Rajnath plays good samaritan for Kashmiri students

New Delhi, Sep 3 (PTI) Home Minister Rajnath Singh hasbecome a good samaritan for a group of students from Jammu andKashmir studying in Rajasthan, who were facing difficulties ingetting benefits of a government scholarship. Singh, who witnessed the plight of these students hailingfrom Srinagar, Jammu and Ladakh on a news channel last night,first called up the journalist who reported the story andsubsequently contacted the Rajasthan Education minister. Hesought resolution of their problem which pertained to availingthe Prime Ministers’ Special Scholarship scheme. The students belong to the Gyan Vihar University inJaipur. "On hearing the news, the Home Minister called theEducation minister of Rajasthan and obtained the phone numbersof some of the students. On talking to them, he learnt thatthe students had some difficulties in getting theirscholarship under the Prime Minister’s Special Scholarshipscheme," a Home Ministry official said. "Singh has asked the concerned minister to sort out theoperational difficulty by Monday (September 5). He also toldthe students to meet him on September 6 in Delhi immediatelyafter he returns from his tour to Jammu and Kashmir onSeptember 4–5, if their problem persisted," the official said. A 24×7 grievance redressal helpline was recently set upby the Home Ministry for helping people from the Valley,particularly students residing out of the state. The Ministry had nominated Sanjay Roy, Director (Media),as the nodal officer for this task. The grievances can be reported on the following phonenumbers: 011-23092923, 011-23092885, or mailed atdirmjk-mha@nic.in The nodal officer will receive complaints from Kashmiripeople and youths facing harassment in different parts of thecountry. He will also coordinate with states for an earlydisposal of such cases. The announcement for appointing such an officer was madeby the Home Minister during his two-day visit to KashmirValley recently during which several political parties hadraised the issue of harassment of Kashmiri youths in variousparts of the country. During the recent unrest in the Valley, reports ofalleged harassment of Kashmiri youths were received fromstates including Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Karnataka,Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh. PTI NES ACB SRY RGSRY