Biometric authentication delay: Thousands of K'taka SC students might lose post-matric scholarship
Bengaluru: Delay in biometric authentication by college empowerment officers is proving costly for thousands of Scheduled Caste (SC) students pursuing higher education in the state as the students are in danger of losing their Central government-sponsored post-matriculation scholarship.
Students with an annual family income not exceeding Rs 2.50 lakh are eligible for the post-matric scholarship. Although most students have completed their biometric authentication, the delay by the officers is likely to impact the release of the funds, forcing the Social Welfare Department to remind the Commissioner of Collegiate Education to disburse the scholarship, according to a Deccan Herald report.
The state has a total of 15, 816 private and government colleges and the authentication process has been completed in 9,875 colleges, while the empowerment officers in 5,941 colleges are yet to complete the process. Bengaluru Urban tops the list of pending cases with 1,555 colleges, followed by Kalaburagi (543), Dharwad (368), Belagavi (306), and Vijayapura (269).
A senior officer of the Social Welfare Department explained that the centrally-sponsored scholarship is split 60:40 between the Centre and the state. Biometric authentication is mandatory for both students and the empowerment officer and that if either fails, the scholarship is denied to the student.
The officer further explained that the biometric authentication of a nodal cum empowerment officer of the college is mandatory. The empowerment officer has to visit the nearest taluk-level office of the Social Welfare Department and provide the AISHE code of the college, an authentication certificate from the principal, and their Aadhaar number to complete the authentication process. The Commissioner of Collegiate Education has been requested to instruct the college principals concerned accordingly, the senior officer added.
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'Rear-guard action': BJP over Mamata accepting sports minister's resignation after Messi event
New Delhi (PTI): The BJP on Tuesday alleged that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's accepting Aroop Biswas' resignation as the state sports minister is nothing but a "rear-guard action" to douse public anger over the mismanagement of football icon Lionel Messi's event last week.
BJP co-in-charge for West Bengal Amit Malviya alleged that this is also an "open confession" that the Messi event fiasco was not accidental but a government-manufactured disaster, borne out of the poor governance of Banerjee, her ministers and the state bureaucracy.
Banerjee on Tuesday accepted Biswas' resignation as the sports minister in the wake of the controversy over the mismanagement of football icon Messi's event last week, a senior leader of the ruling TMC said.
Biswas, who had written to the chief minister seeking to be relieved of his responsibilities as sports minister, will continue as a cabinet minister, retaining charge of the power department.
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Reacting to the development, Malviya said in a post on X, "TMC Sports Minister Aroop Biswas resigns after the Messi fiasco and Mamata Banerjee accepts it in record time."
"Do not mistake this for accountability; this is nothing but a rear-guard action to douse public anger. anger! This is not 'Raj Dharma'," he added.
The BJP leader alleged that the incident was the outcome of "loot" of common people which is "so synonymous" with the TMC.
The incident was also the outcome of the "shameless VIP culture that TMC thrives on and deep-rooted cronyism promoted by Banerjee," he charged.
Malviya further alleged that Biswas' resignation exposes a "collective failure of Mamata Banerjee, her partisan bureaucracy, and her crony cabinet".
"This is a symbolic sacrifice, a political hoax, soon to be buried under layers of bureaucracy, with no justice, no accountability, and no remorse," the BJP leader said, adding, "No resignation will bring back the time lost, the money wasted, or the stolen chance for football lovers to witness Messi in Kolkata."
