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The Wire
13 hours ago
- Politics
- The Wire
Delay in Disbursement of Stipend Under Maulana Azad Fellowship Leaves Minority Students in Distress
Menu हिंदी తెలుగు اردو Home Politics Economy World Security Law Science Society Culture Editor's Pick Opinion Support independent journalism. Donate Now Top Stories Delay in Disbursement of Stipend Under Maulana Azad Fellowship Leaves Minority Students in Distress Ankit Raj 20 minutes ago Numerous researchers from minority communities pursuing their PhDs under the Maulana Azad National Fellowship have not received their stipends since December 2024. Union minister of minority affairs Kiren Rijiju. Photo: PTI Real journalism holds power accountable Since 2015, The Wire has done just that. But we can continue only with your support. Contribute now New Delhi: PhD researchers who are beneficiaries of the Maulana Azad National Fellowship are once again experiencing delays in the disbursement of their stipends. The majority of these researchers have not received their stipends from December 2024 up to the present date in May 2025. In fact, some researchers have not received their stipends even prior to this period. The Maulana Azad National Fellowship, administered by the Ministry of Minority Affairs, offers financial assistance to researchers belonging to six notified minority communities in India: Muslim, Christian, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, and Parsi. However, the delays in disbursement have caused not only financial hardships but also psychological stress for the researchers dependent on this scholarship. A number of students are managing to get by through borrowing funds. Research endeavours have come to a standstill. There are no funds left for purchasing books and conducting fieldwork. Due to the government's silence, the researchers feel that this fellowship is being intentionally halted. Several researchers have reported that ministry officials have advised them to abandon this fellowship and seek alternative schemes. In light of this situation, three Members of Parliament (Zia ur Rahman from Sambhal, Mohammad Javed from Kishanganj, and T. Sumati from Chennai South) have written a letter addressed to the Union minister of minority affairs, Kiren Rijiju, requesting prompt attention to the matter. The initial two years of this five-year scholarship are referred to as JRF (Junior Research Fellowship), during which a monthly stipend of Rs 37,000 is provided. The subsequent three years are designated as SRF (Senior Research Fellowship), offering a monthly amount of Rs 42,000. As of December 2023, a total of 1,466 researchers were benefiting from this fellowship. Among them, 907 were recipients of the JRF, while 559 were recipients of the SRF. The government terminated this fellowship during the 2022-23 period. In the budget for 2025-26, the central government decreased the funding for this fellowship by 4.9%, reducing it from Rs 45.08 crore to Rs 42.84 crore. The plight of researchers The Wire spoke to researchers from various universities across the country. Kalu Tamang, a researcher in the Hindi department at Presidency University in Kolkata, said, 'I have been facing challenges for approximately six months. The financial burden is making it increasingly difficult to conduct my research.' Tamang, a Buddhist student, was awarded this fellowship in 2021. He has urged Rijiju to expedite the release of the fellowship as soon as possible. 'I am currently in the fourth year of my PhD program, and the fellowship stipends have stopped. This financial strain has adversely impacted my mental health. I am struggling to pay my rent and have had to borrow money from friends, continually promising to repay them as soon as possible,' said another PhD researcher at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in Delhi. This researcher hails from the North East and is a member of the Buddhist community. Razia Khatoon, currently pursuing her PhD in the Department of Physiology at Calcutta University, stated that despite ongoing appeals, there has been no response from the officials. 'Numerous researchers are persistently facing financial difficulties. My health has declined due to the continuous stress,' said Khatoon. Salima Sultan, who is pursuing PhD from Manipur University, has also not received fellowship stipend since December 2024. 'Maulana Azad National Fellowship is the only hope for researchers from minority community,' said Sultan. 