The 99th annual budget of the Nair Service Society (NSS) for the year 2013-14, presented on Friday, envisages an income and expenditure of Rs.105 crore and lays stress on women empowerment, social welfare, and education.
Presenting the budget, general secretary G. Sukumaran Nair said the society expected to spend Rs.20.67 crore for schools under it and Rs.11.62 crore for colleges. The Health Services Department were allotted Rs.34.10 crore, including the Rs.3.35 crore for the hospital at Pandalam and Rs.4 crore for the superspecialty hospital at Perunna.
The budget also provides Rs.2 crore for the social welfare projects for the economically weak. The NSS will open spirituality study centres in connection with the karayogams.
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Centenary fete
The general secretary said the year-long centenary celebrations of the NSS would commence on January 1, 2014.
The budget envisaged the expansion of the civil services academy run by the NSS at Thiruvananthapuram and also the setting up of a new institution to impart coaching for medical and engineering entrance examinations.
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The women empowerment programme started by the NSS through self-help groups (SHGs) had registered healthy growth, he said. Next year, the number of SHGs would be increased to 19,000 from the present 17,010, Mr. Nair said. The SHGs together had a turnover of Rs.707.13 crore. Plans were afoot to augment it to Rs.900 crore, he added.
The NSS, through the Human Resource Development Department, would conduct pre-marital counselling, the general secretary said. The work on the senior citizens’ home at Pandalam would begin this year.