need for a clean and pollution-free environment by initiating a massive plantation drive across the state.
The Chief Minister took this decision at a meeting with senior officers of the Forests and Wildlife Department here.
Principal Chief Conservator of Forests said the mission had become all the more important with the constant rise in the level of air pollution, caused by heavy traffic and industrial influx, besides the alarming proportion of water pollution. Soil pollution due to excessive use of chemical fertilisers and pesticides, coupled with waterlogging and rise of salinity in Punjab had further aggravated the problem.
The Chief Minister asked the Forests and Wildlife Department to launch a plantation drive across the state to increase the green cover from the existing 7 per cent to 15 per cent over a period of 15 years on all available institutional land, panchayat land, mandis, jails, paramilitary areas, hospitals, educational institutions, cremation grounds, focal points, PSEB colonies and urban areas.
The Chief Minister asked the Rural Development and Panchayats Department to motivate village panchayats to plant trees over 150,000 acres of panchayat land. The Punjab Vidhan Sabha had already passed a resolution to plant trees on 20 per cent of panchayat land.
He sought the cooperation and support of farmers for implementing the government’s initiatives for making Punjab more green. Badal asked the Forest Department to work out modalities for generating additional resources to make the tree plantation drive financially sustainable.
Forest Minister Surjit Kumar Jayani said the department had already prepared a perspective plan for 15 years. The jurisdiction of forest beats was being revised to cover forest as well as non-forest areas.
New beat boundaries would now be carved out village-wise. He said the newly recruited 180 forest guards were being trained to handle the tree plantation drive in villages.

Provision of Urban Amenities in Rural Areas (PURA) Scheme and Punjab

Provision of Urban Amenities in Rural Areas (PURA) Scheme in a cluster of villages having a population of about 25,000 to 40,000.
An official spokesman said under the scheme, select private partners would develop livelihood opportunities, urban amenities and infrastructure facilities and maintain the same for a period of 10 years in identified villages or cluster of villages. Funding would be sourced from the Central Sector Scheme of PURA.
As many as nine projects have been initiated under PURA through the PPP mode across five states and one UT in the first batch. It was proposed to undertake a second batch of 10-15 pilot projects for which the Planning Commission had already made available additional funds to the tune of Rs 560 crore.
The private partners would be required to provide standard amenities like water supply and sewerage, roads, drainage, solid waste management, street lighting and power distribution, besides undertaking some economic and skill development as part of the project.

Plight of harassed NRI wives and Punjab government

EVERY now and then the plight of harassed NRI wives catches our attention. The government not only sits up and takes notice of their unenviable predicament but also makes the right noises. The Deputy Chief Minister of Punjab has now promised strict laws to deal with the menace. To the list of many initiatives that the Punjab government has undertaken to protect “nowhere brides” a helpline and a website have already been added. Indeed, in a state home to thousands of NRI brides left in the lurch, any move that will bring relief to them is welcome.

It’s been quite a while since the problem of fraudulent marriages involving NRI grooms has come to light. Efforts have been made at both the individual and macro level to help women caught in the web of deceit and cheating. While former Union Minister Balwant Singh Ramoowalia has always picked up the cudgels on behalf of hapless women, Perneet Singh, a passport officer at Jalandhar, has used passport confiscation as a tool to ensure justice for the victims of what in common parlance are known as “holiday marriages”. The Ministry of Overseas Affairs and the National Commission of Women too have taken several steps, including the setting up of a special NRI cell, to offer guidance to women in distress. However, justice continues to elude deserted wives.
While the number of “nowhere brides” in Punjab during the last 10 years is estimated to be around 10,000, only 159 cases have been registered in the last three years. Certainly, the problem has a social angle too and is, in a way, a manifestation of the obsessive fascination to migrate abroad. While the proposed law stipulates complete verification of NRI grooms, parents would do well to check their antecedents themselves too. However, there is no denying that the problem can only be addressed through legal methods. Till unsuspecting brides are not helped by strict laws involving the governments of other countries as well, girls will continue to be exploited at the hands of unscrupulous NRIs who have made a mockery of the sacred institution of marriage.

