UK financial crisis and emergency hitting Indian students pursuing higher education.
Indian students are currently being hit hard by the ongoing inflation and financial crisis in the United Kingdom. Specially striking the scholarship students of the Rajarshi Shahu Maharaj Foreign Education Scholarship provided by Social Welfare Department of the Government of Maharashtra. Students selected under the scholarship scheme are paid an annual living cost of 9900 GBP (around 9.9 Lakh Rupees) i.e., 825 GBP (around 82 thousand Rupees) per month which is half of the Chevening scholarship and Commonwealth scholarship (15600 GBP i.e., 15.6 lakh Rupees per annum) and is very insufficient to survive. Such scholarship students are left with no option than managing the housing cost, food, and travel costs with the amount of 825 GBP per month. Current cost of monthly accommodation in London and outside of London is around 1000 GBP (1 Lakh Rupees) and 800 GBP (80 thousand Rupees) respectively. Noticeably, not a single Administrative Officer or Social Welfare Minister in Maharashtra considered to increase this subsistence allowance over a decade. Moreover, the students of this scholarship in the United Kingdom have been starving due to financial crisis and emergency. Financial crisis and emergency during the university coursework along with underpaid allowances have led to the degradation of these scholarship students. The allowance provided in the Rajarshi Shahu Maharaj Foreign Scholarship is very inadequate. This has caused a major disruption in the education of these scholarship students in the UK universities. Increasing the allowance at the earliest and easing the burden of students has become very crucial. For this, many of the research students abroad and the Platform have approached and called Chief Minister and Social Welfare Minister, Eknath Shinde for help in crisis.
The Platform team handed over written appeal to the Chief Minister in person on 15th December and explained the matter. The Platform also requests the chief minister and social justice minister to take immediate note of the crisis faced by the students and help the students at the earliest.
“For the last decade, the social justice department has kept the same old subsistence allowance for students studying in many countries on state scholarships. Inflation rises every year by about 6 percent on an average. The government has never taken note of the inflation that has increased in last 12 years. Many students have been paying the subsistence allowance on their own by doing trivial works in hotels and petrol shops. It often affects the mental health and studies of the students. The government should consider these facts. Also, in this ongoing economic crisis in the UK, the government should take a serious note of this and immediately increase the subsistence allowance and get the students out of the problems.”
Akshay Mandalkar,,
Maharashtra state Secretary ,National student union of india (NSUI)
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