Government to open bank accounts for tribal school children

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The state government has decided to open Aadhaar-linked bank accounts for tribal school children and their parents. These will be used to transfer funds for the purchase of 17 different items under the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) scheme.

Minister for Tribal Welfare Vishnu Savara said this at the state secretariat here on Monday. "This is being done to put an end to the constant complaints that poor quality items were being given to tribal kids," he said. "Seventeen essential items that include soaps, hair oil, toothbrush, towels, shoes, uniform and other items cost around Rs 4,400. The total expenditure for the DBT is Rs 98 crore, for which budgetary allocation has been made," he said.

Replying to queries over the alleged delay in the distribution of school textbooks, notebooks and other stationery, Savara said that these items will now be given to the students on the first day of the academic year. "In case of the tribal areas, where banking facilities are not available, the 17 listed items will be directly given to the students by the project officer concerned," he said. Savara announced that taking into account the problems faced by the tribal school children studying between standard VI and standard XII, the government has decided to impart life skill training to them.