New Year Bonanza-Students of Pb Govt Institution to get Free Smart Phones
KS Diwan/ royalpatiala.in/ Chandigarh
Captain Amarinder Singh led Punjab government is all set to implement its key poll promise of giving smart phones to the youth.
The state cabinet, at its meeting on Wednesday, approved the modalities for the distribution of the smart phones, with graduating students of government schools, colleges and technical institutions to be covered in the first phase of the scheme, according to an official spokesperson. The students would be required to submit self-certification stating that they do not already possess a smart phone.
The scheme, which will give a further impetus to the state government’s digital empowerment agenda, will provide for distribution of mobile phones with various smart features, such as touch screen, camera and applications to access social media etc. In addition, one time bundled 12 GB data & 600 local minutes talk time (voice) with one year validity would also be provided under the scheme.
The vendor to implement the scheme shall be selected through an open transparent bidding process.Vendors shall be on board within a period of about two months and the first batch of phones is expected to be distributed in the month of March.
Cabinet also authorised the Chief Minister to finalise the name of the scheme, besides authorising the chairman of the committee for procurement and distribution of smart phones to make changes in the Request For Proposal (RFP) as may be required in the future.
Notably, the Punjab government had announced a scheme named ‘Mobile Phone to the Youth’ in its budget for the Financial Year 2017-18 with the objective of providing digital access to youth and information regarding education, career opportunities, access to skill development & employment opportunities and basic citizen centric services through government applications, etc.
