Taking a step towards educating the poor

It is not just some schemes and rules applied by the administration, which will help in educating the children in the rural areas, we have to put in personal efforts and do something for the society. Be it an educational institute or an individual, you must play your role in taking this noble cause further.

Satya Bharti Adarsh Senior Secondary School has been doing a lot in this sector. From finding students from the villages, identifying their potential to teaching them and helping them score great numbers, they have been doing it all. In the tenth standard this year, they have a number of marvelous examples of students who were picked up from their day-to-day lives, fighting to help their parents in feeding the family. All of these students have performed brilliantly and scored great position in the class tenth exams. They had 225 students appearing for the examination this year, out of which, 41 have scored a perfect 10 CGPA and 56 students have scored CGPA between 9 and 9.9. This has been possible because of the continuous efforts of the teachers of the school, administration and their motivation amongst the kids to excel in the examinations.

The schools were located in the rural areas, still the kids from different challenging backgrounds of their lives came forward and regularly attended classes along with taking care of their families and various other chores. These students were so determined to come out with flying colours in the examination that the school has had a pass percentage of 99.11 percent.

The students, who came for studying at the school, were spotted by the institute in villages or at different construction sites. The determination amongst the kids and their will to work hard and learn something new made such a brilliant result possible. Every child should at least get an opportunity to be educated and make a bright future of his own.

Bharti Foundation is the Non-Government Organization that has been working towards this noble cause and look out for students around the rural areas of the state. They then get along with the schools and fund the educations of the children. Various other organizations and educational institutions should take up this challenge of educating the poor. If this problem is solved, various other issues of the country will be sorted if the literacy rate increases at a fast pace.

Specialized Medical Camps in Bathinda

It is difficult for people living below the poverty line to afford specialized health check-ups at hospitals, due to their financial status. Guru Gobind Singh Ji Refinery organized a number of specialized free health check-up camps under their Corporate Social Responsibility Initiative and they had set up medical facilities at the villages nearby to facilitate the same.

Various corporate organizations and the government have been organizing a number of free health check-up camps in different parts of the state. This is an initiative, which helps the poor in detecting the disease, if any at an early stage. As they cannot afford these checkups, therefore they are unable to detect any serious illness developing in their bodies. The doctors at the camp help them in identifying their physical and mental state so that they can further guide them towards leading a healthy life.

Guru Gobind Singh Refinery has organized a total number of 50 medical camps in 30 different villages of Punjab and Haryana in the year 2015-16. These include nine villages from Punjab, namely, Phullokhari, Kanakwal, Giana, Ramsara, Tarkhanwala, Sekhu, Malkana, Raman and Bagha. From Haryana, it includes around four villages, which are, Hasu, Naurang, Tgri and Chattha.

The response of these medical camps have always been very positive, at it educates the villagers about early symptoms of some serious diseases and also guide them to quit any unhealthy practices and move towards an illness-free life.

Specialized doctors were available at all these camps for different check-ups that range from cardiac, pediatrics, gynecology, general medicine, ENT to eye, orthopedic, health and hygiene and more. The doctors also educate the villagers about the basic guidelines towards first aid and make them aware of road safety basics. The basic check-ups like ECO, ECG, blood-sugar levels, blood pressure are done for free of cost for each and every citizen of the villages where the camp took place.

Improved seeds sold like ‘Hot Cakes’

The Punjab Agricultural University has been organizing various Kisan Melas across the state of Punjab to educate the farmers about new techniques in the field of farming and introduce them to the new introduced seeds and even organic farming. These Melas have helped a number of farmers in exploring a new world in their own field and regenerate their interest to tryout new things and develop their processed with the discovery of new technologies.

With these Melas taking place around the state, we now have an increased demand of improved seeds from the farmers for a variety of crops. It is great to see that the farmers are ready to try out new innovations in their fields, which will help them yield better products. Dr TS Dhillon, Director (Seeds) said that the seeds were produced for different varieties in a large number by the university and around 2, 400 quintal paddy seeds were sold through these seed sales centers at the Kisan Mela.

