Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Thursday announced a slew of measures for the welfare of students belonging to the communities - BCs, MBCs, Minorities, Denotified communities, SCs and STs. Leaders of all party leaders in the State Assembly hailed the initiatives of the Chief Minister.
All hostels for the students belonging to BC, MBC, Denotified Communities and Minorities would have their own buildings within the current financial year, thanks to the announcement of Chief Minister that `86.97 crore would be allotted to construct own buildings for 68 hostels. Of the 1,294 hostels, 1,000 have their own buildings and works were on to construct own buildings for 226 hostels. The rest of the hostels would have own buildings by this year and solar power system would be installed in these buildings.
The Chief Minister also announced that 10 more school and college hostels would be constructed at a cost of `2.50 crore to benefit the 1,000 students belonging to the above communities. She said `25 crore would be earmarked for the maintenance works in 767 hostels functioning in government buildings.
The income ceiling for the students of the above communities to avail of educational assistance under vari ous heads would be hiked from Rs One lakh to Rs Two lakh. The move would benefit 1,05,000 students and would involve an additional expenditure of `23.24 crore. She said the Tamil Nadu Backward Classes Economic Development Corporation had so far extended loans of `313.93 crore to 3,22,831 beneficiaries. Besides, 785 small and marginal farmers of these communities got `3.84 crore as subsidy for digging borewells. Own building for this corporation would be constructed at a cost of `4 crore in three ground and 154 sq ft of land in Egmore. The CM said own buildings would be constructed for 54 hostels for the SC/ST students at a cost of Rs 52 crore. She said 1,300 Adi Dravida Welfare Hostels and 42 Tribal Welfare Hostels were presently functioning in the State.
The CM said Smart Class Room system would be introduced in 100 higher secondary schools functioning under the SC/ST Welfare Department to provide computer-based education to the students. `5.50 crore would be allocated for this purpose. Jayalalithaa said the income ceiling for availing of scholarships under various heads would be hiked from Rs one lakh to Rs two lakh per annum. The measure would benefit 30,000 students.
She said 700 Adi Dravida and Tribal students who pursued full-time doctorate courses would be given Rs 50,000 per annum as stipend for four years, as against the existing Rs 18,000 for those who stayed in hostels and Rs 10,000 for day scholars. Rs 3.50 crore would be spent for this purpose.
Recalling that Adi Dravida students who qualified in the preliminary exams conducted by the UPSC were given Rs 50,000 to get trained from leading educational institutions, the Chief Minister said in a similar measure, Rs 50,000 would be given for those who would be clearing the preliminary exam conducted by the TNPSC for Group One posts.
The CM also announced that `50,000 was being given to the law graduates from the SC/ST communities to start their own business. Similar assistance would be given to the CAs and Cost and Works Accountants from these communities. She said Smart Class Room system would be introduced in 100 higher secondary schools functioning under the SC/ST Welfare Department to provide computer-based education to the students.