WEB DESK
The India Bangladesh ties are historic and multi-dimensional. India is keen to support the national effort of Bangladesh for the betterment of their own people. In order to further the people to people ties between the two countries, India provides scholarship for the descendants of the Liberation War fighters of Bangladesh.
The government of India has announced scholarships to 2000 descendants of the Liberation War fighters of Bangladesh under its new Muktijoddha Scholarship scheme. The scheme was launched in 2017 during the visit of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to India. Under this scheme, 1000 students each from the Higher Secondary and Undergraduate categories have started receiving the amount of scholarship for this year directly in their account since yesterday. The new scheme was aimed to benefit 10,000 students from Bangladesh over a period of five years. The scholarship carries an amount of 20,000 Taka for students of Higher Secondary and 50,000 Taka to Undergraduate category students, who are direct descendants of Muktijoddhas or Liberation War fighters of Bangladesh. The Govt of India has sanctioned an amount of 35 crore Taka for both schemes combined together. As of now, 17,082 students have benefited under this scheme, and an amount of close to Tk 38 crore has been utilised for this purpose. The ‘Muktijoddha scholarship scheme’ was started in the year 2006 for the descendents of Muktijoddhas. Originally, Scholarships were awarded to Higher Secondary and Undergraduate level students. Undergraduate students were awarded Tk 24,000 per year for four years and Higher secondary students were awarded Tk 10,000 per year for two years.
