Uttar Pradesh government has ordered District Magistrates (DM) of all 75 districts in the state to investigate minority technical and management institutes for discrepancies in enrollment. There had been multiple charges levied against these technical and management institutions for failing to enroll 50% students from the minority community. These institutes have allegedly enrolled students belonging only to the Scheduled Caste category in the seats reserved for minority students. There also have been multiple allegations levied against these institutes for failing to provide the students with the scholarships granted to them. This corruption had been allegedly going on under the Samajwaadi Party government led by Akhilesh Yadav. The extent of mismanagement under the SP regime can be ascertained from the fact that thousands of students who were entitled to scholarships have been deprived of their rights. The inquiry ordered by the CM Yogi government will probe these charges too while going through the admission records.
Times of India quoted Manoj Singh, Principal Secretary, UP social welfare department, saying ,“We had received a complaint on IGRS portal that several minority institutions in UP have not followed the set norms and have instead admitted students from other communities. We have asked the DMs across UP to conduct a probe into the matter and submit a report to us. The institutions found guilty will be blacklisted.’’
Integrated Grievance Redressal System (IGRS) was rolled out in UP by the CM Yogi government when it came to power in 2017. IGRS helps the common people in directly reaching the concerned government ministers and exposing the instances of corruption. IGRS came in handy in exposing this malpractice which had been ongoing since 2014. The DMs have been asked to probe scholarships and admissions in academic year 2014-15, 2015-16, 2016-17 and 2017-18.
Jagmohan Singh, District Minority Welfare officer of Bareilly and Badaun, opened up on this issue, “The minority institutes are allowed to admit students without counseling or entrance exam. While the scholarship given to minority students depends on the availability of funds, students belonging to the SC category get a 100% fee reimbursement from the central government. We have received complaints alleging that some minority institutions gave 100% admissions to SC students so that they could eventually pocket the scholarship amount given by the Centre for the SC students.”
The institutions which are to be probed have been doing this since the past many years, lawlessness and a possible nexus with the past governments too cannot be ruled out in this matter. Akhilesh Yadav led SP government which had been in charge till 2017 in UP had created a mess in the state. CM Yogi has decided to come down hard on the malpractices once it got the news of corruption being carried out in the state. Yogi government had also decided to directly transfer the scholarships to the students’ accounts. The minority status of an institution situated in Sheshwan area of Badaun had come under threat after an internal enquiry. The enquiry confirmed that the college had not given admissions to the minority students belonging from other communities who had applied there instead choosing to accept students from only the SC community.
The benefits for the students have been denied by the very leaders who try to portray themselves as champions of backward communities. CM Yogi has come as a saviour for the students who had been receiving unfair treatments at the hands of SP. The corruption done by officials of minority technical and management institutions will also be exposed in the upcoming days. The scale of corruption will come as a shocker considering the number of institutions and the years for which the malpractices had carried on unchecked.
