Mumbai: Students belonging to Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribe (ST) and Other Backward Class (OBC) communities are protesting at city’s Azad Maidan against the cap of 200 on fellowships. The candidates say that limiting the number of fellowships has restrained them from conducting research. 

The protesting students belong to various institutes such as Babasaheb Ambedkar Research and Training Institute (BARTI), Pune, Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Research and Training Institute (MahaJyoti), Nagpur, and Chatrapati Shahuji Maharaj Research Training and Human Development Institute (SARTHI), Pune. 

The research fellowship offered by BARTI named as  Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar National Research Fellowship (BANRF) includes a monthly stipend of Rs 31,000 for first two years and Rs 35,000 for the following three years of PhD programme. 

The BANRF was started in 2013 and is the first fellowship in the name of Dr Ambedkar. It is meant for SC, ST and OBC students from Maharashtra.  

In October 2023, the Department of Social Justice and Special Assistance capped the fellowship to 200 as against the default fellowship to every candidate earlier. To shortlist the candidates, the department announced an entrance examination. 

The test examination was held in December 2023 at four centres across the state, in which 3,600 candidates appeared. But it was cancelled as the question paper was the same as the 2019 State Eligibility Test (SET). 

The re-examination, which was held in January, was boycotted by the students as some students complained that the question papers were not sealed. 

Last year, the students belonging to the 2021 batch of BARTI also protested at the same venue against the limit on the number of scholarships. 

The Mooknayak tried to reach out to the officials at the Department of Social Justice and Special Assistance, Government of Maharashtra, but could not get a response.

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