A thought for the single parent
SHILLONG: Amid the plethora of welfare promises made by the candidates, the one made by United Democratic Party candidate for Shillong, John Kharshiing, stands out.
SHILLONG: Amid the plethora of welfare promises made by the candidates, the one made by United Democratic Party candidate for Shillong, John Kharshiing, stands out.
Kharshiing has chosen a scheme for the single parent and is promising to implement it, if elected.
According to the proposed scheme, a certain amount of money will go to the woman’s accounts for expenditure on children till they attain the age of 14.
Kharshiing said the scheme, primarily aimed at empowering single parents, has been introduced in 22 countries.
If Shillong chooses him as their representative to Parliament, he will request all the MPs to introduce a bill on the Child Benefit Scheme.
In countries where it has been implemented, the scheme is a centrally-sponsored one like the old-age pension programme which allows employers to assist their employees with childcare costs.
The US and Canada, for instance, have made it a point that each child gets $200 a month through a similar scheme for education and medical expenditure, he added.
The amount to be put into mother’s account in India can be worked out once the bill is introduced.
Displaced Reangs vote today
AGARTALA: Displaced Reang voters of Mizoram, sheltered in six camps in North Tripura district, exercised their franchise on Tuesday through postal ballots in eight centres at Naisingpara in Tripura.
AGARTALA: Displaced Reang voters of Mizoram, sheltered in six camps in North Tripura district, exercised their franchise on Tuesday through postal ballots in eight centres at Naisingpara in Tripura.
Mizoram goes to the polls for its only seat on April 16.
A 44-member team of the Mizoram election department, led by assistant returning officer, Banglan Mwata, conducted the polls.
An observer of the Election Commission, S.M. Das, supervised the election process.
A total of 12,539 people are eligible to vote this time.
No one to share tea with!
DIBRUGARH: It may not be a cakewalk for AGP sitting MP from Dibrugarh, Sarbananda Sonowal, after all.
DIBRUGARH: It may not be a cakewalk for AGP sitting MP from Dibrugarh, Sarbananda Sonowal, after all.
Simply because there is no Kamakhaya Prasad Tasa this time to play spoiler for Paban Singh Ghatowar by dividing the crucial tea votes.
However, Sonowal believes that he has found the solution to tackle this problem.
Sonowal had been utilising the services of BJP legislator from Duliajan, Rameswar Teli, and the secretary of the party’s tea cell Teros Gowala — who had lost by a thin margin to the Congress during the last Assembly polls — to woo the tea voters.
“It is good that my two trusted lieutenants (Teli and Gowala) had been able to do their job properly,” said Sonowal.
All for the mother tongue
SHILLONG: The Khasi language has become a top poll agenda in the Shillong Lok Sabha constituency, with almost every candidate promising to empower the language once elected.
SHILLONG: The Khasi language has become a top poll agenda in the Shillong Lok Sabha constituency, with almost every candidate promising to empower the language once elected.
Most have also decided to try and include the language, spoken 15 lakh people in Khasi and Jaintia Hills in the Eight Schedule of the Constitution.
Congress candidate Vincent Pala says there is a need to protect the language from becoming extinct. John Kharshiing of the United Democratic Party also stressed the need to promote Khasi. The HSPDP candidate, Rev. P.B.M. Basaiwmoit, wants to find ways and means to attract people to read and write Khasi, while Meghalaya Democratic Party candidate Martle Mukhim said innovative methods should be adopted to improve the language.