Sri Lanka: On Thursday, S.M. Krishna (External Affairs Minister) announced more scholarships for meritorious Sri Lankan students in high schools and universities in the island.

He said that number of scholarships and self-finance slots for undergraduate, master's and post-doctoral courses will be extend to 270 from 113 from the new academic year.

The scholarships will cost the Indian exchequer Rs.114 crore, which will be equivalent to Sri Lankan Rs.2.50 billion.

This scholarship helps to deserving students at General Certificate Examination (GCE). A level and university degrees will also be increased to 500 from 400 annually.

The scholarships introduced by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during the visit of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse to India in June 2010. This scholarship represents the spirit of the India-Sri Lanka knowledge initiative.

Government of India will also introduce annually 50 Scholarships in the name Maulana Azad, for master's degree (post-graduate) in agriculture, science and engineering.

Government of India will also rechristened the Nehru Memorial Scholarship Scheme, to enable students to pursue under-graduate courses in engineering, science, business, economics, commerce and humanities.

The Self-financing scheme have been increased to 40 in medicine and pharmacy and engineering courses.

He said that expansion of this scholarship will helps all segment of Sri Lankan society, including school students to university researchers and teachers.