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Scholarships for Sri Lankan students

B. Muralidhar Reddy

COLOMBO: On the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, the Indian High Commission in Sri Lanka launched a programme to award scholarships to 100 A level students, four from each of the 25 districts in the country.

Known as the Mahatma Gandhi scholarship, it envisages an award of Rs. 1, 500 every month to each selected student for a period of two years. The districts covered include areas controlled by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. The number of awardees from 2007 onwards would go up to 200.

Separately, the Swarajya Foundation, a non-governmental organisation, launched the Mahatma Gandhi Centre. Inaugurated by Indian High Commissioner Nirupama Rao, the Centre seeks to promote concepts such as non-violence, equality, social cohesion, harmony and environment.

At another function organised by the Sri Lanka-India Society, Sri Lanka Constitutional Affairs and National Affairs Minister D.E.W. Gunasekera delivered the "Gandhi memorial oration-2006" on the relevance of Mahatma Gandhi to the efforts for resolution of ethnic conflict in the island nation.

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