Empowerment of Panchayats in Punjab

To provide a transparent and corruption-free administration at the village level, the Punjab Government will soon initiate auditing of the panchayat accounts. Sarpanches, panches and panchayat secretaries will be trained by chartered accountants in keeping accounts, said Surjit Singh Rakhra, Rural Development and Panchayat Minister, here today.
Rakhra said Union Minister for Rural Development Jairam Ramesh had asked the states to provide a transparent administration at the village level and Punjab would be the first state to accept Centre’s recommendation. “Punjab Government has already established liaison with the Committee on Public Finance and Government Accounting in this regard,” he said.
The minister said for the purpose of training, groups had been formed clubbing 10 blocks together. On account of lack of awareness among representatives of panchayats, several cases of embezzlement had come to the fore. It was also noticed that panchayats were unable to mobilise all their resources to generate more funds.
He said the training would enable them to get funds from the state and the Centre and to utilise these in a proper manner.The chartered accountants would regularly monitor the accounts of panchayats, Rakhra added.

Mansa is state’s second smoke-free district

The Punjab Government today formally declared Mansa as the second smoke-free district of the state. A decision to this effect was taken by Health and Family Welfare Principal Secretary Vini Mahajan on the occasion of World No Tobacco Day. Earlier, Mohali had been declared as the first smoke-free district by the state government in February. 

Anand Marriage Act.

The Union Cabinet is set to consider the provision of independent registration of Sikh marriages under the Anand Marriage Act. Union Law Minister Salman Khurshid, talking to TNS, said his ministry had made two proposals following complaints by the Sikh community that the amendment to the Act in 2008 did not address their concerns.
The amendment in the Anand Marriage Act in 2008 allowed for a separate register to record Sikh marriages. However, there was criticism that the Anand Marriage Act continued to be part of the Hindu Marriage Act:1955 and should be made a separate Act.
Salman Khurshid said: “We have proposed a Central Act providing for registration of births, deaths and marriages. Under this, certificates submitted under the Anand Marriage Act could be registered. Alternatively, the provision for separate registration could be provided under the Anand Marriage Act itself.” The Law Minister said that both the proposals had been forwarded to the Home Ministry for consultation.
The ministry was expected to elicit the opinion of various ministers as well as Punjab leaders in Punjab. “Once this is done, the matter will be forwarded to the Cabinet for a decision”, he explained.
The Anand Marriage Act came into being in 1909 following a proposal by Maharaja Ripudaman Singh of Nabha.
Later, the Act became part of the Hindu Marriage Act that grouped Sikhism, Jainism and Buddhism as offshoots of Hinduism. Hardeep Singh, SGPC member, said the amendment in 2008 was a mere eyewash .
He said even Pakistan and Bangladesh had separate Anand Marriage Acts and that India should follow suit.
However,Rajya Sabha nember Tarlochan Singh said amending the Hindu Marriage Act would be difficult and that the present amendment met the aspirations of the Sikhs and should be retained as such.

Fateh Burj

Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today inaugurated a Rs 35-crore Baba Banda Singh Bahadur war memorial at a colourful ceremony here
Amidst confetti and fireworks, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, led by Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Gurbachan Singh, dedicated the 328 ft-tall victory tower (Fateh Burj), the tallest monument in the country, to the people. The monument was a tribute to the valour and sacrifices made by the Sikh warriors for the sake of humanity, the Chief Minister said.
All through the ceremony as the Nihangs, referred to as ‘Guru ki fauj’ , displayed their martial skills, the CM, accompanied by Giani Gurbachan Singh, Sri Keshgarh Sahib Jathedar Giani Tarlochan Singh and Damdami Taksal chief Baba Harnam Singh Khalsa, took the distinguished dignitaries on a round of the 21 acre war memorial complex in open Gypsies..

