SAC Okays vital policy decisions

JAMMU: With two days left for the expiry of Governor’s rule in Jammu and Kashmir, the State Administrative Council (SAC)—equivalent to Cabinet in popular government cleared a number of significant matters in probably its last meeting, before the President’s Rule is imposed after December 19.

With Governor Satya Pal Malik in chair and his advisors and chief secretary in attendance, the SAC held deliberate discussions on a number of important issues and clared a number of important policy decisions.

Enhancing the powers of the government concerning the Cooperative Banks, the SAC approved amendments to the Jammu and Kashmir Cooperative Societies Act, 1989, which seeks to replace the J&K Cooperative Societies (Amendment) Ordinance, 2018 promulgated by the previous Governor N N Vohra on 14 June, 2018.

The amendments will enable the Government to constitute a Board of Management or Administrator for a period of 2 years to manage the affairs of Cooperative Banks instead of six months as contained in the earlier legislation.

The amendment will also help to implement the various revival packages of Central and the State Governments for such Banks. It will also enable the Government constitution of Professional Boards for three District Central Cooperative Banks (DCCBs) viz; Jammu, Baramulla and Anantnag Central Cooperative Banks for management of their affairs and judiciously use the recapitalization amount of Rs 366.71 Crore for attaining and maintaining a Capital to Risk Assets Ratio (CRAR) of 9%.

Presently, there is no provision in the Jammu and Kashmir Cooperative Societies Act, 1989, for appointment of Board of Management or Administrator to manage the affairs of any society beyond the period of six months and also to appoint the members of Professional Boards as may be necessary to manage the affairs of the DCCBs.

In another important decision, the SAC approved the Jammu and Kashmir Self-Reliant Cooperative Bill, 2018, which seeks to regulate the activities of the Self-Reliant Cooperatives and protect the interests of the members/depositors. Also, it has been noticed that some societies indulge in banking activities without the permission of regulatory authority and have duped the depositors/members of their hard-earned money worth crores.

“There is no provision in the Jammu and Kashmir Self-Reliant Cooperative Act, 1999 under which the Registrar can cancel the registration of the society which exists for illegal purpose, taking undue advantage of deposits or continues business beyond the purview of law.

“New sections are being inserted to not only simplify the procedures but also provide aid to attain the objectives of Self-Reliant Cooperatives without any encumbrances,” an official spokesman said.

Meanwhile, the SAC approved the Jammu and Kashmir Bovine Breeding Bill, 2018, which aims to regulate bovine breeding activities including use of bovine breeding bulls for production of bovine semen, production, processing, storage, sale and distribution of bovine semen and Artificial Insemination (AI) services in bovines for improving the productivity of bovines in the State.

There are around 60 semen stations in the country and 40 are among the elite list. Two semen stations of Jammu and Kashmir namely Semen Station Ranbirbagh and Hakkal are also included in this elite list.
There is no provision for regulating use of bovine semen doses procured from outside State and there are apprehensions of spread of disease and degradation of livestock.

A breeding bull infected with a disease can infect 1 lakh cows if used for AI. At present 10 lakh AI are being conducted annually to cover 4 lakh breedable cattle/buffaloes out of the 18 lakh breedable bovines.

“Implementation of this Bill shall encourage use of disease free, high pedigreed bulls for breeding programmes and prevent spread of sexually transmitted diseases to 18 lakh breedable bovines of the State. It will discourage quacks for providing AI services and other breeding services in the State. It will serve as a tool for regulating import of bovine semen from unregistered semen stations, Private AI workers and other bovine breeding service providers,” the spokesman said.

Meanwhile, the SAC also approved the Jammu and Kashmir University of Ladakh Bill, 2018 for setting up a University for entire Ladakh, as a Cluster University.

It will get Rs 65 Crore from Government of India from the next academic session as initial grant. The University will fulfil a long-standingdemand of the people of Ladakh region.

The already functioning 3 Degree Colleges of Kargil district will be affiliated to the Cluster University of Ladakh with Degree College Leh constituting the lead college. All the new colleges to be set up in future in Ladakh region are envisaged to be constituents of/affiliated with the Cluster University of Ladakh.
There are five Degree Colleges functioning in Ladakh region, one each at Leh and Nobra in Leh district and one each at Kargil, Zanskar and Drass in Kargil district. All the five colleges are presently affiliated with the University of Kashmir.

Ladakh region with a population of 2.75 lakh as per 2011 census has a student population of 40%. As per the rough estimates, around 90% of students from Ladakh have enrolled in different Universities across the country for studies and the remaining 10% study in Ladakh.

The public representatives and students of Ladakh region have been persistently demanding for setting up a University in Ladakh region so that local students could have easy access to higher educational opportunities in their own area for which they otherwise have to migrate to other parts of the state/country thereby causing immense economic, social, psychological and other hardships to them besides draining the local talent from the region.

The establishment of Cluster University in Ladakh will provide equitable opportunity to the students of Ladakh region to pursue various undergraduate, post-graduate and diploma courses in different streams and subjects through regular mode without any displacement from their region. It will reduce the responsibility of other Universities in the state/country and enable Colleges of Ladakh region to enhance their capacities to become dynamic, demand driven and quality conscious.

With its unique topography and difficult terrain, in addition to introduction of fundamental courses, a University in Ladakh will offer specialized subjects in the domain of Mountain Studies, Environmental Studies, Climate Change Studies, Glacier and Water Studies, Geology, Sustainability and other fields of sciences, which can add value and meaning to the higher studies programme for the regional students.