Eye on poll, Kejriwal vows to fund foreign study of Dalit students

In what is being termed as a bold move to woo voters ahead of the Assembly elections, Aam Aadmi Party national convener Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday promised to fund foreign education of Delhi's Dalit students through a scheme named after Dr BR Ambedkar.

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Kejriwal said the announcement was in response to Home Minister Amit Shah’s controversial remarks on the architect of the Constitution in Parliament recently. “I was personally hurt by the remarks… I don't want any Dalit student to give up his dream of studying abroad for want of money,” he said.

Announcing Dr Ambedkar Samman Scholarship Yojana, Kejriwal said the Delhi Government would bear all expenses of the Dalit student who secured admission at any foreign varsity. “Be it the cost of travel, stay or fees, the government will cover everything,” he said.

This is the fourth major announcement by Kejriwal before the upcoming elections. Earlier this month, AAP promised to increase financial assistance for women aged 18 and above under the Mukhyamantri Mahila Samman Yojana from Rs 1,000 (as announced earlier this year) to Rs 2,100, if the party returns to power.

Other promises include free treatment for senior citizens at all government and private hospitals of Delhi and a comprehensive welfare package for the city’s auto-rickshaw drivers.

Even though AAP’s political rivals have always attacked it over its “freebie policy” in Delhi and Punjab, the party has not backed out and continued to woo voters in the name of welfare schemes.

Since AAP came into power in 2015, welfare schemes like free of cost 200 units of power, 20,000 litres of water for every household, travel for women in DTC buses and Mohalla clinics among others have made the party even stronger with people giving it landslide victories in back-to-back two Assembly elections.

The Delhi Government is already running a scholarship scheme to fund higher studies of SC students, but benefit is given to just 100 students.

Meanwhile, Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva said Kejriwal was a political “weather scientist who has mastered the art of repackaging his plans based on political climate”. “I challenge Kejriwal to answer why under the same scholarship scheme announced in 2020, only Rs 25 lakh worth of scholarships have been distributed so far, while nearly Rs 5 crore was spent on its promotion in 2020-21,” he alleged.