Scholarship amounts to directly go to students' bank accounts

New Delhi, Jan 16: All central scholarships would be credited straight into the students' bank accounts under the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) programme, the Government said.

The move is being initiated to safeguard the interests of students and to prohibit discrimination and harassment.

In a communication, the University Grants Commission (UGC), which governs higher education in the country, has asked all recognised universities and colleges to ensure that the scheme is implemented in a "befitting manner".

For this, UGC has asked the institutes to register themselves with the Public Financial Management System (PFMS) which serves as a common central portal for registering implementing agencies and beneficiaries.

This will help them verify the applications of the students received online to enable the HRD Ministry to disburse scholarships to the students directly into their bank accounts under the DBT programme.

"The uploaded applications on PFMS portal need to be validated by the institutes online without any delay to safeguard the interests of students and to prohibit discrimination and harassment of any student," it said.

UGC has also asked universities to display scholarship schemes and new initiatives of the HRD Ministry on the home page of their websites.

Meanwhile, Minority Affairs Minister Najma Heptullah has written to all chief ministers requesting them to take necessary initiatives for disbursing post-matric and merit-cum-means scholarships for minorities through DBT.

The said scholarships are centrally-sponsored programmes, having a funding share of 75:25 between the Centre and the states.

The government has also decided to extend the DBT mode of payment to beneficiaries under pre-matric scholarship scheme for minority students and directly credit the amount to their bank account from the coming academic session.

PTI