No plans to revive MANF, many fellowships available for minority students: Smirti

Hyderabad: Minister of Minority Affairs Smriti Irani on Thursday told the Lok Sabha that her ministry “was implementing the Maulana Azad National Fellowship (MANF) scheme on the lines of the JRF Scheme of UGC and CSIR. The latter two are open for candidates of all social categories and communities, including minorities.”

She was responding to a query by AIMIM’s Asaduddin Owaisi on the effect of stopping the MANF scheme in the last three years. He sought state and district-wise data for Telangana State and Andhra Pradesh.

The minister said that various schemes are being run by different ministries. Moreover, data provided by the government shows a fall in the number of students availing fellowships from 49 in 2019-20 to 29 in 2021-22. This has been similar with regard to female students from 26 in 2019-20 to 15 in 2021-22.

In case of AP, there has been a decline in fellowship applications from 100 in 2019-20 to 48 in 2021-22, while there was a fall from 47 to 19 as regards to girls.

“In addition to this, students from minority communities are also covered under the fellowship schemes being implemented by the ministries of social justice & empowerment and tribal affairs for SC, OBC and ST students. It was because of this overlap that the government decided to discontinue the MANF scheme from 2022-23 onwards. However, the existing MANF fellows will continue to receive fellowships till the end of their respective tenure, subject to compliance with the extant guidelines. As of now, there is no proposal to restore the scheme,” she said.