Responding to a demand by Congress Member of Legislative Council (MLC) Satej Patil to increase the number of fellowships to Maratha students pursuing PhD, Ajit Pawar said that there’s no use adding to the number of PhD holders. “What good will they do (kay dive lavnar) after doing Ph.D.,” the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader had asked. The comment drew the ire of opposition leaders as well as students.
Ajit Pawar defends himself
While expressing remorse over his choice of words, Pawar insisted that his comment was distorted. The minister raised questions about the usefulness of the topics chosen by scholars for their PhD, calling for greater scrutiny of the research areas.
He added, “Now many don’t want any limit on the number of fellowships, but our opinion is such that while some should do PhD, others should pursue different courses such as skill development.”
Despite the apology, the students maintained that the remarks were reflective of the government’s callousness towards higher education and research. “The fellowships are meant for the marginalised students, who are often first-generation learners. But it looks like the government doesn’t want students to become knowledgeable. The minister either lacks comprehension or has been wrongly briefed by bureaucrats,” said Kuldeep Ambekar, President, Student Helping Hands, a Pune-based student organisation.
SIO body condemned Pawar’s remarks
The South Maharashtra chapter of the Students Islamic Organisation of India (SIO) also condemned the minister’s remarks. The organisation also demanded that the fellowship scheme should be expanded to include scholars from religious minorities as well.
Earlier this year, the state chief secretary Manoj Saunik had directed to limit the number of fellowships to 200-400 for Scheduled Caste (SC), 100 for Scheduled Tribe (ST) and 50 each for OBC and Maratha students – down from around 3,000 fellowships given to these students in the last cycle.
Under the fellowship schemes, the marginalised students pursuing PhD get a monthly stipend of ₹31,000 for the first two years and ₹35,000 per month for another three years.
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