The BJP-led Tripura government has decided to provide financial aid to purchase smartphone to the students pursuing graduate courses, Education and Law Minister Ratan Lal Nath said here on Wednesday.

The Minister said that to fulfil the pre-poll promise given by the Bharatiya Janata Party during the 2018 Assembly elections, the council of ministers in its meeting here on Tuesday decided to provide Rs 5,000 to Rs 14,608 students to purchase a smartphone.

"All the 14,608 students of 38 government-run higher education institutions pursuing graduate courses in medical, para-medical, engineering, science, arts, commerce, law, painting and music and nursing would get the one-time financial support to purchase a smartphone," Nath told IANS.

He said that the government will introduce a new scheme "Mukhya Mantri Yuba Jogajog Yojana" (Chief Minister Youth Communication Scheme) to provide the financial aid to purchase the smartphone from the 2020-2021 academic year. According to the minister, to implement the new scheme Rs 7.31 crore would incur annually from the government exchequer.

"Through the smartphone, the student would gather the latest information about their academic curriculum and future career after completion of their graduate courses or when they pursue post-graduate studies," the Education Minister added.

The BJP in alliance with the tribal-based party Indigenous People's Front of Tripura (IPFT) had won the Assembly polls two years ago thrashing the 25-year uninterrupted governance of the Communist Party of India-Marxist led Left Front.