ICAR Post Matric Scholarship for Scheduled Caste / Scheduled Tribes Candidates

What is the ICAR Post Matric Scholarship for SC/ST candidates?

The ICAR Post Matric Scholarship for Scheduled Caste / Scheduled Tribes candidates is a scholarship run by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), under the Department of Agricultural Research and Education in the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare. It supports SC and ST students studying undergraduate degrees in agriculture and allied sciences at agricultural universities.

According to the ICAR scheme guidelines, the scholarship exists because although ICAR reserves 22.5% of its Junior and Senior Fellowships for SC/ST candidates, too few come forward: often because the cost of undergraduate education prevents students from weaker sections from completing a degree in the first place. The Post Matric Scholarship is designed to remove that barrier at the undergraduate stage so that more SC/ST students can go on to postgraduate education and research in agriculture.

The scheme guidelines set the value at Rs 300 per month, along with a contingent grant of Rs 750 per annum for tuition fee, purchase of books and the cost of a uniform. It covers UG programmes such as B.Sc. (Agriculture), B.V.Sc., B.Sc. (Agricultural Engineering), B.Sc. (Home Science), B.F.Sc. and B.Sc. (Forestry).

Who is eligible for the ICAR SC/ST Post Matric Scholarship?

You can receive the scholarship if:

• You belong to a Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe as defined by the Government of India.
• You have been admitted to an undergraduate degree programme in agriculture and allied sciences at an agricultural university.
• You make satisfactory academic progress each year as prescribed by the university.

You are not eligible / lose eligibility if:

• You are not from an SC/ST community. The scholarship is exclusively for these categories.
• You accept another scholarship or concession from any other agency, or take up part-time employment. This is expressly barred.
• You cease to be on the rolls of the institution, or the institution and Council find you negligent in studies or guilty of misconduct, the scholarship is then terminated without notice.

Payment rules also cover absence: full scholarship is paid for illness up to two months on a medical certificate; half is paid for absence of two to four months; no scholarship is paid beyond four months. Married women get full rates for up to three months' maternity absence.

What documents are required?

How to apply for the ICAR SC/ST Post Matric Scholarship

This scholarship has no direct central application by the student. It is administered through the agricultural university:

1. Secure admission to an eligible undergraduate agriculture degree at an agricultural university.
2. Register your SC/ST status with the university's SC/ST cell or academic office, submitting your caste certificate and admission proof.
3. The university identifies eligible students and the Registrar or Comptroller raises a demand to ICAR in the prescribed proforma.
4. ICAR sanctions and remits the scholarship and contingent grant to the university, which then pays the students.
5. Maintain satisfactory academic progress so that the scholarship continues from year to year for the normal duration of the degree.

The scheme provides for the award of 240 scholarships every year, distributed to agricultural universities in proportion to the actual number of SC/ST students they admit.

How much does the scholarship provide?

The value is Rs 300 per month plus a contingent grant of Rs 750 per annum. Both amounts are remitted by ICAR to the university, which disburses them from the date the student joins the course, for the whole normal period of the degree. The figures are modest and long-standing; students should confirm the current rate with their university, since ICAR revises scholarship norms from time to time.

A note on scope

This is a small, institutionally administered undergraduate support scheme with a narrow SC/ST eligibility, not a large public benefit and not something a student applies for online. Because it works entirely through the agricultural university and ICAR's demand-and-remittance process, it may serve readers better as a section inside a broader guide to ICAR agricultural education scholarships than as a standalone page. The most authoritative reference is the ICAR guidelines document for the scheme.

How to check your application status

There is no online tracking portal, application number, or SMS status service for this scholarship, because the student never files an individual application to ICAR. The demand is raised and the money is remitted at the institution level, so all status checks have to go through your university, not through ICAR directly.

