BENGALURU: The current academic year is set to end in a few months, but many students across the state are yet to receive their pre-matric scholarships for this year.
This year, the state government had made it mandatory for the beneficiaries to link their Aadhaar numbers with their bank accounts as well as online applications in order to avail the scholarships. This decision was taken to avoid duplication of beneficiaries and to make the process faster.
Unfortunately, this has only delayed the entire process. Of the 54 lakh students eligible for the pre-matric scholarship given by the Department of Social Welfare, 10.8 lakh are yet to receive the money in their bank accounts. Official sources said at least 6 lakh aspirants are yet to link their Aadhaar numbers with their bank accounts. A senior official of the department said, "Considering this delay and inconvenience caused to the students from rural areas, we have started distributing the amount manually."
The department had released Rs 48 crore to 159 taluks for the scholarships which were suppose to reach the students by August.
