Washington-based Sikh Human Development Foundation (SHDF) has given
scholarships totalling over $200,000 to 508 needy students pursuing
higher education in 159 institutions in Punjab and other states in north
India.
The scholarships this year covered several fields such as medicine,
engineering, agriculture, nursing,
information technology, and business
administration, according to a media release.
"Many recipients of scholarships are from very poor households," said
Gajinder Singh Ahuja, secretary-general of SHDF, noting that the
majority of these scholarships went to students from household incomes
of less than a dollar a day per person.
"There is increased emphasis on female education in the SHDF
programme. 74 percent of the scholarships went to female students and 54
percent scholarships recipients were from rural areas," he said.
SHDF has granted 2,880 scholarships since 2001. A total of 809
students have graduated and most of them have landed in respectable
positions in various companies throughout India.
SHDF chairman Amar Jit Singh Sodhi said with the addition of a centre
in Moga, SHDF currently has six centers in Chandigarh, Ludhiana,
Amritsar, Faridkot, Moga and Delhi, where students appear for an exam
and interview for the scholarship.
The SHDF scholarship programme is managed in India by its partner institution, Delhi-based Nishkam Sikh Welfare Council.
Rajwant Singh, SHDF's outreach director, said: "This is the largest
single grant money given by the diaspora community to needy but bright
students who have the keen desire to rise and lift their families out of
poverty."
SHDF is largely supported by donors from the Washington metro area and by many successful entrepreneurs in the US.