SFI Activists detained over demand to rollback Maulana Azad National Fellowships

Union Minister Smriti Irani last week informed the Parliament that the MANF scholarship would be withdrawn as students from minority communities are covered under other schemes. 

SFI Activists, along with other student organizations, staged a demonstration in front of the Ministry of Education against the abrupt termination of the Maulana Azad National Fellowship (MANF) scheme. 

On December 8, in response to the question posed by an MP, Union Minister Smriti Irani informed that the MANF scholarship would be withdrawn as students from minority communities are covered under other schemes. The MANF was introduced in 2008 to provide financial assistance to students from the six notified minority communities— Buddhist, Christian, Muslim, Parsi, Sikh and Jain. A move like this comes as a big blow to these students and shatters all hope to pursue higher education in the future. 

As per SFI, already multiple students have reported that due to the nine month delay in the disbursal of the fellowship, numerous students had to put a pause on their research work due to the increasing financial burden. 

The protesting students claimed that student organizations across the country called for a protest on 12th December to mark our dissent against the ruling regime’s latest form of assault on the minority communities. Several students, including women, were forcefully detained and suffered injuries. Female comrades were manhandled by male police officers. 

“The government’s decision to discontinue MANF Fellowship aligns with its neglectful attitude towards the minorities of the nation. It should also be seen as continual of the anti- students’ New Education Policy. SFI reiterates our commitment to fight for public education and demands the reinstatement of the MANF scheme,” SFI Delhi said in a statement. 

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