Assam govt gifts e-scooters to 35,800 meritorious students

Assam government on Wednesday distributed electric scooters to 35,800 meritorious students who scored good marks in their higher secondary examination this year.

Dr Banikanta Kakati Merit Award was handed under the Pragya Bharti scheme.

There are different criteria for boys and girls to qualify for the award in which the former had to score 75% marks while the latter needed to get 60% marks in the higher secondary examinations conducted by Assam Higher Secondary Education Council.

Also Read: Assam to give scooters to nearly 36,000 meritorious students

Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, education minister Ranoj Pegu along with other ministers and government officials were present at the function to hand out the gifts.

Sarma also announced that all girl students from across Assam will get ₹10,000 (as stipend) per year if they pursue the post-graduation studies within the state’s territory.

The chief minister also spoke about an upcoming scheme through which girl students pursuing post-graduate programmes in educational institutions of the state will be provided ₹1000 every month.

“To reduce pressure from their parents’ shoulder, we are supporting them. This amount will help them in covering their commutation and other related expenses. Hope this scheme influences many girls to pursue post-graduation studies,” Sarma said.

He said that a separate portal will start from next week through which the girls pursuing any post-graduation study in any stream, can apply.

“In the upcoming years, girls pursuing graduation will also be included in the scheme,” he added.

Apart from the central event, the students qualified for Dr Banikanta Kakati Merit Award received the scooty from their respective district headquarters.

Dr Pugu informed that amongst the 35,800 recipients, 29,748 are girls and 6,052 are boys.

Praising the students, he wrote on Twitter captioning “Empowering women with proper education is one the main objectives of this award and we are glad to see almost 30,000 girls have qualified this year.”