Updated on: Wednesday, January 13, 2016
In order to encourage people to appear for the prestigious UPSC (Union Public Service Commission) civil services examination, the Maharashtra government has decided to provide Rs 10,000 scholarship to the aspirants. This decision was taken at a cabinet meeting on January 12, which was chaired by Chief Minister, Devendra Fadnavis.
According to newspaper reports, the state government has six coaching centres in Mumbai, Nagpur, Kolhapur, Amravati, Aurangabad and Nashik, where 600 students are going to be trained. The scholarship will be provided monthly. Rs 23.46 crore will be spent by the government for this initiative, which includes cost of training at reputed institutes in Delhi. UPSC conducts several written examinations as well as interviews for selecting eligible and talented candidates at various posts.
The exam is conducted annually in three stages namely, preliminary, main and interview round to short list candidates. The scholarship will be given for all the three aforementioned stages. Every year, roughly 15,000 from the Maharashtra state take the exam but only 80 to100 students clear it. The cabinet meeting was held at Mantralaya and it was also decided that the ordinance for appointment of experts on Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) all over the state, should be re-introduced.
As per an official, this is being done as the legislation on this issue could not be passed in the winter session of state legislature in Nagpur, last month. The authorities also feel that this step will enhance the quantum of successful students from the state in these examinations.