Ahmedabad Feb 24 PTI The Gujarat government has said the SCST community students who have taken admission in courses not covered under the Fee Regulatory Committee FRC will now be entitled to get scholarships The decision was taken by Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel during the state cabinet meeting on Wednesday in the larger interest of the students according to a government release At present scholarship is granted to those students from the Scheduled Castes SCs and Scheduled Tribes STs who take admission in courses which are approved and covered under the FRC From now onwards the ST students who take admission in non-FRC courses run by private colleges and universities will also be considered eligible for government scholarships under the Freeship Card scheme said the release The decision will be beneficial for nearly 6000 SC students and 12000 students from the ST category In all the government would pay Rs 36 crore towards their scholarships it said During the cabinet meeting the CM also reviewed the final preparations going on for the upcoming Garib Kalyan Melas to be held in different parts of the state on February 24 25 and 26 The CM was also informed that the departments concerned have given a final shape to the state budget which will be presented in the state Assembly on March 3 the release said PTI PJT GK GK

New Delhi Dec 17 PTI A parliamentary standing committee has asked the Social Justice and Empowerment Ministry to plug all identified loopholes in the system as it expressed displeasure over reports of alleged misappropriation of funds under scholarship schemes for the underprivileged in some statesThe panels report tabled in the Lok Sabha on Thursday said the representatives of the ministry have been claiming that the system is fail-safe as all transactions and verifications are done onlineThe committee is quite disturbed by cases reported about the alleged misappropriation of funds under scholarship schemes for underprivileged sections in some states which is stated currently under enquiry the panel saidIt is disconcerting for the committee to observe that such instances however minuscule would dent the confidence of students on government scholarship schemes it stressedThe Parliamentary Standing Committee said that it desires the ministry to further plug all identified loopholes in the system and strengthen the privacy of data and passwords and reduce all manual interventions be it school personnel banking intermediaries NGOs or unauthorized personsIt said the department should counsel the states to try to reach out to a sample size of beneficiary students directly to ascertain they are not being duped in the pretext of government scholarships and they are receiving the full amount of the entitled scholarship money for the term as approved against their names in the portalThe parliamentary committee also referred to the 60-year-old Post-Matric Scholarship Scheme for Scheduled Caste students that guarantees financial assistance to Scheduled Caste students whose parents annual income does not exceed Rs 25 lakhThe committees note that only 11315 lakh students have benefited during the last two years ie 2018-19 and 2019-20 up to December 31 2020 with an expenditure of Rs 863947 crore under this schemeThe Committee feel that the number of beneficiaries should be much more ie around 80 lakh per year to realise the number of 4 crore students projected to be benefitted in the next five years it saidIn light of the decision that states have to give their share of 40 per cent of scholarships amount first and then the 60 per cent share of the Centre will be released to the students the panel said it was informed by the representatives of the ministry that states liability has now been reducedNonetheless all state governments are not very efficient in giving their share on time Hence the committee feels that an appropriate system may be developed so that the students are not deprived of scholarship in the absence or delay in providing share by the states the panel saidThe committee therefore recommends that adequate awareness may be created amongst students so that the maximum number of students can take the benefit of the scheme particularly in view of the target fixed next five years it saidIt also recommended that since the suggestions made in the recently conducted evaluation study of the scheme are practical and worthy of consideration those may be examined and implementedThe committee said it also appreciates the concept of issuing a FreeShip Card which will prove to be beneficial for the students for admission to the institution of their choice anywhere in the country without paying any feeThe committees desire that the department should direct all the states and Union Territories to issue FreeShip Card to all eligible students who have applied under the scheme it said PTI UZM NSD