Integrated solid waste management programme in Punjab

On August 31, Punjab will become the first state in the country to start an integrated solid waste management programme in the entire state.
Local Bodies and Industries Minister Tikshan Sud said that this multipurpose project would be first of its kind in India where all towns and cities would be covered under MSW (Municipal Solid Waste) management in a scientific manner.
He said that the Punjab Government was committed to making cities free of solid waste. Under the project, the state has been divided into eight mega clusters that included Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Bathinda, Ferozepur, Patiala, Amritsar, Pathankot and GMADA. He said that each cluster would cover 15 to 30 cities.
The minister said that 137 cities of Punjab produce 4,300 tonnes of solid waste per day that would be utilised for producing power, compost or other useful products.
Finally, the disposal of the remaining residual material would be done in a landfill site in a scientific manner. He said that this project would be operated and maintained by public-private partnership for 25 years.

CENTRALIZED KITCHENS FOR MID DAY MEAL SCHEME

The Punjab government has decided to set up centralised kitchens through NGOs for the supply of quality cooked mid-day meals to the students in primary (classes I to V) and upper primary schools (classes VI to VIII) within the municipal limits of eight districts in the state. It may be mentioned here that mid-day meals are being provided to more than 18 lakh students in the state.
 in the first phase eight districts namely Patiala, Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Amritsar, Bathinda, SAS Nagar, Sangrur and Moga would be covered and more than one centralised kitchen would be set up in each district. He informed that tenders had already been invited from NGOs with condition that the cooked mid-day meal should be as per norms fixed by the Government of India.
 it was noticed that the schools were witnessing difficulties in running this scheme as there were problems ranging from lack of experienced cooks, refilling of LPG cylinders, purchase of spices lack of concentration amongst students during the whole cooking process.
He was confident that the new arrangement would ensure that the place for cooking is more hygienic and the inspection of cooked food could also be undertaken at a single spot resulting in saving of time and expenditure.
It may be mentioned here that under midday meal scheme students of primary schools were being provided 100 gm wheat/rice with 3.89 paise cooking cost each. Similarly, 150 gm wheat/rice with 4.33 paise cooking cost is the criteria for an upper primary student (Class VI to VIII). An NGO has already been supplying mid-day meal in Nawanshahr and Ferozepur districts.

Digitisation of the land records in Punjab

• Revenue records of 12,000 Punjab villages to be digitised; 156 fard centres being set up across the state
• Anybody who wants a copy of his jamabandi or mutation can go to the kendra and obtain a certified copy at a very nominal fee, instead of running after revenue officials
• Farmers to have access to information related to girdawari, mutation, jamabandi, fard, roznamcha and other records of the Revenue Department
• Records to be updated twice a week; awareness among rural populace about the fard centres to be spread through FM Radio and cable network

The Hansi-Butana row

THE onset of the monsoon has revived fears of floods in the Ghaggar and rekindled the political controversy over the construction by the Haryana government of a 16-foot-high concrete embankment along the Hansi-Butana canal, which blocks the natural flow of water, causing floods in Punjab areas. Last year people in 32 villages and crops on 20,700 acres were affected. Punjab political leaders, cutting across party affiliations, have voiced their concerns over the 3.5-km concrete wall. Construction work of the canal embankment was started by Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda during the chief ministership of Capt Amarinder Singh.
Unseemly water disputes have soured the good neighbourly relations between Punjab and Haryana. These touched a new low when Capt Amarinder Singh’s government unilaterally terminated the inter-state waters pact in July, 2004. The inter-state bickering over the Hansi-Butana canal issue gets louder during the rainy or election season. Small-time politicians try to raise passions by using inflammatory expressions. Water is a sensitive and emotive issue and should be handled deftly. Recently, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal wrote a letter to Hooda protesting against the Haryana action. The matter has also reached the Supreme Court. Haryana Irrigation Minister H. S. Chatha, however, says that the issue is being politicised unnecessarily ahead of the elections in Punjab.
The larger issue is the leaders of the two states should thrash out the water disputes as also the Hansi-Butana canal issue in a spirit of give and take, preferably under the supervision of the Central leadership. The decisions of the courts on such matters are often not accepted by the losing party and the sense of injustice remains. Water resources can be best managed through inter-state cooperation as rivers cut across state boundaries. River floods and pollution can be controlled. Instead of indulging in the blame game and kicking off needless controversies the representatives of the people in the two states should focus on rainwater harvesting, which can help replenish the fast-depleting water resources. The Centre’s Rs 1,150 crore initiative, announced earlier this year to tame the Ghaggar, is a welcome step in this direction.

