Harshit Singh
In India’s largest minority scholarship scam, around 53% of institutions participating in the minority scholarship system were discovered to be “fake.” An internal investigation performed by the Ministry of Minority Affairs uncovered widespread corruption in as many as 830 such organisations, resulting in a Rs 144.83 crore fraud during the previous five years. Smriti Irani, Union Minister, has referred the case to the Central Bureau of inquiry (CBI) for further inquiry.
According to India Today, the Ministry of Minority Affairs filed an official complaint in the matter on July 10. The study spanned 100 districts across 34 states. 830 of the 1572 institutions investigated were determined to be engaged in fraudulent activity. The data comes from 21 of the 34 states, with examinations into the institutions in the remaining states still ongoing.
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For the time being, the authorities have ordered the freezing of accounts associated with these 830 institutions.
The Ministry’s scholarship programme includes around 1,80,000 institutions and students from kindergarten through higher education. The effort began in the 2007-2008 academic year. Scholarships meant for ACstudents were claimed by these institutions every year using phoney beneficiaries for the programme.
The CBI will look into the nodal officers of these institutions who submitted approval reports, the district nodal officers who validated the phoney cases, and how several states permitted this scam to continue for so long. According to sources, the government has also questioned how banks allowed beneficiaries to register fraudulent accounts with phoney Aadhar cards and KYC paperwork.
According to sources, despite being non-existent or non-operational, many of the institutions investigated were able to register on both the National Scholarship Portal and the Unified District Information System for Education (UDISE).
BREAKDOWN BY STATE
Chhattisgarh: All 62 institutions examined were determined to be bogus or non-operational.
Rajasthan: Of the 128 institutions examined, 99 were fraudulent or non-operational.
Assam: A startling 68 percent of institutions were discovered to be fraudulent.
In Karnataka, 64% of institutions were discovered to be fraudulent.
Uttar Pradesh: 44 percent of institutions were discovered to be fraudulent.
West Bengal: 39 percent of institutions were discovered to be fraudulent.
MANY RED FLAGS DURING THE INVESTIGATION
One bank branch in Malappuram, Kerala, disbursed 66,000 scholarships, exceeding the registered number of minority students eligible for scholarships.
A college with 5,000 registered students in Anantnag, Jammu and Kashmir, claimed 7,000 scholarships.
One parent’s phone number was linked to 22 children, all of whom were allegedly in class IX.
Despite the absence of a hostel at another college, every student applied for a hostel scholarship.
In Assam, a bank branch purportedly had 66,000 beneficiaries, and when the verification team sought to verify student details at a madrasa, they were intimidated.
Minority pupils in Punjab won scholarships despite not being enrolled in school.
IMPORTANT FINDINGS
A shocking 830 of the 1,572 minority institutions examined were determined to be either bogus or non-operational.
Scholarships intended for actual minority students were claimed by these bogus colleges.
Corruption appears to have permeated various layers of the system in this case.
Scholarships were verified without on-the-ground examination by district nodal officers and institutions.
Scholarships were successfully claimed by imposters.
The Minority Affairs Ministry has ordered the freezing of accounts linked to the 830 entities involved.
