Cycle to boys, gold to girls
Trying to woo voters ahead of Assembly elections, the Hemant Government, in a cabinet meeting, on Thursday decided to dole out freebies, threatening to squeeze the cash strapped public exchequer further.
The Cabinet meeting, presided over by Chief Minister Hemant Soren, decided to extend the cycle scheme all categories of boy students apart from all the school going girls. This apart, girls marrying under the Mukhya Mantri Kanyadan yojana, would be given heightened financial assistance.
“The boys who would register 80 per cent attendance in the schools would be provided cycles. All the girls enrolled in the schools would be given cycles in class VIII,” said Cabinet Secretary JB Tubid. Though, the payment route would not be the Direct Benefit Transfer however the Government had expressed intention in this regard before.
The Government also under the Mukhyamantri Kanyadan scheme would assist a marrying girl with Rs 30,000 which would include five gram 24 carat gold given through nationalised banks. The assistance is double than the earlier Rs 15,000. “The scheme would be implemented with the effect from April 1, 2014,” said the Secretary.
Salaries of the employees working on contract basis under the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) have seen a quantum jump. Women observers who have been getting Rs 6000 every month would now draw Rs 23,500 while the peons would get Rs 10,700 against Rs 3000 now.
The Cabinet also approved the rules for taking care of neglected ageing parents and senior citizens. “The Government would ensure that such uncaring children pay minimum Rs 10,000 every month to their parents under the rule,” added Tubid. Rules for boats used for navigational purposes have also been approved which would determine security norms, registration and license of the boatmen.
The Government also allocated 5.82 acres of GM land to ISM, Dhanbad free of cost to meet the norms required for getting an IIT tag. Four new inter-state check posts at Bahragoda, Meghadri (Koderma), Raidi (Gumla) and Mudisemar (Garhwa) would also be established. Total 16 proposals came for consideration before the Cabinet.