Andhra Pradesh

‘Pavala vaddi’ loans likely for higher education in A.P.

HYDERABAD: After women and farmers, the Andhra Pradesh government is seriously contemplating extending the “Pavala vaddi” (three per cent interest a year) scheme to students of higher education on the loans they obtain from various banks.

The government has made a proposal to this effect at the recent State-Level Bankers’ Committee meeting and the modalities for introducing the scheme from the current year are being worked out.

In line with Indiramma, the government has proposed adopting a saturation concept in the scheme wherein all eligible and deserving students applying for loans will be provided with assistance in completing their courses.

Disclosing this in an interview to Doordarshan on Saturday, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy said the government was trying to ensure that branches of different banks adopted institutions of higher learning in their jurisdiction for providing loans.

Bankers had been asked to open special counters in the colleges when the admission process commenced so that students were provided financial assistance on the spot.

The recovery process would commence only after students secured employment.

He said the government had ensured that several new courses in medical transcription, tourism, biotechnology, bio-informatics and others that had significant employment potential were introduced in colleges.

Restructured courses in these areas were introduced in government colleges while employment opportunities were being provided through campus placements and Jawahar Knowledge Centres (JKCs).

Recruitment through JKCs that was introduced in engineering colleges was later extended to 29 government colleges and efforts were under way to introduce the programme in 29 colleges during the current year and 50 more in the next academic year.

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