BJD stages dharna against Centre over SC scholarship row

BHUBANESWAR: The ruling BJD on Saturday staged a 12-hour relay strike near the Raj Bhavan here against the Centre for changing the funding pattern of the post-matric scholarship scheme for Scheduled Castes (SC) students. Several party MLAs attended the rally and criticised the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre for being anti-Dalit. The BJD alleged that the Centre’s move will put an additional financial burden of Rs 238 crore on the state exchequer.

Under the scheme, the Centre used to provide 90% of the funds while the remaining 10% was borne by the state government. From 2017-18, the Centre revised the funding pattern wherein the state government has to bear 80% of the total expenditure while Centre sanctioned the remaining 20%. Accordingly, the state government provided Rs 238.28 crore while the Centre released Rs 35.12 crore as its share in 2017-18 towards scholarship amount.

“Such an abrupt change in the funding pattern by the ministry (social justice and empowerment) has given a severe jolt to the post-matric scholarship programme for SC students,” stated a memorandum submitted by the party to the President of India through Governor Ganeshi Lal. The party has also urged the President to direct the Centre to restore the funding sharing pattern of 90:10 between the Centre and state government.

Finance minister Shashi Bhusan Behera, who led the protest, said the decision proves the anti-development attitude of the Centre. The move to modify the post-matric scholarship norms will push the future of nearly 2 lakh SC students into darkness, said Behera. Recently, the BJD has raised the issue in the assembly and staged a dharna near the Mahatma Gandhi statue on the assembly premises.

On November 17, chief minister Naveen Patnaik had urged Union minister of social justice and empowerment Thaawarchand Gehlot to restore the 90:10 fund sharing pattern between the Centre and state. The Congress SC Cell would also organise a ‘Mahasamabesh’ (grand convention) on November 27 to protest against growing incidents of violence against Dalits. Several senior leaders from AICC would attend it.