2200 students get Indian scholarships

India has awarded scholarships to a total of 2,200 selected students who are the heirs of Bangladesh freedom fighters.

Indian high commission in Dhaka on Tuesday organised a function at its Chancery for the scholarship distribution to the selected candidates.

Home minister Asaduzzaman Khan was the chief guest at the programme while GOC-in-C eastern command from Indian Army was the guest of honour on the occasion.

Senior officers from Bangladesh Armed Forces, freedom fighters and senior bureaucrats from the liberation affairs ministry also attended the programme.

Each year India awards scholarship to descendents of freedom fighters to commemorate the invaluable contribution of the gallant freedom fighters towards liberation of Bangladesh.

Two schemes are concurrently being implemented and so far 12,957 students have been awarded scholarships totalling Tk 236.60 million.

The ‘Muktijoddha Scholarship Scheme’ was started by the government of India in 2006 for the descendents of freedom fighters.

Under the old scheme, scholarships were awarded to Higher Secondary and Undergraduate level students.

A total of 11,336 students have benefited under this scheme until now and an amount of Tk 174.20 million has been utilised for this purpose.

During prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s visit to India in April 2017, Indian prime minister Narendra Modi announced another scholarship for Bangladeshi students under a new scheme “Notun India Bangladesh Maitree Muktijoddha Sontan Scholarship Scheme”.

Under the scheme, a total of 10,000 students will be awarded scholarships over the next five years and Tk 350 million will be utilised for this purpose.

A total of 2,000 students are being awarded scholarships -- 1,000 each from higher secondary and undergraduate level every year. Higher secondary students are being awarded a onetime grant of Tk 20,000 and those at undergraduate level one time grant of Tk 50,000. The implementation of this scheme started in 2018.

From this year onwards, the scholarship amount will be credited directly to the bank account of the students by the method of Direct Bank Transfer (DBT) in line with the Digital India initiative.

Bangladesh liberation affairs ministry has extended support to identify the students from across the country.