Contrary to the policy of providing scholarships for MBBS to the poor, the needy, Dalits and minorities, the Tatopani Rural Municipality of Jumla has diverted the amount allocated under that heading. Students who were excited about the policy of scholarships for MBBS have been disappointed with the budget allocation. Rural Municipality Chairman Nanda Prasad Chaulagain said that the amount of Rs 1.5 million allocated for scholarships for MBBS has been diverted. He said that the winter village assembly has diverted about Rs 1.5 million along with the scholarship amount to other headings.

Chairman Chaulagain said, ‘Parents themselves have to spend Rs 3.5 million on MBBS studies, which cost up to Rs 6 million. But the poor and needy are not in a position to afford that much. And the amount allocated by the municipality is not enough.’ In this financial year, Rs 1.5 million was allocated for scholarships. The amount was frozen after no one claimed it in the last two fiscal years.

Although the rural municipality transferred the budget, the information about it has not been made public. A student has reached the municipality with an application to demand the rural municipality scholarship. Laxman Devkota of Tatopani-4 has applied to the ward office and the municipality demanding that he should get a scholarship for MBBS studies. But so far, the application has not been heard.

Earlier, when no one claimed for MBBS studies, the budget had to be frozen until the last minute, and now the application has to be transferred, raising questions in the municipality's budget and policy, petitioner Devkota has said. He has insisted that he should get the budget allocated under the title of scholarship to study MBBS.

'This time there is a budget for scholarships.' It is clearly included in the policy. It is mentioned in the Red Book and has been entered in the formula,' said Amar Bahadur Rokaya, spokesperson of the municipality and chairman of ward number 4, 'there is no problem in paying the scholarship amount.' He responded that the amount allocated for the scholarship cannot be transferred. 'If the amount has been transferred, I do not know,' he added.    

Stating that he is eligible to receive the amount allocated for MBBS studies, Devkota of Tatopani-4 has addressed the rural municipality chairman on Jestha 5 and submitted a request for payment of the amount allocated for the MBBS scholarship program as per the approval, policy and program, budget statement and Red Book.

He also mentioned that he is studying MBBS at the Karnali Institute of Health Sciences and is finding it difficult to continue his studies due to poverty. On April 24, the ward office of Tatopani-4 recommended that there be no objection to providing the scholarship amount to Devkota, stating that he is a permanent resident and is currently studying MBBS at the Karnali Institute of Health Sciences.

In a letter addressed to the Chief Administrative Officer, it has stated that there is no objection to providing the scholarship amount to him, mentioning his citizenship number. It has also been requested to complete the necessary procedures and provide the scholarship amount to him. However, the rural municipality has been silent on the issue of providing the scholarship amount so far. Locals have said that they know that the budget heading is behind the municipality's silence.

Point 8 of the Education and Sports Policy of the Policy and Program, Section 24 of the Budget Statement and Serial Number 69 of the Red Book shows that the budget for the scholarship has been allocated from internal sources. Laxman had requested to use it this time even though the scholarship amount was frozen due to no claim in the previous two years. Students who were excited about the municipality's decision to provide a scholarship of 1.5 million rupees to a student for their first year of study are now angry when they transfer the money.

However, Tirtha Bahadur Kathayat, the Chief Administrative Officer of the rural municipality, informed that the money was transferred from the winter village assembly. During a conversation with Kantipur, he replied that the application was not given because it was received late. But when asked how it could not be given without inviting the application, he said that the winter village assembly had transferred the money. When asked if he could provide the decision of the winter village assembly, he replied that he had come to the rural municipality to get information about the transfer of money this year and the date on which the decision was made since no one had come for two years. However, he did not want to give any information about the reason and under which heading the money was transferred.

Section 3 (3) of the Appropriation Act, 2079 BS provides that when transferring funds, funds can be transferred from one or more grant numbers to another one or more grant numbers, not exceeding 10 percent of the total amount. But when asked under which heading the scholarship amount was transferred and whether this Appropriation Act has been implemented or not, both the Rural Municipality Chairman Chaulagain and the Chief Administrative Officer Kathayat did not answer. In the previous fiscal year, the students received the amount distributed by the ward office under the title of the Poor Student Support Program (MBBS Engineering) scholarship.

Information Officer Om Bahadur Chand said that he was not aware of what was happening with the scholarship amount this year. The fact that the information officer was not aware of the fact that the decision had already been made by the village assembly has also raised the question of whether the information system within the municipality is not efficient. Stakeholders in the education sector have said that it is clear how responsible the municipality is in the education sector when the policy and program clearly states, is included in the budget, is included in the night book, and has even been entered in the formula.