Nagaland government has released over Rs 9 lakh as scholarship for Naga students pursuing B Tech and MBA courses at an engineering and technology college in Modinagar in Uttar Pradesh.
“We have cleared the scholarship for 107 out of the 150 Naga students amounting to Rs 9,32,700 while the remaining 43 students were not given because some of them did not have proper bank accounts while some were not eligible to avail it,” Parliamentary Secretary for Higher and Technical Education Deo Nukhu said.
He also pooh-poohed the allegations holding the state government responsible for the 150 students leaving Divya Jyoti Institute of Engineering and Technology, Modinagar, Uttar Pradesh.
He said that the students were sent to the institute after the Eastern Naga Students Union Dimapur (ENSUD) entered into a memorandum of understanding with Divya Jyoti Group of Institutes (DJGI) and others institutes last year.
“The state government or Department of Technical Education was not aware and never informed about it by either ENSUD or DJGI,” he said, adding that the admissions of the students were done at their own risk.
“DJGI with assistance of the ENSUD shall shoulder the responsibilities for the re-imbursement and scholarship to all the eligible students and in-case student(s) does not avail the scholarship, DJGI must make an alternative arrangement till the students complete its course,” maintains a clause of a Memorandum of Understanding signed between ENSUD and DJGI on April 10, 2014.
The copy of the MOU was made available to the media by the Technical Education Department during the press conference.
Therefore, the Parliamentary Secretary said that the state government or the department cannot be held responsible for the exodus of Naga students from Divya Jyoti Institute of Engineering and Technology, Modinargar, Uttar Pradesh.
Deo Nukhu also said that the department would be initiating action against the institute and ENSUD after making thorough investigation into the entire issue.
Asked about the fate of the 150 students returning home in the middle of the course, Nukhu said, “at the present moment we cannot commit anything.”