Early Times Report
Lucknow, Oct 3: Launching a strong attack on the previous SP government, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath stated that scholarships for students belonging to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes were not even sent in 2016-17. “The then government had pocketed this scholarship,” he said. When our government was formed in 2017, we sent the scholarships for 2016-17 and 2017-18 together. Earlier, the government provided only Rs. 2,900 crore in scholarships. Today, our government provides Rs. 6,200 crore in scholarships, more than double the earlier amount. On Saturday, CM transferred more than Rs. 148 crore in scholarship/fee reimbursement to the accounts of over 4.60 lakh students of Pre-Matric (Classes 9-10) and Post-Matric classes for the current financial year at Lok Bhawan and also personally handed scholarship certificates to 11 students. CM assured that there is no shortage of funds for students. “Every eligible child will receive a scholarship. Children who have been left out should also apply soon,” he said. Guiding the children, he said, “Spend the scholarship amount only on education, rather than on food and other expenses. Use it to buy good textbooks and reference books. Along with the curriculum, read autobiographies of great personalities, informative and religious books and expand your book bank. Government is providing tablets to 2 crore youth and 60 lakh have already received them. The remaining youth will also be provided tablets soon.” CM stated, “Earlier, only 60 to 70 children out of 100 benefited from scholarships. Clerks and others used to siphon off the money, while students were left cheated. The amount a student spent traveling around for a scholarship was often more than the benefit itself. But today, accounts are opened and students’ money is sent directly into them. This system did not exist during our time, but Modi ji got bank accounts opened with zero balance.” CM Yogi stated that last year, scholarships worth Rs. 6,200 crore were distributed to 69 lakh children. “In 9 years, more than 4 crore children have received scholarships and fee reimbursement, whereas before 2017, both the amount and number of students were lower. Previous governments neither encouraged the youth nor ensured that scholarships were provided on time,” he said. CM said that last year, scholarships of Rs. 2,750 crore were provided to 26.26 lakh students from Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, Rs. 360 crore to 5.89 lakh children from minority communities, and Rs. 3,072 crore to 37 lakh students from Backward Classes. Similarly, the government provided scholarships to 9.40 lakh children from low-income groups. The government has set a deadline for scholarship distribution. After completing the admission process, the government started sending scholarship amounts to accounts. It was decided that the amount must reach the students by 2nd October (or 3rd October due to the holiday) and by 26th January in all circumstances. |