Last year, the Ministry had put public notices on its official website announcing the discontinuation of MANF and the pre-matric scholarship for Classes 1 to 8, pitching it as a revamp aimed at preventing overlaps with other schemes.
No proposal to re-instate Maulana Azad National Fellowship scheme for minority students: Minister
Minority Affairs Minister Smriti Irani has informed the Parliament that there is no proposal to restore the Maulana Azad National Fellowship (MANF) scheme and pre-matric scholarships for the minority community students from Classes 1 to 8.
Last year, the Ministry had put public notices on its official website announcing the discontinuation of MANF and the pre-matric scholarship for Classes 1 to 8, pitching it as a revamp aimed at preventing overlaps with other schemes. The move has evoked resentment from the minority community members with many questioning the long-term implications of the decision.
In a written response in Lok Sabha, the minister said, “The coverage under the pre-matric scholarship scheme has been revised from 2022-23 and made applicable for Classes IX and X as the Right to Education (RTE) Act, 2009 provides for free and compulsory elementary education (Classes I to VIII) to each and every child. This modification has also been done to harmonise the scheme with identical scholarship schemes implemented by other ministries,” she said.
She further added that it has been observed that the Junior Research Fellowship (JRF) scheme of UGC and CSIR is open for students of all categories. Besides, students from minority communities are also covered under national fellowship schemes for Scheduled Castes and OBCs implemented by the ministry of social justice and empowerment and national fellowship schemes for Scheduled Tribes implemented by the ministry of tribal affairs.
“As the Maulana Azad National Fellowship (MANF) Scheme overlaps with various fellowship schemes for higher education, the government has decided to discontinue the MANF Scheme from 2022-23,” she said.
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