Swaraj India, led by Yogendra Yadav, today alleged that the AAP dispensation has reduced the number of scholarships for SC, ST and OBC students by more than 70,000, terming the move as “anti-Dalit”. Yadav had yesterday claimed that the Kejriwal dispensation had spent Rs 30 lakh on advertisements for student loans scheme, but only three students got Rs 3.15 lakh, a charge which was strongly refuted by the Delhi government, calling it spreading of deliberate misinformation. A statement by the Delhi government said over 100 applicants have been sanctioned loans amounting to Rs 3.55 crore in the current financial year.
Yadav claimed that the number of school scholarships awarded to SC/ST/OBC students came down from 7,50,021 in 2014-15 to 6,79,976 in 2015-16, a massive reduction of 70,045. “A similar scheme meant for higher education, Merit Scholarship for College and University students for SC/ST/OBC went down from 13,898 to 8,361 during these two years, a drop of 40 per cent.
“The beneficiaries of scheme for reimbursement of tuition fee in public schools to SC/ST/OBC students came down from 26,777 in 2014-15 to 23,650 in 2015-16, a drop of more than 3,000,” he said. “Worst of all, the scholarships for vocational and technical education meant for SC/ST/OBC students were 2,062 in 2014-15. The number was nil for 2015-16,” Swaraj India spokesperson Anupam said.
Yadav also tweeted the figures quoting the sources as the departments of education, social welfare, and Baseline Data for Delhi Vision 2030. “These facts expose the anti-Dalit face of the party trying to present itself as the party for Dalits in Punjab,” it said and challenged the Government of Delhi to respond to these facts and face the public, instead of trying to shoot the messenger.
Actions must be taken considering his reviews and education must be fair to everyopneReferring to the claims made by Yadav on the student loan scheme yesterday, the government said last year (2015-16) 54 students were sanctioned loans amounting to Rs 1.52 crore. A statement by the Delhi government said the Delhi Higher Education and Skill Development Guarantee Scheme provides assistance for up to Rs 10 Lakh without any collaterals.
So far around 400 applications requesting for loan assistance have been received for the current fiscal year. Out of these, more than 100 applicants have already been sanctioned loans amounting to a total of Rs 3.55 crore. While a total of three students have been sanctioned loan of an amount more than Rs 7.5 lakh, the remaining loans have been sanctioned for various amounts less than Rs 7.5 lakh, the statement said.