Under the Prime Minister’s Special Scholarship Scheme (PMSS) for J&K students, 2628 seats out of 3430 seats have been filled after the first round of counseling which culminated on 6 July 2017.According to the information provided by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), in the professional streams including engineering, pharmacy, nursing, architecture and hotel management all the 1537 seats have been filled under the open category. From amongst the reserved categories under professional stream, 607 seats have been filled while 686 seats are still unfilled. The filled seats under reserved categories include 114 under SC, 52 under ST, 437 under SEBC and 4 under PH while the unfilled seats include 105 under SC category, 250 under ST, 250 under SEBC and 81 under PH.Similarly in the general stream all the 272 seats under open category stand filled after the first round of counseling, while in reserved categories 114 seats have been filled including 24 in SC, 32 in ST and 58 in SEBC categories. In the general courses, 114 seats under reserved categories are still unfilled which include 15 in SC, 21 in ST, 63 in SEBC and 15 PH categories.In the medical stream (MBBS/BDS) all the 54 seats under open category have been filled while in reserved categories under medical stream 44 seats stand filled which include 8 seats in SC, 11 in ST, 24 in SEBC and 1 in PH categories. There are only two seats available in the medical stream under reserved categories which fall in PH category.According to AICTE officials the final round of counseling to fill all the vacant seats in reserved categories was to be held on 7 July 2017, but it was postponed due to internet shutdown in the Kashmir valley.
They said a separate notification will be now issued regarding counseling for filling up the remaining vacant seats in the reserved categories.According to AICTE, the candidates having merit, qualified in NEET and aspiring only for Medical/Dental seats can still submit their request in the counseling centre to consider their candidature under waiting list.The students have been asked to stay in touch on: www.aicte-jk-scholarship-gov.in for the latest announcement regarding next round of counseling.Pertinently, counseling of students under PMSSS which began on 30 June 2017 was simultaneously going on at three designated Counseling Centres including Amar Singh College, Srinagar, Government College for Women, Gandhi Nagar, Jammu and Government Eliezer Joldan Memorial College, Leh, Ladakh.Under PMSSS scholarship to J&K students upto Rs 30000 per annum per student is available for general courses, upto Rs 1.25 lakh per annum per student for engineering courses and upto Rs 3 lakh per annum per student for medical/dental courses. Besides, every student is entitled upto Rs 1 lakh per annum as maintenance charges.The students taking admission, by virtue of their own merit after qualifying JEE/NEET, in institutions like IITs, NITs, Medical Colleges, Dental Colleges and Central Universities outside J&K are also eligible for scholarship under PMSSS.It is pertinent to mention that most of the students from J&K have secured admission in some of the reputed colleges across the country under PMSSS. These include Delhi College of Engineering, Chandigarh College of Engineering and Technology, St Stephens College Delhi, University Institute of Engineering and Technology Rohtak, Lady Shri Ram College for Women New Delhi, Birla Institute of Technology Jharkhand, Rajiv Gandhi Government Engineering College Himachal Pradesh (HP), Netaji Subash Institute of Technology, Delhi and DAV College Haryana.