A recent report by India Today, has revealed that a staggering 53% of institutions participating in a minority scholarship program have been implicated in a massive scam amounting to Rs 144.83 crore over a span of five years. Union Minister for Minorities Smriti Irani has ordered a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) inquiry into the matter.
About as many as 830 institutions under the minority scholarship program have come under scrutiny for not existing. Despite being non-existent or non-operational, these institutions managed to manipulate the National Scholarship Portal to secure registration and claim scholarships meant for deserving minority students.
The Ministry’s scholarship program which spans across approximately 1,80,000 institutions, is designed to provide financial assistance to minority students who are from class 1 to higher education. However, the report reveals that scholarships were being pocketed by fake beneficiaries, and diverting essential resources away from those who genuinely needed them.
The investigation, which spanned across a 100 districts across 34 states, brought to light the alarming fact that 830 out of the 1572 scrutinised institutions were embroiled in fraudulent activities.
In Chhattisgarh, all 62 examined institutions were revealed to be non-operational or fake. Rajasthan faced a similar issue, with 99 out of 128 institutions being identified as fake or non-operational. The results was even more alarming in Assam, there was a staggering 68% of institutions were implicated in the scam. Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal also had concerning number of fake institutions. Meanwhile, in Jammu and Kashmir’s Anantnag, a college with 5,000 registered students shockingly claimed 7,000 scholarships.
The Ministry has frozen the accounts associated with the implicated institutions and CBI’s investigation has begun as questions are also being raised about the authenticity of Aadhar cards and KYC documents used to open fake beneficiary accounts.
This news comes following several fund cuts for minority scholarships by the union government. According to a recent report by SabrangIndia, scholarships like pre-matric, post-matric, and MCM have declined since 2014-15. Although MCM scholarship disbursement increased overall, there’s a drop in MCM scholarships for minority undergraduates, postgraduates, and pre/post-matric students. Another SabrangIndia study shows shrinking funds for minorities, including Buddhists, during the Modi Regime. Muslims, Sikhs, and Christians have fewer scholarships, and Buddhists in populous states see a major decline.
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