A government investigation found that 830 of 1,572 minority instit🍃utions receiving scholarships 🧸were either fake or non-operational, according to reports.
The 'scam' was spread over 100 districts across 34 states and Union Te🍬rritories and the investigation has been handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigatoin (CBI), according to reports.
The real number of fraudalent institutions could be much higher as only 1,572 institutions were looked into. The total numbe🌳r of minority institutions in the country recei🌳ving government scholarships is around 1.8 lakh.
The matter first came to light in 2020 when the first round of FIRs were filed across states. Then, in the second round of investigation, the Ministry of Minority Affairs (MMA) assigned the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) to look into discrepencies in August 2022, reported The Indian Express, adding that the yearlong NCAER investigation found that 830 of the 1,572 flagged institu🗹tions were either fake or non-operational.
The 'scam' involves the siphoning of around Rs 144 crore of scholarship meant for poor♈ minority community students🍌, reported India Today.
What did the invsetigation find?
🌌The internal investigation by the Ministry of Mino🙈rity Affairs (MMA) found 830 of the 1,572 institutions looked into were fake or non-operational.
These 1,572 institutions were in 100 disꦑtri🃏cts found to have high-risk of fradalent activities, according to The Indian Express.
Some the major𓆉 fꩲindings of the investigation, as per The Express, are:
- All 62 minority institutions in Chhattisgarh were found non-operational, followed by 99 out of 128 in Rajasthan.
- In Assam, 68 per cent institutions were found to be fake or non-operational. The percentage was 64 in Karnataka, 60 in Uttarakhand, 44 in Uttar Pradesh, 40 in Madhya Pradesh, and 39 in West Bengal.
- There were 1.3 lakh applications for hostels in institutions that did not have hostels.
- Male beneficiaries were receiving scholarships in girls-only institutions.
- In Rajasthan, applications for scholarships for students of classes 1-7 were filed when the school actually had only classes 9-10.
- In Bihar's Sitamarhi, 95 per cent applicants were found to be fake. Details of fake applicants were taken from a coaching centre and applications were filed from an internet cafe.
- In one case in Chhattisgarh, applications were filed from a school that had no minority students. The details of applicant students actually turned out to be of students from Karnataka.
- In 2018-19, 2,239 applicants had the same phone number.
Additioanlly, the investigation found that nodal officers were granting scholarships without verifying deta𒅌ils on the ground and, as a result, genuine applicants or needy students were deprived of the scholarship, reported India Today.
The inv💃estigati🗹on was handed over to the CBI on July 10.
CBI to look into multiple levels of scam: Reports
There are at least two levels involved in the filing of applications and grant of sc꧑holarships.
In🐼 the first level, nodal officer appointed at every minority institution verifies the details of the s𒀰tudent and uploads the application on the portal.
In the second level, the district minority officer verifiꦇes these filings.
Despite these multiple levels involved, the fact that such a wideranging scam was taking place suggests there was a systemic sipho💧ning of funds and the '𝔉scam' was not just isolated to few institutions or districts.
"Moreover, each s𝓀tudent also has to open a bank account for which a KYC [Know Your Customer] is require꧒d. This entire process points to systemic institutionalised corruption involving institutes, the local administration and banks," said a ministry source to The Express.
Separately, The Economic Times reporte♉d that 229 nodal officers i💃n the institutions turned out to be fake.
The CBI is understood to probe all these officers at various levels, from institꦫutes to banks.
The government became susp༒icious when it scrapped scholarship for classes 1-7 of around 4 milli🍒on students. The government expected backlash but nothing happened.
"In July 2022, the union government stopped the scholarship given to minority students, totalling around 4 million, from Class I to Class VIII. The government had expected a major backlash, but since that didn't happen🔴, officials got suspicious and an investigation was conducted by the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER)," reported ET, further adding that most of the institutions (and hence most of the scholarship amount disbursed) turned out to be fake.
In th𝕴e first round of investigation in 2020,꧑ the CBI investigated the matter in Jharkhand, Bihar, Assam, Punjab, and Chhattisgarh. Several FIRs were filed across states at the time.
