Girl students in Siliguri take out rally to celebrate Kanyashree Diwas

A day before Independence Day, the West Bengal government celebrated Kanyashree Diwas in Siliguri.

Kanyashree Diwas is celebrated across West Bengal to promote the Kanyashree scheme which was launched by the state government on 14 August 2013. The main objective of the scheme is to incentivise the girl child's education through conditional cash transfer.

The celebrations included a march by students to spread awareness on the education of girl children. Girl students were seen holding placards and raising slogans like "Nari Shakti Zindabad" (Long live Women Power).

One of the participants, Rukhsana Afreen, praised the government's efforts to promote the education of girl children through the scheme.

"There are many parents who do not send their girl children to school and through our rally we are appealing to them to send their daughters to school. Our Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is helping us out through the Kanyashree Scheme," she said.

Officer-in-charge of Kanyashree Scheme in Siliguri, Songheta Tolapatra, said that more people have been able to avail the benefits of the scheme after the government scrapped the annual income limit in the scheme last year.

"The government has also come up with the concept of Kanyashree clubs through which girl students can reach out to their fellow girl students who may discontinue their education at any point of time," Tolapatra added.

Chief Minister Banerjee tweeted on Wednesday saying: "Today is #KanyashreeDibas, a special day for #Bangla. The #Kanyashree scheme started in 2013, has since won the @UN (first prize) award. Girls are the assets of our state, our country and the world. The #Kanyashree scholarships takes girls from school to college to the university level where they become independent women of India. The initiative has empowered over 60 lakh girl students. Total budget since launch is over Rs 7,000 crore.