Slash in scholarship irks beedi workers

Condemning the Central government for slashing the scholarship amount for the children of beedi workers for the current year, members of Beedi Workers Association and district unit of Student Federation of India (SFI), staged a protest demonstration in Mandya on Tuesday.

The protestors, who took out a protest march from the Silver Jubilee Park on the Mysore-Bangalore highway, raised slogans against the government. They staged a dharna in front of the deputy commissioner’s office for a while and submitted a memorandum.

They criticised the government’s anti-student decision would have a drastic impact on the education of the labourers’ children.

They urged that the scholarship facility be continued as earlier and demanded an hike in the scholarship amount as the cost of education has also escalated.

They put forth 15 other demands in the memorandum, which includes medical facilities at all areas where beedi workers reside and also an increase in the amount of home loans being issued from the Labourers’ Welfare Fund.

C Kumari, Rajendra Singh Babu, Mahadevamma, G Ramakrishna, Razia Begum and others were present.