Hostel Schemes for Dalit Students: How Inclusive and Incentive Oriented for Higher Education?

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3 Hostel Schemes for Dalit Students: How Inclusive and Incentive Oriented for Higher Education? Sobin George Deeba Naseem Working Paper Series Indian Institute of Dalit Studies New Delhi 2010

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5 Foreword Indian Institute of Dalit Studies (IIDS) has been amongst the first research organisations in India to focus exclusively on development concerns of the marginalised groups and socially excluded communities. Over the last seven years, IIDS has undertaken several studies on different aspects of social exclusion and discrimination of the historically marginalised social groups such as the Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST) and Religious Minorities in India and other parts of the Sub- Continent. The Working Paper Series disseminates empirical findings of the ongoing research and conceptual development on issues pertaining to the forms and nature of social exclusion and discrimination. Some of our papers also critically examine inclusive policies for the marginalised social groups. The working paper on Hostel Schemes for Dalit Students: Inclusive and Incentive Orient for Higher Education? is a part of the study of Impact Assessment of Schedule Caste Welfare programmes. It highlights serious flaws in service delivery and reiterates the fact that though several incentive schemes to encourage SC/ST students for attainment of quality education exist, practices beyond policies remain critical questions as ever. This paper, drawing from an assessment study of Babu Jagjivan Ram Chhatravas Yojana, highlights how wrong exclusion occurs even in a targeted scheme. Using available data, the paper argues that the scheme has not adequately followed the stated preferential criteria of low literacy and focus of middle and secondary level of education for SC females while selecting locations. Most importantly, the scheme does not include poverty as a criterion for selection of beneficiaries, which allows wrong exclusion on a large scale. Despite several policy and programme interventions to help improve the educational conditions of Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) in India, serious gaps exist in their literacy rate, participation in higher, technical and professional education as compared to other social groups, which is more a paradox than the query. The paper suggests that segregation of data across middle, secondary and higher education of SC male and female in rural and urban India by level of poverty is a prudent option to select locations and beneficiaries as long as the scheme has budget constraints for universal coverage. The paper also looks at the extent to which the hostel scheme acts as an incentive for SC students to continue their education, which is one of its major objectives. IIDS acknowledges the support of Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Government of India for carrying out the study. We hope our working papers will be helpful to academics, students, activists, civil society organizations, NGOs and policymaking bodies. Rajendra P. Mamgain Director, IIDS

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7 Contents 1. Introduction Methodology 3 2. Educational Status of Dalits Literacy Rate and Gap Dropout Rate Enrolment and Level of Education Poverty and Levels of Education 9 3. Babu Jagjivan Ram Chhatravas Yojana: How Inclusive and Incentive oriented? Structure and Implementation of the Scheme Financial Allocation, Expenditure and Achievements Selection Criteria: Indications of Wrong Exclusion Case Studies Hostel Construction and Maintenance Socio-Economic Background of Beneficiaries Facilities Available in the Hostels Information, Education and Communication (IEC) Conclusion 29

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9 Hostel Schemes for Dalit Students: How Inclusive and Incentive Oriented for Higher Education? 1. Introduction Sobin George* Deeba Naseem** The Minister of State, Social Justice and Empowerment on 9 July, 2009 in Rajya Sabha, referring to the report of Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) on Educational Development of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes for 2007 revealed that in many states, hostels for SCs and STs have been used for running government offices, schools, staff residence and beggar s home. in Dukma, Dhanbad and Ranchi, three hostels for STs and one for SCs built during for 400 students were occupied by police officials and to run a school, while six hostels constructed during were being used as staff quarters, classrooms and a staff common room. 1 This points to the serious flaws in service delivery and reiterates the fact that though several incentive schemes to encourage SC/ ST students to attain quality education exist, what is happening beyond policies remains a critical question as ever. This paper drawing from an This paper is based on the Assessment study of Babu Jagjivan Ram Chhatrawas Yojna of Government of India undertaken by Indian Institute of Dalit Studies, New Delhi. Authors wish to thank Surinder S. Jodhka, Sanghmitra S. Acharya and Gowhar Yaqoob for their comments and R.S. Kamble for his assistance with data. * Sobin George is Fellow, Indian Institute Dalit Studies and can be contacted on sobing@gmail.com ** Deeba Naseem was an Associate Fellow with Indian Institute of Dalit Studies.

10 Indian Institute of Dalit Studies Volume IV, Number 07 assessment study of the targeted scheme of Babu Jagjivan Ram Chhatravas Yojana looks at how inclusive is the scheme in selecting locations and beneficiaries and how far it acts as an incentive for SC students to continue their education. This paper looks through the paradox that despite several policy and programme interventions to help improve the educational conditions of Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) in India, serious gaps exist in their literacy rate, higher education, technical and professional education as compared to other social groups. Over the years, scholarships on caste, ethnicity and education attributed a number of factors ranging from existing structural barriers and poverty to extreme forms of discrimination to low educational attainments of SCs, STs and Muslims (Kumar 1983; Ahmed 1984, Bannerji 2000; Shah 2000; Acharya 2001; Ahmed 2003, Nambissan, 2009). Realising these gaps, the Central and State Governments have implemented various schemes for the educational development of SCs and STs. Among other, the most important was the introduction of stipulated quotas/reservation in educational and technical institutions. 2 The National Policy on Education (NPE), 1986 and the Programmes of Action (PoA), 1992 were the contexts in which Government of India implemented programmes for the educational development of Scheduled Castes. The government has planned/implemented measures such as incentives to poor family to send children to school, pre-matric scholarship schemes, remedial courses, recruitment of teachers from SCs, hostel schemes, Balwadies and adult education centres etc. toward achieving these goals. Apart from the general educational development programmes for SC students, focus is rendered also on specific schemes for encouraging higher and technical education, realising the improvements in their education. These include post-matric scholarship, central sector scholarship to top class education, Rajiv Gandhi National Fellowship, National Overseas Scholarship, and hostel schemes (Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, GOI). Among these, hostel scheme for scheduled caste and scheduled tribe students, which this paper looks at, is an incentive scheme to enable and encourage students belonging to these groups to 2

11 Hostel Schemes for Dalit Students Sobin George and Deeba Naseem attain quality education 3. The scheme for scheduled caste girls has been ongoing from the third five year plan and the hostel scheme for boys has been operational from In 2008, the existing hostel schemes for boys and girls were revised and named as Babu Jagjivan Ram Chhatravas Yojana (Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment 2009). Though the scheme has been operational for a long period of time, its real impacts in terms of the educational advancement of scheduled castes is a critical question. Specifically, this paper attempts to explore how effective the scheme has been in achieving the stated objectives of enabling quality education for SC students. It looks at the centrally sponsored hostel scheme for Scheduled Caste boys and girls in general and the revised hostel scheme of Babu Jagjivan Ram Chhatravas Yojana, which has been effective since 1st January 2008, in particular. Questions that this paper addresses are: i. Whether the hostel scheme acts as an incentive to Dalit students for higher education? ii. How inclusive is the scheme in its design and implementation with regard to selection of locations, beneficiaries, eligibility criteria and service delivery? iii. What is the financial allocation for each programme for various years and what was the actual coverage? iv. What are the processes in the delivery of the programme and major challenges in achieving it? v. What are the steps taken for the effective dissemination of information of the schemes to beneficiaries at various levels? vi. What is the level of utilization of each programme by the Dalit communities and what is the coverage of the programme to the total beneficiary population specifically for each programme? 1.1 Methodology The study employed both secondary and primary research to examine the process and impact indicators of the scheme. Data on financial allocation, fund released for the scheme, number of hostels and number of 3

