People's Democracy

Scholarships Not Released for J&K Students

THROUGH a memorandum submitted to the union government, through its president Sumeet Tanwar and secretary Kopal, the Delhi state committee of the Students’ Federation of India (SFI) has drawn attention to the discrepancies in implementation of the scholarship scheme for the students of Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) who are studying outside their state. It is to be noted that the said Special Scholarship Scheme was launched to encourage students from J&K to pursue higher education outside.

The SFI has pointed out that the payment of the scholarship amounts has stopped for the last one year. Moreover, of late, there have been cases in which a nexus of the private colleges and some NGOs based in the valley has been found to be duping the concerned students. In particular, some colleges --- such as the Geeta Engineering College of Faridabad --- have started threatening the students that they must either pay the entire money or else leave immediately. In this connection, the SFI has asked the government to take note of the following facts.

1) The SFI memorandum said the first priority today is that the scholarship money must immediately be released for the students who are already getting the scholarships, but have not got any money for the last one year.

2) The scheme was launched in 2010, with a cap of 5000 students. But today, given the requirements of higher education for the youth of J&K, there is an urgent need to remove this cap and provide scholarship to everyone who wants to pursue higher education outside.

3) There have sprung up in the valley many non-government organisations (NGOs) --- such as the Jammu and Kashmir Peace Foundation (JKPF) --- and are misguiding the aspiring students and their families in the name of consultation. They have misled some such students to taking admissions in third rate private colleges which are now harassing the students. The SFI has demanded that the Ministry of Human Resources Development (MHRD) must look into the matter and book all those persons who are responsible for the mess.

4) The ministry must also intervene in the matter of pressurisation of the students by the administration of the private colleges and provide these students immediate relief. The SFI has demanded that, till the scholarship amounts are not disbursed, the ministry must immediately send a letter to such involved and other colleges where the affected students are studying to allow them to take their exams.

The SFI memorandum also reminded that these concerns were repeatedly raised on various forums, for example on the floor of parliament by P K Biju and some other MPs or through the letter written by Congress MP Saifuddin Soz to the prime minister, but yet such problems continue to exist till today. Earlier, the MHRD had assured about the release of the said scholarship’s amounts by March 31 this year, but they have not yet been released. This way, the SFI stressed that a scheme that was launched specifically to facilitate the integration of the Kashmiri youth with the rest of the country may end up causing more alienation, if these issues are not looked into.

The SFI has therefore urged the HRD minister to look into the matter and do the needful at the earliest, as the future of hundreds of students is at stake today.