Minority scholarships: Facts blast tall claims of Bihar Govt

By Mumtaz Alam Falahi, TwoCircles.net,

Patna: Neda Fatima reads in Class III at Hazrat Ali Academy, a prominent Muslims-run private school in Muzaffarpur district of Bihar. She knows she is among several thousands students selected across the state for the pre-matric scholarship 2009-2010. Her name appeared along others on the official website of the concerned government department about a year ago. But she does not know why the cheque of Rs 1000 has not yet reached her school or home. In the form, she had given the address of both the school and home.

---

Support TwoCircles

---

She is not alone. There are 80 students of her school who were selected under pre-matric scheme for 2009-10 but have not yet got the amount. There are in fact several hundreds such Muslim students in Muzaffarpur district alone who and their parents are the victim of the apathy of the Bihar government and its bureaucrats. They have not got the cheques for 2009-10, let alone 2010-11 while the state government has already collected applications for 2011-12.

Noorullah Khan, Secretary, Hazrat Ali Academy in Muzaffarpur

Three mega minority scholarship schemes are run by the Central Government. They are pre-matric, post-matric and merit-cum-means scholarship schemes. Funds are reaching the state government in time but the JDU-BJP government of Nitish Kumar is just making tall claims in media and conferences regarding the implementation of these scholarship schemes. Hardly a day passes without Minority Welfare Minister of Bihar Government appearing in the media talking about the high success of scholarship schemes. The ground reality is altogether different, though.

Najibullah Inami and Mujibullah Inami are students of Class IV and III respectively at Play & Learn School in Sadpura locality of the town area. Both were selected for pre-matrict scholarship scheme for the year 2009-10. Their names were published in June last year in the final list of selected students on the official website of Bihar Shia Waqf Board – the board has been entrusted by the state government with the task to collect application forms for pre-matric scheme and select eligible candidates after scrutiny. Najibullah’s name carries the serial no 11326 in the list on the website while Mujibullah has 6189 serial no. Both should get Rs 1000 each — the amount is written against their names on the website. None have got so far. Both have been selected for 2010-2011 also. They are yet to get the amount for this also.

Parents look helpless

“We were told cheques are being distributed at a local Urdu Middle School. We went there only to find no sign of cheques for our sons. Their name was not in the list of the local officer though their name is on the list of Bihar Shia Waqf Board for last one year,” says Anamul Haque, father of the two sons and three daughters.

Neda Fatima of Hazrat Ali Academy carries the serial no. 6190 on the website of Shia Waqf Board. She and her brother Rashid Imtiyaz have also been selected for 2010-11 but they have not got the cheques – neither for the 2009-10 nor for the 2010-11.

“I had applied for my daughter for the pre-matric scholarship scheme in 2009-10. Her name has appeared on the Internet about a year ago but I have not got the cheque so far,” says their father Mohd Imtiyaz Alam.

He further says: In the first year (2008-09) cheques had reached schools, but not now. School has no idea about the cheques. Some told us that a government teacher was distributing cheques. When we went there we found there was no cheque for my daughter along with many others.

The state government and minority affairs minister Shahid Ali Khan almost daily appears in Urdu papers making tall claims about scholarship schemes but what is the ground reality? “We do not find any such thing on the ground in Muzaffarpur. There is no such work here. There is no one even to tell where we should go for the amount,” adds Alam.

“People should get money in time. They are poor students. If money is given in time it will help them,” he says but has no idea where to go for the cheque.

What Muslim schools say

Along the parents, administrators of Muslim schools are also angry with the apathetic attitude of the state government and concerned district department.

For the 2009-10 academic year, 90 students of Hazrat Ali Academy were selected under the pre-matric scholarship scheme and their names appeared on the website of Bihar Shia Wakf Board, but about one year after their name appeared on the list, just 10 have got the cheques. They got it very recently.

