PM Modi enhances budget to increase enrollment of children of Scheduled Caste: BJP's Dushyant Gautam

New Delhi: Bharatiya Janata Party leader Dushyant Gautam has said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has increased the budget to Rs 6,000 crore from Rs 1,100 crore to encourage Scheduled Caste children to enroll in schools.

During a press conference here at the party headquarter on Saturday, BJP national general secretary Gautam said, "The Prime Minister had promised to make dalits qualified enough to be eligible for employment. PM Modi has implemented many schemes to encourage Scheduled Caste children to enroll in schools with an increased budget to Rs 6,000 crore from Rs 1,100 crore."

He said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led central government is working for the welfare of the poor and dalits.

"Modiji is working towards Babasaheb Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar's dream of education for all. Recently, the central cabinet has approved the changes in centrally sponsored 'Post Matric Scholarship to students belonging to Scheduled Castes (PMS-SC)' to benefit more than four crore SC students in the next five years so that they can successfully complete their higher education," he said.

"The cabinet has approved a total investment of Rs 59,048 crore, of which the Central Government would spend 60 per cent and the balance would be spent by the state governments," he added.

The Rajya Sabha MP said that the post-Matric Scholarship Scheme for Scheduled Castes allows students to pursue any post-matric course starting from class 11 with the government meeting the cost of education.

"The scheme will be run on an online platform with robust cybersecurity measures that would assure transparency, accountability, efficiency, and timely delivery of the assistance without any delays. The states will undertake fool-proof verification of the eligibility, caste status, Aadhar identification and bank account details on the online portal," he stated.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs had on December 23 approved changes in the centrally sponsored PMS-SC to benefit more than four crore SC students in the next five years so that they can successfully complete their higher education. This replaces the existing 'committed liability' system and brings greater involvement of the central government in this scheme.

An official release of the cabinet stated that the Central Assistance which was around Rs 1,100 crore annually during 2017-18 to 2019-20 would be increased more than 5 times to be around Rs 6,000 core annually during 2020-21 to 2025-26.