GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

MINISTRY OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT

DEPARTMENT OF HIGHER EDUCATION

LOK SABHA

UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3899

TO BE ANSWERED ON 19.03.2018

Allocation of Scholarships

3899. DR. SHASHI THAROOR:

Will the Minister of HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT

be pleased to state:

(a) whether the Government is aware that the ‘SAKSHAM’ scheme, which provides merit

and need based scholarships for differently abled students has met its target during the last

three years;

 (b) if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor;

(c) the State-wise allocation of scholarships under the scheme; and

(d) the number of students from Kerala who have been beneficiaries of the scheme ?

ANSWER

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT

(DR. SATYA PAL SINGH)

(a) & (b) Saksham Scholarship Scheme was launched in 2014-15, with the objective of

encouraging economically weaker differently abled students to pursue technical education at

Diploma and Degree levels. Scholarship amount of Rs. 30,000 is provided towards tuition fee

reimbursement and Rs. 20000 as contingency allowance. Under the scheme, 1000 scholarships per

annum are available. Number of application received from eligible candidates under the scheme

every year, remained low despite wide publicity. Year-wise details of applications received are

given in the table below:

Year Number of applications received under

the scheme

2014-15 179

2015-16 169

2016-17 362

A committee of experts was set up, to suggest measures for improving the performance of

the scheme. The committee recommended that a provision be made under the scheme to support

differently abled student for purchase of Aids and Assistive Devices, in cases where tuition fee was

either exempted or less than Rs.30,000/-

As the number of application received during 2016-17 still remained low, the scheme was

again amended in 2017, to remove the restriction of Centralized Counselling as a criterion for

selection, making differently abled students, who were directly admitted to All India Council for

Technical Education approved institutions, also eligible to apply for the scholarship.

(c) There is no state-wise allocation of scholarship under the scheme.

(d) The number of students from Kerala who have been beneficiaries of the scheme are:

******

Year Students

2015-16 02

2016-17 02

Total 04

Relevace

Under Saksham Scholarship Scheme, 1000 scholarships per annum are available. Over 3,000 scholarships should have been awarded in the last 3 years, however only 710 applications were received in the same period.