HRD Minister: Two new scholarship schemes for Northeastern students

Smriti Irani, HRD Minister in a press conference shared that meritorious students studying in northeartern states will be offered scholarships for pursuing education at all colleges as well as universities in the country at undergraduate level.

The HRD Minister stated that two special scholarship schemes have been started by UGC called Ishan Uday and Ishan Vikas  for students belonging to Northeastern states for the academic session commencing in 2014.

As part of the Ishan Uday scheme, UGC is offering 10,000 scholarships to Northeastern students whose parental income is below Rs 4.5 lakh per annum. Such students will be offered scholarship in the range of Rs 3,500 to 5,000 per month for pursuing undergraduate education at colleges/universities in India.

As part of the Ishan Vikas scheme, an interaction session will be held between students and teachers from the Northeast with those present at Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), IISERs and Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs), so as to enhance the quality of education offered in the Northeast along with encouraging them to pursue technical education.

As part of this scheme, students of Class IX and Class X studying at government schools in the Northeastern states will be organised into two groups, that is, one group will be made to visit the colleges in summer and another in winter. Each group would comprise of 32 students who will be accompanied with one teacher.  About 2,016 college students and 504 teachers from Northeastern states would be visiting IIT, NIT as well as IISERs in a given academic session.

Also, internships will be offered to 250 college students for a monthly stipend of Rs 8,000. These students will be picked from 25 institutions and will be visiting 16 IITs and six NITs per year.