The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is likely to investigate the scam in centrally sponsored Pre-Matric Scholarship Scheme for minority students after a large number of cases were detected in Jharkhand highlighting how money was siphoned off using fake entries of beneficiaries. So far, such complaints have been reported only in fiscal year 2019-2020 but possibility can’t be ruled out that the scam has been going on from the past many years.
The Union Ministry of Minority Affairs that runs this scheme has taken the decision to handover the case to the CBI as the ministry doubts that scale and scope of corruption might be very big since the ministry annually pumps huge amount to run this scheme.
In the last financial year, the ministry had released Rs 1400 crore. Ministry also fears that in other states also such kind of corruption might have taken place that needed to be investigated. For example, in Bihar similar complaints have been seen.The decision for the CBI probe was taken few days after Union Minister of Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi held a meeting on November 2 and asked ministry officials to get necessary documents from welfare department in Jharkhand and Bihar.
Notably chief minister Hemant Soren too had ordered probe in this matter. On November 4, chief minister’s principal secretary Rajiv Arun Ekka, sent a direction to secretary of Welfare department to handover all files related to scholarship allotment to the Anti-Corruption Bureau.
Mahendra Kumar Verma, director of Blue Bells School in Ramgarh lodged a complaint at Gola police station.
“I was told that a pre-matric scholarship has been issued to as many as 180 students of my school. I checked the National Scholarship Portal and found this to be true. I checked the particulars of these students but they are not students of my school. This is nothing but a scam that the name and credential of my school has been misused. Blue Bells is a sixth grader school having a total 204 students. Number of minority students is not more than 30 at my school,” said Verma.