New Delhi: Hundreds of scholars from Scheduled Caste (SC) communities have reported delays in receiving grants under the National Fellowship for Scheduled Caste Students (NFSC), with pending payments ranging from two to five months, the Hindu reported.
This comes days after the Union government told the parliament that funds for scholars from Other Backward Caste (OBC) communities have not been not been disbursed since June last year.
Government officials quoted by the paper said that the social justice ministry is in discussions with the department of expenditure to resolve pending NF-OBC grants for the current financial year.
According to the Union government, Rs 54.5 crore of the allocated Rs 55 crore has already been spent.
“The Department of Expenditure has raised some queries with regards to the number of fellows being on-boarded. The Social Justice Ministry is addressing these queries to clear the pending payments for this fiscal. Apart from this, the next year’s allocation has already been raised significantly,” an official quoted by the paper said.
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On Thursday (February 6), the All India Research Scholars Association (AIRSA) wrote to social justice secretary Amit Yadav over the delays. AIRSA president Lal Chandra Vishwakarma said, “We’ve been raising this issue for a decade or more now. It is basic for researchers to get fellowship at the end of every month so that they can focus on their areas of research.”
An NFSC scholar from Punjabi University, who wished to remain anonymous, said that her fellowship money for December and January is still pending. She added that a group of 130 scholars is facing similar delays, with payments overdue by one to three months.
In its letter, AIRSA urged the government to ensure timely disbursal of fellowship funds, increase in budgetary allocation and a grievance redressal mechanism for affected scholars.
