Hyderabad: State SC, ST, BC and Minority Welfare Minister Koppula Eshwar today said that a total of 3676 students had benefited from the state government’s overseas scholarship scheme. The minister said that the students belonged to SC, ST, BC and Minority communities of the state.
He revealed these figures while replying to questions by the members of the house during question hour in the ongoing Assembly session .
Speaking on the occasion he said that they had spent Rs.589.69 crore under the scheme so far and added that foreign education had become a boon for several poor students of the state.
Income limit under overseas scholarship scheme
He said that although the program was in force before they came into power in the year 2014, he said that they had brought in several changes in the implementation of the scheme. He said that they had raised the amount of financial assistance from Rs.10 lakh to Rs.20 lakh under the scheme and added that they had also increased the family income limit from Rs. 3 lakh per annum to Rs. 5 lakh per annum under the scheme.
Responding to the requests made by the members to increase the family income limit to Rs.10 lakh from the existing Rs. 5 lakh, he said that he would hold discussions with the CM of the state KCR on the issue.
Eshwar said that they were giving Rs. 60,000 to the beneficiaries towards the aid travel allowance under the scheme. He also said that the students can pursue their foreign education in countries like America, England, Australia, Canada, Germany, France, Singapore, South Korea, New Zealand and Japan . He said that Proposals to include more number of countries were under their active consideration.