Meritorious students were awarded scholarships worth 3.5 crores on the tenth anniversary of Vishwa Konkani Kendra
Vishwa Konkani Student Scholarship Fund, established by World Konkani Centre, Mangaluru in the year 2010, awarded merit cum means scholarships worth rupees 3.5 crores to students from Konkani community during its decennial celebrations to be held on August 25th at T.V. Raman Pai Convention Centre, Kodialbail, Mangaluru.
Vasanthi Ramadas Pai, trustee, Manipal Academy of Higher Education handed over the first scholarships of the year. Principal patron of the scholarship programme T.V. Mohandas Pai, chairman, Manipal Global Education delivered the keynote address in the presence of Basti Vaman Shenoy, president, World Konkani Centre.
The programme presided by eminent donor and entrepreneur Dr. P. Dayananda Pai hosted a galaxy of eminent personalities such as D. Vedavyasa Kamath, MLA, Mangaluru South; Jagadish Kini, CEO, Enterprise 5C; and Abhishek Nakhate, Zoom Abroad, UK on the occasion to award scholarships to deserving students.
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 corporate leader T.V.Mohandas Pai, the VKSSF has since then successfully raised and distributed over 22,000 scholarships to the tune of Rs. 21.40 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, Grace Pinto, Ronald Colaco, Ullas Kamath, CA Nandagopal Shenoy, A. Annappa S. Kamath, Gokulnath Prabhu, Sandeep Shenoy, B. R. Bhat, Jagadish Kini, Pradeep G. Pai and many more have come forward in support of this fund.
Programmes: VKSSF presently has several scholarship programmes, the flagship among which is the engineering and MBBS scholarships with a scholarship amount of Rs.40,000 and Rs. 50,000 per year, per student, respectively. These rates have been increased this year from previous Rs. 30,000 and Rs. 40,000. VKSSF has awarded 4730 engineering and MBBS scholarships since 2010. This year too, VKSSF will support the professional education quest of 589 engineering and 53 MBBS scholars.
VKSSF also has a STUDY ABROAD SCHOLARSHIP for higher education abroad, with scholarship amount of Rs. 1 Lakh per year, per student. Since 2010, VKSSF has awarded 120 scholarships under this programme and 36 scholarships will be awarded this year under this category.
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. Since its inception, KSHAMATA academy has imparted more than 34858 man days 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 is distributed to the beneficiaries and no separate corpus is maintained. Contributions to the Fund are 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, founder president of World Konkani Centre and Board of Trustees of Konkani Language and Cultural Foundation