The ones which were most in demand by the farmers, included, PR124, PR 122, PR 121, PR 114 and Pusa Basmati 1121. Other crops, which were sold in large numbers, were, maize, desi cotton, arhar, oil seeds and a variety of fodder crops. PAU had produced around 2, 500-quintal seeds of fodder crop maize’s variety J1006, which were the favourite amongst all the farmers across the state.

Improved seeds for vegetables were also being sold at the seeds sales centers and PAU had prepared around 21, 000 vegetable kits for farmers to experiment with. These were also sold out in large numbers.

As the PAU has been taking a number of initiatives to improve the experience of farming and help the farmers in yielding the best results, they had recently organized a Field Day on pulses and oil seeds. The Department of Extension Education organized this. It was organized at the Sheikh Daulat Village where around 120 farmers participated in the activity. It was an experience for them to gather first hand information and gather tips on new techniques and technologies, which can help them in procuring the best possible results with their seeds.

New Bus Stand constructed at Raman Mandi

The residents of Raman Mandi in Bathinda have been demanding for a new bus stand with modern facilities since a long time as the one that was there before, was of no use. Now a modern bus stand has been constructed there at a cost of Rs. 2. 51 crore.

The department of PRTC had to take 12 canals and 5 marlas land of the Raman Mandi council, which is on the Bathinda-Dabwali road on lease to construct the bus stand as it was a dire need of the residents. Avtar Singh Brar, the Chairman of the PRTC has made all the efforts to deliver the best possible results to the public.

He says that the construction of the bus stand started in April in the year 2014. The Union Minister for Food Processing, Harsimrat Kaur Badal, inaugurated the project. The bus stand has been constructed with all the modern facilities for the passengers, starting from loading platforms to different counters for boarding buses, PEB structures, counter boards and more. Toilet facilities have been made separately for men, women and even the handicapped. Parking spaces have been made available for all kinds of transport, like cycle, scooter, rickshaws and cars, so that the passengers visiting the bus stand do not face any challenges.

The passengers would not have to worry even if they have to wait at the bus stand as proper waiting rooms and benches have been made, keeping in mind their comfort and there are seven different shops, hotels and enquiry office, in case the passengers need help from the authorities.

Bus stands have been constructed at Amloh, Patran and Bassi Pathan to offer the best possible services to the people of Punjab. The bus stands are also being constructed at Faridkot and Sangrur, both of them are under construction, out of which the one at Faridkot is almost ready to be open very soon, and the one at Sangrur is done with its 60% construction. To ease out the travelling between the states for the passengers, the PRTC has launched 250 new buses, travelling on different routes, around the state of Punjab.

Government, trying to cure Hepatitis B & C

Health is one of the major factors that determine the development and progress of an individual as well as a society. To ensure that the society is going in the right direction, it is important to provide the people with the best of health care facilities.

Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C are two of the most common disorders that cause problems to people. To ensure that the patients of Hepatitis b and Hepatitis C get the best treatment free of cost, the government of Punjab is working on the lines of creating a fund for the patients of Hepatitis B and C. With the help of this fund, the patients would get free-of-cost treatment at government hospitals.

As per the current scenario, the patients are getting Hepatitis B and C medicines at subsidized rates. These medicines are available at the Red Cross outlets at the civil hospital. Earlier a major chunk of the poor patients were unable to afford costly medicines which will no be provided for free of cost with the help of this relief fund by the government.

Hepatitis C is most common among those who are intravenous drug users. A large number of people, especially the people of the Doaba region, are suffering from Hepatitis C. Out of every ten IDUs, six are reported with Hepatitis C. But the prevalence of Hepatitis B is relatively less.

The state government is highly concerned about the patients of hepatitis. Earlier, the medicines for these ailments used to cost between Rs 2.5 lakh to Rs 3 lakh. After some time, the costs were reduced to Rs 70,000 to Rs 80,000.

The government has now decided to provide relief for free to poor patients, depending on the magnitude of the problem. According to the Health Minister, a fund of Rs 20 crore has been kept aside especially for the patients of hepatitis B and C patients and tenders have also been passed.

The free-of-cost treatment of diseases will begin very soon in the government hospitals. This free treatment will serve as a boon for the poor people who cannot afford costly medicines. The patients of Hepatitis B and C will be relieved with this fund and medicines will be more accessible for such people.

