Minister for Communications Manoj Sinha presented scholarships to students under Deendayal Sparsh Yojana in New Delhi. Mr Sinha also released commemorative postage stamp on the solar system and a special cover on eminent cosmologist Prof Stephen Hawking who passed away recently.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr Sinha said, Deendayal SPARSH Yojana, a Pan India scholarship program for school children was launched in November last year to increase the reach of Philately. He said this time around 20 thousand students participated in it and 880 students were awarded.
Mr Sinha said philately is an important medium to know about persons, history, heritage and culture. He said, in many countries, philately is a part of revenue generation process. The Minister said Department of Post under the Ministry of Communication is organizing competitions all over the country.
He said both education and sports are crucial for life and parents should encourage their kids to follow their interests. Under the scheme of SPARSH (Scholarship for Promotion of Aptitude & Research in Stamps as a Hobby), annual scholarships are given to children of Standard VI to IX having the good academic record and also pursuing Philately as a hobby through a competitive selection process in all postal circles.
Every Postal Circle selects a maximum of 40 scholarships representing 10 students each from Standard VI, VII, VIII and IX and the amount of Scholarship is 6 thousand rupees per annum and 500 rupees will be given to students per month.