Lakshadweep Scholarship Scheme

What is the Lakshadweep Scholarship Scheme?

Lakshadweep Scholarship Scheme is an education support scheme of the Department of Social Welfare and Tribal Affairs, Union Territory of Lakshadweep. It is meant for students of the islands who have passed Class 10 and moved into post-matric education, and it combines two payments: a monthly scholarship paid through the course year and a lump-sum grant paid once each academic year towards books, stationery and other academic costs.

The scheme exists because of a straightforward geographic problem. Lakshadweep has ten inhabited islands and a small number of higher-education institutions. Most island students who want a degree, a professional course, a polytechnic diploma or an ITI trade have to study either at Kavaratti and Andrott or, far more often, on the mainland in Kerala and Karnataka. That means hostel rent, ferry and flight fares, and a duplicate set of living costs that a family on a small island rarely budgets for. The monthly component is designed to meet recurring living costs, and the annual lump sum is designed to meet the one-time academic costs at the start of each year.

More than ninety per cent of the population of Lakshadweep is recorded as Scheduled Tribe, which is why the same department handles both social welfare and tribal affairs, and why the scholarship sits alongside centrally sponsored tribal scholarship funding rather than duplicating it.

Who is eligible for the Lakshadweep Scholarship Scheme?

You can claim the scholarship if:

• You are a native of the Union Territory of Lakshadweep and can produce a nativity or residence certificate issued by the Sub-Divisional Officer or Deputy Collector of your island.
• You have passed Class 10 and are enrolled in a post-matric course: higher secondary, ITI, polytechnic, undergraduate degree, postgraduate degree, or a professional course such as engineering, medicine, nursing or law.
• Your institution is recognised by a government, a university, a state board, AICTE, NCVT or an equivalent statutory body.
• You are currently on the rolls for the academic year you are claiming for, and the head of the institution will certify it.
• You hold a bank account in your own name, seeded with Aadhaar.

You are not eligible if:

• You are not a native of Lakshadweep. Children of officials and employees posted to the islands from the mainland do not acquire eligibility by residence alone.
• You are studying in Class 10 or below. The scheme is post-matric only.
• You have discontinued the course, been struck off the rolls, or are on a long unauthorised absence.
• You are already drawing another government scholarship for the same course in the same academic year.
• Your institution is not recognised by any statutory body: private coaching and unaffiliated courses are outside the scheme.

Attendance and progress conditions apply on renewal. A student who does not appear in the year-end examination, or whose attendance falls below what the institution certifies as satisfactory, can have renewal withheld even though the first-year sanction was clean.

What do you get under the Lakshadweep Scholarship Scheme?

The scheme has two components:

1. A monthly scholarship, paid for the months of the academic session, meant for maintenance and living costs.
2. An annual lump-sum grant, paid once per academic year, meant for books, stationery and allied academic expenses.

Rates are notified by the Administration and vary by course level, a higher-secondary student and a professional-degree student are not paid the same — and typically differ between hostellers and day scholars, because the cost structure is different. Rates are also revised from time to time. This guide deliberately does not print a rupee figure, because a stale figure is worse than none: ask the Social Welfare office on your island for the current sanctioned rate for your course level, in writing, before you submit.

Payment is made by transfer to the student's bank account after the Directorate sanctions the case. There is no cash disbursement and no payment to the institution on the student's behalf.

What documents are required?

Keep one photocopy set of everything you submit. Islands are served by intermittent boat and flight schedules, and a re-submission that would take a day on the mainland can take a fortnight here.

How to apply for the Lakshadweep Scholarship Scheme

1. Collect the application form from the Social Welfare office on your island, or from the office of the Directorate of Social Welfare and Tribal Affairs at the Secretariat, Kavaratti. Students already on the mainland can ask a family member to collect it, or ask the island office whether the form can be sent by email.
2. Get the nativity certificate from the Sub-Divisional Officer or Deputy Collector of your island if you do not already hold a current one. Start here, because this is the document that takes the longest.
3. Get the bonafide certificate and fee receipt from your institution. The bonafide must show course name, year of study and date of admission, and it must carry the signature and seal of the head of the institution.
4. Fill the form completely, attach self-attested copies of all documents, and declare any other scholarship you hold. Do not leave the other-scholarship field blank.
5. Submit the form to the Social Welfare office on your island: or, where the institution routes applications in bulk, through your college office; within the window announced for the academic year.
6. Collect an acknowledgement with a date and a reference or file number. Without it you have no way to trace the file later.
7. Follow up after four to six weeks with the island office, quoting the acknowledgement number, and check that the file has moved to the Directorate.

How do you check the status of your application?

Status is tracked at the office, not on a self-service portal. Call or visit the Social Welfare office on your island with your acknowledgement number and ask three questions: whether the file has been forwarded to the Directorate, whether sanction has been issued, and whether the bank details passed validation. If the file is at the Directorate at Kavaratti, follow up there. Students on the mainland should give the island office a working mobile number and an email address on the form itself, since a returned letter is the commonest reason a student never learns their file was queried.

Why applications get rejected, and how to fix them

• Nativity certificate missing or expired. The single most common reason. Obtain a fresh certificate from the SDO or Deputy Collector.
• Bonafide certificate not signed or not stamped by the head of the institution. Get it re-issued; a departmental signature is not enough.
• Bank account in a parent's name, or a name mismatch between the passbook and Aadhaar. Open or correct an account in the student's own name.
• Another scholarship not declared. Declare it. A duplicate discovered later leads to recovery of the amount already paid.
• Application submitted after the announced window for the academic year. There is usually no condonation; you would have to wait for the next cycle.
• Course not recognised. Verify affiliation before admission, not after.

Where to raise a grievance

Raise grievances first with the Social Welfare office on your island, in writing, quoting the acknowledgement number. If it is not resolved, escalate to the Directorate of Social Welfare and Tribal Affairs, Secretariat, Kavaratti, Union Territory of Lakshadweep, and then to the office of the District Collector, Kavaratti. Complaints can also be filed on the Centralised Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring System (CPGRAMS) at pgportal.gov.in, selecting the Lakshadweep Administration as the respondent.

No fee is charged for the scholarship application, and no agent is needed. Any demand for money to "get the scholarship sanctioned" should be reported to the island office and the Collector.