Maha: Income limit for fee concession raised
    
Mumbai, May 17,2012 : Maharashtra government yesterday increased the income limit for the parents of students from economically backward classes for availing of fee concessions. Earlier, to be eligible for concession, the parents' annual income was needed to be less than Rs 15,000, now the limit has been raised to Rs 1 lakh.
    
Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan told reporters after the weekly cabinet meeting that the fee concession scheme was in existence since 1959-60, and today's decision would benefit about 8.21 lakh students, while putting additional burden of Rs 8.93 crore on the state exchequer.
    
The Chief Minister also said that government had decided to implement the central scheme for revival of handloom sector. The cabinet today approved an MoU with the Centre and NABARD for the purpose. As a part of the state's contribution to the scheme for the year 2012-13, a provision of Rs 29 crore had been made. The cabinet also decided to regularise the services of 6,546 daily wage forest labourers who had completed five years, he said.