The Union Social Justice Ministry is planning to raise the annual family income eligibility criteria for post-matric scholarship schemes for Scheduled Caste, Other Backward Classes, Extremely Backward Classes, and Denotified, Nomadic, and Semi-Nomadic Tribes students from ₹2.5 lakh to ₹4.5 lakh from the 2026-27 fiscal year onwards.
Informing a departmentally related House panel, the government has also noted that widespread revisions are being planned for various scholarship schemes administered by the Social Justice and Tribal Affairs Ministries for students from SC, ST, OBC, and DNT communities.
Government considers raising parental income limit for post and pre-matric scholarships for Scheduled Tribe students
The government is looking to rename the National Overseas Scholarship (NOS) scheme for SC students to “Baba Saheb Dr. Bhim Rao Ambedkar Overseas Scholarship Scheme”, increase the number of slots under this scheme from 125 to 250, increase the maintenance allowance by 25%, and introduce a new category to accommodate children of sanitary workers.
The Tribal Affairs Ministry has informed the panel that a similar NOS scheme for ST students is also being revised, with a proposal being submitted to increase the number of slots from 20 to 50 and raise the financial assistance from $15,400 to $19,250.
