Govt approves setting up of Mission Youth Society
34 posts created for Trauma Centre, Baramulla
JAMMU: With an aim to optimally utilize the demographic dividend of Jammu and Kashmir, the Administrative Council (AC), which met here Saturday under the chairmanship of Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha, approved the proposal to register the Mission Youth as a Society under the Societies Registration Act, 1860. This will facilitate establishment of required organizational and administrative structure for proactive outreach and purposeful engagement of the youth of the Union Territory.
The decision is aimed at providing a vibrant medium for youth engagement and empowerment to transform them into ambassadors of peace, prosperity, and development through a sieve of systematic interventions and positive benefaction across the domains of livelihood generation, education/skill development, psycho-social/career counselling, financial assistance, social recognition, sports, and recreation, an official spokesman said.
To enhance skill and employability of the youth, the Mission has partnered with reputed institutions/organizations of the country including BSE Institute, ICICI Foundation and Ashok Leyland. It will also roll-out skill development courses in various upcoming high employability sectors like banking, financial services, insurance, among others. Besides, two Centres of Excellence in the Automobile sector, one each in Kashmir and Jammu region will be shortly started, he added.
More significantly, to shift the fulcrum of developmental policy towards youth, super-specialized district youth centres shall be established across all the districts of Jammu and Kashmir. These centres are primarily aimed to present a safe, appealing environment with manifestations of hope, security and aspirations of the youth and are planned to offer a first of kind initiative in an environment covering four fundamental contours of youth engagement & empowerment viz.Inform, Inspire, Interact & Innovate.
Mission Youth envisions engaging with 80% of J&K’s youth population over the next five years and transforming them into a propelling force for socio-economic development of Jammu & Kashmir.
Meanwhile, the AC also approved the proposal of the Health and Medical Education Department to create 34 posts for making the newly constructed trauma center functional at Rafiabad in Baramulla district.
The trauma centre has come up with an estimated cost of Rs 4 crore, and will now employ consultant surgeons, physicians, anesthetists, ortho-surgeons, radiologist, and medical officers, besides sufficient para-medical staff and technicians.
Once operational, the centre will provide trauma care in emergency situations to the patients from north Kashmir and reduce accident-related casualties.
In another decision the AC approved the proposal of the Animal, Sheep Husbandry & Fisheries Department to wind up the J&K Sheep & Sheep Products Development Board.
The decision was taken considering that there has been no significant on-ground impact on production and marketing of wool and wool based product.
The Administrative Council further directed the Industries and Commerce Department to prepare a scheme tailored to the marketing needs of wool producers and provide Government support towards ensuring a remunerative price for woollen products.
The AC also approved an overhaul of the field administrative machinery supporting Panchayats by rationalizing various categories of existing posts in the Department of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj.
The reorganization of the Panchayats has become necessary keeping in view that the functioning of the Department has undergone a sea change after the Panchayat elections in 2018 with subsequent devolution of greater funds and functionaries and decentralization of planning and execution functions right down to the Panchayat level. The proposed overhaul in the administrative structure for Panchayats is aimed at strengthening the 3rd- tier of democracy through a cadre of trained professionals, as per the spirit of the 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act.
As a result of the AC decision, every district will now have an Assistant Commissioner Panchayat, a dedicated officer to look after the functioning of Panchayats and coordinate their activities. The officer will report to the Chief Executive Officer of the District Development Council, recently constituted in Jammu & Kashmir.
The decision will give way to a uniform structure of the officials performing the duties of Secretary to Panchayats by re-designating the posts of VLW/MPW and Gram Sevika as Panchayat Secretary.
Likewise, posts such as MukhyaSevika, Panchayat Supervisor, Lady Project Officer, Cooperative Extension Officer, Plantation Ranger, Road Roller Operator, Katib, and Photographer, which have become redundant, will be utilized for the creation of posts in tandem with contemporary dynamics of the Department.
Further, to streamline the career progression of employees, the posts of Panchayat Inspector Grade I & Grade II will be merged into a single cadre of Panchayat Inspector. Similarly, 5 different categories of class IV posts having similar functions and pay scale will be clubbed in a single category as Orderlies to simplify the hierarchical structure.
