Maharashtra governor felicitates meritorious students from the communities
He said 9,27,973 govt certificates had been distributed, so far, through the revenue and Other Backward Bahujan Welfare department. Save said around Rs4,236 crore had been spent through pre-matric and post-matric scholarships and reimbursement of education and examination fees, with assistance transferred directly to students’ accounts through MahaDBT. He said around 40,000 students from the dhangar community had benefited from English medium residential education since 2021-22. Financial assistance was also provided annually to 75 OBC and SBC students pursuing higher education abroad.
Additionally, there is need to focus on skill enhancement and reskilling so that young people can access better livelihood opportunities,” Varma said. He said children should be provided educational facilities wherever their families reside, so that their studies do not get affected. Booklets on various schemes of the Other Backward Bahujan Welfare department were also released. You Can Also Check: Gold Rate in Pune | Silver Rate in Pune | Bank Holidays in Pune | Public Holidays in Pune | Petrol Price in Pune | Diesel Price in Pune | CNG Price in Pune | LPG Price in Pune Stay updated with the latest Pune news.
“An educated girl can change the future of an entire family and generations to follow,” he said, adding that initiatives such as School Connect could help students access higher and professional education. He said the communities’ struggle was not just a matter of history, but one of social justice. Lack of permanent housing, land rights and essential identity documents often prevents its members from accessing education, healthcare, employment and govt schemes, he said. Save said the govt was working to bring nomadic and denotified communities into the mainstream through education, certificates, employment, self-employment and basic infrastructure. We are working to simplify the process to obtain documents and certificates required to avail these schemes,” the minister said.
Varma was speaking at the state-level Nomadic and Denotified Communities Day programme organised by the Other Backward Bahujan Welfare department at Fergusson College in Pune. The programme was attended by minister Atul Save, MLA Neelam Gorhe, state officials and representatives of nomadic and denotified communities. “Education is the biggest force for development of these communities. Hostels, residential schools, scholarships, digital education and greater access to higher, professional and research opportunities should be expanded, he added. Varma called for special attention to education of girls from the communities. Varma highlighted the contribution of these communities to agriculture, handicrafts, animal husbandry, transport and folk arts, saying traditional skills should be linked with modern technology and markets to create sustainable employment. The governor suggested special camps to help people obtain birth certificates, Aadhaar cards, caste certificates, voter identity cards and ration cards. “It is the govt’s priority to provide access to state schemes to every section of the communities. More camps would be organised at their settlements to speed up the process. The governor felicitated and distributed symbolic caste certificates to the communities’ meritorious students. Download the TOI App.
Pune: Development of nomadic and denotified communities must be prioritised through education, skill development, self-employment and economic empowerment said governor Jishnu Dev Varma on Monday, while also emphasising that mobile lifestyles of the families should not disrupt their children’s access to education.