Assam to launch Orunodoi 3.0 on September 17 to coincide with PM’s birthday: CM

The third edition of Orunodoi will provide ₹1,250 monthly aid to nearly 4 million low-income families to support their nutrition and healthcare needs

Guwahati: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Assam government will launch Orunodoi 3.0 on September 17 for families belonging to economically weaker sections and will distribute letters to beneficiaries of the second edition of Nijut Moina, a financial incentive scheme for girl students, in August, chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma informed on Friday.

As the Assam government is celebrating 2025 as the year of books, the beneficiaries will be given a book each on prominent historical figures of India, Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma said. (PTI)

The launch of the third edition of Orunodoi, under which ₹1,250 monthly aid will be provided to nearly 4 million low-income families to support their nutrition and healthcare needs, will coincide with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s birthday.

The government had stopped the second edition of the Orunodoi scheme in July this year.

Authorities will reach out to all beneficiaries and provide them with details related to the Orunodoi 3.0 scheme in August. “The scheme will start on September 17 to coincide with the PM’s birthday. This will be the biggest welfare scheme in the history of Assam,” Sarma said.

As the Assam government is celebrating 2025 as the year of books, the beneficiaries will be given a book each on prominent historical figures of India, Sarma added.

Sarma said that beneficiaries of the second edition of Nijut Moina, a financial incentive scheme to help girl students to continue their education and end child marriages, will be handed out letters in August.

The first edition, launched in August last year, benefited around 1 million students and cost the exchequer ₹300 crore. Under the scheme, girl students who have passed Class 10 and enrolled in Class 11 will receive ₹1,000 per month (excluding two months of summer vacation) for two years. Girls who have completed Class 12 and enrolled in degree courses will get a monthly stipend of ₹1,250 for the next three to four years. Those enrolled in post-graduate or Bachelor of Education (BEd) courses will receive ₹2,500 per month until the completion of their courses.

“The scheme has had a very good impact. Parents who were unable to continue the higher education of their girl children and force them to marry are now encouraging them to pursue studies,” said Sarma.

Meanwhile, PM Modi is scheduled to visit the state on September 8. “He will inaugurate a bio-refinery at Numaligarh that will convert bamboo to ethanol, lay the foundation stone of the Guwahati ring road project, a new bridge over the Brahmaputra, and a medical college at Mangaldai, and take part in the birth centenary celebrations of Bharat Ratna Bhupen Hazarika,” Sarma said.

Union home minister Amit Shah is also scheduled to visit Assam on August 29. “He will inaugurate the new Raj Bhawan at Guwahati, take part in a meeting of all newly elected panchayat members from the BJP and allies from the NDA, and take part in the birth centenary celebrations of former Chief Minister Golap Borbora,” he said.