Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Merit Award for Scheduled Caste Students, Tripura

What is the Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Merit Award in Tripura?

Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Merit Award is a state budget scheme of the Department for Welfare of Scheduled Castes, Government of Tripura, that gives a cash award to Scheduled Caste students who score well in their school examinations. The Department describes it plainly in its published account of activities: SC students who get 60 per cent or above marks in the annual or final examination from Class VI to VIII, Class IX, and the Madhyamik and Higher Secondary (+2) stage examination receive the award.

The scheme is listed on the Tripura DBT portal among the nine schemes of the Department for the Welfare of SC, alongside the separate Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Gold Medal Award, the Boarding House Stipend and the pre-matric and post-matric scholarships for SC students.

The Directorate that runs it has a long institutional history. The erstwhile Directorate for Welfare of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes was bifurcated in 1982 to create a separate Directorate for Welfare of Scheduled Castes; a separate Department followed in 1984, and after further reorganisations the current Department for Welfare of Scheduled Castes took shape.

How much is the award?

The award is a one-time cash payment for the year in which the result is achieved, not a recurring monthly stipend. A student who keeps clearing the 60 per cent mark can qualify again in a later class at the rate for that class.

Scale. The Department reports that 16,316 students received the award across 2018-19 and 2019-20 together. For comparison, the Department's Pre-Matric Scholarship for SC students in Classes VI to VIII: paid at Rs 40 per month for ten months a year, reached 44,962 students over the same two years, and its Boarding House Stipend reached 1,993 students in 52 SC hostels.

Who is eligible, and who is not

You can receive the Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Merit Award if:

• You belong to a Scheduled Caste and hold a valid SC certificate issued by the competent authority in Tripura.
• You are studying in Class VI to VIII, Class IX, or at the Madhyamik or Higher Secondary (+2) stage in Tripura.
• You scored 60 per cent or above in the annual, final, Madhyamik or Higher Secondary examination as applicable.
• You are a resident of Tripura, since this is a state budget scheme of the Tripura government.

You are not eligible if:

• You are not from a Scheduled Caste. Students from the Other Backward Classes have a separate award of the same name run by the OBC Welfare Department, and Scheduled Tribe students have their own scholarship stream under the Tribal Welfare Department.
• You scored below 60 per cent in the qualifying examination.
• You are below Class VI, which falls outside the award's range.
• You are not studying in Tripura or are not a resident of the state.

The Department has not published an income ceiling for this award. Where a threshold does apply in a particular year, the school or the Directorate will say so; do not assume one either way without asking.

What documents are required?

How to apply for the Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Merit Award

1. Keep the Scheduled Caste certificate ready before the results are declared. A missing or expired SC certificate is the commonest reason a qualifying student is left off the school's list.
2. Collect the marksheet of the annual, final, Madhyamik or Higher Secondary examination and check that the aggregate is 60 per cent or above.
3. Report to your school with the marksheet, SC certificate and bank details. Schools compile the list of qualifying SC students and forward it to the Directorate for Welfare of Scheduled Castes for sanction, this is the route the award travels, rather than an individual online form.
4. Open or verify an Aadhaar-linked bank account in the student's name so the Direct Benefit Transfer can land. For younger students a guardian-operated account in the student's own name is used.
5. Follow up with the school or the Directorate on 0381-2323363 if the award does not arrive after the results season, quoting the class, the examination and the year.

The Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Gold Medal Award — the separate, larger prize

Do not confuse the merit award with the Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Gold Medal Award, which the Department lists as a distinct scheme on the Tripura DBT portal. SC students who secure a position from 1st to 10th in the Madhyamik or HS (+2) stage examination declared by the Tripura Board of Secondary Education each year, and who are permanent residents of Tripura, are eligible for it. It carries a cash award of Rs 25,000 per student along with a gold medal and a commendation certificate.

A top-ten SC student is therefore in line for the gold medal award, and the position, not the percentage, is what decides it.

Common reasons a claim fails

• SC certificate missing, expired or in a different spelling from the school record and Aadhaar.
• Percentage just below 60, where the aggregate has been computed on a different basis than the school assumed.
• Bank account not Aadhaar-seeded, or an account in a parent's name rather than the student's.
• The school did not include the student in its list. This is the failure mode worth guarding against, because the claim runs through the institution rather than the student, a student who changes school between the examination and the result can fall through the gap.
• Wrong department. OBC and ST students applying to the SC Welfare Directorate are refused and must go to the OBC Welfare or Tribal Welfare Directorate instead.

Help and grievance redressal

• Directorate for Welfare of Scheduled Castes, Government of Tripura, 0381-2323363, dir[dot]scw-tr[at]gov[dot]in
• Online Portal for Public Grievances linked from the Department's own website, at grievance.tripura.gov.in
• Tripura CM Helpline 1905, with a WhatsApp channel on 6033374544
• Your school's head teacher or principal, who holds the list the claim depends on

There is no fee to claim the Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Merit Award, and no agent is needed at any stage.