State govt makes considerable allocation for edu & agri sectors

Kolkata: The state government, on Thursday, proposed considerable allocation in the education as well as the agriculture sector in the state Budget.

The state Finance minister Chandrima Bhattacharjee announced handing over of smartphones to students under ‘Taruner Swapno’ scheme from class XI. The state also announced it will bear the premium for potato growers under ‘Bangla Sasya Bima Yojana’.

“Presently, students of class XII get financial assistance of Rs 10000 for smartphones for online studies. Now, the facilities will be available from class XI. Additional allocation of Rs 900 crore has been made,” Bhattacharjee said in her budget speech.

Presently, the cook-cum-helpers engaged in the preparation of cooked mid-day meals get Rs 1000 per month. “Now, they will get Rs 1500 per month. About 2.30 lakh cook cum helpers will be benefitted. A total of Rs 140 crore has been allocated for this purpose,”

she added.

To help potato farmers, the state government has proposed to bear the premium for potato like other crops under ‘Bangla Sasya Bima Yojana’. Around 20 lakh potato farmers will benefit from this with an additional fund of Rs 100 crore being earmarked for the purpose.

The state government will also take measures to ensure fast supply of seeds and credit linkage to farmers and enhance market connectivity of agriculture produce.