Hyderabad: Senior Congress leader and former minister Mohammed Ali Shabbir has accused the TRS Government of hatching a ‘deep conspiracy’ to deprive higher education for students belonging to Dalit, Tribal, BC and Minorities communities.
In a statement here on Tuesday, Shabbir Ali alleged that the State government deliberately cut the budget for schemes that helped poor SC, ST, BC, and Minorities in pursuing higher education. He said under SC Welfare, the allocations were slashed by Rs 490.91 crore for schemes like Professional Education Support Scheme; Scholarship Posts (MTF) Scholarship Posts (RTF); Post-Matric Scholarships for Quality Education; Post Matric Scholarships (Central Schemes). While the allocation was Rs 890.61 crore in 2019-20, it was reduced to Rs. 400 crore in 2020-21, he added. Similarly, under Tribal Welfare, funds were reduced for Scholarships Post (MTF); Pre-Matric Scholarships; Ambedkar Overseas Vidya Nidhi and Scholarships (RTF) and no allocation was made for Facilities in Gurukulams and Gurukulam Other IE. As against Rs. 484.8 Cr allocated in 2019-20, only Rs. 384.80 Cr were allocated in 2020-21, he said, adding that under BC Welfare, allocations were reduced by Rs 360.13 crore for various schemes.
Overall, as against Rs. 3,642.07 crore allocated for various education-related schemes of SC, ST, BC and Minority students in 2019-20, only Rs 2,372.38 Crore have been allocated for 2020-21. “Chief Minister Chandrashekhar Rao came to power in 2014 on the promise of providing ‘KG to PG’ free education to all. Now he has changed his slogan to ‘Each One Teach One’ and expects to achieve total literacy with a mere allocation of Rs 100 crore.