Jammu, JULY 8 (KMW):The Prime Minister of India set up an Expert Group in 2010 in the context of enhancing employment opportunity in J&K. Among the key recommendations of the Group was to offer 5000 scholarships per annum over the next five years to encourage the youth of J&K to pursue higher studies outside the state. An outlay of Rs 1200 Crore was recommended for this initiative. The scheme is being implemented from 2011-12.
Under the scheme, students belonging to the state of Jammu and Kashmir, who have passed the Class 12 or equivalent exam through the State Board of Jammu and Kashmir or from the Central Board of Secondary Education affiliated schools located in Jammu and Kashmir, and pursuing general degree courses, engineering and medical studies in colleges/institutes located outside the state of Jammu and Kashmir, are eligible for scholarship provided their parental income is less than Rs 4.5 lakh per annum.
Five thousand fresh scholarships are available every year, of which 4500 scholarships are for general degree courses, 250 for engineering and 250 for medical studies. The scheme is being implemented through a web portal of the All India Council for Technical Education.
The scheme aims to provide tuition fees, hostel fees, cost of books and other incidental charges to students. Under the scheme, the eligible students will get up to Rs 30,000 per annum as tuition fees for general degree courses, up to Rs 1.25 lakh per annum for engineering courses and up to Rs 3 lakh per annum for medical studies.
Students pursuing courses through Open universities, and also those availing other scholarships are not eligible to avail the benefits of this scheme. There is internal earmarking of scholarships for SC, ST and OBC categories as per the quota prescribed for the state of Jammu and Kashmir. A reservation of three percent is also provided for physically handicapped candidates as per government norms.
