NFPWDSA Public letter concerning delays in disbursement of National Fellowship for Persons with Disabilities (NFPWD)
Vaishnavi Jayakumar (Inclusive India)
Public letter concerning delays in disbursement of National Fellowship for Persons with Disabilities (NFPWD)
5 August 2022
---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: NFPWDSA <nfp...@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 5 Aug 2022 at 13:35
Subject: Public letter concerning delays in disbursement of National Fellowship for Persons with Disabilities
To: <offic...@gmail.com>, <mos3...@gov.in>, <mosat...@gmail.com>, <office...@gmail.com>, <mos.socia...@gmail.com>, <mos.soci...@gmail.com>, <secretar...@nic.in>, <beena.e...@gov.in>, <cm....@nic.in>, <secy...@nic.in>, <ssing...@nic.in>, <monik...@nic.in>, <bharad...@nic.in>, <appoint...@gov.in>, <f...@nic.in>, <sec...@nic.in>, <md...@canarabank.com>
To,
Dr. Virendra Kumar,
Union Cabinet Minister of Social Justice & Empowerment,
Government of India
Shri Ramdas Athawale,
Minister of State for Social Justice & Empowerment,
Government of India
(mos3...@gov.in, mosat...@gmail.com)
Shri A Narayanaswamy,
Minister of State for Social Justice & Empowerment,
Government of India
Km. Pratima Bhoumik,
Minister of State for Social Justice & Empowerment,
Government of India
Ms. Anjali Bhawra,
Secretary,
The Department of Empowerment for Persons with Disabilities,
Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment,
Government of India
Ms. Beena E. Chakravarty,
Deputy Secretary,
The Department of Empowerment for Persons with Disabilities,
Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment,
Government of India
Prof. Mamidala Jagadesh Kumar,
Chairman,
University Grants Commission
Prof. Rajnish Jain,
Secretary,
University Grants Commission
Dr. Surendra Singh,
Additional Secretary,
University Grants Commission
Ms. Monika,
Deputy Secretary,
University Grants Commission
Mr/Ms. R.I.S. Bharadwaj,
Under Secretary,
University Grants Commission
Ms. Nirmala Sitharaman,
Union Minister of Finance,
Government of India
(appoint...@gov.in, f...@nic.in)
Dr. T.V. Somanathan,
F.S. & Secretary Expenditure,
Ministry of Finance
Mr. L.V. Prabhakar,
Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer,
Canara Bank
This is to bring your attention to the following:
1) The University Grants Commission (UGC) issued a Notification vide F.No. 6-1/2020 (SA-III) dated 17.12.2020 inviting applications from eligible candidates for the National Fellowship for Persons with Disabilities (NFPWD) for the selection year 2020-21. It mentioned that “there are 200 slots with provision of reservation of 15% for Scheduled Castes and 7.5% for Scheduled Tribes.” According to it, the last date to apply for the same was 17.01.2021. A copy of the Notification is enclosed in Annexure-I.
2) The UGC announced the result of the aforementioned round of NFPwD on 24.1.2022, wherein it provisionally selected 186 candidates for the fellowship. The UGC took more than a year to process the applications and release the result. A copy of the result notification is enclosed in Annexure-II.
3) After the announcement of the result, a lot of the selected candidates have submitted the required documents to the Canara Bank. Yet, their fellowships have not been disbursed.
4) This long delay in disbursement of fellowships has caused several issues. Scholars have reported issues of depression and helplessness. Adequate and consistent funding is a must for the pursuit of research. This delay has left many researchers unable to focus on their research work, while some are considering to drop out of their programmes. The effect of the delay in disbursement of fellowship amount is more pronounced since the scholars are barred from taking up any work as well. 50+ selected candidates enrolled at institutions across the country have raised such concerns in NFPWD Scholars Association (NFPWDSA).
5) Prolonged delays in the disbursement of fellowships are observed not only for the 2020-21 batch but also for the preceding batches (those of 2017-18 and 2018-20).
6) Such a long delay also violates the fundamental rights to equality (since the delay is much longer in NFPWD vis-a-vis other comparable fellowships) and to life with dignity (since, without the timely disbursement of NFPWD, the selected candidates cannot afford goods and services pertinent to a life with dignity) of the selected candidates.
7) It has been communicated to the members of NFPWDSA from multiple sources that the delay is currently because the
“Department of Expenditure has laid down revised procedure for flow of funds under Central Sector Schemes which mandates, inter alia, designation of a Central Nodal Agency (CNA) to implement the scheme before release of any fund under the scheme”
and that,
“The matter is being taken up with the concerned authorities to resolve the issue at the earliest.”
NFPWDSA would like to bring to the attention of the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, that in Memorandum dated 09.03.2022 vide F.No. 1(18)/PFMS/FCD/2021, para 7.i specifically exempts DBT based schemes such as NFPWD.
“7. The following categories of Central Sector Schemes will be exempted from following these guidelines and may continue in existing mode:
i. Central Sector Schemes being implemented by Ministries/Departments in Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) mode or reimbursement mode.”
A copy of the memorandum is enclosed herewith in Annexure-III.
In this backdrop, we urge you for immediate intervention in this matter and for immediate disbursement of NFPWD.
TEAM NFPWDSA
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NFPWD Scholars Association (NFPWDSA) is an open, voluntary organisation to collectively address issues relevant to fellows of 'National Fellowship for Persons with Disabilities (NFPWD)' UGC Central Sector Scheme. We can be emailed at nfp...@googlegroups.com