Normal life remained affected for the 43rd day. (Express photo by Shuaib Masoodi)The Union government is planning to do away with the state quota of scholarships in Jammu and Kashmir and instead, award them to all eligible applicants, it is learnt.
J&K at present has a quota of about 2 lakh scholarships. These include pre-matric, post-matric and merit and means scholarship awarded by the Ministry of Minority Affairs and also the Begum Hazrat Mahal Scholarships for minority girls.
J&K students from families below a certain income level are also eligible for the Prime Minister’s Special Scholarship Scheme (PMSSC) for students pursuing higher education outside the state.
Normally, quotas for national scholarships are fixed state-wise based on the number of minorities in the state concerned. That population-based quota may soon be waived for J&K, according to sources in the government.
According to a source, students from all six minority communities — Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Parsis, Jains and Buddhists — are eligible for the three scholarships administered by the Minority Affairs ministry. “We receive a large number of applications from each state but can award only that many scholarships as the quota the state is eligible for. The quota is decided on the basis of minority population in the state,” the source said.
Focus on developing J&K, skilling its youth
The plan to broaden scholarships to include as many students as possible from J&K is part of a larger plan of the Home ministry for development of the state. There are also elaborate plans to instill skill in the youth in J&K, and Minority Affairs Secretary Shailesh and Skill Development Secretary K P Krishnan visited J&K recently and held extensive meetings with district officials to understand needs of the state and where resources need to flow for the youth to become ready for the jobs market.
For Jammu and Kashmir, however, the plan now would be to give scholarship to all applicants, “provided they are eligible, regardless of the state quota which right now is about a couple of lakhs”, the source said.
Nationally about 36 lakh scholarships are awarded every year under the three heads. The government has already announced that in the next five years 5 crore scholarships will be disbursed for minority students across the country.
