Scholarships of Three Lakh Students on Stake

Disagreement between Rajasthan government and directorate general of training (DGT), government of India has lead to discomfort among three lakh students from 1,700 industrial training institutes (ITI) because now they stand at a risk of losing their scholarships.

Social justice and empowerment department provides scholarships to students of ITIs, who have passed Class X. To facilitate this, department had asked the affiliating authority of ITIs, DGT, to corroborate the institutes that are operating in state and courses that they offer. In absence of verification, names of training institutes would not appear on the online portal where students have to apply for scholarship.

DGT officials, however, alleged that Rajasthan government is abdicating from its own responsibility. "We only provide affiliation to ITIs. All the needed information regarding these institutes is available online. Rajasthan government can verify from there and take forward the process of distribution of scholarships. Instead they want us to validate each institute and give them in writing which is impractical," said S C Sharma, joint director of training, DGT.

"The entire scholarship process has now been made online. Unless the affiliating authorities authenticate the institutes, they will not be seen on the application portal and students won't be able to apply for it. The date for application has been extended till February 29. We are also seeking help from labour and employment department and hopefully, the issue would soon be sorted out," said an official from social justice and empowerment department.