West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today announced that there would not be any ceiling for a family's annual earnings to be a beneficiary under the UN award winning Kanyashree scheme.
She also announced that the state government would be coming up with a "Kanyashree University" for girls soon.
Kanyashree is a conditional cash transfer scheme aiming at improving the status and well being of the girl child by incentivising schooling of teenage girls and delaying their marriages until the age of 18. It received the United Nations Public Service Award last year.
Currently, girls who belong to families with annual family income not more than Rs 1.20 lakh is entitled to get the benefits.
"I am announcing that there will be no ceiling for the Kanyashree Prakalpa. This would help more girls to chase their dreams," Banerjee said at a programme to celebrate the 'Kanyashree Divas' here.
She said so far around 50 lakh girls have been benefited by the scheme and removal of the ceiling would help another three lakh more girls annually.
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"For this the government will have to bear an extra cost of Rs 200 crore. But I won't mind, as I know that they will bring back Rs two lakh crore to the state," she said.
"I want to come up with a Kanyashree University. The state department of Women Development and Social Welfare will pursue it. I want to gift the girls a university," she said.
The state Women Development and Social Welfare department has designed the Kanyashree Prakalpa which was implemented in the state on October 1, 2013. So far, the department has spent Rs 6,000 crore.
The chief minister said since Kanyashree Prakalpa has been introduced, the number of school drop out of girls has declined nearly 11.5 per cent.
She also directed the technical education department to initiate a skill development programme for beneficiaries of the Kanyashree Prakalpa for their "bright future".
The Trinamool Congress supremo also stated that her party has the highest number of woman MPs in Parliament.