NEW DELHI: Ahead of elections in some states, including Gujarat, the BJP’s national Morcha of OBCs on Thursday pitched for a hike in the scholarship and UGC post doctoral fellowship on par with SC/ST students for OBC students wishing to pursue higher education in the country.
BJP’s OBC Morcha chief K Laxman submitted a memorandum to Education Minister Dharamendra Pradhan. The Morcha is a prominent wing of the ruling BJP in electoral politics. It has demanded the BJP-led governments explore various options to provide digital devices to the OBC students to pursue education.
“The Covid pandemic has created problems for rural, marginalized and poor students in accessing online classes. The ministry can explore various options to provide digital devices to them,” said the memorandum.
Laxman said the national fellowship for OBCs was increased from Rs 300 to Rs 1,000 slots in 2016. “There is a need to increase the fellowship for OBCs too to Rs 5,000 slots to encourage such students to pursue higher education,” he said.
He has also demanded research centres in all universities to encourage research on social, educational, political, and economic and cultural aspects of OBCs. “All scholarships, fellowships, exemptions and other provisions given to SC/ST students should also apply to OBC (non-creamy layer) students,” said Laxman.