(From left) Union textile minister KS Rao, chief minister Hemant Soren, Union rural development minister Jairam Ramesh and chief secretary RS Sharma at the workshop in Ranchi on Friday. Picture by Hardeep Singh

Jairam Ramesh had word of advice for Hemant Soren when he arrived an hour late for a workshop on management of government schemes in the state capital on Friday.

“I found the chief minister’s wristwatch showing the time as 3.10 pm (when it was 4 pm) and asked if it had stopped,” said the union minister.

It had, since it hadn’t been used for the last few days, the chief minister told him, he explained.

“Wear your watch regularly so that it won’t run late and you won’t ever be late for anything,” Ramesh then told him before beginning his speech.

Hemant is understood to have taken it in his stride while settling down for the workshop on Innovative Convergence of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM) and Catalytic Development Programme (CDP) for largescale livelihood promotion for rural households in the state.

It was organised by the state NRLM Society at a Ranchi hotel and attended by over 100 representatives of both government and non-government agencies.

The participants detailed out the innovative convergence of the schemes.

Ramesh said 90,000 wells had been dug under MGNREGS to irrigate 2 lakh acres of land, helping people grow multi-crops.

Tasar sericulture on 4 lakh hectares of degraded forest areas was further providing livelihood to lakhs of families in tribal areas, Ramesh added.

Hemant, however, rued the largescale migration of rural population.

“Despite such efforts by the government, it is unfortunate that scores of people migrate to other states in search of livelihood every year,” he added.

Soccer senoritas

The state sports department is expected to sign an MoU with Yuwa India, a Ranchi-based NGO led by 30-year-old American footballer Franz Gastler for setting up a sports academy in Ormanjhi's Dahu area on November 12 during the SAF junior games at mega sports complex in Ranchi.

Franz, who met Ramesh this evening, appraised him about the delays in organising a permanent practice ground for the band of under-14 soccer senoritas who after being trained by Yuwa, went to win bronze in tournament in Spain.