The Maharashtra government will have to bear the annual burden of Rs.1,314 crore for paying 50% fees of students belonging to engineering, medical and other professional courses with a family income of less than Rs. 8 lakh a year.
Chandrakant Patil, Revenue Minister said that the budgeting for Rs.12,00 crore has already been done for engineering and other professional courses whereas the remaining Rs.114 crore related to medical admissions were released on July 2, 2018 by the state government.
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This initiative is a part of Rajashree Shahu Educational Fee Scholarship Scheme . According to this scheme, the state government bears 50% of the student's fee who are studying in professional courses and whose family income is less than Rs.8 lakh a year.
Under this scholarship, the money is directly transferred to the account of colleges where students have taken admission. It covers over 605 medical, engineering and other professional courses. Both government and private colleges are eligible under the same. As much as 5 lakh students will be benefitted from this scheme.
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Meanwhile, Mr. Patil also talked about the Maratha Reservation Issue and said that it is still pending before the court. He also expressed his support for reservation for the Marathas in academics and jobs and has requested Maharashtra State Backward Class Commission to look into the matter and take significant steps. Even though about 200000 applications have already been received in its favour, the report is not expected to be submitted before January 2019.