New Delhi, June 19: The Department of Social Justice & Empowerment has removed the requirement for a domicile certificate for students applying under Pre‑Matric and Post‑Matric scholarship schemes for Scheduled Caste and Other Backward Classes, an official statement said on Friday.

This step is expected to reduce the compliance burden on students and simplify the application process for scholarships, enabling easier access to benefits.

Thousands of eligible applicants across the country who study in institutions other than their domicile states will be benefitted, the statement from Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment said.

Under the Pre-Matric and Post-Matric Scholarship Schemes for SCs and OBCs, nearly 1.2 crore students receive scholarship benefits annually. The removal of domicile certificate requirements will make the application process more student-friendly by reducing documentation requirements and lowering compliance costs.

Further strengthening digital governance, the Department has launched SETU (Scholarship for Educational Transformation and Upliftment) on the UMANG platform as a comprehensive solution for scholarship-related services.

The platform provides a single interface to the eligible applicants, Institutional Nodal Officers, District Nodal Officers and State officials for application registration, tracking, and validation of other services, improving transparency and efficiency.

“These initiatives are aligned with the government’s broader objective of promoting inclusion, reducing procedural barriers, and ensuring effective delivery of welfare schemes,” the statement noted.

The Department remains committed to leveraging technology-driven reforms to enhance outreach and provide timely support to students, it added.

A total of Rs 7,981.47 crore has been disbursed to over 75 lakh scheduled caste (SC) beneficiaries in FY26, an official statement said in April.

The funds were disbursed as part of schemes run by the Department of Social Justice and Empowerment focused on the educational empowerment of marginalised students belonging to Scheduled Castes.

Across key scholarship programs, expenditure rose year‑on‑year, with a 21 per cent increase under the Pre Matric Scholarship Scheme for SCs and Others, an 11.23 per cent increase under the Post Matric Scholarship Scheme for SCs, a rise of 13.5 per cent under Central Sector Scholarship of Top Class Education for SC students.

Mumbai, June 19: Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) Chairman Mukesh Ambani on Friday outlined five major value creation pathways for the Group to create a diversified growth architecture spanning energy, materials, digital infrastructure, artificial intelligence, consumer businesses, and global exports.

Addressing Reliance shareholders, Ambani said: “First, the O2C business, the mainstay of Reliance so far, will increase earnings as soon as the geopolitical situation improves. Simultaneously, and more importantly, we are reinventing this business to create a new revenue stream less vulnerable to external volatility. We will convert all the crude oil we process into new materials ─ carbon fibre, speciality materials, green chemicals, and much more. This new vision will drive margin expansion and lay the foundation for our oil-to-chemicals-and-new materials business.”

He further stated that the second pathway comprises the new energy business, which has entered the phase of accelerated commissioning and early revenues. The integrated solar manufacturing and advanced battery platform will achieve one of the world’s lowest costs of RTC green power. It will also enable the world’s most competitive green hydrogen and green chemicals ecosystem.

Besides, the underground coal gasification business has immense growth potential, and the CBG business is ready to be scaled up as the world’s largest bioenergy business, he added.

Ambani identified the third path of growth as Reliance Intelligence, with AI becoming a multi-trillion-dollar business globally. “Reliance Intelligence will lead this business in India. The infrastructure for it is being built at breakneck speed, and it will fully operationalise over the next couple of years,” he remarked.

The Reliance Chairman listed the FMCG business as a new multi-billion-dollar growth engine with plans to grow it into India’s largest FMCG company, and among the biggest in the world.

“It is already among the top few players in various categories and is expanding globally. It recently entered Europe and Africa and will enter many more global markets going forward. Our FMCG growth path is neatly aligned to that of Reliance Retail. Both are anchored in our plan to create India’s most advanced manufacturing platform and a distribution and exports platform with tens of thousands of small, medium and large partners,” he maintained.

Ambani highlighted exports as the fifth path of the group’s growth. “Reliance has long been India’s largest merchandise exporter, with a proven globally competitive world-class platform for energy and materials exports. Leveraging this experience, Reliance aims to become an anchor institution for developing a globally competitive, multi-sector export hub, with a target to enable $125-150 billion in exports by 2032. In this way, we will enlarge global markets for Made in India brands,” he observed.

