Temjen Imna Along, Minister of Tourism and Higher Education, on Thursday urged students to understand government procedures and be aware of variations in scholarship, while addressing the grievances and concerns on scholarship issue in Nagaland during a press conference.
The press conferenfe was held at the Minister’s official residence at Old Ministers Hill, Kohima on June 27.
Minister Along also informed that from 2024-25 onwards, the Post Matric scholarship for ST students will be a one time payment, unlike the present system of two installments payments. Further, from the academic session 2024 -25, the post matric ST scholarship will be onboarding the National scholarship portal (NSP).
“The Government of India, the Ministry of Tribal Affairs under whom we give the post matric ST scholarship give them in two installments. How can the state government with the state share of 10 percent give it in one whole installment . The CM and Finance minister had never delayed in giving the state share,” asserted Along.
The Minister also clarified the Post matric scholarship had been delayed because of the Lok Sabha elections with the Model Code of Conduct in place. With students writing letters and messages to enquire on the variation in amount of scholarships, the Minister maintained that all the students are receiving the same amount except for merit or research students.
In this regard, Along appealed the students to understand that government procedures and also stay updated and aware on the variations in scholarship. “Sometimes the delay happens because of proper procedures and sometimes even the bank cannot go through all at once but they are distributed as soon as they are sanctioned,” he said, assuring that they will look into the matter with proper consideration.
The disbursement of merit scholarship is expected to be initiated in the next two to three days post authentication with the Treasuries & Accounts. Further the Minister said, “The funds received this time is lesser than usual. Accordingly, the monetary disbursement for student beneficiaries has significantly reduced but the amount will be fully restored to the students by the next instalment.”
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Keduosielie Keyho OSD (Scholarship) and Tol Pucho, Computer Programmer also informed that some students has been rejected because of bank account issues where some account bounced back while some were not verified by the institution.
The first process of clarification”was done from the school and then the department, they informed. To address the issue of the fake income certificates used by many students, the officials stated that the government to has been requested to change the guidelines for the amount from Rs.2.5 lakh to Rs. 8 lakh.
“Details will be uploaded on the website and students can check why they were rejected. And if they find anything wrong , they can contact the concern department and address the issue,” informed the officials.
CSS- Post Matric Scholarship for ST Students of Nagaland (1st Instalment payment status)
• Total amount required for both instalments: Rs. 5311 lakhs
1st Instalment Received: Rs. 1781.89 lakhs (Payment on the process).
Bifurcation of state and central share 1st instalment : State Share : Rs.178.19 lakh
Central share : Rs. 1603.7 Lakh
Total available for 1st installment: Rs.1781.89 lakhs
Number of beneficiaries: 42817
The disbursement started from June 13 and the status of the 1st instalment disbursement are as follows :
1. 40528 paid
2. 1585 processed for payment
3. 21 invalid account
4. 55 bounced
5. 38 withheld (subject to confirmation of documents from institution)
6. 589 account validation fail.
7. The amount successfully paid : Rs.16,88,66,813.
Status report of state merit and research scholarship :
State budget allocation : Rs. 500.00 lakh (sanction received)
Total amount required for payment :Rs. 656.38 lakhs
The total number of beneficiaries of state merit and research scholarship 2023-24 are:
1) State merit scholarship: 4330 beneficiaries with total amount of Rs.630 Lakhs
2) Research Scholarship : 94 beneficiaries with total amount of 26.38 Lakhs.
