Chennai, Mar 18 (UNI) The Tamil Nadu Government today announced that all
girl students, who studied from Classes 6 to 12 in Government schools, will be
paid Rs.1,000 per month directly into their bank account till the uninterrupted
completion of their undergraduate degree, diploma and ITI courses under the
remolded Moovalur Ramamirtham Ammaiyar Marriage Assistance scheme.
Presenting the second budget in the Assembly, Finance Minister PTR Palanivel
Thiagarajan said the Moovalur Ramamirtham Ammaiyar Marriage Assistance
scheme was started in 1989 by late leader M karunanidhi to promote education
and to support marriage of girls from poor families.
In line with the changing times, it is necessary to remould this scheme to promote
higher education among girls belonging to the economically weaker families.
Recognizing that the enrollment ratio of girl students from Government schools in
higher education is very low, the Moovalur Ramamirtham Ammaiyar Memorial
Marriage Assistance Scheme is being transformed as the Moovalur Ramamirtham
Ammaiyar Higher Education Assurance Scheme.
Under the scheme, all girl students who studied from Classes 6 to 12 in Government
schools will be paid Rs.1,000 per month directly into their bank account till the
uninterrupted completion of their undergraduate degree, diploma and ITI courses.
The students will be eligible for this in addition to other scholarships.
Through this programme, approximately 6,00,000 girl students can potentially benefit
each year. For this new scheme, an amount of Rs.698 crore has been allotted in the
Budget.
The Minister said the existing schemes of EVR Maniammaiyar Memorial Widow’s
Daughter Marriage Assistance Scheme, Dr. Muthulakshmi Reddy Memorial Inter-
Caste Marriage Assistance Scheme, Annai Teresa Orphan Girls Marriage Assistance
Scheme and Dr.Dharmambal Ammaiyar Memorial Widow Remarriage Assistance
Scheme will continue to be implemented without any change.
He said an ‘Integrated Training Centre for Social Empowerment’ will be constructed
in Athur, Chengalpattu district at a cost of Rs.27 crore. This Centre will be utilised to
provide training to all Government officials, including those from Social Welfare
Department, on welfare, rights, development and empowerment of women and
children.
Palanivel Thiagarajan said a corpus of Rs.30 crore will be provided to Tamil Nadu
Startup and Innovation Mission (TANSIM) to support startups by Scheduled Caste
and Scheduled Tribe (SC and ST) entrepreneurs.
In order to encourage entrepreneurs from SC and ST communities, 5% of all divisible
procurement by Government and Governmental agencies shall be reserved for products manufactured by Tamil Nadu based SC and ST entrepreneurs.
The Government has sanctioned construction of 443 houses this year at a cost of
Rs.20.7 crore for Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTG) such as Irulars. In
the coming year, an additional 1,000 new houses will be built for PVTGs at an
estimated cost of Rs.50 crore.
He said a sum of Rs.1,963 crore has been provided towards post-matric scholarship
for Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe students and Rs.512 crore has been provided
towards feeding charges in this Budget.
