E-Newsletter from Jassi Khangura

 

Email us at : info@qilaraipur.org     From Jassi Khangura MLA Halqa Qila Raipur       Monthly E-newsletter June 2009       Message from Jassi... Welcome to our new e-newsletter! I know that many of you do not have time to regularly visit our website www.qilaraipur.org so thought that I would provide a monthly wrap of all that has been happening in and around our area. We will usually send this on the first Monday of every month. As ever, your feedback is appreciated and I’d very much like to hear from you with your frank opinions.       Elections It feels somehow appropriate that the e-newsletter should be able to start with congratulations to Manish Tewari, MP and S. Sukhdev Singh Libra, MP on their election wins. We are thrilled with the strong Congress result which will enable India to forge ahead in these testing times. We were also very impressed with the voter turnout, and with the way the Election Commission handled problems that came up on voting day with such integrity and speed. One of the first things I noticed on results day was an absolute sense of elation that PM Dr Manmohan Singh (who had only a few days previously held a press conference with us here in Ludhiana ) had inspired the confidence of the nation so comprehensively. So many people gathered here in Majestic Park Plaza on the 16th May (see pic) spoke of how they were delighted and relieved that people had understood that good leadership paid dividends, and had voted against divisiveness and religion in politics.       Latala Rally We had a very successful rally on 9 May at Latala. It was the largest rally of the campaign in our area. All of Punjab ’s key Congress members were present. Captain Amrinder Singh, Bibi Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, Lal Singh, Manish Tewari, Sukhdev Singh Libra all addressed a strong crowd and emphasised the need for a Congress victory, to ensure progress and development in the Fategarh Sahib and Ludhiana areas. For more pics click here.       Waiting Area in Halqa Office We have also livened up the visitor waiting area in the halqa office with videos of speeches and key events. Our visitors are certainly enjoying keeping up to date and the videos have proved a big hit! One visitor from Gujjarwal said “I don’t mind waiting any more – it’s interesting to see the videos”.       Vidhan Sabha Unfortunately, many of the questions I wished to put to the House were rejected. I have, instead, filed Right to Information requests in order to get the answers I require from the Badal Government about their handling of matters in the State which affect us all. I am following up on these and will continue to use the RTI Act to seek the truth on issues which affect us all. You can see the list of questions I wanted to ask, but that were rejected, by clicking here.       NRI News Elections saw many NRI supporters old and new visiting us. As ever it has been both informative and enjoyable to interact with them. The tireless support of people such as Garry Grewal, Bhupinder Sidhu, Mani Sidhu, Kamal Khangura, Balbir Sekhon etc obviously made a positive impact. We hope that more NRIs will eventually join us in the political realm in India and help boost progress within Punjab . Justice for NRIs is still a key platform. I have ensured that hotel Majestic Park Plaza carries prominent signage (see pic) promoting the campaign. Numerous NRIs have popped in either with problems or to ask more about it. Long may that continue!       Media From The Month The highlight of the month was the press conference, here at Majestic Park Plaza , with the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, as he closed election campaigning here by saying to voters, “a vote for Manish Tewari is a vote for me.” The Park Plaza team and the halqa team worked extremely hard to ensure it all went without a hitch and that live media coverage was broadcast from the press conference. See more of what has happened in the press by visiting our home page www.qilaraipur.org and clicking on halqa, election or NRI news sections. Several of us had the privilege of meeting Dr Singh (see pic) and I would very much hope to do so again in the near future.         Community Macro Dairy Ventures is a unique project with a focus on rural upliftment. It is a remarkable and ambitious program that could change the face of the dairy industry, and the local rural economy. May has seen the first cows happily installed at our Central Animal Unit and on 28th June we will launch the first Satellite Unite with Self Help Groups of women from the villages of Phallewal, Shapur and Nangal Khurd.   New sheds under construction at MDVL's Latala Central Unit   Construction starts at 3rd MDVL satellite unit at Barundi village. We have a new Director of Animal Husbandry and a new COO, both of whom are working hard to drive the project forward to success (see here). Our Corporate Social Responsibility director Dr Renu Suri has been working with local women to select the initial batch of Woman Entrepreneurs and to get them health checks. They are due to start at the first Satellite Unit at Phallewal this June.       Education We are also thrilled that this year we have attracted more volunteer English teachers for our summer program at Narangwal College . Matthew Emmot had come previously on his gap year (see pic). We are not sure who found the program more rewarding, Matthew or the students! We are always happy to take volunteers, of all ages, not just gappers, so do let us know if you or anyone else is interested! You can contact us on info@qilaraipur.org       CHKM CHKM is our Certificate in Hospitality Kitchens Management course. Now in its 3rd year we are delighted that 15 of our trainees have recently found employment around India in 3, 4 and 5 star hotels as trainee commis chefs (see here). The course was designed to provide genuine opportunity to ambitious youth from rural areas, and has certainly achieved that. Our current batch is a girls' batch (see pic) and they are all learning fast and becoming competent young women in a professional environment.       If you do not wish to receive our enewsletter in future, please Unsubscribe