logo
MP: Nearly 1 lakh meritorious students to get laptops; state to shell out Rs 239cr

MP: Nearly 1 lakh meritorious students to get laptops; state to shell out Rs 239cr

Hans Indiaa day ago
Bhopal: In a major push to promote digital learning and reward academic excellence, the Madhya Pradesh government will distribute laptops to 94,234 meritorious students under the 'Pratibhashali Vidyarthi Protsahan Yojana" on Friday, July 4.
The initiative, aimed at empowering students who have scored 75 per cent or more in the Class 12 board examinations conducted by the Madhya Pradesh Board of Secondary Education (MPBSE), involves a financial outlay of Rs 238.98 crore.
Chief Minister Mohan Yadav will preside over the state-level distribution ceremony in Bhopal.
He wrote on his X handle: "I'm delighted that on 4th July, we will extend financial incentives of Rs 25,000 each to 94,234 students who have scored 75 percent or above in the Class 12 MP Board examinations.'
He further said "this reflects our commitment to nurturing a generation of empowered youth who will contribute to realizing the vision of a developed India under the leadership of our Prime Minister Narendra Modi".
Under the scheme, each eligible student will receive Rs 25,000 directly to their bank account to purchase a laptop of their choice.
This direct benefit transfer model not only ensures transparency but also allows students the flexibility to select devices that suit their academic needs.
The scheme is part of the state's broader commitment to fostering digital literacy and supporting higher education aspirations among youth.
The "Pratibhashali Vidyarthi Protsahan Yojana" which has been operational since 2009–10, has so far benefited over 4.3 lakh students, with more than Rs 1,080 crore disbursed in total.
Last year alone, 89,710 students received financial assistance under the scheme.
The 2025 edition marks a significant scale-up, both in terms of beneficiaries and budget. According to official sources, the scheme covers both regular and self-taught students from government and recognised non-government schools.
The eligibility threshold for general category students is 75 per cent, while students from Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes qualify with 65 per cent marks.
The initiative aligns with the state's vision of building a digitally empowered generation and complements national efforts under the Digital India campaign.
With timely disbursement and a transparent selection process, the scheme continues to be a model for educational support programmes across the country.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Free or fee? Parking lots stuck in neutral
Free or fee? Parking lots stuck in neutral

Time of India

time28 minutes ago

  • Time of India

Free or fee? Parking lots stuck in neutral

Ludhiana: Almost two years have passed since the MC auctioned five parking lots in the city but fresh tenders are nowhere in sight. The civic body initially attributed the delay to the Ludhiana West bypoll. Now, they say that they are waiting for the finance and contracts committee meeting. Officials said that three sites were declared free for parking and it is unclear whether they will be included in the auction. The current parking contractor was hired for one year in October, 2022, but in the absence of an e-auction, he is still serving. Before his demise, former MLA of Ludhiana West, Gurpreet Gogi, made Sarabha Nagar market parking free of charge. When the bypoll was announced, AAP candidate Sanjeev Arora announced the Model Town Extension market and two parking lots as parking fee-free. This leaves the MC with the parking lot in Feroze Gandhi market, the multi-storey parking lot near Mata Rani Chowk, Bhadhaur House, and the remaining parking lots of BRS Nagar. Sources said that the MC prepared a proposal for auction and floated tenders in December last year but the tenders were withdrawn due to certain reasons. Officials said that they will flag the issue in the F&CC meeting, after which a decision will be taken. However, things may not be quite as simple. Members of Feroze Gandhi Market Association also want free parking. Their rationale — If Sarabha Nagar Market and Model Town Extension Market have been declared free for parking, why not them? They claimed to have requested civic authorities to hand over market parking lots to the association, as the lots belong to shopkeepers in the area but the civic body did not act on their requests. Demanding uniformity in parking policy, they asked the MC to make the parking free of charge. MC commissioner Aaditya Dachalwal said, "The decision is pending at the level of the mayor, and she has to take a call about the e-auction." Despite repeated attempts, mayor Inderjit Kaur could not be contacted for comments. Parking is a major issue in the city. With high vehicle density and limited parking space, it is common to see vehicles parked on roadsides. Also, there have been frequent complaints about overcharging and misbehaviour at parking lots managed by the existing contractor. Questions are being raised on the MC for not cancelling the agreement despite receiving complaints. Quotes Parking rates should be genuine so that people park in parking lots but here, people face serious issues. Authorities need to check irregularities Shifali Kapoor | Resident, Bharat Nagar Chowk Authorities hardly care about public grievances. They can check such issues only if they visit the field. Contractors do whatever they want to do Inderpreet Singh | Resident, Sarabha Nagar 2022 auction: 6 parking fetched Rs 3.57 crore The MC auctioned six parking lots for Rs 3.57 crore in 2022. Of these, Feroze Gandhi Market and multi-storey parking lots in Zone A were auctioned for Rs 1.29 crore and Rs1.11 crore respectively while Bhadhaur House and Sarabha Nagar parking lots were auctioned for Rs 4.71 lakh and Rs30.4 lakh. The BRS Nagar parking lot was auctioned for Rs 23.01 lakh and the Model Town Extension parking lot was auctioned for Rs 29 lakh. Failure to adopt a single policy for auction of parking sites may lead to major revenue loss. Unmet requirements Before handing over parking sites, the MC fixes certain conditions, including e-ticket machines, uniform with ID cards for employees, display boards showing parking fee, proper marking for parking of two-wheelers and cars and e-pos machines at the entrance of parking site. However, these conditions are rarely fulfilled. No penalties imposed Penalties ranging from Rs 1,000 to Rs 5,000 can be imposed for violations. If the contractor repeats the same mistake thrice, then the contract can be terminated. However, this has never happened despite several complaints of overcharging and misbehaviour by staff with people coming to the parking lots. MSID:: 122250422 413 |

