Tag: program

Telangana received limited funds for Supplementary nutrition program

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Hyderabad: In comparison to other states, Telangana received very little funds for the Supplementary Nutrition Program of Anganwadi Services from the Union government.
The Center has given States and union territories funding for the Supplementary Nutrition Program of Rs. 58,247.03 crore during the past seven years, starting in 2016–17. Telangana received extremely little in comparison to other BJP-ruled States like Gujarat, Karnataka, and Madhya Pradesh, which received significant funding through the scheme.
Gujarat received Rs. 252.53 crore from the federal government as part of the programme in 2022–2023; Madhya Pradesh received Rs. 186.01 crore; Karnataka received Rs. 106.03 crore; and Telangana received Rs. 165.21 crore. Similar to the previous fiscal year, Telangana received significantly less funding than States governed by the BJP. Gujarat received Rs. 505.26 crore in 2021–2022; Madhya Pradesh received Rs. 553.38 crore; Karnataka received Rs. 581.02 crore; and Telangana only received Rs. 246.80 crore.
Union minister for women and child development Smriti Irani provided this information in response to a query posed by Sanganna Amarappa, Jai Siddeshwar Shivacharya Mahaswamiji, and Dr. Umesh G. Jadhav in the Lok Sabha.
Through the platform of Anganwadi Centers, the Anganwadi Services Scheme offers a package of services, including supplemental nutrition, to expectant and nursing mothers until the child is six months old in order to achieve the nutritional standards outlined in the National Food Security Act 2013. Pregnant women receive IFA supplementation through the Anganwadi Centers platform for at least 100 days.
Studies on numerous topics linked to women and children are occasionally carried out by multilateral organisations like the UNDP and WHO. The Ministry often receives these reports for potential follow-up action. The union minister notified the ministry that neither UNDP nor WHO had provided any reports on the prevalence of malnutrition and undernourishment.
She went on to say that the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare’s National Family Health Survey (NFHS) was used to estimate the number of malnourished and undernourished children and women in the nation.

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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

February 5, 2023
Florida GOP calls for special session to expand controversial migrant flight program

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The memos don’t contain any specifics about how the program would operate, and legislation on immigration is not yet formally been filed.
The moves by DeSantis and GOP legislative leaders signal that the governor has no intention of stopping his controversial program to transport migrants to Blue strongholds like Massachusetts. His first and only set of flights, in mid-September, caused a massive uproar, with Democrats and immigration advocated accusing DeSantis of using migrants as political pawns.
DeSantis received $12 million for the migrant transport program in his current year budget, which he said was needed to highlight what he called the Biden administration’s failed border policies. The money came from funds connected to federal Covid-19 relieve funds.
The current state budget directs the money only to be used to remove migrants “from this state,” meaning Florida. Because the migrants were sent from Texas last fall, that language has become the subject of a lawsuit from state Sen. Jason Pizzo, a Miami Democrat who says DeSantis violated the spending provision because they were moved from Texas not Florida.
DeSantis’ new proposed program would allow the state to fund future migrant flights that originate anywhere in the United States, according to the proposal. DeSantis’ proposed budget, which was unveiled Wednesday, asks for another $12 million for the program.
Multiple lawsuits have been filed against the DeSantis administration over the migrant flights, including from the Center for Government Accountability, which alleged that the DeSantis administration was withholding public records related to the program. Another, from the Boston-based Lawyers for Civil Rights, accused the governor conducting “premeditated, fraudulent, and illegal scheme” by flying the migrants to Massachusetts.
Documents released in late December showed that DeSantis’ top safety official, Larry Keefe, helped write the language that helped the company responsible for chartering the flights, Vertol Systems, his former law client, secure a state contract to fly the migrants from the San Antonio to Martha’s Vineyard. The records also revealed that Keefe used a non-public email address that made it appear that emails were coming from “Clarice Starling,” the main character in “The Silence of the Lambs.”
Those records were not originally released as part of the lawsuit, but instead were dropped days before Christmas with a note from the DeSantis’ public records office that they originally were unaware of Keefe’s private account.

