Maulana Azad National Fellowship for Minority Students (MANF)

What was the Maulana Azad National Fellowship?

Maulana Azad National Fellowship (MANF) was a Central Sector fellowship of the Ministry of Minority Affairs, Government of India, implemented through the University Grants Commission (UGC). MANF provided financial support to research students from India's notified minority communities so they could pursue higher research degrees: M.Phil and Ph.D: in universities and recognised institutions.

According to the Ministry of Minority Affairs, MANF was aimed at integrating minority students into the higher-education research ecosystem, where their representation was historically low. The fellowship covered students from the six centrally notified minority communities: Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains and Zoroastrians (Parsis).

The scheme was modelled on the UGC's regular research fellowships. Selected scholars received a Junior Research Fellow (JRF) rate in their initial years of research and a higher Senior Research Fellow (SRF) rate in later years, along with house rent allowance and an annual contingency grant, all as per prevailing UGC norms. Up to 1,000 fresh fellowships were sanctioned in a typical year while the scheme was active.

Is MANF still running in 2026?

No. The Ministry of Minority Affairs discontinued MANF from the 2022-23 cycle. No new applications have been invited since then. In replies placed before Parliament, the government explained that the fellowship overlapped with other fellowship and scholarship schemes already available to minority and general students, and it was withdrawn to avoid duplication of benefits.

This guide is therefore a reference to a closed scheme. It is retained because MANF still appears on scheme directories and because thousands of scholars selected before 2022-23 continue to draw the fellowship for their remaining sanctioned tenure. If you are searching for MANF as a current opportunity, you will not be able to apply.

Who was eligible for MANF?

While the scheme was open, an applicant could apply if they:

• Belonged to one of the six notified minority communities.
• Were enrolled in, or had secured admission to, a regular full-time M.Phil or Ph.D programme in a recognised university or institution.
• Met the family-income and other conditions specified in that year's guidelines.

Who could not apply: students outside the notified minority communities; students in distance, part-time or non-recognised programmes; and candidates already holding another fellowship of a similar nature for the same research, since a scholar cannot draw two fellowships simultaneously.

In 2026, no one can apply. The scheme is closed to fresh selection. This applies to every category of student regardless of merit or community.

What did MANF provide?

MANF followed the UGC fellowship template rather than a fixed rupee figure of its own. Benefits comprised:

• A monthly fellowship at the JRF rate for the first phase of research and the SRF rate thereafter, as revised by the UGC from time to time.
• House rent allowance as per UGC/university norms where hostel accommodation was not provided.
• An annual contingency grant to meet books, travel and research expenses.

Because the actual rupee amounts tracked UGC revisions across the scheme's life, this guide does not quote a single fixed figure. Existing awardees should refer to their sanction letter and the UGC circular applicable to their cohort for the exact amount they are entitled to.

How to apply for MANF (historical process)

MANF is closed, so there is no live application. For reference, the process while the scheme was open was:

1. Wait for the annual notification issued by the UGC/National Testing Agency inviting MANF applications, usually alongside the national fellowship selection cycle.
2. Qualify through the prescribed selection route: in later years, selection was linked to performance in the national eligibility test used for research fellowships.
3. Register and submit the online application on the designated fellowship portal, uploading the minority-community certificate, admission proof, identity and bank details.
4. Join a recognised M.Phil/Ph.D programme and have the university forward your joining report so the UGC could release the fellowship through the institution.

What should minority research scholars do now?

Because MANF is closed, minority-community research scholars in 2026 should look at alternative, currently active options for which they qualify:

1. UGC National Fellowships and the national research fellowship route, which are open to eligible candidates irrespective of community.
2. State-government fellowships for research scholars, several of which have dedicated minority or weaker-section components.
3. Institutional fellowships offered directly by universities, the CSIR, and other research bodies.

Always verify the current status of any fellowship on the sponsoring body's official website before applying, as scheme availability changes from year to year.

Help and where to check

• Ministry of Minority Affairs: minorityaffairs.gov.in
• University Grants Commission (UGC): ugc.gov.in, for disbursement and continuation queries of existing MANF awardees
• Existing awardees should route payment and tenure questions through their university research/finance section, which interfaces with the UGC.

No agent or website can "get your name added" to MANF, because the scheme is not accepting new beneficiaries. Treat any such offer as fraudulent.

Who is eligible

MANF does not accept new applicants, so this checklist is split between the historical criteria that applied while the scheme was open and the position for anyone reading this today.

