Lack of funds; Scholarship for SC students suffers

New Delhi, May 5: The lack of fund has been putting severe constriants on the implementation of the Post-Matric Scholarship (PMS) for Scheduled Caste students.

The fact came to light in the 24th report of the Standing Committee on Social Justice and Empowerment tabled in the Lok Sabha.

The Parliamentary panel has asked the Ministry to allocate more funds for scheme and also take up the matter with the Planning Commission to get more funds to cover all the eligible candidates.

There has been a sharp rise in the number of beneficiaries following revision of income ceiling from Rs 45000 to Rs 1.00 lakh with effect from April, 2003 and also because of the fact that a large number of Scheduled Caste students were seeking admission to professional courses.

The requirement of funds has jumped up from Rs 265 crore in 2003-04 to Rs 1058.33 crore for 2006-07.

Though the Ministry was able to allocate an additional Rs 88.02 crore to the sanctioned allocation of Rs 440.00 crore, there still was an unmet demand of Rs 532 crore in 2006-07.

This gap was coming in the way of covering all the eligible candidates, the report said.

The financial assistance under the scholarship includes maintenance allowance, reimbursement of non-refundable compulsory fee charged by educational institutions, book bank facility and other allowances.

The scholarships are available for studying in India only and are awarded by the governments of the state to which the applicant belongs.

UNI