Govt to increase scholarship for girl students from minority communities
New Delhi: The Ministry of Minority Affairs has decided to increase the scholarship of schoolgirls belonging to minority communities by up to 15 per cent. The Maulana Azad Education Foundation (MAEF), a subordinate organisation of the ministry, has decided to increase the total budget for its ‘Begum Hazrat Mahal National Scholarship Scheme’ for schoolgirls. It has also decided to start aggressive campaign to increase awareness about the scheme. During 2017-18, about 1,15,000 girls were given scholarship under the scheme. Around Rs 78 crore was allotted for this. “This year, we are planning to have a budget of Rs 90 crore. We have also informed the ministry about it,” said MAEF Secretary Rizwanur Rahman. “There is still a need to increase awareness about this scheme. We are trying to start aggressive campaign to spread awareness,” he said. (PTI)
1,561 pilgrims leave for Amarnath Yatra
Jammu: Another batch of 1,561 pilgrims on Sunday left Jammu for the Kashmir Valley to perform the Amarnath Yatra, officials said. “The yatris left Bhagwati Nagar Yatri Niwas in an escorted convoy of 62 vehicles. Of these, 1,179 yatris are going to Pahalgam base camp while 382 are going to Baltal,” a police officer said here. The 60-day long annual Amarnath Yatra which started on June 28 has been going on smoothly for the last 25 days with over 2,30,000 pilgrims having performed the yatra. Except for the vagaries of weather due to which four pilgrims were killed by a landslide on the Baltal-cave shrine route, the yatra has been proceeding smoothly. Those using the 14-km long Baltal trek return to the base camp the same day after performing the yatra while those using the 36-km long traditional Pahalgam trek take three days to reach the cave shrine. (IANS)
Akshay thanks GST for tax exemption on sanitary napkins
Mumbai: National Award winning Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar, whose film Pad Man tried to create awareness on menstrual hygiene, has thanked the GST Council for making sanitary napkins Goods and Services Tax (GST) free. Expressing his happiness, Akshay tweeted on Saturday: “One of those days when a news brings tears of joy as a cause close to your heart gets fulfilled. Thank you, #GSTCouncil, for understanding the need for menstrual hygiene & exempting sanitary pads from tax. I’m sure crores of women in our country are silently sending gratitude your way.” The GST on sanitary pads has been cut from 12 per cent to zero. (IANS)
Missing Bihar Board answer sheets recovered from scrap dealer
Patna: Hundreds of missing answer sheets of the Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB) Class 12 exam of 2017 were recovered from a scrap dealer here on Saturday and the dealer arrested, police said. Acting on specific information, a police team raided the scrap dealer’s store and recovered the copies that went missing last year. Scrap dealer Rajkishore Gupra was arrested for purchasing them, police said. According to police, a peon of the BSEB along with others had sold the copies of answer sheets to the scrap dealer. Last month, a Special Investigation Team of the Bihar Police recovered thousands of missing copies of answer sheets of the BSEB Class 10 exam from a scrap dealer’s shop and arrested two persons in the connection. (IANS)
Goa taxi union warn of stir over parking fine at airport
Panaji: Tourists landing at the Dabolim International Airport may have to face hardship in the coming days, as Goa’s taxi drivers on Saturday, warned that they would not drive up to the airport’s departure and arrival gates to pick up and drop passengers, accusing a parking contractor of imposing unnecessary fines on them. Speaking to reporters at the Dabolim International Airport premise, spokesperson for the All Goa Taxi Union Laxman Korgaonkar also demanded scrapping of the Rs 100 fine for taxi drivers who overshoot the five-minute parking limit at the airport’s departure and arrival ramp. “If the fine continues we will drop the passengers or pick them up from the main road. Or the passengers will be made to pay the fines imposed on us,’ Korgaonkar said threatening an agitation. (IANS)
Haryana sanctions Rs 25 crore for installation of CCTV cameras
Chandigarh: The Haryana government has sanctioned Rs 25 crore for installation of CCTV cameras in Gurgaon. A proposal to this effect has been approved by Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, an official spokesman said here today. “The Gurgaon police has been consulted on crime-prone and sensitive areas and 21 such spots have been covered in the solution architecture, out of which 16 are junctions. Each junction has been studied and plans have been drawn for the type of camera and its location,” he said. Under the project, Intelligent Traffic Management System, that is, ANPR cameras, Red Light Violation Detectors (RLVD) cameras and Speed Violation Detection systems would be installed at high-priority junctions, the spokesman said. (PTI)