Mumbai, Maharashtra :

The state government on Thursday decided to extend the fee waiver to students whose family income limit is less than Rs 6 lakh, for professional and higher education courses, including medical and engineering.

The BJP government also reaffirmed its commitment to provide reservation to the Maratha community.

Addressing a press conference after the state Cabinet meeting, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis  said the ‘Rajarshi Shahu Maharaj Fee Pratipurti Yojana’ was earlier implemented for SC/ST and OBC students.

“SC/ST students had 100% fee waiver while OBC students had 50% concession. It will now be extended to all students with an income limit of Rs 6 lakh and those who have secured more than 60% marks at the time of admission. There will be no conditions for those with an income limit up to Rs 2.5 lakh,” he said.

The Maharashtra government also decided that the ‘Punjabrao Deshmukh’ scheme will be implemented to provide hostel fees to the children of marginal farmers and registered labourers.

In big cities, Rs 30,000 will be given annually while in district-level towns it will be Rs 20,000.

The government will implement ‘Pandit Deendayal Upadhay Swayam Yojana’ for providing hostel and food facilities to tribal students, the chief minister said.

In big cities, it would be Rs 6,000 per month, in 2-tier cities it would be Rs 5,000 and in 3-tier it would be Rs 4,000 per month.

In medical colleges, those with income limit of Rs 2.5 lakhs to Rs 6 lakhs, the government will pay interest of the educational loan taken by them. About 35,000 students in government and 3 lakhs in private colleges will benefit from the scheme, he said. pti

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City News> Mumbai / by Sujit Mahamulkar / TNN / October 14th, 2016