Funding cuts leave minority students fighting to stay in higher education and research

When Shahid (name changed) (30) finally secured admission to a Ph.D. programme at Jamia Millia Islamia, it felt like the culmination of years of effort. The son of a modest family from Muzaffarnagar in western Uttar Pradesh, he was the first person in his household to reach higher education.

After completing his Master’s in Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policy in 2021, Mr. Shahid was determined to continue his academic journey. He had already studied at Jamia for his bachelor’s degree and dreamed of eventually becoming an assistant professor. “I always wanted to be in teaching,” he said. “For someone like me, becoming a professor meant everything.”

His doctoral research focused on the formation of Muslim Jat identities in western Uttar Pradesh after the nineteenth century, a subject rooted in the social history of his own region.

Like many research scholars from minority communities, Mr. Shahid hoped to receive financial support through the Maulana Azad National Fellowship (MANF). This programme supports minority students pursuing M.Phil and Ph.D. research. But the timing of his admission turned his dream into a struggle.

The closing of MANF

The year he joined his Ph.D. programme, 2022-23, the government closed the fellowship to new applicants. “It was a dream moment to get selected for a Ph.D. at Jamia,” Mr. Shahid said, smiling faintly as he looked at his university identity card. “But from the very first day, I realised I would have to depend on borrowings to survive.”

Without a fellowship, Mr. Shahid began relying on small contributions from family members and loans from friends to continue his research. He also attempted to qualify for the Junior Research Fellowship (JRF), another national fellowship programme, but could not secure it despite trying three times. With no steady source of income, he began taking freelance assignments with research organisations and NGOs.

“I can’t rely on my family every time,” he said. “So I started working wherever I could.” But juggling work with research took its toll.

Mr. Shahid’s doctoral chapters are now complete, and he hopes to submit his thesis later this year. Yet the path has been far more difficult than he imagined when he first entered the programme.

During these years, financial constraints forced him to miss academic opportunities that could have strengthened his career. One of them came when his research abstract was accepted for presentation at a conference at IIT Kanpur. Although his paper was ready, he could not afford the registration fee required to attend. “I had my paper prepared,” he said. “But the fee was too high, and I couldn’t arrange the money in time.”

In 2023, he faced a similar situation when a conference at Kalyani University in West Bengal required a participation fee of ₹6,000. “I had to let that opportunity go as well,” he said.

Disappearing financial support for minority students

Mr. Shahid’s experience reflects a broader trend unfolding across the country as financial support programmes for minority students shrink or disappear.

According to the 2011 Census, religious minorities together account for roughly 19% of India’s population. Muslims, the largest minority community, number about 172 million people (14.2%), followed by Christians (2.3%), Sikhs (1.7%), Buddhists (0.7%), Jains (0.4%), and Parsis (0.006%), and others in smaller numbers.

For millions within these communities, many of whom are first-generation learners, scholarship schemes have historically served as one of the few pathways to higher education.

Data provided by UGC shows that 6722 candidates were selected under the MANF scheme between 2014-15 and 2021-22 and fellowships to the tune of ₹ 738.85 crore were distributed during the same period. However, the programme was closed to new applicants in 2022. The closure was part of a series of policy changes affecting minority education programmes.

In February 2022, the government reduced funding for the Maulana Azad Education Foundation, an organisation providing educational and skill-development opportunities for minorities, by 99%, cutting its allocation from ₹90 crore to just ₹1 lakh.

Later that year, the government partially discontinued the , removing support for students from Classes 1 to 8 while retaining it for Classes 9 to 12.

Another scheme, Padho Pardesh, which provided interest subsidies on education loans for minority students studying abroad, was also halted. Reporting by The Hindu Business Line in January 2023 said banks had been informed that the programme would end, although no formal public announcement explained the decision.

Budget documents also reveal steep declines in allocations for the remaining scholarship schemes. The Merit-cum-Means Scholarship, designed to help minority students pursue professional degrees such as engineering, medicine and management, has seen its allocation collapse from ₹7.34 crore in the 2025–26 Budget to just ₹0.06 crore in 2026–27, a reduction of more than 99%.

