Hyderabad: Maulana Azad National University (MANUU) students, led by their student union, voiced their concerns over the prolonged delay in the opening of the national scholarship portal for minority students. The students allege that scholarships have been made available only for SC, ST, and PWD students since last year.
According to the protesters, Minority Minister Smriti Irani mentioned in Parliament that around 830 universities were flagged as fake by the CBI. However, a comprehensive list of these institutions is yet to be disclosed. The students argue that MANUU, despite its status as a reputable central university, has been unjustly implicated among the alleged 830 fake universities, as told to them by university heads.
Mateen Ashraf, President of MANUU Students Union, asserted that the deliberate targeting of minority scholarships by the central government has become a systematic concern. He highlighted a case where the negligence of a district nodal officer led to the red flagging of a MANUU student, resulting in the cessation of scholarships for over 1800 students.
Talha Mannan, a research scholar at MANUU, stated that the students had approached the Ministry to rectify the misinformation but received no response. The absence of clarity from the Ministry is probably the cause for the delay in scholarships, said the students.
The protesters demanded a swift conclusion to the CBI inquiry, considering MANUU's A+ grade accreditation. "Such delays, potentially causing a hold-up in scholarship disbursement, are unjust for the students," Mannan told Deccan Chronicle.
The student union sought transparency from the Ministry to rectify the situation and ensure fair access to minority scholarships.
