Recently, the case of minority scholarship scam has come to the fore. Its roots are very deep. When the CBI will get involved in this and the final report will come out, till then this scam may come to the fore in the form of several hundred crores or several thousand crores. The current investigation by the central government was on a sample basis. There were only 1572 colleges under the ambit of this investigation. Out of these, 830 i.e. 52.79 per cent institutions were found to be bogus and the scam worth Rs 144 crore was confirmed in the investigation report. Union Minister Smriti Irani has recommended a CBI inquiry after the matter came to the fore. Let us know how big the scam can be.
The total number of minority educational institutions in the country are 1.80 lakh. 1572 institutions were included in the internal inquiry conducted by the central government, which means only 0.87 percent minority educational institutions were taken up for preliminary inquiry. Of these, 52.79 percent educational institutions were found to be fake. Any investigation is handed over to a big agency like CBI only when big scams are found in the initial investigation. Exactly the same has happened in this case as well. Even after the deduction, in the financial year 2023-24, the government has allocated Rs 1498 crore only under the head of minority scholarship.
When did the scholarship start?
The system of scholarship has been started from the year 2007-08. Means it has been almost 15-16 years, if this process is considered as an average of Rs 1500 crores per year, then in the last 15 years Rs 22500 crores have been distributed in the name of scholarship. This scam came to light in the investigation of departmental officers, after which the Ministry of Minority Affairs sent its complaint to the CBI. This scam came to light in the internal investigation in 100 districts of 34 states across the country. 1572 educational institutions in 21 states were investigated, out of which 830 were found fake. Then the government decided that a big inquiry should be conducted into this whole matter. Fake institutes, fake candidates, fake bank accounts, elders in the name of students, all found. In the initial investigation, such institutions were also found where the number of registered students is less and the number of scholarship recipients is much more.
Separate investigation is being done in many states
Scholarship scam is being investigated separately in many states including Uttar Pradesh. Cases have been registered. Grants to a large number of fake madrasas have also been stopped in UP. Scholarship scam is not only in minority cases, there have been different reports of large scale irregularities in the scholarship being distributed by the Social Welfare Department. There are many educational institutions, where the game of taking admission and awarding degree is going on on a large scale, the reason for which is scholarship. Now there is a system of giving scholarship directly to the accounts of the beneficiaries in many states. Despite this, government machinery, banks, educational institutions and beneficiaries are cutting the cream of the government together.
Who is considered a minority?
Government of India has given status to Muslim, Sikh, Christian, Buddhist, Parsi, Jain community as minority and it has been formally notified. In the year 1992, the National Commission for Minorities Act came into existence. After that it was also formed. It was decided that minority commission would be constituted in every state, but even today the commission has not been formed in more than one and a half dozen states.
Fact figure
There are 1.80 lakh minority institutions in the country.
Scholarship scheme started in the year 2007-08
Scholarship is for class one to PhD
Only 100 districts of 34 states were investigated
830 institutes out of 1572 in 21 states were found fake
Investigation started in 2022
In fact, the needy have to bear the maximum loss of such scams. However, now it is slowly coming under control. A lot of things have changed in the last two-three years due to the linking of Aadhaar. When the era of digitization started from the year 2016, these errors gradually came to the fore. When the investigation took place in the year 2022, everything got confirmed. This report can also be the basis of the reduction made by the central government in this item in the budget of the year 2023-24.
How much is scholarship?
The amount of scholarship is for students from class one to PhD. There is a provision to give this amount from Rs 4,000 to Rs 25,000. Every state gives class wise scholarship at its own level. This scholarship is being sent directly to the bank account of the beneficiary for a long time. Somewhere in the form of cheque, somewhere in the form of debit card and online banking, the institutions keep all the rights with them. This amount may be sent by the central government, but it is the responsibility of the states to monitor it.
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