THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The disbursal of post-matric scholarship for Scheduled Caste - Scheduled Tribe (SC-ST) students, including research scholars, have been hit for the past many months due to lack of funds and technical issues. The government has claimed that the dues relate to the arrears of previous months and assured that the issue would be resolved soon.
While the Directorate of SC Development is awaiting funds from the government for disbursal of scholarship arrears, the Directorate of ST Development is facing technical issues, mostly related to Aadhar-bank account linking, in disbursing the funds recently allocated by the government.
There are 1.34 lakh post-matric scholarship beneficiaries in the SC category of which a little over 300 are research scholars in various universities of the state. The research scholars have been complaining that they have not been paid the scholarship dues since October 2022.
A senior official in the Directorate of SC Development admitted that the paucity of funds has affected the disbursal of scholarships. "Only if we are sanctioned Rs 81 crore can we at least settle the scholarship dues of the 2022-23 academic year," the official said.
TNIE contacted SC-ST Welfare Minister K Radhakrishnan who admitted that the cash-strapped government was finding it hard to pay the scholarship dues in a timely manner. The department's decision to widen the ambit of the scholarship provided to SC-ST students studying abroad had put further strain on its funds, he added.
"The Finance Department is expected to clear the proposal for allocation of Rs 81 crore towards SC post-matric scholarship soon. Once the amount is released, the disbursal will be carried out speedily," Radhakrishnan said.
The Directorate of ST Development, which received Rs 29.42 crore recently for the award of a scholarship, is hopeful of completing the disbursal of dues within a month. An official of the ST Development Directorate said issues relating to the non-linking of bank accounts with Aadhar had delayed the payment to its beneficiaries of post-matric scholarship. There are over 17,000 post-matric beneficiaries in the ST category and of these, 19 are research scholars.
"We have been repeatedly informing the students to provide bank account numbers that are Aadhar-linked to reduce the delay. Also, a shift in the payment mode from e-grants Direct Beneficiary Transfer to Single Nodal Agency caused certain technical issues," the official said.
Post-matric Scholarship
SC beneficiaries - 1.34 lakh
Rs 81 cr for SC students - not sanctioned by govt
ST beneficiaries - 17,816
Rs 29.42 cr for ST students - sanctioned, not fully disbursed