12 Indian Institute of Dalit Studies Volume IV, Number 07 beneficiaries, across states and over years have been obtained from Annual Reports of Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Ministry of Human Resource Development and answers for the starred and un-starred questions in the parliament. It should be mentioned that though Babu Jagjivan Ram Chhatravas Yojana, which is the scheme under assessment, started with effect from 1st January 2008, the study examined data from 1999 onwards to draw a comprehensive picture of the programme. The study used population census data from 1961 to 2001 to analyse rate of growth in literacy of SC males and females. Apart from that, the study relied on NSS 61st round ( ) data to examine the level of education of SC (Age>15<=30) across sex, sector and states. Further, data on persons with poverty across the level of education, age (>15<=30), sector, sex, and state have been generated to examine the interrelationship of poverty and levels of education of SCs as well as to narrow down the focus to eligible categories of the scheme. The research team visited two hostels, one in Haryana, which is a newly constructed one, sanctioned in 2008 and another in Uttar Pradesh, which was built in 1989; in order to get the picture of the scheme at its implementation level. Haryana and Uttar Pradesh were selected because of its close proximity to Delhi where the research team is based. Hostel of Govt. Girls P.G. College, Gurgaon Haryana (Urban) and Rajkiya Chhatravas, Government ITI, Bakshi ka Talab, Lucknow (Rural) were thus selected for the primary study. Data were collected from college principals, wardens and inmates of the hostel through discussions and personal interviews. Overall, the team interacted with 11 resident students from the Girls P.G. College, Gurgaon Haryana and 21 resident students from Government Polytechnic, Bakshi ka Talab, Lucknow. Apart from that discussions were also held with Director, Under Secretary and Section Officer of SC programmes, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment in New Delhi and Officials in Samaj Kalyan Vibhag in Lucknow to understand various processes of implementation of the scheme. The paper is structured as follows: First section, by examining data on literacy rate, dropout rates, enrolment and levels of education across social groups looks at the educational status of schedule caste as compared to other social groups. This section further discusses the interconnectedness of poverty and level of education drawing from NSS data. Second section 4

13 Hostel Schemes for Dalit Students Sobin George and Deeba Naseem examines the scheme in detail with regard to financial allocation, expenditure, selection and prioritisation of states and institutions, major shifts in priorities, outcomes and achievements and processes and agencies of implementation. It examines how far the scheme adheres to major criteria of selection of beneficiaries such as SC population is more than 20 per cent, low female SC literacy rate, preference for middle and higher secondary level of education and level of poverty by extracting information across state and within state across rural and urban areas from NSS data. Third section drawing from discussions and personal interviews from service providers and beneficiaries from two hostels examines the processes of implementation of the scheme, management, facilities available for students, dissemination of information and roles of various stakeholders. Based on these, the paper proposes recommendations in the fourth section. 2. Educational Status of Dalits This section provides a brief background on the educational status of Scheduled Castes in terms of their literacy rate, literacy gap, dropout rate, levels of education and poverty and education with a comparative focus. It also attempts to highlight the gap in educational status between SCs and non-scs as well as males and females among SCs. 2.1 Literacy Rate and Gap Although there have been concerted efforts by the Central and State governments to improve the educational status of SCs since independence; evidences show that structural hindrances still exist for them to attain quality education. Various official reports and studies have pointed out that the rate of growth of literacy among SCs has increased; however, the gap in literacy as well as higher education between SC and non-sc communities remains the same. Equally, gap in educational status between SC males and females remains the same. Census data provide more insight into literacy rate and literacy gap among and across social groups. It shows that there has been a steady growth in the literacy rate of both male and female SC and ST between 1961 and 2001 (see Table 1). It shows that literacy rate of SCs increased from per cent in 1961 to per cent in Strikingly, the gender gap in literacy rate within SCs in 2001 remained almost equivalent to that of in Although stark gender gap in literacy rate is a reality among SC, ST and General categories, it is more pronounced among STs followed by SCs. 5

14 Indian Institute of Dalit Studies Volume IV, Number 07 Table 1: Percentage of Literacy Rates among Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) in India (1961, 1971, 1981, 1991 and 2001) Years General Category Scheduled Castes Scheduled Tribes Male Female Total Male Female Total Male Female Total Source: Population Census, Table 2 sheds light on the literacy gap and its gender dimension among SC, ST and other categories. It shows that literacy gap of SCs to others declined to per cent in 2001 from per cent in What is striking is that the decrease in literacy gap for SC women to non-scs is not in the same pace of the general reduction. For instance, while literacy gap of SCs to others stood at per cent in 2001, the gap between SC and non SCs women was per cent. Also, percentage reduction in literacy gap of SC women to non-sc women was less than that of men. Data also show that literacy gap of STs to non-sts is more pronounced than SCs. It is also important to note that percentage reduction in literacy gap of ST females between 1991 and 2001 in comparison with ST males and non-st females was significantly less. Table 2: Sex-wise Comparative Literacy Rates of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in India, (1991 and 2001) Item Literacy Rates Literacy gap of SC/ST to others in percentage points SC ST Other than SC/ST SC ST 1991 Male Female Total Male Female Total Source: Compiled from Ministry of Human Resource Development, Govt. of India. 6

15 Hostel Schemes for Dalit Students Sobin George and Deeba Naseem 2.2 Dropout Rate Among many, higher rate of dropout at different levels of schooling is an important manifestation of the lower educational status of SCs. Table 3 presents data on school dropout rates of scheduled caste students at the primary, elementary and secondary levels from to It shows that despite various programmatic interventions of central and state governments; dropout rates of SC students have not declined remarkably at any level. Dropout rate in twenty five years (between and ) decreased by around 30 per cent at primary level (I-V), by 20 per cent at the elementary level (I-VIII) and nearly by 15 per cent at the secondary level (I-X). What is also evident from the data is that per cent girls and per cent boys from SCs still do not go beyond secondary schooling in India due to various reasons. Dropout rates clearly show that only a small section of the scheduled caste students enrol for higher and technical education in India. Table, 3: Drop-out Rates of Scheduled Caste (SC) Students in Primary/Elementary and Secondary Classes in India Year Primary (I-V) Elementary (I-VIII) Secondary (I-X) Boys Girls Total Boys Girls Total Boys Girls Total Source: Compiled from Ministry of Human Resource Development, Govt. of India. 7

16 Indian Institute of Dalit Studies Volume IV, Number Enrolment and Level of Education Non-enrolment is also a major associated cause of educational deprivation of SCs in India (Venkatanarayana, 2009). Table 4 provides some idea on enrolment of SC students to school, vocational, professional and higher education in the recent past. While enrolment in pre-primary schools recorded a substantial increase between 1996 and 1998, enrolment to vocational, professional, special and other educational institutions declined significantly; pointing to the existing barriers for SC students to achieve higher and technical education. Similarly, enrolment to primary and middle schools recorded only a marginal increase. It should be mentioned that higher rate of enrolment to pre-primary education could be due to the wider reach of Anganwadies and Balwadies and its services with regard to health and nutrition of mother and children. Table 4: Enrolment of Scheduled Caste ( to ) Institutions Enrolment of Scheduled Castes % Increase Pre-Primary Schools Primary Schools Middle Schools High/Higher Secondary Schools Vocational, Professional, Special and Other Educational Institutions Total Source: Dept. of Secondary and higher education, GOI Data on level of education of persons between the age 15 and 30 reveals the differences in educational status of scheduled caste and scheduled tribes as compared to other social groups. 4 Age group has been limited to >15<=30 for analysis due to the assumption that this group has higher proportion of persons who are continuing their education at present and this data can give a fresh account of recent educational interventions. Tables, 5 and 6, show (See annex 1) social group wise level of education of males and females in the age group of 15 to 30 in rural and urban India. Out of SC males who are in the age group between 15 and 30, level of education of more than 50 per cent and around 40 per cent is up to middle in the rural and urban India; respectively. Similar trend is found among SC females as well nonetheless with gender gap. Data also shows that their education declines 8

17 Hostel Schemes for Dalit Students Sobin George and Deeba Naseem gradually and significantly from secondary to post graduation level and the trend is more pronounced among SCs in comparison with other social groups except STs in rural India. Recent studies based on NSS data also shows clearly that scheduled castes are underrepresented in the higher education institutions relative to their population shares (Hasan and Mehta 2006). 2.4 Poverty and Levels of Education Studies have shown that household poverty to a large extent explains the educational deprivation of SCs, which is often reflected as low levels of enrolments and higher rate of dropout (Nambissan 1996; Muralidharan 1997; Bhatty 1998; Thorat 2005). It should also be noted that discrimination against scheduled caste is a major reason for their low educational status (Nambissan 1996, 2009; Shah 2000; Srivastava 2001). The direct relationship between poverty and educational deprivation of scheduled castes can be evidently drawn from Table 7 (See Annex 1). It shows that among SCs and STs, chances of poor persons being educated beyond higher secondary level are comparatively far lesser than that of non-poor. The data, specifically, show that both in rural and urban India; proportion of scheduled caste poor males in the age group of 15 to 30 in higher education is less than that of non-poor SCs, poor in other social groups except STs and non-poor in all social groups. Around 60 per cent in rural and 54 per cent in urban India of SC male poor do not go beyond middle level. Situation of ST poor is worse than SCs. Gender dimension of the interconnectedness of poverty and educational deprivation can be drawn from the data organized in Table 8 (See annex 1). It reiterates that chances of poor SC females schooling beyond secondary level are still very distant. Data also show that chances of SC poor females schooling beyond secondary level are lesser than SC poor males, non-sc females except STs and far lesser than non-poor SC males and females. It should also be mentioned that no SC poor female in the age group >15<=30, was educated up to the level of post graduation. 3. Babu Jagjivan Ram Chhatravas Yojana: How Inclusive and Incentive oriented? Babu Jagjivan Ram Chhatravas Yojana is a centrally sponsored hostel scheme for Scheduled Caste girls and boys. The major focus of the scheme 9