“Vegetable Initiative in Urban Cluster”,

The Punjab Government today introduced a special scheme, “Vegetable Initiative in Urban Cluster”, for cultivation and marketing of vegetables in order to encourage farmers towards diversification. Disclosing this here today, Agriculture Minister Sucha Singh Langah said 15 farmers could make a group, who would cultivate a crop on 20 hectares, besides also do the marketing.
He said the government would provide a subsidy of Rs 2 lakh for crop cultivation while 50 per cent subsidy would also be given on the processing equipments.
Langah said the scheme would be introduced in five districts, including Ludhiana, Patiala, Fatehgarh Sahib, Jalandhar and Sangrur in the first phase, which would be further implemented across the state, while Ludhiana would be the centre of the scheme. He said the Government would also facilitate the farmers with the marketing facilities, so they could make the scheme a success without any obstacle. The Minister said the Government will give subsidies and grants to farmers on the basis of their cluster areas and groups. He said another subsidy of Rs 22,500 to 33,700 would be given for the cultivation of crop per hectare.
He added that farmers could also get a subsidy of Rs 2.10 lakh for poly and net houses for vegetable cultivation and 50 per cent subsidy would also be given on 4,000 square metre area.

NEW INVESTMENTS IN PUNJAB

The Punjab Government today cleared projects worth Rs 6,350 crore that will see investments by prominent groups like Nectar Life Science, Trident Group and LT Food in the state.
The Empowered Committee on mega projects, chaired by Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal gave in principle approval to these projects,  investment worth Rs 5,453 comes from manufacturing and Rs 897 crore agro-based industries.
Among major companies that are investing in the state are Nectar Life Sciences, which has proposed to set up a unit for manufacturing drugs at Nimbua village in Mohali with investment worth Rs 530 crore.
Textile major Trident Corporation limited has proposed to set up facilities for making terry towel and sheeting unit at Dhaula village in Barnala with outlay of Rs 2,358 crore while Trident would expand its cotton unit at Sanghera (Barnala) village with Rs 1,117 crore.
Tube Investment of India has proposed to set up green-field plant to manufacture precision ERW and CDW tubes at village Tepla (Patiala) at cost of Rs 170 crore and Saber Papers would set up paper manufacturing unit at Gonsupur Hambran village in Ludhiana at cost of Rs 343.59 crore.
Piccadilly Hotels would construct a hotel in Ludhiana with outlay while Soma New Towns Private would set up godowns for storing food grain at four different locations in the state with Rs 170 crore.
LT Food Limited would set up a rice mill with power generation facility at Hoshiarpur at a cost of Rs 53.30 crore.
The empowered committee also approved two housing mega projects, one of 125 acres with an investment of Rs 679.40 crore in Sector 94-95, Mohali, by Janta Land Promoters Ltd Mohali and another of Rs 425 crore project over 205.54 acres by Bajwa Developers Ltd.

FREE EDUCATION TO GIRLS IN PUNJAB

Punjab will provide free-of-cost education to girls till Class XII under a new scheme starting from July 1 this year.
Disclosing this here today, Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal said the move besides relieving families of the burden of educating the girl child, would also check the dropout rate in schools in the state.
Sukhbir said from the start of the next academic session all government and government-aided schools would provide free-of-cost education to the girl child up to Class XII.
He said the schools would not even charge local funds from the girls. The Deputy Chief Minister said under the scheme, funds like admission fee, re-admission fee, amalgamated funds, PTA funds and sports funds would not be charged from the girl child up to Class XII. He said the government had set aside Rs 26 crore for the scheme.
The Deputy CM said 4,000 primary schools in the state were set to be equipped with proper furniture with Rs 60 crores being approved for all those primary schools where children were forced to sit on mat. He said the SAD-BJP government would ensure that no student studying in the government school sat on the floor and would provide proper furniture for every school. He said more than 11.92 lakh primary school students would be benefited from the scheme.

