New Delhi: The Modi government aims to provide post-matric scholarship to over four crore students belonging to the Scheduled Castes category over the next five years, raising the number from existing 60 lakh beneficiaries, senior BJP leader and Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Thawarchand Gehlot said on Tuesday.
He also told reporters the government's recent decision to raise the Centre's share in the scholarship amount to 60 per cent, and hike it progressively to 80 per cent, will result in a total expenditure of over Rs 59,048 crore by 2025-26 and ensure monitory assistance to the underprivileged students in time.
The Centre had spent only around Rs 1,100 crore annually in the last two years under an earlier formula, now changed by the Modi government, which had led to a rise in state's share, with almost half of the 36 states and Union Territories not getting any contribution from the Union dispensation, he told reporters.
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.
The 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.
"This is a historic decision. It will boost educational standards. No state has opposed our announcement," Gehlot, a Dalit face of the ruling party, said.
The percentage of students benefiting from the post-metric scholarship has risen to 23 from 17 in 2014-15, and the government is working to augment the number of beneficiaries to 27 per cent, he added.
(With inputs from agency)
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