J&K students fall prey to NDA government’s apathy

Shashank Dwivedi

The red-tapism and indifference of UGC and AICTE mar the future of poor Kashmiri students

Despite PDP President Mehbooba Mufti raising the issue in Parliament of the Central government’s lackadaisical approach to the special scholarship scheme for the J&K students, the government and its bodies such as UGC and AICTE have not woken up to the seriousness of the matter.  The MPs of J&K have also raised the matter in Parliament, but to no avail. The issue has been hanging in the air despite the NDA being in power both at the center and the state of J&K.

The UPA government at the Center had taken a decision five years ago to enable the poor students of J&K to move outside the state in order to offer them a better opportunity in terms of education, training and employment. Accordingly, it was decided to send at least 5000 students every year for higher education outside the state. The number of students planned to be covered was 25,000 in five years. J&K students were to choose their courses, institutes/colleges or universities under this scheme, and the Center (MHRD) was to bear all expenses for their education as well as boarding and lodging. The Central government allocated a sum of Rs 1200 crores to the MHRD for this purpose. The Secretary, MHRD, formed a committee (Inter Ministerial Committee – IMC) to monitor it and its implementation was handed over to the AICTE. The scheme was called the PMSSS for J&K students.

The scheme started in 2011-12, and the following table gives the number of students who moved outside their state for education:

Session	Number of Students
2011-12	38
2012-13	3562
2013-14	3747
2014-15	2102

The scheme provided 250 seats for Medical, 250 seats for Engineering and the remaining 4500 seats for other courses.

The objective behind the PMSS was clear: to send 5000 J&K students every year outside the state in order to receive technical and higher education and to bring them into the national mainstream. The scheme offered a golden opportunity to the students of J&K to receive career oriented education and training in other states of India. The PMSS scheme provided for students educational fees as well as their board and lodging.  The students had the freedom to choose government recognized institutions and universities. After taking admission in the institution/university of their choice, the students were required to inform the government accordingly.

Hopes dashed: Scholarship holders (from left) Aquib Hussain from Anantnag; Musai Ahmad Wani from Sopore; Umer from Srinagar and Zubair Ahmed from Baramulla applied for admission to various colleges across the country but had to return home disappointed.

The scheme took off very well initially for two to three years. The AICTE acted as the nodal agency for implementing Prime Minister’s Special Scholarship Scheme for J&K students. However, as it usually happens with government schemes, this noble scheme has also now fallen victim to bureaucratic manipulations and interpretations. Till 2013-14, under the referred scheme students got admission in Institutions of their Choice. For the Session 2014-15, the AICTE, departing from its earlier practice, started forcing students to take admission in certain Institutions identified by the AICTE.

 As a result, in 2014-15, AICTE provided scholarships to only 250 students, with 4750 seats remaining vacant. In 2014-15, 75% students got scholarship, whereas the remaining 25% are yet to receive their scholarship. These 25% students are facing a tough situation as the institutions where they are studying are demanding their fees, which the poor students are unable to pay as they have not received their scholarships.

Various anomalies can be pointed out in the way the AICTE has been implementing this scheme. In May, 2014, the AICTE invited willingness from Institutions prepared to offer seats under this Scheme within the number sanctioned by it for the intake in 2014-15, without mentioning any condition or special qualification for any Institution in the notification. Pursuant to this, Institutions submitted their willingness. However, the AICTE did not publish the list of Institutions that submitted willingness in accordance with the advertisement. Suddenly, the MHRD announced that each institution will get only two students. So overall, the guidelines of the MHRD, AICTE and UGC appear contradictory and aimed at defeating the noble objectives of the scheme.

Due to the complex process adopted by the MHRD, UGC and AICTE, very few students of J&K will be able to register, and there are plans to end this program from the coming session. The UPA government has made provisions for five years for the PMSS to bring Kashmiri students to the national mainstream, but the NDA government does not seem inclined to continue with the scheme. Most of the students deriving benefits under the PMSS scheme are from rural and poor background, coming from far flung areas. Many of them are girl students, too. Our Prime Minister’s vision is to provide girl students a special place in our society, as evident from many of his actions and declarations. However, it is an irony that the PMSS scheme which would have given the poor J&K girls pride of place in our society is gasping for breath due to some bureaucrats’ callous attitude. Many of these students are not willing to continue their education in these Institutions under the existing circumstances. The students feel bad that they are unable to pay for their education as well as board and lodging in the institutions where they are studying.

Some educational institutions have been bearing the cost of education as well as board and lodging of the students of J&K for the last two years, following all the rules and regulations laid down by the government. However, since they happened to be from the private sector, the government seems disinclined to extend assistance to them. These institutions were providing the J&K students with modern, employment-oriented education that is steeped in nationalistic values and commitment to the society. The J&K students receiving education in these institutions got to know the students of other parts of India, their food and culture. They were gradually being assimilated into the national mainstream via education and acculturation.

It is apparent that the NDA government is not keen to continue with the noble PMSS scheme which aimed at bringing the students of J&K into the national mainstream via proper education and acculturation through mixing with students of other states. The MHRD, UGC and AICTE have together turned PMSS into a frustrating ordeal for J&K students.

 The worrying factor is that in the absence of educational opportunities provided under the PMSS outside J&K, the frustrated youth might disembark from the path of nationalism and follow in the footsteps of misguided youths of their state. All the good work done in the last few years to make J&K students aware of their nation, its culture, history and real patriots will go waste if the scheme is aborted midway.