Nearly 6.44 lakh Plus-One students of government and aided schools will receive free cycles this year.
To mark the inauguration, Chief Minister Jayalalithaa gave away cycles to seven students at a brief event held at the Secretariat on Friday.
The beneficiaries will include 2.86 lakh boys and 3.57 lakh girls.
An official release said the scheme, in its present design, had been in force since 2005-2006.
The scheme, aimed at benefitting higher secondary students belonging to the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes, was launched in 2001-2002. The allocation for the current year is Rs. 230 crore.
The Chief Minister also declared open, through videoconference, a host of facilities created by the Agriculture Department. Farmer centres in 10 taluks to provide information to farmers were inaugurated.
She also launched the distribution of Kuruvai package to farmers free of cost.
The Rs.32.95-crore package consisted of polyethylene pipes, implements, paddy mineral mixtures and zinc sulphate. Agriculture schemes and welfare measures, worth Rs. 202.25 crore, were launched.
Five publications, including ‘Road Map for Vision 2023 in Agriculture,’ were unveiled.
Houses for poor
Ms. Jayalailthaa also inaugurated 19,037 solar-powered greenhouses built at a cost of Rs. 342.67 crore and 1,523 houses constructed at a cost of Rs. 57.11 crore under the Emergency Tsunami Reconstruction Project, apart from bridges and buildings of the Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Department.
She also distributed an incentive of Rs. 1 lakh each to four panchayat-level federations in Dindigul, Coimbatore, Salem and Krishnagiri districts. As many as 1,502 dwelling units, built by the Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board in Perumbakkam here at a cost of Rs. 90.12 crore, were declared open.
