Economist Jean Dreze and independent researcher Vipul Paikra have moved the Jharkhand chief secretary urging him to conduct a probe into an alleged scam in a central scholarship scheme for pre-matric minority students.

Dreze and Paikra wrote a letter to chief secretary Sukhdev Singh on Monday urging him to look into the matter as it “involves exploitation of minority children”, besides embezzlement of public funds.

“It involves collusion between middlemen, business correspondents (bank staff who visit localities for facilitating small transactions) and school principal,” the letter said. Some government officials “also seem to be involved”, it said.

The alleged scam came to light when The Indian Express newspaper reported on Sunday that some people withdrew money, suspected to be around Rs 61 crore, in the name of minority students from the state under the scholarship scheme. The students got just a part of the scholarship amount, according to the report.

The scholarship, provided by the Union minority affairs ministry, is given in two categories. Poor students studying between Class I and V receive Rs 1,000 per annum, while those between Class VI and X receive Rs 10,700 if they are hostellers or Rs 5,700 if they are day scholars.

Applicants are required to register themselves at the National Scholarship Portal (NSP) for submitting their student details, bank account and Aadhaar number, among other documents.

Jean Dreze Telegraph picture

The middleman allegedly approached a school owner and proposed to divide the money between the two if the latter provided the school’s login ID and password on the NSP (this is provided, on request, to the nodal officers of schools), the letter said, explaining how it may have happened.

For fresh applicants, the middleman opened new bank accounts for the students with the help of a business correspondent.

“This is an easy job for the BC since it only requires the applicant’s Aadhaar card and fingerprint,” the letter said. Then the middleman applies for scholarship on behalf of all the eligible students, it added.

Once the scholarship is credited into an applicant’s bank account, the middleman and business correspondent visit the school to take fingerprints of the students for withdrawal of the scholarship money from their accounts with the help of a PoS (point-of-sale) machine, they said. The middleman gave only a small amount to the students and the rest of the money was divided among the scamsters, they added.

“The BC doesn’t provide any transaction receipt to the students. Sometimes the school owners also did not fully realise what was going on as the middleman sidelined them after procuring the school login ID,” the letter said. The scholarship amount was also drawn using fake names, it added.

Dreze and Paikra also furnished statements from some students and their guardians who said they were paid only a part of the scholarship amount.

“I just came to know about it and will surely initiate proper action,” chief minister Hemant Soren said in Dumka on Sunday.

When pointed out that the students gave their fingerprints willingly, Dreze told The Telegraph: “It reveals that the Aadhaar-enabled payment system can be misused, particularly when it involves illiterate or barely literate masses.”