Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit on Thursday sought a comprehensive report from the State government on the issue surrounding several students from the Scheduled Caste (SC) category dropping out of college owing to non-disbursal of scholarship. “If it is correct, it would be a most reprehensible violation of constitutional rights of SC students and grave injustice to them,” the governor wrote in his letter to Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann.
Mr. Purohit’s letter was issued a day after National Commission for Scheduled Castes sought a response from the government on the issue by July 27. It’s chairperson Vijay Sampla said that the Punjab government had not paid the scholarship amount even after the Central government had cleared its dues under the scholarship scheme. This had resulted in over two lakh students from the SC category dropping out of college. He also pointed out that while close to three lakh SC students had benefitted from the scholarship scheme in 2017, that number had dwindled to 1-1.25 lakh in 2020.
It may be noted that Mr. Mann announced an inquiry into the irregularities in the Post Matric Scholarship Scheme on July 13. Stating that the exercise will ascertain every lapse and embezzlement of public money under the scheme, he declared that these discrepancies are an intolerable crime against the weaker and underprivileged strata of society. Severe action will be taken against anyone found involved, he added.
