Government of India in consultation with Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and Indian Banker’s Association (IBA) has framed a Comprehensive Educational Loan Scheme to ensure that no deserving student in the Country is deprived of higher education for want of finances. The new scheme covers all type of courses including professional courses in schools and colleges in India and abroad.
The Salient features of the scheme are as under:
The scheme envisages loans up to Rs.7.5 lakh for studies in India and up to Rs. 15 lakh for studies abroad.
For loans up to Rs. 4 lakh no collateral or margin is required and the interest rate is not to exceed the Prime Lending Rates (PLR). For loans above Rs. 4 lakh the interest rate will not exceed PLR plus 1 percent.
The loans are to be repaid over a period of 5 to 7 years with provision of grace period of one year after completion of studies
Tax Benefit
Repayment of an education loan is deductible under section 80E of the Income Tax Act. The yearly limit for deduction is Rs. 40,000 (for both the principal and the interest). Only loans taken for higher education – fulltime studies in any graduate or post-graduate, professional, and pure and applied science courses – may claim deduction. The deduction will be available for a maximum of eight years starting from the day you start repaying.
Equitable Access to quality higher education has been a concern of the University Grants Commission. To this purpose the Commission, besides encouraging colleges and universities to provide for liberal financial support to the meritorious but needy students, has also been instrumental in educational loan scheme. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has issued guidelines in this regard to all commercial banks. A large number of banks have already launched educational loan schemes. Provided below are links to the respective website of individual banks offering such facilities.
Disclaimer: Since the rules, regulations, eligibility conditions, repayments and interests rates etc are revised by the banks from time to time in keeping pace with the changing capital market conditions, students and parents are advised to thoroughly check the terms and conditions of educational loan scheme on offer at the time of application.
Following are excerpts from a report in Pioneer on this.
Thirteen students belonging to B Tech, +2 Science and ITI of JITM, Paralkhemundi, have been chosen by the LBW Trust, which is based in Sydney, Australia, having the website http://www.lbwtrust.com.au.
The scholarships will cover the respective tuition fees in different programmes. The support is initially for a year and would be continued based on the academic performance of the students.
The awardees also include three female students. It is expected that this support will assist the selected students greatly, who are from weak financial background though being meritorious. It is also expected to encourage other students to perform well academically in order to avail similar opportunities in the future.
…
The LBW Trust was established last year with the purpose of providing education and training to impoverished and underprivileged people overseas and within Australia.
Candidates for assistance by the trust would be chosen from cricket playing nations among developing countries as well as from Australia.
The trust hopes that these young men and women, who are sponsored by it, would in their turn play their part in the upliftment of their countries.
Interested students should go to the Contact Us pages of the trust and send a mail to them to find out more about this scholarship and how to apply for it.
Thousands of tribals in Orissa’s poverty ridden Kalahandi, Bolangir and Koraput (KBK) districts may soon have access to better higher education with a central university being planned there.
The human resource development (HRD) ministry Monday said it was weighing a state government proposal to set up such a university in the region.
‘Orissa being one of such states (without a central university), its request for establishment of a central university in the tribal-dominated KBK region shall receive due consideration,’ Minister of State for HRD D. Purandeswari said.
‘Further, a bill for setting up a central tribal university is in the process of being introduced in the current session of parliament,’ Purandeswari informed the Rajya Sabha.
The proposed university shall have power to establish its regional centres in areas inhabited by tribals.
The HRD ministry had earlier said there was a proposal for setting up 16 central universities in states where there was no such university.
