Guwahati: The Anusuchit Jati Yuba Chatra Santha (AJYCS) alleged that the state government was not paying regular scholarships to the Scheduled Caste students of the state since 2001.
There are nearly 55,000 students from 16 sub-castes of Scheduled Castes studying in 307 colleges of the state.
AJYCS general secretary Nityanand Das said, "Crores of rupees are allocated by the Centre for scholarships to the SC students but the state government has not been paying this since 2001."
"The money is not utilised and is returned unspent. Day scholars should get a minimum of Rs 7,500 while those living in hostels should get above Rs 9,000 for studying at the higher secondary, graduation and post-graduation levels inside the state. The amount is much more for studying outside the state."
"The students who are getting the scholarships are from affluent families and their parents have submitted false income certificates in order to enable them to study in reputed medical and engineering colleges outside the state. The scholarship process in these colleges is streamlined but that of the colleges in the state is not. Only families earning less than Rs 2.5 lakh are eligible for scholarship but many top officials present falsified income certificates, depriving genuine candidates. There is lack of awareness among the students about the scholarship. Those living in villages do not have necessary information or are unable to fill up the forms," added Das.
He also alleged that many students had procured false caste certificates to avail of the scholarships. A sum of Rs 30 crore has been allocated by the Centre for the scholarships in the 2017-18 fiscal year but the process for distribution of scholarships has not yet begun.