(Image source from: Sarkari Yojana)

New Scheme Launched By Modi Govt To Graduate Muslim Girls:- A special gift of Rs 51,000 will be given by the Modi government to the meritorious Muslim girls, who go on to complete graduation before marriage.

The Ministry of Minority Affairs has now cleared this proposal by the Maulana Azad Education Foundation. The scheme under the name, “Shaadi Shagun” is aimed at incentivising higher education among minority groups.

All the students availing Begum Hazrat Mahal scholarships funded by the Maulana Azad Foundation, are eligible to apply for this top-provision, being introduced in the scheme. In 2003, during Atal Bihari Vajpayee regime, the minority scholarships for weaker sections in the minority communities were initiated.The meritorious girls from the minority community, earlier, were given monthly stipends only till Class 12.

In July, the Minister of Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi had received the proposal to extend the scheme to students opting to graduate before marriage.

“We felt that families of Muslim girls and other minorities are always in dilemma about their daughter’s graduation studies and marriage. The minority groups prefer to save money for their daughter’s marriage rather than spend it on their graduation,” says Shakir Hussain Ansari, Treasurer of the Maulana Azad Education Foundation.

A web portal detailing the criterion of the scheme is now being prepared by the Foundation. The scheme will be presented at the general body meeting next month to the Minister. In the existing Begum Hazrat Mahal Scholarship, Shaadi Shagun is an addition, that is given to meritorious girl students belonging to six notified minority communities - Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains and Parsis.

However, the scholarships cannot be availed by students whose parents earn more than Rs 2 lakh per annum. Helping parents prioritize expenditure on education over marriage, is the objective of the scholarship that ties marriage with education.

SUPRAJA