Srinagar 18 January (KNS): The Central Government has taken a commendable step by re-starting the Post Matric Scholarship (PMS) Scheme, for which a provision of Rs 58,000 crore has been made, which will benefit around 4 crore SC/ST students from all over the country, said Dr. Anshu Kataria, President, Federation of Self-Financing Technical Institutions (FSFTI) & Chairman, Aryans Group of Colleges, Rajpura, Near Chandigarh.

As per the statement issued to news agency-kashmir new service(KNS), Dr. Kataria has demanded from the Central Government to give 30 days more for admissions in the entire country because the PMS Scheme was re-announced on December 29, 2020, but by then in most states the admissions were closed and due to which SC/ST students could not take admission.

Sh. KVK Rao, General Secretary, FSFTI said that this has led to a huge decline in the enrollment ratio of SC/ST students. It is to mention that 3 - 4 years ago, only in Punjab, around 3 lakh SC/ST students used to take admission, which has now come down to 1.5 lakh.

In this regard, a delegation of Punjab Unaided Colleges Association (PUCA) met Union Minister, Sh. Som Prakash, who said that the Central Government is always committed to the welfare of SC/ST students and he assured that soon he will take up this matter with Union Education Minister, Dr. Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank' (KNS).