New Delhi: The process of selection of candidates for the 'Maulana Azad National Fellowship for Minority Students' has been finalized for the year 2009-10.

Under the fellowship scheme, candidates for 755 scholarships out of 756 have been selected.

'Maulana Azad National Fellowship for Minority Students' is a scheme launched by the Ministry of Minority Affairs during last Financial Year for research studies leading to regular and full time M.Phil and Ph.D. courses.

University Grants Commission (UGC) is the Nodal Agency for implementing this scheme and an amount of Rs. 14.90 crore has been placed at its disposal by the ministry for award of fellowships for the year 2009-10.

According to the community wise distribution of the fellowships granted for the year 2009-10, 539 scholarships have been given to Muslims, 101 to Christians, 80 to Sikhs, 34 to Buddhists and one to a Parsi.

The list of selected candidates is available on the official website of the Ministry of Minority Affairs and UGC.

The objective of the Scheme is to provide fellowships in the form of financial assistance to students from five notified minority communities viz. Muslim, Christian, Sikh, Buddhist and Parsi.

UGC will select afresh 756 candidates for award of fellowships for the year 2010-11 for which advertisements would be released shortly. A provision of Rs. 30 crore has been made in the Budget for the year 2010-11 for this Scheme.