Often various sundry organizations oppose various industries that are coming up just for the heck of it. A better approach would be to make sure the industry does not adversely affect them and then convince the industry to do positive things for the area. The later includes setting up of engineering colleges and necessary infrastructure like township, roads, parks, playgrounds, schools, medical facilities etc. Finally such an approach is being taken by the Koshali Ekta manch vis-a-vis Vedanta and Kalahandi. Despite the fact that Vedanta is in the process of making a world class university near Puri, they should listen to this demand, if only to give value to this general approach. Moreover, making an engineering college, of the kind made by most private trusts in Orissa, does not cost much. One can start it with an initial budget of 10 crores and then it can become self -sustaining through student fees. So Vedanta should seriously consider this. Also, people in other areas where industries are coming up, or have come up should take a similar approach. For example, the people in Paradip and Kujanga, rather than being hostile to POSCO should negotiate with POSCO to establish a medical college & hospital and a top-notch engineering college like POSTECH in Korea, that was established by POSCO. Same with respect to the Tatas in Kalinganagar; people in Kalinganagar should negotiate with the TATAs to establish an engineering college and a medical college in Kalinganagar. The Mittals should be asked for the same in Patana, Keonjhar area; RSP/SAIL should be asked for the same in Rourkela; MCL+NTPC should be asked for the same in Talcher area and NALCO for the same in Anugul and Damanjodi.
Following is an excerpt of a Pioneer report that triggered the above thoughts.
Bhawanipatna: A meeting of the Koshali Ekta Manch has decided that a memorandum would be submitted on August 24 to Vedanta Alumina limited in order to establish an engineering college in Kalahandi. … Manch leaders Jagannath Mund, Govind Chandra Rath and Padma Kishore Pujari were present at the meeting.
Following is Lalit Patnaik’s report and pictures on it.
Dear Friends,
On behalf of Agami Odisha, me and Dillip Sabat has been deputed to participate in the mass rally for demand of KBK university. Our President sri Dhiren Ray wished us good luck in the departing moment.
We have to travel 700 KM to reach Malkangiri from Bhubaneswar. 350 KM by Train up to Vizaynagaram, and subsequently by Bus another 225 Km through Ghat up to Jeypore and rest 125 Km through deep jungle to Malkangiri. We reached their in the early morning hours to be received by Malkangiri MLA Mr Nimai Sarkar and his associates. We proceeded to Dandakaranya Guest House and found Police in the nook and corner of Malkangiri town, the last one of Orissa before Chattishgarah. The town is Naxal infected and it needs courage to live there, for Police as well as for People.
Mr Sadan naik, MLA of Kodinga came along with his associate by 11 am and our rally started at 11.30 am from bus stand arena. I was really surprised to see the large gathering of students( Young men and women ) of not less than 1250 in number. There were around 250 Intellectuals, business men and retired old persons. The rally was led at three places, front one by Intellectuals, the middle one by the women students and the last one by Men students. the slogan of KBK University is our demand reverberated the high walls of Malkangiri Mountain and almost entire town was by the side road watching the marathon rally of nearly 1 Km long. The rally moved for 2 hours and culminated at Collector’s Office. Collector rushed to his office from a meeting some where else so as to receive our Memorandum to the President of India. Even after handing over of memorandum, the students were in no mood to disperse but went on giving slogans for their right to have a University around KBK. The people were aghast since long, because the nearest University of Berhampur is 500 Km away from their place.
Sincerity of their demand was well visible from the eyes of those boys as well as girl students. After wards, the president of their college walked close to me and expressed his thanks to Agamee odisha for taking up their cause. In return I assured him to carry their message to the Swabhimani odiya all over the world, to support in their endeavor to get an Central funded University at KBK.
They are struggling for their right to higher education, amidst the chaos of Naxalisim. They are not demanding their land to be annexed to Chattisgarah, a very close by State, nor are they demanding for more food or money but are only asking for a Central University, which we all should fight and get it for them, is not it. Are they not real swabhimani Odiya’s ?.
While staying 700 Km away from the capital, they are reciting the song of Mother Odiya, day in and day out.
MSS/NRTS (age below 15 for general, and below 16 for SC/ST)
NTS (Students studying in Class 10)
JBNSTS (Students who have passed 10 + 2 examination in this year and are studying Basic Sciences / Medical Sc. / Engineering in West Bengal are eligible)
Students cutting across different social groups will soon be able to avail of education loans at highly subsidised rates to study in top educational institutions of the country.
The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) in consultation with the Human Resource Development Ministry and the National Bank Association has finalised a scheme for paying huge loan subsidy to students from economically weaker sections.
