New Delhi: Ministry of Minority Affairs has announced extra funds for scholarships to the students belonging to the minority communities. The ministry has announced funds allocation for three scholarships namely:
- 'Pre-matric Scholarship for Minorities', provided to students from the minority communities who fulfill the eligibility criteria for studies up to class X in schools recognized by an appropriate authority.
- 'Post-matric Scholarship for Minorities', provided to those students from the minority communities who fulfill the merit and means criteria for studies in class XI & XII levels, including technical and vocational courses and to those eligible students for general courses at undergraduate and post- graduate levels - up to PhD - in schools/colleges/institutes/universities recognized by an appropriate authority.
- 'Merit-cum-means Scholarship for professional and technical courses of undergraduate and post-graduate level', provided to those students from the minority communities who fulfill the eligibility criteria of merit-cum-means for pursuing professional and technical courses at undergraduate and post- graduate levels in institutions recognized by an appropriate authority.
The 'Pre-matric Scholarship for Minorities' scheme of the ministry has been allocated a sum of Rs 400 crore in the central budget for the next financial year. During the current fiscal, the scheme had been allocated Rs 176.99 crore. The proposed allocation is, thus, an increase of more than Rs 223 crore.
The central budget for 2010-11 has proposed to increase the allocation for 'Post-matric Scholarship for Minorities' scheme by Rs 101.71 crore. In the budget presented to the Parliament recently an amount of Rs 234.50 crore has been earmarked for this scheme, whereas during the current financial year 2009-10 the allocation is Rs 132.79 crore. Further, the central budget for 2010-11 has proposed to increase the allocation for 'merit-cum-Means Scholarship for professional and technical courses of undergraduate and post-graduate level'
Further, in the last scheme it has been proposed to increase the allocation by Rs 31.07 crore. In the budget presented to the Parliament recently, an amount of Rs 119.82 crore has been earmarked for this scheme, whereas during the current financial year 2009-10 the allocation is Rs 88.75 crore. It is, thus, an increase of over 35% in the next fiscal.
