Chandigarh – The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has blamed both the Captain Amarinder Singh govt and the Narendra Modi government for ruining the future career prospects of lakhs of ‘dalit’ students by depriving them of admission to higher studies for want of the timely release of the post matric scholarship, leaving them rue and rant in resignation.
All the ‘Dalit’ MLAs of the party, including Leader of Opposition (LoP) in Punjab assembly, Harpal Singh Cheema in a joint statement issued from party headquarters in Chandigarh on Monday, have severely criticized both the Punjab and the Union governments for being insensitive to the cause of the ‘dalit’ students.
Leader of the Opposition, Harpal Singh Cheema, Core Committee Chairman, Principal Budh Ram, Deputy Leader of Opposition, Sarabjit Kaur Manuke, MLAs Rupinder Kaur Ruby, Manjit Singh Bilaspur and Kulwant Singh Pandori have accused both the governments of being partial to the cause when it came to the upliftment of the ‘dalits’, stating that both had thrown the under-matric and post matric schemes to winds alleging it was a tantamount to denying them the rightful claim on higher education thus ruining the careers of lakhs of them.
Citing latest reports, Cheema claimed that an amount to the tune of Rs.1000 crores on account of post matriculation scholarship had been outstanding against the government, which had debarred lakhs of meritorious and deserving ‘dalit’ students from seeking admission to higher classes, claiming every year the rate of admission had been dwindling at a galloping rate. He added that the admission rate had fallen by 18 per cent in 2018-19 which was much higher compared to 2017-18.
While the AAP MLAs demanded that the process of grant of under-matric scholarship schemes simplified, they sought immediate release of the pending amount so that the ‘dalit’ students were allowed to suffer futher.
Chairman of Core Committee, Principal Budh Ram warned that if the government failed to take an urgent call on the issue, AAP would be forced to launch a state-wide protest to reach out to the people across the state exposing Captain and Modi.