Tribal students to be given tablets, says Gujarat minister

The state government has decided to give tablets to tribal students of the science stream, who score more than 70 per cent marks in their higher secondary examination, Gujarat's Tribal Development minister Ganpat Vasava said today.
The announcement was made in the Gujarat Assembly while giving his speech on budgetary allocations made to his department during the current state budget.
According to Vasava, Rs 1,377.70 crore have been allotted for tribal development for the year 2014-15, which is 44 per cent higher than previous budget allocations.
"We have allotted Rs one crore for this new scheme of distributing tablets. We have also increased loans given to tribal students wanting to go abroad for education from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 15 lakh. To encourage tribal youth to become commercial pilots, we have increased loan amounts from Rs 20 lakh to Rs 25 lakh," Vasava announced.

He said that there are over 90 lakh tribals in Gujarat, who comprise 15 per cent of its total population. For their overall uplift and development, Rs 40,000 crore have been allotted for the next five years under the 'Vanbandhu Kalyan Yojna', the minister said.
"Our Prime Minister Narendra Modi (when he was CM) floated the Vanbandhu Kalyan Yojna five years ago. In Phase-1, we spent more than Rs 17,000 crore within last five years. Now, we plan to spend Rs 40,000 crore for development of tribals, during Phase-2," Vasava said.
"After becoming a huge success here, the Central government has decided to implement this scheme across the nation, which is a matter of pride for us," Vasava said.