By Mumtaz Alam Falahi, TwoCircles.net,
New Delhi: Expanding its flagship scheme for financial assistance to minority students, the Congress-led UPA government at the centre has doubled the units of minority scholarships for the year 2009-2010.
Under the pre-matric scholarship scheme the government has increased the units to 8 lac for the year 2009-10. Out of this 8 lac, about 6 lac have been allocated for Muslims. For the last year (2008-2009) the government had allocated 4 lac units but on the rising demand it had to sanction 512657 units under this category.
Similarly, under the post-matric scholarship scheme, 2.50 lac units have been allocated to states/UTs for the year 2009-10. Muslim minority will get 182313 units. Last year initial allocation was 1.75 lac but ultimately the government could sanction only 150532 units.
The Ministry of Minority Affairs, which runs all these schemes, distributes new 20000 Merit-cum-Means scholarships every year, apart from renewals. Out of this 20 thousand, 14585 are for the Muslim minority. For the year 2008-2009 the government sanctioned 17535 new scholarships besides renewing 8660 units under this scheme.
Veteran Congress leader Salman Khursheed is heading the ministry in the second inning of the UPA government. A R Antulay was his predecessor. Antulay lost this Lok Sabha election in Maharashtra.
Pre-Matric Scholarship
Post-Matric Scholarship
