The distribution of student scholarships to children of construction workers by the Karnataka Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board has become a bone of contention with the board cutting the scholarship amount by about 75% in most cases.
While the workers’ union is up in arms against the decision, the State government has insisted that it is in line with the prevailing scholarships given by various government departments. Of the 13 lakh applications received for scholarship for 2022-23, 7 lakh beneficiaries have been identified as eligible that would cost the board roughly ₹200 crore.
The order issued on October 30 has led to the unions announcing a strike from November 28 in Bengaluru. There are about 44 lakh registered cardholders and the board collects about ₹ 1,000 crore annually as cess. The current corpus of the board is about ₹7,000 crore.
“The revision has been unilateral and arbitrary. The scholarship that has seen an upward revision since 2007 has for the first time been cut drastically,” K. Mahantesh, general secretary of Karnataka Building and Other Construction Workers Federation, told The Hindu. He said that the previous revision that came around the pandemic time has to be seen in the light of distress among construction workers, who saw employment avenues dwindling due to demonetisaton, GST introduction and COVID-19.
From 3 lakh to 13 lakh
However, Labour Minister Santhosh Lad said that while the maximum applications received annually for all the schemes did not exceed three lakh in the past, the board received 13 lakh applications for scholarship alone this time. “This is due to rampant bogus cards that were created for ineligible people during the three-year BJP rule. The number of cardholders reached 45 lakh. We have found professors and landlords having construction worker cards.”
He also argued that scholarship should be uniform across the departments. “The amount was raised unscientifically. It has to be on a par with scholarships given in other departments.” The board after verification has identified 7 lakh beneficiaries and weeded out 6 lakh applications.
Balancing many schemes
The Minister said that the annual cess collection that is around ₹ 1,000 crore should also be considered. “On an average if ₹10,000 each is given to 7 lakh students, it would be about ₹700 crore. There are 14 programmes that is run by the board. How can we manage them?” he asked. Mr. Lad also pointed out that government infrastructure is available for primary, secondary and high school education free of cost.
Acknowledging the menace of bogus cardholders, Mr. Mahantesh said that the government has to develop a mechanism to ensure genuine beneficiaries receive the scholarship. He said, “Genuine workers did not create bogus card problem. Our fear is many will miss out in the process as construction work is seasonal in many cases. For example, in Kodagu, people work in both construction sites as well as plantations. As per law, worker should have worked for three months in a year at a construction site.”
Distress among workers
Mr. Mahantesh said that the numbers have also increased due to distress among construction workers and inefficient disbursal of scholarship for backward classes during BJP regime. On the argument of free education in government schools, Mr. Mahantesh said that in many cases parents try to send their children to private schools as government schools lack facilities.
