HP to sign MOU with Centre for setting up medical colleges

Himachal Pradesh will sign MoUs with the Centre for establishing two medical colleges at Nahan and Chamba regions of the state.
The state cabinet today approved signing of Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Centre for setting up of two medical colleges with a capacity of 100 MBBS seats per college per year.
The proposed government medical colleges would be attached to district hospitals of the concerned district and total expenditure on establishment of the twin colleges would be Rs 378 crore.
The cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh also approved sanction of Social Security pension to about 12,000 pending applicants and enhancement of monthly pension from Rs 500 to Rs 550.

Pensioners aged over 80 would get Rs 1,000 per month, irrespective of income limit, while pension to physically challenged persons would be raised from Rs 500 to Rs 750 per month from April 1, 2014.
The cabinet approved the proposal to give Scholarships to the physically challenged students without considering their family income. The scholarship would cover students from Class I to post graduate level, including

diploma/vocational/technical/professional courses being run through government institutions.
It also decided to provide marriage grant of Rs 8,000 to persons with 40 to 69 per cent disability and Rs 40,000 to those with 70 to 100 per cent disability.

The cabinet decided to engage 500 Jal Rakshaks (water guards) for 543 Rural Water Supply Schemes for distribution of water from storage tank, and recruit 150 clerks in the state secretariat.
The cabinet gave its approval for inviting objections and suggestions to the Himachal Pradesh (Transparency and Grievance Redressal) Amendment Rules, 2014 and the Draft Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Himachal Pradesh (Payment of Unemployment Allowance) Rules, 2014.