Taking umbrage at the UP government decision to link facility of student scholarship of Other Backward Caste pursuing professional courses only if they obtain at least 50 marks in the qualifying examination or Intermediate, Samajwadi Party has said that it would protest against the move.
The state government provides scholarship to students of OBCs and other castes pursuing studies medical, engineering and management courses in private institutions.
In the new rules announced on Friday, the government has exempted OBC students who are from minority community. The Mandal Commission report for OBCs also include the Backward Castes from Muslim community.
Samjwadi Party leader and Leader of Opposition in Assembly Ram Govind Chaudhary said in Lucknow on Saturday termed the move as 'a regressive decision of the BJP government'.
"This government decision will adversely affect students from the OBCs as most of them are from economically weaker sections of the society. It’s a calculated move of the BJP government to deprive backward caste students to pursue higher studies and professional courses like medical, engineering and management courses. We will never accept this decision and will oppose it at every possible level,’’ said Chaudhary.
The SP leader said that the facility was introduced in 2006 by Samajwadi Party government headed by Mulayam Singh Yadav. He said that the objective of the scheme was to help students of economically weaker sections irrespective of caste or community as they were unable to bear the high fees charged by private institutions offering professional courses.
"The government has not only linked facility of scholarship with minimum 50 percent qualifying marks, it has also reduced the annual amount to mere Rs 50,000," said he.
On Friday, the state government announced `UP OBCs Post -Matric Scholarship Recoupment Rules, 2017 (Fifth Amendment) as per which the maximum amount to paid as scholarship by the government to undergraduate OBC students of engineering will be Rs 50,000, Rs 30,000 for diploma engineering course and Rs 10,000 for certificate courses.
The rules also provide that only those students will be able to avail the benefit of the scheme who had secured at least 50 per cent marks in Intermediate.