18 Indian Institute of Dalit Studies Volume IV, Number 07 is to enable and encourage students belonging to Scheduled Castes to attain quality education. As per the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, primary objective of the scheme is to attract the implementing agencies for undertaking hostel construction programme, especially for SC Girls toward the broader vision of containment and reduction of their dropout rate. Other stated objectives of the scheme are as follows. i. Establishment of Girl s hostel with a capacity of 100 seats, in every block headquarters/of low literacy Districts not having one apparently, by way of priority ii. Reduction in gestation of construction period and iii. Having an effective mechanism for monitoring, review, quality control etc. The scheme provides 100 per cent assistance to the State Government and Union territories as well as central and state universities/institutions for setting up and maintenance of hostels for SC girls. Besides, it provides financial assistance up to 90 per cent to NGOs and deemed universities in the private sector for the expansion of existing facilities of hostel for SC girls. For boys hostel, the scheme provides assistance up to 50 per cent on matching shares to State governments; 100 per cent to union territories; 90 per cent to central universities, 45 per cent to state universities and 45 per cent to NGOs and deemed Universities in the private sector (Babu Jagjivan Ram Chhatravas Yojana, 2008). The Scheme is being implemented through the State Governments/Union Territory Administrations and the Central & State Universities/institutions for construction of hostel buildings and expansion of the existing hostel facilities. 3.1 Structure and Implementation of the Scheme Chart 1 elucidates the structure and implementation of the scheme at various levels. Agencies, their responsibilities and steps involved in the implementation of the scheme at the central and state levels are as follows. 5 Planning Commission: The commission allocates funds for each state and releases the money to the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. The ministry thereafter calls for proposal. Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment sends reminder letters to state ministries and if the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment does not receive any proposal from 10

19 Hostel Schemes for Dalit Students Sobin George and Deeba Naseem state governments, the balance funds are moved to those states where it was required. Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, GOI: The Ministry calls for proposal and transfers funds to State Government/Social Welfare Ministry. The Ministry further processes the applications and proposals submitted by state government/ministry based on the prescribed eligibility criteria; such as SC population of the proposed area, requirement of new hostel or extension of the hostel for government institute/college etc. The processing time varies from sixty to seventy-five days. The ministry then transfers funds, except for NGOs and private institutes, to the state government. Funds for NGOs and private institutions are directly transferred to the respective institutions. Funding pattern also varies from state to state as the total budget allocation for a year is divided among all the states and UT on the basis of SC population and funds are distributed accordingly. The Ministry receives utilisation certificate from State Government and private institutes/ngos after the completion of building and eventually all responsibilities, including physical verification and monitoring is transferred to the state government. State Government/Social Welfare Ministry/Department: State Government or Ministry/Department of Welfare advertises the scheme and calls for expression of interest. Following procedures will be followed for calling expression of interest. First the Director of the welfare department sends a letter to district magistrate in each district regarding the provision of building the hostel on campus for SC girls/boys at the beginning of a financial year. The letter has the information of the funds available for the year. The letter also includes the call for Expression of Interest (EOI) for building a hostel for SC girls/ boys by Institute /college. EOI will include the following information. i. Availability of undisputed land in the name of institute with proof of land papers. ii. List of SC girls and boys studying in the college/ institute with all the relevant information. iii. Design of hostel, location, address, including number of rooms, reading room, dining hall, kitchen, bathroom and toilet which are verified by the concerned officer. 11

20 Indian Institute of Dalit Studies Volume IV, Number 07 iv. If any school is sending the EOI then up to which class school is functional and the registration certificate and all the details of the school. v. If any NGO is sending EOI, bank account number of the college and 10 per cent of the required fund should be deposited in the account. vi. Basic criteria for selection of the college / institute is based on the availability of the undisputed land which will be transferred to the state government on paper as the hostel will become a property of state government and will be used by the institute for the hostel purposes only. vii. All the maintenance cost will be borne by the state government viii.an undertaking by the college/institute head on the transfer of land. Second, applications are further screened on the basis of prescribed format by the central government and the selected applications are sent to the central government for approval. Third, funds received from the central government for hostels will be disbursed to the the respective state authority (For example, it is U.P. Nirman Nigam in Uttar Pradesh) or directly to the institute. After completion, the building is transferred to the institute for their use though it becomes the property of state government and all the maintenance will become the responsibility of the State Government s Social Welfare Department. District Social Welfare Officer will be the in-charge of hostel and the State Government will appoint a Warden, Peon, Guard/ Chowkidar, Cook and a helper in each hostel. 12

21 Hostel Schemes for Dalit Students Sobin George and Deeba Naseem Chart 1: Agencies, Responsibilities and Service Delivery 1. Budget allocation 2.Release of funds to Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment Planning Commission MoSJ&E 1. Processing of proposal and selection 2. Transfer of Funds to State Govt/NGOs/Private Institute 3. Verifying utilization certificate from State/NGOs and Private Institute State Govt/UT/Min of Welfare District Social Welfare Officer (Hostel-in Charge) 1. Call for expression of interests 2. Screening of application 3. Submission of application to MoSJ&E 4. Disbursal of funds to State level authority 5. Appointment of staff 6. Submission of utilization certificate to MoSJ&E 7. Physical verification and monitoring 8. Maintenance NGOs/Private institute Central Utys, State Utys and other Govt. Institutes 3.2 Financial Allocation, Expenditure and Achievements Hostel scheme has been operational for SC girls from the third five year plan and the same for boys has been in place since However, the present assessment has been limited to primarily due to constraints of availability of data. Since, Babu Jagjivan Ram Chhatravas Yojana has been in place from 1 January 2008, major focus has been on the financial and physical achievements made during this period. Table 9 presents the year wise allocation of funds, expenditure, number of hostels sanctioned and beneficiaries from to It shows that there had been an increase in the allocation and release of funds for both boys and girls hostels from 1999 to 2004; however, not in a gradual fashion. For instance, during allocation and release of funds increased substantially and there was a significant increase in the number of hostels constructed. Though allocation and release of funds increased in general, there are also variances in funds released, hostels sanctioned and number of seats made available from 1999 to For instance, during , fund released for girls and boys hostels was Rs

22 Indian Institute of Dalit Studies Volume IV, Number 07 and cores; respectively. Out of that 89 hostels were sanctioned with 3998 seats for girls and 137 hostels were sanctioned with 6399 seats for boys. During , though funds released for hostels increased, number of hostels sanctioned decreased considerably. Hostel-seat ratio indicates that the average number of seats per hostel increased from 45 in to 109 in for girls and 47 to 54 for boys. However, what is striking is that even with more allocation of funds, total number of seats decreased marginally for girls and substantially for boys between these periods. Similar trends can be seen in 2002, 2003 and 2004 as well with either decrease in hostels or seats per hostel. Data also give some indications on the optimum hostel-seat ratio. It suggests that the best available hostel seat-ratio enabling optimum cost efficiency is For instance, during , allocation for girls hostel was Rs.20 crores for 127 hostels with an average hostel seat ratio of 90, benefiting 11,484 students while during , hostels sanctioned against the allocation of Rs crores were 131 with 4,535 seats (hostel seat ratio is 35). What is also obvious from the data is that till 2004, financial allocation for the scheme was comparatively higher for boys hostel than girls. This could be one of the reasons to have a gender focus on allocation in the revised scheme in Table 9: Allocations of Funds, Central Releases, Number of Hostels Sanctioned and Beneficiaries Covered, Year Allocation (in Crores) Central Assistance Released (in Crores) No. of Hostels Sanctioned No. of Seats Hostel/seat Ratio Girl s Hostel Boy s hostel Source: Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, , compiled 14