The state has paid Vertol Systems $4.4 million since September, including $950,000 on Jan. 31, state records show, making the total cost of the program nearly $90,000 for each migrant relocated.
In a September email, James Montgomerie, Vertol’s top executive, told Florida Department of Transportation purchasing administrator Paul Baker, that under the contract, they would transfer “unauthorized aliens from Florida.”
The email indicated that the “humanitarian services” would take place from Sept. 19 through Oct. 3, and said the “wrap around private” would be $950,000. The email does not offer further explanation, but four $950,000 state payments have been made to the company, records show.
Though the administration carried out only one set of flights, in late September it signaled that it was chartering another from Texas to near Rehoboth, the summer vacation spot on the Delaware coast where President Joe Biden has a home. Humanitarian organizations in several states scrambled to be in position to offer services for migrants on the flights. A flight took off but it never landed in Delaware and it’s unclear whether migrants were on board.
During a press conference Wednesday, DeSantis doubled down on his support of the plan amid the growing cost and controversy.
“We have had a deterrent effect, and people are sick of having an open border with no rule of law in this country,” he said.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

February 4, 2023
Groups sue to block Newsom’s CARE Courts program for severe mental illness

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Failure to participate in “any component” of the plan could result in additional hearings and court actions, including conservatorship.
Newsom and other supporters of the concept have framed it as a humane effort to help vulnerable Californians who might otherwise languish on the streets or in jails. But civil rights groups have opposed the law since its inception, arguing it could strip people of their rights and worsen their mental health. New York City Mayor Eric Adams has faced similar challenges following his directive last year to compel psychiatric evaluations of some residents.
The coalition of groups who filed the petition in California described the program as expanding “an already problematic system into a framework of coerced, court-ordered mental health treatment.”
They say the program wrongfully subjects Californians to involuntary treatment and fails to get at the root of the problem, such as the lack of affordable housing.
“The CARE Act unnecessarily involves our court systems to force medical care and social services on people. We are opposed to this new system of coercion,” said Helen Tran, a senior attorney at the Western Center on Law and Poverty. “The state’s resources should, instead, be directed at creating more affordable, permanent supportive housing and expanding our systems of care to allow everyone who needs help to quickly access them.”
The petition also names Health and Human Services Secretary Mark Ghaly.
Newsom’s office issued a pointed statement Thursday in response to the court filing.
“There’s nothing compassionate about allowing individuals with severe, untreated mental health and substance use disorders to suffer in our alleyways, in our criminal justice system, or worse — face death,” said Daniel Lopez, the governor’s deputy communications director. “While some groups want to delay progress with arguments in favor of the failing status quo, the rest of us are dealing with the cold, hard reality that something must urgently be done to address this crisis.”

Seven counties are slated to launch their programs by October: San Francisco, San Diego, Orange, Riverside, Stanislaus, Tuolumne and Glenn. The remaining 51 counties would start CARE Courts in 2024.
The concept of compelled mental health treatment has taken hold elsewhere — including in New York City, where Adams last year issued a directive allowing seriously mentally ill New Yorkers to be transported to hospitals for psychiatric evaluations without their consent.
That policy faces legal challenges of its own. In December a coalition of groups filed an emergency request for a federal judge to block the plan from going into effect.
California’s program is, in part, a response to the state’s growing homelessness problem. Nearly a quarter of all unsheltered Americans live in California, where massive encampments have taken over sidewalks, underpasses and public parks in most major cities. Democratic mayors across the state have increasingly favored more punitive measures for homeless people as public frustration grows.
Newsom has made homelessness a key focus, and under his leadership the state has allocated upwards of $15 billion for local governments to deploy shelters and services.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

January 27, 2023
Florida joins 19 states to challenge Biden’s new immigration program

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Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody called the new Biden program “a reckless attempt to continue flooding the country with massive waves of illegal immigrants.”
Florida is already home to sizable populations of people who have left all four countries covered by the White House actions. In recent weeks, hundreds of migrants fleeing Cuba and Haiti have made the dangerous 100-mile journey by boat to the Florida Keys, straining resources and moving Gov. Ron DeSantis to activate the state National Guard to respond to the influx.
A White House representative did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Biden announced the program amid a continued surge of migrants crossing the southern border, many of them coming in from countries that are ruled by authoritarian regimes such as Cuba and Venezuela.
Both Republicans and Democrats have been critical over how the Biden administration has handled border issues, but some of the strongest criticism has come from GOP leaders in Florida and Texas. DeSantis last fall arranged to fly nearly 50 mostly Venezuelan migrants from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard, an effort that itself has drawn legal challenges in Florida and Massachusetts. Abbott has also bused thousands of migrants from the southern border to Democratic-led cities like Washington, D.C. and NYC.
Under the new program, the United States said it would grant “humanitarian” parole to eligible migrants who apply from their home countries. Those who have an eligible sponsor and pass background checks are allowed to come to the United States for two years and receive work authorization. The program was an expansion of one created for Venezuelans last year.
But Biden and federal officials stressed that those who wanted to apply for the program would not be eligible if they tried to cross the border.
When Biden announced the parole program, he called on Republicans to support comprehensive immigration changes. He said that changes outlined earlier this month “won’t fix our entire immigration system but they can help us a good deal in better managing what is a difficult challenge. … Until Congress passes the funds, a comprehensive immigration plan to fix the system completely, my administration is going to work to make things at the border better using the tools that we have.”

