Educational assistance: Gujarat government "discriminating" Dalit, Adivasi students

By Our Representative
Veteran Dalit rights leader Valjibhai Patel, who heads the NGO Council for Social Justice, has protested against the Gujarat government raising the upper income limit of parents for availing educational assistance for general category students from from Rs 3 lakh to Rs 4.50 lakh, even keeping it at Rs 2.50 lakh for scheduled caste and tribe (SC and ST) students.
Patel, in a letter to the chief minister, said, “We had requested you to increase the income limit of parents of SC and ST students of Scheduled Caste and Tribe by Rs 2.50 lakh to Rs 3 lakh, equal to that of general category students. However, you do not seem to have heard the voice of reason, insulting the entire Dalit-Adivasi community by ignoring them.”
Wondering if Adivasis and Dalits will ever be treated as equal citizens in Gujarat, Patel, in his letter called this “discrimination a serious crime”, qualifying it an “open violation of Articles 14 and 15 of the Constitution of India”, demanding, :SC and ST students of Gujarat should have the same income limit of Rs 4.50 lakh for as educational assistance as others”.

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