India: Govt. increases the Physical target under Pre-Matric Scholarship Scheme for minorities

Ministry of Minority Affairs increases the Physical target under Pre-Matric Scholarship Scheme to 34 Lakh fresh Scholarships

The Ministry of Minority Affairs has revised and enhanced the physical targets (for fresh cases only) under the Scheme of Pre-matric Scholarship for students belonging to the Minority communities for the current Financial Year 2011-12. Now the target has been fixed at 34 lakh fresh scholarships whereas the earlier target was fixed at 27 lakh. Overall Financial Allocation for this Scheme during current FY is Rs. 600 crore. During last FY the target for fresh scholarships was fixed at 20 lakh and the Financial Allocation was 375.68 crore. In the revised and enhanced physical targets for the Pre-matric Scholarship Scheme for the current FY, the community-wise breakup is as follows:  1. Muslims– 24, 79,461 fresh scholarships;  2. Christians– 4,31,805 fresh scholarships;  3. Sikhs– 3,44,757 fresh scholarships;  4. Buddhists– 1,42,801 fresh scholarships; and 5. Parsis– 1,176 fresh scholarships.  However, for renewal cases no target has been fixed. (PIB)