Guwahati, Nov 30: Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Wednesday launched the ceremonial distribution of scooters among meritorious candidates who cleared the last higher secondary examinations with percentage above a certain threshold.
The Dr Banikanta Kakati Merit Award, under the Pragya Bharti scheme, this year is being given to 35,800 beneficiaries, of which 6,052 are boys and 29,748 are girls.
Male candidates of higher secondary examinations conducted by Assam Higher Secondary Education Council have to score a minimum of 75 percent while female candidates have to score 60 percent or above to be eligible for the award.
The central event witnessed the distribution of scooters to those eligible students who belong to Kamrup (Metro) and Kamrup districts.
Scooters for those who belong to the rest of the districts will be distributed within December.
Speaking at the event, Chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma requested the students to dedicate every moment towards the betterment of the country and utilise their abilities in a manner that would ensure the nation reaches its rightful status on its 100th year of Independence.
Adding that digitisation will be the mantra for development for the next few decades, the chief minister asked the students to focus on innovation.
“Innovation will ensure one becomes an employment-provider rather than an employment-seeker,” the chief minister remarked.
He further said that youths of Assam must have a basic idea about new-age technologies such as augmented reality, virtual reality, block-chain, quantum computing, artificial intelligence, big data, advanced genomics, etc.
“Remaining ignorant about these technologies will be detrimental to their career in the long run”, the chief minister said, adding that youths of states such as Karnataka and Maharashtra have already made themselves a part of this technological revolution,” the chief minister said.
“The government of Assam shall explore the possibility of distributing electric scooters to awardees of the Dr. Banikanta Kakati Merit Award from next year. This will do away with students having to spend money on fuel,” he added.
The chief minister also spoke about an upcoming scheme through which females pursuing post-graduate programmes in educational institutions of the state would be provided a yearly stipend of Rs 10,000 each. “This would be helpful in covering their commutation and other related expenses,” he said.