Rs 30 Cr Scholarship outlay for tribal students, pending backlog cleared

SRINAGAR, AUGUST 7: Jammu and Kashmir Government has initiated steps for strengthening the support to the education of tribal students. In line with the announcement made by Lieutenant Governor J&K Sh Manoj Sinha for effective steps aimed at the welfare of the tribal population in J&K, the Tribal Affairs Department has approved the highest ever outlay of Rs 30 Cr scholarship for tribal students in the current financial year. This year scholarships will be provided to 42,000 more students above the previous years target.

Secretary, Tribal Affairs Department, Dr Shahid Iqbal Choudhary informed that education of tribal students is a top priority of the J&K Government and with the keen interest of Lieutenant Governor Sh Manoj Sinha the department has received the highest ever scholarship outlay of more than Rs. 30 Cr to support the students at Post-Graduate, Graduate, Post-Matric and Pre-matric level. This also includes many cases of the previous two years pending due to various reasons. The department has made an immediate release of Rs 6.22 Cr to cover 4622 students for the 2020-21 scholarship.

The outlay of scholarship includes Rs 770.91  Lakh for 6561 post-matric students, 386.40 Lakh for 12868 Pre-matric students of class IX and X, and Rs 1800.00 Lakh for 2.15 Lakh students studying in class 1 to 8th.  The department has also cleared an amount of Rs 90.75 Lakh in favour of 964 students whose scholarship for the year 2019-20 was pending due to lack of required authentication. The department has also cleared an amount of Rs 761.50 Lakh in favour of 4776 students for the year 2019-20 which was pending due to various reasons. With the inclusion of backlog clearance, the department will be disbursing an amount of Rs 38 Cr.

Dr Shahid added that the scholarship plan was actively supported by Advisor Sh Farooq Khan and Chief Secretary Dr Arun Kumar Mehta sanctioned the budget enabling the department for release of funds.  He also expressed gratitude to Secretary, Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Govt of India Sh A K Jha for unparalleled support to the J&K Tribal Affairs Department for clearing backlog of scholarship and new budget.

Director Tribal Affairs, Mushir Ahmed Mirza has initiated the scholarship disbursement through Direct Benefit Transfer in favour of students, with a backlog of 2019-20 and 2020-21 as first priority. Financial Advisor and CAO Sadiq Ali formulated the budget estimates and facilitated timely clearances for release of funds. The Finance Department of J&K Govt ensured the timely release of pending funds and also new budget for the current year in a very short time.

The annual budget of 2021-22 will benefit 6561 students in post-matric compared to 4622 in the previous year, 12,868 students in Class 9 and 10 compared to 2506 in 2020-21 and 2,15,864 students in class 1 to 8 compared to 1,73,100 students in 2020-21.

The Tribal Affairs Department will be seeking online applications for its scholarship scheme meant for students in Class 1 to 8 which shall be submitted at the School level. The multiple levels of form submission have been dispensed with in order to ensure ease for students. Further, the department is in process of notifying self-certification of income for classes 1 to 8 on its portal which will be notified soon. This will make a major shift in ease of service delivery to students. The forms will be retained at the school level and not required to submit to the department through several levels which was a cumbersome and time-taking process. A process to track the scholarship supported students is also being initiated to organise and plan career counselling, skill development and placement support for such students to ensure best-desired outcomes.