23 Hostel Schemes for Dalit Students Sobin George and Deeba Naseem Table 10 gives the recent trends on expenditure, hostels and beneficiaries of the scheme. There has been a gradual increase in the allocation and expenditure for girls and boys hostels from 2005 to However, during , under the Babu Jagjivan Ram Chhatravas Yojana there was a significant increase in the expenditure for girls hostel as compared to boys along with a reduction in expenditure for boys hostel. This is perhaps as per the objective of the revised programme to give a gender emphasis, keeping the poor educational background of SC females into account. Another striking finding which can be drawn from Table 10 is the incongruence in expenditure and corresponding number of hostels built and students benefitted. For instance, during , out of the expenditure of Rs crores for girls hostel 204 hostels have been built, which benefitted 18,303 students. However, in , number of hostels built from Rs crores spent for girls hostels were 64; benefitting 4,938 students. Similar incongruence can be found for boys hostel as well. These differences point to several possible explanations including increase in construction/maintenance cost over years and possible additional facilities given in the hostels to irrational hostel-seat ratio. Table, 10: Physical & Financial Achievements During to Scheme Year Budget Allocation (Rs. In crore) SC Girl s Hostel SC Boy s Hostel As on Expenditure (Rs. in crore) Hostels Beneficiaries Hostelbeneficiary ratio , , , , As on , , , , Source: Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment,

24 Indian Institute of Dalit Studies Volume IV, Number 07 Expenditure and Achievements Table 11 details the expenditure and achievements of hostels for girls from to in various states. Data reveal that preferences in resource allocation were given to states that have higher share of SC population; however, not always in proportion. For instance, in , 56 hostels were constructed and 3,254 students benefitted all over India under the scheme. Out of this, the highest number of hostels built and students benefitted was in Himachal Pradesh (16 hostels and 1,479 beneficiaries) followed by Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. During , Andhra Pradesh (81 hostels and 8,100 beneficiaries) and Orissa (78 hostels and 7,800 beneficiaries) received major share of allocation under the scheme followed by Chhattisgarh and Karnataka. During , the maximum number of hostels for girls was built in Orissa (143 hostels and 11,538 beneficiaries) followed by Chhattisgarh (25 hostels and 1,220 beneficiaries). Under Babu Jagjeevan Ram Chhatravas Yojana ( ), Andhra Pradesh (8 hostels and 700 seats) and Madhya Pradesh (6 hostels and 300 seats) received the highest allocations for girl s hostel. The reasons for differences in the pattern of expenditure and exact criteria of allocation to different states cannot be drawn with the available information. It is also indistinguishable from the pattern of allocation that whether criteria such as SC female literacy rate, their levels of education and rural-urban gap are adequately followed while selecting locations. For instance, as per the 2001 census, literacy level of SC females is significantly lower in Bihar (15.58%), Jharkhand (22.55%), Uttar Pradesh (30.50%) and Rajasthan (33.87%). 6 Similarly, rural-urban gap in female literacy rate is also found to be higher in these states. Table 11, however, shows that criteria such as SC female literacy rate and levels of education of SC females have not been fully taken into account while allocation. Arguably, selection could be based largely on other preferences such as integrated hostels, availability of undisputed land, areas without adequate hostel facility for SC females etc. 16

25 Hostel Schemes for Dalit Students Sobin George and Deeba Naseem Table 11: Select State-wise Number of Hostels and Seats Sanctioned for Construction of Scheduled Caste Girls Hostels in India ( to ) States/UTs Hostels Seats Hostels Seats Hostels Seats Hostels Seats Andhra Pradesh Assam Chhattisgarh Gujarat Haryana Himachal Pradesh Jammu & Kashmir Jharkhand Karnataka Madhya Pradesh Meghalaya Orissa Punjab Rajasthan Tamil Nadu Tripura Uttar Pradesh West Bengal India Source: Lok Sabha Starred Question No.100, dated On the other hand, there has been a fair representation in the central assistance for boys hostel in the states where male SC literacy rates are lower except Bihar. As per the 2001 census, literacy rate of scheduled caste males is found to be the lowest in Bihar (40.23%) followed by Jharkhand (51.59%), Karnataka (63.75%), Punjab (63.38%), Uttar Pradesh (60.34%), and Andhra Pradesh (63.51%). 7 Table 12 shows the states with the highest allocation for boys hostels in It included Andhra Pradesh (Rs lakhs), Chhattisgarh (Rs.421 lakhs), Madhya Pradesh (Rs lakhs) and Karnataka (Rs ) followed by Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat. During , assistance to Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh increased many folds. The scheme also covered Himachal Pradesh in where SC population is comparatively higher. From to , states such as Jharkhand, Tripura, Rajasthan and Haryana have been included and 17

26 Indian Institute of Dalit Studies Volume IV, Number 07 assistance has been increased for Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh. Table 12: Central Assistance to States/UTs Released Under the Scheme of Boy s hostel for SCs, State/UT Boys Hostel (Rs. In Lakhs) Andhra Pradesh Assam Chhattisgarh Gujarat Haryana Himachal Pradesh Jammu & Kashmir Jharkhand Karnataka Kerala Madhya Pradesh Maharashtra Orissa Rajasthan Tamil Nadu Tripura Uttar Pradesh Uttaranchal Nil West Bengal Chandigarh Total Source: Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment, Govt. of India, New Delhi. Expenditure and Beneficiaries under Babu Jagjivan Ram Chhatravas Yojana As noted earlier, the gender focus of Babu Jagjivan Ram Chhatravas Yojana is obvious from the expenditure on girls hostels during The total expenditure for girls hostel under the revised scheme for the year was Rs crores; whereas for boys hostel, it was Rs crores (Tables 13 and 14, Annex 1). There is also a corresponding increase in the number of hostels constructed and total number of seats made available for girls. Another noticeable achievement of the revised scheme is that it covered all the states where SC literacy rate is low. However, there 18

27 Hostel Schemes for Dalit Students Sobin George and Deeba Naseem are substantial differences in allocation and the level of literacy rate within the states covered. For instance, in Bihar both male and female SC literacy rate is the lowest but number of SC girls benefitted under the scheme during was 200, whereas it was 1200 in Orissa, 900 in West Bengal and 700 in Andhra Pradesh. Table 15 details the allocation to state governments, union territories, North East region, Universities and NGOs for the year It is clear from the budget allocation that the major focus of the programme is on hostels under the state sector followed by Universities, NGOs/UT without legislation North East region and Union Territories. It is also clear that allocation is more for girls hostel than for boys under each sector. Table 15: Babu Jagjeevan Ram Chhatravas Yojana Budget Allocation for No. Budget Head Rupees in Lakhs 1 Boys Hostel (State Govt.) Boys Hostel ( UT with Legislation) 50 3 Boys Hostel ( North East) Boys Hostel ( University, GO/ U.T. without Legislation) Girls Hostel ( State Government) Girls Hostel ( UT with Legislation) Girls Hostel ( North East) Girls Hostel ( University, NGO/ U.T. without Legislation) 1000 Source: Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Govt. of India 3.3 Selection Criteria: Indications of Wrong Exclusion Inclusion can be viewed as both a broad and narrow concept simultaneously. On the one hand, the shift of focus from universal to targeted programmes itself can be viewed as excluding the other (irrespective of social and economic characteristics) while looking through the lens of universality. Broadly speaking, though wrong inclusion and exclusion remains still an unsettled domain in the public policy discourse in India, targeted programme like hostel scheme for SC students is also in good agreement with the true spirit of inclusion by exclusively including the historically excluded. Questions here are, while comprehensive coverage even within a small targeted programme like this is constrained by budget implications, how have the criteria of selection of beneficiaries been arrived at to include the needy and whether such criteria are 19

28 Indian Institute of Dalit Studies Volume IV, Number 07 adequately fulfilled; and most importantly what are the primary prerequisites to be fulfilled in order to avoid wrong exclusions. Part of these questions can be answered from the available official data. The revised scheme has certain priority criteria for selection of location for hostels of which the most important one is areas where concentration of SC population is 20 per cent and more and without adequate hostel facilities. 8 Other important preferences are areas having low SC female literacy and middle and higher secondary levels of education. If one looks at Census data 2001on literacy and levels of education together with the data of the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment on pattern of allocation of hostels carefully, it leaves a considerable space to doubt whether criteria such as SC female literacy rate, their levels of education and rural urban gap are adequately followed while selecting locations and beneficiaries under the scheme. For instance, as per the 2001 census, literacy level of SC females is considerably low in Bihar (15.58%), Jharkhand (22.55%), Uttar Pradesh (30.50) and Rajasthan (33.87) as against the all India figure of 41.9 %. Similarly, rural-urban gap in female literacy rate is also found to be high in these states. Nevertheless, data show that priority states for the scheme have been Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Himachal Pradesh and Chhattisgarh from 2005 to 2009 (see Table 11). Available official data on the scheme is inadequate to assess how far the other important criteria of the scheme; such as focus on middle and higher levels education, priority for places where hostel facilities for SC students are low and above all, preference for poor SC students especially girls are taken into account while implementation. To understand this, we have extracted information on education level of SC males and females in the age range of >15<=30 by sector and by level of poverty in selected states from 61st round of NSS ( ). Further, we looked at the data on enrolment of SC students in higher education across states to understand the demand for hostels for SC students in higher education in different states. Focus on Middle and Higher Education Results show that SC females (age 15-30) in middle level of education in the rural area are the highest in Punjab (38.48 %), followed by Tamil Nadu 20

