Bhopal: During the discussion on the proposal to continue the scheme for distribution of smart phones to students at the cabinet meeting on Wednesday, many ministers said that quality of the phones provided to the students was poor. The minister of state for technical education Deepak Joshi said that instead of giving poor-quality phones, the government should provide tablets to students. He was backed by Surendra
Patwa,Vishwas Sarang and other ministers. They said that they had received many complaints about poor quality phones.
Chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan also admitted there were complaints about poor quality of the gadgets. On inquiry, Chauhan was told
that the IT department had purchased the phones. He then directed that this time, better quality phones should be bought even if it meant spending more money. Under the scheme, smart phones will be distributed to the newly admitted government college students once their attendance crosses 75 percent mark.
The cabinet sanctioned Rs 154 crore for the scheme for 2017-18 to 2019-20. The cabinet also gave its nod to a proposal raising the cap on family income of SC, ST students entitled to reimbursement of fees paid by them to private educational institutions from Rs 3 lakh to Rs 6 lakh per annum. The fees will be decided by the Admissions and Fees Regulatory Committee and Private Universities Commission. Under the scheme, the central government reimburses the amount spent on students with annual family income of up to Rs 2.5 lakh.
The state government will pick the tab for fee reimbursement of students whose family income is higher than Rs 2.5 lakh, with an upper limit
of Rs 6 lakh. There will be no income restriction for student beneficiaries of scholarship schemes meant for students of grades 11 and 12 and of
colleges.
TCS to be paid for work done
The cabinet, while refusing to withdraw the Rs 7 crore penalty imposed on Tata Consultancy Service (TCS) for delay in the work of computerisation of state treasury, decided that the company will be paid for the work already completed by it. A committee of experts from IT and finance departments will evaluate the work done so far and determine the amount to be paid to the company.
The committee will also furnish evaluation reports to the treasury from time to time. The cabinet approved a proposal to provide an assistance
of Rs 1000 per month to Saharia, Baiga and Bharia tribal families in the state.