Balri Rakshak Yojna

he Department of Health and Family Welfare, Punjab, has increased the amount of money to be given under the Balri Rakshak Yojna from Rs 350 to Rs 500 each in case of two daughters.

Confirming this information, Civil Surgeon, Patiala, Japinder Kaur said the letter in this regard had been released just a few days back and this would certainly help in reducing the financial burden of the poor parents.

About the scheme, she said the Balri Rakshak Yojna was a welfare scheme for the cause of the girl child, which had been launched in the state in 2005 to encourage the birth of girls and to balance the skewed sex-ratio in the state as there had been a considerable decline in the child sex-ratio (0-6 years) during the previous years.

“It also aims to motivate the couples to adopt terminal method of sterilisation in order to stabilise the growth rate of the population,” she said.

An incentive of Rs 500 per month will be given to the female child, provided the parents adopt terminal method of sterilisation after the birth of only one girl.

An incentive of Rs 1,000 (Rs 500+Rs 500) will be given to the two girls provided the family adopts terminal method of sterilisation after the birth of the second girl child (only if the first child is also a girl child). The incentive will be given till the age of 18 years or till the beneficiary becomes an income tax payer.

The civil surgeon said, “In order to encourage the ASHA workers to get more such cases registered and help the department in fulfilling the cause, the department is also giving an incentive of Rs 500 per case to these workers.

A worker, who gets the case registered, will also be given an incentive of Rs 500.”

Sanjh Centres

After a spate of administrative reforms, the SAD-BJP government will now focus on improving the police-public interface by making 450 Sanjh Centres operational within the next two months.
The creation of Sanjh Centres, a pet scheme of Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, is aimed at providing services to the people within a given time frame. On the political side, these are expected to wash away allegations of police high-handedness levelled by the Congress.
The centres were delayed because funds were not released in March. The Police Department has decided to speed up work to complete the project. At a few places where Sanjh stations have not been constructed, a room in police stations has been dedicated for the centres and computers and requisite staff posted there.
According to the Deputy CM, trial runs have already started at the centres. The people will now be able to file FIRs online. The process of obtaining various certificates (permission to hold functions and use of loudspeakers and passport verification) have been simplified.
The Sanjh centres will provide instant feedback on inquiries, free legal aid and counselling services.

PUNJAB'S WHEAT IN CENTRAL POOL

Punjab continues to be the grain bowl of India as it has contributed 43.5 per cent wheat to the central pool this time.
According to the recent data with the Food and Supplies Department, Chandigarh, since the procurement process started in 1966, Punjab has pooled the maximum in the nation's food kitty.
This year, the state has pooled 11.5 million tonnes of wheat surpassing last year’s figure of 109 lakh tonnes.
Dr MS Sidhu, a senior agriculture economist at Punjab Agriculture University (PAU), said, "The 43.5 per cent procurement from Punjab is all due to the hard work by farmers, workers and the scientists of PAU who update the farmers on a regular basis.”
A total of 25.8 million tonnes of wheat has been procured this season from the major wheat-producing states. Haryana comes next to Punjab by pooling 6.8 million tonnes while Madhya Pradesh has added 4.29 million tonnes. Uttar Pradesh comes at number four by adding 1.94 million tonnes. Rajasthan has pooled 1 million tonnes of wheat this season.
With this, the country has enough stock to fill empty stomachs. As much as 58.13 million tonnes of wheat and rice are stocked in the country against the required 21 million tonnes. Now, the next challenge is its storage.

