The Telegraph reports that the ministry of social justice and empowerment and the ministry of tribal affairs had last revised the annual parental income criterion from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 2.5 lakh in 2013.
The Union government has not revised the income eligibility criterion for Post Matric Scholarships for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in the last 13 years, going against guidelines and several representations from rights bodies.
The Telegraph reports that the ministry of social justice and empowerment and the ministry of tribal affairs had last revised the annual parental income criterion from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 2.5 lakh in 2013.
“The scheme guidelines say the criterion should be revised every two years. This means that the scholarship is due six revisions. When the government started the Economically Weaker Sections quota in 2019, it fixed the income criteria at Rs 8 lakh. This means SC-ST students have received differential treatment from the government under the scholarship scheme,” Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar National Association of Engineers president Nagsen Sonare told The Telegraph.
Sonare called for the income ceiling for parents belonging to communities in the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes to be raised to a minimum of Rs 12 lakh per annum for the scholarship.
Ashok Bharati, chairman of the National Confederation of Dalit Organisations says the government’s decision to follow a different criterion for general category Economically Weaker Sections and SC and ST students is testament to the fact that the government “follows the Manusmriti in letter and spirit.”
Beena J. Pallical, secretary of the National Campaign for Dalit Human Rights, was quoted by the paper as attributing the delay in revising the income criteria under the scholarship schemes to a lack of political will within the government.
This is not the first display of government indifference towards sections of students who need help the most.
In 2025, The Wire reported how Maulana Azad National Fellowship, which offers financial assistance to researchers belonging to six notified minority communities in India: Muslim, Christian, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, and Parsi, have seen severe delays in disbursement of funds.
In the budget for 2025-26, the central government decreased the funding for this fellowship by 4.9%, reducing it from Rs 45.08 crore to Rs 42.84 crore.
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