Himachal seeks funds to strengthen local institutions

October 9th, 2009 SHIMLA - Congress general secretary and MP Rahul Gandhi will visit the Himachal Pradesh capital next week, state party chief Kaul Singh Thakur said Friday. "Rahul Gandhi will visit Shimla next week for a day.

October 2nd, 2009 NEW DELHI - Exhorting state governments to strengthen legal provisions and reform panchayati raj institutions to make them effective, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Friday emphasised that more needed to be done to improve the institutions of local governance. "The 73rd amendment of the constitution provides that state legislatures should empower panchayati raj institutions as the institutions of local self government and strengthen them so that they can evolve schemes for social justice and economic development," Manmohan Singh said while commemorating the 50th anniversary of the launch of panchayati raj.

September 22nd, 2009 SHIMLA - The central government has sanctioned projects worth Rs.243.43 crore that would help strengthen the rural road network in Himachal Pradesh, an official statement said Tuesday. "In order to strengthen the rural road network in the state, the central government has approved Rs.243.43 crore under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana," Himachal Pradesh Public Works Minister Thakur Gulab Singh said in the statement.

September 9th, 2009 SHIMLA - Himachal Pradesh has cleared 13 industrial proposals worth Rs.330 crore including those of Dr. Reddy's Laboratories and Johnson and Johnson, Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal said here Wednesday.

September 3rd, 2009 NEW DELHI - Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal Thursday urged the central government to set up an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) and an Indian Institute of Management (IIM) in the hill state. Dhumal met union Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Kapil Sibal here Thursday and offered Rs.15 crore as the state's share and 100 acres of land and other necessary facilities for setting up the technology and business schools in Himachal Pradesh.

August 18th, 2009 SHIMLA - Himachal Pradesh Tuesday requested the central government to include the state in the National River Conservation Programme as most of the rivers in northern states originate from it. State Environment Minister J.P.

August 2nd, 2009 SHIMLA - Himachal Pradesh has a reason to celebrate -- asked to control its population under the 'Hum Do, Hamare Do' campaign, it has achieved its target much before the 2010 deadline. Himachal Pradesh is among the 11 states to have achieved the central government's 'two-child per couple' target for population control, an official statement said Sunday.

July 14th, 2009 SHIMLA - Himachal Pradesh Tuesday asked mini hydropower project producers to provide funds for the development of the areas where the power plants have been commissioned, a government spokesperson said. "The state government decided that all private power producers generating hydroelectricity up to 100 KW (0.1 MW) will have to provide three percent of the income generated from the project to the local gram panchayat for the first 12 years and six percent thereafter.

July 10th, 2009 Administration seeks to bolster SEC's authorityWASHINGTON — The Obama administration has sent Congress legislation designed to protect investors by bolstering the authority of the Securities and Exchange Commission. The proposal unveiled Friday is part of the sweeping plan for overhauling the U.S.

July 10th, 2009 SHIMLA - Former Himachal Pradesh deputy speaker Khimi Ram Friday took over as the state Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief, a party leader said. "Khimi Ram this (Friday) afternoon assumed the charge of the state party chief.

June 22nd, 2009 SHIMLA - Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal has requested the central government to take steps to expand the railway network in the hill state. In a letter to Railway Minister Mamta Banerjee, Dhumal asked the railways to make provisions in its budget for 2009-10 for the construction of Bhanupalli-Bilaspur-Beri, Ghanauli-Baddi, Nangal-Talwara and Bilaspur-Manali-Leh rail lines.

June 21st, 2009 SHIMLA - Rampant smuggling of maple tree wood through border areas of Tibet and China in Himachal Pradesh state has become a serious cause of concern for residents in Himachal Pradesh. Local residents in Himachal's Kinnaur and Shimla districts say that there is threat of entire lot of the maple tree being vanished in near future.

June 18th, 2009 SHIMLA - Students in Himachal Pradesh's Sirmaur district had a narrow escape Thursday when the roof of their school collapsed, officials said. More than 100 students had a miraculous escape when the roof of our school collapsed this (Thursday) afternoon, school principal Anup Rani told IANS on phone.

May 3rd, 2009 NEW DELHI - President Pratibha Patil, who has voiced concern over the rising incidents of ragging, has assured the parents of 19-year-old Aman Kachru who died March 8 due to ragging by seniors in a Himachal Pradesh college that universities across the country would be sensitised about the rules on ragging. The president gave this assurance to Rajendra Kachru, the father of Aman, and said she would write to all the governors, who are also chancellors of universities in their respective states, to sensitise the institutions on the menace, officer on special duty (OSD) at Rashtrapati Bhawan Archana Datta said.

January 22nd, 2009 SHIMLA - A senior police officer of Himachal Pradesh has been suspended after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) framed charges against him, an official said Friday. Additional Director General of Police B.S.