Chandigarh: About 80,000 students from the Scheduled Castes and those from below-poverty-line (BPL) families will benefit from Rs.5 billion worth of incentives the Haryana government announced on Tuesday.

Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda announced the incentives here to enable students of these categories to pursue education up to the college level.

He announced that all Scheduled Castes students studying in colleges would get Rs.2,000 a year to purchase books and a monthly stipend of Rs.1,000. He said that for the first time, students not only from Scheduled Castes but also from other communities studying in government schools from classes 1 to 8 would be given textbooks free of cost.

The free textbooks scheme will cost the state Rs.430 million annually.

Announcing a new scheme for boys belonging to BPL families, Hooda said a monthly incentive of Rs.75 will be given to those studying in classes 1-5, Rs.100 for those in classes 6-8 and of Rs.150 for those in classes 9-11.

For Science students in plus-two classes, the incentive allownace will be Rs.200 per month. College students will get Rs.750 a month. IANS