Non-payment of scholarships by various State Governments to minority students

208. SHRI GNANATHIRAVIAM S.:

Will the Minister of MINORITY AFFAIRS be pleased to state:

(a) whether the instances of non-payment of scholarships by various State Governments to minority students have been brought to the notice of the Union Government in the recent past;

(b) if so, the details thereof;

(c) whether the Government is aware that the scholarship mafia are operating in the country; and

(d) if so, the steps taken/proposed to be taken in this regard?

(a) & (b): The Government has implemented various schemes for the welfare and upliftment of every strata, including minorities, especially the economically weaker and lesser privileged sections of the society, through various schemes of the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Ministry of Textiles, Ministry of Culture, Ministry of Women and Child Development and Ministry of Rural Development.

Ministry of Minority Affairs has specifically implemented various schemes across the country for socio-economic and educational empowerment of the notified minority communities, including 3 Central Sector Scholarship Schemes viz. Pre-Matric, Post Matric and Merit-cum-Means, in which scholarship amount is disbursed by Central Government to the bank accounts of the selected beneficiaries under Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) mode. Few State Governments implement their own scholarship schemes which are not under the control of Central Government.

(c) & (d): The Government has ensured a lot of monitoring mechanisms for robust, efficient and transparent implementation of these schemes, including validation through Aadhaar demographic authentication, verification of applications at various levels, mandatory physical verification of doubtful applications/institutes, etc.

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