Mamata launches 'Kanyashree'

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today took up a cause pioneered by social reformers Rammohun Roy and Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar to prevent child marriage by launching a special scheme for girls that aims at preventing child marriage. Titled 'Kanyashree', the scheme has two parts - a one-time payment and an annual scholarship - and will be available to families whose annual income is less than Rs 1.2 lakh. The one-time payment of Rs 25,000 will be made to the family of a girl if she is part of the education stream and not married off till 18 years of age.

The annual scholarship of Rs 500 will be paid from Class VIII to XII for girl students as Class VIII is the level at which many girl students usually drop out and are married off, officials said.

"Kanyashree is aimed at providing some relief to the poor girl students and their empowerment through improved education," Banerjee said, launching the project.

"Today there were 10,000 beneficiaries, but the target is to cover 24 lakh in a year," she said. There would be no income restrictions for entitlement to get the benefit for the disabled students, she said.