Minority students protest after the Centre scrapped Maulana Azad Fellowship, demand restoration
Protest in JNU, Uproar at Ministry of education, and detention of students, a new fire has been sparked in Delhi after the Center Announced to Discontinue of The Maulana Azad National Fellowship (MNAF) On December 9 2022,
Many students protested on the road, raised slogans against the Union, and sought to restore this fellowship program.
“Since the MANF scheme overlaps with various other fellowship schemes for higher education being implemented by the Government, minority students are already covered under such schemes. Hence the Government has decided to discontinue the MANF Scheme from 2022-23,” Irani said in the Lok Sabha.
This scholarship supported General students who come from impoverished financial Backgrounds.
Against the decision, several students from Delhi University, Jamia, AMU and JNU gathered near the Ministry of Education on December 12, 2022, infringing on the high-security area. When students refused to move after several warnings, Delhi police detained the protesters.
Amid the ruckus, Team OWN stepped out and talked to some PhD students of Jamia who were the potential beneficiaries of the scheme.
Mohammad Alfauz, A PhD student From Jamia Millia Islamia said, “As Smriti Irani said about overlapping, there should be data on this and how many fellowships are overlapping… First, students who cannot clear the JRF (Junior Research Fellowship) to get into UGC-NET are granted the Maulana Azad Fellowship.”
He added, “When I generally speak, according to the 2001 census, 60% of Muslims are illiterate in this country. Last year, according to the census, 70% of Muslims were illiterate. They are substandard because of a lack of education. A student from an economically weaker section cannot afford a PhD program of 3-4 years unaided.”
Alfauz opines that the Savarna did not want Shudras to be their counterparts in terms of knowledge. Alleging the Centre government of attacking their institution, the student added that the Centre might aim to strike at the education of the subaltern population and try to uproot the minorities, including Muslims.
Article 46 says, “Promotion of educational and economic interests of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and other weaker sections, The State shall promote with special care the educational and economic interests of the weaker sections of the people, and, in particular, of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes, and shall protect them from social injustice and all forms of exploitation.”
“If we consider Article 46, we can say that this move is a Direct Assault on Article 46. This is an Unconstitutional decision by Smriti,” said Mohammad Alfauz, A PhD student From Jamia Millia Islamia, While talking to One World News.
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Criticizing the Centre’s decision Jamia Millia Islamia student Akhilesh Kumar said, “The Centre doesn’t want minorities and the economically weaker section to avail education as they depend on scholarships. He also claimed that the Government held the ST-SC Rajiv Gandhi Scholarship for the last 5-6 Months and did not grant the scholarship.”
This scheme covers five minority communities Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, Jains and Buddhists. In 2018-19, among the 1000 students, 733 Muslim students, mainly belonging to states like Jammu & Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, and Bihar, availed it. While 119 Christians, 90 Sikhs, and 37 Buddhists also benefited from it.
Most economically weak Minority students avail of this fellowship to achieve their dreams of higher studies. Stopping it will be detrimental to all those economically weaker minority students, including Christians.
