Only 269 Telangana students got INSPIRE-SHE scholarship since 2008

Data tabled in Rajya Sabha this week shows that only 269 students from Telangana have received the Centre’s INSPIRE-SHE scholarship since its launch in 2008, with Rs 6.3 crore disbursed. Nationally, more than 1.3 lakh students have benefited from the scheme, which offers Rs 60,000 a year plus a Rs 20,000 mentorship grant. Telangana’s numbers trail far behind Karnataka (26,164), Rajasthan (23,467), Uttar Pradesh (60,263) and West Bengal (15,958).

An education department official said poor awareness is one reason for the low uptake, pointing to the absence of a single-window mechanism to track central schemes. The Federation of Associations of Telangana Higher Education Institutions (FATHI) secretary K Ramdas argued the scholarship amount is too low compared to the cost of science courses in the state, where annual fees run to about Rs 1.1 lakh. He suggested raising INSPIRE-SHE support to at least Rs 1 lakh a year to make it meaningful.