Many states would not pay scholarship on time or use the fund for some other purposes resulting in increasing dropouts from SC students due to lack of scholarship, he said, adding this will change now. Money will be now directly transferred to the student’s bank account and the Centre will contribute only after the state has done so, he said. He alleged a scam in the Congress-ruled Punjab, citing lack of documents regarding the list of scholarship beneficiaries in the state. The Union Cabinet had last week approved changes in the centrally sponsored Post-Matric Scholarship Scheme to benefit more than four crore Scheduled Caste students in the next five years and approved a total investment of over Rs 59,000 crore for the purpose. This decision, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said, will ensure greater educational access to youngsters belonging to SC communities.

Source: Hindustan Times December 29, 2020 09:49 UTC