by admin | May 25, 2021 | Commodities, Commodities News, Commodity Market, Investing
Chandigarh : Making it another bumper rabi crop, food grain states Punjab and Haryana have procured over 206 lakh tonnes of wheat this season, food and supplies officials in both states said on Monday.
In Punjab, the wheat procurement was over 122.1 lakh tonnes as compared to 113 lakh tonnes procured in the same period last year. Over 121.6 lakh tonnes (99.6 percent) has been procured by government agencies.
Officials said that out of the wheat procured, nearly 102 lakh tonnes have been lifted from grain markets for storage.
In Haryana, nearly 84 lakh tonnes of wheat has been procured so far this season. The procurement is higher than the corresponding period last year.
State procurement agencies had procured 74.25 lakh tonnes wheat in the entire season. Procurement in both states started on April 1.
—-IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Entrepreneurship, News, Social Entrepreneur
By Jaideep Sarin,
Amritsar (Punjab) : If there is one big leveller for people, irrespective of their religion, caste, gender, social status or riches, it is the “langar”, or community kitchen, at the Golden Temple complex, where the holiest of Sikh shrines, the Harmandir Sahib, is located, in this city considered holy by Sikhs.
Referred to as the world’s largest community kitchen, the Sri Guru Ram Das Jee Langar Hall of the Golden Temple complex is unique in several aspects. On an average, it feeds over 100,000 people daily — from children to old people — from all religions, castes, regions, countries; and people from varied social, economic and political backgrounds.
“It is a 24×7 operation that carries on day and night all 365 days of the year. This has been going on for centuries, since the concept of langar was introduced by Guru Nanak Dev (the first Guru of the Sikh religion and its founder; born 1469) and propagated by other Gurus,” Wazir Singh, senior in-charge of the langar preparation, told IANS here.
At any given point of the day or night, the place is not only swarmed by devotees wanting to partake what is considered as blessed by service but by hundreds of volunteers who are ever-so-ready to be part of the voluntary cooking and serving process.
The langar food is even sent thrice daily to the two Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC)-run hospitals in Amritsar, especially to a ward where treatment of mentally-ill patients and drug-addicts is being carried out. The SGPC is tasked with the management all Sikh shrines.
“We have over 500 volunteer employees. The sangat (community) also pitches in with great enthusiasm daily. People come from across Punjab on trucks and tractor-trolleys — even other states, different countries — to help in this massive exercise of making and serving food. Several local residents, including women, have been coming here for years. People take time out of their government and private jobs to serve here, irrespective of their religion or caste. We welcome everyone with love,” Wazir Singh, speaking in Punjabi, pointed out, even as he continued to issue instructions to staffers involved in cooking the langar.
The langar is all vegetarian — comprising mainly of dal (maa-chole ki dal), rice (slightly salted for taste), chapattis, achar (pickle) and a vegetable, along with something sweet (kheer or prasad). In the morning, the “chai langar” comprises of tea and rusk.
The devotees sit down on the matted floor inside the langar hall in rows. To manage the huge rush, the SGPC volunteers allow only a few hundred to enter the hall at one time. The whole operation is carried out in a meticulous manner as a daily routine.
“The whole exercise is quite enormous but it goes on, with the blessings of the almighty, seamlessly. The daily expense is around Rs 15 lakh. We use 100 quintals (100 kg) rice and up to 30 kg (each) of dal and vegetables daily. Over 100 LPG cylinders (domestic size) are used daily for the cooking along with hundreds of kilograms of firewood for the traditional cooking. Nearly 250 kg of ‘desi ghee’ (clarified butter) is used in the cooking. We have over three lakh steel plates. We can serve 10 lakh (one million) people in a day,” Gurpreet Singh, in-charge of the kitchen, told IANS.
SGPC functionaries pointed out that 30,000-35,000 people from Amritsar and nearby areas are daily visitors to the shrine and partake langar thrice. Many of these are migrants from other states and poor people who cannot afford meals.
“Our doors are open for everyone without discrimination. We follow the concept of equality here,” said Amrit Pal Singh, a SGPC official at the Information Office.
