Sohinee Ghosh

The Bihar government has increased its scholarship amount for girl students. Girls who have completed their graduation will get ₹50,000 and those who completed schooling i.e., class 12 examinations, will receive ₹25,000.

For the girl students applying for the scheme, the certificate will be transferred to the bank account through DBT after the educational institutions of Bihar verify the documents, only then the amount will be transferred to the bank account of these students. This scheme applies to girl students who have graduated after 2018.

The Mukhyamantri Kanya Utthan Yojana initiative has the potential to benefit 1.6 crore girls in the state. Both unmarried and married girl students are eligible for this scheme. The state cabinet approved the release of Rs 34 crore from the Bihar Contingency Fund to pay incentives and allowances to 33,666 students from minority communities.

 We believe this measure will not only encourage education but ensure equal opportunities for higher education irrespective of one’s financial background. It will discourage child marriages, thus saving young girls from domestic violence and abuse. Today, many female students are deprived of the opportunity to study further because of financial reasons. This scholarship will help such students fund their higher education.

 That said, we believe that merely implementing such schemes may not be sufficient to effect meaningful change. The ground reality remains that this money may often be used to fund the wedding of these girl students, rather than to fund their higher education, thus defeating the purpose. Perhaps the government should implement rules to scrutinise what the money is being used for and whether the student has a say in the matter. All things considered, this initiative is a step in the right direction and will benefit many girl students and save them from lifelong oppression.