Chandigarh, November 16:
To increase enrolment, reduce dropout rate and attract students towards the Government Schools, the Punjab Cabinet led by Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Cahnni on Tuesday decided to provide free uniforms to nearly 2.66 lakh left out boys of General Category studying in Government Schools from class I to VIII. Punjab Government will spend approx Rs. 15.98 crore in current financial year.
This decision was taken during a Cabinet meeting here at CMO this evening.
Notably, at present School Education Department is already providing free Uniforms costing upto Rs.600 per student to all the Girls, SC boys, BPL boys studying in Government Schools from class I to VIII in Government run schools and Adarsh schools being run by the Punjab School Education Board studying as per norms of SAMAGRA SHIKSHA and also as per RTE entitlement. The number of such students is 15.03 lakh for which Rs. 90.16 crore are being spent in the current fiscal. It may be recalled that boys students belonging to general category are not provided uniforms by the Department as such students are not covered under RTE entitlement.
HIKES FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE FOR SUGARCANE FARMERS
To ensure economic viability of Private Sugar Mills and timely cane payment of State Agreed Price (SAP) to the farmers for the Crushing Season, 2021-22, the Cabinet also gave approval to provide the financial assistance @ Rs.35 per quintal to the sugarcane farmers out of SAP on behalf of Private Sugar Mills for the Crushing Season, 2021-2022. This amount would be deposited directly into the bank accounts of sugarcane farmers on behalf of sugarcane in all respects as per SAP fixed by the State Government.
Pertinently, a meeting was held under the Chairmanship of Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi on November 1, 2021 in which it was decided that out of increase of Rs. 50 per quintal of sugarcane price, the private sugar mills shall pay 30 percent i.e. Rs. 15 per quintal and rest 70 percent of the increased SAP i.e. Rs. 35 per quintal would be transferred directly into the band accounts of the cane growers by the Punjab Government on behalf of the sugar mills.
AMENDS GUIDELINES FOR UTILIZATION OF FUNDS UNDER PNP
To obtain ex-post facto approval/approval for new work from Cabinet regarding revision of guidelines for utilization of funds under Punjab Nirman Programme (PNP), the Council of Ministers gave its nod to amend the guidelines for utilization of funds under the Programme: “PM-10-State Level Initiatives-Punjab Nirman Programme” to incorporate additional permissible works and to ensure speedy implementation and execution of development works at the district level.
This step would help to improve the living conditions of people of Punjab in both the rural and urban areas, and to address their felt development needs more effectively at the grass-root level, in consultation with the local area representatives. The funds under this programme are provided for infrastructure and development works and for filling the missing gaps in local areas.