“Being a functionary of an organisation I visit several districts like Vaishali, Chapra, Siwan, and Gopalganj besides Muzaffarpur. The situation is similar everywhere. Not more than 10-12% of the minority students have got the scholarship amount. Whatever is appearing in media regarding Muslim education is a propaganda by the state government. It has nothing to do with the reality,” says Noorullah Khan, Secretary, Hazrat Ali Aacademy.

This is the central govt scheme and fund has come from the centre. It is the duty of the DM to distribute the amount in time, he says and when asked what he will do to get the amount he says: “What can I do? Should I run the school or run from pillar to post for the scholarship amount?”

“Bihar Minority Minister Shahid Ali Khan is just a showpiece. He talks only to appease the CM. He is not a representative of Muslims,” angry Khan says.

Mr Abdul Hai, Director and Principal of Al-Huda Public School, sees biased mentality of the concerned departments and officers behind the huge delay in disbursement of the cheques.

“In the beginning the process of filling the form was very complicated. From last year it has been made simple but there is systematic apathy at bureaucratic level that the scholarship scheme is not being implemented in full spirit. As it is a minority scheme, some departments or officers are committing partiality. For 2009-10 results was announced about a year ago on the website but cheques are gathering dust in DSE office,” says Hai.

He has made several rounds of the offices to know about the fate of the cheques. In the first year, cheques came from the Patna but from 2009-10 the state government is transferring funds to District Social Welfare Department.

“Funds come to social welfare department which transfers it to DSE. Cheques are signed by DSE and forward to DEO office. Then it goes to lower officer for distribution. But the lower officer is sitting on cheques. We search for him and find out. A number of people have lost interest due to this cumbersome task. People say they cannot run from pillar to post for Rs 1000 (the amount is fixed for students from class 1 to V)

On Shahid Ali Khan’s media statements, Hai says Shahid’s statment is just a political advocacy.

Facts talk

Bihar has not provided Scholarship Awarded-List to centre

While many states have provided the Scholarship Awarded-List of Pre-Matric Scheme for Academic Year 2010-11 to the Union Ministry of Minority Affairs (which is running the three scholarship schemes) Bihar has not provided that list for even 2008-09 let alone 2009-10 and 2010-11.

Academic Year 2008-09: States which have provided to the Union Ministry of Minority Affairs the Scholarship Awarded-List of Pre-Matric Scheme are: (Last updated 10 May 2011): Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Goa, Haryana, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Meghalaya, Pondicherry, Tamilnadu, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal

Academic Year 2009-10: States which have provided to the Union Ministry of Minority Affairs Scholarship Awarded-List of Pre-Matric Scholarship Scheme are: (Last updated 6 July 2011): Andhra Pradesh, Chandigarh, Delhi, Goa, Himachal Pradesh, Harayana, Jharkhand, Kerala, Lakshwadeep, Madhya Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Orrisa, Pondicherry, Tamilnadu, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal

Academic Year 2010-11: States which have provided to the Union Ministry of Minority Affairs Scholarship Awarded-List of Pre-Matric Scholarship Scheme are: (Last updated 7 July 2011): Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Daman and Diu, Himachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Tamilnadu, Uttar Pradesh

The only reason of Bihar lagging behind other states in furnishing the list of scholarship-awarded list is that the state government has not distributed the amount to the selected students.

Bihar has failed in meeting the target since inception of scheme
Since the inception of the centrally-funded scholarship scheme from 2008-09, Bihar has not met the target of covering the students. In 2008-09, Bihar was given a target of 45684 units of pre-matric scholarship for Muslims, the state government could benefit only 43440. Next academic year was worse. Against the target of 108600 pre-matric scholarship for Muslims, the Nitish Kumar government could capture only 35629 students.

Community-wise Pre-matric scholarship allocation and sanction for 2008-09 in Bihar

Community-wise Pre-matric scholarship allocation and sanction for 2009-10 in Bihar