Raipur, September 05, 2010
Chief Minister Raman Singh will be on tour of Durg and Rajnandgaon districts on Tuesday. Singh will leave Raipur at 11 am via helicopter and reach Durg at 11.20 am where he will attend various programs including laying of foundation stone of science development centre, distribution of incentives to the eligible beneficiaries under Mukhyamantri Gyan Protsahan Yojana and distribution of bicycles to the girl students under Saraswati Cycle Yojana. He will leave Durg at 12.25 pm and reach Rajnandgaon at 12.40 pm where he will lay foundation stone of Eklavya residential school, inaugurate Nishtha Yojana under Mukhyamantri Bal Bhavishya Suraksha Yojana, will inspect the post-matric and pre-matric hostels and will address a gathering of people at Fateh Singh hall in Gurunanak Higher Secondary School. Singh will return to the capital at 5 pm.
Claims and objections till September 15
Raipur, September 05, 2010
The claims and objections pertaining to one-year contract appointment of lecturers, assistant workshop superintendents and training and placement officers (TPO) in government engineering and polytechnic colleges can be submitted to Directorate Technical Education based at Girls Polytechnic premises Bairon Bazar till September 15, 2010. The details of appointment procedures on the basis of merit have been updated in the official website of the directorate, informed the officials.
NREGS helpline service begins
Raipur, September 05, 2010
The state government has commenced helpline service pertaining to the problems and grievances of people pertaining to Mahatama Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS). A facility of toll-free telephone number – 1800-2332425 will be available for the people at State Employment Guarantee cell based at Panchayat and Rural Development Department’s head office Vikas Bhawan. The officials informed that the aim of the helpline service is to maintain transparency and increase public participation. The toll-free number can be dialed amid 10.30 am to 5.30 pm on working days, said officials.
Over 4.65 lakh farmers take Rs 801 cr farm loan
Raipur, September 05, 2010
More than 4.65 lakh farmers have taken farm loan to the tune of about Rs 801 crore in the current Kharif season. The officials of Chhattisgarh State Cooperative Bank informed that the loans had been disbursed to the farmers at the minimal rate of three percent under which they receive fertiliser, seeds and cash amount from 1333 Primary Agricultural Credit Societies. The farmers have received 60 percent loan in terms of cash and remaining 40 percent in the form of commodities like fertilisers and seeds against Kisan Credit Cards, said officials.
State records 951 mm rains
Raipur, September 05, 2010
The state has recorded 951 mm rainfall from June 1, 2010 to September 6, 2010. The officials of Revenue and Disaster Management Department informed that Bijapur had recorded maximum rainfall – 1608.9 mm while other districts have also recorded good rains in the current monsoon season. The state capital has recorded 871.7 mm rains in this season, they added.
FLIP SIDE
Foodgrains, Supreme Court and politics
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said that the Supreme Court should stop intervening into Centre’s policy matters. He was referring to the recent orders of the apex court to the Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar to distribute the foodgrains free of cost to the poor instead of allowing them to rot. This is the first time in his entire tenure as a PM when he has posed tough face and that too towards the apex court. But Singh’s remark did not come in haste, but he decided to utter bitter words after prudently brooding over the issue. More importantly, he assertively gave this statement while he was talking to the editors whom he had invited in his residence to discuss on various burning issues of the country. Singh knows that it is practically impossible to make popular promulgations like distributing free foodgrains to poor that form 37 percent of the total Indian population as the conditions would not be execrable every year.
Singh is circumspect about his unequivocal comment and is well acquainted that the Centre has to maintain buffer stock of the foodgrains which are utilised usually during emergency conditions, especially to distribute to the people affected by flood, drought or any natural calamity.
He is aware that if the Centre would evacuate all its excess stock of foodgrains on sentimental chord then it would not have any option other than to import foodgrains at higher rates. The Congress does not want this situation to occur as it is still facing allegations of corruption and irregularities pertaining to sugar imported by the Union government at inordinate rates (about Rs 35-40 per kg).
However, in worst scenario, if the government is compelled to buy foodgrains from foreign countries then the prices of food products would zoom past all time highs adding fuel to the indignation of common mass.
