Special Scholarship to Students Belonging to the Most Backward Castes among Scheduled Castes (Vandaniya Sant Shri Vasiyadada Scholarship)

What is the Vandaniya Sant Shri Vasiyadada Scholarship?

The Special Scholarship to Students Belonging to the Most Backward Castes among Scheduled Castes, better known by its Gujarati name as the Vandaniya Sant Shri Vasiyadada Scholarship, is a Gujarat state scheme run by the Directorate of Scheduled Caste Welfare under the Social Justice and Empowerment Department. The Directorate lists it in its educational scheme group as BCK-17 and BCK-17A.

The scheme rests on a distinction that most scholarship schemes ignore. The Scheduled Castes of Gujarat are not uniform: within the category there are communities whose school attendance and completion rates lag far behind the Scheduled Caste average, and whose children drop out well before Std 10. The Directorate identifies these as the most backward castes among the Scheduled Castes and, in its housing scheme BCK-52, names the group as Valmiki, Hadi, Nadiya, Senva, Vankar Sadhu, Dalit Bava, Turi-Turi Barot, Garo-Garoda, Tirgar/Tirbanda, Thori and Matang. The Vasiyadada scholarship is a small, early-stage cash incentive aimed squarely at keeping those children in school.

According to the Directorate's BCK-17 page, the rate is Rs 1,000 a year for Std 1 to 8 and Rs 1,500 a year for Std 9 and 10, applicable to both male and female students, with no income limit. The latest resolution listed on the scheme page is dated 8 April 2022.

Scheme at a glance

• Scheme codes BCK-17 and BCK-17A, Directorate of Scheduled Caste Welfare.
• Rs 1,000 a year in Std 1 to 8; Rs 1,500 a year in Std 9 and 10.
• No income ceiling.
• Filed online by school principals on digitalgujarat.gov.in.
• Implementing office: District Deputy Director (Scheduled Caste Welfare).

Who is eligible for the Vasiyadada scholarship?

A student qualifies if:

• The student belongs to one of the most backward castes among the Scheduled Castes of Gujarat, as recorded on the caste certificate.
• The student is studying in Std 1 to 10 in a recognised school in Gujarat.
• The student is enrolled and attending, with a bonafide certificate from the school.
• There is a bank account in the student's name, including a guardian-operated minor account, for the Direct Benefit Transfer credit.

Family income is not a test for this scheme, which is what separates it from almost every other scholarship the Directorate runs.

A student is not eligible if:

• The student belongs to a Scheduled Caste that is not in the most backward group identified for this scheme. Such students remain eligible for the Directorate's general scholarships, such as the pre-SSC Parixitlal Majmudar scholarship or the Bhagwan Buddh post-SSC scholarship for girls, but cannot claim under BCK-17.
• The student is not of a Scheduled Caste at all.
• The student is in Std 11 or above; the published rate table ends at Std 10.
• The caste certificate was issued outside Gujarat.
• The student has left the school or the attendance record does not support the claim.

How to apply for the Vasiyadada scholarship

1. Take the caste certificate to the school. Give the class teacher or principal a copy of the caste certificate, the student's Aadhaar and the bank passbook. Parents cannot file this scholarship themselves; the Directorate's scheme page states the online work is done through school principals.
2. The school logs in to the Digital Gujarat portal. The principal or the designated school user opens digitalgujarat.gov.in and selects the scholarship service for the Director, Scheduled Caste Welfare for the current academic year.
3. The school fills the student's details. Name, standard, caste certificate number and date, Aadhaar number, and bank account number with IFSC, exactly as printed on the passbook.
4. The school uploads the documents. Caste certificate, bonafide certificate, Aadhaar and bank passbook copy, as clear scans within the portal's file-size limit.
5. The school submits the batch and records the application numbers. Ask the school for your child's application number and keep it.
6. The District Deputy Director (SCW) office scrutinises and sanctions, after which the amount is credited by DBT to the student's account.

Parents whose school is slow to file should raise it with the principal early in the academic year rather than after the portal window has closed, because individual late applications are not usually accepted.

When is the scholarship paid?

Payment follows sanction at the district office and is made by Direct Benefit Transfer into the student's own bank account, not the school's account and not the parent's account. The amounts are annual, not monthly: Rs 1,000 for the whole year up to Std 8 and Rs 1,500 for the whole year in Std 9 and 10. Because the sums are small, families sometimes miss the credit entirely; check the passbook or the bank SMS against the sanction rather than assuming nothing has come.

How do I check the status of the application?

The school, which filed the application, can see the status on its Digital Gujarat login and should be asked first. Where the school cannot help, the District Deputy Director (Scheduled Caste Welfare) office of your district holds the sanction file. The Directorate's head office at Block 4, 2nd Floor, Dr. Jivraj Mehta Bhavan, Gandhinagar, can be reached on 079-23253229 or 079-23253235, and the education branch (G-1) on 079-23253243.

Why do applications fail?

• Caste entry does not match the most backward caste list. This is the commonest cause. The certificate must record a caste that falls in the group covered by BCK-17.
• The school never filed the form. Since the entire process runs through the principal, a school that misses the portal window leaves every eligible child in the class unpaid.
• Bank account details wrong or the account frozen. Minor accounts that have not completed KYC bounce the DBT credit.
• Aadhaar not seeded to the bank account. The credit fails at the NPCI mapper stage even though the sanction exists.
• Student changed school mid-year and neither school filed the claim.
• Standard above Std 10, which the scheme does not cover.

Where do I complain?

Raise the matter first with the school principal, since the school is the applicant. If the school has filed correctly and the money has not come, write to the District Deputy Director (Scheduled Caste Welfare) of your district with the application number. Unresolved grievances go to the Director, Scheduled Caste Welfare, Block 4, 2nd Floor, Dr. Jivraj Mehta Bhavan, Gandhinagar, or by email to dir-dscw@gujarat.gov.in; the Directorate's Citizen Cell handles public grievances on 079-23251655. Faults in the Digital Gujarat portal itself are handled through that portal's help desk.