Six universities in Maharashtra have been approved under the centrally sponsored scheme to set up model degree colleges,one each in seven educationally backward districts which were among the 374 districts identified across the country. Grants have been released to set up model colleges. According to a report released by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD),155 proposals have come so far from various states,of which 86 have been sanctioned and 33 rejected. Another 36 proposals from various states are being processed. The scheme is exclusively for educationally backward districts where gross enrollment ratio (GER) is less than the national average. In Maharashtra,seven districts were identified under the project and grants released to start colleges. The districts include Buldhana,Hingoli,Raigad,Ratnagiri,Sindhudurg,Gadchiroli and Jalna. The universities to which the colleges will be affiliated in the state are Mumbai University (two colleges),SNDT Womens University,S G B Amravati University,S R T Marathwada University,R T M Nagpur University and Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University. The performance report shows that several states and UTs have put up a very bad show. Of the 39 districts identified in Madhya Pradesh,no proposals have been sent so far. The other states that have not yet sent any proposals to the Centre include Jharkhand (12 identified educationally backward districts),Meghalaya (five),Mizoram (seven),Nagaland (one) and Uttaranchal (two),Andaman and Nicobar (two),Daman and Diu (two) and Lakshadweep and Puducherry (one each). States that have managed to send only one proposal are Bihar with 25 identified educationally backward districts and Rajasthan with 30. Other states lagging behind are Uttar Pradesh (six proposals have been sent out of 41 identified districts),Chhattisgarh (five sent out of 15 identified districts),Orissa (eight sent out of 18 identified districts),Tamil Nadu (seven sent out of 27 identified districts) and West Bengal (three sent out of 17).