Rep. María Elvira Salazar (R-Miami) has put together a comprehensive immigration package but it’s not clear if the proposal will gain much traction in Congress.
Both Florida and Texas have launched several lawsuits challenging Biden administration immigration policies.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

January 25, 2023
Police: Shooting that killed 2 at youth program was targeted

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Holmes, an activist and rapper who goes by the stage name Will Keeps, joined a gang as a 13-year-old in Chicago but moved to Iowa more than two decades ago and dedicated his life to helping young people in need, according to his LinkedIn page.
Eighteen-year-old Preston Walls of Des Moines was charged with two counts of first-degree murder, one count of attempted murder and one count of criminal gang participation. He made a brief court appearance Tuesday, with a preliminary hearing scheduled for Feb. 3.
Walls is jailed on $1 million bond. The Polk County public defender’s office, which will provide his attorney, declined comment.
Walls was on supervised release for a weapons charge, and he cut off his ankle monitor 16 minutes before the shooting, police said.
“There was nothing random about this,” Police Sgt. Paul Parizek said.
Investigators say in the charging document that Walls had a 9 mm semiautomatic handgun with a high-capacity extended magazine concealed on him when he entered a common area of the program. The affidavit said Holmes tried to escort Walls out, but Walls pulled away, drew the gun and shot the two teenagers several times.
The document said one victim tried to flee, but Walls chased him down “and shot him multiple more times.” The document blacked out the name of the victim except the first letter of the last name, “C,” indicating it was Carr.
Holmes was struck by the gunfire. His family said in a statement Tuesday that he “has a long recovery ahead and we are deeply appreciative for the care he is receiving.”

Despite his injuries, Holmes is “now more determined than ever to continue with his work with at-risk youth and looks forward to, once again, working hand-in-hand with other community leaders on the mission of Starts Right Here,” they wrote.
Responding officers saw a suspicious vehicle leaving the area and stopped it. Police said Walls ran but was found hiding in a brush pile with the 9 mm handgun next to him. The ammunition magazine, which has a capacity of 31 rounds, contained three, police said.
According to the affidavit, the shooting was captured on surveillance video, and Walls’ clothing and his Glock firearm matched those seen on the video.
The Starts Right Here board of directors said in a statement that classes were cancelled for the remainder of the week and that grief counselors will be available. The program which began in 2021 helps at-risk youth in grades 9-12 and is affiliated with the Des Moines school district.
“These actions are contrary to all that we stand for and point out more must be done,” the board said. “These two students had hope and a future that will never be realized.”
Dameron’s father, Gary Dameron, 37, said his son was on track to graduate this spring. He planned to attend barber college and become a barber, just like his dad.
Gary Dameron said he has known Holmes for years and reached out to him personally to get his son enrolled in Starts Right Here. Despite the police claim that the shooting was gang-related, he said his son was not involved in a gang, describing him as “family-oriented” with a “goofy” sense of humor.
“He just had one of those personalities that when he came in the room, everybody kind of gravitated to him,” Gary Dameron said.
Gionni Dameron turned 18 on Friday, his father said.
Dameron said his son and Carr were best friends. He described Carr as “very respectable,” cool and soft-spoken.
Last year, Walls was charged with three counts alleging that he knowingly resisted or obstructed a West Des Moines police officer while armed with a firearm and intoxicated, court records show.
His attorney in that case, Jake Feuerhelm, said that in the incident last May, Walls was part of gathering of young people that police approached. While they were trying to sort out what was happening, Walls, who was 17 at the time, took off. Because he was armed while fleeing from police, he was charged, Feuerhelm said.
Feuerhelm said he didn’t know whether Walls was part of the school program.
Keeps said in his LinkedIn profile that he was just 15 when he saw a friend die at the hands of a rival gang. A gun pointed at him jammed and he was beaten but survived.
“I moved to Des Moines in my 20’s and began a new life, focusing on my future and how I wanted to be remembered,” Keeps wrote. “I wanted to help others to make a change so they wouldn’t have to go through life feeling uncared for, unloved, or in a home that wasn’t safe.”
The Starts Right Here website says 70% of the students it serves are members of minority groups, and it has had 28 graduates since it began. The school district said the program serves 40 to 50 students at any given time.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

January 25, 2023