PANAJI: The directorate of tribal welfare is rolling out the Vidya Laxmi scheme to promote education among girl children from the scheduled tribe (ST) communities and to assist the weaker section of the society.
Under the scheme, Rs 25,000 will be provided as a fixed deposit in the name of the girl child and the officer nominated by the state. This amount will be given to the beneficiary only after she clears her Class XII board exams.
Any girl child who has passed the Class X examination and got admission to Class XI of any stream (science/arts/commerce/vocational/ITI) is eligible for the benefits under the scheme. Similarly, girl children of families notified as ST under the Constitutional order and whose annual income does not exceed Rs 3 lakh per annum, as certified by the implementing agency, are eligible. The scheme involves a recurring expenditure incurred from the consolidated fund of the state.
Any eligible girl child who wants to avail of the benefit has to furnish proof of possession of Aadhaar or undergo Aadhaar authentication. If she does not have an Aadhaar number, she has to make an application for Aadhaar enrolment.
Arrangements have been made to ensure that any technical difficulties will not come in the way of disbursing the benefits.
