Himachal Pradesh

Himachal Pradesh's economy is largely banking on agriculture and animal husbandry. With a livestock population of about 4.41 million, their care is an essential part of every rural household

The Himachal Pradesh government plans to undertake huge infrastructure development in an effort to encourage tourism and boost the state's economy, Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu on Saturday. The government will also ensure that the state remains open to tourism during all seasons, he said in a statement issued here. Sukhu was referring to the closure of tourism activities in some scenic locations in Himachal Pradesh's tribal and remote areas following snowfall in the winter. The government is focussing on developing Kangra as the state's 'tourism capital', Sukhu said, and will spend Rs 390 crore allocated by the Asian Development Bank to strengthen the district's infrastructure. Kangra, which is home to the Dhauladhar mountain range and several historical temples, has immense tourism potential, he said. Sukhu said the government has already devised blueprints for various projects in the district to improve the experience of tourists and provide them with modern amenities.

The requirement of water in the state was projected to increase to 726.46 million litres per day (MLD) -- 575.97 MLD in rural areas and 150.49 MLD in urban areas -- in 2021

About 1.5 lakh farmers practising natural farming in Himachal Pradesh would be certified under Prakritik Kheti Khushhal Kisan Yojana (PK3Y) in 2023-24. According to a study, 28 per cent farmers have adopted natural farming techniques on their own through peer-to-peer learning without any training and therefore the focus of PK3Y in this financial year will be consolidation of farmers practising natural farming, said Agriculture Secretary Rakesh Kanwar. Addressing a meeting of the agriculture department officers to discuss the cluster-based agriculture development programme in the state, he said efforts would be made in 2023-24 to certify about 1.5 lakh farmers practising natural farming, a statement issued here on Friday said. He said focus should be on consolidation of the existing farmers, increasing their area under natural farming, conducting refresher workshops, capacity building training and exposure visits. The response and success in results on ground show that everyone is .

The Himachal Pradesh Assembly on Thursday passed a Bill to provide shelter, education and Rs 4,000 as pocket money to orphaned children, calling them children of the state. Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said the proposed legislation would make Himachal Pradesh the first state to have such legislation, but the opposition BJP claimed that its provision already exist in central schemes. The Himachal Pradesh Sukhashraya (Care, Protection and Self Reliance of Children of the State) Bill 2023 aims at taking care of destitute children and orphans. The bill defines destitute children and orphans as children of the state and provides for securing education, skill training and future of these children. Besides providing shelter and care, the orphaned children will get 'pocket money' of Rs 4,000 per month, thus benefitting 6,000 children. Replying to the debate on the Bill, Sukhu said Himachal Pradesh is the first state in the country to pass such a legislation and full budget provisi

The Himachal Pradesh government has decided to conduct a construction audit of roads and buildings to ensure there is no cost escalation after administrative approvals, Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said during Question Hour on Thursday. An enormous increase has been witnessed in the cost of construction of roads and buildings during the past five years and a construction audit would help arrest such cost-escalation, he said in the Assembly. Sukhu added that the state was passing through a financial crisis and accused the previous BJP government of opening institutions indiscriminately during the election year. "It would have been better if the previous BJP government had provided sufficient funds for the Mandi Degree College instead of opening more colleges," he added. Replying to a question from Anil Sharma of the BJP, Public Works Minister Vikramaditya Singh said the construction of buildings of Mandi Degree College would be completed during this year. He added there ha

The protesting farmers submitted a 9-point memorandum with demands including the withdrawal of eviction orders issued to farmers in Jammu and Kashmir

The bill includes the daughter on a par with the son as a separate independent unit. Earlier, the Act allowed an adult son to have an additional 150 bighas while denying the same right to an daughter

A 'yellow' alert for thunderstorm and lightning at isolated places has been issued for April 4 and a wet spell is predicted in the state till April 6, the Met office here said on Monday. Light rains continued to lash several parts of the state as Manali received 14 mm of rain followed by Dalhousie 12 mm, Shimla and Bhuntar 9 mm each, Narkanda 8.5 mm, Bharari 7 mm, Berthin and Amb 6 mm each and Sundernagar, Kufri and Pandoh 5 mm each. Following inclement weather conditions over the past few days, 13 roads have been closed to traffic in the state. Himachal Pradesh received 41 per cent deficient rains in March as the state recorded 66.8 mm of rain against the normal 113.4 mm, the MeT office here said on Monday. According to the MeT data, Sirmaur, Bilaspur and Solan received excess rainfall, while Kangra, Hamirpur, Mandi, Una and Shimla received normal rainfall Meanwhile, Chamba, Kullu, Lahaul Spiti and Kinnaur received deficient rainfall, the data stated.

The Himachal Pradesh assembly on Monday repealed the Himachal Pradesh Loktantra Prahari Samman Act amid a walkout by the opposition BJP. The opposition strongly opposed the Bill to repeal the Act and heated exchanges marked the proceedings. Introducing the Bill to repeal the Act, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Harshwardhan Chauhan said the previous BJP government misused funds in the name of "Loktantra Prahari Samman" and benefitted its favourites. "During emergency, no person was jailed as punishment and the arrests were preventive and the previous government spent more than Rs 3.43 crore in the name of Loktantra Prahari Samman," he said. BJP governments headed by former chief ministers Shanta Kumar and Prem Kumar Dhumal were in power twice, so why did they not take notice of Loktantra Praharis, he asked. Leader of the opposition and former chief minister Jai Ram Thakur said the government should reconsider repealing the Act if it has faith in democracy. Public Works Minister ..

