Eight Months Gone, JNU Fails to Release Scholarships

After 80% fund cut in the library budget, moves to close down of small vendor- run dabhas (eateries) in favour of corporate  food chains, the Jawaharlal Nehru University administration is now in the new for not releasing pending Merit- Cum-Means (MCM) scholarships to graduate and post-graduate students since the past eight months.

With exams nearing and the need to pay mess bills, the non-release of scholarships is making it difficult  for students to meet their educational and daily expenses.

Saumya, a first year student from Kerala pursuing her Masters in Linguistics told Newsclick, “I was informed about the MCM by some seniors and I applied for the same after joining my course in July. After my first semester, I applied for compensation in October, but I haven’t received any money till now.”

When asked what the authorities told her in response, Saumya said, “They said that they need to check if the forms were  correct and asked me to check again next week. It has been several weeks now, and they keep saying the same thing. I am new to this city and this university and I don’t know anything about this place, so I keep checking every week. But now I have learnt that they are doing the same thing with my seniors also.”

The criteria required to avail the MCM scholarship is that the students’ family income should be below Rs 1,00,000 per year. Thereafter, students are expected to fill a “white” coloured form stating their family income. This form is generally circulated after the admissions. To avail the MCM, students who meet the eligibility criteria can avail it by filling a “pink” coloured form and the MCM is granted to them at the end of every month.

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While there were no defaults in disbursal of MCM earlier, for almost the past 8 months now, no money has been given to the students. This has put undue pressure on them and their families.

Suhail, another second year student pursuing his Masters in Arabic told Newsclick, “my third semester is ending now. I have not received my MCM since the second  semester. This semester’s MCM is also pending. We need to clear our mess bill, which varies for all the hostels. Without clearing the mess bill, no student is allowed to sit in the exam.”

The mess bills for various departments’ hostels vary. For some it is Rs 2,500 per month while in other hostels it is Rs 2,700-2800. The MCM of Rs 2,000 played a crucial role in paying the mess bill as it is imperative that the students clear to be able to to sit for theirexams.

Another student, Junaid, who is in the third year of the  Persian language course and hails from Bihar, told Newsclick, “There was no problem in the MCM earlier. We used to get it on time. I have not received my MCM from the last two semesters. You need to understand that the students who apply to avail the MCM come from really poor families and the MCM used to help in clearing the mess bill. Now if we don't clear our mess bill, we cannot sit for our exam. It puts so much pressure on us. Some of us take loans from friends. I know of students whose parents take loans or sell their Jewellery to pay for  education. When we ask the authorities when will we get paid, they tell us that they have no money.”

Questioning the university administration, Junaid said, “ How is there no money? Why did they return the fund to UGC  (University Grants Commission) last year when they in fact needed money? Just to show that they can run the university in less funds and everything is functioning smoothly? The reality is that they are spending grants on fancy shows and sidelining the students and our needs completely.”

JNU students union president, N Sai Balaji, also accused the JNU administration of massive corruption and financial mismanagement.

 “This is a serious issue. When the finance department was questioned, they said that the UGC has not given them any funds for this and, therefore, we have no money to grant MCM’s to students. First, the UGC does not give grants for MCMs. It comes directly from the university’s funds. Second, even under UGC, there are two categories. One that the UGC grants for hosting functions and events and under the second, it’s for various other purposes that the university might need money for. Are they telling us that MCM’s are no important enough to be considered under either of the two categories?” , he told NewsClick.

Balaji further alleged that the recent events that were held in JNU - - inviting Sadhguru and Sri Sri --  required hefty amount of funds to organise and there is a clear possibility that the funds that were supposed to be allocated towards MCMs were used to host these events.

“Where is all this money coming from to host events like Sadhguru and Sri Sri? Mohit Chauhan (a singer) also came and performed. Events like these need huge amount of money. To give them the benefit of the doubt, we asked the Finance department to show us a record of the expenditure of the funds. They did not show any. After that we have filed two RTIs. One pertaining to the total cost of organising all the shows that have been organised in the university and the second is related to the total grants received by the University. The university has not responded to any of the RTIs. This is enough to spot the foul play and enough to say that they are portraying a false fund crunch whereas, in reality, they have diverted the money and the students are suffering because of this,” Balaji said.

JNU authorities remained unavailable for comment.