GOVERNMENT OF MANIPUR
CHIEF MINISTER’S SECRETARIAT: IMPHAL
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PRESS RELEASE

CHIEF MINISTER LAUNCHES “STARTUP MANIPUR” AND “LAIRIK TAMHANLASI” SCHEME

Imphal, March 15, 2018 (DIPR): Chief Minister Shri N. Biren Singh today launched two schemes – “STARTUP Manipur” and “Lairik Tamhanlasi”. The official launching of the schemes was held at the Chief Minister’s Secretariat in the presence of Minister for Education Shri Th. Radheshyam and Minister for Agriculture Shri V. Hangkhanlian.

Speaking on the occasion, Chief Minister said that various schemes has been launched for the poor, needy and disable people of the State and many projects have been inaugurated during the ‘Inauguration Fortnight’ being held in connection with the first anniversary celebration of the BJP-led State Government. These two schemes “STARTUP Manipur” and “Lairik Tamhanlasi” scheme would benefit the unemployed youths/entrepreneurs to become job creators and to those students who couldn’t afford their basic education. He said that “STARTUP Manipur” would enable the youths/unemployed persons in the State to take up new ventures with new and creative ideas. Under this scheme, a sum of Rs.30 crore is available during the year 2017-18 and 2018-19, upto Rs. 3 crore is available to individual Start-Ups, he added. On the occasion, Chief Minister also launched the official website of the STARTUP MANIPUR scheme (www.startupmanipur.in) and any interested person can visit the website to get register themselves and avail the benefits under the scheme.

Chief Minister said that since the installation of the new government, the government has been focussing on education, health and infrastructure sector. He said that after a survey conducted by the officials of the Education Department, there are around 40,000 drop-out students in the State. Major factors for such high drop-out rate, he said, are due to the financial constraints faced by the families of the students. The government had thoroughly discussed such problems/issues being faced by the poor students of the State. So the “Lairik Tamhanlasi” scheme would encourage those students who are enrolled in government schools to get education by providing the cost of admission/examination/tution fees, uniform and text books to all the students. In this regard, a sum of Rs. 16 crores has been earmarked in the Annual Budget, he added. A particular cell would be opened to facilitate the scheme in various offices of the Education Department. He further maintained that the objective of such scheme is to ensure that no child is left behind to get their basic right to education upto the Higher Secondary Stage of Education (Class IX-XII). Replying to a query about the children being used as labour in the State, Chief Minister appealed the people and media persons to report any case of child labour so as to rehabilitate those children.

Minister for Education Shri Th. Radheshyam said that in order to avoid such huge drop-out students from the schools, apart from this “Lairik Tamhanlasi” scheme, we need counselling sessions with both the students and parents about the essence of getting education.

Chief Secretary Shir R.R. Rashmi, Principal Secretary (Planning and Education) Shir Vineet Joshi, Director of Education and Director of Planning were present during the function.