Lok Sabha Question No. 169 (STARRED), answered on 2023-12-14
Subject: Fake institutions under Minority Scholarship Programme
Ministry: MINORITY AFFAIRS
Asked by: Ritesh Pandey

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF MINORITY AFFAIRS

## LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO.*169

ANSWERED ON 14.12.2023

## FAKE INSTITUTIONS UNDER MINORITY SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAMME

*169. SHRI RITESH PANDEY: Will the Minister of MINORITY AFFAIRS be pleased to state: (a)  whether  it  is  a  fact  that  over  53  per  cent  of  institutions  active  under  the  minority scholarship programme were found 'fake'; (b) if so, whether any investigation has been intiated in the matter; (c) if so, the present status of the investigation thereof; (d) whether the Government has framed a comprehensive policy to ensure that such incidents do not re-occur; (e) if so, the details thereof and the timeline set for its implementation; and (f)  if  not,  the  reasons  therefor  and  whether  such  a  policy  is likely  to  be drafted  in the near future and a timeline set for the same?

## ANSWER

## THE MINISTER OF MINORITY AFFAIRS (SHRIMATI SMRITI ZUBIN IRANI)

(a) to (f): A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.

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## STATEMENT  AS  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  LOK  SABHA  STARRED QUESTION *169 FOR ANSWER ON 14.12.2023 REGARDING FAKE INSTITUTIONS UNDER MINORITY SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAMME ASKED BY SHRI RITESH PANDEY :

(a) to (c): Taking cognizance of Media reports and All India Performance Audit Report,  the Ministry entrusted a third party Evaluation study and Physical Verification of Institutes and applicants under Scholarship Schemes. The findings of the study indicated gross irregularities with  instances  where  benefit  of  Scholarship  Schemes  is  not  reaching  to  the  targeted beneficiaries. Government being seized of the complains, a sample of 1,572 institutes were identified for evaluation based on Red Flags generated on National Scholarship Portal (NSP). Out of 1,572 Institutions from 21 States, 830 Institutions are found either non-operational or fake or partial fake. These 830 institutes were either non-existent or beneficiaries were fully fake/partially  fake.   Consequently,  the  matter  has  been  referred  to  the  Central  Bureau  of Investigation  (CBI)  for  thorough  investigation  and  FIR  has  been  registered  by  the  CBI  on 28.08.2023.

(d) to (f): After the on-line submission of application for scholarship, the onus of verification lies with Institute Nodal Officer and then District/State Nodal officers of the concerned state. Once, the application is verified at both the levels, the National Scholarship Portal runs the Sanity checks and generates Red Flags. The applications with red flags are again sent to State Nodal Officer for re-validation. Thus, the entire process of verification and validation is done by State functionaries. The Ministry only had to finally sign the payment files and push it to the Public Finance Management System (PFMS) for Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT).

The Government took various intensive exercise to clean up and revamp the system during the last two years through verification of applicants and the verifying authorities and ensure that  such cases of fraudulent  should not be repeated.  As a policy intervention, an intensive drive  for  Aadhaar  based  bio-metric  authentication  of  all  verifying  authorities  and  finally verified applicants, have been conducted and it has been ensured that henceforth, leakage can be curtailed. The Bio-metric Authentication drive has been completed within the stipulated timeline.

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