Nishikant Khajuria
JAMMU, Apr 20: Taking cognizance of purported incidents of fleecing by unscrupulous agents and NGOs, the State Government is all set to take over the entire exercise of selecting students for higher education outside J&K under Prime Minister’s Special Scholarship scheme.
No admission of the students under this scheme will now be permissible directly or through an agent, who used to fleece the innocent parents by misguiding them and hiding the facts regarding eligibility criteria for the scholarship, official sources informed the Excelsior.
All applications and relevant documents of the students will be routed only through the State Government and its colleges in Jammu and Kashmir, which will scrutinize the cases for forwarding the same, sources added.
The decision in this regard was taken following numerous complaints of fleecing by some agents and NGOs, who sent the J&K students in the educational institutions outside the State after charging money from the applicants without following the set norms and eligibility criteria for the same.
The felony of agents and NGO came to light after a number of J&K students, who were studying in various institutions of higher education outside the State under this scheme, were denied scholarship by Government of India as the claimant did not fulfill the eligibility criteria. The issue was also raised in the State Assembly during the last Budget Session.
Pertinent to mention that the Prime Minister’s Special Scholarship Scheme was launched by the Government of India for students of Jammu and Kashmir who, after passing class XII or equivalent examination, secure admission in Government colleges and other selected institutions outside the State.
The scheme envisages providing 5000 fresh scholarships every year. Out of these, 4500 scholarships are meant for general degree courses (including Agriculture, Horticulture, Veterinary Science etc), 250 for Engineering and 250 for Medical studies. Under the scheme, Rs 30,000 per annum scholarship is provided for general degree course, while for the Engineering and Medical studies, the scholarship is Rs 1.25 lakh and Rs 3 lakh per annum, respectively. In addition to this, hostel fees and incidentals are also given for all the categories of courses under the scheme.
As there was no Government control over the selection of students for taking benefit of the scheme, a number of unscrupulous agents and NGOs resorted to fleecing the innocent parents by charging money from them in lieu of sending their wards for higher education without adopting the eligibility criteria for the same. Thereafter, a number of students who did not fulfill the eligibility criteria, such as income ceiling of the parents, genuine certificates etc, were denied the scholarship.
After the State Government took up this matter with the Ministry of Human Resources Development, the latter suggested the former to rectify the things and identify the genuine cases for the scheme under set norms, sources said.
Acting on the suggestion, the State Ministry of Higher Education decided to take over the entire exercise of selection of the students under the scheme and appointment of Government Colleges as nodal agency for the same.
According to the official sources, the modus operandi for the selection procedure is likely to be finalized within a week after meeting of the high level AICTE team, which is visiting the State on April 25, 26 for apprising the colleges about uploading of application forms and adopting other formalities.
GGM Science College Jammu and Government Amar Singh College in Srinagar are likely to be appointed as the nodal colleges for the selection process, sources added.
Meanwhile, the AICTE is also learned to have complained that the students selected under PM Special Scholarship Scheme, have not submitted their relevant documents.
The issue was raised during the Inter ministerial Committee meeting regarding the scheme, held at New Delhi last week. The AICTE authorities informed that documents of students, selected under the special scholarship scheme, have not been submitted to them by the colleges/institutions in which these students are enrolled.
The AICTE informed all such students and their parents to submit all relevant documents directly or through their Colleges/Institutions by or before April 25, 2014 as a proof that they have not discontinued and are pursuing studies in their Colleges/Institutions. If the documents are not submitted to AICTE, the scholarships will not be released in favour of the students and the defaulters shall have no claim on the scholarships in future also, said Sheikh Mushtaq, Secretary Higher Education, J&K.
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