Nearly five years after promising it in its election manifesto, the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh is set to roll out the much hyped Rani Lakshmibai Scooty Scheme before the assembly elections early next year. On Tuesday, the UP Cabinet approved the eligibility criteria and guidelines for implementing the scheme, which will benefit around 50,000 meritorious women students.
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The Bharatiya Janata Party released its manifesto or ‘Lok Kalyan Sankalp Patra’ for the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections in February 2022. The scheme was first announced in the 2025 state budget. A year later, ₹400 crore was allocated in the budget for the implementation of the scheme as the state heads for the 2027 assembly polls.
It was said that under the initiative, meritorious women students, especially those from rural backgrounds who want to pursue higher education, were to receive free scooties to support their educational journey and improve access to higher education.
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The ambitious initiative is aimed at ensuring easier access to higher education for women students while making them self-reliant and confident. Under it, free scooties will be given on a merit basis to the top 5% of women students in each university and college provided they are natives of UP and have passed out with a bachelor’s degree in the 2025-26 academic session.
Giving this information at a press conference after the cabinet meeting chaired by chief minister Yogi Adityanath, state higher education minister Yogendra Upadhyay said the scheme will benefit women students whose families have an annual income of less than ₹12 lakh.
This applies to students from state and private universities (under the higher education and other departments) as well as government colleges, non-government aided colleges, and self-financed colleges affiliated with state universities, he added. Around 50,000 female students will benefit this year, the minister said.
Special provisions have been made for differently-abled students, destitute students (those who have lost both parents), and daughters of martyrs. These students will be exempt from the merit-based ranking requirement. For them, merely passing the undergraduate course will suffice. Interested companies will soon be invited to demonstrate their models.
Considering the availability of adequate infrastructure (such as service centres) and fuel supplies for petrol-driven scooters even in remote rural areas, the two-wheeler will be petrol-powered and its procurement will be conducted through the GeM (Government e-Marketplace) portal.
The package will include registration fee, comprehensive vehicle insurance, an ISI-marked helmet, all necessary accessories, and 5 litres of petrol at the time of delivery, Upadhyay said.
The primary aim of the scheme is to reduce dropout rates among female students, improve their retention in higher education, ensure their mobility and access to higher educational institutions, increase the gross enrolment ratio (GER), foster their overall development, and instil a sense of self-confidence and independence.
