Narang Tabin, Kennedy Bagra, APWWS get Janbhagidaari awards

Arunachal Budget 2019

ITANAGAR, Jul 8: The finance & planning department has selected three winners for their suggestions under the Janbhagidaari Scheme, with Narang Tabin winning the first prize of Rs 1 lakh.
In his suggestions, Tabin sought reforms in the education sector, urging the state government to establish a free residential coaching academy for competitive examinations in order to equip and prepare candidates.
He proposed partnering with the RGU, the NERIST and other educational institutions that are capable of providing the required infrastructure for the time being to accommodate the students, and recruiting able faculty members while the state government comes up with an independent and permanent infrastructure.
Seeking regulation of private educational institutes, Tabin suggested that the government maintain strict vigil over private institutes and blacklist those who do not have the requisite infrastructure or faculties.
He also suggested establishing “remedial coaching classes for school and college students who perform poorly in their studies,” besides English speaking courses, introduction of artificial intelligence, early childhood care and education, and yoga in schools.
Suggestions from the participants also included setting up ‘waste parks’ in each district to recycle and repurpose waste materials creatively “to attract visitors,” and providing incentives to the telecommunication service providers to bridge the digital divide.
With his inputs on ways to curb the drug menace, Kennedy Bagra won the second prize of Rs 50,000.
Also the director of ‘100 Days of De-addiction-cum-Rehabilitation’, Bagra suggested preparing “an integrated solution to check the problem of drug addiction and categorize drug addicts into three categories – use, misuse, and abuse.”
For the ‘use’ stage, he suggested that the government sponsor “technical awareness camps” at schools and colleges on a regular basis, while in the ‘misuse’ stage, he highlighted “the crucial role of family members, coping skills, methods to deal with, and awareness campaigns to be carried out by engaging recovering addicts and alcoholics.”
In the ‘abuse’ stage, Bagra highlighted that the drug user requires technical support and spiritual therapy to rejoin the mainstream of life. He suggested setting up proper rehabilitation treatment clinics and engaging recovering addicts as mentors.
Also placing their suggestions regarding drug and alcohol abuse, the third place winner (of Rs 30,000), the Arunachal Pradesh Women’s Welfare Society (APWWS), suggested establishing a rehabilitation centre in Itanagar for those dependent on drugs and alcohol, besides strengthening the existing de-addiction infrastructure.
The APWWS pointed out that the de-addiction centres in Lohit and Namsai districts have become defunct due to lack of funds.
“Severely affected districts of Lohit, Anjaw, Namsai, Tirap, Changlang, Longding, Capital Complex and the Siang Valley need special attention of the government, with facilities for vocational trainings and other life skills to rehabilitate those who recover from addiction,” it said.
Apart from reminding the state government of its commitment to establish a 250-bedded government hospital with dedicated maternity and childcare facilities in Itanagar, the APWWS suggested creating similar facilities in the districts also.
While the state government had approved and sanctioned Rs 4,50,00,000 for a hostel for destitute women, the APWWS informed that the executing agency, PWD, “requires an additional fund of Rs 7,39,00,000 to complete the infrastructure as per the approved design.”
The APWWS therefore sought additional fund for establishing the destitute and working women’s hostels.
Other essential proposals included construction of juvenile homes as announced during the last budget, setting up an institution for children with special needs, establishment of a state child rights commission, and economic rehabilitation of widows and abandoned women.