In pic, the Lord Krishna Public School in Ghughri, Ranchi. The school has just bve rooms but records show 324 students received scholarships for 2019-20, including 213 ‘hostel’ students. (Express # A 28-year-old homemaker in Giridih, a Ranchi couple in their 30s, the 47-year-old wife of a tailor in Lohardaga receive, in their bank accounts, funds of a Central government scholarship meant for pre-matric minority students.
All of them say they are unaware of this. # Several students across at least six districts in Jharkhand have had their Aadhaar cards and fingerprints taken, and scholarships disbursed in their names, but many have received only a fraction of the amount — if at all anything. # In Dhanbad, the Indira Gandhi Memorial High School has three rooms, 80 students and no hostel. But according to the official portal, scholarships have been disbursed to 323 hostel students for 2019-20. # In Lohardaga, Rajiya Khatun, whose husband is a tailor, was asked to give her in Ranchi, about 100 km away. 68 murdered in Maliana, all accused acquitted 36 years later, residents ask: So who killed our families?
This goes on and on — across Jharkhand. A nexus of brokers, bank correspondents, school staff and state government employees have allegedly colluded to dupe poor students and their families of a pre-matric Centrally funded scholarship, an investigation by The Indian Express has revealed. Read | Scholarship scam: Tribal boy is shown as Parsi, woman told money In appeal, Rahul says was mistreated, sentenced to attract This newspaper tracked down schools across Ranchi, Dhanbad, Latehar, Ramgarh, Lohardaga and Sahibganj; interviewed several students, their families, school staff and officials of the Jharkhand State Minorities Finance and Development Corporation (JSMFDC), the nodal agency for disbursing this scholarship.
The Indian Express also cross-checked data on the National Scholarship Portal (NSP) with beneficiary bank accounts recorded in the Public Finance Management System (PFMS) to find how a direct benefit transfer scheme, meant to cut corruption, was being derailed by it. Beginning today, a series of reports will highlight glaring cases of fraud and how established processes were subverted — and by whom. 53rd Kerala State Film Awards: Nanpakal Nerathu Mayakkam named Best Film; Mammootty, Vincy Aloshious bag top honours This restaurant in Jordan allows customers to nap after eating a meal For instance, authorities at Madrasa Alia Arabia in Ranchi said all the 102 students listed as hostel beneficiaries in the NSP for 2019 were “fake”.
Mohammad Sahabuddin, the head teacher, said the list also included girls, although the steady increase in minority enrolment in Classes IX and X, from 8.7 per cent in Man tries to fat-shame woman on flight by tweeting her photo; 2014-15 to 12 per cent in 2017 for which latest numbers are available. In Jharkhand, where minorities form about 19 per cent of the population, the amount disbursed and verify the applications.
The applications also need to be verified at the district and state level. Once the applications are cleared, the scholarship amount is disbursed usually in April or May — fresh applications have to be filed every year. But clearly in Jharkhand, this process failed at many levels. Ironically, as early as July last year, Secretary, Union Ministry of Minority Affairs, had written to the then Jharkhand Chief Secretary D K Tiwary, warning that there were “repeated attempts to subvert” the NSP, especially at the verification stage of 'Bazball' comes to subcontinent: Pakistan change their game “After brainstorming and discussions, it has been agreed…that the verifying authorities (Schools, colleges, institutes, district nodal officer, State nodal officers) are the most critical stakeholders who ensure integrity of the verification process,” the letter said.
This warning, evidently, went unheeded. “This scam is yet another illustration of the vulnerabilities of the Aadhaar-enabled Who is accountable in Manipur? payment system,” said economist Jean Dreze, whose food security team also received complaints from some students that they were not getting their full “Poor people are regularly robbed of their wages, pensions and scholarships by corrupt business/banking correspondents who take their fingerprint on one pretext or another.
We have been trying for years to alert the Reserve Bank of India, the National Payments Corporation of India and others to these vulnerabilities but they UCC: How BJP, RSS position has changed since Independence seem to prefer not to know,” Dreze said. In this case, however, the system knew — there were written warnings from the Centre and the state and yet few did anything. Ironically, over the last few weeks, as The Indian Express went from school to school, checking records and asking them questions on the scholarships disbursed fraudulently, most school owners or principals said they were unaware.
Days later, at least three schools sent official notes to their respective District Superintendent of Education asking for “necessary quick action towards the scholarship scandal”. Nutrition alert: Here’s what a 100gram serving of peanuts contains no oxygen: audits ;ag gaps in Bihar’s process — ... Since 2014, 4-fold jump in ED cases 95% are from FinCEN Files: 44 How do mirrorless cameras work?
Reasons why you should consider Jharkhand Chief Secretary Sukhdev Singh told The Indian Express that the state government “will look into the matter on the basis of inputs made available”.