'The stipend from the fellowship allows us to meet the expenses of our research. Our academic life is getting badly affected. Fellowship is the right of the students. We demand from the government to run this fellowship smoothly like other fellowships,' she added. Researchers said that there was delay in obtaining stipends earlier too. But, in the past, the reasons for such delays were communicated. This time, no explanation is being provided. As a result of this uncertainty, students are experiencing increased stress. The Ministry of Minority Affairs has not given any clarification regarding the release of pending fellowship amounts. A team of researchers visited the Ministry of Minority Affairs on May 15 to request the disbursement of fellowship amounts. A researcher from Jamia stated that the officials declined to meet them. A research scholar affiliated with Aligarh Muslim University sought information via the Right to Information (RTI) Act regarding the release date of the fellowship stipend. However, the ministry provided a vague response. In the RTI reply, the ministry has not specified when the scholarship will be awarded. Who is eligible for this fellowship? The Maulana Azad National Fellowship is awarded to PhD researchers belonging to minority communities enrolled in Indian universities. To qualify, it is essential to have successfully completed the National Eligibility Test (NET). This fellowship is granted to researchers whose family's annual income is less than Rs 6 lakh. Maulana Azad National Fellowship comes under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Minority Affairs. As of October 2022, the National Minorities Development and Finance Corporation (NMDFC) serves as its nodal agency. This organisation manages outstanding payments and administrative issues. Previously, these responsibilities were held by the UGC (University Grants Commission). Researchers contend that the fellowship operated more efficiently under the UGC. 'The good thing about UGC was that it used to offer reasons for delay in disbursing the fellowship, and would share details. But NMDFC has failed to offer any such assistance,' stated a researcher from Jamia Millia Islamia. What do NMDFC and the ministry say? The Wire reached out to Nixon Mathur, the deputy general manager (planning) and Company Secretary of NMDFC, to inquire about the delay in the scholarship disbursement. 'Our responsibility is to allocate the funds. However, we have not yet received the funds from the ministry. The issue is still under review. Once the funds are received, the researchers will be awarded the fellowship,' said Mathur. Mathur further mentioned that the last funding from the ministry was received in October-November 2024. The Wire reached out to Joint Secretary (Education) Ram Singh to inquire about the reasons behind the ministry's delay in releasing funds. Singh, who is employed in the Ministry of Minority Affairs, oversees the pre-matric scholarship, post-matric scholarship schemes, Padho Pradesh, and the Maulana Azad National Fellowship. He has not yet responded. A discontinued scheme: Maulana Azad National Fellowship Maulana Azad National Fellowship was started by the Ministry of Minority Affairs in the year 2009. Its main objective was to encourage minority students to pursue higher education and reduce the financial barriers in their path. But in December 2022, the Government of India discontinued this fellowship. In response to a question in the Lok Sabha, the Ministry of Minority Affairs had clearly said, 'Since the Maulana Azad National Fellowship (MANF) scheme matches many other fellowship schemes for higher education, the government has decided to discontinue it from 2022-23.' However, Minority Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju had assured that 'students who are already getting this fellowship will continue to get it for their stipulated period.' NMDFC, the nodal agency of Maulana Azad National Fellowship, had also mentioned this in its notice. Translated from the Hindi original, published on The Wire Hindi, by Naushin Rehman. The Wire is now on WhatsApp. Follow our channel for sharp analysis and opinions on the latest developments. Make a contribution to Independent Journalism Related News After Rijiju Dials Mamata, TMC Picks Abhishek Banerjee to Join Op Sindoor All-Party Delegations MHA, Which Once Denied Foreign Aid to Flood-Hit Kerala, Gives FCRA Permit to Maharashtra Relief Fund Rise in Share of Profit in GVA Has Not Translated into Increase in Wages: Report Another Round, No Results: India–US Carrier Talks Remain Stuck in Symbolism For Arms Dealers, Operation Sindoor Was Not a Crisis Conflict But a Business Opportunity The French Are Anxious to Know the Fate of Rafales in Operation Sindoor Combat Ashwini Vaishnaw's Viral Speech: New Regenerative Brakes or Old Ones? 'Pahalgam Attackers Communicating With Pakistan-Based Handlers, Our Response Proportionate': Govt MHA Directs States and Union Territories to Hold Civil Defence Mock Drills on May 7 View in Desktop Mode About Us Contact Us Support Us © Copyright. All Rights Reserved.
