CHANDIGARH: Haryana Chief Minister, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, on Wednesday announced launching of a new scheme known as "Shiksha Deep' in the State. Speaking at the celebrations of Rajiv Gandhi Akshya Urja Diwas at Panchkula near here, Mr. Hooda said that under this scheme, LED solar lanterns would be provided to those girl students of each school in every village who would rank first in their respective classes of 5, 8, 10 and 12. During this year, the innovative scheme would benefit 19,000 girls and cost Rs 3 crore. The Chief Minister urged the Union Minister for Renewable Energy, Vilas Muttemwar, to introduce a chapter on renewable energy in the syllabus of classes 6 to 8 to make children aware of the significance of renewable energy at an early age. He also requested that a city of Haryana be included in the list of Solar Cities in the country. Mr. Hooda said that 30 MoUs have been signed with 10 Independent Power Producers (IPPs) for generation of 697.8 MW of power with an investment of Rs. 3278 crores from 30 projects based on biomass, small hydro and wind energy. The projects are under implementation and likely to be commissioned by mid-2009. While paying tributes to former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, Mr. Hooda said the nation was celebrating his 65th birthday as Akshya Urja Diwas. He urged the people to realise the dream of the departed leader who wanted India to be stronger and more prosperous. He stressed the need for generation of power through renewable sources of energy saying that the growing demand for power could not be met with coal or oil. He said the State Government would spend Rs 20 crore for promotion of renewable energy during 2008-09. The Chief Minister announced that all schools in Panchkula would remain closed on Thursday in view of large-scale participation of school children at the function.