Prime Minister’s Special Scholarship Scheme (PMSSS) having been started in the year 2011 with intent to enhancing employment opportunities among the youth of the then state of Jammu and Kashmir (now two Union Territories),has been modified periodically , the need of which was felt to make the same more students friendly. The employment opportunities both in private and public sectors would be possibly brighter with these scholarships for the students of the twin UTs which has a coverage of 5000 students as of now. These scholarships are for pursuing undergraduate studies by the eligible students outside Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh,as also to improve upon their skills by providing access to education. Accordingly, for the academic year 2021-22 ,eligible students of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh are to get themselves registered for these scholarships ; dates , modalities and other particulars having duly been announced, in this connection, by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) . Since the eligible students may be needing necessary guidance and facilitation support, the same has been provided for to be availed of by the students at facilitation and verification centres set up for the purpose , starting from Sept 10. In order there is no absence of transparency , for the first time, this year the students giving their undertaking about the correctness of the particulars and genuineness of the information furnished would pre-empt chances of any type of manipulations looking to the coverage prospects of these scholarships. Otherwise also, it is presumed that not only is there adequate measure of awareness ensured among the students about the said scholarship scheme but in case of any grievance from any eligible student , a mechanism to redress the same must be there to make the scheme more beneficial . At the same time, it must be ensured that the disbursals are made to the eligible and the genuine students only at each stage of their requirement in respect of pursuing studies as is enumerated in the scheme . That out of 5000 seats for two UTs, 2830 seats were allotted under professional courses like Engineering, Nursing, Pharmacy , Hotel Management , Architecture etc denotes the importance given, and rightly so, to professional disciplines especially in the context of there being 100 seats in Medical , BDS and equivalent courses also. Students staying in hostels, often complain, that the hostel expenses, as admissible under the scheme, are either not being released in time or not released at all while instances of such payments should not be made to those who lived in the twin UTs and not actually in the college hostels. Verification process at each required stage by concerned Principals must be attended to in time and speedily so that the students did not face problems while processing of their respective cases for purposes of disbursements . Agreed, processing of cases must be done carefully at the levels of the PMSSS cell but the need is to either do it on batch- wise basis or according to the cases received fully authenticated and verified by the Heads of the institutions so that the students could concentrate more on studies. Looking into the provisions , amount payable to institutions on annual basis, maintenance allowance and other payments , the scheme is bound to be proved beneficial for the eligible students and more so as no scheme can be static and keeps on being reviewed periodically all for the benefits of the students. It is further expected that the concerned J&K cell must ensure proper implementation of the scheme for the benefit of the students of the twin UTs.
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