World Konkani centre to distribute Rs 2cr scholarship among 1300 students

Mangalore, August 22: Vishwa Konkani Student Scholarship Fund, established by World Konkani Centre, Mangalore will award Scholarships worth Rs 2 crore to over 1300 students from economically backward families of Konkani Communities studying in a wide range of academic disciplines.

The award ceremony will be held on Saturday, the August 25 at 11.00 a.m. at T.V. Raman Pai Convention Hall, Kodialbail, Mangalore, stated press release issued here by Venkatesh N Baliga, Secretary, Vishwa Konkani Kendra.

Scholarships for 480 Engineering and MBBS students will be distributed on this occasion by Oscar Fernandes, Member of Parliament in the august presence of T.V. Mohandas Pai, Chairman, Manipal Universal Learning. N. Yogish Bhat, Deputy Speaker of Karnataka Legislative Assembly will be Chief Guest of the Function. K.B. Kharvi, President of Karnataka Konkan Kharvi Mahajan Sabha will grace the function as guests of honour.

Vishwa Konkani Student Scholarship Fund

'Vishwa Konkani Student Scholarship Fund' envisages grant of educational scholarship to economically backward students having Konkani language as their mother tongue. It was instituted in the year 2010 as envisioned by the eminent thinker and corporate leader T.V.Mohandas Pai as a Stream Concept (Collect & Distribute). VKSSF has successfully raised and distributed Rs. 50 Lakhs to 162 deserving students in the year 2010 and Rs. 1.00 Crore to 547 students in 2011. VKSSF has now evolved in to a large Scholarship Programme with over 1300 beneficiaries and Rs. 2 Crore worth of Scholarships in the year 2012.

Eminent Konkani Philanthropists like T.V. Mohandas Pai, Dr. T. Ranjan Pai, K. V. Kamath, Ramadas Kamath U., Jagannath Shenoi, Dr. P. Dayanand Pai, Ronald Colaco, Madam Grace Pinto, A. Annappa S. Kamath, Rohan Monteiro, Pradeep G. Pai and joined hands with VKSSF in strengthening the stream of Funds.

This year for the Flagship Programme of Engineering and MBBS Scholarships, Online Application Window period was open from 10th June 2012 up to 10th July 2012. More than 400 applications received apart from 280 re-applications by beneficiaries of 2010 & 2011 batch. A network of referees and verifiers across the country comprising of Doctors, Chartered Accountants and Educationists worked towards selection of over 480 most deserving and meritorious students from Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra and Goa belonging to different castes and religions with Konkani as their Mother Tongue.

New Initiatives

PU and Degree Scholarship Programme

Vishwa Konkani Student Scholarship Fund has designed a new scheme to support educational quest of PUC and Degree Students with an outlay of Rs. 40 Lakhs.

In a major attempt to empower socially and economically backward Konkani Speaking people, 550 PU and Degree Students from communities such as KHARVI and KUDUBI of Karnataka state have been selected for this New Scholarship Programme. Under this scheme the students will receive Rs. 2,500 and Rs. 5,000 for I PU and I Degree respectively in the year 2012. Apart from the above, 100 Degree Konkani Students from Kerala State are also been selected for award of scholarships under the new scheme as a special thrust.

This New Scheme is in accordance to the announcement made in the last year's Scholarship Award Ceremony by Chairman of the Fund Ramdas Kamath U. Scholarships under this programme will be distributed in a separate ceremony to be held in the month of September 2012.

Study Abroad Scholarship Programme

To support the aspirations of Konkani Students who want to pursue their advanced education in reputed universities abroad, VKSSF has instituted a Study Abroad Scholarship Programme. This year 10 Such Students will be awarded Rs. 1.00 Lakh each under the programme.

Governance of the Fund

As the Fund is functioning on the basis of 'Stream' concept, the entire amount generated every year will be distributed to the beneficiaries and no separate corpus will be maintained. Contributions to the Fund will be eligible for Tax Exemption under section 80(G) of the Income Tax Act.

'Vishwa Konkani Student Scholarship Fund' is administered by a Governing Council comprising eminent personalities. U. Ramadas Kamath, Senior Vice President, Infosys is the Chairman of the Fund and Pradeep G. Pai, Managing Director of Hangyo Ice Creams Pvt. Ltd., is the secretary. The council is also guided by Basti Vaman Shenoy, the founder and the president of World Konkani Centre and Board of Trustees of Konkani Language and Cultural Foundation.