BARTI students celebrate as govt grants 100% scholarships

PUNE 1 For the last two and a half years, PhD students have been struggling for fellowships at Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Research and Training Institute (BARTI).

- Ankit Shukla

Finally, the cabinet announced the decision to provide 100% scholarships to 763 students of BARTI. A total expenditure of around 37 crore has been approved for this.

This has been appreciated by the students, who have been protesting for the last many days against the state government's decision to grant only 50% of the pending scholarship fund from the date of the scholarship award. The students, citing financial hardship, launched a hunger strike on Aug 5.

They even took out a long march of 200km from Phulewada in Pune to Vidhan Bhavan in Mumbai. During the protest, one PhD student tried to self-immolate in front of the institute gate in Pune.