These are the scholarships that the government offers to students

Students will no longer have to worry about getting their scholarship amount on time. Government has thoroughly reviewed its system and from November 2018 onwards, it has made arrangements to ensure that scholarship amount gets directly credited into the beneficiary’s account by 30th of each month. This was announced by HRD minister Prakash Javadekar during his interaction with media in New Delhi recently.

Every year, government offers several scholarships to talented students to ensure they receive quality education without having to bother about education fee. But often, students are unaware about these scholarship schemes. Below are some such important scholarship schemes:

1. National Means-Cum Merit Scholarship Scheme: Under the scheme, scholarship is awarded to the eligible meritorious students, having parental income up to Rs 1.5 lakh per annum, with the objective to arrest their dropping out in class VIII and encourage them to continue education at secondary and higher secondary stage up to class XII. Every year, one lakh fresh scholarships are provided. The rate of scholarship is Rs 12,000 per annum.
2. Central Sector Scheme of Scholarship for College and University Students: Under the scheme, financial assistance is provided to meritorious students, in the age group of 18-25 years and having family income of less than Rs 8 lakh per annum, for pursuing studies in colleges/universities. 82,000 fresh scholarships are provided per year (41,000 for boys and 41,000 for girls). The rate of scholarship is Rs 10,000 per annum for the first three years and Rs 20,000 per annum for the fourth and fifth year.
3. Special Scholarship Scheme for Jammu and Kashmir: The scheme aims to encourage the youth from Jammu & Kashmir to take advantage of the educational institutions outside the state, which would provide them an opportunity, to interact with their counterpart from the rest of the country. 5,000 fresh scholarships are provided per annum. Scholarship involves tuition fee and maintenance allowance. The rate of scholarship towards tuition fee for general degree course is Rs 30,000 per annum, for engineering course is Rs 1.25 lakh per annum, and for medical studies is Rs 3 lakh per annum. Fixed maintenance allowance of Rs 1 lakh per annum is provided to all students.
4. Scholarship Schemes for North-East Students

   Ishan Vikas: This is coordinated by IIT Guwahati. Under the programme, selected school children are introduced to institutes like Indian Institute of Technology (IITs), Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research (IISERs) and National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS) during the vacation period. This is done to motivate them to pursue science, technology, engineering and mathematics and to facilitate internship opportunities for the engineering college students in various institutes of national importance. Annual target is to provide visit of 96 school children to premier institutes and summer internships to 250 engineering students. Rs 605.45 lakh has been approved for the programme.

   Ishan Uday: This scheme is administered by University Grants Commission (UGC). Under it, scholarship is provided to students, having parental income up to Rs 4.5 lakh per annum, for pursuing general degree, technical and professional degree courses including medical and para-medical courses. The target of beneficiaries under the scheme is 10,000 per year. Rate of scholarship under the scheme is Rs 5,400 per month for general degree course and Rs 7,800 per month for technical/ medical/ professional/ paramedical courses.

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