Government assures Kashmiri students on scholarships

New Delhi: Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday assured Kashmiri students studying outside the state of redressal of their problems, including regarding scholarship.

Rajnath Singh held out the assurance when he met a group of students from Jammu and Kashmir as part of the exercise to help them. 

"Met a group of students from J&K studying in different colleges of the country and heard their grievances," the Home Minister later tweeted.

The problems pertained to various universities vis-a-vis matters like scholarship, which will be addressed soon, an official source said here.

During the meeting, Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar also "assured these students that their grievances pertaining to Prime Minister's scholarships will be addressed and resolved on a priority basis".

"These students were facing certain issues with PM scholarships. HRD Minister @PrakashJavadekar sat with me to listen to their problems," Singh said in another tweet.

Last week, Singh had intervened to help a group of Kashmiri students studying in Rajasthan.

According to official sources, students from the Gyan Vihar University in Jaipur were facing certain "problems" pertaining to scholarships.

"Taking cognisance of media reports, the Home Minister got in touch with students and Rajasthan Education Minister Kalicharan Saraf and asked him to look into the matter," a source said here.

Rajnath Singh directed that the Kashmiri students should be able to avail of the Prime Minister's Special Scholarship scheme at the earliest. Students were also invited to meet him (Singh) in Delhi.

As part of the same exercise, a number of students from other parts of the country also met him here on Wednesday.

A 24x7 grievance redress helpline was set up by the Home Ministry on August 30 for helping people from the Valley, particularly students studying outside Jammu and Kashmir. 

Senior official Sanjay Roy was made the nodal officer. 

The grievances can be reported on phone numbers 011-23092923 and 011-23092885 or mailed at dirmjk-mha@nic.in.