OBC students' body urges Dharmendra Pradhan to increase national fellowships, start quota in UGC PDFs

NEW DELHI : The All India OBC Students Association (AIOBCSA) has urged Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan to increase national fellowships for Other Backward Classes (OBCs) and implement OBC reservations in University Grants Commission (UGC) post-doctoral fellowships.

“We request Dharmendra Pradhan to increase the National Fellowship for OBCs from 1000 slots to 5000 slots every year and introduce Post Doctoral Fellowships for OBCs,” AIOBCSA tweeted.

We request @dpradhanbjp to increase the National Fellowship for OBCs from 1000 slots to 5000 slots every year and introduce Post Doctoral Fellowships for OBCs. @EduMinOfIndia @MSJEGOI @PMOIndia pic.twitter.com/mC9iUvSFMO

— All India OBC Students Association (AIOBCSA) (@aiobcsa) July 10, 2022

“NFOBCs were introduced to help the OBC research scholars to pursue MPhil and PhDs in various universities. The number of slots allocated for NFOBCs by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment (MoSJ&E) is 1000. The number of slots allocated for the National Fellowships for SCs, minorities, STs are 2,000, 1,000 and 750. As many OBC students are pursuing PhDs, there is a need for increasing the National Fellowship for OBCs from 1000 to 5000 slots,” AIOBCSA said in a letter to the education minister.

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The Students’ organisation alleged that UGC is allocating 100 slots of Post Doctoral Fellowships for Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) every year but there are no such fellowships for OBCs and demanded to initiate the these fellowships for OBC students.

“We request you to initiate the Post Doctoral Fellowship for OBCs and to increase the number of slots for National Fellowship for OBCs from 1000 slots to 5000 slots every year,” it further said.