Early Times Report
Jammu, Aug 13 : Four International scholars hailing from three foreign countries today call on Balwant Thakur, Regional Director of Indian Council for Cultural Relations, Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India here at ICCR headquarters Jammu.
These International scholars included Tshivolo Tshandyewene Renatte of Namibia (Africa), Mohammad Jafar Tanin of Bamyan City (Afghanistan) Rohullah, of Kapisa Kabul (Afghanistan) and Gazi Muhammad Abdullah Mahdi of Dhaka (Bangladesh). Tshivolo Tshandyewene Renatte has entered in the 3rd year of Bachelor of Veterinary Sciences, whereas Rohullah and Mohammad Jafar Tanin of Afghanistan have entered in the 2nd year of MSc Agricultural Economics and MSc. Plant Breeding Genetics respectively and Gazi Muhammad Abdullah Mahdi has just been admitted to undergo MSc Biotechnology. All have won ICCR scholarships and are studying at Shere-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, Jammu. Scholars apprised Regional Director, ICCR Jammu about their experiences of staying and studying in Jammu and also apprised him about the problems they are confronting due to the frequent power cuts in Jammu. Balwant Thakur assured them to take-up their problems with the appropriate authorities of the University to ensure that they have a comfortable stay during their study period in Jammu. However the International scholars were highly appreciative of their fellow students, faculty members and locals for being very supportive, helping and cordial.
The ICCR annually offers about 3365 scholarships under 24 scholarship schemes. Of these scholarships, 1000 are exclusively for the students of Afghanistan and 900 for students from African countries. There are students in India under these schemes from about 135 countries.
Most of the scholarship holders come from developing countries in Asia, Africa, South and Central America. However, there are quite a few students from the developed countries as well. Around 4750 foreign students are currently studying in India under the various scholarship schemes. The students are in under graduate, post graduate and doctoral programmes as well as in professional courses such as engineering, pharmacy, accountancy, agriculture, business administration and management. Scholarships are also given for learning Indian dance, music, painting, sculpture, etc.
For Bangladesh, ICCR has an exclusive scholarship scheme under which 200 scholarships are offered to Bangladesh nationals, 100 under the ICCR programme (Bangladesh Scholarship Scheme, UG, PG, Ph.D. including Engineering Courses) as well as 100 under agency work India Scholarship (Bangladesh) Scheme on behalf of the MEA to pursue UG, PG, Ph.D./Post Doctoral (excluding Engineering) Courses. |