India accounts for 10 per cent of global road crash victims: Report
Washington: India, which has one per cent of the world’s vehicles, accounts for 10 per cent of all road crash victims, the latest World Bank report on road safety said on Saturday.
Hartwig Schafer, World Bank’s Vice President for South Asia, said the Indian government in recent years has taken significant steps to address the issues related to road safety.
For India, it’s one per cent of the world’s vehicles and 10 per cent of the crash victims. This is something where, in particular in India, we have to pay attention, Schafer told PTI in an interview on the occasion of the release of the report on road safety in New Delhi on Saturday.
While the attention in the last year has shifted due to COVID-19, there is an interesting link between road safety and pandemic right now, he noted.
Unfortunately, the road crashes have not been going down and any time 10 per cent of the capacity in hospitals is being used for the treatment crash victims, he said.
Schafer said road crashes actually hit the poorest and the most vulnerable segments of the populations.
“The financial impact of the crash is much more on poorer households than on better-off households. It is much higher on women who have to take care of the burden of caregiving. It is much higher on those who rely on foot and also in the informal sector,” he said.
However, according to Schafer, the good thing is that India was doing quite a bit on road safety.
Last year, India amended its Motor Vehicle (Amendment) Act, which is bringing a lot of innovation in terms of financing, protection and enforcement to the fore, he said.
Responding to a question, Schafer said that Tamil Nadu is one of the states which has reduced the number of crash fatalities by 25 per cent.
For us in the bank, this is a major part of our engagement in the transport sector — rural transport, urban transport — the focus on new mobility post-COVID is something that we are doing, he said.
In South Asia, he said, the World Bank is helping in road safety standards and institutional aspects of it as well.
Building a safe infrastructure is one of the key aspects of addressing this major challenge, he said.
We need to make sure that we have adequate roadside barriers. We need to make sure that traffic calming areas are being put in. The roads have to be safe. The vehicles have to be safe too, he said.
If we don’t have an appropriate vehicle inspection system then you have unsafe vehicles on the road, and it’s clearly documented that unsafe vehicles are actually contributing to crashes, he said.
Emergency health care facilities in the vicinity of highways make a huge difference in addressing the challenge of road safety.
When we plan highways now, we need to make sure that crash victims are getting care within the first hour of the crash. That very often makes the difference between life and death, he said.
Highway corridors in India that have a very coordinated healthcare and emergency health care of access, in terms of hospitals, trauma centres for emergency treatment, make a huge difference in terms of whether a crash victim recovers or passes away, he added.
Enforcement is another key aspect of road safety.
In the countries having credible enforcement, the number of roads and traffic accidents is going down, he said, adding that data collection and generation related to it is also important.
The Indian government is working on all these aspects, he said, exuding confidence that moving forward there will be a reduction in the crash fatalities in India.
Minister for Road Transport & Highways Nitin Gadkari is personally, very much committed to road safety, Schafer said, adding that the prospects of reducing road crashes in India are very good.
The goal of reducing the road crashes by half by 2030, is achievable, he asserted, noting that the foundation for this has been laid out in India.
Responding to a question, Schafer said that the global auto manufacturers should equip their vehicles in India with the same safety standards that they do in the United States and Europe.
The UN Special Envoy for Road Safety is working with the vehicle manufacturers association, to not have doubled standards, he said, adding that this has to be addressed from both sides.
I know that the Indian government is looking into raising those standards and setting standards, but it also has to come with a global pressure. It is important,” it said.
“You look at things that are available in terms of, starting with antilock brakes to go to automatic computerized lane retention. Those are things that we should see as standard across the world because they make a huge difference, Schafer said.
Indian roads witness 415 deaths per day in accidents, the highest in the world, Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari said last month.
According to the Road Accident Report for 2019, a total number of 449,002 accidents took place in India during the calendar year 2019, leading to 151,113 deaths and 451,361 injuries. (PTI)
