Himanta launches DBT schemes and tech centres
Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Thursday ushered in a significant chapter for Assam’s youth by launching a series of Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) initiatives and advanced technology centres. At a ceremony held at Jyoti-Bishnu Antarjatik Kala Mandir, the Chief Minister rolled out the ‘Mukhya Mantri Jibon Prerana’, ‘Jibon Anuprerana’, and ‘Mukhya Mantri Nijut Babu’ schemes. Under the JibonPrerana initiative, 48,319 graduates from public institutions will receive Rs 2,500 monthly for a year to assist their transition into employment or entrepreneurship.
Furthermore, the JibonAnuprerana scheme provides one-time grants of Rs 25,000 to general research scholars and Rs 40,000 to specially-abled researchers. To combat higher education dropouts, the ‘Nijut Babu’ scheme was introduced for male students from low-income families, offering monthly stipends of up to Rs 2,000. This follows the success of the ‘NijutMoina’ scheme for girl students.
In a major boost to technical education, Sarma inaugurated 31 ‘Industry 4.0’ Technology Centres across ITIs and Polytechnics, developed in collaboration with Tata Technologies at an investment of approximately Rs 3,000 crore. He also announced that Dassault Aviation would establish a centre at Assam Engineering College for aeronautical training, including Rafale aircraft maintenance.
Education Minister Ranoj Pegu, Skill, Employment and Entrepreneurship Minister Prasanta Phukan, Additional Chief Secretary B Kalyan Chakravarthy, Principal Secretary Skill, Employment and Entrepreneurship Department Gyanendra Dev Tripathi, Commissioner and Secretary Higher Education Department Narayan Konwar, Professor Emeritus IIIT Guwahati Gautam Barua, Professor IIT Guwahati Parameswar Iyer, Vice President of Tata Technologies Limited Atindra Kumar, and several other dignitaries were present on the occasion. Moreover, nearly five thousand beneficiaries of the schemes were present physically, while many others from different parts of the State participated virtually.
