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Several States yet to chip in for pre-matric scholarship

NEW DELHI: A number of States, including the Congress-ruled ones, are yet to commit themselves to picking up a quarter of the expenditure in implementing the pre-matric scholarship scheme announced by the Centre for students from the five notified minority communities.

This was disclosed by Union Minister for Minority Affairs A.R. Antulay in the Lok Sabha on Thursday in response to a question posed by Sachin Pilot (Congress).

Mr. Pilot wanted to know which States had agreed to give their share in the Centrally-sponsored scheme where the funding is to be shared by the Centre and the States at a ratio of 75:25.

According to the Minister, only Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Manipur, Mizoram, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal had agreed to pay their share in implementing the scheme till date.

The question generated considerable heat as Mr. Pilot said some States were not doing their bit.

As he sought to name some Opposition-ruled States, Bharatiya Janata Party members protested. However, Mr. Antulay said some BJP-ruled States had agreed to chip in and the Central government acknowledged this.

Earlier, when Yogi Aditya Nath (BJP) sought to accuse the government of dividing the country by appeasing the minorities, the Minister — pointing to the Opposition party’s benches — said: “It is they who divide the people.”

Stating that the UPA government’s endeavour was to ensure development of all sections of society, he said no country could afford to let any one section lag behind.

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