STV News
2 days ago
- Business
- STV News
Achieving child poverty target could cost £920m a year in benefits, report warns
Scotland could meet its 2030 child poverty target—but a report has warned that this could cost £920m a year in benefits, with 'significant additional' spending also required to increase the number of parents in work. Chris Birt, associate director at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) in Scotland, said its research shows: 'Holyrood has the chance to prove that it's up to the task of not just setting lofty ambitions, but straining every sinew to deliver on them.' PA Media The Joseph Rowntree Foundation examined the costs and impacts of different measures that could be introduced to tackle child poverty (Jane Barlow/PA). The think tank said there would be financial benefits from getting more parents into employment, and from helping those with jobs to work more hours. Doing this could increase tax revenues to the Scottish Government by £410m, it said, while cutting spending on universal credit by around £500 million a year. With 240,000 children living in poverty in Scotland, the JRF produced what it described as a 'toolkit' for parties running in the 2026 Holyrood election, setting out the impact different policies could have towards meeting the target of having less than 10% of youngsters in relative poverty by 2030–31. The think tank said it had 'deliberately not prescribed an exact course of action' but had instead 'shown the required scale of action needed'. To meet the target, the report said the next Parliament would need to 'lift around 100,000 children out of poverty' – adding this would 'require a laser-focused prioritisation'. The Meeting the Moment paper stresses that none of the measures it considered would achieve the target on their own. 'Even a near quadrupling of the SCP (Scottish child payment) to £100 a week per child at an annual cost of £1.14 billion would see a child poverty rate three percentage points above the targets,' it said. However it found increasing the SCP – which is given to low-income families for every child they have under the age of 16 – to £40 a week would have 'the best poverty reduction impact per pound'. This would cost an extra £190m a year – but on its own would only bring the child poverty rate down to 18%. However the research found that by supplementing the benefit for families with babies and for single parents, and by boosting take-up to 100% of those eligible, when combined with other measures – such as boosting employment among parents in poverty – 90,000 youngsters could be lifted out of poverty, meeting the 10% target. The report said: 'This would cost an additional £920m in targeted child benefits in Scotland (as well as other costs associated with increasing employment). 'It would also increase tax revenues by £410m because of increased parental employment. 'Universal credit expenditure could also fall by £500m as demand for it falls due to higher incomes through work.' Mr Birt said: 'Whoever forms the next Scottish Government has the chance to change what it means to grow up in Scotland. 'To do so, they must meet the Parliament's child poverty targets. Not only for Scotland's children and their futures, but to show those who often feel overlooked and ignored by politics that trust can be rebuilt through actions. 'This analysis gives each political party a detailed map to help them reach a Scotland free from child poverty. They may choose to take different routes to get there. But whichever route they take will require every ounce of determination and demand action at scale. 'The actions of Westminster governments may help, or hinder, but Holyrood has the chance to prove that it's up to the task of not just setting lofty ambitions, but straining every sinew to deliver on them.' Social Justice Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville said: 'I welcome this report from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. 'We are absolutely committed to meeting the 2030 child poverty targets and thanks to the actions we are already taking, families in the poorest 10% of households are estimated to be £2,600 a year better off in 2025-26 and this value is projected to grow to an average of £3,700 a year by 2029-30. 'However our policies are having to work harder in the current economic context and as a result of decisions taken by the UK Government, such as keeping the two-child limit on Universal Credit which are holding back Scotland's progress. 'While the Joseph Rowntree Foundation predict child poverty will rise in other parts of the UK by 2029, they highlight that policies such as our Scottish Child Payment, and our commitment to mitigate the two-child limit, are behind Scotland 'bucking the trend'. 'We will publish our third child poverty delivery plan by the end of March 2026, setting out the actions to be taken between 2026-2031 to meet the 2030 targets. We will continue working closely with stakeholders, including the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, to shape that plan.' Get all the latest news from around the country Follow STV News Scan the QR code on your mobile device for all the latest news from around the country
Scotsman
2 days ago
- Business
- Scotsman
Achieving child poverty target 'could cost £920m a year in benefits'
