New Delhi, Mar 20 (IANS): Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind has disbursed scholarships to 656 students including 19 non-Muslim students for higher and vocational education. The JuH received 24 application from the non-Muslims category out of which 19 were selected for scholarships.

There were a large number of non-Muslim students among the applicants for the scholarships. Students were selected only on the basis of the rules and conditions set for the scholarships, and the non-Muslim students who fulfilled this merit were also selected. The highest scholarship was of Rs 75,000 and lowest is Rs 12,000 per annum, the scholarships include Medical, Engineering, B.Tech, M.Tech Polytechnic, B.Sc., B.Com, B.A., B.B.A., B.C.A, M.Com, MSc, MCA, Diploma, ITI students.

The JuH disbursed a total of Rs 1 crore scholarship to the 656 candidates.

On the ocassion Maulana Arshad Madani, the President of JuH, said, "Hatred could be defeated through education which will create harmony amongst the people."

Citing the recent example of boy being thrashed for drinking water, he said the root cause in the incident or similar incidents was illiteracy.

The JuH is giving scholarships to talented and hardworking students who are financially weak and needy since 2012 through Public Trust the "Taleemi Imdadi Fund", and formed a committee of educationists which selects students.

Maulana Madani added that education has become very expensive in today's era, and despite all the claims by the government, its welfare and education schemes are not reaching the needy. Keeping this in mind, we started scholarships program emphasising that only students with higher and vocational education would be given priority.