Aheli Moitra
Why are scholarships for college students in Nagaland being disbursed on an installment basis?
The Eastern Nagaland College Students’ Union has been consistently asking this since October this year. With scanty response from the government, the ENCSU was compelled to lead an agitation starting November 9 against the delay in disbursement of scholarships, which has now been called off.
Were the scholarships delayed? Were they given in installments? Was the central ministry in-charge of the scholarships at fault for delaying payments to the Government of Nagaland? Did The Directorate of Higher and Technical Education of the Government of Nagaland produce requisite documents on time to secure the lives and life sources of students?
The Government of Nagaland said it was “compelled” to respond, and eventually gave a 138-worded, one paragraphed, response to the questions raised by the students’ community. It passed the buck to the central ministry concerned.
Following the ENCSU agitation, the Government of Nagaland decided to set up a Special Investigation Team—yet again—to look into the matter. What is the duty of the Government in such a scenario?
The Right To Information Act of 2005 is clear. Chapter II of the Act states clearly in section 4 that “Every public authority shall,” under part (b) (xi) publish the budget allocated to each of its agency, indicating the particulars of all plans, proposed expenditures and reports on disbursements made; and (xii) the manner of execution of subsidy programmes, including the amounts allocated and the details of beneficiaries of such programmes.
So, for instance, when the ENCSU has publicly, or even privately, asked the government why the scholarship disbursements are being made on an installment basis or why there was, if any, delay in submission of Utilization Certificates, it is not to ‘compel’ the government to give information. The State owes this information to its citizens in any case; information is a right. The State, and its officers, can be held liable when such information is denied to citizens.
Setting up an SIT to “probe into the misuse” of scholarship money is a way to mislead the people and prolong the matter of former misuse, if any. An RTI application can request to show which officer was in-charge of the process of disbursement of scholarships, who was the last to sign the final decision or what the process of disbursement is in the first place. It can also show up exactly how much money was received through the year and how it was utilized during a given period of time, by whom.
Once this has become public knowledge, the person(s) responsible for any misuse can be taken to task through legal means quicker than the SIT is actually set up and set into motion. There are already an unknown number of SITs the Government of Nagaland has set up for various purposes whose results have never been made to the people of Nagaland. Students’ scholarships should not have to go through this injustice.
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