'Laser-focused prioritisation' required by next Parliament to lift 100,000 children out of poverty Sign up to our daily newsletter – Regular news stories and round-ups from around Scotland direct to your inbox Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Scotland could meet its 2030 child poverty target - but a report has warned this could cost £920 million a year in benefits, with "significant additional" spending also required to increase the number of parents in work. Chris Birt, associate director at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) in Scotland , said its research shows: "Holyrood has the chance to prove that it's up to the task of not just setting lofty ambitions, but straining every sinew to deliver on them." Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The think tank said there would be financial benefits from getting more parents into employment, and from helping those with jobs to work more hours. Doing this could increase tax revenues to the Scottish Government by £410 million, it said, while cutting spending on universal credit by around £500 million a year. Scotland could meet its 2030 child poverty target - but a report has warned this could cost £920 million a year in benefits, with "significant additional" spending also required to increase the number of parents in work | PA With 240,000 children living in poverty in Scotland, the JRF produced what it described as a "toolkit" for parties running in the 2026 Holyrood election, setting out the impact different policies could have towards meeting the target of having less than 10 per cent of youngsters in relative poverty by 2030-31. The think tank said it had "deliberately not prescribed an exact course of action" but had instead "shown the required scale of action needed". Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad To meet the target, the report said the next Parliament would need to "lift around 100,000 children out of poverty" - adding this would "require a laser-focused prioritisation". The Meeting the Moment paper stresses that none of the measures it considered would achieve the target on their own. "Even a near quadrupling of the SCP (Scottish child payment) to £100 a week per child at an annual cost of £1.14 billion would see a child poverty rate three percentage points above the targets," it said. However it found increasing the SCP - which is given to low-income families for every child they have under the age of 16 - to £40 a week would have "the best poverty reduction impact per pound". Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad This would cost an extra £190 million a year - but on its own would only bring the child poverty rate down to 18 per cent. However the research found that by supplementing the benefit for families with babies and for single parents, and by boosting take-up to 100 per cent of those eligible, when combined with other measures - such as boosting employment among parents in poverty - 90,000 youngsters could be lifted out of poverty, meeting the 10 per cent target. Tax revenues boosted by parental employment The report said: "This would cost an additional £920 million in targeted child benefits in Scotland (as well as other costs associated with increasing employment). "It would also increase tax revenues by £410 million because of increased parental employment. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad "Universal credit expenditure could also fall by £500 million as demand for it falls due to higher incomes through work." Mr Birt said: "Whoever forms the next Scottish Government has the chance to change what it means to grow up in Scotland . "To do so, they must meet the Parliament's child poverty targets. Not only for Scotland's children and their futures, but to show those who often feel overlooked and ignored by politics that trust can be rebuilt through actions. "This analysis gives each political party a detailed map to help them reach a Scotland free from child poverty. They may choose to take different routes to get there. But whichever route they take will require every ounce of determination and demand action at scale. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad "The actions of Westminster governments may help, or hinder, but Holyrood has the chance to prove that it's up to the task of not just setting lofty ambitions, but straining every sinew to deliver on them." Social Justice Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville said: "I welcome this report from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation . "We are absolutely committed to meeting the 2030 child poverty targets and thanks to the actions we are already taking, families in the poorest 10 per cent of households are estimated to be £2,600 a year better off in 2025-26 and this value is projected to grow to an average of £3,700 a year by 2029-30. "However our policies are having to work harder in the current economic context and as a result of decisions taken by the UK Government, such as keeping the two-child limit on Universal Credit which are holding back Scotland's progress. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad "While the Joseph Rowntree Foundation predict child poverty will rise in other parts of the UK by 2029, they highlight that policies such as our Scottish Child Payment, and our commitment to mitigate the two-child limit, are behind Scotland 'bucking the trend'.
New Statesman
5 days ago
- General
- New Statesman
Why is Birmingham leading Britain's child poverty spiral?
