On 12th August 2020, On the occasion of International Youth Day and Janmastami, Captain Amarinder Singh, Chief Minister of Punjab launched the “Punjab Smart Connection Scheme” worth Rs. 92 crores to provide free smartphones to the students of class 12 and he also handed over the smartphones to 6 students.
About “Punjab Smart Connection Scheme”:
i.The first phase of the scheme benefited around 1,74,015 class 12 students (87,395 – boys & 86,620 – girls) of the state in which around 1,11,875 students are from the rural areas and the others from urban government schools will be completed by November 2020.
ii.The major beneficiaries of the scheme belong to the Other Backward class(OBC) and Scheduled Caste (SC)and Scheduled Tribe (ST)categories.
iii.The smartphones were distributed in 26 places by the minister, members of legislative Assembly and others.
iv.The smartphones distributed under the scheme were procured by the Punjab Ministry of Industry.
Benefits:
i.The scheme will provide a global connectivity to the students and enable access to online education amid COVID-19 pandemic.
ii.This scheme will support the students of government schools to prepare for the board exams by utilising the online study material and old questions papers.
Future Implementations:
The Punjab Ministry of industry would procure additional smartphones through Punjab Infotech and the distribution will be done through M/s Lava, the implementation partner to deliver and distribute smartphones to Youths in Punjab.
Recent Related News:
i.Punjab CM Amarinder Singh launches surveillance app ‘Ghar ghar nigrani’ app to detect COVID-19
ii.The Punjab Government launched “Cova Punjab” mobile application to spread awareness and precautions to be taken against coronavirus. The application was launched by Punjab Chief Secretary Karan Avtar Singh. The application was developed by the Department of Government Reforms and Public Grievances.
About Punjab:
National parks- Abohar National Park, Jhajjar Bachauli National Park, Bir Moti Bagh National Park, Bir Bhadson National Park, Mahendra Zoological Park (Chatt Bir zoo).
Airport– Sri Guru Ram Dass Jee International Airport
