Shillong, June 23: The disbursement of Umbrella Scholarship for ST students in instalments is to ensure equitable distribution of the scholarship among all beneficiaries, education minister Rakkam Sangma said on Monday.
Following release of the first instalment by the Centre, and the amount will be credited to the bank accounts of eligible students.
Although the amount will not be in full, all students will get their share of the first instalment released by the Centre.
Earlier, the Centre used to disburse full amount for first 20,000 beneficiaries, while the remaining 40,000 had to wait for the next instalment.
However, this time, the ministry has decided to distribute the scholarship amount equally among all beneficiaries in instalments.
The minister also provided an update on the Chief Minister’s Scholarship Scheme, stating that the formal notification for the scheme is yet to be issued.
Once initiated, students will receive an additional Rs 6,000 per beneficiary from the CM’s scholarship scheme, in addition to the Umbrella Scholarship issued by the Tribal Ministry of the Government of India.
Sangma assured that the process of disbursing the scholarship amount will be completed in the next two to three instalments. However, he noted that around 6,000 to 7,000 beneficiaries have some issues with their bank accounts, which may cause delays in receiving the scholarship amount.
The minister urged students to ensure that their bank accounts are updated and linked with Aadhaar to avoid any issues with the scholarship disbursement process.
