The Hindu : Front Page : Government doctors off downsizing order

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Friday, Jan 14, 2005

Front Page

Front Page

Government doctors off downsizing order

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, JAN. 13. The Union Cabinet and the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs today took important decisions in the economic and social sectors, including exemption of doctors and paramedical staff of Government hospitals from the purview of the order on staff downsizing, increase in the minimum support price (MSP) for copra, relaxation of norms for technology upgrading fund scheme for the textile sector and expansion of the scope of the pension scheme for Telengana freedom fighters.

The decision on exemption of hospital staff from the downsizing order includes medical and non-medical scientists, nursing and pharmacy staff, physiotherapy and occupational therapy staff, and technicians and other supporting staff in different departments, besides doctors and psychologists.

The order, issued in May 2001, stipulates that Government organisations should not fill more than one-third of the vacancies in a given year.

On an average, three per cent of the Government staff retire every year. By restricting the filling up of vacancies to one-third, it was expected to reduce the staff strength by 10 per cent over a period of five years.

Today's decision follows a request from the Health Ministry that Government hospitals should be exempted from the order as they performed an essential public service.

MSP for copra

On the MSP for copra, it was decided to fix the rate at Rs. 3,820 a quintal for ball copra and Rs.3,570 for milling copra for the 2005 season. This marks an increase of Rs. 70 a quintal over last year MSP for both varieties.

dThe increase was based on the recommendations of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices.

As regards the technology upgrading fund scheme for the textile sector, it was decided to raise the capital ceiling for purchase of equipment to Rs. 1 crore from Rs. 60 lakhs for the decentralised power loom sector and enhance the rate of capital subsidy from 12 to 15 per cent for small-scale textile and jute units.

The Cabinet and the CCEA also cleared the proposal for a Rs. 2,118 crore international container transhipment terminal at Cochin Port on a build-operate-transfer basis, and approved the creation of a corpus fund of Rs. 200 crores for cooperative training.

They also gave the nod for provision of an outlay of Rs. 283 crores for creation of new infrastructure and maintenance of old ones in the Central Agricultural University in Imphal and the colleges of agriculture, veterinary science, fisheries and horticulture in Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura and Arunachal Pradesh.

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