With the Govt. of India making it mandatory to apply online for all types of central scholarships many parents, students and school authorities have tough time with the process of online submissions. It is strange that the highest level officials of the Govt. of India have taken such a decision without realizing the ground realities existing in many remote areas in the North Eastern states. Even at many District head quarters the net connectivity is very weak and sometimes it takes hours to submit one online application. One can imagine the plight of students from sub divisions and villages who have to depend on one or two net cafés that too use only 2G connectivity. Above all the national scholarships portal develops technical snags time to time and no one knows whom to contact for reporting such issues and seeking help. For example, from the first week of September, class XII students are unable to submit their applications as the option under the drop down menu ‘Present Course of Study’ does not show class XII. The Help Desk contact number given at the portal never responds except auto playing a welcoming message and immediately saying ‘bye’.
Another issue is the making of Aadhaar mandatory for applying all types of scholarships. Recently the condition of having Aadhaar number is relaxed and those having the Aadhaar enrolment number are now permitted to apply. Last week a West Bengal-based educational and charitable trust challenged the constitutional validity of the need for Aadhaar card and applying online for the scholarships at the High Court of Delhi and the Court has issued notice to the Centre asking it to file a reply by September 23. The bench of Chief Justice G. Rohini and Justice Sangita Dhingra Sehgal asked, “Why is this kind of instruction being issued? How can you (Centre) say that Aadhaar is mandatory? ”
It is worth mentioning here that on October 15, 2015, the Supreme Court ruled that Aadhaar could only be linked to six government schemes (Public Distribution Scheme, L.P.G Distribution Scheme, Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employement Guarantee Scheme, the National Social Assistance Programme, Prime Minister’s Jan Dhan Yojana and Employees’ Provident Fund Organization) on a “voluntary” basis. The Aadhaar Bill, which allows the government to ask any citizen for Aadhaar to avail of government subsidies or schemes, was recently passed by Parliament, but the Aadhaar Act, 2016, is yet to come into force. And until that happens, the Supreme Court order reigns supreme.
Disregarding the Supreme Court order, which limited linking the Aadhaar card to six government schemes, the University Grants Commission has made Aadhaar mandatory for disbursement of all government subsidies, scholarships and fellowships” for the financial year 2016-2017 and now the same has been extended throughout the country. With litigations in this regard pending at the Delhi High Court and also at the Supreme Court of India, we are left with no option other than developing patience with the help of the available 2G networks.
