Chandigarh, June 24 (IANS) Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Thursday announced a Bhagat Kabir Chair in Guru Nanak Dev University in Amritsar and Rs 10 crore for the development of Bhagat Kabir Bhawan in Jalandhar.
On the occasion of Bhagat Kabir Ji Jayanti, the Chief Minister also announced that his government will soon disburse Rs 560 crore to the landless farm labourers under the Debt Waiver Scheme.
Virtually paying respects to the 15th-century mystic poet and saint Bhagat Kabir, the Chief Minister said the Chair to commemorate Sant Kabir will undertake research on the life and philosophy of the great mystic poet.
The Bhagat Kabir Bhawan, he said, will be built over a 0.77 acre area, of which 13,000 sq.ft. covered area would house a community hall with seating capacity of 500.
Of the Rs 10 crore, Rs 3 crore would be spent on construction and Rs 7 crore towards the land cost, he added.
Joining the people of Punjab in paying respects to saint Bhagat Kabir at state-level celebrations, the Chief Minister exhorted them to follow his teachings in earnest so as to carve out an egalitarian society rising above the parochial considerations of caste, colour, creed and religion.
The Chief Minister spoke about the life and teachings of Bhagat Kabir Ji, citing the eternal message of love, peace, harmony contained in his Bani, which is part of Guru Granth Sahib.
The Chief Minister listed the various welfare schemes for the underprivileged being carried out by his government in line with Bhagat Kabira¿s philosophy.
Referring to the Post Matric SC Scholarship scheme, Amarinder Singh said the state government had released 100 per cent scholarship funds during 2020-21 and had also amicably resolved the issue of pending payments with private colleges, which had been clearly told not to withhold the roll number of any student.
Slamming the Centre for abruptly withdrawing from the scheme, thus jeopardizing the future of our students, the Chief Minister said the state government had launched Dr B.R. Ambedkar Post Matric Scholarship scheme to bail out the students left in the lurch by the Centre's decision, forcing the Government of India to also restore the scheme.
Though the state had paid its 40 per cent share, the Central government was yet to release its funds, he added.
Addressing the media, Sukhbir Badal said SAD will continue stand by its fundamental principles of peace, harmony, and protect the interests of Punjab, Punjabis in general and Sikhs and farmers in particular.
The heightened levels of tensions are seen as unheard in recent times. A violent clash between the two countries on 15 June, left 20 dead on the Indian side and unknown number of Chinese casualties.
The largest democracy in the world with 1.4 billion people has been recording the world's biggest daily increases in coronavirus cases for almost a month.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was among the first to share his condolences via Twitter, saying he was lucky to have Pranab Mukherjee's guidance since he took office.
On Friday according to the Special Investigation Team (SIT) Ex Director General of Police Sumedh Singh Saini has further dug himself a hole in Section 302 of the IPC in the case of disappearance of a former CITCO employee, Balwant Singh Multani.
