What happened (Rajya Sabha clarification)

The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, through a written reply in the Rajya Sabha, clarified the scholarship application status and unpaid scholarship dues for Scheduled Castes (SCs), Other Backward Classes (OBCs), and Persons with Disabilities (PwDs). The Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment, Shri Ramdas Athawale, responded to Dr. Menaka Guruswamy in the Rajya Sabha with details on scheme nature, how scholarship money is released, and the status under the Centrally sponsored higher-education SC scheme SHREYAS-SC.

Background and earlier position (scheme design and scholarship release logic)

The Ministry stated that the Pre-Matric Scholarship for Scheduled Castes & Others and the Post-Matric Scholarship for Scheduled Caste Students are centrally sponsored, open-ended and demand-driven schemes. Under these scholarship schemes, the Ministry stated that scholarship amounts are released through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) into Aadhaar-seeded bank accounts of beneficiaries.

The Ministry also set out a delivery condition for Central releases. The Ministry stated that release of the Central share is contingent upon: (1) the concerned State Government/Union Territory (UT) Administration releasing its share, and (2) uploading finally verified paid data on the National Scholarship Portal.

What changed now (specific denial of pending applications and unpaid dues under SHREYAS-SC)

Related current affairs