2,000 scholarships for handicapped students announced

The National Handicapped Finance and Development Corporation (NHFDC) Tuesday announced 2,000 scholarships for handicapped students, an official statement said here.

The corporation, which comes under the Social Justice and Empowerment Ministry, will be giving 1,500 scholarships under its trust fund and 500 scholarships under the national fund to students with 40 percent and more disability for pursuing professional courses during the academic year 2013-2014.

Under trust fund scholarship, students will be reimbursed their fees and will be given maintenance and books/stationery allowance up to Rs.31,000 for graduate courses and Rs.40,000 for post-graduate courses.

Financial assistance will also be provided for purchase of aids and appliances for visual, hearing impaired and orthopedically handicapped students. This scholarship scheme is restricted to students with disabilities whose total family income is not more than Rs.3 lakh per annum.

The scholarships under the national fund will be awarded in the year 2013-14 to students with disabilities for higher academic, professional or technical courses, Ph.D, M.Phil, post-graduate, graduate or diploma courses.