Empowering Women
Lt Governor Manoj Sinha announced the launch of the Super-75 scholarship scheme to support the education of meritorious girls belonging to economically backward families, so that they can excel in Medicine, Engineering, ITI and Humanity. The LG also announced a new scheme, Tejaswini, under Mission Youth, to provide financial assistance of Rs 5 lakhs to the girls between the age group of 18 to 35 years to start their businesses. Mission Youth will provide 10 per cent of the project cost and will also pay the interest every year.
The government also announced that no fee will be charged up to 12th standard from 5,89,000 girl students who took admission in different government-run schools. Meanwhile, the Mission Youth is soon going to start a digital marketing skill development programme in which 50 per cent of girls participation is expected.
Building Smart Capitals
Under the twin Smart City Projects, the government is working on smart IT interventions, Integrated Command and Control Centre, Intelligent Traffic Management System (ITMS), IT-based Smart Parking System for Jammu city, Complete Streets development project for Jammu city from Mubarak Mandi to Raghunath Bazaar, Residency Road “High Street”, Apsara Road “High Street”, besides road improvement from Dogra Chowk to KC Chowk, Improvement of 23 junctions, Jammu Smart Public Bicycle Sharing System, City Beautification, Façade Lighting Illumination of Bahu Fort and Mubarak Mandi Complex, Up-gradation and Modernization of Fire and Emergency Services. In Srinagar, the DPR vetted by IIT-Roorkee has gone for tenders. Similarly, requirements have been finalized with Traffic Police for 44 junctions identified for traffic violation and surveillance with the deployment of box cameras and IP based PA system. The progress of other projects was discussed in a meeting chaired by the Principal Secretary to Lt Governor, Nitishwar Kumar at Raj Bhavan.
Paperless Governance
The Administrative Council under the chairmanship of Lt Governor, Manoj Sinha approved the adoption of e-Office system in all administrative departments within and outside the
Civil Secretariat. The time-bound roll out of Rs 67.62 crore e-office in Government Offices will be a step towards the introduction of a paperless office, besides, saving on the cost of shifting official records twice a year between both Jammu and Srinagar and avoiding wear and tear as well as the loss of official records during transportation.
Further, the establishment of DR site outside J&K will ensure safe custody and retrieval of data in the events of unforeseen disasters. The shift to e-Office will bring a considerable improvement in the pace of disposal of official business and establish accountability through monitorable statistics of file movement, thereby improving public service delivery. The project entails setting up wired LAN for Civil Secretariat, Jammu and Srinagar for providing high speed and uninterrupted connectivity, setting up of dedicated 2 GBPS internet lease line for both Secretariats for providing 100% uptime, setting up of MPLS network for e-Office to create a secure Wide Area Network (WAN), providing gap infrastructure, setting up of dedicated near data centre in Srinagar to provide zero downtime experience to e-Office users in Srinagar in the rare event of loss of connectivity, and handholding and training of officers/officials.
Aiding Horticulture
The Administrative Council approved the implementation of a high-density plantation scheme in the horticulture sector with the support of the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd (NAFED). The scheme will be implemented for apple, walnut, almond, cherry, litchi, and olive among others over an estimated area of 5500 hectares of suitable agro-climatic zones for 6 years with effect from March 2021 to March 2026. The new high-density plantation scheme has provisions to provide a
50 per cent subsidy to orchardists for the establishment of high-density orchards accompanied by a loan facility for raising 40 per cent of the remaining capital. The scheme will also provide subsidies to the growers on account of expenditure related to micro-irrigation, plant material, and anti-hail nets. Under the scheme, preference will be given to farmers with landholdings of less than 4 kanal. NAFED will provide end to end support to the growers and will assess the suitability of available land for undertaking high-density plantation. It will also install a high-tech laboratory for certification of the horticulture produce on international standards, virus indexing laboratories, and will arrange for imports of the specified qualities and species from identified countries.
Academy Is A Society
The Administrative Council approved the proposal to register the J&K Academy of Art, Culture, and Languages as a Society under the Societies Registration Act, 1860. The decision will align the Academy with the administrative changes brought in Jammu and Kashmir after its reorganization in 2019. The reorganization is based on the existing models of central bodies like Sahitya Academy, Sangeet Natak Academy and Lalit Kala Academy. The new Society will be governed through a Governing body under the chairmanship of Lt Governor, and will also have other administrative authorities including General Council, Central Committee, and Finance Committee.
