Haryana Council of Ministers’ decisions: ₹50 lakh, job for kin of naval officer killed in Pahalgam terror attack

The Haryana Council of Ministers on Monday approved financial assistance of ₹50 lakh and a government job to eligible family member of navy officer Lt Vinay Narwal who was killed during a terror attack in Pahalgam recently.

An official spokesperson said it was decided to grant financial assistance of ₹25 lakh each and a government job to eligible family members of Kavita who was killed during crossfiring between police and miscreants in Bhiwani in 2005 and Abhishek who was killed in 2023 communal violence.

The spokesperson said a proposal of the Atali gram panchayat in Faridabad to gift a 200 square yard residential plot to Geeta, wife of Shaheed Naik Sandeep, was okayed. The spokesperson that Naik Sandeep made the supreme sacrifice in Pulwama (Jammu and Kashmir) on February 19, 2019.

The Council of Minister also accorded approval to a proposal regarding the provision of an ex-gratia grant of ₹1 crore to the families of battle casualty (Agniveer) and one-time cash award for gallantry or distinguished award winners (Agniveer) from Haryana.

Stamp duty relief on sale-purchase of land for cowshed

The Council of Ministers also accorded approval to remit whole of stamp duty chargeable on instrument of sale or gift for purchase of land for new cowshed in the state. The spokesperson said that in 2019 the stamp duty on instruments of gift or purchase of land executed in favour of a registered gaushala, trust, society was reduced from 5 % to 1%. The chief minister, on the request of Gau Sewa Aayog, Panchkula, made an announcement regarding the waver of stamp duty for land for registered gaushala on August 7, 2024.

Amendments to policy on contractual persons okayed

The Council of Ministers approved amendments to the Deployment of Contractual Persons Policy, 2022. The spokesperson said the provision related to penalties imposed by the Haryana Kaushal Rozgar Nigam (HKRN) has been deleted. The provisions regarding weightage for socio-economic criteria and experience have also been removed, in compliance with the order of the high court which had quashed these provisions. Accordingly, all references to socio-economic criteria and experience have been deleted from the policy. Approval has been granted for the deployment of personnel through HKRN in private sectors, both within India and abroad. The Nigam will provide training to registered applicants to promote entrepreneurship in the state. The maximum age limit for level-1 job roles has been increased from 58 to 60, equal to Group D employees.

₹474-cr AI development scheme gets nod

Meanwhile, the Council of Ministers approved the Haryana AI Development Project (HAIDP) for 2025-2028, with a total outlay of ₹474 crore, to be borne by the World Bank and the Haryana government in 70:30 ratio. An official spokesperson said that the constitution of a special purpose vehicle (SPV) for the implementation of externally aided projects was also approved.

The HAIDP is envisioned as a strategic intervention to position Haryana as a national hub for Al-enabled development with technical and financial support from the World Bank.

The key components of the HAIDP include establishment of critical infrastructure such as the Global Artificial Intelligence Centre (GAIC) in Gurugram and the Haryana Advanced Computing Facility (HACF) in Panchkula. The project also focuses on skill development and workforce transition for over 50,000 professionals in AI, machine learning and data science. Additional objectives include the integration of AI into public governance and data-driven service delivery; support for start-ups and R&D through incubation, mentoring and access to shared computing infrastructure; and promotion of public-private partnerships in the AI domain. The project will adopt the Program-for-Results financing instrument, wherein fund disbursement will be linked to the achievement of Disbursement-Linked Indicators, independently verified by an appointed agency.

₹10,000 per month for noted artists

Among other decisions was implementation of the Pandit Lakhmi Chand Kalakar Samajik Samman Yojana. Under the scheme, eligible artists will receive a monthly honorarium of ₹10,000 as financial support from the government. Any resident of Haryana who has worked or contributed to the field of art for at least 20 years as an artist/artiste in areas such as singing, acting, dance, drama, painting or other forms of visual arts will be eligible under the scheme. Applications submitted during the years 2020–21 and 2021–22 (excluding the Covid-19 period) will be considered mandatory.