Rahul Gandhi, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi drawing his attention to the deplorable conditions of residential hostels and the continuing failures in the payment of post-matric scholarships to students belonging to marginalised sections of society. Terming the situation as deplorable, Gandhi in his letter dated June 10 has requested the government to take urgent action to mitigate the crisis that, according to him, is being faced by almost 90 per cent of the students in India who fall under the Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), Economically Backward Classes (EBC), Other Backward Classes (OBC) and minority groups.
Gandhi said he had just come back from visiting the Ambedkar Hostel in Darbhanga, Bihar, where he had seen and communicated with students personally experiencing very serious problems. He claimed that students had to share tiny rooms, 6-7 students in a room, with no sanitation, with unsafe drinking water, with no proper or sometimes no mess facilities, and no access to libraries or internet facilities. He termed such conditions of living to be unacceptable for students struggling to gain an education and have a better future.
Also, Rahul Gandhi alerted about acute delays and breakdowns within the post-matric scholarship system. Using the example of Bihar, he pointed out that the scholarship portal had not been functional in the last three years, and no student had gotten financial support in the 202122 academic year. Although the portal was restored, the scholarship amount of Dalit students decreased tremendously; 1.36 lakh Dalit students were awarded scholarships in FY23, whereas only 0.69 lakh Dalit students got scholarships in FY24. The monetary amounts of the financial aid were also termed as being “insultingly low.”
As a solution, the Gandhi Centre requested that the Centre prepare an audit of all hostels serving the marginalised communities across the country, provide adequate infrastructure and sanitation, and fund it adequately. He also requested the timely disbursement of scholarships, more financial aid and improved coordination with the state governments.
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