The Hindu : Sikh Foundation scholarship for students

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Feb 26, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

Sikh Foundation scholarship for students

NEW DELHI, FEB. 25. The US-based Sikh Human Development Foundation (SHDF) has given 82 scholarships for professional degree courses to needy students in India, including several belonging to Hindu and Muslim communities in Gujarat. ``The thrust is on students affected by social upheavals or natural calamities who cannot afford higher education. The foundation this year gave 13 scholarships to Hindu and Muslim students in Gujarat, who were affected by earthquake in 2001,'' according to a SHDF release from Washington. A total of 201 scholarships have been given by the Foundation since 2001, the release said.

Special attention is also being given to girl students, according to the secretary general, G.S. Ahuja, who added that ``overall 53 per cent of scholarships went to girl students and 47 per cent to boys.''

Interestingly, 65 per cent of the scholarships were given to students from rural areas. Of the total, 24 per cent went to those pursuing IT courses, 15 per cent to those in medical and nursing colleges and around 43 per cent to students from engineering colleges in India, the release said. Most of the recipients of these scholarships have been drawn from Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Chandigarh, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka and Gujarat. Mr. Ahuja said the average cost of an annual scholarship is around 350 dollars, though SHDF has granted scholarships up to 480 dollars per annum, in cases of exceptional hardship. --PTI

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