New Delhi, Aug 7 (IANS): The central government has this year awarded over 3,500 scholarships worth a total of Rs 75 crore under a special scheme for students from Jammu and Kashmir to enable them pursue higher education outside the state.

Out of more than 3,500 scholarships, Kashmir valley accounted for 1,329, Ladakh 26, and Jammu 2,255, said an official statement issued here on Sunday, citing Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar.

"Earlier, the quota for Jammu and Kashmir students in engineering colleges was limited to only 250, but this year, 1,430 students were granted admission in various reputed engineering colleges," Javadekar said, adding that "more than 5,000 students had applied for the same".

"Overall, Rs 75 crore worth of scholarships have been given this year under the special scholarship scheme," he added.

Under the scheme, tuition fee up to Rs 1.25 lakh is borne by the government besides up to Rs one lakh for hostel and food expenses.

The government enhanced the quota from two seats to 10 seats in each engineering college.

Besides engineering, students are getting scholarships for nursing, medical sciences and hotel management courses.

In order to be eligible for the scholarship, the students must have passed higher secondary from a school in Jammu and Kashmir and their family income must be less than Rs six lakh a year.

The "tremendous" response to the scholarship has been due to the awareness workshops which were organised across the state in May this year, the government said.