Basant Kumar MohantyNew Delhi: Research scholars seeking a fellowship reserved for minority communities will now need to crack the National Eligibility Test, the new rule triggering allegations of a ploy to further marginalise minority students and cut funding for higher education. Only the Junior Research Fellowship was linked to the NET. But the minority affairs ministry, which offers the Maulana Azad National Fellowship, amended the guidelines on November 30, making NET qualification a precondition for applicants. Several students selected for the national fellowship for OBC students last year said they were yet to receive the award letters. The social justice and empowerment ministry offers national fellowships for the Other Backward Classes and the Scheduled Castes.

Source: The Telegraph January 22, 2018 21:45 UTC