Hence, the PM wants to play safe game. He assures that the government would make some arrangements to provide foodgrains to the poor at economical rate. However, he has not given any timeframe for this arrangement. If, according to his working style, the decision delays for a fortnight or two, the foodgrains worth over Rs 58,000 crore stocked in open areas would certainly rot due to rains. Consequently, neither the Centre would have adequate buffer stock, nor it would feel satisfied for grabbing the golden opportunity to amplify its vote bank by distributing free food to poor.
In the present circumstance, what step should the Centre take to save foodgrains? It must first make quick arrangements to shift the foodgrains stocked in the open grounds outside the FCI godowns to the sheltered places. Besides, it should also keep reserve space to stock more foodgrains that would be procured from the farmers who take multiple crops in the year.
At this juncture, the Centre could arguably reason that why keep extra space in advance when the rainy season would be over in next 10-15 days, but considering the eccentricity of the weather, it seems that the farmers would not get respite from the intermittent rains in the September and first week of October which has also been surmised by the forecasters.
Another reason why PM is supporting Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar is because the Congress has formed a coalition government at the Centre and it cannot afford to chafe its allied parties. The PM is also cautious about the differences of opinion occurred among his party members on major issues, but he plainly denies that there is any discord between the Union government and the Congress.
Still, there are several Congress leaders who think that the UPA should announce to distribute foodgrains at Rs 3 per kg as it had promised to the citizens in its manifesto during general elections. These leaders apprehend that the price rise and rotting foodgrains would play crucial role in upcoming Bihar Assembly polls and next 2014 Parliamentary elections.
Knowing that the BJP-led Chhattisgarh government has earned a unique image in the country due to its public-oriented policies like rice to poor at Re 1 and Rs 2 per kg along with free salt and wheat, some Congress leaders are confident that the BJP would certainly insert these factors as a trump card in all the states where it is in power to regain victory in the next Assembly elections with huge margins. At least, the BJP would first raise these issues in the Bhatgaon and Sanjari-Balod by-polls in Chhattisgarh.
But the poor do not live in future and they first think about their present condition. Hence, if the PM has taken firm decision then he would have to prove its worth and must ensure that the foodgrains may not rot and flow ultimately to the liquor manufacturers as has been foreboded by the Opposition parties earlier.
Chief Minister Raman Singh will be on tour of Durg and Rajnandgaon districts on Tuesday. Singh will leave Raipur at 11 am via helicopter and reach Durg at 11.20 am where he will attend various programs including laying of foundation stone of science development centre, distribution of incentives to the eligible beneficiaries under Mukhyamantri Gyan Protsahan Yojana and distribution of bicycles to the girl students under Saraswati Cycle Yojana. He will leave Durg at 12.25 pm and reach Rajnandgaon at 12.40 pm where he will lay foundation stone of Eklavya residential school, inaugurate Nishtha Yojana under Mukhyamantri Bal Bhavishya Suraksha Yojana, will inspect the post-matric and pre-matric hostels and will address a gathering of people at Fateh Singh hall in Gurunanak Higher Secondary School. Singh will return to the capital at 5 pm.
Claims and objections till September 15
Raipur, September 05, 2010
The claims and objections pertaining to one-year contract appointment of lecturers, assistant workshop superintendents and training and placement officers (TPO) in government engineering and polytechnic colleges can be submitted to Directorate Technical Education based at Girls Polytechnic premises Bairon Bazar till September 15, 2010. The details of appointment procedures on the basis of merit have been updated in the official website of the directorate, informed the officials.
NREGS helpline service begins
Raipur, September 05, 2010
The state government has commenced helpline service pertaining to the problems and grievances of people pertaining to Mahatama Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS). A facility of toll-free telephone number – 1800-2332425 will be available for the people at State Employment Guarantee cell based at Panchayat and Rural Development Department’s head office Vikas Bhawan. The officials informed that the aim of the helpline service is to maintain transparency and increase public participation. The toll-free number can be dialed amid 10.30 am to 5.30 pm on working days, said officials.
Over 4.65 lakh farmers take Rs 801 cr farm loan
Raipur, September 05, 2010
More than 4.65 lakh farmers have taken farm loan to the tune of about Rs 801 crore in the current Kharif season. The officials of Chhattisgarh State Cooperative Bank informed that the loans had been disbursed to the farmers at the minimal rate of three percent under which they receive fertiliser, seeds and cash amount from 1333 Primary Agricultural Credit Societies. The farmers have received 60 percent loan in terms of cash and remaining 40 percent in the form of commodities like fertilisers and seeds against Kisan Credit Cards, said officials.
