The Central Government has implemented a number of scholarship schemes to motivate and support meritorious students in their academic career. In this context, Union Education Minister Dr R P Nishank has highlighted various schemes active now including the Central Sector Scheme of Scholarship for College and University Students and the National Means-cum-Merit Scholarship Scheme among others.
As per statements submitted by the Education Minister against Rajya Sabha Unstarred Question Number 3389 regarding Scholarships to Meritorious Students, under the Central Sector Scheme of Scholarship for College and University Students, a total of 128527 scholarships were warded during 2017-2018. In contrast, during 2020-2021, such numbers have increased to 160363 scholarships. During 2018-19 and 2019-2020, the total number of scholarships awarded under this scheme were 110681 and 148527.
Under the National Means-cum-Merit Scholarship Scheme, during 2017-2018, a total of 429955 scholarships were awarded throughout the country. On the other hand, in 2020-2021, the total number of scholarships awarded under this scheme was 36071. Both the Central Sector Scheme of Scholarship for College and University Students and the National Means-cum-Merit Scholarship Scheme takes into account the merit of the students as well as their financial status to award scholarships.
The Education Minister has also revealed the state-wise and year-wise accounts of the number of scholarships awarded under other scholarship schemes of the central government. Under the AICTE run PG Scholarship for GATE/GPAT qualified students, during 2017-2018, a total of 33853 scholarships were awarded. In 2020-2021 the total number of scholarships under this scheme is 26544. In the past, the government has awarded 34160 scholarships in 2018-2019 and 32461 scholarships in 2019-2020 as per the statistics presented by the Education Minister in his statements to the house.
Under the PG Scholarships for University Rank Holders scheme of the central government, 1517 scholarships were awarded during 2017-2018. During 2018-2019, the number scholarships awarded under this scheme was 897 while during 2019-2020, a total of 492 scholarships were awarded under this scheme. In 2020-2021, no scholarship has been awarded under this scheme as of now since as per the reports, the selection process is underway.
The government has awarded 1702 scholarships in 2020-2021 under the UGC run PG Scholarships for GATE/GPAT qualified students scheme. In 2017-2018, the number of scholarships awarded under this scheme was 491. Similarly in 2018-2019, the number of scholarships awarded under this scheme was 1379 while in 2019-2020, the number of scholarships awarded under this scheme was 1746.
The complete state-wise award of scholarships under the various schemes of the government has been published on the website pqars.nic.in. Complete details of the scheme-wise conditions of eligibility are also detailed in the report published by the PQARS website based on the statements of the Union Education Minister.
