The Scheme for Fellowship to Under Graduate Students for Various Faculties of Sardarkrushinagar Dantiwada Agricultural University

What is the SDAU undergraduate fellowship scheme?

The Scheme for Fellowship to Under Graduate Students for Various Faculties of Sardarkrushinagar Dantiwada Agricultural University is a merit fellowship administered by Sardarkrushinagar Dantiwada Agricultural University (SDAU) under the Agriculture, Farmers Welfare and Cooperation Department, Government of Gujarat. The scheme pays a monthly fellowship to the most meritorious undergraduate students across the university's faculties.

SDAU is one of Gujarat's four state agricultural universities, headquartered at Sardarkrushinagar in Banaskantha district, with faculties covering Agriculture, Horticulture, Food Technology and Agricultural Engineering across several campuses. The fellowship exists to solve a recruitment problem rather than a poverty problem: high-scoring Science students in Gujarat gravitate toward medicine and engineering, and agricultural universities compete for the same pool. A monthly stipend from the day of joining, awarded on pure merit, is the university's instrument for attracting those students into agriculture and, over time, into rural development and farm productivity work in the state.

The fellowship is therefore not need-based. There is no income ceiling and no category reservation in the published criteria. What decides it is HSC merit in the first year, and class rank by GPA thereafter.

What does the fellowship pay?

• Rs 1,000 per month to each selected undergraduate student, per the scheme's benefits statement.
• Travel and fee concessions, awardees are permitted free railway or bus concession, or a fee concession.
• Payment starts from the date of joining the college, not from the date of selection.

The fellowship is disbursed annually on satisfactory academic progress, routed through the principal of the respective college and credited by Direct Benefit Transfer to the student's Aadhaar-linked bank account.

One caution on the figure. The scheme's benefits section states Rs 1,000 per month for undergraduate students, while one of the university's published answers refers to Rs 3,000 per month. Rs 1,000 is the figure carried in the benefits statement and is used here; a student should confirm the current rate in the Registrar's notification for the year before relying on it.

How many students get the fellowship?

The university awards the fellowship to approximately 10 per cent of the total student strength in each class and each faculty. That is the practical definition of "meritorious" under this scheme; not an absolute mark threshold beyond the HSC gate, but a rank within your own class and faculty.

The selection mechanism differs by year of study:

• First year; selection is based solely on merit in the HSC or equivalent examination.
• Later years, the fellowship goes to the students with the highest GPA or Cumulative Credit Point Average (C.C.P.A.) in their class in the previous year.

Selection is made by a committee consisting of the Registrar, the Director of Student Welfare and the Deans.

Who is eligible for the SDAU fellowship?

You can apply if you:

• Are enrolled in an undergraduate programme at SDAU in one of its faculties.
• Scored 60 per cent or more aggregate in the HSC examination in the Science stream.
• Are among the top 10 per cent meritorious students in your class.
• Maintain a GPA or C.C.P.A. of at least 6.0, with no "F" (fail) and no "I" (incomplete) grades, to continue receiving the fellowship.

You are not eligible if you:

• Are receiving any other regular fellowship or scholarship. An awardee under this scheme must forego other regular awards.
• Drop out of the course or stop pursuing regular studies.
• Have been punished under SDAU's discipline rules for students of the colleges of the university.
• Have been penalised for "use of unfair means" under the university's examination regulations.
• Score below 6.0 GPA, or pick up an "F" or "I" grade, the fellowship is discontinued.
• Are not a student of SDAU. Students of Gujarat's other agricultural universities apply under their own institutions' schemes.
• Took HSC in a stream other than Science, or scored under 60 per cent.

What documents are required?

The list is short because the university already holds most of the record it needs. Your enrolment, your class rank and your GPA come from SDAU's own academic records, so the student's job is to supply the HSC mark sheet, the photographs and a working Aadhaar-linked bank account.

How to apply for the SDAU undergraduate fellowship

1. Watch for the notification. The fellowship notification is released by the Registrar by 30 November every year. It is circulated through the colleges and the Directorate of Student Welfare.
2. Obtain and complete the prescribed application form. The form is the only accepted format; a plain-paper application is not entertained.
3. Attach the documents — your Standard 12 mark sheet, passport-size photographs and Aadhaar-linked bank account details.
4. Submit the application to the office of the Registrar, SDAU, by 31 December of the same academic year. Applications received after 31 December are not considered.
5. Await selection. A committee of the Registrar, the Director of Student Welfare and the Deans selects awardees on academic merit.
6. Receive the fellowship annually through the principal of your college, credited to your Aadhaar-linked bank account by DBT, subject to satisfactory academic progress.

There is no online application route for this fellowship. The process is offline and runs on the university's own calendar.

How do I check the status of my application?

Follow up with the office of the Registrar and the Directorate of Student Welfare at SDAU, and with your college principal, who handles disbursement for the college. Selection lists are circulated through the colleges rather than published on a public portal, so the college office is usually the fastest place to confirm whether your name is on the list.

If you are selected but no payment arrives, the cause is almost always the bank account, an account not linked to Aadhaar, or a closed account. Fix that at the bank branch and inform the college office.

Why a fellowship is discontinued

• GPA or C.C.P.A. falls below 6.0 in a year.
• An "F" (fail) or "I" (incomplete) grade appears on the record.
• The student drops out or ceases regular study, the fellowship stops immediately and further benefits are forfeited.
• The student is punished under the discipline rules or for use of unfair means in examinations.
• The student accepts another regular fellowship or scholarship.

Because the award is re-decided each year on the previous year's class rank, a student who slips out of the top 10 per cent may also lose the fellowship to a classmate even without any of the above.

Key dates to remember

Where do I go for help?

• Registrar, Sardarkrushinagar Dantiwada Agricultural University, the office that issues the notification and receives applications.
• Directorate of Student Welfare, SDAU, for scholarship and fellowship queries.
• University telephone: 02748-278226 or 02748-278234.
• University website: sdau.edu.in, which carries the Student Scholarship page under Student Welfare.
• Your college principal, for disbursement and academic-progress questions.

No fee is charged for applying, and selection is made by a university committee on academic record alone.