Scholarship Disbursal Streamlined for Marginalised Students Pursuing Higher Education Abroad

• Funds decentralised: Pune OBC Welfare can now directly approve and disburse scholarships.
• Faster support: 75 NT, OBC, and SBC students to benefit annually from quicker processing.
• Simplified process: Students avoid delays and cross-city coordination.

In a significant administrative reform, the Maharashtra government has given the Directorate of Other Backward Classes (OBC) Welfare in Pune rights to administer and make payment under the Foreign Education Scholarship Scheme. This reform is designed to remove procedural delays and improve speed in delivering financial aid to marginalised students pursuing education abroad.

Now, the Pune directorate will approve and administer the direct fund disbursement process that includes tuition fees, airfare, travel allowance, health insurance, and other expenses at Government approved rates. Previously the responsibility had to be approved by the state government which was a multi-level bureaucratic process.

Kuldeep Ambekar, the founder of Students Helping Hand observed that for many students, this change was impactful. "In the past, many students had to deal with stress due to delays with the transferring of funds, as many international universities wanted to be paid the tuition as my students were all required to go through extensive travel application processes which sometimes lost time in these processes. Now that all power has shifted to the Pune directorate, consolidated all these attended at the same point will be managed there. This is a big relief."

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Launched in 2022, the Foreign Education Scholarship Scheme invites 75 meritorious students each year from Nomadic Tribes (NT), Other Backward Classes (OBC), and Special Backward Classes (SBC) for pursuing higher studies abroad. Student selection and merit list will continue at the state level, but the Pune directorate will only have the recommendation process to verify proposal and allocate funds.

Students have been relieved at the change. One beneficiary said, "Earlier, They had to get approvals from Nashik, Pune, and Mumbai. Now, it is a one-stop-shop." On the change, Dhaneshware Khillare, Director of OBC Welfare, Pune, said, “that they will receive a consolidated fund and sanction the scholar ships directly. The release from proposal to direct release at the district level is going to enhance both speed and accountability." This reform is set to significantly reduce wait times, increase transparency, and ease access to important educational funding for and disadvantaged groups across Maharashtra.