CHENNAI: Chief Minister MK Stalin will launch the first phase of the ambitious ‘Ulagam Ungal Kaiyil’ (the World in Your Hands) scheme on Monday, marking a major push towards digital empowerment of college students across Tamil Nadu.

The programme will be inaugurated at 3 pm at the Chennai Trade Centre in Nandambakkam, in the presence of Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin.

Under the scheme, the State government will distribute 10 lakh laptops to students pursuing higher education in government engineering colleges, arts and science colleges, medical, agricultural, law institutions, polytechnics and industrial training institutes.

The initiative is part of a larger two-phase plan to provide a total of 20 lakh laptops to college students, as announced earlier by the chief minister. The first phase is expected to conclude by the end of February.

"The programme builds on the government's student-centric initiatives such as Tamil Pudhalvan, Pudhumai Penn, First Graduate Scholarship, Post-Matric Scholarships and Social Justice Hostels, with a sharp focus on bridging the digital divide.

The laptops, sourced from global brands including Dell, Acer and HP, come equipped with Intel i3 or AMD Ryzen 3 processors, 8 GB RAM, 256 GB SSD storage, Windows 11, BOSS Linux, MS Office 365 and a six-month free subscription to the AI-powered Perplexity Pro platform. Each beneficiary will also receive a high-quality laptop bag," a release from the state government said.