The Hindu : Front Page : Sops for minority students

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Monday, Jun 09, 2008
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Sops for minority students

Special Correspondent

– Photo: P. V. Sivakumar

ALL FOR IT: Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy handing over laptops to IT students from the Muslim community. Also seen in the picture are Mohammed Ali Shabbir, Minister for Minorities Welfare, and Asaduddin Owaisi, MIM MP.

HYDERABAD: Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy on Sunday announced that the State Government would bear the fee totally for minority students for all 16 professional courses and ‘leave no stone unturned’ to ensure that four per cent reservation for Muslims was enforced.

Speaking after inaugurating a Special Training Programme (STP) centre for minority engineering graduates organised by the State Government, Institute for Electronic Governance, Jawahar Knowledge Centres (JKC), Infosys and Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, he said the main objective of SPT was to enhance employable skills.

Steady rise in budget

He recalled how he was taken aback in 2004 when officials told him that the budget for scholarship of minorities was Rs. 4 crore. In the subsequent year, the Government hiked it to Rs. 10 crore and then to Rs. 30 crore for 2006-07 and Rs. 90 crore in 2007-08 and now he said it was decided to adopt the saturation approach with Rs. 120 crore earmarked during 2008-09.

Every eligible minority student would be given post-matric scholarship, he said. A centre similar to the one inaugurated on Sunday would be started in Urdu Bhavan at Moti Galli, on a request by MIM MP Asaduddin Owaisi, he added. Dr. Reddy said a totally innovative programme was started through JKCs to impart employable skills to students since only 20 per cent of those passing out of engineering colleges were landing jobs.

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