Chennai: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa has sought Prime Minister Narendra Modi's intervention for an “urgent” release of the central share of £154.97 million for the disbursement of post matric scholarships to students belonging to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in Tamil Nadu.
In the current fiscal, the state will incur a total expenditure of Rs £129.55 million towards the scholarships. While the central share is £94.2 million, it has released only £56.73 million so far. The arrears of £117.51 million are pending until the previous fiscal year. “I have been informed that the ministry of social justice and empowerment has admitted the claims of Tamil Nadu under the post matric scholarship scheme but is unable to release the funds to the state due to insufficient budgetary allocations,” Jayalalithaa said in a letter to Modi.
“Delay in the disbursement of scholarship undermines the credibility of the scheme. This is clearly a very important scheme to enable the weaker sections to move forward in life through education,” she said. Given the importance and sensitivity of the scheme, the ministry of finance should be directed to provide adequate funds to the ministry of social justice and empowerment to release the entire pending central share to Tamil Nadu, Jayalalithaa said.