An insurance cover up for Farmers

The Punjab Government had earlier given a number of benefits under the Bhagat Puran Singh Health Insurance Scheme to the farmers who had the atta-dal scheme card. Now they are again coming with a very benefitting scheme for the farmers, which will provide them with an insurance cover of around Rs. 50, 000 per annum.

The Panchayat and Rural Development Minister, Sikandar Singh Maluka and Sarup Chand Singla, the Chief Parliamentary Secretary will distribute the cards for this particular scheme to the farmers. The distribution of the cards will be done at the Community Centre, Model Town, Phase III, Bathinda.

It will be encouraging for the farmers and even make them feel secure. Farmers are the backbone of our country and especially of a state like Punjab. It is the duty of the government to take proper care of them and their families. Such schemes encourage people to take up farming, which is good for the future of the country and the economy.

There are times when farmers are suffering from serious illness and due to lack of financial funds, they are unable to pay for their treatment, and hence the country ends up in losing these gemstones. Since ages farmers have been committing suicides due to draught and other natural calamities, which destroy their crop. Such schemes will encourage them and will give them a ray of hope to live even in the worse situations.

This health insurance scheme will offer better health facilities to the farmers. And as per Dr Basant Garg, Deputy Commissioner, Bathinda, farmers will be entitled to go for free and cashless treatment under the Bhagat Puran Singh Health Insurance Scheme.

In cases when the head of the family dies or if there is a circumstance that he gets handicapped, the family will be getting a compensation of around Rs. 5 lakh under this scheme. Not only the farmers but also the entire families who will be registered under this scheme, will be entitled to get free health treatment in the listed hospitals. The farmers will have to visit the community center in Model Town, Phase III, Bathinda to get them registered under this scheme and get benefits of the same.

Renting farm equipment as easy as renting a cab

As the people living in urban states order cab at any point of the day just through a phone call, similarly now farmers can hire farm equipment by just making a call. There are many farmers in the rural areas of Punjab who have a limited landholding, and due to which they are unable to take out space to keep huge farming and agriculture machineries.

To solve their problem, the government is taking up efforts with the help of various authorities to help farmers in hiring tractors and other agricultural equipment very easily. The ownership rights of that particular machinery will be transferred to the drivers, who will e one of the landless farmers of various villages. A pilot project of this facility has been initiated in Fazilka and Muktsar districts by the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development. Here the farmers just need to make a call to hire farm implements, and this will be a great help for farmers who cannot afford these expensive machineries.

The bank is getting a very positive response with this new facility, and therefore they are even planning to launch the same in other districts, like, Faridkot, Ferozpur and Moga by the end of this year. NABARD has sanctioned an amount of Rs. 25 lakh for this facility and has associated with Fazilka based, Jawala Bhai Nathu Ram Trust to help in implementing this facility amongst the farmers of the area.

The trust will be spending Rs. 22 lakh out of this amount in purchasing pre-owned implements and the rest of Rs. 3 lakh would be used in training the drivers who will be using these. They have been running this in Fazilka since a few years and have been receiving a good response from the farmers. The farmers can just call the call center of the trust to avail this facility, and the rent coming in from offering this service, will be divided amongst the trust and the drivers. As the drivers will be paying some part of their income to the trust, to settle in the cost of the equipment, once that is settled, the ownership of the same will be transferred under their name.

New techniques for livestock farmers

The Punjab government does the best of efforts in order to help the farmers who are the most crucial people for not just the state of Punjab, but also for the entire population of India. The farmers of Punjab provide the maximum productivity in the field of agriculture.

The initiative of setting up new techniques for livestock farmers by the Punjab government has been applauded all over the state. The effectiveness of this is commendable. Farmers are benefitted to a great extend because of this initiative.

New and modern techniques are available for the service of farmers of Punjab. They have changed the scenario of farming and cropping in Punjab. These techniques are for multiple purposes.

Livestock farming will be more beneficial and can produce young entrepreneurs. There is strong demand in the market for the livestock produce, but it should be of good quality as everybody, is health conscious and wants quality produce. For that, the role of education and service departments is most significant and both have to perform excellently through their domains.

