Chief Minister's House Rent Scheme (De-notified Communities)

What is the Chief Minister's House Rent Scheme for de-notified communities?

The Chief Minister's House Rent Scheme is a monthly accommodation allowance run by the Backward Classes and Minorities Welfare Department of Madhya Pradesh through its Vimukt, Ghumakkad and Ardh-Ghumakkad Jati wing. The scheme is listed by the Government of India's Development and Welfare Board for De-notified, Nomadic and Semi-Nomadic Communities among the thirteen Madhya Pradesh state schemes for these communities, under the name "CM Housing Rent Scheme".

According to that listing, the allowance is paid at three rates fixed by the city where the student studies:

Over a ten-month academic year, that works out to roughly Rs 20,000 in the five big cities, Rs 12,500 at a district headquarters and Rs 10,000 elsewhere.

Madhya Pradesh's de-notified (Vimukt), nomadic (Ghumakkad) and semi-nomadic (Ardh-Ghumakkad) communities have historically had very low rates of higher education completion, and one practical reason is accommodation. Departmental hostels and ashrams have a limited number of seats, and a student from a nomadic family who gets a college place in Bhopal or Indore but no hostel seat generally cannot afford city rent. The House Rent Scheme exists to close that gap so the admission is not wasted.

Main features

• Fixed monthly rate by city category, not a reimbursement of actual rent paid.
• Paid per student, so two siblings studying separately can each draw it.
• Open to students in both government and private colleges, unlike the department's Post Matric Scholarship which the DNT board's listing restricts to government institutions.
• Fully funded by the Government of Madhya Pradesh.

Who is eligible for the Chief Minister's House Rent Scheme?

A student qualifies if:

• The student belongs to a community notified in Madhya Pradesh as Vimukt (de-notified), Ghumakkad (nomadic) or Ardh-Ghumakkad (semi-nomadic), proved by a permanent caste certificate.
• The student is a college student, studying in a government or private college.
• The student's family income is within the ceiling applied to the department's Post Matric Scholarship, recorded on the national DNT portal as Rs 2.50 lakh a year.
• The student applied within the admission deadlines notified for the course.
• The student is living in rented accommodation away from home in order to attend the college.

A student is not eligible if:

• The student belongs to a general, OBC, SC or ST category outside the notified de-notified, nomadic and semi-nomadic list. Other departments run separate house rent and hostel schemes for those categories.
• The student is a school student, including Class 11 and Class 12. The department's listing restricts the House Rent Scheme to college students.
• The student is occupying a departmental hostel or ashram seat for the same period, since both benefits meet the same accommodation need.
• The student failed the previous academic year. The department's post-matric conditions state that there is no eligibility where one year has been failed.
• The student's family income is above the applicable ceiling.
• The student is studying in the same town where the family lives and is not actually renting accommodation.

What documents are required?

Keep two photocopy sets of every document. The district Backward Classes and Minorities Welfare offices work on paper files for these schemes, and a duplicate set saves a second trip when a file has to be reconstructed.

How to apply for the Chief Minister's House Rent Scheme

1. Get your permanent caste certificate showing Vimukt, Ghumakkad or Ardh-Ghumakkad status from the tehsil office if you do not already hold one. Without it, no application under this scheme can be accepted.
2. Take admission to your college within the notified admission deadline, and collect the fee receipt or bonafide certificate.
3. Obtain a written confirmation from the department or hostel superintendent that no hostel or ashram seat has been allotted to you for the session.
4. Arrange a rent agreement or a signed rent receipt from your landlord, showing the address and the city where you are staying.
5. Collect the prescribed application form from the district Backward Classes and Minorities Welfare office or from your college's scholarship cell, and fill it in with your caste certificate number, college details, city and bank account details.
6. Submit the form with the document set to the district Backward Classes and Minorities Welfare office, routing it through your college where the college maintains a scholarship cell. Get a dated receiving.
7. Follow up with the district office after four to six weeks for the sanction, and check that your bank account is Aadhaar-seeded so the DBT credit does not bounce.

The application is free. Neither the college nor the district office may charge for the form, for verification or for the sanction order.

How do I check the status of my application?

Madhya Pradesh does not publish a self-service status page for this particular scheme. Track it in three places instead:

1. The college scholarship cell, which holds the forwarding record and the date the file left the college.
2. The district Backward Classes and Minorities Welfare office, quoting the receiving number from your acknowledgement.
3. Your bank passbook or account statement, since sanction is followed by a DBT credit rather than a portal notification.

If nothing moves for more than two months after submission, register a complaint on the CM Helpline (181), which issues a tracking number and routes the matter to the district officer with a response timeline.

Why applications get rejected, and how to fix them

• Caste certificate is a temporary or provisional one; get the permanent certificate from the tehsil.
• Community not on the Madhya Pradesh de-notified list: check the notified list at the district office before applying, since community names differ between states.
• No proof of rented accommodation, the rent agreement or landlord receipt is what triggers the allowance, and files without it are held.
• Student already holds a hostel seat — surrender one benefit or the other.
• Previous year failed, the post-matric condition applies and the file is returned.
• Bank account not Aadhaar-seeded, sanction is issued but the DBT credit fails. Fix this at the bank branch, not at the college.
• Applied after the admission deadline, the department's own eligibility wording ties the benefit to applying by the notified admission dates.

Help and grievance redressal

• Backward Classes and Minorities Welfare Department, Bhopal: 0755-2551514, 0755-2551517
• District office: Assistant Director or District Organiser, Backward Classes and Minorities Welfare, at your district headquarters
• CM Helpline: 181, for a tracked written complaint
• Department portal: bcwelfare.mp.nic.in

Rates, ceilings and conditions for departmental schemes are revised from time to time by circular. Confirm the rate in force for the current session with the district Backward Classes and Minorities Welfare office before you sign a rent agreement on the strength of the allowance.