NAHARLAGUN, Jun 12: Demanding immediate release of the pending scholarship money of the students, timely release of stipend and scholarship from new academic session and enhancement of the stipend amount, students under the Joint Interim Committee (JIC) for Stipend & Scholarship 2017, held a protest in front of the Director of Tribal Affairs office at Naharlagun on Monday
JIC Chairman Hillang Nima said that due to pending and non-payment of stipend and scholarship amount to the students of Arunachal Pradesh, the students studying in the Capital Complex and outside the state are reportedly facing many problems, including rent, hostel fee, mess fee, tuitions fee and semester fee.
He also informed that the MoU signed between the JIC and the state government representatives regarding the releasing of stipend and scholarship expired two months earlier and that there has been no response from the government.
At present, there are 22,564 post matric and 2,595 pre-matric students who are yet to be given stipends and scholarships, Nima informed.
The JIC also demanded monthly release of stipend and scholarship from the new academic session, and enhancement of the stipend amount from Rs 16,400 to Rs 30,000 from the new academic session.
Interacting with the students, Director of tribal Affair, Yumlam Kaha highlighted all the rules and regulations about stipend and scholarship. He clarified that the national scholarship portal is a central government policy and the funds are also released from the center.
“If the central government does not release funds, then the state government or department cannot do anything”, he said.
The Director appealed to the student community to call off the protest and assured that the amount would be released as soon as the central government releases the fund through Direct benefit Transfer.
Meanwhile, the All Arunachal Pradesh Students’ Union (AAPSU) in a press statement has stated that it is pursuing the scholarship matter with the state and centre governments.
The Union said that students have to be patient for the release of scholarship of pre and post Matric for tribal students.
The matter was clarified by the Union and the concerned department that the disbursement of the scholarship will start by the first week of July, the AAPSU added. The Union clarified that it understands the sentiments of the students and has been working rigorously to pursue the scholarship issue.
[“source-arunachaltimes”]
