Maha minister gives daughter grant to pursue PhD abroad
PACKAGE DEAL His secretary’s son gets scholarship meant for SC, ST and Dalit students
A Maharashtra minister’s daughter and the son of an IAS officer in his department have made the cut for a special state scholarship to study abroad, triggering accusations of fund misuse and questions over conflict of interest.
Social justice minister Rajkumar Badole’s daughter, Shruti Rajkumar Badole, will study at the University of Manchester in the UK, while department secretary Dinesh Waghmare’s son, Antariksh Dinesh Waghmare, will study at the University of Pennsylvania in the US.
Incidentally, it is the social justice and special assistance department that administers the scholarships instituted in 2003 for post-graduate and PhD courses.
The scholarships are given to a maximum of 50 students from Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Dalit families who have secured admission in any of the world’s top 300 academic institutions. The minister’s daughter and the bureaucrat’s son are among 35 students deemed eligible this year.
While Shruti Badole will pursue her PhD in Astronomy and Astrophysics for three years, Antariksh Waghmare will do a two-year Master of Science course in Information System.
As a part of the scholarship, the state will fund the students’ return economy fare, tuition fee, and an annual stipend of $14,000 (nearly ₹9 lakh), or £9,000 (more than ₹7.5 lakh) in case of admission in the UK. The scholarship includes an additional fund of $1,375 (around ₹88,000), or £1,000 (around ₹83,000) for the UK for other academic expenses.
Despite several attempts, BJP leader Rajkumar Badole could not be reached for comment. On Wednesday evening, the social justice department said that the objection to Shruti and Antariksh’s selection was wrong and both had made the cut on merit.
“Shruti Badole has a degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, Chennai, and has studied Master of Science in London. She has got admission in the 29th best institution as per the internationally accepted QS world university rankings. Similarly, Antariksh has got admitted to the 95th best university,” the department said. “No rules have been changed to ensure their inclusion. Moreover, the minister and the secretary took a stand that they won’t be associated with the selection process since their wards were applicants,” the statement added.
Social justice department secretary Dinesh Waghmare defended his son and the minister’s daughter’s inclusion in the scholarship list. “They are both adults and applied independently as per the procedure and were selected on merit. The fact that Shruti is the daughter of a minister and Antariksh is my son is not a reason for disqualification.”
He added, “The selection committee used to be under my chairmanship, but because we were aware that our children were applicants, we kept away from the process. The CM constituted a new committee.” Besides the chief secretary, the panel includes additional chief secretary of higher and technical education, the medical education secretary, directors of medical education and technical education and social welfare commissioner.