Date:29/03/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/03/29/stories/2008032961970300.htm

New Delhi

Students protest new fellowship norms

Staff Reporter

Photo: V.V. Krishnan

Up in arms: Jawaharlal Nehru University students protesting outside Shastri Bhavan in New Delhi on Friday demanding an increase in funds and seats for the Rajiv Gandhi National Fellowship.

NEW DELHI: A number of students led by the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union held a demonstration outside the Union Social Justice and Empowerment Ministry at Shastri Bhavan here on Friday in protest against the new allotment order of the Rajiv Gandhi National Fellowship scheme that has left “a number of M.Phil./ Ph.D. research scholars disappointed”.

The students belonging to JNU, Jamia Millia Islamia and Delhi University demonstrated against “scuttling” the spirit of the fellowship scheme and reduction in its fund allocation in this year’s Union Budget.

“When it was launched, the fellowship was intended to provide financial assistance to research scholars from Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. Instead of expanding the number of fellowships and increasing the scholarship budget, the spirit behind the scheme is being violated and its effectiveness undermined,” alleged JNUSU president Sandeep Singh on Friday.

He pointed out that since the number of seats had not been increased in the latest announcement of awards, “a large number of SC/ST scholars have been left out”.

“We strongly oppose the restrictive criterion and skewed distribution of the scheme. We also demand that the reduction in the fund allocation for the fellowship in the 2008-09 Union Budget be reversed and the seats increased so as to cover all SC/ST research scholars,” he added. Later a delegation led by the JNU students met Union Minister Meira Kumar and apprised her of the issue.