The chapattis, in the thousands, are made on eight chapatti-making machines and even by hand by women and men volunteers.
The steel utensils (plates, glasses and spoons), used by devotees, also numbering in lakhs, are washed voluntarily by the devotees themselves or by volunteers.
“The shrine complex has such a spiritual attraction about it. The langar served here leaves you satisfied in many aspects. The whole experience touches your soul,” Ramesh Goyal, a devotee from Bathinda, said.
“I had always heard about this shrine. Today, what I experienced was heavenly. The langar service is unparalleled in any religion. They do it with so much devotion and humility despite such huge crowds. It is unimaginable,” Tariq Ahmed, who had come here with his family from Patna in Bihar, told IANS.
Anup Singh, a young Sikh devotee from Amritsar, often accompanies his grandparents and parents to the shrine.
“I love to serve chapattis to the people having langar. It is a very satisfying and fulfilling experience,” he said.
“The whole exercise is carried out selflessly. It is a big task but everything is carried out smoothly. We keep introducing changes depending on the needs of the devotees,” Roop Singh, Chief Secretary of the SGPC, told IANS.
The SGPC, known as the mini-parliament of Sikh religion, manages the Golden Temple complex and gurdwaras across Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh. It has an annual budget of over Rs 1,100 crore, mostly from donations at the gurdwaras.
The Golden Temple complex itself gets millions of visitors from across the country and other parts of the world annually. The strong Sikh diaspora in other countries like United States, Britain and Canada actively contributes to the shrine and visits it whenever they can.
(The weekly feature series is part of a positive-journalism project of IANS and the Frank Islam Foundation. Jaideep Sarin can be contacted at jaideep.s@ians.in)
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Commodities, Commodities News
Chandigarh : The Punjab cabinet, chaired by Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, on Saturday approved the policy for smooth procurement of 130 lakh tonnes of wheat during the forthcoming Rabi Marketing Season 2018-19, an official said.
The procurement of wheat will officially begin on April 1. Bulk of wheat arrival will take place after Baisakhi (April 13).
The cabinet directed officials concerned to ensure timely payment to the farmers at the Minimum Support Price (MSP) of Rs 1,735 per quintal as fixed by the Central government.
A spokesperson of the Chief Minister’s Office said elaborate arrangements had been made to procure 130 lakh tonnes of wheat by six procurement agencies, including Food Corporation of India and five agencies of the Punjab government as per allocated target during the season.
The two-month long procurement season will end on May 31.
A total of 1,835 mandis have been notified for the smooth procurement of wheat, the spokesperson said.
Agrarian state Punjab, known as the ‘Green Revolution’ state, contributes nearly 50 percent food grains (wheat and rice) to the national kitty despite having just 1.54 percent of the country’s geographical area.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
New Delhi : Punjab’s Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Bhagwant Mann resigned on Friday saying his “fight against drug mafia and corruption will continue”.
“I’m resigning as a president of AAP Punjab… But my fight against drug mafia and all kind of corruption in Punjab will continue as an ‘Aam Aadmi’ (common man) of Punjab,” Mann tweeted.
His resignation comes a day after AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal apologised to former Punjab minister Bikram Singh Majithia for alleging that he was involved in the “drug trade”.
Mann represents the Sangrur parliamentary constituency in the Lok Sabha remarks.
He was appointed the state party chief in May 2017.
Majithia had filed a defamation case against Kejriwal and others following the allegation made during campaigning in the Punjab Assembly elections .
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Corporate, Corporate finance, Corporate Governance
New Delhi : The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Wednesday approved promotion of agricultural mechanisation for in-situ management of crop residue in Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh and NCT of Delhi to address air pollution in the national capital.
A new central sector scheme was proposed in this Union Budget to address air pollution with total outlay of Rs 1,151.80 crore.
Establishment of farm machinery banks for custom hiring of in-situ crop residue management machinery and financial assistance to the farmers for procurement of such machinery are major components of the scheme.
Also, mass awareness campaigns will be undertaken along with capacity building programme, advertisement in print media, star campaigning, award for village and gram panchayat for achieving zero straw burning.
—IANS