Announcing a slew of schemes aimed at benefiting the deprived sections, Jharkhand government in its budget on Thursday proposed Guruji Credit Card scheme to provide educational loan to students for higher education at nominal interest.
The JMM-led Jharkhand government unveiled a Rs 1.01-lakh crore budget for the 2022-23 fiscal, with higher spending on sectors like health and infrastructure.
"For educational loan, banks asks for collateral security. But, poor students are generally not able to provide it. In such cases, they miss the opportunity of higher education. Under Guruji Credit Card, state government will be the guarantor for such loan," said Principal Secretary, Finance department Ajoy Kumar Singh during a post-Budget briefing here.
Mukhyamantri Sarathi Scheme has also been proposed to help degree holding students to prepare for competitive examinaitons. The budget also provided for the Marang Gomke Jaipal Singh Munda Trans-national Scholarship scheme will now be extended to students of Schedule Caste, Backward and Minority communities.
Finance Minister Rameshwar Oraon said that recognising that funds are insufficient for entire family to reside in small houses built under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna (Rural), the state government has plans to provide Rs 50,000 per house for the construction of an additional room from the state fund.
Under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Rural), the construction work of 10.44 lakh houses has been completed so far and remaining 5.22 lakh houses are likely to be completed in next fiscal, he said.
The government also announced 100 units of electricity free for the poor and the farmers to reduce electricity bill burden on them. Besides, in a bid to encourage start-up in the state, finance minister has proposed a Start-up Capital Venture Fund in the budget.
For 2022-23, a sum of Rs 50 crore has been proposed. Also, the Jharkhand government announced plans to set up an airport in Sahebganj to extend air travel facility in the Santhal region of the state. Besides, government has also proposed air ambulance service at minimum cost through wet lease. Finance Minister said to provide health facilities to the families from Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTG) in rural areas, bike ambulance service will also be started.
Setting up of a Medico City in Ranchi is also proposed in the budget. The government said children under Anaganwadi Centres will now be given woolen uniforms. State finance minister said around 15 lakh children will be benefited under the scheme.
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