Rajya Sabha informed about spending cut in 9 central scholarship schemes

Spending on nine out of a total 21 central scholarship and fellowship schemes for students registered a decline between 2016-17 and 2017-18, the HRD Ministry informed Rajya Sabha on Thursday. Among the schemes where the expenditure recorded a decline are those for students hailing from the Northeast and belonging to Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe communities. The ministry did not cite any reason for the decline. In reply to a question in Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for HRD said the scholarship/fellowship amount for postgraduate, doctoral and postdoctoral studies has been increased by 55 per cent from December 1, 2014.

The amount spent for a postdoctoral fellowship for SC/ST candidates saw an increase to Rs 22.6 crore from Rs 12.62 crore in 2015-16 and an increase to Rs 35.13 crore in 2016-17, but it declined to Rs 28.66 core in 2017-18. The amount spent for PG scholarship professional courses for SC/ST saw an increase from Rs 4.38 crore in 2014-15 to Rs 9.14 crore in 2015-16 but saw a decline in 2016-17 and 2017-18 to Rs 5.11 crore and Rs 3.21 crore respectively.

The amount spent for PG scholarship for single girl child saw an increase from Rs 8.46 core in 2014-15 to Rs 11.51 crore in 2015-16 but declined to Rs 11.37 crore in 2016-17 and further to Rs 11.13 crore in 2017-18. From Rs 74.74 crore in 2015-16, the amount spent for Ishan Uday special scholarship for Northeastern region increased to Rs 88.98 crore in 2016-17 but declined to Rs 61.10 crore in 2017-18. The amount spent for Maulana Azad National Fellowship for Minority Students saw an increase from Rs 65.21 crore to Rs 125.34 crore between 2014-15 and 2016-17 but declined to Rs 97.45 crore in 2017-18.

The amount spent for national fellowship for SC candidates saw an increase from Rs 140.09 crore to Rs 225.72 crore between 2014-15 and 2016-17 but declined to Rs 215.97 crore in 2017-18. The amount spent for Special Scholarship Scheme for Jammu and Kashmir increased from Rs 50 crore to Rs 146 crore between 2014-15 and 2016-17 but declined Rs 132.96 crore in 2017-18. The amount spent for PG Scholarship for University Rank Holder saw an increase from Rs 2.87 crore in 2014-15 to Rs 5.04 crore in 2016-17 and declined to Rs 2.71 crore in 2017-18. The amount spent for Post Graduation Scholarship for Gate/GPAT qualified students also saw a decline between 2016-17 and 2017-18.

(With inputs from agencies.)