29 Hostel Schemes for Dalit Students Sobin George and Deeba Naseem (28.13 %), Tripura (27.85 %) and West Bengal (24.49 %) (Table 16, annex 1). States such as Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttaranchal and Karnataka also have higher proportion (more than 20 per cent) of SC females in middle level education. This trend is continuing as we move up to secondary and higher secondary levels. However the states with number of SC women at graduation level in the rural areas is high are: Rajasthan, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Tripura Andhra Pradesh and Punjab. In urban India, the states where SC female population in the middle level of education is found to be the highest are: Punjab (35.82 %), followed by Maharashtra (23.15 %), Haryana (20.37 %), Tripura (19.64 %), Tamil Nadu (18.87 %) and Uttaranchal (18.68%). SC males in the middle level of education in rural areas are high in Punjab (44%), Himachal Pradesh (34%), Tripura (30.38 %), West Bengal (29 %), Tamil Nadu (27.83%), Uttar Pradesh (27%), Uttaranchal (25%) and Andhra Pradesh (24.15%) in the order (See Table 17, annex 1). In urban areas, the order is found to be slightly different, with Punjab on the top with nearly 31 per cent in middle level education followed by West Bengal, Tripura, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Uttaranchal and Haryana. Data on enrolment in higher education ( ) informs that Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and West Bengal have the maximum number of SC boys and girls enrolled for higher education (See Table 18, Annex 1). What is emerging from the data is that there is a significant gap in allocation of hostels under the revised scheme, while we consider the criterion of concentration of middle and higher education level of SC students across rural and urban areas. For example, Orissa, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh were the states which received the highest allocation in the order under the scheme for girls hostel. However, data show that SC females in middle level of education in the rural area are the highest in Punjab, followed by Tamil Nadu, Tripura, West Bengal, Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttaranchal and Karnataka. Similarly SC female population in the middle level of education in urban areas is the highest in Punjab followed by Maharashtra, Haryana, Tripura, Tamil Nadu and Uttaranchal. It is also notable that the states such as Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir and Maharashtra, were not covered during and allocation for Uttaranchal, Tripura and Punjab have been minimal as compared to other states. 21

30 Indian Institute of Dalit Studies Volume IV, Number 07 Similar mismatches are found in the allocation for boys hostel under the revised scheme. Orissa, Bihar, Chhattisgarh and Uttar Pradesh were the states which received the highest allocation under the revised scheme for boys hostel during Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Tripura, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Uttaranchal and Andhra Pradesh are the states where population of SC males in middle level education in rural areas is more than 20 per cent. SC males in middle level education in urban areas is more than 20 per cent in Punjab, West Bengal, Tripura, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Uttaranchal and Haryana. Given this, the disaggregate information on middle, secondary and higher education of SC males and females in rural and urban areas should be taken into consideration while allocating hostels in order to ensure fair representation. Preference for Poor SC students Though preference for poor is not a stated criterion of the scheme, we have estimated the percentage of poor SC females and males (age 15-30) by education level in the rural and urban areas of selected states. The results show that there are mismatches when we add poverty as a criterion in the selection of states under the revised scheme. As is evident from Table 19 (See annex 1), states where the highest number of poor SC females in all levels of education in rural India are Uttaranchal (41.78%), Jharkhand (49.44%), Orissa (30.37%), Uttar Pradesh (26.4%), Tripura (22.83%), Madhya Pradesh (35%), Gujarat (32.81%), Maharashtra (32%), and Tamil Nadu (23.6 %). States where poor SC females in all levels of education in urban India are found to be the highest in Orissa (59.22%), followed by Bihar (41.89%), Madhya Pradesh (39.8%), Uttaranchal (37.64%), Kerala (35 %), Tamil Nadu (32 %), Maharashtra (30%) and Uttar Pradesh (29.5%). When we limit the level of education to higher secondary; Uttaranchal (25.58%), Maharashtra (24.77%), Gujarat (24.16%), Tamil Nadu (18.42%) and Bihar (16.6%) emerge to be the states where percentage of poor SC females is comparatively higher in the rural areas and Bihar (71.5%), Uttaranchal (25.86%), Kerala (21.68%), Orissa (20.4%), and Maharashtra (19.58%) in the urban areas. Similarly, as shown in Table 20 (See annex 1), poor SC male population for all levels of education in rural areas is found to be higher in Jharkhand (42%), Bihar (39.86%), Orissa (34.81%), Madhya Pradesh (34.18%), Uttaranchal (33.18%), Uttar Pradesh (32.12%) and Maharashtra (31.5%). 22

31 Hostel Schemes for Dalit Students Sobin George and Deeba Naseem Orissa (58.34%), Bihar (51.82%), Madhya Pradesh (51.24%), Uttaranchal (49%), Rajasthan (43.53%), Karnataka (38.42%) and Maharashtra (31.38%) are the states where percentage poor SC male in all levels of education is significantly high in the urban areas. States where concentration of poor SC male is comparatively higher in the higher secondary level in rural areas are Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Gujarat and Kerala. Higher concentration of poor male in the higher secondary level in the urban India is found the highest in Karnataka, followed by Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Orissa, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh and Haryana. Coverage of the scheme sheds light on some serious concerns of wrong exclusion. First of all, criteria of level of literacy and level of education of SC females have not been adequately followed in the scheme. Mismatches between these criteria and actual coverage lead to the assumption that the selection of locations could be based largely on other less preferences such as integrated hostels, availability of undisputed land, etc. in most of the cases. Secondly, by not including poverty as one of the selection criteria, the scheme excludes a large number of poor SC students who are in the middle and secondary levels of education, especially when the scheme has budget constraints for universal coverage. This bears greater significance in the context that poverty is one of the major associated causes for school dropouts in India. Segregation of data on the basis of level of education and poverty gives directions for prioritising the states. However, it is also important to narrow down the focus further to district and block levels based on the same sets of criteria in order to achieve the objective of the scheme to have a girls hostel with a capacity of 100 seats, in every block headquarters/of low literacy Districts not having one now, by way of priority. 4. Case Studies The research team visited the hostel of Govt. Girls P.G. College, Gurgaon Haryana and Rajakiya Anusuchit Jaati Chhatravas, Government ITI, Bakshi ka Talab, Lucknow in order to obtain firsthand information on the scheme. Discussions were held with college principals, wardens and inmates of the hostels. The team had interacted with 11 resident students from the Girls P.G. College, Gurgaon Haryana and 21 resident students from Government ITI, Bakshi ka Talab, Lucknow. 9 23

32 Indian Institute of Dalit Studies Volume IV, Number 07 The Government Girls P.G. College was founded in At present, there are 4000 students studying in the college. The college offers graduate and post graduate courses in Science and Arts as well as professional courses like computer sciences. The institute has three hostels and among these one was constructed under Babu Jagjeevan Ram Chhatravas Yojana in There are 126 rooms available altogether in the hostels and the hostel under JRCY has 37 rooms. Government ITI Bakshi ka Talaab was founded in the year The institute has thirteen professional courses in which eleven are recognised by National Council for Vocational Training (NCVT) and two are departmental. The institute has three hostels, and all of these are exclusively for scheduled caste students. The first hostel in Bakshi ka Talaab was established during and the second and the third hostels were built in the year There are 17 rooms in each hostel. 4.1 Hostel Construction and Maintenance The grant for the hostel of Government Girls P.G. College, Gurgaon under JRCY was sanctioned by central government in The Public Work Department (PWD) of the Government of Haryana was the agency responsible for construction of the hostel. PWD completed the construction by 2008 (within two years from the date of sanction) and the hostel was made available to students in the same year. Though construction completed in two years, the college has not taken the possession of the hostel formally due to the non-completion of certain works (like grills are not installed in the room windows facing terrace which is unsafe). 10 The scheme, however directs that the hostels shall be completed within a period of two years from the date of sanction of the project by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. PWD, Gurgaon, Haryana, undertakes all maintenance works of the hostel, which include building related works and electrical, plumbing related etc. of the hostel building. On the other hand, cost of the hostels of ITI Bakshi ka Talaab was jointly shared by central and Uttar Pradesh State Government under the old scheme. The grant was sanctioned by the Central Government and state Government in 1984 and UP Nirman Nigam undertook the construction. Presently, the hostel is maintained by the State Government. 24

