The Samajwadi Party on Sunday urged School and Mass Education Minister Badri Narayan Patro to introduce the Central Scholarship Scheme for students belonging to the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category at the earliest.
In a letter to the Minister, SP State president Rabi Behera mentioned that about 12 lakh OBC children are studying in Class I to X and those students, who parents have less than Rs 2.5 lakh annual income, are eligible to get Central scholarship. The State needs to make a provision of 50 per cent of funds for the purpose first. Then the State would send a list of students, eligible to get the scholarship, to the Union Government. “It is disappointing that the State Government is not aware of the Central scheme. As a result, OBC students are being deprived of the scholarship,” lamented Behera.
He urged the Minister to send the OBC students’ list to the Centre soon.
As per provision, each OBC student of Class I to X can get Rs 100 stipend every month and each OBC student of Class III to X staying in hostels can get Rs 500 per month for 10 months. Besides, there is provision that Rs 500 would be credited to each student’s bank account.