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Resource centre on India's rural distress
 
 

Research funds for tribals on hold -Basant Kumar Mohanty
-The Telegraph

New Delhi: The government has put on hold a key research scholarship scheme meant for tribal students, angering even teachers and triggering allegations that a segment already marginalised was being sidelined further.

Sources in the University Grants Commission and the ministry of tribal affairs said the higher education regulator had kept in abeyance the National Fellowship for Scheduled Tribes under instructions from the Centre.

The scheme ensured Rs 25,000 to Rs 28,000 a month each for selected candidates, a vital sustenance aspiring researchers could miss out on for the year 2017-18 if a decision is delayed.

The move will not affect those who had already been getting the scholarship.

"The government is now targeting tribal students. This is one way of sidelining the already marginalised sections of the society," said Chaitanya, an MPhil student at Ambedkar University here.

Last year, lack of funds had prompted the UGC to scrap a scholarship scheme for students who had failed to clear the National Eligibility Test (NET), an exam aspiring college teachers need to crack. But it was restored following protests from students.

The scholarship scheme for tribal students that the government has put on hold is open to those doing MPhil or PhD in the sciences, humanities, social sciences and engineering and technology.

The tribal affairs ministry has been funding the scholarship, which was started in 2007-08 with the provision for supporting 666 students every year before the UGC increased the number of scholarships to 750 last year with the government's approval.

The UGC, which has similar scholarships for Dalit, OBC and physically challenged students, publishes adverts for these scholarships every June. But the regulator's advertisement last month for the 2017-18 session did not have the name of the scholarship for tribal students.

Official sources said the tribal affairs ministry asked the UGC to keep the scholarship on hold on the ground that guidelines were being changed.

Under the scheme, selected candidates get Rs. 25,000 a month each for the first two years. The amount increases to Rs 28,000 for the remaining three years of the scholarship period. Applicants are not required to have cleared the NET and only need to indicate the proposed subject of research. A committee picks the candidates to be funded.

Chaitanya, the MPhil student, said any move to shelve the scholarship would help private institutions. "Cutting off fellowships is a part of the master plan of providing a level playing field to private players in higher education."

Ganga Sahay Meena, who teaches at the school of languages in Jawaharlal Nehru University, said the decision would affect prospective tribal research scholars from poor families. "Now they may not come into research unless the government gives them scholarship," Meena said.

"Because of the fellowship, a lot of material and new knowledge on tribals is generated every year. That knowledge would be affected if the scholarship is put on hold for long," Meena said.

Despite an email and phone calls, no comment could be obtained from Sameer Sinha, the spokesperson for the ministry of tribal affairs. Queries to the HRD ministry and the UGC went unanswered.