Amendment in the Meritorious Student Scheme

• 21 Sep 2022

Why In News?

• In the meeting of the Council of Ministers held under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on September 20, 2022, along with giving approval to the amendments in the ‘Chief Minister Meritorious Student Scheme' many other important decisions were taken.

Key Points

• According to the amendment, such students who have received the benefit of the scheme once and if the income limit is more than Rs 6 lakh, will be eligible for the benefit of the scheme till the completion of the course.
• Also, students who have secured first 15 percent place in the centralized common merit list of the state in the second year of engineering and pharmacy courses through 'lateral entry' and 70 percentiles in 10th and 12th examination from the Board of Secondary Education or CBSE/ICSE. If the students who have passed the examination with 85 percent take admission in the engineering and pharmacy courses of the institutions included in the order, then such students will be eligible for the scheme. Such students will not be bound by JEE Mains rank for admission to engineering courses.
• The Cabinet gave its approval for establishment and operation of Motor Driving Training and Research Institute (MDTRI) in District Datia .
• The cabinet has increased the rate of dearness allowance and relief payable to government servants and pensioners in the seventh pay scale by 3 percent from August 1, 2022 (payment month September, 2022) to 34 percent and government servants working in the sixth pay scale of the state government. And ratified the order issued on August 18, 2022 to increase the dearness allowance on a proportionate basis in the fourth and fifth pay scales of state government undertakings, corporations, boards and aided institutions working on deputation in the state government.
• As a result of increase in dearness relief to pensioners/family pensioners in Section 49 of the Madhya Pradesh Reorganization Act, 2000, the expenditure is borne by the Government of Madhya Pradesh and the Government of Chhattisgarh in fixed proportion. After obtaining the consent of the Chhattisgarh government, the Finance Department was authorized to issue an order of dearness relief.
• With the increase of 3 percent in the dearness allowance payable to the employees, an additional estimated expenditure burden of Rs 625 crore is likely in this financial year. An additional estimated expenditure of Rs 304 crore is likely to be incurred in this financial year due to the increase of 3 percent in dearness relief in the event of consent of the pensioners/family pensioners from the Chhattisgarh government.
• For speedy implementation of schemes run by Madhya Pradesh State Electronics Development Corporation, it has been decided by the Council of Ministers to speed up the recruitment process of human resource and easy availability of IT experts skilled in new technologies. (COE, PeMTS, MPSSDI, CPCT, Email-PMU, TCU, SDC, Security Audit Lab) Services can be taken from contract or outsource by changing the sanctioned posts in the projects.