Aimed at benefitting more than 13 lakh females in the first phase, the Punjab Government on Friday launched the women-empowerment oriented Udaan Scheme throughout the State under which sanitary pads would be distributed free of cost to needy women and girls of the state every month.

Launching the scheme on the occasion of International Menstrual Hygiene Day, the state Social Security, Women and Child Development Minister Aruna Chaudhary said that the main objective of the scheme is to protect women or girls from menstrual hygiene related diseases, spread awareness about menstrual hygiene, improve accessibility to basic hygiene products, promote better standard of living for women by improving the Quality Of Life, enhance women’s self esteem, and ensure safe disposal of sanitary pads.

Chaudhary informed that under the first phase, a total 1,22,91,300 sanitary pads would be distributed to 13,65,700 beneficiaries through workers and helpers of 27,314 Anganwari Centres. She categorically added that ASHA, ANMs, staff under Department of and local volunteers etc can be roped in as and when needed or shall be involved where Anganwari Centres do not exist.

Govt to make efforts to boost Rugby in Punjab

Punjab Government has decided to make special efforts to boost the game of Rugby in the State. Taking the first step in this direction, Rugby sport will be included in Khedan Watan Punjab Deya for this year, said the state Sports Minister Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer during a meeting with Indian Rugby Football Union president Rahul Bose at his official residence.

Hayer, during discussions with Rahul Bose a former international Rugby player and an acclaimed film actor and director to promote rugby in Punjab, said that the is making continuous efforts to revive the sports culture in Punjab.

The State Government had organized the first-ever Khedan Watan Punjab Deya in 2022 in which more than three lakh sportsmen participated in 30 sports competitions. This time, Rugby will also be included, he said.

Hayer said that Rugby is a combination of athletics, kabaddi, football, and handball, which suits the nature of Punjabis. There is every possibility that Punjabis will perform better in this game. Rugby Seven is a short form of this game which is included in the Olympic, Asian or Commonwealth Games, so efforts will be made to find acceptance for this form of the game in Punjab, he said.

Punjab vaccine to infection ratio below that of Haryana and Himachal Pradesh

Despite vaccination being considered the most effective way of suppressing the spread of Covid-19, in Punjab, the ratio of people who have been inoculated is lesser than the infection rate. This has been stated in the Ecowrap report of the https://exam.pscnotes.com/state-bank-of-india”>State Bank Of India.

Against the national Average of 4.3, Punjab has an injection to infection ratio of 4. The neighbouring states ofHimachal Pradeshand Haryana have fared much better. Haryana is at par with the national average while the hill state of Himachal has injection to infection ratio of 8.

With senior citizens accounting for 10.3% of the states total Population of 27,743,338, Punjab is among the top five states in the country Kerala (12.6%), Goa (11.2%), Tamil Nadu (10.4%) and HP (10.2%) having higher proportion of older population than the national average of 8.6%.

‘Ropeways to boost tourism in Punjab’

Tourism Minister Anmol Gagan Maan has applauded the Chief Ministers of Punjab and Himachal Pradesh for agreeing to jointly develop ropeway projects in the Anandpur Sahib-Naina Devi and Pathankot-Dalhousie regions.The project is expected to boost the socio- of both states and facilitate tourism.

The minister said the ropeway project would be a major attraction for tourists and was expected to bring a significant boost to the local economy. It would provide an easy access to some of the most scenic locations in the region, she said.

Become partners of the socio-economic growth: Punjab CM to industrial tycoons

Addressing the business tycoons here during the inaugural session of the fifth Progressive Punjab Investors Summit, CM welcomed pravasis and said that Punjab is the most favourable destination across the country and no stone will be left unturned to facilitate them. He envisioned a strong association between the State Government and industrialists to make Punjab an industrial hub in the country.

He envisioned that this policy will provide a roadmap for Infrastructure development, such as industrial parks, Airports, and Ports, which will further facilitate the movement of goods and people and enhance the state’s connectivity to global markets. Bhagwant Mann said that the state Government is developing Integrated Industrial Township adding that it taken a major decision to build 20 Rural Industrial Clusters and 15 industrial parks.

The Chief Minister said that rather than waiting for investments in the state, he has adopted a door-to-door policy to approach entrepreneurs for investing in state. He said Punjab has received more than Rs 40,000 Crores worth of investments since March 2022 thereby generating around 2.50 lakh EMPLOYMENT opportunities. He said that these investments include those by major companies like Tata Steel, Nestle, Freudenberg, Cargill, Hindustan Unilever, Sanathan Textiles and others that have come to state.

