Scholarship for SC students: Raut

Aneesh Phadnis / TNN / May 10, 2007, 04:17 IST

Text Size

Small
Medium
Large

He is perhaps the only MLA in the 288-member legislative assembly who knows flying and possessed a commercial pilot licence.

NAGPUR: He is perhaps the only MLA in the 288-member legislative assembly who knows flying and possessed a commercial pilot licence. Now Nitin Raut, North Nagpur MLA, who belongs to the scheduled caste, wants the state government to revive its scholarship scheme for students of the community who wish to pursue pilot training abroad.
Raut was the first recipient of the state scholarship, which was introduced in 1978.
"There is a boom in the aviation sector and a huge demand for pilots, trained crew and aircraft maintenance engineers in India. Many scheduled caste students are deprived of aviation jobs because they can't afford the high training costs," Raut said.
He met social justice minister Chandrakant Handore during the recent Budget session and again on Monday to demand scholarships for scheduled caste students. "The government's response is positive. Handore has asked Ramesh Ubale (principal secretary) to prepare a proposal for reviving the scholarship," Raut said.

The state government gives Rs 30 lakh scholarships to 30 scheduled caste students, but this scheme does not cover aviation studies. Also the criteria for these scholarships has to be modified. As these are available to students whose annual family income is Rs 1 lakh or less.
According to government sources, the state does give financial assistance to SC and ST students for pilot training but there is no scheme as such. Assistance is given on the basis of applications.

The Central government offers scholarships to SC students for pilot training but in a year only about 20 students across the country get the benefit.
Raut said the then chief minister Sharad Pawar had approved of a scholarship scheme to finance pilot training of SC students in 1978 and over a hundred students were trained under the scheme.
"Several of them are working as commanders in Air India and Indian Airlines," he said. However, the scheme was suspended. Later, the government's Mahatma Phule Vikas Mahamandal began a loan scheme to aspiring pilots from SC community.
However, this scheme too was shelved. Raut, who was then secretary in the state youth Congress, pursued a flying course from the Nagpur Flying Club and even worked for an airline in Bahrain for over a year in early 1980s.
Raut's daughter Diksha too is an aspiring pilot and has enrolled in a flying course in US.
Yashraj Tongia, chief flying instructor of Yash Air, a flying training institute from Indore, said a large number of Indian students are heading to US and Australia where a commercial pilots licence can be obtained in 8 months while it takes two years for that in India.
"A total of 280 CPLs were issued in India last year and 120 of them were of students who had learnt flying abroad. Flying schools in India have not expanded to meet the growing number of students," he added.

End of Article