Eligible while the scheme was open (2022-23 and earlier cohorts only):

• Belonged to one of the six centrally notified minority communities: Muslim, Christian, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain or Zoroastrian (Parsi).
• Held a regular, full-time admission to an M.Phil or Ph.D programme in a UGC-recognised university or institution.
• Cleared the applicable national selection route for that cycle (in later years, performance in the national eligibility test used for research fellowships).
• Fell within the family-income ceiling and other conditions notified for that particular selection year.
• Was not simultaneously drawing another fellowship of a similar nature for the same research work.

Not eligible, then or now:

• Anyone applying fresh in 2026 or any year after 2022-23. There is no income slab, merit level or community proof that makes a new applicant eligible, because the fellowship itself has been withdrawn.
• Students enrolled in distance-mode, part-time, or non-recognised research programmes (this was excluded even when the scheme was live).
• Students outside the six notified minority communities.
• Anyone approached by an agent or website offering to "register" or "enrol" them into MANF. No such registration exists; the selection window is permanently closed.

Who this scheme still concerns:

• Scholars who were formally selected under MANF in 2022-23 or an earlier cycle. They remain eligible for the fellowship for their originally sanctioned tenure, subject to submitting progress reports and meeting the continuation conditions attached to their sanction letter.

How to check your application status

There is no application to track for new candidates, since MANF stopped accepting applications from 2022-23. What existing awardees can check is the status of their ongoing fellowship payments and tenure:

1. Check with your university's research or fellowship section first. MANF was disbursed through the institution where the scholar was enrolled, not paid directly by the Ministry to the student in most cases. Your department's research cell or the university's fellowship/scholarship office holds your disbursement record and can confirm whether your latest instalment has been processed.
2. Contact the University Grants Commission (UGC) for continuation queries. Since UGC administered the fellowship on behalf of the Ministry of Minority Affairs, disbursement delays, JRF-to-SRF rate revisions, or queries about your sanctioned tenure are handled through UGC, not through a MANF-specific portal (ugc.gov.in).
3. Raise ministry-level queries with the Ministry of Minority Affairs (minorityaffairs.gov.in) only if your university and UGC are unable to resolve a continuation or policy-level question, since the ministry is the scheme owner even though UGC runs day-to-day disbursement.
4. Keep your sanction letter and progress-report acknowledgements on hand when you make any of these enquiries. Because there is no live MANF dashboard or reference number system publicised for tracking status online, your sanction letter number and the university's forwarding correspondence are what any office will ask for to locate your case.
5. Do not expect an SMS or portal-based tracking system. Unlike currently active scholarship schemes with an NSP-style dashboard, MANF (being discontinued) has no maintained applicant-facing status portal; status checks for existing awardees are handled through direct correspondence as described above.

Common reasons for rejection

These reasons applied to candidates while MANF was still accepting fresh applications, and they remain useful context for scholars who now need to explain a past rejection or who are applying to comparable UGC fellowships:

• Applying without a confirmed research admission. Candidates who applied on the basis of having merely appeared for an entrance test, without a formal M.Phil/Ph.D admission letter from a recognised university, were turned down. Fix: only apply once your admission or provisional admission letter is in hand, and keep it ready to upload.
• Enrolment in a non-recognised or part-time programme. MANF was restricted to full-time research in UGC-recognised institutions; scholars registered in distance-education or part-time research tracks were rejected regardless of merit. Fix: confirm your institution and programme mode are UGC-recognised before applying to any similar fellowship.
• Minority-community certificate not matching the notified list. Applications where the community certificate did not correspond to one of the six notified minorities, or where the certificate was issued by an authority not accepted under the guidelines, were rejected. Fix: obtain the certificate from the competent authority specified in that year's notification, not a generic caste/community certificate.
• Income certificate exceeding the prescribed ceiling, or missing altogether. In years where an income condition applied, candidates whose family income exceeded the ceiling, or who failed to submit an income certificate at all, were disqualified. Fix (for similar fellowships today): check the current year's income ceiling before applying, and submit a certificate from the prescribed revenue authority.
• Holding another fellowship of the same nature. Scholars already receiving a similar research fellowship for the same work were rejected or asked to choose one, since dual fellowships for identical research were not permitted. Fix: declare any existing fellowship upfront and withdraw from one before applying for another that covers the same research.
• Missing the annual notification window. Because MANF was invited only once a year through a UGC/NTA notification, applications submitted outside that window, or based on outdated cycle information, could not be considered. Fix (a general lesson for any UGC fellowship): track the sponsoring body's official notification page directly rather than relying on third-party scheme aggregators for deadline dates.
• Applying to MANF at all after 2022-23. The most common "rejection" reason today is not a defect in the application, it is that the scheme itself has been discontinued. No documentation, income level, or community proof can overcome this; the fix is to apply instead to an active fellowship such as a UGC National Fellowship or an institutional equivalent.