Special scholarship programme extended to 5,000 students in J&K

The special scholarship scheme for students of Jammu and Kashmir to pursue higher education outside the state, launched by the centre has received tremendous response this year, HRD minister Prakash Javadekar said while inaugurating the IIT interim centre in Jammu on Saturday.

The special scholarship scheme for J&K students has been a big draw this year. ''More than 5,000 students of Jammu and Kashmir had applied for this scholarship,'' he said.

Overall Rs75 crore worth scholarships have been given this year under this scheme, he added.

Earlier the quota for J&K students in engineering colleges was limited to only 250, but this year 1,430 students were granted admission in various reputed engineering colleges. This was due to the enhancement, for the first time, of the supernumerary quota in various engineering branches from 2 to 10, ie, quota of 10 seats for Jammu and Kashmir students in each engineering college over and above the sanctioned strength.

This year, hotel management and nursing were also included under this special scholarship scheme. While 15 students were admitted to reputed hotel management Institutes, 284 students secured admission in various reputed nursing colleges.

Besides this 177 students of Jammu and Kashmir got admission in medical colleges on their own merit. In general stream 1,014 students were admitted. Overall total scholarships awarded to students of Jammu and Kashmir this year is 3,584 of which 1,329 students were from Kashmir Valley, 26 from Ladakh and 2,255 from Jammu.

Under this special scholarship scheme, up to Rs1.25 lakh tuition fee is borne by the central government besides up to Rs1 lakh is paid to students for meeting hostel and food charges. For general courses a tuition fee of up to Rs30,000 is paid by the central government along with up to Rs1 lakh towards hostel and food charges.

The tuition fee is transferred to institutes directly so that when the student approaches college for admission, the college will not insist on depositing academic fees. The hostel and food allowances of Rs1 lakh is transferred to the account of student in two installments through DBT.

Centralised counseling for allotment of supernumerary seats was conducted between 26 July and 3 August 2016 at Srinagar and Jammu simultaneously. To avail of this scholarship scheme, student of Jammu and Kashmir must have passed Class XII from Jammu and Kashmir and his or her family income must be less than Rs6 lakh per annum.