Income Limit for Scholarships

Why in News?

Recently, union government is considering to revise the parental income limit for eligibility in availing post and pre-matric scholarships administered to students from marginalised castes and tribes.

What are pre and post matric scholarships?

• Scholarship – It refers to financial aid awarded to students to support their education, typically based on merit, need, or a combination of both.
• Scheme - These scholarships are centrally sponsored scheme
• Funding ratio - The Union and State governments in a 60:40 ratio (90:10 for the Northeastern states).
• Aim – To provide financial assistance to students from marginalised communities to support their education.
• Concerned ministry – The scholarships are dealt by
  • Ministry of tribal affairs – For (scheduled tribe) ST students.
  • Ministry of social justice – Scheduled Castes (SCs), Other Backward Castes (OBCs), and Denotified Tribes (DNTs).
• Pre-Matric Scholarships – Students of Classes IX and X.
  • For SCs, they are available from Classes I to X for children of parents engaged in “unclean or hazardous” occupations.
• Post-Matric Scholarships – Students of Class beyond X.
• Current Eligibility – The annual parental income must not exceed Rs. 2.5 lakhs.

What is the proposed revision to income limit?

• For ST scholarship – The Ministry of Tribal Affairs is looking to raise parental income limit to ₹4.5 lakh for post and pre-matric ST scholarships.
• For others – The social Justice Ministry is discussing revising the limits for post and pre-matric scholarships for Scheduled Castes (SCs), Other Backward Castes (OBCs), and Denotified Tribes (DNTs).
• In addition, discussions are also on to raise the parental income limit of college and school scholarships for OBCs, and DNTs.

What are the budgetary allocations?

• For ST students – Scholarship schemes for ST students accounted for about 18.6% of the department’s ₹14,925.81 crore allocation for FY 2025-26.
• For others – Scholarships for SCs, OBCs, EBCs, and DNTs account for 66.7% of the Social Justice Ministry’s Rs. 13,611 crore budgets.

What are current scenarios in availing scholarships?

• Declining beneficiaries – The number of beneficiaries for post and pre-matric scholarships across socio-economic groups has been falling according to government data tabled in parliament.
• From 2020-21 to 2024-25, there was a 30.63% drop in the number of beneficiaries for pre-matric scholarships for SCs.
• In the same time period, beneficiaries for SC post-matric scholarships dropped by 4.22%.
• Pre-matric scholarships for OBCs, EBCs, and DNTs, the beneficiaries dropped from 58.62 lakh in 2021-22 to a little over 20.25 lakh in 2023-24.
• A similar drop was seen in post-matric scholarships for these sections in the same time period, reducing from 43.34 lakh beneficiaries to 38.42 lakh.
• For STs, there was a drop of 4.63 lakh beneficiaries in this time period for pre matric scholarships, and a drop of 3.52 lakh beneficiaries for post-matric scholarships.

What are the recommendations from Parliamentary Committees?

• OBC Welfare Committee – Asked the government to double the income limit for beneficiaries of pre and post-matric scholarships for OBCs,
• It has asked for suitable rise in the income limits for beneficiaries of top-class scholarships for school and college education.
• Recommended expanding pre-matric scholarships to OBCs  to start from Class V.
• Panel on Tribal Affairs and Social Justice – Recommended revising parental income limits for ST scholarships.
• Emphasised that current limits exclude many families in need.
• Both committees stressed that scholarships are vital tools for social mobility, and overly restrictive criteria undermine their purpose.

Reference

The Hindu| Income limit for scholarships