It is the state government and not the Centre that is responsible for the delay in the transfer of scholarships to students, Tura MDC and state Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) vice-president Bernard Marak said today.
Denying scholarships to the students of Meghalaya is “a denial and betrayal of the rights of the ST students of their rightful privileges”, he added in a release.
The scholarships are funded in a 90:10 arrangement – 90 percent from the central government and 10 percent from the state. The state is meant to transfer its share to the central government, which then sends the full amount to the students. In recent days and weeks, the state government has tried to push the blame onto the BJP-run central government for the delay.
“I checked with the Union Tribal Ministry on the delay of payment of scholarships to the students and I was informed that the list forwarded by the state has been cleared on a priority basis,” Marak said. “However, 90 percent of which the Centre pays cannot be transferred to the students’ accounts until the 10 percent share of the state is transferred by the state for payment.”
