Lok Sabha Question No. 3574 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-08-08
Subject: Renewal of NMMS Scheme
Ministry: Education
Asked by: M. P. Abdussamad Samadani

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF SCHOOL EDUCATION & LITERACY

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO - 3574 ANSWERED ON - 08/08/2022

## Renewal of NMMS Scheme

## 3574.  DR. M.P. ABDUSSAMAD SAMADANI:

Will the Minister of EDUCATION be pleased to state:

- (a)  the details of the process and year from which the renewal of National Means-cumMerit Scholarship (NMMS) recipients was made online;
- (b) whether it has come to the notice of the Government that many children are losing their scholarships due to non-renewal by online after receiving the same once and if so, the details thereof;
- (c)  if  so,  whether the Government may reconsider positively, the case of those children who were denied scholarships due to non-renewal;
- (d) whether it has come to the notice of the Government that the scholarships were denied due to technical problems with online sites; and
- (e)  if so, the steps taken to solve this issue of losing scholarships to deserving children?

## ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION (SMT. ANNPURNA DEVI)

(a): The  National  Means-cum-Merit  Scholarship  (NMMSS)  was  fully  boarded  on  the National  Scholarship  Portal  (NSP)  from  2018-19  onwards,  applicable  to  candidates  who qualified in NMMSS exams held in 2017-18 for fresh as well as renewal cases. Only online proposals  are  being  accepted  since  then.  All  the  fresh  eligible  students  have  to  register themselves and make an application on NSP for receipt of scholarship, which gets verified at School  and  District level. The  verified applications come  to  the NSP  platform  for consideration  of  final  sanction  by  the  Ministry.  The  renewal  of  fresh  applications  is  being done  in  the  next  eligible  year  on  the  basis  of  eligibility  criteria  and  schematic  terms  and conditions, which again gets verified at both the levels for consideration of final sanction.

(b) & (c): The  reasons  for  non-renewal  of  students  are  non-fulfilment  of  eligibility criteria  fixed  under  the  scheme  i.e.  fixed  percentage  of  passing  marks  to  be  obtained  in previous  class  or  discontinuation  of  study  from    Government,  Government-aided  or  local body Schools.

The  NSP  is  being  operated  by  the  National  Informatics  Centre  (NIC)  under  the direction  of  the  Direct  Benefit  Transfer  (DBT)  Mission,  Cabinet  Secretariat. NSP  is  an  IT based system which relies heavily on procedure and discipline to ensure timely disbursal of the  scholarships.  There  is  a  time  frame  for  registration  /  renewal  by  student  as  well  as  for verification  by  School  and  District  Authorities.  NSP  is  developed  by  Government  for streamlining  and  fast  tracking  the  release  of  Scholarships  and  assuring  the  delivery  of scholarships  with  efficiency,  transparency  and  reliability  across  Ministries/Departments  of the GOI and any interruption with procedure of NSP operation would forfeit the objective of the same.

(d) & (e): Some technical glitches occurred with online sites/National Scholarship Portal (NSP) from 2015-16 to 2017-18 due to which many of the students were not able to apply on NSP but  the remaining students of these project years were considered as a special case by the  Ministry  in  off-line  mode  and  scholarship  was  sanctioned  for  all  eligible  beneficiaries. From 2018-19 onwards, no such technical glitches have occurred with online sites/NSP and applications are accepted online only.

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