Students pursuing undergraduate studies in India say that they have not yet received their monthly stipend after it was increased from July last year. The increase is for students studying under the Bhutanese and Government of India (GoI) scholarship.
The students were to receive Rs 4,500 as a monthly stipend. They were also to receive a contingency grant, a new allowance scheme of Rs 4,500 in a year. The students are also entitled for annual book allowance of Rs 3,600, daily allowance of Rs 60 for industrial training and travel allowance of Rs 700. According to some of the students, they have not yet received the stipend after it was revised.
Earlier,students were paid Rs 3,600 in a month.
The Officiating Chief Programme Officer, Tashi Dawa, of the Department of Adult and Higher Education agreed that some of the students would not have received the revised stipend. “The stipend is sent through a bank in Bhutan to a bank in India in the form of bank draft. Therefore, colleges which are located in the vicinity of the banks within the premises city, receive fast and quick. But there are also colleges and universities located very far. So I am thinking that students in those colleges would not have received their stipend.”
He assured that the department will keep on following up and that the students would receive ‘very very soon’. Currently, there are 351 students studying for the undergraduate scholarship programme in various parts of India. Of these 305 are funded by the Indian government and 43 by the Bhutanese government.
