Question : Scholarship Schemes for Students of Minority Community

(a) the number of beneficiaries of the scholarship schemes being implemented by the Government for students belonging to the minority communities in the country during each of the last three years and the current year, State/UT-wise and scheme-wise;


(b) whether there is a gap between funds sought by the States/UTs and released by the Union Government under the said schemes during the said period;

(c) if so, the details thereof, State/UT-wise and scheme-wise and the reasons therefor;

(d) whether the cases of irregularities/corruption/diversion of funds under the said schemes have come to the notice of the Government during the said period;

(e) if so, the details thereof, State/UT-wise and Scheme-wise and the reasons therefor along with the remedial measures taken/being taken by the Government in such cases so far; and

(f) the other steps taken/being taken by the Government for effective implementation of the said schemes in the country?

MINISTER OF MINORITY AFFAIRS
(SHRI MUKHTAR ABBAS NAQVI)

(a): Ministry of Minority Affairs (MoMA) implements three scholarship schemes viz, Pre-Matric, Post matric and Merit-cum-Means based Scholarship Schemes for educational empowerment of six notified minority communities viz. Muslim, Christian, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain and Parsi across the country. The number of beneficiaries of these scholarship schemes during the last three years and current year is at Annexure.

(b): No, Madam. The Scholarship is disbursed directly to the students under Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) mode.

(c): Does not arise.

(d): No, Madam.

(e): Does not arise.

(f): All the three Scholarship Schemes are now implemented through the National Scholarship Portal (NSP) and the disbursement of scholarship is made under Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) mode. This process has increased transparency and promptness in disbursement of scholarship, in general, and reduced the number of duplicate beneficiaries and pilferage of funds. This has also enabled the actual and needy beneficiaries from the weaker sections of minorities to avail these scholarships.
Besides this, the Ministry has also taken various initiatives to give wide publicity of these schemes through print advertisements and broadcast/telecast of audio/video spots through All India Radio (AIR), Doordarshan/Private TV Channels, FM Channels, Digital Cinema and various other means of outdoor publicity, including publicity made through ‘Progress Panchayat’ to make the target group aware of these schemes. Annual and Regional Conference/Workshops are also conducted at regular intervals for implementing agencies/stakeholders.
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