A mean test (annual earning) will be the eligibility criteria to apply for the loan. The government is likely to announce the scheme on Independence Day. The University Grants Commission figures state that only eight per cent students from economically backward families are enrolled in higher education.
… To implement the scheme, the government plans to float a Loan Guarantee Corporation that will pay for any default by the students from the weaker sections.
“It will be a kind of a government guarantee to the banks to give loans to poor students,” an official said. The corporation will become functional with a corpus fund from the government. A small amount from the interest paid against student loans will get deposited with the corporation.
The government found that students from weaker sections have not availed of education loans because of their failure to obtain sufficient guarantee. With the government in the picture, banks are willing to pay them loan for studying even in private educational institutions.
The loan will be available for admission to government-approved institutions. It would be paid directly to the institution. Continuance of the loan will depend on the students’ performance.
KISS, Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences is made and run by the promoters of KIIT University. Hindu has a very nice article about it. Following are some excerpts.
A sister concern of the Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT), KISS is a working dream that trained the tribal children to be self-reliant, resourceful and empowered to tackle the challenges of life.
For the visiting media team from Bangalore, KISS was an education in looking beyond urban-centric development. From the well-stocked library, hostel and computer centre to a medical facility that insured every child, KISS is also a home away from home. The institute ensures that the children have enough exposure to their tribal culture, heritage and tradition. …
Today, there are children here from most of the 52 tribes of Orissa, including 13 primitive tribes. This year, we added 700 more tribal children to reach the strength of 5,000,” he informed.
…
For 22 of the brightest from KISS students, Dr. Samanta had reserved free engineering seats in KIIT, five per cent of the total intake.
“This year, the BCA and BBM courses were opened for them. The tribal students will leave this organisation with a job.” As the KIIT Deemed University Chancellor assured this, he was working on an expansion plan: a project to add another 5,000 children to India’s biggest residential tribal school in the next three years.
Following are excerpts from a Pioneer report on this.
Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Tuesday met the Union Minister for Tribal Affairs PR Kyndiah in New Delhi and urged him to sanction Rs 12 crore as central share on a priority basis for the establishment of tribal hostels in the State.
Kyndiah, while acknowledging the excellent performance of the State in setting up tribal hostels, assured that all possible help would be given by his Ministry for this purpose.
It may be noted that the State Government has given a proposal for sanction of 50 per cent share of under the centrally sponsored scheme for Girls hostels for scheduled tribes for 276 hostels last year.
Patnaik also held discussion about setting up more Ekalavya Model Residential Schools for Primitive Tribal Group regions and other tribal areas. …
The Ministry of Tribal Affairs provided Rs. 15.90 crores as fellowship to more than 600 Tribal students during 2006-07 for taking up higher studies. The fellowship provided under Rajiv Gandhi National Fellowship Scheme for pursuing higher studies such as M.Phil and Ph.D at universities, institutions recognized by UGC.
Each year more than 600 students are provided the fellowship for the maximum duration of five years. The scheme is implemented through UGC on behalf of the Ministry of Tribal Affairs. Financial assistance of Rs. 8000/- per month is provided for initial two years to Junior Research Fellow and Rs. 9000/- per month for remaining period of the fellowship.
Beside this fellowship amount, contingency fund for humanities and social sciences is also provided at the rate of Rs. 10,000/- per annum for initial two years of the fellowship and Rs. 20,500/- per annum for remaining period of the research work. In the case of sciences the Contingency fund is provided Rs. 12,000/- per annum for initial two years and Rs. 25,000/- per annum for remaining tenure of the fellowship. The Government also provides assistance to the host institute for providing infrastructure. Amount of the departmental assistance is Rs. 3000/- per annum per student. An additional assistance of Rs. 1000/- per month is provided for escorts or reader assistance in cases of physically and visually handicapped candidates.
Students of DAV Vedanta International School, Lanjigarh, Kalahandi, celebrated Vanamahotsav on Sunday. Their slogan for the people of the entire area was ‘Let’s make Lanjigarh greener’. A short cultural programme was presented by the students on the occasion. The speeches delivered by the students emphasised on the causes and consequences of deforestation and they exhorted the people to work for plantation and afforestation. …
People from near and far gathered at VAL Township to participate in the programme. …
People of the locality pledged to take the cause further. They participated in the programme by planting saplings at the site along with the students, teachers, parents and VAL executives. Neem and Golmohar tree saplings were planted by all.
