Tata Steel Awards Jyoti Fellowship To 168 Meritorious SC/ST Students In Baliapal

Balasore: Tata Steel Foundation (TSF) has awarded the Jyoti Fellowship to 168 meritorious Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe students of Baliapal and Basta region of Baleswar district, as part of CSR initiatives of Subarnarekha Port Private Limited (SPPL). The fellowships were awarded at TSF’s two-day community engagement programme, ‘ASMITA,’ held at Baliapal College of Physical Education, Baliapal, on Thursday.

The fellowship was distributed among 115 students from schools and 53 from different nearby colleges. As part of the fellowship, an amount of around Rs 8.59 lakh was disbursed among the bright students. Tablets were awarded to the top 13 performers in the test held for selecting the candidates. Besides 28 students from nearby schools, who had participated in various competitions, were also awarded on the occasion.

The fellowship was awarded to the students by Prof. Santosh Kumar Tripathy, Vice Chancellor of Fakir Mohan University, Baleswar, DattatrayaBhausahebShinde, Collector-District Magistrate of Baleswar, and Prakash Singh, Executive Director, SPPL.

Commending SPPL and TSF for the initiative, DattatrayaBhausahebShinde congratulated the students and said that the Jyoti Scholarship program would certainly motivate the students to study sincerely and maintain their level to continue to get the scholarship in the future.

Speaking on the occasion, Prakash Singh said that the program is part of their CSR initiative, which focuses on the “4 Es”: Employment, Employability, Education, and Entrepreneurship. Through the ‘Jyoti Fellowship’ program, they conduct tests for SC/ST students in the area and offer scholarships to those who meet their merit-based selection criteria, in line with their affirmative action policy. They plan to introduce more similar initiatives in other fields to contribute to the inclusive growth of the region.

The cash amount of the fellowship was Rs 3,750 (for Class VIII students) and Rs 8,500 (Undergraduate). The students were selected through a test conducted by TSF. They are eligible for fresh fellowship as well as renewal for consecutive years, subject to 45% marks scored in the annual examination conducted by the respective institutions every academic year.

Around 500 farmers and women from nearby villages are expected to join the second day of the ASMITA program tomorrow.