The Union government has decided to discontinue the Maulana Azad National Fellowship (MANF) from 2022-23 for minorities as according to them, the scheme overlaps with various other fellowship schemes for higher education.
Union Minister for Minorities Affairs Smriti Irani was replying to a query by Tamil Nadu’s Prathapan MP in Lok Sabha on Thursday.
She said, “The MANF scheme was implemented by the University Grants Commission (UGC) and as per the data provided by UGC 6,722 candidates were selected under the scheme between 2014-15 and 2021-22 and fellowships to the tune of ₹ 738.85 crores were distributed during the same period.”
“Since the MANF scheme overlaps with various other fellowship schemes for higher education being implemented by the Government and minority students are already covered under such schemes, hence the government has decided to discontinue the MANF Scheme from 2022-23,” Irani continued.