For the purpose of better and improved cultivation and production, the use of new technologies and methods are required. The state government is laying stress on the use of new technology and methods to reduce the burden of farmers and also to reduce the possibility of any kind of loss to the farmers.

The Punjab Government is strongly committed for the welfare of the farmers of the state. They are laying stress on the concept of livestock farming in order to ensure that every farmer of the state is in a better financial situation. This will be a major boost for the agricultural sector and another step towards the green revolution. The Punjab government wants to increase the total production of the agricultural sector of Punjab. Along with this, it wants to ensure that the farmers are in the best of conditions, financially and socially. Livestock farming is definitely a major step in the field of improving and enhancing the current agricultural output.

Bathinda, the best Zila Parishad for 2015-16

When an administration functions well, the people who get the maximum benefit are the common citizens. Each and every citizen wants an administration that will work for his or her welfare.The Bathinda Zila Parishad (ZP) brought laurels to the district by being adjudged the best Zila Parishad in the entire country for the year 2015-16. The entire town was painted in the colours of joy after this achievement. Besides the award, the ZP is also going to get a grant of Rs 50 lakh for further development on behalf of the Rural Development Department of the Central Government.

The Bathinda Zila Prishad has always been keen to develop the town. Development on the social and economic front has been the top priority of the Parishad. The transparent system of functioning is what distinguishes the Bathinda Zila Prishad from other Zila Parishads in the country.The development of any country depends on house it is functioning at the grass root level. If the grass root level is functioning effectively then eventually all the levels will be effective and the nation will be a developed one.

The Parishad ensures that every single penny from the funds and grants that they get is spent on the developmental activities. Cleanliness and sanitation have been two really important aspects that the Parishad had worked on. Such achievements not only help in getting recognition but also boost the morale of the administration as well as the public who strive hard to keep up their good work and achieve bigger goals in the future.

Growth and development of Bathinda were the main objectives of the Parishad. Each day something or the other is being planned and executed by the Parishad. The participation of the local people is also a benchmark set by this Parishad. People are happy with their administration because it entirely focuses on the public. The Parishad keeps taking new initiatives to ensure that the town receives basic facilities easily and every person in Bathinda gets the basic needs fulfilled. Bathinda is a model for all other places in the country that are running on the pathways of social welfare and development.

Farmers’ Health Insurance Scheme launched

Health Insurance Scheme was recently launched all around the state for farmers; to maintain their health and support them with any kind of help required making them stay healthy, as they are the backbone of our country.

Surjit Singh Rakhra, Minister for Higher Education launched the Bhagat Puran Singh Health Insurance Scheme at Bhawalpur Palace in Patiala. On the other hand, Bikram Singh Majithia, Information & Public Relation Minister offered free health treatment to farmers, small traders and registered construction workers under the Bhagat Puran Singh Sehat Bima Yojna in Amritsar.

Under this scheme, the farmers and their families will be given health insurance cover of around Rs. 50, 000 every year for each family who is a part of this scheme. Along with this, Rs. 5 lakh cover is also a part of the scheme for a situation when the head of the family dies accidentally or is suffering from complete disability.

Representatives attended the ceremonies in both the cities of Punjab from the respective authorities, and all are appreciating this scheme, it has specially developed confidence amongst farmers and their families. With such schemes, Punjab has become one of the very few states around the country that have been able to effectively implement pro-people schemes. With such schemes, the government is trying to help in raising the standard of living of Below Poverty Line families.

The benefits of this scheme can be enjoyed by the Smart Card Holders, which will include the Blue Card holders of Punjab, which are around 28 lakh families, J-form holder farmers, who are around 11 lakh in number, small traders and even construction workers, who are at least 2.3 lakh each. The government has earmarked, an amount of Rs. 116 crore for this purpose.

Along with taking care of their expenses on health related finances, the government will also be providing a cover of around Rs. 5 lakh in case there is damage due to fire on their business premises. Another health insurance scheme for the farmers is the cashless health insurance scheme, which is already being operated since January 2016. An amount of Rs. 56 crore has been reserved for the same by the government.