After Maulana Azad Fellowship, Govt Halts National Overseas Scholarship To 66 SC, ST Candidates
The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment has halted the National Overseas Scholarships (NOS) for 66 candidates selected for the 2025-26 academic year. Only the first 40 selected students will receive funding under the current academic cycle of 2025-26, and the rest of the candidates of the total 106 candidates will get scholarships after the availability of the funds disbursed after the cabinet approval.
As per the July 1 announcement, the ministry’s announcement, overall 106 candidates were on the ‘selected list’ and 64 are on the ‘non-selected list category. Reportedly, out of the total selected candidates, the provisional letters will be awarded to the top 40 candidates. The ministry received 440 applications for the 2025-26 academic year.
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Non-selected candidates will not be considered in the first list for the scholarship and may be considered if any student gets rejected for failing to provide essential documents.
In previous years, all candidates received scholarship letters at the same time; however, this year, the ministry reportedly said to give additional letters depending on the availability of funds, leaving students’ admission to overseas universities in limbo.
Under NOS, financial assistance is provided to facilitate the low-income meritorious students belonging to the Scheduled Castes, De-notified Nomadic and Semi-Nomadic Tribes, Landless Agricultural Labourers, and Traditional Artisans category to obtain higher education, viz., master’s degree or Ph.D courses by studying abroad, thereby improving their Economic and Social status.
The total slots allotted under the scheme annually are 125, out of which 115 slots are reserved for students belonging to the Scheduled Caste, 06 slots are reserved for De-notified, Nomadic and Semi-Nomadic Tribes, and 04 slots for Landless Agricultural Labourers and Traditional Artisans candidates.
30% of the scholarships for each selection year are earmarked for female candidates.
Delay in scholarship distribution has drawn flak on the government’s inability to fund overseas studies of the 66 marginal students. One user on social media X wrote, “So the govt has no funds for 60 tribal, Dalit & marginalised students’ scholarships, but has crores for PR campaigns, foreign visits, and lavish events? This is not a ‘fund crunch” — this is a priority crunch.”
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Candidates who fall outside the 40 are anxious about their admission process affecting their prospects of studying abroad.
Earlier, government has disrupted the Maulana Azad National Fellowship under which scholarships to 1,400 PhD students have been scrapped. Also the National Fellowship for Scheduled Castes for June 2024 came under confusion over award letter issuance to lesser number of students.
