LUCKNOW: Promising 51 lakh students eligible for government scholarships of getting their money by November 30, chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday announced scholarships of Rs 177.35 crore to 1.5 lakh students.
He also directed the education department to request private schools, where two girls of the same family were enrolled, to waive fees of one of the siblings. “If any school does not agree, the concerned department should send a proposal to the government to reimburse fees of one of the sisters. This will promote education of girls,” the CM announced at the event, held to mark birth anniversaries of Mahatma Gandhi and former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri. The CM added the government was aware of the delay in disbursing scholarship money to 51 lakh students due to the pandemic. “We are working on a war footing to release funds by November 30,” he said.
In his tribute to Mahatma Gandhi, the CM called him a warrior of India’s Independence movement, who took the idea of non-violence and compassion to the world. “At a time when countrymen were steeped in disappointment amid foreign rule, he relied on swadeshi and self-reliance to fight the British. The world wondered how a common man in a dhoti would fight the British,” he said.
Yogi Adityanath said the Mahatma’s message was more relevant today, referring to the launch of the Swachh Bharat Mission by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014.
“If we had made swachhta, a part of our lives since independence, we could have saved many lives. In UP, 1,500-2,000 people died of encephalitis every year and nobody paid attention to the plight of Dalits and backwards. They only functioned as vote-banks. Now, we have managed to curb encephalitis deaths by 99%,” the CM said.
Gandhi’s vision of swadeshi also became the cornerstone of PM Modi’s ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ programme, he said, which was crucial during the pandemic when more than 40lakh migrant workers returned to the state and the government managed to give them employment.
The CM also paid tributes to Lal Bahadur Shastri, saying as prime minister, he gave India a new direction. “Though he was a follower of Gandhi, he also showed the world, India was capable of standing its ground before enemies. The 1965 war is an example. When other countries imposed sanctions on India, he said the country would not beg before anyone,” he said.
Governor Anandiben Patel also paid homage to the two leaders. “Gandhiji said that a country’s progress is based on education and the world has recognised this fact. Good education results in character building, self-reliance and all-round development of a person,” she said.