The Himachal Pradesh government is all set to collaborate with the Union government on the "Aroma Mission", a lavender cultivation initiative that has proven to be a boon for farmers in Jammu and Kashmir. With the climatic conditions of several regions in Himachal Pradesh, including Chamba, being similar to those of Jammu and Kashmir, the state government aims to replicate the success of this initiative in Himachal Pradesh in a big way. This initiative will boost the economy of farmers as well as the state in a big way, a statement issued here on Sunday said. Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu had a discussion with Union Minister of State for Science and Technology and Earth Sciences, Jitendra Singh and the latter assured the state of providing technical support to farmers for the project. The Chief Minister said that the initiative has the potential to transform the lives of farmers and with the collaboration of the state and Union government, the "Aroma Mission" could prove to

The Union Ministry of Rural Development has sanctioned an incentive grant-in-aid of Rs 37.76 crore for Himachal Pradesh under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna (PMGSY), Public Works Minister Vikramaditya Singh said on Saturday. As per the report submitted by National Quality Monitors, the state has performed well in the maintenance of PMGSY Roads. Efforts of the state government for maintaining a good quality of the rural roads network and enhancing the expenditure of the same in the last two quarters were also taken into consideration, a statement issued here said. These incentives have been received after the gap of four years, Singh said and added that this incentive will be utilized for metalling and black-topping of rural roads constructed under PMGSY.

CM Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu is on a roll, but complacency could lead to trouble because governance alone is not the key to a successful tenure - politics is, as well

The Himachal Pradesh government has signed an agreement with BSNL for laying the optical fibre cable to provide 4G coverage in unconnected (remote and far-flung) areas of the state. A spokesperson of the state government informed on Friday that a memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed by Department of Information Technology Director Mukesh Repaswal and BSNL-HP Principal General Manager Charan Singh in the presence of BSNL-HP Chief General Manager JS Sahota. This will be a step towards providing reliable and high-speed connectivity to every part of the state, especially the far-flung and remote regions of Kinnaur, Lahual & Spiti, and Pangi. The state government had proposed a project to the Centre for the provision of connectivity in the un-connected villages of the state and had received Rs 50 crore for the same. Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) was chosen as the executing agency for the project. Now, with the signing of the MoU, BSNL will start the process of laying down

The 173-year-old heritage building and lush green lawns of the 'Rashtrapati Niwas', earlier known as the 'Presidential Retreat', at Mashobra in Himachal Pradesh will be thrown open for visitors from April 23. President Droupadi Murmu will officially open the estate to the general public during her visit to Shimla, Additional Secretary to the President, Rakesh Gupta, informed in a meeting at the Niwas on Friday, a statement issued here said. This would be an added attraction for people visiting the state capital in the Himalayan foothills. The entry fee for Indians would be Rs 50 a person and for foreigners, Rs 250 a person, according to the statement. The retreat will be open for people throughout the year, except on Mondays, government holidays and during the president's stay at the Niwas, it said. There will be no entry charge for group visits by government school students till June 30. The key attractions at the estate are the main building, the official dining halls and artifa

The Himachal Pradesh government would consider opening summer-closing schools that were closed due to low enrolment, Education Minister Rohit Thakur told Vidhan Sabha on Wednesday. He said the educational institutions will be opened on the basis of requirements. Replying to debate on cut motions on demand for education grants, Thakur said there are 455 schools in the state without a teacher and 3,145 schools are functioning with only one teacher as a result of which Himachal has slipped to 11th place in education and the focus would now be on quality education. In an apparent dig at the previous BJP government, Thakur said only two colleges were opened during four years while two dozen colleges were opened in the last six months and thousands of posts of teachers are lying vacant. BJP MLA Randhir Sharma said there are several villages, not connected by road and due to the rising trend of drug misuse, parents are weary of sending their wards to schools and, therefore, there is a nee

Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Wednesday flagged the issue of proposed water cess on hydropower plants with his Himachal Pradesh counterpart Sukhvinder Sukhu

Union minister Anurag Thakur on Sunday made a strong pitch for the expansion of Himachal Pradesh's Dharamshala airport to provide direct and seamless connectivity to the region. He made the demand as he and Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia and Minister of State for Civil Aviation V K Singh flagged off the first Delhi-Dharamshala IndiGo flight. Making a case for a larger airport, Thakur said that currently passengers travelling to Himachal have to go via Delhi and then board connecting flights as smaller airports in the state are unable to handle larger aircraft. Scindia said the Civil Aviation Ministry was already working on a two-phase expansion plan to increase the runway length from 1,376 metres to 1,900 metres to enable turboprop aircraft carry out operations without load penalties. Currently, the turboprop aircraft operating from Dharamshala airport are not allowed to take off with full capacity which leads to under utlisation and higher airfares. Scindia said the

Lodging their protest against the disqualification of Rahul Gandhi from Lok Sabha, Congress leaders on Sunday held a 'Sankalp Satyagraha' here. The Congress leaders and workers gathered at the Ridge and protested against the move. The party would launch a statewide protest against the alleged attempt of the BJP government to "kill democracy" and "muzzle" the voice of the people from Monday, said Congress leaders. Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu had on Friday maintained that a conspiracy had been hatched to defame Rahul Gandhi, who has been raising the issues of public concern. Gandhi undertook a march from Kanyakumari to Kashmir, and is the only leader who is raising the true voice of the people and keeping democracy alive, he had stated. Opposition is very important for a healthy democracy but the BJP has "throttled" democracy by not allowing the Congress leaders to speak inside Parliament as well as outside, Sukhu added.

It also urged the Central government to prevail upon the Himachal government to withdraw the Ordinance as it is in violation of the central Act i.e. the Inter State Water Disputes Act of 1956