Technical issue in scholarship scheme leaves students high and dry

Srinagar, March 27: Scores of students from Kashmir are unable to pursue their studies in different colleges across India, under the Prime Minister’s Special Scholarship Scheme (PMSSS) due to the confusion regarding the demand draft.
Last year, the students studying under Prime Minister’s Special Scholarship Scheme (PMSSS) received an email stating that the students who have availed the benefits of another scholarship scheme of the state government or government of India, goes against the rules of All India Council for Technical Education. (AICTE). The AICTE has suspended the scholarships because of the de-duplication which left the student in disappointment.
The new notification issued on 9 March by PMSSS cell has asked students to refund the amount availed from the scholarship scheme on-boarded by the National Scholarship Portal (NSP). It stated that while being a PMSSS beneficiary, the amount should be refunded to the sponsoring ministry, UT, State, Department of specific scholarship scheme.
Almost 200 students said that to refund the amount, they have made a demand draft but the ministry is not accepting the demand draft further which has created a huge confusion among the students.
“We are ready to return the amount that we have availed from NSP. We have made a demand draft of that money. We went to Delhi multiple times to sort out the issue but the ministry told us that they have no information regarding the same,” said a student.
The aggrieved students said that for almost 6 months, the scholarship amount has not been paid to them and the students have to manage on their own or by taking loans from other people to continue their studies.
The students said that they have approached All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) but have not received any satisfactory response from them.
“The Ministry has refused to accept the demand draft and it is still with us. The issue is being dodged by the AICTE and Ministry. Due to which, we are not able to continue our studies,” said a student.
The students have appealed to the government to expedite the process of refund and allow them to continue their studies.
The scheme was started in 2011 to help students of underprivileged sections of the society with the monthly maintenance charges and college fees which is provided by the government.
While contacting the officials of AICTE, they said that the issue is being looked after by the ministry.