Himachal govt raises marriage age of girls to 21 yrs
SHIMLA: Himachal Pradesh Cabinet on Friday approved a proposal to raise the marriageable age of girl’s from 18 years to 21 years, and carry out necessary amendments in the respective Acts and Rules.
A meeting of the Cabinet held here was presided over by Chief Minister Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu who have been strongly in favour of increase the marriage age of the girls to ensure that the girl child gets proper education, maturity and make their careers before any decision on their marriage is taken by the family or by the girls themselves.
The Cabinet gave in principle approval to engage ‘Annual Period Based Guest Teachers’ in the departments of Elementary and Higher Education to enhance the educational standards and nurture the next generation in the state.
The Cabinet gave its nod to sign the MoU for consultancy services from National Dairy Development Board for establishment of automated 1.50 lakh litre per day (LLDP), expandable upto 3 LLPD, milk processing plant with value added products at Dhagwar in district Kangra.
The Congress party, during the elections, had promised to start a milk procurement scheme and ensure that milk production becomes a highly remunerative innovation for the rural families, especially the women.
“We will first create infrastructure and thereafter take a call on launching the scheme,” said a senior government functionary here. It also gave its in principle approval to the draft of Mukhyamantri Vidhva Avam Ekal Nari Awas Yojna-2023 to provide Rs 1.50 lakh financial assistance for the construction of the house of widows and single women.
The Cabinet gave its approval to restructuring of the State Taxes and Excise department by creating two separate wings, the Excise wing and the GST and allied Taxes wing, in order to streamline the functioning of the Departments.
“The Cabinet gave its approval to extend 3rd phase of Himachal Pradesh Sadbhawana Legacy Cases Resolution Scheme 2023 from January 1, 2024 to March 31, 2024 in order to settle pending assessment cases and arrears which were under litigation or were yet to be assessed under the Acts subsumed under GST,” a government spokesman said.
The Cabinet gave its approval to Himachal Pradesh Film Policy- 2024 to promote and facilitate the film makers in the state. Under the policy, there is a provision to set up a Film Facilitation Cell in the Information and Public Relations department to serve as a single window for granting all permissions for shooting of films in the State through a dedicated web portal in a fixed time frame.
Decision was taken to give relaxation of six months in age to children seeking admission in class 1st in Primary Schools in the state.
