Jharkhand State Backward Classes Pre-Matric Scholarship

What is the Jharkhand State Backward Classes Pre-Matric Scholarship?

Jharkhand State Backward Classes Pre-Matric Scholarship is a school-stage scholarship run by the Department of Scheduled Tribe, Scheduled Caste, Minority and Backward Class Welfare, Government of Jharkhand. The department, based at Project Bhawan, Dhurwa, Ranchi, administers all of its student scholarships through the state's e-Kalyan platform, which is why the scheme is widely known simply as the e-Kalyan pre-matric chhatravritti.

"Pre-matric" means before matriculation, so the scheme targets students who are still in school and have not yet cleared Class 10. Its purpose is blunt and practical: keep Backward Class children in school through the years when dropout rates are highest, by covering the running costs of schooling, uniforms, stationery, examination fees and travel, with a direct annual payment.

The Welfare Department operates parallel pre-matric streams for Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe and Backward Class students on the same portal. They share the form design and the schedule, but they are separate sanctions with separate income ceilings. The Backward Class ceiling is the tighter one at Rs 1,50,000 a year, against Rs 2,50,000 published for SC and ST students.

Main features

• Covers Backward Class students in recognised schools up to Class 10.
• Online-only application on ekalyan.cgg.gov.in; no paper route.
• Paid by Direct Benefit Transfer into the student's own Aadhaar-seeded account.
• Not automatic. A fresh application is filed for every academic year.
• Verified in two layers: by the school, then by the District Welfare Officer.

Who is eligible for the Jharkhand BC pre-matric scholarship?

A student can claim the scholarship if:

• The student belongs to a Backward Class notified for Jharkhand and holds the online BC caste certificate issued by the state revenue authorities.
• The student is a permanent resident of Jharkhand with a residential certificate.
• The student is enrolled in a recognised school in the state and is studying in a pre-matric class.
• The student passed the previous class and can produce that marksheet.
• Annual family income is within Rs 1,50,000, as certified by the Circle Officer or Tehsildar.
• A bank account exists in the student's own name and is seeded with Aadhaar.

A student is not eligible if:

• The student belongs to the general or unreserved category, or to SC or ST, those categories have their own separate streams with their own income limits, and applying under the wrong stream leads to rejection.
• Family income exceeds Rs 1,50,000 a year on the income certificate.
• The student is already receiving another government scholarship for the same class and year.
• The student is not domiciled in Jharkhand, even if studying in the state.
• The school is not recognised by the state education authorities.
• The caste certificate is a hand-written or old paper certificate the portal cannot validate.

Students who have already passed Class 10 cannot apply here at all; they move to the post-matric stream, which is a different application on the same portal.

What documents are needed for the e-Kalyan BC pre-matric scholarship?

Get the caste, income and residential certificates issued before the portal opens. Certificate issue at the Circle Office takes its own time, and every year a large number of students miss the submission window while waiting on paper they could have obtained months earlier.

How to apply for the Jharkhand BC pre-matric scholarship

1. Open the official portal at ekalyan.cgg.gov.in and select the pre-matric scholarship link for the current academic year.
2. Choose the Backward Class (BC) category; not SC and not ST. The income ceiling and sanction head differ by category.
3. Complete student registration using the student's name, category, Aadhaar number and a working mobile number, then set a password.
4. Log in and fill the application form: school name and code, present class, roll number, family income, and the student's bank account number with IFSC.
5. Upload scanned documents — caste, income and residential certificates, school bonafide certificate, previous marksheet, passbook, photograph and signature.
6. Check the preview page carefully, then submit and save the Application Unique Number that appears.
7. Hand the printed application and the original documents to the school office so the head of the school can verify and forward the claim.
8. Track it later with Know your application status on the same portal.

How to apply without a computer at home

1. Take all original certificates and the bank passbook to the nearest Pragya Kendra (Common Service Centre).
2. Ask the operator to register the student on ekalyan.cgg.gov.in under the pre-matric BC stream and complete the form.
3. Collect the printed acknowledgement carrying the Application Unique Number before leaving, and pay only the notified assistance charge.
4. Submit the printout at the school office for verification.

Many schools in Jharkhand hold assisted filling sessions at the start of the session, because the school itself has to verify each claim and it is simpler for staff to do a whole class together. Ask the class teacher whether such a camp is planned before paying anyone privately.

How much is paid and when does the money arrive?

Pre-matric rates are fixed by departmental sanction and revised from time to time, and they differ by class group and by whether the student is a day scholar or a hosteller. Because the current-year table is published on the e-Kalyan portal rather than in a fixed permanent notification, check the sanction figure for your class on ekalyan.cgg.gov.in before assuming any amount. Pre-matric awards are considerably smaller than the post-matric ones, which run into tens of thousands of rupees for professional courses.

Payment moves through three clearances, school verification, District Welfare Office verification, and departmental sanction; before the DBT push is made. The credit therefore usually arrives well into the academic year, not at the moment of submission. Money lands only in an account held in the student's own name; this single rule accounts for a large share of failed payments every year, because parents often supply their own account details out of habit.

How to check the status of a pre-matric application

1. Open ekalyan.cgg.gov.in.
2. Select the correct academic year in the services and schedule section.
3. Click Know your application status.
4. Enter the Application Unique Number and submit.

If the screen says the file is pending at the school, the fix is a visit to the school office, not a second online application. Filing twice in the same year creates a duplicate that is likely to be struck out.

Why BC pre-matric applications get rejected

• Wrong category selected, a BC student filing under the SC or ST stream.
• Income certificate above Rs 1,50,000, the BC ceiling.
• Old or offline caste certificate that the portal cannot validate.
• Bank account in a parent's name, or not Aadhaar-seeded.
• Name spelt differently across Aadhaar, school records and the passbook.
• Another scholarship already sanctioned for the same class and year.
• No school verification inside the schedule window.

Each of these is correctable. Re-issue the certificate, open a minor's account in the student's name at the nearest bank branch, or get the school to correct the spelling in its record, then apply again in the next window.

Key dates

The Welfare Department publishes a schedule on ekalyan.cgg.gov.in for each academic session, listing when registration opens, the last date for student submission, and separate cut-offs for school and district verification. Secondary websites frequently carry stale or conflicting last dates, so treat only the schedule printed on the portal as authoritative. Submit at least a couple of weeks before the student cut-off so the school still has room to verify.

Where to get help

• Welfare Department, Government of Jharkhand, Project Bhawan, Dhurwa, Ranchi 834004 to telephone 0651-2400215 and 0651-2446282.
• District Welfare Officer of your district, for verification disputes, sanction delays and failed payments.
• Head of the school, for anything showing as pending at school level.

Jharkhand State Backward Classes Pre-Matric Scholarship is free to apply for. No department official will ask for a bank OTP, and no agent can place a student's name on the sanction list for a fee.