Ahead of the International Women’s Day, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday announced a host of sops to encourage girls to pursue higher education.
“We will give an annual scholarship of `500 to all girls from Class VIII to Class XII. This scheme will be irrespective of caste and community,” Mamata said, explaining the ‘Kanyasri Prakalpa’ scheme meant for girls with a family income below `50,000.
The girls will also be given `25,000 as a one-time grant when they turn 18. “If the girls continue their school education, vocational training, or studies in the open school system, we will transfer `25,000 as a one-time grant in their bank accounts. The grant can be utilised for their marriage also. The criteria should be that they should not be married till then and their parents’ annual income should be less than `50,000,” she added.
The TMC Government is all set to introduce a Bill pushing for reservation for SCs, STs and OBCs in higher education.
Mamata said the Bill would be tabled in the Assembly’s upcoming Budget session. She also assured that the reservation wouldn’t eat into the general seats. She added that infrastructure would be created from a corpus of `1000 crore, of which `600 crore would be spent every year.