Tag: UTs

SC gives 3 more months to states, UTs to provide ration cards to left-out migrant labourers

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New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday granted another three months time to all states and Union territories to provide rations cards to migrant labourers registered on the e-shram portal for availing benefits of “benevolent schemes” of the government.
The top court posted the matter for further hearing on October 3 and asked the Centre to file a status report.
A bench of justices MR Shah and Ahsanuddin Amanullah said, “At present, we give further three months’ time to the concerned State/UT to undertake the exercise to issue ration cards to the left out registrants on e-Shram portal by giving wide publicity and the concerned State/UT to approach them through the office of the concerned Collector of the District, so that more and more registrants on e-Shram portal are issued the ration cards and so that they may get the benefit of the benevolent schemes floated by the UOI and the State Government including the benefit under the National Food Security Act.”

It said, “We appreciate the exercise undertaken by the UOI with the assistance of the respective States/UTs for registration of the migrants/unorganized workers on e-Shram portal.”
It noted that 28.60 crores migrants/unorganized workers are registered on e-Shram portal which is a “commendable job” but added that out of 28.60 registrants on e-Shram portal, 20.63 crores are registered on ration card data.
“Meaning thereby, the rest of the registrants on e-Shram are still without ration cards. Without the ration card a migrant/unorganized labourer or his family members may be deprived of the benefit of the schemes and may be the benefit under the National Food Security Act,” it said.
The bench said that being a welfare State, it is therefore the duty of the state/Union territory concerned to see that the remaining registrants on e-Shram, who are still not registered on ration card data and who are not issued the ration cards, they are issued ration cards and the exercise for issuance of ration cards is required to be expedited.
“As the Union of India and the concerned State/UT now already have the data of the registrants on e-Shram portal and will be having the required information, the State/UT shall reach to them so that they can be issued the ration cards and that their names are registered on ration card data,” it said.

The top court’s order came on an application filed by petitioners Anjali Bhardwaj, Harsh Mander and Jagdeep Chhokkar who had sought that ration to the migrant labourers be given irrespective of the quota of ration under the NFSA.
The bench noted the submission of advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the petitioners, that approximately more than 10 crore people are deprived of the benefit of National Food Security Act due to non-issuance of the ration cards which as such is due to the fact that at present census of 2011 is being implemented and that after 2011 population has increased.
Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, appearing for the Centre, said that against the total target of 38,37,42,394 migrants, 28,86,23,993 have already registered their names on e-Shram portal.
She submitted that the e-Shram portal was launched on August 26, 2021 by the Ministry of Labour and Employment, which is meant to register and support the unorganised/migrant workers by providing them with a Universal Account Number (UAN).
The government said the Ministry of Labour and Employment has developed a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to share e-Shram portal data with states and Union territories.
It said that approximately 3.82 crore e-Shram registrants are also found to be beneficiary under PM-Kisan Samman Nidhi.
The government submitted that the benefit of Pradhan Mantri Shram Yogi Mann-Dhan Yojana (PM-SYM) has been given to the eligible migrants and each state has its own policies for issuance of the ration card.
The top court had earlier said migrant workers play a very vital role in building the nation and their rights cannot be ignored.
It had also asked the Centre to devise a mechanism so that they receive food grains without ration cards.
Earlier, the top court had issued a slew of directions to authorities on a plea of the three activists seeking welfare measures for migrant workers and ordered states and Union territories to frame schemes for providing free dry rations to them till the Covid pandemic lasted and said the Centre will have to allocate additional food grains.
It had also directed states and Union territories to register all establishments and license all contractors under the law and ensure that the statutory duty is imposed on the contractors to give particulars of migrant workers.
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#months #states #UTs #provide #ration #cards #leftout #migrant #labourers
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

April 20, 2023
J&K UT’s budget to be presented in parliament tomorrow

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Srinagar, Mar 12: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman would unveil the Jammu & Kashmir Union Territory’s budget for the next fiscal in the Parliament on Monday (March 13). This would be the fourth budget of J&K UT in the Parliament after reorganization of the erstwhile state of Jammu & Kashmir in August 2019.
As per list of Lok Sabha’s business scheduled for tomorrow, a copy of which is in possession of news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), the Union Finance Minister will present a statement showing the demands for grants in respect of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir for the year 2022-23.
She will also present a statement showing the supplementary demands for grants- second batch for 2022-23.
The budget is being presented in the Parliament as law-making powers of Jammu & Kashmir Union Territory are vested with it in absence of an elected government in the UT.
This would be the fourth consecutive budget of J&K UT in the Parliament. The budgets of UT for 2020-21, 2021-22 and 2022-23 were unveiled in the Parliament by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
In June 2018, the Jammu & Kashmir came under Governor’s rule after BJP withdrew support to Mehbooba Mufti-led government citing deteriorating security situation in the state. The budget for 2019-20 was approved by the Governor-led State Administrative Council in December 2018 days before the erstwhile state came under President’s rule under Article 356 of the Constitution of India.
In the run-up to the budget, top officials of J&K’s Finance department are stationed in New Delhi over the past three days.
“ Director General, Budget MY Itoo and Joint Director Budget Shafat Yahya have already reached New Delhi. More officials are likely to join them tomorrow,” a senior official of Finance department told KNO.

