Ranchi Mar 30 PTI The Jharkhand government is encouraging scientific cultivation of lac to empower women in villages as well as reviving the process in several regions through welfare projects officials saidAround 73000 farmers are engaged in lac production in the state they said Scientific lac cultivation is transforming the lives of people living in remote rural areas of the state It has also been revived in many areas through the Women Farmers Empowerment Project and Johar Project while better market and price of lac is being ensured for farmers an official statement said Nearly 2000 tonne of peel lac has been produced by farmers in 2021-22 it saidA total of 460 collection units and 25 centres are operational across the state to facilitate sale of lac productsEfforts are underway to increase income of rural women of Jharkhand by connecting them with forest produce-based livelihood the statement said citing the example of Ranjeeta Devi of Rumkoot village in West Singhbhum district who fetches an annual income of up to Rs 3 lakh from lac cultivationShe has been cultivating lac using modern technology for the last few years it saidThe Jharkhand State Livelihood Promotion Society conducts a 25-day training session for women to help them understand the basics of lac cultivation The eastern state is the countrys leading producer of lac which is primarily used as dye PTI NAM RBT RBT

Ranchi Mar 24 PTI The Jharkhand government on Thursday hinted at amending rules so that if land acquired by any company is not used for five years it will be returned to the original land owner on par with a Central legislationA provision of the Jharkhand Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in land Acquisition Rehabilitation and Resettlement Rules -2015 stating that if any land acquired by a company was not utilised for five years will be returned to original land owner has been removed by the previous government Congress leaders alleged in the state AssemblyMLA Pradip Yadav who joined the Congress after the 2019 Jharkhand assembly polls said that according to the Centres Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act 2013 if land is acquired under the 2013 Act and it is not utilised for five years then it should be returned to the original land owner or go to the land bankHowever in the states rules the provision of returning land to the original land owner is missing It only mentions that if land is not utilised for five years it may go to land bank My request to the government is to add this missing provision in the states rules Yadav saidReplying to it minister Joba Manjhi said The wrong that has been done earlier will be corrected Highlighting another problem Yadav said when a land is identified for acquisition the government issues notice to land owners and after publication of the notice date land owners are not able to use their land for farmingIn many cases companies refuse to take such land for some reason or the other after few years In such cases the land owners neither use their lands for farming nor do they get any compensation from the companiesI would request the government to do an assessment of such land and ensure compensation to land owners Yadav saidIn response the minister said she would ask the deputy commissioners concerned to do an assessmentWe will take a decision after the assessment she said PTI SAN NAM MM MM

Ranchi Mar 24 PTI The Jharkhand government will request the Centre to extend the deadline for paddy procurement till April 30 this year in case it fails to achieve the target by March 31 a senior minister informed the state Assembly on ThursdayThe target for 2021-22 is 80-lakh tonne and the deadline for procurement is expiring on March 31The state has achieved over 71 per cent of its paddy procurement target till March 23State Food Public Distribution and Consumer Affairs Minister Rameshwar Oraon told the House We have already achieved 7133 per cent of the target till March 23 and there are seven more days to goWe are hopeful of achieving the target by March end In case we fail to do so a request will be made to the Centre to extend the deadline till April 30 Oraon was replying to a question raised by BJP legislator Manish Jaiswal over poor paddy procurement in the statePaddy is the main crop for farmers in Jharkhand but average procurement is 50-55 per cent every year I would like to ask the government for how long farmers will remain in such condition Jaiswal askedCongress MLA Rajesh Kachhap also participated in the debate and raised a question over inadequate procurement centres in the stateProcurement centres should be extended to the panchayat level he saidIn the absence of procurement centres farmers are forced to sell their produce at a very low price to private parties BJP legislator Raj Sinha saidResponding to the questions state Agriculture Minister Badal Patralekh said procurement centres are being extended to the panchayat levelHe also said that paddy procurement has increased in past two yearsProcurement target in 2018-19 and 2019-20 was 40-lakh tonne while achievement was 53 per cent and 56 per cent respectively In 2020-21 the target was increased to 60-lakh tonne and the achievement was a whopping 103 per cent For 2021-22 the target was increased to 80-lakh tonne and the achievement is over 71 per cent till now the agriculture minister saidA farmer in Jharkhand sells paddy produce at minimum support price MSP of Rs 2050 per quintal including Rs 180 bonus from the state governmentPointing out that the government was working to improve milling capacity Patralekh said Tenders for 19 rice mills have been floated Until basic infrastructure is ensured procurement cannot be made successful So we are also working to increase the number of godowns PTI SAN NAM MM MM

Ranchi Mar 23 PTI The Jharkhand government on Wednesday announced an increase in the solatium given to kin of the victims of hit-and-run road accidents to Rs 2 lakh from Rs 25000The announcement was made weeks after the Centre announced a similar hike in the solatium to Rs 2 lakh from Rs 25000If the Centre is providing Rs 2 lakh compensation we will also give Rs 2 lakh The total will be Rs 4 lakh Parliamentary Affairs Minister Alamgir Alam said in the state assembly replying to a query by BJP legislator Raj SinhaSinha demanded to know whether the government was increasing the compensation for the victims of road accidents BJP MLA Biranchi Narayan also raised the same matterSinha also raised concerns over fewer recorded road accident deaths in the stateThe Centre had on February 25 had notified the eight-fold increase in solatium for death in hit-and-run cases to Rs 2 lakh from April 1India accounts for about 5 lakh road accidents every year in which about 15 lakh persons are killed and around 3 lakh are crippled -- one of the highest in the world PTI NAM SOM SOM