To spruce up the educational infrastructure in the State, Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi on Monday gave nod to the recruitment of 10,880 posts vacant in the education department related to various Cadres.

Presiding over a meeting of various departments, the Chief Minister described Education as the core sector which would be streamlined and kept under sharp focus. The Chief Minister also directed for creation of 2,000 Physical Education teachers in primary schools and recruitment so as to ensure the robust Health of the school students apart from focusing on the academic aspect.

Advocating the formation of clusters in every village whereby the village having a primary, middle and the high school would be availing the Services of a single physical education trainer, Channi asked the School Education Department to actively consider the proposal. Besides, he discussed various issues related to various unions and directed that the department may have discussions and after examining their demand may take up the matter with Finance Department.

Accepting the long pending demand of around 1,000 headmasters and teachers recruited under RMSA, the CM directed the Finance Department to release state share of salaries which were cut due to upper cap made by Government of India (in 2016). It will cost around 3.2 Crore to state exchequer.

Punjab CM Mann seeks President’s nod to sacrilege Bills

CM Bhagwant Mann has written to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, seeking help in getting Presidential nod for the two Bills seeking harsher punishment for sacrilegious acts.

The two Bills amendments to the IPC and CrPC have been awaiting nod since these were passed by the Vidhan Sabha in 2018. The Bills provide for harsh punishment like life imprisonment for anyone causing damage or committing sacrilege.

Punjab targets to increase area under shrimp culture to 5000 acres in five years

To further promote pisciculture in the state, Punjab Government has decided to increase area under profitable agri-allied occupation, shrimp culture, to 5,000 acres over next five years.

Bhullar said that for the development of shrimp culture, a dedicated Demonstration Farm-cum-Training Center is being run at Ena Khera village in Sri Muktsar Sahib district, where free training and -water testing facilities are being provided to shrimp farmers.

He said that special emphasis is being laid to develop for fish farming and increase fish production in the state. State Government is supplying good quality fish seed to farmers at subsidized rates from government fish seed farms. The construction work of new government fish seed farm is underway at Village Killianwali, District Fazilka, which will soon be completed and dedicated to the people.

Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi on Sunday announced to set up an exclusive research centre on three epics of Ramayana, Mahabharat, and Srimad Bhagvad Gita.

This state of the art research centre will showcase the message of these three , said the Chief Minister while addressing the gathering after laying the foundation stone of state of art Bhagwan Parshuram Taposthal.

Channi said that since ages, these epics have been source of life and inspiration for the entire humanity and this research centre will act as a Catalyst for disseminating the message of these epics amongst the masses in the simplest form. The State Government is trying to rope in respected Shankaracharya for this ambitious project, he added.

To ensure proper care of the stray cattle in the State, the Brahmin Welfare Board will be entrusted with this task, and the funds will be provided to the Board for proper upkeep of the stray cattle, said Channi adding that it is the need of hour to solve this one of the major social problems.

Punjab: Rs 5L crore investment, employment generation subsidy on the cards

The Aam Aadmi Partys (AAP) government is all set to approve The Punjab Industrial and Business Development Policy-2022 by bringing it for discussion in the Cabinet meeting scheduled this week. The previous Industrial Policy of 2017 ended on October 17.

Its for the first time that the policy would focus on providing EMPLOYMENT generation subsidy to units that employ people having Punjab domicile.

Those employing Punjabis would be given Rs 36,000 annually per employee for five years and Rs 48,000 per employee on annual basis for five years in case the employee is a woman or belongs to the reserved categories.

The policy would aim to attract an of Rs 5 lakh crore in five years, increase the share of Secondary Sector in GSDP to 30 per cent and Tertiary Sector to 62 per cent, enable job creation, develop worldclass Infrastructure, facilitate the development of at least 15 industrial parks and attract at least one anchor unit in manufacturing and Services-sector”>services sector.

For Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise (MSMEs) and large scale industries, the government would reimburse state goods and services tax for seven years, give a 50 per cent on fixed capital investment, exemption from electricity duty and stamp duty, subsidy on applying for patents and subsidy for getting access to technology.

The policy has identified certain thrust sectors, incuding electronics, Food Processing, apparel, IT and ITES. These sectors would also get above mentioned incentives, besides a slew of incentives for food processing Industry.