Lok Sabha Question No. 2785 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2017-08-02
Subject: Scholarship to Minority Students
Ministry: MINORITY AFFAIRS
Asked by: PRASUN BANERJEE

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF MINORITY AFFAIRS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2785 TO BE ANSWERED ON 02.08.2017

## SCHOLARSHIP TO MINORITY STUDENTS

## 2785.    SHRI PRASUN BANERJEE:

Will the Minister of MINORITY AFFAIRS be pleased to state:

- (a) the  total  amount  allocated/utilized  for  providing  the  scholarship  to  the  minority students  during  the  last  three  years  under  pre-metric,  post-metric  and  merit-cummeans scholarships scheme;
- (b) the number of scholarships issued during the said period along with number of ghost beneficiaries identified;
- (c) whether  the  Government  has  received  complaints  from  the  minority  students  about facing difficulties and deprivation in availing these scholarships due to negligence of local  concerned officials  and  if  so,  the  steps  taken  by  the  Government  to  solve this issue;
- (d) whether  some  States  have  failed  to  implement  the  aforementioned  scholarship programmes; and
- (e) if so, whether his Ministry has laid down measures in case States fail to dispense the scholarship amount to the availing applicants?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) IN THE MINISTRY OF MINORITY AFFAIRS (SHRI MUKHTAR ABBAS NAQVI)

(a) & (b): The  details  of  scholarships  awarded/disbursed,  fund  allocations  made  and utilized  under  Pre-matric,  Post-matric  and  Merit-cum-Means  based  Scholarships  Schemes for  minorities  during  the  last  three  years  i.e.  2014-15  to  2016-17  are  available  at  website www.minorityaffairs.gov.in.  From  the  year  2015-16,  Scholarships  to  the  eligible  Minority Students are awarded by Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) through National Scholarship Portal (NSP) and this has resulted in efficient and effective disbursement of Scholarships to genuine beneficiaries, thereby eliminating ghost, duplicate and fraud applicants.

(c): Any technical issue/difficulty, faced by any stakeholders, is addressed immediately by the National Informatics Centre (NIC) which has developed the National Scholarship Portal (NSP) for implementation of scholarship schemes.  The Helpdesk and Helpline number have also been provided for redressal of technical issues for all stakeholders.  Ministry of Minority Affairs  has  put  in  place  a  robust  complaint  redressal  system/mechanism  to  address  any concerns of any stakeholder including the target beneficiaries.

(d) & (e): During the year 2016-17, the UT Administration of Delhi failed to verify the online applications (both fresh & renewal) on National Scholarship Portal (NSP), whereas the  State  of  Arunachal  Pradesh  and  the  UT  Administration  of  Lakshadweep  are  not participating in any Scholarship Scheme for minorities as they are awarding scholarships to such students under other Schemes. The Ministry of Minority Affairs (MoMA) endeavours to  take  all  necessary  actions  to  award  maximum  possible  Scholarships  to  the  eligible minority  students  every  year.  Whenever  requests  are  received  from  the  States/UTs  for extension of time, the requests are considered keeping in view the date lines for completion of processes by various Stakeholders for receiving applications, verification at various levels, generation of merit list and sanction orders.

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