The row over rolls revision: Voters' lists must be cleaned up
The row over rolls revision: Voters' lists must be cleaned up

Deccan Herald

time42 minutes ago

  • Deccan Herald

The row over rolls revision: Voters' lists must be cleaned up

The Congress, which had imposed Emergency during its stint in power in the 1970s, is now stooping to a new low as an opposition party. The Bharatiya Janata Party, on the other hand, set a high moral standard in opposition politics and always lived up to the expectations of a democratic India. After the defeat in the assembly elections of Maharashtra, Haryana and the 2024 parliamentary elections, the Congress is questioning the impartiality of the Election Commission of India, which has a longstanding record of credibility in conducting free and fair elections in India. This is the time in India when the Opposition is constantly attacking all the pillars of democracy – legislature, executive, judiciary, and media – for its superficial politics and casting doubts on them. . The Opposition is even targeting India's foreign policy and the Indian Armed Forces. The target of all these allegations is Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government. It seems that the Opposition, which is continuously failing in politics, is now engaged in destroying the democratic tradition of India. It would be understandable if Pakistan or China took this approach to India, but, unfortunately, it is the Congress and other opposition parties, which resorted to this strategy, only to survive in politics. Now, the question is whether the opposition will be able to revive its fortune in politics by tearing apart the democratic dignity of India? Are the traditions, ethics and principles of India's democratic politics a thing of the past, thanks to the Opposition? Will the opposition counter the ruling party only by maligning the image of the impartial institutions and the pillars of democracy, like the ECI?.The row over rolls revision: Great Bihar disenfranchisement. As the ECI has started the revision of the voter list in Bihar, the Congress-led INDI Alliance has started attacking the prime minister, the government and, of course, the commission. Whereas the reality is that the ECI keeps revising its voter list at regular intervals every year. In India, elections to the Lok Sabha, state assemblies, panchayats and municipal corporations are held every year in several phases. By-elections also keep happening in between. It is the important responsibility of the ECI to be fully prepared and ready for elections on time. It seems that frustrated by the repeated failure to stand against the BJP, the Congress is raising questions on the ECI in desperation and frustration, hence desires to create doubts among the masses to play politics. The complete accuracy of the voter list is essential for a successful voting process and to strengthen democracy. No one can deny the fact that a large number of fake voters are registered across the country. According to an estimate, there are at least 5000 to 25000 fake, or double or triple registered voters are enrolled in every assembly constituency of Bihar. This needs to be revised and corrected on a priority basis before the election is announced. Even within the same assembly constituency, a voter is registered at multiple places. It is necessary to clean up the voter lists and free the rolls of duplications. The BJP has been demanding that the ECI should link the electoral rolls with Aadhaar, so that the fraud in the voting system could be stopped completely. There should be a positive participation of all the political parties. The Opposition should encourage the process for strengthening democracy, rather than indulging in superficial politics through propaganda. It is the responsibility of all the political parties to strengthen the democratic institutions and cooperate with the ECI in making the electoral process completely free and fair. The Congress and the rest of the INDI Alliance are pretending to make a political move, but are, in reality, trying to weaken democracy in India by hitting at the pillars of democracy.. (The writer is presently the National General Secretary of the BJP's OBC Morcha.)

5L chit fund investors to get refunds in 4 months: Samal
5L chit fund investors to get refunds in 4 months: Samal

Time of India

timean hour ago

  • Time of India

5L chit fund investors to get refunds in 4 months: Samal

1 2 Bhubaneswar: State govt will refund money to all eligible investors who were duped by chit fund companies, said state BJP president Manmohan Samal here on Friday. He said the BJP, in its election manifesto, promised the people of Odisha to refund money lost in chit fund scams. The govt has already refunded Rs 47 crore to 1.26 lakh chit fund depositors in a year. "A list of 5 lakh investors is ready, and they will get refunds in the next four months," he added. Samal said that due to dedicated efforts of the BJP govt, eligible beneficiaries affected by chit funds scam will get their money back. He expressed gratitude to chief minister Mohan Charan Majhi for the initiative. He said that trusting the BJD govt, people had invested their hard-earned money in various chit fund companies. "Unfortunately, the BJD govt betrayed their trust. A total of 174 chit fund companies swindled the people of Odisha. Many ministers, MPs, and MLAs from the BJD were allegedly involved in misappropriating public money under the guise of chit funds," he alleged. Samal said several BJD members and ministers were jailed in connection with the chit fund scam. "Thousands of eligible depositors, who invested in chit funds, were left in uncertainty, leading to a loss of public trust in the govt. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Gold Is Surging in 2025 — Smart Traders Are Already In IC Markets Learn More Undo Following this, the Supreme Court intervened, leading to the formation of a corpus fund and a commission, but implementation was lacking, and the investigation report was not made public due to the questionable intentions of the BJD govt," he alleged. He said the BJP govt took immediate action to refund those affected by the chit fund scam. "The BJP govt is sensitive to the plight of the affected depositors and is committed to ensuring that all eligible people get their money back," he added. Samal said a system will be put in place to ensure that depositors can get their refunds by showing minimal proof. BJD spokesperson Lenin Mohanty said Samal is suffering from selective amnesia. "Last month, he was telling that chit fund-related documents are missing. Now he is confidently telling the govt can refund money to all chit fund investors, which means the govt has all the documents. He is misleading the people," he added. Mohanty said the BJP govt recently said Rs 119 crore was refunded to 2.79 lakh chit fund investors between 2014 and 2024. "It proves the BJD govt was refunding the money of chit fund depositors. For the sake of opposing the BJD, Samal should not speak whatever he wants," he added.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store