Students from Minority Communities can Now Avail Special Scholarship

The Ministry of Minority Affairs, central government, provides Merit-cum-Means Scholarship to students belonging to Minority communities (Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, and Farsi) based on the State wise population of these communities. Every year 20000 scholarships are distributed to the students.

Financial assistance is provided to students to pursue degree and/or post graduate level technical and professional courses from a recognized institution.  Maintenance allowance is credited to the student’s account.  The course fee is paid by the State Department directly to the concerned institute.

Eligibility Criteria:

• Generally, the scholarships are provided to students on the basis of a competitive examination.
• Students those haven’t given any competitive examination are still eligible for scholarship only if they have secured 50% in their higher secondary/graduation level. However, selections of these students are purely done on merit basis.
• Continuation of the scholarship in subsequent years depends on the successful completion of the course during the preceding year. For e.g. if a student has secured above 50% in first year of his Degree course, he/she is eligible for getting scholarship in Second year as well.
• A student availing this scholarship is not eligible to get any other scholarship/stipend for pursuing the course.
• The annual income of the parent or guardian of a candidate beneficiary should not be more than ₹2.5 lakh from all sources.
• The scholarship is depended on the satisfactory progress by the student. If it doesn’t happen so, then he/she will no longer be eligible for the scholarship.
• If, a student is found to have availed scholarship under false statements, his/her candidature for scholarship will be immediately cancelled.
• If a student changes his/her field of study, scholarship will be cancelled. And, if a student discontinues his/her studies, then it is the student’s responsibility to refund the amount of scholarship.

A student residing in a particular State/UT is entitled for scholarship under the quota of that respective State/UT only, irrespective of his place of study. For e.g. if a student is from Bihar is studying in Delhi, he/she is entitled to get scholarship from the state of Bihar only.

Scholarship amount:

Sl. No.	Type of Financial Assistance	Amount for students staying in hostel	Amount for Day Scholar
1.	Maintenance Allowance (For 10 months only)	₹10,000/-per annum (Means ₹1,000/- monthly)	₹5,000/- per annum. (₹500 monthly
2.	Course Fee	₹20,000/- per annum or Actual whichever is less	₹20,000/- per annum or Actual whichever is less
Total		₹30,000/-	₹25,000/-

How to apply?

The state department advertises about the scheme every year latest by 31st March and receives applications through the concerned institutions.

Application in the prescribed format may be submitted to the Secretary of the Department of the concerned State Govt./UT administration through the institutions where a student is pursuing his/her technical/professional course. A student must submit the application to the state/UT he/she belongs to.

A draft format is attached Here. 

Last date to submit application is: 15/11/2015. Keep checking the website for further details.