Scholarship Scheme for Disabled Students to Study Abroad (Madhya Pradesh)

What is the Scholarship Scheme for Disabled Students to Study Abroad?

Scholarship Scheme for Disabled Students to Study Abroad is an overseas education scholarship run by the Social Justice and Divyangjan Welfare Department of the Government of Madhya Pradesh. The scheme pays for a divyang student from a low-income family in Madhya Pradesh to take a postgraduate, PhD or post-doctoral course at a foreign institution, covering tuition fees, living expenses and other admissible costs.

The scheme is referred to in Hindi as the "दिव्‍यांग विद्यार्थियों को विदेश अध्ययन हेतु छात्रवृत्ति योजना", and it sits alongside the department's other divyang education benefits, fees and transport allowance for higher education, hostel facilities, and the civil services encouragement scheme: on the Divyang Empowerment page of socialjustice.mp.gov.in.

What makes this scheme distinctive is the combination of two filters that rarely sit together. The academic bar is high: First Class or 60 per cent at the previous level, and for a doctorate an M.Phil or two years of relevant experience. The income bar is low: annual family income up to Rs 96,000. The scheme therefore targets a specific and small group: divyang students who have done academically well enough to win an overseas admission but whose families cannot fund a single semester of it.

Main features

• Support for postgraduate, PhD and post-doctoral study abroad only.
• Cover for tuition fees, living expenses and other admissible costs, rather than a fixed token grant.
• A 40 per cent benchmark disability requirement, evidenced by a UDID card and a medical board certificate.
• A family income ceiling of Rs 96,000 a year.
• Sparsh portal registration as a precondition for any sanction.
• An offline application to the District Social Justice and Disabled Welfare Office or to the Directorate in Bhopal.

Who is eligible for the overseas study scholarship?

A student is eligible if:

• The student has benchmark disability of 40 per cent or more, certified by the competent medical board and reflected in a UDID card.
• The student is 18 years of age or older.
• The student is a permanent resident of Madhya Pradesh.
• Annual family income does not exceed Rs 96,000.
• The student's name is registered on the Sparsh portal of the Government of Madhya Pradesh.
• The academic condition for the level of study is met:
• Postgraduate course; First Class or at least 60 per cent in the bachelor's degree.
• PhD: First Class or 60 per cent at postgraduate level, plus an M.Phil or two years of relevant experience.
• Post-doctoral course — a PhD with First Class or 60 per cent, along with experience in the field.
• The student holds a confirmed admission or offer from the foreign institution.

Who cannot apply or is not eligible:

• Students below the benchmark disability threshold, or holding only a private medical certificate rather than a board certificate or UDID card.
• Students under 18 years of age.
• Students whose family income exceeds Rs 96,000 a year. This is the condition that disqualifies the largest number of otherwise strong applicants, and it is not waived on academic merit.
• Students going abroad for an undergraduate degree, a diploma or a short certificate course. The scheme covers postgraduate and higher study only.
• Students who fall short of the marks condition for their level of study.
• Students not domiciled in Madhya Pradesh, since this is a state scholarship funded from the state budget.
• Students whose name is not on the Sparsh portal at the time the file is scrutinised.

What documents are required?

How to apply for the scholarship to study abroad

1. Secure the overseas admission first. The department's scrutiny turns on a confirmed offer or admission letter from the foreign institution, so a file built on an application-in-progress will not move.
2. Get or renew your UDID card and medical board certificate, confirming disability of 40 per cent or more.
3. Register your name on the Sparsh portal of the Madhya Pradesh Social Justice and Divyangjan Welfare Department, or verify that an existing registration matches your certificate exactly.
4. Obtain a current family income certificate from the competent revenue authority showing annual income within Rs 96,000.
5. Collect the prescribed application form from your District Social Justice and Disabled Welfare Office, or from the Directorate of Social Justice and Disabled Welfare in Bhopal.
6. Fill in the form with the course name, institution, country, duration, level of study, and the fee and living-cost estimate from the institution's own letter.
7. Attach self-attested copies of the UDID card, medical certificate, domicile certificate, Aadhaar card, income certificate, admission letter, degree certificates and marksheets, passport and bank passbook page.
8. Submit the complete file to the District Social Justice and Disabled Welfare Office, or directly to the Directorate in Bhopal, and take a dated receipt.
9. Follow up in person or by phone with the Directorate, since an overseas scholarship sanction involves a state-level decision rather than a routine district payment.

Start this sequence months before the course begins. Income certificates, passports and UDID renewals each take their own time, and a foreign institution's enrolment deadline will not move for a pending state file.

How much is paid, and how?

The scheme is described as a full scholarship for higher education abroad, including tuition fees, living expenses and other admissible costs. Madhya Pradesh does not publish a single fixed ceiling for it; the sanctioned amount is settled case by case against the institution's fee schedule and the cost of living in the country concerned, and released into the scholar's own bank account. Ask the Directorate for the sanction order in writing and keep it, since that order; not any published estimate; is what governs your entitlement.

How to check the status of your application

1. Quote your dated receipt or file number at the District Social Justice and Disabled Welfare Office where the application was submitted.
2. Follow up with the Directorate of Social Justice and Disabled Welfare, Bhopal, on 0755-2556916 or at dir.socialjustice@mp.gov.in, because the sanction for an overseas case is taken at state level.
3. Ask whether the file is pending verification, pending sanction or sanctioned and awaiting release, the three stages behave very differently and the answer tells you whom to chase next.
4. If a sanction has been issued but nothing has reached your account, check with your bank that the account is active and Aadhaar-seeded.

Common reasons an application fails

• Income above Rs 96,000, or an income certificate that has expired.
• Sparsh registration missing or not matching the disability certificate.
• Admission letter not final, showing a conditional or provisional offer only.
• Marks below the threshold for the level of study applied for.
• Undergraduate or diploma course proposed, which is outside the scheme.
• Disability certificate from a private practitioner rather than the competent medical board.
• File submitted too late relative to the course start date, leaving no time for state-level sanction.

Help and grievance redressal

• Directorate of Social Justice and Disabled Welfare, Madhya Pradesh, Bhopal, phone 0755-2556916, email dir.socialjustice@mp.gov.in, as published on socialjustice.mp.gov.in. This is the sanctioning authority for overseas cases.
• District Social Justice and Disabled Welfare Office, for forms, submission and preliminary verification.
• Sparsh portal, linked from socialjustice.mp.gov.in, for divyang registration and correction of records.
• Madhya Pradesh CM Helpline: 181, for a grievance the department has not resolved.

No fee is payable for this scholarship. Treat any education consultant who offers to secure a state overseas scholarship for a commission as a warning sign, and deal only with the district office and the Directorate.