Assam CM launches financial support scheme to end child marriage

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Sunday asserted that the government has taken a big leap towards eradicating child marriage with the launch of a financial support initiative -- Nijut Moina scheme -- to help the education of girl students in the state.

The latest government initiative aims to cover 10 lakh girl students with an outlay of Rs 1,500cr and in the first year, more than 1.6 lakh girls will get Rs 240 crore.

Chief Minister Sarma said, "Assam has started a big initiative today by launching Nijut Moina. Under this scheme, female students who study at the graduation level will receive a monthly scholarship of more than Rs 1,000, and those who pursue post-graduation are set to get Rs 2,500 per month to bear the education expenditure. In this way, we want female students should not depend on their parents to continue higher education."

The Chief Minister noted that with the launch of this initiative, the child marriage cases will come down in Assam.

"We are anticipating that Nijut Moina will able to eradicate the evil of child marriage from the state," he said.

Chief Minister Sarma also added that one of the primary conditions to avail of this scheme is that the female students will remain unmarried till they reach the post-graduation level.

"As the aim of this initiative is to eradicate child marriage, the female students studying at the graduation level must remain unmarried till they finish their undergraduate curriculum. Once they reach the post-graduation level, there is no bar to remaining unmarried to avail of the Nijut Moina scheme. At that point, they will reach their minimum age of marriage and we also desire that the girls get married in a specific period and lead a happy life," he said.

The Chief Minister also laid down another condition that no daughter of an MP, MLA, or Minister can get the benefits of this financial support initiative.

He also mentioned that the female students will attend regular classes in colleges and universities and they will come up with good results in the examination.

Taking to his X account, CM Sarma wrote, "I believe this initiative will be a game changer to fight child marriage. #NijutMoina is unique as it incentivises positive social outcomes, funds higher education, reduces family expenses, and bars child marriage by encouraging girls to remain in college."

"Overwhelming evidence of our past efforts has pointed us in today's direction. Studies have demonstrated how Assam's crackdown on child marriage has arrested maternal and infant mortality rates. With #NijutMoina, this social evil will get a final nail in the coffin," he added.

Under the Nijut Moina scheme, each eligible female student enrolled in Class 11 will receive an incentive of Rs 1,000 per month for a maximum of 10 months, for a total of Rs. 10,000 per year. An incentive of Rs 1,250 per month for a maximum of 10 months, resulting in a total of Rs 12,500 per year will be paid to each of the eligible female students enrolled in graduation in the first year.

Meanwhile, an incentive of Rs 2,500 per month for a maximum of up to 10 months, resulting in a total of Rs 25,000 per year, will be paid to each eligible female student enrolled in post-graduation first year.