33 Hostel Schemes for Dalit Students Sobin George and Deeba Naseem Allotment of Seats Govt. P.G college, Gurgaon provides hostel facilities for all outstation students in principle; however allotment is on the basis of merit and the availability of rooms with reference to the application received. Scheduled caste students were allotted seats in all three hostels as per the norm of 15 per cent reservation of SC students in the hostels, mentioned in the admission guidelines. Out of a total of 550 inmates, 70 were from Scheduled Caste communities which form around per cent of the total strength of the hostel. Since the total intake of SC students is less than 15 per cent in the college, all SC students who apply for hostel usually get seats irrespective of the merit. Also, sets were distributed proportionally for students from all categories without segregation on caste lines. This practice is found to be conforming to the directions in the scheme that, It shall be mandatory for the institutions concerned to provide proportional representation to SC students in their regular hostels and the additional seats created under this Scheme, together with the normal quota, as delineated, will be distributed evenly amongst all the hostels including the hostels constructed under this Scheme. Hostel facilities in ITI Bakshi ka Talaab were given only to SC students. Allotment was based on the distance from the college as well as the merit. It was also reported that the institute does not provide hostel facilities to local students. 11 At present, three hostels altogether accommodate 83 Scheduled Caste students. Fee Structure The scheme states that The expenditure on maintenance of the hostels will be borne by the implementing agencies concerned, from their own funds and no fee or charges of any kind will be collected from SC students for provision of the hostel facilities including water, electricity and maintenance charges etc. However, it was found that Govt P.G. College hostel, Gurgaon charge maintenance fee from SC students. It was reported by the warden and students that the college charges Rs at the time of admission as first instalment and Rs.2600 as second instalment in December other than the mess charge of Rs.400 per month. 12 It was also found that both college officials and students were not aware of the direction in the scheme that no charges for maintenance are to be levied on SC 25

34 Indian Institute of Dalit Studies Volume IV, Number 07 students. Further, they were not aware of the one-time grant of Rs.2500 per student for maintenance. ITI Bakshi ka Talaab on the other hand does not charge any fee from students for maintenance. 4.2 Socio-Economic Background of Beneficiaries While beneficiaries of the scheme in Govt. Girls P.G. College, Gurgaon were mostly from families of employees in public sector jobs; the beneficiaries in Govt. ITI Bakshi ka Talaab were from households of agriculture labourers and casual workers in rural areas. It was also evident from the courses that they opted for. While most of the beneficiaries in the former institution undertook graduate and post graduate professional courses after their +2 and graduation; beneficiaries in the latter would take up two year vocational training after their matriculation. The availability of paid services in the hostel was also an indicator to understand their economic background. While students from the Govt. Girls P.G. college availed paid services of canteen, hostels of Govt. ITI did not have mess/canteen facilities due to the fact that it turned to be unaffordable for students to pay mess bills, as one of the student reported to our researcher. Similarly, as discussed earlier, Govt. P.G College charged maintenance fee for hostels from students for providing better facilities; the students in Govt. ITI Bakshi ka Talaab, on the other hand stayed in the hostels with bare minimum facilities available. 4.3 Facilities Available in the Hostels We found considerable discrepancies in the facilities available in the hostels of both the institutes. While hostels of Govt. Girls P.G. College, Gurgaon were found to be equipped with facilities such as reading rooms with news papers and journals, television, power back up, recreational facilities like yoga classes, canteen, facilities for incoming and outgoing telephone calls; the hostels of Govt. ITI Bakshi ka Talaab did not offer any such facilities to the students. It was also observed that both the hostels were not disablefriendly. The scheme however, directs that a few rooms/blocks of the hostels should be constructed barrier free and facilities like ramps etc. should be incorporated in the design of the construction for the convenience of SC students with disabilities. Similarly, there was no information on priority allocation of rooms to students whose parents are engaged in unclean occupation, which is a priority criterion for admission 26

35 Hostel Schemes for Dalit Students Sobin George and Deeba Naseem to the hostel. 13 Specific facilities available in each hostel are as follows (see Table 21). Govt. Girls P.G. College, Gurgaon As aforementioned, 550 students reside in 126 rooms in three hostels of Govt. Girls P.G College. Normally four students are accomodated in a single room except Hostel-1 where rooms are bigger in size and six students reside in a room. This practice however is against the direction of the scheme as it clearly states that the capacity per hostel should not exceed 100 students. In exceptional cases, hostels with larger capacities can be considered. Each hostel room should accommodate 2-3 students. It was reported that students of first year are given admission into the hostel to check problems like ragging. Facilities such as bed, table chair and cupboard are available in every room. The hostels also run canteens for students except in hostel-iii and students are served breakfast, lunch, dinner and evening tea/ milk in the hostel mess. There is one water cooler for drinking water in dining hall and on each floor. Each hostel has a common room, which is also used as study room during examination with power back up facility in case of power shedding. We also found some recreational facilities such as common room with TV (without cable connection) in each hostel, yoga classes etc for students. There is only one telephone available in the hostel, which has coin system and mobile phones are not allowed in the hostel. It was reported that students have to wait for long hours to receive calls from their parents. There is no internet facility available in the hostels. It was also reported that there are restrictions on the entry and exit for students and have to take prior permission for it. Two days are fixed for visitors in a week; although there is no visiting room available in the hostels. Also, married girls are not allowed to stay in the hostel even if they get married while pursuing their course and have to vacate the hostel soon after their marriage. Govt. ITI Bakshi ka Talaab The institute has three hostels and there are 17 rooms in each hostel. It was reported that three students are accommodated in each room. At the time of fieldwork there were 83 students residing in hostel 1&2 and the 3rd 27

36 Indian Institute of Dalit Studies Volume IV, Number 07 hostel was under renovation. 14 Each room has three cots, three cupboards, one table and one chair. It was reported by the students that the number of tables and chairs were inadequate. There was no mess facility available in the hostel though kitchen and dining hall was constructed in each hostel. As the warden told to our researcher, most of the students are coming from poor families and they prefer to cook their food by themselves as they find it cheap. 15 Other facilities such as common room, television, power back-up, water cooler, which were available for students in the Govt. Girls, P.G. College, Gurgaon were not found in the hostels of Govt. ITI. Social Welfare Officer who accompanied the research team told that there is provision for water cooler in the hostel, which was under renovation. Students in the Govt. ITI have raised the concern that library facilities, telephone for incoming and outgoing calls and power back are essential requirements in the hostel. Other serious concerns of students were dhaba (tea stall which also provides snacks), stationery shop and sports facilities. S. No. Facility Table 21: Facilities Available in the Hostels 1. Reading room (with news paper/books/journals) Government Girl s PG College, Gurgaon Yes ITI hostel, Bakshi ka Talab, Lucknow. (Boys) No reading room, but news papers are available 2. Visitors room No No 3. Fans Yes Yes 4. Reading table and chair Yes Yes 5. Toilets, (in numbers) Yes (in adequate number) Yes 6. Television Yes No 7. Power Back up (inverter/ generator) Yes, 1 available in common room 8. Recreation/Sports room/ facility Yoga class in the morning No 9. Mess/Canteen Mess facility available in No two hostels 10. Shoppe No No 11. Telephone Yes No 12. Ramps or any other disability No No friendly systems 13. Water cooler One in the dining hall No 14. Internet No No No 28

