Post Matric Scholarship to Scheduled Caste Students, Punjab

The Post Matric Scholarship to Scheduled Caste Students is the largest single education support programme running in Punjab for SC students who have crossed class 10. It is a centrally sponsored scheme, published by Punjab's Department of Social Justice, Empowerment and Minorities, the department historically known as the Department of Welfare of Scheduled Castes and Backward Classes, among its schemes for Scheduled Castes. Students often refer to it simply as the post-matric wazifa or the SC scholarship. Its object, in the department's own words, is to provide financial assistance to Scheduled Caste students studying at the post-matriculation or post-secondary stage to enable them to complete their education.

What does the Punjab post matric SC scholarship pay?

The scholarship is not a single lump sum. According to the department's scheme write-up, the value of the scholarship includes a maintenance allowance, a provision for students with disabilities, reimbursement of compulsory non-refundable fees, study tour charges, thesis typing or printing charges, and a book allowance for students pursuing correspondence courses, all for the complete duration of the course.

The maintenance allowance rates published by the department vary by course group and by whether the student lives in a hostel:

The department states these rates are payable for the complete duration of the course, and describes the overall range as Rs 230 to Rs 1,200 depending on the class and course of study. Group I typically covers degree and post-graduate professional courses such as medicine and engineering, while Group IV covers general courses; the course-to-group mapping is applied by the institution when it verifies the application. The Government of India merged the Book Bank Scheme for SC students in medical, engineering, veterinary, agriculture and polytechnic courses into this scholarship from 2003-04, so there is no separate book bank application to make.

For most students the fee reimbursement component, not the monthly allowance, is the financially decisive part. Compulsory non-refundable fees charged by the institution are reimbursed, which in a professional course can run to several times the annual maintenance allowance.

Who is eligible for the post matric scholarship in Punjab?

The conditions published by the department are:

• The student must belong to a Scheduled Caste notified for Punjab.
• Parental or guardian income from all sources must not exceed Rs 2.50 lakh per annum.
• The student must be studying at the post-matriculation or post-secondary stage: that is, class 11 onwards, including diploma, ITI, polytechnic, degree, post-graduate, medical and engineering courses.
• The scholarship is available for studies in India only.
• The scholarship is awarded by the state to which the applicant belongs, so Punjab domicile matters.

Who cannot apply: students who do not belong to a Scheduled Caste notified for Punjab are not eligible, and neither are students whose parents' or guardian's total annual income exceeds Rs 2.50 lakh. Students studying up to class 10 cannot apply here; classes 9 and 10 are covered by the separate Pre-Matric Scholarship for Scheduled Caste Students, and classes 1 to 10 for children of parents in unclean occupations by another scheme of the same department. Students pursuing a course abroad are outside the scheme, since it is limited to studies in India. Students who are not enrolled as regular students of a recognised institution, and students whose institution refuses to verify the application, will not get a sanction. Punjab's separate scholarships for minority communities are run on the National Scholarship Portal and are a different application altogether.

How to apply for the Punjab post matric SC scholarship

1. Collect the core certificates before the session opens. Get a fresh Scheduled Caste certificate and a current income certificate from the competent revenue authority, along with Punjab residence proof, your previous marksheet and your Aadhaar. An income certificate more than a year old is the single most common cause of delay.
2. Take admission and get the fee receipt. The reimbursement is calculated on compulsory non-refundable fees actually charged, so the institution's fee receipt and admission proof must be in hand before you apply.
3. File the online application for the current session. Punjab launched a web portal for receipt of online applications from students in 2013-14, and the department's scholarship page links to the state scholarship site for SC and BC/OBC students and to scholarships.gov.in for minority community scholarships. Check the live link on welfare.punjab.gov.in or ask your institution's scholarship clerk for the portal address in force this session, because the state portal address has changed over the years.
4. Get the application verified by your institution. The college, polytechnic, ITI or school verifies the enrolment, the course group and the fee figures and forwards the application to the sanctioning authority. An application that is filled but never verified simply lapses.
5. Track the sanction through the implementing directorate. The scheme is implemented through DPI (Colleges), the Director of Technical Education and Industrial Training, the Director of Research and Medical Education, and DPI (Schools), depending on the type of institution. The maintenance allowance is credited to the student's own bank account; the fee component is settled against the institution.
6. Renew every year. The scholarship runs for the complete duration of the course, but each academic session needs a fresh application with an updated income certificate and the previous year's result.

How do I check my scholarship status?

Status is tracked in two places. First, on the online scholarship portal where the application was filed, using the application or reference number generated at submission. Second, and often faster, with the scholarship clerk of your own institution, because the institution can see whether the application was verified and forwarded and whether the sanction list for its students has been received from the implementing directorate. For payment questions, check whether your bank account is Aadhaar-seeded, a large share of "scholarship not received" cases are failed direct benefit transfers rather than rejected applications.

Why are post matric scholarship applications rejected?

• Income certificate above the ceiling or out of date. The Rs 2.50 lakh limit applies to income from all sources, not just salary.
• Caste certificate defect. A certificate issued in another state, or in a caste not notified as Scheduled Caste for Punjab, will not be accepted.
• Institution did not verify. The application was submitted online but never forwarded by the college.
• Duplicate or overlapping claim. Claiming the same year's benefit under more than one scholarship scheme leads to rejection of one of them.
• Course or year mismatch. The class or course entered does not match the institution's record, or the previous year was not passed.
• Bank account not Aadhaar-seeded. The sanction is issued but the transfer fails; the fix is at the bank, not at the department.
• Late filing. Sessional last dates are announced each year by the department and the institution; a late application is usually not entertained.

Where does the money come from, and who runs the scheme?

The scheme is centrally sponsored. The department's write-up records that over and above the committed liability of the state, 100% of the budget is provided by the Government of India, and that Punjab's committed liability of Rs 984.00 lakh in the 11th Five Year Plan was raised by the Government of India to Rs 6,079.92 lakh with effect from 2012-13. Administratively the scheme sits with the Department of Social Justice, Empowerment and Minorities, whose directorate is at SCF No. 7, Phase 1, Old DC Office building, S.A.S. Nagar (Mohali) 160055, and is implemented through the education directorates named above.

Where do I complain if the scholarship is stuck?

Start with the institution's scholarship clerk and get in writing whether the application was verified and forwarded. If it was, take it to the District Welfare Officer, whose contact details are listed on the department website under "District Welfare Officers". The Directorate of Social Justice, Empowerment and Minorities in Mohali can be reached on 0172-2273272, and punjab.gov.in lists the Director's email as directorwelfarepunjab@gmail.com and the Minister's office email for the Department of Social Justice, Empowerment and Minorities as sswcd.sjemministerpb@punjab.gov.in. Keep the application number, the institution's forwarding acknowledgement and a copy of your bank passbook with you at every stage. Those three documents resolve most disputes.

Note on rates: the amounts above are those published in the Punjab department's own scheme write-up for this centrally sponsored scheme. The Government of India has revised post-matric scholarship norms since that write-up was issued, so confirm the current-year rate and income ceiling with your institution or the District Welfare Officer before you rely on a figure for planning.