State records 951 mm rains
Raipur, September 05, 2010
The state has recorded 951 mm rainfall from June 1, 2010 to September 6, 2010. The officials of Revenue and Disaster Management Department informed that Bijapur had recorded maximum rainfall – 1608.9 mm while other districts have also recorded good rains in the current monsoon season. The state capital has recorded 871.7 mm rains in this season, they added.
FLIP SIDE
Foodgrains, Supreme Court and politics
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said that the Supreme Court should stop intervening into Centre’s policy matters. He was referring to the recent orders of the apex court to the Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar to distribute the foodgrains free of cost to the poor instead of allowing them to rot. This is the first time in his entire tenure as a PM when he has posed tough face and that too towards the apex court. But Singh’s remark did not come in haste, but he decided to utter bitter words after prudently brooding over the issue. More importantly, he assertively gave this statement while he was talking to the editors whom he had invited in his residence to discuss on various burning issues of the country. Singh knows that it is practically impossible to make popular promulgations like distributing free foodgrains to poor that form 37 percent of the total Indian population as the conditions would not be execrable every year.
Singh is circumspect about his unequivocal comment and is well acquainted that the Centre has to maintain buffer stock of the foodgrains which are utilised usually during emergency conditions, especially to distribute to the people affected by flood, drought or any natural calamity.
He is aware that if the Centre would evacuate all its excess stock of foodgrains on sentimental chord then it would not have any option other than to import foodgrains at higher rates. The Congress does not want this situation to occur as it is still facing allegations of corruption and irregularities pertaining to sugar imported by the Union government at inordinate rates (about Rs 35-40 per kg).
However, in worst scenario, if the government is compelled to buy foodgrains from foreign countries then the prices of food products would zoom past all time highs adding fuel to the indignation of common mass.
Hence, the PM wants to play safe game. He assures that the government would make some arrangements to provide foodgrains to the poor at economical rate. However, he has not given any timeframe for this arrangement. If, according to his working style, the decision delays for a fortnight or two, the foodgrains worth over Rs 58,000 crore stocked in open areas would certainly rot due to rains. Consequently, neither the Centre would have adequate buffer stock, nor it would feel satisfied for grabbing the golden opportunity to amplify its vote bank by distributing free food to poor.
In the present circumstance, what step should the Centre take to save foodgrains? It must first make quick arrangements to shift the foodgrains stocked in the open grounds outside the FCI godowns to the sheltered places. Besides, it should also keep reserve space to stock more foodgrains that would be procured from the farmers who take multiple crops in the year.
At this juncture, the Centre could arguably reason that why keep extra space in advance when the rainy season would be over in next 10-15 days, but considering the eccentricity of the weather, it seems that the farmers would not get respite from the intermittent rains in the September and first week of October which has also been surmised by the forecasters.
Another reason why PM is supporting Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar is because the Congress has formed a coalition government at the Centre and it cannot afford to chafe its allied parties. The PM is also cautious about the differences of opinion occurred among his party members on major issues, but he plainly denies that there is any discord between the Union government and the Congress.
Still, there are several Congress leaders who think that the UPA should announce to distribute foodgrains at Rs 3 per kg as it had promised to the citizens in its manifesto during general elections. These leaders apprehend that the price rise and rotting foodgrains would play crucial role in upcoming Bihar Assembly polls and next 2014 Parliamentary elections.
Knowing that the BJP-led Chhattisgarh government has earned a unique image in the country due to its public-oriented policies like rice to poor at Re 1 and Rs 2 per kg along with free salt and wheat, some Congress leaders are confident that the BJP would certainly insert these factors as a trump card in all the states where it is in power to regain victory in the next Assembly elections with huge margins. At least, the BJP would first raise these issues in the Bhatgaon and Sanjari-Balod by-polls in Chhattisgarh.
But the poor do not live in future and they first think about their present condition. Hence, if the PM has taken firm decision then he would have to prove its worth and must ensure that the foodgrains may not rot and flow ultimately to the liquor manufacturers as has been foreboded by the Opposition parties earlier.
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