Widening SC Scholarship Net

Why in news?

The Centre proposed to raise the income eligibility criteria for government scholarship schemes related to Scheduled Caste students.

What changes have been proposed?

• Under the ‘Top Class Education Scheme’, the Centre provides scholarships to SC students who are pursuing higher education at IITs, IIMs, NITs, commercial pilot training institutes, medical/ law/ media and other reputed institutes.
• According to the current eligibility criteria, their parents’ annual income shouldn’t exceed Rs 4.5 lakh.
• The annual income of the parents is now proposed to be revised to Rs 6 lakh per annum.
• The funding, available in 175 notified top institutes, covers much of the expenses incurred towards fees, living expenses, books and computer.
• The pre-matric scholarship is aimed at minimising the incidence of Dalit students dropping out in Class IX-X, while post-matric assistance is meant to enable such students to complete their higher education.
• For pre-matric scholarships for SC students, the annual income is proposed to be revised from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 2.5 lakh, on par with the eligibility criteria for post-matric scholarships.
• The basic eligibility criterion for our National Overseas Scholarship for SC students is that their parents’ annual salary should not exceed Rs 6 lakh.
• These changes are part of the plans for ‘rationalisation of all scholarship schemes’, to correct the wide variation in income criteria, said officials.

• The ministry is also looking at revising the varying income criteria, as well as the scholarship amount, for other schemes for students from SC, OBC, and economically backward communities.
• For instance, post-matric scholarship for SC students, last revised in 2010, specifies that the parents’ annual income should not exceed Rs 2.5 lakh.
• But for OBC pre-matric scholarships, only students whose parents earn less than Rs 45,000 per annum are eligible.

What are the realties in scholarship allocation?

• Data from the ministry shows arrears of over Rs 5,500 crore in the popular post-matric SC scholarship scheme, with a majority of students not having received any money for two years now.
• The scheme, which catered to 46 lakh students in 2016-17, has seen only a marginal increase in allocation which is not even enough to cover the pending dues.
• Officials from the ministry said the decrease in allocation is because as per scheme guidelines, the states are expected to pool in funds.
• However, many states have complained that they do not have the enough resources.
• As for the arrears, officials blamed it on the steep fees charged by many private institutions.

Source: The Indian Express