Valmiki Scholarship Scheme (Valmiki Chhatravritti Yojana)

What is the Valmiki Chhatravritti Yojana?

Valmiki Chhatravritti Yojana, officially notified in English as the Valmiki Scholarship Scheme, is a Jharkhand government scholarship for orphan and divyang students in higher education. The Department of Higher and Technical Education, Government of Jharkhand, implements it, and the scheme documents are hosted by the Jharkhand State Higher Education Council (JSHEC) at Yojna Bhawan, Nepal House campus, Doranda, Ranchi.

The scheme's own guideline document states its purpose in constitutional terms: to give the most disadvantaged sections of society social justice and to fulfil the vision of the Directive Principles of State Policy, by making sure that losing a parent or living with a disability does not end a student's education after Class 12.

Valmiki Chhatravritti Yojana was approved by the Jharkhand Cabinet in October 2024 and the operating guidelines have since been revised, with the version now published by JSHEC marked "V2". The V2 guidelines set the sustenance allowance at Rs 5,000 per month, higher than the Rs 4,000 figure that circulated in early news reports.

What does the Valmiki Scholarship pay?

Valmiki Chhatravritti Yojana has exactly two components, and a student may take one or both.

Full Course Fee Scholarship. The State Government reimburses the full course fee as a scholarship for every academic year of study during the course period. The Annexure-II certificate defines "course fee" broadly, application fee, admission fee, tuition fee, laboratory fee, library fee and college development fee. There is no percentage-based sharing; the reimbursement is of the fee actually paid and certified by the head of the institution.

Sustenance Allowance. All eligible students receive Rs 5,000 per month for the entire course period. Over a three-year degree that is Rs 1.8 lakh, and over a four-year engineering course Rs 2.4 lakh, independent of the fee component.

Both the fee reimbursement and the monthly allowance are paid by Direct Benefit Transfer into the student's Aadhaar-linked bank account.

Who is eligible for the Valmiki Scholarship, and who is not eligible?

Valmiki Chhatravritti Yojana applies three tests together: a schooling test, an institution test and a personal circumstance test.

Schooling test. The student must have passed Class 10 to claim the scholarship for a diploma-level course, and both Class 10 and Class 12 for a degree or higher-level course, from a school or college located in Jharkhand and recognised by the Indian Council of School Education, CBSE or the Jharkhand Academic Council.

Institution test. The student must have secured admission or be enrolled in any higher education institution within Jharkhand. Alternatively, for study outside Jharkhand, the institution must rank within the top 200 in the overall category or the top 100 in its individual category in the latest NIRF India Rankings, or hold NAAC accreditation of Grade A or above. "Higher Education Institution" means a college or university established by an Act of the State or Central Government offering general, technical or professional education of at least one year's duration.

Personal circumstance test — any one of three routes.

1. The student is without both biological parents, and submits valid death certificates for both parents plus a birth certificate proving the parent-child relationship.
2. The student is a person with benchmark disability as defined by the RPWD Act, 2016, and submits a disability certificate or UDID card from the competent authority.
3. The student has lost one parent and either has family income within the Economically Weaker Section limit, as modified from time to time, or holds a ration card issued in Jharkhand under the National Food Security Act, 2013.

In every route, the documents must be verified by an officer not below the rank of Sub-divisional Officer in the Annexure-I format.

Students who cannot apply or are not eligible for a component:

• Students who did their Class 10 and Class 12 outside Jharkhand, or in an institution not recognised by ICSE, CBSE or the Jharkhand Academic Council.
• Students studying outside Jharkhand at an institution that misses both the NIRF and the NAAC Grade A thresholds.
• Students with both parents living who have neither a benchmark disability nor a deceased parent.
• For the fee component only: students already admitted under the AICTE Tuition Fee Waiver Scheme or a similar State, Central or autonomous body scheme, and students who have failed or carried a back paper up to the academic year being claimed.
• For the allowance component only: beneficiaries of AICTE-Saksham, AICTE-Swanath or a similar scholarship, and anyone drawing a teaching or research fellowship, assistantship, stipend or allowance from their institution or from any government body.
• Students who fail to be promoted to the next class, and students who miss the application window, lose eligibility for that year.

