Kerala Governor announces welfare projects for backward classes, SC and ST category of people

This includes subsidies for loans, rehabilitation and support of street vendors and retailers, ‘Ayya Vaikunda Traditional Employment Innovation Centre’, and the ‘Renaissance Scholarship for Girls’

Kerala Governor Arif Muhammad Khan has said in his policy address that the government has proposed various important programmes for the backward classes in the State.

 This includes subsidies for loans through the ‘Awakening’ (Unarv) project, rehabilitation and support of street vendors and retailers, ‘Ayya Vaikunda Traditional Employment Innovation Centre’, and the ‘Renaissance Scholarship for Girls’ (Navodhana Scholarship).

The Navodhana Scholarship Scheme would be implemented for OBC Girls, who are studying in medical and medical-allied courses, who have lost a parent or both and the annual family income does not exceed 2.5 lakh.

Mr. Khan said as many as 11,919 new houses of the 19,195 targetted houses for the Scheduled Caste (SC) section of people were completed under the LIFE Mission during the second and third phases of the project and it was proposed to complete the construction of 6,000 incomplete houses in 2022.

The construction of as many as 5,000 new study rooms and completion of 7,000 spill over study rooms are proposed in the 2022-23 fiscal. The Department provides assistance of ₹1,00,000 as foreign employment subsidy to those who are seeking employment abroad and as many as 445 beneficiaries got the fruits of it so far.

A comprehensive survey for the educational-, economical-, and social development of SC people in the State and updating of database is under way. The Digital Survey will be completed next year.

Employment Guaranteed Skill Training Programme has been proposed in 2022-23 with an objective to provide training to 3,000 beneficiaries. The facility, “Startup Dreams‟, is located at Mannanthala Ambedkar Bhavan, Thiruvananthapuram. It will provide assistance to SC youth by incubating their innovative ideas and technology products, supporting them through facilities and capacity building programmes and helping them grow into scalable businesses.