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Aryan Agarwal, a resident of Gondia District, has been selected for a PhD in Materials Chemistry at the University of Manchester. He was awarded the Foreign Countries Higher Education Scholarship run by the Directorate of Technical Education of Maharashtra earlier this year.

However, the UK The Immigration Rules Appendix Finance states that scholarships provided only by the “the applicant’s national government” are eligible for visas.

“You have provided sponsorship evidence from the Directorate of Technical Education, Government of Maharashtra. As this is a state government body rather than a national government sponsor, it does not meet the above criteria,” read the visa refusal letter.

The letter also mentioned that documents provided by him do not demonstrate that he was “in possession of the required level of funds”.

“Usually, students take a loan from a bank and show the required balance in their accounts and get the visa. The scholarship money is then used as reimbursement for the loan. However I cannot do this as the required amount for me is Rs 60 lakh. Such a huge loan requires collateral and I do not have it,” he added.

Office of Chandrakant Patil, Maharashtra’s Minister of Higher and Technical Education, did not respond to requests for a comment.

Agarwal has written a mail to the Directorate on August 26 regarding his issue but has not yet received a response.

The Maharashtra government provides foreign education scholarships to hundreds of students through seven departments—Tribal Development, Social Justice and Special Assistance, Higher and Technical Education, Other Backward Bahujan Welfare Development, Minority Development Department, Forest Department, and Planning Department SARTHI.

Agarwal has completed an Integrated MTech in Chemical Engineering from ICT Mumbai. He lost his father in a wild boar attack while he was travelling in a jungle area in Gondia earlier this year. Agarwal has now written to the Directorate of Technical Education to provide a resolution for the issue. “The University has informed me that if the first year tuition fee can be deposited in their account, it will reflect on the dashboard and will be deducted from the balance I would have to show in my bank account. This will make me eligible for the visa. The University has been very helpful,” he said.