No money for Central scholarship scheme for SC/STs: Bihar govt to HC

The HC, which has been hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Samastipur resident Rajiv Kumar in December 2022, will now hear the plea on March 24. The scholarship, meant for families with annual incomes of up to Rs 2.5 lakh, seeks to help SC/ST students pursue professional, technical, medical, engineering, management and postgraduate courses. An estimated 5 lakh students are eligible for the scheme in Bihar, where SCs account for 16 per cent of the population and the STs 1 per cent.

Responding to the January 24 HC order to file a counter-affidavit, Bihar SC/ST Welfare Department director Sanjay Kumar Singh stated in an affidavit, “…State of Bihar after taking into careful consideration availability of resources of the State Government, keeping in view the financial burden, Governance Matrix and also keeping in mind that if maximum limit of amount of scholarship was to be increased then in view of the multiplicity of curricula/courses under PMS [Post-Matric Scholarship] Scheme, it would also entail additional burden on State Finances and would also result in similar outgo for Backward Classes and Extremely Backward Classes Welfare.”

To a query on why Bihar had not consulted the national panels for SCs and STs before discontinuing the scheme, Singh said it was unnecessary to consult them over a “financial matter”. While the affidavit stated that the state has been running a student credit card scheme and a low loan-rate scheme, it did not mention any scholarship meant exclusively for SC/ST students covered under PMS.

The petitioner, who has cited several instances of SC/ST students being forced to mortgage their land or take loans to pay for engineering courses in the absence of the Central scheme, said, “The state government has been inconsistent with its replies. First, it blamed a technical snag on the PMS portal. Now it is citing fund crunch. No other state has discontinued the scheme. I wonder how it is citing fund crunch when it has the money to make bridges.”

Finance Department officials declined to speak on the matter.

Bihar’s SC/ST welfare department had in 2016 capped the fee under the scholarship saying there was a difference in the tuition of government and private colleges in and outside Bihar. The state had, according to a report by The Indian Express in August 2021, kept the scheme on hold since 2018-19 citing a “technical snag” with the national job portal. According to the 2018-19 CAG report, Bihar had diverted Rs 2,076.99 crore to the state electricity department and given it a loan of Rs 460.84 crore;

Rs 3,081.34 crore was used for major road projects; Rs 1,202.23 crore for constructing embankments and various flood control projects; Rs 1,222.94 crore for medical colleges, and Rs 776.06 crore for constructing various buildings. The Bihar government had agreed with the observations made in the CAG report.