Accept Ration Cards as supporting documents for those without income certificates: Assam CM to Education Department

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Monday chaired a meeting at the Chief Minister’s Office in Dispur regarding the working of Pragyan Bharti, a fee-waiver scheme for free admission in higher secondary/degree and Master of Arts/Master of Science/Master of Commerce courses under the Higher Education Department of Government of Assam.

As per terms of the scheme, all students whose parental incomes are less than Rs 2 lakh per annum are eligible for free admission to pursue higher education courses in the State.

Eligible beneficiaries are required to apply for a fee waiver through the “Assam Samarth” portal, also known as the Assam State Higher Education Admission Portal, the central platform for admission to undergraduate courses in the State.

During the review meeting, Chief Minister Sarma took stock of the number of applicants who had applied under Pragyan Bharti for the upcoming academic session and that of those who have been found to be eligible for benefits under it.
The Chief Minister was informed that as of date, a total of 57,469 numbers of applicants have been found to be eligible for fee waiver for the 2024-25 academic session.

The number will rise as the second merit list for admissions to undergraduate courses is going to be published soon, the Chief Minister was informed by the education department officials.

The Chief Minister asked the education department officials to launch a widespread awareness campaign about the Pragyan Bharti scheme so that the maximum number of eligible students apply for a fee waiver under it.

The Chief Minister further issued instructions to senior officials of education and finance departments to ensure the educational institutions that are covered under the Pragyan Bharti scheme are reimbursed the amount that they will forego due to the scheme without fail before July 10, 2024. For those educational institutions that will induct students for undergraduate courses through the Common University Entrance Test (CUET) scheduled to be held in July, the reimbursement amount against admission under Pragyan Bharti should be disbursed within August, the Chief Minister instructed the Director of Higher Education.

The Chief Minister also took note of the fact that owing to the unavailability of an “Income Certificate”, a certain number of applicants were finding it difficult to get themselves enrolled as beneficiaries of Pragyan Bharti.

He, therefore, instructed that from now onwards, ration cards under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) should also be treated as supporting documents in lieu of Income Certificates for the benefit of Pragyan Bharti.

It is to be mentioned that according to a survey, it has been found that the functioning of the Assam Samarth portal has led to greater transparency in data collection related to admissions into higher educational institutions in the State. These readily accessible data through the Assam Samarth portal, in turn, has enabled the authorities to keep real-time track of the number of beneficiaries under Pragyan Bharti.

Consequently, swift reimbursement of fees to educational institutions against the admission of students under Pragyan Bharti has become possible.

Education Minister Dr Ranoj Pegu, Chief Secretary Dr Ravi Kota, Principal Secretary to Chief Minister KK Dwivedi, Director of Higher Education Pomi Baruah, along with a host of senior officials of the government was also present.