3 min readPuneDec 31, 2014 11:20 AM IST
First published on: Dec 31, 2014 at 04:44 AM IST
Pune Municipal Corporation administration has proposed to restrict the scheme only to students from urban poor families having a maximum earning of Rs 1 lakh per year.
To check rising expenditure on scholarships to meritorious students of Class X and Class XII, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) administration has proposed to restrict the scheme only to students from urban poor families having a maximum earning of Rs 1 lakh per year. The administration has also proposed increasing the minimum eligibility for beneficiaries to 85 per cent as against the existing 80 per cent.
In 2008-09, political parties in PMC had launched the scholarship programme for all students who score above 80 per cent marks in Classes X and XII. As per the scheme, the PMC provides Rs 15,000 per year to eligible students of Class X and Rs 25,000 to those from Class XII.
However, the expenditure on the scholarship scheme has been increasing over the years and has gone beyond allocation in annual budgets. In 2014-15, the civic budgetary provision was Rs 6.6 crore but the actual expenditure has now been estimated at Rs 20.2 crore due to the increase in number of beneficiaries. The PMC had to shell out Rs 4.79 crore in 2008-09 which increased to Rs 14.3 crore in 2012-13.
This year, as many as 8,466 Class X students and 2,300 Class XII students are eligible for scholarships.
“The revenue of the civic body is not increasing in proportion to its expenditure. Thus, it is high time to check the expenditure to ensure that sufficient amount of funds are available for development work or else it will be difficult in future,” a civic officer said.
He added, “A proposal has been drafted to limit expenditure by restricting scholarships only to students of urban poor families having annual income less than Rs 1 lakh. Only students belonging to below poverty line (BPL) should get the benefit of the scheme.”
He said the administration has also recommended the eligibility criteria for scholarship be changed to 85 per cent marks in Class X and XII as against the existing 80 per cent. “This would ensure that 4,000 Class X students and 1,000 Class XII students benefit from the scheme with expenditure being restricted to Rs 8.5 crore,” said civic officer, adding the proposal would come up for discussion in the standing committee meeting.
The proposal will be implemented after it is approved by the standing committee and the general body.
Pune Municipal Corporation administration has proposed to restrict the scheme only to students from urban poor families having a maximum earning of Rs 1 lakh per year.
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