CONGRESS PARTY TO OPPOSE THE PROPOSAL TO SHIFT 12 DELHI UNIVERSITY COLLEGES TO DR AMBEDKAR UNIVERSITY: AJAY MAKEN

On Aug 21, 2015

Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee president Shri Ajay Maken said the highly-hyped Higher Education Credit Guarantee Scheme (student loan scheme) of the Kejriwal Government has proved to be a big fraud played out on the students and parents of Delhi, as even after two months of the declaration of this loan scheme, not even a single student has availed the said scheme. The same has been revealed by the Delhi Government in answer to an RTI filed by the Delhi Congress unit (RTI is attached herewith). Shri Ajay Maken also condemned the Delhi Government’s move to bring 12 Delhi University colleges under the Dr B.R. Ambedkar University, which would be resisted by the Congress party with all its might. Shri Maken said Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has neither lived in Delhi for long, nor studied in Delhi University, and therefore was not aware of the ground reality prevailing in Delhi University.

Addressing a press conference at the DPCC office, Rajiv Bhawan, here today, Shri Ajay Maken, along with chief spokesperson Smt. Sharmistha Mukherjee, shadow committee members Aman Panwar and Ragini Nayak, former Delhi University Teachers’ Association president Dr Aditya Narain Mishra, DPCC RTI Cell chairman Ved Pal and Chattar Singh, said that while the Kejriwal Government in Delhi has spent crores of Rupees on advertisements aired to credit themselves for the said scheme, however, in reality the loan scheme was fraught with so much unexplained trap that no student has come forward to avail of the scheme. Moreover, now under the new scheme, the Delhi Government has fixed a unique conditions wherein parents of loan seeking students will have to jointly apply for a loan being sought by their wards as joint borrowers. Thus the liability on the parents would be more now from a ‘guarantor’ earlier to a ‘joint borrower’. This has made the process of student’s loan extremely complex as now students will have to ask their parents pledge personal documents and securities in order to avail simple educational loans.

Shri Ajay Maken said an RTI query about how many students have applied for the scheme under the concerned department of the Government of Delhi since the start of the scheme from 11-6-2015 till date, the reply given by the Directorate of Higher Education of the Delhi Government was “NIL”. He said to another question about the number of students who have received education loan under this scheme since its announcement on 11-6-2015 till date, the reply again was “NIL”. He said to a RTI query about the total budget for the said scheme, the reply was Rs 30 crore (financial year 2015-2016). Shri Maken said the Delhi Government has already spent an equivalent amount just on the publicity of the said scheme. Such misleading propaganda and wastage of public resources in ads clearly reveals that ‘self-publicity’ san actual work is the agenda of this Government, as sadly the scheme has not percolated down to the deserving students.

He said the Central Government, under the UPA, had distributed education loans worth Rs. 57700 crore up to December 31, 2013, which benefited over 25 lakh students. Shri Maken said the AAP Government’s Higher Education Credit Guarantee Scheme was nothing more than a hogwash scheme aimed at befooling students of Delhi University.

Shri Maken also highlighted that the 10 lakh rupee scheme of GNCTD is also completely fraudulent for the reason that the scheme document (attached herewith) itself sayherewith my “(student) loans above Rs. 7.5 lakhs & upto Rs. 10 lakhs will be covered under the scheme (of Government of NCT of Delhi)”. Shamelessly taking credit of the said student loan scheme, the Kejriwal Government in its own policy document admits that loans up to 7.7 lakhs will be provided by the Central Government, said Shri Maken.

Relevant portion of the scheme document is reproduced hereinunder:

“6. QUANTUM OF FINANCE

Need based finance to meet the expenses worked out as per para 5 above will be considered taking into account margins as per para 7 subject to the following ceiling:

Studies in Delhi – Maximum upto Rs. 10 lakhs.

• Ordinarily loans upto Rs. 7.5 lakhs where conditions as prescribed under the Credit Guarantee Fund Scheme for Education Loans (CGSEL) of Govt. of India are satisfied can be granted by the Banks under the Govt. of India scheme as and when the same becomes operational.

• However loans above Rs. 7.5 lakhs & upto Rs. 10 lakhs and loans in respect of Private Institutions which presently do not have NAAC accreditation as required under Govt. of India scheme but have SFRC grading of A+ or A and otherwise satisfy the requirements under the scheme of Govt. of NCT of Delhi will be covered under this scheme.”

Further, very interestingly, Shri Ajay Maken also pointed out that the costliest course in Delhi University and IP University would require about Rs 4,24,000 in total which as well within the Central Education Loan scheme. Therefore, virtually, the entire education loan scheme of the AAP Government is a farce.

Citing the example of interest subsidy scheme- ISHUP (Interest Subsidy for Housing the Urban Poor), which was started by him in capacity of the Union Housing Minister, Shri Maken further advised Shri Kejriwal, that he will do well, if instead of ‘stunts’, he may consider to extend a subsidy on the interest amount of the said student loan scheme. This will provide great relief to the beneficiary students, said Shri Maken.

Condemning Delhi Government’s plan to bring 12 DU colleges under Dr. Ambedkar University

Shri Ajay Maken also condemned the Delhi Government’s move to bring 12 colleges under the Dr Ambedkar University, which would not only be an encroachment on the autonomous powers of Delhi Unviersity, but also affect the quality of education in these 12 colleges. He said such a move would also directly affect 20,000 students who are currently enrolled in these colleges. Shri Maken said the Congress party would oppose any attempt to bring the following 12 colleges under the Ambedkar University. (Deen Dayal Upadhyaya College, Keshav Mahavidyalaya, Acharya Narendra Dev College, Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar college, Shaheed Rajguru College, Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies, Maharaja Agrasen College, Aditi Mahavidyalaya, Bhagini Nivedita College, Bhaskaracharya College of Applied Sciences, Indira Gandhi Institute of Physical Education and Sports Science and Mahirishi Balmiki College of Education.

“The AAP Government is plotting yet another assault on the autonomy of Delhi University by trying to shift the 12 colleges of Delhi University (a Central university) that receives full financial grant by the Delhi Government to the Ambedkar University (a State university)”, Shri Maken noted. He said these are constituent colleges of Delhi University formed on the basis of a Memorandum of Understanding signed between the University and the Government, and hence are bound by the Acts, Statutes and Ordinance of the University, and conditions laid therein.

Shri Maken said the Congress party, along with the students and teachers, would mount an agitation to stop the Kejriwal Government from arbitrarily shifting these colleges to the Ambedkar University.