Post Matric Scholarship For Scheduled Caste

**Eligibility of Students**

- The scholarships are open to the Nationals of India only.

- Only those candidates who belong to Scheduled Castes so specified about the State/Union Territory to which the applicant belongs /domiciled as determined by the State/UT and who have passed the Matriculation or Higher Secondary or any higher examination of a recognized University or Board of Secondary Education will be eligible.

- Scholarships will be paid to the students whose parent's/guardian's income from all sources does not exceed Rs. 2,50,000/- (Rupees Two lakh Fifty thousand only) during the last Financial Year. An income certificate is required to be taken once only i.e. at the time of admission only to courses which are continuing for more than one year. The income certificate shall be issued by the Authority as decided by the State Government.

- The ceiling on age limit for admission as regular students in different classes should be decided by the concerned Institutions.

- Candidates who, after passing one stage of education are studying in the same stage of education in a different subject e.g. Intermediate Science after Intermediate Arts or B.Com after B.A. or M.A. in one subject after M.A. in other subjects will not be eligible.

- Students, who pursue their studies through correspondence/online courses, are also eligible. The term correspondence includes distant and continuous education for courses in Central/ State Universities only. Non-refundable fees shall be paid and no academic allowance will be paid.

- All the children of any parent/guardian will be entitled to receive the benefits of the scheme.

- A scholarship holder under this scheme will not hold any other scholarship/stipend. If awarded any other scholarship/stipend, the student can exercise his/her option for either of the two scholarships/stipends, whichever is more beneficial to him/her, and should inform the awarding authority through the Head of the Institution about the option made. No scholarship will be paid to the students under this scheme from the date he/she accepts another scholarship/stipend. The student can, however, accept free lodging or a grant or ad-hoc monetary help from the State Government or any other source for the purchase of books, and equipment or for meeting the expenses on board and lodging in addition to the scholarship amount paid under this scheme.

- All seats filled through arbitrary and non-transparent processes (including management quota, NRI quota, spot admissions etc.) without following the merit criteria as decided by the State Government are not eligible for these scholarships. The fees claimed against management quota seats, and spot admission seats in any Institution /University will not be reimbursed. In case of any contradiction on the classification of seats or non-clarity on the classification of seats in the State/UT, the following criteria may be followed:

If there is no arbitrariness/ discretion in the admission process and the fee for the course is fixed by the Fee Fixation/Fee Rationalization committee set up by the competent authority, the said seats may not be considered as the Management Quota Seats. However, the State Governments may satisfy themselves with the following before releasing scholarships: i

That the applicants claiming the scholarship have been admitted through a transparent process which involved calling of applications through advertisements, preparation of ranks, selection of candidates on the merit list, and publication of selection list and others as deemed fit by the State Government;

That the fees for courses are duly approved by the Fee Fixation/Fee Rationalization Committee set up by the competent authority.

- Students shall be encouraged to have Aadhaar-linked Bank accounts to facilitate payments through the Aadhaar Payment Bridge.