• Ask your university's SC/ST cell or academic office first. They hold the record of whether your name was included in the list sent to ICAR and whether the Registrar or Comptroller has raised a demand for the current academic year.
• Confirm the demand was actually submitted. Universities sometimes miss the annual cycle for including new admissions; if your name was never forwarded to ICAR, no scholarship will be sanctioned regardless of your eligibility, so ask specifically whether a demand proforma covering your admission year was sent.
• Check with the Comptroller/Finance office on remittance. Once ICAR sanctions the amount, it is transferred to the university's account, not to the student directly. The Comptroller's or Finance office's records will show whether the university has received the funds for the year.
• Follow up on disbursement separately from sanction. A university receiving the funds from ICAR and the university crediting or paying out that money to individual students are two separate steps; delays are common at the second step even after ICAR has released the funds, so ask specifically which stage your case is at.
• Escalate to ICAR only if the university confirms a demand was raised but no funds arrived. In that situation, the university (not the student) should write to the Department of Agricultural Research and Education / ICAR quoting the demand reference, since ICAR does not correspond directly with individual students on this scheme.
• Renewal each year is not automatic to check once and forget. Because payment continues only on satisfactory academic progress, confirm at the start of every academic year that your continuation has again been reported to ICAR, rather than assuming a scholarship sanctioned in year one carries forward without fresh certification.

Common reasons for rejection

Because the university, not the student, controls the paperwork, most failures to receive this scholarship trace back to institutional steps being missed rather than to the student's own eligibility. Knowing where the process typically breaks down helps you know what to chase.

• Admission not reported to the SC/ST cell in time. If a student never registers their SC/ST status and admission details with the university's SC/ST cell or academic office, the university has no basis to include them in the demand sent to ICAR. Fix: register with the SC/ST cell in your first term, in writing, with your caste certificate and admission proof, rather than assuming the admissions office does this automatically.
• Caste certificate not from a competent authority. ICAR guidelines require the certificate to be issued by an authority the Government of India recognises as competent for the purpose; a certificate from an unrecognised or lower-level authority can be treated as invalid. Fix: get the certificate reissued or attested by the authority your state designates as competent (typically the Tehsildar/SDM level or above), and confirm the format with your university before submitting it.
• Course not covered under the scheme. The scholarship is limited to UG degrees in agriculture and allied sciences at agricultural universities (B.Sc. Agriculture, B.V.Sc., B.Sc. Agricultural Engineering, B.Sc. Home Science, B.F.Sc., B.Sc. Forestry, and similar). A student enrolled in an unrelated UG programme, or at an institution that is not an agricultural university, will not be included in the demand. Fix: verify with your academic office, before assuming eligibility, that both your specific course and your institution qualify.
• 240-scholarship ceiling exceeded for the year. Only 240 scholarships are sanctioned annually across all agricultural universities, distributed roughly in proportion to each university's SC/ST admissions. A university with more eligible SC/ST admissions than its share of the 240 can end up with eligible students who are not sanctioned simply because the year's quota is exhausted. Fix: there is no individual remedy for this beyond following up for the next academic year's allocation; ask the SC/ST cell whether your case was deferred for lack of quota rather than rejected on merit.
• Holding another scholarship or concession at the same time. Accepting any other scholarship, stipend, or concession from another agency while drawing this one makes a student ineligible, and taking up part-time employment has the same effect. Fix: disclose any other scholarship you hold to your university before applying, and choose one; do not assume small concessions are exempt.
• Unsatisfactory academic progress or probation history. Continued payment depends on satisfactory yearly progress; a student on academic probation gets only half the rate, and a second probation in the same course stops the scholarship for that period entirely. Fix: address academic difficulties with your department early, since the financial consequence compounds with a second lapse.
• Absence beyond the permitted limit. Full scholarship continues through illness of up to two months (medical certificate required), half for two to four months' absence, and none beyond four months. An absence not properly certified, or extending past four months, breaks payment. Fix: get a medical certificate promptly for any extended absence and route it through your academic office rather than relying on informal leave records.
• Demand raised but rejected at ICAR's end for incomplete proforma. If the Registrar or Comptroller submits the demand with missing signatures, incorrect student counts, or absent supporting documents, ICAR can return or reject the batch rather than sanctioning it. Fix: this is an institutional error outside the student's control, but students can still ask the SC/ST cell to confirm the demand was accepted, not merely submitted.