Photo by Christopher Furlong / Getty Images To truly understand the impact of child poverty in Birmingham, the best place to go is Ladywood. Sitting to the west of the city centre, research from 2008 identified this area as having the highest percentage of children who live in poverty of any parliamentary constituency. A newspaper report from the time depicts the situation on the ground for locals: 'I'd rather starve than let them go hungry,' a father who was out of work said of his girlfriend and their 12-month-old daughter. 'We might be short of money, but we're not short of love.' The headline of the piece, outlining the poverty the city's young people were growing up in, is simple and devastating: 'A poor start'. More than 16 years later, children living in Ladywood are still experiencing a poor start to life. It remains the constituency with the highest levels of child poverty in Britain: 55 per cent of its youth live in deprivation (after housing costs are accounted for), according to a 2025 report by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF). The situation in Ladywood is a microcosm of a wider crisis of child poverty across Birmingham. Ladywood and its neighbouring constituencies – Hall Green and Moseley, 55 per cent; Yardley, 53 per cent; Perry Barr, 53 per cent; and Hodge Hill and Solihull North, 51 per cent – account for five of the top ten areas affected by this issue. In excess of 100,000 children across the city are living in poverty. Birmingham itself is at the apex of a wider trend of rising child poverty across the country in recent years. According to the same research by the JRF, around three in ten children growing up in the UK live in poverty. As the scourge of child poverty has become increasingly prevalent in recent years, so has the need for third sector organisations to provide localised support. 'The pandemic hadn't helped the situation,' said Alice Bath, operational manager at the Family Action charity and a born-and-bred Brummie. Family Action runs an Early Help Programme for families in Ladywood and Perry Barr. 'Even though we're out of it, we're still facing the mop-up of the [underlying] issues that it presented,' Bath said. Children in Birmingham, Bath told me, are contending with 'exponential' increases of food insecurity, decaying dental health, respiratory conditions, obesity and housing instability. Despite the best efforts of Bath and her colleagues across the third sector, there is now a quiet acceptance of a deprived status quo among the city's youth: 'It's become a way of life and a way of being.' What isn't helping the fight against child poverty in Birmingham is the dire financial situation of its council. Birmingham City Council effectively declared itself bankrupt in September 2023. To claw back funding, government- appointed commissioners have pencilled in over £300m of cuts across the following two years in the Labour-controlled council. The cuts reportedly include up to £112m worth of spending reductions and savings in the council's early help and youth services. That includes axing £8m worth of funding that is paid by the Birmingham Voluntary Services Council to ten local charities – including Bath's Family Action – that put on vital services for children and families across the city. Subscribe to The New Statesman today from only £8.99 per month Subscribe 'Birmingham was massively hit by the decline in the manufacturing base of the city,' Martin Brooks, who has served on Birmingham City Council for 20 years, told me. The region was once famous for its production of cars, metals and Cadbury's chocolates. Brooks added: 'We were losing jobs in the Thatcher years not by the hundreds or thousands, but by the tens of thousands. Those years [of deindustrialisation] had a massive effect on poverty within the city.' When accounting for the exponential levels of child poverty today, the blame is largely placed on the effects of the 2008 financial crash and Conservative-induced austerity of the 2010s. 'The poor governance of the city has [also] had some effect on where we are today,' said Brooks, who quit the Labour Party last December. (He now stands as an independent councillor.) Brooks resigned over the fresh cuts his former Labour council colleagues have approved, which will 'have a devastating effect on the life chances of our young people in this, the youngest of European cities,' he said at the time. Locals are desperately searching for answers from their council. Upon visiting the local authority's HQ – a grand, Victorian era Grade II-listed building – on a bright spring morning, looking for a council cabinet member to interview, I was told they were unavailable. They were 'busy dealing with the bin situation,' a member of staff told me. The strikes have ensured the city stays top of the headlines – albeit for the wrong reasons. The politicians representing Birmingham on a local and national level are all too aware of the challenges facing their younger constituents. 