Scholarships worth more than Rs. 1 crore were distributed among nearly 1,200 meritorious students from three districts by the Karnataka Zakat and Charitable Trust (KZCT) here on Tuesday.
A total of 1,799 students — from Dakshina Kannada, Udupi and Uttara Kannada — studying in pre-university who have secured 70 per cent or more; degree students who have secured at least 65 per cent, and professional courses (medicine, nursing, pharmacy, engineering, law and postgraduate students) who scored at least 60 were chosen for the scholarship.
While calling this as opportunity for students to excel in their fields, Naseem Akthar, Air Commodore, who was the chief guest for the event, rued that there was a baseless feeling of discrimination among members of the Muslim community. “People don’t even try. They give up even before applying or trying. This fear of discrimination is there in the entire community… And from my experience, this is entirely needless,” he said.
This was reiterated by Khalil Ahmed, Chairman of the KZCT, who believed the problems of the community were compounded by this fear.
“Right from their birth, children are told they will be discriminated against. This fear remains. The truth, however, is that in business and other fields, religion is not a factor. All they want is competence,” said the former businessman.
COURTESY THE HINDU
http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-karnataka/1200-students-get-rs-1-cr-worth-scholarships/article5500028.ece