Mukhyamantri Medhavriti Yojana (Merit Scholarship for SC and ST Girl Students), Bihar

What is Mukhyamantri Medhavriti Yojana?

Mukhyamantri Medhavriti Yojana is a merit scholarship run by the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Welfare Department, Government of Bihar. The scheme pays a one-time cash award to Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe girl students who pass the Class 12 (Intermediate) examination, with a larger amount for a first division result than for a second division result.

Reported award amounts are about Rs 15,000 for a first division pass and about Rs 10,000 for a second division pass. Payment is made by Direct Benefit Transfer to the student's own bank account, and applications are filed free of cost on the Government of Bihar's Medhasoft portal at medhasoft.bih.nic.in.

The purpose is narrow and specific. Bihar's SC and ST girl students historically dropped out at the end of school rather than moving into higher education, and the cost of the transition: admission fees, travel, hostel, books; fell at exactly the point when family support was thinnest. Medhavriti puts a lump sum in the student's own hands at that moment, and grades it by result so that it also works as a merit incentive.

Key features

• One-time award, not an annual scholarship.
• Graded by division, a first division earns more than a second division.
• Restricted to SC and ST girl students who are residents of Bihar.
• Applied for online only, on Medhasoft, with no application fee.
• Paid by DBT into the student's own single-name bank account.

Who is eligible for Mukhyamantri Medhavriti Yojana?

A student qualifies if:

• She is a girl student, since the scheme is gender-specific.
• She belongs to a Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe notified in Bihar and holds a valid caste certificate from the competent revenue authority.
• She is a resident of Bihar and can produce a residence certificate.
• She has passed the Class 12 examination in first or second division.
• She holds a bank account in her own name, Aadhaar-seeded and active.

A student is not eligible if:

• She is a boy. Male SC and ST students are covered by other Bihar welfare department scholarships, including the post-matric scholarship, but not by this scheme.
• She belongs to a general, Backward Class, Extremely Backward Class or minority category. This scholarship is confined to SC and ST students.
• She passed Class 12 in a third division or with a simple pass, since the award is tied to a first or second division result under the reported criteria.
• She is not a resident of Bihar, even if she studied at an institution in Bihar.
• She has already drawn this one-time award for the same Class 12 result.
• Her bank account is joint or in a parent's name, which prevents the DBT credit.
• She failed to apply within the notified window for her result year. The Medhasoft window closes and does not reopen for that batch.

What documents are required for Medhavriti Yojana?

Check the name spelling across the marksheet, Aadhaar and the bank passbook before applying. A mismatch between these three is the most common reason a sanctioned Medhavriti payment fails to reach the student.

How to apply for Mukhyamantri Medhavriti Yojana

1. Wait for the Bihar Board Class 12 result and for the SC/ST Welfare Department to open the Medhavriti window on Medhasoft for that result year.
2. Open medhasoft.bih.nic.in and select the Mukhyamantri Medhavriti Yojana link for your result year.
3. Choose student registration and enter your Class 12 roll code and roll number so that the portal can fetch your result and division from the Bihar Board record.
4. Fill the application form with your name, father's name, category, mobile number, Aadhaar number, and your bank account number and IFSC exactly as printed on the passbook.
5. Upload the required documents — caste certificate, residence certificate, Aadhaar, passbook page and photograph.
6. Submit the application and print the acknowledgement carrying your application number.
7. Track the application using the status option on Medhasoft, and respond to any query raised at district verification.

How to apply with assistance

1. Visit a Common Service Centre or Vasudha Kendra with your original documents and have the Medhasoft form filled. Only the government-notified assistance fee applies; nothing may be charged for the scholarship itself.
2. Ask your school or college scholarship cell, which usually helps its own SC and ST students file within the window.
3. For advice on documents or on the current window, contact the District Welfare Officer at your district headquarters.

How much does Mukhyamantri Medhavriti Yojana pay?

Reported amounts are:

• First division in Class 12, about Rs 15,000, one time.
• Second division in Class 12; about Rs 10,000, one time.

These figures come from published scholarship listings rather than a downloadable departmental rate order, so treat the amount shown against your own application on Medhasoft, and the sanction communicated by the District Welfare Office, as the authoritative figure. Bihar revises welfare scholarship rates by departmental order, and the rate can change between result years.

Note the difference from a related scheme students often confuse this with. Mukhyamantri Kanya Utthan Yojana, also on Medhasoft, is a broader girl student incentive with reported one-time amounts of about Rs 10,000 after Class 12 and about Rs 25,000 after graduation, and it is not restricted to SC and ST students. Some students are eligible for both, and each is applied for separately under its own link.

How to check your Medhavriti payment status

1. Open medhasoft.bih.nic.in and select the Medhavriti scheme for your result year.
2. Choose the application status or payment status option.
3. Enter your application number, or your bank account number where the portal offers that option.
4. The status will show whether the application is pending verification, sanctioned, or paid.
5. Where the status reads paid but the money has not arrived, take your passbook to the bank and confirm that the account is active and Aadhaar-seeded. A dormant account is the usual cause.

Why Medhavriti applications get rejected

• Third division or pass division result, which falls outside the merit criteria.
• Caste certificate expired or issued by the wrong authority.
• Residence certificate missing, or issued for an address outside Bihar.
• Bank account in a parent's name or a joint account.
• Aadhaar not seeded to the account, so the DBT credit bounces after sanction.
• Name mismatch between the Class 12 marksheet, Aadhaar and the bank record.
• Wrong roll code or roll number entered, so the portal fetches a different result or no result at all.
• Applying after the window closed for that result year.

Most of these are documentary and can be corrected. If the window is still open, correct the document and re-file. If it has closed, submit a written representation with proof to the District Welfare Officer, who is the sanctioning authority at district level.

Key dates for Mukhyamantri Medhavriti Yojana

Mukhyamantri Medhavriti Yojana does not run all year. The SC/ST Welfare Department opens the Medhasoft window after the Bihar Board Class 12 result is declared for a given year, and keeps it open for a limited period, typically a few weeks, before closing it for district verification and sanction. Because the Bihar Board Intermediate result is usually declared in the first quarter of the calendar year, students should begin watching the Medhasoft notice board as soon as their result is out, and should have the caste certificate, residence certificate and bank account ready before the result rather than after.

Where to get help on Medhavriti Yojana

• District Welfare Officer of your district, who is the department's officer for SC and ST scholarship sanction and grievances.
• Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Welfare Department, Government of Bihar, at the state secretariat, for unresolved district-level matters.
• The contact and notice pages on medhasoft.bih.nic.in, which carry the current help details for each scheme hosted on the portal.
• Bihar's public grievance route under the Bihar Lok Shikayat Nivaran Adhikar Adhiniyam, available at the block and sub-divisional level when the departmental route does not resolve the matter.

Application is free. No agent, cyber cafe or middleman can charge a fee for "getting the scholarship approved", and no government officer will ask a student for an OTP.