Morung Express News
September 13
DIMAPUR: Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio has asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to intervene in the matter concerning the grant of Post-Metric Scholarship (PMS) to the students of Nagaland for the academic year 2004-05. In an official letter addressed to Manmohan Singh today, Rio has asked the Prime Minister to intercede as the development, according to Rio, “is threatening to disrupt the functioning of Higher Educational Institutions” in Nagaland. He has requested Manmohan to see that the PMS is sanctioned in full without further delay.
The Chief Minister, while apprising Manmohan of the latest developments in this regard, has informed of the decision by Naga students not to accept part of the PMS for the period relating to the last academic year, which is already long overdue. “They felt that there is no reasonable ground for withholding the scholarship of 31,000 students because of doubtful claims of 6 students from one college only, which if found necessary, can be taken up separately for verification, without withholding the other genuine cases,” Rio explained in his letter. On this point, the Chief Minister is in agreement with the students’ community. Rio further stated that there was no reasonable ground for the Ministry of Tribal Affairs to order the State Government to conduct an inquiry into all the claims and payments of PMS for the last five years in respect of all institutions, as such an enquiry would take a long time to complete. “Hence, this appears to be a deliberate attempt to delay matters, and cause harassment to the students from Nagaland unnecessarily.
“I feel that completion of this enquiry, already instituted by the State Government, should not be made a pre-condition for release of the scholarship relating to last year,” Rio added.
In this connection, Rio has also enclosed a copy of his previous letter written on September 10 addressed to PR Kyndiah, Union Minister for DONER and Tribal Affairs, highlighting the problems faced by the State because of undue delay in sanctioning of PMS to the students of Nagaland.
It may be mentioned that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is presently out of the country on a tour to France from where he will proceed to New York to attend the UN General Assembly.
The All Nagaland College Students’ Union had earlier announced their decision to launch an agitation over the non-payment of PMS, beginning with the boycott of all classes on September 13, to be followed by all Nagaland bandh on September 16.
In another development, the All Nagaland College Students’ Union (ANCSU) has convened an emergency consultative meeting with the NSF, Post Graduate Students’ Union (PGSU), Dimapur Naga Students’ Union (DNSU) and the Law Students’ Federation on September 14 to discuss about the scholarship issue. A decision on whether to enforce a State wide bandh on September 16 is likely to be taken.
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