The State government finds itself in a tight corner over the latest directive of the Centre to implement the Direct Benefits Transfer (DBT) scheme with regard to scholarship schemes for Dalit students.
As per the Centre’s decision, students covered under the scholarship schemes will receive the amount directly through their bank accounts.
Recently, Secretary in the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment Sudhir Bhargava sent a letter to Tamil Nadu Chief Secretary K. Gnanadesikan, urging him to issue instructions regarding the DBT implementation for all the scholarship schemes of the Ministry.
Even though the Centre’s move also covers scholarship schemes meant for the BCs/MBCs, its applicability to Dalit and ST students is posing a major challenge to the State government.
During 2009-2010, about 5.1 lakh students were benefited and the amount of scholarship released was around Rs 170 crore. In 2012, the scheme’s norms were tuned to accommodate students of professional courses liberally. In 2013-2014, the figure of beneficiaries went up about 6.81 lakh students, registering a 25 per cent rise. The amount of scholarship released was around Rs 898 crore, about 430 per cent increase.
In fact, the State has got cumulative arrears of about Rs 1,000 crore from the Centre for the scholarship scheme, says a senior official.
Given the nature of the scheme, there is an element of the State’s share in expenditure. The State government has to absorb about Rs 353.5 crore every year.
The Centre’s funding comes into picture when the overall expenditure exceeds this amount. The official says it is not practical to segregate the list of beneficiaries for the purpose of cost-sharing. Even if it is done, the release of the scholarship may vary from one group of students to another.
Centre aware of issue
A senior official in the Union Ministry says the Centre was conscious of the concerns of the States.
A software was being developed by the Department of Information Technology to ensure smooth payment of scholarship to all students. The official adds that till now, 22 States have furnished information on beneficiaries and modalities of disbursal of scholarship and Tamil Nadu is not one of them.
22 States have furnished information on beneficiaries and Tamil Nadu is not one of them
