Drabu, Ganga spar in Cabinet meet

JAMMU: Amidst rising anxiety in the business community about nature of incentives and taxation in wake of the implementation of GST, the state cabinet held in Srinagar this evening is reported to have witnessed a brief but heated argument between Finance Minister Haseeb Drabu and Industries Minister Chander Prakash Ganga.
Sources said, soon after the Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti and the Ministers settled down for the meeting, the Industries Minister asked the Finance Minister for the contours of the package of incentives. "I want to know what is being done to the industry sector as I am being visited by a lot of delegations in Jammu", the Industries Minister is reported to have asked the Finance Minister. The Finance Minister, sources said, suggested that discussion on this issue could take place in next meeting of the cabinet after Darbar Move in Jammu. This, sources said, left the Industries Minister offended who picked a brief argument.
The Industries Minister said that the case of Industry was not properly represented by the state government before the Centre which is why the post GST package of incentives has come up unfriendly. This is believed to have angered the Finance Minister. In the meanwhile Chief Minister intervened to have the discussion deferred to the next cabinet.
Sources said that the government has decided to bear 100 percent refund under the SGST and 42 % under GST (58% is to be borne by the Centre). A decision on the Integrated GST (IGST) has been left pending.
Meanwhile, following are the key decisions taken by the cabinet:
nRegularization of Casual Labourers
The cabinet has accepted the report of the high level committee headed by the Chief Secretary laying out a roadmap for absorption/regularization of Casual/Seasonal Labourers/ Daily Rated Workers so as to ensure sustainable livelihood to thousands of persons and engagements which were made from time to time. The cabinet asked the Finance Department to workout concrete measures to operationalize the roadmap to meet the long-standing demand of such engaged persons.
nStart-up Hubs
To give a major fillip to the entrepreneurship and innovation and to engage youngsters in the industrial sector, the cabinet approved the scheme for setting up of Start-up Hubs and Incubators in Plug-n-Play model with initial capital infusion of Rs 5 crore through Higher Education institutions.
Under the scheme, an 11 Member State Level Empowered Committee will be setup as a decision making body for establishment of Start-up Hub, to periodically monitor the performance of the Start-up Ecosystem and to take decisions about the modifications in the scheme guidelines as may be necessary. Start-up Hub will have two parallel Centers, one at EDI Pampore in Kashmir and the other initially in the office of J&K EDI at Udyog Bhawan, Railhead in Jammu to be finally shifted to permanent Campus of the J&K EDI being established at Bari Brahman Jammu. 14 institutions in Jammu and 15 in Kashmir including Ladakh and Kargil have been proposed as Incubators which will function under the platform of a designated Start-up Hub which will function as a Nodal Agency. The Nodal Agency will perform a variety of functions like holistic networking for all the Incubators, entrepreneurship development agencies, academic institutions, R&D centers, industrial bodies and associations and funding/financing entities.

nState Water Policy
The state cabinet adopted State Water Policy and Plan. The Water Policy and Plan was to be formulated in terms of Section (IV) of the J&K State Water Resources (Regulation & Management) Act, 2010. The Cabinet called for co-opting the Forest Department for effective implementation of the policy.


nFast-Track Courts
Four fast track courts to be presided over by the District and Sessions Judge, will be established in Kashmir and Jammu regions with supporting staff of 10 posts per court. The posts include one each of District & Session Judge, Junior Scale Stenographer, Head Assistant, Senior Assistant, Chowkidar/Safaiwala, 2 posts of Junior Assistants and 3 posts of Orderlies. Meanwhile, the cabinet also approved creation of post of Registrar (Computers) and Joint Registrar (Computers) in the High Court of J&K. The post of Registrar would be in the pay scale applicable to that of Director and Joint Registrar Computers to that of System Executive in the IT Services.

Other major decisions included: Approvel to absorption of employees of erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir Cooperation Consumer Federation Ltd (CONFED) in the Cooperative Department; granting of one more chance to the BOPEE selected Patwaries who could not qualify the trainees Departmental Examination conducted by the Financial Commissioner, Revenue, J&K.



nPosts for Schools of Architecture
Creation of 20 teaching and non-teaching posts for the two Schools of Architecture established in the State has been approved by the cabinet. The newly created posts include two posts of Professor and HoD in the pay scale of 37400-67000+10000, four posts of Associate Professors in the scale of 37400-67000+19000, eight posts of Assistant Professor in the pay scale of 15600-39100+6000, two posts of Lab/Workshop Assistants in the scale of 5200-20200+2800, two posts of Accounts Assistants in the scale of 5200-20200+2800 and two posts of Computer Assistants in the scale of 5200-20200+1900. Pertinently, the schools of Architecture have been established at Government MAM College, Jammu and Abdul Ahad Azad Memorial Degree College, Bemina, Srinagar and are affiliated with the University of Jammu and University of Kashmir respectively. Registered with Council of Architecture (CoA), these schools will be offering 5 years Bachelor of Architecture course with an intake capacity of 40 seats.


nPosts for Institute of Mathematical Sciences
The cabinet also approved creation 25 faculty positions for the Institute of Mathematical Sciences (IMS), Srinagar. The newly created posts include one post of Director in the scale of 37400-67000+AGP 10000, Professor Mathematics in the scale of 37400-67000+AGP 10000, Associate Professor Mathematics in the scale of 37400-67000+AGP 9000, four posts of Assistant Professor Mathematics in the scale 15600-39100 +AGP 60000, three posts of Assistant Professor Physics in the scale 15600-39100 +AGP 6000, three posts of Assistant Professor Computer Application in the scale 15600-39100 +AGP 6000, one post of Assistant Professor Humanities in the scale of 15600-39100 +AGP 6000, one post each of Accounts Assistant, Senior Assistant, Computer Assistant, Library Assistant and Library Bearer and two posts each of Library Assistant, Laboratory Bearer and Orderly.



nNews posts for LC, LA Secretariat
The newly created posts in the Legislative Council Secretariat include one post of Private Secretary to the Chairman, Accounts Officer, Assistant Information Officer, Jr Legal Assistant, Jr. Librarian, Watch and Ward (W&W) Inspector, W&W Sub-Inspector, Jr. Scale Stenographer (Urdu), Jr. Scale Stenographer (Hindi), Assistant Marshal, Data Entry Operator, Dispatch Rider and 04 posts of Watch and Ward Staff (Class IV). For the Legislative Assembly Secretariat, the newly created posts include two Estates Officers, one Under Secretary, one Information Officer, One Protocol Officer and one Translator.



nRights of Persons with Disabilities
The cabinet also approved Jammu and Kashmir Rights of Persons with Disabilities Ordinance, 2017.
The promulgation of the ordinance will provide for increase in the disabilities from existing 7 to 21 and increase in the reservation percentage (horizontal from 3 to 4 %). The legislation is expected to immensely benefit PWDs through interventions, education, development skills and preventive care etc. The Cabinet called for extending the scheme for specially-abled children in the non-government educational institutions as well.