KOHIMA, NOV 3 (MExN): The All Nagaland College Students Union (ANCSU) while expressing regrets that there was a shortfall in the Merit Students Scholarship, sponsored by the state, has clarified on the reason for the shortfall of the said scholarships. In a statement Chichamo Kikon, President, and Vingutuo Rutsa, General Secretary, stated that the ANCSU along with the PGSU had met the concerned Minister and Director of Higher Education and had discussed the matter. On deliberations, it was learnt that the main reason for the shortfall in the merit scholarship was due to the increased number of merit students and that comparing to the previous years, merit students had increased by 20% numbering to 535 students for the year 2004. For this reason a shortfall of Rs 24, 6,650 was impacted on the estimated budget of merit scholarship beneficiaries, it stated.
The ANCSU also informed that during the meeting on October 31, the Minister had assured the student leaders for taking the necessary measures at the earliest and as such, on November 2, the Director submitted the “proposal for the shortfall in merit scholarship”. The students’ body added that it was expecting early release of the balance amount from the concerned authorities as per the assurance given to the student leaders.
