NEW DELHI: Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren on Thursday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, alleging that a funding shortfall of more than Rs 700 crore in central scholarship support over the past two financial years has adversely affected lakhs of students in the state and seeking the PM’s urgent intervention.In his letter, Soren claimed that the Centre released only Rs 91.79 crore against Jharkhand’s demand of Rs 724.08 crore for post-matric scholarships during 2024-25 and 2025-26.“While Jharkhand sought Rs 370.87 crore for post-matric scholarships in 2025-26, the Centre released only Rs 58.22 crore. Similarly, against the state’s demand of Rs 353.21 crore in 2024-25, only Rs 33.57 crore was sanctioned,” Soren said.‘Funding gap delayed scholarship’He alleged that the funding gap had delayed scholarship payments to lakhs of students, putting their education at risk, and urged the prime minister to ensure the timely release of pending funds.The chief minister also sought higher central allocations for pre-matric and post-matric scholarship schemes. Referring to scholarships for students from backward classes under the Union ministry of social justice and empowerment, Soren said Jharkhand had sought Rs 66.14 crore for pre-matric scholarships in 2024-25 but received only Rs 12.61 crore.
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For 2025-26, the state requested Rs 45.91 crore, of which only Rs 3.95 crore was released, he claimed.Soren further urged the Centre to restore scholarship schemes for minority students that, according to him, have remained discontinued since the 2021-22 academic year.“I seek the Prime Minister’s urgent intervention for the release of scholarship funds to Jharkhand,” Soren said in the letter, adding that the funding deficit in central scholarship schemes was impacting lakhs of economically weaker students across the state.
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