Hassan, Jan 19: Chairman of Karnataka Minorities Development Corporation Masood Faujdar said, interest-free education loan will be extended to at least 5,000 students belonging to minority communities to pursue professional education this year.
Stating that 2,000 students have been benefitted under the scheme in 2014-15, he said the corporation has received more funds and programmes are being organised to create awareness among the students about the benefit. He was speaking after inaugurating an awareness programme for PUC students at the Government Medical College, here, on Sunday.
The State government had sanctioned Rs 172 crore to the corporation last year, this year we plan to seek at least Rs 500 crore. The loan facility will be extended to another 1,000 students, who have already joined professional courses this year. Students from families, whose annual income does not exceed Rs 4.5 lakh can avail the benefit. This year, to avoid inconvenience to the students, the corporation has already deposited a corpus with the CET Board. The procedure of depositing a DD for the fee amount and claiming refund has been scrapped. The beneficiaries need to pay a service charge of just two per cent of the loan amount, he said.
Self-employment
Besides education, the corporation is encouraging self-employment and entrepreneurship among the minority communities — Muslims, Christians, Jains, Sikhs, Buddhists, Parsi and Anglo-Indians. So, loans up to Rs 10 lakh is provided to the beneficiaries. At least one lakh persons have availed this benefit so far. To help the beneficiaries overcome their financial difficulties, last year, the loans have been waived off, he informed.
Managing Director of the corporation Mohamed Saleem, retired IAS officer S S Pasha, Government Engineering College principal Karisiddappa and others were present.
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