Hyderabad: Welfare minister Koppula Eeswar on Friday said that the state government was implementing an overseas scholarship scheme for the deserving students from SC, ST, BC, and minority communities of the state like no other state in the country. He stated this while replying to a question raised by the members in the State Assembly like Shakil Ahmed and Anand on the overseas scholarships.
The Minister said that they were providing financial aid of Rs.20 lakh under the scheme for all the eligible students. Citing that the scheme was earlier confined to five countries of the world like the US, UK, Canada, Australia, and Singapore, he said that they had now increased the number to ten countries and included the countries like France, Germany, South Korea, Japan, and New Zealand for the benefit of the students. He said that they had also provided reservation to the women of the different communities.
Eshwar said that 221 students benefited under the scheme in the year 2015, 358 in 2016, 350 in 2017, 333 in 2018 and 250 in the year 2019. He said that a total of 1685 students benefitted under the scheme and added that they had spent Rs.230 crore for implementation of the scheme so far. He made it clear that they didn’t have any plans to increase the funds for the scheme as they were not able to meet the annual quota of 500 every year.
