Assam CM Sarbananda Sonowal has increased the scholarship from Rs 50,000 to Rs 1,25,000 for each student who clears UPSC Prelim exams. This has benefited 55 students who sailed through the exams recently. This comes at a time when the state has witnessed the arrest of as many as 21 officers of the Assam Civil Service (ACS) and the Assam Police Service (APS) of the 2013 batch who allegedly adopted unfair means to clear the exams. "There is no shortcut to success and you must put your best efforts to be successful in life," Sonowal said, asking students and youth to take the UPSC and other all-India competitive examinations in large numbers for the betterment of the state. He was speaking at a function after handing over the cheques of Rs 1.25 lakh to each of the 55 candidates from the state who had recently cleared the UPSC Preliminary examinations. Expressing displeasure that a number of candidates had entered the state services through fraudulent means and had to face arrest, Sonowal said his government was committed to providing better opportunities to the youth for achieving greater success in life. The state government would provide a conducive academic environment for students to prepare for the various all-India competitive examination, and coaching programmes in colleges would be conducted all throughout the year, he said. "The government's move has already encouraged more students from Assam to take the UPSC examinations," he said.