By IANS
New Delhi : The central government will fully fund the construction of hostels for Dalit girls, the union cabinet decided Thursday.
The cabinet meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, also decided to give Panchayati Raj institutions a greater role in the scheme, said Finance Minister P. Chidambaram.
The Panchayati Raj institutions would be involved in the selection of sites for hostels and their functioning, said Chidambaram.
The cabinet was meeting to revise a centrally-sponsored scheme for construction of hostels for the Scheduled Castes girls and boys.
As per the revised scheme, Dalit students, whose parents are engaged in menial labour like sweeping, sewage disposal or scavenging, would be given priority in allotment of hostel accommodation.
The minister said the prevailing funding pattern for construction of Dalit boys’ hostels would continue.
The central government at present funds up to 50 percent of the cost for the boys’ hostels built by state governments, 100 percent of those built by the union territories, 90 percent of those built by central universities and 45 percent built by other universities.
The key objective of the revised scheme is to attract the implementing agencies to undertake hostel construction, especially for Dalit girls, in order to arrest their drop out rate.
According to the revised scheme, focus would be given to construction of hostels for middle and higher secondary levels, the minister added.