Fellowship Scheme for M.Phil & Ph.D for Scheduled Caste Students (Maharaja Sayajirao Gayakvad Scholarship)

What is the Maharaja Sayajirao Gayakvad fellowship for SC research scholars?

Fellowship Scheme for M.Phil & Ph.D for Scheduled Caste Students, listed by the Gujarat government as BCK-11 and named after Maharaja Sayajirao Gayakvad, is a state scholarship that pays a monthly research fellowship to Scheduled Caste students of Gujarat who are registered for an M.Phil or a Ph.D at a recognised university. The scheme is run by the Director of Scheduled Caste Welfare under the Social Justice and Empowerment Department, Gandhinagar.

According to the directorate, the scheme exists because research degrees are the point where SC students in Gujarat drop out in the largest numbers. A doctoral scholar has no salary, often no hostel entitlement after post-graduation, and several years of fieldwork, printing and thesis costs to fund. The fellowship is meant to cover that gap so the thesis is actually submitted.

Fellowship rates published by the Director of Scheduled Caste Welfare:

The four-fold gap between the M.Phil and the Ph.D rate is deliberate: an M.Phil in Gujarat is usually a one-to-two year degree taken alongside other work, while a Ph.D is a full-time commitment.

Payment is made by direct transfer to the student's own bank account. The directorate's own guidelines describe assistance being released against the research work and thesis, so keeping your university registration active is what keeps the money flowing.

Who is eligible for the fellowship?

You can claim the fellowship if:

• You belong to a Scheduled Caste notified for Gujarat and hold a caste certificate from a competent authority.
• Your annual family income is within Rs 6,00,000.
• You are registered for an M.Phil or a Ph.D at a recognised university.
• You hold a bank account in your own name, Aadhaar-seeded for direct benefit transfer.
• Your research registration is current, not lapsed, suspended or completed before the claim period.

You are not eligible and cannot apply if:

• You do not belong to a Scheduled Caste of Gujarat. Scheduled Tribe and Other Backward Class scholars are covered by the Tribal Development Department and the Director of Developing Castes Welfare respectively, under separate schemes.
• Your family income exceeds Rs 6,00,000 a year.
• You are enrolled in a post-graduate or professional course that is not an M.Phil or a Ph.D. Master's students should look at the post-SSC scholarship schemes instead.
• Your university or your research registration is not recognised.
• You are already drawing another government research fellowship: such as a UGC or central National Fellowship for Scheduled Caste Students, for the same period. Double-drawing is treated as a duplicate claim.
• The bank account you give is in a parent's or guardian's name. The fellowship is paid only to the scholar.

What documents do I need?

The income certificate is the document that expires soonest. Most mamlatdar income certificates are valid for a limited period, so obtain a fresh one before you start the application rather than reusing last year's.

How to apply for the SC M.Phil and Ph.D fellowship

1. Open the Digital Gujarat portal at digitalgujarat.gov.in and click Register to create a citizen account with your mobile number, email and Aadhaar details. If you already have an account from a school scholarship, use the same login.
2. Log in and complete your profile: name exactly as on the caste certificate, district, taluka, category, bank account and IFSC code. An incomplete profile blocks the scheme list from opening.
3. Go to the Scholarship or Services section, choose the academic year, and select the Director of Scheduled Caste Welfare schemes. Pick the M.Phil and Ph.D assistance (BCK-11) scheme.
4. Fill the application form: university name, department, subject, date of research registration, guide's name, and whether you are claiming at M.Phil or Ph.D level.
5. Upload the caste certificate, income certificate, registration letter, marksheets, Aadhaar card and bank passbook. Use clear scans within the file size the portal allows.
6. Submit the application and note the application number on the confirmation screen. Print or save the acknowledgement.
7. Submit the hard-copy file to the office of the Deputy Director, Scheduled Caste Welfare in your district if the portal instructs you to. Several SC welfare schemes still require the physical file for scrutiny.
8. Track the application on your Digital Gujarat dashboard until the status shows sanctioned, then watch your bank account for the first transfer.

How to apply offline or with help

1. Visit the office of the Deputy Director, Scheduled Caste Welfare at your district headquarters and ask for the BCK-11 application form.
2. Attach self-attested copies of the caste certificate, income certificate, university registration letter, marksheets, Aadhaar card and bank passbook.
3. Submit the file and take a dated acknowledgement receipt.

Your university's scholarship cell or SC/ST student welfare cell can also forward and countersign the application. Most Gujarat universities have a designated officer for exactly this.

How do I check my application status?

Log in to digitalgujarat.gov.in and open the application status view under your scholarship dashboard. The status moves through submitted, verified at district level, sanctioned, and payment released. If it stalls at district verification, phone or visit the Deputy Director of SC Welfare with your application number. Do not file a second application — duplicate applications for the same year are rejected and the original loses its place in the queue.

Why fellowship claims get rejected

• Income certificate above Rs 6,00,000 or expired on the date of scrutiny.
• Caste certificate from another state, which does not qualify for a Gujarat scheme.
• Bank account not in the student's name or not Aadhaar-seeded, so the DBT transfer fails.
• Name mismatch between Aadhaar, caste certificate and bank record. Even a middle-name difference stops the payment.
• Research registration not evidenced. An admission letter is not the same as a registration letter, and district scrutiny checks for the registration.
• Another fellowship already drawn for the same period.
• Illegible or oversized uploads, the most common purely administrative rejection.

Each of these except the income ceiling and the caste certificate is fixable. Correct the document and reapply in the same or the next academic year.

Key dates and how the money arrives

The Director of Scheduled Caste Welfare has published no fixed annual last date for BCK-11; the window is announced on Digital Gujarat for each academic year and usually opens after the academic session begins. The department's own resolutions governing the scheme run from December 1997 to a revision issued in November 2022, which sets the current rates and the Rs 6 lakh income ceiling.

Payment is for 10 months in a year, not 12. Scholars sometimes assume a missing eleventh and twelfth instalment is an error; it is not, it is the design of the scheme.

Where do I complain?

• Director, Scheduled Caste Welfare, Block 4, Second Floor, Dr Jivraj Mehta Bhavan, Gandhinagar: phone +91 79 23253229 or +91 79 23253235.
• Deputy Director, Scheduled Caste Welfare at your district headquarters, for a stalled or wrongly rejected application.
• Digital Gujarat helpdesk through the portal's contact link, for login, upload and payment-failure problems.
• e-Samaj Kalyan portal, esamajkalyan.gujarat.gov.in, which the department also uses for SC welfare services and grievances.

Applying is free. Quote the scheme code BCK-11 in every letter, it is the fastest way to make sure your file reaches the right desk.