The "decision taken by the Government of India does not intend to take away the benefits of minorities. The scholarships in question have been withdrawn to address the issue of duplication of schemes. However, there are apprehensions from minority communities in this regard that have to be taken up,” reassured National Commission for Minorities (NCM) chairman Iqbal Singh Lalpura at a meeting with educationists and community leaders and senior officers of the Commission on March 3, 2023, according to a press note of the same day.
The Commission received representations from minority communities "against the withdrawal of pre-matric scholarship (Class I to VIII) and MANF (Maulana Azad National Fellowship) awards for PhD students,” noted the Hindustan Times (HT) of January 21. The scholarships were abruptly cancelled in November and December 2022. "The pre-matric scholarship (was) Rs 1,000 and Rs 5,000 a year respectively for primary and secondary students between Class I and VIII whose parents earn less than one lakh rupees a year and who score at least 50% marks, and for MANF for MPhil/PhD students,” stated HT.
Vice chairman of the NCM, Kersi Deboo will head a six-member committee "with one representative from each community… to examine the matter of promotion of education in minorities and forward recommendations of the committee to the Government of India,” notes the press release from the Commission.
Deboo, who forwarded the press note to Parsiana, told us on March 10 that there is no Christian representation on the NCM at the moment. Lalpura represents the Sikh community. Besides Deboo, the other three members are Syed Shahezadi (Muslim representative), Rinchen Lhamo (Buddhist) and Dhanyakumar Jinappa Gunde (Jain). The press release stated that the role of the Commission is also to undertake confidence building measures amongst the members of the minority communities.