No provision for means-cum-merit scholarship funds in grants received from UGC: JNU

The Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) said Sunday there was "no provision" for a means-cum-merit (MCM) fund in the annual grants received by it, days after the students' union alleged that such scholarships were not being disbursed by the administration.

There is no provision for MCM funds in the annual grants received from the University Grants Commission (UGC) and JNU has been disbursing such scholarships from the tuition fees collected from its students, prof. Heeraman Tiwari, the varsity's finance officer, said.

The official said the total fee collected from the students was about Rs 1.90 crore annually, while the university had been disbursing an average of Rs 3.50 crore every year.

The JNU Students' Union had alleged that the adminstration had not disbursed Rs 50 lakh, which is due for scholarships, for the last eight months.

"With the current tuition fee structure in JNU, meeting the cost of the MCM scholarship is becoming very difficult. Moreover, with the rise of the number of students in the university, the number of applications for MCM has also increased," the professor said.

Majority of the students, he said, submit their scholarship forms for MCM only once or twice in a semester, not each month. The disbursal of money, too, is done accordingly.

"The forms for MCM scholarship received until November 2018 are being processed and the students will get their money shortly. There is no delay in disbursing MCM scholarships," he said.