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CM Launches e-district portal to mark Digital India Week

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SHIML- The Digital India program envisages bringing all basic services directly to the public through the use of Information Technology in this fast changing world said Chief Minister, Virbhadra Singh after launching 7 g2c (e-district service from government to citizens) under e-district portal, Aadhar Permanent enrolment center and Digital lockers to members of Vidhan Sabha under the Digital India Programme here today.

Chief Minister said that launching of Digital India Programme was a part of Digital India week launched by Prime Minister of India on Wednesday and today it was launched in the State as a part of larger initiative to empower the people to have access to Information Technology (IT) for better and speedy delivery of services to the people of the State.

The chief Minister said that today we would not have celebrated this week if the last UPA government had not come up with an ambitious National Fibre Optical Network (NOFN) project that provided high speed internet connectivity upto the gram panchayat level.

He said that Himachal Pradesh was one of the leading states in implementing Information Technology in Government sector. The State Government has been endeavouring to bring transparency and accountability through e- Governance in the delivery of services to the people. There has been a constant and sincere effort to introduce same in the entire state since long. As technology keeps changing rapidly with every passing day, I believe that one has to keep pace with it to keep oneself well informed, said the Chief Minister.

He said that all major development works in the State were witnessed during the successive Congress Governments. Though a little has been contributed by others too but maximum development and major achievements took place in the successive Congress regimes.

“The internet has become somewhat like household commodity used by every family and I would like to see the day, when it will be used by everyone, even in the remote corners of the State”, he said.

Chief Minister said that around 1800 offices were connected through HIMSWAN Network. About 2000 Common Service Centers were providing government services to the citizens in almost every corner of the State. It gives me great pleasure to inform that citizens above 18 years of age in the State were having ‘Aadhaar’ Number”, which counts to 96 percent as of now, he said.

I am happy to say that there is a bank account in every home and we have been declared as banking saturated State, he said, adding that these are big achievements for a hilly State like Himachal Pradesh having difficult topographic conditions.

Speaking on the occasion Speaker Vidhan Sabha, B.B.L. Butail said that HP Legislative has a great role to play to ensure participation of people in development process. He said that Digital India week was being celebrated to provide speedy service to the people of the State besides achieving the objective of Digital India.

He said that HP State legislative was the first in the country to adopt e-Vidhan and launch the same on 4th August 2014 and the first legislative assembly to be paperless saving an expenditure of Rs 15 crore per annum.” Our objective is to make all MLAs well equipped with various tools of IT and all the MLA’s were provided internet dongles for surfing”, he said. The teams of other State, Karnataka, Assam, Meghalaya, Uttarakhand, Gujarat and other many States were keen to adopt the system and were in continuous touch with us, remarked the Speaker. He said all correspondence and reply by the departments would soon be on-line saving paper and other related material. Training camps would be organised in respective constituencies for e-Vidhan training camps at Sub-division level.

Director IT, Ms. Priyanka Basu welcomed and honoured the Chief minister and Speaker Vidhan Sabha respectively and detailed about the services under e-district mission mode project. She said that 51 services of eleven departments were being brought under Digital Programme. Various services as Birth and death registration, issuance of BPL Certificate, enrolment and registration under MNREGA ,etc. would be digitized.

Special Secretary, IT, Ms. Nandita Gupta proposed vote of thanks.

A detailed presentation of the services to be digitized was also given by officers of IT department of the State. Director IT Vidhan Sabha, Dharmesh K. Sharma also gave presentation on e-Constituency management which will help the members of legislative assembly to know more about the ongoing development works and its status in their respective constituencies on their mobile apps. This will help in better management and monitoring of works, he added.

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HP Govt Employees to Get Higher Pay Scale on Completion of Two Years of Service: CM Jairam

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hp govt employess higher pay scale

Shimla-Himachal Pradesh Government employees working in different departments before January 3, 2022, would be given a higher scale at par with other employees on completion of two years tenure of regular service. A higher pay scale was also announced for the Junior Office Assistants (IT) on completion of two years of regular service.

Chief Minister Jairam Thakur made these announcements during the Karamchari Maha Sammelan of the Himachal Pradesh Non-Gazetted Employees Federation at the hotel Peterhof on Sunday.

He appreciated the role played by the employee especially frontline workers in the battle against the pandemic.

He said most of the government employees in the state have been given revised pay scales and on average, every employee has got the benefit of a 12 to 15 percent salary hike. There has also been an increase in the pension of about 1.50 lakh pensioners of the state. The financial benefits of Rs. 7801 crore have been given to state government employees and pensioners from the year 2018 to 2022. The pensioners who retired before 2016 are getting the benefit of a 15 to 20 percent increase in the pension while around 40 thousand pensioners who retired after 2016 would be benefitted soon, he said.

He said the daily wages were Rs. 210 in the year 2017 which has been increased by the present state government to Rs. 350. Similarly, 12 per cent interim relief annually has been provided to government employees and pensioners during the present government’s tenure. He said the Himachal government has provided Dearness Allowance to its employees and pensioners on the lines of Punjab and Central governments from the due date. The Punjab government has given only 5 percent interim relief to the employees while the Himachal government has provided 21 percent interim relief to its employees.

