Cabinet doubles honorarium to journos, approves welfare schemes

Bhopal: In a bonanza to journalists ahead of the state assembly elections, the Madhya Pradesh government has increased its monthly honorarium (samman nidhi) to senior journos and approved a slew of welfare schemes including health and housing.The state cabinet which met under the chairmanship of chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan in Mantralaya on Tuesday doubled the honorarium to senior and elderly journalists to Rs 20,000. In the event of the death of a journalist, recipient of ‘samman nidhi’, their kin will be provided a lump sum payment of Rs 8 lakh.Likewise, the provision of financial assistance for common diseases for the treatment of journalists themselves or their dependents, will be increased from Rs 20,000 to Rs 40,000 and for serious diseases from Rs 50,000 to Rs 1 lakh. Most of these decisions were announced by the chief minister Chouhan during his interaction with the media recently.The condition relating to income tax in this regard has also been removed. The cabinet also approved the new scheme "Housing Loan and Education Loan Interest Subsidy Scheme 2023" for accredited journalists’ by revising the interest subsidy scheme on housing loan to accredited journalists in Madhya Pradesh, which was earlier implemented in Madhya Pradesh. In the new scheme, the maximum loan amount limit has been increased from Rs 25 lakh to Rs 30 lakh. Apart from this, it has also been decided that the state government will bear a 5% interest subsidy for 5 years on the interest payable on the loan taken from the bank for the education of sons/daughters of journalists recognised under the scheme.The cabinet further decided that under the "Health and Accident Group Insurance Scheme" for media persons in the state, the premium amount will be collected from journalists this year also as per the weighted premium rate for the year 2022-23. The amount of premium increased by the insurance company will be paid by the state government. According to the new provision in this scheme, the state government will bear the entire insurance premium of journalists above 65 years of age and their spouses.Cabinet also approved the new capital scheme "Kayakalp Phase II (Master Plan roads) Scheme" for three years for master plan roads in the state with special central assistance (urban improvement programme).The scheme will be implemented with the special assistance amount received from the central government. A provision of Rs 1200 crore has been made for the year 2023-24. The plan includes construction of routes mentioned in the Master Plan, other major routes, ring roads and bypasses, upgradation of existing roads and development of ancillary infrastructure for these routes such as intersections, roads, furniture, utility shifting, public transport, street lighting, bridges and culverts. The implementation of the scheme will be done by the urban body, development authority, smart city and MPUDC.The cabinet approved the implementation of ‘"Jal Jeevan Mission" by the public health engineering department. In order to make investments in the IT, ITES and ESDM sector in the state more attractive, the cabinet approved a new policy "Madhya Pradesh IT, ITES and ESDM Investment Promotion Policy 2023" replacing the Investment Policy 2016.The department of science and technology has been authorised to issue rules and guidelines for its implementation and to make general amendments in the rules and guidelines, remove inconsistencies and explain the provisions. With the effectiveness of the new policy, investment possibilities in the state will expand and interested companies will be attracted to invest, said an official spokesperson following the cabinet meeting.