Social media pressure forces Heptullah to assure fellowship hike for researchers from minority community

By M Reyaz, TwoCircles.net,

New Delhi: In what can give a respite to hundreds of research scholars from minority communities, Union Minister for the Minority Affairs Najma Heptullah has told these students that the fellowship hike is under consideration and assured an appropriate decision would be taken soon.


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Heptullah’s assurance is a result of badgering by scores of research students awaiting a hike – it was effective December 1 for other categories of researchers – who flooded her Twitter timeline and her official mailbox. Incidentally, not many from the main stream media had written about it, prompting the students to take recourse to social media. TCN had carried a detailed report on December 1 itself about how minority scholars were feeling let down by the government’s biased decision.



Najma Heptullah(Courtesy: idiva.com)

Research fellows belonging to the scheduled caste, scheduled tribes and minority communities across the country were feeling let down alleging that the central government overlooked them from the recent fellowship hike that their counterparts from other categories had received.

The University Grant Commission (UGC) had on December 1 issued a circular announcing the hike in research fellowship. The revised rate were applicable to scholarships given by UGC but not to the Fellows who get scholarships under the Rajiv Gandhi National Fellowship (RGNF) – meant for students belonging to the Physically handicapped, Scheduled Caste and Schedule Tribes – and the Maulana Azad National Fellowship (MANF) meant for students belonging to the minority communities.

Starting December 14, several students began chasing Heptullah on micro-blogging site Twitter asking her to look into the long due demand of fellowship hike. Heptullah replied to some of tweets saying the fellowship hike should be announced in due course. She also added there are bureaucratic procedures.

At one point of time, she urged the students not to use social media sites such as Twitter for official communications and instead, send official mail/s. She reminded the students that she checked her mail and there was none in this regard so far.

Soon, beginning the same night (December 14) as screenshot of these tweets were shared, on Twitter and on Facebook, groups of research scholars, students belonging to the minority communities who get the Maulana Azad National Fellowship (MANF) flooded her Inbox with mails. By December 17, she had received hundreds of mails urging her to consider the hike in fellowship, named after her grandfather.

Heptullah has since replied to some mails assuring that the fellowship hike will be announced soon, adding that her ministry was informed only last Friday by the UGC, after they announced the hike in fellowship. She added that it was the mistake of the UGC, implying that her Ministry was not consulted before the hike was announced for other fellowships.

Her Inbox has now literally been bombarded with mails as she urged students in response to some mails to ask the fellow students to not mail further. Late on December 16 night, she replied to one of the mails: “I got 40 mails. That is not fair to be so thoughtless. I have lot more work. There are persons concerned whom you all can contact.”

Heptullah further urged the students that there is no need to panic, and added, “I care for all of you (and) would see that no injustice is done to you all.”

Several students have since got the official reply from the official email id of the ‘Ministry Minority’ that assured, “The matter of enhancing the fellowship rates under Maulana Azad National Fellowship (MANF), as proposed by University Grant Commission (UGC), is under consideration in the Ministry. Revised rates will be effective from 1st December, 2014.”

There has been a demand from research fellows to increase the amount of the fellowship for several years. The fellowships under various schemes of UGC were increased by about 55%.

According to the revised fellowship, junior research fellowship will increase from existing Rs 16,000 to Rs 25,000 while senior research fellowship will increase from Rs 18,000 to Rs 28000. The decision came after a meeting on November 17 to bring “parity among all the existing Fellowship and Scholarship schemes,” UGC said.


Maulana Azad Education Foundation

The UGC is just the implementing agency that selects students and distributes funds. The grant for the RGNF comes from the Ministry of Social Justice (PH & SC) and Ministry of Tribal Affairs (ST) while similar fund for the MANF comes from the Ministry of Minority Affairs.

The document on RGNF and MANF on the UGC site clearly mentions, “The rate of fellowship for JRF and SRF will be on par with the UGC Fellowship as amended from time to time.”

The students are now awaiting Heptullah’s assurance to come become reality.

Meanwhile, taking a cue from these efforts of the minority students, research scholars belonging to the SC/ST category – who too get the RGNF – have started writing mails to their respective ministries. But there has been no official word so far from those ministries.

Update: On Wednesday, while responding to questions from CPIM MP Mohammad Salim during Question Hour, Heptullah assured in the Lok Sabha that the MANF will soon be brought in “parity” with the UGC fellowships as they are linked.

Related:

Research fellowship hiked for others; SC/ST, minority scholars feel let down by govt’s biased decision

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