The ‘missing years’ in Punjab’s scholarship scheme

While funding for SC students has resumed, pending dues caused a dip in numbers between 2017 and 2020

The issue of non-payment of scholarship money meant for post-matriculation Scheduled Caste students is back in the spotlight after Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit earlier this week flagged a statement of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) chairperson linking it to an increase in dropouts. Mr. Purohit has sought a report from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government.

The Post Matric Scholarship Scheme for SC students underwent a funding change from 2020-21 with the Centre-State contribution ratio pegged at 60:40 and has been running smoothly since. Until 2016-17, it operated as a fully-funded Central scheme. The problem pertains to the missing years, 2017 to 2020, when the Centre turned off the funds tap but the then Congress-led State government kept the scheme going. According to government data, the pending amount for the years 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-2020 adds up to ₹1,563.77 crore.

The Bhagwant Singh Mann government now insists that pending amounts would be cleared only after an audit of the scheme is completed. “The government is very clear that a comprehensive audit would be conducted pertaining to these years and any decision would be taken thereafter,” Ramesh Kumar Ganta, Principal Secretary, Social Justice, Empowerment and Minorities, told  The Hindu on Friday.

Decoding the dropouts

On Wednesday, NCSC chairperson Vijay Sampla had said that close to two lakh SC students dropped out of colleges in Punjab as the State government didn’t pay the scholarship amount, and sought a reply by July 27. He pointed out that in 2017 there were close to three lakh SC students who benefited from the scheme, but in 2020 the number came down to 1-1.25 lakh. With funding for the scheme back on track, the State government in its 2022-23 budget allocated ₹649 crore for it to cover around 2.50 lakh SC students. Students now get the money directly instead of it being given to institutions as was the case earlier.

Paramjit Singh Kainth, chief of the National Scheduled Castes Alliance, an organisation working on Dalit rights, said that the key reason behind the drop in number of students under scholarship between 2017 and 2020 was the State government not releasing the funds. “Because the government didn’t pay the colleges, students started to drop out as several private colleges withheld their degrees until they cleared their dues,” he said.

Scheme irregularities