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Scholarships, ranging from 100 to 1000 rupees monthly, are given to students whose families' total annual income is less than one or two lakh rupees, under various schemes. Some states provide free education to minority community students whereas other states meet the need of their tuition fees and reimburse the same. In addition, free books and writing material are provided to students of minority communities. The Central Board of Secondary Education presents the Indira Gandhi Scholarship to students of Engineering and MBBS. Simultaneously the Board presents Scholarship for Higher Education to students pursuing courses in Natural and Basic Sciences and Girl Child Scholarship to girls studying from class 1 to class 12. The DrAmbedkar Foundation offers various scholarships to meritorious students of class 10. Furthermore, the Indian Oil Corporation, NTPC, ONGC Foundation for Academic Excellence and Access, K.C.Mahindra Education Trust, several other religious trusts and NGOs give scholarships to students of minority communities. Various banks and National Minority Development and Finance Corporation (NMDFC) provide loans on low interest rates for professional and technical studies. Under the interest subsidy scheme launched by the Ministry of Human Resource Development, there is provision for complete subsidy on interest of educational loans.
The National Minority Development and Finance Corporation (NMDFC) provides concessional loans to minorities for self-employment and income generating activities. For availing assistance under NMDFC schemes, the annual family income eligibility criterion is Rs. 81,000 for rural areas and Rs. 1.03 lakh for urban areas to beneficiaries at an interest rate of 6 to 9% per annum. Higher loan from 20 to 30 lakh per beneficiary is available. Under the Micro Finance Scheme a Maximum loan up to Rs.1.00 lakh is available under and Higher loan of maximum up to Rs.1.50 lakh is available. Besides, there are schemes of Vocational Training and Skill Development in which a stipend of 1000 to 2000 rupees per month is given to trainees.
For further information about the various schemes take a look at the websites of Ministry of Human Resource Development (www.mhrd.gov.in), Ministry of Minority Affairs (www.minortyaffairs.gov.in), National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions (www.ncmei.gov.in), Maulana Azad Education Foundation (www.maef.nic.in), University Grants Commission (www.ugc.ac.in), Central Board of Secondary Education (www.cbse.nic.in), National Minority Development & Finance Corporation (www.nmdfc.org), National Institute of Open Schooling (www.nios.ac.in).
Babita Jain
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