Scrapping of Maulana Azad Fellowship an ‘anti-minority’ transfer: Congress MP in Lok Sabha

By PTI

NEW DELHI: Congress member Ok Suresh on Friday termed the scrapping of the Maulana Azad National Fellowship (MANF) scheme as an “anti-minority” transfer by the Narendra Modi authorities and stated the choice will make increased training inaccessible to underprivileged college students belonging to the minority communities.

Raising the problem in Lok Sabha throughout Zero Hour, the Congress member additionally stated the discontinuation of the fellowship scheme could have a pan-India adversarial influence on the upper training of scholars belonging to Muslim, Buddhist, Jain, Christian, Parsi and Sikh communities.

“The move is an insult to Maulana Azad. It also disregards all the freedom fighters and their memories of sacrifice,” he charged.

“So far, students from these six notified minority communities received financial assistance for pursuing higher education under the scheme which covers all the institutions recognised by the University Grants Commission,” he stated.

“With the discontinuation of the scheme, higher education will become inaccessible to underprivileged students from the six notified minority communities,” Suresh added.

The MANF scheme for the minority neighborhood college students pursuing increased training has been scrapped whereas the federal government’s pre-matric scholarship for them will now not apply to college students from Class 1 to Class 8.

In a written reply to a query not too long ago within the Lok Sabha, Minority Affairs Minister Smriti Irani stated the federal government supplied fellowships for increased training by numerous schemes, together with the MANF, carried out by completely different ministries or departments.

ALSO READ | Kharge hits out at Modi govt for stopping scholarships for minority college students

All these schemes, besides the Maulana Azad National Fellowship, are open for candidates of all communities, together with minorities, however the information of fellowship distributed amongst minority college students is included solely beneath the Maulana Azad National Fellowship scheme, she stated.

“Since the MANF scheme overlaps with various other fellowship schemes for higher education being implemented by the government and minority students are already covered under such schemes, hence the government decided to discontinue the MANF Scheme from 2022-23,” Irani had stated.

Congress member Suresh termed the explanation cited by the minister for discontinuation of the MANF as an “excuse” and stated it defies the logic as any overlap might have been recognized from the Aadhaar and different paperwork of the scholars making use of for the fellowship beneath the scheme.

“The Anti minority sentiments behind the (government’s) decision is evident,” he charged.

NEW DELHI: Congress member Ok Suresh on Friday termed the scrapping of the Maulana Azad National Fellowship (MANF) scheme as an “anti-minority” transfer by the Narendra Modi authorities and stated the choice will make increased training inaccessible to underprivileged college students belonging to the minority communities.

Raising the problem in Lok Sabha throughout Zero Hour, the Congress member additionally stated the discontinuation of the fellowship scheme could have a pan-India adversarial influence on the upper training of scholars belonging to Muslim, Buddhist, Jain, Christian, Parsi and Sikh communities.

“The move is an insult to Maulana Azad. It also disregards all the freedom fighters and their memories of sacrifice,” he charged.

“So far, students from these six notified minority communities received financial assistance for pursuing higher education under the scheme which covers all the institutions recognised by the University Grants Commission,” he stated.

“With the discontinuation of the scheme, higher education will become inaccessible to underprivileged students from the six notified minority communities,” Suresh added.

The MANF scheme for the minority neighborhood college students pursuing increased training has been scrapped whereas the federal government’s pre-matric scholarship for them will now not apply to college students from Class 1 to Class 8.

In a written reply to a query not too long ago within the Lok Sabha, Minority Affairs Minister Smriti Irani stated the federal government supplied fellowships for increased training by numerous schemes, together with the MANF, carried out by completely different ministries or departments.

ALSO READ | Kharge hits out at Modi govt for stopping scholarships for minority college students

All these schemes, besides the Maulana Azad National Fellowship, are open for candidates of all communities, together with minorities, however the information of fellowship distributed amongst minority college students is included solely beneath the Maulana Azad National Fellowship scheme, she stated.

“Since the MANF scheme overlaps with various other fellowship schemes for higher education being implemented by the government and minority students are already covered under such schemes, hence the government decided to discontinue the MANF Scheme from 2022-23,” Irani had stated.

Congress member Suresh termed the explanation cited by the minister for discontinuation of the MANF as an “excuse” and stated it defies the logic as any overlap might have been recognized from the Aadhaar and different paperwork of the scholars making use of for the fellowship beneath the scheme.

“The Anti minority sentiments behind the (government’s) decision is evident,” he charged.