Ministry not implementing scholarship schemes meant for tribal students: Panel

New Delhi: The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Social Justice and Empowerment has slammed the Ministry of Tribal Affairs for poor implementation of different scholar schemes, which are meant for the welfare of tribal students.

The Parliamentary Committee, which is chaired by Lok Sabha MP Rama Devi, stated in its 30th report that the Ministry of Tribal Affairs is not implementing different scholarship schemes in 'true spirit' as the ministry is not making any effort to identify eligible students for awarding National Overseas Scholarships as the government has been able to award the scholarship to just 45 students in the last five years.

Notably, the National Overseas Scholarships is awarded to 20 students, which includes 17 for ST students and three for particularly vulnerable tribal group (PVTG) students, having income ceiling of Rs 6 lakh annually for pursuing higher studies abroad.

Going by the findings of the Parliamentary Committee, the overseas scholarship of 55 tribal students lapsed in the last five years due to 'irresponsible' approach of the government.

The committee also noted that out of sanctioned amount of Rs 5 crore for overseas scholarship, only Rs 2.46 crore has been spent by the ministry for the year 2021-22.

"The committee is unable to comprehend as to why even 20 National Overseas Scholarships fixed for each year for ST, PVTG students are not being availed by them," it said in its report which was tabled in the Parliament on Monday.

The Committee has also recommended fixing the annual income ceiling to Rs 10 lakh instead of the existing Rs 6 lakh as eligibility criteria for the scholarship. "It should be regularly reviewed so that the eligibility criteria get rationalised and a large number of deserving students avail the opportunity," the panel stated.

Pulling up the government in the matter of implementation of pre-matric scholarship scheme, the panel stated that there has not been many variations in the number of beneficiaries and targets fixed for 2020-21, 2021-22 and 2022-23 under it which should have increased in view of the objective of the scheme that is, the incidence of dropouts should be minimized.

In the year 2019-20, 14.51 lakh students got scholarships, similarly in 2020-21 14.46 lakh students got scholarships and 12.7 lakh students have received scholarships in 2021-22 and some of the remaining cases are reportedly under process. The Committee, in its report, said that either the population of tribal students under pre-matric classes has remained stagnant or the ministry has not made enough efforts to ensure that the target fixed under the scheme is based on correct data regarding tribal population.

On 750 National Fellowship scheme for pursuing higher studies such as MPhil and Ph.D. in Indian universities, the Committee was surprised to find that Budgetary allocation and target in 2020-21 and 2021-22 have remained the same which is Rs 120 crore and the budgetary allocation for 2022-23 have marginally increased to Rs 145.