Govt to restructure minority scholarship ratio based on 2011 census

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Kerala government on Thursday said it will restructure the minority student scholarship ratio as per the 2011 population census, to ensure that no community is deprived of benefits.

A decision in this regard was taken by the state cabinet today.

The announcement comes after the Kerala High Court had on May 29 quashed the 2015 state government order providing scholarships in 80:20 ratio to Muslims and Latin Christians and Converted Christians, saying it was 'legally unsustainable.' 'The scholarship ratio will be restructured in such a manner that no community will be denied the benefit.

It will be based on the 2011 census data as instructed by the Kerala High Court,' the state government said in a release.

As per the census, the state has a minority population of 26.56 per cent of Muslims, 18.38 per cent of Christians, 0.01 per cent Buddhists, 0.01 per cent Jain community and 0.01 per cent Sikh population.

The scholarship ratio will be restructured without the eligible sections losing the number and amount of scholarships, the government added.

'A sum of Rs 23.51 crore is required for distributing scholarships and the cabinet meeting decided to sanction a non-budgetary allocation of Rs 6.2 crore,' the release said.

The high court had directed the Left government to pass appropriate orders, providing merit-cum-means scholarship to members of the notified minority communities within the state equally and in accordance with the latest population census available with the State Minority Commission.

Also, the state cabinet decided to provide Rs 3 lakh to the family of Sajith, who committed suicide while under police custody at a mental health centre here.

It was also resolved to recommend to the Governor to convene the second session of the 15th legislative Assembly from July 22.