Research scholars, belonging to the Scheduled Castes, were in for a rude shock when the third list of selected candidates for the National Fellowship for Scheduled Caste was released on 30 June. Some of their names, that appeared in the first list, were left out of the third list that was released by the University Grants Commission (UGC).
At least 20 students sat down to protest the omission outside the UGC’s office in New Delhi on 12 July.
A Kolkata-based MA student told The Quint, on condition of anonymity, that the committee’s decision reeked of discrimination.
This fellowship, which is granted to 2,000 scholars every year, helps open the doors of higher education to several students from socially disadvantaged backgrounds.
It takes almost 10 months to complete the admission process for the fellowship. As the students protest the decision, let’s take a closer look at the meat of the matter.
The fellowship, formerly known as the Rajiv Gandhi National Fellowship, is funded by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment and the Ministry of Tribal Affairs. The financial aid ranges between Rs 10,000 per annum and Rs 28,000 per annum, depending upon the post-graduation stream.
The first list was released on 5 April this year, only to be removed after two months. A second list was released on 7 June after the UGC announced that Kerala students had been accidentally left out of the first list.
Deepanshu Kanojia, whose name was on the first list, was at a library when he found out that he had been rejected from the fellowship. The JNU research scholar told The Quint:
The email included an annexure with a ‘revised’ set of cut-offs being stated as the reason for the cancellation.
The Quint has accessed the email, which claims that the cut-offs in the different streams for different categories “have been revised” based on the “recommendations of an Expert Committee”. The email reads:
“Accordingly, you have not been included in the revised selection list as the marks obtained by you at post-graduate level is lower than the cut-off in your relevant category and domicile state”.
Terming the decision “arbitrary”, dismayed students rushed to the UGC’s Bahadur Zafar Marg office, only to return disappointed.
The Quint has written to the UGC about the issue but has not received any response yet.
Sanya (name changed on request) says she travelled to Delhi from West Bengal in a bid to resolve the issue. “I can’t afford a Rajdhani train. I had to take a cheap train and it took me 3 days only to return with absolutely nothing,” the 24-year-old said.
Students allege that the third list is full of glaring anomalies. “This fellowship is my only option to continue research,” Sanya says.
Sanya isn’t alone. Several students claim they have been excluded from the fellowship despite possessing documents to prove that they cleared the revised cut-offs.
For Jagdish, a differently-abled student from Karnataka, the journey to Delhi has not been easy. Jagdish cleared the revised cut-off and is entitled to a 3 percent reservation quota in the list. But his name has been removed from the third list.
Students also claim that they know of fellow scholars who made the cut without clearing the revised cut-offs. “I know of a girl who has 58 percent, but still has her name in the list. This is a big scam,” Sanya alleged.
Having raised alarm over what they termed an “arbitrary” and “unfair” decision, students want the UGC to pay heed to two demands:
On 13 July, the UGC put out a notice asserting that all the fellowship lists have been made provisional. This implies that the names on it are not final.
For students who have been protesting, the notice is a glimmer of hope. The bigger win, however, will only be when they get their names back on the final list.
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