He said the size of J&K budget for next fiscal would be more than1.15 lakh crore.
For the ongoing fiscal (2022-23), Jammu and Kashmir was granted budget of Rs 112950 crore.
In the Union budget for next fiscal, J&K has been allocated Rs 35581.44 crore, of which Rs 33,923 crore is central assistance. The central assistance is given mainly to the UT to meet its resource gap—(KNO)
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#UTs #budget #presented #parliament #tomorrow
( With inputs from : roshankashmir.net )

March 12, 2023
Govt Asks All States, UTs To Make 6 Years Minimum Age For Class 1 Admission

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NEW DELHI, Feb 22: The Ministry of Education has directed all states and Union Territories to fix the minimum age for admission in Class 1 as six years, officials said on Wednesday.
According to the new National Education Policy (NEP), the foundational stage consists of five years of learning opportunities for all children (between 3 and 8 years of age) that includes three years of preschool education and then Classes 1 and 2.
“The policy thus promotes seamless learning and development of children from pre-school to class 2. This can only be done by ensuring accessibility to three years of quality preschool education for all children studying in Anganwadis or government, government-aided, private and NGO-run preschool centers,” a senior MoE official said.
“The Ministry has directed State Governments and UT administrations to align their age to admission with the policy and provide admission to class 1 at the age of six years and above,” the official added. (Agencies)
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#Govt #Asks #States #UTs #Years #Minimum #Age #Class #Admission
( With inputs from : roshankashmir.net )

February 22, 2023
J&K Govt sanctions Rs 62 cr project for Commercial Cultivation, Conservation of UTs’ Herbal Riches

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Jammu, Feb 3: The Jammu and Kashmir government, achieving yet another milestone, has announced a pioneering project envisaging total transformation in the landscape of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (MAPs) cultivation in the Union Territory.
With a budget of Rs 62 crore, this five year project aims at to cultivate MAPs on 5000 kanal of land spread across 28 clusters, creating over 3000 jobs and 28 enterprises. The MAP sector is estimated to contribute about Rs 75 crore every year after 5 years which is expected to rise to over Rs 783 crore by the year 2037.
This ambitious project marks a significant transition from traditional, wild extraction based practices to a more sustainable, modern approach to MAP cultivation, conservation and entrepreneurship. The mission of this project is to achieve commercial production of MAPs outside the forests, promote organic farming, develop local and international markets besides boosting advance scientific knowledge through insightful research.
The initiative also aims to promote cultivation and conservation of MAPs, promote organic farming and standardization, provide special facilities for primary processing, preserve intellectual property rights, educate cultivators on the best practices and undertake research to develop new herbal formulations and drugs.
“There are a number of MAPs that are unique to our agro-climate and offer immense potential for employment and exports. The demand for herbal drugs and cosmetics is growing both domestically and internationally while MAPs extracted from forests put pressure on biodiversity besides pushing many plant species on the verge of extinction” said Atal Dulloo, Additional Chief Secretary APD. “J&K has 129 hectare of cultivatable wasteland, of which, only 2 per cent shall be used for MAP cultivation. Additionally, farmers who adopt MAP cultivation can expect to see a 30-40 per cent increase in their agricultural income”, he added.
“Promotion of commercial cultivation of medicinal and aromatic plants” is one among the 29 projects, which were approved by the Jammu and Kashmir administration after being recommended by the UT Level Apex Committee for holistic development of Agriculture and allied sectors in J&K. The prestigious committee is being headed by Dr Mangala Rai, Former DG ICAR and has other luminaries in the field of Agriculture, Planning, Statistics & Administration like Ashok Dalwai, CEO NRAA, Dr. P. K Joshi, Secretary, NAAS, Dr. Prabhat Kumar, Horticulture Commissioner MOA & FW, Dr. H. S Gupta, Former Director, IARI, Atal Dulloo, Additional Chief Secretary, APD besides the Vice Chancellors of twin Agriculture Universities of the UT.
Upon identification of potential areas for MAP cultivation, the project shall undertake establishment of MAP germ plasm banks. Harvesting and post-harvest management will be facilitated through the formation of farmer cluster groups and the creation of common facilitation centers (CFCs) for primary processing. The branding and marketing aspect of the project will involve product diversification, certification of produce besides branding, labeling and packaging. Besides, Capacity building and training will be provided in good agricultural and harvesting practices, primary processing and marketing as well.
Under the research and development component of the project, there shall be establishment of a “Centre of Excellence on Herbal Technology” for focused research and development on bio-prospecting, crop improvement, organic farming and more.

The MAP sector involves a wide range of stakeholders including industry, entrepreneurs, farmers, collectors and traditional healers. To implement the interventions, the project will prioritize species-specific zones, form farmer cluster groups, establish model nurseries and demonstration units, provide capacity building programs and link farmer groups with industries for product development and digital marketing.
Lastly, this project represents a major step forward towards promotion of medicinal and aromatic plant sector in Jammu and Kashmir besides offering tremendous potential for employment, income generation and sustainable development. With a focus on cultivation, conservation and entrepreneurship, this project promises to bring the MAP sector into the 21st century and secure its place as a key player in the national and international markets for herbal drugs and cosmetics.(GNS)
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#Govt #sanctions #project #Commercial #Cultivation #Conservation #UTs #Herbal #Riches
( With inputs from : roshankashmir.net )

February 3, 2023