Chief Minister Raghubar Das on Saturday stressed on the coordinated efforts by the Centre and the State Governments for speedy development of the nation.
Speaking at the 11th meeting of the Inter-State Council in Delhi, Das expressed that the discussions undertaken would be fruitful and positive for all round development process.
The CM, along with Chief Secretary Rajbala Verma, participated in the meeting convened after a 10-year-gap at the Rashtrapati Bhawan in Delhi.
The meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saw discussions on grant in aid, usage of Aadhaar in public service, improvement in quality of education, internal security among other vital subjects.
Addressing at the meeting, Das said that the State has made available its response to the Centre on the 272 recommendations of Punchhi panel, formed on federal structure of the Republic of India.
On utilising Aadhaar in public services, Das stated, “3.02 crore people of Jharkhand have Aadhaar numbers. The rest are youngsters aged between 0 and 18 years and they will be brought under the aegis of the unique identification number.
Aadhaar-based biometric attendance system is already in place in the State to ensure presence of public servants in Government offices.”
Direct Benefit Transfer under Aadhaar caters to 35 per cent beneficiaries of national and state social security schemes, with 16 per cent MGNREGA workers availing its benefits. The progress in this direction is below expected levels owing to the fact that only 60 per cent of the employment scheme beneficiaries have savings accounts with post offices.
All post offices will be brought on CBS platform by March 2017 to ensure that all payments under MGNREGA are made through DBT, Das said. “Distributing kerosene through ePoS machines will begin in six districts - Chatra, Giridih, East Singhbhum, Khunti, Hazaribagh and Jamtara - from October this year. All academic scholarships will be disbursed through DBT from financial year 2016-17,” he added.
Shedding light on quality of education in the State, CM Das said that 18,000 teachers have been appointed in primary and high schools of Jharkhand. To encourage education for girls, Jharkhand Balika Awasiya Vidyalayas have been set up in 57 blocks.
On a positive note regarding internal security, the CM informed the gathering that cases of naxal incidents have seen a decline of 14.89 per cent in 2015 in comparison to 2015 and figures till June this year stands show a decrease of 37.64 per cent. The number of police outposts has been increased to 606 during 2016 and 33 per cent vacancies in Jharkhand Police have been reserved for women to ensure security to women and children.