The government on Tuesday approved reservation for OBC students in National Talent Search Examination (NTSE) Stage II, an exam to award scholarships, conducted by the NCERT.
The announcement by Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar came ahead of the Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh assembly polls.
The Minister said that rates of scholarship under NTSE Stage II has been increased to Rs 1,250 for Class 11 and 12, and Rs 2,000 for undergraduate and postgradute scholarships. For PhD, the scholarship will be as per University Grants Commission norms.
The Other Backward Class (OBC) quota will be effective from 2019 as the process for NTSE 2018 has already commenced, he said.
Javadekar said that doubling the number of NTSE Stage II scholarships from 1,000 to 2,000 was under active consideration of the government.
The reservation for OBCs in NTSE Stage II will in addition to reservation for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and physically handicapped category.
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--IANS
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