The Bihar Cabinet has announced encouragement incentives of Rs 1 lakh and Rs 50,000 for students belonging to Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) categories on qualifying the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) preliminary test and Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC) exams respectively.
“Under the scheme of the SC/ST Welfare Department, the state cabinet has decided to give one-time Rs 50,000 amount to an SC/ST candidate clearing prelims of BPSC and Rs 1 lakh for clearing prelims of UPSC,” said Arun Kumar Singh, principal secretary, cabinet secretariat department.
The Nitish Kumar-led Bihar government has approved the “Mukhyamantri Anusuchit Jati Evam Anusuchit Janjati Civil Seva Protsahan Yojana” to help the bright aspirants of these categories to focus on their studies without worrying about expenses.
The scheme is a follow-up of the chief minister’s flagship Student Credit Card scheme. Under the scheme, students with annual family income less than Rs 1.5 lakh and have passed class XII are eligible for the loan of up to R 4 lakh.
The Cabinet also decided to provide Rs 1,000 to each SC/ST student as hostel incentive and free supply of 15 kg food grain to the hostels.
Recently, the Government has also extended all schemes for ‘Mahadalits’ in the state – be it provding land for housing or Dashrath Manjhi Skill Development scheme – to the categories.
