Decision to discontinue fellowship to minority students is blatant injustice

National Federation of Girls Islamic Organization (GIO) statement on cessation of minority scholarships:

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The Central Government’s decision to discontinue the Maulana Azad National Fellowship (MANF), provided to aid minority students in higher education, is a blatant injustice. The Union Minister Smriti Irani’s response that the scheme overlaps with several other schemes evidently indicates the State’s ignorance towards the socio-economic conditions of the minorities in the country. The MANF scholarship, implemented in 2009 on the recommendation of the Sachar Committee report, facilitated the inflow of minority students to the premiere institutes and central universities, enabling the presence of minority voices on these campuses. By eliminating minority scholarships, a concerted effort is being made to institutionally exclude socially backward communities from the education sector. The previous action of the Central Government to revoke pre-metric scholarships for students up to class 8 is also part of the same discrimination agenda.
The Girls Islamic Organization (GIO) condemns the Central Government's move to abolish MANF. GIO urges to reverse the decision immediately and reinstate the scholarship at the earliest.