For 8 yrs now, a scheme that’s helped Kashmiris study outside the state

After the Pulwama attack on February 14, Kashmiris have been targeted across the country. A large number of them were students. A CRPF helpline launched for the purpose has been getting 60 to 70 calls a day and the central paramilitary force claims to have helped 250 Kashmiri students (till February 19) studying or working in other states reach their homes safely.

This is not the first time students from Kashmir have felt threatened. There have also been reports of students being expelled from colleges or being booked for sedition on complaints made by the local students.

The Supreme Court will hear a plea today seeking a direction to authorities to protect Kashmiri students in the wake of the threats following the Pulwama attack.

Despite the threats, students from the state travel to other states to study. Why? For the same reason that students from Bihar study in Delhi colleges or students from north India travel to the south to study engineering or medicine. While the lack of adequate number and quality of colleges (and seats in them) is a reason, studies being halted due to disturbances in the state is another.

And helping them all is a central scheme. The Centre launched the Prime Minister’s Special Scholarship Scheme in 2011 to encourage students from J&K to pursue higher education outside the state. The scholarship entails annual monetary support for paying tuition fee (between Rs 30,000 and Rs 3 lakh), hostel fees (up to Rs 90,000) and other expenses (up to Rs 10,000). Up to 5,000 new scholarships (2,070 for general degree courses, 2,830 for professional and technical courses and 100 for medical courses) are awarded every year. Around 20,000 Kashmiri students are believed to be studying in colleges in other states.




Only students with an annual family income of less than Rs 8 lakh and those who have completed Class XII in the state are eligible for the programme. The scheme also applies to diploma holders from polytechnic institutes in J&K.