Prime Minister's Scholarship Scheme for the Wards of Central Armed Police Forces & Assam Rifles

What is the PMSS for wards of CAPF and Assam Rifles?

The Prime Minister's Scholarship Scheme (PMSS) for wards of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) and Assam Rifles is an education scholarship run by the Ministry of Home Affairs through its Welfare and Rehabilitation Board (WARB). First launched in 2006-07, the scheme helps the children of the men and women who serve in the country's central police and paramilitary forces meet the cost of professional higher education.

According to the scheme's terms, PMSS pays Rs 36,000 per year to each girl student and Rs 30,000 per year to each boy student; equivalent to Rs 3,000 and Rs 2,500 a month respectively, for the duration of the professional course, up to a maximum of five years. The money is transferred directly to the student's bank account.

The scheme is funded from the interest income of the National Defence Fund. The Central Armed Police Forces covered include the Border Security Force (BSF), Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) and National Security Guard (NSG), along with the Assam Rifles.

Who is eligible for the PMSS for CAPF and Assam Rifles?

A student can apply if they are a ward of:

• Serving or retired CAPF or Assam Rifles personnel, generally up to the rank of personnel below officer rank (PBOR).
• CAPF or Assam Rifles personnel killed in action or who died in service.
• Personnel disabled due to causes attributable to government service.
• Ex-CAPF or Assam Rifles personnel who hold gallantry awards.

In addition, a fresh applicant must:

• Have secured a minimum of 60% in the qualifying examination (Class 12, diploma or graduation, as relevant to the course).
• Be enrolled in a recognised full-time professional degree course — engineering, medicine, dental, veterinary, law, management, and similar courses in institutions approved by bodies such as UGC, AICTE or the relevant council.

A student cannot apply / is not eligible if:

• They scored below 60% in the qualifying examination.
• They are enrolled in a distance-learning or correspondence course, or a course not recognised by the appropriate regulator.
• Their parent's service does not fall in an eligible category (for example, ranks or forces outside the scheme's scope).
• They are already availing another scholarship for the same course where the rules bar double benefit.

For renewal in later years, a beneficiary must keep at least 50% marks in the previous academic year and continue in the same course.

What documents are required for the PMSS?

How to apply for the PMSS

1. Go to the National Scholarship Portal at scholarships.gov.in during the annual application window and register as a new applicant if you do not have an account.
2. Log in and select the Prime Minister's Scholarship Scheme for wards of CAPF and Assam Rifles.
3. Fill in your personal, academic and course details and your parent's service particulars.
4. Upload the documents; qualifying marksheet, proof of your parent's CAPF/AR service, Aadhaar, bank passbook and admission proof.
5. Submit the application and note the application ID. The form is then verified by the institution and the Welfare and Rehabilitation Board before the scholarship is sanctioned.

Applications are accepted only through the National Scholarship Portal; there is no fee to apply.

How much benefit does the PMSS provide?

• Rs 36,000 per year for each girl student (Rs 3,000 a month).
• Rs 30,000 per year for each boy student (Rs 2,500 a month).

The benefit is paid for the full duration of the professional course, up to five years, subject to annual renewal. About 2,000 fresh scholarships are sanctioned each year for wards of CAPF and Assam Rifles personnel, distributed equally between boys and girls, in addition to the scholarships continued for existing beneficiaries through renewal.

Renewal and continuation

The PMSS is not a one-time payment. Once selected, a student must renew the scholarship every academic year through the National Scholarship Portal, submitting proof of promotion to the next year and of having scored at least 50% in the previous year. Failing to renew, dropping below the marks threshold, or changing to an ineligible course can end the scholarship.

Help and grievance redressal

The scheme is administered by the Welfare and Rehabilitation Board (WARB), Ministry of Home Affairs. The WARB Central Office can be reached at 011-23063111 and by email at secywarb-mha@nic.in. Questions about a specific application are also handled through the National Scholarship Portal helpdesk. No agent or middleman is needed, and no fee is charged to apply for or renew the scholarship.

