Karnataka to issue ‘Freeship Card’ to post-matric students for scholarships

KEY STORY

• To overcome delay in crediting scholarship amount to students’ accounts, the post-matric students belonging to Scheduled Caste (SC) communities will receive ‘Freeship Card’ from Karnataka government, for the transfer of scholarship from this academic year.

• Social Welfare Department Deputy Director Siddalingesh said that the card will act as a government guarantee to educational institutions on payment of fees and the institutions have been asked not to insist on collecting fee from such students.

• “The students face inconvenience when there is delay in the payment of scholarship amount owing to technical glitch and also delay in verification and authentication of the applications submitted by the students for the scholarships. Once a student secures admission, the government will credit the scholarship amount into the student’s Aadhaar-seeded bank account. The student will then pay this amount to the college. Using the card, they can transfer the amount to the college,” the officer said.

• The social welfare department will conduct a campaign to clear all pending applications pertaining to post-matric and pre-matric scholarships, prize money for those who clear the courses in their first attempt in first class and also incentive for inter-caste marriages till November 17 across the state. In Dakshina Kannada, the campaign will be held throughout the month, Siddalingesh said.

• He said awareness will also be created on applying for scholarships as well. In case of necessity, the department will hold camps in colleges to help the students to apply for the scholarships.

• The department has received 14,241 applications for pre-matric scholarship, of which 14,131 have been cleared. The remaining will be cleared during the campaign. In post-matric category, the department in the district has received 5,096 applications and 4,499 have been cleared so far. Some of the post-matric courses have just commenced and the applications for scholarships are yet to be received by the department, Siddalingesh said.

• Under prize money for the students who have passed in first attempt, a total of 1,049 have been received in Dakshina Kannada, of which 121 have been rejected as the students had failed to clear one of the subjects in one of the semesters of the programme. Already, 552 applications have been cleared and 376 are pending.

CONCLUSION

• Under the scheme, SSLC students, who have secured 60 per cent to 75 per cent marks, will get Rs 7,000, while those who have secured above 75 per cent marks will get Rs 15,000. While PUC students will get Rs 20,000, degree students will get Rs 25,000, PG students will get Rs 30,000 and those who have completed professional course will get Rs 35,000, he explained.

• For incentive under inter-caste marriage, 28 applications have been received and 23 have been cleared. The remaining five will be cleared during the campaign, Siddalingesh added.