The members of the Jawaharlal Nehru University Teachers' Association have expressed concern and distress over the discontinuation of the Maulana Azad National Fellowship for minority students. The association called it an attack on the values of "inclusivity and democracy" in the higher education system required in India.
In a reply written in the Lok Sabha, the Minister of Minority Affairs Smriti Irani said the government has provided fellowship for higher education through various schemes that are implemented by different ministries or departments including the Maulana Azad National Fellowship for minority students, stated a PTI report.
Except for the Maulana Azad National Fellowship, all other schemes by the government are open for candidates from all communities, including minorities. But the data of fellowship distributed among the minority students is captured only under the Maulana Azad National Fellowship scheme, added the Minister of Minority Affairs. "Since the MANF (Maulana Azad National Fellowship) scheme overlaps with various other fellowship schemes for higher education being implemented by the government and minority students are already covered under such schemes, hence the government has decided to discontinue the MANF Scheme from 2022-23," Irani had said, stated the PTI report.
The centre also recently cancelled the pre-matric scholarship for students from Classes I to VIII, stating the other schemes by the government are overlapping.
In a statement by the Jawaharlal Nehru University Teachers' Association (JNUTA), they demanded the immediate reversal of the discontinuation of the Maulana Azad National Fellowship for minority students stating that the “anti-minority policy” is evident in the withdrawal of the fellowship.
The statement from the JNUTA said, “The JNU Teachers' Association notes with deep dismay the media reports appearing on December 10, 2022, that the Ministry of Minority Affairs has decided to withdraw the Maulana Azad Fellowship (MAF), a five-year fellowship provided by the Centre in the form of financial assistance to six notified minority communities -- Muslims, Buddhists, Christians, Jains, Parsis and Sikhs, to pursue PhDs," as reported by PTI.
The reason for the discontinuation of this scheme noted that academic excellence can only thrive in an environment free and devoid of fear but one that actively sought to remove social disadvantages. This policy decision to withdraw a fellowship intended to promote higher education among minority communities is an attack on the values of inclusivity and democracy that are integral to the higher education system that India requires, the organisation said.
"The JNUTA demands an immediate reversal of the anti-minority policy evident in the withdrawal of the MAF and the upholding of the democratic rights of all teachers to participate in higher education with dignity and without fear," it said, as reported by PTI.
