The outlay for Post Matric Scholarship Scheme for Scheduled Castes has increased with historic investment in the present government. It was stated by Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment, Shri Rattan Lal Katariawhile reviewing the progress of the scheme in the last financial year. He said that the first release of funds pursuant to complete revamp of PMS-SC has been made. Government has released funds to the tune of Rs. 4000 crores with Uttar Pradesh being allocated the highest funds at Rs. 892.36 crore, followed by Maharashtra at Rs. 558 crore and Andhra Pradesh at Rs. 450 crores.

The government had completely revamped the Post Matric Scholarship scheme for Scheduled Castes to provide universal access to the SC youth for higher education. The funding pattern under the Scheme was changed from the committed liability formula to a fixed sharing pattern of 60:40 between the Centre and the States (90:10 for the North EasternStates), thus increasing the commitment of the Government in the scheme by almost four times. An amount of Rs.35,534 crore was committed by Central Govt. for this scheme till 2025-26 and it is estimated that about 4 crore youth from the SC community will be benefitted during this period. He further informed that apart from increasing the central share in the scheme, the Government has brought in several process improvements to avoid delays in payment of scholarships using the DBT system.

The Minister underscored the importance of education and said that education is the cornerstone on which the edifice of social progress is built. Time and again the Prime Minister has emphasised the impact of quality educationand its importance in moulding an individual to overcome influences of ignorance and superstition in achieving their maximum potentials thereby transforming them into productive assets for the nation building process.

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NB/SK/jk/MoSJ&E/09.04.2021

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