Review scholarship guidelines, says CM

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 17

Chief Minister Capt. Amarinder Singh has urged the Centre to review the revised guidelines for the post-matric scholarship scheme for Scheduled Castes, saying these amounted to the Union government indirectly absolving itself of contributing any money towards the scheme in Punjab, as the current annual expenditure in the state is expected to be much less than Rs 700 crore.

In a letter to Union Minister of Social Justice & Empowerment Thaawarchand Gehlot, the CM cited the revised guidelines, dated May 3, received by the state to note that the move was highly detrimental to furthering the career prospects of poor SC students, who could not pay high tuition and admission fees being charged by educational institutions.

Para XV of the guidelines had resulted in greatly enhancing the annual committed liability of the state government from Rs 60 crore to over Rs 750 crore, which was unsustainable for his government, he said.

The revised guidelines, said the CM, ended up defeating the very objective of the scheme and would only serve to put the SC students in a highly disadvantaged position, besides imposing an unmanageable financial burden on his government.