Loans, Scholarships to Help Needy Students

New Delhi, Feb 28 (IANS) The government will set up an authority to administer and monitor scholarship as well educational loan schemes, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said Saturday.

"With a view to enabling all poor and middle class students to pursue higher education of their choice without any constraint of funds, I propose to set up a fully IT-based Student Financial Aid Authority to administer and monitor scholarship as well educational loan schemes, through the Pradhan Mantri Vidya Lakshmi Karyakram," Jaitley said.

"We will ensure that no student misses out on higher education for lack of funds," he added while presenting Union Budget 2015-16 in the Lok Sabha.

He said that with the rural population still forming close to 70 percent of India's population, enhancing the employability of rural youth was the key to unlocking India's demographic dividend.

"With this in mind, we have launched the Deen Dayal Upadhyay Gramin Kaushal Yojana for which Rs.1,500 crore has been set apart. Disbursement will be through a digital voucher directly into the qualified student's bank account," the minister said.

The finance minister said an amount of Rs.68,968 crore has been allocated to the education sector, including mid-day meals.