UGC's scholarship for the single girl 'child'

Girls and women who are the only child in their families are in for more goodies. The latest is the UGC's scholarship for pursuing PG education.

Out of 1062 such scholarships awarded so far this year, 544 went to Kerala alone! Tamil Nadu with 182, AP with 85 and WB with 46 and Maharashtra with 42 round out the top 5 in the list.

I am sure a news item like the following is not far away.

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Women who retain the 'single girl child' status because of their parents' choice a long time ago deserve all encouragement, government sources said, adding that the recently announced PG-level scholarships from UGC were an important step in the right direction.

When asked to comment on the latest initiative by the UGC, the education minister said "We don't want the parents to have second thoughts, do we?"

All ministries have been asked to formulate suitable 'incentive' schemes for the benefit of the single girl child. Government sources in different ministries told this reporter that the following incentive schemes are under active consideration:

• Old age pension for every single girl 'child'.
• Concessional relaxation in age limit from 35 to 45 for applying for government jobs for every single girl 'child' with a Ph.D.
• A guaranteed annual payment of Rs. 30,000 to every single girl 'child' who chooses to remain 'single'.

In other news, the spokesperson for the Registrar of Medical Establishments said the office continues to receive a large number of applications for a license to set up diagnostic centres in many places. He further added that Salem district in Tamil Nadu tops the list by sending the largest number of applications.

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Sigh!