Deccan Chronicle, 24th August 2000
http://www.deccan.com/city.htm

Hyderabad, Aug. 23: The Gazetted Officer's Welfare Association of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes on Wednesday demanded separate quota in sanction of visas for SC and ST students who want to pursue higher education in the United States of America.

Speaking to mediapersons here the association general secretary M Radhakrishnaiah alleged that the American Consulates in India were refusing visa to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes students on some pretext or the other following which, the students of underprivileged castes are losing valuable opportunities.

He said the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes students get an opportunity to study in the US with great difficulty.But on account of refusal by the Consulates, the students belonging to the "suppressed communities" are deprived of higher education in the US, he regretted.

Radhakrishnaiah urged the Union government to take up the matter with the US Consulates and ensure that the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes students who are eligible to join American universities are provided with a visa. " The authorities should take up the issue of processing of visas for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes students with the American consulate," he said.

A separate quota for the issuance of visas should also be reserved for economically backward communities besides restricting the norms to issue the visa for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes students, he added. Alleging that the Centre was indifferent to the problems of the Dalits, he said that the association would submit a memorandum to the Centre in this regard.