SRINAGAR: Believe it or not, the data compiled for the Government of India’s Minority Scholarship Scheme in J&K is listing Hindu candidates as Muslim.
For instance, in Kulgam district, the data on the National Scholarship Portal shows the names of 474 candidates availing a cumulative Rs 1.5 crore in Merit-Cum-Means Scholarship for professional and technical courses for 2019-20.
But things start to turn weird as one reads the names of the beneficiaries.
PankajKarmakar (clearly a Hindu name), a candidate figuring at serial number 5, is being shown as a ‘Muslim’ with Babar Sekh listed as his father’s name. Pankaj as per the data has availed the scholarship of Rs 25,000.
One Ashok Mandal (another Hindu name) is listed as ‘Muslim’ at serial 12 with name Sajahan SK showing in the father’s column. Ashok has availed Rs 30,000.
Similarly, a female candidate MandiraGhosh is also listed as ‘Muslim’ at serial 377 with SayebaAktari as her father.
Shartat Ghose (apparently a Bengali Hindu name) is listedas ‘Muslim’with Imran Ali as his father. He has been provided Rs 30,000 to study at IndraGanesan College of Bachelor of Engineering in Tamil Nadu.
SabitaGhosh another ‘Muslim’ beneficiary has Jamal Sk listed as his father. He has been provided Rs 25,000 to study computer sciences at Vasavi Institute of Management and Computer Sciences, Andhra Pradesh.
Another candidate at serial 381 has been mentioned as BarkatSekh son of BadalMandal. He has been provided an amount of Rs 30,000 to pursue Masters in Computer Sciences at VignanaBharathi Institute of Technology, Proddatur, Andhra Pradesh.
Whether the mismatch is a technical goof-up or an irregularity of some sort was not immediately known. The data is available on the website https://scholarships.gov.in
Interestingly, the objective of the Merit-Cum-Means Scholarship, as per Union Ministry of Minority Affairs, is to provide financial assistance to the poor and meritorious students belonging to minority communities (Muslim, Christian, Budhist, Sikhs, Parsis and Jain) to enable them to pursue professional and technical courses.
However, as per the data, most of the 474 names listed under Kulgam district are apparently Hindu listed as Muslim. Even the few Muslim names of the candidates in the list sound very non-Kashmiri.
The Kashmir Monitor tried to call on the phone numbers available on the Ministry of Minority Affairs portal but none of them responded.
The ministry of Minority Affairs was carved out of ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment and created on January 29, 2006 to ensure a more focused approach towards issues relating to the notified minority communities. (The Kashmir Monitor)
