correspondent
SIVASAGAR, Jan 28: The Revised SVAYEM scheme will benefit two lakh youths of Assam and it will be extended to another two lakh who have already applied for it in the next phase, Minister for Finance, Health and Education, Himanta Biswa Sarma, said here on Wednesday.
After inaugurating the scheme at the Boarding Field, Sarma said 9,324 people have benefited under the scheme in Sivasagar district. The aim of the government is to empower the youths so that they can turn out to be model entrepreneurs and farmers capable of engaging another 10-15 youths for a truly AatmaNirbhar Assam, in line with the thinking of Swami Vivekananda, he said.
Sarma said Rs 30,000 has been transferred to the account of each member of an SHG applying for it and the rest Rs 20,000 will be transferred on finding the utilization satisfactory. He said the beneficiaries can bring in an economic revolution in rural Assam through piggery, fishery and multiple farming. The youths selected will be given training at IIE and SIRD. He said 22 lakh women, deprived and neglected for long, have benefited from the Orunodoi scheme and the government is planning to increase the amount from Rs 830 per month to Rs 3,000.
He said four lakh students have been given free admission in various institutions along with free textbooks, uniforms and even tiffin money. The government will appoint over 15,000 new teachers besides regularizing the posts of 19,000 more on January 30.
Announcing a host of development works, Sarma said Sivasagar will have an additional highway bypass and the entire road from Sivasagar to Sonari town will be widened. He said Rs 3.33 crore has already been sanctioned for the road from Rajabari to Siu-ka-pha Multispecialty Hospital and the Tai Museum in Sivasagar town will be revamped.
He said the Assamese people has become victims of a biological war, as incidents of kidney failure and number of diabetes patients have increased alarmingly in Assam due to consumption of vegetables produced by settlers of doubtful origin from Kharupatia, who use dangerous chemical fertilizers. He urged the youths of Assam to produce their own crops for yet another green revolution. Attacking critics of the government, Sarma said a section of people only try to find defects even if there is none. He said the critics were hiding when Covid-19 hit the State, and now, when the pandemic is almost over, they are back again. DC Bishnu Kamal Bora, Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Jogen Mohan, and MLAs Kushal Dowari, Pradip Hazarika and Navanita Handique were also present.
