Govt. to go ahead with 14th round of Janmabhoomi

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD, DEC. 11. The TDP Government has resolved to go ahead with the 14th round of the people's participatory programme, Janmabhoomi, from January 2 notwithstanding the impending panchayat raj elections.

Briefing presspersons after a Cabinet meeting today, the Minister for Information, Dr. N. Siva Prasad, said this decision would have no impact on the Government's commitment to conduct panchayat raj polls as early as possible as there was no link between the two.

As earlier, Sarpanches will preside over Gram Sabhas and Councillors over meetings held in their respective Municipal wards. The main emphasis on this round of Janmabhoomi will be enrolment for the mass literacy campaign, ``Akshara sankranthi'' and in educating people against superstition and black magic.

Free health and veterinary camps will be conducted in gram panchayat headquarters with focus on educating people about the dangers of AIDS and on deworming sheep respectively. Disbursement of new LPG connections, old-age and widow pensions and funds to DWCRA groups will also be taken up.

The programme will conclude on January 8 by forming human chains. Students have been exempted from participation in the Janmabhoomi programme as their annual examinations are fast approaching.

Sunset provision for laws

In a significant move, the Cabinet decided that all Acts and Government orders will henceforth have a sunset provision which would ensure that they are not misused. All legislations and GOs will have a definite validity period and thereafter be scrapped. A Cabinet Sub-Committee will look into the question of how long the Acts and GOs should be valid, Dr. Siva Prasad said without elaborating.

The Cabinet resolved that Ministers should launch a special campaign in ten districts to motivate farmers to sow irrigated dry crops instead of paddy during the coming rabi season due to poor rainfall during the North-East monsoon when they received only 85 mm of rain against the normal of 207 mm, a deficit of 60 per cent.

The districts identified for motivating the farmers were Nalgonda, Khammam, Warangal, Karimnagar, Nizamabad, Medak, Mahabubnagar, Anantapur, Cuddapah and West Godavari which has been included to warn the farmers about the poor inflow in Godavari at Nasik, which was 3,000 cusecs less than normal.

Reviewing the issue of payment of remunerative prices to farmers, the Cabinet noted that the situation had slightly improved in respect of paddy, maize, castor and groundnut. So far, the Food Corporation of India had procured 10.84 lakh tonnes of rice and 3,663 tonnes of paddy.

The Cabinet decided that there could be no compromise on its commitment to ensure a minimum nine hours' power supply to farmers. It decided to monitor all 4,500 power feeders and furnish details of the power supply position daily through the Internet.

The request for allotment of 10 acres of land at Nadimpalem village in Guntur district by Viswamanava Samaikhyata Samastha for construction of hospital complex and for 500 sq. yds of land in Jubilee Hills by Janaki, widow of G. Krishna Prasad, Additional SP killed in an encounter with Kashmiri militants in 1992, were approved.

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