Karanataka government to gift laptops to 1.5 lakh children from poor families

The Karnataka government will gift laptops to 1.5 lakh students of ‘poor’ families joining colleges across the state this academic year, Law Minister T. B. Jaychandra said on Wednesday. “The state cabinet has approved to distribute laptops free of cost to 1.5 lakh students who got admission in government and aided medical, engineering, first grade and polytechnic colleges in the state,” Jaychandra told reporters after the cabinet meet. Admitting that the gesture would cost the exchequer about Rs 300 crore, the minister said the laptops would be given to only those students whose family annual income was Rs 2.5 lakh. The cabinet nod came four months after state Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who also holds the finance portfolio, told the lawmakers in the state legislative assembly while presenting the budget for this fiscal (2017-18) on 15 March. The cabinet also approved the state’s new policy on animation, visual effects, gaming and comics, to attract more investments in the sector and create about 20,000 jobs. “The policy will also give thrust to skill development in the sunrise sector and make Bengaluru a hub for the new software and hardware products,” added Jayachandra.