Chandigarh, August 11
In a first-of-its-kind initiative to give a major push to the education and health sectors, the state Cabinet, led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, today gave its approval to a Trust deed for constituting a ‘Sikhya-te-Sehat’ fund.
The fund is primarily aimed at creation and sprucing up of the capital assets in the fields of health and education within the geographical limits of the state for the benefit of the public through mobilising voluntary donations. The CM will be chairperson of the Trust with Finance Minister as its vice-chairperson, Chief Secretary as member secretary and Ministers of Health, School Education, Medical Education, Higher Education and Technical Education as its trustees. The Trust will also have an advisory panel headed by the Chief Secretary.
OTHER DECISIONS
Amendment to relief policy for cotton farm labourersAdditional leaves for guest faculty, part-time lecturersProposal to sign pacts for integrated manufacturing cluster under Amritsar-Kolkata Industrial CorridorApproval to annual administrative reports of the Cooperative DepartmentSpecial remission case of 23 convicts/life convicts
In another significant decision aimed at providing relief to the cotton-picking labourers in event of crop loss due to pest attack, the Cabinet accorded its consent to amend the existing policy of the Revenue Department for the identification of farm workers. The objective is to provide relief to cotton farm labourers for crop damage.
As per the revised policy, the patwaris and agriculture extension officers will identify the labourers through a comprehensive survey of villages. The patwaris will then certify that the family of the labourer doesn’t have any cultivable land or owns land less than one acre. The list prepared by the patwaris and agriculture extension officers will be finalised after getting public objections and certification in the general hearing in villages at the stipulated time. The policy will be applicable from the kharif- 2021 season onwards.
Meanwhile, the Cabinet also gave approval to send the case of special remission to 23 convicts/life convicts confined in the state’s jails to the Governor for consideration under Article 161 of the Constitution.
In another major decision, the Cabinet gave nod for granting earned, half pay and extraordinary leaves to the guest faculty and part-time lecturers of government colleges in addition to the existing casual and maternity leaves.
Further, the Council of Ministers approved the proposal for signing of the shareholders agreement and state support pact for the integrated manufacturing cluster under the Amritsar-Kolkata Industrial Corridor project near Rajpura. The Cabinet gave nod the administrative reports of 2017-18 and 2018-19 of the Cooperative Department.