Palamuru Varsity will get all help: Collector S Venkat Rao

Mahabubnagar: District Collector S Venkat Rao on Friday assured that the district administration will support the Palamuru University (PU) to excel in all sectors and fields of academia.

While taking part as a chief guest at a special seminar on the topic of 'Awareness on Ambedkar Overseas Education Scheme' organized by the District Scheduled Castes Development Department at Palamuru University on Friday, the district Collector said that he is always in the forefront to help make Palamuru University a leader in all fields.

The Collector said that the State government is providing financial assistance up to Rs 20 lakh for SC students to pursue foreign education under the Ambedkar Overseas Education Scheme.

He said the scheme was also available to BC and ST students and stressed on the need for more awareness among the students on this scheme. "As part of more awareness on this overseas financial assistance scheme, more seminars must be conducted at all top educational institutions including PU, government medical colleges. What we are aiming is to ensure more students get benefited from this scheme," observed the Collector.

In fact, the State government had provided the overseas financial assistance scheme up to Rs. 10 lakhs, to help the poor students pursue their higher education in foreign countries earlier. However, as the financial aid was very less only a few students availed this scheme, but now as the government has enhanced the financial aid from Rs. 10 Lakh to Rs. 20 lakhs, the district Collector urged more students to utilize the opportunity.

The Collector also observed that despite the fact that there are many universities in the State and the Country, the government is also providing financial assistance as there are more facilities in foreign universities and there are more opportunities so students can take advantage.

Dr. BR Ambedkar, the father of the Indian Constitution, made it possible to get reservation for all communities for their development and hence as part of this initiative, the poor and downtrodden form the SC, ST, BC communities are provided with this opportunities to avail the best of the best education facilities in foreign counties. "We want to ensure more students avail this opportunity, for this a team of officials from the SC, ST, BC and Minority Welfare Departments will be stationed at Palamuru University for a week. The officials will collect applications from many students as possible and process their applications to send the selected students abroad for better higher education," informed the district Collector.

The Collector urged that at least 100 students from Palamuru University should go abroad and pursue higher education.

Later, the district Collector along with the Palamuru Vice Chancellor planted saplings in the university premises and recollected that in the past Palamuru University had set a target of planting 50,000 saplings under the green belt and worked hard to get the Vriksha Mitra Award by planting 18,000 saplings. This time also the Collector asked the PU authorities to make sure they reach the set target of planting as many plants as possible and extend their helping hand in improving the environment and forest cover in the district.

Palamuru University Vice-Chancellor LB Laxmikant Rathod said that students should not only study hard but also focus on extracurricular activities and get better recognition. He called up on the students to take advantage of the Ambedkar Overseas Education Scheme for better career prospects by studying in foreign countries.

The Collector congratulated University Vice Chancellor B Laxmi Kanth Rathod, faculty members and students. Earlier, the Collector planted a tree in front of the administrative block of Palamuru University to mark NSS Day.

Palamuru University Registrar Pindi Pawan Kumar, DTW Srinivas, District BC Welfare Officer Indira, District Scheduled Castes Development Officer Yadayya, Palamuru University SC, ST Cell Director Dr Malavi and NSS Coordinator Praveen Kumar took part in the programme.