Sushil writes to Nitish against slashing of scholarship

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Press Trust of India Patna
Last Updated : Jun 13 2016 | 8:22 PM IST
Senior Bihar BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi today shot off a letter to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar drawing his attention to slashing of government scholarship for Dalit and backward class category students, forcing them to discontinue their studies midway.
"I would like to draw your attention towards the issue of post-matric scholarship which is given to students belonging to Dalit, backward and extremely-backward category students. Instead of taking action against those involved in the scam surfaced in this regard, the government decided to put a cap of Rs 15,000 as scholarship against the earlier limit of Rs 1 lakh to 1.5 lakh. The decision has forced students to shelve their studies midway," Modi said.
Irregularities have been found in disbursement of scholarships to Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe students pursuing technical education outside Bihar and the state government has ordered an investigation.
Reminding Kumar about his commitment towards providing scholarships to these students on a regular basis, Modi said, the sudden decision to put a cap on scholarship amount is betrayal to thousands of students who had taken admissions in various institutions on government's assurance.
The annual fee of any private technical institution hovers around Rs 1 lakh to 1.5 lakh, he said, adding that students, who took admission in the past three years, got merely one or two instalments under the scholarship scheme but after that the payment of scholarship amount was stopped.
Now the state government has put a cap of maximum amount of scholarship of Rs 15,000 which would be applicable from retrospective effect, said Modi, who served as Nitish Kumar's Deputy during eight years of NDA rule in Bihar.
The government's move would force those students to shelve their studies who have got admitted in various technical and non-technical institutes, Modi said, adding that several institutes have threatened the students to expel them for their failure to deposit fees.
"So I would request the Chief Minister to implement his commitments towards scholarships meant for Dalit and backward students. Kumar should take necessary steps to ensure payment of fees to those students who have already got admission in various institutes so that their studies are not hampered," he said.
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First Published: Jun 13 2016 | 8:22 PM IST