Ranchi Feb 25 PTI The Jharkhand government on Friday set up a control room to help families of the students and workers stuck in crisis-hit Ukraine in the administrations effort to bring them back homeChief Minister Hemant Soren asked all affected families to provide information about their loved ones in Ukraine to the control roomThe state government has come out with a list of six landlines and five mobile numbers of the facilityI appeal to citizens and family members of all students and those who have gone to Ukraine for employment to contact the control room numbers to provide their information All possible help will be provided to them by the Jharkhand government in collaboration with the Centre Soren said in a tweetAccording to information received from different districts around 100 students from Jharkhand are now stuck in UkraineWhile the control room mobile numbers are 9470132591 9431336427 9431336398 9431336472 and 9431336432 the landline numbers are 2481055 2480058 2480083 2482052 2481037 and 2481188 PTI SAN NAM NN NN

Ranchi Feb 18 PTI The Jharkhand government on Thursday said 30 workers from the state are currently trapped in Malaysia and the process to bring them home was underwayThe workers residents of Giridih Hazaribag and Bokaro districts had been working as linemen for a construction company since January 2019According to a statement issued by the government the contractor was holding the workers back despite the employment agreement having expiredIt also said that the workers were not paid their dues over the past four monthsThe Labour Department has started the process of bringing back 30 workers trapped in Malaysia to Jharkhand on the instructions of Chief Minister Hemant Soren The High Commissioner of India in Malaysia B N Reddy has been requested to intervene in the matter the statement said PTI NAM RMS RMS

Ranchi Jan 21 PTI The Jharkhand government has reduced the rates for RTPCR and rapid antigen tests for COVID-19 by Rs 100 with immediate effect an official order saidAn RTPCR test in the state will now cost Rs 300 and a rapid antigen test can be done at Rs 50 it saidAdditional Chief Secretary of Health Department Arun Kumar Singh said the decision was taken following a reduction in prices of testing materialsJharkhands COVID-19 tally Thursday climbed to 412939 as 2617 more people tested positive for the virus while 12 fresh fatalities pushed the death toll to 5225 PTI IKD RBT RBT

Ranchi Dec 22 PTI The Jharkhand assembly on Wednesday passed the Pandit Raghunath Murmu Tribal University Bill 2021 by voice vote paving way for opening of the institution in Jamshedpur The government introduced the bill for discussion after lunch-break and it was welcomed by the ruling and opposition members However many MLAs including those of opposition BJP spoke about amendments in the bill and urged that it be sent to the assembly select committee for detailed discussion The amendment proposal was brought by BJP MLA Anant Ojha and AJSU legislator Lambodar Mahto and they urged the legislators nominated by the Speaker in the bill to be members of the executive council of the university but all these demands were rejected by the state government Congress MLAs Pradeep Yadav and Bandhu Tirkey objected to the absence of science faculty in the university and demanded its establishment The university will be based in Jamshedpur and will have jurisdiction over the entire state It will be open to all students irrespective of their class caste or creed PTI IKD ACD ACD

Ranchi Dec 22 PTI The Jharkhand government will issue caste certificates to students in all schools across classes within the next six months Chief Minister Hemant Soren has saidCamps will be set up in government and private schools to complete the exercise after December 29 Soren told the assemblyHe was responding to BJP MLA Nilkanth Singh Munda who raised the issue of difficulties being faced by students in getting caste certificates during Question HourMunda alleged that people in large numbers are coming to the state from Bangladesh and easily getting caste certificates and other government documents while Jharkhand residents have to face hardships in obtaining these The chief minister said his government does not work for the people of Bangladesh or any other country and assured that students will be issued caste certificates within the next six monthsOur government strives to solve the problems of the common people not a single student will face any difficulty with regards to caste certificate Soren added PTI IKD RBT RBT

Ranchi Dec 20 PTI The Jharkhand assembly witnessed stormy scenes on Monday as the opposition BJP demanded a CBI probe into alleged irregularities in the state civil services examinations while Chief Minister Hemant Soren said those who have Manuwadi mindset are not able to accept success of job aspirants belonging to SC ST and OBC communities in the tests Dismissing charges of corruption in the examinations conducted by the Jharkhand Public Service Commission JPSC Soren said the tests were conducted without any government intervention As soon as the House assembled for the Question Hour BJP members started raising slogans demanding a CBI inquiry into alleged corruption in the examinations and removal of the JPSC chairman Speaker Rabindra Nath Mahto asked the opposition members to follow the assembly norms to ask questions and get replies People who have Manuwadi mindset are having trouble over the JPSC results because members from SC ST and OBC categories are coming forward and have performed better Soren said in the assembly The opposition has been attacking the government over alleged discrepancies in conducting the 7th JPSC civil services examinations from the beginning of the ongoing winter session on December 16 Soren however said There has been no interference from the government in conducting examinations I challenge all 81 members here to come with any proofWe know what was the history of JPSC in the past when the previous government interfered with its activities Soren said The chief minister also said a former JPSC chairman was in jail and the CBI was also probing the case However opposition members continued their protests and were not satisfied with Sorens statement BJP MLA Amar Kumar Bauri said the CM was making divisive statements to defend corruption and the JPSC chairman CPI ML legislator Binod Singh said it would be better if the government came out with data to back its statement as they have access to all information Later speaking to reporters outside the assembly BJP legislature party leader Babulal Marandi said the CMs comment was a diversionary tactic to defend corruption as no one was raising questions about the category of people who have cleared the examinations Why has the commission not put the OMR sheets in the public domain as it was promised in the examination notification he asked The assembly however passed the supplementary budget of Rs 2936 crore Finance Minister Rameshwar Oraon had tabled the second supplementary budget of Rs 293612 crore on the second day of the winter session of the assembly on Friday PTI NAM BDC BDC