Biometric authentication delay: Thousands of K'taka SC students might lose post-matric scholarship
Bengaluru: Delay in biometric authentication by college empowerment officers is proving costly for thousands of Scheduled Caste (SC) students pursuing higher education in the state as the students are in danger of losing their Central government-sponsored post-matriculation scholarship.
Students with an annual family income not exceeding Rs 2.50 lakh are eligible for the post-matric scholarship. Although most students have completed their biometric authentication, the delay by the officers is likely to impact the release of the funds, forcing the Social Welfare Department to remind the Commissioner of Collegiate Education to disburse the scholarship, according to a Deccan Herald report.
The state has a total of 15, 816 private and government colleges and the authentication process has been completed in 9,875 colleges, while the empowerment officers in 5,941 colleges are yet to complete the process. Bengaluru Urban tops the list of pending cases with 1,555 colleges, followed by Kalaburagi (543), Dharwad (368), Belagavi (306), and Vijayapura (269).
A senior officer of the Social Welfare Department explained that the centrally-sponsored scholarship is split 60:40 between the Centre and the state. Biometric authentication is mandatory for both students and the empowerment officer and that if either fails, the scholarship is denied to the student.
The officer further explained that the biometric authentication of a nodal cum empowerment officer of the college is mandatory. The empowerment officer has to visit the nearest taluk-level office of the Social Welfare Department and provide the AISHE code of the college, an authentication certificate from the principal, and their Aadhaar number to complete the authentication process. The Commissioner of Collegiate Education has been requested to instruct the college principals concerned accordingly, the senior officer added.
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23-year-old woman found dead at Delhi home; suicide suspected
New Delhi (PTI): A 23-year-old woman was found dead in her house in Delhi's Prem Nagar area, with police suspecting it to be a case of suicide, an official said on Tuesday.
The deceased, identified as Anjali Singh, was found motionless in her room on Monday by her sister and her neighbour.
Police said her father, Vinod Kumar Singh (51), told them that he and his wife were away at work at the time of the incident, while their son and the other daughter were also not at home at the time of the incident.
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According to the family, the room in which Anjali was found was locked from the inside. The door was later forcibly opened by a neighbour and her sister with the help of a crowbar.
Her body was found lying on the bed inside the room, police said.
Preliminary inquiry revealed that Anjali had allegedly hanged herself using a piece of cloth tied to the ceiling fan.
It is suspected that the noose eventually might have loosened or torn off, resulting in her being found lying on the bed.
Family members informed the police that Anjali was a final-year student of a librarian science course from Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU). About a week ago, her final-year examination results were declared, and she had failed, following which she had been under depression, they said.
The family has not raised any allegation of foul play, police said, adding that no suicide note or external injury marks were found on the body during the initial inspection.
Inquest proceedings have been initiated in the matter as per the law. The body has been sent for post-mortem examination to ascertain the exact cause of death, and further investigation is underway, police added.
