by Manoj Chettry
The current chief minister of Assam, Himanta Biswa Sarma has been a leader much before he was elected in 2021. His role from being inducted at the cabinet as finance minister to the 15th chief minister of Assam amidst the state being shadowed under years of insurgency, and the chaos under waves of the COVID-19 pandemic, has been appreciated by the people of the state and the country. Amongst many of his efforts and various opportunities launched in past and present, it is commendable of the chief minister to center youth’s growth in all of his development schemes, mainly focusing on important aspects like ensuring for better education, job opportunities and skill development.
In this article, enlist of five such policies and schemes are explored, that directly or indirectly also instigate as an effort by the government, to end insurgency by diverting the youth population to take on opportunities rather than joining the banned organization, thereby attempting to end the prolonged insurgency that targets youth. By identifying the need of the hour for the youth, it is ideal for us to revisit some of the schemes that build a promising future for the youth.
The Pragyan Bharati Scooty Scheme, 2022:
‘Pragyan Bharati Scooty Scheme’ provides scooty to young girls who are able to secure more than 60% in 12 standard, at the state government school examination. This announcement also state that the main objective of the scheme is to encourage young girls to pursue higher education and become independent for communicating to nearby colleges and universities from their home. Vehicle as a means to ensure security and freedom of easier commute, that will enable young girls to travel far and near, empower and encourage them to opt for higher education. The scheme, along with the award of a scooty, also offers a free admission to preferred government colleges and universities for them. This guarantees girls and their family to go tension-free and secure a seat for those showing a promising performance in the mid-level studies.
Assam Kalpataru Scheme:
The ‘Assam Kalpataru Scheme’ is a subsidized financial relief to unemployed graduate or undergraduate youth population, until they become fully independent in their self-employment quest. Mainly laid out for youth from the Below Poverty Line (BPL), the age groups between 18 to 35 years from farming background are targeted for eligibility of the scheme. The objective of the scheme is to keep youth from diverting from their future goals until discovery of their potential is met, by empowering their entrepreneurial capabilities and providing technical skill training through various packages of support services during the journey. With monthly financial assistance ranging from 7,000 to 25,000, the youth could not only support their family, but are also able to explore other ventures in agricultural activities. The revision of this scheme came into wide effect after many years of being dismantled, but under the leadership of Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma, it became operational to ensure no rural and urban youth are left behind.
Chief Minister's Jeevan Jyoti Swaniyojan Yojana, 2005:
This self-employment of unemployed youth launched many years ago and recently revived with newer additions is testament of commitment shown by the current chief minister. The main purpose being to provide financial assistance to graduate youth between the age of 18-37 years, it also provides assistance in several skill development training across sectors for the youth depending on the niche interest of the beneficiaries. Current addition in this scheme includes training of skilled and unskilled youth to take up industrial training on new edge IT technologies for harnessing the ability to empower youth in startup enterprises. The avenues created are immense enabling youth to take up productive activities for income generation through institutional credit being extended by nationalized banks or any other financial institutions or organizations.
Swami Vivekananda Assam Youth Empowerment Scheme:
Though the scheme was launched in 2017, when Himanta Biswa Sarma was the finance minister of the state, it was relaunched again under the chief minister’s special projects. The goal of the policy is to provide support for upto 1 lac youth above 18 years of age from the backward districts and mainly those without a formal educational background, with a token award of at least 50,000 rupees, as seed money to start their entrepreneurial journey, after receiving a certified skill development training from the state government, thereby ensuring the sustainability of the enterprises run by the youth for income generation.
Educational Fellowships and Scholarships:
Growing the strength of the education sector has been one of Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma's primary interests since his inception in the journey of politics in the state. For, he is absolutely convinced that both formal and informal education empowers young minds to step into a world of possibilities when intention and determinations are set in the right path. In current times, the Assam government has been promoting few educational scholarships to encourage uninterrupted education and promotes higher education for all, including those in school, college or university drop-outs to resume back to education. Some of the important state’s fellowships and scholarships are combined in merit starting from the pre-matric scholarships for other backward classes (OBC) and scheduled tribes (ST) students to those desired in pursuing research studies after post-graduation level. Though a minimal financial amount is disbursed, it is made evident that every scholar from the state is supported without any bar.
In less than two years, these are some of the main policies that the current chief minister is pressing on since his appointment, to ensure that youth’s interest is met with an all-rounder approach from the government side. Himanta Biswa Sarma has come a long way from being a youth leader to the chief minister of Assam, inspiring truly with his spirit of centralizing the youth in the middle of the empowerment process. During a speech, he addressed the youth to give up on violence and come back to society calling it as the onus of Assam’s growth are hands of the youth, and he was quoted, "as part of our commitment to bring the disgruntled youths to the mainstream, and make them an important part of our composite human resource, I am happy to hand over fixed deposit certificates to them with a request to make good use of the money, and help in our endeavor to start an economic movement to make an Atmanirbhar Assam” (PTI, 2021). These recent initiatives taken by Sarma is an effort to bring back the evacuated individuals, especially the youths to Assam, has been a remarkable step and must be acknowledged. The youths are being assured of their needs to be taken care of.
Disclaimer: Manoj Chettry, the contributor of this article is an avid occasional writer from Assam. Views expressed in this article is a work of personal opinion. It is not part of any organizational endorsement.
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