"Girls studying in a recognised school in educationally backward blocks run by any authority state, district or any NGO with a valid certificate from the school headmaster will be eligible to stay in these hostels," the ministry stated, adding that it sought to admit 50 per cent girls hailing from SCs, STs and OBCs.

The hostels would be built in Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas, or in the schools chosen by the respective state government. "The KGB Vidyalaya students will be given preference in accommodation. In blocks with no KGB vidyalayas, students from all government or aided schools in the vicinity of the hostel will be eligible," the press statement said. An amount of Rs 2,000 crore has been set aside for the scheme under the 11th Plan.

The ministry has henceforth decided to scrap the old scheme, saying in a statement that fund users were exploiting procedural gaps in the old scheme.

The TISS studied the old scheme in Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Orissa and said it needed an urgent revamp. The new scheme would give financial assistance for building and running girls hostels by state governments in educationally backward blocks, a press statement from the HRD ministry said. It added that the new Rs 2,000 crore scheme to be implemented from this financial year includes recurring grants to meet residents' need. Target groups would be girls students of classes IX to XII and from minority communities and BPL families.

The cabinet committee on economic affairs (CCEA) "gave its approval for a revised centrally sponsored scheme for construction and running of girls' hostels for students of secondary and higher secondary schools in each of the educationally backward blocks during the 11th Five Year Plan (2007-12)", Information and Broadcasting Minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi told reporters.

"The CCEA also gave its approval to incur expenditure of Rs.2,000 crore (Rs.20 billion) as the central share with a sharing pattern of 90:10 between the centre and the states," he added after the meeting presided over by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

The revised scheme provides for construction of 3,500 hostels through state governments in all the educationally backward blocks in the country in addition to recurring grants to meet the needs of inmates.

The decision was taken in view of the recent developments in the Jamia Nagar neighbourhood, where students were being evicted from their rented accommodation following the September 19 encounter that took place in L-18, Batla House. Earlier, TOI had reported that over 2,500 students and bachelor professionals were asked by their landlords to vacate from localities such as Batla House, Zakir Nagar and Jamia Nagar following large scale fear-psychosis of police raids.

 The announcement was made by Mushirul Hasan, VC, JMI. The hostels would be ready in eight months. The university is also hosting a symposium at the Ansari auditorium on October 7. The theme of the meet is `restoring confidence in Jamia neighbourhood'.

Sharing the details, Prof. V.K. Jain, who is taking over as the Dean of Students at JNU on Friday, said: "Though the target for completion of the hostel is September 30, we are taking into account some unforeseen problems. We are hoping that by this year-end it will be ready."

A member of the faculty at the School of Environmental Sciences, Prof. Jain has been the Chief Proctor and Associate Dean of Students before taking up his new assignment.The new mixed hostel will accommodate 540 students with two wings each for boys and girls. With this, the number of hostels at JNU will rise to 16.

"The new hostel will enable us to accommodate more students. Our priority is to give hostel seats to as many students as possible. We want all outstation students to get accommodation in a reasonable time. This year JNU has given admission to 1,836 regular students (not taking into account part-time students), compared to 1,554 in 2007-08," said Prof. Jain.

These areas have a number of cheap eating joints, coaching centres and photocopy shops, which can be a boon during the exam season. The rent for a single room on sharing basis can be anywhere between Rs 2,000 and Rs 6,000. Sanjay Singh, owner of one such PG in RK Puram, said, "We keep the rents flexible. It can be anywhere between Rs 2,200 and Rs 3,500. All the rooms here are available on sharing basis. Each room can house between two to three students."

For students studying in colleges like Sri Venkateswara College, Ram Lal Anand and ARSD Satya Niketan the best option is available in front of them.

The rents in Satya Niketan are cheap; the average monthly rent for a PG accommodation is Rs 3500, which includes three meals, one bed and one study table. Two to four students usually share one room.

Says DU V-C, Deepak Pental, "The idea is to leave the college space for classrooms. While students can stay some distance away from college, they cannot go for lectures in classrooms that are not in the college campus." To ensure that colleges can best utilise their campus space by building more academic-related buildings, the university is proposing to come up with the hostel in nearby Dhaka area, some distance away from the main north campus.

Initially, the hostel will accommodate 1,000 students, says the VC. "It's not possible to provide accommodation to all students, but we hope to start with 1,000 students, and thereafter, perhaps make room for more," added Pental. The proposal also talks about a certain number of seats being allotted for every college on the basis of need and merit. There are more than 75 colleges offering UG programmes in DU.

The hostel will be set up at Dhaka Housing Complex in the Delhi University campus, and have all modern facilities, including solar water heating and rainwater harvesting.

The hostel will also have one provost flat, two warden flats, two resident tutor flats and twelve servants' quarters. Construction is expected to be completed by September 30, 2009.

Out of approved construction cost of Rs. 23.33 crore, 40 per cent will be shared by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs and the remaining 60 per cent by the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region.

The Ministry of Tribal Affairs has already released Rs. 2.6 crore in the first week of March 2008, from its share. Land for the hostel will be provided by the university as per UGC norms.A committee comprising of representatives from the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, the Ministry of DONER and Delhi University will regularly monitor the progress of the construction and meet at least every quarter for inspection, besides discussing related issues, to ensure timely completion of the project.

According to earlier reports, SRCC has been allocated a total of Rs 2 crores to build an extension to their existing hostel. The new block will accommodate 100 students. `` With the addition of this new block, we can now accommodate 150 boys and an equal number of girls,'' said P C Jain, principal, SRCC. ``We have called for tenders, and we will decide our final contractor for the project by the end of this month,'' he added.

Jain said that since the college was being accorded heritage status, special care would be taken to construct the new block. ``The same architect in charge of restoring the heritage of our building, will be planning this new block.''

Daulat Ram College has been allotted 2 crores and 40 lakhs by UGC to build an extension to its existing hostel. `` At present we have 125 boarders. We hope to accommodate another 60 girls once we finish adding one more floor to our hostel. We have received the approval from UGC in late June and they have released Rs 40 lakhs as first instalment already. `` This move has been welcomed by parents and guardians who feel their wards can now live in a safer and cheaper accommodation,'' said Kanan Nanda, principal, Daulat Ram.

According to earlier reports, SRCC has been allocated a total of Rs 2 crores to build an extension to their existing hostel. The new block will accommodate 100 students. `` With the addition of this new block, we can now accommodate 150 boys and an equal number of girls,'' said P C Jain, principal, SRCC. ``We have called for tenders, and we will decide our final contractor for the project by the end of this month,'' he added.

Jain said that since the college was being accorded heritage status, special care would be taken to construct the new block. ``The same architect in charge of restoring the heritage of our building, will be planning this new block.''

Daulat Ram College has been allotted 2 crores and 40 lakhs by UGC to build an extension to its existing hostel. `` At present we have 125 boarders. We hope to accommodate another 60 girls once we finish adding one more floor to our hostel. We have received the approval from UGC in late June and they have released Rs 40 lakhs as first instalment already. `` This move has been welcomed by parents and guardians who feel their wards can now live in a safer and cheaper accommodation,'' said Kanan Nanda, principal, Daulat Ram.

However, only 12 colleges in the university have hostel facility. While Hansraj College hostel offers 180 seats for boys only, Miranda House has 270 seats for girls, Ramjas has 125 seats for boys and 80 seats for girls.

"Students are selected purely on the basis of merit. There are reservations for the backward classes, physically handicapped students and additional seats for foreign students," explained Dr Gurpreet Singh Tuteja, Deputy Dean, Students' Welfare.