Dalit students unhappy with govt’s change in Karnataka incentives law

The Karnataka government has issued a belated order changing the rules for providing incentives to Scheduled Caste students who pass the SSLC examination with distinction and complete a number of post-graduate courses.

The earlier rule of giving an incentive of ₹7,000 to SC students who score 60% to 74.99% in their first attempt in the SSLC exam has been done away with. Instead, the cut-off mark for students who have passed the SSLC to claim the incentive has been set at 75% and above. Moreover, for the first time, the government has also set a family income limit of ₹6 lakh for these beneficiaries to avail the incentive.

Dalit leaders, parents, students and educators opposed the move and argued that while there is an income limit of ₹8 lakh for the economically weaker categories (EWS) to be eligible for various government schemes, fixing an income limit for SC students is unfair.

“My son recently cleared II PU exam with distinction and I came across this information while searching the Social Welfare Department website to apply for the incentive. Due to social and economic reasons, the number of SC students appearing for SSLC and II PUC exams is less. When the number of students enrolled in college is also less, imposing an income limit weakens the morale of students,” said PJ Govindaraju, a Dalit parent and activist from Channapatna.

Previous rules

Earlier, SC students who cleared the SSLC exam in their first attempt with 60% to 74.99% marks were given a one-time cash bonus of ₹7,000. Those who scored above 75% were given ₹15,000.

Similarly, all eligible SC students who have passed with distinction in their first attempt in various post-matric courses will get an incentive without any cut-off marks, ranging from ₹20,000 to ₹35,000. While the incentive remains the same, the cut-off has been revised for some courses, to 65% or 75% instead of the earlier general 60%.

The Commissioner, Department of Social Welfare has made a proposal to introduce income limit and minimum points under the SSLC and Post-Primary Incentive Scheme for students and, in connection with this, an order was issued on 2nd December 2023.

Mavalli Shankar, state coordinator of Dalit Sangharsh Samiti (DSS- Ambedkar Vada), said, “The government has misused crores meant for the development of SC/ST persons under the SCP/TSP Act for guarantee schemes. Now we have come to know that the government is also denying incentives to students through changes in the rules. The government should withdraw this order immediately.”

“Earlier, there was no income limit for talented students from the SC community to get the incentives. But the government is now cheating eligible students from the scheme by fixing an income limit. Is this empowering Dalits?” asked education expert Sripada Bhat.