1. Additional Classrooms, Partition Walls, and Electricity in Elementary Schools

• As announced in the Assam Budget 2017-18, Gunotsav was launched across the state and it has become one of the major success stories of the Government.
• However, the assessments on the infrastructure side present a very grim picture.
• There are hundreds schools that lack basic facilities such as separate classrooms, provision of electricity etc.
• In order to take care of these myriad deficiencies plaguing our basic educational system, after a quick assessment, it was found that a total requirement on account of additional classrooms, partition walls, and provision of electricity in these schools comes to around Rs.980 Cr.
• Without any delay, and despite competing demands for resources from other sectors, an entire sum of Rs.980 crore has been allocated in one go, during the Financial Year 2018-19.

2. Tejasvi Nav-adhitam-astu Edu-Infra Funds

• Assam Govt had launched the ‘Tejasvi Nav-adhitam-astu Edu-Infra Funds (TNEIF)’ scheme to re-imagine and re-structure higher education was launched as per the Budget promise of 2017-18.
• Accordingly, funds were gradually allocated for the infrastructure development of professional colleges and Universities to be spent over a period of three to four years.
• These investments are already showing early signs of rejuvenation across our institutions.
• To continue with this initiative during Budget 2018-19, an additional Rs.256 crore for the infrastructure development of the leading colleges and Universities of the State to give a major boost to Higher Education in the State.

3. Inclusive Cancer Control Programme

• Every year thousands of people from Assam travel outside the state for treatment seeking a cure for the deadly disease – cancer.
• Most of those who travel, come back poorer and more often than not, bereft of a loved one. The North East Region has a very high cancer incidence and Assam accounts for a majority of these cancer parents.
• Cancer has become synonymous with death – time has come to address this fallacy. What makes this worse is that almost 60% of all cancers in Assam are preventable and if detected early lead to better survival rates.
• In the past two years, Government of Assam has taken several steps to address this. The State Cancer Institute (SCI) in Guwahati is fast emerging as a state-of-the-art hub for cancer treatment in the state and boasts of the ??rst Nuclear Medicine facility in the Region.
• The expansion plans for SCI will propel it to be among the top cancer institutions in the country. However, even coming to Guwahati is a challenge for many people in the
  state and that too for the long duration required for any cancer treatment.
• Six Government Medical Colleges namely, Guwahati , Dibrugarh, Silchar, Jorhat, Tezpur, Barpeta and eleven District Hospitals namely, Darrang, Dhubri, Goalpara, Golaghat, Haflong, Hojai, Karimganj, Kokrajhar, North Lakhimpur, Nagaon and Tinsukia will be strengthened by 2019 to provide varying degrees of cancer care.
• The State will partner with the pioneers who bought cancer care to India in the form of Tata Memorial Hospital. Tata Trusts will be an equal partner in this landmark public health program and towards all the activities Tata Trusts has committed an investment of Rs. 830 crore and Government of Assam will contribute Rs. 1080 crore spread over two financial years.
   

4. Atal Amrit Abhiyan

• In order to make quality healthcare accessible to all, Atal Amrit Abhiyan,an ambitious critical care health assurance scheme for the citizens of Assam state, was launched on 25th December, 2016.
• Over 1.6 crore beneficiaries have already been enrolled in this program. Each beneficiary over 18 years of age has been given a laminated card with a unique identification number and recieved the biometrics of each and every enrolled beneficiary for identification.
• It is envisaged that almost 92% of Assam’s total population will be covered by this scheme and when fully implemented, it would be one of the largest such universal health assurance schemes in the world catering to both BPL and APL population.

5. Universalization of Old Age Pension Scheme

• PRANAM Act, a law that lays down that all Government employees should take care of their elderly parents, has already enacted in Assam.
• Now, it’s time to go beyond the regulatory boundaries of the Government and look after the entire elderly community and provide benefits that meet their minimum living needs.
• Taking a huge leap forward, the State Government is launching a pension scheme that covers each and every senior citizen of the State, irrespective of whether they are above poverty line or below poverty line.
• With this scheme, each elderly citizen will be entitled to a monthly pension of Rs. 250 per month.

6. Chah Bagicha Dhan Puraskar Aru Jeevan Suraksha Yojana

• To incentivize the digitization of the economy of the Tea Garden employees, and as part of the initiative of financial inclusion the State Government announced that Rs.5000 will be credited to the bank accounts of each Tea Garden employee who had opened their Bank Accounts immediately post-demonetization.
• ‘Chah Bagicha Dhan Puraskar Mela’ was launched in January 2018 wherein Rs. 2500 was transferred as the first tranche to each of the 7,21,485 bank accounts of Tea Garden workers across 752 Tea Gardens spread over 26 Districts of Assam through Direct Benefit Transfer.
• Further, to ensure that this digitization is not a one-off event, a further Rs.2500 additional incentive will be transferred to all the accounts that are kept active continuously for 6 months. Going a step further, processes are initiated for enrolling all these active bank accounts under the Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Yojana(PMJJY), a Life Insurance coverage plan, and the Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana(PMSBY), an accident insurance scheme which have a maximum sum assured of Rs.2 Lakhs.

7. Kanaklata Mahila Sabalikaran Yojana

• A scheme to promote at least one lakh self-sustainable, self-help groups (SHGs) in the State through loan and capital subsidy will be launched in the upcoming financial year.
• In addition to the earlier target of one lakh SHGs, this year the scheme would be further scaled up and add another 26,000 SHGs. In the coming years the Kanaklata Mahila Sabalikaran Yojana is all set to be a torchbearer for empowerment of our rural women and enable them to realize their rights and power in all spheres of life.

8. Zero Interest on Crop Loans, Farmers’ Debt Relief and Financial Assistance for Farm Implements

• During the last one and a half years, it was observed that Assam farmers have not been able to take full benefit of the subsidized, short term crop loans through KCCs.
• The prime reason for this is that most of these accounts have outstanding dues and as a result, credit flow from the banks has been clogged.
• The incentive of a one-time cash incentive of Rs.3000/- per inactive KCC holding farmer will continue. In a big step to provide relief to farmers who have availed bank loans, the Government have decided a onetime measure to unclog the much needed credit supply to the farmers.
• Further, zero interest loan, massive tractorization, 25% contribution on the outstanding loan amount are some of the unique schemes which will be launched in the state.
• In order to encourage our farmers to use scienti??c implements for better productivity, a financial assistance of Rs. 5000 per farmer is envisaged.