I came across this Allahbad bank site about education loans. They give loans up to 4 lakhs without any collateral security to students of a selected list of colleges/institutes. The current list includes four Orissa institutes. They are:
Entire KBK districts are echoing with the demand for a Central University, thanks to the initiative of the intelligentsia of the area.
For last one week, concerned citizens of the KBK districts have been meeting at different forums, while raising their demand for a Central University.
Meetings were organized at Malkangiri, Nawrangpur, Jeypore, Koraput, Sunabeda, which culminated at Koraput on July 29.
The people’s representatives,intelectuals and a number of leaders assembled here to chalk out the future plan.
A well documented presentation … was discussed at length over the status of educational standard of the KBK districts vis-à-vis other parts of the state.
The organizers like Umi Daniel and Saroj Padhi presented the thorough researched document in a lucid manner, which has a long lasting impression on the participants of the workshop. …
Agriculturist Bibhu Mohanty of Jeypore, who improvised "Kala Jira Rice" at Kalahandi on behalf of Swaminathan group, highly appreciated the detailed study …
Lalit M Patnaik of Agamee Odisha harped on the improvement of the poor standards of higher education in the state.
Mr.Patnaik said that “they are not alone rather a large group of intellectuals inside the country and in abroad are behind the struggle to make Orissa the Major Destination of Higher Education”.
The meeting decided that crying over the poverty index is bringing shame to the state.
So the Infrastructure of Progress should be referred rather then the Poverty Index, which in itself is misleading about the progress of our State and it’s Districts.
By taking seven sub-sectors of the infrastructure such as transport, energy, irrigation, banking, communication, education and health, we can really compute the composite development index of infrastructure for different districts of Orissa, said speakers in the meeting.
Updated dated Dec 8 2007: Thanks to reader Priyanka (comment 108-109) we now have details on the increase in CSIR fellowship amounts. See https://www.orissalinks.com/?p=867 or http://www.csirhrdg.nic.in/fellowship%20revision.pdf for details. In short, the amount go up in two stages. From 1st September 2006 the amount for JRF goes up from Rs 8,000/month to Rs 10,000/month and then from 1st April 2007 the amount goes further up to Rs 12,000/month.
Government of India, Department of Science & Technology (DST) has been considering the revision of research fellowships of Research Fellows and Research Associates from time to time. There are various practical considerations in deciding on the revision of fellowships which should take into account all possible scenarios and specially, availability of resources and the sustainability of increased fellowships. While attractive fellowships have to be instituted to attract promising candidates to take up research as a career, there is also a need to create an ambience required for pursuing research, which is apre-requisite.
The Exercise of revision of fellowships is conducted through an inter-agency and extensive consultative process. The Department, as a part of the consultative process, had discussions with all the S&T agencies including the Ministry of Human Resources Development (MHRD) and the University Grants Commission (UGC). The revision had taken into account the need for redesigning the research fellowships for meeting the needs of a competitive market environment for talent, and longer-term time horizon. It was also decided that both the Scientific Departments and the MHRD would harmonize the fellowship levels and effective dates for implementation. The following were the main recommendations apart from the revision of fellowships:
The candidate who qualifies through NET examination or its equivalent for admission to do Ph.D. should get a fellowship amount of Rs 12000.
All eligible candidates admitted in different disciplines to do Ph.D may becovered under a suitable fellowship programmein a phase- wise manner.
Fellowships to candidates, other than those qualified in NET or equivalent examination, admitted to pursue Ph.D in the institutions, recognized by relevant S&T agencies, would be covered by UGC norms.
Based on these extensive deliberations, the Department of Science & Technology has proposed the enhancement in research fellowships. Shri Kapil Sibal, Union Minister for Science & Technology and Earth Sciences told media persons in New Delhi today that the Government has accorded approval for this enhancement, as given below.
Table: Enhancement of Research Fellowships for NET or Equivalent
Educational Loan Scheme 
