Muslim students will not lose out on scholarships: Kerala CM

He says speculation to the contrary will sow disaffection among communities

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan told the Assembly on Thursday that there was no ground for the apprehension that Muslim students would lose out on “merit-cum-means” scholarships due to the 2011 Population Census based restructuring of the educational endowment for students belonging to academically and socially backward minority communities. He said speculation to the contrary would sow disaffection among communities. The contentious topic came up during Budget discussions in the House. Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) legislator P.K. Basheer said his party could not agree with the current scholarship allocation. He said it was violative of the spirit of the Sachar Committee report. The Union government had constituted the panel to study backwardness of Muslims alone. The committee had recommended that minority scholarships be entirely reserved for students from indigent Muslim families.