Between 2016 and 2021, more than 3.08 crore scholarships have been sanctioned to students from minority communities. Out of this, more than 2.3 crore scholarships have been sanctioned for the students of Muslim community. After this, students from Christian (37.2 lakh), Sikh (25.40 lakh), Buddhist (7.4 lakh), Jain (4 lakh) and Parsi (4828) communities have got scholarships. Minister of Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, in response to a question raised in Parliament, said that four scholarship schemes that support deserving students from pre and post-matric education to PhD level and in technical and professional education, Ministry of Minority Affairs has disbursed more than Rs 9,904 crore for scholarships between 2016 and 2021.
Giving details of the schemes, the Ministry informed the Parliament that the annual income of the parent/guardian of the student should not exceed Rs.1 lakh to avail the benefits of Pre Matric Scholarship Scheme (for class 1 to class 10) and the student Must have passed in previous class with minimum 50% marks. For all the four scholarship schemes, the minimum marks of the students has been fixed at 50% but the annual income criterion is different.
The Post Matric Scholarship Scheme is applicable to eligible students from 11th to PhD level including 11th and 12th level technical and professional courses. At the same time, merit-cum-means based scholarship scheme is for technical and professional courses at undergraduate and post graduate level. Whereas, Begum Hazrat Mahal National Scholarship Scheme is for meritorious minority girl students from class 9th to 12th.
After the BJP government came to power for the second time in 2019, the Minority Affairs Minister had said in June the same year that the ministry plans to provide ‘Prime Minister’s Scholarship’ to five crore students in the next five years, of which 50% are girl students. Will be The average scholarship offered annually in the current four schemes is around 65 lakhs, of which pre and post matric scholarships form a significant portion. According to media reports, the ministry is hopeful of meeting the target of Rs 5 crore in the next two years. The number of scholarships is likely to increase in the coming months as the government is working on streamlining the process.