1,913 students got Dr BR Ambedkar Overseas Scholarships: Seethakka

Hyderabad: Panchayat Raj Minister Dhanasri Anasuya (Seethakka) on Monday said that as many as 1,913 students received scholarships under Dr BR Ambedkar Overseas Education scheme in the state after the Congress came into power in the state. Replying to a question on Overseas Education Scholarship raised by the BRS member Gangula Kamalakar, Seethakka said that after the Congress government came in 1,193 students including 210 SCs, 300 BCs, 100 STs and 500 Minorities were selected in the scheme. The government had paid Rs 167 crore old dues of the previous government. Before the Congress government came in, there were Rs 4,332 crore pending scholarship dues in the state, she said, adding the cosmetic charges of the students were increased by 212 per cent.

The Minister warned the hostel care takers for negligence in their service and causing harm to the students. She was responding to an incident of a student trying to commit suicide by hanging in Dubbaka by the MLA Kotha Prabhakar Reddy, who alleged that the students could not tell their sorrows because of the pressure from the district authorities. The Minister said that the MLAs should also take initiatives taking corrective measures and bring this to the notice of the government so that action could be taken against the culprits.

The Minister said that the government’s intention was to provide nutritious food to the students. Stringent action was being taken against the adulteration of food. The women IAS officers were asked to have night halt at the hostels. Replying to supplementary questions, the Minister said that the Centre had stopped the diet charges and scholarships in 2022. Because of the Centre stopping the scholarship, the burden had fallen on the State government.

Earlier, BRS member Gangula Kamalakar said that the present government has given a big zero in terms of overseas education scholarship. He recalled that in the past 2,230 students alone from BCs got the opportunity. He said that the overseas education scheme was started in 2016 by the then Chief Minister KCR. Quoting a website, the BRS member said that in January 105 SC students were selected. In the past 1,050 students from SCs, 2,751 from minorities and 2123 from BCs, 780 from Brahmins were selected for overseas education schemes. He also recalled that earlier there was an assistance of Rs two lakh for the students studying in IITs but now it was stopped.