37 Hostel Schemes for Dalit Students Sobin George and Deeba Naseem Involvement of PRIs/Local Governments Though involvement of PRIs/Local Governments is an essential component of the scheme, we did not find participation of these institutions in the overseeing of the functioning of any of these hostels. 16 It was generally felt that there is lack of flow of information or coordination on the intended role of PRIs in the scheme in both the cases. 4.4 Information, Education and Communication (IEC) IEC is an important component to ensure the reach of any programme to beneficiaries. It was found that there were no concerted efforts from the governments (Haryana and Uttar Pradesh) and the institutes to make the hostel schemes known to people so that they could avail the facility. It was reported by the students from Govt. P.G. College hostel, Gurgaon that most of the students who took admission in the college got complete information about the hostel only through the hostel brochure after admission. It was reported that there was no notification in news papers/ radio/television, on notice board of the hostel or anywhere on the college campus about such facility. Students of Govt. ITI reported that very few were aware of free hostel facility in the institute before taking the admission. Among them, everyone came to know about it through senior students from their villages. Interestingly, nobody reported that they came to know about this scheme/facility through local news papers/television, radio, schools or Panchayat Raj Institutions. Overall, it was realised that there is inadequate flow of information about the hostel facilities among SCs in rural areas. One can assume that hostel facility is neither working as an incentive nor a motivating factor for SC students to continue their studies. Conversely, SC students who take admission in an institute receive the benefit of hostel facility by default. 5. Conclusion Assessment of the hostel scheme against its achievements in terms of number of hostels built and seats made available shows that the programme, if not proportionally, covered the states where SC population is considerably high and literacy rate low. On the criteria of selection of state and institutions, it is found that criteria such as SC female literacy rate and levels of education of SC females have not been fully taken into account while allocating. Hence, it is presumed that selection could be based largely 29

38 Indian Institute of Dalit Studies Volume IV, Number 07 on other preferences such as integrated hostels, availability of undisputed land, areas without adequate hostel facility for SC females etc in several instances. On the other hand, there was a fair representation in the central assistance for boys hostel for the states where male SC literacy rates are low; except Bihar. Similarly, though the revised scheme covered all the states where SC literacy rate is low, it is found that there are substantial differences in allocation and the level of literacy rate within the states covered. Further, there are significant gaps in allocation of hostels under the revised scheme, when the criteria of concentration of middle and higher education level of SC students across rural and urban areas is considered. Also, mismatches in the selection of states under the revised scheme are found to be more after adding poverty as a criterion. Therefore chances of wrong exclusion in the scheme could be higher. Incentive scheme like free hostel facility, beyond doubt, is a much required intervention for SC students who reach higher education by overcoming the barriers of poverty and discrimination. Interaction with students in two hostels revealed that they were getting basic minimum facilities (like cot, bed, tables, chairs etc.) though inadequate in several instances. Also, the scheme was found to be assisting SC students in the rural areas who would have quit their education otherwise. However, while trying to understand how far the knowledge about hostel schemes acted as an incentive to continue their education, it was found that very few among them knew about this scheme, which was also through senior students in their village. In many instances, hostel facility has not acted as an incentive or motivating factor for SC students to continue their studies. Conversely, SC students those who had taken admission in an institute got the benefit of hostel facility by default. Similarly, these facilities have been availed mostly by students coming from relatively well-to-do families (mostly from families of public sector employees) in urban areas and from self employed families in rural areas. To sum, though the scheme is potentially beneficial for poor SC students, it has not adequately reached to the eligible beneficiaries, primarily due to the prioritised selection criteria. In order to avoid this wrong exclusion, segregation of data across middle, secondary and higher education of SC male and female in rural and urban India by level of poverty appears to be a prudent option. It is also important to further narrow down the focus on 30

39 Hostel Schemes for Dalit Students Sobin George and Deeba Naseem districts and blocks based on the same sets of criteria to achieve the objective of the scheme to have girls hostel in every block headquarters/ of low literacy districts not having one. The possibility of poor SC females continuing higher education by surpassing the barriers of poverty, discrimination and patriarchal structures is the primary question to be addressed to make the scheme incentive oriented in real spirit. 31

40 Indian Institute of Dalit Studies Volume IV, Number 07 Endnotes 1 Information given by D. Napoleon, the Minister of State Social Justice and Empowerment, GOI, in a reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha on 09 July 2009, available at release.asp?relid= Article 16 of the Indian Constitution enables the Central Government to make special provisions for the socio-economic development of the deprived sections of the society to enable them to share the facilities at par with the rest of the society. 3 For more details, see Babbu Jagjeevan ram Chhatravas Yojana, available at 4 Level of education of SC male and female in the age range of >15<=30 as on has been estimated from the unit level data of National Sample Survey, 61st round on consumption expenditure. 5 This section is largely based on the discussions with, Mr. R. K. Srivastava- Director, SC programmes and Mr. Sanjay Mitlal Under secretary, Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment at Shastri Bhawan on 22/08/09 and with Mr. D.K. Singh District Social Welfare Officer Uttar Pradesh at Kalyan Bhawan, 3 Prag Narayan Road, Lucknow on 23-24/09/09. It also draws from the information available on the website of Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. 6 As per the 2001 census Scheduled Caste female literacy rate at all India level is 41.9 per cent 7 As per the 2001 census Scheduled Caste male literacy rate at all India level is per cent 8 The scheme states that while sanctioning hostels priority should be given to areas having concentration of SC population of 20 per cent and more and in case of girls, the hostels will be located in areas having low SC female literacy. 9 Visit to Government P.G. College, Gurgaon was on 4th September 2009 and Government Polytechnic, Bakshi ka Talab, Lucknow was on 25th September Interview with Warden Government P.G. College hostel, Gurgaon, on 4th September

41 Hostel Schemes for Dalit Students Sobin George and Deeba Naseem 1 1 Interview with Warden, Rajakiya Anusuchit Jaati Chhatravas, Bakshi ka talaab, Lucknow on 25/09/ Interview with WardenGovernment P.G. College hostel, Gurgaon and hostel inmates, on 4th September The scheme states that priority in allotment of hostel accommodation would be given to SC students whose parents are either Safai Karamcharis or engaged in unclean occupations 1 4 As informed by the warden, admission process was on during the time of fieldwork, hence there will be more allotments in the coming months. 1 5 Interview with Warden, Rajakiya Anusuchit Jaati Chhatravas, Bakshi ka talaab, Lucknow on 25/09/ The Scheme states that Panchayat Raj institutions would be involved by the implementing agencies in the matter of selection of site and overseeing the functioning of the hostels 33

42 Indian Institute of Dalit Studies Volume IV, Number 07 References Acharya, S. (2001), Access to Primary Education: Rural Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, in Vaidyanathan, A. & Gopinathan Nair, P.R. (eds.) Elementary Education in Rural India: A Grassroots View, New Delhi: Sage Publications, pp Ahmed, Aijazuddin (1984), Education of the Scheduled Tribes: Some Aspects of Inequality, New Delhi: National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration Ahmad, Imtiaz (2003), Educational Development of Minorities in India in Tilak, J.B.G. (ed.), Education, Society and Development: National and International Perspective. New Delhi: NIEPA. Banerji, R. (2000), Poverty and Primary Schooling: Field Studies from Mumbai and Delhi, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol.XXXV No. 10, March 4, pp Bhatty, Kiran (1998), Educational Deprivation in India: A Survey of Field Investigations, Economic and Political Weekly, 4 July 1998, pp Hasan, Rana and Mehta, Aashish (2006), Under-representation of Disadvantaged Classes in Colleges What Do the Data Tell Us?, Economic and Political Weekly, September 2, 2006, pp Kumar, Krishna (1983), Educational Experience of Scheduled Castes and Tribes, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. XVII, Nos. 36 & 37, pp Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment (2009), Annual Report, , Government of India, New Delhi Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment (2008), Annual Report, , Government of India, New Delhi Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment (2007), Annual Report, , Government of India, New Delhi Muralidharan, V. (1997), Educational priorities and Dalit Society, Kanishka Publisher, New Delhi Nambissan, G.B. (1996), Equity in Education? Schooling of Dalit Children in India, Economic and Political Weekly, 31(16 and 17): Nambissan, G.B. (2009), Exclusion and Discrimination in Schools: Experiences of Dalit Children, IIDS UNICEF Working Paper Series, Vol.1, No.1 34

43 Hostel Schemes for Dalit Students Sobin George and Deeba Naseem National Sample Survey Organisation (2005), Household Consumer Expenditure among Socio-Economic Groups: , NSS 61st Round, Report No 514(61/1.0/7), Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, Government of India, New Delhi Shah, Ghanshyam (2000), Hope and Despair: A Study of Untouchability and Atrocities in Gujarat, in Beteille, Andre (ed.), Journal of Indian School of Political Economy, Vol. XII, Nos. 3 & 4, pp Srivastava, Ravi (2001), Access to Basic Education in Rural Uttar Pradesh, in Vaidyanathan, A. and Nair, Gopinathan (eds.) Elementary Education in Rural India: A Grassroots View, New Delhi: Sage Publications, pp Thorat, Sukhaeo (2005), Why Reservation is Necessary, The Seminar, No. 549, May 2005 Venkatanarayana, M. (2009), Schooling Deprivation in India, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. XLIV, No 32, August 2009, pp

