New Delhi, July 19 -- The Union government has approved the release of pending stipends for scholars under the Maulana Azad National Fellowship (MANF), ending a seven-month payment delay for over 1,400 PhD candidates from minority communities that had not received stipends since January 2025, officials said on Thursday. "The pending payments under the Maulana Azad National Fellowship have been released. A small step that means a lot to so many," Union minority affairs minister Kiren Rijiju said in a post on X, further linking the resolution to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership and the government's commitment to inclusivity. The MANF scheme, established in 2009, supports PhD candidates from minority communities -- including Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, and Parsis - who clear the National Eligibility Test (NET) and come from families earning less than Rs.6 lakh annually....