Rajnath Singh plays good samaritan for Kashmiri students

NEW DELHI: Home Minister Rajnath Singh has become a good samaritan for a group of students from Jammu and Kashmir studying in Rajasthan, who were facing difficulties in getting benefits of a government scholarship.

Singh, who witnessed the plight of these students hailing from Srinagar, Jammu and Ladakh on a news channel last night, first called up the journalist who reported the story and subsequently contacted the Rajasthan Education minister. He sought resolution of their problem which pertained to availing the Prime Ministers' Special Scholarship scheme.

The students belong to the Gyan Vihar University in Jaipur.

"On hearing the news, the Home Minister called the Education minister of Rajasthan and obtained the phone numbers of some of the students. On talking to them, he learnt that the students had some difficulties in getting their scholarship under the Prime Minister's Special Scholarship scheme," a Home Ministry official said.

"Singh has asked the concerned minister to sort out the operational difficulty by Monday (September 5). He also told the students to meet him on September 6 in Delhi immediately after he returns from his tour to Jammu and Kashmir on September 4-5, if their problem persisted," the official said.

A 24x7 grievance redressal helpline was recently set up by the Home Ministry for helping people from the Valley, particularly students residing out of the state.

The Ministry had nominated Sanjay Roy, Director (Media), as the nodal officer for this task.

The grievances can be reported on the following phone numbers: 011-23092923, 011-23092885, or mailed at dirmjk-mha@nic.in

The nodal officer will receive complaints from Kashmiri people and youths facing harassment in different parts of the country. He will also coordinate with states for an early disposal of such cases.

The announcement for appointing such an officer was made by the Home Minister during his two-day visit to Kashmir Valley recently during which several political parties had raised the issue of harassment of Kashmiri youths in various parts of the country.

During the recent unrest in the Valley, reports of alleged harassment of Kashmiri youths were received from states including Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh.