Launched with much fanfare, the Prime Minister’s Special Scholarship Scheme has run in to rough weather as the NGOs designated to provide information to students about the scheme are fleecing students in the name of scholarships. The NGOs are demanding a huge sum as ‘Registration Fee’ which they are not entitled to do, withhold the original certificates of students and later blackmail them and demand a huge sum in lieu of the original documents.
The sinister plot does not end here. Colleges outside the valley where the valley-based students had gone to study various courses are expelling these students by saying that no money from the Union Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry reached the College. The Vice-chancellor of a certain Cambridge Engineering College in Chandigarh was audacious enough to write on the website of the College that the Kashmiri students ‘vanished’ in to the various Universities of the Punjab. The Vice-chancellor did not shy away from saying that the colleges in the state of Punjab will not entertain any Kashmiri student in future.
One particular NGO has wreaked havoc with the career of thousands of students from the Kashmiri valley as the NGO would itself collect the money from the students and them get them admitted to various B-grade colleges in various Indian states like Punjab, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Karnataka. When no money reached the colleges from the Union HRD Ministry, these students were sent back from the colleges. It is an astonishing fact that the said NGO is openly backed by the governor of the state of Jammu and Kashmir NN Vohra. On the website of the NGO NN Vohra is shown as the Chief Patron of the NGO. Many other prominent politicians of the valley are associated with this NGO in various capacities.
When The Kashmir Scenario did a cover story on the issue and governor’s name came up, people expected the governor to clear his position on the issue. The governor to everybody’s surprise did not issue any press statement on the issue and did not appear in any mood to clear his position on the issue.
The higher ups in the state administration are also maintaining a criminal silence on the issue leading many unanswerable questions to remain as unanswered. If the career of thousands of students is at stake, is not it a big enough issue for the state administration? Why cannot the state government issue a press statement and clear their position about the matter?
It is pertinent to mention that withholding original documents of the students calls for legal action against these NGOs. The government which talks of a ‘corruption-free’ administration is maintaining a queer silence on the issue. The students in various colleges outside the valley are feeling left-out and a strange sense of alienation has dawned on them.
Caught in a precarious situation, students are unwilling to come home as they feel a good precious year of their life has been wasted.
The question remains that why did not these NGOs check the status of the colleges they were about to admit thousands of valley-based students in? The bigger question, however, remains that on whose behalf were these NGOs taking money from the students? How come these students withhold the original documents of the students?
The million dollar question that stares us straight in the face is that what was the state government when all this was happening? Was there no authority to monitor the functioning of these NGOs?
There are many layers to this controversy. The Union HRD Minsiter Shahsi Tharoor brushed aside the criticism by merely saying that thousands of complains have been received against various NGOs and he would look into the matter. Till that, however, nothing is being done.
Across the social spectrum of Kashmir this issue has created ripples and people are baffled that how these NGOs were able to do a fraud of such magnitude right under the nose of the authorities. A poor man in South Kashmir sold off some land to finance his sons in some other college after he was expelled from the college he was admitted through one of the NGOs.
Worthwhile to mention that this scheme was launched 2010 in the backdrop of the massive protests to provide a platform to the talented youth to undertake job-oriented courses like bachelors in Dental surgery, B tech and BSc . The aim was to channelize the talent of Kashmiri youth in various fields.
As this scheme is in doldrums and it would take a herculean effort to haul it back to a normal platform, it remains a thing of regret that how come the responsible central government be so irresponsible to launch this scheme without proper groundwork.
We pray that the career of thousands of students is saved. At the same time people must pressurize government and give a terse reminder to the state administration to punish all guilty. For the time being, launching of a criminal case against the NGOs would heal the wounds of so many affected. We hope government comes out of its slumber and launch a proactive drive to check the status of all the NGOs indulging in this practice. We hope things change and we hope things change very soon.