The English Press Club interviewed Manas Srivastav, a member of the newly formed MCN committee, to find out about the changes taking place in awarding MCN scholarships from the next semester.

Manas explained that under the present scenario, the amount of aid awarded to students depended only on their CGPA, provided that their parents’ income was below a certain limit. Applicants might have found themselves deceived by the scholarship’s title, for up and until now, a candidate’s need for financial aid has had no bearing on the amount they are awarded. The SWD has thus decided to form the MCN committee to gain the students’ perspective on the issue.

Manas explained that while the upper income limit of ₹ 8 Lakh per annum would remain unchanged, the committee has devised a system wherein both the financial need of the candidate and their CGPA would be considered before aid is awarded. Should a situation arise of two students having the same CGPA, the one with lower parental income would now be offered more aid by the institute. While refusing to divulge in detail how the new system would be implemented, Manas said that detailed guidelines would be sent to all students by the SWD.

Talking about students who avail of MCN scholarships through nefarious means, Manas said that this remained a point of major concern for the institute, but was a challenging issue to address. While considering MCN appplications, the institute already demands legal documents, hence it does not have the authority to question them.

Apart from Manas, the MCN committee consists of two other students — Sahib Aggarwal and Adit Mittal along with the SWD Dean and a few other professors. The student members were nominated by the President and confirmed by the Dean.