Joining the chorus of voices demanding a rollback of the decision to scrap certain scholarships for minorities was BJP MP Dr Pritam Munde.

On Thursday, December 15, Munde raised the issue in the Lok Sabha on Thursday, December 15, and said that the decisions were taken without any prior intimation on the matter. According to a report by PTI, Munde said that thousands of students had applied for the scholarships this year, as well as in 2021. 

Since the beginning of the winter session of Parliament in November this year, the central government has discontinued two major scholarships for minorities. These include the Maulana Azad National Fellowship for MPhil and PhD candidates from minority communities, and the Pre-Matric scholarship for minorities, which the government said will no longer apply to students from Classes I to VIII. 

"I demand that the government should rethink this decision. Education is free in right to education but these (scholarships) work as an encouragement for these students in schools," she said, according to PTI. "Looking at this issue from the point of view that students are not pushed towards child labour and stay on the path of education, the decision be revoked after a rethink," the MP from Maharashtra's Beed said.