The United Grants Commission (UGC) and the All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) have cleared the scholarships backlog using a special grant of Rs.250 crore from the HRD Ministry as per the information given by Prakash Javadekar, the Union Minister. He also said that the government is optimistic regarding the research scholars’ demand for a hike in the scholarship amount.
Javadekar told reporters that there were complaints regarding the scholarships not being disbursed in a timely manner by the AICTE and UGC. But now they have issued a special grant of Rs.250 crore for the entire backlog to be cleared and for the recipients to get their fellowships credited.
AICTE and UGC offer many scholarships to students. Rs.4,000 crore is spent annually by the government for scholarships to roughly 2.5 lakh students. Some of the scholarships are Jammu and Kashmir scholarship, Merit-Cum-Means scholarship, JRF, Ishan Uday scholarship, and GATE scholarship, Javedekar further stated.
Also Read: IGNOU’s B.Tech Degrees Gets Validation from AICTE
A group of researchers met Javadekar on 26th December 2018 to raise the issue of increasing the scholarship amount for research scholars. Javadekar said that they are positive about it but refused to comment on the timeline.
Also Read: UGC Informs Universities to Include Gandhian Literature in Libraries
UGC and AICTE are the two organisations that cater to higher studies in India. UGC is the one that approves of universities in the country and offers funds for affiliated colleges and universities. UGC also conducts exams such as NET for teachers. AICTE, on the other hand, is a statutory body dealing with the proper planning of the technical education system in the country.