A photograph showing girls donning hijabs and holding up certificates is being shared across social media platforms to claim that the jewellery brand – Malabar Gold and Diamonds – only awards scholarships to girls belonging to the Muslim community.
![Malabar Charitable Trust's video states that the scholarship is given "without consideration to caste or community."](https://images.thequint.com/thequint%2F2023-01%2Fa62428a8-2fa9-4a84-972b-183943b6a21e%2FScreenshot_2023_01_30_at_4_03_08_PM.png?auto=format%2Ccompress&fmt=webp&width=720)
An archive of this tweet can be seen here.
(Source: Twitter/Altered by The Quint)
How did we find out?: We noticed that the backdrop of the photo carried text that reads 'Malabar Charitable Trust'.
![Malabar Charitable Trust's video states that the scholarship is given "without consideration to caste or community."](https://images.thequint.com/thequint%2F2023-01%2F18dde58f-6390-4a92-acfd-c70a538307ab%2FUntitled_design.gif?auto=format%2Ccompress&fmt=webp&width=720)
The banner reads 'Malabar Charitable Trust.
(Source: Twitter/Altered by The Quint)
![Malabar Charitable Trust's video states that the scholarship is given "without consideration to caste or community."](https://images.thequint.com/thequint%2F2023-01%2Fe65bd180-7dba-4bf9-834b-22abfc3e1aa3%2Fmalabar_scholarship.jpeg?auto=format%2Ccompress&fmt=webp&width=720)
The photo shows all girls without hijabs.
(Source: Malabar Charitable Trust)
The photo's description mentioned it showed girls receiving educational scholarships under a CSR activity called "Empowering Education and Empowering womanhood."
It mentioned that the event was held in Andhra Pradesh's Rajahmundry in the presence of the state's Women and Child Development Minister Taneti Vanitha and other politicians.
So, who is the scholarship given to?: The details of the scholarship are listed on the website.
It mentions that the scheme is "exclusively for girl students" and that it was only granted for higher education after class 10.
The page also said that the scholarship would be granted on "merit and means basis only" and would be suspended if the awardee failed to be promoted to the next academic year.
However, this section made no mention of religion as a criteria.
Next, we came across a video of a similar CSR activity on the company's YouTube channel.
The video mentioned that the beneficiaries included scholars from families across all sections of the society "without consideration to caste or community."
The description mentioned that the video showed their educational scholarship programme which "brightened the futures of 4000+ girl scholars from deserving backgrounds" in FY 2022–23.
The video showed visuals from various districts across Karnataka.
(Note: Swipe right to view all screenshots.)
The Quint has reached out to the Malabar Charitable Trust and will update this article with their response as and when it is received.
Conclusion: It is evident that the claim is without any basis and there is no evidence that concludes that the company discriminates on the basis of religion while awarding educational scholarships to girls.
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