The recent flagship programme named Vidyalaxmi Scheme of Prime Minister targets towards economically backward meritorious students in their higher education. The scheme was initiated by the Government of India to provide an alternative to quality education which is unaffordable to many. By providing loan privilege to the student with out collateral or guarantor through the Vidyalaxmi scheme for the students, who are getting admitted in top institution of the country, the aptitude of the lower income group students in getting education loans will enhance to level up their standard of higher education. It is of most value to students who wish to join recognized HEIs with an intention of undertaking professional or technical training which can be very costly.
Key Features and Benefits
The attractive features that are available with the PM Vidyalaxmi Scheme have been given below so that no financial barriers come in the way of a student’s education. Another important feature of the proposed scheme one of the broadly based of the scheme is collateral free education loans. These loans range up to 7.5 lakhs, and are supported with credit guarantee up to 75% by the government, which mean that repayment of loans also have minimal risk involved for the banks. This guarantee helps to make loans more available, for example for students from families who can barely offer valuable assets on their guarantees. Further, for students of families with an annual income of up to 8 lakhs, 3% interest subvention for loans up to 10 lakhs have been arranged under the scheme to make the loans even cheaper. Further, for much more economically disadvantaged students, the PM-USP scheme under Vidyalaxmi has full interest waiver for the family income below 4.5 lakhs, so education at the higher level becomes almost costless for them.
Complementing Other Schemes
The PM Vidyalaxmi Scheme is not an independent one; it goes hand-in-hand with other government schemes including the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PM-UY) besides the PM-USP, which also focus on technical and professional course. These mutually supporting programs have common goals – to provide these learners with all the necessary support and remove financial concerns from their learning process. In an easy manner, this scheme offers a combination of loan, subvention with guarantee so students from economically weaker sections of the society can also attain educational loans satisfying their educational needs.
Economic consequences and long term gains
Apart from individual students the PM Vidyalaxmi scheme impacts Indian economy in general in the following ways. Through enhancing the chances of the populace being able to receive better education and thus acquire better skills, then it favorably enhances the country’s economic growth. The scheme also cuts on the overall cost of education for families thus improving its equity thus increasing social mobility.
Relevance for Exams
In so far as welfare as government initiatives and economic policy is concerned, PM Vidyalaxmi Scheme is an essential topic that UPSC and SSC aspirants must realize. It most relates to the topics regarding education, access to finance and government functionality in terms of offering chances of change and development in the socio-economic contexts. The scheme is very helpful for essays, government questions and all the questions under GS Paper II and GS Paper III of UPSC as well as SSC examinations regarding socio-economic development of India.
