Earlier on Wednesday, Telangana Minister KT Rama Rao promised to fund the academic expenses of one Jahnavi Uppuleti, a 26-year-old research scholar from Telangana. Jahnavi recently got an offer for doctoral studies (DPhil) at the University of Oxford but is unable to fund her studies. She has been trying to "raise money to pay her tuition and living fees" but to no avail. When a journalist named Dhanya Rajendran brought this to the notice of her Twitter followers, KTR assured that the KCR government's Overseas scholarship program will take care of the expenses.
While KTR's promise seems altruistic, it is nothing but a waste of public money. It is estimated that the cost of her education is going to be as much as Rs 50 lakh. "Is it really the best use of a state's resources to be spending Rs 50 lakh for the Ph.D. of a single individual (and Ph.D. in a subject where we have no shortage of experts?)," asked Sai Arav, a Twitter user.
Another social media user opined that Telangana should not fund the student and let her raise funds on some platforms. "She can popularize her campaign on Milaap like every random law and social science student," added Abhivardhan. "Why this particular person gets state aid? There are 100s of such people also trying to raise funds through crowdfunding platforms," commented Sriram Krishnan.
https://twitter.com/KTRBRS/status/1676427304325746688
