Rajasthan Gargi Puraskar Yojana

What is the Rajasthan Gargi Puraskar Yojana?

Rajasthan Gargi Puraskar Yojana is a girl-child education incentive run by the School Education Department of Rajasthan through the Balika Shiksha Foundation, an autonomous body set up by the state to fund girls' schooling awards. The scheme, often written locally as Gargi Puraskar Yojana, rewards girls who perform well in the Rajasthan Board of Secondary Education (RBSE) Class 10 examination and then stay in school for the higher secondary stage.

Gargi Puraskar pays Rs 3,000 in the year the girl is studying in Class 11 and another Rs 3,000 in the year she is studying in Class 12, so the full value of the award over two years is Rs 6,000. Alongside the money, each awardee receives a certificate handed out at a district or block-level function. Payments are made by Direct Benefit Transfer into the student's own bank account, which is why an Aadhaar-seeded account in the girl's name is the single most important document in the file.

The award is deliberately structured as two instalments rather than one lump sum. Rajasthan's problem was never that girls could not clear Class 10, it was that a large share stopped studying immediately afterwards. By tying the second payment to actual enrolment in Class 12, the department creates a reason to stay in the system for two more years.

Key features

• Award is linked to the RBSE Class 10 result, not to Class 12.
• Qualifying mark is 75 per cent aggregate or above; there is no additional merit ranking above that bar.
• Rs 3,000 is released for each of two consecutive years of continued study.
• Distribution is customarily timed to Basant Panchami, the festival associated with Saraswati, the goddess of learning.
• Both government and recognised private school students are covered, provided the board examination was the RBSE examination.

Who is eligible for the Gargi Puraskar?

A girl student qualifies if:

• She is a resident of Rajasthan and holds a Jan Aadhaar family identification.
• She appeared in and passed the RBSE Class 10 (secondary) board examination with 75 per cent or more aggregate marks.
• She is currently enrolled and studying in Class 11 for the first instalment, or in Class 12 for the second instalment.
• She has a bank account in her own name, seeded with Aadhaar, capable of receiving DBT credits.
• Her school forwards and verifies her application on the Shala Darpan portal.

A student is not eligible and cannot apply if:

• She scored below 75 per cent in the Class 10 board examination.
• She discontinued studies after Class 10, the award is conditional on active enrolment in the claim year.
• She passed Class 10 from a board other than RBSE where the state has not extended the award, or her result is under re-evaluation and unconfirmed.
• She is not a resident of Rajasthan.
• The claim is for a third or later year, only two instalments exist per student.

Boys are not covered under Gargi Puraskar at all; the award is exclusively for girl students, which is the entire point of the Balika Shiksha Foundation.

What documents are required for Gargi Puraskar?

How to apply for Gargi Puraskar online

1. Open the official Shala Darpan portal at rajshaladarpan.rajasthan.gov.in and locate the Balika Shiksha Foundation section on the homepage.
2. Select the Gargi Puraskar application link for the current academic session.
3. Enter the student's RBSE Class 10 roll number and year of passing so the portal can pull the verified board result.
4. Fill in personal details, Jan Aadhaar number, Aadhaar number, current class and school details, and the bank account number and IFSC code of the account held in the girl's own name.
5. Upload scanned copies of the marksheet, Aadhaar, Jan Aadhaar and bank passbook first page.
6. Submit the form and note the application number shown on the confirmation screen.
7. Ask the school to verify and forward the application from its Shala Darpan login. An application that is submitted but not forwarded by the school is never processed.

How to apply for Gargi Puraskar offline

1. Collect the Gargi Puraskar form from the school office or the block education officer's office.
2. Attach self-attested copies of the Class 10 marksheet, Aadhaar, Jan Aadhaar, bank passbook and residence proof.
3. Submit the completed form to the school principal, who checks the marks and enrolment and enters the details on Shala Darpan on the student's behalf.
4. Collect the acknowledgement or note down the application number generated by the school.

Students who do not have internet access at home can also use a nearby eMitra kiosk, which will complete the online form for the notified service fee.

How much money does the Gargi Puraskar give?

Gargi Puraskar gives Rs 3,000 per eligible year. A girl who clears Class 10 with 75 per cent, joins Class 11 and completes Class 12 receives the award twice for a total of Rs 6,000, plus a certificate at each stage. The money is not a loan, carries no repayment obligation, and there is no restriction on how the student spends it.

The separate Balika Protsahan Puraskar, run by the same foundation, pays a one-time Rs 5,000 to girls who score 75 per cent or more in the Class 12 board examination. A girl can receive both awards in sequence if she meets each condition, because the two are triggered by different examinations.

When is the money distributed?

Distribution has traditionally been held around Basant Panchami, which falls in late January or February depending on the year. Districts organise felicitation functions where certificates are handed over, and the cash component is credited by DBT to the student's bank account. Applications are generally opened during the academic session with a cut-off commonly set around 30 November; the exact window is announced by the Directorate of Secondary Education each year, so the Shala Darpan notice board is the authority on the current date rather than any figure from a previous session.

How do you check Gargi Puraskar status?

1. Open rajshaladarpan.rajasthan.gov.in.
2. Go to the Balika Shiksha Foundation menu and choose the status or student search option.
3. Enter the application number or Class 10 roll number and submit.
4. Check whether the record shows school verified, sanctioned or paid.

If the status shows sanctioned but the money has not arrived, the problem is almost always at the bank end. Confirm that the account is active, that the name matches Aadhaar exactly, and that the account has not been frozen for incomplete KYC — student accounts opened years earlier often lapse into that state.

Why are Gargi Puraskar applications rejected?

• Marks below 75 per cent once the board record is pulled, even if the student's own calculation suggested otherwise.
• School did not forward the application on Shala Darpan.
• Bank account in a parent's name, or a joint account, instead of the student's own account.
• Name mismatch between the marksheet, Aadhaar and the bank record.
• Enrolment not confirmed for the claim year, typically where the student changed school and the new school has not updated Shala Darpan.
• Duplicate application submitted both by the student and by the school.

Most of these are fixable within the same session. Take the marksheet, Aadhaar and passbook to the school office and ask the principal to correct the Shala Darpan entry, since the school, not the student, holds the editing rights.

Where do you complain if the award is not paid?

• School principal first. The school holds the verification record.
• Block Education Officer (BEO) and then the District Education Officer (DEO), Secondary, who handle award disbursal at district level.
• Rajasthan Sampark grievance system on 181 or at sampark.rajasthan.gov.in, where a written complaint can be registered and tracked with a docket number.
• Directorate of Secondary Education, Bikaner, which administers the Balika Shiksha Foundation awards.

No agent or middleman can add a name to the Gargi Puraskar list, and no official will ask for an OTP or a bank password. The entire process runs through the school and the Shala Darpan portal.