Puducherry Budget: CM Rangasamy introduces financial assistance scheme for government school students

Puducherry's 2024-25 budget includes welfare measures like student stipends, medical reimbursements, and infrastructure improvements.

Presenting the Union Territory’s annual budget for 2024-25 with an outlay of ₹12,700 crore in the Puducherry Legislative Assembly on Friday, August 2, 2024, Chief Minister N. Rangasamy announced a slew of welfare measures including provision of ₹1,000 per month to students studying in government schools, subsidy for working women and girl students belonging to the Adi Dravidar communities to buy e-scooters, reimbursement of medical expenses for Below Poverty Line families, decision to distribute free rice in kind along with pulses, sugar and oil at a subsidized rate.

Introducing the scheme aimed to attract students to government schools, the Chief Minister said a sum of ₹1,000 per month would be provided for a period of three years for government school students who had studied in Classes 6 to 12 to pursue undergraduate degree courses. The Mudhalvarin Pudhumai Penn scheme would enable working women and girl students belonging to Adi Dravidar community to avail 75% subsidy for buying e-scooter, he said.

Stressing on welfare measures, the Chief Minister has announced the government’s decision to reimburse medical expenses of people living under the BPL category through Pondicherry Medical Relief Society. The government will provide financial assistance to BPL category people for converting their huts into pucca house under the old scheme of Perunthalaivar Kamaraj Centenary Housing Scheme.

The government also proposed to identify 10 villages in the UT having a population of more than 50% of Scheduled Caste people. A sum of ₹50 lakh will be spent in the villages for next three years for improving infrastructure needs. The retention scholarship provided by the government to students belonging to Adi Dravidar community from Class 1 to 5 will be enhanced to ₹5,000 from ₹ 1,000.

Likewise, the pre-metric scholarship given to the students from Adi Dravidar communities studying in Classes 6 to 8 has been enhanced to ₹5,000 from ₹1,500. The students studying in Class 9 and 10 will get enhanced assistance of ₹8,000, the Chief Minister said.

In order to achieve 100% immunisation in the UT, the government has decided to provide a sum of ₹10,000 to all children who are born and residing here. For availing the sum, the child should have completed all immunisation schedule as per the Universal Immunisation Programme (Mission Indradhanush) till the completion of one year (Fully Immunised Child), the Chief Minister said.

Distribution of free rice