Fellowship disbursement delay: OBC, SC, PwD and other scholars share their owes

It is the NFOBC, NFPWD, NFSC and MANF awardees across India who are facing this problem. As a result of the long delays, some don't even have enough money to sustain themselves
Fellowship delay | (Pic: Edexlive)
Fellowship delay | (Pic: Edexlive)

The awardees of various national fellowships across India speak about their anxiety regarding the non-disbursement of funds into their accounts. The scholars state that they have not received their stipends for many months now. It is the NFOBC (National Fellowship for Other Backward Classes), NFSC (National Fellowship for Scheduled Castes), NFPWD (National Fellowship for Persons with Disabilities) and MANF (Maulana Azad National Fellowship for Minority Students) awardees who are facing the problem.

“For me, it has been twenty months that I haven’t received any stipend. For some it is even more than this,” says Anuj Goyal, a recipient of the NFPWD. “Many are struggling to maintain their families; some who rented houses are avoiding their landlords. The research work is also being hampered as funds are required for obtaining resources. Also, if you have no money even for food, how can you focus on research?” he questions.

The NFPWD is disbursed by the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, which is governed by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. Students stated that it was the Ministry’s mismanagement that was creating the delay in the distribution of funds. “We were misled into believing that the UGC (University Grants Commission) had a role to play in it. But that is not so,” said Vaishnavi Jayakumar, an activist from the Disability Rights Alliance.

It is the UGC that selects the students for the fellowships through NET (National Eligibility Test). Then, the Department of PwD Empowerment sends the funds to the scholars’ accounts through Canara Bank, Vaishnavi said. Anuj says that there was about a year’s delay by the UGC in publishing the results of the fellowship. But even after months of that, they did not get their stipends. “There is no prompt or responsible action on the department’s part. They should be empathetic to our situation. It is not the scholars’ responsibility to remind them to send funds,” he says.

As to the cause of the delay, he informs that when they approached the department, it said that it was trying to set up a central nodal agency that would disburse the funds to their accounts — hence the delay. As per a March 9 notification from the Department of Expenditure, under the Ministry of Finance, all the respective departments handling the national fellowship schemes were instructed to form a centralised nodal agency (CNA) to disburse funds.

This was done in an attempt to check fragmentation in the government accounts and figure out if money could be laid out for interest, informs Vaishnavi. “But the PwD Welfare Department also had an option to disburse the funds directly. But instead of doing so, there is an unnecessary delay. This is pathetic,” she states, additionally informing that it was only on August 25 that the NFPWD funds have started dribbling into the accounts of some students.

The case is slightly different for the awardees of the NFSC, NFOBC and MANF. Funds for these fellowships are sent by the respective ministries to the UGCz which then distributes them into the students’ accounts with the aid of Canara Bank. The NFSC and NFOBC are given out through different departments by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, whereas the MANF is awarded by the Ministry of Minority Affairs. The UGC acts as an agency for the transfer of funds. Therefore, in order to comply with the requirement for a CNA, the respective ministries asked the UGC to act as the CNA for them.

But the UGC alleged that the ministries often delayed the funds and students blamed the commission for it. So, it did not want to function as the CNA and stated that it need not play any role after the selection of the students. There was a meeting between the concerned ministries and UGC. The former then approached the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), which intervened and asked the UGC to resume its job of disbursing the money till September 30, the scholars informed. “On top of the delay, now there is this new anxiety about what will happen after September 30. It is a very stressful situation,” Vaishnavi sighs.

On the other hand, MANF scholars claimed that they had no clarity on the issue. “We approached the UGC, which stated that the Ministry had not sent the funds. But when we approached the Ministry, it said that there were sufficient funds, but since the UGC did not wish to act as the CNA, it was causing a delay,” says Sharfaa Hussain, a MANF awardee. She informs that it was shortly after this that the UGC gave in writing that it would no longer be a medium for the fund disbursal. “Then, after the PMO’s order, fortunately, 70% of the scholars have now received their stipends,” she adds.

Meanwhile, NFSC scholars are having a hard time obtaining their scholarships. “I, along with a few others, went to meet the Minister of Social Justice Sanjay Singh a few days ago regarding this issue,” says Raju Verma, an NFSC awardee. He adds that the Minister told them he had allocated Rs 20 crore for their scholarship and they could confirm this from the Canara Bank branch located near the Ministry, which regulates these funds. When the students went to the bank, they were told that though they had heard from Minister Singh, no funds had reached them.

The students also enquired with the UGC regarding this matter. They allege that is a different story every time. “This morning, when I talked to the officials, they said that the funds would be allocated soon. And when I called again in the afternoon, they said they hadn’t received the funds and the process will take time,” Raju says. He informs that none of the SC scholars has received any funds yet, though they were assured by the Ministry that they would get it in a few days.

The NFOBC scholars suffer similarly. Nayan Dhawal, a recipient of this scholarship, says that they were assured by the Ministry that they would soon get the money. But months have passed and there is no clarity on the situation yet. An RTI inquiry was initiated by another OBS scholar Venkateshwar Yadav into the matter and the Ministry replied, “We’ll disburse the money shortly,” to it. However, no funds have been disbursed yet. “It is since March that our funds are being held back. When the UGC received complaints, it blamed the Ministry and when we approached the Ministry, it was the opposite,” Venkateshwar rues.

Vaishnavi informs that such is not the case with the NET/JRF scholars, who receive their stipends fairly regularly. “I do not know why there is a delay for other scholarships. The transactions are all computerised and funds are sent in batches. It is not like the process has to be carried out separately for each student. There is nothing to explain this delay in monthly disbursement,” she states.

Related Stories

No stories found.
logo
EdexLive
www.edexlive.com