The Punjab Government has sought online applications for merit cum means scholarships from students belonging to minority communities in the state.Disclosing this here today Punjab Schedule Castes and Backward Classes Minister S. Gulzar Singh Ranike said that students belonging to minority communities i.e. Sikhs, Muslims, Christians, Buddhists & Parsis pursuing technical or professional courses at graduate/post graduate levels in the Punjab state approved institutions under Merit-cum-Means Based Scholarship Scheme for the Session 2013-14 can apply for the scholarships. Describing the eligibility conditions of the scholarship, the minister said that the annual income of the parent/ guardian of the beneficiary should not exceed Rs.2.50 lacs from all sources and scholarship is awarded to the students who have secured not less than 50% marks or equivalent grade in the previous final examination. A scholarship holder under this scheme would not avail any other scholarship/stipend for pursuing the course. He said that renewal of scholarship depends on successful completion of the course during the preceding year and securing not less than 50% marks.
He further said that Aadhar Number is mandatory for the residents of Gurdaspur, SBS Nagar, Fatehgarh Sahib, Jalandhar and Barnala districts to apply online and the Bank Account Number of the student should be Aadhar enabled. The minister said that a student residing in Punjab state is entitled for scholarship under the quota of the State irrespective of his place of study. He said that income certificate should be on self-certification basis by way of an affidavit on non-judicial stamp paper for self-employed parents/guardian and from employer for employed parents/guardian.
The minister further said that maintenance allowance from the date of admission (for 10 months only) of Rs. 10000 per annum (Rs.1000/-per month) for the hosteler and of Rs. 5000 per annum (Rs.500/-per month) for the day-scholars. Similarly course fee of Rs. 20000 per annum or actual whichever is less would be given to hostelers and day-scholars and full course fee would be reimbursed for National Level Institutions like IITs and IIMs etc.
Regarding time lines for fresh/renewal applications, the minister said that last date for submission of online applications to the institutions for fresh scholarships by students is 30thSeptember, 2013 and hard copies to Welfare department by the institutes is 20thOctober, 2013. Similarly for renewal scholarships, the last date for students is 31st December, 2013 he added.