Patna : The Seemanchal region and Especially Kishanganj district of Bihar has been systemically discriminated and isolated from the development scene by the government since decades, which is amply reflected in the latest NITI Aayog Report Which lays bare to the appalling fact that, Kishanganj is one of the most backward districts of India on every socio-economic indicators.

SIO stated that the state government had allotted 224 acre of land for the AMU in Kishanganj and at the same time another piece of land was handed over for the construction of police line. “While the police line is fully constructed and functional, construction on the land for AMU was halted after the matter was sent to national green tribunal and later a stay order was passed by National Mission for Clean Ganga citing the area was a part of a river basin. In such a situation, the state government should provide an alternative land, even if the area is smaller, so that purpose of setting up of AMU in Bihar could be fulfilled,” said SIO national president Salman Ahmad. They further informed that along with Bihar, Kerala and West Bengal government had also allotted the land, while the Bihar one is still a dream, the other two have a proper campus and are running from a long.

The members criticised AMU administration for their lack of interest in development of AMU university in Bihar and sanction of permanent post for both teaching as well as non teaching staff. “They have to change their lethargic attitude and every month they should hold a press conference and update about the developmental work done. Even of the two off campus courses, MBA and Bedm started some six years back, the latter was stopped as it could not fulfil certain criteria. AMU administration should see to these issues,” said Ahmad.

National president Salman Ahmed lamented in his Press Conference that it has been almost a decade and not a single inch of the land that has been allotted by Bihar government for AMU Kishanganj been utilized. There seems to be a planned agenda to obstruct access to get higher education in this region. The NMCG and NGT Stay also tells a sorry tale of continuous exclusion. As per NITI Aayog report, the glaring fact that 65% of the population lie beneath the BPL line, Kishanganj Muslim minority district is also synonymous with poverty and under-development. We demand the state government: The land should be cleared on the immediate basis,order a monitoring committee who look upon this matter and held monthly review which should be made public. In case of no or late solution chances quickly start the process to allocate another land (more or less than 50acres) to atleast let the University start new degree courses. Regularization of Infrastructure and other facilities. Pressurise Central Government to mitigate and expediate the process. 8% GDP should be allocated for education.

Coming to the rest of Bihar, the budget for Minority Welfare in budget is 650 crore which is very low allocation, still there is scope for substantial increase when state like Telangana’s allocation is 1602 crores. In comparison to other states, the share of minority welfare departments was much less. “In 2021-22, Rs 650 crore was allotted to the minority welfare department (Muslim population is 17%), which was 0.29% of the total budget. Same year, states like Andhra Pradesh had given Rs 3840 crore and Telangana had given Rs 1602 crore,” said Akhtar. They also demanded relaxation in the criteria set for MOMA (ministry of minority affairs) scholarship.  

Regarding pre–Matric Scholarship criteria with demanded to lower the minimum 50% marks in previous years final exam to 45% owing to pandemic situation Barrier is of maximum 1 lakh family e-income should be increased 2.5 lakh per year as per inflation and socio-economic indicators Increase Vocational training institutes, especially for Minorities and Set up a Corpus fund for Entrepreneurship. In the eve of upcoming budget session, we request our elected representatives to listen to the plea of Students and youth and ensure a student friendly budget. Br Salman Ahmed, National President , Syed Ahmed Muzakkir, General Secretary, Daniyal Akram, State President, Kidiyoor Nihal, National Secretary and Shadman Nomani, State Secretary along with other office bearers were present in the conference.