Cabinet Decisions
Shimla:The Himachal cabinet today adopted the “Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojna” to provide an insurance cover for all below poverty line (BPL) families, increase women reservation in Panchayati Raj bodies approved a transport depot for Bilaspur, scale up funds for scheduled caste sub-plan and approved uniform pay scale to all law officers in the state.
Presided over by chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal the cabinet in a late meeting approved the insurance plan that would provide an cover of Rs 30,000 per family to 2,82,316 BPL families in the unorganized sector on an annual premium of Rs 750 out of which the beneficiary family would have to contribute only Rs 30 per annum, a cabinet spokesman said.
The cabinet decided to scale up the formula based allocation of funds to the Scheduled Castes Sub-Plan from the existing 11 percent of the aggregate plan size to 25 percent. This would earmark Rs 594 crore for the sub-plan in 2008-09 against Rs 231 crore that was allocated in the previous year, said the official spokesman.
The cabinet also approved increasing the reservation to women in Panchayats at every level from existing one-third to fifty percent of the total number of seats in the Panchayats.
To facilitate repair and maintenance for transporters, the cabinet decided to set up a transport nagar at Beri in Bilaspur which would help to decongest the national highway.
A uniform pay scale for all law officers in the Himachal Pradesh Secretariat was approved. Upgradation of 8 police posts to police stations also got the cabinets nod.
The cabinet approved an amendment in the Himachal Pradesh State Commission for Women Act, 1996, enabling the chairperson and commission members to hold office during the pleasure of the state government for a term not exceeding three years from the date they assume office.
As Editor, Ravinder Makhaik leads a team of media professionals at Hill Post.
Spanning a career of over two decades in mass communication, as a Documentary Filmmaker, TV journalist, Print Media journalist and with Online & Social Media, he brings with him a vast experience. He lives in Shimla.
