Chief Minister Thakur Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said here today the State Government has implemented ‘Dr. Y.S. Parmar Vidyarthi Rin Yojna’ from the financial year 2023-24 to provide loan to eligible bonafide Himachali students at the rate of one percent interest. “The present State Government is committed to provide quality education to the youth and this Yojna will ensure that no youth of the State is deprived of higher or professional education due to constraint of financial resources,” said the Chief Minister.
Such students whose annual family income was less than Rs. 4 lakh were eligible to avail the loan under this Yojna, he said. The Chief Minister said that a corpus will be kept at the level of the Deputy Commissioner of all the districts to release first installment of fee money to the concerned institution, in such cases where bank was taking time to release first installment of fee money, and if fee is required to be deposited immediately to save the student’s admission.
The State Government would designate Nodal Bank for claiming interest subsidy in lieu of educational loans taken by the eligible students from the department of Higher Education through an online portal. Nodal Bank will enter into a MoU with the department of Higher Education. Borrower students before getting admission in the institution of their choice would register them self on the portal and upload the documents required under the scheme.
Thereafter, he would also upload the document certifying his selection for admission and if found eligible the Director of Higher Education would recommend the case to the concerned bank for releasing first installment of bank loan. Under the Yojna, eligible students will be able to avail education loan upto maximum of Rs. 20 lakh from any scheduled bank located in Himachal to meet expenses of boarding, lodging, tuition fees, books and other allied expenses associated with their education.
The students having 60 percent marks in previous class will be eligible to avail the loan at the interest rate of one percent to pursue Diploma and Degree Courses in Professional and Technical Education such as Engineering, Medical, Management, Para-Medical, Pharmacy, Nursing, Law etc. and Technical Courses from ITI’s, Polytechnics and Ph.D. from the recognized Educational Institutions and Universities. The age limit to avail the facility of educational loan has been fixed 28 years as on registration and admission date.
Thakur Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said that a mechanism would be developed to evaluate the outcomes of the scheme in regular intervals to ascertain the effectiveness of the scheme and for tracking the progress of the students. He said that the Department of Higher Education will nominate Grievance Redressal Officer to whom students can lodge their grievances through email or by post or any digital mode. He remarked that this scheme would ensure access to quality education to poor students to realize their potential and achieve their aspirations in life.