How to apply for Valmiki Chhatravritti Yojana

The guidelines state that applications shall be made through online mode only, on a dedicated web portal developed by the Department of Higher and Technical Education. There is no offline or postal route.

1. Collect and get your circumstance documents attested first. The death certificate or certificates, the birth certificate, or the disability certificate or UDID card, plus an income certificate or ration card on the single-parent route. Take these to your Sub-divisional Officer and get the Annexure-I verification signed and stamped, because an application without it will not clear scrutiny.
2. Ask your college or university to issue the Annexure-II bonafide certificate on institute letterhead. It must state your Aadhaar number, date of birth, category, course, course duration, current year of study and the exact total course fee paid for the year, and must confirm that you are not on an AICTE fee waiver.
3. Check that your bank account is seeded with your Aadhaar number, since both the fee reimbursement and the Rs 5,000 monthly allowance are released only by Direct Benefit Transfer to an Aadhaar-linked account.
4. Register on the Department of Higher and Technical Education scholarship portal when the application window is notified, fill the online form, choose the component or components you are claiming, and upload scanned copies of every document listed above.
5. Submit before the notified closing date and save the acknowledgement number, then track scrutiny status on the same portal login.
6. Renew each year by submitting a fresh renewal request with a new Annexure-II bonafide certificate and the marksheet of the preceding semester or year.

How do I check the status of a Valmiki Scholarship application?

Track the application on the same departmental portal login used to submit it, using the acknowledgement number generated on submission. Payment status is best confirmed from your bank passbook or an SMS alert on the mobile number linked to your account, because the release is a DBT credit.

If the portal shows the application as approved but no credit arrives, the usual cause is an Aadhaar-bank seeding failure rather than a rejection. Get seeding confirmed at your branch and inform the department in writing.

Why do Valmiki Scholarship applications get rejected?

• Annexure-I signed by the wrong officer. The verification must come from an officer not below the rank of Sub-divisional Officer. A certificate signed by a block-level official is a common ground for rejection.
• Institution outside Jharkhand that fails the ranking test. Out-of-state students must clear the NIRF top-200 overall, NIRF top-100 category, or NAAC Grade A condition, and only 2,000 fresh out-of-state scholarships are sanctioned in a year, so a late but eligible application can still miss out.
• Back paper or a failed subject. The fee component is barred for the academic year concerned.
• Overlapping scholarship. Holding an AICTE-Saksham or AICTE-Swanath award, or an institutional stipend, kills the sustenance allowance.
• Class 10 or Class 12 done outside Jharkhand. The schooling condition is strict about the school being located in Jharkhand.
• Missing bonafide certificate or a fee figure that does not match the receipt. The head of institution's certificate is the primary evidence for the reimbursement amount.
• Renewal filed late. Students who do not apply in time are not eligible for that year's benefit.

What are the key dates and safeguards?

Valmiki Chhatravritti Yojana does not carry a permanent last date in its guidelines. The High-Level Committee that governs the scheme is supported to notify, alter or modify the dates of the application window for fresh applications and renewals each year, so the portal notice is the only authoritative source for a deadline. That committee also has power to increase or decrease the number of fresh beneficiaries and to modify the eligibility criteria and renewal conditions.

The scheme carries two accountability features worth knowing. Concurrent financial audits by empanelled auditors are compulsory, with reports placed before the High-Level Committee. And an awareness campaign is mandated across schools, colleges, universities and state government offices at district, sub-division, block and panchayat level, with District Collectors and Divisional Commissioners made responsible for outreach in their districts.

Where do I raise a grievance about the Valmiki Scholarship?

Contact the Jharkhand State Higher Education Council, Room No. 327, 3rd Floor, Yojna Bhawan (Nepal House) Campus, Doranda, Ranchi - 834002, on 0651-4655107, or by email at jshecjharkhand@gmail.com. JSHEC hosts the scheme guidelines and related documents and is the practical first point of contact.

Escalate unresolved cases to the Directorate of Higher Education under the Department of Higher and Technical Education, whose Deputy Director acts as Member Secretary of the scheme's High-Level Committee. Where a district-level verification is stuck, the District Collector is the officer accountable for scheme outreach and implementation in that district. The guidelines also record that all disputes arising out of the scheme's provisions shall be settled by a court of law in Ranchi, Jharkhand.