Nitish fulfils poll promise, hikes cash incentive for girl students in Bihar

The cash incentives will benefit about 3.50 lakh girls taking intermediate examinations and around 80,000 girls enrolled in different colleges in the state.

All unmarried girls passing intermediate examination conducted by the Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB) will get ₹25,000 as cash incentive from the state government under Mukhya Mantri Kanya Utthan Yojna from this year.

Students are showing ink marked in their fingers after cast their votes for Patna University Students Union (PUSU) election at Patna Women’s College in Patna( Photo Santosh Kumar/ HT Photo)

Likewise, all girls acquiring a graduate or equivalent degree from the colleges recognised by the state government will be getting ₹50,000 as cash incentive from this fiscal.

A decision to this effect was taken at the cabinet meeting chaired by chief minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday. This was among the 18 proposals that the cabinet gave its nod to after discussion among the ministers concerned.

Officials said that the education department has proposed to give cash incentives to about 3.50 lakh girls, who are currently taking intermediate examinations. The department has identified around 80,000 girls enrolled in different colleges for the cash incentive, beginning the coming fiscal.

Earlier, intermediate pass girls used to get ₹10,000 cash incentive, while the graduates were getting ₹25,000 each. The chief minister had announced before assembly elections that the cash incentives under the flagship scheme would be substantially hiked.

The cabinet also gave its nod for the release of ₹34 crore from the state contingency fund for payment of scholarships to over 33,666 students of minority community under the MukhyaMantri Vidyarthi Protsahan Yojana.

The state government also approved the panchayati raj department’s proposal to merge villages with less than 3,000 people- based on the 1991 census- with the adjacent panchayats. Those having a population of 3,000 or more will remain as independent villages. The issue for settlement of villages cropped up after delimitation of urban bodies, during which, some areas of panchayats were merged with urban bodies.

The cabinet further cleared the animal husbandry department’s proposal to create as many as 208 academic and administrative posts in Kishanganj-based veterinary college. Currently, the college is functioning in the campus of Dr Kamal Agriculture College, Kishanganj.

In a bid to provide relief to cash-strapped sugar mills, the state government has decided to reduce the regional development council commission on crushing of sugarcane to 0.20% from the existing ₹1.80% of the amount. The financial package would be effective for payment by sugar mills during the 2019-20 fiscal.

The cabinet also approved the health department’s proposal to dismiss as many as six doctors posted at different medical centres across the state for their prolonged and unauthorised absence from duty.