New Delhi: Claiming that there would be no arrears in the grant of scholarships to SC/ST students and all claims will be cleared within the current financial year, the government assured the Rajya Sabha.

Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Vijay Sampla told the members whilie replying to the queries by members during Question Hour, said that after completeion of all documentation, all pending scholarship arrears would be cleared by the Centre.

“The government has decided that no pending claims of states with regard to scholarships for SCs/STs will be left and all dues will be cleared by March 31 (next year), for which the amount has been earmarked,” he said.

The issue is related to Central Government’s scheme of providing of post-matric scholarships to SC/ST students.

While replying to the concerns raised over the arrears of Punjab for the past two years under central scholarship scheme to SC/ST students, he said that the Centre has already approved and released a total amount of Rs. 327 crore last month and the remaining amount would be cleared only after the completion of documentation.

“I assure the member that if Punjab completes the documentation, then the decision of the central government is that no arrears of states will remain pending,” he said.

While replying to another query, Mr. Sampla told that the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment will be working as the nodal ministry to moniter the schemes and disburse the total amounts allocated for welfare of scheduled castes and tribes, as soon as the sub-plan was subsumed.

“The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment has developed an online web portal (e-uthaan.gov.in) for the financial, physical and outcome indicators in which all the central sector/centrally sponsored schemes under the allocation for welfare of scheduled castes (AWSC) are monitored from the year 2017-18.

“The financial progress made by the department/ministry is linked with public financial management system (PFMS) and for physical progress, the nodal officers of the concerned departments/ministries have been provided user-IDs and passwords for uploading the information directly in the portal,” the Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment Thawar Chand Gehlot said in a written reply.

The Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes are provided financial assistance after their completion of studies and with the condition that they are not employed. But as soon as they get any employment, they need to leave the pension scheme.

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