The Hindu : Other States / Pondicherry News : Government to pay public exam fees of students

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Friday, Apr 22, 2005

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Government to pay public exam fees of students

Staff Reporter

Administration pegs expenditure at Rs. 30 lakhs

PONDICHERRY: Chief Minister N Rangasamy announced in the Assembly today that the government would bear the full expenditure on examination fees for students appearing for the Standards X and XII public examinations, estimated at Rs 30 lakhs.

Replying to the views expressed earlier during the debate on grants to various departments including Education, the Chief Minister said the government would fully reimburse the management of the Teachers Welfare Fund, as the fund had paid for cash prizes to best schools.

Welfare fund

As the government would bear the expenditure, the Rs 36 lakhs spent so far from out of the Fund would be refunded. He said he did not want welfare programmes for teachers to suffer any setback.

Rangasamy who was virtually flooded with a volley of pleas and requests from both the ruling and opposition blocks when he was going ahead with the replies also said that the workers engaged as daily wage paid staff in government departments would be regularised and those working as part time staff would be made daily wage paid employees.

Women's college

A women's college would be started in Yanam region he said.

The Department of Revenue would provide financial succour to families below poverty line category, who had lost the main breadwinner. Till February last the scheme was operated in collaboration with the Life Insurance Corporation. But the department itself would hereafter operate the scheme.

Rangasamy said that hotel meals would be exempted from the eight percent sales tax as the government wanted to attract more tourists to Pondicherry.

All the products coming under Indian Made Foreign liquor would be subject to excise duty only and the sales tax component for the products would be merged with the excise duty. However, levy of sales tax would be continued for beer.

The Chief Minister said that all along 0 percent of posts in various ranks in police department were filled by promoting candidates on seniority basis with the remaining 50 percent through selection on the basis of tests and examinations. Now the Administration had decided to refix the ratio at 80:20, with 80 percent of posts being filled on promotion on the basis of seniority and remaining through tests.

Temple grants

Hindu temples facing shortage of funds would be granted Rs 10,000 as recurrent grant every year to enable the devasthanam to carry out poojas. Such temples would also be sanctioned a grant of Rs 750 for power tariff and Rs 500 to meet the expenditure towards water tax.

Mr Rangasamy said that women police would be appointed under a special quota.

A Anbalagan (AIADMK) could not succeed in extracting a reply from the Chief Minister on the actual percentage of quota reserved for women police.

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