The Mamata Banerjee government on Monday tried putting its best foot forward with its Taruner Swapna event to control the damage likely to be inflicted by various allegations of graft in the recruitment of teachers in the upcoming panchayat polls.
In the presence of thousands of Class XII students at the Netaji Indoor Stadium here, the chief minister oversaw the process of transferring Rs 10,000 each to the bank accounts of 10 lakh students of schools and madarsas.
“I extend my heartfelt wishes and blessings to our students on Children’s Day…. They are the future of our country. When our students couldn’t go to school during the Covid-19 pandemic, I decided to provide them with smartphones so that they could gain access to education online,” said Mamata at the event.
The students are expected to use the money for the purchase of tablets, smartphones or personal computers for online education.
The scheme called Taruner Swapna was conceptualised by the chief minister during the pandemic and had benefited 17 lakh students prior to Monday.
“The bank accounts that our students have will be put to use in accessing various social welfare initiatives such as Kanyashree (80 lakh beneficiaries already), Aikyashree (3.07 lakh existing beneficiaries), Shikshashree (1.1 crore beneficiaries so far), Swami Vivekananda merit-cummeans scholarship (15 lakh existing beneficiaries) and the Student Credit Card scheme (around 36,000 beneficiaries),” the chief minister said.
A senior Trinamul MP said the outreach initiative was a timely move.
“These are Class XII students, most of whom will be eligible to vote next year. This could prove to be very effective ahead of panchayat elections. She came up with it in December 2020 and it surely helped us in the Assembly election the following summer,” said the MP.
In her address, Mamata broached the subject of the allegations of corruption and other irregularities in the recruitment of teachers.
“If someone makes any errors, they should be rectified. We need to rectify our errors. If someone has made any mistake, it should be fixed...” Mamata said she thought the students needed to be told about the issue as they are the future of the state and the nation.
Mamata apology
Chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday apologised for minister Ramnagar Akhil Giri’s derogatory remarks about President Droupadi Murmu.
“I condemn my MLA’s comment. I am really sorry and apologise on behalf of the party (my party has already apologised) for that particular issue. I have great regard for our honourable president. We don’t comment personally and this is not the party’s culture. We have already condemned it and cautioned him (Giri) that it would not happen further. So, if it happens in future, the party would take its own course of action,” said Mamata.
