Bhubaneswar: Protesting against the decision of the Centre in the slashing of the post-Matric Scholarship Fund for the Scheduled Caste students in Odisha, BJD leaders staged a 12-hour token relay strike near Raj Bhawan here on Saturday.
The BJD workers led by Finance minister Sashi Bhusan Behera, Pramila Mallick, Padmanav Behera and Lal Bihari Himirika began the dharna at 9 am.
Talking to mediapersons, the Finance minister said the future of about two lakh ST students in the state now hangs in balance as the Centre has slashed the scholarship fund by over 70 per cent putting an extra financial burden on the state.
Notably, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, in a letter to Union minister of Social Justice & Empowerment Thaawar Chand Gehlot on November 17, had said that the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment was providing about 90 per cent, while the share of the state government was 10 per cent of the actual expenditure.
Accordingly, during 2016-17, the Central share was Rs 215.80 crore while the state share was Rs 22.48 crore.
However, from 2017-18 onwards, the Ministry revised the liability of the state government towards post-Matric scholarship wherein the state government has to bear more than 80 per cent of the total expenditure.
During 2017-18, the state government had to provide Rs 238.28 crore while the Ministry allocated a meagre Rs 35.12 crore. During 2018-19, the state government has0 to provide Rs 238.28 crore, while the Central share is projected to be Rs 49.39 crore.
“Such an abrupt change in the funding pattern by the Ministry has given a severe jolt to the post-Matric scholarship programme for the SC and ST students,” the Chief Minister had pointed out.
