Chandigarh, August 24, 2013: The state and central governments are playing with the educational future of the Scheduled Castes students as both have failed to provide scholarships to this category for the last three years. Known as the Post Matric Scholarship, this scheme is a Centre-sponsored scheme launched in 1998.
The state government has recently sent a proposal to the Centre to release the last three years' allocation under the scheme amounting to Rs 427 crore. The National Scheduled Castes Alliance has alleged that both the Centre and the state are conspiring to deny SC students the opportunity of higher education.
"This is most unfortunate," said Paramjit Singh Kainth, president, NSCA", adding, “We are warning the Centre and the state that we will be compelled to launch an agitation all over Punjab if the government failed to act on the matter," he added.
"The Congress as well as the Akali-BJP combine have been using the SC community as a vote bank without really caring for their upliftment," said Kainth. "
In Punjab both the parties have created a servile SC leadership that remains mum on issues vital to the SC community in the state assembly," he added.