Andhra Pradesh - Vijayawada   

Minister all praise for trust

Staff Reporter

Scholarships given to poor meritorious students

VIJAYAWADA: Minister for Panchayat Raj and Endowments J.C. Diwakar Reddy has opined that economic backwardness, rather than caste, should be the decisive consideration for formulating any kind of help by the Government.

"This is also the reason why, for the first time, the State Government has decided to build pucca houses under the Indiramma scheme for economically backward families of all castes," he said while addressing a meeting here on Tuesday.

The meeting was organised by Tummalapalli Annapurnamma Students' Home Trust for distribution of scholarships to poor meritorious students. The occasion was the diamond jubilee celebrations of the trust, which was established by the late Tummalapalli Harinarayana in 1964.

Aid for priests

Complimenting the trust for providing scholarships to poor Brahmin students, Mr. Reddy felt that Brahmins had merely earned the tag of an upper caste but always remained economically backward without being able to avail themselves any kind of help by the Government.

The Minister pointed out that he had passed instructions soon after taking over the responsibility of endowments department for payment of Rs. 2,500 a month as financial assistance for priests working in several small temples across the State to ensure the well-being of such temples. "This kind of decision has not been taken by any State Government in the country so far," he claimed.

Responding to a request made by the trust's representatives for waiver of supervision charges of Rs.2.5 lakhs collected every year by the endowments department, Mr. Reddy said it was unfortunate that the Government continued to control "good" organisations. If the trust could save on this payment, it would be able to extend financial assistance to more deserving students, he felt, and assured the trust's representatives that the Government was already concerned about the issue. Mr. Reddy also said he would be more than willing to help the trust in his personal capacity.

VGTM-UDA Chairman Malladi Vishnu, former mayor and trust vice-president Jandhyala Sankar, trust president P. Ramachandra Rao, secretary Y. Lokanadha Sarma, hereditary trustee T. Balakrishna Rao and others spoke.

About 350 students were given scholarships worth Rs.2,000 each on the occasion.

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