The Hindu : National : Enquiry shows bias in award of scholarships during NDA rule

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Friday, Apr 08, 2005

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National

Enquiry shows bias in award of scholarships during NDA rule

By Anita Joshua

NEW DELHI, APRIL 7. A Human Resource Development Ministry enquiry has found a communal and regional bias in the award of scholarships and fellowships by the Indian Institute of Advanced Study and the Indian Council of Historical Research during the six years of the National Democratic Alliance rule.

Applications rejected

Entrusted with the task of reviewing the work at the IIAS during the NDA rule, the enquiry committee noted: "Among the 92 Fellows selected from 1999-04 there was not a single Muslim scholar. All their applications were rejected without assigning any reason. Among the 92 Fellows, the Review Committee could identify only four Christians and one scholar belonging to the Scheduled Caste (SC). Partisanship was patent."

The committee has contrasted this with the IIAS' track record to drive home the point. "Among the 239 Fellows from 1966 to1992, there were 22 Muslim scholars. Obviously, the then management did not discriminate scholars on the ground of religion, race, place of birth and/or descent."

At the ICHR, a regional bias was found by the review committee of D. Bandopadhyay, particularly in the award of Junior Research Fellowships (JRF). According to the committee, of the 456 JRFs awarded in the six years, Uttar Pradesh received 121 and Delhi accounted for 15 per cent. "On the other hand, West Bengal received 0.8 per cent of the JRFs," a shade better than the North-Eastern States from where not a single candidate got a JRF.

Communal bias

While in the case of the IIAS, the committee noticed a communal bias in violation of the Memorandum of Association and Article 16(2) of the Constitution, a similar observation has been made vis-à-vis ICHR for ignoring most regions of the country in the award of JRFs. "The Council openly violated Rule 4(d)(ii) which mandates `the proper representation, among the awardees, of the different regions of the country, SCs and the Scheduled Tribes, women and minorities'."

These biases apart, the committee also found that both institutions preferred to recognise subjects and papers on ancient India with fellowships, scholarships and foreign grants.

In its report on the IIAS, the committee said it would not have commented on the issue at all "had the Fellows chosen and the subjects of their study covered equitably the entire universe of research and study."

If aspects relating to ancient India and Indology had a pride of place at ICHR, the IIAS under NDA showed a marked preference for themes on Indian civilisation and philosophy, subjects held dear by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.

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