“Out of the total interim relief amount given to the employees and pensioners amounting to about Rs. 6500 crore, Rs. 3500 crore has been paid during the tenure of our government” added the Chief Minister.

He said that the state government has increased the government contribution for NPS employees from 10 percent to 14 percent benefitting more than one lakh employees. The NPS employees are being given the benefits of retirement and death gratuity at par with employees falling under the old pension scheme. The government has also increased the upper limit of death gratuity from Rs. 10 lakh to Rs. 20 lakh.

The Chief Minister said the state government has also increased the honorarium of para-workers working in various departments. The salary of outsource workers has been hiked by Rs 1,500 per month.

Non-Gazetted Employees Federation President Ashwani Thakur thanked the Chief Minister for providing various financial and other benefits to different categories of government employees.

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Most Covid Restrictions to be Lifted From March 31, Mask and Hand Hygiene to Continue

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all caovid restriction lifted in himachal pradesh

New Delhi-The Centre has issued a notification to the States informing that the provisions of the Disaster Management (DM) Act, 2005 will not be invoked in the country after March 31. The Union Health Ministry said that the use of face masks and following hand hygiene will continue.

It implies that most of the Covid-related rules and restrictions would end.

Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla issued the notification which said that the decision was taken following the overall improvement in the situation and the preparedness of the government in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, local authorities and State police can still invoke fines and criminal cases against persons violating COVID-19 norms under the Indian Penal Code (IPC), a senior government official said.

The DM Act was invoked on March 24, 2020, due to the pandemic

“Over the last seven weeks or so there has been a steep decline in the number of cases. The total caseload in the country stands at 23,913 only and the daily positivity rate has declined to 0.28%. It is also worth mentioning that with the combined efforts, a total of 181.56 Cr vaccine doses have been administered,” the notification said.

“I would like to mention that in view of the nature of the disease, we still need to remain watchful of the situation. Wherever any surge in the number of cases is observed, the States/UTs may consider taking prompt and proactive action at a local level, as advised by MoHFW (Health Ministry) from time to time,” the notification said.

The Indian government had issued various guidelines and measures for the first time on March 24, 2020, under the Disaster Management Act to curb the COVID-19 situation in the country, which have been modified several times thereafter.

India currently has 23,087 active COVID-19 cases and recorded 1,778 new cases and 62 deaths in the last 24 hours. The daily positivity rate has also declined to 0.28%.

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HP Cabinet Decisions: Country Liquor Made Cheaper in New Excise Policy, Read All Decisions

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hp cABINET DECISIONS MARCH 20,2022

Shimla-A meeting of the Himachal Pradesh Cabinet was held on March 20, 2022, under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur.

The excise policy for the financial year 2022-23 was approved. Approval was also given for the renewal of retail excise vends in the state for the financial year 2022-23 at the renewal fees of 4% of the value of unit/vend.

The State Government said that wants to enhance the government revenue and curb the smuggling of country liquor from the neighbouring states by a reduction in its price.

The brands of Country Liquor will be cheaper as license fees have been reduced. This will help in providing good quality liquor at a cheaper rate to the consumers.

In the new excise policy, the 15% fixed quota of country liquor for manufacturers and bottlers to be supplied to the retail licensees has been abolished. According to the government, this step will give the retail licensees to lift their quota from the suppliers of their choice and further assure the supply of good quality country liquor at competitive prices. The MRP of country liquor will be cheaper by 16% of the existing price.

In this year’s policy, the Gaudhan Vikas Nidhi Fund has been enhanced by Re.1/- from the existing Rs.1.50 to Rs.2.50.

The fixed annual license fee of Bars has been rationalized by abolishing the area-specific slabs of license fee. Now throughout the State, there will be uniform license slabs based upon the room capacity in hotels.

Rates of the annual fixed license fee of Bars in the tribal areas has been reduced considerably.

Further, all the above stakeholders will have to install CCTV cameras at their establishments as it was made mandatory for them.

Wholesale vends and retail vends, the penalty provisions under the H.P. Excise Act, 2011 have been made more stringent.

An end to end online Excise Administration System would be established in Himachal Pradesh, the government said.

HP Government estimates a collection of Rs 2131 crore revenue during the year, which will be Rs. 264 crores higher than the financial year 2021-22 – growth of 14% in state excise revenues.

The Cabinet also gave its nod to amend Himachal Pradesh Disaster Relief Manual-2012 to include deaths due to biting of honey bees, hornet and wasps, accidental drowning and deaths due to accidents of vehicles (including land, water and air) under this Manual.

The Cabinet gave its approval for filling up 11 posts of ‘A’ Class Tehsildar in Revenue Department through direct recruitment on regular basis through Himachal Pradesh Public Service Commission.

HP State Toll Policy 2022-23

The HP Cabinet also gave its nod to HP State Toll Policy for the year 2022-23 which envisages auction cum tender for all the toll barriers in the State. During the year 2021-22, toll revenue has registered a growth of 20 percent of the previous year’s revenue.

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