'We made good progress until austerity in addressing some of those issues,' Richard Parker, the Labour Mayor of the West Midlands, told me over tea when we met in the city. 'The Tory government took £1bn out of the spending power of the city council, and it's still living with the impact of those cuts. That £1bn is further damage to some of our poorest communities in the most vulnerable parts of the region.' Parker's Conservative predecessor, Andy Street, who I met in the city centre a few weeks later, acknowledged that he and other political leaders 'did not change [the] map of deprivation'. There is broad political alignment on how the issue can be tackled in the medium-to-long term: increased housebuilding (with a particular focus on social housing), inward investment for better jobs in the region and improved education and skills pathways to help locals capitalise on them. But in the immediate term, hordes of children in the city will remain impoverished. 'I think the two-child benefit cap limit has to change,' Liam Byrne, the MP for Birmingham Hodge Hill and Solihull North, and a former cabinet minister during the last Labour government, told me when we met in Westminster recently. Should the cap (which prevents parents from claiming Universal Credit or Child Tax Credit for a third, or any subsequent child, born after April 2017) be lifted, around 17,000 families in Birmingham would be able to receive additional financial support, which can currently cost a family household up to £3,455 a year. 'Family incomes need to go up,' Byrne added, 'that's why [lifting] the two-child limit is so important.' Birmingham is facing a 'child poverty emergency'. A 2024 campaign by local outlet Birmingham Live outlines the severity of the situation. No fewer than 46 per cent of the city's children are impoverished (up from 27 per cent in 2015); twice the national average. Two in three (66 per cent of) children living in poverty come from a working family. Over 10,000 children live in temporary accommodation – a record number. Healthwise, compared to the national average, children are: 1.8 times more likely to die in infancy, and as likely to be hospitalised for asthma; 1.3 times more likely to have a low birth weight, and as likely to die in childhood; and are 1.2 times more likely to be obese at ten years old. Child poverty in Birmingham is also being particularly felt on the city's large south Asian cohort: in all but one of the ten most afflicted wards, the largest demographic of residents come from Asian and Asian-British backgrounds. Although some feel optimistic about the government's upcoming Child Poverty Strategy– due to be outlined in the spring – the benefits it might bring to Birmingham remain unclear. The council cuts only exacerbate fears. As they were through austerity, the pandemic and now, those working in the third sector in Birmingham (and across the UK more widely) – largely made up of locals, many of whom are volunteers – will continue to be a vital safety net for society's most vulnerable. 'I could moan and groan, but it's not going to change things,' Family Action's Bath said of the council cuts, while looking towards the future of its service in Perry Barr and Ladywood. 'It's about having a positive mindset,' Bath added. 'It's about being solution-focused and saying, 'What can I control? And how can I make a difference to support children and families?' It's about keeping hold of why we come to work in the morning and what our core mission and values are about.' This article first appeared in our Spotlight on Child Poverty supplement, of 23 May 2025, guest edited by Gordon Brown. Related
Time of India
6 days ago
- General
- Time of India
Disparity in mark weightage for JRF & NET: PhD aspirants
Hyderabad: PhD aspirants, research scholars and student organisations have submitted a petition to Osmania University , demanding equal weightage for Junior Research Fellowship (JRF) and National Eligibility Test (NET) holders in admissions. They argue that, even under category 2 admissions, which are open to students with JRF, NET and State Eligibility Test (SET) qualifications, candidates with JRF qualifications are given an unfair advantage. "Under category 1 admissions, only JRF students are admitted. They have the opportunity to apply once every six months. Now, in category 2, OU is giving them an extra 5 marks, which will give them an unfair advantage. How is this fair?" asked Satya Nelli, a research scholar. He added that, during the 2022–23 admissions, both JRF and NET candidates were awarded 15 marks. However, this year, JRF candidates have been given an additional five marks. They urged the university to rectify the disparity in the weighting of marks allocated to JRF and NET holders under category 2 PhD admissions for the 2025 academic year. They claim that the recent change imposes an additional barrier for NET/SET holders, who are only eligible under category 2, as they now face a further disadvantage due to the unequal marking system.
