Mangaluru: Vishwa Konkani Student Scholarship Fund, established by World Konkani Centre, Mangaluru will award Merit Cum Means Scholarships worth Rs 3.5 Crores to Students from Konkani Communities in an Award Ceremony to be held on Friday, the August 19, 2016 at 10.00 a.m. at T.V. Raman Pai Convention Centre, Kodialbail, Mangaluru.
Suresh P. Prabhu, Hon’ble Minister of Railways, Government of India will hand over the first scholarship of the year, R. V. Deshapande, Hon’ble Minister for Large and Medium Industries and Infrastructure Development, Government of Karnataka will be the chief guest. The Principal Patron of the Scholarship Programme T.V. Mohandas Pai, Chairman, Manipal Global Education will deliver the Keynote Address.
The programme presided by eminent donor and entrepreneur Dr. P. Dayananda Pai will host a galaxy of eminent philanthropists such as Madam Grace Pinto, Managing Director, Ryan International group of Institutions, M. Jagannath Shenoi, Managing Partner, Mangaluru Ganesh Beedies, Mysuru, on the occasion and award the scholarships to deserving students.
Vishwa Konkani Student Scholarship Fund
Vishwa Konkani Student Scholarship Fund’ envisages grant of Merit Cum Means scholarship for students having Konkani language as their mother tongue. Instituted by the Mangaluru based World Konkani Centre in the year 2010 as envisioned by the eminent thinker and corporate leader T.V.Mohandas Pai, the VKSSF has since then successfully raised and distributed over 11585 Scholarships to the tune of Rs. 11.64 Crores.
Eminent Konkani Philanthropists like T.V.Mohandas Pai, Dr. Ranjan Pai, Dr. P. Dayanand Pai, Ramadas Kamath U., K. V. Kamath, M. Jagannath Shenoi, Prakash Pai, Madam Grace Pinto, Ullas Kamath, Sundeep Bambolkar, A. Annappa S. Kamath, Sandeep Shenoy, B. R. Bhat, Pradeep G. Pai and many more have come forward in support of this fund.
Programmes
VKSSF presently has several Scholarship Programmes. The Flagship programme being the Engineering and MBBS Scholarship programme with a Scholarship Amount of Rs. 30,000 and Rs. 40,000 per year per student respectively. VKSSF has awarded 2721 engineering and MBBS Scholarships since 2010. This year too VKSSF will support the Professional Education quest of 635 engineering and 50 MBBS Scholars.
VKSSF also has a STUDY ABROAD SCHOLARSHIP for higher education abroad, with Scholarship Amount of Rs. one lakh per year per student. Since 2010 VKSSF has awarded 17 Scholarships under this programme and 24 Scholarships will be awarded this year under this category.
In view of widening the scope of the Scholarship Fund VKSSF has initiated a new scheme in 2012 to empower Communities like, Kudubi, Kharvi etc. Under this Scheme VKSSF awards PUC and DEGREE Scholarships with a Scholarship Amount of Rs. 2500 and Rs. 5000 Respectively. Apart from this VKSSF has also supported the Scholarship Programmes like Yakshagana Kalaranga Vidya Poshak Udupi.
KSHAMATA: KSHAMATA is a programme under VKSSF which is a development model for all scholarship participants to accomplish with an end result of personal growth, leadership development, and a greater appreciation for the Konkani society in particular and global society in general. In past Six years KSHAMATA academy has imparted 18112 mandays of trainings in various formats.
Governance of the Fund: As the Fund is functioning on the basis of ‘Stream’ concept, the entire amount generated every year will be distributed to the beneficiaries and no separate corpus will be maintained. Contributions to the Fund will be eligible for Tax Exemption under section 80(G) of the Income Tax Act.
‘Vishwa Konkani Student Scholarship Fund’ is administered by a Governing Council comprising eminent personalities. Ramadas Kamath U., Executive Vice President of Infosys is the Chairman of the Fund and Pradeep G. Pai, Managing Director of Hangyo Ice Creams Pvt. Ltd., is the secretary. The council is also guided by Basti Vaman Shenoy, the founder and the president of World Konkani Centre and Board of Trustees of Konkani Language and Cultural Foundation.
