Rising debts, unpaid rent: Hyd PhD scholars waiting for MANF since September

Hyderabad: Shaikh Zahid, a second-year Ph.D. student in the department of history at Maulana Azad National Urdu University (MANUU), is scared he will be asked to leave his hostel. He fears that anytime, the owner might walk into his room and ask him to get out. Zahid has been unable to pay his hostel rent for the last two months.

Unable to pay hostel rent or go on field research, Ph.D. scholars from minority communities are struggling to pay the bills. Not just that, many are leading a debt-ridden life.

On 8 December, the Union government decided to discontinue the Maulana Azad National Fellowship (MANF) for minority students citing that the scheme overlaps with various other fellowships for higher education. But what is even more important to note here is that the fellowship has not been provided to the existing beneficiaries since September 2022.

In 2022, the fellowships were delayed for 6-7 months. "Instead of monthly payments, we got the fellowship money from January to August together," says Zahid. And since September, the Ph.D. scholars have not received the fellowship money. This has pushed many scholars into debt traps.

Zahid, who gets around Rs. 35,000 per month, says it has been very difficult since the fellowship became irregular. "I have to pay rent of Rs. 9,000 per month and I have not been able to pay that for the last two months. Not just paying the rents, but buying books, attending conferences, everything has become difficult due to the delayed payment," explains Zahid. He also adds that he has taken loans in the last few months to pay the rent and other expenses which he now has to repay.

Syed Mudawar, a Ph.D. scholar in mass communication and journalism at MANUU, says, "Food and stay alone come up to Rs. 20,000 per month. From a monthly setup, MANF is turning into a bi-annual fellowship. It is a really frustrating situation for all the MANF scholars as debts are rising and survival is becoming difficult with each day that passes without the disbursal." He also adds that the fellowship is only enough to pay off his debts.

Gulzar, another Ph.D. scholar at the University of Hyderabad, says it has been difficult to make ends meet since the monthly disbursal stopped.

According to the information provided to the scholars by the ministry of minority affairs, it will take around two months to process the pending fellowships.

"The ministry of minority affairs should either create a nodal agency exclusively to look after the fellowship or hand over the task to the UGC like before to regularise the disbursal," says Zahid.

What is MANF?

MANF, previously provided by the University Grants Commission, is now being given away by the ministry of minority affairs. It is a fellowship provided to students belonging to minority communities who wish to pursue research. The fellowship is given to candidates belonging to Muslim, Christian, Jain, Sikh, Parsi, and Buddhist communities who are pursuing either M.Phil or Ph.D. For M.Phil candidates, the fellowship is provided for a period of two years and for Ph.D. candidates, it is provided for five years.

A week ago, in December 2022, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced that the existing beneficiaries will get the fellowship till the end of their tenure.