The discontinuation of the Maulana Azad National Fellowship, meant for students from minority communities to pursue research at universities, has evoked a sharp response from the members of the affected communities. The reason given by the union government is vague. “Since the MANF scheme overlaps with various other fellowship schemes for higher education being implemented by the government and minority students are already covered under such schemes, hence the government has decided to discontinue the MANF Scheme from 2022-2023,” it said.
Does it mean that since there are other scholarships available for research, this particular scholarship becomes a duplication? We know that one individual cannot avail of two scholarships at the same time. So, where is the question of duplication or overlap? For example, a researcher getting a junior research fellowship through the National Eligibility Test cannot take the MANF. So, what is the rationale, then?
Mahtab Alam is right when he says, “If that is the real reason, then one should be ready to hear a similar argument about fellowships to research scholars from other marginalised communities – such as Dalits, Adivasis, OBCs and persons with disabilities. After all, the government can very well assert that students from these groups are already covered under the UGC's main fellowships, Junior Research Fellowship and Senior Research Fellowship.”
It wouldn’t happen, we know, and one should hope it doesn’t. That tells you why the government was so comfortable abolishing this fellowship. It knows that it wouldn’t cost it electorally. Muslims are politically so weak and demoralised that they wouldn’t be able to protest it. If they do, it would be immediately painted as a sectarian complaint. Why do they want special schemes for themselves?
This is not an act of financial rationalisation. It needs to be seen as part of the overall project of disempowering minorities, especially Muslims, in all aspects of life. In the economic sphere, attacks on vocations which employ mostly Muslims are going on. Culturally, they are being invisibilised by abolishing Muslim names, changing public practices, etc. The most recent example is changing the name of Salam Arti to Sandhya Arti in Karnataka. As I write, I am informed that the Madhya Pradesh government has banned an essay competition in which the participants were supposed to write about the life of the Prophet Mohammed.
This recent move is a part of this larger objective. But even if we don’t look at that, we need to understand what it would do. Muslims were advised by their well-wishers to educate themselves and not remain confined to religious or cultural issues. Muslims should be seen as developmental units was the plea which led to the setting up of the Sachar committee. It identified areas where Muslims were lagging behind and needed hand-holding.
Education was one such area. It was found that at the higher levels of education, the gap between Non-Muslims and Muslims widened. They needed assistance here. The MANF resulted from this realisation and recommendation. Extra support to the part of the national population which is falling behind helps create an equal society. A good society is one where all communities are on an equal plane. If that needs an extra push, that needs to be given.
It explains the famous statement by the then prime minister Manmohan Singh who said that the most marginalised communities, which included minorities like Muslims, had the first claim over the national resources. In any civilised society, this stand would be applauded. But in India, it was distorted by the BJP, alleging that Muslims were being given all the resources. It implied that they were being taken away from the Hindus.
It was the state of Gujarat under the leadership of Narendra Modi which had refused to implement the schemes initiated after the Sachar Committee recommendation, especially the scheme of pre-matriculation scholarships meant for Muslims, calling it discriminatory. It took judicial intervention to force the government to do it reluctantly. The Gujarat government does not have a ministry for minority affairs. The then CM insisted that he was speaking on behalf of 5 crore Gujaratis refusing to acknowledge the Muslim identity. At the same time, he also mocked it and asked Gujaratis if he should allow “ Ham panch humare pachees!”
It is not surprising, therefore, that the Union government abolished the pre-matriculation scholarship again, taking the excuse of duplication. It said that since the government was already providing free education under the Right to Education Act, there was no need for scholarships from classes 1 to 8. One knows educational expenses do not mean school fees, and there is much more like books, notebooks and other things needed for education. If a child does not have these things, she will automatically drop out.
‘India Tomorrow’ reported that even before scrapping the scheme, its size was gradually shrinking. Moreover, a declining trend is also observed in the number of beneficiaries of post-matric scholarships for minorities after Modi assumed power at the Centre.”
All this needs to be seen in the context of decreasing the size of minority welfare programmes. The government has been reducing the amount even if, in some schemes, the number of claimants has increased. Overall, the government is finding ways of winding up the schemes meant especially for minorities in the name of integrating them.
Many scholars who did their research with the support of MANF have pointed out that they could not have done it without it. Its abolition would mean the end of the road for aspirants like them.
Recall the worry of the RSS that Muslims are infiltrating the state structure in a planned manner. The formation of the middle class or elites in the Muslim community is seen as a conspiracy hatched by them.
There is another aspect of this step. The scheme was named after Maulana Azad. One of the few government schemes or plans bearing a Muslim name. Its abolition also means erasing all Muslims signs from the body of the state. It is cruel and petty at the same time.
(The writer teaches at Delhi University)
Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author’s own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DH.