Free ration to those who lost work in Kerala floods
Thiruvananthapuram, Sep 27 : The Kerala government on Thursday announced it will provide free ration for three months to those who lost their livelihood due to the devastating floods.
"The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act scheme will also be reworked to provide more number of working days to those who suffered due to the floods," Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan told the media here.
He also announced various committees headed by senior officials to formulate policies and to speed up rebuilding efforts in flood-hit state.
A one-year moratorium has been declared on all agricultural and educational loans.
Heavy rains and floods from May-end to mid-August claimed 483 lives and forced at least 14.50 lakh persons to take refugee in over 3,000 relief camps across the state.
"To rebuild Kerala, various initiatives are being worked out. In order to help us chalk out schemes, a high-level committee of experts drawn from various fields will be set up. It will include serving officers besides retired ones," Vijayan said after a weekly Cabinet meeting.
It was the first Cabinet meeting this month as Vijayan left for the US for medical treatment on September 2 and returned early this week.
He said that reconstruction efforts would require building material like sand and stones and that a committee of experts would be set up to explore the use of prefabricated material to minimise the use of traditional building material.
"It has also been decided to tap corporates for CSR funds for rebuilding our state in whatever possible ways. Crowd funding and sponsoring of projects also will be taken up. For this, another committee will be set up," the Chief Minister added.
Another decision pertained to ways and means to keep the rebuilding cost to the minimim. Efforts will be made to get in touch with companies to procure material from manufacturers.
"We will begin talks with such companies to supply at the lowest possible rates," Vijayan said.
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SP has ended contract with I-PAC due to fund constraints: Akhilesh Yadav
Lucknow (PTI): Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Wednesday said his party has severed its association with the Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC) due to a lack of funds.
He dismissed speculations that the termination of contract was because of recent election results.
Addressing a press conference here, Yadav said the party had engaged I-PAC for a brief period ahead of the 2027 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections but could not continue the arrangement.
"Yes, we had an association. They worked with us for a few months, but we are not able to continue because we do not have that kind of funding," he said.
The I-PAC is a political consultancy firm known for managing major election campaigns across the country.
Election strategist-turned-politician Prashant Kishor has also been associated with the organisation in the past and has worked with multiple parties, including the BJP and the Congress.
In a lighter vein, Yadav took a swipe at the ecosystem of political consultancies. "We thought that if we have to work with a 'winning agency', then there are several big companies."
He said that some people suggested conducting surveys, hiring another firm, keeping a social media company, and even engaging agencies for negative campaigning against other parties.
"There are one or two more companies whose names are not yet known. I can get those for you as well," Yadav said.
Yadav rejected the suggestion that the decision to end the deal was influenced by recent election outcomes in states such as West Bengal.
"There is no such thing. Do not ask questions based on baseless reports. That is not true," he said.
"This is not the reason for ending the agreement. We simply do not have enough funds. If you (the media) give us funds, we can hire another company," the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister said.