The top five Punjab 11.5 million tonnes Haryana 6.8 million tonnes MP 4.29 million tonnes UP 1.94 million tonnes Rajasthan 1 million tonnes

PAU 201?

Farmers in the state are in a quandary with the state government asking them to avoid growing high-yield paddy varieties such as PAU 201, the per hectare yield of which was reported at 100 quintals in certain parts of the state last year.

The government has issued advertisements in various newspapers directing them to desist from sowing PAU 201 and various hybrid varieties. There is a sort of a ban on the sale of seed of the high-yield varieties in the state. Hence, farmers have been forced to procure the seed from neighbouring Haryana.

Most hybrid varieties not only give a high yield but are of short duration and consume less water compared to non-hybrid varieties. Farmers say most hybrid varieties are sown in July and mature in 100-105 days whereas other varieties take about 130 days to mature and have to be sown in the second week of June.

Official sources said the farmers had been told not to sow the PAU 201 variety because the FCI, which has near monopoly on the rice market in the state, had refused to lift it from the mills during 2009-10 and 2010-11. Likewise, it was reluctant to procure rice of hybrid varieties.

Haryana has a better market mechanism compared to Punjab. In Haryana, traders also purchase hybrid and other varieties in large quantities for sale in the market.

Traders avoid the paddy market in Punjab because of the high taxes on the purchase of foodgrain. A trader has to pay about 14.5 per cent as tax, including the market fee and VAT, for every quintal of paddy purchased.

SHAGUN SCHEME - CHANGES

The state government has made some changes in the implementation of the shagun scheme to check swindling. Instead of making payment through cheque, the shagun money will now be directly transferred to the account of the beneficiary.

The government gives Rs 15,000 to those with an income less that Rs 30,000 per annum for the marriage of their daughters. The parents will now have to apply for the benefit before the wedding. No claim will be accepted post-wedding.

The scheme was introduced in 1997 and at that time Rs 5,100 was paid as shagun. Steadily, the scope of the scheme was enhanced and the amount raised to Rs 15,000.

The Scheduled Castes and Backward Classes Welfare Department, which implements the scheme, has exempted the below poverty line (BPL) families and those holding the blue card from producing an income certificate to get the shagun money.

The Government has earmarked Rs 115 crore for the current fiscal year under the scheme. The government is yet to clear the backlog of 72,000 claims received last fiscal year. It has a liability of Rs 108 crore.

ILLEGAL mining of minor minerals (sand and gravel) in Punjab

ILLEGAL mining of minor minerals (sand and gravel) had been going on in and around Mohali for some time.   Subsequently, the Mohali district administration has taken action and registered a number of first information reports against some of those involved in the illegal activity. It is indeed surprising that the administration had not taken notice of this large-scale loot of natural resources, which involved at least 137 persons against whom the police has registered FIRs. Large financial gains, along with a system that did not, till now, interfere with these illegal activities, lend credence to the charges of political patronage of those who were engaged in illegal mining.

It is also a matter of concern that the mining was not only being conducted in an ecologically sensitive zone but also in areas where it is specifically banned, i.e., on the beds of rivulets, on private farmland and in forest areas. Illegal sand mining is an old one, but with depleting resources and increasing demand due to construction activities, it has become more lucrative. The delay in holding a regular auction of Punjab’s 366 quarry sites has further worsened matters. Demand for sand and gravel has been increasing, and various departments charged with checking this illegal activity, especially the Forest Department and the State Industries Department, have not been able to put a stop to illegal mining. Delay in contractors getting their environment impact assessment reports is also an irritant.
It is obvious that the exchequer is losing money because auctions have not been done. The environment is being damaged because of illegal mining in sensitive ecological zones. People living in villages near where such quarrying is going on have been protesting against it. Yet, illegal quarrying was, till recently, going on in the periphery of the state capital, just as it is carrying on in the rest of the state. Now that the Mohali administration has identified culprits and registered FIRs against them, it is only natural to expect action against these individuals. Sorting the problem of illegal mining will take political and administrative will, which has not been demonstrated so far.