New Delhi, President Pratibha Devisingh Patil will flag off the 'Saakshar Bharat Yatra' from the Rashtrapati Bhawan here on Saturday. President Patil will flag off the 'Saakshar Bharat Yatra' at 11.30 a.m. on Saturday in the presence of Union Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Kapil Sibal and Minister of State for Human Resource Development Dr. D. Purandeswari. A nationwide mobilization campaign is being organized by National Literacy Mission during February-March 2012 in collaboration with a Non-Government Organisation: Bharat Gyan Vigyan Samiti for promoting Saakshar Bharat Programme. A country wide 'jatha' will be organized covering 22 States, 180 districts, 1000 blocks, over 16,000 panchayats. The objectives of the Saakshar Bharat Yatra are to draw the attention of the entire country towards Saakshar Bharat Programme, to carry out a nationwide campaign for mobilization of public opinion and enthusiasm towards the importance and need of literacy and life long education, to conduct widespread 'Jan Vachan programmes' for refocusing the public mind on issues connected with literacy and lifelong education, to create a demand for a major rural reading and ...
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New Delhi, President Pratibha Devisingh Patil has forwarded the complaint registered by the Election Commission against Union Law and Justice Minister Salman Khurshid to Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh for 'appropriate action'. "The President has taken note of the Election Commission's letter and forwarded it to the PMO for appropriate action," said the Rashtrapati Bhavan spokesperson. The Election Commission sought the 'immediate and decisive' intervention of President Patil last night after it charged Khurshid with "improper and unlawful" defiance of its orders under which he was censured for promising sub-quota for minorities. The Election Commission told President Patil that Khurshid's action could 'vitiate free and fair polls' in Uttar Pradesh and that it was 'perturbed because the undermining of its Constitutionally-mandated duties has come from the Law Minister who has direct responsibility to uphold and strengthen the ECI rather than to denigrate it'. The Election Commission had earlier censured Khurshid for his remarks on sub-quota for minorities, and said he violated the election code of ...
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New Delhi, President Pratibha Devisingh Patil on Wednesday said that there is tremendous work to be done to move forward on our social and economic agenda, if we are to achieve fast, inclusive and sustainable growth. Addressing the nation on the eve of 63rd Republic Day, President Patil said all social welfare programmes must be implemented efficiently to remove poverty, hunger and malnutrition, disease and illiteracy. Asking the agencies involved in the delivery of services to have a strong sense of duty and work in a transparent, corruption free, time bound and accountable manner, President Patil cautioned that tremendous work remains to be done to move forward on country's social and economic agenda. Asserting that we have a population which is predominantly young, President Patil said: "With education and training, they can become skilled and, thus, capable of finding their livelihoods, starting their own businesses and thus, becoming productive assets." "Reinforcing our health and education sectors is fundamental for developing our human resources. Primary education is now a fundamental right for children," she added. Calling for integration of agriculture, ...
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New Delhi, President Pratibha Devisingh Patil has said India is committed to working with Mali to achieve the goals of ensuring inclusive growth and sustainable development. Addressing a banquet at the Rashtrapati Bhavan in the honour of visiting President of the Republic of Mali Amadou Toumani Toure and his wife Toure Lobbo Traore last night, the President also assured them of India's continued support and cooperation in its quest for faster socio-economic development through technical cooperation and financial and material assistance. Noting that India has had historic ties with Africa, the President said, "India considers it a privilege to be a partner in Africa's development process. India is committed to working with Mali, to achieve the goals of ensuring inclusive growth and sustainable development. "We would be happy to assure Mali of our continued support and cooperation in its quest for faster socio-economic development, through technical cooperation and financial and material assistance." In this context, the President announced the recent grant from India of a line of credit of 100 million dollars for a power transmission project in Mali. "We hope this ...
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New Delhi, Top leaders and lawmakers of the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would meet President Pratibha Devisingh Patil on Thursday to lodge their protest over the Rajya Sabha episode of Dec 29 when an alleged pre-planned chaos by the ruling party stalled passage of the Lokpal Bill in the upper house of Parliament. The BJP group will include LK Advani and they are likely to protest the handling of the day's proceedings by Vice-President and Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari. In what is seen as the ruling Congress party's orchestrated and pre-planned strategy of creating chaos in the House thereby stalling passage of the Lokpal Bill, the Rajya Sabha was adjourned sine die at midnight on Dec 29 leaving the anti-corruption ombudsman law in limbo. The government action evoked strong reactions from Opposition which called the Congress cowards and murderer of democracy and said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh should resign. Opposition alleged that the entire episode in the Rajya Sabha was scripted. The extended session of Parliament ended thus without a Lokpal Bill being passed. The BJP is also now observing a protest week from Jan 3 to 10 over the episode ...
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New Delhi, Aadharshila, an organisation of writers, journalists and artists, has urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President Pratibha Devisingh Patil to recognise contribution of renowned magician Shankar with a Padma Shri. In a letter to Dr Singh, founder president of Aadharshila Pradeep Sardana has appealed to them to recognise magician Shankar by awarding him Padma Shri for his contribution to the art of magic and his social service. In his letter to the Prime Minister and the President, Mr Sardana has expressed anguish at the fact that in the 57 year history of Padma awards, only one magician - P C Sarkar - has been recognised for a Padma award in 1964. "Though this art is thriving and continues to entertain millions of Indian every year, no other magician has been found worthy of the Padma award which has gone to 2,420 personalities in the last 57 years," Mr Sardana said in his letter. Making a strong pitch for awarding Padma Shri to magician Shankar, he said, "Magician Samrat Shankar, who has been devoted to the 'art of magic' and social welfare activities for the last 36 years, is one such personality who has entertained people of India and overseas and ...
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New Delhi, President Pratibha Devisingh Patil has constituted a committee of governors under the chairmanship of Punjab and Rajasthan Governor Shivraj Patil to study and recommend measures for enhancing productivity, profitability, sustainability and competitiveness of the agriculture sector in India with special reference to rainfed area farming. The committee will deliberate on need for formulating requisite policy initiatives and legislative measures, institutional reforms including restructuring and convergence of schemes at the local level so as to integrate with the village economy and avenues and prospects for investment in agriculture and allied sectors. It will also discuss on measures for transfer of innovations and new cutting edge technologies to the farm and allied sectors, steps to meet the emerging scenario of farm labour and farm mechanisation and to recommend the role and participation of agriculture related public sector undertakings. Agriculture universities and research institutions both at the Central and state levels in the promotion of sustainable agriculture and knowledge management and a way forward for farmer-industry partnership would be ...
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