JK students leaving studies midway – Scholarship fiasco

Dozens of students from Jammu and Kashmir Thursday staged protests in Chandigarh and Haryana for being allegedly duped in the name of Prime Minister’s Special Scholarship Scheme.
More than 90 students of Jammu and Kashmir had secured admission in Indo-Globe College of Engineering, Abhipur Chandigarh, under much hyped Prime Minister’s Special Scholarship Scheme (PMSSS) in 2013 for Bachelors in Technology (B.Tech) and more than 100 students in Alfallah School of Engineering and Technology, Dhauj Faridabad, Haryana.
Only 32 students have received their scholarship for three semesters in Indo-Globe College of Engineering and the rest are at the verge of leaving their studies. And no student has received scholarship for the year 2013-14 in Alfallah School of Engineering and Technology.
These students are from poor families of Bandipora, Srinagar, Kishtwar, Kathua, Poonch, Doda, Pulwama, Kupwara, Islamabad (Anantnag) and Baramulla districts who are left with no option but to leave their studies midway and return home.
“We were supposed to get Rs 1.25 lakh per annum for our engineering course but hitherto we have not received a single penny,” sobs Tariq Lone of Kupwara while calling Greater Kashmir.
Around 5,000 students from Jammu and Kashmir were placed in different institutes of the country in 2012 under the PMSSS.
“Every semester my family has to borrow Rs 50,000 and I feel like murdering my family because they are not equally helping my siblings,” recounts Tasaduq Bashir, resident of Kulgam.
“I feel it was only a trick played with Kashmiri youth, we were cheated,” said Sabrina Jan, resident of Srinagar.
This initiative was to ‘win the hearts of youth’ by doling out the massive Rs 1200 crore PMSSS package. The common perception in New Delhi was that it will earn a soft spot somewhere in the hearts of ‘youth on the edge.’ Three years down the line, the ill-fated scholarship scheme has destroyed thousands of careers.
An official from Ministry of Human Resources Development (MHRD) told that majority of the colleges have been released the funds and others are in process.