The gap between allocated funds and actual spending is equally stark. The Post-Matric Scholarship for Minorities, which supports students studying after Class 10, had an allocation of ₹413.99 crore in 2025–26, but revised estimates show that only ₹0.06 crore was spent as of end of February. A similar pattern appears in the Pre-Matric Scholarship, where revised expenditure also dropped to ₹0.06 crore despite much higher initial allocations.

Taken together, these figures suggest that while ₹831.70 crore has been allocated for minority education empowerment programmes in the 2026–27 Budget, many of the schemes meant to deliver that support are shrinking in practice.

The financial pressure is felt not only by research scholars like Mr. Shahid but also by students in earlier stages of education. Blessy K. Abraham, a 22-year-old sociology student from Kerala studying at Dr B. R. Ambedkar University Delhi, says the cost of higher education has become increasingly difficult to manage. “My semester fee is around ₹35,000 even though it is a public university,” she said. “For a year, it comes to almost ₹70,000.”

The university offers internal merit scholarships, but she claims, while showing the revised scholarship policy documents issued by the university for students, that the amount has reduced over time. “Earlier, the scholarships were higher,” she said. “Now they cover only a small part of the expenses.”

Ms. Blessy said she had explored minority scholarship options through the National Minorities Development and Finance Corporation but found that several schemes had already been discontinued. “To pay my fees, I have crowdfunded for the last two semesters,” she said.

Opposition to affirmative measures

Experts say such financial barriers risk widening existing inequalities in access to education. Salman Khurshid, former Union Minister for Minority Affairs, in conversation with The Hindu, said, scholarship programmes were originally designed to address structural disadvantages highlighted by the Sachar Committee report. “If everyone is expected to compete from the same pool without targeted support, then what was the purpose of having these schemes?” he said.

He argued that scholarships played a crucial role in encouraging students from vulnerable communities to pursue higher education. “An educated minority student does not harm society,” he said. “He contributes to it.”

Scholars studying higher education policy say the decline in such programmes may have long-term consequences. Zoya Hasan, Professor Emerita at Jawaharlal Nehru University, described the budgetary shifts as part of what she calls a broader pattern of “structural exclusion”. “The current policies reflect a fundamental opposition to affirmative measures that would increase minority participation in higher education,” she said, noting that enrolment levels among Muslim students have already declined in recent years.

“They talk about ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas,’ but there’s no evidence of this, as the government continues to sideline minorities,” she noted. Professor Hasan, who was a member of the National Commission for Minorities from 2006 to 2009, said the state is increasingly seeking to control universities and other higher educational institutions by influencing the content of teaching and research, as well as the appointment of vice-chancellors and faculty.

The uncertainty facing students today is unfolding alongside a policy stalemate around scholarship programmes themselves. Investigations into alleged irregularities in the minority scholarship system, including cases involving fake institutions and ghost beneficiaries, have dragged on for years.

Reports by The Print and The Wire on a recent parliamentary standing committee review, chaired by Bharatiya Janata Party MP P. C. Mohan, noted that while inquiries continue, many schemes that once supported minority students have remained effectively dormant, leaving applicants and existing scholars uncertain about whether or when assistance will resume.

For students already navigating rising education costs and limited family resources, the delay has meant living in a prolonged state of limbo, waiting for decisions that may determine whether they can continue their studies at all.

Back in Jamia’s research library, Mr.. Shahid continues to work on the final chapters of his thesis. But the years spent juggling freelance work and research have left him uncertain about his future. While freelancing and doing other jobs to earn money have helped him survive, he says it has also affected the quality and pace of his research. “It’s my fifth year, and I still haven’t been able to submit my paper because financial issues keep getting in the way,” he said. “I can’t focus properly on the research.”

“I can’t demand anything now because my time in research has already gone,” Mr. Shahid said quietly. “Now I am looking for a job to help my family.”

(Arsalan Shamsi and Mohsin Mushtaq are freelance journalists based in New Delhi.)