Assam CM Sarbananda Sonowal.
The Assam government on Friday distributed scooties to 1,000 girl students who had excelled in the State Board Class XII final examinations in 2017, with chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal saying it was one move on part of his government to accelerate the process of women empowerment in the state.
“Our government had made a promise in our budget last year that 1,000 top meritorious girl students of the Higher Secondary final examination of 2017 would be given a free scooty each. It is not just one step to encourage girls to aim for higher studies with better results, but also a move to accelerate the process of women empowerment in our state,” Sonowal said.
Sonowal also said that ever since his government assumed office, the focus has been on quality as a criteria for getting government jobs and other government incentives. “Our administration is committed to ensuring quality higher education, through which we also want to bring about qualitative changes in lives of the people. With more girls doing well and going for higher studies, the pace of quality change will be faster,” he said.
Speaking on the occasion, education minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said the free scooty scheme would make girl students more confident and fearless. “The idea of giving free scooties in recognition to the merits of girl students is a small gesture that will however go a long way in empowering women by making the girls more confident and fearless,” Sarma said. The number of beneficiaries of the free scooty scheme would be increased to 5,000, Sarma announced.
The government would also bear the expenses for registration and insurance of the scooties, Sarma announced. The government has incurred an expenditure of Rs 5 crore in the free scooty scheme, he said.
The Sonowal government had on Thursday distributed over 3.32 crore free texbooks to government school students from the Primary to Class X by incurring a total expenditure of Rs 111.98 crore.
