Scholarships for minority students, 70 lakh students will get benefit

New Delhi : The Union Cabinet has approved the proposal for continuation of pre-matric, post matric and merit-cum-means based scholarship schemes for the students belonging to minority communities. The government scholarship scheme will cost of over Rs. 5,000 crore up to 2020. Under the idea, around 70 lakh scholarships will be distributed annually, a source close to the development said.

"The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved the proposal for continuation of pre-matric, post matric and merit-cum-means based scholarship schemes for the students belonging to the six notified minority communities at a total cost of Rs. 5338.32 crore for period up to 2019-20," it said.    

The official source also added that the continuation of scholarship scheme will benefit 70 lakh students annually

These schemes shall be put into practice through the National Scholarship Portal (NSP) and scholarships will be disbursed through the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) mode.

The main aim of the pre-matric scholarship scheme is to encourage parents from minority communities to send their children for compulsory education from Class I to X to school, provide financial assistance on school education and maintain their efforts to support their children to complete school education, the statement said.

However, to avail the scholarship amount, certain criteria must be fulfilled, like

• Scholarships will be awarded to students who have secured not less than 50 per cent marks in the previous final examination.
• Applicant for minority scholarship should be enrolled under government schools, institutes or recognised private schools and institutes.
• Annual income of parents or guardians should not be more than Rs. 1 lakh.

In the meantime, Minority affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, in a written reply in the Lok Sabha, said the government was working for the development of minorities through educational empowerment, skill development, economic empowerment, preservation of traditional skills and infrastructural development in minority concentration area, etc. Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains and Zoroastrians are the six religious minority communities in the country.