A massive scam involving fake applicants and non-existent institutions has been uncovered in India’s minority scholarship scheme. The Ministry of Minority Affairs conducted a scrutiny of the 25.5 lakh applicants for the scholarship scheme and found that over 6.7 lakh applicants were nonexistent.
This means that these applicants were not real people and were therefore not eligible for the scholarships. The investigation also revealed that 5,422 Institutional Nodal Officers (INO) and 4,834 Heads of Institutions (HoI) were absent during the verification process.
This suggests that there may have been collusion between these officials and the fake applicants. Out of the total 25.5 lakh applicants, the ministry-led drive successfully verified 18.8 lakh individuals, including 6.2 lakh applicants seeking scholarship renewal.
However, a shocking 30 per cent of applicants in the renewal category for the academic year 2022-23 were found to be fraudulent. This means that these applicants had already received scholarships in the past but were not eligible for renewal.
A previous report had revealed that 830 out of 1,572 minority institutions from 21 states had fake beneficiaries. This means that these institutions were not real and had been created solely to claim scholarships.
The minority scholarship scheme is designed to provide financial assistance to students from minority communities. The scholarships range from Rs 4,000 to Rs 25,000 annually. The ministry disburses over Rs 2,000 crore annually for these scholarships.
The discovery of this scam has raised serious concerns about the integrity of the minority scholarship scheme. The government needs to take urgent action to prevent such scams from happening in the future.