44 Indian Institute of Dalit Studies Volume IV, Number 07 Annex 1: Tables Table, 5: Persons (Male) by education level by social group by sector, age>15<=30, All India ( ) Groups MIDLE SECON HSECO DIPLO GRADU PGRAD ALL Rural (%) ST SC OBC OT ALL Urban (%) ST SC OBC OT ALL Source: Estimated from unit data NSSO 61st round ( ) Table, 6: Persons (female) by education level by social group by sector, age>15<=30 ( ) Groups MIDLE SECON HSECO DIPLO GRADU PGRAD ALL Rural (%) ST SC OBC OT ALL Urban (%) ST SC OBC OT ALL Source: Estimated from unit data NSSO 61st round ( ) 36

45 Hostel Schemes for Dalit Students Sobin George and Deeba Naseem Table, 7: Poverty of persons (male) by education level by social group by sector, age>15<=30 ( ) Groups Poverty MIDLE SECON HSECO DIPLO GRADU PGRAD ALL Rural (%) ST P NP ALL SC P NP ALL OBC P NP ALL OT P NP ALL ALL P NP ALL Urban ST P NP ALL SC P NP ALL OBC P NP ALL OT P NP ALL ALL P NP ALL Source: Estimated from unit data NSSO 61st round ( ) 37

46 Indian Institute of Dalit Studies Volume IV, Number 07 Table, 8: Poverty of persons (female) by Education Level by Social Group by Sector, age>15<=30 ( ) Group Poverty MIDLE SECON HSECO DIPLO GRADU PGRAD ALL Rural ST P NP ALL SC P NP ALL OBC P NP ALL OT P NP ALL ALL P NP ALL Urban ST P NP ALL SC P NP ALL OBC P NP ALL OT P NP ALL ALL P NP ALL Source: Estimated from unit data NSSO 61st round ( ) 38

47 Hostel Schemes for Dalit Students Sobin George and Deeba Naseem Table 13: State-Wise Achievements under Babu Jagjivan Ram Chhatravas Yojana for SC Girls Hostels during S. No State/UTs No. of Girls Hostels No. of seats Expenditure (Rs. in lakhs) 1 Assam Arrears for AP Bihar Chhattisgarh Haryana Jharkhand Karnataka Madhya Pradesh Orissa Punjab Rajasthan Tamil Nadu Tripura Uttar Pradesh Uttarakhand W. B Total Source: Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Govt. of India. Table, 14: State-Wise Achievements under Babu Jagjivan Ram Chhatravas Yojana for SC Boys Hostels during S. No State/UTs No. of Boys Hostels No. of seats Expenditure (Rs. in lakhs) 1 Assam Bihar Chhattisgarh Jharkhand Karnataka Kerala Madhya Pradesh Orissa Tamil Nadu * * Uttar Pradesh Uttarakhand Total * Arrears payment has been made. Source: Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Govt. of India 39

48 Indian Institute of Dalit Studies Volume IV, Number 07 Table, 16: State wise Female SC Persons of Age>15<=30 by Education Level by Sector, (percentage) State Rural Urban MIDL SEC HSEC DIPL GRA PGRA ALL MIDL SECO HSEC DIPL GRA PGRA ALL Jammu & Kashmir Himachal Pradesh Punjab Uttaranchal Haryana Rajasthan Uttar Pradesh Bihar Tripura Assam West Bengal Jharkhand Orissa Chhattisgarh Madhya Pradesh Gujarat Maharashtra Andhra Pradesh Karnataka Kerala Tamil Nadu Source: Estimated from NSS 61st round Table, 17: State wise Male SC Persons of Age>15<=30 by Education Level by Sector, State Rural Urban MIDL SECO HSEC DIPL GRAD PGRA ALL MIDL SECO HSEC DIPL GRAD PGRA ALL Jammu & Kashmir Himachal Pradesh Punjab Uttaranchal Haryana Rajasthan Uttar Pradesh Bihar Tripura Assam West Bengal Jharkhand Orissa Chhattisgarh Madhya Pradesh Gujarat Maharashtra Andhra Pradesh Karnataka Kerala Tamil Nadu Source: Estimated from NSS 61st round 40

49 Hostel Schemes for Dalit Students Sobin George and Deeba Naseem Table, 18: State/Sex-wise Enrolment of Scheduled Caste Students in Higher Education in India ( ) State/UT Boys Girls Total Andhra Pradesh Assam Bihar Chhattisgarh Gujarat Haryana Himachal Pradesh Jharkhand Karnataka Kerala Madhya Pradesh Maharashtra Orissa Punjab Rajasthan Tamil Nadu Tripura Uttar Pradesh Uttaranchal West Bengal Chandigarh Delhi Pondicherry India Source: Compiled from Ministry of Human Resource Development, Govt. of India. 41

50 Indian Institute of Dalit Studies Volume IV, Number 07 Table, 19 Percentage share of SC female, (age>15<=30) by poverty and level of education, State PVT Rural Urban HSE DIPL GRAD PGRA ALL HSE DIPL GRAD PGRA ALL Himachal P Pradesh NP ALL Punjab P NP ALL Uttaranchal P NP ALL Haryana P NP ALL Rajasthan P NP ALL Uttar Pradesh P NP ALL Bihar P NP ALL Tripura P NP ALL West Bengal P NP ALL Jharkhand P NP ALL Orissa P NP ALL Chhattisgarh P NP ALL Madhya Pradesh P NP ALL Gujarat P NP ALL Maharashtra P NP ALL Andhra Pradesh P NP ALL Karnataka P NP ALL Kerala P NP ALL Tamil Nadu P NP ALL Source: NSS 61th round, Estimated 42

51 Hostel Schemes for Dalit Students Sobin George and Deeba Naseem Table, 20 Poverty of SC male, age>15<=30) by education level by sector (%) State PVT Rural Urban HSE DIPL GRAD PGRA ALL HSE DIPL GRAD PGRA ALL Himachal Pradesh P NP ALL Punjab P NP ALL Uttaranchal P NP ALL Haryana P NP ALL Rajasthan P NP ALL Uttar Pradesh P NP ALL Bihar P NP ALL Tripura P NP ALL Assam P NP ALL West Bengal P NP ALL Jharkhand P NP ALL Orissa P NP ALL Chhattisgarh P NP ALL Madhya Pradesh P NP ALL Gujarat P NP ALL Maharashtra P NP ALL Andhra Pradesh P NP ALL Karnataka P NP ALL Kerala P NP ALL Tamil Nadu P NP ALL Source: NSS 61th round, Estimated 43

52 Indian Institute of Dalit Studies Volume IV, Number 07 Annex 2: Check list for interviews Service providers Name: Position I Basic information 1. When was the hostel built? 2. What was the amount of grant you received from Government? 3. Could you please brief the procedures and process for setting up the hostel 4. Have you received any aid from the state government for a) building b) infrastructure c) maintenance d) extension e) other facilities 5. What is the process of selection of beneficiary? 6. What are the eligibility criteria of selection? 7. What are the specific steps taken (if any) by the college/university to reach out the beneficiary? 8. How many SC girl students have availed hostels from the time of its establishment? I.1 Facilities 9. How many rooms are available? Single/double/triple/dormitory 10. How many inmates/students are there at present? 11. Do you allot rooms to women other than students of the institute? 12. Is this hostel exclusively for dalit girl student? 13. If no, how do you allot rooms to all eligible candidates? 44

53 Hostel Schemes for Dalit Students Sobin George and Deeba Naseem 14. Do all eligible candidates get room soon after their enrollment in the college? 15. What is the approximate time to get admission into hostels? 16. Does the hostel have following facilities? - reading room (with news paper/books/journals) - mess hall - visitors room - fans - reading table and chair - Toilets, (in numbers) - Television - any other 1 7. What is the present strength of the hostel? 18. Is there any maintenance fee charged from students? 19. Are you getting financial support from any other source than central/state governments for the hostel? 20. What are the major problems that you faced/have been facing with regard to Students - administrative procedures - hostel admissions - maintenance - infrastructure 21. Was there any information of hostel before getting admission? 22. Experiences in hostel specific to the facilities available/ not available? 23. Time taken in getting hostels? 24. Do they face any kind of discrimination while getting hostel? 25. Was there any segregation on the basis of their caste in allotment of the hostel? 45

54 Indian Institute of Dalit Studies Volume IV, Number Is merit the criteria for getting the hostel or reservation on the basis of stream/ subject chosen by the students? 2 7. Maintenance of hostel is proper or not? 28. Any technical difficulty faced in getting the hostel. 29. Difficulty faced in the hostel. 30. Suggestions 46

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