No proposal to restore Maulana Azad National Fellowship for minority students: Irani | India News
NEW DELHI: There is no proposal to restore or re-instate the Maulana Azad National Fellowship (MANF) scheme and pre-matric scholarships for the minority community students from Classes 1 to 8, minister for minority affairs Smriti Irani informed Parliament on Thursday.
The ministry had put out public notices on its website later last year announcing the discontinuation of MANF and the pre-matric scholarship for Classes 1 to 8, pitching it as a revamp aimed at preventing overlaps with other schemes. The move has evoked resentment from the minority community members with many questioning the long-term implications of the decision.
In a written response in Lok Sabha, the minister said, “The coverage under the pre-matric scholarship scheme has been revised from 2022-23 and made applicable for Classes IX and X as the Right to Education (RTE) Act, 2009 provides for free and compulsory elementary education (Classes I to VIII) to each and every child. This modification has also been done to harmonise the scheme with identical scholarship schemes implemented by other ministries,” she said.
She stated that it has been observed that the Junior Research Fellowship (JRF) scheme of UGC and CSIR is open for students of all categories. Besides, students from minority communities are also covered under national fellowship schemes for Scheduled Castes and OBCs implemented by the ministry of social justice and empowerment and national fellowship schemes for Scheduled Tribes implemented by the ministry of tribal affairs. “As the Maulana Azad National Fellowship (MANF) Scheme overlaps with various fellowship schemes for higher education, the government has decided to discontinue the MANF Scheme from 2022-23,” she said.
In response to another question as to whether the government proposes to withdraw the education loan subsidy for minority students to study abroad, Irani said, “It has also been observed that benefits of interest subsidy that got accrued to the beneficiaries under the ‘Padho Pardesh scheme’ were limited and also that there is an apparent overlap with other similar schemes being implemented by other ministries which are applicable to eligible minority community students as well. In view of the overlap, limited benefits and ease of availing education loans on low rate of interest, it has been decided to discontinue Padho Pardesh Scheme from 2022-23 onwards.”
The ministry had put out public notices on its website later last year announcing the discontinuation of MANF and the pre-matric scholarship for Classes 1 to 8, pitching it as a revamp aimed at preventing overlaps with other schemes. The move has evoked resentment from the minority community members with many questioning the long-term implications of the decision.
In a written response in Lok Sabha, the minister said, “The coverage under the pre-matric scholarship scheme has been revised from 2022-23 and made applicable for Classes IX and X as the Right to Education (RTE) Act, 2009 provides for free and compulsory elementary education (Classes I to VIII) to each and every child. This modification has also been done to harmonise the scheme with identical scholarship schemes implemented by other ministries,” she said.
She stated that it has been observed that the Junior Research Fellowship (JRF) scheme of UGC and CSIR is open for students of all categories. Besides, students from minority communities are also covered under national fellowship schemes for Scheduled Castes and OBCs implemented by the ministry of social justice and empowerment and national fellowship schemes for Scheduled Tribes implemented by the ministry of tribal affairs. “As the Maulana Azad National Fellowship (MANF) Scheme overlaps with various fellowship schemes for higher education, the government has decided to discontinue the MANF Scheme from 2022-23,” she said.
In response to another question as to whether the government proposes to withdraw the education loan subsidy for minority students to study abroad, Irani said, “It has also been observed that benefits of interest subsidy that got accrued to the beneficiaries under the ‘Padho Pardesh scheme’ were limited and also that there is an apparent overlap with other similar schemes being implemented by other ministries which are applicable to eligible minority community students as well. In view of the overlap, limited benefits and ease of availing education loans on low rate of interest, it has been decided to discontinue Padho Pardesh Scheme from 2022-23 onwards.”