Hiring the best talent for this new venture has already begun. This scalable platform will strengthen India’s export ecosystem and external economic resilience. This ambition is not only about creating a larger Reliance. It is about creating a stronger India, Ambani added.

Cement concreting of about 1700 km of roads in Mumbai Metropolitan Region has been completed, and concreting of the remaining roads is in progress. Due to this comprehensive initiative, the number of potholes on the roads and the problems arising from them have significantly reduced during this monsoon season. This has also resulted in huge savings in the cost of filling the potholes. To effectively deal with the problem of potholes arising during the monsoon season on the roads within the municipal limits, the engineers of the road department should work with more vigilance and responsibility. Every complaint received regarding potholes should be disposed of within 24 hours. The bad patches should be brought to the fore immediately. Additional Municipal Commissioner (Projects) Abhijit Bangar directed that the engineers concerned should ensure that the potholes on the roads are filled with high quality by the contractors appointed as per the zone, following the prescribed technical standards and scientific methodology. Bangar also clarified that the secondary engineers appointed on a bat-by-bat basis should regularly visit the roads in their area on two wheels, know the current condition of the roads and ensure immediate action for necessary repairs. A meeting of the Assistant Engineers of the Roads and Transport Department was held at the Municipal Headquarters in which a detailed review of the progress of pre-monsoon works, preparations and necessary measures was taken. At that time, Additional Municipal Commissioner (Projects) Abhijeet Bangar gave various instructions. Deputy Commissioner (Infrastructure) Girish Nikam, Chief Engineer (Roads) Mr. Engineers including Mantiya Swamy were present.

Additional Municipal Commissioner (Projects) Abhijeet Bangar said that the Municipal Corporation has started a road concreting program to solve the problem of potholes on the roads / make the roads pothole-free. Under this, concreting of about 1700 km of cement roads has been completed. The concreting of the remaining roads will be done after the monsoon. Therefore, in future, more and more roads will be cemented and the problem of potholes will definitely reduce. Apart from this, there will be cost savings as well.

If the trench dug for utility channels is not refilled as per the technical standards, then during the monsoon, water enters the road structure. Due to which the strength of the road decreases and the process of road collapse starts. Keeping this in mind, various steps are being taken by the Mumbai Municipal Corporation to avoid inconvenience to the citizens. It is guaranteed that a pothole filled once using mastic will not open again. Accordingly, the Municipal Corporation has appointed zone-wise contractors for the maintenance of the roads. Engineers should periodically review their manpower, machinery and material stock. In particular, the availability of mastic cookers, pothole filling schedule, mastic cooker rounds should be coordinated. It should be strictly ensured that potholes on the roads are filled as per the laid down technical standards and scientific methods. Bangar directed that the potholes should be filled when they are small in size (6 inches). Bangar said that along with the road engineers, 227 secondary engineers have been appointed in the municipal corporation for a total of 227 bats (one for each electoral ward). These secondary engineers should inspect the roads in their assigned section daily and if any potholes are found, they should be filled immediately using a rectangle. They should go around on a two-wheeler and inspect the roads in their work area. The complaints of potholes should be coordinated through the central system and the department office and resolved in a timely manner. Instead of waiting for complaints, potholes should be recorded and filled on their own. The Municipal Corporation is responsible for both the Eastern Expressway (18.6 km – Mulund to Shiv) and the Western Expressway (27.6 km – Dahisar Checkpoint to Mahim) in Mumbai. Along with this, the responsibility of the Eastern Freeway (17 km) also falls on the Municipal Corporation. The Road Department should take full care that there are no potholes on these three highways. Other government authorities in Mumbai should also take proper care of the roads under their jurisdiction, and the Municipal Corporation administration should follow suit so that the potholes are filled immediately, Bangar also said. If potholes occur on the roads within the Defect Liability Period (DLP), no premium should be paid. Moreover, the project roads and roads should be filled free of cost by the contractor concerned within the Defect Liability Period (DLP) as per the terms and conditions of the tender within a limited time frame. The Municipal Corporation should not pay any compensation/premium for filling these potholes. Because the condition of maintenance/upkeep is included in the contract itself. On the contrary, if the number of potholes on the roads has increased during the period of liability for defects, then punitive action should be taken, Bangar said, explaining the project roads, defects and emphasised on improving the road.