Maharashtra Government has decided to introduce foreign education scholarship scheme for the students belonging to Open (general) and Other Backward Class (OBC) category.
Under the new scheme, along with open and OBC category, students belonging to Vimukt Jaati and Bhatkya Jamati (nomadic and denotified tribes) will also be covered, said an official from the Chief Minister’s Office.
Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) students are already getting the scholarship for studying in foreign varsities.
Every year, 20 students will get the scholarship. Ten of them will be from the open category.
“Selected students will get funding for taking admission to 200 leading foreign universities, said the official. The students will also have a special fee rebate in top 25 universities,” the official said adding that the emphasis will be on courses related to artificial intelligence, climate change, energy conservation, data analytics and nano-technology.
According to the official, a budget of Rs 20 crore will be made available for the scheme and 30 percent of the scholarships will be reserved for women students.
In another initiative, the State Cabinet also gave its nod for the formation of “Dr Panjabrao Deshmukh Mission” to encourage organic farming after a meeting chaired by Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.
