Assam: AASAA and AATSA Protest Closure of Online Application Portal for Swahid Dayal Das Panika Swaniyojan Achoni Scheme

LAKHIMPUR: The unemployed youths of Adivasi community and Tea-tribes, including All Adivasi Students’ Association of Assam (AASAA) and All Assam Tea-tribes Students’ Association (AATSA), have expressed strong resentment over the closing of online applications for the scheme of “Swahid Dayal Das Panika Swaniyojan Achoni”.

They have demanded the Government of Assam to reopen the same for the greater interest of the unemployed youths belonging to the communities concerned. The Directorate of Tea Tribes and Adivasi Welfare, Assam, through a notification issued vide ECF No. 312870 dated August 3 , invited online applications for the scheme “Swahid Dayal Das Panika Swaniyojan Achoni” for the beneficiaries of Tea Tribes and Adivasi Community for the financial year 2024-25.

According to the same notification, the online applications were to be received from August 5 through the SIRISH-Online Application Portal up to September 15. But the Directorate concerned closed the portal on September 5 at midnight by serving another notice issued vide ECF No. 538128/1.” In pursuance of this Directorate advertisement ECF No. 312870 on August 3, inviting online applications from eligible applicants under the scheme “Swahid Dayal Das Panika Swaniyojan Achoni,”  it is for the information of all concerned that an exceeding number of online applications have been received till date in respect of the physical target for the financial year 2024-25. Therefore, the undersigned has decided to close the ongoing online application for the scheme “Swahid Dayal Das Panika Swaniyojan Achoni” on September 5 at 12:00 midnight. No application will be received after closing of the online application portal,” the notice read. 

At this, AASAA general secretary Amarjyoti Surin said that the Directorate of Tea Tribes and Adivasi Welfare had nipped the dreams of the unemployed Tea-tribes and Adivasi community youths to be self-employed in the bud by closing the online portal. “As a consequence of it, the unemployed youths will be deprived of the benefits of the scheme. So, we have demanded the government to extend the period for the online application of the scheme by serving another notice,”  the AASAA general secretary added. Being dissatisfied with the Directorate’s move, AATSA vice-president Arup Boraik said, “The closure of the online portal concerned by the Directorate before the notified date is extremely unfortunate. The online portal of the scheme should be reactivated, and the application deadline should be extended. AASAA and AATSA submitted separate memoranda to Sanjay Kissan, the Minister for Labour and Tea-tribes Welfare Affairs, and Shobhan Gowala, the Director of the Directorate of Tea Tribes and Adivasi Welfare, Assam, in support of their demands regarding the issue. The organizations threatened that they would initiate a stir in every district if their demands were not fulfilled.

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