Two new schemes for children

Kozhikode Corporation programmes to benefit the differently abled

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Ayurveda centre proposed in the city

Money from Poverty Social Fund and Plan funds

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Kozhikode, India: The Kozhikode Corporation has decided to introduce two new schemes for children residing in the limits of the city.

One is Support to the Challenged (SUCHAl) and the other Ayurvedic Centre and Research Institute for Child and Adolescent Development (ARCADE). The first scheme will benefit around 300 differently-abled children. The project is aimed at overcoming their challenges and developing their skills for the future.

Deputy Mayor P.T. Abdul Latheef said here on Thursday that funds would be mobilised from the Poverty Social Fund, a component of the Kerala Sustainable Urban Development Programme (financed by the Asian Development Bank) and the Plan Fund allotted from the State government. A sum of Rs.23 lakh would be required for implementing the scheme, he said.

He said that parents of these children found it financially difficult to meet the needs of their wards. The scheme would help mitigate the suffering of parents to a great extent. An amount of Rs.15 lakh would be allocated this fiscal for providing scholarship to these children, Prof. Latheef said.

Training

Training would be given to children to develop their skills. Software in this regard was available in the market. Mobility scooters would be provided to physically-challenged children. A sum of Rs.20 lakh would be allotted for this scheme, he said.

The ARCADE scheme is drawn up to study the physical, mental and intellectual problems of children right from the primary age-group to adolescents and provide them with Ayurvedic treatment. A one-acre plot has been identified for the purpose at Nallalam on the outskirts of the city. The area which belonged to the Corporation has scope for further expansion activities.

Elaborating on the scheme, Prof. Latheef said the Ayurvedic centre would deal with epilepsy, behavioural problems and mental challenges faced by children. It would function as a multi-disciplinary research centre as well as provide treatment in physiotherapy, speech therapy and psychotherapy.

The Corporation had planned to involve several government agencies such as National Rural Health Mission, Department of Health Sciences, Department of Social Welfare and Department of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy (Ayush) under the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in the project.

The civic body expected funding from the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) as well, he said.

The Deputy Mayor said K. Sreekumar of Kozhikode District Ayurveda Hospital had been entrusted with the task of preparing a project in this regard. A detailed project report would be submitted to the stake-holders via the State government.

Facilities

He said the Corporation would also consider a scheme to improve facilities at the existing Anganwadis and construct a few more for the benefit of children belonging to the economically backward communities. Already the budget had proposed a sum of Rs.2.20 crore for nutritional needs of children at Anganwadis this year.

Repairs would be carried out in a time-bound manner at 20 Anganwadis, another 20 would be upgraded as resource centres for women empowerment and four new Anganwadis would be constructed this fiscal, Prof. Latheef said.

Reference Link
http://www.hindu.com/2010/04/16/stories/2010041652750300.htm

Courtesy
The Hindu

National LPG scheme inaugurated

“Govt. committed to providing clean fuel to rural households”

JAIPUR, India: Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Murli Deora inaugurated the Rajiv Gandhi Grameen LPG Vitarak Yojana as a national scheme for providing liquefied petroleum gas to the rural households at Lachhmangarh in Sikar district of Rajasthan on Sunday. Six dealers were selected for rural locations in the State through draw of lots.

Addressing the gathering, Mr. Deora said the Union Government was committed to providing convenient and hygienic cooking fuel to the rural households on a priority. “This scheme will greatly improve the cooking conditions in the kitchens of rural women,” he added.

The public sector oil marketing companies have invited applications for LPG distributorship at over 1,200 rural locations in eight States where LPG coverage is lower than the national average. Mr. Deora said while the selection process for these places would be completed by April-end, 800 more locations would shortly be advertised as part of second phase of the scheme.

Locations for supply

In addition to selection of dealers for Sikar, Jhunjhunu, Nagaur and Churu districts in the State, draw of lots were also held for 44 locations in West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand.

Union Rural Development Minister C. P. Joshi, Minister of State for Road Transport Mahadeo Singh Khandela, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, Indian Oil Corporation Chairman B. M. Bansal and Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Managing Director R. S. Sharma attended the function.

Mr. Deora said a high-level committee appointed to look into the issue of establishing an oil refinery in Rajasthan was likely to submit its report within the next fortnight: “The final decision in this regard will be taken after the study of the committee’s recommendations.”

The Union Minister called upon the oil company officers to ensure that the subsidies on natural gas and petroleum products reach the target groups. He said the State Governments should also evolve a mechanism for monitoring the distribution of kerosene to ensure its adequate supply to the poor families.

Reference Link
http://www.hindu.com/2010/03/15/stories/2010031561390700.htm

Courtesy
The Hindu

Public bodies to accept thousands of interns

Sweden

To meet labour market policy goals the Swedish Alliance government is now demanding that public authorities accept thousands of interns.

The Swedish Tax Agency (Skatteverket) alone is obliged to find work for 6,000 trainees under the government’s “Lyftet” (Lift) scheme, according to the Dagens Industri business daily.

“When I received the letter I was convinced that they had written it wrong, that there was one too many zeros,” said Elisabeth Bjar, HR director at the Swedish Tax Agency to the newspaper.

The government’s “Lyftet” scheme is aimed at occupying some 130,000 unemployed people, but by January municipalities and counties had only accepted 20 interns. The state will instead now take on the interns.

Swedish labour minister Sven Otto Littorin told the newspaper that he is well aware that finding places for 65,000 interns within the state apparatus was unrealistic.

“It is a high target, which I am conscious that we will not meet with regards to state authorities. But at the same time I think that we have to put pressure on state authorities to actually take part, in the same way as we have asked the local authorities to do so,” he told the TT news agency.

Littorin is also aware of the risk that trainees will not be given anything meaningful to do. But, he said, any activity is better than “just sitting at home and waiting for the benefits to arrive.”

“Even if the work tasks may not be 100 percent perfect, it is still better to have somewhere to go, to feel that there are others around, that you are not just left alone to wait for the money,” Littorin said.

Littorin rejected accusations from the ST union that the government is pushing the scheme to simply push down unemployment figures before the autumn election.

“It is of course not that at all, for the simple reason that these people are already unemployed. They remain registered as unemployed. So this is not an attempt to cook the books. However it increases the chance that they might return to work increases, and that is the whole point.”

Reference Link
http://www.thelocal.se/25232/20100226/

Courtesy
The Local