Lok Sabha Question No. 4068 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-08-18
Subject: Scholarship to Talented Students
Ministry: EDUCATION
Asked by: Shri  Chhotelal

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF HIGHER EDUCATION

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION No.- 4068

ANSWERED ON-18/08/2025

## Scholarship to Talented Students

† 4068. Shri Chhotelal:

Will the Minister of EDUCATION be pleased to state:

- (a)  whether  the  Government  is  aware  of  the  fact  that  many  talented  students  aspiring  to pursue  higher  education  are  unable  to  complete  their  studies  due  to  the  lack  of  financial resources;
- (b) if so, the details thereof; and
- (c) the steps taken/proposed to be taken by the Government to provide scholarship, loan and other financial assistances to such students?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION (DR. SUKANTA MAJUMDAR)

- (a)  to  (c):    The  Government  is  implementing  different  scholarship  schemes  for  providing financial assistance in higher education to all categories of students, subject to extant scheme guidelines. In Academic Year 2023-24, more than one crore students were granted scholarships for Post-Matric and Higher Education, which included about 39.3 lakh scholarships for Other Backward Classes (OBC), Extremely Backward Classes (EBC) and Denotified Tribes (DNT) students; about 47 lakh scholarships to Scheduled Castes (SC) students and about 20.5 lakh scholarships for ST students. The details of these schemes including the eligibility criteria laid down for scholarship are available in the following websites:

|   Sl. No. | Ministry/ Department                     | Website links                           |
|-----------|------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------|
|         1 | Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment | https://socialjustice.gov.in/scheme-cat |
|         2 | Ministry of Tribal Affairs               | https://tribal.nic.in/ScholarshiP.aspx  |

|   Sl. No. | Ministry/ Department                      | Website links                                                                          |
|-----------|-------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|         3 | Ministry of Minority Affairs              | https://www.minorityaffairs.gov.in/show_c ontent.php?lang=1&level=2&ls_id=661&li d=823 |
|         4 | Department of Higher Education            | https://www.education.gov.in/en/scholarship s-education-loan-0                         |
|         5 | University Grants Commission              | https://www.ugc.gov.in/Home/student_Cor ner                                            |
|         6 | All India Council for Technical Education | https://www.aicte.gov.in/schemes/students- development-schemes                         |
|         7 | Department of Science and Technology      | https://dst.gov.in/inspire-scheme- innovation-science-pursuit-inspired- research       |

The  Central  Sector  Scholarship  (CSS)  Schemes  are  implemented  online  through National Scholarship Portal (NSP) and Payment to the students eligible to receive scholarships available  on  NSP  is  done  in  Direct  Benefit  Transfer  (DBT)  mode  through  Aadhaar  Based Payment Bridge (ABPS).

The  Department  of  Higher  Education  (DHE)  is  implementing  the  Pradhan  Mantri Uchchatar Shiksha Protsahan Yojana (PM-USP) which has three components namely Central Sector  Scheme  of  Scholarship for College and University Students (CSSS),  Special Scholarship Scheme for the students of J&K and Ladakh (SSS for JKL) and Central Sector Interest Subsidy Scheme (CSIS). Further, the PM Vidyalaxmi, a new central sector scheme has been launched on 6th November 2024. The main objective of the scheme is to ensure that no student is denied the opportunity to pursue higher education due to financial constraints. Under the scheme, collateral-free and guarantor-free education loan is provided to all the students who get merit-based admission in top Quality Higher Education Institutions (QHEIs) and who desire to avail the education loan and there is no upper limit for this. Further, for students with annual family income up to ₹ 8 lakh, the scheme provides 3% interest subvention on education loans up to ₹ 10 lakhs. Up to one lakh fresh students not getting any other scholarship or interest subvention on education loan will get this interest subvention. A dedicated online platform, the PM Vidyalaxmi portal https://pmvidyalaxmi.co.in has been developed on which students can apply for the education loan as well as interest subvention, through a simplified application process.