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central and state level civil services aspirants. The facilities would also include free boarding and lodging.
For promoting education and encouraging bright Jain students to pursue higher studies, JITO has launched JITO Educational Loan Programme (JELP). JITO's objective behind JELP is to ensure that no bright Jain student is deprived of higher education due to lack of financial resources. The Loan Assistance Programme will not only support needy Jain students but also motivate them to aim higher and to be ambitious about their educational career. JITO has finalized with Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC) a Scheme for providing educational loans at very competitive interest rates and terms.
Thanks to its extensive national and international contacts, JITO has recently launched a project called JITO Employment Assistance Programme (JEAP) that, as the name clearly suggests, assists in providing employment to prospective Jain candidates. Lately, JITO has also started providing some funding to Jain candidates fighting elections at various levels of the Indian political structure. It also does lobbying with Indian political parties for getting tickets to potential Jain candidates.
Jain Social Groups' International Federation Initially started in Mumbai in January 1965, Jain Social Group (SG), renamed Jain Social Groups' International Federation on 15 August 1980, is a non-profit, non-sectarian global organisation of Jains. In 2003, the federation consisted of 235 groups in India and 15 abroad, with a total membership of about 70,000. Its membership is open to only married couple members. “There are also junior groups for youngsters where single membership is accepted. The federation comes up with a newsletter, the Mangalyatra, where the activities of all groups are mentioned" (Kothari 2003: 22). The founder president of this federation C. N. Sangahavi is also instrumental in the formation of World Jain Confederation and the Indian Vegetarian Congress, among others. The 11th international convention of the Jain Social Group Confederation was held at Udaipur during 23-25 January 2010
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Jains in India and Abroad
