A few Kashmiri students who were expelled from colleges due to problematic social media posts were studying on Prime Minister’s Special Scholarship Scheme (PMSSS). The PMSSS is a central government sponsored scheme which offers merit-based admission to students of Jammu and Kashmir in various colleges, institutes and universities of the country. At least five of the suspended/expelled students were studying through PMSSS scheme.
The students from Geeta Engineering College in Panipat, Moradabad Institute of Technology (MIT) protested against Kashmiri students studying in their colleges. The students from Quantum University in Roorkee, Bharat Institute of Technology in Meerut, and Shree Guru Gobind Singh Tricentenary University in Gurgaon also protested against social media posts/comments of Kashmiri students and these students were expelled from the college. Moradabad Institute of Technology (MIT) has decided not to admit students through PMSSS from the new session in July.
Under the PMSSS scheme, 5000 students are offered scholarship every year to pursue undergraduate studies in various professional studies fields like engineering, medical, nursing, pharmacy, hotel management, agriculture, architecture and commerce. The institutes recognized by UGC or AICTE can admit the students under the scheme. The scholarship covers expenditure of these students including tuition fee, hostel fee, and mess. The number of students admitted through the scheme has gone up exponentially in the last four years with a total admission of 9.604 students. The highest number of applications came from Kashmir followed by Jammu and Ladakh region. The maximum number of admission through PMSSS was in Punjab followed by Maharashtra, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan and New Delhi. The cities of Bengaluru and Pune have the highest number of PMSSS scholars from Jammu and Kashmir.
Earlier, in an incident that exposes the fake narrative of Kashmiri students facing harassment within Indian cities, it has been reported that three Kashmiri students have been arrested for assaulting a collegemate over his Facebook post against the Pulwama terror attack. The present incident of Kashmiri students attacking their collegemate suggests that reality is the complete opposite of what the mainstream media is trying to suggest.
Many Kashmiri students who study across the country on the scholarship sponsored by the central government do not respect sovereignty and integrity of India. Jammu and Kashmir gets a huge chunk of central government grants. It gets 10 percent of funds from central government despite having only 1 percent of the country’s total population. In last sixteen years, the state has received 1.14 lakh crore rupees from central government. “In general, the special category states get a higher share of central grants, and Jammu and Kashmir being one of them will also get such treatment,” Tapas Sen, a professor at the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP), and a long-time researcher on state finances, told The Hindu. “But even among them, Jammu and Kashmir is getting a higher share due to its disturbed status and its border with Pakistan.”
The Kashmiri students’ should understand that the central government is helping them financially on the expense of the rest of the country. They need to behave more responsibly towards sovereignty and integrity of the country.