Itanagar: The Arunachal Pradesh government has announced to confer ‘Arunachal Ratna’, the highest state award, on the first Lt Governor of Arunachal Late K A A Raja posthumously for his immense and unforgettable contributions in the socio-economic and political development of the state.
The decision to confer the award on Late Raja was taken during a cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Pema Khandu at Ziro, the headquarters of Lower Subansiri district.
The sitting was held at Ziro while commemorating the launch of the Golden Jubilee celebrations of Arunachal Pradesh as an independent identity.
Late Raja would be the third individual to be conferred with the Arunachal Ratna award.
Deputy Superintendent of Police Bomto Kamdak, who lost his life during an exchange of fire with criminals in East Kameng district, and Major Ralengnao Bob Khathing, who played a major role in bringing Tawang under the administration of India, are the other two recipients of Arunachal Ratna until now.
Meanwhile, several key decisions were taken by the state cabinet on the day.
The cabinet has decided to provide financial assistance to 500 top performing women Self Help Groups through fixed deposit of Rs 1 lakh each to strengthen social capital base and take up economic activities, and to 300 Primary Level Federations through capital subsidy deposit of Rs 2 lakh each for procurement of goods transport vehicle for use by their respective constituent SHGs.
The cabinet also agreed to formulate a District level Good Governance Index through engaging an experienced knowledge partner for strengthening all round development and improving ease of living of the citizens.
Identifying and selecting 50 existing government schools based on professionally determined criteria for being developed as ‘Golden Jubilee Model Schools’ subject to maximum ceiling of Rs 12 crore expenditure per school at an estimated cost and allocation of Rs 500 crore approximately and to complete and inaugurate 365 physical infrastructure projects within the Golden Jubilee year period from 20 January 2022 to 20 January 2023, were also among the major decision taken during the sitting on Thursday.
The cabinet also decided to provide recognition through a sum of Rs 2 lakh as ‘Golden Jubilee Merit Award’ to any APST student completing class XII Board examination from schools of Arunachal Pradesh on qualifying National Level Entrance Examination and securing admission to IITs, IIMs, NLUs and AIIMSs.
It also decided to establish Arunachal Pradesh Infrastructure Financing Authority to meet development needs of the state and provide an additional fixed deposit of Rs 5000 as top-up amount over the existing Rs 20000 under the ‘Dulari Kanya Scheme’ to ‘Golden Jubilee Daughters’ who are born between 20th January 2022 to 20th January 2023 and are fully immunized.
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