How to check your application status

Since the PMSS application itself is filed only through the National Scholarship Portal (NSP), all status tracking runs through the same portal rather than any separate CAPF or WARB system.

1. Log in to the NSP. Go to scholarships.gov.in and sign in with the same student ID and password used at the time of application.
2. Open the "Application Status" or "Track Status" section on the student dashboard. This shows which stage the form is at: submitted, forwarded to institution for verification, verified, forwarded to the Welfare and Rehabilitation Board (WARB), sanctioned, or disbursed.
3. Check the institution verification step first if the status looks stuck. A large share of delay happens here: the school or college nodal officer has to log in separately and confirm the student's academic details before the file moves further. If the status has not changed for several weeks, the student's own institution is usually the first place to follow up, not WARB.
4. Note the application ID shown on the dashboard; quote this ID in any follow-up query, whether to the institution, the NSP helpdesk, or WARB, since queries without an application ID are harder to trace.
5. For a WARB-side query once the application has left the institution stage, contact the Welfare and Rehabilitation Board, Ministry of Home Affairs, at 011-23063111 or secywarb-mha@nic.in, quoting the application ID and the academic year.
6. For payment status specifically, check that the linked bank account is Aadhaar-seeded and active; disbursal happens by direct transfer, so a sanctioned scholarship that has not been credited is often a bank-linkage issue rather than a WARB delay, and the NSP dashboard usually shows a separate "payment" or "disbursement" status once the amount has been released.
7. For renewal-year applicants, status should be checked every year after re-registering on the NSP for that academic year, since a continuing scholarship does not carry an automatic status forward; each year is tracked as its own cycle.

Common reasons for rejection

• Marks below the 60% cutoff for fresh applicants. The scheme sets a firm minimum of 60% in the qualifying examination for new applicants; a student just short of this cutoff is rejected regardless of other qualifications. There is no waiver for this criterion, so applicants close to the borderline should check their exact percentage (not just their grade or division) before applying.
• Course not recognised as a professional degree, or pursued through distance/correspondence mode. PMSS is meant for full-time professional courses (engineering, medicine, law, management and similar) approved by the relevant regulatory body. Applications for courses not recognised by UGC, AICTE or the relevant council, or for distance-learning and correspondence programmes, are rejected. The fix is to confirm the institution and course's recognition status before applying, ideally from the institution's own admission office.
• Parent's service category does not match the scheme's eligible list. The scheme covers wards of serving or retired CAPF/Assam Rifles personnel up to PBOR rank, wards of those killed or disabled in service, and wards of gallantry award holders. An application where the parent's rank, force, or service category falls outside this list is rejected at the eligibility check. Applicants should verify their parent's exact rank and force against the scheme's stated categories, ideally through the parent's own service records, before applying.
• Incomplete or mismatched documents. A marksheet that does not clearly show the percentage, a service proof that does not match the applicant's name or the parent's details exactly, or an Aadhaar and bank account that are not linked can each stall or reject an application. Cross-checking that every uploaded document shows consistent names and details before submission avoids this.
• Institution fails to verify the application in time. Because the NSP process requires the applicant's institution to verify academic details online, an application can lapse or be rejected simply because the institution's nodal officer did not act on it within the portal's window. Applicants should follow up directly with their institution's scholarship or NSP nodal officer soon after submitting, rather than assuming verification happens automatically.
• Missed renewal or falling below the 50% renewal threshold. For continuing beneficiaries, failing to re-register each year, or scoring below 50% in the previous academic year, ends the scholarship at the renewal stage rather than at fresh selection. Keeping track of the annual renewal window and the marks requirement is the only way to avoid this.
• Applying after the scheme-wise deadline on the NSP. Since the National Scholarship Portal sets its own scheme-wise last date each year (announced on the portal, not fixed in advance), a late submission is rejected purely on timing even if every other criterion is met. Checking scholarships.gov.in as soon as the portal opens for the academic year avoids missing the closing date.