Govt of India uses 16-yr-old data to provide students minority scholarship, RTE group suspects whopping 20% gap

By A Representative
In a shocking revelation, the Government of India relies on more 16 year old data while calculating the number of minority students who should receive scholarship. A recent Government of India circular says that pre-matric and post-matric scholarship schemes for 2017-18 for the country's minorities is to be implemented by the Government of India is "as per the Census 2001".
A cent per cent centrally-funded scheme floated by former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as part of 15 point programme to alleviate the plight of the minorities, the Narendra Modi government has continued with it, despite the fact that during his chief ministership he refused to implement it in Gujarat.
Calling it "minority appeasement", Modi had wondered why such a scholarship scheme wasn't being implemented for other sections, till the Gujarat High Court ordered him to begin putting it in place across Gujarat for the state's minorities. The UPA government, on the other hand, basing on information provided by the Sachar Committee, had insisted that minorities, especially Muslims, suffered from backwardness, and special efforts were needed to overcome it.
Based on the "merit-cum-means" criteria, those eligible included minority students from from Muslim, Christian, Sikh, Buddhist, Parsi and Jain communities of "government or private universities/ institutes/ colleges/ schools."
Taking strong exception to the use of old data to provide scholarship to minority students, Mujahid Nafees of the Shala Mitra Sangh, a right to education (RTE) platform in Gujarat, has said that the minority population in 2001 stood at 20,03,03,872, and increased to 24,17,30,321 in 2011, as per the census data.
A nearly 20% rise, Nafees wonders whether this may have become the basis for providing scholarship to a lesser percentage of minorities. "I have asked Union minorities minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi to take note of utter indifference on the part of the administration while calculating those eligible for scholarship."
Providing state-wise and community-wise number of students eligible for scholarship, it provides the all-India number too -- 30 lakh are pre-matric, five lakh post-matric, and 60,000 "fresh cases". All of these, notably, are based on the 2001 Census.
The government providing old data for disbursement of scholarship has come amidst Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal recently taking up the issue of “more than 5 lakh scholarships” to SC/ST and other minority groups not being disbursed, in some cases for over a year.
In a note to Chief Secretary MM Kutty, Kejriwal said the files in this regard were “never put to my minister” during the entire period from 2015 to 2017 and “the elected government was kept in the dark”. Kejriwal mentioned an inquiry by the Dialogue and Development Commission of Delhi (DDC), ordered by him in the matter.
“(Its) report alleges that more than 5 lakh scholarships are yet to be disbursed in Delhi due to complete abdication of responsibilities, apathy, insensitivity & dereliction of duty by the seniormost officials” of the Delhi Government.
Meanwhile, official's in Delhi have said that, overall, the Government of India's pre-matric and post-matric scholarship schemes have seen a decline as compared to last year due to the new registration system for students.
This has happened because, thy say, states have com up with "low registration" under the scholarship schemes, and students are opting for state-run scholarship scheme, and according to rule a student can apply only for one scheme.

Comments

From Kerala to Bangladesh: Lynching highlights deep social faultlines

By A Representative The recent incidents of mob lynching—one in Bangladesh involving a Hindu citizen and another in Kerala where a man was killed after being mistaken for a “Bangladeshi”—have sparked outrage and calls for accountability.

Gram sabha as reformer: Mandla’s quiet challenge to the liquor economy

By Raj Kumar Sinha* This year, the Union Ministry of Panchayati Raj is organising a two-day PESA Mahotsav in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, on 23–24 December 2025. The event marks the passage of the Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996 (PESA), enacted by Parliament on 24 December 1996 to establish self-governance in Fifth Schedule areas. Scheduled Areas are those notified by the President of India under Article 244(1) read with the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution, which provides for a distinct framework of governance recognising the autonomy of tribal regions. At present, Fifth Schedule areas exist in ten states: Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan and Telangana. The PESA Act, 1996 empowers Gram Sabhas—the village assemblies—as the foundation of self-rule in these areas. Among the many powers devolved to them is the authority to take decisions on local matters, including the regulation...

When a city rebuilt forgets its builders: Migrant workers’ struggle for sanitation in Bhuj

Khasra Ground site By Aseem Mishra* Access to safe drinking water and sanitation is not a privilege—it is a fundamental human right. This principle has been unequivocally recognised by the United Nations and repeatedly affirmed by the Supreme Court of India as intrinsic to the right to life and dignity under Article 21 of the Constitution. Yet, for thousands of migrant workers living in Bhuj, this right remains elusive, exposing a troubling disconnect between constitutional guarantees, policy declarations, and lived reality.

Policy changes in rural employment scheme and the politics of nomenclature

By N.S. Venkataraman* The Government of India has introduced a revised rural employment programme by fine-tuning the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), which has been in operation for nearly two decades. The MGNREGA scheme guarantees 100 days of employment annually to rural households and has primarily benefited populations in rural areas. The revised programme has been named VB-G RAM–G (Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission – Gramin). The government has stated that the revised scheme incorporates several structural changes, including an increase in guaranteed employment from 100 to 125 days, modifications in the financing pattern, provisions to strengthen unemployment allowances, and penalties for delays in wage payments. Given the extent of these changes, the government has argued that a new name is required to distinguish the revised programme from the existing MGNREGA framework. As has been witnessed in recent years, the introdu...

Aravalli at the crossroads: Environment, democracy, and the crisis of justice

By Rajendra Singh* The functioning of the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change has undergone a troubling shift. Once mandated to safeguard forests and ecosystems, the Ministry now appears increasingly aligned with industrial interests. Its recent affidavit before the Supreme Court makes this drift unmistakably clear. An institution ostensibly created to protect the environment now seems to have strayed from that very purpose.

Making rigid distinctions between Indian and foreign 'historically untenable'

By A Representative Oral historian, filmmaker and cultural conservationist Sohail Hashmi has said that everyday practices related to attire, food and architecture in India reflect long histories of interaction and adaptation rather than rigid or exclusionary ideas of identity. He was speaking at a webinar organised by the Indian History Forum (IHF).

'Structural sabotage': Concern over sector-limited job guarantee in new employment law

By A Representative The advocacy group Centre for Financial Accountability (CFA) has raised concerns over the passage of the Viksit Bharat – Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (VB–G RAM G), which was approved during the recently concluded session of Parliament amid protests by opposition members. The legislation is intended to replace the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA).

'Festive cheer fades': India’s housing market hits 17‑quarter slump, sales drop 16% in Q4 2025

By A Representative Housing sales across India’s nine major real estate markets fell to a 17‑quarter low in the October–December period of 2025, with overall absorption dropping 16% year‑on‑year to 98,019 units, according to NSE‑listed analytics firm PropEquity. This marks the weakest quarter since Q3 2021, despite the festive season that usually drives demand. On a sequential basis, sales slipped 2%, while new launches contracted by 4%.

A comrade in culture and controversy: Yao Wenyuan’s revolutionary legacy

By Harsh Thakor* This year marks two important anniversaries in Chinese revolutionary history—the 20th death anniversary of Yao Wenyuan, and the 50th anniversary of his seminal essay "On the Social Basis of the Lin Biao Anti-Party Clique". These milestones invite reflection on the man whose pen ignited the first sparks of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution and whose sharp ideological interventions left an indelible imprint on the political and cultural landscape of socialist China.

Search This Blog