Pre-Matric Scholarship for ST Students (Manipur)

What is the Pre-Matric Scholarship for ST Students in Manipur?

Pre-Matric Scholarship for ST Students is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme run in Manipur by the Department of Tribal Affairs and Hills, Government of Manipur, with the Ministry of Tribal Affairs as the sponsoring ministry. The department's own scholarship page confirms it implements two ST scholarship schemes for tribal students of Manipur, the Pre-Matric and the Post-Matric, and that the Ministry of Tribal Affairs provides 90 per cent of the grant while the state provides the remaining 10 per cent as the state share component.

Pre-Matric Scholarship for ST Students exists for a narrow, well-defined reason: to stop Scheduled Tribe children dropping out at the point where elementary school ends and secondary school begins. The Ministry of Tribal Affairs guidelines for 2021-22 to 2025-26, which Manipur publishes on its own departmental site, state the objective as supporting ST children in Classes IX and X "so that the incidence of drop-out, especially in transition from elementary to secondary stage is minimized".

Money is paid straight into the student's own bank account by Direct Benefit Transfer. There is no cash component, no cheque and no payment through the school.

Who is eligible for the Manipur Pre-Matric ST Scholarship?

You can get this scholarship if:

• You belong to a Scheduled Tribe notified in relation to Manipur, the domicile state awards the scholarship, so a Manipur ST student studying in another state still applies to Manipur.
• You are studying in Class IX or Class X.
• You study in a government school, or a school recognised by the government or by a central or state Board of Secondary Education.
• Your family income from all sources does not exceed Rs 2.5 lakh a year.
• You hold a valid account in a scheduled bank, linked to Aadhaar and to an active mobile number.

You are not eligible if:

• You are already receiving another scholarship. The scheme allows only one.
• You are repeating a class. Scholarship for any one class is available for one year only; a student repeating Class IX does not draw it twice.
• Your family income exceeds Rs 2.5 lakh a year.
• You are studying in a school that is neither government-run nor government-recognised.
• You are in a class outside IX and X. Class XI onwards falls under the Post-Matric ST Scholarship instead.

How family income is counted. Where both father and mother work, both incomes are added. Where any other member of the family earns. An elder sibling, for example, that income is not added. Where only one parent is alive, only that parent's income counts. For an orphan supported by a guardian, the income criterion does not apply at all. Income means gross income from all sources, without the exemptions and deductions allowed under the Income Tax Act.

The income certificate is taken once, at admission to Class IX, and remains valid for Class X. It must be issued in the same year the admission is taken. For a salaried parent, the previous financial year's income is the figure used.

How much does the Manipur Pre-Matric ST Scholarship pay?

The scholarship is payable for 10 months in an academic year, not twelve.

Students with disabilities receive an additional disability allowance of Rs 800 a month (Rs 9,600 a year) if hostellers and Rs 600 a month (Rs 7,200 a year) if day scholars. Unlike the main scholarship, this allowance is paid for all twelve months. The disability must be certified by a competent medical authority of the state government. The same allowance applies to leprosy-cured students and to students with sickle cell anaemia or thalassemia, on production of the necessary certificate.

Renewal is automatic in principle but not in practice: the award continues subject to good conduct and regular attendance, and is renewed for Class X after the student passes Class IX. A renewal application still has to be filed on the portal each year.

What documents are required for the Pre-Matric ST Scholarship?

The guidelines specifically warn that "the resolution/quality of documents and photo uploaded should be adequate and document should be legible and clear". A blurred income certificate is one of the commonest reasons an application is marked defective.

How to apply for the Manipur Pre-Matric ST Scholarship

1. Collect your ST certificate, Manipur domicile certificate and family income certificate from the competent issuing authority before the portal opens. Do not use a self-declaration of income; it will be rejected.
2. Open a bank account in a scheduled bank in your own or a parent's name, and make sure it is seeded with Aadhaar and linked to a mobile number you will keep for the whole scholarship period.
3. Go to the National Scholarship Portal at www.nsp.gov.in and complete fresh student registration. Note the application ID that the portal issues.
4. Fill the Pre-Matric Scholarship for ST Students application, selecting Manipur as your state of domicile and the Ministry of Tribal Affairs scheme.
5. Upload the scanned documents, check that the bank account number and IFSC code are typed correctly, and submit before the state's closing date.
6. Ask your school's Institute Nodal Officer to verify the application. This is the first of three verification levels and nothing moves without it.
7. Track the application on NSP. If it is marked defective, correct the error and resubmit; a defective application that is not corrected lapses.
8. Renew the scholarship on NSP in Class X after you are promoted from Class IX.

Offline route. There is no offline application for this scheme in Manipur. The Department of Tribal Affairs and Hills directs all applicants to NSP. What you do offline is collect the certificates: the ST certificate, the domicile certificate and the income certificate are issued by the competent revenue and district authorities in your district, and the school-level verification is done in person by the Institute Nodal Officer.

What are the key dates for the Pre-Matric ST Scholarship?

The Ministry of Tribal Affairs guidelines set a suggested annual timeline that states are asked to follow:

State governments are asked to open the portal for applications by 1 April. The guidelines describe these dates as suggestive, so Manipur announces the operative dates each session through advertisements in local newspapers and on the departmental website. Check dtahills.mn.gov.in before assuming the window is open.

How do I check my Pre-Matric ST Scholarship status?

1. Log in to nsp.gov.in with your application ID and password.
2. Open the applicant dashboard, which shows the verification stage the application has reached; institute level, district level or state level.
3. If the status reads defective, read the remarks recorded by the nodal officer, fix that specific item, and resubmit within the window.
4. If the status reads rejected, note that a rejected application is not processed further in that session; you must apply afresh next year.

The Department of Tribal Affairs and Hills also publishes beneficiary lists on its scholarship page, covering Pre-Matric ST Scholarship for 2021-22, 2022-23 and 2023-24. Checking your name in the published list is the most direct confirmation that your award was sanctioned.

Why do Pre-Matric ST Scholarship applications get rejected?

• Income certificate not from a competent authority, or a self-declaration submitted instead. The guidelines exclude these outright.
• Bank account dormant, wrongly typed, or not Aadhaar-seeded. DBT fails and the payment bounces back.
• Mobile number changed mid-course without updating it in the records, so the student misses the SMS alerts from NSP.
• Institute verification not done in time. The commonest single cause. The student must follow up with the school before the deadline.
• Documents illegible. Low-resolution scans of the ST or income certificate.
• Holding another scholarship, which makes the student ineligible.
• Repeating a class, for which the scholarship is not paid twice.

Where do I complain about a Pre-Matric ST Scholarship problem?

The Ministry of Tribal Affairs guidelines require every state to run a dedicated helpdesk and grievance redressal mechanism for scholarship queries. In Manipur the route runs as follows:

• School level — the Institute Nodal Officer, for verification delays and defective-application remarks.
• District and state level, the District or State Nodal Officer for the scheme, for second and third level verification problems.
• Department level: Directorate of Tribal Affairs and Hills, Manipur, near Manipur Secretariat, Imphal 795001, email tah-director-mn@manipur.gov.in. The Department of Tribal Affairs and Hills also runs a Public Grievances link on dtahills.mn.gov.in.
• Portal level, the NSP helpdesk for technical faults with registration, OTP or document upload.

Applying is free. Neither NSP nor the Department of Tribal Affairs and Hills charges a fee, and no agent can secure a sanction on your behalf.