Swami Vivekananda Scholarship for Technical and Vocational Courses

What is the Swami Vivekananda Scholarship for Technical and Vocational Courses?

Swami Vivekananda Scholarship for Technical and Vocational Courses is a stipend scheme of the Tribal Development Department, Government of Gujarat. The department lists it under Special Assistance within its education programmes for Scheduled Tribe students, and it has been running since 1999. It operates in all districts of Gujarat.

The scheme addresses a narrow but real problem. A Scheduled Tribe student who finishes school and enters an industrial training institute is usually the first in the family to take a technical course, and the incidental costs of that course, tools, travel to the institute, notebooks and consumables, fall on a household that has little slack. The Swami Vivekananda Scholarship pays a monthly stipend so that those costs do not end the course early.

According to the Tribal Development Department, the stipend is:

• Rs 400 per month for ITI courses
• Rs 400 per month for one-year technical courses

Coverage is meaningful in numbers even though the individual amount is small. The department records that approximately 11,049 students received the stipend in 2019-20.

Key features

• Introduced in 1999 and still in operation.
• Available in all districts of Gujarat.
• Open to students at state government ITIs and at government-recognised private ITIs and technical training centres.
• Income ceiling of Rs 1,20,000 a year in rural areas and Rs 1,50,000 a year in urban areas.
• Paid as a monthly stipend into the student's own bank account.

The scheme is often searched under the spelling "Swami Vivekanand Scholarship for Technical Diploma in Professional Courses", but the Tribal Development Department's own title is Swami Vivekananda Scholarship for Technical and Vocational Courses.

Who is eligible for the Swami Vivekananda Scholarship?

You can apply if:

• You belong to a Scheduled Tribe notified in Gujarat.
• You are a resident of Gujarat.
• You are enrolled in a state government industrial training institute, or in a government-recognised private ITI or technical training centre.
• You are pursuing an ITI course or a one-year technical course.
• Your family's annual income is Rs 1,20,000 or less if you live in a rural area, or Rs 1,50,000 or less if you live in an urban area.

You are not eligible and cannot apply if:

• You do not belong to a notified Scheduled Tribe of Gujarat. Scheduled Caste, Developing Castes and minority students are covered by scholarship schemes run by their own directorates under the Social Justice and Empowerment Department.
• Your family income exceeds the applicable ceiling, Rs 1,20,000 rural or Rs 1,50,000 urban.
• Your institute is not government-recognised. A private training centre without recognition does not qualify its students for the stipend.
• You are enrolled in a degree or long diploma programme rather than an ITI or one-year technical course. Those students should apply under the Tribal Development Department's post-matric scholarship instead.
• You are already drawing another state stipend for the same course, since the same period of study cannot be funded twice.

What documents are required?

How to apply for the Swami Vivekananda Scholarship

1. Secure admission to a government ITI or a government-recognised private ITI or technical training centre in Gujarat, and collect the bonafide certificate from the institute.
2. Obtain a fresh Scheduled Tribe caste certificate and an annual income certificate from the competent authority for your taluka.
3. Open a bank account in the student's own name and seed it with Aadhaar, because the stipend is paid by direct transfer.
4. Collect the scholarship application form from the ITI office, fill it in, and attach the caste certificate, income certificate, admission proof, Aadhaar, bank passbook and previous mark sheet.
5. Submit the completed form at the institute, which forwards verified applications to the district tribal development office.
6. Keep the acknowledgement and follow up with the institute clerk handling scholarships once the session is under way.

Applications are made at the start of each academic session. Students should not wait for a separate advertisement, since the process runs through the institute rather than through a public notification.

How is the stipend paid?

The stipend is credited monthly to the student's own bank account. Three things have to line up for the payment to reach you: the caste and income verification must be complete, the institute must certify your attendance for the period, and the bank account must be active and Aadhaar-seeded. If a month's payment does not arrive, check those three in that order before assuming the claim was rejected.

Because payment follows attendance certification, a student who stops attending loses the stipend from that point. Rejoining a course later requires a fresh application for the new session.

Which income ceiling applies to me?

The Swami Vivekananda Scholarship uses two different ceilings, and applying the wrong one is a frequent cause of a rejected file.

• Rural applicants: annual family income up to Rs 1,20,000.
• Urban applicants: annual family income up to Rs 1,50,000.

The classification follows the address on your residence proof, not the location of the ITI you attend. A student from a village who trains at an ITI in a district town is still assessed against the Rs 1,20,000 rural ceiling. Income is counted for the family, not for the student alone, and the certificate must be current, since district offices normally decline certificates issued long before the academic session.

What the scheme does not cover

The Rs 400 a month stipend is the whole of the benefit under this scheme. It is not a fee waiver, a tool kit grant or a hostel entitlement, and it does not carry a book allowance on top. Scheduled Tribe students who also need residential accommodation should look at the Tribal Development Department's hostel and ashramshala provisions separately, and those in longer courses should file under the post-matric scholarship, which is structured to cover course fees rather than a flat monthly amount.

Why Swami Vivekananda Scholarship claims fail

• Income certificate above the ceiling, or a certificate that applies the urban ceiling to a rural address, or the reverse.
• Caste certificate not for a Gujarat-notified Scheduled Tribe, or issued by an authority that is not competent to issue it.
• Institute not government-recognised, which is the trap for students who join an unaffiliated private training centre.
• Bank account not in the student's own name or not Aadhaar-seeded, so the transfer fails.
• Attendance not certified by the institute for the claim period.
• Course type mismatch, where a student in a longer diploma applies here instead of under the post-matric scholarship.

Where to raise a grievance

The first place to raise a stuck application is the scholarship clerk at your ITI, since the institute forwards the file. If that does not resolve it, approach the district tribal development office, and after that the department:

• Tribal Development Department, Block No. 2, 5th Floor, New Sachivalaya, Gandhinagar, Gujarat 382010
• Phone: +91 79 23257703 or +91 79 23253264
• Office hours: 10:30 a.m. to 6:10 p.m.

The Tribal Development Department also runs pre-matric and post-matric scholarships for Scheduled Tribe students, and a student who does not fit the Swami Vivekananda Scholarship because of course type will usually fit one of those. No fee is payable for the application, and no agent can secure the stipend on your behalf.