Congress MP Kodikunnil Suresh speaks with The Indian Express on discontinuation of Maulana Azad National Fellowship (MANF). You described the move to discontinue MANF as anti-education. Minority communities are educationally backward. That’s why the Sachar Committee had recommended to the then Manmohan Singh government to provide such fellowships to enable the meritorious students from these communities to pursue higher education. The Congress had implemented fellowship keeping this in mind. What do you think are potential implications of scrapping fellowship? After the fellowship was introduced, hundreds of students, who would have otherwise fallen off the education grid, could continue studies. The withdrawal of these fellowships means many will be unable to pursue higher studies. The government withdrew it without consultation. But the government argues that the MANF was overlapping with other schemes that cover minority students. This is an unjustified argument by Union Minority Affairs Minister Smriti Irani. There are mechanisms like Aadhaar and other technical ways to prevent overlapping, if any. That is not an issue at all. You think there are other reasons? This government is essentially anti-Muslim, anti-minority, and anti-Dalit. Even the pre-matric scholarship for minorities as well as SC/ST communities has been discontinued. The government has justified it saying RTE mandates free education till Class 8. But many students from disadvantaged communities attend schools for the scholarship. They might drop out now. What are you demanding from the government? Our demand is that pre-matric scholarships and MANF should be restored.
