Minority and OBC students are still awaiting their Scholarships

Minority and OBC students are still awaiting their Scholarships

Abdul Rehman (name changed) a research scholar has submitted his scholarship application for Maulana Azad National Fellowships (MANF) for minority students in last December. Since than Abdul and several other students like him are awaiting the list of selected candidates. The government on the matter has said that the list will be released in the last week of July. "Doing research without proper financial assistance is really difficult. I work in the field of History which demands travel to various places in the country. This is apart from the living expenses in a metro city like Delhi," Abdul complains. He says, that every research scholar who does not have a financial backup needs at least 12 thousand rupees to support their studies per month. "I owe money to several people. This is the life of a normal research scholar. I had huge expectations from the MANF while I was applying for it last June," he said. Several other students from across India are facing the same concerns as Abdul’s. "Ever since applications were invited for MANF and OBC Fellowships, UGC NET exams were held two times, which in turn means that the slots of those who qualified JRF in this period will be wasted if UGC don't crosscheck those whose names appear in the lists of both," another student who had applied for MANF said. "After applying for MANF in January, I had tweeted several times to the MHRD, UGC, Minority Affairs Minister, etc. asking about the delay in declaring the result. Virtually it's now almost three years since they provided MANF, RJNF and OBC Fellowships," he said. When contacted the Minority affairs ministry about the delay they passed the blame on the UGC and said that ministry has done its job on its end and now it is the responsibility of the UGC to disburse the funds. When questioned about the matter in Rajya Sabha, Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank' “the UGC has already initiated the selection process for award of fellowship for the year 2018-19 under National Fellowship for Students of Backward Classes (OBC) and MANF.” "In this regard, the UGC has constituted an Expert Committee for finalizing the award of the fellowship. As informed by UGC, the screening of the applications has been done in the Expert Committee meeting held on 29th and 30th May, 2019. The Expert Committee meeting is scheduled on 25th and 26th July, 2019 for finalization of selection," the minister said.

source https://www.brainbuxa.com/education-news/minority-and-obc-students-are-still-awaiting-their-scholarships-9586