Updated: December 15, 2020 7:12:45 am
Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren holds up a copy of The Indian Express report at a press conference in Dumka (Express file photo)
Clearing the way for a state investigation based on the findings of an investigation by The Indian Express, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren has “given his approval” for the state’s Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) to launch a Preliminary Investigation. (PE) on the Pre-Matrix Scholarship Scam in which poor minority students were misled by a nexus of intermediaries, school authorities, state officials, and bank personnel.
“The CM (as the Cabinet Minister in charge of Surveillance) has given its approval for ACB to investigate the pre-matriculation scholarship scam run by the Ministry of Minority Affairs. The ACB will investigate the irregularities in the pre-matric, post-matric, merit-with-media scholarship schemes and will present its initial report, ”the Chief Minister’s Secretariat said in a press release issued Monday.
He said Soren also directed all deputy commissioners to submit a report after physical verification of all applicants and schools for the 2020-21 academic year. “We were waiting for the order. Now we will start the PE on the scam, “ACB sources told The Indian Express.
Speaking at The Indian Express Idea Exchange on Saturday, Soren said this newspaper’s investigative series has led to scrutiny of various state schemes and their implementation. “I have instructed various departments to check all the state schemes and get an update on whether the schemes are reaching the people or not. We need to know the status of implementation, ”he said.
The Indian Express investigated entries in six districts in Jharkhand on the National Scholarship Portal (NSP) and compared them to recipients’ bank accounts in the Public Finance Management System (PFMS) to find out how funds were being illegally diverted of pre-Matric scholarships.
In several cases, The Indian Express discovered, gullible students and parents received a small portion of the scholarship money; in others, they were unaware that bank accounts had been opened in their name to take advantage of the scholarship and that the money disbursed was being withdrawn. The investigation also led to schools in neighboring Bihar, one in Punjab and one in Assam.
The CBI has already initiated a PE on the scam with the agency set to begin its investigation from Gaya of Bihar, where the first FIR based on The Indian Express findings was registered. Assam police are investigating the scam separately.
The Pre-Matric Scholarship Scheme, launched in 2008, is intended to assist students from minority communities from families with annual incomes less than Rs 1 lakh. In 2019-20, the Ministry of Minority Affairs disbursed Rs 61 crore under this plan to Jharkhand.
To be eligible, students must score at least 50 percent on their class tests. Students in classes 1 to 5 receive 1,000 rupees per year and students in classes 6 to 10 receive 10,700 rupees a year if they are in a hostel or 5,700 rupees a year if they are day students.
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