The HRD ministry had written twice in the last six months to the finance ministry to release Rs 250 crore following dearth of funds to pay the scholarship dues. However, the HRD ministry's demand had not been considered till date, finance ministry sources said. An amount of Rs 70 crore had been allocated in the budget in 2015-16 while the finance ministry later released Rs 61 crore. While the estimated requirement of funds during the 2016-17 financial year was Rs 285.44 crore, the budget had allocated a meagre Rs 35 crore. Of the nearly 1.28 lakh students, 25,000 are from Maharashtra followed by 15,000 from Bengal.

Source: The Telegraph January 10, 2017 22:25 UTC