SRINAGAR: In a first, a Kashmiri, Mirza Saaib Beg, has received the Kofi Annan scholarship and the Weidenfeld-Hoffmann scholarship to study public policy at the Blavatnik School of Government at the University of Oxford, The Wire reported
Mirza Saaib Beg, a lawyer hails from south Kashmir’s Anantnag district. He studied law at the National Academy of Legal Studies and Research (NALSAR), Hyderabad. He is currently at Oxford, physically attending classes in public policy at the Blavatnik School.
“Since a lot of people aren’t aware of the scholarship, I have been in touch with some students who are looking for someone to help them with the application process,” The Wire quoted Mirza Saaib Beg as saying.
The scholarship, valued over Rs 75 lakh, covers all costs of education at the University of Oxford, including living expenses and a monthly stipend. The application process, Beg says, is very easy and for this batch, the application deadline is till the end of this month.
He resigned in protest from his legal consultant job at a government organization after some of his comments post abrogation of Article 370 were considered “inflammatory.”
In 2015, he started an ultra-cycling campaign to raise funds to secure the education of hundreds of financially restrained meritorious students in Kashmir and law universities in India.
