By Najiya O., TwoCircles.net,
Kochi: While some states have started process for central government sponsored minority scholarship schemes for the year 2009-10, Kerala, the most educated state, has just published a temporary list of the students selected for the pre-metric scholarship 2008-09. But the lucky ones are still not going to get the amount so easily, thanks to a new rule of the state government. The selected ones will have to submit their income certificates from the village officer, to be selected to the final list. The notification issued by the Directorate of General Education, last day, has made the income certificate from the village officer mandatory for application.
The government had published a list of 46,347 applicants in February, based on the income of guardian as said in the affidavit in stamp paper. But it was cancelled and the government had to scrutinize the applications again as information from schools suggested that the income as given in the stamp papers was not true in many cases. After the completion of the scrutiny, a new list of 46,374 applicants selected for the scholarships has been published. It is in these circumstances that the new notification is issued.
The notification (No. N(2)/85905/07/DPI) issued by the Directorate of General Education dated 17/07/2009 makes it mandatory for those applicants whose names are published in the list to submit an income certificate from the village officer before the head master of the school on or before 8th August. In addition, it also says that if the income shown in the affidavit submitted earlier and the income in the certificate given by the village officer are not the same, such applicants will be expelled from the list. The direction has literally rejected the affidavit of income submitted by applicants earlier. Lakhs of students had applied for the pre-matric scholarships enclosing affidavits regarding income on stamp papers.
The advertisement given by the state government in the major newspapers on 11th July required income certificates on stamp papers worth Rs 10 as mandatory for application. The Ministry of Minority Affairs had made it clear in its notification regarding scholarships that such affidavit was not necessary. The ‘Scheme of Pre-Matric Scholarship for Students belonging to the Minority Communities’ issued by the Ministry of Minority Affairs states in the clause 11 (v) that ‘Income certificate should be on self-certification basis by way of affidavit on non-judicial stamp paper of self-employed parents/guardian and from employer for employed parents/guardian.’ Regarding the declaration of community, the clause 19, which deals with the documents to be enclosed with the application, states as the sixth point that ‘Minority community declaration – affidavit on non-judicial stamp paper by the student that he/she belongs to any one of the minority communities notified by Central Government.’
The central government had directed last year that the affidavits regarding the guardian’s income and the applicant’s community should be submitted on separate stamp papers each worth Rs 10. This led to the sale of stamp papers worth crores in the state. It also led to insufficiency of stamp papers in the districts with a large population of minorities. As a result states including Kerala asked the central government to remove the provision for stamp paper and to use the certificates followed in the respective states as proof for income and community. This opinion was raised by the states in the meeting convened by the Ministry of Minority Affairs on September 8, 2008. The central government acted accordingly and informed the state governments about it. Your browser may not support display of this image.
In spite of the decision of the central government, the state government has asked the applicants to submit affidavits on stamp papers. To be read along with this is that the state government got about Rs 6 crore, reportedly, by the sale of stamp papers last year. And the amount distributed by the government on scholarships was, reportedly, below Rs 3.5 crore. The demand for stamp papers rose so high last year that many did not get stamp papers of Rs 10 and they had to buy those of Rs 20, Rs 50 and Rs 100. Around 10 lakh students of the minority communities in the state had applied for pre-matric scholarships alone last year.
The list of selected candidates for pre-matric scholarship 2008-2009 is available on the website www.education.kerala.gov.in