The Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union (JNUSU) organised a protest in front of the Ministry of Minority Affairs today, December 22, against the discontinuation of MANF (Maulana Azad National Fellowship). The students have termed the move "arbitrary" and unfair.
According to Madhurima Kundu, Vice-President of JNU AISA (All India Students' Association), about 30-40 students from the university took part in the protest, which was held roughly between 1-2 pm. "We have been protesting over this issue since the discontinuation was announced," she said. Today's protest is the third in a row.
Before this, on December 19, the students had raised this issue in a protest at the University Grants Commission (UGC) Headquarters. On December 12, over a hundred students from Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI), Delhi University (DU), Ambedkar University Delhi (AUD), JNU, and other varieties from across Delhi gathered in a massive protest at the Ministry of Education at Shashtri Bhawan. Many students were detained by the police in the incident.
About two weeks ago, Minister of Minority Affairs Smriti Irani announced the cancellation of the scholarship awarded to MPhil and PhD scholars from minority communities. Today, in their call-for-protest poster, JNUSU wrote, "Smriti Irani Jawab Do" (Smriti Irani give an answer)! The students demand MANF's restoration.
"Many students from minority communities need the scholarship," Madhurima stated. "This is not a simple discontinuation of a government scheme, it is the very denial of social justice by the government that disenfranchises already marginalised students from minority sections," states a press release by AISA.
